Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I say thank you so very much to Ohio's corn and soy farmers for their excellent agricultural summit in which I participated about a week ago in Defiance, Ohio. We discussed the importance of biofuels as a reliable source of income for northwest Ohio farmers, in fact, 44 percent of their income and rising.

This is a great victory for our country over the last three decades. Let me thank our region's farmers, processors, and growers for bringing together leaders from the biofuels industry, ag commodity groups, Ohio Farm Bureau, and refineries to hear directly about the increase in demand and production for biofuels as a new initiative every day to increase income for farmers as they lose export markets due to tariffs. Biofuels now comprise over 44 percent of their bottom line.

In the early days, I worked with Senators on both sides of the aisle and led the effort here in the House to make sure people had access to E85 ethanol at the fuel pumps. It has been a great gift of my career to have served long enough to see that we have been successful.

We also flew the first fighter jet F-16 out of our base 20 years ago using biofuels, and it worked. We are very proud of this industry as it grows. My hat is off to Ohio farmers and Midwest farmers who are making this reality in our lifetime. What America makes and grows makes and grows America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the pastoral service of Bishop Duane C. Tisdale in Toledo, Ohio. I will be honored to join his congregation and our community leaders to celebrate his 40th anniversary this Sunday at his church, Friendship Baptist Church, where he was first elected to Associate Pastor in 1985. Beginning on December 9, 1986, Bishop Tisdale has been the congregation's senior Pastor.

As noted in the history, ``Bishop Tisdale's leadership, preaching and teaching gave birth to a new concept of ministry for the congregation of Friendship Baptist Church. As a result, Friendship Baptist Church adopted this new concept, entitled `New Vision' as its church vision. `New Vision' embraces the spiritual, mental, physical, economical, and social dimensions of our total being, therefore emphasizing `Ministering to the Total Person.' Through ``New Vision'' Friendship Baptist Church integrates a holistic ministry in all areas that affect man, his family, and his worship.''

CEO of Friendship New Vision, Bishop Tisdale has led the effort toward practical applications of the ``New Vision'' philosophy. The outreach ministry offers drug and alcohol outpatient treatment, transitional and residential housing, tutoring, teen services and an economic empowerment and financial freedom initiative.

Bishop Tisdale was born to Pastor Clyde E. and Thelma M. Tisdale, their fourteenth child. Accepting the call to ministry at the age of fifteen, he began preaching at his home church where his father pastored, Rossford First Baptist Church. He was ordained at age nineteen.

In 1987 Bishop Duane Tisdale married his wife Thelma. Together they raised five children: LaTonya, Jerel, Samuel, Joshua, and Sara.

Continuing his calling, Bishop Tisdale received his Bachelor's Degree in Religious Education from the Calvary Bible Institute, Toledo, Ohio in 1981. He went on to attain a Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Ashland Theological Seminary in 1994. In June 2010 Bishop received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Thomas Christian College, Jacksonville Florida. Bishop Tisdale completed his Doctorate of Ministry Degree in Black Church Studies from Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio in June 2011.

Bishop Tisdale became affiliated with Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship International in 1995 and he is a student in the Full Gospel Graduate School of Episcopal Studies. Since then, he has served on the national level in the Pastor's Division on the Advisory Board under Bishop H. Jerome Ross. On the district level he served as the Northern District Overseer in the State of Ohio. On the state level, he served as the First Administrative Assistant to State Bishop William Morris. From the years of 2001 to 2023, he served as Bishop of the State of Ohio.

A pillar in our community, Bishop Tisdale saw the critical need for financial services in the neighborhoods. He inspired civic and community leaders to rally around a ``New Vision'' and established the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union. Since its founding in 1996, the credit union has grown into a strong $10 million institution of stability, serving small and larger depositors alike while developing its mission to secure the economic futures of Toledo's central city residents.

Throughout his life, Bishop Duane Tisdale has led with a servant's heart. He has been minister, mentor, leader and friend. A guiding light in our community and to his congregation, we thank Bishop Tisdale for forty years of faithful service and look forward to his continued light.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm across Ohio. The Trump administration has recklessly frozen all of Ohio's Manufacturing Extension Partnership offices--I repeat, Manufacturing Extension Partnership offices.

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have worked hard to grow manufacturing jobs in America, in the places we represent, to recover from the four decades of outsourcing of U.S. production.

I am really shocked at what they have done. This impulsive decision is a direct blow to family-owned businesses and American entrepreneurs competing against Communist China, Mexico, and every other low-wage haven in the world.

This decision delays critical upgrades, injects uncertainty into local production lines, undermines new jobs being created, and undermines every worker this Nation depends upon.

The Department of Commerce should release and restore these job- creating dollars immediately. Congress voted for them. They should be expended.

If the Trump administration can send $40 billion off to Argentina to buy foreign beef that hurts Ohio cattlemen, they ought to restore this support to boost U.S. factories, companies, and new jobs here at home.

This is simply unbelievable.

By the way, the U.S. Commerce Department Secretary is a Wall Street magnate. He doesn't understand what it takes to create manufacturing jobs in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm for our Republic and our Constitution.

Every one of us here in Congress swore a solemn oath to protect and defend our Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. We did not give any President a blank check for war.

President Trump is over his skis. Article I of our Constitution, the first power the Founders saw fit to forge into the foundation of our Nation, gave Congress the power to declare war and send our troops into battle. No one person can send our brave sons and daughters into conflict on a whim.

Instead, what have we witnessed? We have witnessed a dangerous, aggressive build-up of U.S. military power in the Caribbean.

Where is the money coming from to do that? What is it being taken from? Lethal strikes against vessels off the coast of Venezuela are increasing. Then the Secretary of Defense allegedly gave an order to kill everybody on a boat. What is the legal authority under which those orders were given?

These strikes both are an escalation abroad and a direct attack on our U.S. Constitution here at home. Congress must reassert its constitutional authority to authorize the funds to pay for war.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly supported this year's national defense bill. We must conduct vigorous oversight to halt this executive branch unilateral war-making. Our soldiers deserve us to do that.

Mr. Speaker, with deep gratitude, I rise today to honor the AFL-CIO's 70th anniversary.

Seventy years ago, the AFL-CIO joined laborers with a bold vision: The dignity of a day's work must be matched by the dignity of a worker's life.

Their merger formed a promise: America would be stronger when working people stand together.

That promise is personal. Our mother was a proud union organizer. Her union badge, along with our father's, helped our family be more secure with union membership. It opened doors for opportunities we could only dream of as a working-class family: a living wage and the opportunity for more education, health insurance, and retirement benefits.

Today, let us honor the bold generations of workers who built our factories, powered our industries, cared for our ill, and advanced our communities.

As our Nation faces new challenges, from international outsourcing to corporate consolidation, we recommit ourselves to the fight for living- wage jobs, fair trade, and affordable health insurance, and to passing the pro-worker protections in the PRO Act.

I thank the AFL-CIO for 70 years of solidarity, strength, and service to America's working families. Here is to 70 more.

Mr. Speaker, citizens nationwide and across our district are pushing back on AI data centers. They are concerned these facilities demand massive amounts of energy and water, driving up rising regional utility costs even more.

How much more will our citizens be forced to pay for power and water? They have a right to know.

Will our building trades be true partners in economic growth or just temporary labor, while facing higher utility bills at home?

How many permanent jobs will these largely opaque facilities actually provide? Exactly which out-of-town interests will get the profits if these firms succeed?

Residents across our region complain State and local approvals are moving too quickly. In Ohio, the crooked PUCO and Ohio's Legislature have granted giant tax breaks to data centers, while local township officials remain in the dark about details. That is not fair.

Ohioans know what secrecy and inside deals bring. FirstEnergy scandals led to indictments, prison terms, and even suicides. Ohio Statehouse corruption rewards big business and harms the public. The American people deserve to know how AI data centers will affect their communities. Public hearings must be more robust and factual, not merely road shows by proponents.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share a story of renewal, of history and heritage rediscovered, and of deep respect for heritage in the American heartland.

For 167 years, one of the world's greatest collections of coins-- doubloons, silver dollars, and denari--that tell the story of civilization and economic progress itself sat largely unseen in vaults in Manhattan, New York. These coins crossed oceans, witnessed empires rise and fall, and marked the turning points of human history, and they rested largely unseen.

In New York, this priceless collection had few visitors, little space, and no real home, but now these treasures are coming to northwest Ohio to the world-class Toledo Museum of Art.

The American Numismatic Society has chosen Toledo, located on beautiful Lake Erie, as the place where its future can flourish. We are so grateful that the society saw what we know so well: a community that opens its doors wide to history and also a world-class museum that inspires.

Mr. Speaker, children will be able to learn about heritage in this great location. I will thank and congratulate Adam Levine, the director of the museum, and the inspired board of the Toledo Museum of Art. We give Mr. Levine a salute and congratulate him.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a New York Times article titled ``After 167 Years in New York, a Priceless Coin Collection Heads to Toledo.''

[From The New York Times, Nov. 20, 2025]

After 167 Years in New York, a Priceless Coin Collection Heads to

Toledo

(By Dan Barry)

On the 11th floor of a downtown Manhattan building, just

around the corner from the Holland Tunnel, sits one of the

world's finest collections of coins. Stored behind a series

of locked doors in a massive, climate-controlled vault, the

coins tell the story of civilization, from antiquity to

today.

A Sumerian clay tablet from about 2000 B.C.E. Early Chinese

forms of money shaped like miniature tools. A silver French

penny from the age of Charlemagne. A medal given by the

Lincoln administration to a Native American chief, pierced by

a bullet. More than 800,000 other telltale coins, medals and

objects of wonder.

But apart from scholars, members and the occasional

enthusiast, almost no one sees this treasure, which is one

reason its guardian, the American Numismatic Society, is

leaving the city where it was founded in the mid-19th

century--and moving to Toledo, Ohio.

The society announced today that it will be making a

``strategic'' relocation to an Art Deco building on the

spacious campus of the Toledo Museum of Art. The $20 million

plan, to be completed in 2028, would make possible its long-

harbored vision of a state-of-the-art money museum, a dream

that has proved elusive in New York.

``One of our members said that this will mean a terrible

loss to New York City,'' the society's executive director,

Ute Wartenberg Kagan, said. ``But if no one uses it, what's

the loss?''

Wartenberg Kagan, a scholar of ancient Greek coinage, left

the British Museum in 1998 to join the American Numismatic

Society and someday establish a proper money museum where one

belonged, in the city of Wall Street. But exorbitant costs

and space constraints conspired against those plans, as did

an apparent indifference to the charms of numismatics.

So: Hello, Toledo!

Wartenberg Kagan said that she and several other colleagues

are eager to make the 560-mile move west, where the society

has already bought the building that will house its

collection as well as a library, auditorium and education

center. The population of the Toledo metropolitan area is

about 650,000, less than one-tenth that of New York City, but

there are many buts.

The cost of living is lower. The campus has plenty of space

to accommodate the school buses that never pulled up to the

current location because there was nowhere to park. And there

is the opportunity to work in concert with the museum,

integrating collections to produce dynamic exhibits for an

engaged community.

``We're not just buying real estate,'' Wartenberg Kagan

said. ``We're buying a relationship.''

But as one relationship begins, another ends. The American

Numismatic Society traces its origins to 1858, when a teenage

boy named Augustus B. Sage invited other coin obsessives to

his family's Manhattan home to discuss the creation of a

society dedicated to all matters numismatic. Sage, who would

go on to serve in the Civil War and die young, of pneumonia,

donated the first object: an 1825 American half-cent.

In 1908, the society built a neoclassical building at 155th

Street and Broadway, in the city's Washington Heights

section, to accommodate its growing membership, library and

collection. The numismatic cognoscenti gathered there for

lectures and exhibits, for celebrations of National Coin Week

and debates about the aesthetics of the buffalo nickel.

But as the years passed, fewer people traveled to Upper

Manhattan to see and discuss coins. Mentions of the society

sometimes appeared in newspaper roundups of out-of-the-way

places to visit in Manhattan.

Excitement occasionally paid a call. In 1977, four armed

men overpowered two society guards, meticulously taped cloth

over display cases to muffle the sound of glass being broken

and made off with about 300 rare coins worth as much as

$100,000. As they calmly exited the building, the thieves

told three impatient visitors at the door that the place was

closed.

And in 1989, a heart surgeon and coin collector from

California arrived in New York to be honored by the society

for his beneficence, only to be arrested--and later

convicted--instead. During his occasional visits, the good

doctor had been pocketing rarities worth about $1 million: a

gold coin of the Roman Emperor Hadrian here, six gold coins

of the Visigoths there.

Facing a yawning deficit, the society sold its Washington

Heights building and moved to the Wall Street area in 2004,

with plans to open a money museum. But the plan never came to

fruition.

In 2008 the society moved again, to leased space on the

llth floor of an old building at 75 Varick Street. Over eight

hours one late-spring Saturday, its entire collection,

cocooned in bubble wrap and packed in more than 400 plastic

crates, was transported to the new location as quietly as can

be done with a police escort.

Both the appeals and challenges of the society's current

home were evident during a recent tour. An extensive library

all but begged the visitor to pause and flip through a book,

any book: on heraldry or mythology, shipwrecks or excavation.

Then, once past the several locked doors that guard the

vault, Wartenberg Kagan and Peter van Alfen, the chief

curator, shared with glee just the smallest hint of the

society's immense treasure.

In this sliding drawer, a silver coin from the reign of

Alexander the Great, one of many, portraying him in battle in

India. And in this drawer, the famous silver denarius, minted

to commemorate the murder of Julius Caesar and depicting two

daggers and the bust of his assassin, Brutus. Here, a 1787

doubloon made by a New York City goldsmith, and here, a rare

1861 Confederate half dollar, struck in New Orleans.

A year could be lost in the vault of the American

Numismatic Society.

But the society's leased space is too expensive ($1.8

million a year, including taxes), too small to accommodate

its ever-growing holdings and not conducive to public

engagement. A few years ago, a travel guide included the

society among its list of free attractions--open by

appointment and closed on weekends--in Lower Manhattan. Even

then, only a half-dozen or so tourists might wander in every

week.

``This is both a big and a small place,'' Wartenberg Kagan

said. ``That's one of its problems.''

For the last several years, the society--which has 1,400

members, including 265 outside the United States--has

searched for more suitable quarters. Plans to move to the

University of Chicago fell apart, as did those to move to the

University of Pennsylvania, Long Island City in Queens and a

warehouse in Fall River, Mass.

Then came a bit of numismatic serendipity. It just so

happened that Adam M. Levine, the president and director of

the Toledo Museum of Art, had spent the summer of 2009 at the

American Numismatics Society, studying the iconography of

Justinian II coinage. He contacted Wartenberg Kagan, whom he

knew, and suggested that she consider Toledo, where he just

happened to know of a four-story building on the museum's 37-

acre campus that would soon become available.

Levine, who grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx,

expressed great affection for his native city. But he is now

imbued with what he called the ``zeal of the convert,'' and

he vouched for Toledo's cultural amenities, community spirit

and easy, relatively short ride to the Detroit Metropolitan

Wayne County Airport.

``I feel very confident that there is life after New

York,'' Levine said. ``And Toledo is made special by being

the only place where you can pretty much guarantee that

you'll like the next person you meet.''

A dubious Wartenberg Kagan visited Toledo--and came away

persuaded. It checked every box for the society's trustees,

including a supportive, good-sized city, reasonable housing

costs and proximity to major research facilities.

Other staff members also made the trip to Toledo and liked

what they saw. About half of the 17-member staff will be

making the move, including Wartenberg Kagan and van Alfen.

``They will be welcomed with open arms,'' Levine predicted.

``And they'll have more visitors in their first year than

they've had in the last five.''

``Probably 10 years,'' Wartenberg Kagan added.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life of Susan Olsen Murray, a beloved daughter of Sandusky, Ohio, and a shining star of the very kind and generous heart of northwest Ohio's people.

Susan was a woman whose generosity was limitless. She carried within her a rare and radiant gift, the ability to make every person she met feel valued, uplifted, and truly seen.

During her decades in Sandusky, she poured her energy into service, education, and community building. Whether teaching young readers at Saints Peter and Paul School, helping found the Boys and Girls Club of Erie County, or simply offering a kind word at precisely the right moment, Susan made humanity her vocation.

Always prioritizing positivity, she always put others before herself. What a great world it would be if everybody was that way.

Susan and her husband John walked through life with devotion and joy. They raised a caring, wise family rooted in love, learning, and compassion.

Her children, Leslie, John Jr., and Tim, and grandchildren Heather, William, Hugh, and Ella, carry forward her spirit of warmth and boundless generosity.

To all who mourn her, may her memory be a blessing, and may her life be a reminder that a life lived generously can brighten an entire community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce bipartisan legislation, alongside my northwest Ohio colleague, Representative Bob Latta.

Our purpose is to honor a legendary Ohioan and pioneer of American military history, Rear Admiral Alene B. Duerk.

Admiral Duerk was the first woman in the United States Navy to achieve the rank of Rear Admiral. Our legislation would require the Navy to rename a naval vessel in her honor.

Admiral Duerk was born in Defiance, Ohio, raised in Holgate, and graduated from the Toledo Hospital School of Nursing in 1941. Over her long career, she treated wounded servicemembers during World War II and the Korean war. In 1972, she became the first woman in naval history to attain flag rank.

In August, I also joined Representative Tim Kennedy in sending a letter to the Secretary of Defense asking to rename a vessel in her honor and in September sponsored a separate amendment to this year's National Defense Authorization Act.

Our added legislation continues our effort to properly honor Rear Admiral Duerk. I look forward to working with colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to ensure Rear Admiral Duerk's legacy of service, sacrifice, and excellence is properly honored and commemorated by the people of the United States of America.

Go Navy.

Mr. Speaker, in recognition of National Health Month, let me put some quotes out there from individuals that I represent.

Just in Ohio, we know health insurance will become unaffordable for tens

of thousands of people across our northwest Ohio district, over half a million Ohioans, and 15 million Americans.

Please let me share some examples. A constituent from Clyde, Ohio, said it clearly: High insurance prices will allow people to die by making healthcare unaffordable. It was terrible before the ACA. We need affordable health insurance.

Another citizen from Edon in Williams County shared how their medications had become so costly that they now have to seek out patient assistance programs. Their prescription insurance has increased by $119 a month, which is unmanageable on a fixed income.

A Toledo resident told me that everything is going up. Groceries cost more as well as childcare and rent. Unless Congress acts, health insurance premiums for us will double. Our family cannot make it. We don't have an extra $100 per month.

Mr. Speaker, I hope you are listening to these pleas because unless we address the cost of health insurance in this country, too many people are going to die.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member DeLauro for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, Congress should vote today for affordable health insurance for Americans and reduce its rising costs. Instead, in the dead of night, eight Senate Republicans slipped into this bill a payola for themselves, literally raking in millions of dollars to themselves.

This payola is called corruption. It is corruption. Millions of taxpayer dollars now are slated for Senators Graham, Hagerty, Hawley, Sullivan, Tuberville, Johnson, Lummis, and Blackburn. Each is teed up to personally rake in a minimum of $500,000 up to $1.5 million.

Meanwhile, the American people need more affordable health insurance, but these Senators, with their House allies, are lining their own pockets. I say: No more tax breaks to billionaires and no payoffs to U.S. Senators. This is what happens when power serves itself instead of the people.

This isn't leadership. It is corruption disguised as legislation.

Mr. Speaker, let's cleanse America of disgusting corruption. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a truly remarkable American, Mr. Roger Carpenter of Oak Harbor, Ohio, who just celebrated an extraordinary milestone: seventy-five years of service as Scoutmaster of Troop 316.

Seventy-five years, that's three-quarters of a century of guiding, teaching, and uplifting generations of young people. Shaping their character, their sense of service, and their love for community. Few can say they have given so much of themselves, for so long, to a single purpose. But Roger Carpenter can. And he has done so with a humble heart, steadfast faith, and a pair of calloused hands that never stop building, fixing, or helping.

At 97 years young, Roger remains active with his troop, recently repairing the very log splitter used to make the Scouts' famous apple butter. This tradition has warmed both hearts and bellies at the Oak Harbor Apple Festival for decades. This festival, itself a celebration of community spirit, fittingly chose this year to honor Roger for his life of selfless service.

He is believed to be the longest-serving Scoutmaster in our nation's history. But beyond the record books, his impact is written in the lives of the hundreds, more likely perhaps thousands, of young men he has mentored. Many of them have gone on to serve their country, their neighbors, and their families with the same quiet strength they learned under his guidance.

During this year's festival, we presented Roger with a flag flown over our United States Capitol as a symbol of the deep gratitude we hold for his unwavering devotion to the values that Scouting and citizenship share: duty, honor, leadership, and service.

As we constantly reflect on what it means to build a strong America, we must look to people like Roger Carpenter. Those who invest in others, who give without seeking recognition, and who, year after year, live the ideals they teach. His life is a testament to what one dedicated citizen can do to shape the moral fabric of a community and a nation.

So today, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives and the people of Northwest Ohio, I extend our deepest congratulations and gratitude to Scoutmaster Roger Carpenter for 75 years of remarkable leadership, for his enduring spirit, and for reminding us all that service to others is the truest form of patriotism.

I thank Roger for being a living example of the Scout Oath and Law and for inspiring us all to leave this world a little better than we found it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a milestone year in the Toledo Zoo's remarkable journey in my district. The Zoo is celebrating 125 years in our community with a series of events culminating in a special gala on Thursday, October 23, 2025. Rated the top zoo in our Nation, Toledoans are justifiably proud of our treasure.

The Toledo Zoo began modestly in 1900 when Megan Cole donated a woodchuck for display at Walbridge Park along the Maumee River in South Toledo. The attraction was popular, and within the year, thanks to continued donations, the zoo had 39 animals in its collection. Unprepared to properly house and care for the growing collection, the Toledo Zoo built the Lion House in 1907. During these earliest years, when housing was a challenge, animal escapes were not uncommon.

The Toledo Zoological Society was subsequently founded in 1913 to spark development. William H. Roemer was the first president, and by 1916, the Toledo Zoo exhibited

471 animals. In 1922, the position of curator was developed, and the indefatigable Frank Skeldon was the first curator for the zoo. It was during this time that national recognition was pursued. Building continued, and by 1929, the Giraffe House, Carnivora Building, and Primate House were all housing the animals.

Building continued through the Depression-Era WPA, so that by the 1930s the Reptile House, Aviary, Museum of Science, Amphitheatre, indoor theatre, and Aquarium were all completed, along with structural improvements, the subway and zoo entrances.

The 1940s, 50s, and 60s brought new adventure with the addition of a miniature railway, the publication of Safari magazine, the nation's only indoor trout run, the development of waterways, and other improvements. By the 1960s, the Toledo Zoo's collection included more than 3,600 animals.

Facing significant funding challenges following the region's 1980s financial collapse, the Toledo Zoo was on the verge of closure. A zoo levy was initiated in 1980, and in 1981, Bill Dennler became the new zoo director following Frank Skeldon's retirement. Under his tutelage, buildings were restored, a children's zoo opened, the birth of two baby hippos was caught on tape, and China lent the zoo two giant pandas. People flocked to the zoo to view these wonders.

The 1990s saw continuing innovation, community support, and national and global supremacy for the Toledo Zoo. By the early 2000s, the zoo was well into its successful breeding program, including the rare birth of an African elephant. Development continues to this day. There are 1 Million visitors a year and 78,000 households hold membership. The highest in the nation! There are 16,000 animals from more than 680 species, including 90 endangered species, and 73 Million dollars are generated for our local economy.

The Toledo Zoo has arrived at its 125th birthday as the top zoo in our nation and a global leader in wildlife conservation and engagement in sustainable practices. There are forty acres of native plants and 110 prairies planted at the zoo and around the region. More than 45,000 students and families learn from tours, camps, overnights, virtual programming, scouts, and gardening workshops. The Zoo hosts Music Under the Stars in its lovely Amphitheatre, where people can hear the symphony and creative performers on beautiful nights. People from all over come to view the Toledo Zoo's African Savannah, Aquarium, Arctic Encounter, Aviary, Rescue Roost, Cassoway Crossing, Conservatory, Flamingo Key, Kingdom of the Apes, Museum of Natural History, Nature's Neighborhood, Penguin Beach, Pheasantry, Primate Forest, Reptile House, Tembo Trail, Tiger Terrace, Snow Leopards, beautiful flora, fun amusements, nourishing treats and the stunning Lights Before Christmas.

The Toledo Zoo is an absolute star on the map of Northwest Ohio. It truly and uniquely lives up to its motto: ``Enjoy. Inspire. Educate. Act.'' Our entire community congratulates our wonderful Toledo Zoo as we look back on a fantastic journey and look forward to an awesome future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reintroduce the ``Balancing Incentives Act'' of 2025, Bipartisan legislation to restore fairness and integrity to America's patent system.

Innovation is the beating heart of American progress. From workshops and factories to classrooms and garages, inventors across our Nation embody the creativity, determination, and optimism that define the American spirit. They turn ideas into opportunities and dreams into progress.

Yet too many inventors face an uneven playing field that makes it harder to protect their work. The ``Balancing Incentives Act'' ensures that inventors have a fair chance to defend their creations.

By doing so, we reaffirm that innovation belongs to everyone with an idea and the determination to bring it to fruition.

With the ``Balancing Incentives Act,'' we stand up for the spirit of American ingenuity that built our middle class, that powers our industries and continues to light the way toward a more prosperous and inventive future.

By standing up for inventors, we stand up for America's future. Because what America makes and grows, makes and grows America.

I urge my colleagues to join myself and Congressman Thomas Massie in supporting this vital legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following proclamation honoring Reverend Anthony ``Father Tony'' Gallagher:

Whereas, the Reverend Anthony ``Father Tony'' Gallagher, a

beloved son of Toledo and a priest of the Diocese of Toledo

since his ordination in Rome in 1961, has devoted more than

six decades of his life to faith, service, and the pursuit of

justice for all people; and

Whereas, as the eldest of six children, Father Gallagher

has exemplified a lifetime of humility and leadership,

serving parishes from Port Clinton to Grand Rapids, and

providing spiritual guidance rooted in compassion,

inclusivity, and a steadfast belief in the dignity of every

human being; and

Whereas, Father Gallagher has embodied the principles of

social justice throughout

his ministry, walking in the proud tradition of priests such

as Monsignor Geno Baroni and Father Martin Hernady,

tirelessly advocating for the poor, the marginalized, and

those without a voice in our society; and

Whereas, in retirement from assigned parish ministry since

2009, Father Gallagher has continued his vocation of

service--working with the Multifaith Council, Social Justice

Advocates, Care of Creation, the CCMT School, and the

Association of U.S. Catholic Priests--to advance

understanding, promote equality, and strengthen bonds among

people of all faiths and backgrounds; and

Whereas, his ministry of presence, his philosophy to ``show

up, shut up, and cheer,'' has inspired generations of

Toledoans, demonstrating what it means to encounter and

accompany others with grace and humility; and

Whereas, Father Gallagher's deep empathy and compassion are

reflected not only in his advocacy, but in the quiet acts of

kindness that have defined his life from feeding the hungry

at Claver House and St. Paul's Community Center to offering

comfort and companionship to those in prison and on the

streets; and

Whereas, as Father Gallagher celebrates his 90th birthday

on November 21, 2025, the people of Northwest Ohio and all

who his ministry has touched give thanks for his enduring

witness to faith, justice, and love of neighbor;

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed, that I, Marcy Kaptur,

Member of Congress for the Ninth Congressional District of

Ohio, do hereby recognize and commend Reverend Anthony

``Father Tony'' Gallagher for his lifetime of selfless

service, his moral courage, and his unwavering commitment to

the common good. Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the City of Toledo hereby recognizes and

commends the Reverend Anthony Gallagher for his outstanding

service and significant contributions to our community and to

our common good; and be it further

Resolved, That the City Citation of Merit be presented to

Father Gallagher as a token of this city's deep appreciation

and gratitude for his unwavering dedication to making Toledo

a better place for us all.