Floor Statements

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

For far too long, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has been wrongfully denied full Federal recognition, but today is a chance to make it right.

With over 55,000 individuals, the Lumbee people are a core part of my district and the great State of North Carolina. I am honored to be their advocate in Washington.

I know firsthand that they are salt-of-the-earth, hardworking patriots who deserve access to Federal services like their Tribal counterparts.

We must take legislative action to fix this problem and amend the 1956 law that currently prohibits this access.

Last Congress, Members across the aisle, as has already been mentioned, overwhelmingly voted to restore these rights to the Lumbee Tribe, but there wasn't time for the bill to clear the Senate. Today is our opportunity to get this crucial issue finally across the finish line. A vote today for the Lumbee people will fix a historic injustice, and I urge support of this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, Iryna Zarutska fled war- torn Ukraine and came here for safety, but America failed her.

Iryna was brutally stabbed to death while riding on a Charlotte light rail. In a horrific attack caught on camera, her throat was cut by a violent, serial criminal with 14 prior arrests.

Why was this violent criminal let out without bond by a liberal judge?

This incident reflects a broader crisis unfolding across our Nation, where soft-on-crime policies allow dangerous criminals to evade accountability. Democrats and their media enable this by standing with criminals. Notice how mainstream media has failed to even mention Iryna's name.

America failed her, and we must ensure it does not fail others like her. Together, we can honor Iryna's memory by building a safer, stronger America, one where no 23-year-old woman has to live in fear of being stabbed by a repeat offender who appears to just be a random stranger sitting behind her on the train.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life of Army Sergeant Michael Verardo, a true American hero who passed away last week following a 15-year battle with injuries from his deployment in Afghanistan.

Michael served his country with distinction as a proud infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division. He survived devastating injuries from IED explosions that claimed one of his legs and left him with countless other seen and unseen injuries, resulting in over 120 surgeries and hours and hours of therapy.

Michael's life was not simply defined by his courage but also by the love that he had for his dear wife, Sarah, and their three precious daughters.

Mr. Speaker, his legacy will continue to empower thousands upon thousands of wounded veterans with hope as they live full lives back here at home. Michael's life is a powerful reminder that freedom is not free, and it comes at a cost.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of TJ Costello, a leader of the Charlotte community, who unexpectedly passed away on July 8, 2025.

Mr. Costello's life was marked by sacrifice and service, first to his country as a marine leading combat operations in Iraq and then to our local community as a business leader and faithful church volunteer.

He also served my district by guiding hundreds of young North Carolinians through the nomination process at the U.S. Naval Academy of which he is a proud alumnus.

A devoted family man, TJ married his high school sweetheart, Julia, and had three beloved children, and I will remind them that 1 Corinthians declares: No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagines, what God has prepared for those who love Him.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues today to join me in celebrating the wonderful life and legacy of TJ Costello.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Earlier this year, Mayor Jim Bell of Weddington, North Carolina, reached out to me to let me know that the city had a problem. Having different ZIP Codes across a single city has caused confusion about where residents file property taxes or even show up to vote.

Concerned about how this problem might continue to compound, my office was able to work together with Representative Boebert to ensure that Weddington is included in today's legislation requesting a single, unique ZIP Code.

Representing my constituents has been the honor of a lifetime, and I have learned that there is no issue too great or too small that I can't champion for North Carolinians, whether it is casting my vote for a once-in-a-generation tax reform bill like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act or today's ZIP Code update, it is my mission to be a voice that responds to the needs of my constituents.

I stand here today, Madam Speaker, to urge support for this package to ensure that communities across this country can have the clarity that they absolutely deserve.

Mr. Speaker, if this $9 billion House rescissions package doesn't reach President Trump's desk, Congress will have blown the political opportunity of a lifetime.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a simple message to my colleagues: This is a baby step, but if we don't take it, we are not living up to our promises. We all ran on fiscal responsibility, so let's be responsible now and for future rescission packages.

This is low-hanging fruit in the eyes of America, but it breaks the cycle of spending without accountability. It is proof that Congress can and will act responsibly when it wants to.

When the American people put President Trump in office, they demanded lasting changes to a bloated Federal Government. We must not let them down.

Mr. Chair, we must ensure that our Army Black Hawk helicopters endure as a hallmark of our country's fighting force. That is why I have sponsored the amendment before us to reallocate $15 million within the bill to the Black Hawk Improvement Program, the account that invests in the blade improvement erosion protection system development.

Right in the heart of Locust, North Carolina, United Protective Technologies, in collaboration with researchers at UNC Charlotte, have developed materials to fortify the motor blades of the helicopters against wear and tear.

UPT is leading the way to ensure that when we put money into these helicopters, they will last for years to come. As Black Hawk helicopters take on increased weight, the fleet ages quicker than anticipated. UPT's work will extend their lifespan and reduce the need for full motor blade replacement. This saves the Army precious time and money.

Our brave fighters should have the best equipment in the world to respond to growing threats, and my amendment ensures this will happen in a fiscally responsible manner.

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

Mr. Speaker, 3 years ago today, the Supreme Court made the courageous and correct decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, but, Mr. Speaker, when over a million abortions are still happening every year in our country, we cannot grow apathetic to the ongoing suffering of unborn children.

Our Constitution never was a pro-abortion document. It was always intended to guarantee equal protection for all people no matter how young or how small. The good from the Dobbs decision is eclipsed by the rise in abortions nationwide following the decision, mostly due to chemical abortions through telehealth.

Congress must act with urgency. My Teleabortion Prevention Act takes a step in the right direction by ending the practice of mail-order abortion that kills children and leaves mothers alone and helpless.

We must take the principles woven into the fabric of our country and ensure they are reflected in our laws.

Mr. Speaker, if we can't unite and say no to exporting transgender ideology abroad, say no to taxpayer-funded leftwing propaganda, and say no to funding pet projects that put America last, then what is the point of being called a Republican?

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to defund NPR, PBS, and USAID. For decades, Republicans have campaigned on being fiscal conservatives, but all we have to show for it is a national debt skyrocketing toward $37 trillion.

Let me be clear: There is nothing fiscally conservative about forcing taxpayers to fund vegan food promotion in Zambia or voter ID in Haiti. We were sent here to do government differently, and nothing could be a clearer test of our commitment than to pass this rescissions package.

The time to act is today. If we continue on our track, our grandchildren will be enslaved to a debt that will dwarf our current monstrosity.

What do you call it when the world's wealthiest man, leading some of the most innovative companies in history, offers his unmatched genius to save American taxpayers billions?

You call it a blessing, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to urge my colleagues to not let this opportunity slip through our fingers.

For 5 months, Elon Musk and the DOGE team have toiled relentlessly, far outpacing this Congress, to deliver bold results for the hardworking Americans back home. They have crushed Social Security fraud, exposed wasteful government agencies, and stopped USAID's disturbing pet projects. These are meaningless if we as Congress fail to codify these reforms into law.

No excuses. No delays. We must vote on the DOGE cuts this week. Republicans have abundantly praised DOGE efforts. Americans are expecting it. Now is the time to stop talking and start acting.

Mr. Speaker, a little over 1 year ago, four law enforcement heroes in North Carolina lost their lives protecting the public from an armed and highly dangerous felon. They showed up to work that morning like it was just another day. They gave the ultimate sacrifice for the Charlotte, North Carolina, community.

However, instead of acknowledging the danger that police officers willingly put themselves in every day and standing behind our men and women in blue, some radical progressives on the left would rather defund the police or even abolish them entirely, but not me and not my colleagues that are here with me today.

This National Police Week, I am honored to stand behind our law enforcement as they keep our communities safe. I am especially proud to stand

today and speak on behalf of H.R. 2240, the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act.

As I read this bill, one disturbing fact caught my eye: In 2022, 30 percent of the murders of police officers were unprovoked ambushes. This is unconscionable. As a pastor at First Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, I actually witnessed and saw families suffering and hurting of police officers that were murdered in just this way.

Police officers are community leaders and public servants who deserve the respect of the country. Instead, it seems coldblooded killers have been deliberately targeting our law enforcement heroes, and it is now more important than ever not to just talk but to act.

I am confident that Congressman Moore's bill will accomplish just that. Our Nation's police are under constant attack and they need Congress' steadfast support. This bill will shine a light on the threats that law enforcement face, threats that have steeply risen in number ever since the left began its dangerous defund the police rhetoric, and it will begin the process of expanding the resources available to law enforcement officials.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues today to join me in supporting the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act, and let's ensure that our Nation's police forces know that we have their back.

Mr. Speaker, so far, President Trump has signed over 151 executive orders. The Congress has only sent him five bills to sign into law, a historically low number. That is on us.

We are legislators, and we have a constitutional duty to legislate. Unless codified into law, President Trump's historic government reforms are in jeopardy. Congress must get to work locking in these victories for good. We can't afford for future administrations to erase them with the stroke of a pen.

Republican Members of Congress are quick to praise President Trump's executive orders, but we are very slow to codify them. It doesn't matter if we have to vote 7 days a week. We need to be mass-producing bills that codify the same executive orders that have been keeping our constituents safe.

Congress has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve victories that Republicans have always talked about.

We need to get this done.

Mr. Speaker, why is the Federal Government spending more taxpayer dollars on healthcare for illegal aliens and basement bums instead of those who truly need it? For the past several weeks, there have been fearful rumblings on both sides of the aisle about reforming Medicaid.

Here is the bottom line. If we fail to act now and allow millions more working, capable adults to continue to freeload off ObamaCare expansion, taxpayers will bear the burden of what will become a $1 trillion program.

ObamaCare significantly expanded Medicaid, and it is quickly bankrupting the program. Ironically, Medicaid expansion has shifted resources away from the most vulnerable Americans--single moms, infants, and the disabled--in favor of adults capable of working.

Mr. Speaker, if 30-year-olds living in their parents' house get more Federal Medicaid benefits than pregnant, single mothers, then it is clear the system is utterly broken and in dire need of reform. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before us to finally do what we said we would do.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Knott for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure today to be able to share in this time together. I am grateful to Congressman Haridopolos for sharing, also for Congressman Moore whom we heard from earlier. I am honored to be a part of this, and I am very thankful for the vision and the passion that Congressman Knott has shown in pulling together this Special Order.

When a burglar breaks into your house, Mr. Speaker, you don't set a place for them at the dinner table. That principle seems pretty obvious. However, for some reason, radical progressives just can't understand it.

For the past 4 years, radical, progressive Democrats have openly welcomed criminal aliens into American communities.

Lest we forget, here are just a few of the violent guests the left has invited into our country:

Felix Rojas, an illegal alien who was deported multiple times, was charged just last week for raping a corpse on a Manhattan subway.

In my home State of North Carolina, two illegal aliens whom Congressman Moore alluded to earlier, Paola Duran Duran and Miguel Duran Duran, were arrested for breaking into a home and kidnapping a mother and her 11-month-old daughter.

Just outside Washington, D.C., an illegal alien, Hyrum Rodriguez, was arrested by ICE after a local court dropped his charges.

What was the crime that he was charged with?

It was abducting a 4-year-old.

These heinous criminals are only a small number of those welcomed into our country by Joe Biden and who were arrested in just the past few days by the Trump administration.

Mr. Speaker, you can only imagine what is happening in our country on a grander scale. While under President Trump's leadership, illegal border crossings are down 95 percent from last year, yet we are still suffering from the impacts of the open-border policies of the last 4 years.

The left did not just facilitate an open-border invasion, they have made the American taxpayer pay for it, and we are still paying for it.

Under former President Biden's open-borders agenda, it is estimated that at least 10 million illegal aliens entered our country, and on top of the massive financial cost of the crimes they commit and the jobs they take away from Americans, a huge chunk of them have been accessing government benefits like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable. Americans are hard workers. That is why we have the best country in the world. They don't work backbreaking jobs their whole careers for their taxpayer dollars to subsidize the lives of the very invaders who have subverted their sovereignty.

The left loves to fact-check, so why don't we take a moment and hear some cold, hard facts:

Fact number one, under the Biden administration, more than 1 million illegal aliens received Medicaid benefits.

Fact number two, in fiscal year 2024 alone, over 2 million illegal aliens were given Social Security numbers.

Fact number three, a 2023 study showed that the net cost of illegal aliens to the American taxpayer was at least $150 billion annually.

Fact number four, States are still having to bear the financial burden of Biden's border crisis. Texas taxpayers have to shell out $8.88 billion a year to pay for the illegal aliens who invaded their State. For Californians, it is almost $22 billion.

By the way, fact number five, in some States, in a complete affront to citizens, illegal aliens can get mortgages, bank loans, insurance, driver's licenses, in-State college tuition, and free healthcare. For illegal aliens, the U.S. has been an all-you-can-eat buffet. However, the American taxpayer and innocent women like Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, and Rachel Morin have paid the full price of the left's open- border agenda.

It is time to turn off the faucet permanently. American taxpayers shouldn't have to fund their own demise, paying for government programs that actually encourage an invasion.

President Trump has shown us the path forward. Border crossings are down. As I mentioned earlier, criminal aliens and gang members are being deported left and right. In other words, the forgotten American is first once again.

Nevertheless, there is still much work to be done, especially in this 119th Congress. Under President Biden, Americans' hard-earned taxpayer dollars in the Federal budget were used as a slush fund for the radical left to facilitate a border invasion of millions of illegal aliens, export their woke ideologies across the globe with wasteful pet projects, and weaponize the government against anyone who disagreed with their policies.

However, President Trump's budget proposal, when signed into law, will be a crucial step in taking our country back from the left. It will defund the wasteful government programs subsidizing illegal aliens and provide President Trump with the very tools to solidify his sensible border security initiatives.

For example, President Trump's budget would eliminate the shelter and services program that facilitated swarms of illegal aliens into American communities and save taxpayers $650 million at the same time. It will also stop funneling $428 million to migrant education programs that are taking away from struggling American students.

Those are just a glimpse of the countless wasteful projects for which the American citizens should not be footing the bill. It is up to Congress now to come together and advance both the President's budget and the reconciliation package across the finish line.

Mr. Speaker, we owe nothing less to the American people who are tired of being placed behind illegal aliens. When illegal aliens are given benefits like Medicaid and Social Security by the thousands, then they will keep coming into our country, burdening the American taxpayer, and exacerbating the crime in our cities.

This is why it is so important that this Congress act now with a budget reconciliation, to give President Trump the tools he needs to keep both the wallet and the soul of America safe.

Burglars are in the house, and they don't just want a seat at the dinner table. They want the entire spread.

It is time for us to use this historic opportunity to correct our course.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Knott for his vision and his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, whether they wear scrubs, a firefighter's helmet, or a badge, every town in America has real-life heroes, familiar faces who serve their communities.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a true hometown hero, Chief Bryan Gilliard of North Carolina's Monroe Police Department.

For 32 years, Chief Gilliard has dedicated his life to public safety, including the last 11 years leading Monroe's police force.

Born and raised in Union County, Chief Gilliard has given his entire career back to the community, and Monroe is a better place for it. He has truly exemplified the best of what it means to wear the badge.

Today, on his final day, as he enters into retirement, I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Chief Gilliard for his three decades of service.