Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, this is a stupid resolution.

This stupid resolution completely ignores the reality of what Americans are worried about today: the rising cost of living caused by the hapless GOP leadership in Congress and an inept White House.

Forget about this resolution being stupid for a second. What about communism? We are against socialism but okay with communism? That is stupid.

Forget about that under the U.S. with Donald Trump, we have been more socialist than many actual socialist countries by claiming U.S. Government partial ownership in over 30 companies, which is clearly ignored in this resolution.

That is stupid.

Forget that somehow, for some reason, the save America voter suppression act is thrown in here, an act perhaps even more stupid than this resolution itself. This is just stupid, and it is insulting to Americans trying to get by while this Congress lets tariffs increase the cost of groceries and other goods, lets an illegal war in Iran raise gas prices, and the big, beautiful bill raise the cost of healthcare and utilities.

However, here today in the U.S. Congress we are dealing with none of that, not one thing to make Americans' lives easier. Instead, we are dealing with this stupid resolution, and that is just plain stupid.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the life and service of Mr. Michael Johnson, who passed away unexpectedly this year.

Michael Johnson was a member of the Dane County community for many years and spent his life dedicated to improving equality and higher educational prospects for young people in his city and state at large.

Michael grew up in Chicago, honoring the Boys & Girls Clubs of his youth for providing him with a safe space and opportunities to grow beyond his neighborhood. After his graduation from Cornell University, Michael climbed the ranks of many non-profits in the Midwest before settling in Madison where he spent 17 years working tirelessly to close youth opportunity gaps in education and the skilled trades.

In his role as President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, Michael endeavored to raise over 50 million dollars for projects such as the McKenzie Regional Workforce Center, a hands-on skilled trades training and career center, and was a key leader in the largest public-private partnership in the history of the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Michael played a profound role in the development of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County, quadrupling the number of students and families served in the area--his aspirations were never small, nor did they relent at the walls of his organization. Colleagues and friends of Michael recognized how his vision and generosity for the state extended beyond closing the education gaps and providing opportunities for students to pursue higher education. In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, Michael talked extensively with youth protestors in downtown Madison and campaigned for the construction of a statue of Vel Philips, the first woman and African American elected to a statewide office to be erected on the grounds of the Capitol, where it stands today. He was a passionate advocate of challenging assumptions and the need for equity and representation in the state.

Michael was a Champion for Children, honored in his life with the Boys & Girls Clubs Heart and Soul Award, the highest recognition of local executives in the organization, as well as the Hometown Hero award in the Wisconsin State Assembly for his courage and conviction in pursuit of a more equitable world.

He is survived by his wife, Toya, and three children. Michael will be dearly missed by the Dane County and greater Wisconsin communities for his extraordinary leadership, integrity, and deep commitment to his important work.

As a Member of Congress, I don't own any individual stocks because, as a byproduct of my job, I get inside information on many publicly traded companies.

We don't let people with insider information buy stock because it impacts markets and threatens public trust in a system that so many of our retirement dollars are in.

However, this bill before us puts Members of Congress above the law. It is not a real congressional stock trading ban like other bipartisan measures. This is a weak alternative. It is like Velveeta to real Wisconsin cheese.

It has been said that this bill has loopholes so big a Qatari jet could go through them. It still allows Members to hold stock. It still allows Members to buy stocks with dividends. It still allows family members to buy stocks for others for any reason. It is basically the opposite of a real stock trading ban for Members of Congress, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

This bill continues the corruption of what marks too much of what is done in Washington. Mr. Speaker, please don't support this Velveeta and weak bill.

Mr. Speaker, I just got back from a fact-finding trip to Cuba a week ago after having visited the country 30 years ago and 3\1/ 2\ years ago, as well. Let me tell you what I found on this trip.

The United States' blockade of Cuba is crushing the Cuban people. We are hurting the very people who we profess to care about, and we are not doing so for national security reasons but for political reasons.

Here is what I saw. Our blockade is inhumane. Food, medicine, fuel for energy, literally everything you need to live and thrive, is blocked by us. It is not just us. We forced the world into an involuntary global blockade, as well, as we will punish anyone who does business with these sanctions.

Our boot is on the throats of the Cuban people after over 65 years of blockading their government. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Our punishing of the people of Cuba has not brought the regime change that some politicians want, but we are pushing our boot harder onto the necks of the people. Insanity.

Mr. Speaker, we had a period of time of lifting the restrictions under Barack Obama. Guess what. Americans visited Cuba. The people of the country thrived and loved our country, and America was no less safe.

All of that got taken away by Donald Trump. In fact, we didn't just go back to the same old repression. Instead, we went to new levels of sadism against the Cuban people. Ships can't bring supplies due to our blockade. Goods can't be exchanged with the Cuban people because of our blockade. Medicine--even in war, we allow medicine through. Medicine and medical parts can't get to the Cuban people due to our blockade.

Cuba is a nation that trains doctors who serve around the world, especially in Central and South America. Yet, in Cuban hospitals, MRI and CAT scan machines sit idly because they can't get the parts they need to fix them. I have seen it with my own eyes.

The infant mortality rate has doubled due to the tightening of the blockade. Nearly 14,000 kids and 100,000 adults are waiting for surgeries.

When the power goes out, which it does quite often due to our oil ban, surgeons finish surgeries with the light from their cell phones because of our blockade.

In fact, while I was there, the power went out across the country for the second time that week: 42 hours down, then 1\1/2\ hours of power, and then a shutdown again. Garbage is lining the streets because garbage trucks can't pick up trash, causing additional health hazards.

We say that we want to transform the country with a more robust private sector, yet we make it harder for small businesses to open and thrive. I have talked to small business owners there, one who went from 400 employees to 12 due to our blockade. The government in Cuba announced 176 reforms for helping private businesses, but our government refuses to acknowledge a single one. Bluntly, the U.S. Government is lying to the American people about Cuba.

I met with some ambassadors from other countries, and one thing really stuck. One said that it was like a silent Gaza. No, there aren't bombs destroying buildings and neighborhoods, but there is a destruction of the power system. There is a devastation to their healthcare system. There is an attack on their ability to educate their children.

The people of Cuba are hurting economically more than ever, all due to the U.S. sanctions and blockade, not because of the Cuban Government.

Mr. Speaker, their governing system certainly isn't ours. We disagree with some of their actions, for sure. Unfortunately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is making this personal and political rather than about the best interests of the United States.

The State Department just published a ridiculous report about the threat to America from Cuba. It may be the stupidest, most fantastical, most biased thing I have ever read from a government agency. Enough.

The people of America are tired of war and regime change. We want things in our country addressed, like being able to make a good wage and have groceries, healthcare, and gas be more affordable. Yet, starting another conflict while in a quagmire in Iran is the last thing we need.

We don't want another Gaza in Cuba. We need to end the blockade.

Mr. Speaker, I was not present for two Roll Call votes on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. Had I been present, I would have

voted: YEA on Roll Call No. 32, On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree to H.R. 5763; and YEA on Roll Call No. 33, On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree to H.R. 5764.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge us to pass this discharge petition.

Earlier this year, Donald Trump did an illegal executive order, stripping a million Federal workers from their collective bargaining rights, rights they have had since 1962.

We have seen this in my home State. In 2011, Governor Scott Walker launched one of the most aggressive attacks on workers' rights, stripping collective bargaining rights.

What happened? Our School of Education had a two-thirds drop in people applying to be teachers. We lost long-term public employees. That affected services.

This bill will restore longstanding collective bargaining protections and ensure that any future administration cannot demolish these rights again.

We hear our Federal employees across the country. We value them, and we are fighting with them. We stand on behalf of the Federal workers that are negatively affected by the President's actions.

Mr. Speaker, yes, the Federal Government will officially reopen with the House vote today, but here is what won't happen. We won't protect the 22 million people paying more for the ACA or the 15 million people losing their healthcare outright due to Republican actions in the big, ugly law, nor will we stop the healthcare rate increases for everyone in this country.

We won't be restoring food assistance today for the millions of Americans who benefit from SNAP because House Republicans voted to cut the number one program that keeps kids and seniors out of poverty by over $180 billion.

Nor will we be able today to roll back the tax cuts for billionaires and Republicans' GOP donors that they funded by gutting those healthcare and food programs.

I sure hope Republicans are tanned and rested after their 8-week paid vacation, because they are going to need it. Democrats are going to continue fighting every single day for people's healthcare and food benefits. We are going to be on Republicans day after day until we get it done.

Vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I was not present for two Roll Call votes on Monday, September 15, 2025. Had I been present, I would have voted in the following manner:

NAY on Roll Call No. 265, On Motion to Table the Motion to Discharge Committee of H. Res. 117; and YEA on Roll Call No. 266, On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree to H.R. 3400.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak out against the genocide that is occurring in Gaza against the Palestinians.

I am not ignoring the outrageous attacks on October 7 that left at least 1,200 people dead and the dozens of hostages who remain. Nor am I ignoring the decades of isolation that Gaza has endured by the Israeli Government, essentially turning the small but densely populated region into an open-air prison from which few could easily come and go as they pleased.

However, it is simply outrageous what is occurring in Gaza right now, and not speaking out against the inhumanity could be considered complicity.

At least 64,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including tens of thousands of mothers, children, and other innocent people. Sadly, it is likely that the actual death toll is even higher. The U.N. estimates that approximately 92 percent of residential buildings and 70 percent of all the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed.

Starvation is rampant, as is disease. Famine is no longer an imminent threat. It is happening now, and babies are dying. The killing of people in hospitals and those trying to get food aid, normally considered off-limits even in war, occurs regularly, with an official shrug when the Israeli Government is called out.

The definition of genocide by the New Oxford American Dictionary is ``the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.''

That is exactly what we are seeing in Gaza right now by the Israeli Government under Benjamin Netanyahu, an accused war criminal by the International Criminal Court.

This war isn't a targeted response against Hamas, guilty of the October 7 attacks and decades of violence. This is a wholesale attack on the people of Gaza.

Israeli groups like B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have recently called what is happening genocide. International human rights groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have as well.

Recently, the International Association of Genocide Scholars added their voices on the genocide. The United Nations' special committee said last November that Israel's war conduct in Gaza is ``consistent with the characteristics of genocide,'' including mass civilian casualties and using starvation as a weapon.

No weapons should be sent from the United States to Israel that could be used against the people of Gaza. Instead of photo ops with Benjamin Netanyahu, it is time for condemnation. Help facilitate the serving of an arrest warrant from the ICC to him.

Let's make him the international pariah he should be. Let's use our leverage to pressure him not to commit genocide in Gaza. People of good conscience must join in this denunciation of what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank.

Funding Meals on Wheels

Madam Speaker, the Republicans in the appropriations process

are leaving seniors to starve, underfunding the Meals on Wheels food assistance program by $600 million, a move that is likely to cost 1.9 million needy people their access to food. This follows the big, ugly bill, which all but three Republicans voted for, making it the largest cut to food assistance in our Nation's history.

By flat-funding the vital Meals on Wheels program for seniors in the Health and Human Services appropriations bill, Republicans are ignoring the real increase in food costs that Americans are experiencing due to a lack of action by the administration to lower costs.

With all of this talk of Republicans making food access harder and harder for millions and millions of Americans, what did they do this weekend at the White House? They held an extravagant dinner in the newly paved area that once was the Rose Garden and had a three-course dinner and drinks, featuring Rose Garden salad--at least we know where the plants went that once were there--steak, and a fudge-filled, seven- layer cake, making their cuts to food assistance even more tone deaf than ever.

A fudge-filled, seven-layer cake? I guess the theme of the White House event was ``let them eat cake.'' How fitting.

Mr. Speaker, I was not present for Roll Call Votes on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Had I been present, I would have voted in the following manner YEA on Roll Call No. 123, On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree to H. Con. Res. 30, and YEA on Roll Call No. 124, On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree to H.R. 249.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the special election that we had in Wisconsin last Tuesday for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It was an overwhelming rebuke of the Trump-Musk agenda of cutting Medicaid, healthcare, long-term care, education funding, and food assistance to pay for a transfer of wealth of $4.5 trillion from the middle class and those aspiring to the wealthiest in this country.

It wasn't just a 10-point win that mattered. In fact, more than the win was the turnout. We rivaled a midterm congressional election turnout in a spring nonpartisan election. People are pissed, they are scared, and they are feeling unheard. So they came out to vote to be heard.

I know GOP leadership is telling its Members to ignore their constituents and not have townhalls, but I think that is backfiring. In fact, that is what we heard with that Wisconsin election.

I have had multiple townhalls, both in my district and in neighboring congressional districts in Wisconsin. We have had record turnout.

In Belmont, Wisconsin, population 1,000, we had over 200 people show up; and we had to turn people away. People were watching the townhall through the windows. In Viroqua, a town of 4,500 people, 300 to 400 people showed up to voice their displeasure with the Republican agenda. When we go home for this coming Easter break, I will do more townhalls, both in my district and in Republican districts, to make sure that people are being heard.

This is not winning for the American people. Trump's tariffs are taxes on working people. He is crashing the stock market and making costs go up. This is the opposite of what he had promised.

People don't want their services cut to fund a tax cut for the most wealthy. They don't want people who work for veteran hospitals or Social Security to have their jobs cut just to pay for Elon Musk and Donald Trump's tax cuts. They want the Federal Government's hands off the programs they value.

They are rightfully afraid that the Republicans are going after their Social Security, after Musk called it a Ponzi scheme, after Trump lied about the program over and over in the state of the Union, and after the Secretary of Commerce said people could go a month without their Social Security check unless they were fraudsters.

It is their money. Leave it alone. That is the pledge. Mr. Speaker, Republican Members of Congress can ignore their constituents, but listen to the lesson from Wisconsin at your own peril. Figure out how to listen to your constituents or get a discount card at Costco so you can buy Depends by the carton. Those are pretty much your choices.

People don't support what is going on. Represent them, not Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Madam Speaker, if you have ever had a steak dinner, you have likely seen a little sprig of parsley on the plate. Yes, it is food, but clearly it is meaningless to your dinner. It is simply a splash of color, likely left on your plate when you are done that will get washed off or thrown away in the garbage because ultimately it is meaningless, which is how the Republican majority in Congress is acting during this moment in our Nation.

As Donald Trump bends and breaks the Constitution and congressional authority, almost every Republican lawmaker is sitting back and playing the part of parsley. They are silent, maybe a little colorful, but ultimately useless. That is too bad.

As a coequal branch of government to the executive branch, Congress has an obligation to steer our country's direction. The current majority doesn't even have a steering wheel, much less a car. They are sitting on the sidelines cheering on the takeover of our constitutionally given powers acting like pieces of parsley.

Well, House Democrats won't stand by. We may not be in the majority but we are going to call out every illegal action and improper use of power that the executive branch is taking that is hurting our country. We are going to encourage, and where we can, participate in lawsuits, and we are going to expose those who sit quietly by and allow a want- to-be authoritarian and his billionaire benefactor to attempt to destroy our democracy.

We will fight Republicans' enabling agenda in Congress. We won't be washed off the plate. Too much is at stake.

Elon Musk

Madam Speaker, Elon Musk is the 47th President's financial benefactor. He has invested $277 million of his own money into electing Donald Trump and other Republicans, and now apparently, he thinks he owns them.

Elon Musk is destroying our Federal Government. He doesn't understand how things work, and he is breaking it agency by agency every single day while Republicans sit idly by.

I think the worst part is that Elon Musk profits mightily from contracts with the Federal Government. His company's contracts total over $20 billion, more than $3 billion in the last year alone. Now, he has the new title of special government employee, for all practical purposes, a Federal employee himself.

Now, if you follow the law, Federal employees can't also profit from the Federal Government via a Federal contract because they can use their position to swing contracts their way. USAID doesn't offer much profit for Musk, so he wants it dismantled, but NASA does, and his contract likely won't get touched. Maybe it will even grow.

That is why we have laws that prevent Federal employees or other officials, including Members of Congress, from profiting off the Federal Government. It is grifting from the taxpayers, and it is against the law, except apparently, if you are Elon Musk.

Enough is enough. I am introducing legislation to ensure that special government employees like Musk cannot profit off of government contracts. Elon Musk can't be both the beneficiary and decider of where Federal funds are spent simply because he feels he bought himself a President.

It is unconscionable that Elon can collect $20 billion from American taxpayers with one hand while slashing funds for childcare and healthcare, nutrition assistance, and public education with the other.

The Eliminating Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State

Kleptocracy Act, or the ELON MUSK Act, would put a stop to this grift on the taxpayers. Let's pass it.

Politics Should Not be a Spectator Sport

Last week, Donald Trump tried to do what many authoritarian leaders and dictators in other countries have done. He tried to steal money that Congress appropriated for the American people so that he could provide a tax break to Elon Musk and other billionaires and multimillionaires across the country.

His main focus has been to raise the $4 trillion that he needs to fund his tax break for the wealthiest for the next 10 years.

That theft will ultimately take away funds from education and housing, healthcare, veterans benefits, and funds for working people so that we can give billionaires an extra home in the Cayman Islands or membership to Mar-a-Lago.

Social Security and Medicare should beware. A privatized post office is possible. Programs like Medicaid, healthcare and long-term care for people with disabilities and those in need, for sure beware.

Everything we warned you about in Project 2025 is coming true and more. Shutting down Federal agencies won't lower the costs of groceries one dime, but it sets up a gigantic tax break for Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

Now is the time to ensure you don't treat politics as a spectator sport. It is about our survival.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Ivey for convening this Special Order hour and for his hard work on behalf of the Federal employees and all workers in his district. As a co-chair of the Congressional Labor Caucus, I am proud to stand with our essential workers who keep the government running every day.

Since day one of this administration, President Trump has relentlessly attacked Federal employees as he and Elon Musk seek to eliminate nonpartisan, career public servant jobs across the country. These attacks on Federal workers are straight out of the Project 2025 playbook.

Unelected billionaire Elon Musk has been bulldozing through the Federal workforce, demanding the firing of hundreds of thousands of employees whose only fireable offense is trying to serve the American people.

Federal workers are nurses and doctors at veterans hospitals. They process Social Security checks for seniors. They are TSA agents and air traffic controllers who keep us safe when we fly.

More than 85 percent of the Federal workforce operates outside of Washington, D.C. In my home State of Wisconsin, there are 18,000 Federal civilian employees, including over 5,800 Federal workers in my district alone.

In the last 2 days, my office has gotten over 1,000 constituent calls with people angry, hurt, and terrified that the services they use every day will vanish along with the workers who make these programs run. An attack on Federal workers is an attack on the services that Americans rely on every day.

Elon Musk and Trump will continue to put lives at risk as they seek to cut $4 trillion over the next 10 years to pay for tax cuts for Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and the wealthiest.

To all the selfless civil servants, our message is clear: America needs you, and we have your back. We are fighting in Congress to oppose Donald Trump and Elon Musk's baseless attacks on you and your important work. We urge you to stand strong.

Mr. Speaker, this is the third week that we are in the 119th Congress and the third week that no bill is before us to lower costs for Americans.

Instead, before us is a political attempt to divide us as a nation, stigmatizing some kids so some adults can get MAGA merit badges.

The Republican Governor of Utah vetoed a similar piece of legislation after he shared that, of the 75,000 students in high school sports in Utah, only 4 were trans, and only 1 was a girl playing sports. He also mentioned the very real 86 percent of trans kids reporting suicidality due to things like adults stigmatizing kids for political gain.

Instead, today, the proposed solution in search of an actual problem suggests we somehow ban girls from sports with some sort of process to determine who is a girl. Does this mean hiring potential predators to peek at the private parts of kids in locker rooms? That sounds like an actual problem to me.

Creating a solution to a nonexistent problem by creating a problem instead of lowering costs for Americans is a sign of an ineffective congressional majority, at best.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, my community of Madison, Wisconsin, was devastated by a senseless shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School that tragically claimed the lives of one student, one teacher, and the shooter, and left six others injured with two students still in critical condition.

These were innocent lives, innocent victims of senseless violence, and we mourn their loss with their families and loved ones and the entire Abundant Life community.

We also give our sincere thanks for the bravery and quick response of our law enforcement, first responders, and local healthcare workers who have worked tirelessly to respond to this tragic event and save the lives of those injured.

The Abundant Life community, the students, the staff, and the parents are all victims of this traumatic experience, and what happened this week will live on in our memories.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to think about what we can do to prevent us from having to stand here again for yet another moment of silence. We must do better, and we must turn these moments of silence into moments of action.

I ask all Members in this Chamber, as well as all Members and staff in the Capitol, to rise for a moment of silence in remembrance of the recent shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin.