Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Madam Speaker, with the anniversary of 9/11 just a few days away, we are reminded not only of the enormous loss of innocent life and physical destruction that terrorism can bring, but also the long-term, economic harm that follows an attack.

As we have seen with the rise of ISIS, the American people and our interests are always a target and remain under constant threat. With our economy remaining stagnant over the past several years, Congress must make sure we are doing everything we can to protect our citizens and safeguard our fiscal health.

One of the steps we can and must take before the end of this year is to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. This will provide much-needed certainty in the marketplace by making sure that terrorism risk insurance coverage is readily available. This insurance is absolutely key to maintaining our economic security.

Without this reauthorization, we will leave the American people vulnerable to danger that could have been prevented. The Senate has passed a TRIA reauthorization, and I applaud Chairman Hensarling for passing a TRIA bill through the committee in June. While reasonable people can disagree on how this gets done, we should all agree that it must happen.

I thank Chairman Shuster for bringing the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach and Protection Act to this body.

Mr. Chairman, this administration has continually tried to expand the role of the Federal Government in the everyday lives of American families, and now the EPA wants to regulate almost all bodies of water throughout the country, including ditches, pipes, and even farmland ponds.

After meeting with many of my constituents back home throughout the month of August, I know that my fellow farmers, whom I sat with in Indiana, and those of any other State don't want or need more regulatory overreach from Washington, D.C.

From irrigation for crops to water for livestock, farmers feed us and the world with this precious resource. This legislation is an opportunity to maintain the relationship between local and Federal officials already established in the Clean Water Act.

I would like to thank Chairman Shuster, Ranking Member Rahall, and the rest of Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for their hard work on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support this very important bill for rural America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his dedication and hard work in finding a solution to a problem that none of us created here in this Chamber.

I rise today in strong support of this supplemental appropriations bill for the crisis that is going on at our border. I am very proud of our Conference this week, seeking input and solutions from Members, taking the time to make sure that this legislation deals with the problem, and crafting this legislation to make sure that there are no loopholes and that we deal with the specifics and actually put a bill on the floor that should be supported.

Mr. Speaker, the Obama administration has ignored the law and unilaterally established immigration policy without the consent or counsel of Congress. Unfortunately, the humanitarian crisis on our Nation's southern border is the result of a lack of leadership.

To solve this problem, the legislation that we are debating provides critical funding for the National Guard in those States that are seeing an influx. It also authorizes additional judges to hear the increasing caseload that they are seeing grow and grow, more and more everyday. It also makes important reforms to current law to ensure equal and timely due process for all of those unaccompanied minors.

Mr. Speaker, common sense doesn't often prevail here in Washington, but I can tell you that commonsense Hoosiers in my district understand that, first of all, our border needs to be secure, so that our immigration system can then be reformed.

We are a Nation of immigrants. We all have a history in our families of those who have made the effort to come to this great country, and legal immigrants are looking for those opportunities that they have dreamed of.

I thank Chairman Rogers for his work, and I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Moose Lodge No. 1568 in Angola, Indiana, for its 100th anniversary celebration.

Mr. Speaker, on August 26, 1914, the Loyal Order of Moose Supreme Council officially issued a charter for the Angola Lodge, and over the past 100 years, the lodge has grown in membership and has become a recognized service and volunteer organization in the Angola community.

Importantly, the organization's robust community service program has been engaged in countless humanitarian efforts through the lodge's own work, as well as annual donations to other community groups, health support organizations, and local services, such as food banks and homeless shelters.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize, for the record, Mr. Ed Palmer, Angola Lodge's first governor.

In addition, I would like to recognize Tony Culver, Eric Henion, Ron Nusbaum, and Richard Gens for their recent leadership of the organization, as well as the rest of the Moose Lodge's membership as they begin their next 100 years of service to the Angola community.

Congratulations and happy 100th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise out of an overwhelming concern for young people and children in Central America.

President Obama has a habit of saying to Americans, ``Let me be clear.'' I wish desperately he would be clear with the thousands of Central American families who have not yet tried to cross our border.

In 2012, the President announced he would not enforce the law with regard to 800,000 young people who crossed our border illegally. Predictably, families and dangerous smugglers got the message.

Detention centers in our Southwestern States are overflowing. The photos and stories of the traveling and living conditions of these kids is heartbreaking to see and to hear.

Tragically, the administration doubled down on Sunday, when Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson promised more executive action and refused to say new arrivals would be returned. This ambiguous approach created the crisis in the first place. Without clarity, more suffering will assuredly follow.

Mr. Speaker, I wish the President would consider the consequences of his disregard for the rule of law and be clear with would-be legal immigrants.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this Memorial Day week in honor of the brave men and women who have selflessly given their lives for this Nation and the millions of veterans to whom our country owes a debt of gratitude.

Sadly, Mr. Speaker, we have recently learned that the Department of Veterans Affairs has fallen disgracefully below the standard our fighting men and women deserve. Misconduct, lengthy patient wait times, and secret lists are all unacceptable for those who have served our country.

It is time the administration takes action on behalf of those who have fought for our freedom. I look forward to supporting the important VA accountability legislation on the floor today and working with Chairman Jeff Miller and my colleagues in the House to ensure that our veterans receive the care and the respect they undoubtedly earned.

I thank Congressman Price and the Budget Committee for their hard work in trying to give Members of this body better information.

Families and small businesses back home didn't need to read today's jobs report to know that this isn't the strong recovery they deserve. They know that, with Washington's $17 trillion of debt, it isn't hard to see why our economy isn't creating enough jobs.

Hoosiers understand the problems, but they wonder if Washington even cares.

Republicans owe taxpayers a clear plan to tackle the debt and jumpstart the economy with private sector job growth. That is why my colleagues and I are offering a commonsense reform to Washington's broken budget process.

We have to force the Federal Government to take an honest look at how its policies affect Americans struggling in this real economy. It is not too late to save the American Dream from a future of debt and decline, but we have to do that work now.

We owe taxpayers a clear vision for how we can force Washington to stop spending money we don't have and make ends meet without raising taxes. That starts with reforms like the Pro-Growth Budgeting Act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Young for his hard work.

ObamaCare is waging a war on work. ObamaCare's 30-hour rule gives employers an awful choice: cut hours or pay new taxes.

Fort Wayne Community Schools, our State's largest school district, announced last year that they would cut 610 part-time workers after estimating a $10 million cost of compliance with ObamaCare.

My constituent, Todd Hollman, the Vice President of Pizza Hut and KFC of Fort Wayne, writes this:

Due to ACA, our company has been forced to reduce the

number of part-time employees or face even greater penalties

than we already will. Even by reducing the number of newly

defined full-time employees, we will still incur nearly a $1

million penalty in 2015.

While the Obama administration has delayed the employer mandate, businesses are still bracing themselves for ObamaCare's inevitable impact. Hoosiers don't need a part-time economy. We deserve a full- throttled recovery. It is time to repeal ObamaCare's 30-hour definition of full employment.

I thank my friend and colleague, Mr. Young, for his leadership on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2575. It is the right thing to do.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I come to the floor to support H.R. 2824, the Preventing Government Waste and Protecting Coal Mining Jobs in America Act. I thank my colleagues Congressman Johnson and Chairman Doc Hastings for their hard work and leadership on this very important issue.

The Obama administration has consistently put mandates ahead of jobs and energy security. Instead of promoting the American-made energy that powers our factories, small businesses, warehouses, and offices, Washington bureaucrats have wasted nearly $10 million to overhaul coal mining regulation.

Three years ago, the Obama administration's own experts estimated that these unnecessary and sweeping changes could kill 7,000 jobs. The urge to issue mandates was too strong and, instead of listening to reason, the administration fired its own advisers and kept on pressing. That is no way to promote economic recovery.

Mr. Chairman, today's legislation would halt the Obama administration's haphazard and disastrous rulemaking. Hoosiers deserve an all-of-the-above energy plan, not a red tape agenda. So I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Consumer Financial Freedom and Washington Accountability Act. I thank Congressman Duffy and Chairman Hensarling for their leadership on this issue.

The CFPB is disgracefully unaccountable to the American people. Richard Cordray and future directors of the Bureau are virtually unchecked by Congress and the President.

We have seen what happens when bureaucrats so powerful are left so unaccountable. In its 3 short years, the CFPB has burned through its budgets and riffled through the private financial data of millions of Americans.

Hoosiers deserve consumer protections, but they also deserve integrity and accountability. After talking with families, small businesses, community banks, and credit unions back home, I am proud to support the commonsense reforms before the House today.

Let's replace the CFPB's Director with a five-member commission to ensure healthy discussion and bring more seats to the table. Let's rein in the CFPB's budget so that the Members of Congress from both parties can protect their constituents. Let's prohibit government bureaucrats from using private personal information without the consumers' consent.

Mr. Chairman, let's protect and empower American consumers, not Washington bureaucrats.

Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor in strong opposition to the farm bill conference report.

The farm bill is just more business as usual here in Washington. Last summer, the American people won an important victory for common sense and transparency when we ended this unholy alliance between food stamp and farm programs. Together, in this House, we defeated business as usual by passing the first farm-only farm bill in nearly 40 years. But business as usual fought back, and here we are today.

Not only does this farm bill recombine food stamps and farm programs, it actually spends even more than the first bill the Senate passed. This is exactly the kind of logrolling that we fought to prevent this summer.

Mr. Speaker, Congress works best when we do our work in the full light of day. Unfortunately, this farm bill was written behind closed doors. It has stripped long-term reforms. It spends money we simply don't have, and it stripped out important policies that negatively affect our livestock industry.

As a farmer and a conservative, I will not vote to take a step backwards.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding and for her hard work on this very important issue.

Madam Speaker, I am humbled to join my pro-life colleagues here on the House floor and, more importantly, the millions of pro-life Americans across the country.

Although this debate is often clouded by empty euphemisms like ``choice,'' we cannot forget the human element at the heart of this issue. This isn't about abstract concepts. This is about babies, the most vulnerable members of our society. At the same time, we must show compassion and offer help to those struggling through what seems like an impossible circumstance; and, as civilized people, we ought to prevent taxpayer dollars from subsidizing the senseless destruction of innocent lives once and for all. After all, we are a Nation founded to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, we have an opportunity to do exactly that with commonsense legislation. Millions of pro-life Americans don't want their tax dollars used to subsidize abortions.

I urge my colleagues to support the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 1471, the Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for National Cemeteries Act. I thank my Indiana colleagues, Senator Dan Coats and Congresswoman Susan Brooks, for their hard work.

The namesake of this bill is Alicia Dawn Koehl. She was the wife of Fort Wayne native Paul Koehl from my district and the mother of two children. She was also the daughter-in-law of Frank and Carol Koehl.

Last year, Alicia was tragically murdered, and after her killer, an Army veteran, committed suicide, he was buried in a national cemetery with military honors despite laws prohibiting such distinction.

This bill provides the Department of Veterans Affairs the authority to right such wrongs, ensuring our national cemeteries are reserved for our country's most deserving heroes.

Mr. Speaker, my sympathies go out to the family and friends of Ms. Koehl. It is impossible for any of us here today to fully grasp the hardship they have needlessly endured.

I respectfully ask my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1105, the Small Business Capital Access and Job Preservation Act. Washington can't regulate its way to the top while red tape puts American jobs at risk.

Too often big-government builds barriers to success but men and women in the real economy know how to get the job done. In nearly every sector of our economy, thousands of companies are backed by private equity and employ millions of hardworking Americans.

Unfortunately, Dodd-Frank places unnecessary and burdensome regulations on private firms that invest hundreds of billions of dollars each year to open doors for new opportunities. Instead of creating jobs, these requirements increase costs, divert capital, and consume time.

Private equity is critical to a strong recovery and works best when advisers look ahead for new opportunities, not when they're constantly forced to worry about red tape. Today, we have an opportunity to reduce Dodd-Frank's unfair burdens on responsible investment advisors.

It's time to pass this common-sense legislation and unleash new opportunities for job growth.

I thank my colleague Representative Hurt for his work on this issue and Chairman Hensarling for his leadership. I urge my colleagues to vote yes.