Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, House Democrats who attacked unmasked and unvaccinated Americans as super-spreaders and said they should be fired from their jobs suddenly decided to lift the mask mandate and crowd together last night, hugging and kissing each other in a packed room right before the State of the Union to benefit President Biden's political optics.

COVID restrictions weren't lifted because they were destroying children's lives or killing small businesses. The restrictions ended because a politician's poll numbers got too low, and he needed a political reset. The American people are disgusted by this political double standard. They are never going to forget it.

But we are not surprised. Every decision the Biden administration makes has gone against the needs and the will of the American people.

Americans want secure borders and police protection. What does the left do? Open our borders, facilitate an invasion, and defund and demoralize our police.

Americans want energy independence and affordable gas. What does the left do? They dismantle our domestic energy industry and are forcing Americans to buy Chinese solar panels and batteries.

The left may be woke, but Americans are awake. The state of the Union is ready for a change.

Madam Speaker, the Biden administration is engaged in an assault on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

It was recently discovered that the Biden administration has been maintaining nearly 1 billion records on gun sales. My colleagues and I sent a letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives demanding answers about this registry. The ATF must be held accountable.

Federal law prohibits the Biden administration from maintaining a database of 1 billion gun records.

What makes this more outrageous, this unconstitutional behavior of the Biden administration, is that, at the same time, they are continuing to empower Mexican cartels, criminal cartels who are transporting weapons across the border while threatening the rights of law-abiding Americans.

Lawful gun owners are rightfully concerned, and it is up to Congress to investigate further. President Biden and the Democrats want to defund the police, take away your Second Amendment right to self- defense, and then watch as crime skyrockets across the country, including in cities like Chicago.

I will continue to stand up for our Second Amendment. As long as I am here in Congress, every day I will fight for our constitutional rights, including our Second Amendment.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

In a bill that professes to push back on the influence of China's authoritarian regime, this amendment runs the risk of putting the personal information of every one of America's college students in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.

It will allow the Biden administration to create a Federal database that will track every single student pursuing a postsecondary degree without their consent or any ability to opt out, even if they don't accept Federal aid. The Biden administration will also be able to use this data to match with other databases across the Federal Government with few limits on what can be tracked and gathered.

While the bill claims the data will be secure, once the data comes from the Federal Government, there are no guarantees information will not fall into the hands of criminals or our adversaries.

Madam Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this Federal database amendment.

Madam Speaker, biofuels drive the rural economy and strengthen our energy security. Two weeks ago, President Biden's agriculture Secretary suggested it was unfair of me to suggest that he wasn't doing enough for biofuels.

This week, the Biden EPA announced that they are delaying RFS deadlines, which creates uncertainty for American farmers. Instead of putting American farmers first, the Biden administration is pushing Chinese batteries and Green New Deal policies.

The Biden administration must stop creating uncertainty for the biofuels industry and misleading our farmers about support for biofuels. We need clear answers from the Biden administration on RFS blending targets.

Madam Speaker, the Biden administration wants to defend Ukraine's border but doesn't want to protect our own; leaving our southern border exposed to an invasion coordinated by drug cartels and human traffickers.

I visited the border with President Trump and saw firsthand how Biden's border policies have contributed to a crime wave and a drug overdose epidemic. I supported Articles of Impeachment for President Biden because he is intentionally violating our immigration laws and the security of our border, jeopardizing Americans' lives for political purposes.

If President Biden is actually worried about the threat posed by Russia, why isn't he concerned that in December 2,000 Russian nationals illegally crossed America's southern border?

My constituents miss President Trump and his policies that put America first.

Madam Speaker, all children are created by God at conception with a purpose. We must continue our work to end the scourge of abortion in America without exception.

The strides that we have made for the pro-life movement over recent years are incredible, and I am honored to be part of a group of such hardworking pro-life legislators.

Our daughters are part of the pro-life generation, full of students and young women that want to protect life in the womb. They have seen their siblings in sonograms. They have seen the pictures, and when they are told it is a glob of tissue, they know better.

I introduced the Protecting Life on College Campuses Act, which would prohibit any Federal funds from going to a college or university which is supplying dangerous chemical abortion pills.

This past Christmas, the week before Christmas, while no one was looking, the Biden administration and Governor Pritzker advanced very radical abortion policies, which are deeply unpopular with the American people. They want to remove parental involvement every step of the way for minors receiving an abortion because they are not pro-choice; they are pro-abortion.

Standing strong in this fight, we are participating in what could be potentially the last March for Life under Roe, and I could not be more thrilled.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and service of Wayne County Deputy Sheriff Sean Riley.

Our communities in Illinois and across the Nation continue to mourn the loss of our fallen hero.

Deputy Riley was called home to be with the Lord on December 29, 2021. He was on duty, responding to assist a motorist when he was shot and killed.

May God continue to comfort this family as they grieve this awful loss. Wayne County Sheriff Otey said, ``The only thing Sean cared about more than being a deputy was his family.''

Please join me in prayer for the family of Deputy Sean Riley, the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, and our community in Illinois.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

Madam Speaker, I thank the Congressman for hosting this Special Order.

Madam Speaker, Americans have experienced whiplash this past year as the Biden administration has spun us from the America first agenda to America last.

We watched in horror as the Taliban released thousands of al-Qaida, ISIS, and Taliban prisoners from the prison at Bagram Air Base. Our servicemembers bravely sacrificed to capture those terrorists, and the Biden administration allowed them to be released. One of the ISIS-K prisoners led the bombing that killed our 13 servicemembers.

Biden's failure in Afghanistan led to the surrender of tens of billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment to the Taliban. Military equipment paid for by U.S. taxpayers will now be used against America because of President Biden. As Afghanistan fell, President Biden disappeared, first to Camp David and then to Delaware.

His Cabinet refused to brief the American people directly and instead sent spokesmen. Additionally, the Defense Secretary refused to testify before Congress.

The Biden administration then flew an estimated 78,000 Afghan nationals to American soil and then lied to the American people about the vetting process they were using to ensure that no ISIS, al-Qaida, or Taliban terrorists were brought to our shores.

To this day, no one in the Biden administration has been held responsible for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan or for the lies that were told to the American people, and no one has been fired or resigned.

Madam Speaker, who will be fired?

Who is resigning?

The American people deserve accountability. China, our enemy, has watched all of this unfold; and, sadly, our children and grandchildren will pay the price of Biden's incompetence.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday news reports suggested that President Biden's Secretary of Education was involved in requesting a letter from the National School Boards Association, calling for the FBI to intimidate parents who have shown up to school board meetings.

The House Education and Labor Committee must hold immediate hearings with the Secretary so that we can ask him under oath if he solicited this memo.

The Federal Government should never treat parents like terrorists for showing up at public hearings to oppose the racist critical race theory or the perverted sex-ed curriculum that is being forced upon our children.

Parents are in charge of the school system, not liberal activists from Washington, D.C., who are using the FBI as their political police force.

Mr. Speaker, the members of the January 6th Commission have turned this body into a star chamber, using the powers of Congress to persecute and bankrupt their political opponents.

Using political power to destroy your political opponents is evil and un-American. We are not a banana republic.

Right now, the American people are suffering under the harsh economic realities of the Biden administration: Record-high inflation, record- high gas prices, record-high home heating bills, empty shelves at Christmas. COVID mandates and lockdowns continue to threaten our economy and our children's future.

What is the January 6th Commission's response to the suffering of the American people under Biden's policies? A never-ending political witch hunt against President Trump.

The January 6th Commission hates President Trump because he exposed the corruption of the D.C. establishment here in the swamp.

This January 6th Commission is a disgrace, and anyone who voted for it should be ashamed of themselves.

I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5609, the Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021.

My fellow farmers, farm families, and members of the House Agriculture Committee know the importance of bringing transparency to the cattle market. Currently, cattlemen are unaware of contract terms being offered by producers, which leads to a decline in leverage for smaller producers during price negotiations.

This bill will require packers to report terms of alternative marketing agreements between packers and producers to the USDA, equipping ranchers with additional market data needed to make informed business decisions.

The USDA library will provide producers with key details on cattle contracts, including the type and duration. Market transparency is a critical component of price discovery in cattle marketing.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) for putting forth this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, Joe Biden's open-border policies have created a crisis on our border not seen in over 30 years. And what are the Democrats doing to address this worsening border crisis? They just passed through a multitrillion-dollar spending bill with mass amnesty for up to 10 million illegal immigrants, plus $100 billion in taxpayer-funded benefits.

This far-left, socialist reconciliation package provides zero funding for border wall construction, technology, or additional Border Patrol agents.

While border arrests are at an all-time high with no signs of stopping, our border czar, Vice President Harris, who has yet to be seen, has no solutions that would end the crisis on our border. Instead, Biden and Harris continue to incentivize illegal immigration at the expense of all Americans.

Open borders plus amnesty is the end of our great country as we know it.

Madam Speaker, I have observed multiple times when we open our daily session in prayer that we are praying to Creator God, acknowledging that God is our creator. He is also the giver of life.

I am proud of my five daughters who cherish this blessing from our Creator and have blessed us with 17 grandchildren.

The abortion industry talks about pregnancy as if it is a cancer diagnosis. How sad and tragic that Planned Parenthood and the chemical abortion industry have targeted and deceived young women for their own profit.

Today, we have been praying for wisdom and for God's guiding hand over the Supreme Court as it hears the Dobbs v. Jackson case. This case could mark the biggest win for human life in America in decades. In Illinois' 15th Congressional District, we honor and respect the dignity of all stages of life, born and unborn. Pro-life Americans believe all life has value, no matter how small.

I also have a little grandson who has Down syndrome. He is just precious. His name is Nathaniel, and that means a gift from God.

With the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case, the Court can correct the dreadful ruling of Roe v. Wade and acknowledge that the decision wasn't constitutional or based in reality.

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, Congressman Lamborn, for hosting this wonderful Special Order this evening.

It is fitting that we commemorate the Bible's central role in moral, educated, and free societies and that we get to celebrate the freedom that we have in this country to own, to share, and to speak about the Bible.

Bible reading has been a great encouragement and comfort to people throughout history and has contributed to the spiritual, moral, and social fiber of our Nation.

Millions of Americans have been impacted by the Bible. It is especially important to my constituents back in the 15th Congressional District of Illinois.

It is a priority of our home. We have daily Bible reading and scripture memory, and we raised our children that way.

John Quincy Adams said, ``So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society.''

I do have to agree with Congressman Babin when he said we live in perilous times. I would like to suggest that maybe we shouldn't have neglected in recent times the Scriptures and maybe we need to give more earnest heed to the Bible and what it says.

The Bible is the book above all others, to be read at all ages and in all conditions of human life. The Psalms say, ``Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.''

It answers all the great questions of life: Where did we come from? Why am I here? How shall I live? What is good and evil? What is the remedy for my sin? And where is our destiny?

May those of us who read and reverence the Holy Scriptures be doers of the Word and not hearers only.