Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, in July, the House Republicans passed the most conservative NDAA in history that ended Biden's taxpayer- funded abortion travel fund, stopped taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries, and prevented American citizens from being indefinitely detained without charge or trial. I was proud to vote for that legislation.

I understood that this bill would change in the Senate and knew that compromise was inevitable.

However, I cannot support a bill written by the D.C. uniparty that removes all of the reforms and watch as leadership once again suspends the rules we fought to restore, preventing Members from even amending this flawed legislation.

Even worse, this legislation includes a clean extension of FISA section 702, which has allowed the FBI to spy on U.S. citizens more than 278,000 times without a warrant. The FBI, under President Biden, has been weaponized against the American people, and major reform is needed.

FISA should not be combined with our national defense, and it is unacceptable that leadership is bypassing regular order to jam Members by forcing them to vote on two unrelated bills with one vote. Make no mistake about this, folks: This one vote will allow the United States Government to spy on you and the United States military to lock you up in Guantanamo Bay without representation.

Mr. Speaker, on this National Miners Day, I rise to recognize all miners across Montana who work tirelessly to keep our lights on and our country safe.

It is truly an honor and a privilege to represent the State of Montana in Congress--a State whose founding history lies in the hardworking hands of miners.

It is no coincidence that Montana is nicknamed the ``Treasure State.'' As seen on our State's great seal and State flag: a pick, a shovel, and a plow along with the words ``Oro y Plata,'' ``Gold and Silver,'' in Spanish, are depicted front and center, symbolizing our State's diverse natural resources and our rich history of farming and mining.

Earlier this year, I led an energy tour and brought several Members of Congress to Montana to visit the Stillwater Mine in Columbus and the Rosebud Mine in Colstrip so they could see firsthand the work our miners do and how critical they are to our national security and powering America.

On this day and every day, I thank Montana miners for their indispensable role in the production of domestic energy that keeps America safe, thriving, and powered.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, my amendment No. 33 prohibits funding for the John E. Fogarty International Center saving approximately $95 million.

Our Nation is over $33 trillion in debt, with an expected annual deficit this year of nearly $2 trillion. We need to find innovative ways to reduce spending. While many would consider this small potatoes, we must begin with the most blatant violations of the public trust, and that is what we consider this.

My amendment builds off of President Trump's first budget request, which called for eliminating the Fogarty International Center.

According to their website, the Fogarty International Center is dedicated to advancing the mission of the National Institutes of Health by supporting and facilitating global health research conducted by the

Mr. Chair, if we are going to send funds overseas, they should project our values. I agree with the overwhelming majority of Americans and Montanans stating this center doesn't project our values.

A grant that received funds through the Fogarty International Center in Uganda is titled: ``HIV Self Testing to Empower Prevention Choices in Sex Workers.'' If you want to protect men and women from drug abuse and sex crimes, my colleagues should begin by helping me and my colleagues on this side of the aisle by securing the southern border and helping us to locate the approximately 100,000 children who have been released into our country and most likely condemned to a life of sex slavery.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Chair, again, if we are going to invest funds overseas and here domestically, we should make sure that it projects our values.

Another grant that received funds through the Fogarty International Center in Ukraine, where we have seen billions of dollars squandered, was titled: ``Using latent class analysis to understand the role of layered stigma on engagement in care among HIV positive women who use drugs in Ukraine.''

They have a battle going on. They have a war in Ukraine. We hear about it daily. Yet, the Fogarty International Center is not going to try to figure out a way to bring those parties to the table to achieve peace. They want to find out about drugs being used by women who participate in the sex trade.

Mr. Chair, again, for this and many reasons, I hope my colleagues can support this amendment. We need to protect our values oversees, and the Fogarty International Center does not do so.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment No. 133 would prohibit funds made available by this act from conducting or supporting any gain-of-function research involving a potential pandemic pathogen by the Rocky Mountain Laboratories.

We have heard a lot of conversations and debate about gain-of- function research as we went through the pandemic, and we are going to hear a little bit more about it this evening.

I am pleased that the base text of this legislation has a provision that prevents dangerous gain-of-function research in any country determined to be a foreign adversary. However, gain-of-function research can potentially be dangerous no matter where the research is conducted.

My amendment would ensure that this dangerous research does not take place at the laboratory located in Hamilton, Montana.

Evidence points out that the COVID-19 pandemic was likely caused by gain-of-function research that took place at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

During his tenure as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci expanded Rocky Mountain Laboratories to include a biosafety level 4 laboratory for research and experiments on deadly pathogens with pandemic potential.

The laboratory spent millions to infect bats with a coronavirus obtained directly from the Wuhan lab 1 year before COVID. Specifically, under Dr. Fauci's tenure, Rocky Mountain Laboratories infected Egyptian fruit bats with coronavirus obtained from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Gain-of-function research is a broad area of scientific inquiry where an organism gains a new property or an existing property is altered. Many experts warn these practices could lead to widespread community infections and death, which is exactly what we saw during the 2020 pandemic.

Taxpayers in Montana and across the Nation should not be funding unnecessarily dangerous animal research that can spark another pandemic.

My amendment would undo some of the damage done by Anthony Fauci by defunding NIH research programs he supported that put public health and national security at risk.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate everyone supporting this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment No. 134 reduces the salary of Vincent Munster, chief of the Virus Ecology Section of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to $1.

This is going to be on the same subject matter and, actually, in the same location, unfortunately. Specifically, he was the lead researcher on the 2018 project to infect Egyptian fruit bats with a coronavirus obtained from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology. He also actively collaborates on projects with the disgraced EcoHealth Alliance.

I am pleased that the base text of this legislation prohibits any funds from going toward the EcoHealth Alliance. EcoHealth was first investigated for its involvement in mismanaging NIH-funded gain-of- function research. The Department of Health and Human Services inspector general confirmed that EcoHealth mismanaged the grant to the Wuhan laboratory, didn't properly report the gain-of-function experiments, and misspent taxpayer funds.

Furthermore, Munster is trying to help EcoHealth establish a new bat lab in the United States with bats shipped from Asia. Specifically, on April 1, 2020, Munster wrote a letter of support for the Colorado State University bat research center.

Munster showed a major lack of judgment in endorsing an EcoHealth-led project to import and experiment on bats when the entire world was learning that a bat virus from Asia caused COVID-19.

Additionally, Vincent Munster has collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Shi Zhengli, commonly known as the bat lady. She led the

team of researchers where the COVID-19 virus most likely emerged from.

It is unacceptable that shoddy research practices by deep state bureaucrats shut down our country, closed our schools, forced businesses to close, and caused deaths and despair. Accountability is absolutely needed and demanded.

While the vast majority of the employees at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories are committed to excellence, tax dollars should not go to an employee who was negligent and irresponsible in his duties.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, no good deed goes unpunished.

I will tell you; I have held the hands of crying widows when their husbands passed away and they were not allowed to visit them in the hospital because of all the mandates from COVID-19 that bureaucrats had put in place.

Our public health experts, Mr. Chair, have been wrong about everything from the beginning on COVID-19. They told us that masks would work. They told us that vaccines would prevent transmission. They told us that shutting down our country was necessary in order to keep COVID-19 from spreading. They were all wrong.

They were wrong for bringing the virus to our country and experimenting on gain of function anyway, so excuse me if I don't take the recommendations of the experts.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, the Representative from Connecticut spends a lot of time giving accolades to Anthony Fauci. I would like to tell you that we gladly would reduce his compensation to zero and I would have tens of millions of Americans join me in making sure that that happens, but he was smart enough to get out of town while the getting was good.

He resigned. He retired. Unfortunately, we are going to be paying compensation to him for quite some time, but the subject this evening is the compensation of Vincent Munster, who acted in a negligent and reckless manner, and I would request the right to reduce his salary to zero with this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I ask all my colleagues to support the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, my amendment No. 135 would prohibit funds from being used to implement the Office of Refugee Resettlement's proposed rule which allows for the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions for unaccompanied minors.

This proposed rule is a flagrant violation of the Hyde amendment, which prohibits the use of Federal tax dollars from paying for abortions and completely ignores the crisis at our border.

The southern border, under the Biden administration, is wide-open, with up to 10 million illegal aliens encountered at our borders in fiscal year 2023.

Due to these failed policies, fentanyl deaths are up a staggering 1,425 percent from just 6 years ago in my home State of Montana.

It is appalling that Joe Biden and his Department of Health and Human Services are demanding Americans fund abortions for migrant children. These are the kinds of policies being pushed by the Biden administration, instead of closing our border and providing relief to the countless communities ravaged by these disastrous open border policies.

Regrettably, this President is far more concerned with advancing a far-left abortion agenda instead of securing our border and saving American lives.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, this is for Labor-HHS amendment No. 135, abortions for unaccompanied minors, disallowing taxpayer dollars to be used for abortions on unaccompanied minors.

Mr. Chair, what we are saying is that none of the funds that are going to be allocated to the Office of Refugee Resettlement proposed rule would allow any of those dollars to be used for abortions for unaccompanied minors.

Mr. Chair, apparently, we don't have good clarification here. Rather than to go on through this debate this evening, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on this Veterans Day, I rise to recognize the people of Golden Valley, Montana, who are honoring the brave Montanans who served our Nation in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan with a new memorial in the community.

The Treasure State has a long history of military service. And Montanans never fail to remember the sacrifice our men and women in uniform have made to preserve and protect the freedoms we cherish.

Golden Valley is no different. I commend the work they have done to build a memorial to allow us all to pay tribute to those who have fought for our country.

It is a privilege to represent the people of Golden Valley in Congress. It is also a privilege to recognize their commitment to honoring our Nation's heroes in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment No. 89 will prohibit any funds made available in this act from being used to enforce the Federal supplier climate risks and resilience proposed rule.

This rule is part of the Biden administration's plan for the Federal Government to reach net-zero procurement.

The rule seeks to impose impractical and overly burdensome climate reporting standards on large- and medium-sized government contractors of which small businesses make up 29 percent and 64 percent respectively.

Climate and emissions standards should not be integrated into financial reporting, especially for the small businesses who lack the resources to meet these environmentalists' extreme standards.

These government contractors play a critical role in providing essential goods and services such as weapons systems to our military and the very uniforms that they wear. Wool from Montana is used in the design and the production of our Army uniforms.

Currently, only 10 percent of medium-sized contractors and 31 percent of large contractors disclose their GHG emissions.

These reporting requirements represent a substantial burden, especially for contractors who lack the infrastructure to collect emissions data. To comply with these overly burdensome regulations, these small businesses will be required to invest significant amounts of time, money, and manpower to establish entirely new emissions reporting regimes. Such an endeavor will be financially crippling for many of them.

As Congress, we should ensure that the best companies for the job are the ones who get the contract, not just massive government contractors who can produce time-consuming reports. We should not be imposing these impractical emissions reporting standards on any businesses, particularly on the family ranches that produce our military uniforms.

This amendment is about ensuring that our government remains impartial and does not become a platform for large corporations to stifle competition.

We must champion true and fair competition within the government contract space, promoting economic fairness and a level playing field over an environmentalist agenda.

Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment, which aims to protect the interests of small businesses and uphold the principles of fairness, competitiveness, and financial responsibility.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, just so everybody understands, this proposed rule from the Biden administration requires major contractors to annually disclose scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions and to establish science-based target requirements.

Let me tell you what scope 1 is: greenhouse gas emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the reporting entity. If I am raising wool, am I supposed to follow around behind each and every sheep that runs through the pasture to check the flatulence that they are releasing from their derrieres? This is absolutely ridiculous, and this is the kind of thing that the other side of the aisle is requiring.

I am not going to the south end of a northbound sheep to try to find out how much is being emitted.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I think that we have very quickly demonstrated how ridiculous this standard is, and I hope that all of my colleagues support this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, my amendment No. 90 would prohibit any funds made available by this act from being used for the purchase or construction of any new Federal building in Washington, D.C.

Our Nation is over $33 trillion in debt, with an expected annual deficit this year of nearly $2 trillion. We need to find innovative ways to reduce this spending.

The Federal Government spends approximately $25 billion annually to operate, maintain, or lease over 278,000 buildings. Some Realtors out there are getting very wealthy managing these properties.

A recent GAO report found that, in early 2023, well past COVID at- home working, two-thirds of Federal agencies used a mere 25 percent or less of

their space at headquarters. You cannot keep vacancy rates like that on any commercial enterprise and stay in business.

The same report also found that, on the higher range, agencies used an estimated 39 to 49 percent of the capacity of their headquarters.

The Federal Government wastes billions of taxpayer dollars to own and maintain buildings and barely uses them. This is unacceptable, and quite frankly, it is an insult to the taxpayers of Montana. Moreover, having all of our Federal agencies in Washington, D.C., makes them less accountable to the American people.

One of President Trump's accomplishments was moving the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to Colorado. Agencies should be close to the constituents where their actions have the biggest impact. Unfortunately, Secretary Haaland reversed course and moved the BLM's headquarters back to Washington, D.C. If the BLM was still headquartered in Colorado, maybe Director Stone-Manning would be more accessible to the constituents whom her disastrous rules have harmed.

Our Nation is trillions in debt and wastes billions on underutilized Federal buildings. No organization can operate this way successfully. The status quo must change. My commonsense amendment would simply prohibit funds for constructing or purchasing new buildings in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, let me reiterate this again: Two-thirds of Federal agencies used 25 percent or less of their space at headquarters. This was not during the peak of COVID when we had a lot of people working from home. This is a report that the GAO just produced in 2023.

We have vacant buildings. People are probably wandering around there, wondering what the echo sound is.

In January 2023, at a meeting of the Federal Real Property Council, more than half of the agency officials acknowledged that their headquarters buildings had excess space prior to the pandemic.

Mr. Chair, we have too much real estate. We need to liquidate some of these assets. We need to get some of those buildings off the books. Then, we can have a conversation about where new construction can take place.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, my amendment No. 91 would reduce funding to the Commission by 50 percent, saving American taxpayers approximately $69 million. This does not include the savings from the unnecessary regulations on the industry and the obligation that the regulatory state has created on them.

The Biden-appointed CPSC Commissioners began talking about banning gas stoves this past January. After major pushback, the Chair of the CPSC said that they weren't looking into a ban on gas stoves. However, the Biden administration still moved forward with the Department of Energy rule on gas stove emissions.

I was proud to vote for Representative Kelly Armstrong's Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act in June, and I am pleased that the base text of this bill includes a provision to protect Americans from unserious and invasive emissions standards.

However, this ordeal has led me to lose any confidence in the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which should probably not exist in the first place and should only issue recommendations.

These unelected bureaucrats get paid to work out of a beltway office and decide what products Americans can buy. It is time to rein them in. American people and businesses should be the ones making those decisions. If there is a particularly egregious product, consumers have legal recourse, and Congress can step in and make a law. It shouldn't be done by unaccountable bureaucrats who are invested in keeping themselves employed by continuing to overregulate products.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, besides trying to ban gas stoves, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has also proposed other ridiculous rules.

For example, on October 25, 2023--not the early 1900s, 2023--the Commission proposed a rule on furnaces that states: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined preliminarily that there is an unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with residential gas- fired central furnaces, boilers, wall furnaces, and floor furnaces.

This is all gas furnaces and boilers.

Let's get to the crux of this. This agency is trying to put the natural fuels that we have in our country out of business. This is another ploy by the Biden administration to drive us all to this broken idea of relying upon renewable energy. It is not realistic. This is just another agency that is trying to perpetuate that, and they do not need more money to attack the American people and American industries.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, under the legal theory espoused by the Commission, all manufacturers and retailers would be liable for injuries caused by consumers' negligence or even intentional misuse of a safe product, even when the manufacturer provided warnings and instructions on safe use. This is nothing more than a trial attorney's dream come true. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, my amendment No. 92 would prohibit funding for President Biden's new Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

Since President Biden took office in January of 2021, our Second Amendment rights have been under assault. Now, with the stroke of a pen, President Biden created the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allowing his administration to bypass Congress unilaterally and implement the left's gun control agenda.

This office would be overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris and staffed with radical former gun control lobbyists, allowing the swamp to have total control of Biden's gun control agenda.

In Montana, 64 percent of the households have firearms. Montanans will not go along with the White House's attempt to undermine our Second Amendment rights.

People often say, what are they afraid of out there in Montana? Why do they need so many firearms? I will tell you, we are not afraid of anything, and it is because we do have our firearms.

It is unacceptable for the hard-earned tax dollars of gun owners in Montana to fund the salaries of unelected, gun-grabbing bureaucrats who are hell-bent on branding law-abiding, responsible gun owners as criminals.

My amendment would throw a wrench in the gun control lobbyists' plans and severely hamper the Biden administration's ability to impose further restrictions on our Second Amendment rights. It is time we drained the swamp and kicked the gun control lobby out of the White House. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, as I have referenced, Vice President Harris possesses no special credentials to run the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and will act as nothing more than a figurehead. The office will rely on leftwing special interests and lobbyists to enact the Democrats' war on the Second Amendment while also rewarding President Biden's donors with cushy jobs at the White House.

Rob Wilcox, the Deputy Director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, led Federal policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, which is primarily financed by Michael Bloomberg. All the time my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to undermine and compromise our Second Amendment rights, they fail to recognize the prosecutors that they have put in place around the country that refuse to charge and prosecute the criminals that should not have guns, that have been doing crimes with illegal firearms. That is where the focus needs to be. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, again, what my colleagues fail to recognize time and time again is the fact that we have so much crime that takes place, criminal on criminal, or criminals committing these crimes and an innocent victim gets tied up in the crossfire.

They also refuse to recognize that these communities and cities that are led by Democrat leaders have had increased crime rates over the last several years since the Biden administration has taken over, and that is because they have prosecutors who are not charging and prosecuting these criminals and letting them off without proper punitive measures taking place.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, forgive me if I don't trust a Federal agency to be policing a community and using their discretion about who may or may not be committing a crime in the future.

My gosh, we have just witnessed the FBI conducting surveillance on Catholics because they were attending Latin masses.

We watched them conduct surveillance on parents because they dared attempt to attend school board meetings.

Now we are going to unleash the Federal agencies to conduct surveillance on people who might own a firearm, who may not own a firearm, who might commit a crime in the future, and they are going to be the sole judge of that?

The people across Montana will not support that. They will not tolerate that, and this amendment deems to get rid of an agency that is trying to do those exact kinds of acts.

I ask my colleagues to please support this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I rise today to express my deep concern about the Biden administration's equity action plan at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

We must ensure that American tax dollars allocated to HUD are spent based on financial need and readiness, not the Democrats' divisive social justice agenda.

These equity action plans direct the department to give special attention to individuals based on their race or if they identify as transgender or gender nonconforming. These criteria have no place in providing affordable housing and ending homelessness.

Helping Americans out of homelessness or helping them to buy their first home should be based on only preparedness and creditworthiness.

Anything else does them a disservice in the long run, as evidenced by the housing collapse of 2008, which was the result of unscrupulous promotion of subprime loans.

It is a fundamental tenet of our Republic that we treat all Americans equally, regardless of their race or creed. If any American is struggling, they should have equal access to assistance.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development should support those who are in need and ready to receive or help--no need for equity action plans.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support Congressman Self's amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to wish the State of Montana a happy 134th birthday. On November 8, 1889, Montana was the 41st State admitted to the Union, and it is truly a blessing to call it home.

Montana boasts a rich heritage and is home to some of the Nation's most pristine public lands, including Glacier National Park and the crown jewel of the National Park System, Yellowstone.

However, what truly makes Montana special is the people. Montanans are hardworking folks who value our traditions and cherish our freedoms and our liberties. There is a reason that Montana is the most patriotic State in the Nation.

Our Montana way of life is second to none, and it is an honor and a privilege to represent the Treasure State here in Congress, which is why we will continue to fight to protect our way of life.

Happy birthday, Montana.

Mr. Chair, I thank Representative Norman, my good friend from South Carolina, for introducing this amendment and for yielding me time.

Mr. Chair, I submitted an identical amendment to this one, and I am glad to see it is being considered today.

This amendment would hold the BLM director, Tracy Stone-Manning, accountable for her disastrous policies and rightfully reduce her salary to $1. Ms. Manning has been using the Bureau to push her own radical environmentalist agenda at the expense of Montanans and all Americans.

Director Manning has repeatedly and intentionally violated Federal statute by issuing rules that are completely at odds with the Taylor Grazing Act.

The Taylor Grazing Act lays out best range management practices and clearly states that the purpose of the law is to: ``provide for the orderly use'' of public land in order to ``stabilize the livestock industry.''

Earlier this year, the BLM issued a Conservation and Landscape Health Rule that clearly violates the letter and the spirit of the law by designating multiple use public land under conservation leases for bison. Allowing bison to graze on allotments that should be leased for cattle grazing has been a severe blow to Montana's ranching industry.

Director Manning has also continuously ignored the concerns of local landowners and those most affected by her harmful policies by failing to hold public hearings outside of the large cities.

Director Manning flagrantly dismissed Montana agriculture groups' concerns in the decision-making process for American Prairie Reserve's bison grazing proposal and granted special provisions for one lessee that no one else in the country has experienced. Her Bureau also refused to collaborate with the relevant State agencies and declined to hold sufficient opportunities for local engagement.

This is a process we have seen far too often with the Bureau of Land Management under her leadership, creating harmful rules and refusing to take input or provide engagement opportunities for those who are most impacted by those rules.

Director Manning has also refused to follow the congressionally mandated quarterly requirements for Federal land leases. Under this administration, we have seen the fewest acres leased for oil and gas since World War II, with only one of those lease sales taking place in Montana. This directly contradicts Congress' directive and a Louisiana district court's reversal of the administration's leasing moratorium.

At the same time, Americans continue to face rising energy costs and persistent inflation. Intentionally

stalling onshore and gas production is a dereliction of duty and a slap in the face to hardworking Americans, especially those who rely on these public lands to keep their economy afloat.

This climate of zealotry and blatant disregard for the rule of law has been evident with Director Stone-Manning for a long time. She collaborated with tree-spiking ecoterrorists at the start of her career, and there is no reason to believe that her views have substantially changed.

Mr. Chair, for all of these reasons and many more, Director Stone- Manning needs to be held accountable. Congress cannot stand by idly while these climate extremists use our Federal agencies to destroy local economies and the livelihood of everyday Americans.

This amendment will put all of Biden's disastrous energy heads on notice and force them to finally follow the rule of law that Congress passed nearly 90 years ago.

Mr. Chair, possibly we will shed some light on some allegations and problems that would raise to the level that the gentleman would support for removing the salary from Ms. Haaland.

Prior to joining the current administration, Secretary Haaland had close ties with the Pueblo Action Alliance, a New Mexico-based organization known for its involvement in environmental and social justice extremism.

The Pueblo Action Alliance argues that America's economic and political systems must be dismantled and believes that America is irredeemable because there is no opportunity to reform a system that isn't founded on good morals or values. That is who she associated with.

However, we are not done yet. Secretary Haaland's daughter is now employed with Pueblo Action Alliance, participating in lobbying trips to Washington, D.C., and protests, calling for the stop of all oil and gas development. This relationship raises questions about the influence this organization may have on the Secretary's decisionmaking within her role.

In January, the Department received a FOIA request for all communications between Secretary Haaland's daughter and the Department of the Interior officials describing her lobbying efforts. The Department has still not produced the requested information, failing to meet their statutory obligations.

Secretary Haaland's husband has also consulted for and previously been employed by an organization that receives a significant portion of its funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau of Indian Affairs falls under Secretary Haaland's purview as Secretary of the Interior, presenting another clear conflict of interest. Extremely convenient.

In light of these alarming factors, it is my firm belief that Secretary Haaland is ill-suited for the position of Secretary of the Interior, and I hope that this amendment will be adopted.

Mr. Chair, just to shed a little bit more information on the subject that I was speaking of, it is very difficult to prove wrongdoing when the person who has committed the wrongdoing will not provide the documentation for which the oversight can be conducted.

You can't see the documents, so you cannot see exactly what arrangements have been made between her daughter, the lobbying efforts that took place. We certainly can track, though, that her husband is working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, being compensated by them. If we don't do anything except create the perception around this place of integrity, we have to do a better job, and that has not even been created.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment No. 58 would reduce the total appropriations for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies by $1.55 billion, bringing the total cost of the bill down from nearly $58 billion to $56.4 billion.

I submitted this amendment to get the total cost of this year's appropriation bills closer to the fiscal year 2022 levels.

I have been traveling around the State of Montana for quite extensive periods of time over the last several months and I have yet to find a single person that feels like we didn't have enough spending or government in fiscal year 2022.

As a matter of fact, most of them truly believe that we had far too much government and it was engaged in trying to run their lives and they did not want to see it anymore.

I believe that the Federal Government had more than enough funding in FY22 and that it is time to rein in the out-of-control spending. To get their spending under control, the Federal agencies must begin operating at the same levels, or at very least, receive only modest increases.

The American people are sick and tired of the D.C. cartel running up the tab on the American people while our constituents are struggling to make ends meet.

To be clear, my amendment still allows for modest increases in the fiscal year 2022 spending for energy and water. I am not trying to slash funding or cripple necessary infrastructure. I am trying to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and that we get the government off the path to financial ruin.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio.

Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. Chair, I misspoke. This is for Interior. This is for Interior. Excuse me. Mr. Chair, this is for Energy.

Mr. Chair, under Secretary Granholm, we have seen America's energy prices skyrocket with no clear plan to help Americans other than to further deplete our Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

The Department of Energy has done nothing to show they deserve an increase in funding from last year. Secretary Granholm routinely speaks about how her intention is to quickly move away from traditional energy industries. Many Americans rely on these industries for their livelihoods. This administration shows a lack of clear consideration of these people and industries, even as they are necessary during our transition to clean energy.

Furthermore, the very people that get hurt the most by this reckless administration's actions are the ones at the lowest end of the income scale. Quite frankly, if you just look at one section of this legislation, we don't want to compromise our national defense. One section, $1.2 billion, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is where the Federal Government is picking winners and losers to try and develop different types of fuel, including biofuels and batteries and the Federal Government should not be involved in that.

The free market knows how to do it. They know how to do it the best. They have demonstrated they know how to do it the most efficiently.

Further, Mr. Chair, I would just like to say that there is no reason that we cannot remove a meager $1.55 billion from this total bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment No. 59 reduces spending; specifically, it cuts funding for the Army Corps of Engineers back to the FY22 levels.

This year's appropriation would increase Army Corps' funding by $910 million from last year. My amendment would reduce funding for the Army Corps by $620 million in order to bring it back to FY22 levels. That still leaves in place a $290 million increase.

Unfortunately, the Army Corps of Engineers has a long history of running over budget and out of schedule. The solution to the Army Corps wasting taxpayers' money is not to reward them with more money. Instead, we must demand that the Army Corps of Engineers be more responsible and more efficient.

In Montana alone, there are multiple instances of the Army Corps' projects running well beyond their budgets and then turning to State and local governments to make up the costs.

The Army Corps has shown a complete dereliction of duty by trying to transfer costs, operation, and maintenance of the Fish Bypass Channel, which is part of the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project.

The Army Corps is shifting operating costs that they agreed to take on to the farmers and ranchers who are already facing increased costs. In fact, before the Army Corps of Engineers even cut the ribbon on this project, it was in need of repairs. I witnessed it myself.

The Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project was created as the Newlands Reclamation Act, signed into law in 1902. The purpose of the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project is to divert water from the Yellowstone River to irrigators in eastern Montana and western North Dakota.

Currently, the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project is a dependable, reliable source of irrigation water for approximately 58,000 acres of land in four irrigation districts across Montana.

The Army Corps of Engineers proposed a fish bypass channel in Montana to address the pallid sturgeon populations in the Lower Missouri River because it was cheaper, not out of the goodness of their heart.

The farmers did not ask for nor did they receive more water or a better system. No, as a matter of fact, just quite the opposite has happened. The system doesn't function as well and it costs them more to operate.

The Army Corps now wants to wash its hands of this project and pass the cost to 350 families and communities that rely upon this irrigation to provide for their livelihoods. This burden from the lack of planning by the Corps of Engineers should only be transferred on to a third party that is at fault.

The government is the only one who decided to place the pallid sturgeon on the Endangered Species List and should pay for the consequences and costs resulting from that action, not the small community that has relied upon this irrigation for over the past century.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, FY 2022, Corps of Engineers, $8.34 billion. FY 2023, $8.66 billion. FY24, $5.57 billion.

We cannot continue to reward bad behavior.

A recent project in Texas, the Ike Dike coastal barrier project, is currently projected to cost $57 billion, representing the largest civil engineering project in United States history, which is 68 percent higher than the recent estimate of $34 billion.

There is not a contractor that has built a home that would have a homeowner abide by those types of terms and conditions.

How can the Army Corps of Engineers be allowed to receive such a massive amount of funds when their project estimates are so routinely off base? Their time frames with which they are estimating to complete them are just as bad.

A project in Michigan for the New Lock at the Soo is currently projected

to cost $394 million more than the Biden administration's proposed funding.

The list goes on and on and on. We cannot continue to reward this bad behavior.

Mr. Chairman, once again, we have seen these projects go over budget and over time. The Corps of Engineers should not be rewarded, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chair, I rise as the designee of the gentleman form Texas (Mr. Roy), and I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment prohibits any of the funding in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill from being used to carry out President Biden's executive orders on climate change.

These executive orders served as the catalyst for some of the Department of Energy's most radical actions, including the Justice40 Initiative, a radical environmental justice initiative that directs 40 percent of Federal clean energy and energy efficiency spending based on race, migrant status, and other characteristics.

A moment ago, you heard me speaking about relying upon the marketplace and the free market to develop the most effective, efficient, and technologically advanced methods with which we can fuel everything that we have now, whether that is electric turbines or motor vehicles. To base it upon race, migrant status, and other characteristics demonstrates why exactly the Federal Government should not be involved in this type of action.

The Department of Energy's transition to carbon pollution-free energy sources, a zero-emissions fleet, and a net-zero building portfolio--the power grid from Canada to Mexico around the country cannot sustain pushing everything to renewable energies when they are only operating at solar about 18 percent and wind energy at the very most efficient, 40 percent of full power when we happen to have wind blowing.

This is not the way for us to go, and I would ask that we prohibit those funds from being used for such purposes.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, building on the coast does not cause climate change, but it certainly exposes you to incredible risk of having your house washed away. Now, I am not a genius, nor am I climatologist or a weatherman, but even I know that simple fact.

In 2021, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve had a total of 610 million barrels of crude oil in it.

Here is what our Department of Energy has done: reduced it down to 347 million barrels of crude, the lowest level since 1983.

The emissions in our country have gone down. It is demonstrated very clearly that by placing us more obligated to purchase our energy overseas, all we are doing is creating more pollution problems around the Earth. We do it cleaner. We do it safer. We do it with the strongest environmental standards, and we do it with the best labor practices around the world.

Mr. Chairman, I hope my colleagues can support this. There is no reason for the Federal Government to be involved in directing what type of energies we should develop.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, my amendment No. 172 would prohibit funds made available by this act to require a member of the Armed Forces or a civilian employee of the Department of Defense to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act rescinded Secretary Austin's memorandum requiring that members of the Armed Forces be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Unfortunately, the NDAA did not prohibit future mandates. The last mandate resulted in over 8,400 troops being kicked out of the military for refusing this experimental vaccine, and we lost about 60,000 reservists. Countless individuals also decided not to enlist because of this mandate.

While our military is failing dramatically to meet recruiting goals, it is outrageous that the Department of Defense would condition employment on receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

For example, in 2022, the Army sought 60,000 recruits but only enlisted 45,000. For 2023, the Army is aiming to recruit 65,000 new members but is only expected to recruit between 50- and 55,000 Active- Duty members.

Additionally, young, healthy males are the least at risk of getting a severe case of COVID-19 while they are the most likely group to have an adverse reaction from the vaccine, making the mandate not just counterproductive but potentially dangerous.

The Biden administration is already urging all Americans to get a booster shot, despite no human-outcome data on the new shot. Congress must preemptively stop all COVID-19 vaccine requirements before these unelected bureaucrats try to take more control of our lives.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I am glad we are talking about the effectiveness and the readiness of our military. Again, 60,000 reservists left the military because of a mandate. Fortunately, we did learn something from it and it was removed from the NDAA, and Austin went along with it.

These are the mandatory vaccinations that all servicemembers are required to receive before initial entry in basic training: adenovirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal, poliovirus, tetanus-diphtheria, and varicella.

However, the main difference is that these other vaccines are much different and more effective than the COVID-19 vaccine. Take measles, for example. One estimate found that the measles vaccine is 85 times more effective than the Pfizer COVID vaccine.

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy), my dear friend.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, we don't have a single problem with this being an option. If any servicemembers want to go and get an experimental vaccination plugged into their arm, they are welcome to do so.

What we are saying is that the dollars that are going to be issued to the Department of Defense should not include any mandate for this experimental vaccination.

In August of 2022, The Washington Post reported that 58 percent of the deaths related to COVID-19 were among vaccinated or boosted persons. This raises serious questions about even the effectiveness of this vaccine.

I would also like to state that the COVID-19 vaccine requirements also continue to ignore natural immunity. As renowned Dr. Marty Makary testified in the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic this year, ``Over the past 3 years, over 200 studies have shown that natural immunity is at least as effective than vaccinated immunity. A recent Lancet review . . . natural immunity is at least as effective as vaccinated immunity, and probably better.''

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, my amendment No. 180 would prohibit the use of funds being made available by this act from enforcing any COVID-19 mask mandates.

Now, I want to make sure that everyone understands there is a huge difference between a COVID-19 mask mandate and having a section of a medical facility that is quarantined off because of highly contagious diseases or folks that are immune deficient. That has nothing to do with the COVID-19 mandate. This is only about COVID-19 mandates.

Last month, Morris Brown College in Atlanta reinstated its COVID-19 mask mandate. They eventually rescinded the mandate, in large part due to public outcry, but make no mistake, tyrants will go out of their way to control our lives if we allow them to.

The simple fact is that masks don't work. A recent study confirmed this fact, stating: ``Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza-like illness/COVID- 19-like illness compared to not wearing masks.''

This was obvious to anyone with common sense, but our experts lied to us for the past 3 years about everything.

There are also negative consequences and potential safety concerns for children being forced to wear a mask. There are almost 70,000 children that attend Department of Defense Education Activity schools. We have seen the negative consequences of children masking, and children of our servicemembers who are risking their lives

overseas should not be subject to this cruel treatment.

Nobody should be turned away for refusing to wear a mask, but the real purpose of the mask mandate is for unelected bureaucrats to control our behavior, which is unacceptable and something that I will not tolerate.

Moreover, a potential mask mandate based on vaccination status would create a division among servicemembers. There has been a lot of discussion on enacting police policies that create cohesion among members of the Armed Forces and stigmatizing some servicemembers by forcing them to wear masks that would create a group of second-class citizens. This would, ultimately, create division among enlisted members.

The American people are sick of COVID-19 hysteria by unelected bureaucrats and will not comply with any more unscientific edicts.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I am glad that the gentlewoman from Minnesota brought up the bill, the actual bill. ``None of the funds made available by this act may be used to enforce any COVID-19 mask mandates.''

Again, let me reiterate: Highly contagious diseases or folks that are immune deficient have nothing to do with the COVID-19 mandate.

Here is the other thing. If someone is concerned or chooses to virtue signal by wearing a mask, they are free to do so. They are absolutely free to do so. If they have an immune deficiency and want to wear a mask, they are free to do so, but do not impose the mandates on us freedom-loving individuals who don't want to walk around covering our faces up just to let someone else feel a little better about things.

We have problems right now with recruitment. The numbers are down as much as 35 percent. We are missing goals dramatically. Approving arbitrary mandates that don't help the military mission to be the most effective fighting force on Earth is not the way that we are going to get those numbers up.

Mr. Chair, this is a good amendment. It is going to help us with recruiting efforts. It is going to help us make sure that our team works together better, and I ask everyone in here to support it.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, my amendment No. 73 would prohibit funds from being used to enforce Secretary Mayorkas' memo prohibiting workforce immigration enforcement.

With the stroke of a pen, Secretary Mayorkas eliminated a key method of interior enforcement and required our Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the ICE agents, to fight with one hand tied behind their back.

Right now, there are over 16.8 million illegal aliens in our country, and estimates suggest that upward of 65 percent of the illegal aliens are employed.

Businessowners and ranchers in Montana work hard to ensure they are in compliance with Federal immigration law, and this memo punishes law- abiding businesses that refuse to hire illegal aliens.

Additionally, Americans should not be expected to compete in the labor market with illegal aliens who are depressing wages and keeping good-paying jobs away from American citizens.

President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas' refusal to allow ICE to do their job and enforce our Nation's laws is a clear dereliction of duty and presents risk to our country's national security.

Simply put, my amendment would allow ICE agents to do their job enforcing immigration law with the most effective methods possible. Under President Trump, workforce enforcement operations were common practice, making it clear to illegal aliens and the employers that there would be consequences for breaking the law, putting all businesses on a level playing field.

It is time we protect small business owners and workers and force Secretary Mayorkas to let ICE do its job.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, Secretary Mayorkas acknowledges the threat of illegal labor in his memo ending workplace enforcement: ``Unscrupulous employers create an unfair labor market. They also unfairly drive down their costs and disadvantage their business competitors who abide by the law.''

These businesses are not abiding by the law. The illegal aliens who are working there are not supposed to be employed. It is not fair to the labor market. It is not fair to the Americans who wanted to have these positions. It absolutely does suppress the wages and hurts everyone.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, my amendment No. 74 will reduce the total amount of funds appropriated by this bill to move our country toward fiscal responsibility, bringing spending toward fiscal year 2022 levels.

We all know that we are facing a $33 trillion national debt, and at the spending levels that are being proposed by the appropriation bills that we have been going over the last several days, we very easily could be facing a $3 trillion addition to that debt by the time we add the interest in.

It is clear that President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have no interest in securing our border or enforcing immigration law. Instead, this administration is spending money to encourage illegal immigration through illegal migrant parole programs and cooperation with far-left NGOs.

Additionally, Secretary Mayorkas has issued countless memos handicapping law enforcement efforts from ICE and CBP.

I have gone down there and visited the border myself several times. As long as President Biden refuses to enforce immigration law and stop the invasion at our southern border, DHS should not be rewarded with a budget increase.

President Trump secured the border and provided for our national defense with significantly less money. It is abundantly clear that Biden's border crisis is a deliberate policy choice by this administration and not a funding issue.

This country, again, is $33 trillion in debt. We cannot afford to continue business as usual, primarily when President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas use taxpayer dollars to prevent our border from being secured.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, in 2020, the DHS bill appropriated $67.8 billion. In 2022, the DHS bill appropriated $75.538 billion. The 2024 DHS appropriation bill includes $91.5 billion.

While I certainly respect the work that has been done in that committee, we all are going to have to take a haircut. If not, we are going to add $3 trillion a year to the national debt. Over the next 5 years, that will rise to $50 trillion.

Madam Chair, $50 trillion in just 5 years, not 20 years, not 50 years, and it will cost 50 percent of the annual revenue in interest payments alone to service that.

If you think that we are making difficult decisions right now, when 50 percent of the revenue that we collect on an annual basis is going to service that loan, we are going to have to make massive changes to the way that we run the Federal Government, and every single person in the country is going to feel it. It is going to be dramatic pain.

All I am asking is that we reduce by $8.7 billion. I can't believe that I am saying only $8.7 billion.

Again, I respect the work that has been done, but these are some difficult decisions that need to be taken care of, and I am willing to do my part to help us get there.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, I rise to support my amendment.

My amendment No. 102 would reduce the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act by $717 million in order to get the total spending of all bills back to the fiscal 2022 levels.

In fiscal year 2022, the Agriculture-FDA appropriations were about $24 billion. I believe that the agencies and programs included in this bill were able to operate effectively enough at those levels.

In order to get spending under control, Federal agencies must begin operating at the same levels or, at the very least, receive only modest increases, which this would include.

On April 26, 2023, House Republicans passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act to reduce spending and take the first step forward to financial stability and recovery for our country. However, Speaker McCarthy deserted this plan and instead turned to the Democrats to pass a debt ceiling bill eliminating the work done and passed under the Limit, Save, Grow Act.

The American people are sick and tired of the D.C. cartel. It is running up our tab for the American people while our constituents are struggling to make ends meet.

From 1981 until 2008, Congress added $10 trillion to the national debt. In the past 4 years, we have added as much as they did during that 27-year period.

This is not sustainable, and we need to find an off-ramp. Limiting spending will help our farmers in the long run as they are currently struggling with high input costs as a result of Joe Biden's reckless spending, which has led to historically high inflation rates.

We can no longer continue to fund the Democrats' and the Biden administration's radical agenda. It is an insult to the American people to continue the exorbitant spending spree that has been spread by the previous Speaker of the House.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, there is a proposed $1.3 billion increase in this appropriation. With this reduction, there would still be a $600 million increase in the appropriation. That is a reasonable increase based upon the inflation rates that have been caused by all the reckless spending by the Biden administration.

The farmers across the State of Montana understand that everyone has to conserve. A $600 million increase in the appropriation for the agriculture bill is certainly doing their part. That is a tremendous increase, and they are willing to take that $700 million reduction.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment, amendment No. 37, which would prohibit the use of funds made available by this act from being used to enforce any COVID-19 mask mandates.

Our country sends young men and women overseas for long periods of time, away from their family and friends at great risk to their physical safety. When they come home and become veterans, sometimes the VA refuses them the care that they have earned and that they deserve. This is unacceptable.

I have heard from numerous veterans in my district who have been denied care over their unwillingness to wear a mask to protect them from a pandemic that has long been declared over, using a method that has long since been refuted.

Denying a veteran medical care over a personal decision is outrageous. We owe it to care for our Nation's heroes and to provide them with the best possible care, not stigmatize them over masking decisions.

The COVID-19 mask mandates are also unfair to the employees of the VA. Most employees want to provide veterans with world-class healthcare, not enforce arbitrary, unscientific rules. The VA did loosen its COVID-19 mask requirements recently. However, they left too much discretion to unelected bureaucrats. Again, the pandemic has long been over, and it is time to end all of the COVID-19 mandates.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, unfortunately the Representative is either mistaken or intentionally spreading false information. Any parts or portions of the facility that previously had mask mandates for immune deficiencies or any other reasons would not be impacted by this mandate. Only mandates that are a direct result of COVID-19 are prohibited.

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas, (Mr. Self).

Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chair, the medical center leadership, the leadership, will determine when it is appropriate to transition from standard to enhanced safety practices. This is the problem.

Bureaucrats are continuing to make decisions, not about sensitive areas, not about areas where we are prone to have immune deficiencies, but simply sensitive areas, and recommended national response by a team of subject matter experts due to future COVID-19 variants that threaten veteran staff and safety. This is not acceptable.

Again, COVID-19 is over. These mask mandates as a result of COVID-19 need to be eliminated.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, this amendment simply eliminates use of funds by the VA for the implementation of any COVID-19 mandates and is long overdue. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment and restore the proper treatment of our veterans.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.