Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to highlight a hero of Ohio's Seventh District, Navy veteran Joe Burdick. Joe promotes patriotism by hand-carving wooden American flags.

Like Americans themselves, each of Joe's flags is unique. They are imperfectly perfect, complete with knots, dings, and rings, yet each is beautiful in its own way.

From the strength and sacrifice of Old Glory red to the pure innocence of the white, the flag represents sacrifice, independence, and hope. Joe captures these qualities in his art.

The flag is an integral symbol of our Nation, and Joe and I agree that desecrating the American flag is not a legitimate act of protest. Doing so tramples on the service and sacrifice of millions who have defended and still defend the values it stands for.

I thank Joe for using his talent for patriotism. I urge all Americans to follow his example by always treating our flag with the solemn reverence it deserves.

Mr. Speaker, veteran suicide is a tragedy that claims far too many of America's heroes.

We lost 6,146 veterans that we know of from suicide in 2020 alone. That is about three times as many soldiers as we lost in Afghanistan from hostile action.

This is tragic, but any veterans listening should know that America is in their corner.

On May 6, I had the opportunity to join the patriots of Save22 for a veteran suicide awareness hike in

Massillon, Ohio. Similar events will happen across the country. Go to one to let our heroes know that they matter.

Veterans in crisis may call 988 and then press 1 if they need immediate support.

To our heroes listening: Please know that we are here for you and that we will never forget your service and sacrifice to our Nation.

May God bless our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, treating migrants humanely, humanely as to where a young child will have to make a 300-mile journey, in which they have no idea what is ahead of them; they have to go with coyotes and drug traffickers, who, when they drop children across the border wall that does work, that is the nice things that they do to those children, and everyone here knows it, which is very upsetting.

So treating them humanely would be responsible, and that is what this piece of legislation, H.R. 2, is.

The southern border is in crisis. About 5 million people have illegally crossed into our country under President Biden's watch.

The cartels have smuggled in 14,000 pounds of fentanyl.

Border agents arrested 98 people, 98 people on the terror watch list in FY22.

This crisis is the direct result of the Biden administration's failed policies, and every American knows it.

Under President Trump, we had a secure border. All President Biden had to do was nothing. All he had to do was sit there and do nothing, but he couldn't even do that.

Instead, he took 94 executive actions to reverse the progress made under Republican leadership. Unbelievable.

Republicans are once again acting to protect our Nation from the gangs, drug cartels, and terrorists that exploit this crisis to hurt the American people.

H.R. 2 resumes construction of the border wall. It pays our border agents what they need and what they deserve and hires them the help that they desperately need in terms of assets.

Biden's border crisis has raged far too long. Enough is enough. I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill and to secure our southern border.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 676) to amend the Federal Ocean Acidification Research And Monitoring Act of 2009 to require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to collaborate with State and local governments and Indian Tribes on vulnerability assessments related to ocean acidification, research planning, and similar activities, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 676, the bill now under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 676, the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act. This bill contains simple and straightforward tweaks to an important program and existing working group. It ensures the participation of Indian Tribes and affected communities in ocean and coastal acidification activities.

Over a decade ago, the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, to increase their focus on ocean and coastal acidification--the process in which the chemistry of oceans is altered and made more acidic after absorbing carbon dioxide.

To do this, NOAA established an interagency working group with State and local governments, industry, academia, and other representatives. They also stood up a research program and published a strategic plan for coordinated Federal activities on acidification. Yet, while not excluded from these activities, there was no direct mention of the inclusion of Indian Tribes and communities affected by ocean and coastal acidification. This bill remedies that oversight by including specific language to coordinate vulnerability assessments and research planning with State, local, and Tribal Governments.

This bill also ensures that two representatives from Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, or Tribal consortia affected by ocean acidification are on the Ocean Acidification Advisory Board with the other members of industry, academia, and subject matter experts.

When it comes to acidification, it is a common misconception that only communities touching the ocean see the effects. In fact, the most recent ocean acidification research plan found that the Great Lakes are projected to become more acidic at a rate similar to that of the oceans.

This finding raises concerns for me because part of my district in Ohio sits on the southern shore of Lake Erie and benefits from the $7 billion annual economic value that the Great Lakes provide.

Luckily, NOAA recognizes the tremendous asset that the region offers and has a dedicated laboratory, the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, to conduct scientific research on the Great Lakes and their coastal ecosystems.

Madam Speaker, that is why I support the all-hands-on-deck approach this bill ensures. Smaller or overlooked communities like Indian Tribes have direct knowledge of the effects of acidification, both on the coast and inland, and can be an important resource. It only makes sense that they have a seat at the table to provide input on research, assessments, and mitigation that will benefit all of us.

I thank the gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Waltz) for introducing this bill, and their many cosponsors for supporting it.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers at this time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am prepared to close once the gentlewoman from Michigan does, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I want to reiterate my support for this bill, H.R. 676. Despite the title, the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act has the potential to benefit more than just coastal communities and oceans.

The Great Lakes basin is home to approximately 43 million people, 8 percent of the United States population, and supports $62 billion in wages. This region and my constituents in Ohio are a small piece of the $1 billion United States shellfish industry and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are affected by ocean and coastal acidification.

Increasing the involvement of Indian Tribes with ongoing NOAA ocean acidification work will protect this critical economic pillar and lead to solutions that the entire country can benefit from.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1715) to direct the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct collaborative research in order to advance numerical weather and climate prediction in the United States, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1715, the bill now under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 1715, the Advanced Weather Model Computing Development Act.

This legislation authorizes the collaborative research partnership between the United States Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve weather modeling and prediction on high-performance computers.

Americans rely on accurate weather forecasting before, during, and after extreme weather events. Recent severe outbreaks across the country have further highlighted the increased need for more accurate and effective prediction of extreme weather in every region of the country. This type of weather prediction relies on the analysis of increasingly large and complex datasets through high-performance computing resources.

DOE is home to some of the most advanced supercomputers, including the first exascale computer, and the most advanced scientific computer capabilities in the world. This legislation will enable large leaps in knowledge and operational tools by leveraging DOE's high-performance computing capabilities to analyze NOAA's complex and large weather datasets.

By working together, DOE and NOAA can combine their respective expertise to solve some of today's most challenging problems in environmental science. By authorizing this partnership, we can ensure these agencies can continue their essential interagency research for years to come. We can also save taxpayer money by sharing mutually beneficial resources instead of building out duplicative capabilities at different agencies.

This legislation would codify that partnership and provide new paths forward for this important work and new mechanisms for collaboration. In this way, we can increase government efficiency by working across the larger Federal landscape, a good government measure that will not only result in the protection of lives and property but also efficiently utilize existing Federal research dollars.

It is smart, bipartisan policy, and I thank Ranking Member Ross for working with me on this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am prepared to close once the gentlewoman from California closes, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I feel the same way and echo the sentiment, and I thank the gentlewoman for her comments.

As I mentioned in my opening remarks, H.R. 1715 is a good government bill that leverages existing Federal research dollars to advance weather and climate science that will protect American lives and property. It is bipartisan, commonsense legislation, which is why it recently passed unanimously through the committee.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill once again, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1734) to require coordinated National Institute of Standards and Technology science and research activities regarding illicit drugs containing xylazine, novel synthetic opioids, and other substances of concern, and for other purposes, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1734, the bill now under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1734, the TRANQ Research Act, led by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) and the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. Caraveo).

Unfortunately, we are all too familiar with the destruction opioids like fentanyl are causing our communities. Now these drugs are being mixed with animal tranquilizers to create deadly new combinations.

Drugs like tranq are presenting new challenges for law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and first responders. Without a better understanding of this drug, we cannot slow

its spread, combat its effects, or ensure safe handling.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, known as NIST, has already done extraordinary work on fentanyl detection, and this bill allows them to apply their resources and expertise to analyzing these new variants. With NIST's help, we will improve our ability to detect and identify these drugs and improve the tools available to keep first responders and law enforcement safe when dealing with them.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) to speak on his bill.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am ready to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, as we have heard today, this zombie drug has gruesome side effects and is leading to an alarming rate of overdose deaths.

Overdose deaths involving tranq have increased in all regions of the United States, according to the DEA. From 2020 to 2021, these deaths surged 100 percent in the Northeast, more than 500 percent in the Midwest, and 750 percent in the West, as well as skyrocketing by more than 1,100 percent in the South.

Our first responders need every tool they can get to identify and to fight this growing epidemic of synthetic drugs. H.R. 1734 will authorize NIST to give them those tools by expanding real-time analysis capabilities to frontline workers like law enforcement and EMTs.

This legislation was favorably reported out of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee by a vote of 36-0. It is bipartisan and addresses a critical issue every district in the Nation is facing.

I thank Representatives Collins and Caraveo for their leadership on this bill.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize World War II veteran Robert Rothenberg, an American hero from Ohio. Robert was a landing ship motor machinist's mate 2nd class on the USS La Moure County (LST-883).

Robert sailed the Western Pacific, from the Marshalls and the Marianas to battle-torn Okinawa.

After discharging the men and equipment on Okinawa, Robert traveled with the 6th Marine Division to Pearl Harbor.

After Japan surrendered, his ship delivered occupying troops to that country.

Despite his service in the war, Robert was never presented with any of the service medals and decorations he earned for his courage and sacrifice to our Nation. I am so pleased that we recently were able to finally present him with the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic- Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

I thank Robert for his service. Let us never forget the service and sacrifice of America's Greatest Generation.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call No. 183 and Yea on Roll Call No. 184.

Mr. Chair, Ohio families are paying too much for gasoline. They are paying too much for heat. They are paying too much at the grocery store, partly due to rising production costs on farms.

A recent survey by ABC and The Washington Post found that roughly 40 percent of Americans are financially worse off today than they were just 2 years ago. They are begging for relief from soaring prices, and Republicans are answering their calls for help.

That is why I am proud to support H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act. No more relying on dictators for oil. We are going to solve this problem the American way, with American workers, American ingenuity, and American energy.

H.R. 1 does this by fixing the broken permit process so that energy producers can do their jobs faster and cheaper. We are going to unleash American energy, which will lower costs and get our economy moving in the right direction.

I urge my colleagues to think of the millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Show them you care and vote for H.R. 1.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on roll call No. 162.

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

Mr. Chairman, I believe that kids do better in school and better in life when their parents are involved in their education.

Parents have a right to know what their children are being taught. They have a right to be heard by teachers, by administrators, and certainly by their school board members and other policymakers. They have a right to protect their children's privacy and to keep them safe, and they have a right to know how schools are spending their tax dollars.

These rights are being threatened because some people believe that the government knows better than parents about what their kids need to succeed. They may be comfortable with bureaucracies standing between students and parents, but I am not.

For these reasons and others, I am proud to be a cosponsor of the Parents Bill of Rights Act to enshrine these principles into law. I thank Chairwoman Foxx and Congresswoman Letlow for their leadership in bringing this important legislation forward.

Today, I am offering an amendment to further strengthen this bill. My amendment is simple. It includes language to ensure that the rights defined in the Parents Bill of Rights extend to families of students who choose to pursue career and technical education.

One of the great challenges facing our economy is meeting the needs of a changing labor market in the United States. Specifically, we must address the skills gap. CTE achieves this goal.

In my home State of Ohio, 54 percent of jobs require skills training. During the 2020-2021 school year, Ohio had over 127,000 secondary CTE participants, and the Class of 2021 earned over 51,000 industry- recognized credentials while graduating high school.

These are among the hardest working students that you will find, regardless

of educational route, and these students matter just as much as those who go to college.

My amendment ensures that families of CTE students are protected by the law in the same way that students on the traditional route are protected.

A vote in support of this amendment sends the message that career and technical education is not only good for students, but it is great for students. It is great for business, and it is great for our communities.

I urge our colleagues to vote ``yes.''

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

Mr. Chair, I fundamentally believe that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle mean well, but I am shocked and appalled that we don't support technical education. This is a solid amendment.

What I just heard, Mr. Chair, is that some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't like our union counterparts, who don't like our carpenters, who don't like our pipe fitters, who don't like our welders, and who don't like our steelworkers that we support.

That is what I am hearing. I am disturbed by the fact that we cannot support the silent majority within this country, the backbone of our Nation in technical education throughout this country really is tough for me to swallow right now. I am glad that the American people can see this for what it is.

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

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in memory of a great Ohioan, Maini Wood, who recently passed away at her York Township homestead.

Maini lived an incredible life. She was born in Finland in 1930 and survived the Russo-Finnish War of 1939 and 1940.

As a young girl, she actually had to ski to school, wearing white robes to hide from the Russian bombers that flew overhead.

Maini immigrated to the United States in her early 20s, but she met her husband, Dee, aboard a ship during a visit to her native Finland. The couple eventually settled in York Township where they raised their children in what they described as--and I happen to agree with them--a beautiful, idyllic rural community.

We learned so much from Maini about survival, about taking chances, and about finding joy in life's simple pleasures.

Ohio and America are less with her loss.

My thoughts and prayers are with Maini's family as they grieve the loss of this amazing woman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of John Adams, a man who needs no introduction in Cleveland or Progressive Field, thanks to his passion for baseball and his iconic drum. John passed away last week at 71 years of age.

John, a 1969 graduate of Parma High, bought a base drum at a garage sale and first hauled it to an Indians game in 1973. Over the next 46 years, John and his drum would attend more than 3,700 games, including all three All-Star games, 11 playoff series, and three World Series. He missed just 45 games over nearly five decades of fandom.

John and his drum were the beating heart of Cleveland baseball, and they have rightfully been immortalized with a statue at the field.

I thank John for the memories. May he rest in peace.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Mississippi for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs has broad jurisdiction over national security and foreign policy, peacekeeping and peace enforcement, international law, and the promotion of democracy, and many other critical issues that require its members to be both objective and credible.

Members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs represent the United States abroad and are regarded as credible emissaries of American foreign policy. Their words have significant weight in guiding our relations with other countries and are relied upon by world leaders, most importantly, our allies such as Israel, the forever home of the Jewish people.

But what happens when a committee member is no longer viewed as a credible emissary of our foreign policy?

What if a Member is barred from visiting one of our allies because of their prejudiced comments?

How can Members who are unable to engage with our allies in a constructive manner be considered credible members of the committee?

Well, the gentlewoman's discriminatory comments disqualified her from traveling to Israel in 2019. Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu would not allow Representative Omar to enter, saying, ``We respect all political parties in the United States equally; however, we also respect ourselves. Whoever comes to impose boycotts on us and to deny the legitimacy of the State of Israel, we will not allow them entry.''

Yes, the gentlewoman disqualified herself from entry into one of the most important countries allied with the United States.

Over the past 75 years, Israel has been a steadfast ally of the United States. Israel has stood by us through the volatility in the Middle East, and this alliance has been critical to our own national security.

How can someone not welcomed by one of our most important allies serve as an emissary of American foreign policy on the Foreign Affairs Committee?

Given her biased comments against Israel and against the Jewish people, how can she serve as an objective decisionmaker on the committee?

Let's take a look at some of the gentlewoman's comments.

In February of 2019, barely more than a month after becoming a Member of this body, Representative Omar suggested that the Jewish people and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee were buying political support, writing on Twitter, ``It's all about the Benjamins baby,'' clearly amplifying an anti-Semitic stereotype about the Jewish people and money.

In response, Congressional Democratic leadership, her own party, immediately released a statement by saying, ``Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted, and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception.''

Not long after Representative Omar trivialized the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, by describing that day of infamy as ``some people did something.'' That is horrific.

``Some people did something.'' Yes, Mr. Speaker, some people did do something. Some people committed evil acts of terrorism and killed nearly 3,000 Americans, and, in response, some thousands of our fellow citizens, myself included, enlisted in our Armed Forces to defend the gentlewoman's right to make her prejudiced remarks. Many went off to combat and even died to defend that right.

But they did not die fighting to have their bravery and love of country undermined by a member of the House Foreign Affairs committee.

Mr. Speaker, I have no words to describe just how utterly unacceptable these comments are. But that is not all.

In 2021, the gentlewoman referred to Israel, which has the absolute right to defend itself against terrorism and attacks on its very existence, as an ``apartheid state.''

She even equated the United States and Israel, countries that have stood as beacons of democracy, to the Taliban and Hamas, organizations that impose terror on their regions and the world.

Once again, even her Democrat colleagues swiftly condemned her comment. Twelve Democrat Members of this body released a statement which noted, ``Equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided. Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits one's intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice.'' That is from her own party.

Some have decried this effort as a political game. Mr. Speaker, I assure you this is no political game. This resolution is not about engaging in a tit for tat with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. This is about keeping someone with a long record of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias off the Foreign Affairs Committee, which needs objective emissaries for our foreign policy.

Even the Democrat former Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, said that Representative Omar's anti-Semitic comments have ``no place in the Foreign Affairs Committee or the House of Representatives.''

That was in addition to the previously mentioned joint statement from 12 of the gentlewoman's Democrat colleagues.

The facts are clear: Representative Omar has espoused anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric time and time again. She cannot be an objective contributor to the work of the committee, and she has brought dishonor to the House of Representatives.

This body's committee, which is viewed by nations around the world as speaking for Congress on matters of international importance and national security, should not have a seat for a Member who would bring such dishonor to that committee.

I encourage all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this resolution to say with one voice that the United States House of Representatives does not condone hate and to reaffirm that we will always condemn anti-Semitism.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of the many leaders of industry in Ohio's Seventh Congressional District, Momentive Technologies.

Headquartered in Strongsville, Ohio, Momentive Technologies is a global leader in quartz and ceramic materials for semiconductors and one of the largest producers of boron nitride in the world. Momentive Technologies' products are indispensable components in a broad range of goods, from semiconductors, aerospace, water purification, and pharmaceuticals to consumer electronics and telecommunications.

I had the privilege of visiting their headquarters while I was back home for last week's district work period. Momentive Technologies has invested heavily in its Ohio operations. Its year-over-year capital spend has increased 35 percent each year since 2020, and it hopes to continue that strong record of investment for the benefit not only of Ohio but of America's economic security.

I look forward to working together with Momentive Technologies and others across different industries to ensure American economic and industrial security for generations to come.