Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Jessie Charles Maddix, a World War II veteran who dedicated his life to protect his community.

Mr. Maddix was born on May 19, 1923, in Hudson, Michigan. He served along the coast of North Carolina in the U.S. Coast Guard.

One of the more memorable moments during his time in the Coast Guard happened in 1944 during an Atlantic hurricane. He participated in a mission that involved a search and rescue of the liberty ship, George Ade. Prior to the storm, a German submarine had torpedoed George Ade off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

According to the survivors, the hurricane's winds reached beyond 100 miles per hour, and unfortunately, both ships disappeared amidst the colossal waves. Mr. Maddix was one of the survivors who withstood the storm after floating above the surfaces for more than 50 hours.

Later in his life, Mr. Maddix researched his Native American heritage and became a Chippewa Elder. He traveled to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Pow Wow several times in his 90s.

Mr. Maddix's friends and family will remember him for his adventures and service to our nation in the Coast Guard. My heartfelt condolences are with his loved ones during this time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse).

Mr. Speaker, the Green New Deal is a bad deal for the people of America. Just days ago, we passed $22 trillion in debt for which we have no plan to begin paying off. The Green New Deal would only add trillions more while simultaneously destroying the American economy, which not only means families across our Nation would lose their ability to sustain themselves, but it would also shut down the innovation engine of the world.

The 27th District of Texas, which I represent, has a better approach. We are home to a diverse energy portfolio, which includes wind, nuclear, LNG, oil production--not to mention our fair share of cows and airplanes.

We are home to a safe, reliable nuclear power plant in Matagorda County that generates 2.7 gigawatts of power, and that is a power of nearly 2 million Texas homes and businesses. It would take 8.4 million solar panels to replace that kind of energy. Even President Obama's Secretary of Energy said, ``It's just impractical.''

We are also home to the leading export energy port in the Nation. We have been a great part in the success of what we have seen as a nation of going from an energy-dependent nation to an energy-dominant nation. And what that new American energy dominance means, it means global stability and peace in the world as our allies are able to buy energy from us rather than from countries who don't have our best intentions in mind.

But as the world's need for energy grows, American companies are more likely to care about being good stewards of our creation compared with those from other energy-producing nations.

The United States cut carbon emissions by 14 percent since 2005 while global emissions rose 26 percent over the same period. Of all the G20 countries, we have the best record recently on carbon emissions and reductions.

In Texas our market-based approach to energy is leading the way even as our economy continues to boom. Furthermore, a thriving economy is absolutely essential to creating and deploying the innovative solutions we need to face the environmental challenges of the future.

So when it comes to the Green New Deal, let's stop looking to socialism for answers and start looking to places like Texas.

This Green New Deal would be devastating to American jobholders, harmful to our allies around the world, and it is also counterproductive to advancing protections to our environment.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to firmly oppose this outlandish and unrealistic idea.

Mr. Speaker, due to personal illness, I missed votes. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Yea'' on rollcall No. 76 and ``Yea'' on rollcall No. 77.

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

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to H.R. 840, the Veterans' Access to Child Care Act.

In 2017, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that under similar legislation to what we are considering today, the VA each year would need to process about 665,000 claims for reimbursement of childcare each year.

The VA has a history filled with delays and difficulty in processing claims for veterans.

As my staff and I have worked with veterans in our Texas 27th District, we too often hear from veterans about the trouble they have encountered with the VA. From delays in processing benefit claims, to wait times in scheduling appointments; veterans have often waited months, sometimes years from hearing back from the VA on their request or receiving reimbursement for payments due them.

Should this bill pass, the VA will have to process a considerable amount of childcare claims each year; therefore, we must ensure that there is oversight in the VA's progress in paying veterans and private care providers for childcare.

My amendment would inject accountability into this program by requiring the VA to submit an annual report to Congress on how the processing of claims is going.

Specifically, the report would include data on the number of childcare claims filed each year, the number of staffers required to process a claim, the average cost of each claim, and how long it takes the VA to process a claim.

If there is a backlog of unprocessed claims, the VA must report on the backlog and how it is working to resolve the needs of the affected veterans.

Finally, the VA must report on any improper or duplicative payments made for this program.

Ultimately, my amendment would close the gap in this legislation by giving the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and the VSOs important data they otherwise wouldn't have.

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

Mr. Chair, I thank the chairman for his support.

Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. David P. Roe), the ranking member.

Mr. Chair, I urge the passage of this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Judy Hawley, who devoted her life to serving the people of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Ms. Hawley received the 2018 nomination for the Texas Transportation Hall of Honor, due in large part to her commitment and advocacy for transportation infrastructure investment and policy decisions.

Some of Ms. Hawley's community involvement includes: eight years in the Texas House of Representatives, Commissioner for the Port of Corpus Christi Authority from 2004 to 2016 (serving as Chair during the last two years), chair of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation, chair of the Texas State Aquarium Board, and co-chair of the Chamber Infrastructure Committee.

Furthermore, Ms. Hawley served as the former chair of the I-69 Advisory Committee. During her tenure, she played a pivotal role in guiding the growth of essential trade corridors linking ports, waterways, trains, airports, and highways from the Rio Grande Valley and the Coastal Bend, creating opportunities for local jobs and commerce.

If not for Judy Hawley, critical issues, such as the need for a rail master plan, an enduring replacement for the Harbor Bridge, and the development of Interstate 69 would not have received the kind of attention they warranted.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Judy Hawley for her incredible service and devotion to the people of Corpus Christi and the 27th District of Texas.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mayor Joe D. Hermes, an Edna native who dedicated his life to public service and his community.

Mayor Hermes first moved to Edna when he was six years old and has considered it his home ever since. His first public service role came as council member from 1979 to 1987. He was then elected Mayor in 1987. After forty devoted years of serving the people of Edna, Mayor Hermes has decided to retire.

Since Mayor Hermes took office, Edna has built three parks and a swimming pool, purchased and restored property for the city, moved City Hall from the building that now accommodates the Edna Police Department, and navigated the community through difficult economic times.

Mayor Hermes' service to Edna includes various board member and committee member positions on the Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission, the Jackson County Industrial Foundation and the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, among others.

Mayor Hermes' retirement will afford him the opportunity to spend more time with some of his most important constituents, his three children and grandchildren, all of whom live within two hours of the city. Nevertheless, he will remain involved in the community.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Mayor Joe D. Hermes for his tremendous public service and dedication to the people of Edna. He is a model of generosity and embodies the spirit of Edna, Texas.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Jean Meadors, who dedicated her life to educating and serving her community.

Jean Meadors' love of teaching and books motivated her to devote the last thirty years inspiring and educating children at the Owen R. Hopkins Public Library in Corpus Christi.

As the Youth Librarian, Meadors was known for her popular story- telling series, ``Miss Jean's Story Time Kids,'' which has been a tradition at the public library for decades. Meadors started her ``Story Time Kids'' series to introduce children to an interactive book reading experience.

Her selfless devotion to the children of Corpus Christi has made an impact on the community that spans generations. Individuals like Jean Meadors serve as an inspiring role model to all.

I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to Jean Meadors for her gracious heart and contribution to developing the eager minds of Corpus Christi. Her stories will be dearly missed, but her legacy lives on in the generations of book readers and story tellers she inspired.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in memory of Laddie Frank Janda, a Victoria native and World War II Army veteran who dedicated his life to serving his community.

Laddie Frank Janda, born on March 13, 1925, in Shiner, Texas, passed away on December 9, 2018, at the age of 93.

In April 1943, when he was 18 years old, Janda enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he received training as a medic. He was assigned to the 104th Medical Battalion, 116th Regimental Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division. His unit was selected as one of the lead units of D-Day.

Barely an hour after the first wave of Allied troops landed on Omaha Beach, Janda started tending to the wounded. He continued treating the injured for an additional six weeks until he himself was seriously wounded by shrapnel on July 11th.

The Army recognized his bravery and valor by bestowing on Janda the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and World War II Victory Medal.

After his Army service, Janda enrolled at Baldwin Business College in Yoakum, where he studied bookkeeping. He moved to Victoria in the late 1940s and in 1951 began a 34-year career with Victoria Bank and Trust, retiring as vice-president in 1985.

I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the Janda family and express appreciation for his service to our community and sacrifices for our country.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in memory of Pablo Narvaiz, Jr., a Victoria native and Vietnam War Marine Corps veteran who was active in serving his community.

Pablo Narvaiz, Jr., born on October 27, 1948, in Beeville, Texas passed away on January 17, 2019, at the age of 70.

Narvaiz, Jr., was an active member of the Catholic War Veterans Post 1269 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4146. With a true servant's heart, he spread joy and happiness to many children throughout the years as Santa Claus at the Catholic War Veterans Annual Christmas Event.

In his free time, Narvaiz Jr. loved playing bingo with his wife and family. He spent many days enjoying coffee with his friends and coworkers.

Pablo Narvaiz Jr. is survived by his wife, Mary Narvaiz; stepmother, Ofelia Narvaiz; daughter, Lorraine Narvaiz; son, Paul (Dora) Narvaiz, Ill; sisters, Janie Atkinson, Dora, Linda, Patty, and Frances; brothers, Pilar (Linda) Narvaiz, Michael, and Javier; four grandchildren; several nieces and nephew.

I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the Narvaiz family and express appreciation for his service to our community and sacrifices for our country.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding.

This debate over securing our border has become a debate over the morality of our efforts, and I welcome that debate. But if we are to debate this issue of border security on the basis of morality, it is fair for us not only to ask how this issue affects our own Nation, but to look across our border and see how our national policy affects those beyond our borders.

For those of us who live near our southern border, we understand all too well the effects of the criminal cartels who profit from abusing our Nation's generous immigration laws.

When I visited the Rio Grande Valley just recently, a rancher with land on the border described the situation, saying that he finds dead migrants on his land all the time.

In my hometown of Victoria, Texas, 19 migrants died of suffocation and overheating after being trapped in the back of a trailer abandoned by a smuggler with a callous disregard for human life.

But beyond our borders, these cartels carry an outsized influence in Mexico and in developing nations in Central America. We know that cartels profit from smuggling drugs and humans across the border. They siphon oil from pipelines. They extort families and businesses and kidnap for profit.

The barbarism of these criminal cartels has led to 150,000 homicides in Mexico, alone, since 2006. They have worked their corrupting influence into the halls of government and law enforcement, hindering the people of these nations from developing and realizing the blessings of liberty for themselves.

Our Federal Government's unwillingness to control our border allows cartels to amass profits of tens of billions of dollars each year smuggling drugs and humans into our country, with a devastating toll on the most vulnerable in our Nation. Our lack of border security allows these criminal cartels to wield their corrupting influence in a way that makes positive change so difficult in these developing countries.

Unfortunately, like too many issues these days, border security has become a divisive and a partisan issue when, historically, this has had broad support. But there should be nothing partisan about ending a humanitarian and criminal crisis that is driven by cartels and enabled by our Federal Government's failure to act.

Congress has a responsibility to protect the citizens of our country and to end the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, and it is past time to reform our broken asylum system and secure the border.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for recognizing me tonight.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I speak to the humanitarian and criminal crisis at our southern border.

This crisis has been permitted to exist because of Congress' failure to act. For over 30 years, the American people have been promised results, but they have received empty promises.

We know from history that our southern border wall works. This is not a new concept. Where we have implemented a wall, we have seen great success in curbing illicit activity.

Our Nation is a generous nation, one of the most diverse in the world, and our generosity is being taken advantage of by illegal cartels across our southern border. These cartels have created a humanitarian and criminal crisis that abuses the rule of law and costs innocent lives.

Cartels recruit and send migrants across our border, making thousands of dollars a person, in a strategy to tax our human resources and distract from our enforcement against drug trafficking.

As the Representative of the 27th District of Texas, the southern part of my district is just 2 hours from the border.

I know the good men and women who serve on our southern border, and they always prioritize life. Cartels know this and take advantage of it.

Failure to complete a southern border wall and loopholes in our asylum laws have created a magnet for illegal immigration. According to DHS, around 80 percent of asylum cases that go to a hearing are rejected by the judge as illegitimate.

DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton pointed out earlier this year that smugglers and traffickers understand our broken immigration laws better than most.

The catch-and-release process, whereby migrants come into the country and are issued a date to appear in court, often years away, are released into the interior, and it is driving this humanitarian crisis. ICE reports that the number of migrants, including many women and children seeking entry, has increased dramatically in recent years. They often find themselves at risk for assault and abuse, such as rape, beatings, kidnapping, and robbery.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the service of a truly extraordinary individual that served his community through decades of commitment to the people, bettering it through his efforts: Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal.

Judge Neal was elected Nueces County Judge in November 2006, taking office January 2, 2007, as the first Republican elected to this office in over 140 years. In November 2010, Judge Neal was re-elected to his second term starting January 2011.

Loyd Neal was born in Henderson, Texas and graduated from Paris High School in 1955. He received his BBA in Marketing from Texas A&M University College Station in 1959 and his MBA from Texas A&M in 1973. While attending A&M, Neal served as a member of the Corps of Cadet.

Neal is married to the former Thetis Ann King and they have two children. The first is Loyd Neal III, a 1984 graduate of Texas A&M University College Station and St. Mary's University Law School who is currently practicing law in Houston, Texas. The second, daughter Ann Margaret, a 1986 graduate of Texas A&M University College Station who earned a master's degree from Southwest Texas University. She is currently teaching school in Boerne, Texas.

In 1989, Neal retired as a Colonel from the Army Reserve, after serving more than thirty years in the active Army and Army Reserve. During this time, he commanded several units in South Texas, including the U.S. Army Reserve Battalion, Corpus Christi; U.S. Army Reserve Support Group in San Marcos; with his terminal assignment as Chief of Staff, 377th Theater Army Area Command, New Orleans, Louisiana. While on active duty, Judge Neal attended both Airborne and Ranger School, graduating from both the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College. In 1992, Loyd was named a Distinguished Alumnus by Texas A&M University for his service to his City, his State, and his Country.

He served as Chairman of the South Texas Military Facilities Task Force, was appointed by Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Strategic Military Planning Commission in 1997 and was re-appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission in 2005. Judge Neal has also served in numerous volunteer leadership positions in the Corpus Christi area including serving as the Chairman for the Corpus Christi Economic Development Corp, the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce, the Art Museum of South Texas, South Texas Homeport Committee, the Leadership Corpus Christi Alumni, and President of the Corpus Christi Navy League, to name a few.

It is with the utmost honor and respect that I wish Judge Neal, and his family, a very joyful retirement and thank him for his service. I urge my fellow members of Congress to applaud him for his dedication to serving our communities and for his commitment to ensuring a better life for all.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the service of a truly extraordinary individual that ensured the safety of his community through years of dedication to the people: Sheriff Jim Kaelin.

Sheriff Kaelin, of Corpus Christi Texas, has dedicated his life law enforcement, and has served his Nation and community for more than 50 years. Sheriff Kaelin is a Vietnam combat veteran who served with the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta in 1968. He was elected Sheriff of Nueces County in 2006, 2008, 2012, and again in 2016. Sheriff Kaelin holds a Master Peace Officer license and is a Certified Law Enforcement Instructor and a Certified Firearms Instructor. Sheriff Kaelin holds an Associate of Arts Degree in Police Science from Del Mar College in addition to having graduated from Northwestern University's prestigious School of Police Staff and Command. Before his election as Sheriff, he served with the Texas Department of Public Safety for 29 years, retiring in 2001. He also served as a deputy sheriff for two years, then a deputy constable. At his retirement from the DPS, he was the Region 3 Safety Education Service Commander and holds the rank of Eagle Scout.

His community involvement includes Past Potentate Al Amin Shriners, former Board Member for Shriners Hospitals for Children, Emeritus Board Member Goodwill Industries, Past President of Southside Rotary Club, Past President Coastal Bend Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, former Board Member American Diabetes Association, and a member of the CC Mustangs. In 2010, Sheriff Kaelin was honored as one of Del Mar College's 75 Distinguished Graduates in recognition of the College's 75th anniversary.

Sheriff Kaelin has been married to his ``partner in crime,'' the former Sharon Bryzelak, for 42 years, and together they have five children, nine grandchildren and one great granddaughter. Currently, their two sons serve in law enforcement. Jerry, a retired DPS officer, is now a Detective Investigator with the Crockett County Sheriffs Office, and Jim Jr., a retired Texas Ranger, is now serving as the Director of Public Safety with the Lavaca Navidad River Authority.

It is an honor to recognize such a remarkable individual. I urge my fellow members of Congress to applaud Sheriff Kaelin for his dedication to serving our communities and enforcing the law.