Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to defend our community banks. For decades, we have had leftwing, out-of-control Federal administrations that have been hammering on our community banks to put them out of business. You take Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, or the Federal agencies who have been regulating and regulating these small community banks to the point where they either have to sell, close up, or worst, being taken over.

You see, these community banks, they are the lifeblood of small businesses, and small businesses, they are the backbone to this economy.

These community banks, they are a part of our community. They are out there in your civic and social organizations leading. Their kids go to school with your kids. They are out there on the ball fields helping coach. They are even going to church with you on Sunday.

You see, they have a vital interest in seeing the community succeed. That way they succeed. Yet, now we have this extra-woke, leftwing administration that has decided to pick winners and losers and take a different tactic.

The tactic they are taking now is to try to scare the consumer to where they will take their deposits from the community bank and move it over to one of the big banks, to where they can achieve that Big Government, be all, end all for every need and everything you ever need, and that is not America.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, I wouldn't be standing here, and I wouldn't be where I am today, if it weren't for my community bank.

So I have two things, Mr. Speaker: Federal Government get off the backs of these community banks. Take your leftwing ideology somewhere else.

To my fellow Americans out there: Continue to support your community bank out there. Continue to do business with them.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to demand accountability. Pete Buttigieg has shown he is unfit to lead the Department of Transportation and must resign immediately.

From his first day in office, he has been more focused on diversity training and identity politics than on building and maintaining America's transportation system. He has abandoned his Department's mission of improving safety, technology, and efficiency of our infrastructure in favor of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Case in point: The horrific train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Buttigieg took 10 days to acknowledge this incident and 3 weeks to show up and support the community.

As Ohioans fled their homes and worried about their health, the Secretary of Transportation was on TV whining about too many White people in construction industries. His policies have continuously put the wokes before the folks, and we are again seeing the consequences.

After seeing another Norfolk Southern train derail this weekend, I was reminded of the fact that the company wrote to shareholders stating that it is focused on DEI. This administration's focus on DEI is forcing private companies to rethink their goals, and one has to wonder, if Norfolk Southern's DEI policies are directing resources away from the important things, like greasing wheel bearings.

This insanity must stop. Speaking of insanity, it looks like Secretary Buttigieg is spending a lot of taxpayer money flying on private jets, but he doesn't want the American people to know where he is going or why.

I don't know about you, but I seem to recall a recent Health and Human

Services Secretary being forced to resign over this same exact thing.

Anyway, why is the DOT refusing to tell the American people how much Secretary Buttigieg's 23 flights on private jets have cost them?

Maybe the Secretary should just come to Capitol Hill and answer these questions for himself. It would be a cheap trip, and it wouldn't require airfare.

Either way, it is time for him to resign. That will allow him time to promote wokeness and take private jets on his own dime and his own time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, to resign immediately.

The Secretary's priorities don't line up with what the American people expect from him. Buttigieg has failed to execute DOT's mission, which is to improve the quality and safety of our Nation's transportation system.

Instead, he is laser-focused on wokeness at the agency and in our culture. Think about it. He took 10 days to even acknowledge the devastating train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

During those 10 days, as Ohioans fled from their homes and feared for their health, he did find time to say that there are too many White people in the construction industry. I don't know about you, but when I see the men and women who build the structures that house us and the roads that connect us, I am not thinking about their race. I just appreciate that they are doing the hard work that is necessary for our society to thrive.

It is time for Pete to go back to Indiana so someone serious about building infrastructure and transportation systems that are safe and effective can start getting the job done.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.

I also want to thank my sister, Crystal, and my other sister, April, for being with me here today.

Mr. Speaker, last night, we heard President Biden's fairy tale version of the state of our union.

I will tell you, Americans know he just doesn't line up with what they are seeing and feeling out there. They know our economy is in shambles, and they also know that the only thing higher than food and energy prices out there right now are Chinese spy balloons.

Our border is in a mess, and the whole time, our government is over trying to secure Ukraine's border.

The bottom line is that our country is suffering under the weight of the Biden administration's America-last policies and, unfortunately, last night, yeah, he is doubling down. He is doubling down on the failed agenda that brought us here.

The only answers that he offers are bigger government and more control over our lives.

I wish I could say I was surprised, but these are always the solutions offered by the other side of the aisle, the same ones that got us in this mess.

So let's set the record straight.

Mr. Speaker, reopening the economy after his party shut it down, that is not creating jobs. More taxes and regulations on small businesses will not promote growth. Bringing business back to America from overseas just to tax and regulate them will not return jobs to our shores.

More spending and debt, that definitely will not lower inflation. Telling Americans to kick back, put your feet up, depend on the government, wait on a check, and hope for a better life, doesn't empower them to reach their potential because, as we know, no successful person built a career or provided for their family by hanging around and waiting for the government to redistribute other people's income.

It is time to let Americans run with the ball by letting them keep more of their hard-earned money, getting government off their backs, paying down our national debt, and promoting self-reliance and personal responsibility again in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an incredible man from the great State of Georgia. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a native son of Pin Point, near Savannah, was nominated to the Supreme Court by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

At that time, he was just the second Black American ever appointed to the Supreme Court, where he is now its longest serving member.

Since taking the Bench, Justice Thomas has ruled on some of the most consequential cases in American history. He has safeguarded our rights by defending the principles of natural law that are central to America's founding.

Justice Thomas exemplifies the American Dream, rising from humble beginnings to a seat on our Nation's highest court through hard work and dedication.

There would be nothing more fitting than the Georgia State legislature finishing the job it started last year and putting a statue of Justice Thomas under the gold dome of the State capitol.

Justice Thomas' legacy of service and footprint on American jurisprudence is worthy of honor and commemoration.

Mr. Speaker, how 'bout them Dawgs?

It is an honor this morning to rise and deliver my first speech on the floor of the people's House, and what a special occasion it is.

After last night's resounding victory, it is clear that the Georgia Bulldogs haven't gotten tired of winning.

I congratulate the University of Georgia, especially the players, who left it all on the field during practice and the games and earned another championship last night.

Because of their passion and talent, the number one State for business is now the number one State for college football for the second year in a row.

As the Representative for Georgia's 10th District, the proud home of the University of Georgia, I could not be prouder of the team or happier for our State because the Dawgs are on top of the SEC and all of college football once again.

Go Dawgs.