Mike Johnson

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. Phil Friedman for his distinguished career and philanthropic contributions to our country. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, Mr. Friedman received the United States Golden Jubilee Visionary Award at Project Legacy's America 250 Gala at the Library of Congress on July 14, 2026. He was recognized for 50 years of entrepreneurship and business leadership in the United States.

A man of humble origins, Mr. Friedman arrived in the United States in 1976--our Nation's bicentennial year--after 12 tiresome years laboring in the electronics industry of the former Soviet Union. He and his wife left behind the discrimination and antisemitism of the embattled Soviet state to settle in New York City. Phil was driven, ambitious, and determined to chart a new destiny for his family, qualities he no doubt learned from his parents who survived the horrors of the Holocaust and the Gulag.

Upon arriving in America, Phil found his talents well-suited to this land of limitless opportunity and success soon took root. By 1984, Phil had launched Computer Generated Solutions with a team of just five employees. Under his dedicated leadership, the company grew into an IT empire, employing over 8,000 professionals and serving customers in 50 countries across North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Today, he continues to steward this organization as Founder and Executive Chairman.

Throughout his career, Mr. Friedman has matched his entrepreneurial success with a steadfast commitment to giving back to the Nation that has been his home for half a century. His contributions to the U.S. economy have twice been recognized by the United States Congress, as well as by the New York City Council. He is active in civic and philanthropic life as a member of the Economic Club of New York, the Washington Post Intelligence Council, and the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, and he serves on the Executive Committee of the Tom Lantos Institute in Budapest. He also serves as Vice Chairman and Trustee of Yeshiva University, which awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in 2011.

As our Nation marks 250 years of independence, Mr. Friedman's receipt of the United States Golden Jubilee Visionary Award is a fitting tribute to a life that embodies the American ideals of opportunity and free enterprise. His story is a testament to America's promise, and on behalf of the United States Congress, I am proud to congratulate Mr. Phil Friedman for his distinguished career and his enduring commitment to our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, today, I recognize Louisiana, my home state, as one of the first states in the country to officially partner with the Administration for Children and Families in their worthy initiative, ``A Home for Every Child.''

According to Louisiana's Department of Children and Family Services' (LA DCFS) Secretary Rebecca Harris, Louisiana has a ratio of only 48 homes to every 100 foster children--an unsustainable gap that requires every effort to balance. We hear too many stories of good people who want to foster but are slowed or stopped in their certification process due to bureaucratic hurdles. Under the leadership of Governor Jeff Landry and Secretary Harris, Louisiana joined with the Administration for Children and Families (ACP) to cut red tape, increase the amount of foster care homes in our state, and ensure every foster child has a safe place to live. I am proud to say that LA DCFS has committed to certify 1,100 new foster homes and reactivate 200 foster homes by the end of this year to help fill the gap. Louisiana is committed to protecting vulnerable children and ensuring they have access to safe, stable, and supportive home environments.

Louisiana's action builds upon the initiatives and leadership of President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, whose ``Fostering the Future'' Executive Order catalyzed a renewed national focus on foster care and permanent placement of children into loving homes. The Executive Order laid the groundwork for the ``A Home for Every Child'' program and has encouraged many states to take these necessary, meaningful, and measurable steps to improve outcomes for children and families.

Too many children across the Nation continue to wait for placement in permanent homes. When family unification is not possible either temporarily or permanently, expanding the pool of qualified foster families and strengthening support systems is essential to ensuring that every child is under the love and care of a stable home. As ACF Assistant Secretary Alex Adams has stated as a vital mission, we too look forward to a day when families ready to foster are waiting for a child rather than a child waiting for a home.

Louisiana's leadership joining ``A Home for Every Child'' sets a strong example for other states. Continued collaboration among federal, state, community and faith-based partners will be critical to advancing our shared goal of ensuring every child has a place to call home.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Blake Moore, a great champion and great vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, for yielding. I am so delighted with what he has done with the office. I thank him for hosting this Special Order hour. It is very appropriate and a historic moment that we are in.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to join all of my colleagues in celebrating the fourth anniversary of the lifesaving Dobbs decision.

As we know, and I know it has been discussed tonight, that decision reversed five decades of inhuman social engineering, the murder of tens of millions of unborn children. Ultimately, it returned the question of regulating abortion to the people's elected representatives, where it should have remained the whole time.

I was born 1 year before Roe v. Wade, almost exactly to the day. I was born in January 1972. Roe was decided in January 1973, as we know. In my 54 years of life, I will say the Dobbs decision represents the most consequential and lifesaving decision of my lifetime.

I used to go into the courts, for almost 20 years, as a constitutional law litigator to defend the sanctity of human life, but Dobbs was the big one.

Mr. Speaker, think about how many innocent, unborn children have been lost to the hands of Big Abortion. Estimates suggest it is somewhere above 65 million lives. I have always believed that is a low estimate because we know many States do not accurately report abortion numbers. It is probably much higher than that. That is just the number since Roe was decided in 1973.

It is just an unconscionable thing. It is an unspeakable evil. Thankfully, by the grace of God, the Supreme Court finally righted that egregious wrong.

The conditions that led to that decision did not materialize overnight. It took a long, long time. From the moment Roe was decided in 1973, pro-life advocates went to work to pray, organize, build faithful and effective coalitions, and educate the public on the scourge of abortion. They did not do that with hate. They were motivated by love. That is what this has always been about.

We know that mere words of support are not enough. As advocates for life, we must continue to advocate for and support the heroic mission of things like the pregnancy resource centers around the country. They do vital work that is so important. Those centers don't just provide lifesaving and practical care. They empower women to choose life.

We know the statistics. When a woman sees her unborn child on an ultrasound, she has about an 86-percent chance of going through with the pregnancy, to understand that is a child there. No matter how small, it is a person.

Of course, this anniversary and this year are particularly important. Next

Friday, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, our 250th anniversary as a nation.

The Declaration is our Nation's birth certificate. That is how we describe it all the time, because it is. In that certificate, we boldly proclaim the self-evident truths that all people are created equally by God, and all people are endowed by Him, God, our creator, with their inalienable rights. Of course, that begins, as articulated in the Declaration, with the right to life, logically.

We still have work to do to continue building a culture of life. We still have work to ensure that we are living up to the ideals espoused in the Declaration. Tonight, we should let these anniversaries serve as calls to action, to continue building a culture of life and to advance policies that protect the sanctity and the dignity of every human life.

I again thank my good friend, a great champion for the rights of the unborn, Vice Chairman Blake Moore, for organizing this Special Order.