Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and congratulate my friend, Henry Bell, on 35 years of service to the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce. This incredible milestone is a testament to his dedication, leadership, and unwavering commitment to the economic growth of the east Texas community.

Throughout Henry's tenure, he has been a driving force behind the chamber of commerce's success.

Henry's deep knowledge of the resources, traditions, and history of east Texas, combined with his natural ability to build strong relationships, have helped attract new businesses and create countless jobs in east Texas.

Under his guidance, the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce has become a beacon of economic development, serving as a valuable resource and support system for businesses large and small.

The Tyler Area Chamber is a regional top five chamber boasting more than 2,000 member businesses, organizations, and individuals.

Beyond his professional contributions, Henry has sought to serve the Tyler community by dedicating his time and talents outside of work and in keeping with the traditions of five generations of Bells who have served before him.

Once again, I congratulate Henry Bell on this remarkable milestone. The east Texas community is proud to have him, and we have been blessed because of him.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the reintroduction of H.R. 766, the Dr. Michael C. Burgess Preventive Health Savings Act, named in honor of my fellow Texan, friend, and champion for patients, Dr. Burgess.

This bipartisan, bicameral, lifesaving legislation would direct the CBO to more accurately reflect the long-term cost-saving potential of preventive healthcare initiatives.

Congress should recognize the impact that preventive healthcare can have on an individual's life, as well as the long-term cost-saving potential.

Current restrictions prevent the CBO from fully examining the accurate economic impacts of preventive measures when they evaluate health legislation, but H.R. 766 goes beyond the normal 10-year window to allow Congress to better evaluate the potential for budgetary savings of preventive healthcare legislation and to ensure that it is done with the best interest of the American taxpayers in mind.

If we are going to tackle the growing cost of medical care for individuals and find legislative solutions to mandatory healthcare parameters that account for at least one-third of the Federal budget, then we must seek transparency first.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 766.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Texas College in Tyler, Texas commemorating its 130th anniversary.

Founded in 1894, Texas College was formed by ministers of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church to educate African-American students excluded from the university system of Texas at the time.

Since its eventual charter in 1907, Texas College has aimed to form the next generation in theology, music, teaching and commercial training as well as agricultural and mechanical sciences.

Today, Texas College inspires intellectual, spiritual, moral, and social development, empowering graduates to engage in life-long learning, leadership, and service. For generations, the college has formed upright, intelligent citizens who honor God through their knowledge, work, and families.

I am proud to see the many accomplishments that Texas College has made since its inception. I am equally grateful to have Texas College as an integral part of the Tyler community and broader East Texas region.

I look forward to another 130 years of success from the faculty and staff at Texas College as they celebrate their anniversary this month.

Mr. Speaker, I was back in my district for Primary election night. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 60 and YEA on Roll Call No. 61.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 4039, the No Dollars to Uyghur Forced Labor Act, and I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this important measure.

Slavery in any form is repugnant and morally wrong. America--the home of the brave and the land of the free--should not be complicit in the Chinese Communist Party's genocide, oppression, and enslavement of Uyghur Muslims.

Currently, the China Communist Party is using over 100,000 Uyghur Muslims as slave labor. The No Dollars to Uyghur Forced Labor Act will ensure that the U.S. plays no part in this atrocity.

Specifically, H.R. 4039 prohibits the State Department and USAID from developing or designing international contracts with companies that import or source any raw materials or goods that were manufactured, produced, or mined from the Xinjiang region of China.

My legislation would also require a report to Congress identifying all violations in the previous year with a plan to improve enforcement and compliance.

Xinjiang is an important region to China's economy. It represents one-sixth of China's land mass, and is home to most of their cotton, coal, and natural gas reserves. It is considered the core hub for China's Belt and Road Initiative, which is China's primary tool to exert economic influence across the globe.

Many basic goods that we consider to be part of our everyday lives are being produced by forced labor in Xinjiang--raw materials like yarn, bricks, nails, cotton, hair products, gloves, and polysilicon, which is commonly used for solar panel manufacturing--all essential resources for global commerce.

There is no excuse for the United States to continue in any partnership with companies that do business in Xinjiang and perpetuate these gross human rights abuses that the CCP has been committing against ethnic minorities for decades.

In addition to those enslaved, between 1 and 2 million people have been detained arbitrarily by the CCP and placed in what they call reeducation centers where they have little to no freedom and undergo intense indoctrination at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.

Many who have endured these centers note that they were just paid 2 pennies or less to make a pair of gloves. Those who are enslaved are unable to leave, see their families, or communicate with their loved ones.

The CCP's tactics of threats, intimidation, confinement, and physical and emotional abuse is intended to oppress its people, force assimilation, and in the process, grow its economic influence worldwide.

Victims have no hope of life elsewhere. They know they will be monitored by police through oppressive surveillance systems. Survivors recount that the CCP cancel passports and lure minorities to China only then to detain them and use them for forced labor.

The CCP reels in Uyghurs by offering free health services and then invades their lives and privacy by taking their DNA, fingerprints, and blood samples, which are then exported to malign actors. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning of their captivity and their oppression.

If that is the society that the CCP is creating, we in the United States must act aggressively and immediately to make perfectly clear that we will not condone such brutality and such a cruel regime. What is more, the United States will not be a party to these atrocities.

America must continue to act with strength on the foreign stage. We cannot allow totalitarian regimes to grow in strength and influence around the world. If we do, then what is happening to the Uyghurs in China will surely follow wherever China builds its empire. We simply cannot let this happen.

We, in the United States, must stand for morality, we must stand for goodness, and we must stand for freedom.

Madam Speaker, I call on my colleagues to do just that by passing

Mr. Speaker, the tax and regulatory burdens on our businesses are crippling, and it is incumbent upon us to change that.

Last night, Congress took a step in the right direction to do something positive to help businesses in this struggling economy. We came together to pass the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. This bill will spur American innovation and competitiveness, will reinvigorate manufacturing jobs at home, and will restore Trump-era, business-friendly tax policies that spur economic growth.

My east Texas businesses have been asking for a progrowth, projob, and pro-American tax package designed to revitalize our economy and provide relief to American small businesses. Last night, we provided such a package.

Restoring smart tax policy matters. This bill extends the 2017 Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that has a proven track record of incentivizing U.S. investment, lifting families out of poverty, and allowing Americans to keep more of their paychecks.

I stand with our small businesses, and I thank Chairman Smith for his diligent work on this thoughtful tax policy.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 969, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 957) denouncing the Biden administration's open-borders policies, condemning the national security and public safety crisis along the southwest border, and urging President Biden to end his administration's open-borders policies, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. 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. Res. 957.

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

Mr. Speaker, I stand today in support of H. Res. 957, denouncing the Biden administration's open-borders policies, condemning the national security and public safety crisis along the southwestern border, and urging President Biden to end his administration's open- borders policies.

Mr. Speaker, we have a problem at our southern border. I represent the First District of Texas, which is a rural district located in northeast Texas comprised of 17 counties. It borders Louisiana and Arkansas, and although it is not physically adjacent to the southern border, my district is directly impacted by the open-border policies of the Biden administration, as is every corner of America today.

The text of my proposed House resolution is simple, straightforward, and to the point. It denounces the Biden administration's open-border policies, condemns the national security and public safety crisis caused by these policies, and urges President Biden to end them immediately.

Mr. Speaker, why do we need to actually have this resolution in the House today? I will tell you, Mr. Speaker. It is for two primary reasons. One is because we need to admit that there is a problem. This House needs to admit that there is a problem on the border. Number two, we need to identify the source of the problem itself. Why do we have open borders? It is because of the policies of this administration.

Those two things today, to admit and to identify, will help lead us to a solution from this House body and across the three branches of government.

The border numbers do not lie. In fact, they tell a clear story about the depth of the crisis and the proximate cause rooted in the Biden administration policies.

Consider that the total number of illegal aliens encountered along the southern border since President Biden took office exceeds 7 million. At the same time, the Biden administration has released at least 3.3 million of those illegal aliens into the interior of the United States. This number is larger than the entire population of States like Nevada, Arkansas, and Kansas. In fact, it exceeds the combined populations of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and North Dakota together.

Additionally, more than 1.7 million got-aways and an untold number of unknown illegal got-aways have successfully evaded capture by the U.S. Border Patrol along the southwestern border.

Mr. Speaker, 312 illegal aliens on the Terrorist Screening Dataset were encountered along the southwestern border since President Biden took office. By contrast, consider that during the 4 years of the prior administration, only 11 illegal aliens on that same list were encountered by Border Patrol.

If we look just at the last quarter, we see how depraved the situation is on the southwestern border. More than 785,000 migrant encounters have been reported just since the beginning of this fiscal year, and last month's record high, the first time ever in American history, was 300,000-plus encounters along the southwestern border.

In fiscal year 2023, 27,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the southern border. This is almost double what fiscal year 2022 brought at 14,700 pounds, and it is six times higher than in fiscal year 2020.

We have seen more than 150,000 unaccompanied minors cross over the U.S.-Mexico border, and reports indicate that we have lost contact with over 85,000 of those unaccompanied children.

It used to be that most of the migrants who were coming up to our southern border were from Mexico, but now the landscape has changed. In fiscal year 2022, migrants from Mexico crossing illegally made up just 33 percent. Now, individuals are coming from across the world, more than 150 countries, and many of those countries have direct ties with terrorism.

When I was down at Eagle Pass on the border several months ago, we were told that there were at least 27 countries with ties to terrorism that had immigrants come across that southern border who were encountered in the last couple of years. How astounding and how problematic for this country.

Despite the authority that the President has to fix these issues, he simply will not do it. What policies are we talking about? The current administration has ended the Migrant Protection Protocols and the remain in Mexico policy. We are told by border security people that if we reinstate just remain in Mexico, that could end up to 70 percent of the encounters that we see coming across the border.

The administration also has reinstated catch-and-release policies. They have suspended asylum cooperative agreements with other nations, such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. They have ignored existing restraints on the abuse of parole. They have halted necessary border wall construction. They have undermined the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's core mission by preventing them from deporting certain aliens who violate U.S. law. They have enabled use of smartphone apps to facilitate the release of border crossers into the United States. Moreover, they have redirected Customs and Border Patrol agents to do ICE paperwork processing instead of focusing on law enforcement work.

In short, the current administration's policies have led to the numbers that we are seeing today, numbers like 2.5 million just in the last fiscal year, 2.3 million in the year before, and 1.74 million in the year before compared to numbers like 400,000 or 500,000 per year under the prior administration.

One is too many, but 2.5 million is egregious. It has led to situations like overcrowded classrooms and children trafficked to do work in industries unsuited for children--unsuited for anybody; millions of dollars in unpaid medical bills in hospitals across the U.S., which overwhelm first responders in border communities; homeless veterans who are getting kicked out of shelters in favor of illegal aliens; and even the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans by fentanyl.

Because of the increased fentanyl crisis, these effects are being felt in rural and metropolitan communities in both blue and red States.

As of the beginning of December, the city of Denver had spent over $33 million to house, feed, and educate around 30,000 illegal aliens. Chicago residents are up in arms, as well, as are New York City residents. Their mayor says that this crisis will destroy the city.

In 2022, here is the number I was citing for you just a second ago-- 73,654 people died from fentanyl overdose in the U.S. This is more than double the amount of deaths in 2019 and the highest in American history.

Assaults on Border Patrol agents doubled just last year. Nevertheless, the Biden administration is doubling down on these open- border policies.

What will it take for them to wake up?

What will it take for us to find a solution for the border crisis?

There is a lot to be done. There are lots that can be done by this body and the Senate and across this government, but it starts with leadership in the White House, policy leadership in the White House to undo the current open-border policies and to return to the policies that were preventing this crisis before.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 957 denounces these open-border policies, condemns the national security and public crisis that we are seeing today because of that, and urges the President to end those policies immediately. The people of America deserve better. They deserve to have the sovereignty and the geographic borders of this Nation protected.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cloud).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Van Duyne).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Self).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, these are some of the things that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have said today.

The border is not open. Mr. Correa, Ms. Jackson Lee, and Mr. Nadler all said that.

Ms. Jayapal said: ``They don't want a solution.''

Mr. Correa also said that we need more resources.

In fact, that was one of the mantras throughout the debate today from the other side of the aisle: more resources, more resources, more resources.

Let me just tell you, funding is not the issue. Funding is at an all- time high for our border protection. Despite border protection funding being at an all-time high, we are seeing record-high encounters at the border.

Why is that? There is one reason for that. It is the administration's current policies.

I have provided this analogy several times to individuals over the months leading up to this debate: When I was being elected, I had a flood at my house. I came home one night, and there was water all over the floor in my house.

My first reaction was not to stand there and say that I needed to go get a bunch of moppers to come in and mop up the water that is there. My first reaction was to find where the water leak was and turn off the valve to shut off the flood.

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we need to do. That is what this resolution re-sounds the alarm about. We have been talking about this for years on this side of the aisle. Apparently, both sides of the aisle are not getting the message.

This resolution helps us to admit that there is a problem. It helps us identify the cause and solve it.

Mr. Speaker, if the other side of the aisle was in charge of the flood at my house, they would say: Well, let's just let the flood continue and hire a bunch more moppers to come in to try to clean it up.

That is simply not the solution. You have to turn that valve off first. You have to stop the incursion of water. In this case, you have to stop the incursion of migrants coming across our border illegally.

It is a matter of the rule of law. It is a matter of the sovereignty of the United States. It is a matter of enforcing those laws that are on the books today and, frankly, a matter of the will of the administration to put back in place those policies that were working before 2021 began.

Mr. Speaker, I am astounded by the fact that even today we are hearing over and over again from the other side of the aisle that the border is not open. I urge my colleagues to go visit. Having been in Eagle Pass and El Paso, I can tell you that it is casual. That is the word I would use for it. Watching people, myself, coming across the border casually and then taken right to a processing center, and before you know it, out into the interior of the United States to who knows where and who knows when to be found again and who knows what they are going to do in our midst.

Mr. Speaker, we are seeing a rise of terrorism across this world. To allow our southern border to have the porous nature it does presently puts our Nation at risk. It is a national security issue that must be solved. We must have the will to do it.

Frankly, the Republicans have already proposed the right solution:

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 788, the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2023.

This act is one step in the reform process to return spending power back

to the hands of Congress and ensure the proper use of every dollar that comes into the Treasury.

This bill would help to ensure the damages owed to victims of wrongdoing actually reach them rather than being used to support organizations that are friends of the executive branch, regardless of the party.

For those who don't know, settlement slush funds result when defendants settle with government agencies and, based on the terms of that settlement, direct the settlement proceeds to politically favored third parties instead of victims or the U.S. Treasury for use in correcting the actual wrongdoing.

In these cases, the victims often have little to no say in how the settlement will be structured and certainly have no redress when the government directs these monetary settlements elsewhere.

In the past, these types of settlements have been used to support the pet projects of prior administrations or the friends of prior administrations, and this is simply unacceptable.

Settlement funds should go to the victims and to remedy the actual harm created by these wrongdoers, not to help and support friends of the current administration--again, regardless of which party is in power.

Reform is needed to end this practice, and Congress should enact H.R. 788, the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2023, immediately because not only do we see that these funds are redirected in inappropriate ways but these settlements amount to a form of executive branch spending that has not been approved or even reviewed by Congress.

Accordingly, these settlement slush funds undermine congressional oversight, agency accountability, and the power of the purse. The responsibility of the power of the purse falls solely on Congress, and we should have the authority to direct the funding of these settlement agreements, not the executive branch's special interests.

Moreover, money from settlements with companies and individuals should benefit the harmed and remedy the underlying actual wrongdoing. Those funds should not be redirected to nonprofits supporting the political agendas of the administration.

Let's stop this practice today. We can do it if we pass this bill. Let us pass the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2023.

Mr. Speaker, more jobs, better pay, and a stronger economy--that is the result when taxes are low.

I rise today in support of extending the pro-growth tax provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that are critical to families and businesses, items like immediate R&D expensing and allowing for full bonus depreciation in the year in which those expenses were incurred.

Through provisions like these, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 ushered in a competitive Tax Code that encouraged companies to invest in American jobs, and it served as a catalyst for innovation nationwide. These provisions lifted more than 6 million people out of poverty, grew wages by 4.9 percent, and spurred American innovation to new heights.

Also, these pro-business and pro-family tax provisions will play a vital role in advancing the American economy, boosting wages, and maintaining U.S. competitiveness worldwide into the future, but only if we make them permanent.

Unfortunately, allowing these pro-growth tax provisions expire or remain expired would be devastating to our economy. They would slow the economy, decrease wages, halt job growth, and stifle investment and innovation. This is not the direction that hardworking Americans want us to go. This is not the direction of America.

Mr. Speaker, I stand with American businesses and hardworking Americans everywhere, including in east Texas that I represent, and I encourage my colleagues to make these expiring tax provisions permanent. We must act now to make these provisions permanent and reduce the tax burdens on our businesses, to see our economy thrive and grow and to see our families benefit as a result.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3315) to exempt for an additional 4-year period, from the application of the means-test presumption of abuse under chapter 7, qualifying members of reserve components of the Armed Forces and members of the National Guard who, after September 11, 2001, are called to active duty or to perform a homeland defense activity for not less than 90 days.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 3315.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3315, the National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Extension Act of 2023.

The bill before us today is an important piece of legislation. It will help National Guard members and Armed Services reservists who serve our country.

Some of these individuals face financial hardships during or after Active Duty. Bankruptcy may be needed to resolve these hardships.

In 2008, Congress recognized that guardsmen and reservists sometimes confront unique financial challenges when returning home from Active Duty.

Congress enacted the National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Act in 2008 to respond to these challenges and has extended its protection several times since. Those protections are set to expire later this month.

Under current law, certain guardsmen and reservists are exempt from the Bankruptcy Code's means test. This test helps decide whether a debtor is eligible for debt forgiveness under chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.

The test looks at recent income and expense data to gauge a consumer's ability to repay their debt, but the means test can be an obstacle to debt forgiveness for guardsmen and reservists. Their income and expenses can change dramatically when transitioning from civilian life to Active Duty and back.

The means test does not account for these changes in income and expenses due to Active-Duty service.

The National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Extension Act of 2023 responds to this concern. This bill would extend for an additional 4 years the existing means test exemption for certain qualifying National Guard members and Armed Services reservists.

We continue to call on our guardsmen and our reservists to put their careers on hold to serve our country. We should ensure that those military personnel who fall on hard times are not denied access to bankruptcy because of their Active-Duty status.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, to close, I reemphasize what Mr. Cohen from Tennessee said.

This is a bipartisan and bicameral effort to protect our guardsmen and our reservists as they are returning back after having served in Active Duty. This is an important measure to protect those individuals who have fallen on hard times financially and need the protections of bankruptcy court.

This exemption to the means test is important because of the variations of the income and the expenses that we see coming in and out of civilian life for these individuals.

As a result of the efforts of both the Democrats and the Republicans in the House and the Senate, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Indiana for yielding me a few minutes to speak on this rule.

The rule that I rise in support of governs H.J. Res. 88. This joint resolution, which is proposed today, disapproves of the final rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to the income-driven repayment scheme devised by the Biden administration.

This scheme is bad on a number of levels. It is disastrous for not just the student borrower, but it is also disastrous for the educational institution beneficiary and the general taxpayer, all three. These types of plans drive up the cost of higher education because neither the school nor the student borrower has any incentive to make market-driven decisions about education. The total cost of tuition and fees goes up as a result.

The scarcity of resources in this case is seemingly ignored because there appears to be no end of resources. Nevertheless, we know that is not true. The value of the education provided goes down, and the return on the investment is completely disregarded because the student borrower has no incentive to determine whether or not the amount borrowed has any relativity or correlation to the amount that he or she is going to be able to make on the back side of their education.

They borrow whatever they want to borrow, and schools continue to raise tuition and fees because they know the students will not have to pay it back. They can borrow it from the Federal Government, and the taxpayer, generally, will pay that bill on their behalf.

The second thing this new proposed rule by the Biden administration does is redistribute wealth through the Education Department. That is effectively what it does when it says: You, the borrower, don't have to repay your debt; everybody else in society will repay that debt.

We simply cannot let this stand. We cannot let this rule proposed by the Department of Education stand. I support H.J. Res. 88 and its underlying rule that will disregard this rule, will unravel it, and will say to the Biden administration: No more. We stand for the taxpayers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 150th anniversary of Texarkana, Texas.

On December 8, 2023, the City of Texarkana celebrates its sesquicentennial anniversary--that's 150 years of bringing together the best that Texas and Arkansas have to offer. Two states, one city. It's twice as nice. And, it is a great place to call home. This remarkable milestone is a testament to the values, resilience, culture, and rich heritage of the citizens of Texarkana for fifteen decades.

Since its founding in 1873, Texarkana has grown from a small settlement along the Texas-Arkansas border to a thriving city that stands as a beacon of innovation, progress, and unity. The city's commitment to fostering a strong sense of community and preserving its unique State Line heritage is unsurpassed. From its vibrant manufacturing and industrial base, support for the Red River Army Depot, and its deep roots in agriculture to its investments in education, health care, technology, infrastructure, and planning, Texarkana stands as a shining example of what can be achieved when a community comes together with a shared vision and a commitment to excellence.

I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing and celebrating the 150th anniversary of Texarkana's founding. Congratulations to Texarkana on this momentous milestone. May the next 150 years be filled with continued growth and prosperity. Happy anniversary, Texarkana.

Mr. Speaker, as a Christian, freedom-loving Texan and sitting member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, the events in Israel these past weeks are of utmost concern, but beyond that, they should concern every American and, frankly, every member of humanity regardless of religion, ethnicity, race, gender, or political affiliation.

What we have seen in these past weeks is pure hate and pure evil. Hamas is a well-known, Iranian-backed terrorist organization whose official charter calls for the obliteration of Israel and the Jewish people.

Let's consider that for a moment. These last few weeks have been proof of their commitment to this goal.

How should we respond in the United States? The U.S. should act strategically with strength and steadiness so that those enemies of the U.S. and Israel are overwhelmed and ultimately defeated in their entirety. We must stand firmly with Israel with whatever they need.

Now is not the time for timidity. It is the time for strength and unity with Israel. Such action will help deter evil in the future, preserve life, and promote liberty.

Now is the time for us to be all in. We need to offer strength and steadiness in this time. Let us begin by standing with Israel.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 49 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, October 26, 2023, at 10 a.m.