Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker Pro Tempore, I rise today to recognize the 175th anniversary of Carthage, Texas.

Carthage, a vibrant and historic city nestled in the heart of East Texas, is celebrating its 175th anniversary on November 11, 2023. This remarkable milestone is a testament to the resilience, spirit, and rich heritage that has shaped the community of Carthage over the years.

Since its founding in 1848, Carthage has grown from a humble settlement to a thriving city that stands as a beacon of progress and unity. The city's commitment to fostering a strong sense of community and preserving its unique heritage is truly commendable.

Carthage 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 all of my colleagues to join me in recognizing and celebrating the 175th anniversary of Carthage's founding. Congratulations to Carthage on this momentous milestone. May the next 175 years be filled with continued growth, prosperity, and community pride. Happy anniversary, Carthage.

Mr. Speaker Pro Tempore, I rise today to recognize White Cane Awareness Day.

White Cane Awareness Day, celebrated annually on October 15th, serves as a powerful reminder of the significance and empowerment that the white cane symbolizes for individuals with visual impairments. This day raises needed awareness of the challenges faced by the blind and visually impaired community, while also highlighting their remarkable achievements and contributions to our society.

I urge all of my colleagues to join me in recognizing White Cane Awareness Day and honor the achievements of individuals who inspire us with their resilience, their strength, and their spirit.

Mr. Speaker, today, I speak in support of the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act. This bill would amend the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act so that it explicitly states that school programs that train students ``in archery, hunting, or other shooting sports'' are eligible for Federal funding.

Currently, the Department of Education, under the Biden administration, has misinterpreted the phrase ``training in the use of a dangerous weapon'' so that classes for archery or hunting safety are being deemed as a violation of Federal law. This simply makes no sense.

If we use the Department of Education's wrongheaded and broad way of interpreting the definition of a ``weapon,'' then culinary classes might be next on the exclusion list since knives are used in those classes.

This bill would correct the Department of Education's misguided interpretation under the current statute by clarifying that archery and hunting courses are not teaching the training and the use of dangerous weapons and schools that choose to teach such courses cannot be stripped of their Federal funding.

I have been involved in classes that teach hunting and archery through organizations like the Boy Scouts, and I know firsthand that they teach and reinforce skills like responsibility, self-reliance, preparation, and attention to detail. They build self-esteem in young men and women and also reinforce the ideas of conservation and stewardship of our natural resources and instill a love and appreciation for the world that God created.

These classes also teach safety and responsibility relating to rifles and bows and arrows. All of these are skills and characteristics that we want in our children. Why misinterpret statutes to prevent classes that reinforce these skills and characteristics in our youth?

I proudly support the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act and urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of its passage to return local control to our school districts and to make right what is now currently wrong.

Mr. Speaker, Washington has a spending problem. I know it, you know it, and more importantly, the American people know it.

Our addiction to unaccountable spending has resulted in our Nation accumulating more than $32 trillion in debt, leading to crippling inflation and a financial burden that future generations will struggle to overcome.

That is why I have introduced the principles-based balanced budget amendment, which would require annual spending and revenue to balance and affirm the principle of fiscal responsibility through constitutional mandate.

If ratified, this constitutional amendment would require Congress to balance the budget within 10 years while still allowing Congress to determine the mechanisms of how to achieve that balance through statute.

Under the Constitution, Congress holds both the power of the purse and the responsibility of the purse. Let us fulfill that responsibility with a strict measure of accountability.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this effort to affirm the principles of fiscal responsibility through constitutional mandate. Our financial future in America depends on it. We must act now.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Good of Virginia for introducing H.J. Res. 45, and I thank Chairwoman Foxx for her leadership in getting this important resolution to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, just a few statistics from my particular district in northeast Texas: Almost 70 percent of my district does not hold a college degree, and under this program, effectively what the President is asking for is, that those 70 percent should subsidize the college education of the rest of those individuals in my district.

The cost for my district is $1.55 billion. The estimated number of constituents ineligible for student debt relief in my district is 640,000 individuals out of 767,000 individuals in east Texas.

Nearly 30 years ago when I began my post-education studies, I had to support myself through college. My parents wanted to do that, but they couldn't do it because of their financial status at the time, so paying for college was a matter of personal responsibility for me.

Better stated, it was a matter of personal investment for my future. It was an investment that I chose to make. It was an investment that I knew I needed to make to fulfill God's call on my life.

To pay for my education, I took on a variety of jobs, including being a server at a restaurant, running a vending route, serving as a painter's helper, even roofing a roof in the middle of the hot Texas sun.

There was still a gap between what college was going to cost me and what I could earn on my own during those summer and weekend jobs that I had. Despite my hard work, a shortfall was still there, so I picked up college loans.

When I did so, I evaluated what I was going to have to repay in the future. I looked at the degree programs I was studying, I looked at the future repayment plans before me, and I knew that it was a matter of my personal responsibility to pay back that loan that was going to benefit me and benefit my family.

It was not a matter of me taking out those loans believing that others would, in fact, be on the hook to pay for them. As a father of four school-aged children, we are now going through that same process with my older two children to determine what we are going to do about their future. It is a decision we know we need to make and an obligation we know we need to keep on the back side of taking out any loans.

Unfortunately, that is a conversation a lot of families don't have in this world before they send their kids off to school, and we need to make sure that there is more information out there before they incur the debt that ultimately they are going to have to repay.

But to saddle that repayment on the backs of others who have not benefited from it is simply wrongheaded. Frankly, it is unconstitutional for the executive branch to take that action without going through the legislative branch, but that is precisely what the President is attempting to do.

Mr. Speaker, I stand in opposition to the student loan debt forgiveness program and in support of Mr. Good's joint resolution. I look forward to this being on the floor.

I look forward to Americans in this country understanding that when they take an obligation for a loan repayment, that they are going to repay it, not others, because once we assume the obligations of every other person in this country, the free market, capitalist society that drives our economy is gone. We do not need to see that.

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

Every year, Mr. Speaker, thousands of Americans lose their lives as a result of fentanyl-related overdoses.

I rise today to bring added attention to the fentanyl crisis, a crisis that has affected every corner of America, including the 17 counties in east Texas that I represent.

Since the introduction of this drug in our Nation almost a decade ago, thousands of kids and teenagers have overdosed on this dangerous substance.

Since 2020, over 3,300 Texans have lost their lives in fentanyl- related overdoses. That is 3,300 too many lives snuffed out before they can fulfill their calling in this life.

Mr. Speaker, before coming to Congress to combat the opioid crisis in Texas, I worked with a small group of other interested parties to help negotiate what became known as the Texas Term Sheet, something that established a settlement structure for opioid-related claims in the State. It worked to ensure that State and local governments, along with regional health districts, could work together to reach global settlements with bad actors and then use that money specifically for activities to combat the expanding causes and effects of opioid addictions. Now, as a Congressman, I continue this fight.

Earlier this year, I introduced legislation that would require the President to impose sanctions on Mexican individuals, such as cartel members and corrupt Mexican officials who are involved with the manufacture, distribution, and transport of illicit fentanyl. It is past time that we hold these individuals personally accountable for their roles in the deaths of thousands of Americans.

Today, I am proud to stand here and express my full support for the HALT Fentanyl Act, which would classify fentanyl-related substances as schedule I narcotics, the most serious and dangerous classification of a drug, and establish a refined process for research on these drugs, ensuring that companies and researchers entrusted with access to these drugs do not abuse this access.

This is a steady and strong step in the right direction, but it is just a small step. There is much more for this Congress to do.

While these measures do not bring back those we have lost, they are a step, as I said, in the right direction to ensure that we do not lose any more lives, any more young lives, any more lives of any age to these lethal drugs.

Let us stand together in this fight. Let us work against this demon of fentanyl.

Mr. Speaker, in recognition of National Nurses Week, I'm proud to rise today and honor the East Texas nurses--both those who have retired and those who are still practicing, who have dutifully served our community.

For centuries, nurses have played a vital role in health care by dedicating countless hours of service to their patients and their patients' families--from providing quality care to their unparalleled sense of compassion for those in need.

During the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, these heroes selflessly put themselves at the frontline of patient care, risking their own health while battling burnout and exhaustion.

Nurses across East Texas have banded together to organize National Retired Nurses Day, in commemoration of their service and sacrifice. I am proud to support these nurses in their efforts.

On behalf of Texas's First Congressional District, I would like to thank our nurses for their relentless commitment to serving their community and dedication to helping those in need.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Jim Jordan of Ohio, and my colleagues, Mr. Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mr. McClintock of California, and Mr. Green of Tennessee, for working so diligently on this comprehensive border security package.

This package will work to physically secure our borders; protect the sovereignty of our Nation; protect the lives, livelihoods, the property of current American citizens, those that are here legally, and give hope to those from outside our country who seek to find a better life here by restoring surety and sanity to the immigration process.

The ability of our Nation to continue to be the world's haven and leader in both liberty and generosity is directly related to our ability to first preserve the rule of law here, protect the sanctity of America's geographic boundaries, and preserve the greatness of our Nation from within.

Earlier this year, in a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, the El Paso county judge said explicitly and without reservation that there was ``no crisis at the southern border,'' but the facts, the pictures, the videos, and the personal testimonies of those on the border tell a different story. Ironically, just last week, the mayor of the city of El Paso declared a state of emergency for the city because of this very border crisis.

For 2 years now, Secretary Mayorkas has told the American people that the Department of Homeland Security has ``operational control'' of the southern border. We know better.

Despite the administration sending 1,500 U.S. troops to the border just in the past couple weeks, these actions are too little, too late. More correctly, they are illusory in nature.

Though we do need additional personnel on the border, what we really need is an administration with the resolve to simply enforce the rule of law and put American families ahead of politics.

For too long, this administration has turned a blind eye to the crisis at the southern border. They have not enforced the policies and laws currently in place, and as a result, we have seen an influx of migrants crossing our border and illegally entering the United States over the last 2 years.

These eleventh-hour measures taken by the Secretary of Homeland Security will sadly have little to no effect on stopping this historic surge because there is no will, no resolve, and no determination by the administration to stop this invasion.

That is why House Republicans today are going to take decisive and historic action to do just as the American people need, and that is to secure our border.

In East Texas, we see the direct and dire consequences of nonexistent immigration policies. Many more outside Texas in the past couple of years are beginning to see this, as well. Now is the time to take action. Now is the time to act with courage and boldness. Now is the time to pass H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend, and renowned East Texas radio personality, John Sims. who tragically passed away the morning of Friday, March 31.

John was a proud Philadelphia native who fully embraced his adopted home of East Texas, where he served our community on air for over forty-three years, most recently with KTBB.

Through his reporting and commentary, John played a direct role in our daily lives, filling an otherwise silent morning commute with community updates, state and national news, guidance, and laughter.

When John wasn't filling the radio waves, he was out in our community. John was active in many civic organizations, working with those in need and those with disabilities.

In particular, John was devoted to his work with the Tyler Together Race Relations Forum, in addition to the League of Women Voters, the March of Dimes, the Tyler Church and Community Network, and East Texas Wheelers and Walkers.

Even further, John was also the former president of Leadership Tyler and the Smith County Community Partnership Council, raising up new leaders in our community advocating for its success.

A devout believer, John always prioritized his time serving with the church and other community groups.

John's un-timely passing will undoubtedly take a toll on East Texas.

I am proud to join his family, his friends, his colleagues, and the entire First District of Texas in remembering John and honoring his lifetime of service. He will be sorely missed.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from California (Mr. Kiley) for gathering us here today for something very important: to speak out against President Biden's nomination of Julie Su to be the next United States Secretary of Labor.

As a former Republican member of the California Legislature, Mr. Kiley knows all too well why this should not happen, and the rest of the country should take notice.

As a former small business owner, I also understand why this should not happen because I understand both the needs of the employer and the employee. I have seen firsthand how empowering your employees, Mr. Speaker, is a leading factor in the overall success of a business and how managing with wise and prudent decisionmaking is the right way to go. That is something that Julie Su has not done and has proven that during her time in California and here in Washington, D.C.

During her time as the secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, she repeatedly put big businesses and their wants ahead of the needs and concerns of the workers. In fact, she put unions ahead of the rights and needs of workers.

During this time, she championed California Assembly Bill 5, which reclassified independent contractors, harming them by considering them employees and, in fact, taking that ability to be independent contractors away from many categories of workers who were intending to build their businesses and build their lives. In doing so, it forced them into these formal employment relationships intended for no other purpose--and I want to pause here--for no other purpose than to drive up union enrollment. She is simply doing the bidding of big unions.

On top of this, during the pandemic, Ms. Su's office facilitated the distribution of more than $30 billion in fraudulent claims, the largest exhibition of fraud in California State history.

When we look at what we want out of a Labor Secretary, we certainly want wisdom, and we want the ability to manage the Department. Neither of those is present as characteristics in Ms. Su.

I am deeply concerned about the fate of hardworking Americans under the direction of Julie Su as Secretary of Labor. She does not understand the needs of workers and the responsibilities of employers, and she has repeatedly demonstrated, as I mentioned, poor judgment in her official capacity. To try to dissolve the ability for workers to have that independent contractor relationship is simply misguided.

Unfortunately, Julie Su is just another example of the Biden administration nominating someone who is neither qualified nor possessive of the right judgment to lead the Department.

Rather than work toward enacting meaningful policy that will benefit all Americans, the Biden administration continues to nominate individuals like Ms. Su who are sure to enact the President's liberal agenda and proposed policies, allowing him and his administration to bypass Congress and the American people.

The misguided policies executed in California under Ms. Su when she was secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency there do not reflect the needs and wishes of the east Texans that I represent nor Americans as a whole.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to reject the nomination of Julie Su for Labor Secretary.

Mr. Speaker, every year the Greater Longview United Way hosts a fundraiser known as their annual campaign to raise money for nonprofit organizations in the Gregg County area.

In recognition of the 75th year, the United Way's campaign theme was: ``Past. Present. Future. We are UNITED.''

This year, the organization surpassed their goal by over $25,000, raising a grand total of $1.1 million, which will be used to help fund nearly 40 programs across 20 nonprofits in the Gregg County area.

United Ways are a vital part of communities across the Nation, bringing people together to volunteer, advocate, and give back to their community.

Their core belief is that only when a community is united to benefit all people, regardless of race, creed, class, school district, or place of origin that true change can happen.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the executive director, Dr. Evan Dolive; campaign and community outreach manager, Heather Stevenson; and front office coordinator, Raven Atkinson for their dedication to the United Way and our Gregg County community.

Mr. Chairman, first and foremost, I thank Congressman Greg Steube of Florida for introducing this important piece of legislation, and Chairwoman Foxx for managing this afternoon's floor debate.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 will safeguard the ability of female athletes to participate freely in an athletic space that for decades has been specifically carved out for these athletes to compete safely.

When biological males infiltrate these spaces, opportunities are taken away from these biological females.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration proposed a new Title IX rule prohibiting public schools from banning transgender male athletes from competing in sporting events with girls and women and eliminating the State's policy to promote integrity in sports.

The Biden administration is attempting to change the playing field, but there is nothing equal or level about allowing biological men to compete in women and girls' sports.

Coaches in East Texas that I represent understand the biological differences between men and women, and they understand that there is nothing equal about allowing men to compete in women's sports.

This legislation will ensure that schools who receive Federal funding can still protect biological women's and girls' rights to freely and fairly participate in sports. As a father of two boys and two girls, this is important to me. This will safeguard and uphold the integrity of women's sports and the true intention of Title IX.

Mr. Chair, I am proud to stand here on the House floor today in support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague, Mr. Bean of Florida, for gathering us here this evening to raise awareness of the rising influence of foreign adversaries in our institutions of higher education, namely China and the Chinese Communist Party.

As he mentioned, I have just returned from a Foreign Affairs congressional delegation trip to the Indo-Pacific region where we met with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to talk about the aggression of China not just from a military standpoint, but from a diplomatic and an economic standpoint.

Here tonight, we are talking about the aggression of China to take over America through its educational institutions.

Universities across the Nation are being exploited by the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries, with the CCP leading efforts to infiltrate college campuses to steal our intellectual property, spread propaganda, and collect information to send back to China.

Our institutions of higher learning play a vital role in preparing our workforce for not only the next step in their career, but in evolving as contributing members of our society.

On college campuses across the United States, China has sponsored ambassadors to enroll in American institutions called ``Confucius Institutes'' to take advantage of domestic resources while influencing public perception that China is somehow compassionate and does not pose an economic or security threat to this Nation. They are doing it all within our borders, and it is simply false.

The Confucius Institutes aim to expand the Chinese footprint on universities around the world, influencing our students and threatening academic freedom.

In the United States alone, China has spent over $150 million developing these programs by planting over 100 of the institutions. Today, there are 13 Confucius Institutes in the United States, with over 100 of the previously established institutes having closed or being in the process of closing, thankfully.

These so-called culture centers have given universities a direct line of communication with foreign adversaries, in addition to a direct source of foreign funding.

By law, universities receiving gifts from foreign countries with a value of over $250,000 are required to report these donations to the Department of Education.

Several prestigious universities, however, across the United States, including universities such as the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown received funding--lots of funding, millions and millions of dollars of funding--from foreign adversaries between 2014 and 2017. Yet, they failed to disclose any of these donations to the Department of Education.

I wonder why.

During the Trump administration, the Department of Education actually enforced the law and investigated these reports and donations ensuring that universities were compliant in this reporting.

As we all know, transparency is the key to accountability in this country. Yet here we see a lack of transparency on the part of these universities.

Unsurprisingly, the Biden administration, who has been weak on foreign policy and the promotion of American interests, has not yet investigated the nearly $6.5 billion in unreported foreign money received by colleges and universities during the Biden administration.

I will repeat that again: $6.5 billion.

And you ask, what is that money buying the Chinese Communist Party?

The administration's failure to enforce the law and ensure transparency and accountability of foreign money funneled into the United States institutions is dangerous, and it reveals a lack of desire to protect American national security and our values from bad actors.

The stake that the Chinese Government has in universities has given the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party a seat at the table of our educational institutions, a seat they should not have. They are strong-arming free speech and academic freedom. They are rewriting history, the history of the Chinese Communist Party, and they are doing it all through the dissolution of our free speech and our academic freedom, those pillars of our society.

As Members of Congress, it is of the utmost importance that we have accountability over the foreign dollars entering our college campuses and universities and ensure that dangerous ideals are not being promoted across the country through the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries that would use this information and these investments against our national security efforts.

American universities and colleges are esteemed for brilliant research and academia. We must not tolerate foreign governments stealing critical information in these premier research programs for the purpose of using it against the United States and weakening our national security.

I can tell you again from experience, these past couple of weeks have opened my eyes to the reality of the threat that is the Chinese Communist Party. Again, it is not just our diplomatic status, it is not just our economic warfare that we are engaging in, it is not just what we are seeing from a military presence that they have around the island of Taiwan. Know that it is now indeed in our educational institutions.

We must push back on every front. It is a multi-front fight that we cannot lose, or we will lose this Nation.

Mr. Chairman, first I thank Congresswoman Letlow for introducing this important piece of legislation and Chairwoman Foxx for her steady and unwavering leadership, guiding the Education and the Workforce Committee through a 16-hour debate, ending in a 2:23 a.m. vote a few weeks ago to pass this out of committee.

This bill ensures that parents stay at the center of educating their children, regardless of whether that education occurs at home or in a public school system or anywhere in between. Until we can get the Federal Government completely out of K-12 education, Federal legislation shoring up the rights of parents is absolutely necessary.

H.R. 5, known as the Parental Bill of Rights Act, will keep parents and families at the forefront of their child's educational journey. It will also strengthen those critical partnerships between engaged parents and willing educators. The beneficiary of such partnerships will undoubtedly be the schoolchildren nationwide.

For generations, our classrooms have been a sacred place, a place where children dig in to understand this world and how it works, where they discover their passions and the reason for their creation, and where they prepare for a lifetime of pursuing those passions.

I know this firsthand because before I entered my legal career, I worked in a public school system for multiple years. I married a public educator. About 9 years ago, I helped to start and run an education foundation that supports the fabulous teachers in my local public school district who teach with innovation and passion. Currently, I have four children donning the doors of that very school system, a choice my wife and I proudly make.

However, public classrooms should not be a place for advancing personal agendas or political propaganda. The role of our public educators is to educate, not to indoctrinate. Although the overwhelming majority of educators that I represent in east Texas thankfully understand this, it seems to me that in so many other corners of this country, many others have forgotten this or perhaps they have just simply forsaken this on purpose. In either case, it requires action by this Congress to stand firmly with parents in their partnership with educators.

Neither parents nor educators are the enemy. The enemy here is an unchecked system and political agenda that excludes one of those two essential parties necessary for the proper education of students; namely, the parents.

In 1925, the Supreme Court unanimously held that ``the parental right to guide one's child intellectually and religiously is a most substantial part of the liberty and freedom of a parent.''

This concept is nothing new. We are talking about the fundamental rights of parents. Parents should be at the center of the education of their children, not the Federal Government.

As a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, I will continue to fight to keep the Federal Government out of our children's educational journey while working to increase the voice of our parents and families.

As a member of that committee, I will also continue to applaud the dedicated work of so many educators in this country who have been doing the right thing by both parents and students for decades. For those educators and school districts, this legislation changes little; but for those who see parents as the enemy, this legislation changes much.

Under this legislation, young and impressionable students will be safeguarded from propaganda and undue influence from those who should be educating but who have instead chosen to deviate from this responsibility to pursue a political agenda.

Nearly a century later after the Supreme Court weighed in on this issue, I am proud to stand here in support of the Parental Bill of Rights Act, which will reinforce the fundamental rights of parents and guardians to make the decision that is best for their families and their children's academic career.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend, Edna Morris, who recently joined our Lord in Heaven.

During my time as a Smith County judge, I had the pleasure of working directly with Edna, an optimistic, gentle, and patient woman who treated everyone around her with kindness.

Edna was devout in her faith and firmly knew that her eternal future was rooted in it. She never worried. Edna consistently encouraged those around her to see the good in every situation, and she led by example.

She persevered through many obstacles and lived a full life, passionately serving her community in any way that she could, from serving Smith County as chief deputy of elections to helping in her church office, to volunteering at her granddaughter's school.

In a world where people have the choice to be anything, she always chose to be kind.

Edna will be missed deeply by me and so many others in Smith County. My prayers are with her family, friends, and all who were blessed to know her.