Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Lance Corporal (ret.) John E. DeVoll, Sr., of New Paltz, N.Y., a devoted partner; beloved father, grandfather, and uncle; proud U.S. Marine and Vietnam War Era veteran; and cherished friend, who passed away in Poughkeepsie, New York, on December 5, 2022.

John DeVoll was born on November 30, 1944, in Staten Island, N.Y., to the late John ``Jack'' and Agnes (Bennett) DeVoll. He worked in security for Iron Mountain. Previously he worked as a night manager at Shoprite and manager at the International Pancake House, and worked with his parents in their family restaurants, Cherri's I and II, in High Falls, N.Y.

Lance Corporal DeVoll was a U.S. Marine who served his country with the 1st Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division, 5th Marine Division (Fleet Marine Force) during the Vietnam War. For his service, he received awards including two Good Conduct Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Rifle Sharpshooter Badge (M-14 Rifle). LCPL DeVoll was a selfless and faithful patriot.

He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Margaret Brandow, Barbara Hasbrouck, and Jacqueline Santowski, former wife Dorothy DeVoll, longtime companion Katherine Wagner, and stepson Billy Jo.

He is survived by his children John Jr., Melissa Jennifer and her husband Rasheed Sr., and Michael; stepchildren Coleen and her husband Joseph Sr., and Kathy; grandchildren Anthony, Nicholas, Ava, Rasheed Jr., Ramya, Joe Jr., Damyn, Kaitlyn, Kaylona, Jerome, Christopher, Brittany Johnathan and Miranda. He will also be missed by many nieces and nephews.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in recognizing the accomplishments and legacy of Lance Corporal (ret.) John E. DeVoll. It is my privilege to rise in recognition of his service and to honor his memory.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 333.

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for his service.

Mr. Chair, I rise as a proud graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a representative of the academy today. Whether my colleagues want to recognize it or not, particularly those on the far right, we have an increasingly growing diverse force.

As Mr. Kim said, unit cohesion, we can all agree, is essential and critical, both in the heat of battle and in training and preparation. This amendment would unequivocally, as you heard from retired military officers across the world, weaken unit cohesion. Even the considerably--to be generous--conservative Supreme Court has recognized the distinct interests of these service academies in the Court's recent decision that came down just a few weeks ago.

We have made great strides at the academies with a focus and bipartisan commitment for decades. West Point has gone from 20 percent to 36 percent cadets of minority backgrounds, and the Naval Academy from 19 percent to 37 percent, but we still have work to do to achieve unit cohesion.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chair, there are a lot of buzz words, complicated sub- working groups and weaponization and all of this sort of language that may hide what is happening here, but I want to be crystal clear about what this amendment does.

As someone who served in uniform proudly in two combat deployments, this weakens our military. It weakens our national security because it essentially tries to sweep back under the rug what is a growing, more dramatic problem of extremism of many kinds within our Department of Defense, something that has had bipartisan agreement.

Rather than keeping that bipartisan, sober tenor to the debate, this amendment hypocritically, in my opinion, actually politicizes it by referring it to, unfortunately, a subcommittee that is, I think, broadly known to operate in that way.

Let's be clear about what is happening in our Department of Defense.

Bias, discrimination, hate, and extremism threaten the safety of all communities and institutions, and our military is no exception.

I think we can all agree that one extremist in the ranks is one too many. The U.S. intelligence community's annual threat assessment once again concluded transnational racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists continue to pose the most lethal threat to U.S. persons and interests and a significant threat to a number of U.S. allies and partners.

The Countering Extremism Working Group has functioned exactly as intended. It should continue its work to ensure that extremism has no place in our military. They are doing good, necessary work.

We must continue to, as Members of Congress and Americans, hold the principle that this work should be nonpartisan. It should not be under the sort of heated politicized rhetoric that I fear this amendment would put it under.

I stand in strong opposition and encourage my colleagues to vote against this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, this is not a Democrat or Republican thing. This is about the American people having pride in and sending the message to all members, the millions of members in the Department of Defense, that we are proud of them, we support them, we support the work that our Department of Defense is doing, and we are not intending to politicize it in the way that this amendment does.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, what is clear when you see how this weaponization of the Federal Government subcommittee has operated, sadly, to me as someone who loves our country, it has become a deeply partisan body. With all due respect to my colleague, I don't agree with her characterization in any way.

The other piece here that is not being spoken about, anti-Semitism and violent White nationalism are on the rise in the Department of Defense, and this working group is directly focused on countering that.

Politicizing that work undercuts that important work, puts our troops at risk, and puts our national security at risk.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I am prepared to close and wrap this up.

Mr. Chair, in brief, while I understand the spirit of what my colleague is saying, there has to be reasonable lines at which we cannot say there is unlimited resources to dedicate to unlimited oversight of every conspiracy theory that may be out there.

I would reassert in closing, dealing with extremism cannot be about political or ideological litmus tests but practical threats to the operations and values of our military.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks), the ranking member of our Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington State (Mr. Larsen).

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

Mr. Chairman, with respect to my colleague and alum of a United States military academy, I respectfully disagree. I think at this moment when our allies and our entire alliance is engaged in direct hot war is a moment where we have to have our allies' backs, where we have to lead by assuming some risk and hoping and pushing and nudging our allies to follow.

I do respect the spirit of what my colleague is saying, but in the heat of battle is not the time to question our allies or to back away from our allies. In fact, as my colleagues have said, it is the moment to lean in and strengthen our alliance, bolster our alliance, bolster innovation, and bring to bear the resources of the DIANA effort.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Chair, I remind my colleagues that the word, as my colleague from New York has said, the word ``denounces'' is a strong word especially to use in the heat of battle and the heat of an unprecedented and unjust war.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Mr. Chair, again, in closing, I reiterate the points of Mr. Meeks. At the moment when NATO is headed in the right direction, when we are seeing the greatest strength, unity, cohesion, results, and success, back to the founding charter of the organization, now is not the time to take steps backwards and denounce our allies.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Huffman).

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer).

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in support of the NDAA as it was reported out of committee under the strong bipartisan leadership of Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Smith.

I proudly served two combat tours in Iraq and sadly and personally know the human cost of conflict. The landscape we face is as serious as ever, from a land war in Europe to the significant threats from China.

This body has a crucial decision in front of us, one that will have ramifications for my two young boys and for many generations of Americans to come. Will we choose to be patriots, continuing the 60- plus year precedent of coming together in a bipartisan manner as Americans to keep our Nation safe? Or will we give in and give up, ceding the ground of our democracy to a small group of extremists willing to hijack our Nation's security for their own narrow, selfish political gain?

So many of the foundational challenges our military faces, from declining trust in the institution to significant recruiting challenges for all of our services, can and must be directly attributed to this introduction of inherently partisan, divisive rhetoric into what should be a sober and bipartisan discussion.

If I hear one more colleague, especially one who never served a day in uniform, use the W word--which I won't use here on the floor--then struggle to define what the heck they even mean by it, I am going to lose it.

Every time I hear that, I think about the faces of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians currently in harm's way as we speak. I think about the 4,000 young cadets I have the privilege of representing at West Point. I have only been here a little less than a year, but in my time, I have never had a single military family, veteran, or servicemember ever bring up the issue of wokeness in the military. Zero times, never.

What they do bring up over and over, our veterans and military families, is that they are proud of their service that they have done and the service they are doing. They are proud of our military today. They are proud of our work to make it better, and they are

proud of our country. It is our job to remind them here in Congress that we are proud of them and that we will have their backs.

Our men and women in uniform deserve that 5.2 percent pay raise. Our female servicemembers deserve access to quality reproductive healthcare. A diverse force, critical to solving diverse problems, deserves to be welcomed into our ranks. These men and women in uniform deserve Senate-confirmed senior leaders--something that one of these extremists is currently standing in the way of.

We must rise above this division. We must come together as a Congress, as Americans, as patriots to do the right thing. I trust that we will ultimately do so.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in strong opposition to the default on America act.

I risked my life in combat because I believe in this country, our strength, and our compassion. This bill falls far short of those American values.

In New York alone, my home State, it threatens food assistance to 54,000 people and cuts preschool and childcare for 17,000 kids. It puts at risk Meals on Wheels for over 1 million seniors nationwide. It would cut $30 billion in support to our veterans.

I don't know about my colleagues, but I believe in a country where we don't let our kids and our seniors go hungry, and we never break faith with our veterans.

The cuts in this bill are just cruel, and they would have catastrophic consequences for American families.

In combat, it was my sacred duty to make sure we left no one behind. This bill leaves far too many Americans behind.

I implore my colleagues from both parties to instead pass a clean debt ceiling increase.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of this amendment into the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Mr. Command Sergeant Major (ret) James A. McNair, devoted husband to Esther G. McNair (deceased); beloved father, grandfather, and great grandfather; decorated veteran; cherished friend and admired mentor, passed away in El Paso, Texas, on March 31, 2023.

James McNair was born the 11th child of James and Mary Magee McNair on their 100 acre family farm in Mt. Olive, MS. He and his siblings would work on the farm before heading off to school each day. At Lincoln High School, he drove a school bus to help ensure other students got to and from school safely. He graduated from high school early and entered the United States Army. Soon after, while visiting his brother in Tuskegee, AL, James met his love, Esther Greene. They shared a passion for dancing, family, education, and service. They were soon married and journeyed through life together until her passing in 2005.

CSM McNair served in the U.S. Army for 30 years, including serving at Ft. Bliss, TX, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, Alaska, Europe, and Korea. He received many commendations, medals, and awards, including the Meritorious Service Medal and the Legion of Merit. He retired in 1985 and was recognized on the floor of the United States House of Representatives for his distinguished service, saying ``His outstanding service to his country will long be remembered by his fellow soldiers and greatly appreciated by his fellow Americans.''

After retirement, he and his wife worked in Civil Service for the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss, TX until he retired again in 2004. He subsequently served the Texas Department of the American Legion in many roles, including Texas Department Commander and Trustee. He was an advocate for increased membership, soldier and veteran education, female service members, and veterans' rights. His motto was ``Results Count.'' In appreciation of his community service, the Mayor and City Council of El Paso proclaimed September 20, 2008 ``James McNair Day.''

He was preceded in death by his wife of 46 years, Esther Greene, his son Tyrone Greene McNair, his parents, and his 10 siblings: Costee, Sr. (Johnnie Lee), Mertis C., Johnnie Mae Barnes (Ervin, Sr.), Geneva Bacot, R.P. McNair (Elizabeth), Alfred Earl ``Terrell'', Sr. (Irma), Zella D. ``Dull'' Weathersby (Arties), Eugene ``Nick'' (Laura), Governor ``Bone'', and Willine Ward (Eugene ``Harry'').

He is survived by his children, Reverend Dr. Christopher McNair (Lisa), Minneapolis, MN, LTC (ret) James McNair (Corinne), Vilseck, Germany, Mr. Kerry McNair (Wendy) Atlanta, GA, Mrs. Valerie Hill (Edward), Pflugerville, TX, and Mrs. Janise McNair Dagins, Ph.D., (Clarence), Gainesville, FL, two sisters-in-law: Irma McNair, Ocean Springs, MS, and Laura McNair, Collins, MS, his 15 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. James A. McNair was a humble and selfless patriot. It is my privilege to rise in recognition of his life of service and to honor his memory.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Lt. Col. Edward C. Moulton, Jr., United States Air Force (retired), of Cornwall- on-Hudson, NY.

Born at home in Newburgh, NY, on May 13, 1930, at the onset of the Great Depression, Ed was raised in Newburgh, where he was a scrappy young man with an early appreciation of music and a love of singing. At the age of ten, he joined the boys' choir at St. George's Episcopal Church, beginning what would amount to an 80-year run of choral singing.

Ed graduated in 1952 from New Paltz College with a Bachelor of Arts, focusing on art and education. While there, he met the love of his life, Floranne Norma Terwilliger. They were married shortly after graduation and were together for over 60 years until Floranne's passing in 2017. Ed join the Air Force upon graduation from college, and the happy couple spent the next 20 years raising a family of 3 children on or around various air bases, initially in England and subsequently across the U.S. in Texas, Delaware, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Alaska. Ed also served a year in Thailand during the Vietnam War where he was awarded a bronze star for meritorious leadership of an avionics squadron which maintained the most diverse, exotic, and closely monitored systems in the Air Force.

Upon retirement in 1972, Ed and Floranne settled in Cornwall-on- Hudson where he would spend the next half-century, working as a real estate agent, broker, and appraiser and also serving as Mayor of the Village Cornwall-on-Hudson for an unprecedented 26 consecutive years. As Mayor, Ed accomplished many things he was proud of, including significant improvements to the village's water system, the creation of Donahue Park on the river with the shelter/gazebo, the purchase of the current Village Hall, Department of Public Work facility enhancements, the bandstand in the center of the Village, as well as sidewalks to enhance the walkability of the Village and significant beautification efforts including the planting of many trees.

Ed was very active in the local community including holding leadeship positions at St. John's Episcopal Church and the Lion's Club. He also enjoyed rounds of golf at Storm King and playing bridge with friends, and was a life-long Yankees fan. Ed also loved to paint, particularly landscapes of the Hudson River, and he and Floranne loved to travel the world, keeping in touch with Air Force friends.

Ed was predeceased by his younger brother Gary N. Moulton and sister Dorothy Lee Moulton. He is survived by his three children and their spouses: Anne Elizabeth Parkhurst (husband David) of Gifford NH, Edward Curtis (`Curt') Moulton III (wife Janet) of Ossining NY, and Mary Lee Koch (husband Alan) of Myrtle Beach, SC. He is also survived by 7 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. It is my privilege to rise in recognition of his life of service and to honor his memory.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of clean water and in opposition to H.R. 1.

I proudly represent New York's Hudson Valley, the birthplace of the modern environmental movement.

In 1962, community members fought back against a massive, dirty power plant on Storm King Mountain, overlooking my alma mater at West Point, that would have pumped toxic chemicals into our Hudson River.

Ultimately, that fight led to the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, landmark legislation that to this day protects and preserves access to clean water, air, and soil.

Tragically, my community has a long and well-documented history of big corporations dumping toxic pollutants, particularly PFAS, in our waterways. While there are many reasons I oppose this bill, I rise today to speak on this aspect, in particular.

You would think that keeping toxic chemicals out of our water and away from our kids would be a priority for everyone in this body.

Sadly, after reading this bill, that is clearly not the case. Rather than working to help families dealing with water poisoned by these forever chemicals, my colleagues are trying to pass legislation that will actually increase the prevalence of these toxins.

Every single day in my district, we have kids in Newburgh and seniors in Middletown who cannot access clean water. Asthma rates across my district greatly outpace the national average because of these very pollutants. The Hudson River, which provides drinking water for over 100,000 of my constituents, is still overrun with PCBs and PFAS. To introduce a bill that allows more PFAS and other contaminants into our water without any consideration of safety is an insult to my community and to the American people.

I will vote against this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Jack Goldman and pay tribute to his remarkable service to our nation.

Jack Goldman was one of four brothers whose Jewish grandparents emigrated to the United States in the 1890s from Poland and Lithuania. Jack's father, Harry Goldman, served in the U.S. Army Expeditionary Forces in World War I and, after the war, started a textile and tailoring business in the garment district of Manhattan. Jack's mother passed away from cancer when Jack was just four years old. Harry remarried, but Jack's stepmother was verbally and physically abusive, and his childhood during the Great Depression was difficult.

Jack Goldman enlisted in the United States Army in October 1944, right after high school, at the age of 17. Given his young age, enlistment required special permission from Jack's father. Having personally experienced the horrors of World War I trench warfare and with two sons already fighting in World War II, Harry nonetheless granted permission for Jack to enlist. Jack excelled in basic combat infantryman training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and after completion was selected to serve as a Drill Corporal at Camp Pickett, training other new recruits. He deployed to Europe later that year, landing at La Havre, France, and participated in the closing actions of the European Theater in World War II. Assigned to the 4th Cavalry Regiment, he remained in Southern Germany and Austria until November 1946 serving in the U.S. Constabulary. His duties there included traffic control, countering black-marketing, supervising Displaced Persons Camps, denazification operations, enforcing Allied Occupation policy, and ensuring general security.

After returning to New York in December 1946, Jack went to work for the family business alongside his three brothers and joined the U.S. Army Reserves. Jack thrived in the military and loved the Army's work ethic, mission, values, and sense of honorable service. He was particularly impressed with Army Officers who had graduated from West Point and considered them to be an elite class of warrior-leaders who lived by a sacred code. Jack Goldman adapted this code of Duty, Honor, Country as his own, and lived his life accordingly. Throughout his 34+ year Army Career Jack actively sought out West Pointers to learn from them, and later in his career he mentored and supported them.

In the summer of 1950, Jack Goldman's reserve unit was activated. Jack was hoping to be deployed with his unit to Korea. But given his potential and demonstrated leadership abilities in the 325th Tank Battalion, he was instead promoted to First Sergeant and re-assigned to Camp Pickett, Virginia. Jack finally made it to Korea shortly after the signing of the cease-fire, serving as the Division Crypto Officer for the 24th Infantry Division, then stationed near Munson-Ri, along the demilitarized zone.

Before going to Korea, Jack Goldman applied for and was accepted into the U.S. Army Warrant Officer Program for Unit Administrators to improve training and combat readiness across the Army. He was promoted to Warrant Officer Junior Grade One in June 1951 among the Army's first class of Unit Administrators. Jack Goldman relished this support role and excelled at it.

After an initial evaluation phase, the Army cancelled the Warrant Officer Unit Administrator program, citing that the additional warrant officer in a company-level unit caused unneeded friction between the First Sergeant and Executive Officer, and offered Jack a career field change. Given his high aptitude scores, Jack was placed into and re- trained in the Crypto/Secure Communications Field. He served, with great success, in this critical field until his first retirement in 1978.

As Jack Goldman gained more experience, mastery, and seniority in the Crypto field he was assigned to increasingly sensitive locations and roles. These roles included the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia, during that nation's anti-communism fights; the Headquarters of the 101st Airborne Division, as they prepared to deploy to Vietnam; and the Headquarters, U.S. Army, Europe during the Cold War. Over time Jack Goldman became a well-known, household name In the Army's Communications Security Community and the entire Signal Branch.

His culminating active-duty assignment was as the VII Corps Communications Security Officer at Kelly Barracks, Germany. The assignment was intended to be a two-year role but ended up as a lengthy five-year tour. Due to his excellent performance, integrity, professionalism, and the role he played in the execution of U.S. and NATO war plans for the defense of central Europe, senior leaders sought to keep Jack on the team. During that period, Jack ensured that all U.S. nuclear capable units could communicate securely and, more importantly, authenticate any nuclear weapons operations and nuclear strike orders. He served as the VII Corps subject matter expert,

manager, and officer-in-charge for the Nuclear Release and Authentication System, reporting directly to the 3-star Corps Commander. The most senior general officer leadership recognized and greatly valued Jack Goldman's contributions to U.S. Security in Germany and the NATO alliance. For those reasons, they extended his tour of duty three times, a year each time.

After 34 years of active duty, five years at VII Corps, and at the urging of his superiors, Jack Goldman applied for an exception to policy to stay in the Army beyond his mandatory retirement date in order to continue to serve at VII Corps and manage the entire communications security operations. The Army, however, assessed that it had finally developed a sufficient bench of qualified Communications Security Warrant Officers to allow Jack Goldman to move on into retirement. Jack Goldman then elected to stay in Germany and continue to serve the Army and his Nation in a different role: that of an Instructor in U.S. Army Cadet Command's (USACC) Junior Army Reserve Officer's Training Program (AJROTC).

This was an ideal role for an `old Soldier' who had so many experiences and so much to give back. Jack was first temporarily assigned to the Mannheim High School AJROTC program to fill in for the permanent instructor who suddenly had to step down due to an illness. The hiring progress was already ongoing for a permanent fill in the Mannheim program, and Jack Goldman added his application, as well.

There was, however, another opportunity at the European Command Headquarters at Patch Barracks, Germany. The Department of Defense Education Agency-Europe (DODEA) had received Congressional funding to build a new high school at Patch Barracks. That school was slated to open in the 1979-1980 school year. Jack Goldman selflessly offered to conduct a trial AJROTC satellite program at Patch Barracks, fully knowing that his chances for a permanent position at Mannheim would be forfeited with that decision.

Due to Jack Goldman's efforts, charisma, tenacity, innovative leadership, and firm belief in the value of the AJROTC program, the first year of Junior ROTC at Patch Barracks was a smashing success above and beyond any expectations at U.S. Army Cadet Command or the DODEA. In the following 1980-81 school year, Patch American High School was granted its own AJROTC unit, and Army Cadet Command activated the 8th JROTC Battalion, U.S. Army-Europe (known as ``The Panther Battalion'').

Jack Goldman proceeded to grow, improve, lead and foster that program for 31 consecutive years until his second retirement in 2010, at the age of 84. At the time of his retirement from DODEA and ROTC, Jack Goldman was on record as the oldest serving Senior Army Instructor in U.S. Army Cadet Command.

Under Jack Goldman's effective leadership, and his innovative and successful application of West Point ideals, principles, and the Cadet Honor Code, the Panther Battalion became the gold standard of JROTC programs in Europe. The Panther Battalion developed a reputation for academic, physical, military, and character excellence, mirroring the domains and pillars of West Point. The unit won scores of accolades and achievements from 1979 to 2010.

After retiring for the second time, Jack decided to continue to serve his country, the Army, and Soldiers by becoming a stock clerk and cashier at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES, also known as the PX) in Panzer Kaserne, Germany. Jack performed this role for 10 years from 2010 to 2020, with his career totaling 75 years of federal service.

Over the years, Jack received countless awards for service, citizenship, volunteerism, achievement, and performance. He was also a humanitarian conducting fundraisers for various charities and natural disasters, sponsoring an orphanage in Romania, sponsoring an elementary school in Kosovo, visiting German senior citizen homes, hospitals, and more. He also inspired thousands of students to be better citizens.

Many were inspired to serve in the Armed Forces or Civil Service, attend service academies, and win ROTC Scholarships. In 2006, Jack was a competitive nominee for West Point's prestigious Thayer Award, ultimately won that year by Tom Brokaw. A disappointed general officer, who strongly supported Jack's nomination, later wrote: ``Tom Brokaw won the Thayer Award for writing about and reporting on guys like Jack Goldman.''

Jack Goldman was a low key, humble, and selfless patriot. It is my privilege to rise in recognition of his life of service and to honor his memory.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring voice to my constituents who have been screwed over and ripped off by our utility company, Central Hudson.

My colleagues here may never have heard of Central Hudson, but the people of the Hudson Valley know them all too well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today for the farmer in Ulster Park, New York, who received such a massive utility bill, $16,585, 17 times her normal bill, that she actually contemplated suicide. She described the debt, which put her at risk of losing her family farm, as a guillotine hanging over her head.

I rise for the single mother in Kingston who told me she is afraid to cook for her four kids because turning on the stove means facing a gigantic gas bill.

For the mayor of our city of Newburgh, who received a bill of $708,000 for a single month of electricity at his three-bedroom family home; for senior citizens on a fixed income who had their entire checking accounts wiped out by an autopay withdrawal.

I could tell hundreds more of these stories and still not scratch the surface of this incredible corporate ineptitude.

Mr. Speaker, we rely on our public utilities for a necessary service. They exist for the public good. They are built on a foundation of public trust.

Central Hudson, and its CEO, Mr. Charles Freni, have irrevocably broken this trust. Since my calls for an investigation into Central Hudson's disastrous billing practices almost a year ago, we have received more than 11,000 formal complaints. A New York State Department of Public Service report revealed Central Hudson's billing system was riddled with hundreds of programming errors, leading to nearly 5,000 customers not receiving their bills, 8,000 customers overcharged, and more than 30,000 customers whose autopay was billed incorrectly, costing them over $16 million.

I want to be clear. I do not fault the hardworking employees of Central Hudson. They begged for additional training. They suggested improvements to this system. They worked hours and hours of overtime. They wanted to do the right thing for the people of the Hudson Valley, but Central Hudson and its CEO clearly did not.

Just 2 weeks ago in response to this devastating Public Service Commission report documenting their systemic failures, Central Hudson doubled-down on their deflection, their denial, and their deception. Rather than taking ownership of their failures, they claimed that no customers were overcharged and that nobody lost any money.

Give me a break.

Central Hudson's leadership deliberately chose to sweep these problems under the rug. Why?

Because now owned by a multibillion-dollar and multinational corporation, they chose to put profits over people. At the same time as customers'--my constituents'--bills were skyrocketing and bank accounts were literally being emptied out, their revenues were up over 30 percent and their profits--surprise, surprise--they are up, too.

Central Hudson has had opportunity after opportunity to own their mistakes and take accountability, but time and again they have failed to do so.

Mr. Speaker, there is simply no excuse for this. At a time when our families are facing tremendous economic pressure, the last thing they need to worry about is their bank accounts being emptied out just because they tried to power their home.

Because of these failures and because of Central Hudson's continued unwillingness to take accountability, today I am calling on Central Hudson's CEO, Mr. Charles Freni, to do the right thing for our community and to resign.

We need a new leader who will come in, improve service, finally fix these systemic problems, and start the critical work to rebuild trust with our community. That is what the people of the Hudson Valley deserve.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to call awareness to a rare disease named Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome or AHUS and recognize a constituent who is making a difference. September is recognized as AHUS awareness month. AHUS is a life-threatening, genetic disease of uncontrolled complement activation that affects adults as well as children. AHUS damages the kidneys. Without treatment, many patients will need long-term dialysis or a kidney transplant if their kidneys begin to fail. 1 in 5 adult patients experiences pulmonary symptoms, extremely

high blood pressure, and swelling. The AHUS Community is fortunate to have several infusion therapies.

AHUS was brought to my attention by a constituent, Barbara Farcher. The Farcher family resides in Saugerties, New York in my Congressional district. The family was unexpectedly discovered to have the disorder in their family when one of their sons was diagnosed. Barbara and her family have taken up the cause of the AHUS over the last 10 years. Barbara has advocated for access to coverage for the community. In 2021, Barbara and a group of advocates founded the patient advocacy group, the AHUS Action Network. The mission of AHUS Action Network is to serve as a gathering place for patients to be mobilized to advocate for the AHUS community concerns at the local, state, and federal levels; to be informed about issues affecting the AHUS Community, and to train for more effective patient advocacy; and engage in encouraging connection, awareness, and solidarity within the AHUS Community.

Madam Speaker, we can work together to ensure increased research for AHUS so the community can realize improved treatments and a cure for this rare disease.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Nadler for those kind words and introduction. I am proud to rise today as one of the newest Members and Representatives in the House, serving the great people of New York's 19th Congressional District.

On a clear, crisp May morning in 2004, I stood proudly with my West Point classmates, raised my right hand, and solemnly swore an oath to protect and defend our Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I still vividly remember the mix of emotions I felt as my classmates and I tossed a thousand white service caps simultaneously into the air--elation, relief, honor, pride, but mostly the tremendous weight of responsibility that came with that oath.

I didn't know exactly what lay ahead, but I knew I would soon lead troops in combat and that it would be my job to protect my fellow soldiers, to serve my country, to serve my community, to make difficult decisions with life or death consequences, and always to maintain my integrity, no matter what.

Today, 18 years later, I am so proud to have renewed that oath to protect and serve our great Nation. The weight of the responsibility I feel today standing before you-all is even greater. The same way that I fiercely protected my fellow soldiers, I will fight for my constituents, the community that raised me, that sent me care packages every single week when I was deployed overseas, that has had my back every step of the way. I will fight for their health, I will fight for their safety, and I will fight for their freedom.

As I look up into the gallery, I can see my wife, Rebecca, and our two young boys, Theo and Cameron.

Theo is clapping. Good job, buddy.

They are extremely well behaved tonight, and for that we are greatly appreciative.

They are 3 years old and 9 months old. They are too young to fully appreciate the significance of this day and this moment, but I cannot wait to explain to them the immense pride I feel standing here before you, with you, my distinguished colleagues, humbly representing my community.

This is a moment of immense consequence and challenge for our country. I truly believe it is an all-hands-on-deck moment for our democracy.

I pledge that I will fight every single day, with every ounce of my being, to deliver for the great people of New York's 19th Congressional District and to renew trust and faith in our Nation.

September 19, 1977, Black Monday is when all the steel mills closed in Youngstown, Ohio, and we have been waiting since then for a transformational investment into the State of Ohio. This bill is going to allow Intel to come to Ohio and convert a $20 billion deal into a $100 billion deal: 7,000 construction jobs and 3,000 full-time jobs with an average wage of $135,000 per year. It is going to transform the industrial Midwest. It is going to allow us to out- compete China.

This is also a national security issue.

Young people who have been leaving Ohio for generations are going to be able to come back. This is an unbelievable bill.

This is the first step towards an industrial policy in the United States of America, and it is time for us to quit the politics, stop trying to score political points, stop putting party over country, and lay down our arms.

My God, if we can't agree on this, what in the hell are we going to agree on?

Rebuilding the manufacturing base?

Good-paying jobs?

Union construction?

Out-competing China?

National security?

Come on. Let's do this. Let's do it together.

But we have a small group of people who have hijacked the Republican Party, and the leadership in this House on the Republican side is more concerned with defeating Democrats than doing something that is best for the United States of America. We just saw it in the Senate with the burn pits legislation, and we are seeing it here with the CHIPS legislation: party over country.

So July 28, 2022, is going to be Black Thursday--the day the Republican Party has been hijacked and aligned themselves with Communist China.

Madam Speaker, 13 years; 13 years. I have been in Congress now for a little while, and I cannot begin to tell you what an example that the Delphi salaried retirees have set. It is the absolute gold standard for activism and lobbying their government.

And I, you know, normally get up here and get pretty upset; but I have got to kind of laugh because when I hear our friends on the other side talk about irresponsibility and gimmicks and nanny states and socialists, I think of all my friends in the Delphi salaried retirement.

These are the most hardworking citizens that I have in my district. And they show up for work. They coach the baseball teams. They work at the church. They are veterans. They give back. They are great parents. They are

great-grandparents. They are involved in the community.

Our job here is pretty simple. We look at the field, see what is happening in the country, and if some person or group of people are being wronged unfairly, it is our job to fix it. It is not a Democrat thing. It is not a Republican thing. It is not a left-right thing, not a free market thing, or a socialist thing.

It is about people. It is about American citizens who did everything right. They showed up one day in the middle of a bankruptcy that, as Mr. Kildee has articulated here, the government was organizing, and reorganizing, the American auto industry. This isn't some private- sector bankruptcy. The government was in there manipulating everything, and they screwed up.

There was no one screaming louder than I was at the Obama administration, Sherrod Brown and I, in meetings with Tim Geithner and all the rest over the last 13 years.

I thank Congressman Kildee from the Ways and Means Committee, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Richie Neal, Sherrod Brown, Rob Portman, Mike Turner. The Members of Congress and Senators who are on the ground with these families came together and have been fighting.

Here we are, 13 years later, where we are going to vote this out of the House, and we are going to send it to the Senate. We are going to try to help people because that is our job.

What I really appreciate about this is that during the rescue package, we were able to save hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pensions for people, about 100,000 in Ohio, because there was a problem, and we tried to fix it. That happened to be unions.

This group happens to not be union, but they deserve help all the same. That is what we are doing here. I was proud that the Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO are helping to support this.

We need more of this. I think this is an example of how to try to influence your government, try to get help, try to right a wrong, and not talk about Democrat and Republican and red and blue and all that nonsense that we are all sick of.

We are ready to move forward. If you need help, if you have been wronged, we are going to stand up and fight for you.

Again, I thank Mr. Kildee for his leadership here. We are going to send this over to the Senate.

I know there are a lot of people, again, living and working and talking to these families over the last 13 years. How many people have passed away? How many families have been harmed? How many other people have not gotten the healthcare that they needed because they couldn't afford it, or they had situations in their family, and they didn't have enough money, maybe, to help their kids or help their grandkids?

This is the right thing to do. This is the absolute right thing to do. I am glad it is bipartisan, and I am glad we finally got it done after 13 years.