Floor Statements

I was unable to cast my vote in the allotted time. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 305.

Mr. Chair, in 2019, the United States became energy independent for the first time in 62 years. However, on his first day in office, President Biden destroyed American energy production by killing the Keystone XL pipeline and outsourcing our energy needs to our enemies.

President Biden's energy policies not only hurt our families at the pump, but they also threaten our national security. That is why I have introduced an amendment to H.R. 1, my Defend America's Rural Energy Act, to defend our farmers and energy producers from foreign adversary land grabs. My amendment would specifically prohibit China from buying farmland suitable for ethanol and biodiesel production, which is vital to the rural American economy.

Honoring our Commitment to America, Republicans will end Biden's war on American energy and fulfill another promise to the American people, and that is keeping American land in the hands of the American farmer.

Mr. Chair, I am a passionate supporter of H.R. 1.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act.

I am from rural America. I am from rural Iowa, and I have seen the effects of opioids. It affects all ages. Those that are in high school that get hurt, that have a knee go out or a shoulder, they get affected by taking opioids.

This bipartisan legislation, which I introduced with my colleague, Conor Lamb, will help prevent opioid abuse and overdoses in rural America.

In 2021 alone, nearly 100,000 Americans died from some drug overdose. This is unacceptable. This bill can do something about it.

My legislation will help the most vulnerable in rural America, in rural communities, recover from addiction and provide our first responders with the support they need to save lives.

There are too many barriers to rural healthcare right now, and we need to ensure that our Federal programs can efficiently reach communities in rural America that can make a difference when it comes to opioid abuse, and that is exactly what this bill does.

I urge my colleagues to support this important program because too many families have lost loved ones to the opioid epidemic, and they have also been affected by a family member's addiction. That needs to change.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Dordt University men's basketball Coach Brian Van Haaften on his 500th career win.

Dordt, my alma mater, bested Governors State 113-82, clinching their eighth win of the season and Brian's 500th all-time win.

In just four seasons, Brian has led Dordt to 79 victories, elevating the Defenders to new heights.

Since 1988, he has dedicated his time and talents to developing young men not only as basketball players but also as upstanding citizens and men of faith.

A man of deep faith, he teaches his players the Christian values that connect our families in Sioux County: teamwork, hard work, sportsmanship, and humility.

Brian is a phenomenal asset to Dordt University and an integral part of the community.

Congratulations again, Brian, on the incredible achievement. Here's to 500 more.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Smith for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I would just quickly note that I am highly offended by the use of the foul language by my Democrat colleague. That is completely unacceptable.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the Democrats' inflation expansion act. This wasteful bill is full of liberal priorities that will continue to fuel inflation, raise taxes on hardworking families, and create an army of 87,000 IRS agents that will go after our families and small businesses.

Democrats claim that only large corporations will be the target of these IRS agents. That is factually false. Families and small businesses, who don't have the time or the resources, will undergo these invasive audits and will bear the brunt of these IRS agents. This radical bill will also supercharge the Democrats' Green New Deal agenda without making our country energy independent again.

In fact, they would rather import dirty foreign oil from Venezuela than unleash America's energy independence. Sadly, that is the state of today's Democratic Party and their failed liberal agenda.

Mr. Speaker, as a strong fiscal conservative, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.

Madam Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Lucas for yielding and for his leadership on the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 7361, the National Weather Service Communications Improvement Act, is a bill that was born from a tragedy in my home State of Iowa.

On March 5, a tornado outbreak in central and southwest Iowa killed seven people. It was the deadliest storm in our State since 2008.

During this storm, an issue at the National Weather Service caused up to a 7-minute delay from when meteorologists issued warnings to when the public was alerted. In Iowa, we know that even the smallest delays can be a matter of life and death.

Then, just a month later, in April, eight tornadoes were confirmed during a storm. Luckily, this time around, there were no deaths. Despite that, we had 135-mile-an-hour winds and severe

building damage. But that didn't stop some National Weather Service websites and NWS Chat, NWS' outdated emergency communications network, from crashing because of increased traffic.

The bottom line is, NWS must have a functional and reliable emergency communications system that can keep people informed and out of harm's way during severe weather crises.

H.R. 7361 specifically authorizes an internal messaging service upgrade by giving NOAA the authority to transition from NWS Chat to a commercial, off-the-shelf solution. This type of commercial solution will allow nearly unlimited users, so future growth and increased traffic will not be a problem. It also allows NWS Chat to take advantage of new technologies as they emerge.

In fact, earlier this month, NWS signed a contract to use Slack as the basis for the next generation of the NWS Chat service. While this is a step in the right direction, the legislation is still needed to ensure the upgrade is fully supported and completed. The sooner this quick and easy solution is implemented, the faster local emergency managers can alert the public to severe weather that will save lives.

I thank my Iowa colleagues, Representatives Axne, Miller-Meeks, and Hinson, for working with me to put this legislation forward.

I also thank my Committee on Science, Space, and Technology colleagues for helping me cosponsor this bill as well. I look forward to its passage and encourage all of my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Turner Syndrome Awareness Month and my constituent, Nicole Cleveland, for bringing attention to this little-known disease.

At birth, Nicole was diagnosed with TS and was told she may never walk.

She did. Nicole was told that she would never go to college. She did. She graduated from Morningside University with a degree in political science and journalism.

But Nicole did not stop there. She went on to be the youngest woman ever elected to the Sergeant Bluff City Council and will be releasing her first book this spring called ``The Butterfly Chronicles.''

Now, she commits her time and talent to advocating for the more than 70,000 American women and girls who have TS.

In conjunction with her advocacy, I will soon be introducing a bill, the Protecting Girls with Turner Syndrome Act, to criminalize the abortion of any baby diagnosed with TS because my faith teaches me that every person is created for a purpose, and Nicole was certainly created as a special one.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Nicole for bringing awareness of TS and sharing her message of optimism and hope with so many people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of Iowa's independent beef producers amid the ongoing DOJ investigations into anticompetitive behavior by the Big Four Meat Packers.

On Wednesday, JBS Foods, the world's largest meat supplier, paid $52 million to sweep their price-fixing shenanigans under the rug. But they can't hide what we have known all along. These big meat packers are illegally distorting the market to increase their profits and at the expense on Iowa family farmers. It is shameful and it is wrong.

That is why we need to pass the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act to finally hold big packers accountable and help Iowa's small, independent producers compete on a level playing field. That is what a free and fair market is all about. It is time that DOJ do its job and take real steps to hold Big Four Meat Packers accountable.

We have waited long enough.

Madam Speaker, I rise today as our national debt has reached the $30 trillion marker for the first time in our Nation's history. This enormous figure should scare us all.

Since 1990, our national debt has grown tenfold, and there is no indication that $30 trillion is the ceiling.

In Iowa, I helped pass the State law that rightfully requires that we spend no more than 99 percent of the money we take in, creating a balanced budget each year.

This is exactly what we should be doing in our Federal Government. We cannot continue to print money, increase our debt, and ask Iowans to foot the bill.

As a strong fiscal hawk, I will continue to fight against the wasteful pork-barrel spending that fuels inflation, raises taxes, and increases the cost of living on every family.

This is exactly what Iowans expect from me, and I plan to deliver.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Florida for yielding.

China will stop at nothing to try and surpass the United States as the world's greatest superpower, and we have the tools at our disposal to counter this growing threat of the Chinese Communist Party. But this nearly $325 billion bill prioritizes liberal Build Back Better and Green New Deal provisions over real solutions to compete with China.

Mr. Speaker, $8 billion of the so-called America COMPETES Act funds the United Nations' green climate slush fund, which destroys American industry, harms American workers, and prevents us from competing with China on a level playing field. In fact, the U.N. has awarded $100 million from this fund to China.

The House bill leaves out the critical fact that China is our greatest political foe.

It also fails to mention the word ``genocide'' anywhere in describing the CCP's systemic human rights abuses against the ethnic Uyghur population.

Unfortunately, this bill only compounds the damages from the Biden administration's $40 billion giveaway in no-strings-attached IMF money to the CCP last spring. This is wrong.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Debi Butler with Brain Health Now. Debi is leading an effort to end the stigma surrounding mental illness by shifting the conversation to brain health.

As a parent and former educator, I know how important it is to pay close attention to brain health. Today, one in five Americans suffer from behavioral health conditions, such as depression and PTSD. The majority of these people will not seek treatment, partly due to the stigma that surrounds brain health. Tragically, this leads to suicides being up and the second leading cause of death amongst people aged 10 to 34.

Brain health should be treated the same way as physical health, and while I am glad to have seen many strides in this session, we have more work to do.

I am grateful for Debi, and I look forward to working together on this critical issue that we can all call things brain health.

Madam Speaker, I rise today as the United States Supreme Court is considering one of the most consequential cases of my lifetime. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson, will have enormous implications for the future. Simply put, it will determine whether abortions performed before a baby is considered viable are lawful.

Here is why this is so important. As early as 5 weeks, unborn babies are forming blood vessels. By 10 weeks, pain receptors have start developing. At 15 weeks, babies have developed hearts and pump 17 quarts of blood per day.

With its potential to overturn the 50-year-old law, Roe v. Wade, and save millions of unborn children, Dobbs v. Jackson is a beacon of hope for innocent life. This is why earlier this year I joined dozens of my pro-life colleagues in signing a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the Mississippi law in question that outlaws abortions after 15 weeks.

There is nothing more fundamental and sacred in our Constitution than the right to life. I humbly ask that you join me in praying for the Supreme Court to uphold the previability restrictions on abortions.

Madam Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Smith for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this reckless social spending bill. It is simply wrong that, rather than funding mandatory programs like Social Security and Medicare--which are on the verge of insolvency over the next 10 years--Democrats instead are adding 150 new programs to this bill. Think about that, seniors. Your money that is coming to you every day is on the verge of bankruptcy, and yet the Democrats are adding another 150 programs.

Academic economists all over our country are saying that this bill is a complete disaster for all Americans because it will dramatically increase taxes. The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that the new programs will dramatically increase the debt by $4 trillion every year. Families and businesses can't continue to go down this path of continuing to see increases in our gas, our groceries, and our hardware supplies all because of this reckless spending that continues to happen by the Democrats.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Iowa's Nashua-Plainfield student Caleb Sinnwell.

Caleb won first place in this year's National History Day competition for his project on the Ghost Army, a World War II unit of 1,100 men tasked with deceiving German intelligence.

To recognize his outstanding work, Caleb is being awarded the Certificate of Achievement by the U.S. Special Forces Army Unit.

Caleb's thesis states in part: ``Through masterful miscommunication, the Ghost Army successfully deceived German troops, which aided Allied advancement to victory in World War II.''

He is now asking Congress to pass the Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act, a bill to recognize the critically important work of the Ghost Army during World War II.

Madam Speaker, I am honored to support this effort, and I am hoping my colleagues in the Senate will take up this measure very soon.

Keep up the great work, Caleb.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Louden Lofgren, the son of my friend and my former colleague, Iowa State Senator Mark Lofgren.

Louden sadly passed away at 2 years of age after complications from surgery, where he needed multiple blood transfusions.

After he passed away, his family launched a blood drive, known as Love Like Louden, to encourage folks to donate blood and draw attention to hospital shortages of blood.

Every 2 seconds, someone in America needs blood, and over 38,000 pints are needed daily.

If you can, please consider donating blood in Louden's memory.

May God bless the Lofgren family.