Floor Statements

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

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

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

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

Madam Speaker, this bill smacks of President Barack Obama's transgender bathroom policy several years back. I remember that, how ridiculous that was.

It was reported in Texas a young girl went into a bathroom in a package store, was followed by a male who said he self-identified as a female that day. More about her in a minute.

This is not an Equality Act. This is going to erode religious freedom. This expressly exempts RFRA from being a defense if someone has a sincerely religiously held belief.

The comment was made earlier that we are using God as an excuse. I hardly think so. The Founders of the Constitution knew exactly what they were doing when they provided for those protections.

If the Equality Act is passed, individuals with religious views will be disfavored by this bill and it will not have RFRA as a tool to defend against a violation of their religious freedom.

H.R. 5 will politicize the medical profession to the detriment of the practitioners and the patients. It is unbelievable.

The girl that was followed into the bathroom by the gentleman who said he self-identified as a female that day, turns out that that man's teeth were knocked out by the girl's father who self-identified as the tooth fairy.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to voice my concerns regarding the irregularities and improprieties in the 2020 General Election. As I have said time and time again, the American people deserve to have full faith in our elections. The numerous votes cast by mail this year--due to the pandemic--have been plagued by allegations of fraud and wrongdoing. I watched with great concern as President Trump's legal team brought forth witnesses, sworn affidavits, and reams of legitimate evidence to courts in various states. There are countless, incontestable examples wherein governors, election officials, and judges altered states' election procedures in clear violation of Article II of the U.S. Constitution. Article II grants state legislatures--and only the state legislatures--the explicit power to determine the manner of appointing presidential electors.

In keeping with this constitutional responsibility, state legislatures have established detailed rules by which that state's electoral process and appointment of presidential electors should be conducted. However, in the months before the 2020 election, it is undeniable that--in several key states--either state court judges or state executive officials acted deliberately to fundamentally change state election law, usurping the state legislature's express authority under the Constitution.

In violation of the Constitution and with full knowledge of mail-in voting vulnerabilities, state officials, activists, and Democrat-led lawsuits in numerous states opened our electoral processes to fraud and abuse. The sheer volume of mail-in voting alone triggered not just administrative errors and clerical mistakes but actual election crimes.

As an alumnus of the Texas House of Representatives, I understand and guard zealously the prerogatives of state legislatures. As such, I feel strongly that the Supreme Court should have upheld the authority of those legislatures to establish the manner of appointing electors. Moreover, it was incumbent upon the court to determine the constitutional validity of any ballots that were cast under rules and procedures established by entities other than state legislatures.

Put bluntly, the usurpation of legislative power in several states produced unconstitutional ballots. As we asserted in our amicus brief that accompanied the Texas case, any state executive or judicial attempt to determine the manner of choosing electors-especially any attempt that directly contradicts the will of the state legislature--is void ab initio (``from the beginning'').

Regrettably, on December 11th, SCOTUS denied Texas' motion for lack of standing, without ruling on the merits of the case or the questions of fact therein. However, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, disagreed with the high court's ruling, writing that, ``In my view, we do not have discretion to deny the filing of a bill of complaint in a case that falls within our original jurisdiction . . . I would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint . . . '' I, too, believe that the Supreme Court got it wrong. That highest court has original jurisdiction over, specifically, suits involving two or more states.

Today, we the Congress--on behalf of ``We The People''--will exercise our constitutional duty as the final judge, jury, and arbiter of all contested congressional, senatorial, and presidential elections. The legitimacy of our republic rests on the foundation that our elections-- whether for President of the United States or any other office--are transparent, fairly administered, and above board. With the undeniable knowledge of illegal changes to various state election laws, enacted by parties other than the respective state legislatures, we (the Congress) constitute the last line of defense in ensuring the trust of our citizens in the integrity of their ballots.

Every single member of Congress swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. Our constitutional republic has endured for nearly-two and a half centuries based on the consent of the governed. That consent is grounded in the confidence of our people in the legitimacy of our institutions of government, the most fundamental being free and fair elections. The erosion of that foundation jeopardizes the stability of the republic.

I will therefore join my colleagues today in objecting to counting the electoral votes of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, to restore the integrity of our electoral process.

Madam Speaker, for the love of God and this country, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table H.R. 3401, with the Senate amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment. This bipartisan bill passed the Senate with 84 votes and could be sent to the President's desk for his signature today, so help us, God.

Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Chair, I think Mr. Lamb is going to have a statement here coming up, and I thank Chairman Lamb in advance for his remarks. He has a jam-up amendment.

Nuclear energy has been one of my top priorities during my time on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. America has a long history of leadership in nuclear science. It is critical that we maintain that leadership, but our existing fleet of reactors is aging.

Many of our nuclear plants are nearing the end of their 40-year licenses and must reapply with the NRC to continue operation. While license renewals are important to ensure nuclear safety, the process requires robust analysis, planning, and science- and technology-based solutions to modernize nuclear plants.

Fortunately, the DOE is carrying out this critical R&D through its Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program. This program funds research in materials, modeling, and system analytics to support extending the operating life of the existing fleet.

By developing a science-based approach to understanding and predicting the ways materials and nuclear plants behave over time, DOE can help plant operators find ways to safely operate existing systems while mitigating potential damage to reactor components.

DOE also funds R&D to support plant modernization efforts. This includes developing ways to safely incorporate digital controls into existing plant designs to help improve reactor efficiency, as well as efforts to help existing plants operate with more flexibility.

I believe advanced reactor designs are the future of emissions-free power around our world, but we cannot afford to throw away decades of investment in the safe, reliable, clean power produced by our existing light-water nuclear power plants. Through research to safely extend the life of our existing nuclear fleet, DOE can ensure we maximize this clean energy source.

Madam Chair, I thank Chairman Lamb in advance for working with me on this amendment, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it once he does his fabulous presentation.

Madam Chair, I want to thank Chairwoman Kaptur and Ranking Member Simpson, and now I want to say thank you to my colleague, who has got an excellent amendment, and I applaud it very much. I want to say to all of my colleagues: Support it. It is a great amendment, and we look forward to passing it.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 3056, an emergency supplemental to provide critically needed funding for the humanitarian crisis at the border, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 962, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, if this unanimous consent cannot be entertained, I urge the Speaker and the majority leader to immediately schedule the born-alive bill.

Madam Speaker, former Galveston County Sheriff Joe Max Taylor passed away on Monday, February 11, 2019.

Sheriff Taylor was a veteran, husband and father who dedicated his life to public service. His colleagues describe him as an innovator, mentor and a skilled politician. The Sheriff served Galveston County for 54 years, 19 of those years he served as sheriff.

Sheriff Joe Max Taylor's legacy is one filled with a deep love for his Galveston community. During his career, he assisted in growing the sheriff's office from nineteen deputies to more than 300 deputies. He was also instrumental in helping form the mental health division and the auto crimes task force.

Those who knew Sheriff Taylor know he was more than a sheriff, he was someone who did so much for our community. He will be greatly missed, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, a champion for pro-life, Mr. Chris Smith.

Madam Speaker, I am a father of three. I am a grandfather of eight. As I often say when I speak to groups that children are an extraordinary gift.

As Mr. Fortenberry said, women are gifts; the children they carry within them are gifts.

Why don't we appreciate them more?

I often tell kids that children are the only thing God can make adults with. If we don't give Him a ready supply, you don't want Him to run out. And they always chuckle, but I always remind them that they are created in the image of Almighty God.

Look to the Bible in Jeremiah 1 and you will see the quote: ``Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a profit to the nations.''

Children are known by God when they are in the womb of the mother. It is just that simple.

Our great Nation has carried respect for life from the very moment of our founding. Our forefathers noted that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. You heard Ms. Virginia Foxx talk about them.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is promised to each of us in our Constitution, in our Declaration of Independence; not given to us by the Constitution or by the Declaration, but given to us by Almighty God.

So long as those babies have a chance to live, they can experience those rights: the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to the pursuit of happiness. Everyone hearing my voice has that right and was given that right. Shouldn't they be given those same rights?

Without the right to life, we are a Nation without the pursuit of happiness, without liberty.

The Supreme Court erred mightily in this decision January 22, 1973. We should be a Nation of law, a Nation of rights, a Nation of life, and yet we seem to struggle with that proposition. Lord help us.

Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for his diligence in this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6227, the National Quantum Initiative Act, I wish to commend Chairman Smith on his six years at the helm of the Science Committee, and on his 32 years of dedicated service to the people of Texas' 21st Congressional District. It has been an honor to work with him. Because of his steadfast leadership, this bill is on its way to becoming law. I thank Chairman Smith.

This bill coordinates a federal program to accelerate quantum research and development for the economic and national security of the United States. Quantum technology is a field positioned to fundamentally change the way we move and process data.

Theoretically, quantum computing could allow for the solutions to exponentially large problems--things that cannot be accomplished by even the fastest supercomputers today. It could allow us to visualize the structures of complex chemicals and materials, to model highly detailed flows of potential mass evacuations with precise accuracy, and to quantify subatomic interactions on the cutting edge of nuclear research.

Quantum computing may also have profound implications for cybersecurity technology. Should China and Russia beat us to achieving quantum encryption, our current security encryption measures would be rendered obsolete. It is imperative that the U.S. maintain its leadership in this field.

In order to achieve this kind of revolutionary improvement in technology, we need foundational knowledge in the advanced computing and materials science required to construct quantum systems.

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science is the leading federal sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences and funds robust quantum technology research. At Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) allows scientists to run simulations of quantum architectures. At Argonne National Lab's Center for Nanoscale Materials, researchers study atomic-scale materials in order to engineer the characteristics of quantum information systems. And at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists are applying their experience in high energy physics to the study of quantum materials. Earlier this year, I invited several of my colleagues to join me on a visit to Argonne and Fermi labs, and we had the privilege of speaking with the scientists conducting this groundbreaking research.

Support for basic research in computer science and for computational partnerships between industry, academia, and the national labs is necessary to develop the technology needed for future commercial quantum systems.

For these reasons, I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting

Mr. Speaker, George Herbert Walker Bush asked all of us to be light in this world, to be gracious, to be diligent, and to be honest. And then he led the way by example.

His patriotism was innate. It was his guiding light, Mr. Speaker. And Barbara was his soulmate, his compass, and part of his true north.

Mr. Speaker, George H.W. Bush was one of our last great statesmen, a member of the Greatest Generation. His love for his Nation was bested only by his love for his family. This enduring love for both is how we will long remember George H.W. Bush, Mr. Speaker, and, oh, that we would emulate him.

President Bush could walk into a room and make everyone feel like they belonged. He was the epitome of the true Southern gentleman, even though he wasn't born in the South. The South did adopt him, however, I might add, Mr. Speaker. His mannerisms and his convictions gained him respect far and wide--worldwide, in fact.

This great and good man brought us together and led the way, once again,

in that, during our time of mourning his passing, his example quieted some of the divisiveness that is on display all too often, Mr. Speaker.

We have a lot to learn from his mission and his life. Oh, that we would emulate him in that.

Last week, George H.W. Bush arrived at his final, kindest, gentlest resting place with Barbara and Robin. He is home.

Mission accomplished, Mr. President.

George Herbert Walker Bush, Mr. Speaker, is worth emulating. Oh, that we would all do so.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6398, the Department of Energy Veterans' Health Initiative Act.

The DOE and VA national research program, housed within the agencies' Big Data Science Initiative, is called the Million Veterans Program- Computational Health Analytics for Medical Precision to Improve Outcomes Now, or MVP-CHAMPION. This initiative utilizes DOE's unique capabilities in big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and advanced computing by providing VA researchers access to DOE's research facilities and scientific expertise while the DOE receives access to a massive collection of data from the VA.

Through the MVP program, VA patients volunteer genomic and healthcare data that is transferred into the secure enclave at Oak Ridge National Lab. Part of the data includes the deepest levels of DNA sequencing, which allows for high quality genomic research.

With such a rich and expansive dataset, the VA MVP program provides an incredible opportunity to use DOE'S next-generation computing capabilities to solve complex healthcare challenges facing our veterans.

For the DOE, this application of computer science tools could transform basic and early-stage research. DOE's core mission areas are full of complex, big data challenges like physics, environmental systems, combustion, and nuclear weapons modeling. DOE is also working to enhance its expertise in biosciences and materials design.

Experience working with big datasets and applications in data science, Mr. Speaker, has the potential to improve

computational science methods for any big data problem. With the next generation of supercomputers, including the exascale computing systems DOE is expected to fill by 2021, DOE will be able to tackle even bigger challenges.

Mr. Speaker, increasing computing power will expand DOE's capabilities and improve the quality of computational tools for any big dataset or any complex problem.

Ultimately, the goal of MVP-CHAMPION is for the DOE national laboratories to provide the VA with useful information to improve healthcare services for our veterans. The access to the breadth, depth, and complexity of the VA dataset will also advance the next generation of data science tools.

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the DOE is the right partner for this important research. I want to encourage my colleagues to support this bill.