Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 471, the PAUSE Act, to protect all Americans from the Biden border crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 116, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 117, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 118, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 119, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 120 and ``nay'' on rollcall No. 121.

Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress

Bass (Beyer)

Bilirakis (Fleischmann)

Blumenauer (Beyer)

Bowman (Evans)

Cardenas (Soto)

Castro (TX) (Correa)

Cawthorn (Gaetz)

Clark (MA) (Blunt Rochester)

Connolly (Wexton)

Cooper (Correa)

Crawford (Fleischmann)

Crist (Soto)

Cuellar (Correa)

Doyle, Michael F. (Evans)

Gohmert (Weber (TX))

Gomez (Soto)

Gottheimer (Pallone)

Grijalva (Stanton)

Harder (CA) (Correa)

Huffman (Stanton)

Johnson (TX) (Jeffries)

Joyce (OH) (Garbarino)

Kahele (Mrvan)

Kilmer (Larsen (WA))

Kirkpatrick (Pallone)

Lawson (FL) (Evans)

Long (Fleischmann)

Meeks (Jeffries)

Mfume (Evans)

Newman (Garcia (IL))

Owens (Tenney)

Payne (Pallone)

Peters (Jeffries)

Porter (Wexton)

Price (NC) (Butterfield)

Roybal-Allard (Pallone)

Rush (Evans)

Schiff (Beyer)

Scott, David (Jeffries)

Sires (Pallone)

Steube (Donalds)

Suozzi (Beyer)

Taylor (Jackson)

Wasserman Schultz (Soto)

Watson Coleman (Pallone)

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2954, which includes the text of the Education and Labor Committee's bipartisan Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement Act, the RISE Act, H.R. 5891, a bill that I was proud to cosponsor with the distinguished chairman of the Education and Labor Committee and Ranking Member Foxx.

This bipartisan legislation is a much-needed push toward modernization that our country's retirement system needs. Our economy has evolved and so have the ways Americans plan for retirement.

Neither employers nor employee benefit plans fit into the same cookie-cutter policies they did when the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 was first enacted. The RISE Act and H.R. 2954 include reforms that will benefit America's workforce and job creators.

Worker access to employer-sponsored retirement plans has improved over the last three decades, and participation has grown. Today, more workers are saving and saving more in employer-sponsored plans.

However, there remains room for improvement, as too many Americans still lack access to these benefits. This legislation is a major step toward providing reasonable solutions to solve the problems hindering Americans from being able to save for a secure future.

Building on the SECURE Act of 2019, the RISE Act and H.R. 2954 expand multiple and pooled employer plans, giving charities, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations the opportunity to offer affordable retirement plans. Expanding pooled employer plans give small businesses access to more affordable plans by allowing them to band together, decreasing the costs and burdens associated with sponsoring a plan and providing more Americans with an opportunity to save.

Allowing small businesses and nonprofits the opportunity to offer competitive retirement plans so they can attract workers is extremely important, as the labor shortage has hit them the hardest.

Additionally, the RISE Act and H.R. 2954 will allow employers to offer small financial incentives to employees for participating in a retirement plan. This will help encourage employees to start preparing for retirement earlier in their careers, which is vital for employee contributions to earn years of compounding benefits for their retirement accounts.

Finally, this bill expands access to retirement savings for part-time workers who otherwise would be limited from participating in the employer plan. Removing barriers to saving ensures more Americans have a secure and self-sufficient retirement. Red tape and unnecessary barriers must not keep employees from building a strong retirement.

The RISE Act and H.R. 2954 also ease the burden of administering retirement accounts by removing unnecessary disclosure requirements. The legislation directs the Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to simplify reporting and disclosure regulations, streamline the collection of contributions to pooled employer plans, and update benchmarking guidelines to accommodate a broader selection of plan investments.

Importantly, retirement professionals themselves are in support of the RISE Act. Organizations like the American Benefits Council, the Insured Retirement Institute, the American Retirement Association, and the SPARK Institute are supportive of this legislation.

Workers and plan sponsors alike can see that the RISE Act will make commonsense reforms and improve the lives and futures of the American worker. The RISE Act offers creative and practical solutions to the problems in our retirement system.

As legislators, we must take action to tackle issues that affect the daily lives of our constituents. As a businessman, I know firsthand the issues that are affecting American workers that can be improved upon.

This legislation will improve the retirement security for millions of Americans. I urge my colleagues to join in support, and I look forward to its passage in the House and for these reforms to be ultimately signed into law.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg), my good friend.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller), another good friend.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), our great Republican leader.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, the goal of every American is to retire with security and dignity. The RISE Act and H.R. 2954 will help workers do just that. This bill will expand the availability of private retirement programs to more Americans.

Neither small businesses, nor non-profits and educational institutions should be prohibited from accessing the benefits offered to larger retirement plans.

Building on the success of the SECURE Act of 2019, this legislation cuts red tape, streamlines reporting and disclosure requirements, and provides American workers retirement.

I thank the chairman and our Republican leader for their commitment to bipartisanship and for defending the committee's important jurisdiction over retirement issues in this bill.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 2954, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise to highlight a bill I recently introduced with my good friend, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.

The Employee Rights Act of 2022 updates our labor policies to protect and empower the modern worker.

Democrats continue to push their out-of-touch, Big Labor wish list in the PRO Act, which tilts the scale toward nonelected union leaders, tramples employee rights, and preempts State right-to-work laws. Meanwhile, Republicans are focused on the worker of today and the future.

The Employee Rights Act guarantees that employees will have secret ballot union elections, ensures control over the disclosure of their personal information, keeps members' dues from being used for political purposes without their permission, and gives employees more flexibility to withdraw from a union if a majority of the employees agree.

This bill also codifies the common law definition of ``employee'' to protect gig economy workers and other independent contractors and once and for all clarifies the definition of ``joint employer'' so that franchisees, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking flexible work options are not hamstrung into not running their own business.

As a businessman, I have experienced firsthand the consequences of Big Government overregulation, and I am thankful for the support of dozens of proworker and probusiness groups that support the Employee Rights Act of 2022.

Mr. Speaker, gas prices have hit an all-time high, averaging over $4 nationally for the first time since 2008. The rising price of fuel, groceries, and just about everything are an assault on the pocketbooks of working families, and it is all a direct result of President Biden's failed energy policies.

Under the Trump administration we were energy independent for the first time in my lifetime. But within just his first few days in office, President Biden reversed all the progress that we made.

Yesterday, we heard from President Zelenskyy who urged President Biden to do more to support Ukraine as they defend themselves from Russia. While banning Russian oil imports is a vital first step, another way to support Ukraine is by unleashing American energy so we can help make the world less reliant on Putin and dictators who use the profits from oil exports to fund their malign activities.

President Biden would rather pay dictators than Americans all in the name of climate change. What happened to Made in America? For the sake of our Nation and our European allies who could use an alternative to Russian fuel, I hope he listens to the American people--let's make America energy independent again.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for all his great work on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 49th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, a devastating decision that we have continued to remind you has killed 63 million children in this country.

Who do we trust on this issue? There it says: ``In God We Trust.'' So if that is the case, this is what God said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5: I knew you before I formed you in the womb. So what more evidence do we need?

This shouldn't be a political debate, but now my Democratic friends are taking it one step further by attempting to abolish the Hyde amendment, which prevents taxpayer money from funding abortions. The government should not be using hard-earned taxpayer money to kill innocent children.

However, I am optimistic that the fight for life will take a step in the right direction.

The Supreme Court is currently reviewing Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a lawsuit challenging a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks.

I pray that the judges will rule in favor of life.

As the father of four and the grandfather of 14, I believe that life is precious, and I will fight to protect that life.

I have taken an oath to fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and so has every Member of this body.

Mr. Speaker, the Impact Aid program represents the Federal Government's promise to provide school districts with additional assistance when property taxes are lower because of the presence of military, Federal, or Tribal lands.

Every year, affected school districts take count of the federally connected students through a take-home survey.

This headcount determines the district's Impact Aid reimbursement, which can help pay for teacher salaries, technology, and student support services.

Throughout the pandemic, school systems across the Nation have worked through many challenges to continue serving students. Conducting these Impact Aid surveys have been no different.

That is why the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act will allow school districts to reuse their FY22 student counts and property tax data when submitting their upcoming FY23 applications at the end of January.

This additional reporting flexibility will be helpful to many of the 1,100 federally impacted school districts, including Richmond County schools in my district, which serves the great community of Fort Gordon and our great base there, a U.S. Army installation.

I am proud to support the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act. I believe that it will provide much-needed assurance for school systems.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Johnson for yielding and for his support on this important legislation today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021. Throughout the pandemic, I heard from Georgia farmers who were unable to access affordable shipping. Agriculture is the largest industry in my district and the largest industry in the State of Georgia. Our ports are a critical part of our Nation's infrastructure and it should be considered a great honor and privilege for any international company or entity to have access to them.

Foreign players gain access to the largest consumer market on earth through our ports, with a GDP of $20 trillion and 325 million people. Yet,

American farmers face high fees and barriers to getting their commodities into shipping containers.

After defying the odds of weather and many other issues that our farmers face, it is unconscionable that our perishable exports are left sitting in warehouses to rot.

This bill provides the first significant Federal update of the Federal Maritime Commission's powers since 1998 and will significantly improve our farmers' access to affordable shipping.

Mr. Speaker, I am a proud cosponsor of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021, and I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Lamborn for organizing tonight's Special Order, as we honor the 80th anniversary of National Bible Week.

We are a divided Nation, we are a divided Congress. In fact, the church is having much division right now. Jesus, in the Scriptures, said it would be like this. That is why we recognize the importance of God's Word, which addresses every issue that divides us, and it also has the power to unite us.

Jesus prayed for us in John 17:21, ``that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.'' Why did he pray that? He prayed that, and He said, ``so that they would know that You sent me.'' That is how important unity is.

The Bible is God's incredible gift to each of us, providing guidance during times of joy and hardship. We are without excuse.

Over 21 years ago, as I was going through a time of trying to really decide what my faith would look like--and actually this is a Bible that we are currently reading here in Congress. It is called the Change Your Life Daily Bible. We have a number of Members who read it. In fact, if you want to know what your Member of Congress reads every day, you can get one of these Change Your Life Study Bibles.

Today's reading was exactly what I was going through at that time 21 years ago. He says: ``If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth, but if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his Word has no place in our hearts.'' That is today's reading from I John 1:8-10.

That cut through me like butter 21 years ago, and I made a covenant with God. I said, You have forgiven my sins. And I prayed that He would forgive my sins on that day, and I told God that I would make him priority one.

What that means, there are about five disciplines. One of them, of course, is reading the Scriptures, meditating on the Scriptures. In doing so, I learned that all of my strength and wisdom doesn't come from me, but through Him and His spirit.

Now could you imagine what this Congress and this Nation would look like if we all learned that our talent and wisdom is a gift from God to serve a purpose and to honor Him and glorify Him? We would have the power in this place to come together as one in truth.

I will leave you with this: There are many promises in the Bible, but God's instructions to us in Joshua 1:8, He said, do not let this Book of Law depart from your lips. Be careful to do what it says, meditate on it night and day, and you will be prosperous and successful.

That is what the American people want. As Members of Congress, I pray that we will come together, that we will share in His Word, that we will test every piece of legislation with His Word; we will pray over every piece of legislation, and that it would be pleasing and a blessing to God.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Keller, for leading this important effort in letting the American people know that we are fighting for you.

As I said since day one, folks should consult with their doctor and get the vaccine if they are able. But instead of allowing local healthcare providers and communities to instill confidence in the vaccine, the Biden administration is choosing to push a top-down government mandate, which does not work and will never work.

It comes down to this: Workers across the country are facing the choice to get vaccinated or lose their job.

This is the epitome of government overreach. Every American has the right to earn a living.

While I believe this mandate is likely unconstitutional, I look forward to watching it continue moving through the courts.

It is also our duty as Members of Congress to fight this legislatively. That is why it is important to exercise our authority under the Congressional Review Act to nullify this rule.

I am proud to fight for over 80 million workers who will be impacted by this overreaching mandate by ensuring this rule has no force or effect.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 375.

members recorded pursuant to house resolution 8, 117th congress

Auchincloss (Clark (MA))

Blumenauer (Beyer)

Carter (LA) (Kahele)

DeFazio (Brown (MD))

Garcia (IL) (Ocasio-Cortez)

Grijalva (Stanton)

Herrera Beutler (Rodgers (WA))

Horsford (Allred)

Kirkpatrick (Stanton)

Lawson (FL) (Evans)

Lesko (Joyce (PA))

Lowenthal (Beyer)

Matsui (Thompson (CA))

McEachin (Wexton)

Pascrell (Pallone)

Payne (Pallone)

Phillips (Jacobs (CA))

Porter (Wexton)

Pressley (Bowman)

Rice (NY) (Murphy (FL))

Roybal-Allard (McCollum)

Ruiz (Aguilar)

Rush (Quigley)

Swalwell (Gomez)

Underwood (Casten)

Wilson (FL) (Hayes)

Yarmuth (Beyer)

Madam Speaker, I was attending to an urgent matter in my district. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 330 and ``nay'' on rollcall No. 331.

members recorded pursuant to house resolution 8, 117th congress

Adams (Brown)

Bowman (Khanna)

Castro (TX) (Escobar)

Cawthorn (McHenry)

Cicilline (Pingree)

Cooper (Clark (MA))

Cuellar (Costa)

DeFazio (Brown)

DesJarlais (Fleischmann)

Doyle, Michael F. (Cartwright)

Frankel, Lois (Clark (MA))

Fulcher (Johnson (OH))

Garamendi (Sherman)

Garbarino (Jacobs (NY))

Garcia (TX) (Escobar)

Gonzalez (OH) (Herrera Beutler)

Harshbarger (Kustoff)

Hartzler (Bucshon)

Hice (GA) (Greene (GA))

Huffman (Stanton)

Jayapal (Raskin)

Jones (Jacobs (CA))

Kahele (Case)

Kirkpatrick (Stanton)

Lawson (FL) (Evans)

Lee (NV) (Clark (MA))

Lofgren (Jeffries)

Lynch (Trahan)

McEachin (Wexton)

Meng (Jeffries)

Mfume (Evans)

Moore (WI) (Beyer)

Napolitano (Correa)

Nehls (Fallon)

Ocasio-Cortez (Escobar)

Payne (Pallone)

Perlmutter (Neguse)

Porter (Wexton)

Rodgers (WA) (Joyce (PA))

Rush (Underwood)

Salazar (Cammack)

Sires (Pallone)

Smucker (Joyce (PA))

Speier (Scanlon)

Steel (Obernolte)

Stewart (Crawford)

Suozzi (Panetta)

Timmons

(Reschenthaler)

Vela (Correa)

Velazquez (Jeffries)

Waltz (Diaz-Balart)

Wasserman Schultz (Soto)

Watson Coleman (Pallone)

Williams (GA) (Jacobs (CA))

Wilson (FL) (Hayes)

Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend from Louisiana for holding this Special Order and his leadership in our conference.

It started off with the war on fossil fuel and then the border crisis. Now, this new deal is about a war on small business. And the Biden administration and Bernie Sanders' trillion-dollar tax-and-spend bill, it is not about addressing our Nation's urgent needs, which I have just described, like: rising inflation; supply chain crisis; illegal immigration--we should not say illegal immigration; it should be human trafficking and drug trafficking--or the crime rate in the country. It is a blueprint to bankrupt and fundamentally turn America into a Big-Government, socialist Nation.

So what is included in their House Democrat bill? It includes a radical expansion of the IRS, granting them unprecedented access to the bank transactions of a vast majority of Americans. Again, a war on small business. It allows on-demand, taxpayer-funded abortions by excluding the Hyde amendment protections. Folks, we are just one of three countries that allow elective, full-time abortion. The other two are not good company: China and North Korea.

It provides college financial aid for illegal immigrants. It advances Green New Deal priorities to the tune of $630 billion at the expense, again, of small businesses.

It forces taxpayers to spend nearly $14,200 per person per year for government-controlled healthcare plans, doubling the cost of the average employer-sponsored healthcare plan.

It continues welfare benefits without work requirements for able- bodied adults without dependents, at a time when there are 10.1 million jobs openings. Folks, I am talking 25 million people, work-capable people.

That is not all. The Democrats are desperately trying to sell this bad bill, with both Biden and Nancy Pelosi falsely claiming it will cost zero dollars. You have got to be kidding.

But the American people can see that this costly bill will wreck our economy, all to advance the Democrats' socialist agenda.

We must fight for the future of this Nation by stopping their tax- and-spending spree. My friends, why in the world would you follow the Biden administration and Bernie Sanders over the cliff after every legislative initiative that has been created by this administration has resulted in a crisis and caused the American people tremendous suffering? Stop this nonsense.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Joyce for yielding to me.

Madam Speaker, under the Trump administration and the Republican majority, our Nation was energy independent for the first time in my lifetime.

Sadly, after everything we did to become more energy independent and grow our economy, President Biden and the Democrats have done the opposite. As a result of the Biden administration's policies, American jobs have been destroyed and families are paying more for everything.

The fact that Biden begged OPEC and Saudi Arabia to boost oil output because Americans have been paying over 40 percent more at the gas pump is a sobering example of this weak leadership, and it demonstrates how this administration's constant assault on American energy has embarrassed us on the world stage.

To make matters worse, the Democrats are marching full steam ahead with more job-destroying and cost-raising policies as part of their $3.5 trillion tax and spending spree. For example, their proposed natural gas tax would eliminate up to 90,000 jobs in just the first year of the program.

Whose side are they on?

It is also alarming that Democrats are proposing $150 billion to mandate deployment of clean energy that is manufactured in China, while at the same time China is building hundreds of coal-powered electric generation plants around the world. They have got to be laughing at us.

This massive package--which, by the way, we still don't have the full cost details yet--will punish American households and consumers through higher costs while sending good paying jobs overseas.

Like I said: Whose side are they on?

Sadly, this isn't anything new. President Biden has continued to hand our adversaries like Russia and China victory after victory while chipping away at our energy dominance.

Madam Speaker, I urge President Biden and the Democrats to put Americans first by ending their war on fossil fuels and instead work with Republicans on policies that will get our Nation back on the road to energy independence.

Madam Speaker, this country is going through crisis after crisis.

The Border Patrol apprehended over 200,000 immigrants at our southern border last month. August's border numbers are alarming and mark a 21- year high. The Biden administration cannot blame this surge on seasonal trends as this number is a 317 percent increase from the same time last year.

So what is the Biden administration doing to stop this ongoing border surge?

Absolutely nothing.

In fact, over 43,000 illegal immigrants were released into the U.S. last month.

This is a national security crisis. We don't know who is pouring across our border, and, unfortunately, this is a humanitarian crisis to the fullest extent.

Just last week, we saw tens of thousands of Haitians make their way to

Del Rio with reports on the ground describing horrific conditions in their makeshift camp as two women reportedly gave birth--including one who later tested positive for COVID-19.

This crisis is one of the worst in history. It is time to finish the wall, end catch and release, and secure our border.