Riley M. Moore

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this legislation, and I thank Chairman Cole and Chairman Diaz-Balart for their leadership on this bill.

This bill reinforces the important work we have championed to combat the persecution of Christians in Nigeria where nearly 100,000 Christians have been killed since 2009.

Last year, President Trump asked Chairman Cole and myself to investigate the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria, with myself and Chairman Diaz-Balart going to Nigeria.

Since then, we have worked with the Trump administration to develop a strategy that provides assistance to the Nigerian Government in their defense of Christians while holding President Tinubu's government accountable if they fail.

The U.S.-Nigeria security agreement is already bearing fruit, including eliminating ISIS' number two globally.

This bill bolsters our strategy by conditioning 50 percent of all U.S. assistance to Nigeria on measurable actions to protect Christians. It also puts a spotlight on the Middle Belt where we have not seen nearly enough progress in protecting Christians against Fulani Islamic terrorists.

With this vote, we will express the support of this Chamber for the report we presented to the White House on how to end the Christian genocide in Nigeria.

Mr. Chair, the United States must never turn a blind eye to our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 1181, the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act. My bill preserves two fundamental rights: the right to privacy and the right to bear arms. Americans should not be forced to disclose to payment processors when they buy firearms.

The bill preserves Americans' rights by prohibiting the creation of a separate merchant category code for firearms. This would, of course, become a de facto gun registry. The bill also preempts harmful State laws and gives the Attorney General authority to take any bank or payment processor that assigns or requires a separate code to Federal court.

For too long, the American people have had their rights undermined by the radical left. The bill's premise is simple: no gun registries, period. In fact, this very body has twice prohibited these unjust registries, once in 1986 and again in 1993, to prohibit the left from destroying Americans' rights.

However, the gun-grabbing left never stops trying. In 2021, the progressive Amalgamated Bank lobbied the International Organization for Standardization to create a separate merchant category code for firearm retailers to advance a backdoor gun registry. Previously, these retailers had always been accurately categorized as miscellaneous retail stores or sporting goods stores.

Amalgamated Bank was hell-bent on tracking firearm purchases. It pressured a faceless, unaccountable, foreign standards body in Geneva to stand up a new merchant category code explicitly targeting American gun owners and American businesses. When I was State treasurer in West Virginia, we said ``no'' to the gun-grabbing progressive bank partnering with a European NGO destroying American rights.

Under my leadership as State treasurer, West Virginia enacted one of the first bans on separate merchant category codes for firearms retailers, protecting the privacy of our State's gun owners. Nineteen States after that followed suit.

However, a patchwork of State regulations is not enough. California, Colorado, and New York currently mandate that firearm stores have a separate merchant category code, creating a de facto registry in some of the most populous States in our country. This cannot be allowed to stand. We have already seen the Biden administration pressure financial institutions to hand over data on their customers. A private database of gun owners falling into the hands of a future anti-gun administration is a threat that we cannot accept.

Our God-given right to own a firearm does not stop at the border of blue States.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Representatives Barr and Hudson, for their work on this bill. I also thank Chairman Hill for getting it across the finish line. I also thank Representative Stefanik for her leadership on this issue.

These are our God-given rights, spelled out in our Constitution, and we proudly exercise them. We will not allow an elitist bank partnered with a foreign, faceless bureaucracy to rob Americans of their right to protect themselves. In West Virginia, we don't ask permission to protect ourselves and our families, and no American should ever have to wonder whether buying a firearm will land them on a government watch list. Privacy and gun ownership go hand in hand.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment that in my view would correct what had taken place in the Agriculture Committee.

There was an amendment to eliminate dog racing, greyhound racing specifically, in the United States. The only problem with that, there is only one State that continues to do that, and that is the State of West Virginia.

One of the issues surrounding this is the revenue that is generated from that track. Forty percent of the revenue-sharing from the track supports the pension funds of police and firefighters, and we have had the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Firefighters actually come out in support of this amendment because it will decimate those pensions of our retired police and firefighters, some of whom are disabled. Those union members, who are just trying to scratch by in the State of West Virginia, are no longer going to be able to do that.

This amendment leaves the full ban in place for the other 49 States and grandfathers in the two tracks that are in West Virginia. No new tracks can open in West Virginia or any State in the country after this.

Lastly, this really is a question of States' rights where we have voted on this in the State of West Virginia. They have affirmatively voted on it. This question will come up again before the State legislature. Perhaps they will vote at some point not to, but we are really worried about not only those pensions but the almost 2,000 employees who are also involved in this industry. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Chair, it is really a sick obsession of this town to want to control and destroy jobs in one of the poorest States in America. It really is. I will just note that this is destroying guys who have union pensions. It is against the unions to vote against this amendment. You are hurting their membership.

Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, this amendment is in support of the unions, those union members. If you vote against this, you are against the unions. That is a fact. You are trying to take their pensions away from them. That is what you are doing. Ask the Fraternal Order of Police. Ask the firefighters union. Go ask them about that, and they will give you an answer.

That is exactly what is going on here. I am standing up for those members, standing up for the individuals who are supported by this track. Maybe someday the State of West Virginia will vote to get rid of it, but that is up to the State of West Virginia.

As we have just heard from the gentleman, over 40 States have voted to end dog racing, and that is their right to do that, but this obsession with the State of West Virginia, with less than 2 million people, and what we are doing inside of our borders, I don't really get.

Just to be clear, this amendment is in support of the police. It is in support of the firefighters. You are taking away their pensions if you don't support the amendment. I think it is a pretty fair compromise, as the chairman said.

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