Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and service of Corporal Clovis Eugene Ferguson, a United States Army Veteran and beloved member of the Salt Rock Elementary community.

Born and raised in West Virginia, Cpl. Ferguson joined the United States Army to serve his country during the Vietnam War soon after graduating from Barboursville High School. After his military service, Cpl. Ferguson and his wife, Connie, settled in Salt Rock, West Virginia, where he was a career member of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 521.

Together, they had two children, Amy and Jason, were respected members of their local church, and generous neighbors to many in the Salt Rock community. Cpl. Ferguson coached basketball, softball, baseball, and soccer. He was especially dedicated to the children and faculty of Salt Rock Elementary, where he shared joy with the students through his annual tradition of dressing up as Elvis for Halloween and Santa Claus for Christmas. He also dedicated countless hours to sharing his knowledge and practical wisdom with students.

The principal of Salt Rock Elementary School wrote that Cpl. Ferguson was ``especially proud of his service to the United States of America'' and that his love for our great Nation was evident in the way he lived. He will be remembered as a familiar face, trusted friend, and source of joy, and his legacy will continue to live on through his family and the students whom he loved and mentored.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that Cpl. Ferguson and his contributions to our Nation and his communities be honored for his service.

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.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, I am listening to the other side of the aisle right now, and I want you to know what you are hearing right now is desperation.

It is desperation because they are this close to their ultimate objective, which is defunding ICE, CBP, and HSI, which, by the way, they are going after the 300,000 unaccompanied minors you all let into this country that no one can find. That is what is going on here right now.

This bill that the Senate has passed, I am going to call it Hakeem's dream. That is what this bill is. It is Hakeem's dream, but it is America's nightmare. That is what this bill is.

This Chamber here on this side of the aisle, we are not only saying no to that, we are saying hell no. We are not going to pass this.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives has stood up and said we are not going to take this anymore. We are going to fund ICE, CBP, and HSI, and we are going to put a stop to the madness that has been going on in this country for far too long. It is time to make America safe again.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a remarkable West Virginian, devoted public servant, and a faithful Christian, my friend, the Honorable Justice Tim Armstead.

Justice Armstead dedicated his life to serving the people of West Virginia with unwavering integrity, conviction, and grace. Born in Charleston on February 26, 1965, Tim graduated from the University of Charleston and went on to earn his juris doctorate from the West Virginia University College of Law.

After beginning his public service career as a press intern for my grandfather, Governor Arch Moore, Justice Armstead went on to achieve a distinguished legacy defined by his strong leadership, built on the back of his Christian faith.

In 1998, Justice Armstead became a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and served there for the next two decades. During that time, Tim became the first Republican speaker of the house in more than 80 years. Every step of the way, Tim led from a firm commitment to conservative principles and an unparalleled witness to his Christian faith.

In 2018, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. While there, his fidelity to the rule of law and people of our State truly shined, so much so that he served twice as chief justice. He stewarded the court through a challenging time and worked tirelessly to restore public trust in our judiciary.

Tim's time as chief justice earned him the distinction of being the first West Virginian to ever ascend to the top of both the legislature and the judiciary, a truly amazing accomplishment.

Tim joined his Lord in Heaven on August 26, 2025, and he is survived by his beloved wife, Anna; his daughter, Katie; and his two cherished grandchildren.

With his passing, West Virginia has lost a principled leader, a dedicated jurist, a devoted family man, a committed Christian, and a dear friend. My family and a grateful State will miss him dearly.

Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation.

I thank Congresswoman Greene for bringing this bill up for debate here on the floor. I am a proud original cosponsor of this legislation.

We have heard a couple of people say that we are made in the image and likeness in God. For all of our clever scientific methods and self- rationalization out there, that is an absolute truth.

What this legislation is trying to do, and what it is going to do, God willing that it is signed into law, is prevent child abuse. That is what is going on in this country by allowing this. It is going to make it a felony for anybody to continue this abusive genital mutilation in this country on minors, on children. It is abhorrent what is being allowed right now in this country.

A felony, I think, is what is going to be able to stop this, and it should have been a felony a long time ago. I thank God that we have legislation that is going to make this criminal because it is a criminal act that is being done on the most vulnerable people in our society.

I point to a longitudinal study that was done by a Dr. Zucker years and years ago in Canada. They took minors who were looking at transitioning and actually gave them mental health counseling. By the end of that, at the age of 18, they had the option to transition or not. Ninety percent or more did not transition.

We have a mental health crisis in this country. Instead of addressing it, we are cutting people's body parts off. I rise in strong support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I also rise in strong support of this resolution. I can't believe I am standing here and talking about this. I really can't. The tragic nature of this is unfathomable.

Myself and my colleague, Carol Miller, were at Sarah Beckstrom's funeral just recently in Grafton, West Virginia, in my district. I can't imagine being her parents, watching her parents and her sister all receive that folded flag. It is just heartbreaking. I am a father of a son and two daughters. Watching her father just grieve in that manner is just unimaginable. It really puts me at a loss for words.

Something that stuck with me about that entire service, that funeral, for Sarah is they talked about her graduation cap. When she graduated high school, she wrote on her cap from Philippians 4:13: ``I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.'' That is what she chose to write on her graduation cap: ``I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.''

Just hearing that at that funeral strengthened me. I think it strengthened a lot of us there. I think it is the reason we have seen the miraculous recovery of Andy.

Andy Wolfe, as we heard, graduated from Musselman High School. That is 20 minutes down the road from me. His father is a deputy sheriff in the county next to mine.

In West Virginia, we live in small communities. We all know each other. We are all hurting over this tremendously.

This young lady lost her life when that shouldn't have ever happened. Some Islamic radical terrorist took her life on the streets of Washington, D.C. It is just so tragic.

Out of the tragedy, I think there is some triumph in that the power of prayer has been proven in the recovery of Andy Wolfe. I know myself, my wife, and my family have been praying nonstop for his recovery, Mr. Speaker. It has worked. It has truly worked. His mom, Melody, has been begging everyone to continue to pray.

Mr. Speaker, I urge everybody on both sides of this aisle, on both sides of this building, and all across this country to continue to pray for Andy and his family.

I would point out that in the State of West Virginia, we have some of the highest service in the country as it relates to per capita service in the military. We are proud. West Virginians are proud to wear that uniform and serve their country.

God bless the Beckstrom family. God bless the Wolfe family. God bless this great Nation. May Sarah rest in peace.

Madam Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

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

Under President Joe Biden, energy prices skyrocketed. The Trump administration is working around the clock to unleash American energy and drive down prices. Americans are starting to see the results at the pump and in their energy bills, but this only underscores the need for more cheap, abundant, and reliable baseload energy to power America's new golden age.

Currently, States require utilities to develop integrated resource plans to assess reliable electrical generation and provide affordable electricity to consumers. These integrated resource plans provide a framework for producing reliable electricity for American businesses, hardworking Americans, and families.

Unfortunately, Democrat-led States have used these integrated resource plans to push woke climate and environmental justice goals, prioritizing leftwing ideology over making life affordable for American families. Worst of all, these blue States have required utilities to shutter baseload power plants while promoting wind and solar.

These reckless policies place our grid at risk and send energy prices skyrocketing.

Demand for energy will increase by nearly 151 gigawatts over the next decade. However, another 115 gigawatts of reliable generation have announced anticipated retirements over that same period. The Department of Energy projected that of the planned 209 gigawatts of the new generation by 2030, only 22 gigawatts would come from reliable baseload generation.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation called our electrical reliability crisis a ``five-alarm fire.'' It is clear that blue States' destructive policies prioritize the green new scam over reliable power, making our grid more unreliable and life unaffordable for Americans.

We must act now to ensure baseload power reaches American consumers and staves off this looming crisis.

My amendment to the State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act requires the comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office to review existing integrated resource plan processes to assess whether they sufficiently consider reliable generation in their portfolios.

My amendment requires transparency and ensures reliable baseload power remains the backbone of our grid.

I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment to deliver reliable, affordable energy to American households and unleash America's golden age by ensuring coal, oil, and natural gas remain an integral piece of our energy mix.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, baseload energy in this country is absolutely quantified and defined by natural gas, nuclear, and coal. That is baseload energy in this country.

The reason green energy was ever affordable or cheaper is because everybody in America is subsidizing it right now with their tax dollars. That is the only reason that it ever became competitive. It is because we are subsidizing a broken system.

Green energy is consistent in its inability to produce baseload energy, reliability, or consistency. It is not consistent in its ability to transmit even down the power lines that are currently in place, which many times they have to construct new ones.

This is a report--by the way, this is just a report--which I think is so critical to assessing our plans here to have cheap, abundant, reliable energy for the United States and the American people.

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

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to speak as a witness to the power of prayer.

Last week, my constituent, Andrew Wolfe, was attacked by an Islamic terrorist here in Washington, D.C. He is still fighting for his life.

I know Andrew's family. We have spoken many times. I will tell you, he is improving right now, but we need to continue to pray for him.

It is actually working. Prayer works. Behind the Speaker's rostrum here, it says very clearly: In God We Trust. Indeed we do and indeed we must trust in God and His saving power and continue to pray for Andy Wolfe.

He is currently able to move some of his fingers and hands and toes. He has not completely woken up yet, but I ask everyone across the aisle, across this entire building, and across this great country to please continue to pray for my constituent, Andy Wolfe.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the Senate amendment to H.R. 5371, which includes full funding for the legislative branch. I am honored to serve as the vice chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, and I am grateful to Chairman Valadao for his leadership on that committee.

Mr. Speaker, it has been a long road to bring this bill to the floor. It is a road that was made significantly longer by a totally unnecessary Schumer shutdown that we have been living in. The bill before us not only reopens the entire government, but it ensures that the House and its supporting agencies remain working for the American people.

The bill invests in safety and security. It increases funding for the Capitol Police and provides support for security programs through the House Sergeant at Arms. It is tough on foreign adversaries, including language that I wrote preventing the purchase of technology tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Cole for his leadership and Ranking Member Espaillat and our subcommittee members and their staff and our staff for their work, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Jack) for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the CLARITY Act, the GENIUS Act, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.

I am a cosponsor, actually, of the CLARITY Act, which creates clear, enforceable rules for digital commodity markets and gives innovators confidence to build here in the United States of America.

Similarly, the GENIUS Act establishes a dollar-backed stablecoin, reinforcing the U.S. dollar's dominance in global financial markets.

Finally, the anti-CBDC legislation ensures that we never enact a CCP- like financial surveillance regime in this country.

Together, these bills ensure that the U.S. remains the world leader in digital asset innovation. I encourage my colleagues to support these commonsense pieces of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the RSC Rescissions Task Force, I am proud to support this bill to codify the DOGE cuts.

The American people know waste, fraud, and abuse when they see it. They want us to eliminate Democrats' radical agenda, including $5.1 million for global LGBTQ movements, $3 million for circumcisions in Zambia, and $833,000 for transgender surgeries in Nepal.

This package also ensures tax dollars aren't used to weaponize media against the American people. The CEO of NPR called President Trump a fascist while claiming her network is unbiased. These outlets can be as insane as they want--they might want to check CNN's ratings before doing that--but they are just not going to do it with American taxpayer dollars anymore.

This rescissions package is only the first step, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a true Mountaineer, former West Virginia delegate and minority leader in our house, Doug Skaff.

Doug tragically and unexpectedly passed away yesterday, leaving behind three beautiful children and his wife, Melisa.

Doug was a West Virginian through and through. From his time as student body president at West Virginia University to his time in the West Virginia House of Delegates, Doug loved our State, and he loved our people.

Years ago Doug and I actually coached our children's soccer team together in Kanawha City, and it was a wonderful experience for my children and his.

He was a wonderful father and a wonderful community leader. He was somebody who just loved life and could light up an entire room when he walked into it.

Doug loved politics. He just fed off of it. He loved the debate. He loved running for office. He was just great at it. He tragically left us far too young. He was 48 years old when he tragically left this Earth yesterday.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all my fellow West Virginians to join my wife, Mina, and me to pray for them and their family in this tragic time period. He is going to be so missed in the State of West Virginia. We will never forget him and the indelible mark that he left on our people.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

God bless you, Doug, my friend.