Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, while the Judiciary Committee should be focused on securing the borders and overhauling a very broken immigration system, they, instead, bring a clown and circus show to town.

When I looked up yesterday and saw John Dean, it took me back to the hot summer of 1974, when we saw John Dean and his cohorts on our television screens for days at a time. In an era with only three television stations--that is right, Mr. Speaker, we only had three stations growing up--Mr. Dean was on all three of them for hours at a time, for days on end.

Bringing another convicted felon, and a biased one at that, a person who has tweeted 970 times anti-Trump propaganda, to bring this criminal to these Chambers was yet another embarrassment to the majority party. All of America realizes the Democratic leadership has dug a deep, deep hole for itself and, for all practical purposes, has started this impeachment process and hearings. Nevertheless, in contradiction to public wishes, it appears the Judiciary chairman will continue to dig a deeper hole by calling such a slanderous, offensive witness and move forward with impeachment.

After doing over 38 townhalls across the State of Kansas since January, everywhere I go, folks tell me the same thing: It is time to move on.

Mr. Speaker, we have real problems that need to be addressed. My folks back home are dealing with floods and tornadoes. The farmers can't get their crops in the field, and China and the European Union are blocking us from exporting our commodities. All these things are things we cannot control. We have enough problems without the Washington swamp adding to our misery.

Folks back home want our border secured. They want a fair, streamlined immigration system, which helps fill the 70,000 open jobs we have across the State. From agriculture, to the aircraft industry, to high-tech jobs, Mr. Speaker, we need more people who are able and willing to work. And we all know this immigration reform is exactly what the Judiciary Committee should be taking up as we speak. Instead of fixing real problems, the Democrat-controlled House just keeps digging deeper down this false impeachment hole they have initiated.

Mr. Speaker, I want to stop and applaud the President for his most recent efforts to secure our borders. As we all know, over the course of less than 2 weeks--record time for diplomacy in this age--the President was able to leverage potential tariffs into real action by the Mexican government. That is right, real action with real results.

Thanks to these efforts, Mexico is going to place 6,000 new troops to control their southern border. Additionally, Mexico has agreed to shelter, feed, and help those who apply for asylum in this country. This all matters to Kansans, and we thank the President for his efforts.

This is huge. How huge is it? Well, I have been to the border, almost a year ago now, and I know a crisis when I see it. It was a crisis then and, by all measures, this crisis has literally doubled.

Every day, on average, we are now apprehending almost 5,000 people crossing the border illegally. We are housing, feeding, and providing healthcare to over 40,000 people daily. We literally have run out of bed space. We now have over 900,000 people waiting for asylum hearings, of which only 10 percent have a legitimate claim.

Even in the words of the most liberal of newspapers, the New York Times agrees this is a crisis: ``While lawmakers wring their hands and drag their feet, tens of thousands of migrant children are suffering.

``Congress needs to get serious about dealing with that suffering.''

Mr. Speaker, it is a shame that Congress won't do its job, that we won't secure the border, and that we won't overhaul a broken immigration system. Instead, the Democrats drive the agenda that started, for all practical purposes, an agenda that brings in the ghost of Christmas past, a convicted liar and felon, as their star witness for impeachment hearings.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to learn lessons about leadership. Leaders must at times endure criticism and attacks and stay the course. Leaders keep their word, they demand results, and they hold people accountable. Leaders keep the ship moving into high headwinds. Leaders think outside the box. They use the tools given them. They don't make excuses. They never, never give up. Somehow, they always bring the light back to the objective, the goal at hand. When others won't lift, they lift the entire weight. They show the path, they shine the light, and they go first when others are afraid. Leaders don't repeat the mistakes of those who went before them over and over again.

Mr. Speaker, great leaders all have their own unique style. One of my heroes was President General Dwight David Eisenhower, who was a visionary, able to move pieces around for the D-day invasion, but also had the vision to see the need for an interstate highway system, a space program, and civil rights.

Another hero of mine is John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn, the mythical marshal from the movie ``True Grit,'' who often, when he couldn't get people to follow, well, I guess I would say, he just ran over them.

Mr. Speaker, I thank our President for showing us what true leadership looks like, and what true grit looks like in real time, in real life.

Mr. Speaker, we need the President to keep leading.

Madam 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, an act that protects living babies who survive failed abortions, and ask for its immediate consideration in this House.

Madam Speaker, I personally fought in the OB delivery room for 30 years for the unborn and newly born. I ask the Speaker to immediately schedule this important bill so we can protect these babies.

Mr. Speaker, I am often asked about what I value in life, and I speak of the four pillars of my life: faith, family, community, and education. Today I honor faith.

It is a thrill and honor of my life to have my pastor here today to help us open this Congress like we do every morning: with prayer.

I honor Pastor Bill Johnson and all the pastors across the country. Today, the pastor who baptized my four children, who married my daughter, we are so glad, so proud to have him lead us and open this House.

Mr. Speaker, there are many, many freedoms that we value, but there is nothing I value more than freedom of religion.

Mr. Chairman, the lengths that my colleagues across the aisle are willing to go to mislead the public and increase the political divide over healthcare is shameful and embarrassing. H.R. 986, which I refuse to call by its name, makes a mockery of Americans with preexisting conditions.

Mr. Chairman, I practiced obstetrics for over 25 years, and do you know what the most common preexisting condition is? It is pregnancy.

I came to Congress to protect people with preexisting conditions and to help patients. H.R. 986 just does the opposite. H.R. 986 prevents innovation. It drives the cost of healthcare up and will cause fewer people to have healthcare.

Let me be crystal clear about this, Mr. Chairman. This bill has absolutely nothing to do with people with preexisting conditions. That is why I am proud to join Congressman Walden and shed light on this deceptive bill that the Democrats are pushing.

Under current law, States do not have the authority to waive preexisting conditions using the section 1332 innovation waiver. It is that simple.

Section 1332 waivers are working, and contrary to the Democrats' claims, patients are raving about the 1332 waivers for reinsurance.

These waivers give States flexibility to provide Americans with affordable healthcare options. And in the seven States using these waivers, premiums have gone down by an average of 20 percent. They went down 20 percent, with Maryland achieving a 43 percent premium reduction.

So I stand here today to discuss the facts and not the fiction.

The 2018 guide from the President is making the process easier, helping States pursue innovation strategies that will help more people get coverage while delivering quality coverage people can actually afford and use.

Most of us, including the President, are working towards a better healthcare future for all Americans, where patients and families, not bureaucrats in Washington, are in control of their own healthcare decisions. I ask that my colleagues across the aisle stop the partisan politics and come together to develop real healthcare policy solutions.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Trump administration's rule that will modernize Medicare part D and, as a result, lower drug prices, reduce out-of-pocket expenses for America's seniors, and make critical fixes to our systems that will help our local pharmacies.

Across Kansas, there are 506 chain drugstores and 253 independent community pharmacists. These pharmacists are honest, hardworking men and women who often go above and beyond to ensure that patients know how to manage their medications.

I have heard their stories, and they all share the same frustration: direct and indirect remuneration, or DIR, fees.

In many instances in rural America, the only healthcare professionals left standing are my good friends and colleagues from the noble pharmacy profession, and these DIR fees are running them out of town.

The increase of DIR fees over the last several years has raised out- of-pocket costs for our seniors and put our pharmacies at financial risk, often operating in negative margins.

Far too regularly, pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, collect DIR fees from pharmacies months and months after claims. It is completely unpredictable and unfair, and the benefits all go into the pockets of the pharmacy benefit managers.

Shame on them for doing this, but not anymore. This proposed rule will guarantee predictability by helping standardize the process and end the disparity between pharmacists, patients, and PBMs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated that seniors will save up to $9 billion--$9 billion--over the next 10 years, and the Federal Government will save nearly $17 billion over that same timeframe.

I appreciate President Trump and his administration for addressing this concern and providing commonsense, financially responsible solutions.

It is my hope and the hope of pharmacists across the country that this rule will be finalized quickly so that it can go into effect next year.

I would like to recognize my colleague, pharmacist Buddy Carter, who may know this issue better than any of us, as our only pharmacist in Congress.

I thank my colleagues Dr. Phil Roe, Morgan Griffith, and Peter Welch for leading on this issue and bringing it front and center for both the Doctors Caucus and the Energy and Commerce Committee members.

Mr. Speaker, recently we celebrated our national libraries. I rise today to discuss the important role they play across many Kansas communities.

I have visited libraries throughout The Big First, stopping in Manhattan, Salina, Dodge City, Quinter, Great Bend, and Scott City. I recently visited the Marion City Library that was awarded the 2019 five-star honor for its welcoming facility with well-targeted programs.

Communities from Colby to Abilene have partnered with organizations such as the Library of Congress, National Archives, and Smithsonian Institution to shine a spotlight on the great qualities and rich history that is unique to Kansas. These programs, run by our local libraries, are vitally important to our small communities and reached more than 27,000 Kansans in 2018.

I am so proud of our Kansas libraries that are constantly going above and beyond.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 6 million Jewish men, women, and children who were violently murdered for their religious beliefs by the Nazi regime.

This week remembers the victims who lost their lives to this evil regime and honors the survivors who beat the unthinkable odds.

Sonia Warshawski, a Kansan from Overland Park, was a young teenager when Nazi Germany invaded her home in Poland. She was imprisoned, locked inside a Nazi concentration camp, and then later sent to the Auschwitz death camp. There, she saw human hatred in a way many of us today cannot comprehend.

Sonia tells a story of waking up each day suffering from starvation and seeing thousands of bodies stacked where she was imprisoned. She watched as her mother was forced into a gas chamber. And still, through this torture and through it all, she never gave up hope or abandoned her faith.

Sonia will not forget the hatred and horrific injustice that the murderous Nazi regime put her and millions of others through in the name of anti-Semitism and neither will this country.

As the most well-documented genocide in human history, a genocide documented and confirmed by General Eisenhower, the evil and unimaginable torture throughout the Holocaust will forever haunt us. We must never tolerate or overlook anti-Semitism in any form.

In 2017, I had an emotional experience at the Holocaust museum in Israel with my wife. There, we met and heard from many survivors and walked through the Hall of Names honoring the 6 million victims of the Holocaust.

Sadly, we have recently seen the ugly face of anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head. We must continue to fight it with full force. It should be made abundantly clear to those with this deep hatred of Jewish people in their heart that this country has zero tolerance for this type of evil.

Mr. Speaker, I stand with the survivors like Sonia and those who lost their lives during the darkest days in the history of our world, and I stand against anti-Semitism.

Judicial Overreach

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss my disappointment at the judicial overreach by my home State's supreme court this past Friday.

In a 6-1 vote, the radical Kansas courts ruled the State's constitution guarantees unlimited rights to an abortion. This verdict came in response to a 2015 State law that prohibits performing a dismemberment abortion procedure in the second trimester, except when necessary to save the life of the mother. Two doctors who performed this barbaric and painful procedure in the second trimester of pregnancy have challenged the law.

As someone who has dedicated my career to bringing life into this world and has delivered 5,000 babies in my home State of Kansas, please forgive me and allow me to be graphic for just a moment.

This horrid procedure literally tears the live baby apart limb by limb in the womb and then evacuates the dismembered baby body parts one at a time from the uterus. Then the person who performs the procedure pieces these parts back together to make sure they have removed the entire baby. This very pain-capable baby literally bleeds to death to end its life.

Sadly, the method is used today in 95 percent of second trimester abortions, even though the child's heart is beating and the baby is breathing and, as I said earlier, is quite capable of feeling pain. It is despicable, and this procedure should be banned nationwide.

It sickens me to the core that the Kansas Supreme Court violated the sanctity of life and voted to deny the rights of the unborn in our State.

Today, I call upon our State legislators to quickly pass a constitutional amendment that overrules and protects these precious babies.

Many of us have fought our whole life to defend the unborn. Now, we must all fight harder than ever. I ask for you to fight alongside me.

Mr. Speaker, enough. Enough.

I finished my 16th, 17th, and 18th townhall this weekend, and everywhere I went across Kansas, my people told me, ``Enough of this.''

We have had enough of the Mueller investigation.

We have had enough on the tax return issues.

We have had enough Russia mania.

Mr. Speaker, it is time to move on; we have all had enough.

There are great things that we can move on to:

We can fix healthcare; we can secure our southern borders; we can overhaul our immigration system; we can come up with a nationwide infrastructure plan.

Mr. Speaker, this country is doing good. Our economy is strong, wages are up, unemployment is down, but we can go from good to great if you take this stranglehold off of this Congress and let us get back to work.

Mr. Speaker, I am embarrassed by the performance of the Congress this far.

We came from the most productive Congress, perhaps in history, to maybe the least productive.

I have only been here a short while, but I have learned that this little bubble we live in has a very finite amount of oxygen. And right now, politics is taking up all the oxygen.

Mr. Speaker, it is time to move from politics to policy. We have all had enough. It is time to move on.

Mr. Speaker, this past week, President Trump and Secretary Pompeo took a bold step to affirm Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. I support this administration and our long-time friend and ally, Israel, in this fight to protect their homeland.

I have stood on the mountains of the Golan where Abraham and his nephew Lot parted ways some 4,000 years ago. I could hear the cannons and the missiles and the tanks just miles away in war-stricken Syria. We learned how, in a matter of hours during the Yom Kippur war of 1974, Syrian forces overran the Golan, jeopardizing both Israeli and American security.

This small range of mountains, less than 125 miles from Jerusalem, serves as a buffer from Israel and its many foes who desire nothing more than to wipe them off of the face of the Earth.

From the 3rd millennium B.C., the occupants of the Golan Heights have included the Amorites, Arameans, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, the Israelites again, Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire. In later centuries, Christians crusaded, Mongols ruled, and the Ottomans conquered the land.

Starting in 1885, Jewish families bought and lived on the land in the Golan Heights, and stayed there until 1920, when riots drove them out. For the next 40 years, the boundaries of this area were debated and defined by the French and the British.

We all know the State of Israel was born in 1948, and the Golan was mutually shared with neighboring countries. This, however, led to constant raids and civil unrest in the region and debate over a scarce item in the area, water.

Finally, in the 1960s, Syria ignored previous water agreements and attempted to divert water from Israel. This led to the armed War over Water, which was won by Israel in 1967, and pushed the Syrians out of the Golan, leaving Israel in control once again.

This is where most leftist naysayers will begin their history, as if Israel had no claim to the land in the first place or as if it never had been contested.

This matters for America for a variety of reasons. Set aside the fact that Israel is our most loyal and strategically vital ally in the Middle East. Let's look at Russia. Americans are rightly concerned about the cyber and geopolitical moves of that adversarial nation. The Golan, however, is an example of where those on the left are turning a blind eye.

Since the time of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, Russia has sought a warm-water port in the Mediterranean and to stake their claim to land south of the Black Sea. Not only does Syria provide them both, it also presents an opportunity for Russia and their ally Iran, as the leaders have said, to wipe Israel off the map.

We cannot let this happen. We mustn't let this happen. We must continue to stand up to thugs like Putin and Assad, and with our friends in Israel.

There Was No Collusion

Mr. Speaker, no collusion, no collusion, no collusion.

That is right. After 2 years, Mr. Speaker, let me say that again: there is no collusion.

After 2 years and a cost of more than $25 million, that is $50,000 a day spent on this witch hunt of taxpayer money, there was no collusion.

And indeed, there was no pot of gold at the end of the media's rainbow; nothing besides fool's gold yet again.

Mr. Speaker, how can you spend $50,000 a day on an investigation?

As I think back, I may have been the first person in the Chamber to call this investigation for what it was: a witch hunt.

Now, I am not a lawyer, but Kansas common sense would suggest if there was no collusion, no corrupt intent by the President, and no crime committed, there would be absolutely no case for an obstruction of justice charge. But I am sure Kansas common sense is the last thing on the minds of some Members of Congress.

So now, during every waking hour for 675 straight days, Democrats and the media have had a field day smearing the President, his friends, and his family.

They have hired 19 lawyers, 40 FBI agents, and issued nearly 3,000 subpoenas, all of which have further confirmed what we already knew before the investigation started: there was no collusion.

Importantly, Mueller confirmed that no one with the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian Government. Additionally, we found out through this investigation the Russians made many attempts to offer to help the Trump campaign, and time and time again, the Trump team stood up and rejected Russia.

I want the media, which spent thousands of hours painting a picture of collusion and conspiracy, to cover these Mueller findings that show the President stood firm against the Russian's multiple attempts. And I ask the Democrats, who misled the public for months, to come forward and speak the truth.

Instead, what does the biased media and Democrats say in response to Mueller's verdict? Absolutely nothing. You could almost hear a pin drop as I walked through the Capitol today. It is so quiet. No Democrats are here today for morning-hour debate. What does that say?

As I stand on the House floor today, I have one question for this Chamber and for this Nation: Can we please move on and work with our President, rather than against him, and focus on policy rather than fantasy?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I had a young family in my office this morning, a wonderful, nice-looking 11-year-old boy who was in my office today with his dad, his mom, and several other people from southwest Kansas. He looked at me and he said: Congressman Marshall, will I be able to run cattle when I get older? My great-grandfather ran cattle; my grandfather ran cattle; my daddy ran cattle; and I would like to run cattle someday, but this Green New Deal scares me.

He said: Will the Green New Deal keep me from running cattle?

I had to say: Unfortunately, yes, it would.

The Green New Deal would be the end of agriculture as we know it in Kansas. Agriculture makes up 40 percent of the economy of Kansas. For all practical purposes, it would be the end of the Kansas economy.

Another large part of our economy is oil and gas, and the Green New Deal would be the end of that.

I always try to think about the impact of something like the Green New Deal. First of all, it would triple your taxes. I think that would be well proven. But I always am especially concerned for that young family, maybe that family that I delivered 5 or 10 or 15 years ago, and they have two or three kids at home. How would the new Green New Deal impact them? First of all, their grocery bill is going to double or triple, I suppose. They would have to replace all the appliances in their home. Their utility bill is going to go up.

Then I think about the price of gas. I always noticed in my obstetrical practice that whenever the price of gasoline got about $3 a gallon, women would suddenly ask: Do we have to come back this often? Quite a few of my patients live 60 or 90 miles from me, and it was quite a challenge to come visit us. When the price of gasoline got about $3 a gallon, they didn't want to come quite as often.

I can't help but think what the Green New Deal would do to the cost of gasoline, if there is such a thing. I suppose we would all be driving electric cars.

Where I am from, I only wish that we could hop on a train and take public transportation, but there are just not enough trains to go around in Kansas. We are lucky to have roads in most places where we live, so public transportation just isn't an option.

All that being said, Mr. Speaker, I think, like the gentleman from Arizona, I want to leave this country and I want to leave the State of Kansas cleaner than I found it. I am so proud that Kansas waters and Kansas air are cleaner today than when I was growing up. I am very proud of that. I want to keep going in that direction.

I am very proud that the carbon imprint from the United States is less today than it was in 2004, and I want to keep going in that direction. But it is my belief that innovation is what is going to drive this and keep us going in that direction.

I am so proud of what the American entrepreneurs have done in Kansas and across this country, our ability to get more natural gas and to make all of our refineries cleaner. Where we produce electricity, so many of them are 97 percent cleaner.

The issue of ecology is a worldwide problem. It is a problem that the United States cannot cure by itself. We need to be a leader and keep going in the direction we are going.

I look forward to working with folks across the aisle to come up with real solutions that will really work for this country. I think that the American innovator will do great things and that better days are ahead for America.

Mr. Speaker, in many parts of my district and all across Kansas, farmer cooperatives are the foundation of a modernized and productive agriculture industry. For decades, co-ops have been farmers' primary business partner, supplier, and grain buyer. Memberships have been passed down from one generation to another, and relationships have been lifelong.

Today, our farmer co-ops are as strong and as important as ever. In the far reaches of my district, the co-ops provide feed, fertilizer, and fuel to farmers.

As times and needs have changed, so too have our co-ops. From online platforms for account statements and purchasing to precision technology that reduces fertilizer inputs and improves soil productivity, innovation has been necessary and vital to the co-ops' success.

Kansas farmer co-ops are responsible for more than 4,600 jobs and $1.1 billion in total economic impact, statewide. These member-owned organizations have been and will continue to be vital to the continued growth and success of the agriculture industry.

Farmers are facing steep headwinds, and organizations like the co-ops are important in helping producers navigate through uncertainty in the industry.

We often take the time to thank our farmers, but it is also important we thank the hardworking men and

women of our farmer co-ops for the valuable time and expertise they put into supporting our farmers and our agriculture industry.

Celebrating National Ag Day

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of National Ag Day, a celebration of our Nation's oldest and most important industry and the hardworking men and women who put food on our table, clothes on our back, and fuel in our cars.

The number of people in agriculture today is but a fraction of what it was 100 years ago, but the impact of today's agriculture industry is unprecedented. Today's farmer feeds about 165 people, and agriculture remains this country's number one export.

In Kansas, agriculture accounts for nearly half the State's economy, and, in my district, that number is more than 60 percent. For many rural communities, farming and ranching is the sole economic driver.

Kansas is the national leader in agriculture, ranking first in the production of grain sorghum, second in the production of wheat, third for cattle, and fourth in the production of sunflowers. In fact, Kansas is second in the Nation for the total number of acres farmed.

Winters like the one we are currently experiencing at home have highlighted the time and dedication farmers and ranchers have to their land and animals. In Kansas, farmers with livestock are working around the clock to ensure the animals are healthy, warm, and well fed. That means enduring subzero windchills, blizzard-like conditions, and middle-of-the-night checks.

While agriculture has become a target of environmentalists who want to discontinue life as we know it in Kansas, I am here today to testify to the great work farmers and ranchers have done to protect and improve our air, land, and water. Farmers are the original conservationists, and continue to find ways to do more with less, while protecting our most valuable natural resources.

National Ag Day is our opportunity to celebrate farmers and ranchers, highlight the impact they have on our communities and country, and remember the thousands of products made possible by their hard work.

Back home, it is a day to introduce thousands of grade school kids to the agriculture industry with fun things like how to milk a cow, gathering eggs, and even flying drones.

I encourage Members to join me today in celebration of National Agriculture Day and take time to thank a farmer.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I speak today about the passing of the great Kansan and former Member of the United States Congress, my friend, Mr. Richard Dale Nichols.

Dick was born in southeast Kansas and honorably served his country in World War II as a member of the United States Navy. Upon returning to Kansas, he attended Kansas State University and was a fellow Beta Theta Pi fraternity brother.

After graduation, Dick entered the banking industry and, ultimately, settled down in McPherson, Kansas, where he served as president and then as chairman of the board for Home State Bank & Trust.

In 1990, Dick was elected to the United States Congress, representing the Fifth Congressional District of Kansas. Two years later, following the census, Dick's district was eliminated, and he returned to life as a businessman, but he never gave up his passion and love for our country.

Dick served as president of the Kansas Bankers Association, was active in the local Chamber of Commerce, and was a fellow Rotarian. He was a proud husband, father, and grandfather, and his outgoing, optimistic personality gained him new friends wherever he traveled.

I had the opportunity to get to know Dick and will always be grateful for the time and energy he spent helping me find my way to Washington, D.C. When I was back in McPherson, I always enjoyed chatting with him about Kansas State athletics, fellow Beta fraternity brothers, and Republican politics.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Dick's wife, Linda, and the entire Nichols family as they mourn the loss of a great Kansan and a great man. He will certainly be missed.

Restoring Integrity of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Mr. Speaker, I stand in support of Secretary Sonny Perdue and the Department of Agriculture's proposed rule to restore the integrity of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and implement the program as a safety net, not a way of life.

In 2019, too many able-bodied men and women remain on the sidelines of our workforce. Recent data published by the U.S. Federal Reserve in February indicate a historically robust economy yet sluggish labor force participation rates, indicating a continued reluctance by some to engage in the workplace.

According to data from USDA, we have more families accepting SNAP dollars today than we did at the height of the financial crisis of 2008.

Despite major economic gains and today's record low unemployment; too many States are allowing people to opt out of work, leaving employers to spend valuable resources searching for men and women to fill our many vacant jobs.

By requiring able-bodied adults without minor dependents who are seeking SNAP benefits to work at least 20 hours a week while participating in training or educational programs, we are ensuring these men and women are no longer disengaged from the labor market, but finding a way back to the workforce and long-term self-sufficiency.

This Nation's economy is as strong as it has been in my professional lifetime. We must continue to encourage individuals to become self- sufficient and find new employment opportunities.

For too long, too many States have bypassed the rules and allowed able-bodied adults to neglect valuable job training and educational opportunities.

Employers across the country have good-paying jobs that can help individuals move out of poverty and regain their independence and integrity.

It is time we restore SNAP to its intended purpose, help men and women move back into the workforce, and take a major step in closing the workforce participation gap.

Closing the Digital Divide

Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the progress made over the past two years to close the digital divide.

Access to a reliable internet connection remains a significant challenge in rural America and across my district. Society is becoming more and more reliant on broadband, whether for access to educational resources, telemedicine, or precision agriculture technology.

At the end of 2016, more than 26 million Americans did not have access to high speed internet. However, in a recent draft report circulated by Chairman Pai, that number dropped to just over 19 million at the end of 2017, with many of these new connections being in rural America. According to that report, fiber was deployed to another almost 6 million homes by the end of 2018, which is the largest number ever recorded.

Reducing regulatory burdens for deployment has helped to incentivize investment. Our local providers are working hard to leverage Federal programs, private dollars, and savings from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to further deploy broadband infrastructure to rural communities, better connecting our farmers, small businesses, and families. Companies like Rockhouse Motion, a digital media company in Geneseo, Kansas, or Rollin J Boutique in Phillipsburg, Kansas, both in my district, are able to thrive thanks to that internet connection.

Mr. Speaker, I applaud our efforts at the FCC, the USDA, and Congress to make broadband access in rural America both affordable and reliable. I also encourage my colleagues to continue working to ensure that Americans have access to an internet connection no matter where they live.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the many women who have shaped our country's successes and are inspiring our future.

This month, we celebrate Women's History Month and recognize the women who have fought for equality and positively impacted their communities. The courage and resolve of our women must not go unnoticed.

In Kansas, we are always quick to highlight the great Amelia Earhart, our hometown aviation pioneer. But today, I want to highlight the millions of women around the world who have made and continue to make significant impacts on their families, communities, and workplaces through meaningful, everyday contributions.

My own mother, Nancy, taught me many family values that continue to

give me strength and guide me throughout fatherhood and in my career as an obstetrician.

She instilled in me the value of proper nutrition at an early age, which I was able to go on and explain in very commonsense terms to all my patients as an obstetrician. My mom emphasized the importance of a healthy breakfast and sitting down each night as a family for dinner, something my wife, Laina, and I prioritized as parents as well.

She taught me all these lessons while also working a full-time job as an office manager. Her dedication to her family and career didn't garner news headlines, but it made a significant impact and allowed me to grow up understanding the outcomes of hard work.

My wife, Laina, went to school to be a nurse at Butler County Community College and later worked in the neonatal intensive care unit, caring for premature babies. She made a huge impact on all those babies' lives, as well as their families and their development.

Now, as a mother of four and grandmother of two, I often tell people my wife has the most important job in America: raising our children.

I know there are millions of mothers around the globe who have and continue to provide the same energy, time, and dedication to their children, families, and communities. Too often, we don't take the time to share and celebrate these contributions, but we all know a woman who has made a significant impact on our lives.

As we celebrate Women's History Month, I challenge you to thank those women who have positively influenced your life, improved our communities, and contributed to the success of this great Nation.

Recognizing Leadership of Dr. Bobby Moser

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my friend and fellow western Kansas physician, Dr. Bobby Moser, for his leadership with the Kansas Heart and Stroke Collaborative, an initiative funded through CMS' Health Care Innovation Awards.

The effort started in 2014 with the University of Kansas Health System, Hays Medical Center, 10 critical-access hospitals, and the First Care Clinic to provide an innovative care delivery and payment model designed to improve heart health and stroke outcomes for rural Kansans.

When they first received this 3-year Federal grant, they were nothing shy of ambitious. In their proposal, they aimed to reduce healthcare costs by nearly $14 million and reduce deaths from stroke and heart attack by 20 percent. The collaborative wanted to accomplish this using data in a meaningful way, enhancing bedside care, and building sustainable models for access and treatment.

They have indeed shown signs of good work, and they are expanding their efforts. This group has helped hospitals track and audit data to find ways to improve patient performance.

Dr. Moser recently reported that the clinical network of hospitals has improved medications and delivery time for getting clot-busting drugs to patients that literally save lives and prevent lifelong paralysis.

Since its inception, these physicians have grown to reach more counties and are able to help more patients. Now called Care Collaborative, they are exploring new payment systems for rural hospitals and focusing on expanding into new medical treatments, like palliative care.

With more than 50 critical-access hospitals in my district, the resources developed through this collaborative have been lifesaving and critical for our hospitals and, most importantly, rural patients.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I must admit that, back home, the Green New Deal means that John Deere dealers are having a new combine sale.

I stand before you this evening to tell you exactly why the Green New Deal is a sham. Rather than setting realistic goals to reduce carbon emissions and incentivize cleaner energy development, this so-called deal stalls innovation and drastically expands government involvement in almost every aspect of everyday life, at a price tag of more than $50 trillion.

Over the past 2 years, we have unleashed our economy by reducing government overregulation, allowing more Americans to invest in their families, futures, and pursuits. The Green New Deal will throw the brakes on our economy, as well as the world's economy. Nothing will increase worldwide carbon production more than a stalled economy.

Additionally, this Green New Deal reverses our success by imposing harsher regulations that will put American workers and American companies at an extreme disadvantage. This socialist proposal that Democrats are championing completely ignores the cost to American taxpayers and fails to address the negative impacts that other countries have on global climate change. It implements policies that will dramatically increase taxes, burdens, and energy bills for families.

This deal will absolutely devastate our economy with its outrageous demands for new green infrastructure, new green labor practices, and new green taxes. It will crush American manufacturing and transportation industries. It would completely halt domestic energy production that has had record exports under the Trump administration.

I am a firm believer that we must focus on leaving this world better than we found it for the next generation. For my children, for your children, and for our grandchildren, we need to be good stewards of the resources and the planet we have been given, but any reasonable solution will require us to use common sense when approaching the issues.

We must also be careful not to fall into the trap of believing that the U.S. Government is the answer to correct all our problems. America has always been a nation of innovators, and instead of imposing new regulations and taxes, we must continue to lead the world and partner with American industries to develop creative solutions and new innovative technologies. Innovation will do more to impact climate change than any law Washington, D.C., can write.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call upon all Members of Congress to stand beside Israel and confront anti-Semitism, ethnic hatred, and prejudice-driven boycotts, whether at home, abroad, and certainly for Members of this Chamber.

We, as a country, cannot tolerate this behavior, and certainly this Chamber has no room for bigotry. Furthermore, I must warn the general public that despite the warranted outcry we saw in response to the Representative from Minnesota's irresponsible comments, this is the new normal for the liberal base in America.

To be clear, anti-Semitism has become an all-too-common occurrence in politics among the Democrat base and the far left who see Israel as nothing more than an extension of phantom corruption and colonialism.

Politicians who appeal to this type of ignorance are simply shoring up a new Democratic constituency. That is the ethos that primed the Minnesota Representative's ludicrous and insulting accusation of ``bought-and-paid-for'' politicians who stand with Israel.

It is that type of loose, cheap, anti-Semitic rhetoric that led to the rise of the Third Reich. It is clear to all of us, there are a couple of our new colleagues across the aisle that need to be reminded. In fact, they need to admit that the brutal regime of Iran continues to be the chief obstacle to peace and security in the Middle East, and thus, the root of most all terrorism that threatens our homeland.

For decades, Iran's funding of terrorism and extremist groups in the region has fueled violence, civil war, and bloodshed. The Iranian Parliament literally burned the U.S. flag on their parliament floor and chants, ``death to Israel,'' and ``death to America'' in their streets.

At home, all Americans must oppose the radical and xenophobic boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement which are promulgated by the left. This BDS campaign is peddled by intellectually dishonest anti-Semites whose sole purpose is to attack Israel, attempting to delegitimize and isolate it from the rest of the world.

Any Member of this congressional body with ties to the BDS movement should renounce them immediately. We must hold our elected officials accountable. Whether on Twitter or in the Halls of Congress, disgusting insinuations and bigotry must be condemned in all forms. Those who continue the use of anti-Semitic rhetoric should be held accountable for their actions.

The Democrats should follow the high standards and the high bar that the Republican leader has taken when it comes to committee assignments to those who make bigoted remarks.

America must continue to stand together in support of Israel and in support of peace in the Middle East and the world. We must build upon our unbreakable alliance with Israel and overcome the challenges that come with building a better, safer world.