Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, on a lighter note, this will be one of the last opportunities that I will have to address this Chamber as Representative of the people of the Third Congressional District of western and north central Wisconsin.

It has truly been the honor of my life, but Tawni and I decided last summer that it shouldn't be the honor for our entire lives, so we decided to make this our last term after 26 years of serving the people back home.

As a kid growing up on the north side of La Crosse, Madam Speaker, if someone had told me, the son of a telephone repairman, that I would one day be serving in a place like the United States Congress, I would have thought they were crazy.

I thought this was a place where only the politically connected, the Kennedys, the Rockefellers, or those with great wealth, would come to. I guess I am a living example that if you want to serve your Nation, there are still opportunities to do so at all levels.

I had a chance to cut my political teeth as a college undergrad with one of my political icons and heroes back home, Senator Bill Proxmire.

From him, I learned the importance of fiscal responsibility, something that I have tried to practice each year in Congress, tried to instill in my colleagues, the need for us to balance our books.

I was a big advocate back in the 1990s when I joined this Congress for pay-as-you-go budgeting rules, which is a simple concept. It just means that if you are going to have a spending increase or a tax cut, you have to find an offset in the budget to pay for it in order to maintain that balance.

Then, if you are able to hit the sweet spot with strong economic growth, increased worker productivity, and with that comes increased revenue to the Treasury, you can actually not only balance budgets but run some surpluses, something that the second term of the Clinton administration demonstrated with 4 consecutive years of budget surpluses where we were actually paying down the national debt rather than adding to it.

But in my humble opinion, Madam Speaker, I believe I have represented the most beautiful congressional district in the Nation. Throughout western Wisconsin, in an area called the Driftless Area, where the glaciers missed, we have such beautiful natural resources.

I have more miles that border the Mississippi River than any other congressional district in the Nation, so I took it upon myself as a particular duty and responsibility to do what I could to better protect and preserve the Mississippi River and the watershed basin for future generations.

It is a huge source of tourism, outdoor recreation, and commercial navigation, which is vital to the economy and the quality of life in the upper Midwest.

I am proud that when I first got here back in 1997, I helped form the first bipartisan Mississippi River Caucus. We were able to do some good work, Republicans and Democrats working together, to manage river issues and make sure that we approached it as one

continuous ecosystem rather than just a northern and southern Mississippi area.

We have a lot of rivers, a lot of lakes, beautiful bluffs and hills and coulees that people enjoy back home.

More importantly, it has been such an honor to represent the people of the district: good, honest, hardworking, salt of the earth.

I have seen time and time again over these last 26 years, when a community got hit with a natural disaster--for us in western Wisconsin, it was typically bad flooding that hit people in their communities and flooded their homes and businesses. I saw people rally, and there weren't labels. It wasn't Republicans or Democrats or Independents or whatever. It was just, hey, we need to help our neighbor and get through this. It was demonstrated time and time again.

I also saw, through the years, how communities rally for our fallen heroes on the battlefield. People over the last year, knowing that I was going to be stepping down at the end of this term, have asked me: What was the most difficult part of your job serving in Congress?

Besides the obvious, the amount of time that you have to be away from and sacrifice from your family, those missed opportunities, clearly, the most difficult part of this job is receiving that phone call from the Pentagon and then having to deliver that message to the family back home that their loved one has just fallen on the field of battle, and how absolutely soul-crushing that is to have to deliver that message and hear the family's reaction to it and then go to that soldier's funeral in the community.

But it was also inspiring, seeing how the community rallied around that family and truly honored that fallen hero at the time--27 of them, unfortunately, in my congressional district alone, from the deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On the other hand, people have asked me what has been one of my prouder accomplishments as a Member of Congress. I tell them it wasn't anything particular that I did or a piece of legislation that I may have drafted and passed or some type of project back home that I was able to help complete. It was more the opportunity I had as a Member of Congress representing the people back home to go travel and be with our troops in the field, seeing what our fine young men and women in uniform do for us each and every day.

We send them off to these faraway battlefields with strange-sounding names and weird histories and conflicts that are centuries old, and we ask them to perform incredibly dangerous and difficult missions, and they do it.

They are so well trained. They are so well motivated. They are the best our Nation has to offer.

It is just inspiring, being in their presence, especially the five times I went to Iraq, the six times I was in Afghanistan, the one time I went to Kosovo at the height of that air war in the late 1990s, seeing the job they do for us.

There is no other Nation in the world that can do what our military does. They do it with decency, and they do it by abiding by the Geneva Convention. That is something that the world expects of us.

We have well-trained and well-motivated men and women on our behalf securing our freedom and our liberties but also advancing the cause of peace throughout the world.

I just wish everyone, as a citizen of this country, could see and go do the things that I did in meeting with our troops in the field.

That clearly is the proudest moment. I have never been prouder to be an American than during those opportunities to be with them.

I have enjoyed the committee assignments that I have had through the years. Initially, when I came to Congress, I was assigned to the Natural Resources Committee. Of course, with all the work we were doing for the Mississippi River, I have been one of the cochairs of the National Park Caucus for a number of years now--truly, America's greatest idea.

It is kind of neat to think that that democratizing principle that we created in the National Park System, that just because we were citizens of this great Nation, all of us are co-owners of some of the most beautiful and most expensive real estate in the entire world, our national parks.

They are calling for us to visit. They are beautiful places. I fell in love with them as a kid, and I wanted to pass that on to my family and my children. So, every August during our recess here in Congress, I take the family to a different national park where I can meet with the superintendents and the park personnel and get a park briefing. But I also took the family out in the back country, where we went backpacking.

We started that when the boys were just toddlers and could just barely carry their own sleeping bags. But as they got older and stronger, Tawni and I tended to load down their backpacks more and more, and that made backpacking a lot easier on us.

I encourage our citizens to take advantage of the great national parks we have, the national wildlife refuges that we have.

I also helped form and cochair the National Wildlife Refuge Caucus, having three of the most beautiful ones in my congressional district as well. They are objects of splendor, meant for us to enjoy and utilize.

I also served on the Education and Labor Committee. I represent 6 of the 11 State universities in Wisconsin, 4 of the greatest technical schools that we have. I made it a priority to focus on access to the affordability of higher education, making sure that those doors remain open to all of our kids, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

I was one of the champions of the need-based financial aid programs because I benefited from that myself. Again, as a kid of a telephone repairman, I was the first generation to go on to school.

My family didn't have the resources to send me to college, let alone technical school, but through a combination of student loans, the work- study program, and I qualified for a Pell grant being a low-income student, I was able to make it work financially.

In fact, I think I still hold the undergraduate career for the most toilets cleaned in a 4-year span. It was the most disgusting job on campus, but it paid the best through work-study, so I was willing to do that 2 hours a day, every year, for 4 years in college while I was still trying to play college football and all that other stuff that I wanted to do.

I wanted to make sure those programs continued and were strengthened for the next generation because I didn't want to be one of those Representatives that pulls the ladder up behind me and tells the next generation, ``Tough luck. You are on your own.''

It is one of the wisest investments we can make as a Nation in our youth, expanding those educational opportunities, because the truth is, the jobs of the future are going to put a premium on higher education learning. I mean, that is just the way the world and the global economy are today. We have to expand that access.

The work we did on committee, too, for workforce development and worker safety issues, I am very proud of that.

I served on the Budget Committee for a number of years. I had a short stint on the Agriculture Committee. I was one of the leading voices on farm bill reform. I tried to move away from these huge taxpayer subsidies that were going to a few but very large agribusinesses, very much at the expense of our family farmers. I have been proud to be able to represent a large rural area in Wisconsin where farming, family farming, is a key component of our economy.

Wisconsin is the Dairy State. Cheese--everyone is kind of familiar with that, and we wear that label proudly.

It has been really neat throughout the years to go out on the family farms and visit with those farm families and see the incredible work they do for us to enable our food security, something that we, as Americans, kind of take for granted. Yet, we shouldn't because farming is tough: the ups and downs of commodity prices, the expenses, the fixed costs that they face.

The last year or so has been particularly difficult with the increase in fuel and fertilizer that they have without a corresponding increase in commodity prices.

It is a hard business, especially if you are a dairy farmer because that is 24/7.

Cows have to be milked every day. You don't have the luxury of being able to step away for a few days at a time. There are challenges there that I tried to understand and tried to address in my role as Representative of one of the larger dairy-producing districts in the Nation.

I especially enjoyed my time as a member of the Ways and Means Committee over the last 16 years. It is the only committee that is constitutionally mandated. In the early years of our Republic, it was the only committee that Congress had. Then, finally, it was starting to get piecemealed and torn apart and that, but we still have incredible jurisdiction over most of the economic issues: obviously, the tax code; trade policy; Social Security and Medicare; healthcare policy.

It has been fun working in that committee and working with my colleagues to try to develop good policy that makes sense for our country. The work I especially focused on is healthcare reform, trying to implement a value-based system so that we are actually paying for the quality of care that is given to us and not the volume of care, not the tests and procedures and things that are done to us without any results, but making sure that we are getting value out of the dollars that are spent.

I still believe that is going to be one of the keys to healthcare reform in our country, moving to that value, that quality-based outcome system that we need.

I benefited from having some of the best healthcare providers in the world operating in my congressional district: the Gundersen Health System, the Mayo Clinic Health System.

I think I still have more Mayo doctors in my congressional district throughout western Wisconsin than they even do in Minnesota or other places in the country, the Marshfields and the Auroras and the ThedaCares. We are very lucky in the State of Wisconsin to have such quality providers.

But, clearly, healthcare is still too expensive. We need to continue to think creatively on how we can bring those costs down and make sure that it is accessible for all of our citizens.

I was proud of being able to create the Veterans History Project. This is an attempt to record our veterans' stories before it is too late and they pass away because I believe it is an important part of American history that needs to be preserved.

I teamed up with Amo Houghton, a Republican friend, back when he was a Marine. We introduced the legislation on the House side. We teamed up with Max Cleland and Chuck Hagel on the Senate side. I think we still have the record for the shortest period of time from when a bill was introduced to when it was signed into law by Bill Clinton because, every once in a while, the urgency--at the time, it was the World War II generation that was passing away at 2,000 a day. We wanted to get this program up and going in order to start capturing their stories.

We are archiving it at the world's greatest library, the Library of Congress. They have done a tremendous job of handling that program and collecting all of these stories, digitizing them now, making them available on the internet for everyone to access, but especially our younger generation.

What gave me the idea to create the Veterans History Project--and I am proud to report today we have over 120,000 of these veterans' stories collected nationwide. Now, we are shifting the focus to the Vietnam generation, who are starting to pass away because they are getting up there in age, too.

What gave me the spark to create it was Father's Day weekend. I was out at the picnic table with my dad, Korea generation, and my uncle, his brother, Donnie, who flew bomber missions in the Pacific during the Second World War. For the first time, they started talking to me about their experience. I said, holy cow, and I told them to stop as I ran into the house and got the family video camera and then came out and set it up. My two boys were just toddlers at the time, and I wanted them, when they were old enough to appreciate it, to be able to hear it from their grandfather and their great-uncle.

I came back to Washington that next week and said, given the technology that is available today, we need to be doing this nationwide. So, we quickly drafted the legislation, moved it through both Chambers, and got it implemented into law.

It has been a lot of fun being able to not only interview our veterans but seeing this program grow and the history that we are preserving so future generations never forget the type of service and sacrifice that came before them.

I did a lot of work on the veteran front, obviously, trying to ease their transition from Iraq, Afghanistan, to back home. We had 2 million of them coming home with special needs, physical and mental, that still needs to be addressed.

At the VA hospital in my district, I spent a lot of time making sure we had better coordination of care and better outcome of care for our veterans. More needs to be done on that front. It is a promise our Nation has to live up to, given the type of service and sacrifice that these men and women do for us.

I was also co-chairing the Rural Healthcare Caucus. Obviously, as a Representative of a lot of rural providers in my district, I teamed up with Cathy McMorris Rodgers for a number of years to make sure that our rural providers had a voice when it came to healthcare policy, given the unique challenges that they face with recruitment, retention, and just those rural settings generally, and the type of obstacles that we have to overcome.

In many cases, these rural hospitals are the anchor of these rural communities. If they lose it, it has huge economic impact, and it also makes it very difficult then for the people in that region to access the type of quality healthcare that they need.

When I first got here, I helped form the New Democratic Coalition. It was back in `97 with Cal Dooley, Tim Roemer, Jim Moran, and others, who felt that we needed to try to restore the sensible center in Congress with a pragmatic group of House Members who could get together on a weekly basis, figure out how we can complement each other's work, but also figure out ways of building bridges rather than tearing them down around here, form those crucial bipartisan relationships to get things done, working closely with the Clinton administration initially and then subsequent administrations.

I got the honor of chairing the New Democrat Coalition for 4 years. Today, I think we are close to 100 Members in the Democrat Coalition, great Members, hardworking, earnest, again, those trying to build bridges and get things done around here. I think that group has a lot of hope and promise in the coming Congress now of finding the relevancy and finding those crucial relationships across the aisle that we need in order to advance the issues and the policies that benefit our Nation.

I know I am leaving that New Democrat Coalition in very good with hands with the young, bright, talented leadership that has come up now and taken over the reins.

Also, I had some good mentors as I was growing up. I mentioned Senator Bill Proxmire, who I had a chance to intern for, wrote many of his speeches about the need for the Senate to ratify the antigenocide treaty.

He was one of the first sounding the alarm about fiscal irresponsibility and how we have a responsibility as Representatives to be good stewards of the dollar.

Also, Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin, one of my heroes, one of the great conservationists of all time, not just in Congress but for the country and for the world. Here is a guy who grew up in a 400- person town called Clear Lake and later became Governor of Wisconsin, Senator from Wisconsin, and the father of Earth Day, a day that we commemorate every year about the need to protect our vital natural resources across the globe, celebrated in 144 nations today. It is a great story of how one person can make a difference, especially a small-town kid from northern Wisconsin and the impact that he left behind with his legacy.

So, obviously, you can't do all of this. This job is too big for one individual. Everyone here, all of my colleagues know the truth in the statement that you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. I have been so blessed and so lucky throughout the years to have the best

staff that any Member could hope for, whether it was here in Washington or back home in my district offices. These are incredible individuals, typically young, hardworking, smart, just trying to do the best they can servicing people back home, whether it was the legislation that we worked on together here or the casework that my district office staff members would do.

Nothing brought me greater joy than traveling around the congressional district, having people come up and say: Ron, I have got to thank you and your office because of what you did for me or a family member, whether it was a veteran's issue or a lost Social Security check or some farm program that a family farmer was trying to access. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. I give all the credit and all the laurels to my staff for the job that they did throughout the years.

I had wonderful chiefs of staff, from Cindy, Erik, Travis, Mike, Hannah, and Alex, who ran a tight ship and just created a great atmosphere for all of us to work in. They were true partners through all of this.

I had two wonderful district directors back home: Lauren Kannenberg, who I recruited as a principal out of a Catholic high school to be my district office manager way back when, and later Karrie Jacqueline, who were able to manage those offices and the outreach that we ask our staff to do and to report back to us so that we stay in constant touch and communication, if we are not out on the road ourselves meeting with people back in the community.

The committee staff is just tremendous, the work that they put in, how helpful they are to us as individual Members, but also to our staff people. The people we have serving here on the floor, they are the ones that are behind the scenes, but they try to bring some function to the dysfunction that occurs too often in this place. We couldn't do it without them. It is the kind of seamless energy that they bring to making the trains run on time and just doing the basics for us to be able to do our job.

We have an official reporter right now taking down my words. They never get to say a word when they are here, but I know how important their job is as the guardian of the public record. Somehow they do it so well, even when we are yelling over each other in heated debates and trying to get all of that down. It is not an easy job. I know this personally because my wife is an official court reporter for a judge back home. I know the type of skill that it takes to perform these duties. I just want to thank them for their service to our Nation.

The Capitol Hill police. Obviously, January 6 is going to go down as a dark mark in American history. It was our Capitol Hill police that were the true vanguard of making sure that it didn't get uglier or deadlier than it did that day.

I mention these kinds of ancillary personnel who make Capitol Hill run, because through the years--and for me, 26 years--you get to know these people as individuals and as human beings and develop those friendships. It is something that I will truly miss.

Bob and Rose in our cloakroom, who keep us so well informed of what is happening all the time and what the schedule is and what we should anticipate, those types of relationships you are never going to forget.

I also benefited throughout the years in one of those competitive swing districts. I love the fact that my district was 50/50. We have too few of those districts today with gerrymandering where it is overwhelmingly Republican or overwhelmingly Democrat. That wasn't the case in my district. My district has always been about one-third, one- third, and one-third in registration. That forced me to play it down the middle and to understand that I was going to be taking incoming from the far right and the far left. I always reminded my staff to not worry about that, because that is not where are our district is. In fact, if I wasn't taking incoming from the far, far right and the far, far left, I probably wasn't doing a good job of adequately representing the people in the district that I had.

It was such a joy, because they did place their trust and confidence in me to make good decisions on their behalf, even though a lot of them will tell you they had disagreements with me throughout the years. But I think they saw the hard work we put in and the honesty and civility that I tried to bring to this job. It was a great congressional district to represent.

But I couldn't have gotten here without the help of my campaign staff, the campaign managers throughout the years, the staff, the fieldworkers, the volunteers, the supporters, the friends, people like Wally Capper, Paul Barkla, Bob Welsh, Nancy Johnson, Vicki Burke, Margaret Wood. These are the people who have enough belief and trust in you that they are willing to give you one of the most precious things that we own as human beings and that is our own time. They were, time and again, campaign after campaign, always there helping out and pitching in. That is true for thousands of people back home who supported me throughout the years.

They not only made it possible for me to win in a very competitive district, but they also made it fun. Because as candidates going through tough campaigns, it means a lot knowing that you have a lot of friends and a lot of supporters who have your back and care about you and care about the outcome of our democracy. They have been terrific.

Most of all, I thank my family. It starts there and it ends there, especially my soulmate and my partner in all this, my wife, Tawni. I don't know how she did it. When we first ran, our first son, Johnny, was born just a few days before our primary. In the midst of that chaos, the first congressional campaign, with everything swirling around, suddenly we have a little boy in our arms. Boy, you talk about a life moment that just brings it down to the basics. At that point, when he was delivered, nothing else mattered. We win, we lose, it didn't matter; we have this beautiful little boy in our arms now. He was such a stabilizing force.

Then 2 years later came Matt. How she did it all of those years with me running back and forth every weekend, back to the district, coming out here for my duties in Washington. I am home representing a 19- county, large rural area, constantly on the road, getting out into the communities that I represent. So most of this fell on her to raise two beautiful sons, who are doing incredible things right now. She and I couldn't be more proud of Johnny and Matt.

They were born into this racket. It is kind of weird for them knowing dad is stepping down, because this life of me serving in Congress is all they have known. In fact, for a while, when they were little guys and Tawni would drop me off at the airport, they literally thought my job was getting on a plane and flying overhead all week and then landing, because they would come and pick me up then. Every time they saw a plane go by, ``Oh, there's daddy.'' Then they started tuning in to C-SPAN and seeing me engaged in debates on the floor. Wait a minute: What is going on here? They started figuring it out. I couldn't have done it without Tawni's support and partnership and the kids.

So many times I had to be away from them, but there were also fun family events we could do, too, in the course of my duties. Parades, we lost count at about 1,500. I started losing the boys when they became teenagers, after about 1,200 parades that they did. County fairs, they would go along with me, the great dairy breakfasts that we have back home in Wisconsin during the summertime where we visit dairy families, have great breakfasts, community events, everyone coming together. So there were a lot of fun, enjoyable things we could do as a family that overlapped with my official duties. They never complained, even though it probably would have been more fun for them to be doing something else or hanging out with their friends.

Now, I am proud to say that Johnny, after playing college football, is with an engineering firm in La Crosse, doing great work there, we couldn't be prouder.

Our son Matt, after graduating Harvard, immediately signed up for officer candidate school at Quantico, and now he is an infantry commander for the Marines at Camp Lejeune. Yes, they fixed the water problem down at Camp Lejeune, after seeing all of those ads on TV lately. That is what they have been able to do.

Tawni and I are very, very lucky to have those two sons and the type of young men and citizens that they have become.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention our ``third son'' whom we didn't adopt, Oscar, who is an exchange student, who came and lived with us throughout his high school years, going to school with our boys. He went to Madison UW. He is working at Epic now and applying to med school. He is from Luoyang, China. He is just a great kid. He is home for the holidays with us and does family vacations with us and goes backpacking with us. That has been a lot of fun, too.

It has been quite the ride. Obviously, many, many people made this happen. I feel very blessed and very fortunate having the opportunity to be able to represent such a neat, beautiful area with some great people and families back home in Wisconsin.

We are looking forward to the next chapter. We don't know what that is yet. No final decisions have been made. But Tawni and I are going to be looking for new ways of being able to contribute to the community and being able to support our democracy.

As I leave here today, just a note of caution. The type of polarization that we are experiencing right now in this country, the hyperpartisanship, is not healthy. The key to the survival of any democracy is the ability to compromise. It is the give and take. It is being able to reach out across the aisle to a good friend, like Dave Schweikert, who is on the Committee on Ways and Means with us and find some issues that we can work on together and try to advance. That is the only way this place is going to survive. It is the only way our country and democracy are going to be able to survive.

Unfortunately, in recent years, people getting involved in politics are looking at the other side not as reasonable people that you can disagree with and have heated debates about the best course of action for the future of our country, but the enemy that needs to be destroyed.

These campaigns are getting uglier, and they are getting nastier, and the division is growing, which is leading to events like we had here on Capitol Hill on January 6. This can't continue.

One of my prouder achievements that I tell people back home is, I have been consistently ranked as one of the most bipartisan Members of Congress through the surveys that are taken, the bills I introduce, the legislation we advance, who I am working with across the aisle. I wear that as a badge of honor, not as something to be ashamed of or run away from.

Too many of my colleagues now fear that if they are seen working with a Democrat or working with a Republican, someone on the other side, that would be the kiss of death for them in their primary back home. That is not the way this place is set up to function.

We have got to figure out a way to fight through this bad era of American politics and remind ourselves that, ultimately, at the end of the day, we are all Americans with a commonality that can't separate us. We cannot be enemies.

We need to find a way forward of healing the division and the partisanship that has poisoned our politics and the alternate realities that are being created today through many different mediums because if you don't have that basic commonality of what the facts and what the truth are, there is no way you are going to be able to reach agreement on some of the tough issues facing our country. I mean, the separation, the gulf will be too great.

I didn't mean to lecture my colleagues here or future Representatives to this place, but it is an issue that we have to stay focused on.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the recognition, the honor of being able to address this Chamber for one of my last times and to thank, ultimately, the people in the Third Congressional District for the trust and the responsibility that they placed in me these past 26 years.

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

Madam Speaker, as chair of the bipartisan US-UK Caucus and the British-American Parliamentary Working Group, I send to the desk a resolution and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration in the House, and further ask unanimous consent that it be read in full.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, as a dear friend of Jackie Walorski, I share in the grief of her passing and her staff's passing. It is very tragic.

Madam Speaker, this Inflation Reduction Act is historic legislation. It puts people over politics by lowering families' kitchen-table costs from prescription drugs to their energy expenses, creates millions of good-paying jobs, delivers the most significant action to combat climate change when Mother Nature is screaming at us to take action today, and it substantially reduces the deficit by over $300 billion.

Now, on that last point, Madam Speaker, not once has a Republican-led Congress brought a reconciliation bill to the floor that was paid for, let alone reduces the national deficit.

In fact, as an example, when they passed their prescription drug bill in 2004, not only did they not pay for it, not one nickel of it was offset. Over $400 billion, the largest expansion of entitlement funding since the creation of Social Security and Medicare, but there were no offsets.

When we passed the Affordable Care Act a little over 10 years ago, not only did we pay for it, but we also reduced the deficit. Just this week, it was announced that health uninsured rates is at an all-time historic low for our country, no less due to that Affordable Care Act.

Madam Speaker, they made that prescription drug bill even worse when they passed it by inserting language in it that specifically made it illegal for us to discuss prices or negotiate prices with the drug companies. This bill changes that today by allowing once and for all some price negotiation with the drug companies to deliver real relief for our seniors.

Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the invaluable service of Michael Tatham CMG, who has served as the Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., for the past five years. Throughout his time in D.C., Michael has personified the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom with his tireless work, diligent commitment, and affable personality.

As one of our key liaisons to the United Kingdom, Michael has facilitated meetings with Congressional members and all levels of the British Government, from Prime Ministers to Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, and members of the Royal Family. During his tenure, Michael also guided the Embassy as Charge D'Affaires, ensuring we in the United States remain well connected with our allies across the Atlantic. From cooperation in defense, trade, technology, development, and foreign affairs to name a few, Michael has remained steadfast in his ability to ensure the highest levels of diplomatic channels between our two nations remain open and well used.

Michael will be transitioning back to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London where I have no doubt he will experience the same levels of success. The special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom remains special, thanks to the work of diplomats like Michael Tatham. We in Congress will miss his work at the Embassy and wish him nothing but the best for his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of Securing a Strong Retirement Act, or SECURE 2.0, as it is being referred to. This falls on the heels of passage of the SECURE Act roughly 2 years ago, to try to make it easier for individuals to save for their retirement security, especially for small businesses to offer retirement savings plans for their employees, which has traditionally been a big black hole when it comes to individual savings.

I am proud that a few of the provisions in this legislation have been based on legislation I have been working on throughout the years with my friend and colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly). We offered legislation that would extend the startup tax credit to small employers that joined multiemployer plans.

Again, with Mr. Kelly, this allows 403(b) plans to participate in MEPS, including pooled employer plans, or PEPS, as they are known under the SECURE Act.

Finally, there has been an anomaly in the tax code that we are addressing in part trying to make it easier for S corporations to be able to convert to an ESOP model, or an employee share ownership plan. It is a very good business model, but we are trying to bring that on par with C corporations.

This has been a great bipartisan effort in committee. Again, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for creating the environment not just with today's legislation, but the previous SECURE Act that we passed roughly 2 years ago, and the ongoing work that we will have.

My friend from Arizona is right, with 70 million baby boomers beginning their massive retirement, we have to figure out ways to make it easier for individuals to save for their own retirement and for future generations to participate and get a head start. I believe this legislation accomplishes that.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize National Court Reporters and Captioners Week. Court reporters and captioners are highly trained professionals who have the unique ability to convert spoken word into text that can be read, broadcasted and archived. This profession provides a vital service to our Nation. Their work results in real-time translation services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing in addition to providing near instant translations in other settings. Our Nation's captioners ensure all Americans have equal access to news and other critical information.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention my wife, Tawni, and her work as a court reporter. Tawni has been a fearless champion and advocate for real-time writers. Most notably, she developed a program to transcribe the Veterans History Project recordings. Now the Library of Congress has a written record of these stories. I want to extend my sincerest thanks to the real-time writers who have given their time to do this.

In the 117th Congress, I reintroduced the Training for Realtime Writers Act, which would reauthorize the Training for Realtime Writers Grant program and encourage careers in real-time writing and court reporting, provide scholarships for students, and modernize curriculum to adapt to our changing world.

The Training for Realtime Writers Grant Program has been successful in training the current generation of captioners and court reporters and has aided in the rapid growth of these professions. By reauthorizing the Training for Realtime Writers grants, students will have the opportunity to enter a technical, well-paid, and highly skilled career that will allow them to become court reporters and captioners immediately upon graduation.

From maintaining the integrity of our democracy to ensuring every citizen stays up to date on today's 24-hour news cycle, real-time writers are vital to Americans in all communities. Over the past decade, this program has encouraged a new generation of real-time writers to enter this important field. I want to acknowledge the court reporters and captioners in the House of Representatives, especially those who were on the House floor on January 6, 2021, when insurrectionists breached the Capitol. Their work is crucial to the sustained function of our government, and I thank them for their service and dedication to our country.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the invaluable service of James Hooley, who has served as the head of the political section at the British Embassy in Washington D.C. for the past five years. Throughout his tenure, James has personified the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom with his tireless work, diligent commitment, and affable personality.

As one of our key liaisons with the United Kingdom, James has facilitated bipartisan engagement with Congressional members and all levels of the British Government, from Prime Ministers to Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, and members of the Royal Family. Through two Presidential Administrations and two Prime Ministers, James has led the British Embassy's political operations, ensuring we in the United States remain well connected with our allies across the Atlantic. James has been steadfast in ensuring the highest diplomatic channels between our two countries remain open and well-used for the range of issues covered by the U.S.-U.K. relationship.

James will be transitioning back to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London where I have no doubt he will achieve the same success. The Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom remains special thanks to the work of diplomats like James Hooley. We in Congress will miss his work at the Embassy and wish him nothing but the best for his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, today I recognize and celebrate the career of one of my original staff members, Danice Stanton Taylor. Danice started on January 27, 1997 and was hired as a caseworker. She focused on casework involving the Social Security Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, healthcare and disabilities. Fittingly, she is moving to a job with the La Crosse Social Security Office, where she can continue to help people with their Social Security questions or issues.

She was born and raised in the Town of Mifflin, Wisconsin, a small town in the driftless region of Southwest Wisconsin. She graduated from Iowa-Grant High School and went on to graduate from UW-Platteville with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. After graduation, she worked for Senator Russ Feingold for two years even doing a stint in Washington, DC. Her Wisconsin roots brought her back and I was lucky to have her join my staff in my La Crosse District Office. Danice and her husband Mike are raising three talented and creative children, Alec, Jackie and Olivia. It has been fun watching them grow up throughout these years.

Danice has been a steady, patient and friendly voice to the constituents of Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District. I could always count on her to provide thorough and excellent assistance to the people I represent. Throughout her years of service, she has joined me on the road for countless listening sessions. Additionally, she served as the staff leader on the annual Congressional Art Competition.

There were many times when I received a letter, email, phone call, or had a personal conversation with someone who Danice helped and how grateful they were for her assistance. It can truly be said that she served the people well and serves as a great example of what good public service looks like.

I thank Danice for her hard work and dedication and 24 years of public service to my office and to the people of Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District. I wish her, Mike and her children all the best in their next chapter.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the service and leadership of Grant County Circuit Court Judge George S. Curry.

I first came to know Judge Curry when I had the honor of trying a case before him as a young special prosecutor. His skill as a judge to be fair, impartial and his knowledge of the rules of evidence made that trial much easier for a young victim of sexual assault, and for everyone in the courtroom.

George was a product of Southwest Wisconsin. He was raised there, went to school there and served most of public life there. He was born in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, and graduated from Darlington High School. He graduated from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa with a B.S. in Economics in 1969. He received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1972. While attending law school George also served in the United States Army Reserve and was honorably discharged in 1971.

George began his career as an attorney in private practice in 1972 and in 1990, Governor Tommy Thompson appointed him to the Grant County Circuit Court Judgeship. Judge Curry presided over the Grant County Circuit Court for 19 years until 2009. He was proud of developing and implementing the Grant County Fresh Start Program, a class that aimed to educate offenders and curb underage drinking. George was selected by Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson to chair the Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee for six years and, in 2018, was elected a Fellow of the Wisconsin Law Foundation for his distinguished and outstanding service as a Circuit Court Judge. Following his time as a Judge, George opened his own law practice, Curry Law & Mediation, focusing primarily on personal injury law. George was highly regarded for his ethics, integrity, and fair-mindedness during his distinguished legal career.

Judge Curry passed away on Saturday Dec. 4, 2021 surrounded by his wife Linda and their extended family, and I am honored to recognize the life and service of a man who served the citizens of Southwest Wisconsin with such dignity and integrity.

Mr. Speaker, as the original sponsor of H.R. 5608, the Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act, I rise in strong support of this legislation, which did pass unanimously out of the Agriculture Committee. I do thank and commend my good friend and colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for being one of the original sponsors of this legislation with me; of course, my dear friend, the chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Mr. Scott, for his support and leadership.

Throughout the years, I have been involved in a lot of debates and discussions on the House floor. I don't think I have ever been brought to blushing, and I thank the chairman for his kind introductory remarks and, of course, I thank my dear friend from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) for those remarks.

Mr. Speaker, but to the task at hand, this legislation does authorize $70 million for research and management of

CWD, or chronic wasting disease, through USDA grants. Chronic wasting disease is a contagious neurological disease affecting cervid animals-- deer, elk, moose--and it is 100 percent fatal. And it is caused by misfolded proteins, or prions, as they are known, that ravages the animal's brain.

The legislation also authorizes USDA and State and Tribal agencies to develop educational materials to inform the public on CWD and directs USDA to review its certification program within 18 months.

CWD has been reported in over 25 States and is spreading. It not only is devastating to these animals and their herds but also to the outdoor recreation economy; namely, hunting, that depends on these animals.

Fortunately, the CDC has not found any jump from these animals to humans, and that is one of the reasons why we need further research to ensure that that does not happen. CWD presents one of the greatest threats to deer and other wild cervids in the United States and it has no known cure.

We have been battling this disease in Wisconsin for many years out of concern for the wildlife population and the adverse economic impact that it has, which is substantial. Hunters in Wisconsin have about $2.5 billion yearly economic impact, supports directly or indirectly over 35,000 jobs, and generates billions in salaries and wages.

Last year, 131 out-of-State hunters came into the State of Wisconsin just to participate in the 9-day deer gun hunt season, which always takes place during the week of Thanksgiving. They spent about $3.4 million. Nationwide, according to the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, hunting in America is big business, generating more than $67 billion in economic output and over 1 million jobs.

Now, we can stand here and throw more facts and figures about the economic toll the CWD is having, but as a kid who grew up loving to hunt in Wisconsin with my dad and my brothers--deer hunting, turkey hunting, duck hunting on the Mississippi, now we do most of our deer and turkey hunting on the family farm, a little bit north of La Crosse. It is much more than just economics and jobs and the amount being spent by hunters and the amount of revenue that we raise through the Robinson-Patman Act, which is collected and then reinvested in vital conservation programs throughout the country. It is part of our DNA, our heritage, our culture.

One of the most alluring aspects of the 9-day deer gun hunt season isn't the actual hunt itself, it is deer camp. It is being able to spend some time with your family, brothers, families, cousin, play some poker, razz each other for the weekend. And then that next morning, opening morning, you have over 800,000 hunters flooding the fields and forests of Wisconsin. Sometimes it feels like the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the number of shots going off. I perhaps overstate that, but it is a real communal activity that brings people together and still one of the bonding elements, I think, that transcends the politics and the tribal nature of politics today. So it is important in that regard as well.

We have tried some self-help measures in Wisconsin to try to battle the spread of CWD, from free, clear firing zones, increase prohibition on baiting and feeding deer, to an earn a buck program, where you have to shoot a doe first before you can shoot a buck. All these are wildly unpopular with hunters because they are meant to try to reduce the deer herds and prevent the congregation and the spread of the disease from animal to animal.

That is why, again, I think this research is important. And there has been some good research taking place on prion disease generally in CWD, places like UW-Wisconsin and Washington and other areas. This legislation will enable that type of open-source research and collaboration to take place with increased vigor and focus, which again is long overdue before it spreads even further into more States adversely affecting the wildlife herds and the economy of those States.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation is necessary to expand the basic and applied research that we see taking place that can be further enhanced, and also to better detect the spread of this disease, find out better management and containment strategies, and ultimately lead to a cure of the disease.

I do thank the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, Jeff Crane, and his team over there, for his support and help with this legislation. They have been terrific to work with, as a former chair of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus here in Congress.

I thank Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the National Wildlife Federation, the Boone & Crockett National Deer Association, North American Deer Farmers Association, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation, Wildlife Management Institute, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers--many people, many groups, many members that have a vested interest in making sure we do this research right.

Mr. Speaker, I think the legislation is self-evident of the need. I encourage my colleagues to support it. And I conclude by thanking Olivia Kirchberg on my office staff who has been instrumental in helping us get the bipartisan, unanimous support for this legislation that it has enjoyed, and we look forward to working with the Senate for its passage there.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the service and leadership of J.D. Grom, Executive Director of the New Democrat Coalition.

J.D. began his tenure as Executive Director when I was Chair of the New Dems. I was immediately impressed by his work ethic, vision, and expertise--qualities that were obvious to everyone who had the opportunity to interact with J.D. over the years. I asked him to do a lot in terms of getting to know the members of the Coalition--what they care about and what's important to the districts they represent--and he stepped up, developing an exceptional understanding of the members and their priorities.

J.D. recently left Capitol Hill to join the Biden Administration in the Department of Commerce, and I know I speak for all members of the New Democrat Coalition when I say he'll be sorely missed.

New Dems have seen so much positive change and growth over the past eight years with J.D. at the helm. Made up of 95 members, New Dems play a critical role in Congress not only in advocating for pragmatic, pro- growth policies, but also in working to bridge the partisan divide and lower the temperature in Washington.

New Dems are focused on moving our nation forward by tackling some of our toughest challenges and delivering results for the American people. J.D.'s outstanding leadership has made these efforts possible.

After working for his hometown Representative, Melissa Bean of Illinois, the Department of Treasury, and four different New Dem Chairs, J.D. has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to service that will carry him far in

his new role. I want to thank J.D. for all his hard work as Executive Director of the New Democrat Coalition, and I wish him nothing but the best in all his future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Michigan for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I was an original cosponsor with my good friend and colleague, Mr. Steube from Florida, of H.R. 1029, the Free Veterans from Fees Act.

H.R. 1029 would waive application fees for special use permits for Honor Flights and Gold Star Family events and other veterans demonstrations and special events at our Nation's war memorials. It is the right thing to do, to try to reduce the cost for a lot of these important commemorative occasions happening right here in our Nation's Capital.

Throughout the years, I have had the privilege of being able to attend many of the Freedom Honor Flights that emanated from my hometown in La Crosse, Wisconsin. They are joyous occasions, with much celebration honoring the service and sacrifice of our veterans, celebrating their achievements, but more importantly, allowing them, many for the very last time, to be able to hop on a plane, come to Washington, and pay their respects at the memorials of conflicts that they were involved in and for the fallen comrades who didn't come home.

Oftentimes, on the way home--I know this is true for our La Crosse Honor Flights--there is a mail call where the relatives of these veterans, family members, write letters of thanks to them as they are coming home. When they arrive, it is a huge celebration of music and thanking them for their service and sacrifice. It is a great thing to behold.

The thought that the cost of this is compounded with unnecessary application fees in order to attend these events at our war memorials is something we can rectify, and that is exactly what we are doing under H.R. 1029, along with Gold Star events that occur here and other veterans' events.

I also am the original author of the Veterans History Project, trying to record our veterans' stories before they pass away, archiving it at the Library of Congress, so that we never forget the service and sacrifice that came before us.

We are trying to capture many of these veterans coming to our Nation's Capital--again, many for the very last time--to have them share their story of what it was like to serve our country during times of conflict and peace. So it has been a great avenue in order to reach out and expand the number of oral histories that we have collected at the Library of Congress, close to 120,000 veterans' stories so far and counting.

So if this is a way for us to reduce cost, to ease the burden, to make it easier for veterans to come here, a chance for us to reach out to them, asking them to share their memories of what it was like to serve our Nation, then that is a good thing for us to do.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1029, and I thank my colleague from Florida (Mr. Steube) for partnering with me on this legislation.

Madam Speaker, in recognition of the end of World Trade Month in May, I rise today to thank the professionals of the International Trade Administration (ITA) for their work to strengthen the international competitiveness of U.S. industry, promote trade and investment, and ensure fair trade and compliance with trade laws and agreements.

ITA has a tangible and direct impact on the lives of American workers and the success of American businesses. It also provides great return on investment in terms of U.S. taxpayer dollars spent. Each dollar that Congress appropriated to ITA in FY20 returned $313 to the U.S. economy. ITA's global workforce is deployed across 106 domestic offices and nearly

80 foreign markets worldwide. Teams comprised of trade specialists, business and industry specialists, and economists provide unique sectoral and analytical expertise that supports U.S. Government efforts to protect the interests of U.S. businesses of all sizes and help them grow their exports. Their specialized knowledge across a broad range of sectors, policy programs, and economic activity is specifically tailored to inform decisions across the government, from trade negotiations, to trade enforcement, to supply chain resilience, to inward investment and national security.

ITA works on behalf of U.S. companies to promote a fair and rules- based international trading system that enhances American competitiveness. Core to this mission is strong enforcement of U.S. trade laws and taking action when our trading partners engage in unfair trade practices or do not play by the rules. ITA leverages its expertise in antidumping and countervailing duties to level the playing field for domestic manufacturing, and similarly its expertise in trade agreements compliance and Foreign Trade Zones to support job creation and encourage investment in the United States.

ITA's work also helps to safeguard and create jobs in the United States. It is a well-known fact that businesses that export, on average, pay higher wages and create more jobs than their non-exporting counterparts. As of late April 2021, since October 2020, ITA had assisted over 1,500 rural businesses, more than 1,500 woman-owned businesses, and over 1,300 minority-owned businesses. Thus far in FY21, the organization has assisted more than 20,000 U.S. companies with their export needs despite the setbacks created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, SelectUSA, the foreign direct investment arm of the organization, has facilitated more than $84 billion in client- verified investment and supported more than 106,000 jobs since its inception in 2011.

In closing, as we continue to celebrate the benefits of global trade, I appreciate this opportunity to recognize the hard and often unsung work and accomplishments of the professionals at ITA.

Madam Speaker, on April 10, 2021, after sixteen years with the Library of Congress, including four and a half years as the director of the Veterans History Project (VHP), Karen Lloyd retired from public service. I want her to know that her many years of dedicated work at both the Library and Veterans History Project are very much appreciated.

Since the VHP was created following the passage of my bipartisan legislation in 2000, the program has had five Directors and developed a repository of over 111,000 individual collections in the Library's American Folklife Center--highlighting the experiences of American veterans from every major military conflict since World War I. Karen ably guided the Library's effort to collect, preserve, and make accessible these personal remembrances for use by future scholars, journalists, and historians. It's an important job and one that Karen clearly enjoyed doing.

Karen led efforts to increase the development of women veterans collections, and expanded outreach to Native/Indigenous veterans, working to ensure that the Library's collection reflected the broad diversity of America's military forces. She also devoted considerable resources to working personally with Members of the House to raise awareness about the program and grow the collection of veterans histories from every state. She can be proud of her efforts to increase the accessibility of the Veterans History Project as a constituent resource.

Before coming to the Library, Karen served fourteen years as a U.S. Army Aviator, six of them as a dustoff pilot, and was the first female Medical Service Corp Officer to receive Aviator Wings. She served another fourteen years as an Army comptroller in a variety of positions. She retired as a Colonel after twenty-eight years of military service. Before joining the Veterans History Project, Karen served in several positions at the Library--including the Offices of the Librarian and Strategic Planning, where she coordinated special projects and assessed Library program performance and risk management.

I have known and worked with Karen throughout her time as VHP director, and I can attest to the dedication and care that she brought to the job. Her passion for highlighting the stories of our nation's veterans was evident from every interaction and event held by the VHP over the years.

Karen leaves the Library well positioned to help usher in a new realm of collections stewardship and digital discovery. I wish Karen all the best in her next endeavors.

Madam Speaker, today, we recognize Court Reporting and Captioning Week. Court reporters and captioners are highly trained professionals who share a unique ability to convert the spoken word to text that can be read, streamed, broadcast, searched, and archived. This specialization includes broadcast captioning and realtime translation services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, as well as providing near-instant translation in legal and other settings. Approximately 48 million Americans are considered deaf or hard-of- hearing, and the captioning services of realtime writers and stenographic captioners ensure that all Americans have equal access to news and other vital information.

In the 116th Congress, I reintroduced the Training for Realtime Writers Act, which would reauthorize the Training for Realtime Writers Grant Program and encourage careers in realtime writing and court reporting, provide scholarships for students, and modernizes curriculum to adapt to our changing world. I was proud to have my bill included in the 2008 Higher Education Act Reauthorization and in the College Affordability Act of the 116th Congress.

The Training for Realtime Writers Grant Program has been successful in training the current generation of captioners and court reporters and has aided in the rapid growth of these professions. By reauthorizing the Training for Realtime Writers grants, students will have the opportunity to enter a technical, well-paid, and highly skilled career that will allow them to become court reporters and captioners immediately upon graduation.

I want to acknowledge the court reporters and captioners in the House of Representatives, especially those who were on the House floor on January 6, 2021, when insurrectionists breached the Capitol. Their work is crucial to the sustained function of our government, and I thank them for their service and dedication to our country.

From maintaining the integrity of our democracy to ensuring every citizen stays up to date on today's 24-hour news cycle, realtime writers are vital to Americans in all communities. Over the past decade, this program has encouraged a new generation of realtime writers to enter this vital field. I am proud to work with the National Court Reporters Association and with my friend Rep. Rodney Davis to reauthorize this program so we can continue to increase awareness and interest in this profession.