Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Fifty years ago, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins launched from Florida's coast at Kennedy Space Center with the goal of being the first to step foot on the Moon.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong accomplished what was only a short time prior believed to be impossible. He became the first man to set foot on the Moon, uttering the famous words, ``That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.''

Those words ring through history, but it is important that we also recognize the hundreds of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and support staff who worked tirelessly to ensure mission success but do not receive the public recognition that they deserve for their contributions.

One example of this is Susan Finley. She began her career as a computer programmer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and wrote software for the Deep Space Network. That software made it possible to hear the transmissions from the Moon that showed the world what was possible when the United States committed to achieving the impossible.

I am also incredibly proud that 50 years after this accomplishment, Florida remains at the forefront of space exploration. Today, the new crew capsules designed to launch American astronauts into space are being built, and I hope that by the end of this year, in which we are celebrating the first Moon landing, we will again see American astronauts climb into American-built capsules and launch into space from Florida's shores.

We have relied on Russian spacecraft for too long, and this will inspire a new generation of American children to develop a passion for exploration and to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, just as the Apollo program did 50 years ago when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first to set foot on the Moon.

President George Bush said: ``Mankind is drawn to the heavens for the same reason we were once drawn into unknown lands and across the open sea. We choose to explore space because doing so improves our lives and lifts our national spirit. So let us continue the journey.''

Congratulating Michaela McLean, Miss Florida 2019

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Michaela McLean on her crowning achievement of being named Miss Florida 2019.

Michaela, a graduate of East Ridge High School in Clermont, Florida, and

daughter of two citrus growers, is no stranger to pageants, as she had also previously been named Miss Florida Citrus.

To win this latest competition, she was able to showcase her skills as a collegiate dance major, a talent she uses to express her dreams and her struggles.

She has plans now to use her other college major of public relations to help promote Florida's economic and cultural strengths.

Michaela will promote her social impact initiative called Brave & Beautiful, which encourages women to develop healthy habits while living purpose-driven lives. Brave & Beautiful has already launched conferences in multiple schools in central Florida and has made an impact internationally in Kenya, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to hear how Michaela is using her many gifts to help transform lives, and I applaud her efforts. She is a wonderful role model for our young women.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Randall Edwards, a veteran of World War II, who this month turns 102 years old.

Edwards enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1935, at 18 years old, and served as a first class radioman for the USS Canopus in the Philippines. He then joined Allied ground forces, where he and his unit were captured and sent to a Japanese prison camp.

He spent 3 years as a prisoner of war, and despite being forced to work 7 days a week in appalling conditions and becoming nearly deaf due to abuse, he never allowed his spirit to be broken. In fact, after the war, he reenlisted in the Navy and was sent to Japan to serve in the U.S. occupying force. Edwards later became a national service officer for the American Ex-Prisoners of War organization, helping other veterans reintegrate.

Warrant Officer Edwards survived some of the worst of World War II, and he persevered through captivity and returned to bring democracy to his captors. Mr. Edwards represents the greatest of our Greatest Generation, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I say thank you.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express grave concern with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020.

Every year, Congress is tasked with funding our military. These funds do everything from feeding our troops to equipping them for combat, to giving them and their families medical care.

Because this funding is of such vital importance for our troops and our national security, these bills normally pass through Congress with wide bipartisan support.

However, despite the President, senior military officials, and a bipartisan Senate all agreeing on a funding level, House leadership has proposed a bill $15 billion less than what experts say is required.

This bill represents one of the worst political games I have seen in this House. It puts our servicemembers at risk and leaves our entire Nation vulnerable by underfunding personnel accounts, vital modernization initiatives, and deterrence against foreign aggression.

I call upon this House to follow us in this lead to set aside our differences and authorize these programs at the levels needed to protect our troops and our Nation.

Madam Chair, I thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry for including amendment No. 341 in the en bloc package.

Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of amendment No. 341. This bipartisan amendment introduced by Representative Schneider and me will fully authorize the Boots to Business program, which ensures that our veterans and their spouses receive essential education on how to start and grow their own small businesses.

In the same way that we give our troops the tools that they need for service, we must also prepare our veterans for civilian life. This program has received broad support from many

of our veterans, and I strongly encourage my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to come together in support of this bipartisan amendment and give our veterans the training that they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Judy Genshaft for her 19 years of service as president of my alma mater, the University of South Florida.

During her tenure, she emphasized research. That commitment has been a major part of why USF has been rated as one of the Nation's top 25 public universities for research.

Her advocacy for technology had a direct impact on the city of Tampa, which has grown into one of the most successful tech hubs in the world.

Under her leadership, USF's endowment nearly doubled; its 4-year graduation rate tripled; and now, all USF students graduate at the same rate, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or family income.

On a personal level, she is also an immensely generous donor, having helped fund the USF Honors College and then made an additional gift to endow its deanship.

More impressive than these numbers are Judy's contagious energy and her genuine concern for her students. She regularly worked 12-hour days and still made time to talk with students whenever she saw them.

Mr. Speaker, Judy is a woman clearly guided by purpose. I am so grateful for everything that she has done and continues to do to make my alma mater, the University of South Florida, better for our students and our city.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the

Speaker's table H.R. 3401, with the Senate amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment. This bipartisan bill passed the Senate with 84 votes and could be sent to the President's desk for his signature today.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a local legend who recently passed away in Lakeland, Florida.

Mr. Billy Henderson had a passion for flying planes since he was a young man. As a matter of fact, he used to fondly say he started flying in 1946 when he was 16 years old and began legally flying 20 years later in 1968.

Billy turned his passion into a life purpose, and in 1974, he and four others created SUN n' FUN, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting aviation education in central Florida.

SUN n' FUN has grown from hosting a small fly-in, which attracted 900 attendees, to the largest annual convention in Florida.

Every year, more than 100,000 visitors come to Lakeland to watch pilots, such as the Blue Angels, show off the best that aviation has to offer.

SUN n' FUN not only brings in $60 million to central Florida every year, but also has an impact beyond the convention.

The organization operates the Florida Air Museum, which houses over 100 aircraft, and sponsors over $2 million per year in scholarships for aviation education.

Madam Speaker, the skies over Lakeland will never be the same without Billy Henderson, but they will be marked by his legacy for years to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the appropriations minibus that we will be voting on this afternoon.

Like the first appropriations package, this legislation is being considered without reaching a budget agreement, and it would bust the budget caps by over $350 billion in fiscal years `20 and `21.

Not only is the majority spending out of control on programs we currently have, but they are creating new programs in these bills. This circumvents the authorization process and compounds the debt problem.

Last week, I submitted an amendment to eliminate funding for one of these new pilot programs that would use Americans' hard-earned tax dollars to provide legal representation to those arriving at our southern border. My amendment would have reallocated that funding to assist victims of human trafficking and address school violence, both issues growing at the local level in our communities.

Unfortunately, Democrats on the Rules Committee voted along party lines to prevent my amendment from coming to the floor. I call on Democrat leadership to stop silencing commonsense proposals and let us debate those tough issues. It is what we were elected to do.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the immigration supplemental that will be brought to the floor later tonight.

While I appreciate that the majority in this House has finally come to the realization that there is, in fact, a crisis on our southern border after spending the first 6 months denying that fact, they continue to refuse to work with Republicans to address the real problem.

The bill before us today was drafted with no Republican input. For the past 2 days, its fate has seemed uncertain, as there are members of the Democratic conference who don't believe we should have a border or enforce our laws.

We are a nation of laws. Americans who selflessly choose to join the law enforcement profession put their lives on the line every day to protect Americans and care for those in their custody. They are working overtime to deal with this crisis. What support do they get in this supplemental?

It doesn't fund the pay or overtime shortage. Instead, members of the majority party have spent the past week calling ICE and CBP criminal agencies that are killing children.

I want everybody to think about that for just a moment. There are members of the Democratic conference who are telling Americans that ICE and CBP are killing children in their custody.

The Democratic leadership has been engaged in negotiations the past 2 days to win the support of these Members. One of the solutions contained in the manager's amendment is an extra $2 million for the continued operation of the Immigration Court Help Desk program.

The average wait time to have a case heard in the immigration court is over 700 days. Does the bill include the $55 million that the Senate bill does for additional immigration judges? No. Rather, it includes $2 million for a 1-800 number to check on the status of a case.

The wait is over 700 days.

The wait is 700 days. That is like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.

I look forward to addressing this crisis, but this bill is not the solution. If they were serious about solving the problem, Democrats would include additional funding to take care of our law enforcement, which is working so hard to address the crisis, and they would include additional funding to reduce the court backlog.

It is time to get serious about the crisis. It is time to offer real solutions.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank Ranking Member Diaz- Balart and Chairman Price for working together on the bipartisan en bloc package that passed the House this afternoon. That package included my amendment to increase funding for commercial space activities at the FAA by $8 million.

In Florida, and all over the country, we are seeing the commercial space industry continue to grow rapidly, and the launch frequency is only expected to increase.

The 5-year FAA reauthorization, which received strong, bipartisan support and was signed into law at the end of the 115th Congress, recognized the need to begin increasing funding for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation. My amendment increased funding to $33 million, the fiscal year 2019 authorized level. This will ensure the Office of Commercial Space Transportation has the resources necessary to facilitate increased commercial space launches and reentries.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to thank Ranking Member Aderholt and Chairman Serrano for working together on the bipartisan en bloc package that passed the House yesterday. That package included my amendment to increase funding for the International Trade Administration by $2 million to provide additional funding for enforcement and compliance activities.

Unfair trade practices directly harm our domestic manufacturing and agricultural sectors. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that there are nearly 55,000 unpaid antidumping and countervailing duty bills covering fiscal years 2011 through 2016, totaling $2.8 billion in uncollected duties. This is a critical issue for my district.

Americans who eat U.S.-grown strawberries in the colder winter months are probably eating a strawberry grown and harvested by the hardworking farmers in Plant City, Florida. We are proud of our role in providing Americans access to U.S.-grown produce year-round.

However, the strawberry growers in my district are under attack. They are under attack from illegal ``dumping'' practices, and this must be stopped. The additional funding provided by my amendment is a step in the right direction to combat unfair trade practices so that U.S. producers can compete.

Again, I want to express my gratitude to Ranking Member Aderholt and Chairman Serrano for including this amendment in the en bloc package that passed the House yesterday.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my disappointment in the missed opportunity this House had this week to protect individuals with preexisting conditions.

Since the Democrats took the majority in January, they have stoked fear with the American public that the administration will remove these protections; however, maintaining the current coverage requirements for those with preexisting conditions is an issue that Republicans and Democrats in this body agree on. That is why I cosponsored Congressman Rodney Davis' amendment to H.R. 2740 that would have prohibited any funds at the Department of Health and Human Services from being used to weaken the existing safeguards.

However, every single Democrat on the Rules Committee voted to prevent this amendment from even being debated by the full House. Instead, they would rather continue to politicize the issue and stoke fear that these critical protections are in imminent danger of being taken away.

I urge this body to stop sowing discord on issues we agree on and to work towards bipartisan solutions that benefit the people we serve.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the city of Temple Terrace and Mayor Mel Jurado for officially declaring the city a trafficking-free zone. As part of the effort, the city of Temple Terrace has pledged to take important steps to crack down on buyers in the sex trade, which will reduce the demand for sex workers and decrease the number of victims trafficked, specifically.

Temple Terrace is implementing a zero-tolerance policy where city employees will be automatically terminated if they are caught soliciting prostitutes. The Temple Terrace Police Department has also been encouraged to increase enforcement against buyers of sex work by conducting more stings.

And, finally, city staffers are required to take mandatory training on how to spot signs of trafficking and how to help potential victims.

This is a monumental step forward for our community, and I am honored to join the city of Temple Terrace and Mayor Mel Jurado in the fight against human trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Bruce Burnham, a retired member of the military police who served in the Vietnam war and was awarded the Bronze Star.

After retiring from the military, Mr. Burnham began teaching at Armwood High School, where he taught history, social studies, and classes on the Vietnam war for 30 years.

Known affectionately as the mayor of Armwood, Mr. Burnham continues to dedicate his retirement to the students. He serves as the announcer for the Armwood varsity football team and continues to give speeches to high school students on the Vietnam war.

Mr. Burnham was placed on the front lines of history, and he has spent the last 30 years retelling that history to his students.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Burnham clearly has the love of our community. He also has the respect of our country.

Mr. 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, which is necessary to save the innocent lives of innocent children, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, if this unanimous consent request can't be entertained, I urge the Speaker to--