Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ronald Jeffrey ``Jeff'' Baker as a recipient of the New Guard Award and to honor his service to our Nation and his continued commitment to mentoring and supporting young people in our community.

Mr. Baker is a United States Army veteran who has carried the values of service, leadership, and responsibility into his civilian life. Through his work with young people, he has demonstrated that service to others can continue long after military service has concluded. As a coach and mentor, Mr. Baker has dedicated his time to encouraging young men to work hard, believe in themselves, and strive to reach their full potential. Through intramural sports and basketball, he has developed positive relationships with the young people he mentors and has become a consistent and supportive presence in their lives.

Mr. Baker's commitment extends well beyond his responsibilities as a coach. He personally helps ensure that the young men he mentors are able to participate by picking them up and transporting them to basketball practices and other activities. His willingness to invest his own time and effort demonstrates the personal commitment he has made to their success. For some of these young men, Mr. Baker has also become an important male role model. His mentorship provides encouragement, guidance, and stability to young people who may not otherwise have that support readily available. By showing up consistently and leading by example, he helps teach lessons of discipline, responsibility, teamwork, and perseverance that extend far beyond the basketball court.

The New Guard Award recognizes veterans who continue their legacy of service by investing in the next generation. It honors those who use mentorship, education, coaching, advocacy, and community service to help young people develop confidence, leadership, discipline, and commitment to their communities.

Mr. Baker embodies the purpose of this award through his dedication to the young people he serves. His example reminds us that mentorship can have a lasting impact and that sometimes the most meaningful form of leadership is simply being there, consistently, for someone who needs guidance and encouragement.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Ronald Jeffrey Baker on receiving the New Guard Award and in thanking him for his service to our Nation and his continued investment in the next generation of leaders in Northeast Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mathew H. ``Matt'' Pollack as a recipient of the Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Leadership Award and to honor his distinguished record of military service, public safety, and leadership in the Cleveland community.

The Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Leadership Award honors the legacy of General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., a pioneering military leader and Tuskegee Airman. General Davis spent formative years in Cleveland, graduating from Central High School in 1929 and attending Western Reserve University. Later in life, he returned to Cleveland to serve as the city's Director of Public Safety. His legacy represents courage, integrity, perseverance, and a commitment to leading the way for those who follow.

Mr. Pollack has demonstrated those same principles throughout a career dedicated to protecting and serving others.

Mr. Pollack served four years in the United States Marine Corps, including service with a Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team and as an Anti-Armor Assaultman. His military service included the period surrounding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The discipline, responsibility, and commitment to others developed during his time as a Marine would continue to guide his career long after his military service concluded.

Following his service in the Marine Corps, Mr. Pollack continued his commitment to public service by joining the Cleveland Division of Police. Throughout his career, he has served the people of Cleveland as a patrol officer, a detective in the Vice Unit, and now as a sergeant.

His leadership has extended beyond his individual responsibilities. While serving in Vice, Mr. Pollack helped mentor and guide newer officers as they developed their skills and experience. Today, as a sergeant, he continues to lead fellow officers while also contributing to the development of departmental policy, applying the knowledge gained throughout his career to help shape how the Cleveland Division of Police serves the community.

Mr. Pollack has also demonstrated courage in moments of extraordinary danger. During one incident, he and his partner came under gunfire and his partner was wounded. Despite the danger, Mr. Pollack remained focused on protecting his fellow officer, responding to the threat, and helping bring the incident to a conclusion. His service and courage throughout his law enforcement career have been recognized with the Cleveland Division of Police Medal of Honor, Medal of Heroism, and Medal of Valor.

The Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Leadership Award recognizes veterans whose leadership is grounded in courage, integrity, and perseverance and who use their experiences to lead others with distinction. Mr. Pollack's career reflects those values. From serving our Nation as a United States Marine to protecting Cleveland residents, mentoring fellow officers, and helping shape the future of his department, he has consistently demonstrated leadership through service.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mathew H. Pollack on receiving the Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Leadership Award and in thanking him for his service to our Nation, his leadership, and his continued dedication to the people of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Cristy Dianna Bostic as a recipient of the Unseen Service Award and to honor her extraordinary dedication as a military and veteran caregiver, devoted spouse, and steadfast supporter of veterans throughout Northeast Ohio.

The Unseen Service Award recognizes the spouses, caregivers, Gold Star families, and military families whose sacrifices are too often made outside of public view. These individuals remind us that service to our Nation is not carried by those in uniform alone. Behind our servicemembers and veterans are families who provide care, stability, encouragement, and strength through some of life's most difficult circumstances. Mrs. Bostic exemplifies that spirit of service.

Cristy and her husband, United States Army veteran Larry Robert Bostic, Jr., have been married since 1998. Throughout their marriage, she supported her husband through the demands of his career, frequent moves, extensive travel, and significant health challenges, while also caring for their family.

Their lives changed dramatically in 2015 when Mr. Bostic suffered a spinal cord injury that resulted in quadriplegia. During months of hospitalization, rehabilitation, and the difficult adjustment that followed, Mrs. Bostic remained steadfastly by his side.

As her husband adapted to life with a significant disability, Mrs. Bostic assumed the responsibilities of a long-term caregiver. She has assisted with personal care, meals, transportation, household responsibilities, medication management, appointments, and the many activities of daily living that her husband can no longer independently perform. Just as importantly, she has provided the encouragement and emotional support necessary for him to continue living an active and purposeful life.

Her support has enabled Mr. Bostic to participate in adaptive sports, mentor fellow veterans, advocate for individuals with spinal cord injuries, and serve in leadership roles within the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Behind those accomplishments has been a caregiver willing to drive countless miles, spend hours at meetings and events, and provide the daily support necessary to make that continued service possible.

Yet Mrs. Bostic's compassion has never been limited to her own family. She has become a familiar and supportive presence among other veterans and individuals with disabilities, assisting participants at adaptive sporting events and offering encouragement wherever it is needed. She has also volunteered alongside her husband visiting veterans, including those receiving long-term care and treatment in the Spinal Cord Injury Unit at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.

The Unseen Service Award honors those whose sacrifices may not come with a uniform, rank, or medal, but whose service is indispensable. Caregiving requires patience, resilience, compassion, and sacrifice, often without recognition and without a day truly off.

Mrs. Bostic represents that quiet strength. Her years of unwavering support have allowed her husband not simply to confront life after a catastrophic injury, but to continue serving others. In doing so, she has become a source of support to the broader veterans community herself.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Cristy Dianna Bostic on receiving the Unseen Service Award and in recognizing her years of sacrifice, caregiving, volunteerism, and unwavering commitment to her family and to veterans throughout Northeast Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Avery M. Johnson as Ohio's 11th Congressional District's Veteran of the Year and to honor his distinguished record of service to our Nation, our veterans, and the communities of Northeast Ohio.

Mr. Johnson served honorably in the United States Army from 1982 to 1992, including during the Persian Gulf War, before continuing his service in the Ohio Army National Guard from 1993 to 2005. As a Platoon Sergeant, he served in positions of significant responsibility, including during the response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and during a deployment in support of the Iraq War from 2003 to 2004.

During his deployment to Iraq, Mr. Johnson served as a Platoon Sergeant and Police Station Commander, overseeing critical responsibilities that included VIP escort missions, force protection, and the training of Iraqi police forces. His leadership, sacrifice, and distinguished military service earned him the Bronze Star Medal for combat operations in Iraq and the Ohio Distinguished Service Medal.

Mr. Johnson's commitment to service did not end when he took off the uniform. He brought the same dedication, leadership, and sense of responsibility that defined his military career back home to Northeast Ohio.

Throughout his civilian life, Mr. Johnson has worked to strengthen his community through housing advocacy, public health education, neighborhood improvement, and support for fellow veterans. He helped lead residents of East 102nd Street in Garfield Heights in advocating for major infrastructure improvements to address years of neighborhood flooding. He has also continued to serve as an advocate for veterans, helping fellow servicemembers access the benefits they earned and remaining active in the American Legion.

His commitment to public service also led him to the Garfield Heights City Council. Mr. Johnson was appointed to Council in 2021 and subsequently elected by the residents he serves, in 2023, his colleagues selected him to serve as President of City Council, making him the first African American to hold that position since Garfield Heights was founded in 1919. He continues to serve the residents of Ward 4 and the broader Garfield Heights community.

The Ohio 11th Congressional District Veteran of the Year Award recognizes a veteran whose service did not end with military service but instead evolved into a continued commitment to others. Mr. Johnson embodies that principle. He has served our country in uniform and has continued to serve here at home by mentoring, advocating, leading, and strengthening his community.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Avery M. Johnson on being named the Ohio 11th Congressional District Veteran of the Year and in thanking him for a lifetime of service to our Nation and the people of Northeast Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia for her leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have broken the economy, and everyday people are paying the price.

Trump and his family, with their tax cuts, stock trades, and new military contracts got rich, while working-class people got the bill.

Earlier this month, in northeast Ohio, our county division of Senior and Adult Services held a return-to-work fair for people over 60. Why? Because older Americans and seniors can no longer afford the rising costs of gas, groceries, and housing.

You see, a lot of people that thought they had enough to retire are realizing Donald Trump had other plans for their golden years.

As one of the women told our local newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer: There is no way around it. We won't make it.

Paying the bills is especially hard when you have also lost your healthcare coverage or your SNAP nutrition assistance.

In Ohio, 259,000 people have lost their healthcare coverage in the last year--259,000. These numbers are staggering, but they are not just numbers, no. These are real people. Now, they are just one illness away from financial ruin, all because the Trump administration and Republican majorities in Congress have enacted the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, along with letting the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire.

Remember last year, the other side of the aisle raised, rushed, and sprinted--sprinted to pass tax cuts for the rich. But when it came to tax credits to help working people afford healthcare, they did nothing, nothing at all.

You see, it is not just healthcare. In Ohio, we are now up to 110,000 people who have lost their nutrition assistance. Nearly every day of the week, we have Trump's Secretary of Agriculture going on TV to brag about this, talking about it like it is a good thing. Spare me. In fact, why don't they come to Cleveland, Ohio, and tell someone who is trying to survive on $7 a day in SNAP benefits that these cuts are a good thing. Tell seniors, who are now having to go to job fairs, that they are living in a golden age. It is insulting.

Meanwhile, we have a confused, corrupt, cruel, and chaotic President roaming around the White House, a President in denial and out of touch.

Here is the bottom line: Americans got poorer last month. Last month, according to official data, inflation was higher than wage growth. That has been true for a lot of people, but it is official now, and that is for the people that actually have jobs, because in Trump's economy, Black unemployment is now 6 percent, twice the rate as White unemployment.

According to the Urban League, because of the job loss and the cuts, Black America is already in a recession.

Did anyone really expect anything different from Trump and a MAGA Republican Congress? Because I know I didn't.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of all of my constituents in Cleveland and northeast Ohio to say that enough is enough is enough. We have to turn this car around before Trump drives us further into a ditch. It is time to cancel the cuts and the illegal wars, stop the corruption, kill the kickbacks and the insider trading, and give the American people their country back.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate the Council of International Programs on seven decades of service and excellence. Founded in Cleveland in 1956 and still headquartered in Ohio's 11th Congressional District today, the Council of International Programs has spent 70 years building bridges abroad through professional exchanges and cultural connections. By welcoming emerging leaders from around the world and connecting them with communities across Northeast Ohio, the organization has strengthened global partnerships, showcased the best of Northeast Ohio, and served as a template for cultural exchange initiatives across America.

On behalf of the people of Ohio's 11th Congressional District, I am proud to recognize the Council of International Programs for its outsized impact and congratulate its leadership, staff, volunteers, and alumni on this remarkable milestone.

Mr. Speaker, as often the case with the current occupant of the White House, it all started with a lie.

Nearly 2 years ago, JD Vance got up off his couch and tweeted a racist smear that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating cats and dogs. Days later, Donald Trump shamelessly repeated it at a Presidential debate.

They knew it was a lie. They knew those families were here legally. They knew they were working, raising children, paying taxes, and helping rebuild a community.

None of that mattered because the point was never to tell the truth. The point was to make Americans fear Haitians, to turn them into scapegoats, to convince the country that Black immigrants were the source of their problems.

JD Vance admitted that he was willing to ``create stories'' to advance his political agenda.

We all saw what happened next: Springfield was terrorized. Schools were closed. Bomb threats poured in. White supremacists descended on the city.

So families lived in fear because two of the most powerful politicians in America decided that a racist smear was politically useful. They never apologized. Instead, they spent 2 years putting that lie to work and turning it into government policy. Now, that campaign of fear is the official policy of our government.

Last week, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to terminate the Temporary Protected Status, also known as TPS, for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, not because Haiti is safe, not because the facts have changed, but because this administration wants more people for ICE to deport.

Haiti remains consumed by political collapse and humanitarian disaster. The conditions that justified TPS still exist.

These are people who care for our seniors, build our community, and pay billions in taxes. They followed the rules. They trusted the American promise. Now, they are being told that a racist political narrative matters more than the law they followed to a T.

This is not who we are, America. The House has already passed the bill extending TPS because the facts demand it and because decency requires it.

Now, the Senate must pass it before the mass deportation tears lives and communities apart, all because of a racist, reckless, bigoted, blatant, dishonest, and disgusting campaign lie.

Big Ugly Law Anniversary

Mr. Speaker, while families are struggling to keep up with rising prices for food, housing, gas, and utilities, this President is focused on something else entirely different--himself.

He is spending taxpayer dollars on a lavish White House ballroom. He is tearing up the reflecting pool for another vanity project. He is putting his name and image on anything he can.

While Americans are tightening their belts, Donald Trump is building monuments to himself.

One year later, Republicans are still celebrating what they call the President's signature legislative achievement.

That law ripped healthcare away from millions of Americans, cut food assistance for families and children, made it harder to afford college--all to hand out massive tax breaks to the wealthiest people in America.

It was a transfer of wealth from working people to wealthy people.

Mr. Speaker, 17 million Americans have lost healthcare. More than 4 million Americans, including 800,000 children, have already lost access to basic food assistance.

Meanwhile, the wealthiest 0.1 percent received tax cuts worth nearly a quarter million dollars just last year.

I will ask the simple question: How has Trump's big, ugly law helped the American people? As far as I can tell, it is just welfare for the wealthy and well-connected.

Meanwhile, we have gotten higher prices, higher inflation, slower job growth, and an economy that works even better for those already on top.

Republicans called it the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. I call it a big, ugly law, because there is nothing beautiful about taking healthcare and food away from families to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

Happy anniversary to Trump's signature achievement. One year later, the verdict is in: Working families paid the price, and the wealthiest Americans cashed the check.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise to recognize Juneteenth, a defining moment in our Nation's history.

On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, carrying news of liberation. More than 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved Black Americans gathered to finally learn that they were free.

Juneteenth teaches us that freedom delayed is not freedom denied. For

Black Americans, unfortunately, freedom has never simply been granted. No, our freedom has been fought for in courtrooms and classrooms, in churches and on picket lines. It has been demanded, defended, marched for, and sacrificed for generation after generation.

That struggle did not end on Juneteenth. It continued through the iron grip of Jim Crow and segregation. It continued across that bridge in Selma and through the streets of Birmingham, where children faced firehoses and police dogs while in pursuit of their rights. It continued at the ballot box through the long fight to secure not just the right to vote but the right to have that vote count equally and the right to claim a full and equal voice in American democracy.

The story of freedom in America is inseparable from the story of Black political power. The ability to vote, the ability to be heard, and the ability to elect leaders who understand our communities, those rights were not gifts. They were victories won through sacrifice. Today, those victories are under attack.

As we celebrate Juneteenth and America's 250th anniversary, we must ask a simple question: What does freedom mean if Black Americans are again denied a meaningful voice in this government?

That question is known well in Ohio's 11th Congressional District because of the leadership of one of my predecessors, the late Louis Stokes. Before he became the first Black Member of Congress from Ohio and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Stokes was fighting against efforts to dilute Black representation in northeast Ohio.

Louis Stokes understood something that remains true today: You do not have to stop someone from voting to take away their power. You can accomplish the same thing by drawing lines differently.

Lou Stokes spent his life proving that freedom requires representation and that democracy requires vigilance. The battles that he fought and that so many fought before him were not supposed to be fought again. The ground that was won through marches and blood, court cases and passed laws, and sacrifice and courage was supposed to be secure.

Yet, here we are. Ideological extremists on the Supreme Court have again shattered the very protections that generations of Americans fought to secure. The same Voting Rights Act that Lou Stokes helped to defend, the same law that transformed Black political participation in America, the same law that helped ensure communities could not simply be carved up, divided, and silenced, that same law has been ripped to shreds by a Trump-dominated Supreme Court.

Every generation inherits the responsibility to protect what previous generations sacrificed to achieve, and now it is our turn. We cannot retreat. We cannot surrender the gains that were purchased at such a high cost. We must defend the equal representation with the same determination that won it in the first place.

Mr. Speaker, I will not watch our rights be taken away--not without a fight. Juneteenth isn't just a celebration. It is a promise, a promise to protect and preserve the freedom we were first denied, especially at a time like this.

Recognizing Laila Edwards

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the pride of northeast Ohio, Olympic gold medalist Laila Edwards of Cleveland Heights.

Earlier this year, Laila helped lead Team USA to their first gold medal win in women's hockey, playing in all seven games and contributing two goals and six assists. Her performance inspired fans across our Nation, but back home in northeast Ohio, we couldn't be more proud to call Laila one of our own.

From learning to skate at the Cleveland Heights Community Center to becoming the first Black woman to represent our country in Olympic hockey, Laila has broken barriers and demonstrated determination without ever forgetting where she came from.

This weekend, Cleveland Heights will host a parade in her honor, and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate her, as children can now look at the ice and see new possibilities.

I thank Laila Edwards for representing our country with excellence, lifting up our community with pride, and inspiring the next generations. I congratulate Laila on her Olympic Gold Medal, and I congratulate the Cleveland Heights community for raising such a remarkable champion.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative McClellan for leading tonight's Special Order hour.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to stand with my CBC colleagues in this fight as we stand up for the people we represent.

Mr. Speaker, for decades, the far right has sold this country a lie, a lie that racism ended in 1965, a lie that discrimination is ancient history. For years, that rhetoric lived in chat rooms in the ugliest corners of American life. Well, today it lives in the highest courts in the land, cloaked in robes.

This conservative Supreme Court has taken a wrecking ball to the Voting Rights Act, one of the greatest achievements of the civil rights movement. Now, after the Louisiana v. Callais ruling, there is barely any of the law left.

Before this ruling, Black voters in the South had at least some defense against intentional political extinction. Now that is gone. Mr. Speaker, what happens next tells you everything you need to know. The ink was barely dry before Republican States rushed to redraw maps and move election dates--Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, State after State after State.

Let's be honest about what this is. This is a coordinated effort to engineer electorates so that Trump has all the White majority districts he needs, and the tragedy, the disgrace is that this rush to redraw proves exactly why the Voting Rights Act was needed in the first place.

If they are successful, some of the States with the largest Black populations in the country will be represented by all-White delegations and majority White districts.

We cannot and will not take this sitting down. We will organize, mobilize, and use our voices. We will fight this in Congress. We don't have a voting rights majority in this body right now, but we soon will, and we will restore the Voting Rights Act.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, we must confront the center of this crisis: an unacceptable Supreme Court.

The Voting Rights Act was not some historical footnote. It was the law of the land for decades. It was one of the crowning achievements of American democracy, and this Court has systematically hollowed it out.

No institution in this country is above scrutiny, and no court should have the power to erase protections won through blood, sacrifice, and struggle without the American people demanding reform. Our constitutional system was never designed to crown nine people as permanent and untouchable rulers of our democracy.

Mr. Speaker, our brothers and sisters are being silenced across the South, but this Congress will make sure that those voices are heard loudly, clearly, and unapologetically.

Mr. Chair, the farm bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation that Congress works on. It touches every corner of this country every day.

Let me be direct about what this bill does and does not do. It does not address the crisis actually happening in farm country right now.

Farm bankruptcies are up 50 percent nationally and nearly 75 percent in the Midwest. Input costs keep rising, driven by reckless tariffs and the reckless war in Iran.

Farmers are being squeezed from every direction, and this bill offers them next to nothing: no farm aid; no solution to rein in fertilizer or diesel prices; no protections against USDA reorganizations or funding freezes; no attempt to end the tariffs destroying export markets or restore the trade relationships farmers depend on; and false promises again and again on year-round E15.

Where is the relief?

Where is the urgency?

There is a five-alarm fire in farm country, and Republicans are pulling out a garden hose.

Working families aren't doing any better. Gas, goods, and grocery costs are rising, and this bill does nothing to bring them down. Instead, this farm bill ratifies the largest cuts to food assistance in American history.

Republicans used the big, ugly law to slash $187 billion from SNAP and handed that money straight to the wealthiest Americans. In doing so, they torched the bipartisan coalition that has kept the farm bill together for generations, and now they want Democrats to come in and lock in those very same cuts with a bipartisan farm bill, while they continue to threaten the SNAP program with more partisan cuts. Give me a break.

Mr. Chair, let me tell you what those SNAP cuts look like on the ground. In my district, 11,000 people have lost food assistance, and that is before the next round of cuts kick in. Nationally, 4 million Americans have already been kicked off SNAP entirely, 4 million people gone, and this farm bill will cement those cuts and that cruelty into law.

Republican and Democratic Governors alike are warning they cannot pick up the new cost share coming down the pike. That means more cuts, more hunger, and more harm.

We need a real farm bill, one negotiated in good faith, one that can actually pass the Senate, and one that confronts the real factors driving the crisis in farm country and the affordability crisis at the kitchen table.

Mr. Chair, this partisan bill is not it, and I urge my colleagues to oppose it.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

Mr. Chair, the Columbia Basin Project is a federally authorized project managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, part of the Department of the Interior.

At its heart, is the Grand Coulee Dam, which has the primary purpose of

supplying water for irrigation and producing power. There are secondary benefits, such as aiding flood control and providing recreation opportunities.

The Western Waters Regional Conservation Area, by contrast, is designated by the Department of Agriculture as a critical conservation area whose primary purpose is to address insufficient water and habitat.

I am concerned, therefore, that this amendment may divert funds meant for drought relief toward areas that have a dam supplying them water.

If the gentleman sincerely believes that there are farmers in need of USDA assistance, then I would be happy to work with him when NRCS completes its review of CCAs every 5 years.

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

Mr. Chair, as I expressed in my earlier remarks, I continue to oppose this amendment, and I urge all Members to oppose this amendment.

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

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

Mr. Chair, wildfires are a significant threat to rural communities, and I support efforts to bring down the cost of forest treatments that would help protect these communities.

This amendment, though, just uses those rural communities as a prop in order to disguise the fact that it would expand the renewable food standards definition to every single tree across our public lands. It is not limited to the wildland-urban interface where thinning would have the most impact. There are no limits on this, not for protected wilderness, beloved recreation areas, or old growth. It does not matter if the tree is cut down as part of a responsible forest restoration project or a clear-cut.

This proposal is reckless and would endanger our public lands.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to oppose, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to oppose this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chair, I rise as the designee of Ms. Brownley, and I have an amendment at the desk.

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

The NRCS currently includes composting facilities as a conservation practice standard, but assistance under this standard is limited to the construction of a structure to facilitate composting.

This amendment proposes specifically to designate composting as a practice standard that is not tied to a structure but simply on activities to produce composts from organic waste.

The amendment also requires review of a current composting facility practice standard and has provisions to address greenhouse gas emissions.

This proposal would allow farms that use composts to more fully participate in and benefit from conservation programs, regardless of whether they build a structure. This could also reduce food waste, and I support the amendment.

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

Mr. Chair, I am prepared to close.

I urge all Members to support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the convicted felon in the White House is not an honest man, but when he rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War, for once, for once, he told the truth because war is what we have. War is what he wants, and war is what he is asking the American people to pay for.

President Trump's budget requests $1.5 trillion in taxpayer money for the Department of War--$1.5 trillion, a $440 billion increase. Who pays the extra $440 billion? Not the billionaires who just got tax cuts, not Elon, not the Trump family, not White House insiders cashing in on trades ahead of market-moving announcements, no. Trump's war machine will be paid for by working people, just like his tax cuts for billionaires were paid for by working people.

In the last year, Trump has made the largest cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in history and the largest cut to food assistance in history, all to make the richest Americans richer and the biggest corporations bigger.

This time, it is not tax cuts but war he wants.

What ATM is the President tapping again to pay for it?

It is the working men and women of this country.

How does the President propose paying for more war?

I am glad you asked, Mr. Speaker. It is with cuts to heating assistance, with cuts to housing, with cuts to education and job training, and even cuts to programs that provide food for women, infants, and children, all to pay for wars that the American people don't want.

What is the agenda?

It is to cut healthcare to fund war, cut food to fund war, cut housing and heating programs to fund war, and cut maternal health to fund war. He wants to cut more, take more, and sacrifice more.

And for what?

It is for war. Wars the American people do not want. That is not just grossly irresponsible, it is gross and immoral.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know who is winning Trump's war with Iran, but I

can tell you who is losing the war: Everyday people in America. It is hardworking people seeing prices rise even more, people trying to afford healthcare, to buy a home, and to make ends meet. Working people can't afford Trump's reckless wars, and they can't afford this horrendous budget.

We owe it to them to reject this abomination.

Madam Speaker, I am very proud to see this legislation on the floor today, and I appreciate the support of both the ranking member and chair of the Oversight Committee.

This bill is about recognition, recognition that is a long time coming, recognition not just for one individual but an entire unit, and recognition for a group of Black women who have gone into history as the Six Triple Eight, the first and only all-Black Women's Army Corps unit to serve overseas in World War II.

Tech Sergeant Alma Gladys Minter of Cleveland, Ohio, was one of those women. My bill would rename the Collinwood neighborhood Post Office in Cleveland in her honor.

In 1945, Sergeant Minter and more than 800 women were deployed to clear a backlog of 17 million pieces of mail for American troops in Europe. That is right, 17 million pieces of mail. The Army thought it would take 6 months to deliver. They finished the job in under 90 days. Therefore, it is hard to think of anything more fitting than naming a post office after Tech Sergeant Minter. When no one else could, she delivered the mail, and she did it ahead of schedule.

Sergeant Minter's work kept servicemembers connected to home and lifted morale at a critical moment in the war, but when the Six Triple Eight came home, they didn't receive the recognition they deserved. Sadly, Sergeant Minter and so many of her colleagues passed away before that could be rectified, but it is never too late to do the right thing. Renaming the post office after Sergeant Minter is a way to say thank you, to keep the story of the Six Triple Eight alive, and to right past wrongs.

This legislation is supported by 13 members of the Ohio delegation, Republicans and Democrats, and passed the Oversight Committee unanimously.

Over the past year, my office has been honored to get to know the Minter family and to help amplify her story. Naming the post office in honor of Tech Sergeant Minter is a way to ensure her legacy and the legacy of Six Triple Eight lives on in the hearts of the community she called home.

Mr. Speaker, more and more I am troubled by a simple question: Will Donald Trump be the last President ever elected by a free and fair election?

That certainly seems to be the plan.

In 2024, Donald Trump said: Get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it again.

In 2023, he said that he would be a dictator on day one.

In 2021, after he lost, he tried to overturn the election, which led to people attacking this Chamber where we stand right now.

When Donald Trump talks about elections, he does not hide what he wants. He keeps talking about taking over elections, and his number one legislative priority is the SAVE Act. The only one thing that this bill is designed to save is Donald Trump's political future.

This bill would create a paperwork nightmare for millions of Americans. The SAVE Act requires documents that millions of citizens do not have in order to vote.

That is right. Even the new REAL ID drivers' licenses we all had to get don't meet the standard. Even military IDs wouldn't count. You will need a passport, which costs you about $160 and takes weeks to receive, or your birth certificate.

Mr. Speaker, did you know that half of the country does not have a passport, and millions more don't have access to their birth certificate?

Then there are married women who might have changed the name on their documents, and so now they don't match because they changed their name.

The SAVE Act also ends online and by-mail voter registration. Good luck registering to vote if you have a job, have a family, or live far from your county seat or board of elections.

Add it all up, and millions of American citizens will lose their right to vote.

This bill is designed to give the Stephen Millers of the world every opportunity they can to find or kick people off voting rolls.

If Congress passes the SAVE Act, it will be the first time since Jim Crow that our legislature has acted to make our democracy smaller, not larger.

Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump is many things, but a mystery he is not, nor is what he is trying to do.

Funding Choices

Mr. Speaker, we have seen this movie before. In 2003, it was tax cuts for the wealthy and a war we were told would be quick and necessary. Trillions of dollars later, the American people were left holding the bill, and here we go again.

Did you know demand for private jets is booming after President Trump gave tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans last year? Now, the President wants $200 billion more to fund an unauthorized and unacceptable war in Iran, a war that is already jacking up costs from the gas pump to the grocery store. That is $200 billion, $200 billion.

Again, let's talk choices. Let's talk priorities.

We were told there is no money for healthcare, so Republicans gutted Medicaid and refused to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits.

We were told there was no money to help people to put food on their table, so Republicans passed their big, ugly law cutting $186 billion from nutrition programs.

We were told there was no money for education, so they cut student loan programs, and at the same time they delivered more tax breaks at the top while everyone else falls further behind.

For war, for the wealthy, suddenly there is always money. There are billions for conflict. There are billions for ICE. There are billions for billionaires. We were told there was no money to help families afford groceries, to educate our kids, or to lower healthcare costs.

These are the choices being made: higher costs for you, bigger checks for war, and more tax breaks at the top.

I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: This isn't really about priorities or scarcity, is it? It is about actually your priorities, and right now the priorities are upside down.

Mr. Speaker, I rise during Black History Month to honor an extraordinary constituent, Mr. James R. Willis, a marine, an attorney, and a true Cleveland legend.

In 1944, Mr. Willis joined the Montford Point Marines, one of nearly 20,000 Black men who volunteered to serve immediately after President Roosevelt integrated the military.

Despite facing racism and segregation, he served his country honorably, and in 2011, the Montford Point Marines were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of their service.

After the war, Mr. Willis built a legal career that has left a lasting mark. For more than 70 years, Mr. Willis has practiced criminal law, becoming a legendary courtroom advocate, a national leader, and a mentor across generations.

He argued four cases before the Supreme Court on protections against unlawful search and seizure, helping to strengthen the rights of all Americans.

Even today, at the age of 100, he continues his lifework. On behalf of a grateful district, I thank Mr. Willis for a lifetime of courage, service, and dedication to justice.

Mr. Speaker, in Springfield, Ohio, families are preparing for the worst kind of ICE storm, a storm fueled by hate and racism, years in the making.

In 2024, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, peddled hateful lies about Haitians in Springfield. Vance even admitted they weren't true. He said: ``If I have to create stories . . . that is what I am going to do.''

Well, those stories dehumanized Haitians who were here legally working and rebuilding a city. Now the Trump administration is turning those lies into policy.

Tomorrow, they plan to revoke TPS, despite Haiti's collapse. Legal status today, illegal status tomorrow. This is the Project 2025 playbook for a morally corrupt mass deportation machine.

For those of us with Black skin, the demonization of Haitian people is something that we see, we hear, and we feel deeply.

This country must do better, and this President must extend TPS status and call off the ICE surge now.