Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in appreciation for the political cartoonist Garry Trudeau, creator of the Doonesbury comic strip that has chronicled politics and American history with humor and wit for nearly 56 years.

Mr. Trudeau has graciously permitted me to reprint his work in my weekly e-newsletter for the past several years, and I want to thank him here publicly for the privilege. I've been a Doonesbury fan since the early 1970s and have followed the careers of his many witty characters--Mike, Mark, Zonker, B.D. and Boopsie, among others, and real-life political figures--in the pages of The Washington Post. My hometown paper in Memphis suspended publication of Doonesbury long ago.

Mr. Trudeau, a 1970 graduate of Yale University, was a valued political commentator even before he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1975, the first comic strip artist to receive that distinction. He has been a Pulitzer finalist another three times, and has received other national and international accolades, including the George Polk Award for a lifetime's achievement in 2015. Doonesbury was called ``one of the great intellectual/artistic accomplishments of the past half century'' in 2010 by Eric Alterman in The Nation.

It is a pleasure to wake up on Sunday mornings to see his wife, Jane Pauley, the longtime host of the ``CBS News Sunday Morning'' show. The two are icons of my generation. As I approach retirement from Congress, I wish them both well.

Mr. Speaker, this is my first opportunity to serve as the dean of the Tennessee delegation, and it didn't come too soon. Time is running out.

Dolly Parton was a phenomenal Tennessean, probably the best representative we ever had. She never looked down on anybody. She had a big heart. Whenever there was a tragedy or somebody in need, she came forward and wanted it to be anonymous. She was a good human being, and she had a beautiful voice.

I had a friend who was involved in the music business in the early seventies in Laurel Canyon when the Eagles and others were getting together. He told me about Dolly being out there, and that is where she got to know Linda Ronstadt and others. He said she had such a beautiful voice, and she did.

She will be remembered forever for all she did for humanity. Tennessee is proud to have her and will always love her.

Today, we celebrate 901 Day--a day to celebrate Memphis, Tennessee, and the people who make the city the great city that it is.

Mr. Speaker, 901 is more than an area code. It represents people who have never been afraid to stand up and demand better.

In 1968, AFSCME sanitation workers in Memphis marched for dignity, fair wages, and the basic right to be treated with respect. Dr. King came to Memphis to stand with those workers and tragically lost his life at that time.

This history reminds us that progress has never simply been given to Memphis. We have fought for it.

Now with the gerrymandered redistricting effort that took away the votes of Black voters and the large-scale ICE raid that was carried out this past weekend, we must fight harder.

Yes, today we celebrate the history, music, culture, and barbecue; but, most importantly, we celebrate the people, the generation of Memphians who refused to accept that things had to stay the way they were. We carry that spirit forward.

Happy 901 Day, Memphis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to note the end of a revered Memphis institution devoted to the education and well-being of my community's children. The Jessie Mahan Child Care Center, the first licensed Black child care center in Memphis, closed its doors for the final time on July 31 after serving generations of children and families for 68 years. The Mahan Center served the Memphis community from the Dixie Homes housing development beginning on November 28, 1958, and relocated to its current facility at 70 North Bellevue in 2007, always providing early childhood education and learning experiences for children aged six weeks to 12 years old. It also served as a training site for future teachers and childcare professionals. Through its partnerships with Memphis City Schools and Head Start, the center played an important role in strengthening early childhood education in our community. Named for lifelong Memphian Jessie Hoyt Mahan, a well-known social worker and child advocate who passed in August of 1957 at the age of 62, it has served as a tribute to her memory as the director of the Information Bureau of the Health and Welfare Planning Council of Memphis and Shelby County and its Family and Child Welfare Division and service at Juvenile Court. I commend the leadership of the Jessie Mahan Child Care Center for its dedication to our community's children.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the substantial public service of my friend Pace Cooper, who is stepping down from the Board of the Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority after 14 years of service.

Pace, the President and CEO of Cooper Hotels, a major hospitality development and management company, has been a pivotal figure in improvements to my city of Memphis. Pace has served as president or chairman of various organizations on both local and international levels. He was chairman of the Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority from 2015 to 2022 and served on the board since 2012. During his leadership, the airport, known as MEM, increased the number of non- stop flights, transformed the passenger experience with a new concourse and positioned the airport for long-term success. As the former Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I have been a staunch supporter of our airport, sending millions of dollars for its improvement, knowing it would be well spent. In addition to his airport activities, Pace has served on the University of Memphis Board of Visitors and serves on the University Foundation Board of Trustees. He is a minority partner in our beloved Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.

A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Business School, Pace has been a national business leader and has been instrumental in transforming iconic hotels around

the country, including in Nashville and Atlanta. He has also served for many years as the president of the Margolin Hebrew Academy and serves as chairman of the Jewish Foundation of Memphis. He had wonderful parents, Irby and Bernice. I wish him and his wife Aileen and their children all the best and thank him for his service.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hegseth said we have spent $37 billion on an unnecessary--he didn't say an ``unnecessary'' war, but it is an unnecessary and failed war in Iran--$37 billion and lost 17 soldiers. He says he is going to ask for another $70 billion to fight this unnecessary and failing war.

We have resolved the fact that we can stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon when Barack Obama was President and negotiated a treaty.

Right now, we don't know if they have moved the enriched uranium outside of the place where it was buried underneath a mountain or not. It is suspected they might have. It is a failed war.

Mr. Speaker, I will be willing to vote for a bill that has $70 billion in it when President Trump pays his share by paying his taxes on the $2.2 billion he earned last year, mostly in crypto, which cost the people that bought crypto a billion dollars. That is what they lost. When Trump pays his share, I will pay my share and vote for it. I won't vote for it otherwise.

President Trump, bring your chips to the table.

Mr. Speaker, my friend, Mr. Wilson, made some remarks about how everybody benefited from the big, beautiful bill.

What he didn't tell you is that President Trump made a deal with himself when he sued the IRS for $1 billion for releasing his tax returns, along with thousands and thousands of other Americans. He settled the case with himself and the man he wants to make Attorney General with a clause, an agreement, that the IRS would not prosecute or even look at his tax returns, his family's tax returns, or any businesses they are involved with.

That means that the $2.2 billion they made this year off of crypto and other questionable companies will be tax free. That means he is stealing from you and me, the American public.

He doesn't want to spend money on his failed war in Iran or his failure with ICE, who are killing Americans every day.

Our country is in trouble. We have a man who is out of control as our President. It scares me tremendously, and it should scare you, as well.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, and Thursday, June 11, 2026, due to a Post Polio medical condition. Had I been present, I would have voted: Nay on Roll Call No. 222, condemning actors seeking to defraud the U.S. Government, and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that government- wide fraud and improper payment prevention reforms will meaningfully improve the financial prosperity of the U.S., and that Federal program eligibility should be verified before payment; Nay on Roll Call No. 221, to amend the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to extend the authorities of title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978: Nay on Roll Call No. 220, Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act; Yea on Roll Call No. 219, Motion to recommit the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act; Nay on Roll Call No. 218, Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act; and Nay on Roll Call No. 217, No Aid for Ghost Students Act.

I would like to further explain my vote on Roll Call No. 221, regarding H.R. 9238, I could not support this bill after President Trump nominated Bill Pulte to be the next Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The law requires the DNI nominee to have extensive background in intelligence and the man the President put forward has none. He has zero experience.

Mr. Speaker, much has been said which I agree with on the Democratic side. This is a fight for supporting a country that is standing up to aggression from Russia; lies from Russia that they weren't going to invade Ukraine when they did it; and people who have killed innocent children, women, and civilians on a regular basis with missile attacks and drone attacks.

We need to stand with democracy, with freedom, and with courage and against authoritarianism and against Putin. I support this resolution, am proud to do it, and thank the Ukrainian people for their sacrifices and their valor.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Stansbury for yielding, and I appreciate her mentioning me in her remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I was the original sponsor of this bill, and I am happy that Mr. Fleischmann, whose district is much closer to it and probably encompasses part of it, accepted the proud sponsorship that has got it to this point.

The Benton MacKaye Trail is a beautiful and long trail. It is the longest trail in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It overlaps the Appalachian Trail at six separate points and passes through three national forests. It would be a good idea for the Federal Government to make this a national trail, and this just sets up the study.

It is good work on Mr. Fleischmann's part to get the study considered. Hopefully, the study will come up with the right answer, which is yes to the trail and take care of it.

North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee all have parts in the trail, and a lot of residents from Chattanooga, Knoxville, Asheville, and Atlanta visit for camping and adventures. I am pleased to be a cosponsor and appreciate that.

Mr. Speaker:

You got to know when to hold 'em

Know when to fold 'em

Know when to walk away

And know when to run

You never count your money

When you're sitting at the table

There'll be time enough for counting

When the dealing's done.

If you recognize those words, which most Americans would, they are the words of ``The Gambler.'' ``The Gambler'' was performed successfully by Kenny Rogers, but it was written by Don Schlitz.

Don Schlitz was 23 years old when he wrote that song. He was one of the greatest songwriters of our time. He passed away last Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 73.

He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and he won two Grammy Awards. He had three Country Music Association Awards for Song of the Year and was ASCAP's Country Songwriter of the Year for 4 consecutive years.

What a career he had.

Among his 25 hits that hit number one were, of course, ``The Gambler'' by Kenny Rogers; ``Forever and Ever, Amen'' by Randy Travis; ``When You Say Nothing At All'' performed by both Keith Whitley, who made a hit out of it, and so did Alison Krauss; ``Forty Hour Week'' by Alabama; ``One Promise Too Late'' by Reba McEntire; ``He Thinks He'll Keep Her'' by Mary Chapin Carpenter, who cowrote the song with Don; ``Strong Enough to Bend'' by Tanya Tucker; and ``On the Other Hand'' by Randy Travis.

He had his first major hit with ``The Gambler'' in 1978. He was 23, and he had come to Nashville after going to Duke for a while. He wanted to be a songwriter, and he came to Nashville with $80 in his pocket. That was the first song he wrote that ever got recorded. Bobby Bare did it first. It didn't sell enough or well, and then finally Kenny Rogers got it, and it has become one of the greatest songs we know in history.

That song would win him both the Song of the Year at the Country Music Awards and the Country Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

He was also a friend of mine. He was a wonderful human being with a big heart. He used to call me his Congressman even though he lived in Nashville, and I was in Memphis.

I was honored by that appellation, and I will take it for the rest of my life as a great honor.

He served at the Room in the Inn helping people who were homeless. He just had a big heart.

He leaves his wife, Stacey, who is a sweetheart; his daughter, Cory; his son, Pete, and a brother and a sister. He leaves behind a great legacy and a great history of country music and songs that move the spirit.

May God bless my friend Don Schlitz.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize my friend Henry Turley and specifically commend his dedication to Rhodes College, which is recognizing its 100th year in Memphis and showcasing Mr. Turley's commitment to its continued excellence.

Henry and his late wife, Lynne, created the Turley Memphis Center for Community Engagement, conceived in 2012 as a hub for the college's community outreach programs and formalized as the Lynne and Henry Turley Center in 2018. They recognized Rhodes' commitment to Memphis and its neighbors and wanted its students to be involved in Memphis and its ongoing progress. Rhodes is now recognized nationally as one of the finest examples of a college committed to its community. The center has also sponsored guest lectures with nationally recognized experts and hosted a series of community events. That work will be celebrated at an April 15th Lawn Party with friends, community partners and alumni.

Henry Turley's remarkable contributions to his community are extraordinary and his work with Rhodes will be remembered for generations. I congratulate my friend for this much-deserved recognition and appreciate his continued support and thoughtfulness.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the pioneering children's cancer researcher Dr. James R. Downing, the President and CEO of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, who is stepping down from twelve years in that role to return to the laboratory. As CEO, he has led a $12.9 billion commitment to accelerate research and treatments of catastrophic pediatric diseases. His own laboratory research has focused on the genetic basis of cancers. As CEO, he was instrumental in creating the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, a genetic sequencing effort to discover why childhood cancers arise, spread and resist treatment.

As the leader of St. Jude, he has been a driving force behind improving survival rates of cancer and other catastrophic diseases internationally by creating a global alliance of over 400 health care institutions assuring children around the world have access to the best and most-advanced therapies and care. Overseeing the management of the St. Jude, Dr. Downing has been recognized for its outstanding workplace culture and for being a forward-thinking workplace for diversity and for women. Dr. Downing has received numerous honors, including election to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as receiving the Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize, the E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize from the American Society of Hematology, and the Pediatric Oncology Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Downing received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan. He joined St. Jude in 1986 after training in anatomic pathology at Washington University in St. Louis and a fellowship in hematopathology at the University of Florida at Gainesville. In 2016, he was named to the Blue Ribbon Panel of then-Vice President Joe Biden's National Cancer Moonshot Initiative. In 2013, he was a finalist for Time magazine's list of the World's Most Influential People. He is a co-author on numerous medical journal articles on childhood cancers and treatment.

While we await the naming of his successor as CEO this summer, I wish Dr. Downing well as he returns to the laboratory at St. Jude and hope that he continues to make significant progress in finding preventions, treatments, and cures for cancer, which will benefit millions of people around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the ``Black January'' killings, one of the most tragic events in Azerbaijan's history.

On the night of January 20, 1990, nearly 26,000 Soviet troops stormed the capital city of Baku, deploying tanks and armored vehicles against the civilian population. Soviet forces crushed innocent Azerbaijanis under heavy machinery and fired without restraint at peaceful demonstrators, including women and children. These brutal actions resulted in the deaths of 147 individuals, injuries to approximately 800 others, the arrest of 841 people, and the disappearance of five.

The Human Rights Watch report ``Black January in Azerbaijan'' states that ``among the most heinous violations of human rights during the Baku incursion were the numerous attacks on medical personnel, ambulances, and even hospitals.'' I offer my thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims and to those who gave their lives to help their fellow citizens.

The United States was one of the first countries to recognize independence and fully established diplomatic relations on February 28, 1992. Today, the United States and Azerbaijan are still strategic allies and share common interests in the region and globally.

As the Co-Chairman of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, I urge my colleagues to recognize the sacrifices of the Azerbaijani people in their steps towards independence and encourage a recommitment to the democratic values for which many Azerbaijanis sacrificed their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Don Bryant, Memphis' ``elder statesman of soul,'' the acclaimed singer and songwriter who passed last month at the age of 83.

Probably best known for co-writing the top-40 hit ``I Can't Stand the Rain,'' with his wife Ann Peebles and Bernard Miller in 1973, Bryant was a staff songwriter at Willie Mitchell's Hi Records label in the 1960s and 1970s with 154 songs to his credit. He later wrote and sang for Fat Possum Records.

Mr. Bryant and Ms. Peebles, a noted singer, married in 1974 and were both inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame (she in 2014 and he in 2019, the same year Steve Cropper and Tina Tuner were inducted). According to his obituary in The New York Times, the song's title came from an offhand remark made by Ms. Peebles as they prepared to go to a concert in a sudden cloudburst. The Beatles' John Lennon said ``I Can't Stand the Rain'' was ``the best song ever'' after hearing Peebles sing it at The Troubadour in Los Angles. Tina Turner later covered the song in on her album ``Private Dancer'' in 1984. Donald Maurice Bryant was born in Memphis in April 1942, the son of a gospel choir leader and, by 10, was singing in church choirs. In the 1960s, he was Hi Records leading singer with The Four Kings, performing on the local WLOK radio station, and released his first solo album, ``Precious Soul,'' in 1969. For decades, he sang mainly in church settings but returned to the studio in 2016 and produced ``Don't Give Up on Love'' with the Bo-Keys for Fat Possum, his first secular album in 48 years. In 2020, they produced ``You Make Me Feel,'' which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Blues category. Mr. Bryant and Ms. Peebles toured the world, with Bryant largely working behind the scenes to advance his wife's work on stage until his late career comeback. Ms. Peebles, who stopped singing after a stroke in 2012, survives him.

I extend my profound condolences to his family, friends, collaborators and his many fans and admirers. The elder statesman of soul sent his unique Memphis sound around the world and will be long remembered.