Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, the skullduggery of the Speaker of the House was on display today. He has no real interest in helping Israel. He has interest in scoring political points with Donald Trump. He used Israel to do that today, and he did it a month ago.

A month ago or so, he said he would support aid to Israel if it was set off with $13 million or $14 million in cuts to the IRS, which would have only benefited the wealthiest tax cheats in our country. To condition aid to Israel on helping out rich tax cheats is despicable, and the skullduggery today was to separate Israel from Ukraine, a country similar to Israel that is being invaded by Russia to try to deny its territorial integrity and to commit a genocide, just as Hamas has tried to commit a genocide in Israel.

I support Israel. I also support helping with humanitarian aid the people in Gaza who have been hurt, injured, or killed. I also support helping Ukraine for having Russia do the same thing. I also support Taiwan.

I do not support the Speaker. He is a man without good faith.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I am pleased to join you because this is such an important topic and a topic that I have been talking about for a long time.

The income inequality in our country has grown and grown, and the tax cuts of Donald Trump, which I voted against, contributed to it greatly--tax cuts that gave the wealthy much more money, corporations and individuals, and did not help the poor and didn't really help the middle class much.

My district is in Memphis, Shelby County and Tipton County, just north of Memphis. Because of that, I am no stranger to high levels of poverty and inequality.

According to the 2023 Poverty Fact Sheet by the University of Memphis, 21.4 percent of Memphians live in poverty. The overall poverty rate for Black and Latino Memphians is almost double that of White and Caucasian residents; roughly 27 percent for Black and Latino residents, compared to 10 percent of Whites.

The child poverty rate is 32.7, a number that has been declining in recent years due to the child tax credits, but still far too high, and we don't know how much the child tax credits will be available to people this coming year.

In 2022, the child poverty rate in African-American and Latino communities was three times that of White families, 30 percent to 10. What hope does that give young African-American and Latino children?

The root causes of poverty often come down to access and opportunity. Childhood poverty is directly related to the financial status of the children's parents.

Many young adults in Memphis have parents and grandparents who are prohibited from buying houses in certain areas, redlining, which is still a practice in Memphis, and has been highlighted recently when one of the banks in Memphis was charged with such and pled guilty to such, I believe. That has restricted access to home loans and mortgage protections, as well.

Because of redlining, many families did not have the opportunity to buy desirable houses. These policies were legal until 1968, so it is not ancient history.

The impact of redlining continues as many families were unable to build generational wealth.

Now, poor families need access to services like citywide internet, subsidized childcare, and supportive mortgage rates.

And we tried to do some of those things, but unfortunately, it has not been a bipartisan effort. It has mostly been an effort by Democrats.

Tennessee is nationally ranked as a low-tax State, but that is not the case for the poorest families. The taxes are regressive. It is a sales tax-dependent State that taxes the poor in the most regressive manner.

The poorest 20 percent of Tennessee residents pay a significantly higher percentage of their income in State and local taxes than any other group in the State.

Low-income families are paying high amounts of taxes, while at the same time receiving lower levels of access to services and opportunities for economic mobility. Tennessee remains one of the 10 remaining States that have not expanded Medicaid. That is truly sorrowful and immoral.

If Tennessee were to expand, as 40 other States and the District of Columbia have, lower earning workers would have access to affordable healthcare, and their families would worry less about the impacts of seeking treatment for an illness.

A billion-plus dollars a year have been turned down by our State legislature because they don't care about taking care of the poor.

Matthew 25 talks about healing. I saw people that were naked, and I clothed them. I saw people that were hungry, and I fed them. I saw people who were sick, and I healed them.

Some people say they live by the Bible. If you want to know where my politics are just look to the Bible. Well, some of those people who speak it the most don't know Matthew 25.

Measures combating childhood poverty and closing the income/wealth gap among diverse groups are vital in my district, enough to make more progress on the issue.

I will continue advocating for the child tax credit, which Ms. DeLauro has championed, encouraging Tennessee to expand Medicaid, seeking additional funds for education and job training, and supporting other policies to help those in need.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. DeSaulnier for having the moral courage and the will to bring this Special Order to the people that are watching. It is an important issue, and it pains me to see our country becoming more and more divided.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained for parts of the day on September 14, 2023 and October 26, 2023. On September 14th, had I been present, I would have voted: Nay on Roll Call No. 391, H.R. 1435--Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act, and Yea on Roll Call No. 390, H.R. 1435--Motion to Recommit.

On October 26th, had I been present, I would have voted Nay on the following bills: Roll Call No. 558, H.R. 4394--Energy and Water Appropriations Final Passage; Roll Call No. 556, H.R. 4394--Rosendale of Montana Part B Amendment No. 60; Roll Call No. 555, H.R. 4394-- Rosendale of Montana Part B Amendment No. 59; Roll Call No. 554, H.R. 4394--Rosendale of Montana Part B Amendment No. 58; Roll Call No. 553, H.R. 4394--Pfluger of Texas Part B Amendment No. 57; Roll Call No. 552, H.R. 4394--Pfluger of Texas Part B Amendment No. 56; Roll Call No. 551, H.R. 4394--Norman of South Carolina Part B Amendment No. 51; Roll Call No. 550, H.R. 4394--Norman of South Carolina Part B Amendment No. 50; Roll Call No. 549, H.R. 4394--Norman of South Carolina Part B Amendment No. 50; Roll Call No. 548, H.R. 4394--Norman of South Carolina Part B Amendment No. 47; Roll Call No. 547, H.R. 4394--Luna of Florida Part B Amendment No. 43; and Yea on Roll Call No. 557, H.R. 4394--Motion to Recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I was quarantining after testing positive for COVID-19 and was unable to vote on March 27-29, 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted Nay on the following bills:

Roll Call No. 165--H. RES. 260;

Roll Call No. 166--H. RES. 260;

Roll Call 167--Boebert of Colorado Part B Amendment No. 2;

Roll Call 168--Hern of Oklahoma Part B Amendment No. 5;

Roll Call No. 169--Jackson of Texas Part B Amendment No. 7;

Roll Call No. 170--Molinaro of New York Part B Amendment No. 9;

Roll Call No. 171--Palmer of Alabama Part B Amendment No. 10;

Roll Call No. 172--Perry of Pennsylvania Part B Amendment No. 11; and

Roll Call No. 173--Perry of Pennsylvania Part B Amendment No. 12.

I would have voted Yea on the following bills:

Roll Call No. 163--H.R. 1154; and

Roll Call No. 164--H.R. 1107.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the courage, fortitude, and the sheer patriotism of E. Jean Carroll.

Mr. Speaker, you may have heard something about her involvement in a recent court case which followed another court case in which Ms. Carroll received a very favorable judgment by a jury of her fellow citizens who heard and weighed all the evidence, free of political ads.

Here we shall not name the defendant because we are talking about an American hero, an immovable force, and an inspiration for all Americans.

We should be heartened that Ms. Carroll, at terrible personal cost, did not shrink from taking on the most powerful person in the world--it is not Taylor Swift but the other guy--to bring him to justice and hold him accountable for his terrible deeds. Ms. Carroll did not waiver even as the minions of her abuser attacked her in the most vile and despicable ways.

E. Jean Carroll exudes a steady grace and determination. The juries saw her, and they saw her truth. As she summed it up, her case is a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down.

I hope all Americans will find a glimmer of hope that we may be the country we must be to survive and that no one, no matter how powerful, is above the law.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for scheduling this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, I am almost without the ability to speak because of the horrors that have occurred on October 7 with the killing of people and the taking of 240 hostages, 110 believed to be alive and still in captivity by Hamas, is unthinkable.

Unthinkable to normal human beings, but thinkable to Hamas whose purpose in their charter and statements that they have made as recently as a week ago from leaders is to erase Israel from the map and to kill all Jews.

The war is horrific, and I have many people who I represent who have been supporters of mine for years who are upset that I have not called for a cease-fire. I share with them grief at looking at the rubble in Gaza and the people killed. The children that have been killed. The children that have lost their limbs. The children who will never recover from this trauma, but as Bret Stephens said so well in The New York Times this past week: Every single death is the result of Hamas because they broke the cease-fire on October 7. This is the fifth time they have gone to war on Israel and they continue to have the same purpose--to eradicate Israel and to kill all Jews. That is Israel's neighbor.

Bob Dylan one time wrote a song called ``Neighborhood Bully,'' Israel, but Bob said you would be a bully too if those were your neighbors. That is what they have got right now.

Mr. Speaker, Noa Argamani was put on a motorcycle and taken out of Israel. She reached up and said, ``Please, don't kill me.'' She is still there.

Mr. Polin, who Representative Schneider talked about, lost his arm. Who knows what condition he is in now if he is alive?

There are efforts to get the children, the elderly, and the women released with a 6-week or 2-month cease-fire that the United States has participated in, and President Biden is largely responsible for, working with Qatar and Egypt. Hopefully, they will be successful. They should also include the injured, and they should also include the

people who have been killed so they can be reunited with their families and buried.

These are horrific conditions, unfortunately, that are transpiring.

I think it was President Trump who first started referring to the people who tried to take this Chamber, who came in here saying, ``Hang Mike Pence,'' ``Hang Nancy Pelosi,'' and take Members of this Congress as hostages or beat them. One of our Members in particular has also referred to those who have gone to prison, criminals, as hostages. It is a disgrace to these people whose pictures are behind me who are hostages. Those people aren't, and anybody who says it should be ashamed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the 34th anniversary of the ``Black January'' killings in Azerbaijan.

January 20, 2024, marks the 34th anniversary of the military invasion and vicious massacre of civilians in the city of Baku, Azerbaijan by the forces of the Soviet Army on January 20, 1990. On the night of January 20, 1990, approximately 26,000 Soviet troops stormed Azerbaijan's capital city in tanks and armored vehicles. The Soviet military bulldozed and open fired on innocent Azerbaijanis and peaceful protestors, including women and children. The attack resulted in 147 people killed, around 800 injured, 841 arrested, and 5 missing. I offer my thoughts and prayers to the families of those who gave their lives for the independence of Azerbaijan.

Despite these merciless acts, the Azerbaijani people continued to fight for their freedom and became independent in 1991. The United States was one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's independence and fully established diplomatic relations on February 28, 1992. As the co-chairman of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, I recognize the sacrifices of the Azerbaijani people in their steps toward a free-market economy and encourage a recommitment to the democratic values for which many Azerbaijanis sacrificed their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay my deep respects to Robert Bonner Norcross, a Memphis architect known for his designs of many Memphis landmarks, who died from complications of Early Onset Alzheimer's on December 27 at the age of 62. A native of Tyronza, Arkansas, and a graduate of Marked Tree High School and Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas, Mr. Norcross became a principal in the architecture firm Looney Rick Kiss and led projects that transformed the city of Memphis and nearby communities for three decades. He was licensed in seven states and perhaps best known for his work on AutoZone Park, named the Minor League Ballpark of the Year in 2009 by Baseball America, and the FedEx Forum, home of the NBA Grizzlies and the University of Memphis Tigers. He had a hand in South City, the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital expansion, Soulsville Charter School and Multipurpose Building, Central Station, many homes in Harbor Town, the University of Memphis Men's Basketball Training Center, AutoZone's headquarters and the FedEx World Technology Center in Collierville. In 2020, he won the prestigious Francis Gassner Award from the American Institute of Architects-- Memphis Chapter. Active in his Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church and its Vestry St. Columba outreach ministry in West Tennessee, Mr. Norcross was also a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Memphis, Leadership Memphis, the Memphis Leadership Academy of Arkansas, Dean's Circle at Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, and was a founding committee member of the Regional Memphis Design Center. I attended his service at Grace-St. Luke's on Saturday which was packed to the walls. I read the eulogy written by his children and will never look at butterflies again in the same way. I express my sincere condolences to his wife of 37 years, Jill, and their children Phoebe and Brandt, his colleagues and his many friends. He led a good life, but he left us too soon.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, and Rutgers-Camden Chancellor Antinio B. Tillis, for their commitment to creating opportunities for Memphis students in my district, which is Mr. Tillis' former hometown. Tillis, a 1983 graduate of Central High School, Vanderbilt University and later a Fulbright Scholar, has dedicated Rutgers-Camden to what he calls the Memphis Pipeline Project. The original Rutgers was founded in 1766 at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and is routinely considered one of the nation's premiere national universities. The ``pipeline'' has brought 13 Memphis high school students to Rutgers-Camden in the past year and Tillis is focused on bringing more from the city's Hamilton and Westwood High Schools. Just the existence of the pipeline opportunity has inspired students who might not have considered going to college at all, a side benefit of the project, I want to thank Chancellor Tillis, his dedicated staff, and the counselors at Memphis high schools inspired to realize the ambitions of their students, and wish them all every success.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend DHL Supply Side, a leader in logistics, which has had its warehouse facility in Memphis recognized as a Global Lighthouse by the Geneva, Switzerland based World Economic Forum. The Global Lighthouse Network is a prestigious community of 153 manufacturing facilities and value chains that are implementing Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to increase operational performance and environmental sustainability. Twenty-one facilities were given the designation this year, and DHL Supply Chain is the first ever contract logistics company to have a warehouse receive the award, and the only facility in the U.S. this year. The site has integrated robots, analytics and a flexible staffing solution to reduce overtime by 50 percent, and shipment cycle time by 57 percent, while increasing capacity by 290 percent, DHL Supply Chain has 54,000 employees in the United States, including more than 2,500 in Tennessee's 9th Congressional District. I commend the DHL Supply Chain operation in Memphis for this prestigious, international recognition by the World Economic Forum and appreciate its leadership in the logistics and delivery industry.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to note the passing of Antonio ``Tony'' Bologna, a distinguished and internationally known architect who transformed the City of Memphis with the sheer magnitude of his efforts. Mr. Bologna arrived in Memphis in 1964 after receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees from Tulane in his native hometown, New Orleans. An early job was the design of the city's Memphis Light, Gas and Water Department headquarters on South Main. Soon realizing that his real calling was the renovation of historic, often abandoned buildings, through his Bologna and Associates company, he worked on the Cotton Exchange Building, the Shrine Building, 88 Union Center, the United American Bank building, historic Beale Street including Handy Park, the Paperworks Apartments, St. Peter Catholic Church, Brinkley Plaza, the elephant house at the Memphis Zoo, Elvis Presley Plaza, Memphis Businessmen's Club Building, Fogelman Downtown Y.M.C.A., Old Daisy Theater, Gaston Community Center, Christopher Columbus Park, New Daisy Theater, One South Main Street, 378-384 South Main Street, and Perkins Garden Apartments, among others. As chairman of the Memphis Development Foundation, he worked to ensure that the Orpheum Theater was not torn down and that it was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. In 1986, he was the Technical Advisol to the Mayor & the Committee for the Lighting of the iconic Hernando Desoto Bridge, and was instrumental in getting the bridge lit.

In 1988, he completed an eight-year term on the International Relations Committee of the American Institute of Architects in Washington, D.C. During this term, he represented the Institute as liaison to the Federation of Pan American Architects (FPAA). In addition, he served as the Deputy Council Member of the Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), whose headquarters are in Paris, France. He served two years as Managing Director of the ``Programme for Continuing Education'' of UIA. In these roles, he participated in international congresses and assemblies, including meetings in Egypt, England, Ireland, Brazil, the Netherlands, Russia, Estonia and Poland. He also represented UIA at a UNESCO Symposium in Paris on architectural education.

After his retirement from his architectural practice in 1988, he joined the Henry Turley Company and worked on the planning, development and construction of two mixed-use planned communities--Harbor Town and the South Bluffs, both overlooking the Mississippi River, and both essential anchors for the establishment of a strong Downtown.

In 1991, he completed a six-year term as Chairman of the Memphis and Shelby County Building Code Advisory Board and remained a current member of the Board until the past few years. During this period, he successfully managed the debate and adoption of the city and county's first seismic building code. From 2004 through 2006 he served again as Chairman of the Building Code Advisory Board.

In 2001, he received a ``Downtown Pioneer'' Award from the Memphis Downtowner Magazine for his involvement in downtown's transformation. In 2004, he received the Memphis Center City Commission's Vision Award. In 2022, he received a duck footprint on the Duck Walk Hall of Fame outside the Peabody Hotel. In 2023, a bridge in Harbor Town was dedicated to him by the community.

Tony's reach in Memphis was deep and impactful and he was as admired an individual as there has been in Memphis. He was a straight shooter and had a big heart and stellar mind. Accordingly, he was highly respected. He could have stayed in the Big Easy. Memphis is lucky he came up the river because Memphis is not easy.

I wish to express my sincere condolences and appreciation to Mr. Bologna's wife of 64 years, Deanna Theresa Jambrone Bologna; their children Greg Bologna, Anthony Bologna, and Donna Bologna McCraw; their seven grandchildren; and his many friends, colleagues and partners through the years. Mr. Bologna lived a rich and consequential life and the City of Memphis itself reflects his legacy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay profound respect to Elmore Nickleberry, one of the last two surviving 1968 Memphis Sanitation worker strikers, who passed on Saturday, December 30, 2023, at 92 years old. Mr. Nickleberry and 1,300 other sanitation workers led the wildcat strike after two of their colleagues were crushed in a garbage truck compactor and their nearly unbearable working conditions shocked the nation. Their story so inspired the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., then planning his Poor People's March on Washington, that he joined their cause and was ultimately assassinated on a Memphis motel balcony on April 4 of that year. The efforts of the strikers, with their iconic ``I AM A MAN'' placards, and of people of good will in Memphis, led to remarkable progress in race relations and labor equity, and forever changed my city for the better. The strike and its aftermath were a defining moment for Memphis and for the country. Mr. Nickleberry stayed on in the city's sanitation department until his retirement three years ago, attending a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the strike in 2018. He and the sanitation workers were inducted into the U.S. Department of Labor's Labor Hall of Fame in 2011. His remarkable legacy will be studied as an important milestone in our nation's history.

Mr. Speaker, I did not vote on Monday, December 11, 2023 because I was invited to the White House Hanukkah Recognition event, which I felt was important to attend given the rise in antisemitism. Out of respect for the Jewish holiday and, particularly for Jewish Members of Congress, I believe that votes should have been postponed, just as they were for the White House Holiday Ball last week. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows:

NAY on Roll Call No. 708, H.R. 5378;

YEA on Roll Call No. 707, H.R. 3224; and

YEA on Roll Call No. 709, H.R. 6503.

I also want to include in the Record the following letter to Speaker Johnson, which explains my decision in more detail:

Dear Speaker Johnson: I write to urge you to postpone votes

this evening given that President Biden and Dr. Biden are

hosting a Hanukkah Reception at the White House at 6:00 p.m.

On Monday, December 4, the White House hosted a Holiday Ball

for Members of Congress at 6:00 p.m. I know several Members

appreciated that December 4 votes were postponed as early as

Friday, December 1, to allow Members the opportunity to

attend the ball without missing votes. Given that the

Hannukah Reception was planned within the same time

parameters as the Holiday Ball and that there are votes

planned today on December 11, I was hopeful that votes would

also be postponed until December 12 to give Members an

opportunity to celebrate Hannukah, especially given current

events. While my office, in addition to several other Member

offices, reached out to request that votes be postponed, I

understand that your office plans to continue with votes

tonight as scheduled. I find this incredibly disappointing. I

would expect that the Jewish Members of our body be given the

same consideration and deference as our other colleagues.

With that in mind, I respectfully urge that votes be

postponed. However, given the horrific October 7 massacre and

our minds in the war continually in Gaza against Hamas is

more important than any Hanukkah that we meet with our

constituents and reassure them that we will stand with Israel

as a priority, for its existence is in danger. I appreciate

your prompt response to this urgent matter.

Madam Speaker, it has been said that everything has been said, but not everybody has said it. Everything really has been said. I have heard such great oratory from such passionate, patriotic speakers. What is clear is we have a duty as the leader of democracy in the world to support our friends and to fight for democracy in Ukraine where they are defending democracy and keeping us from having to go in. If Putin wins and gets into a NATO country, saving our soldiers' blood and lives--and that will happen. In Israel, where a similar foe, Hamas like Russia, knows no limits, is threatening the existence of Israel.

I know the Speaker believes that we should support Israel. When he was first elected, he went to the podium and said we will support Israel, but later he said we will only support Israel if we cut $15 billion from the IRS and the budget, which would lose us $85 billion overall. That is fiscally foolish and morally wrong.

Israel should be supported unconditionally and so should Ukraine--two valiant countries whose existence has been threatened. These are existential fights for Israel and for Ukraine. What happened in Bucha right after the war started before the Ukrainians were able to repel the Russians was similar to what happened on October 7 in Israel-- murders, rapes, crime.

If we allow Russia to win, which we will if we don't support Ukraine, there will be ten times the devastation of what happened on October 7 in Israel to happen to the women and the children of Ukraine because Russians have showed they have no respect for women, morality, or mankind.

Madam Speaker, I urge Speaker Johnson to put these bills on the floor to support Ukraine, to support Israel, to support Taiwan, to support democracy, and to support human relief in Gaza for people who have been innocent victims. Please put these bills on the floor and let us do what America needs to do.

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

Mr. Speaker, according to a 2022 lifestyle survey of servicemembers and veterans, financial issues were the top lifestyle stressor, and unfortunately, bankruptcy sometimes is the best answer for those in financial distress.

Under current law, National Guard members and reservists who serve on Active Duty are, like other active servicemembers, exempt from the Bankruptcy Code means test which determines whether a debtor's income is too high to have all of his or her debts erased in bankruptcy. This critical protection for National Guard members and reservists has to be extended every 4 years, and this is the time to do it.

Unless otherwise exempted, these servicemembers and veterans must complete the required forms and submit the specified paperwork to satisfy the Bankruptcy Code's means test.

This burdensome requirement would even apply to National Guard and reservists who have returned to the United States from active service and thus no longer receive combat pay.

Under the means test, such servicemember must calculate his or her income based on the average monthly income that he or she received during the 6-month period preceding the filing date of the bankruptcy case, rather than the debtor's actual income, which may be less because of the debtor's noncombat status.

Without this exemption, some servicemembers and veterans may be prevented from seeking the financial relief that they need and deserve. We should not deny the reservists and the National Guard these benefits.

This extension is an immediate concern. The bill would extend for 4 years the temporary authorization exempting certain qualifying reserve component members of the Armed Services and National Guard members from this means test.

I am proud to have led the effort to exempt the National Guard and reservists from the means test in 2008 and the extensions of this successful program in 2015 and 2019. If we do not act today, this critical protection for National Guard members and reservists will expire in a matter of weeks.

I hope we can act on a bipartisan basis, as we have always done, to extend the authority.

I thank my cosponsors Representatives Ben Cline, Madeleine Dean, Tim Burchett, and leaders of the companion effort in the Senate, Senators Durbin and Graham.

This is truly a bipartisan, bicameral effort.

I thank Chairman Jordan, who moved this bill through the Judiciary Committee and advocated for its quick

consideration on the floor, and I all urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, sometimes people think we don't work together, but in the military we do work together. I am proud to support this, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a voice vote on this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.