Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and thank one of the longest-serving members of Team Scalise, a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and a native of Louisiana's 1st Congressional District, Mitchell Shea.

Mitchell first joined Team Scalise as an intern and later moved onto my full-time staff as a Staff Assistant. Over the past ten years, he has been promoted multiple times and is currently serving as my Senior Legislative Assistant.

Throughout his tenure in my office, Mitchell has faithfully served the constituents of Louisiana's 1st Congressional District and has become a trusted advisor to me and an invaluable part of our team. Whether giving tours, meeting with constituents, or working on complex policy issues, Mitchell has approached every aspect of his job with a servant's heart, a strong work ethic, and a positive attitude. While we will feel his absence on our team, I am excited for him as he takes on a new challenge in the Senate and am pleased to welcome him to our esteemed Alumni Club.

I know his parents, Scott and Alicia, are so proud of all he has accomplished. I wish Mitchell the best of luck in this next chapter, and I thank him for his nearly 10 years of dedicated service to Louisiana's 1st Congressional District.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in commending Mitchell Shea and in wishing him continued success in all his future endeavors. He makes Louisiana's 1st District, the United States House of Representatives, and the great state of Louisiana proud.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize a man whose dedication, steadiness, and wisdom have shaped not only my work in this Chamber but the work of this institution itself. I am talking about my chief of staff, Brett Horton.

There are few people who know Capitol Hill more intimately than Brett. For 15 years, he has been by my side. He began as my counsel in 2010 and worked his way through some of the most demanding, consequential roles in the House: policy director at the Republican Study Committee, floor director in the majority whip's office, and for the last decade, my chief of staff in both the whip's office and the leader's office.

To me and to countless Members of Congress and staff, Brett Horton has been far more than a colleague. He has been a trusted adviser, steady in his approach, wise in his counsel, and deliberate in his words and actions.

When the stakes were the highest, Brett's voice was the one you wanted in the room. His fingerprints are on every major Republican policy victory we have achieved in the past decade, but perhaps more importantly, he has been by my side through tough personal and professional challenges that extend far beyond legislating.

In the aftermath of the congressional baseball shooting, an event that shook my family, my staff, and this entire Conference and Congress, Brett's leadership and friendship were unwavering. He helped carry us through one of the most difficult and unprecedented challenges we ever faced.

Mr. Speaker, public service at this level demands trust, character, and unwavering duty for the institution that is this United States Congress. Brett Horton embodies all of these qualities. I am profoundly grateful for his years of service to me personally, to this House, and to our country.

As Brett begins his next chapter, I have no doubt he will continue to serve with the same excellence that has defined his entire career. The United States House of Representatives is a stronger institution because of Brett Horton's distinguished service here.

I wish Brett all the best in his future endeavors, and I thank Brett for his personal friendship and for his service to this great United States of America and this great Congress. Thank you to Brett Horton.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, for not only yielding but bringing this important bill to the floor.

Our appropriators worked tirelessly to negotiate a multi-bill package that

is part of this bill to reopen the government. We never should have been here, Mr. Speaker. Over a month ago, we tried, as Republicans, to prevent a government shutdown. We had a vote here on the House floor. Mr. Speaker, 99 percent of Republicans voted to keep the government open, and 99 percent of Democrats voted to shut it down.

Then that bill went over to the Senate. We watched for 42 days, where time and time again Democrats, just to appease their most radical base, continued to vote in unison to shut the government down.

Mr. Speaker, during that shutdown, we saw millions of families experience pain. They experienced pain and suffering that Democrats themselves acknowledged they imposed on the American people. They said over and over again--and we have quote after quote from Democrats during this shutdown--that they needed to oppose the suffering to get leverage. They wanted to use the American people as pawns to get leverage. Mr. Speaker, for what?

They ultimately filed an alternative bill. It was a $1.5 trillion mad spending spree that included things like $200 billion of taxpayer funding for illegals to get taxpayer benefits, while they gutted the $50 billion rural healthcare fund that we put in place in the working families tax cut.

Mr. Speaker, anybody who comes up here and says they care about healthcare is also advocating to gut the $50 billion rural healthcare fund to provide $200 billion in taxpayer-funded benefits for illegals. It is insanity.

If we want to look at where this all began, as some on the other side, Democrats, want to talk about a healthcare crisis, the healthcare law of the land is what many refer to as ObamaCare. Let's remember the original name that Democrats gave that bill when they created it. They called it the Affordable Care Act. Only Democrats voted for it. Republicans knew it was going to be anything but affordable. It was going to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. Unfortunately, it has done that.

If we want to talk about affordable, maybe the only other bill that is more laughable in its name is the Inflation Reduction Act. That is another product brought to us by Democrat-only votes. The Inflation Reduction Act ushered in the inflation under Joe Biden that we are still trying to shake today.

Mr. Speaker, since the Affordable Care Act started, Americans have seen over 80 percent increases in their healthcare costs because of a bill created by Democrats that they want to now blame on Republicans. I understand why they would want to try to now pawn that off on somebody else.

If we then look over time, during COVID, they created a temporary relief fund, Mr. Speaker, not to individuals but to insurance companies. Democrats called it ``temporary'' in the law. They created a temporary COVID relief tax credit to insurance companies to bail out big insurance companies who were seeing record profits. That is now what they want Republicans to renew.

It is an insurance company bailout that Democrats created to be temporary. They set it up to expire. They are now saying that the world is going to end if that insurance company bailout doesn't get renewed.

At the same time we as Republicans worked to actually lower premiums for families, they fought it every step of the way. That is right. We had a bill we passed through this House just a few months ago in the working families tax credit.

Part of that bill was called the cost share reduction. It was scored by the CBO to lower premiums for families by over 12 percent. What happened? By the way, every Democrat voted against that, too, because they have never cared about lowering premiums.

That bill goes to the Senate. Senate Democrats worked overtime to get that provision removed. If we look at the Senate Committee on the Budget website, they still brag that they removed that provision that would have lowered premiums for families.

Republicans absolutely have worked and will continue, by the way, to work to lower premiums for families. Make no mistake that the high premiums that everybody faces today are a result of the inaptly named Affordable Care Act and the many failures associated with it.

Mr. Speaker, this bill today is about ending the misery Democrats created on families. This is not just about funding the government. It is not just about solving other problems that we should be working to solve. It is about getting the government back open, while not holding the American people hostage.

That is what has disgusted the American people most during this shutdown. It should never have happened. It has caused real suffering for American families. Our men and women in uniform had to wonder whether or not they were going to get paid. Air traffic controllers already had a really stressful job and then had to show up for work without getting paid. They missed multiple paychecks.

We know a lot of those air traffic controllers are going to work jobs as Uber drivers. They aren't able to show up for work because they have bills and rent due. They are trying to put food on their table, and Democrats want to vote ``no'' tonight to keep denying them food.

The 42 million SNAP recipients are people who are low-income and who need those food benefits.

Mr. Speaker, if Democrats vote ``no'' today, then they are voting to deny those 42 million low-income families basic food needs. Mr. Speaker, don't talk about how much you care about low-income people and vote ``no'' tonight to deny them food, basic services, basic things that American families need who shouldn't be part of the leverage Democrats want to show their radical base, that they are fighting Donald Trump because they are upset with the results of the election from November.

It is time to end this madness, Mr. Speaker. Let's get this government back open. Let's go negotiate our differences, which are many, but let's do it while not continuing to hold the American people hostage.

I urge my Democratic colleagues who have voted relentlessly to shut this government down and impose this suffering on the American people to stop. Stop imposing the suffering. Let's open the government, and let's get back to the work of the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, we still have heavy hearts. We are still mourning the loss of our friend, Charlie Kirk, who was such an inspirational leader to millions across this country.

As we have seen since his horrific assassination, he inspired not only people here in America but all around the world, as you see from the outpouring of love.

Charlie was a man who had so much love for other people. He had love for our country.

Charlie talked about why it was so important that we debate our differences, something that shouldn't be a novel issue, Mr. Speaker, something that is part of the foundation of what makes this country great and unique, what separates America from so many other failed examples of government, because we are that experiment in self- governance, in democracy.

Part of that ability to self-govern is that we are going to have disagreements and that we have the ability to express those disagreements with each other, but in a civil way, in a way where it doesn't lead to political violence.

Mr. Speaker, in times like this, we reflect on a lot of things. More than anything, we lean on our faith. Charlie Kirk had tremendous faith.

When I look above the Speaker's rostrum, it says right there in the people's House: ``In God We Trust.'' It is times like this where we really do need to trust in God. God knows the answers. Charlie believed strongly in God. That faith in God is what will get us through tough times like this.

In fact, Charlie talked a number of times about how he would want to be remembered. He talked about how he would want to be remembered for his courage and his faith. What an example he was for faith and for so many young people.

We look at college campuses all across this country right now, and we see mourning. We also see more young people driven to get involved in this process. Since Charlie Kirk's assassination, Turning Point USA has had requests from over 50,000 people to start new chapters on college or high school campuses. This movement Charlie started is just getting started. It will only grow.

His incredibly strong widow, Erika, was just named the head of Turning Point USA. She will continue that legacy. She has vowed to make sure what Charlie stood for, what he represented, and the movement that Charlie Kirk built will endure and it will grow.

It will continue to inspire millions of people to want to get involved in government. They will want to question leadership. Maybe they will question their own views and the things they might have been taught by people in schools, people who had ulterior motives, people who might have been trying to indoctrinate them into some other viewpoints.

They now have the power and the courage to think for themselves. How powerful is that? Mr. Speaker, those are the things that Charlie left behind, and that will endure.

This resolution is so important to remember that legacy. It is important to remember that this was a young man. He was still a young man, but even younger at 18, he was a young student with an idea. He said that what is happening in the schools is wrong. What needs to be taught is something broader. We need to get back to a respect for each other's differences of opinion. That is what drove him to start a movement at such a young age.

Let all young people be inspired by that recognition that the power of ideas still can move a nation. That is what Charlie Kirk reminded all of us.

Mr. Speaker, we will never forget that. We will never forget the legacy of Charlie Kirk. That legacy will live on and only grow stronger. God bless Charlie Kirk.

Mr. Speaker, this week, we say good-bye to a longtime member of my staff, Lauren Fine.

Lauren began her career here on the Hill on the Senate side with Senator Joni Ernst before coming over to the House and joining Team Scalise, where she has worked with me for over the last 8 years.

Lauren started as my press secretary before serving as my communications director for the last 6 years. I know many of you in the press as well as communication staffers all over the Hill have gotten to know Lauren well over these years.

Lauren has been an integral part of my team. No one knows what is happening on the Hill or what the people are saying better than Lauren. To say that she is plugged in would be an understatement.

From helping guide messaging on vital legislation and making sure that the media is getting the real story to amplifying Members' priorities and offering advice to aspiring communicators, I can guarantee that almost all of your comms directors have worked with Lauren at some point in time.

Lauren is the Hill's number one expert in communicating our Republican message to the American people back home, as well as making sure that the people's voice is always heard here in D.C. She has served me as a trusted adviser and a dedicated conservative fighter.

I appreciate all of her hard work over the years for Team Scalise and for the Republican Conference. While we are incredibly sad to see her go, I know that her expertise and drive will make her shine in the next chapter of her life where she will, once again, continue to thrive.

Mr. Speaker, we will miss her here, but I congratulate Lauren Fine and wish her the best of luck in the next chapter of her life.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Chair for yielding and for helping get this process to the floor, despite so many attempts by the Democrats to block this effort to cut waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending. We have seen it over and over and over again.

Every time we have tried to get our economy back on track to put more money in the pockets, by the way, of hardworking families, as we just succeeded in doing with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, every step of the way, the only people trying to block that effort have been Democrats in Washington.

They are getting nervous. They are feeling the heat from people back home, Mr. Speaker, that are angry, saying why did you vote--those waiters and waitresses, who make $32,000 a year, when they keep hearing them talk about billionaires. They are not voting against billionaires. They are voting against waiters and waitresses earning $32,000 a year and cops working the beat who don't want to have to pay overtime taxes. We protected them from that.

Every Democrat voted no, Mr. Speaker. I can understand why they come up here and want to talk about anything other than what we are actually doing to deliver for those families.

It is interesting how they talk about Jeffrey Epstein because for 4 years, Mr. Speaker, President Joe Biden had those files and not a single Democrat that you are hearing tonight tried to get those files released.

The House Republicans are working to do that and, of course, they are in a tizzy, Mr. Speaker, because they are finally being exposed for covering it up for 4 years.

Let them continue to come up and talk about all the deficit spending that they created while they cite and talk about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. If you look at our scorekeeper here in the House, Mr. Speaker, they said it is going to add $4 trillion to the deficit by giving people their money back, along with cutting waste, fraud, and abuse that we did in this bill.

They are citing the same organization that the last time we gave families more of their hard-earned money back, that same group, CBO, said, oh, it is going to add $1.5 trillion to the deficit.

Mr. Speaker, we actually have the numbers now, and CBO was just a little bit off. The same people they cite as Gospel on $4 trillion said that we were going to add $1.5 trillion to the deficit back then. Do you know how much they were off by, Mr. Speaker? The numbers are in. They were off by $1.5 trillion.

They have lost their credibility. The Office of Management and Budget actually came out and said that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would reduce the deficit by $1.4 trillion. They don't want to talk about that because every Democrat voted no. Every Democrat voted against, by the way, reforming and revamping America's air traffic control system, which was in that bill. Every Democrat voted no.

Every American family wants that air traffic control system reformed. They sure want that tax relief. Those small businesses want to be able to get back up on their feet, and they will be able to because House Republicans said we are going to just focus on doing the work of the American people. Anybody that just wants to go root for failure and continue to try to keep inflation high, interest rates high, and vote ``no'' on every bill that puts power back in the pockets of families, let them have to answer for that back home, Mr. Speaker.

We are going to keep working. This bill tonight is part of continuing that trend of getting spending under control. Does it answer all the problems? No. I would say $9 billion is a good start. Hopefully, we do more things like this, but they are going to come up here and talk about everything other than this bill because they are all going to vote ``no.''

I think it is important to know, Mr. Speaker, what they are going to vote ``no'' against. Let's talk about what is in the bill.

They are going to be voting against $6 million that was spent for net zero cities in Mexico, and $8 million for the anti-Israel U.N. Human Rights Council, a group that is anti-Israel. Why should $8 million of American tax dollars that are being borrowed from other countries be going to that organization? How about we actually get spending under control?

$300,000 was to hold a Pride parade in Lesotho. If Lesotho wants to hold a Pride parade, let them do it with their tax dollars, not with American tax dollars.

$1 million was for voter ID in Haiti. This is rich. They are angry that we are cutting that money off, but those same Democrats who are going to vote ``no'' on that will oppose voter ID in America. They are okay with voter ID in Haiti, but they are against it in America.

I will continue.

They keep talking about Sesame Street. $3 million was going to Iraqi Sesame Street. Again, if the people in Iraq want to have Sesame Street on TV, let them go do it. How about if they do it with their own tax dollars, not with American tax dollars? Better yet, they probably can get it put on one of the many options that the private sector would have, just like here in America. We have thousands of private-sector options to watch any kind of show you would want. Anybody in America can watch all of that.

$33,000 was for ``Being LBGTQI in the Caribbean.'' That is what we are cutting, and every Democrat will vote against that cut.

$643,000 was for LGBTQI programs in the Western Balkans. Mr. Speaker, every Democrat is going to vote against that cut and start talking about, oh, my God, the world is going to end, and that we won't even be able to do diplomacy because we are not going to be spending taxpayer dollars to have an LGBTQI program in the Western Balkans. I think our relations with the Western Balkans will be just fine if we save that taxpayer money and try to get spending under control in Washington. They don't want to do it. At least we do.

$5.1 million was to strengthen the resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer global movements. I don't know what those global movements are. I think they can do that without taxpayer money. Then, of course, there was funding drag shows in Ecuador.

The list goes on and on, Mr. Speaker.

Let's finally get control over waste, fraud, and abuse. We started it in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. We are continuing it here, and we are going to continue it through the appropriations process.

If Democrats want to vote ``no,'' that is their prerogative. They have become the party of socialists. Let them vote that way.

We are going to fight for those hardworking families who want to get our great country back on track.

Let's pass this bill, keep moving, and keep working toward a better, stronger America.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for not just yielding but for his leadership in getting us to this point.

Mr. Speaker, we are at the precipice of the new golden age of America. How do we get there? We get there by actually making the right decisions for those hardworking families who have been struggling.

If you listen to the people on the other side, Mr. Speaker, who have over and over again said they are against this bill and all the things that are in this bill for hardworking families, you would think the last 4 years things have been going great for middle America. I don't know what parallel universe they have been living in, Mr. Speaker, but we heard the message that the voters sent who said they are sick and tired of high inflation, of high gas prices, of not being able to fill up their grocery cart because of the spending in Washington, for Washington, at their expense.

What does this bill do? It says that we are finally going to turn that around and deliver a bill that focuses on families in America.

We hear a lot from the other side, Mr. Speaker, about billionaires, tax cuts for billionaires. If you go look at this bill--everybody has had an opportunity to read the bill. They actually read the whole bill on the Senate floor. It only took 14 hours. If you listened, one of the things you would find out, Mr. Speaker, is there are some new tax cuts in this bill, but not for billionaires.

It would beg the question: Why does the other side keep hiding behind billionaires as their excuse to vote no? Because they made a decision, Mr. Speaker, early on, they don't want to give people back their money. They want to keep that power in Washington. That is really what is at stake here. That is the big fight that has been going on for years.

The other side won that fight the last few years by raising taxes, raising spending, growing Washington. While they did that, families in America suffered. Inflation went up for those hardworking families while Washington grew. Interest rates went up to the point where they couldn't even afford to buy a first-time home because Washington grew.

We said that is enough. Washington has to finally start living within Washington's means so that families in America can finally start living the American Dream again. That is what this bill focuses on, Mr. Speaker.

How do we do it? We do it, number one, by locking in rates for everybody. Nobody's taxes go up, Mr. Speaker, nobody's. Now, the other side is upset about that, and I understand it. They don't want just the billionaires' taxes to go up because they know in this bill the income groups that get hit the hardest. If a ``no'' vote prevails--and we have heard them, they are all going to vote ``no,'' Mr. Speaker. But if a ``no'' vote prevails, the income groups that could get hit the hardest are the lower- and middle-income groups of America. They know that. They are watching this vote. You can say billionaires all day long, but do you know what the new tax cuts in this bill are? There are new tax cuts. For the waiter and waitress who are working maybe two, three shifts at a restaurant, at a diner, barely getting by, that is the new tax cut that we are putting in this bill.

You would say, well, then, how could the other side possibly vote against that? Mr. Speaker, they are. Maybe a focus group told them that if they curse enough and if they say ``billionaires'' enough, those families will forget what is actually happening. Those families are not going to forget because they are paying attention.

Do you know what the average pay for a worker in America who makes tip money is under this bill? It is $32,000 a year. That is right. Billionaires aren't even allowed to be eligible for that tax break, but the waitress who is working two or three shifts, barely getting by, making $32,000 a year finally gets a little bit more money.

Yes, every Democrat has bragged over here that they are going to vote against that. They don't want that waitress to get that money back in her pocket. However, we are going to make sure she gets that tax break, Mr. Speaker, because she is struggling. She maybe wants to put together a college fund for her kid. Maybe she wants to take her family on a vacation. She is going to have that opportunity when this bill passes.

Mr. Speaker, do you know who else we are going to give opportunity to in this bill? Sorry, it is not a billionaire again. It is that shift worker working overtime. The other tax cut is going not to billionaires, but to the person who is showing up at the factory, making stuff in America, and paying taxes on the overtime.

However, they are away from their family. They are looking at that check at the end of being away from their family for a few extra hours, trying to make ends meet for their family, and they think: Gee, I have got to give all that extra money back to the government, is it worth being away from my family?

We say, you know what? Yeah, normal tax rates apply on everything else, but if you work overtime, you are not going to pay taxes on that overtime. This is somebody making $60,000 a year, not the billionaire. If you say ``billionaire'' enough, maybe that shift worker won't know what you are doing, but Mr. Speaker, they do know. They do know what is about to happen because everybody is watching this vote. That is a good thing because that shift worker deserves the extra money back.

It might not seem like a lot to somebody who deals with billions and trillions of dollars up here in Washington and grows agencies by 20 to 30 percent every couple of years and just thinks if you double the size of an agency over 5 years, somebody is going to pay for that. Do you know who is paying for it? That hardworking family is paying for it.

We clean up waste, fraud, and abuse. It has been mocked by the other side. They think it is cool to mock what we are doing to finally root out waste, fraud, and abuse. Let the other party, Mr. Speaker, be the defender of waste, fraud, and abuse in Washington, but we are cleaning it up in this bill.

USDA has pointed out that there is about $10 billion a year in waste just in the SNAP program because of fraud and improper payments. These payments are not going to children that you hear about on the floor, and not all these other people. It is going to improper payments, to fraud, $10 billion a year.

However, Mr. Speaker, when you hear about the billionaires and you say, well, how could anybody vote against this bill? Think about what a ``no'' vote means. I am proud of the ``yes'' vote that we are about to pass to help those families. Mr. Speaker, everybody who votes ``no,'' make no mistake about it, everybody who votes ``no'' is going to be asked a question by that waitress making $32,000 a year saying: Why do you want me to pay more money on my tips so that $10 billion of fraud goes out in the SNAP program? You are voting against cleaning it up, and you voted against no tax on tips. That is the ``no'' vote.

You can't hide behind the billionaire anymore. You are going to have to face the reality, Mr. Speaker, that this bill actually delivers for the working families of this country who have been struggling. They haven't been living on easy street the last 4 years.

They went to the polls in November and said: We want to try a different approach. This is that different approach, to give them more power, to give them more opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, do you know who we are giving opportunity to in this bill? Again, if you are going to vote ``no,'' this is what the ``no'' vote will take away. We actually create something unique in this bill. It hasn't been talked about yet, but it is in the bill. I am really proud of it. We create opportunity in school choice for every--not billionaire--low-income family. Every low-income family in America will be eligible for a scholarship so that their kid can go to the school of their choice if they are in a failing school.

Now, if you vote ``no,'' Mr. Speaker, how do you tell that family that their kid doesn't have the same opportunity which they deserve that every other kid in America can have?

If somebody can afford it, they can go to a private school. If that low-income family can't afford it, we are finally giving them a lifeline in this bill, Mr. Speaker, and saying you can have the same opportunity. A ``no'' vote says you don't think that parent deserves the same opportunity, and then you hide behind billionaires.

There is going to be no hiding, Mr. Speaker. We all know when this board lights up what the consequences are.

Why do we say there is going to be a golden era in this country? We are securing our border in this bill, too. We are opening up American energy in this bill, everywhere from the North Slope of Alaska to, yes, the Gulf of America, where President Biden had shut down American energy.

He green-lighted Russia's Nord Stream pipeline so Russia could produce their energy, funding billions of dollars to go fund their war against Ukraine, but in America, we were shut down. We open it up in this bill, Mr. Speaker.

American workers get to produce American energy, not just for America. It is going to lower the price at the pump. Again, if you are a middle-income family--the billionaire doesn't care what the cost of gasoline is. Do you know who does? That waitress making $32,000 a year cares. When she saves that tip money, maybe she can go on a trip, get in her car and drive and afford the gasoline now because we will be producing more.

We actually have lease sales in this bill. For once, we can produce energy in America. We have great natural resources. We just had them shut down for 4 years by an administration that said no to American energy. They said yes to other countries' energy. Iran was able to sell their oil on world markets thanks to the previous administration. That party is over.

When America starts producing more energy, not only does it help lower the price for families here in America, not only does it create great jobs here in America, but all the bad guys around the world-- Russia, Iran, Venezuela, you name your country--they are not going to have a cartel-like exclusive license on global energy anymore because America is going to be back in the game.

Let's get this country back in the game. Let's get this country back on track. Let's actually promote opportunity and the American Dream again for anybody who wants it. Do you want to work? There is going to be more opportunity than you have ever had before.

If you are disabled on Medicaid, right now you have been crowded out of those programs by people turning down work. Able-bodied people, 35- year-olds sitting at home playing video games are going to have to now go get a job. That is right. By the way, that is a good thing for them. Their mom doesn't want them sitting in the basement playing video games anyway. Now it no longer will be crowding out Medicaid for the truly needy people who deserve it. The disabled people will not be getting crowded out of those programs by people who can actually go get a job, and there are going to be a lot of great jobs, Mr. Speaker, a lot of great jobs in this country. America is coming back.

You can vote ``no'' all day long, and you can hide behind billionaires all day long, but we are going to keep moving forward because this country doesn't sit down in the fetal position.

America is ready for a rebirth, and we are going to deliver it. President Trump is at the helm now. It is a new day. World leaders know it. The bad guys around the world know it. Those hardworking families who have been waiting for this relief for a long, long time are finally going to realize help is on the way because of Republicans in Congress. Any Democrats that want to join, Mr. Speaker, are free to, but they are bragging that they don't want to be a part of this.

Do you know what? The hardworking families of America are hungry for this kind of change. Take power away from Washington, give it back to the people, and watch what happens. Great things are ahead for this country. We are the greatest country in the history of the world. We are finally going to restore that great American Dream and that hope for those families who have been waiting way too long. That help is coming.

We are going to pass this bill. President Trump is going to sign it. It is going to be a great Fourth of July. Let's pass the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Kentucky for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, a little over a week ago, America witnessed a horrific act of political violence that goes against everything the United States stands for.

On June 14, a deranged murderer disguised himself as a police officer to gain entry into the home of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman. He shot the senator and his wife, Yvette, a combined total of 17 times as Yvette shielded her daughter, Hope, who then called 911.

Thankfully, Yvette Hoffman has been released from the hospital while John remains in serious but stable condition. He remains in our prayers.

The killer, still disguised as a law enforcement officer, then stopped at the homes of two other Minnesota lawmakers, one whom was fortunately not home, and the other who was perhaps saved by a timely law enforcement intervention.

He later arrived at the home of Minnesota State House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and assassinated her and her husband, Mark Hortman.

Law enforcement then led a 2-day manhunt before capturing the killer and finding a list of more than 45 lawmakers and potential targets.

As someone who has experienced political violence firsthand, this brings back a lot of emotions. The man who shot me on the ball field that day also had a list of lawmakers. I am grateful for the actions of the brave law enforcement officers who ran toward the danger and saved lives on the ball field that day and saved no doubt many lives in Minnesota on that day just a few days ago.

This was a methodically planned attack on the people's right to be governed by their duly-elected Representatives and should be universally condemned, Mr. Speaker.

America's differences must be resolved through debate and democracy, not through violence.

The resolution we are voting on today denounces these disturbing and anti-American attacks and mourns the tragic loss of Melissa and Mark Hortman.

H. Res. 519, introduced by the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Morrison), unequivocally condemns the horrific attacks on Minnesota lawmakers and their families in Brooklyn Park and Champlin, Minnesota, and calls for the rejection of political violence in Minnesota and throughout the United States.

Political violence will never have a place in America. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle must unite to reject political violence in all forms across the country.

Melissa Hortman was a dedicated public servant, and we join Minnesota and the Nation in honoring her life and the life of her husband, Mark. We also pray for the speedy recovery of John and Yvette Hoffman and for peace and unity in the face of tragedy and division.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, our conference chair (Mrs. McClain) for managing this time on this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, a lot of people come up here, and they talk about trying to get America's fiscal house in order. They talk about the idea of getting back to balanced Federal budgets. I don't know many people here who are against it.

I know later in this Congress when we put a bill on the floor to require a balanced Federal budget, there will be many Democrats, Mr. Speaker, who will vote ``no'' on that because when it comes time to actually put your votes on the board to back up the principles that most Americans relish, they walk away. They won't be there when it actually matters.

Everybody can talk about cutting wasteful spending, even if you don't necessarily agree that it is wasteful spending. However, what we are bringing today is wasteful spending, even if you think it might not be as bad as some other things you don't agree with. We all have to agree, Mr. Speaker, that as we just saw a few weeks ago, Moody's downgraded the credit rating of the United States.

It wasn't a recommendation, Mr. Speaker. It wasn't a warning that if you folks don't get your fiscal house in order this might happen. They actually did it. They downgraded the credit rating of the United States because spending has to get under control. The party over there that spent the last 4 years under President Biden spending like drunken sailors, in all due respect to drunken sailors because they don't spend this bad, but the trillions of dollars of debt that were racked up had consequences, Mr. Speaker.

It had consequences not only in terms of our national debt, but it affected the pocketbooks of families all across America because that bloated spending in Washington, which is money we don't have, by the way; and it increased inflation to the point where people couldn't even go to the grocery store to fill up their carts. They couldn't afford to go to the gas station to fill up their cars. They couldn't afford to take out a loan to buy a house because interest rates had gotten so high that today we are spending more money servicing our interest than we are on America's national debt.

These are all real, dramatic facts that concern most Americans. They say: Thank goodness Congress is finally bringing a bill to the floor to start cutting some spending that aren't priorities.

You can call it wasteful if you want. Call it whatever you want, but these aren't things that we can afford to spend, even if you agree with them, because it is not money we have in the bank. It is all borrowed money, Mr. Speaker.

Where did we start? The White House laid out a number of things, but they looked at that USAID program. They didn't gut the whole thing, but they said there are a number of things that are being done that just don't represent the values of the United States and are being done in foreign countries while we don't have our fiscal house in order here in America, so how about we start there.

I know the Democrats on the other side are acting like, oh, my God, the world is going to stop spinning on its axis if this spending goes away, so why don't we talk about some of the spending that will go away.

Mr. Speaker, again, it is borrowed money, not money we just took out of the bank. It is money we borrowed from countries like China to spend that is a debt to our kids.

To each one of these I list, Mr. Speaker, you should ask: If you vote ``yes,'' you are finally relieving that debt burden, but if you vote ``no,'' you think it is okay to send this bill to our kids. We are not paying for it today, Mr. Speaker, but our kids would if we keep doing it.

If the other side votes no, they want to keep borrowing money from our children to spend a million dollars on voter ID in Haiti. This is the same party that doesn't want voter ID in America, calls it racist, wants to fund voter ID in Haiti. They want to spend $6 million for net- zero cities in Mexico. I know some of their best supporters are waving a Mexican flag in an American city right now, and they support those efforts. Most Americans don't support those efforts, Mr. Speaker. They want to spend $3 million for ``Iraqi Sesame Street.'' The minority leader held up a ``Sesame Street'' character here on the floor as if ``Sesame Street'' is somehow going to go away.

I was just watching a commercial on TV yesterday where the Cookie Monster was actually doing an advertisement for Netflix because a private company is paying money to run ``Sesame Street.'' It is not going away. It is doing just fine. It is very lucrative.

What will go away is some of the far-left radical views that are being espoused. By the way, when this goes away at NPR, you can still turn on about six or seven other channels and get the same far-left radical views, but they are all going to be private companies, Mr. Speaker, not taxpayer-funded entities.

If somebody wants to pay money to go on one of their services that they stream or get over-the-top or however they get their digital content, they can still do that. There are a lot of options. There has never been more options.

Some people joke that they buy their services for their cable or whatever else they get and that there are 200 channels, but they might only watch 4 or 5 of them. There is still going to be a plethora of options for the American people, but if they are paying their hard- earned dollars to go get content, why should your tax dollars go to only one thing that the other side wants to promote?

Let everybody compete on a fair basis. They can still watch ``Sesame Street'' in Iraq, but let the Iraqi people pay for it, not the taxpayers of the United States of America's children. Today's taxpayers aren't paying for it because it is all borrowed money.

They want to spend $2.1 million for climate resilience in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and East Africa; $500,000 for electric buses in Rwanda. Rwanda is more than free to go buy all the electric buses they want or diesel buses. Why should the taxpayers of America be borrowing money from our children to buy electric buses for Rwanda?

They want to spend $33,000 for ``Being LGBTQI in the Caribbean.'' It is taxpayer money that a ``no'' vote today says is more important than strengthening a program like Social Security. I say not.

Also included is $643,000 for LGBTQI+ programs in the Western Balkans. This is borrowed money.

Mr. Speaker, there is $567,000 for LGBTQI+ programs in Uganda and $5.1 million to strengthen the ``resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, and queer global movements.'' I am not sure what that global movement is. They can continue that movement in some other way, but just not with the taxpayer dollars of the United States of America's children.

Again, there is no bank account that $5.1 million came out of. It is all borrowed money that a ``no'' vote says is more important than strengthening Social Security.

There is $135 million in contributions to the World Health Organization, which we all saw during COVID was the mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party. I would imagine if we stop this $135 million funding, the CCP may pick it up because they were regurgitating their talking points during COVID.

At some point, Mr. Speaker, the question we have all got to answer is: Number one, do you believe in fiscal responsibility? Maybe some people have other priorities than these they would like to defund. If you think these are all things that are worth borrowing money from our children to fund, then that is what the ``no'' vote represents.

If you think it is time we start somewhere, and here is the place to finally start--not to finish, just the beginning--getting control over spending and respecting those families who are working hard, who are working two shifts at the diner to pay taxes on tips that will soon go away if our One Big Beautiful Bill Act passes, or somebody who is working overtime because you want to send your kid to college and you find out this is where your taxpayer dollars are going and you are disgusted and say, when will somebody do something about it, then today is the day to do something about it.

Talk is cheap. Put the action on the floor. Let's finally get control over

spending in a small way. Start a bigger picture toward a balanced budget. It starts here.

Vote ``yes,'' to get this done, and let's keep moving forward to strengthen this great country. I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, this week, we say good-bye to a longtime member of Team Scalise, Michael Comer.

Before joining Team Scalise, Michael began his Hill career working with the Education and Workforce Committee.

Michael has been a valuable member of my team for the past 7 years, starting as my digital director before moving up to deputy communications director.

From taking incredible videos and photos and designing eye-catching graphics to teaching other Hill staffers how they can best produce great content for Members of Congress, Michael's inspiring creativity and work ethic have been a major contribution not only to my team but to the entire Republican Conference as a whole.

As every Republican on Capitol Hill knows, Mr. Speaker, if you have a question on how to use digital media equipment or just create something that stands out, then you ask Michael Comer.

Many Members on the floor here today have taken pictures of his slides during Conference or asked for a graphic or a video he put together. He is an expert at conveying an important message in an interesting, creative, and attention-grabbing way.

I appreciate everything he has done for my team and the House Republican Conference. I know his experience and expertise will be a major asset in his next chapter.

Mr. Speaker, I wish Michael Comer well, and I congratulate him.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Missouri for his leadership and getting us to this point. So many other chairmen will talk about that, too.

I rise in strong support, Mr. Speaker, of this one big, beautiful bill, this bill that is going to deliver on so many promises that the American people asked us to do for them.

We have elections in this country, and we had an election that had a lot of crystal-clear messages sent in November. We had a contrast, maybe one of the sharpest contrasts between two candidates for President.

If you read this bill, Mr. Speaker, and maybe some of my friends on the other side haven't read it by some of the comments they have made, because you would think it is 2017 all over again when you listen to the things that they said. They have said the same things they are saying tonight that they said in 2017, none of which turned out to be reality.

They had an opportunity to make their case for raising taxes on the American people. In fact, their candidate for President was for a lot of the same things they are for tonight: Letting the Trump tax cuts expire to punish those middle-class and low-income workers who benefited the most from those tax cuts. They benefited tremendously.

President Trump said that he was going to lock those tax rates in, not giving all these tax breaks the minority is talking about to millionaires and billionaires but, in fact, to help the working families of this country who are struggling.

They struggled after 4 years of the last administration. The weight of the failures of their policies raised inflation, raised interest rates, made homeownership unachievable, and made the ability to fill their own grocery carts unachievable. President Trump said he would reverse it.

How else did he say he was going to reverse it? President Trump said that we were going to produce more American energy.

Now, the other side of the aisle has been very clear for years with an all-out assault on American energy. They have carried it out. They have voted for it. They campaigned on it, and the voters rejected that false premise, that failed approach.

Now, maybe they are upset that the voters said: We want to produce more energy in America. However, Mr. Speaker, President Trump was crystal clear: If you elect us, elect President Trump, elect a Republican House and Senate, then we will deliver for you. We will open up more American energy from ANWAR in Alaska to the Gulf of America. That is what he campaigned on. Maybe they are upset that he is actually delivering on those promises and that this bill delivers on those promises.

It is a promise that will lower prices at the pump. When you go to the gas station, Mr. Speaker, you will be able to fill up your car. So that is in this bill.

It also creates more jobs. Now, there are some people, clearly, who don't like that. It is not just my friends on the other side of the aisle who don't want to produce more American energy.

Do you know who else doesn't want those provisions in this bill, Mr. Speaker? It is countries like Russia and countries like Iran who have been making billions of dollars a month selling their energy on world markets because of the failed Biden policies, the policies that allowed them to enrich their countries and use that money for evil to fund the war in Ukraine and to fund wars on terror around the world.

Terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis were funded by the billions of dollars a month that those countries got from selling their oil on world markets because America was shut down.

America will be shut down no more when this one big, beautiful bill is passed into law because we will be able to produce our own energy here in America.

My friend Chairman Smith worked incredibly hard to make sure that this

bill delivers for the whole country to get economic growth again.

You will see an American renaissance, a golden age in this country that we haven't seen in generations. Why would people vote against that? Who knows.

The press talks about the other side being a party in disarray, and maybe we are seeing it on display right now. When they are vocally opposed to these kinds of policies that will get the country back on track, why do they say tax cuts for the millionaires and the billionaires when they know it is not true?

I will tell you why, Mr. Speaker, because not only do they know that is not the case, but they know who benefits the most from this bill.

One of the great new provisions of this bill that President Trump campaigned on and that Chairman Smith made sure to deliver on was no tax on tips. Now, the last time I checked, Elon Musk does not get paid in tips. Do you know who does? A lot of hardworking people across this country.

Any restaurant you go to, Mr. Speaker, talk to the waiters and waitresses. Ask them about their hopes and dreams, ask them about their families, and what they would do with just a little bit more money in their paycheck. Do you know, Mr. Speaker, that big provision that every Democrat is going to vote against, the average tip worker makes $32,000 a year, and every Democrat will vote ``no'' on that benefit while they hide behind the lie of the millionaires and the billionaires. They know that is not the case.

They also know if they are going to vote against every hardworking waiter and waitress who averages $32,000 a year--how do they get away with it? They have to create some fake boogeyman that they can point to and say, gee whiz, look at the billionaire over there.

Class warfare, dividing Americans, is their way to try to get more power in Washington. How about we give people in America more power? Take it away from Washington and empower the people in this country who have been struggling for too long.

If you want to live the American Dream, it can still exist. For a lot of people, they thought it was going away. President Trump ran and said that he will renew that promise, but it only happens if Congress delivers.

The other side will vote against it, every single one of them in lockstep, and they will root against the success of this bill. Then, if it were to fail, they would just go, look at that, the country is still in demise, because they were against it every step of the way.

We saw this play out, by the way, in the state of the Union just a few months ago, right here in this Chamber, and America watched in shock. They want to see us come together. Can we at least come together on things we agree on?

There stood President Trump, right at that podium, Mr. Speaker. He talked about so many of the great things of this country--not partisan things, things that we used to all celebrate.

Mr. Speaker, President Trump pointed over there to the balcony where not only was the Presidential family seated, but they also had some special guests. He pointed to a 13-year-old boy who had just beaten cancer.

You want to talk about something that can unite the whole country, that can bring us all together to say that, yes, we might disagree on issues big and small--that happens; that is America--but we can all celebrate a 13-year-old boy who just beat cancer, Mr. Speaker.

What happened when he said that? We rose up and applauded, as we all should have. What else happened? The other side sat there, sat down grumpy, angry. I don't know why. I would not say it was because he beat cancer, but it was just because President Trump happened to point out that he beat cancer.

We should not root for or against a person like that based on what President Trump says he is for just because the talking points of the party went out that said be against anything President Trump is for. That is not a party platform.

This country wants direction. President Trump ran on a direction, and their party did, too. It wasn't like it wasn't laid out in the campaign. President Trump said that he would secure America's border. That actually was the number one issue all across the country.

I got to go around to a lot of parts of this country. You hear from a lot of different people. You see what their hopes and dreams are. You will also see from them, and they will tell you, what they want to see us come together to address. It didn't matter what part of the country you went to. They all said, for goodness' sake, can we secure America's border?

Millions of people were coming in illegally, many of them really bad people, gang members, violent people who were harming Americans. We saw it over and over again.

Laken Riley was murdered. By the way, the first bill President Trump signed into law was the Laken Riley Act to say that if you come here and harm an American citizen, you are gone, deported.

This bill allows for the deportation of violent criminals who come here illegally and harm American citizens. We should all support that. The other side doesn't. They will fly to Venezuela and El Salvador, Mr. Speaker, to try to get out of prison a gang member who beats his wife.

This bill allows President Trump to continue securing America's border. He has done phenomenal work on his own through executive action protecting America, but he needs money to build the wall. He needs money to let our Border Patrol agents have the ability to compete with the drug cartels of Mexico.

It is embarrassing that today the drug cartels of Mexico have better technology than America's Border Patrol agents. We said we are not going to allow that to happen again like the other side did. We are going to do something about it. We are going to give them those tools, night vision goggles, drones, other things so that they can actually do the job that they came here to do.

They put their lives on the line to keep us safe. The least we can do is allow them to have the ability to be safe themselves, to go home at night to their families while keeping our country safe. It is in this bill. We deliver on that promise and so many others.

We are making America competitive again in our military so that we can finally confront the threat that China poses militarily. We all talk about it and know what it means, but are we going to talk about it or do something about it?

President Trump wants to do something about it. This Republican majority wants to do something about it. In this bill, we deliver on that promise. Everybody who votes no is saying no to that.

Again, the minority can hide behind the millionaires and billionaires, but they are voting against strengthening America's military. That is in the bill. They are sure not talking about it on the other side, Mr. Speaker. We haven't heard them talking about it because they are about to vote against that. Let's be honest about it.

Mr. Speaker, when you think about those benefits, you also have to recognize what a ``no'' vote means today. We have two buttons. You can press ``yes'' or press ``no.'' If you vote ``no,'' you are voting against American energy, securing America's border, and helping those middle-class families. Mr. Speaker, you can run all the numbers. It would be a 22 percent tax increase on low- and middle-income families.

We are not talking about the millionaires and billionaires. We are talking about a family making $70,000 a year combined who is struggling to get by and would like to make a little bit more investment, maybe in their kids' education, and might want to take a family vacation. This bill gives them the opportunity to do it.

It also gives every small business in America the opportunity to make investments in America again. The 199A provision is locked in permanently so there is no uncertainty so we can grow more jobs in America. That is a good thing. It is a good thing for a lot of us here. That is what a ``yes'' vote gets.

A ``no'' vote tells every small business in America that they will be at a competitive disadvantage with the big corporations. You hear them rallying, Mr. Speaker, against the fat cats and the big corporations. Yet, if they vote ``no''--these are the facts--the big corporations, the global companies, get a

21 percent rate, and your local small business would end up with a 43 percent rate, more than double.

Your local small businesses would be noncompetitive with the big corporations. We said that is not fair. We want to allow our small businesses to compete on a global stage with the big national corporations, and we do that in this bill. A ``no'' vote doesn't do that.

Yes, we root out waste, fraud, and abuse, Mr. Speaker, waste, fraud, and abuse so that vital programs in America actually work better for the people who deserve them. Why would somebody come up here and defend hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse in Washington? There are hardworking families who are struggling and barely able to get by and pay their taxes. They are infuriated when they find out some of the waste that is going on up here. They are saying: When is somebody going to finally do something about the fraud so that I feel comfortable that if I am funding my government, it is going to go to help the people who deserve it and not some 35-year-old kid, who is fully able-bodied, who is sitting in his mom's basement playing video games, getting over $40,000 in taxpayer-funded benefits, while they are working two jobs, while the waiter/waitress averaging $32,000 a year is struggling to get by. We help them. That is who we are helping, those families who are struggling. We will get this economy moving again.

You can vote ``yes'' or you can vote ``no.'' I wish everybody would vote ``yes.'' A ``yes'' vote gets America's economy moving again. It allows President Trump to continue fighting for the hardworking families who elected him. All across this country, every swing State, the majority of the American population wants this kind of relief.

Republicans are going to keep moving forward, Mr. Speaker, and are going to deliver for those families who deserve this help, who want to see America come back. They know America can come back. They know America has been held back for the last 4 years. The same people who have been telling us that President Biden's health was just fine are now telling us all these other things about millionaires and billionaires.

We are going to get this right. This bill finally starts to right the ship of state. We all should come together and do that, Mr. Speaker. We have got so many great people who have worked so hard to get to this point, and we are still at the early stages. Let's send this bill over to the Senate, and give them an opportunity to have their say as well.

Ultimately, let's go deliver. Let's go deliver for that single mom who is working the night shift at a diner right now, who is going to have more money in her pocket because of this bill, who is maybe going to be able to send her kid to college because of this bill.

We are going to deliver for those families. You can say ``yes'' or ``no.'' America is absolutely watching. America went to the polls in November and said: We want this relief, and we are calling on Congress to provide this relief.

Republicans ran and said: We will do something about it, and we will fix it. We are actually following through, Mr. Speaker, on that promise made to the American people. President Trump is leading the way. President Trump is going to turn this country around, and this bill gives him the tools to do just that.

I urge everybody to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, this week, we say good-bye to a longtime member of my staff and also a long-known face here on the floor of the House, Ben Napier.

Ben started his career on the Rules Committee, and he has been a part of Team Scalise for nearly a decade. Starting as floor assistant and working his way all the way up to the position he serves today: floor director of the House of Representatives for the last 6 years.

Nobody knows the ins and outs of floor procedure better than Ben, and he is a trusted presence and a familiar face on the floor to all Members. Ben has had a hand in every piece of legislation that has crossed the floor in the last 9 years and has shepherded nearly every House Republican through the process of getting bills to the floor.

Ben has been an integral part in setting and carrying out the House agenda during our time in the majority and has overseen major legislative wins, touching everything from tax reform to energy policy to crypto modernization.

Ben has been a trusted adviser and a critical team player. His departure will be felt by everyone on Capitol Hill, but I know he will excel in his next chapter.

I thank Ben for his years of dedicated service to the Capitol family.

Thank you and congratulations, Ben.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear friend from the great State of Texas, the chairman of the House Committee on the Budget, for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and in moving this process forward. Let's keep in mind that we worked incredibly hard, especially here in the House, for months to negotiate all the details of what needs to happen in this budget reconciliation. It is all laid out in this House budget.

We also need to get started with the reconciliation process.

The process is where eleven of our committees in the House will go to work to start making improvements in so many areas to get America back on track. Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, that is why we all come here. We come here to solve big problems.

We deal with small issues, too. It is not often, but every now and then we deal with a big issue that can actually improve the lives of families all across this country. We can solve problems that have been going unanswered for years and decades. Mr. Speaker, we can address that in this resolution.

Let's go through some of the things that this resolution allows us to do because this resolution doesn't do any of those things, it just opens the door to start that reconciliation process.

The product front and center that most people talk about and that is a big piece, but surely not the only piece, is to make sure that Americans don't face a massive tax increase.

Mr. Speaker, if we listen to our friends on the other side of the aisle, they brag that they want these tax rates to go up. They want the 2017 tax cuts we passed with President Trump to expire. They don't mince any words about that. In fact, it was even talked about during the campaign.

The voters surely had a say on what they wanted when President Trump said he wanted to keep tax rates low on hardworking families and his opponent said she wanted those cuts to expire so those tax rates would go up on those hardworking families.

The hardworking families of America said where they wanted to go. In fact, the majority of all Americans said they don't want their taxes to go up.

Think about which tax rates will go up. On the other side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues love to talk about class warfare as if that is something Americans should celebrate. I think it is insulting to any American who believes in the promise of the American Dream to try to insult and separate our country based on how much money they make.

Whatever a person makes today, the greatest thing about America, the greatest country in the history of the world, is that whatever someone is today, however much they make today, wherever they came from today, they can be anything they want to be if they work hard, play by the rules, and follow their dreams, whatever that dream is, even if that person wants to be a billionaire

Mr. Speaker, frankly, talk to most billionaires. They didn't start off chasing wealth because that is not what gets them there. They chased the idea of something bigger than themselves. It usually involves bringing a lot of other people along with them. It involves creating a lot of wealth for a lot of other people along the way, too.

I guess the people on the other side of the aisle want to crush that ability. Mr. Speaker, go to Marxist countries, which is the utopia of some of the people on the left. Those Marxist countries don't have any billionaires to beat up on because they don't allow anyone to have that opportunity. They tell people what they can do, how much they can make, what kind of job they can have, and what their potential is. That is not America, and that never should be America.

Mr. Speaker, Americans can be whatever they want to be because of what is great about this country. If a person happens to get success, however it is defined--and it doesn't even have to be financial--if someone gets success, why should the government want to punish them for achieving it?

Again, there are great examples all over the world of how failed that approach is and every one of those countries has experimented with that, and it has been a dismal failure. I don't see any of the people, that want to change America to that, going to those other countries, because those other countries are so failed.

Let's start with that. Look at the individual income tax rates. We want to keep them where they are. We would like to make them lower, but we surely don't want them to go up as the other side of the aisle wants to do.

If these tax cuts are allowed to expire, which a ``no'' vote today would ensure, if the tax rates expire, it is not millionaires and the billionaires they keep talking about; it is 95 percent of all families in America who would see their taxes go up.

Unless a person makes $70,000 a year and thinks they are a billionaire, their taxes are going to go up. If they make $50,000 a year, their taxes will go up. The alternative minimum tax comes back. A lot of people don't know what that is because we got rid of it in 2017. Every member of the Democratic Party voted ``no'' because they didn't want those taxes to go away, but, luckily, we got the votes without them and passed it.

For the middle class of this country, that was a kick to the gut. We got rid of that. That would come back 100 percent, and all of those people in the middle class would see a massive tax hike.

Think about small businesses. People love to come here and talk about small businesses. We should do everything we can to help the creation of more small businesses and to help the growth of our existing small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, what happens if there is a ``no'' vote on this resolution?

There is a tax provision called 199A. Very few people might be able to explain it if they were asked to explain it.

Let me tell you what it is. 199A, that would expire if we keep going with this resolution, is the equalizer for small businesses to be able to compete on the same level playing field as a large business, a massive, multinational corporation.

The massive, multinational corporations already have their tax rates set at 21 percent. Think of the small business down the street, the mom-and-pop store, the business that is hiring three people, that is allowing that person to maybe be the next billionaire. They are not there today, but they might want to get there. If 199A goes away, all of a sudden that small business and every small business in America goes from paying a 21 percent equivalent to almost 43 percent.

Mr. Speaker, the small businesses will get crushed because they won't be able to compete with the big, multinational corporations.

I don't know why the Democrats who oppose this resolution want multinational corporations to get a two-times advantage over every small business in America, but that is what a ``no'' vote means.

The Democrats can hide behind billionaires all day long. The billionaires will benefit from that. We want to allow those small businesses to keep thriving. Yes, maybe some of them will become billionaires, and I am not going to attack them if they do. We ought to celebrate it if they do.

Some of them actually don't make it. A lot of them won't make it if this resolution fails, Mr. Speaker. We protect that as well so they can have their shot at the American Dream; so the single mom who has maybe never had a family that was able to afford their own house can go own their own business and one day buy their own house, maybe get a nice car, and maybe get the nice things in life. They don't have that opportunity if this resolution fails. That is what is at stake.

We do a lot of other things that we will open up the door to go do in reconciliation by passing this resolution. We secure America's border. Now, again, this was a major issue on the campaign, and I know the folks on the other side want an open border. Thank God President Trump won and followed through on his promise to secure the border. We now have a 95-percent reduction in illegal crossings at our border. However, that doesn't solve the problem, Mr. Speaker.

President Trump wants to continue to give our Border Patrol agents the tools they need to do their job effectively. Why the previous administration denied them these tools we can all debate, but the voters of this country made a decision in November. They said: We don't want our Border Patrol agents to be at a disadvantage with the drug cartels in Mexico, which they are.

Drug cartels have better technology today than America's Border Patrol agents. That is a disgrace. Mr. Speaker, you can see drones, and you can see night vision goggles not with our Border Patrol agents. Do you know who has got them? It is the Mexican drug cartels. Our Border Patrol agents who risk their lives to keep our families safe don't have that same ability. Shame on anybody who wants to deny

them that ability to have at minimum the same technology, if not more and better, than the drug cartels. We give them that better technology in this resolution.

We also do something, Mr. Speaker, that we used to all agree on in this Chamber, and now, unfortunately, it has become a partisan issue. We still believe in strengthening America's defense. Believe it or not, the bad guys are still out there. There are not necessarily more of them, but it is the same people who have been bad for generations, and if we sit back and stay complacent and don't keep up, go look at China's military right now, how much they are advancing their naval fleet that we are not.

We can look at all the other countries, Iran and Russia, those countries still intend bad things on our friends, but one day they want to have those bad things apply to us too, Mr. Speaker.

How do we stop it? It is by having a strong national defense. We bolster our national defense in this resolution.

Why does President Trump call it one big, beautiful bill? It is because it does a lot of critically important things all in one resolution that helps get this country back on a strong footing.

What else it does is it produces incredibly needed savings, Mr. Speaker, savings that the American taxpayers want, as well. They want their tax dollars being spent better. They want to see this Congress find a way to get back to balanced Federal budgets.

Why don't we all work together to do that? We are here working together to do that. Unfortunately, the other side of the aisle doesn't want to achieve that. They want to vote against any attempt to save money. They criticize DOGE when they identify hundreds of billions of dollars of tax dollars being wasted in foreign countries and here on American soil wasted.

People who work two and three jobs and are working their tails off to help provide for their family are incensed when they hear about this waste.

They say: When is somebody going to do something about it? President Trump said: I am going to do something about it. He actually campaigned about that too, Mr. Speaker. He said what he would do, and he is doing it. There should be a parade applauding a President who actually ran on saying I am going to do things and then he is actually following through on the promises.

The other side can still be upset that they lost the election, and they will keep losing elections as long as they stay in denial about what this country wants, but this country, the American people, 77 million of them, went to the polls and said: These are the things we want our President to do, and their President whom they voted for is doing those things. He needs help from this Congress to continue to follow through on that.

That is what passing this resolution today does. It starts that process. There will be more time to debate every one of these items I talked about, and the people who are against all the things I laid out can still talk about why they are against them. They can make up fake bogeymen: Oh, it is the billionaires, it is this, it is that the disabled people are going to lose benefits.

Do you know what we do, Mr. Speaker? We strengthen benefits for people that are truly needed, Mr. Speaker, because so many of these programs that once used to be so great and talked about and lofty have been abused.

How many illegals are here, people who are here in this country illegally, are on some of these programs that are going bust? Yes, they are going bankrupt. Those aren't my numbers, Mr. Speaker. You can go look at Biden's own actuaries on those programs. Biden's actuaries said that those programs are going bankrupt, and the other side just wants to demagogue and say: Leave them alone; leave them be.

To let them go bankrupt would be irresponsible. We can make them work better for the people who are actually here in America who pay into those programs and who have earned those programs or who had something bad happen in their life where they have to be on one of those programs, instead of people who are stealing from those programs. As far as the waste, fraud, and abuse alone, government agencies have given reports on $60 billion a year in waste just in Medicaid, and they want that waste to continue on the other side.

That is what a ``no'' gets us. It is allowing the $60 billion a year in waste in Medicaid and fraud in Medicaid to continue. That is the theft of hardworking taxpayers' money. That is taking healthcare away from the disabled who need it.

Let's actually get back to having these programs work for the people who funded them, who paid into them, who deserve to be on them, and who need to be on them. That is what we do with this resolution.

Let the other side keep demagoguing and keep making up stories, false stories, and personality fights with a person they don't like who won an election and they are still angry about that result.

They should look in the mirror, and maybe one day they will say: Why? Why did all those people, 77 million of them, go to the polls and say: We want President Trump to be in the White House to go do those things he said he would do?

He is doing them. Let's help him do it. Everybody should be supporting this. Whoever is not can still try to be roadblocks. We are going to keep moving forward, Mr. Speaker, because the future direction of this country demands it. The people in this country demand that we keep moving forward and fixing the problems that are holding them back and holding more greatness for this country back.

Mr. Speaker, I urge everybody to vote ``no,'' but anybody who doesn't want to vote ``no'' needs to understand what they are blocking and understand what they are voting ``no'' on.

The rest of us are going to keep going to work for those hardworking people who are tired of struggling, Mr. Speaker. They are tired of waiting for the right kind of things to happen in Washington. We can finally make those right things happen. We do it by voting for this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I urge approval of the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, for his leadership in helping negotiate a really important bill to keep the government funded.

As has been duly noted along the way, over this past year, roughly 6 months in this House, the last majority in the last Congress passed over 70 percent of the government funding bills, Mr. Speaker. We passed them to the Senate. Back then, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats were in charge, and they chose not to pass a single House appropriations bill, not one.

The House under Republican majority, not always with help from the other side but we still got it done on our own, passed over 70 percent of the government funding bills. Eventually it got to a point where we had to let the Senate try to get something done which, unfortunately, they didn't. Then we got to the verge of a shutdown. We said we are not going to let that happen, and we had a short-term funding bill.

Here we are again on the eve of another potential shutdown, and this Republican majority said we are not going to let that happen. In fact, this Republican President Donald Trump said we are not going to let that happen either. It would be irresponsible to have a government shutdown.

Maybe it is because Donald Trump said he is for it that then the Democrat leadership decided they were going to be against it. When did they decide they were going to be against this bill? They decided this before the bill was even written. Before it was filed, they came out against it and started saying things that were in the bill when it wasn't even written, Mr. Speaker.

You heard them talking about cuts to Medicare, cuts to veterans. The bill wasn't even written, and they were already making up stories to try to figure out how to vote ``no'' and shut the government down. That is sadly where this Democratic Party has gotten.

The Democratic Party of today is a leaderless, rudderless ship. They don't have an agenda. You saw it at the State of the Union, Mr. Speaker, when you saw President Trump--not only laying out his agenda-- that 77 million people, a majority of Americans, went to the polls to elect. That is the mandate that President Trump got, not just with the majority of Americans and a majority of the electoral college but all seven--seven out of seven swing States all voted for President Trump because they wanted that agenda implemented.

You know what irritates the Democrats the most? What irritates them the most is the fact that President Trump is following through on the promises that he made, actually doing the things he said he would do.

He is securing the border. That was the number one issue all across this country. No matter which State you went to, people wanted a secure border. He is following through on it, and yet the Democratic Party is criticizing him for doing that part of his job.

Rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in government is something that should be bipartisan. In fact, it used to be bipartisan to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, but now, because Donald Trump is doing it, the Democratic Party of today up here in Washington is so consumed with hatred that they oppose even rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse that has been not only highlighted up here but people around the country are talking about getting rid of that waste once they have seen it.

A lot of this was a veil that was pulled down where people couldn't even find out what was going on because the payment systems were being hidden by the Biden administration. We couldn't even find out about a lot of that spending that we were anecdotally hearing about, but finally you saw it on full display. It was so embarrassing that some of those employees have left.

Fortunately, a lot of that taxpayer money that was being wasted is now being saved, and the money is being recouped so that we can shore up programs that work vitally for people.

The President talked about Social Security, a program that we help protect. When you have got somebody that is listed as 300 years old in the Social Security system, that shows you the kind of fraud and abuse that is going on. President Trump is willing to confront that and take it on so that people who actually paid into the program their whole lives can get the benefits they deserve.

That is what people elected President Trump and this majority on the Republican side to do. You would think Democrats would want to join in and help accomplish that, and yet here they are on this floor talking about things that aren't even in the bill, trying to scare people. They are talking about cuts to veterans in the bill, and maybe it is because they just didn't read the bill. It is only 99 pages long. I would urge them to go read it. They might actually vote for this bill in the next hour because they will realize, in fact, the cuts that they are talking about are not true. They are not in the bill.

There is an increase for veterans in this bill. You know what else is in this bill, Mr. Speaker? I again applaud the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and his members for negotiating something that has been needed for a long time, and that is the largest pay raise for our junior enlisted military personnel in over 40 years. Now, if somebody doesn't think our men and women in uniform deserve that pay raise, maybe they will vote ``no.'' I am proud to say I am going to be voting ``yes'' to support our men and women in uniform who have been waiting for that raise and deserve it. How can you justify a ``no'' vote on that, Mr. Speaker? That is actually in the bill.

As they talk all day about what is not in the bill because they were against it before it was even written, if they actually read this bill, again only 99 pages, it is a pretty quick read, you would find out that that pay raise for our troops is in the bill. Stronger funding for our veterans is in the bill.

Why are they voting ``no,'' you would ask? It is just because the name of the President is Donald Trump.

I think the people of this country are fed up with that kind of hatred that consumes people here in Washington.

Again, when you watch the State of the Union Address, and the President is not even talking about his agenda, he is introducing and paying tribute to a 13-year-old boy who just beat cancer, they couldn't even stand up and applaud that on their side because of the person who said it? If the hatred is so consuming that you can't even support what is great about America, maybe you need to reevaluate what is important in doing these jobs.

We are elected to represent the people, and if the President, no matter who he is or she is, has a great idea, you support it.

There were a lot of things about Barack Obama's policies I disagreed with, Mr. Speaker, yet, when he said something that was good for America at a State of the Union Address, I stood up. We actually worked with the President. The chairman was part of that, Chairman Cole, in passing the 21st Century Cures Act, the last bill that Barack Obama signed to help put more funding in the NIH so we could cure major diseases. We protect those gains in this bill.

If they are advocating to vote ``no,'' they are advocating for a government shutdown. It is a binary choice. It is not like there is a plan B behind door number two, Mr. Speaker. If the plan is to vote ``no,'' what you are really saying is you want to shut down the government.

We all get to bring a guest to the State of the Union, and they get to sit up in the balcony. You have the First Lady and the President's guests up there. Again, there was the 13-year-old boy who beat cancer who was a guest. The widow of a slain police officer was in the balcony, and Democrats would not even applaud and pay tribute to her. They were there. Everybody else got to bring a guest.

Most Democrats bragged that they were bringing Federal workers as their guests. You saw a lot of them holding rallies in front of Federal offices with Federal employees, some of whom hadn't shown up for work in 3 years since COVID, but they found their way to the office not to work but to protest. Democrats are about to vote to furlough all of those Federal workers. Why? Not because of what is in the bill. They have been telling you stories that aren't even true about what is in the bill. They don't like it because of the name of the President of the United States.

Aren't we bigger than that? Aren't we a better country than that, Mr. Speaker?

This is our responsibility to get this job done and then turn the page and go to work. This is the business, frankly, of the Biden administration that we are cleaning up, and we all ought to join together and finish that and then come together and start a real appropriations process where we move not just 70 percent of the bills in the House and zero in the Senate.

Senator Thune, to his credit as the new majority leader, has vowed to actually work on a true appropriations process so we are not working at the midnight hour on CRs but where we can actually have a fully functioning appropriations process, something we haven't seen in this town in a long time.

We have to first take care of yesterday's business before we can start on tomorrow's appropriations process. It is critical that we get this job done, not to vote to lay off and furlough all the Federal workers and the TSA agents. You won't even be able to go to the airport or your favorite Federal park if they got their way.

Let's actually get our work done so we can start a 12-bill appropriations process that moves through the Senate too where you can actually have a negotiation between two sides of the aisle, again, something we haven't seen in a long time but is long past due.

It is a new day in America, and I applaud President Trump. This morning we had Vice President JD Vance come and talk about the importance of passing this bill because they want to fix the problems of this Nation. They want to fulfill the promises that were made during the campaign and follow through on the mandate that was given to President Trump, Vice President Vance, and this Republican majority in the House and Senate by 77 million people to turn this country around.

Let's get back to being the greatest country in the history of the world. We can do it. We can come together and solve big problems. We solve big problems by first taking care of the basics of government and that is to keep the government open.

Let's pass this CR. Let's see a big vote to do it, too. I welcome both sides of the aisle. My friends on the other side, they can criticize a bill they have never read that wasn't even filed, but once they look at this bill, I think you might even see some of them vote ``yes,'' as well.

Let's get our work done, and let's move on to the next challenges that the American people expect us to deliver for them.