Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the ASCEND Act. The bill would codify the successful Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition pilot program.

The data acquired from the pilot project was shown to complement Earth observations from NASA's fleet of satellites and instruments. NASA has continued these activities as the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition Pilot Program.

This bill also allows us to acquire commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery from vendors. The bill also includes provisions to support data publication, transparency, and reports to Congress, and to ensure the widest possible use of the data procured under the program consistent with program goals.

This bill supports both science and our commercial remote sensing industry, such as companies in my home Commonwealth of Virginia, by augmenting scientific research with additional sources of data and leveraging commercial capabilities.

I thank the bill's sponsors for their work on the ASCEND Act and encourage my colleagues to support this legislation, as well.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Mr. Hurd and Ms. Bonamici, for their work on this legislation. It is a great bill. I am a cosponsor myself. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 2600, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Small Business Artificial Intelligence Advancement Act. We are already seeing companies around the world use AI for customer service, cybersecurity, talent recruitment, and even content production.

While AI can bring significant benefits to companies of all sizes, small companies can't afford to take advantage of these benefits. They don't have the millions of dollars and the teams of consultants. They get left behind despite their immense potential. For the small businesses that form the backbone of our economy, navigating rapidly challenging and changing tools like AI can be overwhelming.

This bill directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish and distribute resources on how small businesses can adopt AI tools and risk management practices. It would build on NIST's Small Business Cybersecurity Corner program to help small businesses by providing voluntary guidance on adopting AI and avoiding potential issues with the technology. This bill will help level the playing field for small companies rolling out AI.

AI should be an opportunity for every American business, not just those with the biggest budgets. As AI rapidly evolves from simple automation to agents that could interact with customers, handle sensitive data, and even make decisions, the stakes for getting it right on privacy and cybersecurity are growing. This bill will ensure that our small businesses have access to the practical resources they need to harness this technology.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Mr. Collins and Ms. Stevens, for their work on this bill. I think we are all in agreement that small businesses should be able to take advantage of the immense potential of AI as well as be able to understand the risks and cybersecurity pitfalls that may come out of it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3679, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6329. This is about improving the quality and transparency of information Federal agencies use to make rules.

The bill would require OMB to update their guidance to ensure agencies use high-quality, reliable information when creating new rules. That means the best scientific, technical, economic, or statistical information available.

Agencies would also have to make public the models, methods, and information sources they use in rulemaking. Anyone in the public can then give feedback on the information agencies use. The bill requires OMB to report any public complaints to Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the sponsor of this bill. This bill passed the House

overwhelmingly last Congress, and I again urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5235. This bill makes it easier for Americans who have valuable skills and experience to be hired as contractors, even if they don't have college degrees. It gets rid of minimum education and experience requirements that don't make sense in some of these Federal contracting solicitations.

That is not to say a college education isn't valuable; but, too often, Federal agencies put unnecessary degree requirements on contractor positions. These unnecessary requirements hurt a lot of people.

More than 77 percent of Americans over 25 don't have a bachelor's degree. Many of those individuals have skills, training, and knowledge to support our agencies and serve the American people. We shouldn't block them from those opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 5235, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues and the patrons for their work on this bill. I urge colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 5235, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a cosponsor of the ROTOR Act. I thank the sponsor as well.

On January 29, 2025, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 collided midair outside of DCA, and 67 lives were lost.

Among the victims were families from my community in northern Virginia. We lost children, parents, and members of the ice-skating community. These folks had their whole lives ahead of them. It is a tragedy that has had a profound and lasting impact on our community and our Nation.

This week, the families of the victims are here on Capitol Hill, and I got to speak with them today. They have one message for us: Pass the ROTOR Act.

The ROTOR Act addresses the glaring holes in aviation safety around DCA that allowed this completely preventable accident to happen. It does so by requiring military and civilian aircraft in busy airspace to broadcast and receive real-time traffic information.

Having been more than a year since the collision, it is time for there to be real accountability and change. We must ensure that nothing like this ever happens again, and people don't fear flying.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the so- called SAVE America Act.

The supporters of this bill claim that undocumented immigrants are overrunning our elections and voting in droves, but I will give an example of the reality.

We actually did a study in Virginia of all the election irregularities over 20 years. How many instances of noncitizens voting do my colleagues think we found? We found zero. Another study found it was pretty much nonexistent between 1999 and 2023 in the United States. They are solving a problem that does not exist.

What this bill does do is it creates other problems that make it harder to vote. It undermines our democracy. It makes it harder for military voters who move a lot. It makes it harder for families impacted by natural disasters who lose documents. It makes it harder for the nearly 70 million women who have changed their name after marriage and have a birth certificate that no longer matches their voter IDs. It also makes it harder for the half of Americans who don't have passports.

The President claims that this is just an attempt to secure our elections. But let's be real. This is just another attempt to tilt the electoral deck in his favor.

If we want to make elections safer, we should stop threatening to nationalize elections. Stop threatening to have ICE at voting locations. Why don't we save America from this bill and vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the incredible life of Michael Thomas Senate of Lovettsville, Virginia.

A marine, an engineer, a public servant, and a pillar of our community, Mike Senate believed that service did not end with one role or one chapter of life.

After serving his country as a marine during the Vietnam war, he devoted decades to strengthening the town he called home, Lovettsville. He served on the town planning commission, the town council, and even as vice mayor. He helped shape projects that will serve generations, from parks and memorials to safer streets and shared-use paths.

Others, including myself, knew him also for his work in public safety. As a firefighter, EMT instructor, and leader, Mike trained, mentored, and stood shoulder to shoulder with so many first responders--volunteer and career. He showed up, he covered shifts, he taught classes, and he made sure that when help was needed, it could arrive safely and effectively.

While I did not do my firefighting training under Mike Senate, his wife, Tracey was my EMT instructor. Mr. Speaker, you didn't have to take one of his classes to know the incredible impact Mike had. He raised the bar for instructors and trainees alike in our county, and his legacy lives on in all the people he helped and who help others.

On behalf of our community, we thank him for a lifetime of service, and we extend our deepest condolences to Tracey and the entire family and to all who were proud to serve alongside him.

Preventing Forced Labor in China

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to introduce the No Funds for Forced Labor Act, a bipartisan, bicameral bill to protect human rights and prevent forced labor of Uyghurs and other religious communities.

A recent annual report by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China found that authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ``maintained a system of forced labor that involved former mass internment camp detainees.''

This comes while China has targeted Uyghurs and other religious minorities, threatening detainees with physical violence, abuse, and torture.

Despite companies' due diligence, these forced labor networks can be so extensive that the World Bank's International Finance Corporation has financed companies who have inadvertently employed forced laborers in the region.

This bill addresses that risk. It allows the Treasury Secretary to instruct the U.S. director at each international financial institution to oppose provisions of any loan that would risk using forced labor. I thank all our cosponsors, and I encourage my colleagues to join us in supporting and advancing this bipartisan bill.

Tax Season Concerns

Mr. Speaker, as we approach tax season across the country, I am becoming increasingly concerned with the IRS's capabilities to accurately and responsibly carry out the duty they have to American taxpayers.

Americans will be relying on an agency to verify their returns and issue accurate returns that has lost over one-quarter of its staffing in the last year, with that number only growing. Every day, my office has a new constituent who reaches out wondering where their tax refund is from this past tax season, and that is only going to get worse as this new tax season begins.

One of the services available to taxpayers is the Taxpayer Advocate Services which works closely with my office to return what taxpayers are rightly owed.

While TAS advocates work hard on these cases, it is apparent that they are already both backlogged and understaffed. Additional cuts to IRS funding will only exacerbate this issue.

To properly prepare for tax season, we should be increasing resources for services such as the taxpayer advocates and making sure Americans feel like they can rely on the IRS to handle the process without delays or errors. From

what my office has seen, this is not the case, and it must change right now.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

Mr. Speaker, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is one of the best ways we can attract top talent to work in the Federal Government and public service. Often these employees will be making less money than in the private sector, but the loan forgiveness gives the government an advantage.

It is disappointing that we see people like public servants treated like this by making them wait years for public service loan forgiveness. This program promised student loan borrowers that after 10 years of public service, their debt would be forgiven. Yet, under this administration, PSLF processing has slowed to a crawl.

For example, the PSLF Buyback application, an essential step for many pursuing loan forgiveness, had more than 80,000 applications pending at the end of the year. Some borrowers have had their eligibility threatened due to petty political grievances.

There are consequences to this. Americans are delaying major life milestones such as purchasing a home or starting a family because they are still making payments on loans they were assured would be forgiven.

Let's be clear: The stagnation of PSLF is the direct result of the current administration's mismanagement. I call on the administration to honor its promise to the people who have dedicated their careers to public service and who have rightfully sought loan forgiveness.

Mr. Speaker, families with disabled adult children

deserve our full support in Congress, but these days they are being forced through unnecessary security and disability determination renewals to prove that their disabled adult children deserve assistance at all.

That is right, recipients are asked to prove over and over and over again whether a person still has a genetic condition, a chromosomal disorder, or a known lifelong disability. On top of that, these reviews are too often done incorrectly, inconsistently, and without regard for medical reality.

This process is exhausting for families, distressing for individuals with disabilities, and a waste of money because--that is right--we are spending a lot of taxpayer dollars to prove over and over again that Americans with permanent conditions need assistance.

The burden on these families doesn't stop there because Medicaid waiver hours are being reduced nationwide, which means families are losing vital community-based care, forcing parents who are able to fill the gaps.

This is not efficient at all. This is neglect. This administration must step in, make changes now, and end the unnecessary reviews. Support the families instead.

Mr. Speaker, this past year, more than 112,000 Federal employees retired, far more than last year. A lot of them retired because they took the DOGE buyout deal, the Deferred Resignation Program, where people were given a buyout if they resigned by October. Others had simply put in their time and were ready to leave and receive their earned retirement benefits.

We are here months later, and many of these Federal employees who have served our country well are still waiting for their benefits and the money that they are owed.

Our office has seen a huge spike in constituents experiencing delayed retirement processing at OPM, at Federal agencies, and at payroll providers across the government. These delays are not isolated. They are systemic.

The administration knew these retirements were coming. It was part of the DOGE plan, but once again, the administration was not prepared for what came next. As a result, Federal retirees faced delayed annuity payments, gaps in benefits, and real financial hardship.

These are families who are trying to pay mortgages, cover healthcare, and plan their next chapter. This backlog is completely unacceptable. We must fix it and restore trust in a retirement system that enables us to recruit the great people who we have in government.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, today marks 16 years since the Supreme Court's disastrous decision in Citizens United.

The decision overturned critically important limits on political spending by corporations and billionaires. We said it at the time, and it has come true: The decision has unleashed unprecedented spending by dark money groups on our elections. Now campaigns are often defined not by a candidate's record or their ideas but, rather, by their access to dark money.

The wealthiest individuals and corporations can now help skew elections singlehandedly by giving millions to their preferred candidate. They can block progress that they don't want to see. In fact, the world's richest man spent more than $250 million to help President Trump get elected in 2024. Let's talk about that 2024 cycle.

Super-PACs spent $4.5 billion. That is up from $2.3 billion in 2022, almost double in 2 years. That is more money than the GDP of Greenland.

In the 2024 Presidential election, the biggest super-PACs supporting majority party nominees raked in $865 million from donors who contributed $5 million or more alone. Each year, our elections are increasingly defined not by big spenders but by the biggest spenders. Between 2010 and 2024, the percentage of Federal election spending by the top 100 individual donors has jumped from 2 percent to almost 15 percent. That is eight times as much.

This has resulted in Americans losing faith in the integrity of our elections and the integrity of our democracy because our democracy is predicated on the idea that every voice matters, regardless of how much money you have. When the wealthy few can drown out the many, we lose sight of who we are supposed to serve. Policymaking gets overshadowed by these special interests.

Yet, after Citizens United, it is too often small groups of corporations and billionaires tipping the scales based on who serves their business interests. This can and must end. The American people have a voice, and if the majority supports a candidate or a reform, that should win the day alone.

We must limit super-PACs, dark money, and excessive campaign spending. We must restore trust in the political process. We must restore democracy to the way our Founders intended, centered on equal access to government, and we must overturn Citizens United. We have that power.

I thank my colleagues for joining me today and for Assistant Leader Neguse for organizing today. I look forward to hearing from my many colleagues in the next hour about how we can tackle this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Grijalva).

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of reforms that people have proposed to overturn the damage done by Citizens United. I introduced legislation, the Campaign and Election Accountability Act. One of the things that Citizens United did was make it easier for foreign nationals to funnel money into U.S. elections.

The Federal Election Campaign Act currently prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to U.S. elections and political campaigns. However, it does not prohibit Americans from assisting foreign nationals from seeking to do so. We don't know if they are wanting to donate for nefarious reasons or if they just like a candidate, but we must ensure that our elections are free and fair from foreign influence.

It is a small tweak, but my bill will prohibit Americans from assisting foreign nationals who want to contribute to U.S. elections. This way, we can all have faith that only Americans are contributing to our campaigns.

For now, this is a step in the right direction as we all work toward the larger goal of overturning Citizens United.

I hear from a lot of constituents about what is the disconnect between Washington's policies and what is happening for everyday Americans because Americans are living through one of the worst cost- of-living crises in modern history. Working families are struggling with rising expenses, like healthcare, housing and utilities, and groceries, yet they have representation that seems to reflect the very wealthiest. We just passed a tax cut for the very wealthiest Americans this last summer, and people don't understand why.

If you look back at what happened with Citizens United, you realize that that influence on our campaigns and elections is why you end up with policies like that. This is why we have to make sure that we overturn Citizens United.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for a lot of great points there.

I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Foushee).

Mr. Speaker, the concentration of political power has often led to the concentration of wealth in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. DeSaulnier).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Landsman).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's remarks.

It is the cycle and the concentration of wealth because of Citizens United that has led to the concentration of political power that you can see even more concentration of wealth. It is the cycle that Citizens United has created that is hurting our country and leading to record income inequality. It is reflected in some of the policies that we have passed that have hurt everyday Americans, working Americans.

While the long-term goal is to overturn Citizens United, certainly through a constitutional amendment--that is a very difficult goal, but certainly one that we should aspire to--Congress does have the power to act immediately to curb some of its damage.

We are talking about bills like the Freedom to Vote Act, the DISCLOSE Act, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, and the Ban Corporate PACs Act. These bills will help reduce and mitigate the influence of big money, strengthen transparency around it, and limit corporate power. This is a moment to draw a line between a political system that serves donors and one that serves the American people. What we really want in the end is to serve the American people.

If you just look back at the past couple of decades since Citizens United, since 2010--in 2010, in that cycle, $3.6 billion in total cost of Federal elections by election cycle, then it goes up to $6.3 billion. By 2022 it is at $8.9 billion. By 2024 it is at $15.9 billion.

This past cycle was a record high. Again, all of that is because of Citizens United and because of the ability to just flood these PACs, these super-PACS, dark money super-PACs, with as much money as they want with no accountability. Now there are ways to hide some of these donations, as well.

We have to do something. We have to act now, otherwise this is going to continue the cycle of pain for so many Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Stansbury).

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and all the speakers today. This is the 16th anniversary of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. It was a 5-4 ruling. This decision overturned longstanding precedent that we had in this country, where we had clearly established limits on independent political spending by corporations and billionaires, and it was working.

For many years, political spending had essentially flattened out. Sometimes, it had gone down when it comes to the contributions of billionaires and the largest corporations, and we were able to have an election system where there was a lot of money in the system, but not to where we are today, where it has completely engulfed all of our actions and all of our campaigns.

There has been so much damage caused by Citizens United, as many of my colleagues explained today. We are talking about wealthy donors now dictating election outcomes, potentially, with the amount of money they can flood into these elections. Americans have less information about who is influencing those campaigns and politicians.

A lot of times, it is very easy to hide your contributions to these PACs and super-PACs. Because of that, we see a system now where we don't even know where the money is coming from. We see the names of some of these cleverly named PACs in the disclosures, but you can have PACs hiding PACs and chains of money. That is why I felt the need to even try to address the influence of foreign money, because it has become easier than ever for a foreign entity to also infiltrate our elections.

These reforms we are talking about here, campaign finance reform, have broad support from the American people across both sides of the aisle. In fact, they have felt that they cannot trust D.C., they cannot trust this administration, and they can't even trust this body, Congress, because of the influence of all this money in our politics today, in our campaigns today.

The dynamics show up repeatedly in the issues that we are working on that directly affect people's lives. We are talking about our efforts to lower prescription drug costs and healthcare costs, and how we see all the money spent by some of those groups to prevent legislation that will help the American people.

My colleague from New Mexico talked about the influence of oil and gas and that money on trying to address the environment--clean air, clean water, and climate change. We are talking about efforts that we are trying to make to crack down on corporate price gouging and how it has become incredibly difficult, an almost uphill battle when it comes to some price gouging efforts, because of the influence of all of this money on our politics.

Then, we talk about strengthening worker protections, as well. We are becoming a country that is not looking out for the average worker, and we are talking about times where workers are seeing their wages flatten, and lower if you take into account inflation, and the increase in income inequality as a result of it.

People are fed up, and they understand that part of the reason why they can't trust the policies coming from Washington, D.C. is because of the influence of this money on our policymaking and elections, and it needs to stop. It needs to stop.

Unlimited outside spending gives special interests the ability to threaten lawmakers with massive advertising campaigns, well-funded challengers, and relentless negative messaging. I have been through it, and I know many of our colleagues have been through it, where these super-PACs come in and change the dynamics of an election with millions and millions of dollars.

The one bit of good news is that many of us, like me, are here still. We fought that uphill battle and won it, but now we have to look at what is going to happen in the future, at what kind of political system our kids will have to endure. Will they feel like they have a voice in our politics, or will they feel like they are seeing a political system that is corrupted by all this money? It is about which side will be able to spend the millions of dollars to win, not which side has the right policies and right things for the American people and to serve the American people. This is all about service. This is not about money and the influence of the most wealthy corporations and groups.

We have outlined a lot of different ways that we can address this. Again, I go back to the Freedom to Vote Act, the DISCLOSE Act, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, and the Ban Corporate PACs Act. We can work on this right now. Even if we don't think we have the votes to overturn Citizens United, we should still try. We should still put it on the floor and put it up for a vote.

In the 16 years that we have had Citizens United go into effect, we see our airwaves, mailboxes, inboxes, and digital media influenced by all this money.

One of our country's core principles is that every citizen has a vote and that every citizen has a voice, regardless of how much money they have. When you allow unlimited money to come into our campaign system, those individual voices are drowned out. A lot of people feel the despair of not having a voice in our politics today. A lot of that is because of Citizens United.

We have lost something that has made our democracy special in some ways. I think the folks who spoke up today have really made a lot of good points about how many of us feel the anger of what is going on, but we are committed to getting this dark money out of politics.

This does not have to be a partisan issue. It never has to be. I know there are folks on both sides of the aisle who want to do this.

Some of my colleagues talked about the corruption today in our politics and how there is this perception of corruption and the reality of corruption. They are talking about what has happened in this administration as well, and all the corruption that has happened in this administration. It is disheartening to see some of the stories that we see every week about how foreign governments are influencing our policies now, and how foreign leaders, wealthy people, and wealthy corporations can easily buy some of our policymaking. That is the appearance, and that is the reality in some cases. That needs to stop. We need to do something about it. We need to do something now.

Again, we are all committed to making sure that people trust our institutions and our Congress. I thank my colleagues today for speaking up and being willing to take on this fight. This is not an easy fight. The easy thing to do is just to go with the flow and go along with the system that we have today. Instead, my colleagues have decided to speak up. My colleagues have decided that they will not accept the status quo.

I know many people were not able to come today. I know we have a few more still on their way, but the reality is that my colleagues understand that the system is not good for our democracy. It is not good for our country. It is not good for the perception of this institution or the reality of this institution. So, we have to continue to keep fighting.

If we look at the cycles, in the 2010 cycle, as I mentioned before, the top 100 individual donors spent 2.1 percent of all the spending in 2010. By 2024, it was 15 percent. If you extrapolate that, by 2038, about half of our spending could end up being from the top 100 individual donors. I mean, that is sort of where we are headed right now, where you are going to have such a concentration of wealth.

There are countries that have that right now, today, and those democracies are not functioning democracies. Some of them don't even call themselves democracies anymore, or don't even try to consider themselves democracies, where you have the few governing the rest.

When you see some of the spending that we have today, again, the 2000 cycle had $18 million in spending, and the 2004 cycle had $13 million in spending. The 2008 cycle had $16 million. It kind of leveled off.

Then, you look at the 2012 cycle, after Citizens United: $231 million in

spending. In the 2016 cycle, there was $682 million in spending. By the 2020 cycle, we are in the billions now, $1.2 billion.

We are at a point now where you need a billion dollars to run for President at this point.

The 2024-cycle was $2.6 billion. I think we are at a point now where some of our elections, the money is just outrageous. People want to feel trust in our institutions and our systems, but you want to get to a place where you can do that. What we are experiencing now is affecting our policymaking. It is affecting every single part of the way this institution runs today.

The other thing we, at least, want is disclosure. That is why I have talked about some of the bills that we can do right now, like the DISCLOSE Act, because at least we could have more clear understandings of where the money is coming from and a better ability to follow the money so that the American people can understand who is paying for that commercial that they keep seeing on TV, right? Is it actually the PAC? Who paid for that ad and where is the money coming from? What do they want and who received that money, right? It is very unclear right now to a lot of people.

There are a lot of issues right now that we can solve even without overturning Citizens United, although overturning Citizens United is our main goal. We have an opportunity and we have to act now. We can't wait.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez).

Mr. Speaker, I will definitely look into that bill. There are more solutions that we can act on right now while we try to overturn Citizens United. I thank all the speakers today. I thank Representative Neguse for helping organize this. I thank my staff, including Matt Fisher, for helping get everyone together today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the ongoing protests in Iran.

For decades, the Iranian people have faced human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, and economic turmoil.

Protests have been going on for almost a month. The military is cracking down, and at least thousands have died. The Iranian people are not backing down, and they deserve the right to protest for changes. They deserve the right to decide whether they want a freer, secular future.

That is why I have joined my colleagues on the bipartisan FREEDOM Act to expand internet freedom in Iran. I also sent a letter to the administration urging immediate action to maximize resources to protect internet freedom.

I have also written directly to Secretary Rubio in support of the Iranian people, while highlighting the worsening human rights abuses, which are also affecting people back here who have Iranian family there.

We support the Iranian people and their efforts to determine their own futures, and we will continue to support them.

Banning Immigrant Visa Processing

Mr. Speaker, the administration has decided that, starting tomorrow, January 21, they are going to implement an indefinite ban on immigrant visa processing for more than 75 countries.

This sweeping action has created a crisis for so many Virginia families who have followed the law to see or reunite with their loved ones. Some of these stories that my office has seen of people who have been affected are really heartbreaking. These are spouses still waiting to reunite, engaged couples who have had to pause or cancel their wedding plans, children waiting for parents, and parents waiting to care for their families.

We even had a couple reach out who were in the final stages of adopting a child from Thailand, which is on the list. Because of the pause on what is going on, the adoption is now frozen indefinitely.

It seems there are no exceptions to this ban. It is just a straight- up ban, and the reason seems kind of flimsy, to be honest. It is apparently because they are a drain on our social system. I will just say that the only drain on our social system has been Congress, with cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

In any case, I would love to see the math on how these particular countries were chosen and why this administration thinks banning visas from Fiji is going to help out social services or pay down the debt.

This blanket ban, with no exceptions, does nothing more than separate families and create hardship. Our constituents deserve better.

Medicare Telehealth Coverage

Mr. Speaker, we have been talking a lot in this Chamber about rising healthcare costs.

One of the things that we are doing really well as a country to lower costs is telehealth, which allows people to see their providers faster and more often, and even see specialized providers from out of State. It saves time and money, and it is great for doctors, nurses, and seniors.

Unfortunately, we are heading toward a telehealth coverage cliff because, on January 30, Medicare telehealth coverage will end, and many patients will have to see their doctors in person only.

That is why I am urging my colleagues to pass the CONNECT for Health Act and make telehealth coverage permanent. This is common sense. It lowers costs, and it means less emergency room visits. Everyone wins.

We must save telehealth coverage and pass this bill before the end of the month.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Korean- American Day, a day to commemorate the first wave of Korean immigrants to the United States and honor the generations who have followed.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent a vibrant Korean-American community in Virginia, a community that has made incredible contributions across the country in government, business, technology, education, the arts, and more.

Today is also a solemn reminder of the Korean-American families who remain divided as a result of the Korean war, including families in my district, whose stories I have heard firsthand.

The Korean war separated thousands of families who have spent decades seeking reunification and closure, but I am proud to be championing bipartisan legislation that I introduced earlier this year to help accelerate the reunification of these families. This was recently signed into law, offering these families hope for a long overdue reunion.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to continuing to work with the Korean- American community in my district and across the country to make these reunions a reality, and I wish everyone a happy Korean-American Day.

Immigration

Mr. Speaker, my office has been working with so many constituents who have been harmed by the administration's new immigration policies, one of which placed a hold on immigration petitions and applications from 19 countries designated by the administration.

In our district, families followed the law. They filed their paperwork and waited in good faith. They were told that their application was in good order and would be approved soon, and then the process completely stopped. Work permit applications were frozen, leaving people legally present but unable to work.

Asylee and refugee family petitions have also been stalled. There are so many heartbreaking stories, like one hopeful couple in my office who has been trying to plan their wedding but remain separated while they wait. There is another person who has not been able to unite with their sons or daughters.

These delays have been putting people's lives on hold indefinitely without any sort of timeline or transparency, and we must restore timely adjudication of these applications.

Recognizing Fauquier Hospital

Mr. Speaker, for the second year in a row, Fauquier Hospital has been named the Top General Hospital in the Nation.

Fauquier Hospital has received an A grade for the last 18 months. It is recognized as a certified primary stroke center, and it has a 97-bed acute care hospital.

Only 52 hospitals receive this honor every year, and we are glad to have Fauquier Hospital serving our community.

Healthcare institutions around the country continue to face challenges, with cuts to Medicaid, the ACA tax credits expiring, and burned-out workforces that are asked to do more with less every single day.

The Senate must take up the 3-year ACA tax credit extension to address healthcare costs. We must make sure that we restore Medicaid funding, or we risk losing hospitals like Fauquier Hospital.

Working in healthcare is often a thankless job, and I hope the House will join me in thanking the nurses, doctors, and staff that keep hospitals like Fauquier Hospital running.

Honoring Puller Veterans Care Center

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the Puller Veterans Care Center on its grand opening on the historic grounds of the former Vint Hill Farms Station in Fauquier County. I am so excited about this center because it is going to deliver top-quality care to veterans in our region.

Mr. Speaker, 128 private rooms are organized into households and neighborhoods around a central community center. The site actually played a decisive role during World War II in intercepting enemy communications, including the message that helped pave the way for the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

It is fitting that a place that helped secure freedom will now serve those who fought to preserve it. The center appropriately honors the Puller family, including General Lewis ``Chesty'' Puller, one of the most decorated marines in our history; his son, Lieutenant Lewis Puller, Jr., a Vietnam veteran and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author; and former delegate and State Senator Toddy Puller.

Mr. Speaker, congratulations to all who made this grand opening of the Puller Center a reality.

Mr. Speaker, college has become outrageously expensive and forced students and families to take out huge loans or forgo higher education entirely. That is why many high schoolers choose to take AP and IB exams, where they can earn college credit at much less expense.

Unfortunately, it is hard for students to find information on which colleges award credits for certain AP and IB exams. A lot of students show up to their chosen school and only then realize that their credits are worthless.

That is why I am introducing the COURSE Credit Act with Representative Jeff Van Drew. This commonsense, bipartisan legislation directs the Department of Education to collect and publish detailed information on AP and IB credit policies at colleges and universities.

It also requires colleges and universities to publish the same information on their own websites. This will give students, families, and counselors a quick and easy way to see how much credit they will receive for their AP and IB exams at any given college, allowing students to choose a school where they can make the most of their hard- earned credit.

Mr. Speaker, 74 million Americans depend on Social Security, but because of the Trump administration's actions, customer service has completely collapsed. The agency faces 6 million backlogged cases, 12 million delayed field-office transactions, and some of the worst wait times in history.

Why is this happening? It is because the Trump administration pushed out 7,000 Social Security employees. That is 12 percent of their workforce. Offices were reorganized overnight, hiring was frozen, and thousands of workers were reassigned.

This has real-life consequences for my constituents, like a 75-year- old stroke victim who hasn't received his check for months because he can't drive or use a computer, or an immigrant who may lose his job because a name correction appointment is weeks away, or the retiree who waited hours just to schedule an appointment on the phone.

Social Security is not a political experiment. It is a promise. The American people paid into the system and earned these benefits. They shouldn't have to fight their own government to receive them.

Mr. Speaker, we will never forget that 5 years ago on this day at this President's urging, violent insurrectionists stormed the Capitol and attempted to overturn a peaceful transition of power.

I know that the families of the 140 police officers who were criminally assaulted will never forget either, especially those lives who were taken that day and in the days that followed.

Virginians will never forget that day either, including the Virginians who were in the Capitol complex that day and the family of Howie Liebengood, a Capitol Police Officer from Virginia, who took his own life in the aftermath.

Most importantly, the American people will never forget that day or the 1,500 people who were charged with crimes for what they did, but then received a pardon from President Trump in one of his first actions of 2025.

At least 33 of them have been rearrested, charged, or sentenced for other crimes, including plotting the murder of an FBI agent or child sexual assaults. We will not forget, and those who try to gloss over that day or rewrite history will just be on the wrong side of history.