Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, it is good to join Representative Massie, once again, here tonight in regard to the REINS Act.

I want to share with everybody a real-world example of how the REINS Act could be used. I think back to the Boiler MACT issue, which was over a decade ago.

That was an administrative rule that was put in place administratively. It was not passed by the United States Congress. If the REINS Act would have been in place, we would have prevented the example I am about to give you.

There was a smokestack that had to be built on a paper plant in northern Wisconsin that cost $10-plus million. It was meant to reduce emissions that were coming from that paper plant.

Do you know how much it reduced emissions, Mr. Chairman? Zero. No emissions were reduced as a result of them spending $10 million as a result of this administrative rule, Boiler MACT, that was put in place.

Think about the ripple effect of that. That company had to spend $10 million of their scarce capital on that. They wanted to do an expansion to be able to build an addition onto their plant that would make an advanced fiber that is being used on modern-day jets, commercial aircraft.

As a result of that, they had to go to Oneida County and get a loan in order to do the expansion on their plant. It put the taxpayers of Oneida County on the hook rather than them simply spending their scarce capital and being able to make this addition that created another 40 to 50 jobs.

That is the impact that we see as a result of the people's House not voting on something like this.

This is really simple. These are the ABCs of good government. The agencies should have to come back to the United States Congress to be able to do something--that is, to institute a rule that is going to cost more than tens of millions of dollars.

If this would have happened, if this would have been in effect, we would have not seen something like this previously.

Mr. Speaker I thank the chairman for hosting this discussion on the ESA tonight, it could not be more timely to deal with this issue.

Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago the Endangered Species Act was created to protect endangered species by taking actions to put them on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, the Endangered Species Act has become a statutory ``Hotel California'' where radical environmental groups and judges check animals into the endangered species list, but they may never leave.

In fact, over the last 50 years, out of the 1,389 listed species, only 72 have been recovered and removed from the list, as the chairman so eloquently stated in his opening remarks--a 5 percent recovery rate.

Let me be clear, you endanger the Endangered Species Act when you do not remove species that have recovered. As everyone in Wisconsin knows, this is something we have seen far too often as it relates to the gray wolf.

When Federal protections were established for wolves in the Great Lakes region, population levels were in the hundreds. Now there are well over 4,000 in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Most recently, a California activist judge unilaterally put the gray wolf back on the Endangered Species Act list despite its recovery. The judge's decision went against the 26 scientists--beside me here--that have urged for the gray wolf to be removed from the ESA since 2015.

Here they are. There are 26 eminent wildlife biologists that nearly a decade ago said to a judge here in Washington D.C., you are making a mistake re-listing the wolf. Let's allow management by the States where they can be most effectively managed.

The data is clear, we have waited long enough. Congress must pass my bill that I introduced alongside Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. The Trust the Science Act would delist gray wolves in the lower 48 United States and would preclude any future re-listing mischief by activist judges.

When a species is removed from the ESA list, it is something we should celebrate. It is a success story. When a

species has recovered, it enables us to use our limited time and resources to concentrate our efforts to protect and recover other species that truly are under threat or at risk of extinction.

Over the last 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has failed to be a celebration of recovery, and instead, a political weapon. It is past time we change that and turned the Endangered Species Act into something all Americans can celebrate--endangered species success stories.

Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, my district tragically lost the life of another police officer in the line of duty. We mourn the loss of St. Croix County Sheriff's Deputy Katie Leising.

No amount of words can express the loss that Wisconsin has felt for our fallen heroes this year. Katie Leising, Emily Breidenbach, Hunter Scheel, and Peter Jerving dedicated their lives to protecting us, and my prayers are with the friends and family of the fallen.

This cannot continue. In spite of these tragedies, many lawmakers still continue to vilify police at every turn and even call to defund them while allowing criminals to stay on our streets.

Let me be clear: Our law enforcement needs our support now more than ever.

I thank all of Wisconsin law enforcement. These past few months have been tough, but we will get through them together.

Violence toward our police officers is something that we will not tolerate, and please know that Wisconsin's Seventh District stands behind law enforcement.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, which is long overdue.

For the last 2 years, this administration has systematically and deliberately erased our border. They have unleashed a tidal wave of illegal aliens and deadly drugs into our communities.

They have enriched the cartels and human traffickers.

They have disrespected the millions of legal immigrants who followed our laws and came here the right way.

They have pushed our local hospitals and schools to the breaking point and forced you, the American people, to pick up the tab.

Mr. Speaker, that ends today. This bill would restart border wall construction, add more Border Patrol agents, crack down on people gaming our asylum laws, and end the failed policy of catch and release.

I am also pleased that this legislation includes a measure I authored to end the administration's flagrant abuse of parole.

As everyone in this Chamber knows, parole authority is limited. It allows for the admission of foreigners without a visa under very narrow circumstances for urgent humanitarian reasons on an individual case-by- case basis.

It was intended to accommodate, for example, a young child seeking immediate lifesaving medical treatment that is only available here in the United States, but that is not how President Biden has used it. Instead, he has converted this narrow avenue into an open borders superhighway, indiscriminately admitting more than 1 million illegal immigrants over just the last 2 years.

This is not just wrong, it is reckless.

It is time to restore the rule of law, and it is time to restrain the dangerous impulses of this administration.

Mr. Speaker, Americans are tired of the chaos. They deserve an immigration system that puts the safety and well-being of Americans first, and that is exactly what this bill does. I ask for a ``yes'' vote on the bill.

I will close by thanking the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), who did such a stellar job of shepherding this bill through the Judiciary Committee and now onto the House floor.

Mr. Speaker, on April 8, 2023, Officers Emily Breidenbach and Hunter Scheel went on their final watch. They died at the hands of a gunman who then proceeded to take his life.

They were young people who lived in northwestern Wisconsin. They were relatively young in their service to the State of Wisconsin and to the people of their local communities. They will be missed dearly, and it is a tragedy that their lives were taken so young.

On behalf of all of the people of the Seventh Congressional District in northern and western Wisconsin, I express my condolences and our condolences. I had a chance to attend the funeral service for these two officers last Saturday, and as tragic as this was, it was uplifting at the same time because residents by the hundreds came to the funeral service.

Then as I went on Highway 8 East in northern Wisconsin, hundreds of people were along the roadside holding flags with their hands over their hearts to recognize Officers Emily Breidenbach and Hunter Scheel.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Officers Emily Breidenbach and Hunter Scheel for their service to our State and to our country, and I thank all of those who wear a badge and for the service they provide for all of us in America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Representative from Louisiana for giving me a couple minutes here.

I have been here for 3 years now in the House of Representatives, and we have seen the other side try to overturn the laws of economics.

Here is a quote: ``We absolutely cannot go bankrupt because we have the power to create as much money as we need to spend. . . .''

That was Nancy Pelosi's budget chairman.

Trying to overturn the laws of economics, trying to overturn the laws of physics, we are going to make internet power into base load power. It doesn't work.

Well, now it is a sad day because now we are debating basic biology on the House floor. Unfortunately, over 50 years since Congress passed the landmark legislation of Title IX, we now have Democrats denying that basic biology and women's rights.

Let me be clear: Biological men have no business competing in women's sports. It is anti-women and it is anti-science to think otherwise.

Here is a headline from NBC news: ``Trans women retain athletic edge after a year of hormone therapy, the study finds.''

From The Guardian: ``Trans women retain 12 percent edge in test 2 years after transitioning.''

Those are the facts, and we have already seen the results. Over 20 biological men have won national or international competitions or championships in the women's category.

With the Biden administration seeking to erase women's rights and continuing to make a mockery of Title IX's fundamental principle of basic biology, Republicans will protect them.

Tomorrow, House Republicans will defend women's sports when we pass the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023.

This will ensure that school athletics comply with the Title IX recognition of a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth.

As a father of three daughters, I will always stand up to protect our daughters. I would hope all Members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat, would protect decades of progress we have made in securing women's rights.

That starts by passing this legislation.

At a time when Democrats would rather erase our daughters' rights, let me repeat: Republicans will protect them. Thank you to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Ryan Redington on winning the 2023 Iditarod Sled Dog Race, traveling almost 1,000 miles in 8 days, 21 hours, 12 minutes, and 58 seconds.

Ryan has competed in the Iditarod 16 times, and although he may not be from Wisconsin's Seventh District, he spends his fall and winter utilizing the lands in Douglas County to train his sled dogs for the race.

This is not the Redington family's first time in the Iditarod. Ryan's grandfather is one of the cofounders of the race and is now known as the Father of the Iditarod.

Ryan has shown us what patience and dedication look like after recovering from being hit by a snowmobile last year, and I am pleased that my district got to assist in bringing him and his dogs to victory.

Congratulations, Ryan, on achieving your lifelong dream.

Madam Chair, on January 20, 2021, President Biden declared war on American energy when he shut down the Keystone XL pipeline. Today, we begin the process to lower energy costs. This is the first stroke of what I hope are many bills to come forward to get energy costs under control for the American people.

Let's go back over the past couple of years of this Congress and what President Biden did. They passed things like the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. They passed a bill called the infrastructure bill.

What were those bills really and some of the others from the last Congress?

They were the Green New Deal. You, the American public, know now what the Green New Deal will do to you.

Let's talk about my district a little bit. Propane, which is a primary heating source for many of us in northern Wisconsin, we paid 80 cents a gallon in the summer of 2020 to fill our tanks. We paid $2 a gallon--2\1/2\ times as much--to heat our homes just a couple of years after the previous administration had left office.

Think about the Ford Motor Company, an iconic company here in America. They lost $2 billion on the electric vehicle segment of their business. I can tell you that contractors, loggers, and farmers are not going to drive a Ford Lightning in northern Wisconsin when it is 25 degrees below zero because it does not work.

I think about Vilas County, where they were going to apply to repair a road under the infrastructure bill. It would have cost $1.5 million using Federal money. I talked to a local contractor. Without the Federal permitting requirements, they could build it for half of that, $750,000.

One of the key provisions of this is the reform of NEPA. It does not change environmental standards. It just makes it easier to get projects done. It is time to reduce that red tape here in America on the American people and on American job creators.

Madam Chair, what is this all about at the end of the day? This is about whether you choose America or you choose Communist China.

Is this going to be a 21st century of the American people just like the 20th century was? It was one of the greatest centuries the people of this world had ever seen, when a country that was founded on liberty, freedom, and opportunity was ascendant, and we stood astride the world.

Are we going to do that in the 21st century? Bills like this are how we are going to make the 21st century an American century rather than a Communist Chinese century.

Let's lower energy costs and ensure job security, economic security, and national security for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1, we heard that bill today. I had a chance to speak on it, the Lowering Energy Costs Act. This is one of the steps that we can take as this Congress to get the permitting process under control, save money for Americans that seek to go through this process, and have a healthier economy and environment.

In fact, I would ask my colleague from Minnesota: Aren't we all environmentalists these days?

Mr. Speaker, we all care about the environment. It isn't like 50, 60 years ago. In fact, we live in regions where I think about our paper mills from decades ago where there was sludge that went down those rivers. In fact, I ran our dinner and excursion boat on one of those rivers, the Wisconsin River. People were so surprised when they came on our boat and said: Wow, this used to be covered with sludge. We didn't see eagles and loons and wildlife like that back in our day, but we do see it now.

The same thing has happened in north Minnesota, hasn't it?

Mr. Speaker, we just heard a statement from the President that was read just before we came here as the Western Caucus, and he talked about the infrastructure bill and other pieces of legislation that are doing these wonders for Americans.

I would just point out a few flaws with what he is saying. If you go to Vilas County in the Seventh Congressional District in Wisconsin, right near where I live, and there is a small town that is attempting to get a road project done via Federal funding with the infrastructure bill. The quote that they have gotten, as a result of having to go through Federal permitting, is $1.5 million. I think it is to fix 2.6 miles of road.

I went to a local road contractor and asked them: How much would it cost if you didn't have to go through the Federal process?

Half of that, $750,000.

We are not going to get the bang for our buck and get more projects done, including ones that could benefit the environment, as a result of having to pay far more for that Federal permitting process.

Also, the President talked extensively about the Green New Deal and this great thing that is going to happen to the United States of America. Wisconsin was just warned this last year for the first time that we may be subject to blackouts this summer.

Why is that? Because we are going to intermittent sources of power. We are not replacing our baseload power.

The gentleman next to me from Minnesota knows all about a project that is going on in a community right across from his hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, in Superior, Wisconsin, the Nemadji Trail Project.

You are very familiar with that, aren't you?

The Nemadji Trail Project is a natural gas project to produce electricity to be able to provide that baseload power, especially if we are going to go to more intermittent sources of power.

Guess what the Biden EPA is doing?

They have brought the hammer down on that project and said: We are going to make you go through this permitting process even longer, which has already been for 5 years. This is nearly a billion-dollar investment to provide reliable, affordable, clean electricity for people that live in the northland of the upper Midwest of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here, the Biden administration is trying to stop that project. That is what is happening.

I say we can have both a clean environment and a growing economy. In fact, I would say if we don't have a growing economy, we will not have a clean environment.

What funds those environmental projects?

I saw it as a State legislator. What funds that is when we have a robust economy.

I just think about when we had our business, Wilderness Cruises, my wife and I, for 20 years.

When did we do well?

We did well when the industrial economy was doing well, when the paper mills and the various industrial plants were doing well. When they were doing well, we were doing well. When they didn't, we didn't do well.

It is not mutually exclusive, the environment and the economy. Having a healthy environment and a healthy economy go together.

It is time to reform NEPA. These are really modest changes that we are making in the Lowering Energy Costs Act. We are not changing environmental standards. We believe in high environmental standards, but we need to do it in a more expeditious manner.

The gentleman from Minnesota, what did you say, 20 years for the mining project?

Is that the Twin Metals project?

The Biden administration brought the hammer down on that one also, didn't they?

Mr. Speaker, how are we going to have transition to this electrified economy? How are we going to do that if we do not have the metals to do it?

We can't. There is no doubt about it.

But let's be really clear. I thought the Speaker did a terrific job today of laying out what the choice is.

Are you on the side of China and Russia, or are you on the side of the United States of America?

That is really the choice. Because we are deciding at this point. With bills like this, we are deciding: Is the 21st century going to be an American century, or is it going to be a communist Chinese century?

The communist Chinese Government has made it very clear, they seek world dominance, they seek to be the country of the 21st century that everyone will turn to, just like America was in the 20th century.

The choice is before us. Is this going to be an American century, the 21st century, just like the 20th century, or not?

If you are on the side of America, you will be voting for the Lowering Energy Costs Act.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution before us here.

Last year, a draft Supreme Court opinion was leaked to the media in one of the biggest scandals to ever hit the Nation's highest court. It reestablished the authority of States to prohibit the killing of unborn children, sending the Democratic Party and other leftwing extremists off the deep end.

The liberal brush fire that ignited after the opinion was leaked wasn't contained to just Washington. Pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations across the country soon became the target of their rage.

The chairman said it very well in his opening comments when he cited the situation in Madison, Wisconsin: ``If abortions aren't safe then you aren't either.'' That is what it says right here.

Following the attack, a radical pro-abortion group known as Jane's Revenge took credit, proudly proclaiming ``this was only a warning'' and ``next time the infrastructure of the enslavers will not survive.''

Leftwing extremists have shown us time and time again--first, during the summer of 2020 when they burned American businesses to the ground and then by firebombing pregnancy centers in 2022--that they will resort to violence and destruction when they do not get their way.

Unfortunately, there has been very little accountability for the leaked draft opinion.

This resolution makes it clear that violence needs to stop.

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

Mr. Speaker, S. 4003 creates a new Federal grant program to provide training for law enforcement officers

on de-escalation techniques, participation in crisis intervention teams, making referrals to community-based service providers, safely responding to individuals in a behavioral or mental health crisis, and alternatives to use of force.

It requires the Department of Justice to develop training curriculum in collaboration with mental health providers, law enforcement agencies, civil rights organizations, and other stakeholders.

It also authorizes $133 million in new money over the next 4 years with no offsets.

There are several problems with this legislation.

First, the COPS Office at the Justice Department currently funds programs that already do what this bill purports to support. For instance, the COPS Office funds the Community Policing Development De- Escalation Training Program through two different mechanisms.

Through one mechanism, the COPS Office provides $3 million over the next 2 years for the expansion of a network of regional centers to provide nationally certified de-escalation training opportunities for law enforcement. The other mechanism, law enforcement agency de- escalation grants, provides nearly $12 million in grant funding over the next 2 years to support whole agency de-escalation, implicit bias, and duty-to-intervene training efforts.

These programs are appropriated and up and running as we speak. We should not be creating new programs that are duplicative of current programs without at least examining the efficacy of the currently funded programs.

Second, this legislation represents a departure from traditional law enforcement techniques, one that advances a soft-on-crime approach. In recent years, these kinds of approaches to fighting crime have been a boon to criminals and have led to our current crime epidemic.

We need to seriously address the crime epidemic, not fund duplicative programs that would keep cops in cars.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. Speaker, S. 3846 makes a number of changes to the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program.

The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program is a Department of Justice program that assists States, local governments, and Indian Tribes with providing treatment to individuals with mental health problems and substance abuse disorders that come into contact with the criminal justice system.

This bill allows funds under this program to be used for crisis intervention team and co-responder teams made up of law enforcement officers and mental health professionals. These teams can be placed within 911 call centers to better respond to individuals facing mental health challenges.

It also allows funds under this program to help State and local governments implement the 988 universal telephone number, which is the national suicide prevention and mental health hotline.

This legislation also authorizes $2 million for each of the next 5 years for the Department of Justice to report on the prevalence of mentally ill offenders in the criminal justice system.

While this bill is well-intentioned, more needs to be done to address the surge of violent crime this Nation has seen over the past 3 years.

Violent crime is especially bad in Democrat-run cities with rogue leftist prosecutors who don't enforce the laws on the books and in cities that have demonized and defunded their police departments. I would point you to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It is no wonder that 27 of the 30 cities with the highest homicide rates have Democratic mayors. We need to keep violent criminals behind bars and put an end to soft-on-crime policies that are wreaking havoc on our communities.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, the POWER 2.0 Act permanently authorizes the Pro bono Work to Empower and Represent Act of 2018, which is scheduled to sunset at the end of this year.

It requires the chief judge for each district to conduct public events to promote pro bono legal services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

In addition, the bill requires the chief judge for a district that includes an Indian Tribe to conduct a public event to promote pro bono legal services for Indian or Alaska Native victims of these crimes every 2 years.

Research has shown that survivors of domestic abuse have significantly better outcomes, such as successfully obtaining a protective order, when represented by an attorney.

This bill will hopefully assist victims in accessing quality representation through pro bono services.

Mr. Speaker, I recommend that my colleagues support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5455 responds to a Supreme Court ruling that held certain low-level drug offenders do not qualify for resentencing under the retroactive provisions of the First Step Act. That was not Congress' intent in adopting the First Step Act.

This problem dates back to the drug epidemic of the 1980s. At that time, Congress enacted harsh penalties for Federal drug offenses, including mandatory minimum sentences.

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 created a 100-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, meaning an individual convicted of selling 5 grams of crack cocaine would receive the same sentence as someone convicted of selling 500 grams of powder cocaine.

In 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder from 100-1 to 18-1.

In 2018, Congress passed, and President Trump signed, the First Step Act into law. The First Step Act made the sentencing disparity provision retroactive, allowing individuals convicted of or sentenced for Federal drug offenses related to cocaine to move for a resentencing.

However, that law did not specifically address individuals whose crimes did not trigger the mandatory minimums. As a result, some of those individuals are serving longer sentences than those whose offenses triggered the mandatory minimums. This legislation today makes technical corrections and brings parity to crack-related offenses.

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

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the remarks by the gentleman from Oklahoma because he has been spot-on throughout this whole debate.

I rise to oppose the previous question so that the House can consider the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act.

Madam Speaker, it is no secret that crime is completely out of control in this country. Annual homicide records have been broken in at least a dozen major cities. Brazen smash-and-grab robberies in broad daylight are a daily occurrence. Killings, severe beatings, armed robberies, carjackings, sexual assaults, arson, and looting have become a common feature on the evening news.

The gentleman on the other side of the aisle asked why we are doing a bill like this. Turn on the news and you will see. Crime in America is at historic levels.

Yet, rogue prosecutors in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York City, and Milwaukee continue to release predators from custody almost as fast as the police can arrest them.

The use of no-cash bail policies, plea bargains, and a complete refusal to put dangerous repeat offenders behind bars has demoralized our police and endangered our communities, and America's most iconic cities resemble a Third World country.

Take Milwaukee County. Here is a quote from the district attorney in Milwaukee County. If you want to know why there should be data kept on this and why the American people should know what is going on as a result of prosecutors' actions in cities across America, here is a quote: ``Is there going to be an individual I divert . . . who is going to go out and kill somebody? You bet.''

That district attorney is still there in Milwaukee County. He is the person who gave a low-cash bail to the man who committed the Waukesha Christmas parade killings last year, killing six people, out on low- cash bail, injuring 60.

There is a problem in America, and it needs to be dealt with. Americans are sick and tired of the lawlessness, and they are demanding accountability. That is what this is about, accountability.

Madam Speaker, each year, jurisdictions across the United States benefit from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which provides funding to States, Tribes, and local governments to support a range of justice-related programs.

If we defeat the previous question, we will offer an amendment to the rule, calling for immediate consideration of the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act, offered by my friend from New York City, which will apply a reporting requirement to these grants.

It would, among other things, mandate that district attorneys report to Congress how often they follow through on holding criminals charged with violent crimes, like murder, rape, arson, crimes involving illegal guns, and motor vehicle theft, accountable.

They would also be required to disclose how often they prosecute the initial charges, how often they secure convictions, whether or not those charged were already on probation or parole, and how many offenders were released without bail.

Madam Speaker, the American people need to know if the people they have entrusted to keep their neighborhoods safe are actually using their tax dollars to finance this crime wave. It is time to end the policy of underwriting progressive policies that endanger the lives and livelihoods of decent, hardworking Americans, and that starts with transparency.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with us for safer communities and oppose the previous question.