Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor my number one caseworker, Jenny Stansberry, who is retiring after 30 years of service to the people of east Tennessee. She has been with me since I took office, and she also worked for Congressmen Duncan Sr. and Jr. prior to me taking Congress in the Second District.

Jenny and I used to hang out at Brunswick Billiards, and she is a dear friend as well as the best employee I could ever ask for. When I was running for office, Mr. Speaker, her mom offered me a Coca-Cola and she always regretted that she never allowed me to use her bathroom. She has always been very kind to me. She drove a cool GMC Acadia back in the day that was quite fetching in the Brunswick Billiards parking lot.

She is best known for her work with veterans and active military members, but she has helped thousands of east Tennesseans deal with basically every Federal agency issue you can think of, and she does it all with a warm smile that lights up the room.

This picture beside me is her farewell surprise, a poster we made of her with one of the loves of her life, Magnum P.I. Although she didn't end up with Tom Selleck--my fraternity brother, he went to U.S.C., of course, and I went to the University of Tennessee many years later--in fact, she never met him, her retirement will allow her to spend more time with the actual love of her life, Tony, and her daughter Anne, who is just a wonderful, wonderful young lady.

Jenny, thank you so much for everything you have done for me and the folks of east Tennessee. I always appreciate you. You were always good to my folks, and you have been my buddy. You will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Lieutenant Ruth Coughlin, an American hero who served in the Navy faithfully from 1953 to 1958.

Lieutenant Coughlin was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. After high school, she went to St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, where she graduated as a registered nurse. From 1944 to 1953, she worked in private practice in ophthalmology and oral surgery practices.

In 1953, she joined the Navy as a Lieutenant Junior Grade and was stationed in Maryland at Bethesda Hospital. During her career she served as a nurse aboard a medical ship that made 32 round trips crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Brooklyn, New York, to north Germany. In 1957, she was reassigned to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Corona, California, where she met her husband, Dennis.

They moved to Knoxville and raised five children together. She will be turning a very young 100 years old this month. I think it is very appropriate during International Women's Day that we honor her.

So happy birthday, Ruth.

Our country's heroes are the men and women of our Armed Forces, like Lieutenant Ruth Coughlin, who has dedicated her life to the service of her country. It is my honor to recognize Lieutenant Coughlin as the Tennessee Second District's March 2023 Veteran of the Month.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Richard and Joni Maples, two Beardon High School graduates--my mama had them in math class--who have received this year's Helen Ross McNabb Spirit Award. This award recognizes folks who have done great work to support the McNabb Center and the east Tennessee community.

Richard and Joni were both raised by parents who taught them the values of faith, family, and hard work. They keep these values close to their hearts, and they make a constant effort to serve folks around them whenever they can.

This includes supporting the McNabb Center, which is a nonprofit that provides mental health services to east Tennesseans who need it. Richard has continuously served the McNabb Center in various board positions and campaigns since 2012 and stayed involved in a bunch of other east Tennessee organizations that serve our community.

Of course, this was all done with the unwavering help and support of his wonderful wife Joni. They are about to celebrate their 50th anniversary. I can't imagine any woman who could tolerate Richard for 50 years, but she has managed to do that.

They have raised two wonderful children, Matthew and Andrea, and now they have four wonderful grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, we thank Richard and Joni so much for serving our community with selfless dedication. I am proud to congratulate them on receiving the Spirit Award this year. They certainly deserve it. It is good to see a couple of West Knoxvillians who have done well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Senior Master Sergeant Mark Lett, an American hero who retired after 26 faithful years of service from the United States Air Force in 2011.

Senior Master Sergeant Lett was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and attended Carter High School. He joined the Air Force in 1985.

Mr. Speaker, Sergeant Lett served as an in-flight refueling specialist on a KC-135 aircraft in addition to serving as a flight instructor and flight engineer.

During his long career, he was stationed in five States across the United States. While serving as a flight engineer, he deployed to Uzbekistan and Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He received numerous awards during his Air Force career, including the Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and many more.

After retiring from the Air Force in 2011, he returned to Knoxville. In July 2014, I was pleased to note that he joined the Knox County Veterans Services as the deputy veterans service officer.

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to recognize American hero Senior Master Sergeant Lett as Tennessee Second District's Veteran of the Month.

Mr. Speaker, Haiti is descending into chaos. These folks just lost their democratically elected government, and the violent gangs, which were already running rampant in the country, have basically taken over the country.

Mr. Speaker, this is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its people are starved, scared, and terrorized. Why are world leaders not paying more attention? Where is the United Nations? They are not doing anything. They are not sending any peacekeepers.

We have sent close to $100 billion to Ukraine since Russia invaded. Of course, I support Ukraine's fight for freedom. I don't support sending them all our money. We shouldn't be its primary sponsor. We shouldn't be hypocritical in how we help countries around the world.

What are we going to do if China invades our allies in Taiwan? Do we have a plan? Heck, no, we don't have a plan.

We need to be smarter with where we send our money and aid. We need a consistent plan that puts Americans' interests first and addresses foreign conflict.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor National 211 Day, which recognizes the vital services provided by this hotline for vulnerable folks in our community.

The 211 Hotline provides free and confidential crisis and emergency counseling, disaster assistance, food, health care and insurance assistance, veteran services, and so much more.

The specialists on this hotline take the time to listen to those calling on, and work hard to find the underlying problems they are experiencing and connect them with the resources and services in their community that can help with whatever they need.

It helps nearly 25 million Americans across the country, and the Tennessee network has been recognized as leaders in this service. This makes sense, since East Tennessee was the 2nd area in the United States to launch 211, and now 96 percent of the country has this service in place.

Too often, members of our community experience major issues and simply don't know where to turn for the help they need. The Hotline helps with that problem in a major way, and I want to recognize the dedicated professionals at 211 for their service.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of condemning the horrors of socialism. The biggest crimes in humanity have happened under socialist regimes. It has taken more than 100 million lives. Margaret Thatcher said it best, and I will paraphrase it: Eventually you run out of people to take money from. That is the only way socialism works.

President Trump said we would never be a socialist country in his State of the Union Address, and I was shocked that over half of this body, Mr. Speaker, refused to stand and applaud that. I think it tells where we are as a country. Too many people have fought and died for this country.

If you have ever come to my Knoxville office, there is a 48-star flag that is on the wall. It is a flag that was draped over my uncle's casket. He was too old to go fight, Mr. Speaker. He went and enlisted anyway.

They sent him back home to Cheatham County. He went back and enlisted again, and they let him go. He died shortly after the D-day invasion as a sergeant.

Too old to go to fight, but he went anyway. He fought for the American Dream. He fought for what we have in this country, and every dadgum day we want to throw it away.

The fact that we are even having this conversation sickens me, Mr. Speaker. I say that with all sincerity.

I thank Mr. Clyde and the Speaker for your service to our great country.

I don't have any notes for this, but I do want to say the ATF, to me, is the swamp.

Now, here we have a group of unelected bureaucrats, dadgummit, that have taken upon themselves to interpret a law.

It always reminds me, when I was in Nashville one time. I was sitting at the Crown Plaza across the street from the Capitol with one of my dear friends who just passed away; his name was Tom Hensley. He was called the Golden Goose. He was the liquor lobbyist. I never voted for his bills, but he always liked me.

He told me one time, a guy came up and threatened him that worked for our Governor and threatened him; and he sat there, and he chomped on his cigar; and he walked away and he said--Burchett, he said, you know what? He said, in a few more years he will be gone and the old goose will still be sitting here. That is exactly, exactly the mentality of the swamp.

It is not like on an episode of The Simpsons where they are all--six people are sitting around at a table in the old cartoon, and they are deciding what is going on. It is a bunch of unelected, arrogant bureaucrats who think they know what is best for this country.

Dadgummit, the ATF has overstepped their bounds once again. Law- abiding Americans, law-abiding citizens, law-abiding Tennesseans should not be deemed criminal because of some bureaucratic whim.

I appreciate the gentleman, thank him for his service to our country, thank him for this bill. I look forward to voting with him on this bill and being a sponsor.

Mr. Speaker, I believe it is the Volunteer State. The Butternut State, I never heard that.

Dadgummit, Mr. Speaker, here I am again bringing attention to yet another example of our woke telecom companies targeting conservative speech. I am very glad though that they did not censor my good friend Mr. Buck's new book ``Crushed,'' which is actually on the best seller list, I have heard. I am fired up about that, brother.

DIRECTV, of course, is co-owned by AT&T and TPG, and they have taken ``Newsmax'' off the air as we have heard.

DIRECTV says this was purely a business decision, but nobody believes that, Mr. Speaker. Big media corporations don't exactly have the best record of protecting conservative speech.

Last year, Democrats in Congress wrote letters to AT&T and other telecom companies demanding they deplatform ``Newsmax''--which is really just a fancy way of saying we are going to deny your First Amendment rights, Mr. Speaker--along with ``Fox News'' and ``One America News'' because of so-called disinformation.

After these letters were sent, DIRECTV dropped ``One America News,'' and now it appears to be doing the same thing to ``Newsmax.''

This fits a disturbing pattern, Mr. Speaker, of these woke corporations using their market dominance to censor conservative networks to appease Washington politicians and further their demands on woketopia.

After receiving lots of criticism from the American people about this decision, DIRECTV announced it would launch a new conservative network. That is great, but it is still not an excuse for deplatforming another popular network, Mr. Speaker.

Our country was built on freedom of speech, and Americans benefit from having access to a wide range of viewpoints, not just the ones approved by the liberal Democrats.

Mr. Speaker, one day they will be coming after the liberal media, and then it will be too dadgum late.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor Colonel Jason M. Brock who served 32 years in the Tennessee Air National Guard.

Colonel Brock began his military career as an enlisted member in 1991 and worked hard during his service to earn a bachelor of science degree from the University of Tennessee in 1994.

In 1998, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Since then, Colonel Brock has served in a variety of assignments as a logistics readiness officer and a maintenance officer, and has deployed numerous times in support of multiple operations including Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Southern and Northern Watch, Joint Guard, and Noble Eagle.

During his assignment as director of staff for the State of Tennessee Air, he also supported many domestic operations, including Tennessee's military response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Colonel Brock plans to retire this year, and it is a well-earned retirement, Madam Speaker. He plans to spend more time with his wife and his two sons on family outings to the lake and camping. He also has his private pilot license, and he looks forward to enjoying more time in the sky.

Our country's heroes are the men and women of our armed services, like Colonel Brock, who served and sacrificed for our freedom. It is my honor to recognize Colonel Jason Brock as the Tennessee Second District's January 2023 Veteran of the Month.

Midway IGA

Madam Speaker, I rise to congratulate Joe and Dale Longmire on selling Midway IGA and retiring from the grocery business.

Claude and Ruby Longmire started Longmire Grocery in Corryton in 1947. They raised Joe and Dale in the grocery business, and they worked very hard in this their entire lives.

In 1988, Madam Speaker, Joe and Dale bought the Midway IGA right there on Tazewell Pike, as you well know.

Joe and Dale say the community has been very good to the Longmires, and the Midway IGA has been very good to the community. They have been great friends of mine. When you go in there, Madam Speaker, local kids work there. They work the counters and they work everywhere. They have some of the best fried chicken--I believe it is actually called broasted fried chicken--that I have ever had, except, of course, what my wife and my sweet mama used to make.

Of course, my family and I trade at the IGA on a regular basis, and the Longmires supported me when I first ran for mayor. They were some of the first people who came out and supported me. They had a fundraiser for me at their house. They live on Emory Road, the same road I live on now. Emory Road is a very long road, Madam Speaker. I actually went to the wrong end of Emory Road, and I was 1 hour late to my own fundraiser; but it just increased the anticipation of my arrival.

The Longmire brothers have said that nothing about the store will change, which I am very glad to hear. Midway IGA has been great to our community, and I hope we don't lose that.

I wish their sister, Leesa, the best as she sticks around the store as their scanning manager. I wish Joe and his wonderful wife, Becky-- who has been a dear friend to me and my girls a long time--and Dale and his wife, Ellen, the best in their retirement.

Joe plans to finish a book he has been researching about the history of Corryton. I look forward to getting an autographed copy which I am sure I will pay dearly for.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Velazquez--I believe I got that right; I have been working on it for about 5 years-- it is a pleasure being here with you all.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the great work you do. There is nobody, I think, better at the helm of the Small Business Committee than somebody who has actually taken a business and made it into something. That is very American and very cool, and I thank you for your friendship to me and my family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 449, the Microloan Transparency and Accountability Act of 2023.

The Small Business Administration's microloan program helps America's entrepreneurs access capital to help their small businesses grow.

These loans are usually around $13,000; $13,000, the difference between them making it or not. That kind of money would go a long way for a lot of our mom-and-pop stores in the rural areas of East Tennessee that I am proud to represent, and in our inner cities, as well.

Unfortunately, the microloan program has a low participation rate, Mr. Speaker, among our rural businesses. My bill would increase transparency by requiring the Small Business Administration to report data about the program to Congress. This will help us better understand how the program is operating and what we can do to improve it.

Government programs that support small businesses shouldn't be full of waste, and they shouldn't neglect businesses simply because of their ZIP Code.

My bill will increase transparency and establish accountability at the Small Business Administration to ensure it is working on behalf the small businesses everywhere.

I thank my colleagues, especially my sponsor across the aisle who has been my friend for a few years here, for their support on this bipartisan, commonsense bill which passed the House in the 116th and 117th Congresses, and I look forward to seeing the Microloan Transparency and Accountability Act pass the House again today.

I also look forward to the Senate doing their work and taking this up, Mr. Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my friend, Chairman Jordan, yielding to me. I thank my friend, Representative Ann Wagner, for introducing this important bill again--no better person than a mama and a grandmama--and she does a good job at both of those.

Madam Speaker, babies deserve a chance to live. They deserve a chance at life no matter their age or their circumstance. The Constitution says that people have a right to life. The science says babies are people.

The Democrats have been pushing, trust the science. Follow the science. Trust the science. Follow the science, the last 2 years. Yet, we are denying the science, Madam Speaker.

When I was a little boy, I was asking my mama--we were talking about abortion and we were talking about babies being born that were maybe disabled or had some other anomaly, and I said: Mama, what would we do if one of those babies was born and I was the father of one of those little babies?

And she said: Honey, we would love that baby just a little more.

Madam Speaker, we need to love those babies just a little more and not murder them.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad you are up there, but I am disappointed that the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper), my friend, has left. He is the dean of the Tennessee delegation, and he has been a good friend to me since I came to Congress. I would see him every morning. I think it was kind of a parallel to our lives. He was always going to do yoga, and I was going to get beat up in boot camp working out in the morning, but he was always very kind to me, and I believe there is always a place in Congress for people like Jim Cooper.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate Coach Brian Nix and the Alcoa High School football team on their eighth consecutive Tennessee State championship title.

Alcoa defeated East Nashville in a 45-26 win to bring home another AAA State championship. This win marks the Tornadoes' 21st State championship, and for Brian Nix it is the first one serving as their head coach. I am overwhelmingly proud of this team and its resilience.

Mr. Speaker, the Alcoa Tornadoes finished out the season with an impressive 14-1 record and brought home their eighth consecutive State title, which is quite an achievement.

The seniors on this team will remember this season for the rest of their lives, and it is truly a special thing for these younger guys to be able to come back next year and try for another ring.

Alcoa is well-staffed with coaches Alex Taylor, Ben Love, Brian Gossett, Chris Collett, Dakota Summers, David Sweetland, Jonathan Harris, and Peyton Jones.

Congratulations to all the Tornadoes on your big win. You absolutely have earned it.

Congratulating Knoxville West High School Football Team

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate Coach Lamar Brown and the Knoxville West High School football team on their undefeated season in the Second Tennessee Class 5A State championship.

Knoxville West earned their ring at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga with an outstanding 47-13 win over Paige High School. After the big win, the Tennessee Titans named head coach Lamar Brown as 2022 High School Coach of the Year.

It is truly special watching a team have this amount of respect and trust in their coaching staff and vice versa. It is more than just a game, Mr. Speaker. Head Coach Lamar Brown and the rest of his coaching staff did a tremendous job in coaching these young men throughout the season. I happened to see many of their games. One of my dearest friends, Todd Scott's boy plays for this team and former mayor Madeline Rogero's grandson was on the team.

Congratulations to all the Rebels on your State title. You earned it and made the city of Knoxville proud along the way.

Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about immigration. The Democrats and the mainstream media need to take responsibility for their cover-up of President Biden's border crisis.

The liberal media hasn't made a peep about the fact that over 4 million illegals have been encountered at our southern border since President Biden took office. That is a record number, Madam Speaker, 4 million people. We have never seen this before.

They also kept the Biden administration's dirty little secret when it started flying illegals into Knoxville, Chattanooga, and all over the country in the dead of night without telling anyone, without telling the State authorities, and definitely not telling the Congressman from the Second Congressional District about it.

But then the media had a field day when Republican Governors sent a few buses of illegals to New York and Martha's Vineyard. I kept waiting for one of them to say, Buffy, quick, we have got illegals out here.

This administration is trying to keep us focused on things like climate change and woke social programs instead of their disastrous handling of our southern border. Of course, the media follows the Democrats' lead like a lost puppy dog. They cover what the Democrats want them to cover, and it is a shameful way to do journalism--a once respectable occupation.

It is a disgusting cover up of a very simple truth. We desperately need to close the dadgum border, Madam Speaker, and strengthen our immigration laws.

We need to reform our asylum system, which is a total joke, so illegal immigrants aren't eligible if they travel through a safe third country. We need to clarify in our laws that gang and domestic violence are not grounds for asylum; those are grounds for moving neighborhoods, not moving countries, Madam Speaker.

We also need to fully implement some policies like the Remain in Mexico policy, which is a reasonable policy, and which is critical to our national security, Madam Speaker.

Our liberal media need to stop kowtowing to the Democrats and start reporting on the facts. The American people deserve to know what is going on. And I guarantee you, the more they know, the more they will demand these kind of real changes from the disastrous Biden administration.

Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Johnson for his more-than-lackluster attempt at democracy tonight. I, for one, enjoy it, and these young people over here seem to be enjoying it themselves, all five of those young people.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of Mae Moody, a leader and pinnacle of the Knox County community, who passed away on October 17, 2022, at age 83.

Mae loved her community and dedicated much of her life to trying to make it better every day. She cared deeply about supporting leaders who would help East Tennessee thrive. Most often, she voted as a Republican, but she was more focused on supporting the best candidate no matter what. For her, each election was not a partisan issue, but a community issue.

Many community leaders honored Mae's life and passing. They talked about her compassion, integrity, honesty, and community advocacy which was apparent to everyone who knew her. She was described as a ``community champion,'' a ``neighborhood advocate,'' and a ``virtuous leader.''

Mae was incredibly dedicated to supporting our law enforcement and community safety. She taught thousands of children how to properly use 911 and served as a community organizer for the Knoxville Police Department. Mae also completed the Citizen Academies of the FBI, District Attorney, Knox County Sheriffs Office, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and Fire Department to gain a better insight into how our law enforcement operates and how she could help them.

I want to extend my condolences to her husband Jack, her children Susan, Terry, and Chuck, her sister Carol, as well as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Rest in peace Mae and I thank her for everything she has done for our community.