rate and stayed home and did not both. there are quite a bit of republicans voters and even some supporters of trump who was say that is nonsense. say that is nonsense. let's move on from that and start on kitchen table issues like the state of the economy, crime rate, even the situation with migrants coming over the southern border. host: julia manchester with the hill newspaper. you plan to be on see spec this year -- cpac this year? guest: yes, i am. host: thank you for the time this morning. that does it for us this morning. we take you live to the house floor. we see you back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern for tomorrow's "washington

the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by chaplain kibben. chaplain kibben: would you pray with me. search us o lord, and examine us, test our minds and our hearts. analyze our commitment to your righteousness and the work we set out to do and to your direction and the decisions we will make. judge our faithfulness to your desire for the living of our lives this day. test our minds that they would prove wise enough to understand the scope of our responsibility that you have laid on us, as well as its limits. enable us to discern wisely what is the faithful stewardship of resources you have charged us to manage. as war rages in ukraine, as

turkey and syria emerge from earthquake devastation, and all the while our own enemies seek to exploit our vulnerabilities, the weight of our duty to speak, to act, to wait is heavy on the shoulders of this body. test our hearts that as we weigh the costs of our involvement with the many areas in dire need around the world, that we would not be found callus to the toll these atrocities have had on tens of thousands of innocent. and the damage that has been inflicted on the integrity of peace in our lifetime. may our righteous inclination to devote ourself to these tragedies not cause us to ignore equally urgent teedz at home. to whom much is given much is required. may we prove faithful to the many requirements your gracious gifts demand of us. in your sovereign name we pray, amen. the speaker pro tempore: the

chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house the approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from texas, ms. garcia. ms. garcia: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i sook unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. it's a pleasure to call you mr. speakerrer.

i rise to honor two high school graduates, my momma had them in math class. they received this year's helen ross mcnabb spirit award. it recognizes folks who have done great work to support the mcnabb center in the community. they 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 make constant efforts to serve folks around them whenever they can. mr. burchett: this includes supporting the center, one close and dear to my heart, a nonprofit that provides mental health services to easttown tfnlt richard has continuously served the mcnabb center in various board positions and complains since 2012 and stay involved in a much of east tennessee organizations that serve our community. of course this was all done with unwavering help and support of his wonderful wife. they are about to celebrate their 50th anniversary. i can't imagine any woman that could tolerate richard for 50 years, she has managed to do that. they have raised two wonderful children, matthew an andrea, now

they have four wonderful grandchildren. thank you so much for all you have done to serve our community, yourselfless dedication to the community -- your selfless dedication to the community. you deserve the award. it's good to see a couple of west knox villains done well. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from vermont seek recognition. >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, as a former teacher i know that education can be and should be a pathway to financial freedom. ms. balint: for over 45 million americans facing crippling student debt, education has become an unsustainable economic burden.

student debt is keeping americans from buying homes. starting families. saving for their futures. it's holding back a generation from getting the education they need, that they bant, that they deserve. this impacts all of us. our education suffers because of this debt. our economy suffers. our families suffer. our children suffer. president biden's student debt relief plan will change lives and open doors for so many working families. it's urgent that the supreme court uphold this critical program that will free millions of americans from this heavy financial burden. today i call on the supreme court to support president biden's plan and make the historic step in making higher education attainable for everyone in this country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from iowa seek recognition?

>> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. miller-meeks: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to address the growing student loan debt in our nation. despite efforts by president biden and the democrats to forgive student loans, they are still a major financial commitment and should be treated as such. before taking out federal student loans, proper counseling for students should be required. we must ensure our students are equipped with the guidance to make an informed decision and understand the process through which to pay the loans back. this week i reintroduce the know before you owe federal student loan act with representatives fin stra, hinson, nun, and guest to require institutes of higher education to counsel students before any federal loans are dispersed. this counseling would require students to manually enter the exact dollar amount of funding requested and require students receive regular loan statements throughout their undergraduate career f we can help our students understand the process by which they receive federal student loans and interest, we'll be one step closer helping

to relieve them of their debt through career choices. unlike president biden's loan which claims to erase these loans. unfortunately we just can't erase loans taken out. they must be paid back just like a car loan or mortgage. erasing would only transfer the debt to other hardworking taxpayers. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: thank you. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? ms. garcia: mr. speaker, ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. garcia: mr. speaker, we feel the pain of the people of east palestine. we stand with them in demands for change and safety in the railroad industry. it's not just what trains carry, it's their weight, it's their length, it's their mechanics,

it's their number of people on the train. it's about damage to neighborhoods and the environment. mr. speaker, my district has the most reported roads blocked by trains of any district in the nation. this means that the trains disrupt a lot of activity in our neighborhoods and we get many complaints about block crossings, blocking kids getting to school, fire trucks, and ambulances not being able to get to buildings and homes, and just a lot of damage done to our neighborhoods. trains is not just about the derailment of east palestine, but it's also about the damage they do every day, particularly again in my district, that has so many railroads. and i know, mr. speaker, that you know about this. what we will be doing today and following weeks is to focus more

on real safety. i had the f.r.a. administrator in the district last week and i'm pleased to say today we will be filing a bill called don't block our communities act to address some of these issues. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recog recognition? >> mr. speaker, ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to commemorate the end of black history month and beginning of women's history month by honoring an individual who represents both so well. she's an icon, she's a legend,

and she is now and forever the moment. i want to celebrate none other than who i believe is the undisputed queenp pop and r&b, beyonce. a few weeks ago she won her 32nd grammy, giving her the most grammy wins of all time. beyonce is so much more than a performer and singer. she's a creator and artist. when the radio said to speed it up, she went slower. and i'll never forget the time i saw destiny's child perform for the first time. it was life changing for me and the way i experience music. i became an instant fan then, and have been a huge fan ever since. she's also a role model for millions across the country. she stood up for voting rights, for feminism, for women and girls, for my community, the lgbtq+ community. mr. garcia: for my generation and so many others, she simply is the greatest of all time. her story is history.

mrs. carter, congratulations on your achievements and for winning the most grammies ever in the history of our country. you are irreplaceable. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. pursuant to house resolution 166, and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 347. will the gentleman from texas, mr. babin, kindly take the chair. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of the bill h.r. 347, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to require the executive office of the president to provide an inflation estimate with respect to executive orders with a

significant effect on the annual gross budget, and for other purposes. the chair: when the committee of the whole rose on tuesday, february 28, 2023, amendment number 10 printed in the house report 118-4 offered by the gentleman from new york, mr. langworthy, had been disposed of. it is now in order it consider amendment number 11 printed in the house report 118-4. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from minnesota seek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 11, printed in house report number 118-4, offered by ms. omar of minnesota. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 166, the the gentlewoman from minnesota, ms. omar, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the

gentlewoman. you are recognized. ms. omar: mr. speaker, i rise today to call on congress to take up economic measure tools that will uplift all americans. my amendment would add factors from the genuine progress indicator to budgetary reporting. it would spliment the information we get from traditional measures like g.d.p., which mainly emphasizes growth for its own sake. g.p.i. would provide a more accurate and inclusive assessment of economic well-being. it evaluates the positive and negative factors of economic activity, ranging from the benefits of infrastructure and work force development to the costs of income and equality and pollution on our collective well-being. it would give us the chance to

finally account for important but overlooked aspects of society like wealth distribution, economic sustainability, and the overall quality of everyday americans. we must recognize that collective prosperity is only attainable if we identify the gaps and barriers preventing our most vulnerable communities from thriving. my amendment simply seeks to give lawmakers more comprehensive data so that we can make more informed policy decisions. i urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment in order to focus our policy lens on the lives of working and poor families in america. thank you. i yield. . the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. comer: i rise in opposition of the amendment. the chair: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: my colleague's

amendment would not eliminate requirements for inflation impacted assessments. what it would do is overburden the assessments with a host of issues that do not have much to do with inflation. what are those issues? the list is quite extensive, but let me highlight a few. there are the annual economic values of publicly provided goods and services, higher education, time spent toward leisure activities and outdoor recreation and there are the annual economic costs of lost leisure time due to traffic congestions, accidents involving motor vehicles and the depletion of the ozone layer. in other words, inflation would no longer be the bill's focus. it would be one factor among many, many things but that's how we got to where we are. inflation is running rampant precisely because the administration is ignore the inflationary impact of its policies. and it's ignoring the fact that

inflation is impacting on the american people. that's why inflation should be focus of this bill. i urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman -- the chair: the gentleman reserves. and the gentlewoman from minnesota. ms. omar: i yield to my colleague, mr. raskin. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. raskin: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to thank the distinguished gentlelady from minnesota for yielding. i -- just to recap where we are from yesterday, the whole congress eagerly awaited to see what the big anti-inflationary issue would be coming from the g.o.p. side of the aisle. in the past richard nixon offered wage and price controls. herbert hoover dismantled all social spending. what was going to be the big plan coming from the republican side? well, the big plan is to ask for the president of the united states, when he issues executive

orders, to add inflation estimates. of course, there's no study showing that executive orders have had any impact on inflation or deflation in the country. and so it seems now we are on a real wild goose chase where people are pasting all different kinds of things on it. but jaeflt minnesota actually -- but the gentlelady from minnesota actually comes forward with a good thing. it would be interesting to talk about if we had a real conversation in the oversight committee on the subject. she is saying that a number of states, including maryland, had an indicator as an index in their communities and so what this does, it doesn't count negative things like the cost of car accidents and asbestos poisoning as part of g.d.p. right now there are so many negative things included as part of g.d.p.

the genuine process indicator has, i believe, 26 different factors that measures actual progress in social and economic well-being. so if we're going to go down this road without a hearing, without any real analysis, and this is going to be the majority's approach to dealing with inflation, then by all means let's include the genuine progress indicator. and i want to thank my colleague for yielding. and i yield back to her. ms. omar: i reserve. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. comer: i yield the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman from minnesota. ms. omar: as my colleague on the other side of the aisle admittedly said, this just another factor that gives us more tools, more ability to fully comprehend what is happening with our economy. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and vote yes. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from minnesota. those in favor say aye.

those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. and now it's in order to consider amendment number 12 printed in house report 117- -- 117-4 -- 118-4. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. perry: i have an amendment at the desk, mr. chairman. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 12 printed in house report 118-4 offered by mr. perry of pennsylvania. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 166, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. perry, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. perry: i thank the chair. the underlying bill requires the president to have prepared for the american people and consider the inflation impacts of all major executive orders. this provides transparency to

the american people of the economic impacts of such executive orders. at the rules committee last night, the minority raised concerns that these requirements would apply to a limited number of circumstances. now, this amendment actually appeases these concerns by lowering the threshold at which an executive order is considered major for the requirements of the bill from $1 billion to $1 million. this reduced threshold would ensure the president is required to assess the inflationary impacts of significantly more executive orders than the underlying bill would require which actually increases the amount of transparency provided by this bill. i'm sure the minority would agree with increased transparency. they asked for it just last night. they asked for it just in the last debate over the last amendment. i'm sure we've all heard from our constituents about the impact of inflation. this amendment -- this amendment allows us to expand our efforts to address their concerns.

and while some of my friends on the other side of the aisle might say, well, we need a different index or additional index. here is what the american people don't need. they don't need some report of progress or you name whatever you want to name it. what they know is this -- when they go to the store, everything they're buying costs more. it's unaffordable. when they go to the gas station, try and fill up their tank, it costs them more. when they go to the lumber yard, when they go to the bank, when they try to buy a new home, everything costs more. they don't need some index to tell them that the cost of living is going up. and something is causing it. and one of the things is this -- regardless of which party is in power in the executive branch. executive orders actually -- well, maybe they would actually reduce the cost of inflation. we need to know that, too. we need to know what the answer is regard lts which which -- regardless which way, and this amendment would provide that. with that, mr. chair, i reserve. the chair: the gentleman

reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise? mr. raskin: i rise to claim time in opposition, mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. raskin: well, thank you, kindly. so now we move from the ludicrous to the absurd to the sublime. yesterday, they wanted a report from the president upon issuans of an -- issuance of an executive order for skuch orders have -- executive orders having an economic impact of $1 billion. today, they cut that by -- well, they've gone to 1/1000. now they want a report for every $1 million. the gentleman points out that i observed yesterday it would apply to only a handful of executive orders which is absolutely right. i wasn't arguing or concerned, as he said, that it applies to too few cases. i wags reflect -- i was reflecting how silly the whole exercise was.

they don't understand how few executive orders they would apply to just like they forgot to put into legislation a requirement that it actually be published, something that was remedied yesterday in the boebert amendment. but in any event, now they want an inflationary estimate statement when there is an executive order that's $1 million economic impact which by my quick calculation here is three 1,000th of 1% of the u.s. economy. it's a fraction of the budget of the oversight committee itself. we may be saying we should reg register what the inflationary impact is with the majority and minority budgets in the oversight committee. so obviously this is an exercise in futility and silliness. they are finger painting on their own legislation, which itself is not based on any legislative process based on any

hearing and it obviously does nothing to reduce inflation. but that is what this administration has been working on and, of course, they don't talk about unemployment anymore which they used to talk about because president biden's administration created 12 million new jobs, whereas the last president destroyed millions of jobs. but the economy's come roaring back under the biden administration just like the biden administration is actually bringing inflation down. example -- check out the inflation reduction act. everybody who is on insulin in america under the medicare program is now paying only $35 a month. now, we know that they opposed that. we know they wanted to repeal that provision. i think they still do want to repeal that provision, but that was very concrete action to lower prescription drug prices for die bettics within the -- diabetics within the medicare program and they have been lowered across the board within the medicare program. that's the kind of action that

the biden administration has undertaken. not a silly reporting bill which some days is applying to a billion dollars. some days it's applying to a million dollars. there's no rhyme or reason to what they're doing. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. perry: i thank the chair and would just offer this. i don't live in maryland or live around the beltway where everything is just fine. i live in pennsylvania where $1 billion or $1 million is a lot of money to hardworking people that get up in the dark of night and head out to work. $1 million is a lot of money and they'd like to know where we're spending it here. with that, mr. speaker, i yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comer, the chairman of the committee. the chair: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i rise in support of the perry amendment. my colleague's amendment extends the bills coverage with annual impacts of $1 million or work. this makes sure that inflation

assessments are prepared for most executive orders. this is not an undo burden on the president. even at the president's blis blistering pace, he issued over 100 executive orders within two years. with no end in sight, it's important the inflationary imparks of most of president biden's executive orders should be assessed. if my colleague's amendment is adopted it will be. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. mr. perry: mr. chair, may i inquire as to the time remaining. the chair: the gentleman has two minutes remaining and the gentleman from maryland has two minutes remaining. mr. raskin: mr. chair, thank you for recognizing me. i don't know if there is much to say on the substance of this amendment. i did hear my colleague from pennsylvania make some sort of disparaging remark about maryland and about how he didn't

live in maryland where apparently we don't understand the value of money. well, the land where we actually are standing today used to be part of maryland. it was ceded by maryland by congress for the purpose of creating the district of columbia. when our capitol came under attack by violent insurrectionists and those chanting "hang mike pence" and attempting to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, there were hundreds of police officers who came from maryland to join the metropolitan police department and the capitol officers in defense of the capitol of the united states. so i take ombrage in terms of the defense of principles of this country so i would thank mr. perry for correction about that and i'm happy to reserve the remainder of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: well, let me just say this. there was no disparaging remarks about maryland. only the fact that people in pennsylvania understand the

value of $1 million or $1 billion and they want to know -- they want to know how it's being spent in washington, d.c. and it's their government. it is the citizens of the united states. it's their government and it is their tax money and this amendment seeks to provide that transparency so that they know the effect, the effect of executive orders coming out of the white house, how it affects their wallet and they should know that and we oshould all be for that. for that, if you want to discuss the inflation reduction act. look, you can call any bill anything you want to. you can call it kittens are beautiful and the sun is going to shine today. here's what i know. in central pennsylvania where i live, the good citizens that i represent are paying $5, $6, $7 for a dozen of eggs and a pound of hamburger. they can't afford to drive to work and pay their energy bills and they are having a hard time to pay for their mortgage. that's inflation, sir.

that's inflation for the gentleman from maryland. and it's caused by the white house's edicts that impose things on the american people. they want to know and they have the right to know what that is so they can inform their vote. with that, mr. speaker, i yield the balance. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. raskin: well, i thank you, mr. chairman. yes, the prices of housing are too high. the prices of groceries are too high. that's why the administration is working concretely to lower prices and why inflation is coming down now across the board. and so we don't -- what do we get from the majority today? they want a reporting bill about the inflationary impact in executive orders. nothing even about what congress is doing and how congress is behaving and contributing to inflation. they want to somehow add a technical reporting requirement for executive orders and think that's accomplishing something.

well, the administration is lowering the cost of student debt despite the fact they're doing everything they can to stop it. the administration is acting to lower housing prices across the country, and we have moved to lower prescription drug prices and health care across the country and they've been fighting us every step along the way. instead, they come back with this reporting bill which, again, will do nothing to help the fight against inflation. happy to yield back to you. . the chair: the question on the amendment is offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 13 printed in house report 1818-4.

for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. perry: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 13, printed in house report number 118-4, offered by mr. perry of pennsylvania. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 166, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. perfectry, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. perry: thank you, chairman. as we all should know by now this bill requires the president to consider for any major executive order the impact of the executive order on inflation. the president is the president of the united states. and the well-being of every citizen should be of the president's concern. i believe it is. when the american people have been suffering this inflation for years, it makes sense to require the president no matter which party to at least consider, to at least consider the impact of his actions on the

american people. they don't have any choice in the matter. till the next election. this amendment requires for executive orders found to have an impact on the consumer price index, we ever to have some measure. most people recognize the consumer price index which is a detailed description of that impact. so that we can all be on the same page so that we can all reference the same data point. folks, this is common sense. and it's reasonable. the way this bill is currently written i support the bill. the statement prepared by the president must simply include whether it has an impact on inflation. maybe the impact is to lower inflation. that would be a awesome. i think we have to wait a couple years until we get a president that does that. we accept that. even this legislation under a new president that lowers the cost of inflation by executive order. but the current bill talk about the extent of the impact. which is what this amendment seeks to remedy.

this amendment requires that statement to provide actual information to the extent of the impact regarding the consumer price index. with that, mr. chairman, i urge adoption of this amendment. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? mr. raskin: claiming time in opposition, mr. chairman. the chair: you are recognized. mr. raskin: thank you, kindly. i'm afraid i remain unilluminated as to what that amendment will do. apparently the purpose is to require a more detailed or technical description of the projected impact when an assessment required by the bill finds that there will be some inflationary effect. again, this sounds like it's simply adding more bureaucracy, more paperwork, with no return on investment for the taxpayer dollars that would obviously take to conduct such an analysis. here we have gone for more than

two centuries with apparently no economist arguing that what we really need to stop inflation is more reporting in the process of issuance of executive orders by presidents of the united states. suddenly somebody had a great epiphany over there without a legislative hearing that what was really needed was just for the president of the united states to pen an inflationary statement to executive orders at the rate of $1 billion perhaps to be amended to $1 million or who knows, 50d million or $100 million, it doesn't make any difference because there is no data behind any of t no analysis behind any of it. you may as well spin a wheel and pick a number at which a report is going to be compelled by the majority here for the so-called rein in act, which stands for reduce exacerbated inflation negatively impacting the nation

act which could go by other titles, including the running on empty index, no new ideas, none act. since basically they are scraping the bottom to figure out something to say about inflation because the administration is actually bringing inflation down. we notice they don't talk about unemployment, which used to be their mantra. jobs, jobs, jobs. when joe biden came back and created 12 million new jobs after the last administration destroyed millions of jobs with their lethal recklessness in the mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic, and joe biden turned it around in this administration, they stopped talking about it. they did notice there was global inflation going on because the disruption of the global supply chain, and because of putin's filthy imperialist invasion of ukraine, which some of their members actually are cheerleaders for, there was a real problem with inflation and the administration has steadily

been bringing it down. which is why it doesn't have quite the political salience it used to. the world was waiting with bathed breath to determine what their plan would be. at last the whole plan is a reporting requirement. nothing to do with congress and congress doing anything but a reporting requirement for the president when he issues executive orders. i think the public is gravely disappointed by this complete collapse of any real commitment to the one issue they thought they had organized their conference around. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comer, chairman of the committee. the chair: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized mr. comber: i rise in -- mr. comer: i rise in support of the amendment. one thing that's become obvious to me, mr. chairman, is the fact that my friends on the other side of the aisle, they have no

idea how much inflation this administration's policies have created for the american people. that's the perfect reason we need to support this bill as amended if for no other reason so we can help our friends on the other side of the aisle have some type of measurement so they can see how damaging their policies and their out-of-control spending has been on everyday average americans when they go to the grocery store, when they fill up their gas tank, try to pay their rents. my colleague's amendment is wise. this bill requires inflation assessments to be prepared for the president's executive orders. as we all know the executive branch routinely does as little as possible to comply with assessment and reporting requirements congress imposes on it. this amendment makes sure the executive branch will include in its inflation impact assessments detailed descriptions of effects the president's executive orders

have on inflation. not just back of the envelope sketches. in other words, it makes sure the executive branch will comply with the spirit of the bill, not just its letter. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on the perry amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania recognized. mr. perry: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from maryland is recognized mr. raskin: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from -- mr. perry: i inquire to the time remaining. the chair: a minute and a half. mr. perry: the gentleman reserves. the chair: the gentleman from maryland has the right to close. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: thank you, mr. chairman. the gentleman from maryland, my friend from maryland, talks about increased bureaucracy. the increased bureaucracy of informing the american people, my goodness, my goodness, i never heard that from my friends on the other side of the aisle, increase bureaucracy. all they do around here is infuse more government into our

lives with every single thing they do. talks about the medical situation and price fixing. he doesn't call it price fixing. that's what it is. it's price fixing. more bureaucracy taking more drugs off the market, more lifesaving research off the market, but they are good with that. talks about 12 million new jobs but doesn't talk about the fact that in one of the reporting periods a million jobs were created but then it was only months latetory find out only 1y 10,000 were created. that first report right before the election. interesting how that happened. doesn't want to talk about that or the work force participation rate. doesn't want to talk about -- talks about lowering inflation. you can talk about that all you want to, but people that pay for things don't experience it. you can say it's true, but the reality is that it's not true. all these years he's saying it's been unnecessary to do this. my goodness, my good friend from maryland is a member of the legislature.

you would think he would want to preserve the power of the legislature instead of handing it to the executive branch which is what this place has done for years upon years. now we have a chance, my friend wants to hand yet more power to the executive branch instead of preserving the power of his branch that he serves in. thwith that, mr. speaker, i urge adoption of the amendment. i yield. the chair: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. raskin: thank you, mr. chairman. one can only regard with amazement the gentleman's insinuation that i want to hand power to the executive branch when we have been acting here in congress to pass the infrastructure act, to pass the inflation reduction act in the last congress, all of the measures they oppose, we moved in order to make real economic progress in the country. congress was doing that. they have the big opportunity today to come forward with what their anti-inflation agenda is, and their whole anti-inflation agenda is, we are going to beg the president of the united states to pen some inflation

numbers to an executive order torques a handful of executive orders over the course of the year. the gentleman also i think slipped in his opposition to our legislation which reduces to $35 a month what diabetics have to pay for their insulin shots. he calls this price fixing. my friend from pennsylvania is invited to contradict me if i misunderstood him. i think he was describing all of the lowering of prescription drug prices we have done. we are saving americans across the country millions of americans thousands of dollars in their medicare prescription drug prices, and the gentleman just called that price fixing. i assume he's opposed to t i would be happy to yield if you want to correct me. other wise i'm going back with the conclusion that you are opposed to all of the lowering of prescription drug prices that the congress actually engaged in in the 117th congress. finally, the gentleman would

like to somehow put in our court the burden of bureaucracy. let's talk about the major bureaucracy that's being put in place in america today to violate the rights and freedom of women to make their own medical decisions as they try to criminalize that. most of them, i don't know where the gentleman is, perhaps he can clarify it, most support a national ban on abortion. taking what was a constitutional right for more than a half century and turning it into a felony criminal offense. or misdemeanor criminal offense. talk about bureaucracy, talk about police state, that's on you. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman is out of time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to.

it is now in order to consider amendment number 14 printed in house report 118-4. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. roy: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 14, printed in house report number 118-4, offered by mr. roy of texas. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 166, the gentleman from texas, mr. roy, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. roy: i thank the speaker. i rise today to offer an amendment to this underlying piece of legislation to ensure that it applies to everything. i don't believe we should be in the business of exempting certain executive orders. i think they should apply across the board. my amendment would strike the exceptions to the bill's inflation estimates for executive orders that provide emergency assistance or relief or related to national security.

i don't believe that we should be pulling out of the calculation those executive orders that touch on national security simply because, frankly, often my colleagues on both sides of the aisle want to be able to use emergency for all manners of sins. they want to be able to use the defense department to hide behind all manners of sins and expenditures. the underlying bill is actually an important piece of legislation despite what my colleague from maryland is saying. why? because the executive orders being offered by this administration, frankly by many administrations, do have an actual and significant inflationary impact. we are allowing the executive branch to run amuck. we are allowing the executive branch to essentially legislate and make massive policies that have an enormous impact on everyday hardworking american people. that's why this legislation is important. that's why this legislation is important.

other than our colleagues on the other side of the aisle who like to use the power of government to actually put gasoline on the fire of inflation, by spending more money, by engaging government into the business of the american people, we want to be able to look at information about what government is doing to cause the problem in the first place. for example, the president's executive order on vaccine mandates. you don't believe that had a massive inflationary impact to go around this country, forcing people to stick a needle in their arm or lose their job, causing all sorts of constraints in labor supply, making it difficult for people to go to their jobs? you don't think the executive orders on the keystone pipeline and other limitations on other federal oil and gas leases, the executive orders with respect to wrda and nepa that restricts the ability for the american people to create wealth, create opportunity, you don't think those create an inflationary

impact? of course, they do. our job in congress is to check the executive branch. this amendment is designed to make sure we are going to apply it to equally to all manners of the executive orders produced by the president, regardless of party. we believe that's critically important. and with that i will reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? mr. raskin: i rise to claim time in opposition, mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. raskin: i'd like to yield one minute to the minority leader, mr. jeffries from new york. mr. jeffries: i thank the distinguished gentleman from the great state of maryland for his tremendous leadership. i rise today in opposition to the amendment as well as to the underlying bill. the so-called rein act. which is not really designed to

do anything meaningful in terms of addressing the economic concerns of the american people. and that's consistent with the fact that over the last two months of this extreme maga republican majority, they've been focused on doing anything but dealing with the real kitchen table, pocketbook concerns of the american people. over the last year or so, all we heard was that this extreme maga republican majority was going to try to address the economic concerns of everyday americans. and so we've been waiting and waiting and waiting for the big grand republican plan. waiting for it. notwithstanding the fact that president biden's administration has done a tremendous job pulling us out of a once-in-a-century pandemic, and in partnership with democrats

through the american rescue plan, saved the economy from a deep recession, put shots in arm, money back in pockets, kids back in school, invested in the infrastructure of this country which will create millions of good-paying jobs. passed the chips in science act to bring domestic manufacturing jobs back home to the united states of america. passed the inflation reduction act to strike a dramatic blow against the climate crisis. set our planet on a sustainable, trajectory forward. strengthened the affordable care act. lower health care costs. drive down the price of lifesaving prescription drugs for millions of americans, including many on insulin, which will now be reduced to $35 a month. that's the economic record of this administration. 12 million good-paying jobs created over the last two years. record unemployment.

yes, we still have challenges that we need to address as we try to emerge from this inflationary environment that has afflicted the entire world. but oh, by the way, the united states economy has emerged from covid in a better position than any other developed country because of the biden economic plan and the partnership with house democrats and senate democrats. but we've been waiting and waiting and waiting for the grand republican plan. and here it is, the so-called rein act. three pages. three pages. what does it call for? reports. reports. it's the grand republican economic plan. why? because you've been focused on the wrong things. now, house democrats, we're going to continue to invest in the american people.

invest in education and job training. invest in transportation and infrastructure. invest in research and development. invest in technology and innovation. invest in the creation and preservation of affordable housing. invest in the health, the safety, the economic well-being of the american people. that's our plan. we're going to continue to put people over politics. and we get three pages. calling for reports. a so-called rein in act. here's what we should be reining in. we should be reining in the extreme maga republican effort to cut social security. we should rein in the extreme maga republican effort to cut medicare. rein in the extreme maga republican effort to criminalize reproductive freedom and impose

a nationwide ban. rein in the extreme maga republican effort to crash the united states economy and default on our debt for the first time in american history. we should be reining in your effort to hand over sensitive security footage from the january 6 violent insurrection to an avowed conspiracy theorist. that's what we should be reining in. three-page plan calling for reports. it's not a serious effort to address the challenges facing the american people. but we will continue to be serious about putting people over politics, fighting for lower costs, fighting for better paying jobs, fighting for safer communities, fighting for reproductive freedom and defending our democracy at all

costs. i yield back. mr. raskin: i thank the gentleman for his extraordinarily inciteful remarks. the only exception i would take is extreme maga. we had a colloquy yesterday with the good gentlelady from colorado. i had gently suggested that perhaps our colleagues on the other side of the aisle could stop referring to democrat congress women with democrat plans and democrat bills. democrat is a noun. the adjective is democratic. so it would be the democratic congresswoman and democratic bill and so on. it grates on our ears the same it would grate on your ears we invoke the same -- the banana republican congress member or the banana republican conference. that we would consider a breach of civility and decorum.

so we prefer to go back to something else. and yet, the gentlelady from colorado said, if i understood her correctly, that she would continue with her deliberate mispronounceation of the name of our party and its adjective norm. and she took the whole opportunity to raise the issue of maga. when you call me maga, don't call me maga. call me ultra-maga. so when the minority leader called the extreme maga, he should have called the ultra-maga in deference to the gentlelady from colorado. i will be able to honor her wishes in the future as she chooses to be described as ultra-maga. and with that i'll reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. roy: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from kentucky, my friend, mr. comer. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. comer: mr. chair, i rise in support of the roy amendment. my colleague's amendment removes

exception in the bill that inflation impact assessments be ordered are for all executive orders. created by this administration's inflationary policies as well as the previous house majority's excessive, unnecessary spending spree, historic inflation is harming households across the nation. our focus is be doing everything we can to protect from further inflation. this amendment is one way we can do and that will not unduly the president -- burden the president. this will make sure the president is aware of the inflationary impact orders -- that his orders may threaten. because i don't think my friends on the other side of the aisle realize how much these orders have impacted inflation.

so i hope that this helps stop the biden inflation at its source by helping president biden see the inflationary consequences of his actions at the time he's -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. comer: i urge my colleagues to vote yes and i yield back. mr. roy: reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from maryland. mr. raskin: mr. chair, how much time do i have on our side? the chair: 2 1/2 minutes. mr. raskin: thank you. so i believe our colleagues are coming clean. they oppose the american rescue act, which was absolutely essential legislation to get the country out of the trump economic wreckage during the last administration. we had 14.8% unemployment. the highest unemployment rate since the department of labor started keeping statistics. and today it's down to 4% with the creation of 12 million new jobs under the biden administration. and so they shift the subject from unemployment, which they used to talk about, to inflation. well, they raised the debt limit

themselves three times under donald trump who contributed 25% of the entire debt of the nation between george washington and joe biden. 25% all came from the trump administration. but they're looking for something to try to pin on biden so rather than acknowledging that putin's war in russia and the disruption of the global supply chains caused by the coronavirus pandemic created a global inflation and america's doing much better bringing it down than anybody else, they decide just to try to demonize and vilify joe biden. why? because the cabinet is empty. the cupboard is bare and there are no ideas over there, as the distinguished minority leader said. they're not offering any ideas. some reporting requirements. and they're doodling on it. should be a million or billion or hundred million? who knows. they're making it up as they go

along on the floor of the house. we can do much better as we did in the 117th congress to get america moving again. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. roy: mr. chair, how much time do we have remaining? the chair: 1 1/2 minutes. mr. roy: i thank the speaker. so the question seems to be about, you know, we have nothing allegedly in the cupboard, nothing to offer. well, i think there's plenty to offer. how about stop spending money we don't have? how about stop dumping trillions of dollars into the economy jamming up inflation? how about doing -- how about ending all of the subsidies and all of the federal expenditures that are undermining the american people's ability to create wealth and create jobs? the gentleman talks about the amount of debt that was increased under president trump. how about the 43% to 45% of our en entire debt that was increased under nancy pelosi as speaker? because those are the actual facts. and this is the body that has

the power of the purse. this is the body that starts all the spending. we know where the spending starts. the fact of the matter is my colleagues on the other side of the aisle like to talk about creating 12 million jobs. first of all, this body doesn't create jobs. government doesn't create jobs. the american people create jobs. and the fact is our labor participation rate is still far behind pre-covid levels. we're basically playing catch-up to the utter destruction that was levied against the american people by government against the american people shutting down this economy, locking our kids into corners, setting our kids back generations in terms of their academic performance. and criticizing three-page bills. i tell you what, it's a far cry better than the 4,100-page omnibus bill jammed through by the democrats in december destroying this economy. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. raskin: thank you, mr. chairman. it's always a pleasure to hear

my friend from texas, mr. roy, who mentioned something which sounded like a substantive suggestion about ending corporate subsidies or perhaps i intuitive -- interpreted that. if he wants to work on legislation with me on ending corporate welfare and corporate subsidies in america, i'd love to do that. that would be a serious step in the right direction and i would love to work with him on that. i take it by his suggestion that we rein in spending, something that i referred to when we talked about the republicans raising the debt limit three times under donald trump. they had no problem with doing it back then and creating all of this debt. and we know that the former president was spending like a drunken sailor. i take it by not mentioning the legislation any more he's basically conceding that this bill will do nothing to bring down the inflation rate. it certainly will not. i don't know if they've been able to mobilize a single economist in the country who

would argue that passing this legislation will bring the inflation rate down. i'll reserve. . the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. all time has expired on both sides. the question is on the am offered by the gentleman from texas, mr. roy. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. raskin: request a recorded vote if i could. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment by the gentleman from texas will be postponed.

now in order to consider amendment number 15 printed in house report 118-4. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? mr. yakym: i have an amendment at the desk, number 15. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 15, printed in house report number 118-4, offered by mr. yakym of indiana. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 166, the gentleman from indiana, mr. yakym, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from indiana. mr. yakym: thank you, mr. chair. my amendment is a simple one. it would require the president's inflation analysis include not just a top line estimate but also a break down to the c.p.i.'s three major subgroups -- food, energy, and all items less food and energy. americans are navigating an inflation rate not seen in

generations. their dollar isn't going far enough because wages aren't keeping up. it's no wonder that a recent gallup poll poll found 50% of americans are worse of financially than a year ago. that's a level not seen since the great recession. let me be clear. we have this generational inflation thanks to two years of run away spending. i'll grant the pandemic caused massive disruptions to our economy, supply chains, and our way of life. it was going to be a bumpy ride coming out of that. however policies like the american rescue plan that were ran through congress without a single republican vote, threw gasoline on the fire and super charged inflation. with one hand the government was giving away money. and with the other hand they were taking it right back. and then some. due to inflation. yet, americans have essentially been told not to believe their lying eyes.

they were assured that inflation would merely be quote-unquote, transitory. even as it spiraled higher. they were told it was all putin's fault even though energy inflation around just over 21% in 2021, the year before russia invaded ukraine. congress passed the inflation reduction act yet again without a single republican vote. the only problem with the inflation reduction act is that it doesn't actually reduce inflation. everyday americans experience inflation has made one thing abundantly clear. not all inflation is created equal. energy and food inflation are particularly harmful. there is no more kitchen table issue than food inflation. there is no more readily available reminder of the toll of inflation than the price at the pump. energy and food inflation impact every single american and hit those living paycheck to paycheck especially hard. seniors and others on fixed incomes have watched helplessly as costs have risen beyond their

ability to keep up. my amendment will ensure the president keeps food and energy costs front and center before signing an executive order by breaking out inflation analysis down to c.p.i.'s three main subgroups -- food, energy, and all items less food and energy. overall inflation figure is not nuvment last month's inflation -- is not enough. last month's inflation rating showed a 6.4% year over year rise in top line inflation. let's drill down one level deeper. food inflation was 10.1%. and energy inflation was 8.7%. this has been the story for the last two years. energy inflation has outpaced over all inflation for 24 of the last 24 months. food inflation has outpaced overall inflation for 13. the top line number simply doesn't tell the entire story. drilling down one level deeper in inflation analysis will

increase transparency for the american people. it will focus attention not just on inflation but on the type of inflation. if the president wants to sign an executive order, that for example, bans new energy production, the american people deserve to know how that order will impact energy inflation. i urge my colleagues to support and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? mr. raskin: rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment, mr. chair. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. raskin: thank you kindly. i thank the gentleman for introducing his amendment which would add yet another reporting dimension to this already wasteful bureaucratic paperwork exercise when what the american people need and deserve and are getting from the biden administration is real tangible

action to bring down prices in america. what are we doing? well, here's one of the things we are doing for older people who disproportionately depend on prescription drugs and people battling illness right now. we have dramatically lowered the cost of prescription drugs in the medicare program for millions and millions of americans. we just heard someone on the other side of the aisle, the gentleman from pennsylvania, call this price fixing. well, here's an example of the price fixing that president biden and the democratic majority are engaged in. we fixed the price for people who are paying thousands of dollars for insulin shots, we fixed it by putting it down to $35 a month. they oppose it. talk about inflation? what about inflation for diabetics. they don't count? we are not interested in inflation for diabetics? just for large corporations. the people who got more than $1

trillion in a tax cut from the last president. that's what we care about? we don't care about millions of people who have diabetes in the country? we are spending thousands of dollars a year to pay for their insulin shots. we cut that inflation down to $35 a month. we get a lecture from them about how that doesn't count. the biden administration is trying to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from people who have to pay under a staggering student loan debt today. and they are fighting us on that. they don't care about that kind of inflation. they don't care about the pocketbooks of people who are staggering under student loan debt. 43 million people. we are talking about billions of dollars. 43 million people will be assisted by the student loan debt executive order and initiatives taken by the biden administration. that doesn't count for them.

we started this series of amendments by talking about the fact that they have this self imposed political speech impediment. they can't correctly pronounce the name of our party. but you know i thought after solution to this. i was reading a great book about franklin d. roosevelt called traitor to his class. in the book he has a bunch of roosevelt's speeches. you know what he called our party? not the democratic party, much less less the democrat party. if you can't pronounce it do what roosevelt did. he called us the democracy. the democracy. he said, the economic royalists, the corporate pluto contracts say you invest in the wealthiest people in society, some of the wealth will trickle down on everybody else. but the democracy says you invest in the great working middle class of america we will all rise and prosper together.

that's the doctrine of the democracy. if you can't pronounce the name of our party, just call us the democracy. that's what we are today. because we defend the right to vote. and we defend free and fair elections, and we stand by the results of elections. we defend not only the country and our democratic allies all over the world as in ukraine, we defend this body. we defend this chamber. we defend the capitol of the united states. and we defend the interests of the working majority of americans. so the american people are not asking for more reports and more bureaucracy, they are asking for action. that's what the biden administration and democrats in congress are giving them. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. yakym: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comer. the chair: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. chair, i rise in support of the amendment. perhaps no part of biden

inflation has been more painful than its impacts on food and energy prices. one can hardly imagine kitchen table issues greater than those. biden inflation is causing food prices to skyrocket as well as the prices for energy to cook it. and the prices of gasoline needed to get to the market. and the list goes painfully on. my colleagues' amendment makes sure when the president is considering major executive orders he will be informed in a crystal clear way of the inflationary impacts his orders may have on food and energy prices. it's my hope that will bring some relief to our constituents at their kitchen tables. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. raskin: thank you, mr. chair. the biden administration brought trump's unemployment rate, which was skyrocketing, down, we went from 14.8%, to less than 4%, creating 12 million new jobs. and now president biden is

bringing down the soaring inflation rate he inherited because of the massive disruption in global supply chains caused by the lethal recklessness of the trump administration and mismanaging the pandemic response. we are saying let's finish the job just as we brought unemployment down we are bringing inflation down. we are making the american economy work for the american people through strategic investments like the infrastructure act. $1.2 trillion investment in the roads and highways and the bridges. the ports. the airports. broadband across the country. in the rural areas. president biden is fighting for investment in the american people. that's what the democrats are fighting for. not a bunch of reports. we don't need this legislation -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. raskin: i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from indiana is recognized.

mr. yakym: i urge my colleagues to support. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from indiana. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will now resume on those amendments on which further proceedings were postponed in the following order. amendment number 1 by mr. bost of illinois. amendment number 3 by mrs. boebert of colorado. amendment number 6 by ms. jackson lee of texas. amendment number 7 by ms. jackson lee of texas. amendment number 9 by mrs. lee

of nevada. amendment number 14 by mr. roy of texas. the chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 1 printed in house report 118-4, offered by the gentleman from illinois, mr. bost on which further further proceedings were post -- on which further proceedings were postponed and the ayes prevailed by to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1, printed in house report number 118-4, offered by mr. bost of illinois. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is order. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 324. the nays are 83. the amendment is agreed to. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 3 printed in house report 118-4. offered by the gentlewoman from

colorado, mrs. boebert, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 3, printed in house report number 118-4, offered by mrs. boebert of colorado. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 384. the nays are 29. the amendment is --

the chair: correction. on this vote the yeas are 386. the nays are 31. the amendment is agreed to.

the unfinished business is the request of a recorded vote on amendment number 6 printed in house report 118-4 offered by the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 6 printed in house report 118-4 offered by ms. jackson lee of texas. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 181. the nays are 236. the amendment is not agreed to. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 7 printed in house report 118-4 offered by the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 7 printed in house report 118-4 offered by ms. jackson lee of

texas. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 187. the nays are 232. the amendment is not agreed to. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 9 printed in house report 118-4 offered by the gentlewoman from nevada, mrs. lee, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 9 printed in house report 118-4 offered by mrs. lee of nevada. the chair: a recorded vote has

been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas

are 364. the nays are 56. the amendment is agreed to. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 14 printed in house report 118-4 offered by the gentleman from texas, mr. roy, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 14 printed in house report 118-4 offered by mr. roy of texas. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote theyea. the nays are 226. the amendment is not agreed to.

there being no further amendment under the rule, the committee rises. >> madam speaker. the committee of the whole house on the state of the union has had under consideration h.r. 347 an pursuant to house resolution 166, i report the bill back to the house with sundry amendments adopted in the committee of the whole. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration the bill h.r. 347, and pursuant to

house resolution 166 reports the bill back to the house with sundry amendments adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule the previous question is ordered. is a separate vote demanded on any amendment reported from the committee of the whole? if not, the chair will put them en gros. the question is on the adoption of the amendments. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have t the amendments are a-- have it. the amendments are agreed. to the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to require the

executive office of the president to provide an inflation estimate with respect to executive orders with a significant effect on the annual gross budget, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the bill. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the bill is passed. for what purpose does memorize? mr. raskin: rise to request a recorded vote. the c the speaker pro tempore: without objection, a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house

proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 272 and nays are 148. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise?

>> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9:00 a.m. on friday, march 3, 2023. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. the house will be in order. the house will be in order. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise?

>> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise to recognize objectionanne watson who is here in the gallery today she raised awareness of organ donation. women heart and the american heart association. as recipient of organ donation, she has taken this issue head on and searched as advocate and volunteer with live-on new york and organ donor network and used to help to increase donor 15%. for these efforts she has been

recognized as guiness book of world record holder having signed up over 13,000 individuals to become organ donors. she is a role model and honored to recognize her today on the house floor for her efforts. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today as plaque history month has tom come to a close to honor some black leaders. they blazed trails by being the first black flairians serve on city councils, run for commissioner posts and pass

constitutional. camille evans, dr. remped bracey, commissioner butler, dr. redic, byron brooks, dr. williams, chester glover, denise diaz and representative brown and sue chandler. and bass our state and community are a nation better place. today and always we celebrate their achievements and continue to honor black history. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> today i rise to pay tribute to the late state representative

chris jordan of delaware county who passed away this weekend. we both entered the house and the minority on the same day in 2009. chris and i both moved over to the ohio senate in 2011, where he would serve at my vice chairman on the house energy and public utilities committee. he will be remembered as a public servant of strong convictions and relentless campaigner going door-to-door year round even when he was uncontested. this earned him the respect and loyal following, a community he served in various roles for virtually all his adult life. our prayers continue with his many loved ones, his three young children. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from georgia seek

recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> madal speaker, i rise to commemorate a milestone of mr. eugene harmman. we will serve 50 years with delta airlines. he was hired in 1973 at a time when there were very few flight attend apartments and fewer men of color. i served as a flight attendant for 30 years and i give my respect as he marks 50 years of flight service this year. the commitment to kindness, care and safety instill all those we serve stayed with you. i'm honored to recognize you.

from a former flight attendant and on behalf of the thousands of americans you have served, congratulations and thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded not to refer occupants in the gallery. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> south african government has adopted a worrying path and shameful decision to host russia and china for naval exercises. i'm a combat veteran and i participated in war games and war. one is intended to prepare for the other. in hard times it is easy to be

seduced by the sorry song of is layingsism. but the world is filled with russian lies is a threat to american economy and security at home. we must speak softly and carry a big stick and must eliminate safe havens that will go to direct threats to america. ensured that american goods and help redues long time aid and eliminate slave labor in our battery supply chains including minerals strapped on its backs of black children. we must return to being the most desirable choice. it is in our interest to ensure when nations like south flick have a choice between china and america, should always choose america first. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from north carolina rise? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise today on behalf of eastern north carolina. today begins the start of women's history month. and i want to take this time to acknowledge a group of young women who represent the best of eastern north carolina. during my live the drain downeast tour. i visited the program at the center for energy education in roanoke rapids. it allows students to visit colleges incorporate renewable industries while working with teachers and industry professionals to extend knowledge beyond classroom walls. i was honored to spend time with the students of this program who

emphasized why representation matters. madam speaker, we must do all that we can to empower young women and girls to pursue stem-related career paths and i will continue fighting to ensure the next generation of woman like our radiant rays have the tools they need to thrive in the east. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today to highlight and celebrate a special group of hoosiers. the fairfield falcon girls basketball team captured the 3-a state title for the first time. the win over corden in central

indiana was extra special as it marks fairfield's first state trophy in any sport. we heard defense wins championships and for the falcons it turn out to be true. they were downright stingy allowing the fewest points in indiana. not only because of their defense, head coach brody gasher for providing leadership and mentorship needed for his team to take on the title. congratulations and bringing home the hardware. thank you for making indiana proud. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute.

ms. kaptur: madam speaker, the latest disastrous norfolk southern train derailment in east palestine, ohio traveled through my district before the crash. this follows another dangerous derailment in my district at the busy columbus bridge overpass. one half year later, it's clear that norfolk southern repairs have seriously lagged at this main artery in sandusky, ohio. they have failed to restore the main art erie into the city of sandusky, ohio. where the rail bearings brought in $3.7 billion, the company needs to invest to prevent

disasters. the current and long-term health and safety for the residents in east palestine and sandusky. america cannot rail chief kaines to exploit people while padding their own pocketbook with billions of money. it is time to change course and rail safety is now. . . so for what purpose does the the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. carter: ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. carter: madam speaker, i rise today to honor the life of darian councilman morris butler who passed away last month. mr. butler served on the city council for three years he would be remembered as a kind man and a man who would always fight for what he thought was right. my thoughts and prayers are with his wife, his five daughters,

and 10 grandchildren. the mayor remembered him for his warm smile. his love for his family. and his love for people in general. the mayor said he always felt warmth when he was around councilman butler, and now feels a void without his presence. this is a trying time for the people of darian as this is the second councilmember that they have lost due to death in the last month. but i know that the memory and the legacy of both of these council members, especially of morris butler, will not be forgotten. our thoughts and prayers are with mr. butler and his family. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. miss lee: thank you --

ms. lee: thank you. madam speaker, last week one of our colleagues from across the aisle made very ignorant comments that questioned representative judy chu's loyalty and service to this country. these claims were baseless, discriminatory, and flat out wrong. as one of his own republican -- one of his own republican colleagues said, these types of troubling comments are out of bounds and, yes, beyond the pale. questioning congresswoman judy chu's loyalty to the united states purely based on her chinese heritage is not only racist and zone phobic, it's very -- xenophobic, it's very dangerous. it's not neuvment dr. martin luther king jr. was subject to baseless a accusations of a communist by hoover. these bouts of misinformation have been cast toward myself, congresswoman ilhan omar, and other women of color in congress. madam speaker, hate speech leads to hate violence. we must clearly and strongly denounce this kind of rhetoric,

especially during a time when our aapi community continues to be a target of hateful aggression against the country. congresswoman chu has been a steadfast warrior for constituents in her district. the aapi community, a great patriot, and all marginalized communities she's worked for across our country. who question her service and loyalty to the united states is shameful and unacceptable. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> this saturday was a big day for basketball in indiana. let's be honest, every day is a big day for basketball in indiana. then this weekend the girl's basketball teams throughout the state went head-to-head to compete for the indiana high school athletic association state championship. i'm proud to share that not just one but two southern indiana high schools brought home state

titles for the ninth district. first to play with the lanesville eagles basketball team. they walked away from the game with the school's first ever ihsaa class 1-a championship title. the eagles continued their firsts as senior lindsey warner was named the first athlete in lanesville history to win the 2023 patricia l. roy mental attitude award. next up was the bedford north lawrence lady stars basketball team. they won the game with the ihsaa class 4-a championship title for the fifth time. and again, only adding to their success senior carson norman was named the 2023 recipient of the patricia l. roy mental attitude award. both teams left their hearts on the basketball court and represented their hometowns well. i join all hoosiers in saying congratulations. it makes the best basketball state in the country. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from nevada seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the yeam is recognized. >> i think all of us members of congress can agree on one thing, that one of the greatest joys of being a member is knowing the great men and women who work for us day in and day out. the men and women who also dedicate their lives to serving others and serving our country. today i have the honor -- i want to honor one such man, my former chief of staff, brandon cox, who, as of friday, will be moving on to bigger and bert challenges. i first met brandon eight years ago as a staffer for my campaign, and i saw a confident young man who knew politics better than anyone. worked harder than anyone. had a memory for details. that is unmatched. and who demanded excellence from himself and others. mrs. lee: he has been an accomplished manager first of my

campaign and the last four years of my entire congressional staff. one when you are elected as a freshman you are often advised to not hire your campaign manager as your chief, but i did not listen. thankfully. i knew i needed someone who knew nevada's third congressional district always had my back, and knew me but most importantly knew how to get things done. my office was better for it. but most importantly my constituency -- constituents were better for it. brandon, it's been a good run. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. mrs. lee: wish you all the best. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from puerto rico seek recognition? mrs. gonzalez-colon: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. gonzalez-colon: thank you, madam speaker. today i rise to celebrate the 10 #th anniversary of the people of puerto rico being granted the u.s. citizenship. puerto rico became a u.s.

territory in 1898, and in 1906, president root investigate called on congress to confer u.s. citizenship to puerto ricans. on march 2, 1917, the jones act was signed into law. we are proud american citizens and we are proud of our contributions we have made to this great nation. over more than 235,000 puerto rican service members have served and fought in every military conflict that our nation has had since world war 1. however, although we are u.s. citizens, the federal government often treat us unequally. i can tell you that we no longer want to be treated differently. we want the same rights and responsibilities as our fellow citizens in the states. which can only be achieved with statehood. like congress acted 1 o 06 years ago -- 106 years ago to grant us our cherished american

citizenship, congress has an obligation to act again and make us a permanent part of the union as the 51st state. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise to honor women in america and abroad by commemorating women's history month. today and always we honor the brave, courageous and fearless women who have made this nation so great. to name a few, rosa parks, harriet tubman, celia cruz, and hidden figures such as mary jackson and katherine johnson. mr. espaillat: madam speaker emeritus, nancy pelosi, who was the first woman to serve as speaker of this house. from the women in leadership

roles on my staff who help respond every single day to the needs of my constituents to the women who tirelessly uplift our families and communities, we cannot imagine a world without the leadership of women. it fills me with great pride to represent the district that is over 52% female. women get things done. period. and they do it better than us men. happy women's history month, madam speaker. i thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? >> to speak for one minute. >> without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise today to celebrate the month of march as women's history month. this is a time dedicated to recognizing and honoring the women throughout american history who have helped shape our nation. but let me be clear, i do mean

women's history month. women have been fighting for over a century for our right to vote, our right to be heard, and our right to have a seat at the table. now the woke left is claiming that instead of celebrating women this month, we should be celebrating birthing people. well, last i checked the only person who could actually give birth was a woman, let's not let the facts get in the way of a good story. mrs. mcclain: they claim the phrase woman is offensive to transwomen and because of that we should choose a more inclusive phrase. let me just say i will be celebrating women's history month. i will not celebrate the woke left forcing the rest of america to call a man a woman. especially -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. mrs. mcclain: by actively threat n whying women's rights by

demanding to be allowed to compete in sports -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask for unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute >> thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in support of the folks in east palestine ohio and bipartisan congressional action on 21st century rail safety regulations. on february 3, 28 38 trains derailed in east palestine, ohio. there was a massive explosion, and the community has been reeling ever since. congressman bill johnson pulled the entire ohio delegation together, republicans and democrats, to ask fema for additional action. fema's response? full aid will be provided and teams are on the ground to help

now. while norfolk southern will be responsible for making east palestine whole, we must now act to ensure this never happens again. congress, all of us, republicans and democrats, need to pass a bipartisan package that ensures safety from the wheel bearings to the brakes, from the detectors to the placards, for more frequent and comprehensive inspections to clear communications with our community. mr. landsman: we must do this for the folks in east palestine, for cincinnati in southwest ohio, and every community in this great country of ours. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. and ability to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute.

>> madam speaker, i come to the floor today to honor stewart mcnally. a united states army veteran who sadly passed away last summer. before he began his honorable service in the united states army, in the late 1960's, stewart was the captain of the art their hill tech football team and went on to work at g.m. shortly after graduating. he served honorably and after his service in uniform he came to florida in my district to begin another kind of service, his family. he moved to florida 7 to take care of his elderly father, another civil servant who served in world war ii. his friends and family remembered him as a loyal friend with great sense of humor. he loved his cycle, fish, and run in his free time. he's survived by his son, and i'm honored to help celebrate his life and service to the united states of america. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentleman from illinois seek

recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i have heard from so many working families across central and northwestern illinois who feel like they are left behind. big corporations record record profits while workers struggle to make ends meet. let's remember it was the american worker who built this country. it was the workers coming together to bargain collectively who built a strong middle class. the 3r0 act is the most -- pro act is the most signature update to workers rights in 80 years t couldn't come soon enough. when workers have the power to stand together and form a union, they get higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions. i was proud to i helped introduce the pro act and i urge members of congress

to pass it so we can re-organ improve the lives of working families in illinois and across our great nation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for. mr. thompson: i rise today to celebrate national read across america day. tomorrow classrooms will celebrate the largest celebration of reading. on this day we celebrate reading brings to adults and children. brings about the world of imagination. the day was accomplished by the national education association in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. i want to highlight in p.15,

students kicked off with the pennsylvania state graining. this celebration started with an assembly to get the kids excited and will consist of variety of events. the most exciting event taking place is the drop everything and read day. a sound will play randomly and students will be expected to drop whatever they are doing and pick up a book. as a former howard elementary school student and senior member of the education and work force committee i i am happy to see our students eager to learn. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> unanimous consent address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> a year ago president putin

launched an unlawful invasion of the people in ukraine. the war that has led to destruction and human atrocities. i have seen these atrocities firsthand when i traveled to ukraine last september. the bombing of homes, schools and businesses, the deportation of families and it goes on and on. putin is a war criminal. i'm proud he campingsed me and my colleagues for the support of ukraine and standing up for democracy and standing up for our democracy as well. putin thought he could divide us. he was wrong, wrong and wrong. the western world is united because freedom and democracy is worth fighting and this is what this is about. we must continue to provide

financial support to ukraine, what it takes for them to win this war because there is no other option. this is a test of our time and we must rise. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today horrified after reports from iran that hundreds of school girls have been appeared to have been poisoned. i cannot stand by and watch these women and children being targeted because they want to live free. i called on the president to do more than than merely sanction the authoritarian regime. the biden administration will not respond because they are

still looking to resuscitate a nuclear deal with iran. additionally, its weakness on the world stage has the administration being consumed by the war in ukraine. we have faced decades-long failed attempts to negotiate directly with the islamic republic. if there is no one thing that has been crystal clear, this is no pathway. we need to stop peddling. i call on the biden administration to publicly disavow the prospect of a new nuclear deal with iran. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today at the close of black history month and the

beginning of women's history month to recognize an incredible athlete, role model from illinois 13th congressional, jackie joiner contestery. -- keccy is one of the best and winning forld track titles. over the course of her career she broke the world record that still stands today. she was the first african-american woman to win gold medals. but today, her legacy goes beyond her athletic achievements. i visited her foundation which provides educational and athletic opportunities for young people in east st. louis. i was transpired from what i

saw. throughout her life, she has used her platform to be a tireless advocate in children's education and racial equity and women's rights. as we celebrate black history month and women's history, let's recognize incredible folks like jackie. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> the president has once again using the department of defense to advance the far-left agenda and pro-abortion policies. new policy to give servicemembers paid administrative leave for up to three weeks and travel reimbursements to obtain elective abortions is another extreme example.

no federal funds are to be used for elective abortions. the military mission is equally clear. to be a lethal force to defend the innocent and defeat those who would do them harm. this flies in the face of that mission. i call on the president to reverse this policy that is in violation of law and counter to the military mission. with that, i yield. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, the border is not secure. our officers are doing everything they can, but they need more resources. they need better leadership. the president must take the border crisis seriously because 100,000 americans died from fentanyl poisoning last year and we know fentanyl is coming from

china from the u.s.-mexican border. republicans stand ready to increase physical barriers to hire more border patrol agents and immigration judges and implement new technologies and support our officers on the front line. as a member of the homeland security, i am committed working with all of my colleagues to make sure our country is safe, our border is secure, our law enforcement has the tools it needs to be successful. our great nation depends on it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> the bureau of land management has revised down the number of oil drilling applications to 6,

700. the biden administration has been did he sesk the american people. the president's green new deal agenda has led to highest american energy prices. the is $3.35 or a buck higher than that in my home state of california. on the day the president was sworn in, the price was $2.39, a dollar less. american households are paying the highest home heating costs. on day one, president biden killed the keystone pipeline project and cost the united states 59,000 jobs and $9.6 billion. the president has pending applications for permits to drill. the administration is not serious about getting america out of these high costs of

energy and this crisis. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a mess. the messenger: messages from the president of the united states. the secretary: i am directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives messages in writing. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 9, 2023, the gentleman from texas, mr. green, is recognized as the designee of the minority leader. mr. green: madam speaker, and still i rise and i rise today as a part of this month where we will honor women. this is women's history month. but i'm going to do something that is a little unusual and apologize for the encroachment upon women's history month that i shall engage in today.

it's an encroachment because i want to extend black history month by one day. and i do so because actually in reality black history should be an every day event. so to the women of the world, my apologies. one day of encroachment as i speak about black history. and of course, i rise, as a proud descendant of the enslaved people who built america, made america the great country it is, the foundational mothers and fathers. yes, there are others here who did work, but they did it for hundreds of years. i rise to honor them during this black history month. i rise because it is necessary and proper that we put plaque

history in its proper perspective, that the story be truthfully told about the history of africans in america, because it hasn't. and the truth is, we say that black history is american history and i agree it is, but the truth is black history is world history and bigger than the united states of america. it's global in scope. today, however, i shall focus on black history as it relates to the united states of america. and i do believe that it is important for us to give a little bit of history on black history month itself. the precursor was negro history week. this was during the second week in february. it started in 1926 by the honorable historian carter g.

woodson in concert with the association for negro for the study of negro life and history, the asnlh. this organization has endorsed black history resolution that we have. this organization is one i am proud to associate with for guidance and instruction. i would ask that negro history week was founded on this week, the week that i call to your attention that relates to black history and could insided with the birthdays of frederick douglass and abraham lincoln. black history month was first proposed by black educators and the black united students at kent state university in february of 1969.

the first celebration took place at kent state a year later in 1970. this year's theme for black history is black resistance. the theme flores how african-americans have restored. my resolution has passed this house four times. first, may 12 of 2007 where it was agreed upon by a voice vote. may 6, 2008, where it received 367 yeas, no nays. 62 persons not voting and third time on february 24 of 2009, where we had 420 yeas, no nays and 12 not voting. the last time it passed the house was february 23 on 2010.

430 yeas. since since then we've not been recording votes for resolutions, generally speaking. which is why we don't get a vote on black history month resolutions now. but i'm proud to tell you that for this resolution this year, we have 104 co-sponsors and i'm proud to tell you that this resolution has been approved by the organization that has been sponsoring this month for many years now. associated with carter g. woodson. please allow me to read some excerpts from this year's resolution. whereas this resolution may be cited as the original black history month resolution of 2023. whereas this resolution has been endorsed by the association for the study of african-american life and history. whereas the theme for black history month, 2023, is black resistance, which coincides and

chronicles how african-americans have resisted oppression in all its invidious forms, including enslavement, lynching, mob violence, police brutality, black codes, convict leasing, jim crow laws, lawful segregation and invidious discrimination. whereas slavery was a brutal and inhumane system that treated human beings as property and stripped them of their inalienable human rights of liberty, life and the pursuit of happyness. whereas the history of black resistance in the united states predates the civil rights movements of the 1950's and 1960's. as it historically spans centuries from colonial slavery through contemporary invidious discrimination. whereas this resolution illuminates some of the momentous history of black resistance that predates the

resistance movements of the 20th and 21st centuries. whereas black resistance to slavery was a constant persistent, and it is persistent throughout the history of enslavement in the united states, and it took many forms, including the acts of rebellion, escape, some persons committed suicide, sabotage, litigation, work slowdowns, persons with illness, misplacing or damaging tools. people would literally do anything that they could in the form of noncompliance to resist their being enslaved. whereas there's historical evidence of as many as 250 instances of slave revolts involving 10 or more slaves during the history of american slavery. whereas nat turner and gabriel

prosser rebellions were two of the most significant acts of armed resistance to slavery in the united states. inspiring other enslaved people to resist and making it clear that the determination of enslaved people to fight for their freedom was something that would be persisted with. whereas gabriel prosser's rebellion against virginia in the united states in the 1800's was a land mark event in the history of black resistance to slavery in the united states. and although he and his followers were hanged, his bravery and leadership continued to inspire generations of activists and advocates. whereas the new york city conspiracy and the german coast uprising are other instances of significant slave uprisings in the united states, and its

predecessor colonies. whereas in the fight for freedom, liberty, justice and equality, the righteous resistance of many black freedom fighters has been depreciated, down played, deprecated, disparaged, denigrated, disrespected and demonized. whereas one such instance of depreciation and effort to minimize the history of such a person is that of a man who re-- a woman who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus months before the incident wherein rosa parks refused to do the same thing, but one person was depreciated and disrespected. the other has been noted in history as a historic and heroic person. whereas a life-long civil rights

advocate and lead organizer of the march on washington was nearly written out of history merely because of his sexual orientation. whereas religion was a form of resistance to slavery as it allowed the enslaved to assert their humanity, dignity and independence. whereas spiritual songs often use as a form of resistance by building community and maintaining good spirits as a means of healing and even communicating secret messages. whereas the song "steal away" was used by nat turner to call people to him to discuss plans for his rebellion. and the same song was also sung by slaves who planned on escaping at some time that was in their immediate future. whereas the song "get on the gospel train" provided courage for slaves to escape citing room for many people, a train

available to everyone, and a promise that also alluded the fact -- alluded to the fact that both blacks and whites provided assistance to fugitive slaves as they traveled the underground railroad. whereas the song sweet cher yot was said to be -- cheriot was said to be a personal favorite of harriet tubman's as it indicated to slaves that they would be escaping soon. whereas the song "follow the drinking good" was used to remind slaves of the clues they would need to find their way to the north. whereas those slaves who resisted their enslavement by running away were not only recaptured, punished and returned to their torment, but also exposed to newspaper ads which assured enslavers that all was well. whereas the following is a selection ads on capturedment

ised fugitive slaves that -- captured fugitive slaves that ran in the montgomery pfizer from 18 -- advertiser from 1849 to 1865. one such ad. a $25 reward offer for john's return. remember, these are newspaper ads indicating that all is well because the slaves are being captured. whereas george, 20, was captured in mobile county after he escaped from his owner in memphis, tennessee. whereas hanna, arrested in pickens county, was a 75-year-old woman who was said to belong to jon smith of lows county, mississippi. whereas frank, whose age was described only as a boy, was and

at-large runaway with a $15 reward for his capture. whereas lue sinneda, 20 -- lucinda, 20, was jail inned mobile county -- jailed in mobile county, alabama, belonged to elizabeth hensley and had multiple scars on her right arm. remember, these are ads indicating that all is well because blacks who attempt to escape are being captured. whereas black resistance to slavery was confronted with harsh court decisions that stripped blacks of their human rights. whereas in the 1857 dred scott v. sanford decision, the supreme court ruled that having lived in a free state and territory dispnt entitle -- did not entitle an enslaved person, dred scott, to his freedom. whereas the court further in dred scott v. sanford indicated that people of african descent are not and were not intended to

be included under the word citizen in the united states constitution. and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides and secures to citizens of the united states. whereas in dred scott v. sanford chief justice roger tenney declared in the supreme court's infamous majority opinion that dred scott, a black slave, had no rights a white man was bound to respect. whereas the supreme court in 1896 in the case of plessy v. ferguson embraced legal segregation which advanced constitutional justification for laws that allowed the separate and supposedly equal public facilities for white and black americans. whereas the underground railroad railroad, led by fugitives such

as harriet tubman and frederick douglass, played a vital role in the resistance by helping enslaved people escape to freedom. whereas during the civil war black soldiers made up approximately 10% of the union army with approximately 180,000 black soldiers enlisting to fight for their freedom and abolition of slavery. whereas despite facing discrimination and being paid less than white soldiers, black soldiers played a crucial role in the union's victory in the civil war by risking and in many instances too many instances, sacrificing their lives in the fight for the freedom of their fellow men and women. whereas the black soldiers participated in the civil war was not only significant in terms of numbers, but also in

terms of the impact their participation had on the fight for racial equality and civil rights, as it challenged the notion that black americans were not capable of fighting for their own freedom. whereas the civil war, as well as the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, emanated from black resistance to slavery in the united states. whereas the abolition of slavery did not end white supremacy. whereas the period between the end of the civil war and the civil rights movement was marked by continued discrimination and oppression of african-americans. despite the abolition of slavery. whereas the history of black resistance in the united states has demonstrated that the fight for racial justice and equity is ongoing and multifaceted and that despite the massive strides that have been made in the name

of justice, there are still many areas where progress is needed. whereas black activists in the united states have enspeiered many other marginalized -- inspired many other marginalized communities around the world to fight for their rights and equality. whereas the birthdays of abe ha ram lincoln and -- abraham lincoln and frederick douglass inspired the creation of precursor to black history month and whereas the month of february is officially celebrated, is officially celebrated as black history month, which dates to 1926, when carter g. woodson set aside the second week in february as negro history week to recognize the history and achievement of black americans. now therefore be it resolved that this resolution may be cited as the original black history month resolution of 1923. recognizing and celebrating the

significance of black history month. the house of representatives recognizes the importance of commemorating black history month as it acknowledges achievements of black americans throughout the nation's history and encourages the continuation of its celebration to rise -- to raise the awareness of this community's accomplishments for all americans. dear friends, this month that we just had the opportunity to recognize as black history month, february, this month is one that we ought to do more than simply talk about the history of black people in the americas. the history is something that honestly has been overlooked and has been under-represented.

it truly has been disrespected. and we have to talk about it. it is important. but we've got to do more than talk about it. we in this congress must do that which we can do to demonstrate that we have respect for black history. it's one thing to talk about the wonderful things that have been done. but it's an entirely different thing to show that we respect black history. yes, having the resolution presented on the floor of the congress is one way of demonstrating respect. but that's not enough. black history has to be respected in the sense that the people who were a part of that history are respected. and to this day we have to this day we have not shown respect to the black who are the foundational mothers and fathers of this country nor shown

respect to the humble buildings that helped construct the capitol building, the white house, the humble habdz that planted the seeds harvested the crops, the hum nl hands that built the roads and bridges and laid the foundation for america's bright future that it celebrates and has to this day. the black people who made america the great country it is have not been properly appreciated and respected. yes, we should have a plaque history month and we will continue to show these resolutions and to appreciate what happened. but we have to respect the people. in this country, we have shown more respect for the enslavers than the enslaved. in this country we have shown respect for the confederate

enslavers and disrespected the enslaved. you disrespect the enslaved who would show them. that is disrespect. every statue in every city are confederate soldiers is a way of disrespecting the people that were enslaved. it's time to honor and respect those who were enslaved in this country. and to do that, to honor them and respect them, the least we can do is what we have done for the confederate soldier. in this country, in 1956, we passed a resolution in the house of representatives to give to the confederate soldiers a congressional gold medal.

no such honor has been bestowed upon the foundational mothers and fathers, the enslaved people who laid the foundation for america's greatness. no such honor. if we can accord the highest medal that the congress can award to confederate soldiers, surely we can appreciate and respect the enslaved persons who helped make america the great country that it is today. we ought to -- we ought to, this congress ought to, democrats and republicans ought to vote to accord a congressional gold medal to the enslaved people who helped make america great. the people who suffered one of

the greatest crimes ever committed against humanity. enslafd for centuries in this country, we ought to show them some respect. we also accord them the congressional gold medal. we must do for them what we did for the confederate soldiers. we should not reveer the enslavers and revial the enslaved. it is time to respect the foundational mothers and fathers of this country. and i intend to ask all of my colleagues by way of a piece of legislation that we filed on the last day of black history month. we want to give the entire month for people to be co-sponsors of this resolution. it is a resolution that would

call for a congressional gold medal being presented to the foundational mothers and fathers of the country. i say resolution, it's actually a piece of legislation. it would have to pass the house and pass the senate. i believe it can be done. i know that this to some people it's unacceptable. i understand people who won't favor with what i'm saying. i challenge anybody to defile the -- defy the truth. the truth is that we have disrespected the enslaved. we have lionized the enslavers. that has to change. prosterity has to receive a positive message about the

people who built this country. this is that positive message. this message is one that will say to prosterity, that we want you to know that we have respect for the enslaved people who suffered their entire lives many of them, from birth to death. the enslaved people, babies born into slavery, grew up in slavery, lived and died in slavery, respect for their lives and their suffering and the sacrifice. they should be respected. and the truth is, we have not. i want my friends to know that this piece of legislation would allow us to present this

congressional gold medal. the president will sign the legislation. i believe this president will sign it. there are some who wouldn't. president joe biden is not one of them. i would stake my life on it. i stake my life. if this passes the house and the senate, i would put my life on the notion that he will sign it. i believe he will. my prayer is that the house and the senate will have the courage to do not just the right thing and pass this, but to do the righteous thing, the righteous thing to show now some hundreds of years later the respect that we should have shown hundreds of years before to the enslaved

people who worked, lived and died without renumeration, the enslaved people who were demeaned and probably one of the greatest insults ever is that many people called them lazy. many of the people who were doing this were slairve owners. you are working people at nothing other than you have to maintain your plopt as you see it, but you would call them lazy because they don't work hard enough. lazy? free labor? lazy? built the capitol. white house.

roads, bridges, planted the crops, harvested the crops. lazy? at no cost. what an insult. what an insult. here's the opportunity for us to show the respect, the respect that they through the window of the 21 century we should pass back to them and let them know that we appreciate them. if we do this, america the beautiful would be a more beautiful america. if we do this, history will reward us with a better image of

our self in the sense that we will be shown as people who will recognize a transgression and do all that we can to correct it, even hundreds of years later. and the least we can do is show respect for the enslaved people who built america and helped to make it the great country that it is. i am proud. i am proud to be a descend ant of the enslaved people who built this country, who helped to make it the place that i love and place that i do defend. and i do love my country. i would like to close with this because i want no one to assume

that because i want justice and because i want righteousness to prevail, that i don't love the country. i wear the flag. i salute the flag. i sing the national anthem, i stand for it. i'm that guy who loves this country. but my saluting the flag and singing the national anthem them is almost inconsequential. because you see the question is will i defend the person who does not salute the flag, who does not sing the national anthem and does not stand for it and take a knee, will i defend that person, i will defend those who don't salute the flag. that's the greatness. the greatness is not in al green placing his hand and saying the pledge. that's not the greatness.

the greatness is that in this country you have the freedom to salute or not. so i love the country. i'm going to fight to defend the country. but just as i loved my family and my mother and father, they loved me. when i was wrong there were consequences. we have to correct wrong. we have to right the injustice. and i stand here today to say as a proud american, i want to right the wrong, correct the injustice, accord a congressional gold medal to the enslaved foundational mothers and fathers of this country. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back. mr. green: i reclaim my time and give a few additional comments. allow me to speak on another topic today. this is a topic that i have spoken on previously on this floor and it's one that i believe merits consideration every opportunity i can present it to people of goodwill. this topic has to do with the rayburn office building. a building that i choose not to

go into because i think the name should be removed from the building. i won't go into the history of it now, but i will say this, there will be a vote at some point in the senate to remove richard russell's name from the russell senate office building, not rayburn, not rayburn. richard russell's name from the russell senate building. there will be a vote and at some point i will come back to this floor and i will correctly state that the name of richard russell be removed from the russell office building. i now yield back the balance of my time. i wish you well. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the house lays before the house

the following communication. the clerk: to the congress of the united states, section 202-d of the national emergency 50u.s.c.1652-d provides for a termination unless prior to the 90 days of the date of its declaration, the president transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. in accordance to this provision i have sent the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in 13288 of march 6 with respect to the actions and policies of the government of zimbabwe and other persons who undermine the institutions is to continue in effect beyond march 6, 2023.

the president has not made the necessary political and economic reforms that would warrant terminating the existing targeted sanctions program routinely intimidated and violently repressed citizens including opposition parties, union members and journalists. . . zip babbians are vulnerable to ongoing oppression and presents a continuing threat to the peace and security in the region. the actions and policies of certain members of the government of similar bob way and other person -- zimbabwe and other persons to undermine their democratic processes or institutions continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the united states. therefore i have determined that it is necessary to continue the

national emergency declared in executive order 13288 as amended with respect to zimbabwe and to maintain the sanctions to respond to this threat. signed, joseph r. biden jr., the white house, march 1, 2023. to the congress of the united states. section 202-d of the national emergency act 50 u.s.c. 1622d. provides for the -- 1622-d provides for the automatic termination of an emergency unless within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration the president publishes in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. in accordance with this provision, i have sent to the federal register for publication an enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in executive order 13692 of march 8, 2015, with respect to the situation in venezuela is to

continue in effect beyond march 8, 2023. the situation in venezuela continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the united states. for this reason, i have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in executive order 13692 with respect to the situation in venezuela. signed, joseph r. biden jr., the white house, march 1, 2023. to the congress of the united states. section 202-d of the national emergency act 50 u.s.c. 1622-d provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the president publishes in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. in accordance with this

provision, i have sent to the federal register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in executive order 13660 of march 6, 2014, which was expanded in scope in executive order 13661, executive order 13662, executive order 14065 and under which additional steps were taken in executive order 13685 and executive order 13849 is to continue in effect beyond march 6, 2023. the actions and policies of persons that undermine democratic processes and institutions in ukraine threaten its peace -- ukraine, threaten its peace, security, sovereignty and territorial integrity and continue to the misproachtions of its -- misappropriations of its assets, as well as the

russian use of force in ukraine continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the united states. therefore i have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in executive order 13660 with respect to ukraine. signed, joseph r. biden jr., the white house, march 1, 2023. the speaker pro tempore: all three messages are referred to the committee on foreign affairs to be printed. under the speaker's announced policy of january 9, 2023, the gentleman from california, mr. lamalfa, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. lamalfa: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous materials.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lamalfa: thank you, madam speaker. i appreciate the time to stand before the house here this afternoon. and talk about some issues that are not only important to my district in northern california, to a couple of our key industry, but really they are important to all americans. because this is a life-sustaining topic we're talking about and that's food, energy, shelter. so we have that in abundance in california when we were allowed to produce the things that cause those to happen. so in my northern california district we have much agriculture. we have also an amazing natural water supply and the opportunities that come with that by harnessing that water

supply, for food, for water, for agriculture, for food for people, for hydroelectric power, to make electricity, to keep the lights on in places like this and all over america. to mine the minerals we need to produce all matter of things. these come from the natural resources we have in northern california or minnesota or all over this country. and so we've been successful in developing them and making them real since the founding of this country. we've fallen on hard times more recently, though, with regulations that although may be well founded, well-minded 50 years ago, have been turned on their ear and work against good management of our forest lands, the extraction of minute rales we need to -- minerals we need to sustain some of the ideals we have going forward for the future. the water supply for agriculture, for this country that has always known plenty.

and these days it's actually seen at some points empty shelfs in our grocery stores in the united states. it reminds me of a story that -- when russian president boris yeltsin was visiting this country with president bush 41, they had gone to houston, i believe, to the space center and had left and were driving down the road and he saw a supermarket and he hadn't been in an american supermarket before. so he wanted to just pop in, random, with the president. with the president of russia. to see what it looked like. president yeltsin was amazed by the products that we have on the shelfs in -- shelves in american stores. not only that, but that people were freely and casually purchasing them. not in a frenzy like, oh, this is the day the food comes in and everybody has to rush in and stand in line and rush out before it's all gone. no. easily coming and going, taking what they need. purchasing at the register and

walking on out. all variety of the same kind, all fresh, all high quality. and that's what the united states has been able to bring itself to all over these years and now that seems to be in peril. and a key part of that in my home state of california is that water supply. so i'll touch upon that here a little bit. what we have in the northern california district that i represent, and also on the oregon side, which my colleague, mr. bentz, represents above this line here in oregon is the klamath basin, the klamath river. now, that's a natural lake formed at the beginning of time of this planet, but also it's been enhanced about 110 years ago through a federal project. it yielded an additional seven feet of elevation and approximately 400,000 new acre feet of water supply. that was intended when that

federal project was built to be agricultural water. so back in 1906 when they created it, it made possible 1,400 farms and 200,000 acres of prime ag land. under federal law, under the reclamation act and state law, all the stored water, the newly created water, is called stored water, in the upper klamath lake, which was above the natural level of the existing lake. that was the stored water. so when it is full, again, there's 400,000 acre feet of water, new water, but despite the clear law of the federal government, they've been taking advantage. farmers year after -- advantage of the farmers year after year by shifting that clear water right. as adjudicated by oregon courts to environmental purpose, to other purpose. the water would not exist had not that project been built and paid for over the years by the farmers in that basin.

so what do we have? in 2022 the federal government even cut off water that could have gone to finish the crop year. they eliminated 50,000 acre feet of legally available water to farmers and the really maddonning thing is at -- maddening thing is at the end of the season there was a surplus of water in the lake above what is needed to sustain a biological opinion to sustain the fish needs in the lake, as well as what had been sent down the river for salmon needs. there was extra water. we saw it ahead of time. yet they will not yield that additional water. so we could finish the crop year on some of the -- needed crops that were planted up there, they plant all sorts of things up in that basin. so one of them would be the potatoes that they grow up there. they needed just a couple more weeks of water supply that was

available, and instead they were allowed to die off, a normal, healthy potato ended up being the size of my pinky and obviously unharvestable and unusable. all because they wouldn't really listen to the projections that there would have been extra water. they wanted to start the new water year, 2023, in 2022. on the backs of a water supply that doesn't belong to the federal government. it's clearly for the farmers of the basin, created after world war i and world war ii for returning veterans to be able to set up shop and do that. the federal government made this choice. this during the time for prices of food that are skyrocketing around the country. consumers are finding these prices going up and shelves becoming more bare, more often than what we should see in this country. so what else do we see? depriving farms of water, here's

another view of the basin here, a little more close-up of the various sumps and wildlife areas and the farmland there. kind of hard to tell from here at this distance. but indeed it's very comprehensive. and it's rather complicated. but, you know, smart people have made that work over the years. indeed, when the farms thriving, also the refuges thriving. so the negative effects haven't been made that when the farms, they don't get the water, the wildlife refuges in the water also lose access to the water that comes through that system and gets to them. in 2020 over 60,000 ducks died in the basin in that klamath refuge due to avian botulism. i paid a visit up there to folks that were working through -- with, voluntarily and through fish and wildlife, to help try

and bridge the gap from the water supply that wasn't there in recovering ducks. it's pretty terrible to be -- this is -- you know, these pictures here, fishing out dead ducks from the refuge. down here in the bottom, this is one we rescued that was really sick but we took back to a center there where they were helping the ducks that were recoverable, to recover and turn them back loose. the picture up here shows just how ugly it is. so a thriving basin is a key part of the flyway, all through the western states. including from northern california on south. the flyway that's so key toward having the type of diversity of wildlife that is enjoyed all through the sacramento valley,

the san joaquin valley, and other areas of northern california, oregon, southern california, for sportsmen, for everybody. it doesn't happen when this is the policy of the federal government, to basically take the water away from farms and the refuges. so as i mentioned, as affirmed by the courts in oregon, where the lake lies, also portion of the basin's on my side, which me and mr. bentz both represent, the stored water is indeed owned by the farmers solely in use of the klamath project. they pay for it, they continue to pay for its ongoing upkeep and improvement even when they don't get the water delivered to them. isn't that something? you get a bill, that's one you get the bill if you are using the asset. they don't get to use the asset half the time now. but they still get the bill for

it. it would not exist other than that 7-foot enhancement. so in 2022 initially going to get zero water and increased to 50,000 acre-feet after some late storms which is 12.5% of the allocation of their waterway. there was water in the basin, in the lake above the amount that the biological opinion said had to be remaining in the lake and chose not to give it out. in 2021, they were given, after battling after the farmers planted ended up getting 140,000 acre-feet. in 2019, amazing water year in california, they still received

92% of their allocation, pretty good-bye these standards, but it still wasn't 100%. downstream of that on the complex klamath river situation is also four hydroelectric dams that california, oregon, environmental groups and others have been conspiring for a long time to have removed. think about that for a minute. especially my home state of california, there is a big push to convert everything to like that in its energy source. automobiles, you hear the big controversy over stoves, kitchen stoves. my home state and some cities, they are pushing on getting rid of those. most of the people that have gas stoves. they really like them and handy to regulate the temperature, the rate with which the heat comes

up with what you're cooking. you can see the flame. jill biden using one in her own kitchen, but they want to take this away and has to be replaced by electric automobiles, electric leaf blowers. they are trying to ban in california gas generators. a generator, something you use a lot of times in emergency for home or businesses. there are other purposes for them, but people use them for an emergency. if you don't have a gas or diesel-powered generator. what do you go to? many hospitals, rest homes will have a diesel-powered backup generator. they rarely have to use it, you

need to replace it. when we heat banning fuel sourced appliances like this and turn to more electric try fix, why are you going to get the like that? in my home state, on any given hot day might be on the edge of shutting down. they have arrangements with the power companies that large manufacturers have preagreed -- agreements, i'll say, that they should shut down when the grid gets tough on a very hot day and the load they are pulling is about to break the grid. they have to shut down manufacturing, a cement plant, whatever it might be due to a prearrangement because we can't keep up the power supply where

it needs to be. they don't have replacements. it's expensive for jobs and expensive to stop your business and going to be expensive for the ratepayers to bear the brunt of that as well. so i mean we had last minute intervention, the california lelings tour to extend the life of the diablo power plant by an additional years. they were slated to shut down one in 2024, 2025. how do you take a 9% chunk out of something that is tetering on the edge of failing? well, similar case up here. four hydroelectric dams, one is on the oregon side and other three is on my side.

they are hell bent on getting them out and they think they've got it done. we are here to say no. we need the power supply and many other aspects that are important for that area. the local folks have had two different measures in the county on the oregon side and county on the california side by well over 70%. saying please keep the dams open. my county voted 79% for that. this was voted on one single study showing that the dams are contributing to high water temperatures which are causing fish populations in the river to decline, especially the salmon. you have deepwater. on lake shasta and others, they are requiring the lake to be

kept deeper so the water stays colder so they can release colder water for the fish in the fall and early winter. it's all about cold water but take the dams out, you know longer have that deeper pool of water. trying to dam. both sides of the mouth on these arguments here. this all came from a government employee, not peer reviewed and contained no infield research. a former science integrity officer man named paul houser, he was tasked with reviewing all these efforts for the klamath dam possible removal. his conclusion, again the e.p.a. science integrity officer said

it would be the worst of all outcomes to remove these hydroelectric dams. worst outcome, for a lot of reasons, including environmental. the three hydroelectric dams are the biggest taxpayers on the california side. removing them will cause a huge whole in a struggling county which had the timber and mining business decimated. these large land holders, these large assets are fairly lucrative for the county. so when you couple that with already expensive energy in california and probably a lot of the country, this doesn't make any sense, because this is green renewable power. the rainfall behind the dam, that is renewable. doesn't require a fuel source. that is the fuel source.

yet in my crazy state it is not recognized as renewable if the power plant is above 30 megawatts. doesn't mean anything. but we hear about green power, windmills and solar panels. try and get a permit. one environmental group says hey we want these solar panels or the windmills and the other groups are saying, well if we are going to cover 1,000 acres of solar panels, it might affect the desert tortoise or the windmills chop up birds, sometimes falcons, sometimes endangered hawks, even eagles, stuff people care about and they aren't reliable sources of power. in california, where there might be too much power coming off

those grids the way the load is managed, having themselves to pay people to take that power because they can't shut it off. it's strange. strange thinking. i'm appalled that this is the way we have allowed ourselves in california to be forced into by deals like green power. so what does that mean? peaker plants, 20 years ago in california, 25 when we had other energy cries sees. a peaker plant what to help supplement what the grid might not be fulfilling normally. so, indeed the peaker plants are going to be the hydroelectric plants and you can't count on them at night or if the wind is blowing too fast, they have to

shut the windmills down. so our electrical situation in the state is already in peril. removing these hydroelectric dams means 70,000 homes worth of power that goes off the grid and a whole host of other things and destroy the ecosystem habitat including species by releasing 20 million cubic yards -- some of it possible apply toxic material. silt. these dams have a lot of silt. they don't have an explanation of what's going to happen with it or how it's going to be disposed of but just going to release it in the river. and you have to get a permit to do the slightest things in the river. there is a gravel plant or something to clean up and remove material because of silt, months

and months, or years to get a permit to move material out. we are going to unleash 20 million cubic yards and tush i haddity which makes it hard for spawning, it is hypocrisy. one of the other things is lowering the water table. so underground water table. remove flood control which is important for the communities nearby. the dams are a good way to absorb that water supply if it comes from a heavy rainfall. they provide flexibility. they remove the ability to control the river and have a flush flow if you need to move some material should it be for a fish need or other things down

the river, that flexibility is taken away by the removal of the dams. it takes the hydroelectric power capacity away for the users of the power and those who benefit from the income including my county. it will cost possibly the taxpayers of california who in a water bond put forward $250 million for the tearing down of dams. it builds water supply and storage. $250 million of california taxpayer money and the ratepayers from the utility mostly on the oregon side had to total of $450 million. when they were putting the proposal to ferc, it came in under $450 million. they wasted $50 million talking

about it. when they remove the dam, they found much more silt and up in washington they found triple the amount of silt. instead of 20 million, it could be 60 million cubic yards of silt polluting the river. the one in washington was 12 or 13 mile from where the dam is to the sea where you have to push the silt. on the klamath, 120 to 150 miles depending on the silt. the life cycle of the salmon is three years. will there be enough to come back to have the species that all the fuss is over. this remove will diminish the value of property owners by $1.5 billion lowering the tax rolls to the county.

electrical rates will have to go up and the power supply will be more uncertain. speaking about mr. houser a moment ago and the study he made being the removal of the dams being the worst option, he was fired. i guess they didn't want the truth out. the 20 million cubic yards, which might be triple that, who knows. equivalent of one dump truck every minute of every day for six years being dumped in the river. imagine the fine if you put a little silt in the river or a stream like in waters of the united states, which we will talk about here in a minute.

imagine how you would be fined otherwise if a private party was doing that. . . the salmon hatcheries we're talking about are responsible for more smoltz being raised than what the river has ever made. under one of the dams, there's a ridge, a natural ridge that was there that is much higher than the river level that no fish would have ever gotten over to begin with. they don't want to talk about that because they believe that the fish were getting all the way up the additional 60, 70, 80 miles to klamath lake. bad information. now they're trying to somehow cover over that, that in the dam destruction, that they can maybe get rid of that ridge and have it act like it would have been fish passage from the beginning of time.

so it will do a lot to hurt the economy of the county, local agriculture, the flood control, many things up in that area. there would be uncertainty when the river system would ever return to normal. it would result at the mouth of the river, at the motion, underwater contamination at the humboldt county estuary, which means loss of sea bed life with all -- sea bed life with all that material being released, with who knows what's in it. this removal would even cause a violation of the wild and scenic river act. the governance over water would be lost. what are they going to do to replace the salmon with the hatchery gone, the actual hatchery that's down below the lowest dam, of course the loss of recreation, land value, the lake time, use on those lakes,

again, tax revenue to the county. and the replacement water. where are the farmers and ranchers going to get that replacement water due to the lower ground water status? so there's not a whole lot of good that comes from tearing down these dams that were there for a good economic purpose and actually do have ecological pluses as well. so moving farther south from the klamath basin, our water supply in california has been enhanced in the last century by some very forward-thinking projects. the state water project in the 1950's and 1960's and the federal water, known as the central valley project, in the 1930's and 1940's. so joining me here is my colleague from central

california, mr. john duarte whoo is a farmer down there, as well as nursery crops. the importance of the water supply to agriculture and to the people of california from these projects is incredible. so i'd like my colleague, mr. duarte, to offer whatever comments he would like to on this, on the water supply, on how it's being treated by government in his agricultural operations, down in his direction in the central valley, as wellals the portion in my district -- as well as the portion in my district. indeed, we have a mass amount of excellent and very valuable crops that are grown in

california. some of them mr. duarte's responsible for helping other farmers to have and even grows himself. i happen to be a farmer in my real life too. so we see the value of what is grown in california. and that's in peril by government action. so, representative duarte, please come on up and offer your thoughts on this. mr. duarte: well, thank you, representative doug lamalfa. and i couldn't agree with you more. california central valley, whether it be the sacramento valley where doug serves and represents, or the south san joaquin valley where i serve and represent, is really where america finds its greatest abundance of its salad bowl, its fruit bowl, almonds, plant protein, walnuts, pistachios. california leads the world in production of all of these crops and it really centers right in the central valley and many of these water resources, whether you're north of sacramento or south of sacramento, share the

same assets, the same infrastructure. so we've, after several years of devastating drought in california that has really hurt farm families and communities up and down our district, has, you know, through acts of nature greatly, but also through mismanagement of our water resources and lack of infrastructure in california, has really cut the abundance that delivers nutrition and affordability to so many american working families who are suffering from high inflation, both in energy costs, their food costs, and in california particularly their housing costs, because we're simply not responding to the needs of our people as we need to. so in the last couple of days, after a very, very wet season and immense hope on the part of our farmers that relief is on the way, they'd get water allocations, many farmers in our districts received a letter from the bureau of reclamation. the bureau of reclamation, in spite of historic rainfall, snow

pack throughout california is warning irrigation districts, farmers and ranchers, that they may not get their water and should be prepared for reduced allocations and flow restrictions which would threaten our food security. these farmers are making plans today to plant rice, to plant tomatoes, to plant cotton, to plant vegetable kroms. they're making decisions -- crops. they're making decisions today as to whether they'll invest more inputs into their almond production, walnut production based on what they think the market will bear for their crops whether it's ready to harvest and sell, as well as what water they'll have to see those crops through the growing year with. and today they're getting very, very disturbing mixed messages from the bureau of reclamation. so we should review what some of the facts are that the bureau of reclamation needs to look at while warning these farmers that even in thwart abundant year -- in this water-abundant year, they may not get their allocations. the shafta reservoir is the --

shasta reservoir is the big reservoir in california. it has six million acre feet of storage imaft. currentsly it's at 2.7 million acre feet with inflows of over 14,000 acre feet a day. coming in. the shasta reservoir has more than one million acre feet of storage in this year than it did this time last year. the current snow pack in california, we're all waiting for the snow pack to come down and fill the reservoir, but we can model how the reservoir will fill based on the snow pack this year. the sierra snow pack counts for 1/3 of california's water supply. and the second snow survey from the department of water resources was conducted on february 1. so we're waiting very, very -- with anticipation with what the march 1 snow pack will bring, but we know from the precipitation events over the last month it's going to be substantially higher. nontheless, the snow pack as of february 1 of this year was 205%

of average, up to that date. it contains over 33.7 inches of water or 205% the average of water content of what we normally have up to that date. we know the daily snow sensor report of february 28 for the california department of water resources shows the snow water equivalent at each of the reporting stations feeding into the sacramento river which supplies lake shasta, all of these stations are over 100% of normal snow water content. and throughout california in the same report there are 131 stations with all but four reporting a snow water equivalent percentage higher than 100% of normal. at mount shasta, which feeds the central valley project's largest reservoir, shasta lake, the 2022-2023 snowfall is 202% higher this far into the winter with 97 inches of snow recorded, snowfall recorded, and as of february 27 of this year, just

yesterday, mount shasta had received approximately 60 inches of snow in the past three days. that's five feet on top of the snow pack they already had. and yet california farmers, food producers, the champions of abundance, are being told to keep their powder dry, not except full water deliveries this year. now, apparently we still don't have enough water infrastructure in california. even with shasta filling up, even with the snow pack set there to completely fill and top up our reservoirs throughout the state, even after the state failed to pump the delta and get that water, the floodwaters taken out of the central valley, out of the delta, and into storage south of the delta earlier this year, we're still going to be topped up and farmers cannot expect full allocations of their water this year. we need to be building dams. we need to be building reservoirs. we don't need to be tearing them down. and what congressman lamalfa has

presented here today is an absolute insult to every working family in america who is having trouble affording the nutrition on their dinner plate that they can better afford just a few short years ago. this is going to be the first generation in american history, my prediction, where we will see the diverse nutrition of produce and protein taken off the american working family's dinner plate and reverting american families to more starch-based diets that go in the opposite direction of what every health nutritionist tells us we need to be doing with american food plans. so abundance is affordability. we need a pro-human attitude toward our energy policies, toward our water policies and toward our food policies here in america. i hope that the leaders -- the bureaucrats at bureau of reclamation will listen to congressman lamalfa today and

heed his warning. because the american working family cannot take any more of this inflationary abuse of our natural resources. thank you, congressman lamalfa. glad to be here with you today. mr. lamalfa: i'm certainly grad you could join -- glad you could join and you made it as a member of congress, because you have a great story to tell as a representative. mr. duarte: yes. mr. lamalfa: and as a were if aer also. so we do it -- and as a farmer also. we do have amazing abundant water in california this year, where much of it emanates and takes care of our state and other parts of the state as well. with shasta, shasta and orville. orville, i believe, will fill this year. it didn't look like that maybe a little while back but it holds 3 1/2 million acre feet of capacity. it's a good chance of filling. lake shasta is a li little laggg behind that. with the snow pack we're looking at it, it could top off. it holds 4 1/2 million, it combined with the proposed

reservoir project down river would get us that six million number. but we have to build it. it's been looked at for many, many years. it's been planned. the voters of california passed a bond for -- remember the one i talked about a while ago, that's going to use 250 -- $250 million to tear out dams. it also put forth a good amount of money to add to water storage. and so reservoirs has been able to corral around $950 million of that $4 billion or $5 billion bond. rest is going to other projects, it looks like. so we need to get this done. we need governor newsom, who expresses support for it, to get his bureaucrats to move on that and get the permits approved so we can start. if we'd had it this year, we'd have had that dam nearly full at sykes reservoir with all the amazing amount of water that we've had. so it's an issue of planning ahead like those before us used to do.

when they built the eventual valley -- the central valley project like shasta and orville and others. the fullsome lake near samuels, it would full -- near sacramento, it would fill umpretty rapidly this year with the -- up pretty rapidly this year with the snow pack. we're doing pretty good. i have to give credit, thank you to the b.o.r. for some of the settlement contractors, this particular group in my area, that did get 100% allocation. ok? so they did right on that. based on how things are looking with the supply. but that's a narrow group. when mr. duarte talks about others that traditionally have grown 100% of their acres in normallish years, they've seen their permanent new normal is going to be 35% on a good year perhaps. that isn't right. if we plan ahead and build the storm we need, which we know we can, we've done and the plans are out there to do that. when the delta pumps that he spoke about weren't running at max capacity to help fill another reservoir known as the

san luis reservoir toward the west side of the central part of the valley, that facility holds two million acre feet. right now i think it's about at 75% full. it wasn't looking so good a while back until we had mother nature bless us with so much. but, see, they weren't running the pumps as hard as they could. they have other biological opinions saying you can't do this, you can't do that. they have so much water in there, i don't see how it's going to negative effect the fish except somebody's waving a document saying, no, you can't do that. we have to flush so much water through the delta that we could be capturing and not hurt a thing by running those two sets of pump, one federal, one state, and topping off the reservoir. now, my neighbors might say, well, doug, what do you care about that reservoir for, it's past us, it can't possibly help us? the more we enhance the supply of the whole state, the better we all are off. i want my neighbors down there to do well. i want my neighbors on the west side of the valley who have no water, west side of sacramento valley, many, many acres had

zero, some of the districts i mentioned had up to 18%, which in some cases wasn't even usable to them. so we saw dry fields like we've so we saw dry feels like we've never seen. it ruins the economies of small town, ruins the economy for coming out of klamath. i see where the city of oakland approved 25,000 new homes. california does have a housing crisis, we need homes. but where is the water supply going to come from? it'll need approximately 25,800 acre-feet per year if my numbers are right. imagineic? they have to take it from somewhere. we need to continue to build supply so we can continue to build the housing we need in the state. we both experienced this in different pooforts the state. we've both seen what we're growing here are valuable. the crops we are talking about,

the country relies on them. maize crops, 100%, 99%, come from california. if we don't have this water the united states citizens don't have this food. it'll have to be imported or they'll have to do without. have to eat something else. there isn't always something else if we're not planning for that. it isn't just about californians and farmers, it is about everybody. tell them what you had to deal with trying to keep your operation going on a wheat field or or chard or what -- or orchard or what have you. >> it's interesting about things, we claim we need to write new laws for because a politician does this his son does that. i said we can't possibly need new laws to prosecute this. i was prosecuted for planting wheat in a wheat field in a food

crisis. i purchased property. it had grown wheat before. they thought i was doing something wrong. they said we're cultivating three to five feet deep instead of the inches deep. i say we're not, come look at it. the next year he files a cease and desisted offer, says we can't harvest the crop. army corps of engineers didn't have time to give us a hearing. the pacific legal foundation, a pro bono civil rights law firm for many, many property owners and clients around america representing the sackette in the current supreme court case. they can't tell you you can't farm your land without giving you a hearing.

once that case started to progress forward, the army corps of engineers went to the department of justice and my family and i were prosecuted for planting wheat in a wheat field by the department of environment and watter of the department of justice. under the obama administration. we ended up never getting a trial. we were found guilty by an obama-oi apointing judge in summary judgment. and without a sing dale in court, we're found -- were found to have viled the clip water act because our tillage implement, quote, lifted soil several inches and moved it laterally for several inches while entering a wetland. a wetland vernal pool that had been farm many times before with the same system. so it's at risk not only because of water scarcity politics or overregulation. america's food system is at risk because we have regulatory

agencies wait with baited breath to prosecute any american farmer that stands up for their property right they right to farm, their right to produce food for american families. it's a huge risk. farmers all over america are making decisions to avoid these entanglements, avoid a fight. not farm. unless prices are incredibly -- incredibly high because it's just not worth it. add in the risk of water supply, add in the risk of inadequate infrastructure, add in the risk of arbitrary bureaucrats making decisions right up until the last minute that affect our ability to plant our farming for the next year. and our food supply in america is in -- is in peril. it is absolutely, unquestionably in peril and we see it reflected in every grocery store across america today. the food inflation is crushing working families in america. abundance is affordability. and until we become an abundant

society and we understand the farmers, the energy producers, to be the champions of abundance, and the regulators, the n.g.o.'s that would stop abundance any way they can to be the lords of scarcity, american working families will pay the cost at the gas pump. they'll pay the cost on their heating bill. they're going to pay the cost at the grocery store. they going suffer the housing inflation we have seen in california. in california, a working family is spending 30% of their income on food and 33% of their income on housing. there's nothing left for the other expenses they have in their lives. and this is all due to legger to overload. we are overburdened by regulations. we are overburdened by restrictions on what we do. and the american working family is paying for it every day. so thank you congressman lamalfa. thank you for being a champion of abundance back in 2015, 2016, 2017, we were having our

battles. thank you for being here today. you're a friend of not only the farmer, a friend of the american working family and affordability and nutrition across the country. mr. lamalfa: mr. duarte, appreciate you, bringing this sad story forward. indeed being regulated for practices that are normal practices that are supposed to be exempt under the clean water act formed in the early 1970's that were reinterpreted under the obama administration, and now it's a wider scope. we're having this battle right now in committee on transportation and infrastructure this conversation where we're boing to do a congressional review act on the overreach of the regulation of waters of the united states. wotus. it's going to be in the supreme court soon. it's important we get back to a level of regulation that's reasonable. nobody wants to skirt reasonable environmental laws, reasonable usage of water, all the above. we all get that.

but the bureaucracy has -- as john was saying is waiting to pounce upon you and level huge fines at people. he's not the only one in the county that's faced this. i have one grower, some years ago, had a clover field that he wanted to relevel and they show up there and say you can't do. this they took at least three years, three crop years, he didn't get to use his land while the bureaucracy pontificated whether he was doing something right or wrong. he's owed compensation for that. and others for planting an orchard, change their ground from one type of orchard to another. that's somehow now a new regulatable situation that is not meant, the congress would not have had the guts to pass a clean water act that did not have agriculture exemptions the way it was -- as it was written. if they had not had those exemptions, there would have

been a whole bunch ridden out of here on a rail had they been that abusive of farm policy and agriculture and the food supply. yet they're feting away with it by a stroke of the pen by a bureaucracy and it changes from administration, president trump, he saw the wrong on this. they were able to put through a modified policy on watt oars the united states of america. that was reasonable. biden pushed it right out. so this was what we face now is his agencies are pushing this new waters of the united states means every drop of water that falls from the sky is under the jurisdiction of the united states. whether it's a puddle here, talked about vernal pools that might hold water for a little while. that's going to become water of the united states. used to be a term, navigable waterway, nashville gable rivers. if you can't run a boat up and down it, it's probably not navigable. but they've expounded on this

definition so far and wide it works for the bureaucracy to attack growers, attack land owners, find them, seize things from them. the american people should be outraged by this. farmers are just trying to provide. 99% of them are doing things correctly. yeah, you've bot your outliers that, you know, trying and do things on the edge. but they're caught up with pretty soon. whether it's peer pressure or the regulatory -- reasonable regulations that should kick in. they're trying to provide good things for the american people. and they're made to feel like criminals. made to feel like why should i even bother. so back in the 1970's it was kind of popular to say after the oil embar goes if you like imported oil you'll love imported food. do we want to rely on some of our same overseas partners for our food supply? can you imagine trying to tissue russia has grown a lot of wheat in the past. do you want to buy russian wheat

in ukraine, which is a good partner, you know, part of the can difficulty of wrestling with that situation, ukraine is a major exporter of many agricultural crops, fertilizer. somebody i know had a breeding apparatus only made in ukraine, they had to wait a long time to get parts for it. do we want to be reliant on foreign sources for everything? china for pharmaceuticals? we shouldn't put our food supply in that situation either. we're on that road to do that. due to lack of foresight, due to lack of the water storage. we could be building sikes reservoir, 1.5 million acre-feet. we need to put water in the san luis reservoir. we could build shasta dam to get more. but this is a representation of the water wasted during this winter being allowed to run out the delta. this is a snapshot in time here.

the upper delta running out into the ocean here. six million acre-feet in that snapshot in time. what are we ding here? we're not helping ourselves. the economy is in a tough way as mr. duarte mentioned. the cost for struggling families, for their housing costs and food costs almost envelops everything else. where is the compassion for the american people on this? we seem to be focused on a lot of other things. there's environmental issues brought up. show me where it actually is going to help the fish in the klamath river. it isn't. a lot of these other environmental issues, it doesn't really -- since 1992, we have flushed hundreds of millions of acre-feet out to the ocean through the delta. the delta smelt is almost nonexistent now. they can't find it. when they do trials for it, they can't find it. so it's like more water harmed

that fish. they have other predatory fish that are non-native that are eating up all the smelts there we do the wrong things, it penalizes good, honest working people who are only trying to provide for the american people. john, we have to keep telling this story because a lot of folks are not quite understanding. they don't have time. they're too busy in their lives. for those that are viewing this today, i hope you take this to hefort and have your representatives do things that are going to help our food supply in this country. and help farmers. help people that yen rate electricity. these environmental issues, you only seem to hear one side of it. no, those dams are not bad. tams are created for a good purpose. they don't yield the fish passage that is sometimes advertised. there's other remedies for that. but they're not allowed to come to the forefront. can we build fish ladders around the dam in some -- in some cases they're trucking fish from here

to there because of drought situations. why don't we have alternatives to these ideas? this gets into a very important topic in my area too. forestry. we have overgrown forests that, you know, instead of a healthy 50 to 70 adult trees per acres, they'll have 5000, 600, 1,000 trees per acre. what does that mean? fire danger. big time. in my district, there's fire after fire. last year in 2022 we dodged a lot of bullets. in 2021 we had a million-acre fire, i've got the poster here, you've seen it before. it's devastating toward the landscape and the habitat. all this ash and silt wash into the water system. and pollutes it. makes hydroelectric plants sometimes unusable because so much stuff came down from the mountainsides into the rivers, into the lakes.

we're not managing our forests properly. the pace and scale with which the forest service is doing things is way too slow to keep up with the amount of board-feet growing every year. how does that affect watt her not only water quality but quater supply. the forest is sucking all the water in to have too many trees per acre. you want to cut all the trees, mr. lamalfa? that's what i hear sometimes when i talk to urban reporters. no, we're not cutting all the trees. we're thinning. we're managing. we need a ratio that's sustainable, that's healthy. we're not doing that. the tees are out there growing right now. there is more -- many -- many more board-feet of trees added to the supply every year than we're even coming close to harvesting so we're going backwards on that. the pace and scale with which we manage our federal lands and allow permitting on private

lands to not cut every tree from here to oregon but to manage them. first thing the environmental groups yet yell, you guys are going clear cut everything. devastate the landscape. you think do you think what's happening now is good? a million acre fire? several of my towns don't exist anymore in northern california. many of you heard of par dials. maybe you've seen some -- par dials. maybe you've seen -- paradise. maybe you've seen some of those videos where 85 people lost their lives, many barely escaped. town of greenville in my district. 75% gone. an adjacent town completely gone in minutes. and there's more. up on the klamath river even. fire after fire. because our forests are not managed, because federal government can't get out of its own way to aggressively do what needs to be done. we're way behind. so it effects air quality. the air plume, the air -- the smoke that went up in a plume from my dixie fire in my district came and settled over the east coast.

there was so much smoke. and it affected air quality, i believe here in washington, all the way up to new york. people were advised not to do athletic things because of air quality from a fire in my district. i'm sorry, we didn't want it to happen. but there it was. year after year. fire after fire. and so we need folks to be on our side on this thing. no, we don't want to wipe out the forests or cut down the owl or any of that stuff. the owls like a little room to fly between not overcrowded trees. it will help our water supply, it will help the health of the forest. it will help not spend billions and billions in fire suppression every year once we're behind. endangering people's lives, trying to put the fire out, and flying the air tankers and all that being expended, all into fuel being expended trying to do that. co-2. i have a co-2 poster over there as well. thank you for helping out on that, john. you know, when we're talking co-2 which everybody's scared to death of around here as being the major pollutant.

more co-2 is released in those fires than a year's worth of cars driving in l.a. ok? so as this climate change, which is half the time what they're talking about on the other side of the aisle in order to scare people to death, co-2 represents only .04% of our atmosphere. and the u.s. is the country leading the way on actually lowering the number anyway. yeah, we're going to export our jobs, export our industry to countries that are doing nothing about it. china laughs at us as they build another coal-fired power plant every week. every two weeks. whatever it is. and they'll say, oh, hey, you guys in america, you're not keeping up with the paris accords and they keep cranking out more and more. makes us look like a bunch of fools. and this climate change religion they're pushing is going to be really, really expensive. watch out for these corporations that are pushing what's called an e.s.g. policy. we acted on that this week here legislatively. because it's going to make americans uncompetitive in the areas of energy and everything

else. so this is pie in the sky, pie in the sky stuff they're pushing here. it's actually very harmful to america which is always the innovator of the cleanest, best way of doing things. we're always seeking to improve. you have the best-running car and truck engines. it's never enough for the regulators, including my home state where 70,000 new trucks now have to be sold or scrapped or something else and therefore people don't get stuff delivered to the stores or their homes that they normally would. it's going to be more expensive. john, do you want to touch on that a little bit? what we have going on in california is going to be emulated in the rest of the country. people were talking about the p.r.o. act a minute ago. in california that's a bill that makes everybody have to be, instead of an independent contractor, part of a work force or a union. so talk about that. mr. duarte: the other side of affordability is opportunity.

and families can't make ends meet unless they have affordable food, affordable energy, affordable housing, and they can't do the best they can do without opportunity and until america decides to take practical steps to power our grid, we're not going to have the industrial growth, we're not going to have the working productivity, we're not going to have the opportunity that american families deserve, and i think, congressman lamalfa -- and i think congressman lamalfa makes a very clear case, that other countries are happy to take those jobs, happy to provide their citizens with opportunities that american citizens won't have. as we look at our global food system that's based in california and throughout many states, a global food system will ship food to whoever can afford it best. emerging middle and upper classes in india and china where they're running a carbon economy, where they're creating jobs, where their grid stays lit 24/7 and has plenty of room for industrial growth is where we're seeing opportunity in work and opportunity in jobs and it's where americans are going to see

their dinner flow to. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. duarte: thank you. mr. lamalfa: thank you, madam chair. appreciate the time today, my colleague joining me. we just want the american people to pay attention because this effects them. it isn't just for us to stand here and speak for us. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. thank you. under the speaker's announced policy of january 9, 2023, the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida, mrs. cammack, for 30 minutes. mrs. cammack: all right. thank you, madam speaker. this is thrilling stuff here.

i know you guys are very excited, as are you, madam speaker, i'm sure. madam speaker, i rise today to congratulate aaron jackson, joey mantia and brittany bowe, the three speed skaters from ocala, florida, who represented the united states at the 2023 winter -- 2022 winter olympics and brought hole gold and bronze. it's not every day that you see a winter sport like speed skating coming out of the sunshine state. so it really is a particular honor to be able to stand here and recognize the olympians from my very own district. to aaron, a gold medalist and joey and brittany, both bronzed meal its, you have made florida's third congressional district and the united states so proud. during the olympics your hard work, dedication and commitment to the american values of independence and self-determination are certainly worthy of celebration. and we cannot wait to see what you will continue to accomplish

in the future. to the ocala community, the coaches and parents who have helped these amazing athletes get to the top of their game, thank you. and, of course, not only to aaron jackson, joey and brittany, but to the entire team u.s.a. for proudly representing the united states on the world stage and demonstrating to countries all over the world what it means to be an american. go team u.s.a. madam speaker, i rise today to commemorate and honor the life of a dear friend, kevin morse. as a husband, father to three sons, and friend to many, kevin was a man loved by all. whether you needed a mechanic, engineer, plummer, electrician, therapist, priest or even a hug, kevin would be there in an an instant. he lived to help others. he was a family man through and through. and loved his wife and kids more

than anything in the world. as he watched his three boys grow up into young men, he supported them all in their endeavors. attending every basketball game and cheering them on from the bleachers as loud as he could. now, when i say cheer them on, i mean he would beat the hell out of the bannisters and railings with his cane. at the time i was cheering for metro state and could hear his endless banging up in the stands, even down on the floor. by the end of the game there were more dents and scratches on the cane and all the entire areas around him. it was kind of his signature. he was a role model for his boys and he raised them to be kind, smart and selfless. he served as the spiritual leader for his family and his community, exemplifying what it means to be a man of faith. he was gentle, patient, faithful and forgiving.

all the qualities of a man who you would want in a friend. i have known kevin for many years. and the impact he had on my life is something that cannot be explained really in words. to his family, friends and anyone who was lucky enough to have known kevin, i extend my sincerest t thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. i am honored to recognize kevin morse and his incredible legacy here on the house floor. it's good when you control 30 minutes. madam speaker, i rise today to honor a student from my district, logan catalonote.

i hope i got at that right. thank you for your meaningful contribution to our community. at just 17 years old, a senior at forest high school in ocala, logan decided to make his eagle scouts project an upgrade to the state flag common sense area of the ocala -- commons area of the ocala area veterans memorial park. his scout troop has held events at the park over the last two years and logan decided to give back to the community by beautifying the memorial park. the project being an estimated $32,000 worth of upgrades, is one that you typically don't get to see from someone as young as logan. a project that he initiated. his service to the veteran community has not gone unnoticed by the citizens of owe. as many have -- ocala. as many have expressed great gratitude toward logan for his dedication to the project. it is acts of benevolence like these that truly restore faith

in america's young people to spread kindness and do the right thing. i could not be prouder of logan for being a driver of positive change, generosity and patriotism. thank you, logan, for your service to the veteran community and to florida's third congressional district. madam speaker, i rise today to commemorate and remember and honor the lives of two heroes from north florida, sergeant noel ramirez and deputy sheriff taylor lindssy of gilchrest county. it was on april 19 of 2018 that these young men lost their lives as they were attacked and fatally shot while on a lunch break in trenton, florida. block offed by their family, friends -- beloved by their family, friends and law enforcement and members of the local community, the legacy these public heroes leave behind will not soon be forgotten by

either myself or those whose lives were impacted by their incredible kindness. as we approach the fifth anniversary of their tragic deaths, we will forever honor their memories by saying their name. as the wife of a first responder myself, what happened to these two men is something to which our law enforcement officers are no strangers. i remember the day we lost these heroes. and recall the heartbreak when we learned the news. on april 18 and on countless other days when we marked the deaths of our law enforcement officers, my resolve to support our men and women in blue grows stronger. each year during national police week, i visit noel and taylor's names at the national law enforcement memorial in washington, d.c., and will continue to remember them and their sacrifices as well as their families, to remember all

that they have given to gilchrest county and our surrounding areas. please join me in honoring their families and friends, as well as our heroes in uniform across the sunshine state and the nation. madam speaker, i rise to congratulate a constituent of mine, reggie brown, for his induction into the florida state agricultural hall of fame. born and raised on a family f farm, rep reggie's expertise and work in the industry is undoubtedly worthy of this prestigious honor. he's held numerous roles during his career, including those at the university of florida institute of food and agricultural sciences, better known as i fas, the florida food and vegetable association and the florida tomato exchange where he served as the executive vice president. reggie has become a prominent leader within the florida tomato

industry for his efforts to combat unfair trade practical tillses and work towards im-- practices and work toward improved food safety in fresh produce worldwide. he's a champion for the hotter kol culture -- horticulture industry, leading on numerous fronts to protect domestic producers, family farms a and nw his achievements have become the benchmark for the development of national product safety guidance. i am so honored to be recognizing mr. reggie brown before this congress and i thank him for all that he has done for florida's farmers, ranchers and producers. congratulations, reggie. thank you, madam speaker. i rise to honor a constituent of mine, mr. tom howard who recently honored -- was honored with the we honor veterans volunteer service award for his extraordinary commitment to the local community. a veteran himself he joined the

marine corps in 1966 and served in vietnam in 1966 and 1967. currently serves as a veteran volunteer with hospice of marion in oka la. he's faithfully volunteered nearly 2,000 hours of service since joining the organization in 2010 and is known for his dependability, his selflessness, and his commitment to his fellow men and women in uniform. over the past 12 years as a volunteer, tom has served as a skillful teacher and leader of 50-plus veteran volunteers and has attended and participated in nearly 300 veteran recognition services. additionally, during covid-19, tom performed recognition ceremonies by phone, standing in driveways, garages, and by open windows to ensure that every veteran received their honor

despite not being able to meet in person. for these acts of service and so much more, the national hospice and palliative care organization honor tom this year with the we honor veterans volunteer service award. tom, through his military service and volunteer efforts with hospice of marion, truly represents what it means to act as a proponent of benevolence and kindness and embodies the american spirit of giving back to one's country and community. thank you, tom, for all that you have done for our veterans from florida's third congressional district. it is an honor to be able to recognize you here on the house floor before this congress. thank you, madam speaker, i rise today to remember and honor the life of a firefighter paramedic from my district, mr. allen singleton who sadly passed away

in late january. of this year. allen was a six-year veteran firefighter who joined the ranks of marion county fire rescue on september 12, 2016, where he was a proud member of the rolling green station number 28 and he was a member of the local swat medic team just like my husband. our community was truly fortunate and blessed to have experienced his service, but more importantly, his heart, for others. as the wife of a firefighter and first responder, i understand the courage and sacrifice that it takes every day to do this job and know the challenges that our heroes face while serving our community. allen will forever be remembered by his colleagues and the fire family for the unforgettable different he made and the live he is touched during his many years of service in marion

county. to allen's family, know that the entirety of florida's third congressional district stands with you and behind you during this difficult time. our thoughts and prayers are with his friends, family, and the entire marion county fire rescue team as our community mourns this great loss. thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to offer my deepest condolences and to honor the life of a firefighter-paramedic from my district, mr. trip wooten who tragically passed away in early january of this year. trip was a 14-year veteran firefighter who joined the ranks of marion county fire rescue on december 15, 2006. prior to his hiring, trip was a member of the 2006 marion county fire-rescue career academy

class. he was a loving husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and friend to everyone he crossed paths with. he possessed a sense of humor that brightened the days of all who came in contact with him. as the wife of a firefighter and first responder, i understand the courage and sacrifice it takes every day to do this job and i know the challenges that you face in serving our community. i am certain that the positive impact that trip made on the marion county community at large will never be forgotten. on behalf of florida's third congressional district our thoughts and prayers are with his friends, family and the entire marion county fire rescue family as we mourn his loss. trip will forever be remembered by his colleagues and the fire station family for the unforgettable difference he made and the live he is touched in his 16-plus years of service.

thank you, madam speaker. i solemnly rise today to honor the life of mr. nicolas tillaman, a member of the alachua county sheriff's department who passed away last month. he was a loyal servant and protector of our community, serving florida's third congressional district as a deputy in alachua county and our nation through his military service. after completing high school, nick joined the united states navy as a gunners mate. following his naval service he joined the united states army reserves he joined the alachua county sheriff's office in 2018 and then deployed to afghanistan. safe to say he had a heart for service. upon returning from deployment, he returned to his service with the sheriff's office, where colleagues will remember the memes he was known for as he would brighten someone's day or when he would share with a smile

and a laugh, not ka louse, his quote-unquote #thoughtsfromthethrone. we will miss nick. our heros in uniform display the utmost courage and selflessness. risking their lives every day in pursuit of protecting and keeping our communities safe. nick is one of these heroes. on behalf of florida's third congressional district, our thoughts and prayers are with his friends, family, and a.s.o. as our community mourns. -- mourns this loss. thank you, madam speaker, i rise today on behalf of florida's third congressional district to honor mr. ansel lewis as our 2022 veteran of the year. each year, our office gives this

award to a veteran who has exemplified the utmost courage, sacrifice and benevolence throughout our local communities. mr. lewis served as a sergeant major in the united states marine corps from 1987 to 2017. while serving, he received the bronze star, the legion of merit, meritorious service medal, navy and marine corps achievement medal, joint meritorious unit award the navy unit commendation, and the military outstanding volunteer medal. whoo, that is impressive. after years of military service, mr. lewis has conned to show his dedication to our community as the past commandant of the roy s. geiger league detachment 1047. a proud member of the board for operation barn bays. and the president of the veterans council of clay county. from his distinguished military service to is -- to his

organization of dozens of events for the nation's heroes, i can't think of anyone more deserving of this honor. it is a privilege to recognize mr. ansel lewis, sergeant major, before this body for his honorable service to our nation and our community. and i hope that his volunteer spirit will continue for many years to come as well as inspire those who follow. madam speaker, can i get a time check? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida has 12 minutes remaining. mrs. cammack: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to honor the life of jim painter who passed -- passed away following an unforeseen complication in his year-long battle with cancer. he was a third generation brick

mason who devoted his life to the masonry industry in gainesville, florida. the first of many jobs the painter family would work on at the university of florida, one of jim's family's first projects was working on williamson hall at the u.f. campus. over the course of 40 years, with painter masonry, jim worked alongside his father abe and his brother jerry to set the standard for quality masonry for commercial, industrial and institutional buildings at the university of florida and across north central florida. from 1990 to 1996, jim served as city commissioner gainesville and as the mayor from 1993 to 1996. while he was mayor, gainesville earned the most -- gainesville earned the tight ole of quote america's most liable city, award. he gave his time and talents to many organizations including the alachua-bradford county work force development board, the

gainesville area chamber of commerce, the gainesville elks lodge, the builders association of north central florida, the florida home builders association and the girls club of alachua county. a stranger to none, jim was a public servant, a friend, and a confidant tomvment i know that i will miss jim and so many will miss him as well. thank you, madam speaker, i rise today to celebrate the hard work of the hawthorne high school girls varsity basketball team, this year's 1-a state champions. former florida gator cornelius ingram led the hawthorne hornets to the championship win over wildwood this past friday night. the game was down to the wire. all the way until the final buzzer in the fourth quarter. with the final score of 42-38, the hornets were victorious. this is not the first victory for coach ingram who also led

the hawthorne hornets varsity -- football team to a state championship this past fall. a former tight end for the florida gators he's had tremendous success encouraging his teams and leading them to victory and we could not be more proud of their outstanding accomplishments on the field and on the court. congratulations to the hawthorne hornets on the new trophy they'll add to that growing trophy case that they continue to expand in north central florida. go hornets. thank you, madam speaker, i rise today to congratulate senator ben sasse for becoming the new president of the university o florida's flagship university came from humble beginnings. being one of the original two state universities, u.f. was created through the land grant act of 1862 and the florida state legislature.

combining four existing institutions in lake city, gainesville, barto and st. pete to establish the university of the state of florida. now u.f. is the gem in the crown that is our state's university system and the fifth ranked public university in the nation. ben sasse himself also comes from humble beginning. he's the son after teach arynd football coach who grew up in plainview, nebraska. he worked hard in his youth, earning degrees from harvard, st. johns college, and g.l. ben led a successful private sector career, then went on to become one of the youngest college presidents in midland university back in his hometown, saving the institution from insolvency. answering the call for public service, ben ran and won a seat in the united states senate serving his state and country for seven years. now, it is my pleasure to

welcome him to the gator nation. a tight-knit community with worldwide reach. ben, we look forward to yours and the university's continued success and as always it's great to be a florida gator. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman has seven minutes remaining. mrs. cammack: thank you. perfect. thank you, madam speaker, i rise today to honor mr. don quincy, an advocate for the industry and role model for future generations. don quincy has an undeniable passion and dedication to the agricultural industry, leading by his actions in business and in service. born in gainesville, don is a fifth generation florida cattleman. upon graduation from chiefland high school, he felt called to serve in law enforcement but

after two years of service his unquestionable love for the land and raising cattle brought him back to the family's feed store and cow-calf operation. he was actively engaged in ownership and operations from 1977 to 2003 when the store was eventually sold. while supporting the family business, don founded quincy cattle company in 1992, a diversified cattle feeding operation in chiefland, florida. the operation has grown in size and scope to meet fellow cattle producers' needs and goals, providing services to improve marketability and the options for florida cattle. his commitment to innovation has led to improved sustainability for the industry with approximately 80% of his commodity needs coming from within 20 miles of his ranch. that's pretty significant for folks in agriculture who know how difficult that is, that is a big deal. his record of service and leadership is well documented

and tremendous. don is a lifelong supporter of f.f.a., the future farmers of america, and a founding member of the florida cattle ranchers. he has held he's held all elected officer positions and served on the board of directors for drummond community bank, florida beef council, national cattleman's beef association and cattle facts. he also has been recognized by the university of florida's college of agricultural and life sciences with an award of distinction and the national cattleman's beef association with a leadership award. don has been an advocate for m mutually beneficial agricultural policies, seeking to bridge the gap between production and regulation as well as a member of the suwannee river management district board for many years. he served as chair for nine of his 12 years of the district and during his tenure, he initiated the district's cost share program and was instrumental in

having a water use program to assist agriculture producers with reporting, actual water use instead of estimated data. with lifelong roots in agricultural -- in florida's agriculture, carving out a neech in the -- niche in the florida's cattle industry was not for don's personal gain but to set the foundation for future generations to set a wholesome florida beef supply. consider so glad to know don and his family and proud and grateful for all that he has done in service to north central florida and our farmers, ranchers, and producers. thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to honor the florida gators women's gymnastic's team. this year's regular season s.e.c. champions. florida's super soup yors, including leah -- seniors, including leah, trinity, now have a handful of rings,

claiming their fifth consecutive s.e.c. title on florida with a win over number 12 kentucky. this is u.f.'s 15th s.e.c. championship gymnastics title and fifth consecutive title. the gymnastics team joins volleyball and men and women's swimming and diving as regular season champions during this academic year. during the s.e.c. championship meet, florida led on vaults with season best by leean and sloan. kayla led the gators on the balance beam while they boosted the overall scores on the uneven bars. whole heck of a lot more than most of us in this chamber can do. so it is with tremendous pride that we say congratulations to the gators gymnastics team, coach roland and the super seniors on a great regular season. we look forward to cheering them

on at the collegiate ncaa championship that is soon to come. go, gators. at this time, madam speaker, i would like to yield to my good friend and colleague from the great state of texas for as much time as he may consume. >> thank you. i appreciate that very much, my good colleague from florida, and wow. very impressive, too. very impressive all those stats. well, i want to also rise today and thank my fellow texan, chip roy, over here for this special order that we're going to do on our texas rangers 200th anniversary. mr. speaker, i rise today to celebrate one of our country's most storied law enforcement age agencies, as i said, the texas rangers. since its creation 200 years ago as a force to defend settlers on the frontier of texas, the rangers have been a central part

of my state's rich, rich history. this group of remarkable men and women has seen their fair share of legends themselves. men like john coffeey hayes, who protected settlers during the days. john b. jones who brought law and order during the time when the west was still very wild. and frank hamer who took down the infamous bonnie and clyde. mr. babin: my district, which includes houston over to louisiana is few to a home of legendary texas rangers itself. major james t. thomas grew up in newton, texas, right down the road from my hometown of woodville, texas. he's the first known texas ranger to hold a doctoral degree and is a forensic expert. his fellow rangers say he is the epitome of what it means to be a texas ranger, a man who is

devoted to his faith, to his wonderful wife, and to -- is a great father to his children. a loyal friend and a colleague. i'm also proud to represent other legends of the texas rangers. brandon best who is known for using modern techniques like the genetic targeting to solve cold cases that are-decades-old. and texas ranger joel harrison who is the longest serving ranger in history. it is a great privilege to represent heroes like these three men. throughout history, the texas rangers have protected presidents and dignitaries, captured bandits and burglars and solved some of the most dedicated -- excuse me -- some of the most complicated criminal cases ever. they have always served their communities and the lone star state with distinction and bravery. i want to thank them for their dedicated service, and may god continue to bless the texas rangers and our beloved lone star state. thank you and i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlewoman from florida has expired. mrs. cammack: thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 9, 2023, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. roy, for 30 minutes. mr. roy: i thank the speaker. and i'm proud to rise here on the floor of the united states house of representatives as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the texas rangers. texas' oldest law enforcement agency. i am proud to represent a number of rangers personally. proud to live in a county named after one of our most famous texas ranger. i am proud to be the descendent of a texas ranger. but i'll have more to say about all of that in a moment, because i'd like to yield to my friend from texas to offer his thoughts on the texas rangers. >> thank you, mr. roy.

madam speaker, i am honored to join representative roy and so many from the texas delegation today in recogniz recognizing 2 of history. the 200th anniversary of our most prolific investigative law enforcement agency in texas and one of the most prolific law enforcement agencies in this nation and worldwide, the texas rangers. in 1823, stephen f. austin assembled a small collection of brave men in a call to arms and over the past two centuries, this small group, numbering less than 200 today, has undertaken almost every aspect of law enforcement in texas. and let me pause there and reinforce. less than 200 rangers on the job today. by the amount of work they do, you would think there are hundreds or even thousands across texas but indeed, it's a small elite force. mr. moran: from investigating murder to conspiracy and every crime in between, they protected

our borders, both in the 19th century and here, again, in the 21st century. they protected our governor and our historic alamo. the texas rangers are an esteemed symbol of the lone star state. they are in fact guardians of the highest order, cream of the crop. and because of that, they've been praised and storied again and again in poem and in song, in movies, and in television. from the lone ranger to, walker, texas ranger, you see replications of these texas rangers over and over again because of that you are unique -- their unique toughness but also because of their compassion. they make sure that there is swift and sure justice in texas but fair and impartial justice. like so many other law enforcement agencies, it's not just the possibility of ultimate sacrifice that sets them apart from so many others. it frankly is their daily

sacrifice. each day when they get up, they kiss their kids and their wives and their spouses goodbye and they head off to work and they set apart -- they set themselves apart by sacrificial service to their communities, putting their lives on the line day in and day out for each of us in county. as i did when i was a county judge in texas, i am proud to back the blue, and i'm honored to stand here today in recognition of the texas rangers 200 years of dedication and service to our communities. to all of our officers, we honor you, we thank you, and we are indebted to you. and this congress should look at the example of the texas rangers and the examples set by so many law enforcement officers across this country and remind ourselves of what's truly important and who we should indeed support when it comes down to it. we should always back the blue. so congratulations, texas rangers. keep leading the way. keep setting the standard.

and keep making us proud. i yield back. mr. roy: i appreciate my colleague's remarks about the texas rangers. and there's such an important organization in the world of law enforcement. and i say that as someone who served in the office of the attorney general of texas as the first assistant attorney general where i had a large number of law enforcement, including former texas rangers, working for me. worked in the u.s. attorney's office law enforcement. my grandfather was the chief of police of a small texas town, sweetwater, texas, in the 1940's. and my great-great grandfather was a texas ranger. as my colleague from texas just discussed with respect to the history, in 1821, stephen f. austin, the father of texas, brought 300 families to settle land in modern-day texas. there was no regular army, so

austin assembled a fighting force to provide protection from can mafrjys and eventually -- co-mafrjys and eventually mexican raiders. texas did what sovereign states have done throughout history, stepping up and protecting our communities. we stood up for the rule of law when there was none. much of the action seen by the early rangers involved bloody conflicts with commanche tribes and gangs of bandits who threatened the safety of texans. in the following years, the rangers proved indispensable during major events such as the mexican-american war. bonnie and clyde in 1934. and hurricane harvey rescue and recovery as recently in 2017 and now currently today. as local law enforcement slowly assumed much of the day-to-day peacekeeping role that the texas rangers held before the turn of the 20th century, the rangers

now operate as a key investigative body for the state of texas. rangers are renowned for conducting major criminal investigations, suppression of organized crime, border recon sauns -- reconnaissance, swat, bomb squad, crisis negotiation, joint intelligence center management, and investigation of unsolved crimes. the impact of the texas rangers on the lone star state cannot be understated. my home county, hayes county, is named for john coffey hayes, a renowned ranger appointed by austin, who fought what is near enchanted rock today in a district i represent a little west of austin in gillespie county. my great-great grandfather served as a rather than in all three counties i represent today, protecting what is now my future -- protecting my future

home where i live now in hayes county. and holding the line against lawlessness. to the west, captain charles shriner of kirk county, served with distinction and went on to donate land for the shriner institute, in my district. i represent the ranger's spirit that's alive and well today in my friend and longtime texas ranger david maxwell who i worked with in the office of the attorney general of texas who solved the over 35-year-old cold case in the unspeakable murder of his own sister. that is the spirit of the texas rangers. they were men who could not be stampeded. that's how former department of public safety director homer garrison jr. described them. and they have certainly lived up to that. and with so many other great figures of our history, some

today wish to rewrite the legacy of the texas rangers. focusing only on the harshest of narratives from the comfort of modern-day america, a comfort bought by the sacrifice, the blood of texas rangers. all while ignoring those sacrifices that they made to settle the west and establish the rule of law. the scripture reminds us greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. these heroes wake up every morning and put their lives on the line to serve and protect their fellow texans, as did their predecessors. the texas rangers are owed a debt of gratitude that cannot be fully repaid. but today, we do thank them. and we congratulate them on 200 years of selfless service. . tomorrow will be march 2, texas independence day. on february 23, a mexican force outnumbering -- or numbering in the thousands and led by general

antonio lopez desanta anna, driven by the cause of libber -- led a force. william barrett travis wrote this about the siege. i am besieged by a thousand or more of the mexicans under santa anya. -- santa anna. i have not lost a man. the enemy demanded a surrender at diets cession. otherwise the garrison are to be put to the toward. if the fort is taken i have answered the demand with a cannon shot and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. i shall never surrender or retreat. then i call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the american character to come to our aid with all dispatch. the enemy is receiving

reinforcement daily and will no doubt increase to 3,000 or 4,000 in four or five days. if this call is neglected i am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country, victory or de death. this week also includes texas independence day, as i said. the texas declaration of independence reads, when a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people from whom its legitimate powers are derived and for the advance. of whose happiness it was instituted, the texas declaration of independence state, the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inlearn and inalienable right of the people to appeal to first principles and take their political affair into their own hands in extreme cases and join it as a right toward themselves and sacred obligation to their posterity to abolish such

government and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers and secure their welfare and happiness. but what did they declare independence for? what did travis and the rest of theall moe sacrifice for? a federal government that opens our boarders to cartels? a group of republicans who campaign on securing the border, who run away in abject surrender, refusing to actually do it? that's the question before us right now. that's the question for every member of the republican conference. i'm speaking to you. if you do not secure the border, now, now, you are giving up any argument you have for the american people to put their

faith in you. will republicans honor their campaign commitments to secure the border, yes or no? what i am seeing right now from my republican colleagues does not give me faith that they will stand up in the breach as did those men who stood on the wall at the alamo. i am tired of words. things are going to change in this body. if my republican colleagues believe that they're going to be moving through relatively meaningless provisions, doing precious damn lit northwesterly very people who sent us here to change things and they think that some of us are just going to go along for the ride, they are sorely mistaken. we will not. there will be no more games as i saw unfold today on the floor of the house of representatives, where lies and misrepresentations for made

about legislation. specifically for personal reasons to take down an amendment. an amendment, by the way, designed to ensure that the executive orders that are driving up inflation, that this majority said they wanted to expose out of the current president and our democratic colleagues on the other side of the aisle, that they would exempt emergency executive orders, exempt national security related executive orders, the very kinds of emergency executive orders that have been killing this country for as long as i can remember and specifically for the last several years through the covid pandemic and emergency responses. executive orders forcing needles into people's arms. and if they say no they can't carrien their livelihoods, shrinking the labor supply, driving up the cost of goods and services, shutting down the

greatest economy in the history of the world my colleagues on this side of the aisle today ran away, ran away from actually holding the executive branch responsible. why? for petty, personal, political reasons. that ain't going to fly. that's not going to be the way this works. leadership is something that is observed and followed. it is not an anointed position. we did not come to this chamber to continue to allow the executive branch to run over the american people. where sitting today is a young man who served his country and is being denied his commanding officer job, being forced to try to pay back student loans, because he dared to say no to a

vaccine minnesotadate that was politically driven. and what is this side of the aisle doing about it? not a damned thing. what is this side of the aisle doing about open borders? nothing. nothing. what is this side of the aisle doing about an a.t.f. rule about to make felons out of 10 million americans or more? nothing. we have a debt ceiling approaching, running around like chickens with our heads cut off we should say something right now. we should pass a bill off this floor saying that we will raise the debt ceiling, but only, only, you end the disastrous student loans that are going to cost $400 billion and drive up the cost of higher ed. only if you see synd the $91

billion of unobligated covid money. only if you go rescind the $0 billion designed to increase the i.r.s. to go after taxpayers. including, by the way, more often the poorest among us and minorities. only if you will return spending to 2022 level, getting our spending back to precovid levels. and make sure that we cap spending so we stop funding the woke, weapon sized bureaucracy that's going out to the american people. do that. send that over to the senate. send that over to the senate and make chuck schumer and the president of the united states choke on it. because the american people want us to cut spending right now. they don't want us dilly-dallying around, going out to focus group, to figure out what we're going to do for the american people. that is too often what this body does and particularly this side of the aisle.

we are not going to have two more years of the usual crap that this body continually engages in. no more spending money we don't have. no more allowing lawlessness. no more open borders. no more mandates, killing the american people. no more mandates driving up the price of energy. subsidizing unreliable energy, driving up the cost of that energy. no more. $32 trillion in debt. wide open borders causing little girls to get sold into sex trafficking trade. "new york times" if finally wakes up and writes a story about this it -- about it this week. what do we do? we pass a three-page bill asking the democrats to say, we'll give you reports on inflation but not if there's emergency spending. because everybody's got to have their precious emergency spending. oh, gosh, there's a hurricane,

so who cares if it's inflationary if you dump $40 billion. who cares if it's covid and you dump $5 trillion out in the name of an emergency. crushing the greatest economy in the history of the world. no, no. we can't have a report like that. the american people are sick and tired of the same old, same old. and so far two months into the 118th congress i'm not seeing a hell of a lot different than the same old, same old. the american people gave republicans a majority. we ought to darn well use it. it is time to stand up for the american people. that time is now. that time is not tomorrow. that time is not after another retreat to go figure out how you're going to raise more money. that time is not after another retreat to go look at poll

testing. come down to the floor of the house of representatives and stand up for the american people who sent you here and stop playing games with the election certificate you were given to represent them. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. does the gentleman have a motion? mr. roy: i move that the house do now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly the house stands adnowrn -- adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on friday, march

we're providing low-income students to access to affordable internet so homework can just be homework. cox connect to compete.