new dollars. this should be in line with the principles of some of our more conservative members to reclaim dollars owed to the united states and its tax payers. secondly, as it relates to work force shortages and i think we all know in every industry, i know businesses i talk to back home are struggling to find workers, yet i know yesterday in the education and labor committee, of which i'm a member, that we didn't get a single republican vote for the work force innovation opportunity act. we -- the re-authorization will do great things to try to move people into the work force as quickly as possible. we received no support for that. we're going to continue to work on these issues here in this congress. we're going to continue to look out for small businesses and people looking for work and continue to look out for employers who face worker shortages. we'll continue to support this and i believe this bill will be a great, great victory for the 178,000 restaurants who

desperately need our support. with that, let me now yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman and fellow member of the rules committee from california, mr. desaulnier. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. desaulnier: thank you. i want to thank my friend and colleague for yielding. i also want to thank for the conversation at the rules committee and my distinguished colleagues on both sides. i want to speak as small businesses that were vital to the communities of where they were. and how important they are to restart main street america in every district. the multipliers of having restaurants open and the difficulty of a cash flow of a small business like this and why this initiative is so important. the bureau of labor statistics estimates that in 2019 there

were 12.1 million people employed in the restaurant and food service industry. so many of those people immediately lost their jobs and their incomes with no warning when the pandemic hit. in april of 2020 alone the restaurant industry lost 5.5 million jobs. through the american kes cue plan we -- rescue plan, we established the restaurant revitalization fund, which provided $28.6 billion in emergency assistance to eligible restaurants. bars and qualifying businesses impacted by the pandemic. although this program helped more than 100,000 restaurants and food and beverage businesses across the country in every district, the program received applications of nearly three times the amount of money that it had to give out. we cannot overlook the obvious need. the relief for restaurants and other hard-hit small businesses

act, h.r. 3807, would inject $42 billion to allow the small business administration to process the applications of over 150,000 eligible entities that previously applied for relief. i met and talked to many of my former colleagues in the business who have applied for these funds and speak very positive point -- positively about their experience and how helpful it was to get them through the pandemic. it helps these small businesses. though the pandemic -- through the pandemic, at least 40% of pandemic-related revenue loss was suffered by businesses with fewer than 200 employees. again, as a former restaurant owner myself, i have seen how restaurants can bring communities together. we owe it to these local business entrepreneurs, these owners, and millions of workers who depend on this help to pass this important bill. thank you, mr. speaker.

and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman is recognized. please continue. >> thank you, mr. speaker. you know, i would just like to mention, you know, we continue to talk about whether or not this is paid for. and i think that respectfully ask, where's the c.b.o. score? mrs. fischbach: that would answer the question. if we actually done any -- put this through any process, put this legislation through any kind of process, getting the c.b.o. score. so i would question as to whether or not it was actually all paid for, as my colleague mentions. but i do think that if we add the c.b.o. score, it could be -- we could decide finalfully it was paid for or not -- finally if it was paid for or not with that, mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas -- or not. with that, mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i completely agree that we should be trying to help small

businesses who have gotten absolutely railroaded and run over by the power of government which amounts to essentially a taking. mr. roy: they've had their livelihoods taken away from the sheer power of government. federal, state and local. it's extraordinary. it's one of the reasons that i worked with my friend, dean phillips, on the other side of the aisle, the p.p.p. flexibility act two years ago. i would have prefer we had not go down this road. that the government not go down and shut down our economy. but the government did. and i think that amounts to something akin to a taking. but now here we sit and yet again my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have not met an issue that they can't make worse. that's what we're daysed -- faced with right now. so my colleagues are putting forward a $54 billion bill which they is paid for, which is paid for and relies on recaptured fraudulent relief funds. we have fraudulent relief funds because you dumped $2 trillion out in the economy when you came in here and did it by voice vote two years ago.

you have these fraudulent funds that is what is paying for this. this bill should be fully paid for out of existing covid money that's not yet been spent. and that is what we're offering as an alternative. but the real problem that the american people need to understands and my colleagues have gotten themselves in a pretty vicious box is because the administration with the full support of my colleagues here made the allocation of dollars race-based. they made it criteria-based. and they got slapped down by the court. they got slapped down by the sixth circuit. sixth circuit court of appeals found race and sex prioritization was unconstitutional and ordered the small business administration to halt the practice. but most of the funding had been spent. it was underfunded. but most of that funding had been penalty is. the courts said, quote, the case is about whether or not the government can allocate limited coronavirus relief funds based on the race and sex of the

applicants. we hold that it cannot. quote, the start realities of s.b.a.'s racial jerry mannedderring are inescapable. it's a sore did business, quoting our chief justice, a sordid basis to diivey us up by race and the government's attempt to do so here violates the constitution. that is the real story. i've introduced the restaurant revitalization fund fairness act, we have other bills on this side of the aisle that would pay for it, that would ensure that it won't be race-based, that it would make sure that the 177,000 applicants who were left on the outside looking in because of race-based governing by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, that that would not occur and that, again, i would reiterate, should be paid for without relying on the possibility of collecting the fraudulent expenditures. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady is recognized. the gentleman from new york is recognized.

>> yes, thank you, mr. speaker. i want to just reiterate, this is really a simple issue. and there may be attempts to distract from what is a simple issue, but the inspector general office indicated that we had $78 billion in fraudulent claims. mr. morelle: that's an estimate. some estimates range as high as $200 billion. seems silly to me that we wouldn't take advantage of those dollars which are being reclaimed to continue to try to get relief for the many, many tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of restaurants and their employees across the country. and i dare say that when i talk to, rather i've sat down with many, many restaurant owners the last several months, who had made applications and simply didn't have the resources and the fund that we had allocated to get relief, continue to talk to me about this. so this is really -- a really very, very simple question. i know there's a lot of complicated nuanced questions around here in congress that we're always dealing with. but this is a simple one. do we want to help these small businesses or do we choose not

to help them? i think we would argue here that they very much deserve and merit the support. so with that, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from north carolina, another distinguished member of the rules committee, my friend, ms. ross. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ross: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you so much to congressman morelle. mr. speaker, i rise today to highway light the urgent need for additional relief for our restaurants. since the covid-19 pandemic began, restaurants in my district and across the country have been at the front line of our battle against covid-19. the restaurant revitalization fund offered a vital lifeline. at a time when restaurants desperately needed our help. however, the funds quickly ran out, leaving hundreds of thousands of restaurants without any relief, including in my state of north carolina.

in a cruel twist, many restaurants were approved for funding but never saw a dime. for example, kim hammer, who owns bittersweet in raleigh, was approved for a grant by the small business association. despite this, kim still hasn't received any relief and said it feels like no one is listening. well, we're listening. every time a new variant emerges and cases surge, the survival of countless restaurants is thrown into jeopardy. as i hear from restaurant owners in my district, they alltel me how essential the restaurant relief program was but that it was simply not enough. during the peak surge of the omicron variant, the owner of garland restaurant in raleigh, said she just hope shed could keep the doors open.

for both her customers and her staff. jennifer cramer, the owner of catalan tappas restaurant had to start a gofundme campaign to keep her lights on and her employees on payroll. mr. speaker, our fight against this pandemic is not over. it is unacceptable that we would leave the restaurant industry out to dry. restaurants contribute to the spirit, vibrancy and success of my community in wake county, north carolina, and many communities all across this nation. i urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying legislation and replenish this fund. thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. fischbach: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself as much time as i may consume.

if we defeat the previous question, i will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of congresswoman mcmorris rodgers' and congressman westerman's american energy independence from russia act. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the record, along with the extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. fischbach: thank you, mr. speaker. for the fifth time, republicans ask their colleagues to consider this bill. the average price at the pump two days before president biden took office was $2.38 per gallon. they have been steadily climbing ever since. on february 14, six days before the russian invasion of ukraine, the average price per gallon was $3.49. these prices are affecting every single american. when adjusted for the increasing prices on all goods, thanks to

failed democrat policies, wages and salaries are below pre-pandemic levels. my constituents are pleading with congress to focus on this issue and are being ignored by the out of touch majority. now for the fifth time house republicans are urging the majority to immediately bring relief at the pump now. while my colleagues continue to bring flawed, misguided and unvetted legislation to the floor, house republicans stand ready to work on issues that directly affect americans' pocketbooks. to further explain the amendment, i yield four minutes to the representative from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. cammack: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you to my colleague and friend from the great state of minnesota. i rise to defeat the previous question so that we may immediately consider h.r. 6858. congresswoman mcmorris rodgers' bill. that would strengthen united states energy security, encourage and promote domestic

production of crude oil and natural gas, and help return to and solidify american energy independence. you know, i get asked all the time why? why will congress do nothing to lower the cost of fuel? why do they continue to talk and do absolutely nothing? well, right here. right here is your answer. today republicans stand for the fifth time, legislation in hand, to bring gas prices down and to restart our energy production right here at home. legislation that would make us energy independent once again and that would get thousands of americans back to work. legislation that would be a collective sigh of relief for our seniors and those on fixed incomes, who are making the decision between gas or groceries. this legislation is the answer. and it is ready to go. but you know what, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have already been given vote recommendations by the speaker

of the house to shoot this legislation down. they haven't even read it. they haven't even read it and they are so blind to and beholden to their radical agenda that they won't consider a commonsense solution to one of the most pressing issues facing all of our collective constituents. these fuel prices. again, this is the fifth time that this legislation has been presented. and it is the fifth time that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have put russia first and america last. the average price of gas today is $4.56 and climbing. for our truckers and farmers who fuel up on diesel like many in my district, it's costing them well over 5dz a gallon at the pump in fact, it's $5.19 today for a gallon of diesel. all across our country, americans, regardless of party, are making decisions, again, between gas in the tank or groceries in the fridge. folks are canceling their first road trip with their family in two years. or visits to grandparents

because biden has decided that americans who put fuel in their own gas tanks and shop for their own groceries, they are not the priority. in fact, just 17 hours ago the biden administration was more concerned with presenting former president barack obama with a ceremonial pen than talking about how we are going to bring down fuel prices in this country. you want to talk about out of touch. there it is in a nutshell. this is the biden mrs.rodgers: soaring prices that hurt hard that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks working americans and increasedry lines on foreign countries to meet our energy needs. we know america's future will not be realized by sunshine and pinwheels but we need to end our dependence on countries that continue like us. i have spoken to people in my district that energy costs are driving them out of operation and out of business.

one of the top timber producers said he is spending $18,000 more a week on fuel costs alone. if this continues, he will be suspended operations, all because this administration has should our domestic energy a death sentence that and that happened before they took office. this biden energy plan or lack thereof is destroying farmers, families, ranchers and small businesses and we know we can put an end, we know we can, but we are focused on ceremonial pens and issues that don't matter to the american people. put american energy and security at the top of the priority list and i say we, too, have had enough. i urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question and bring my colleague's legislation to the floor.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. morelle: i, frankly, am a little perplexed and i think when i get home and talk to my restaurant owners, why were you having a conversation not related to the restaurant rehave it lization act. as much as i would love to get into a conversation about putin's actions in ukraine have affected a crisis around the world and oil companies are reaping record profits and not increasing supply to meet demand around the world. we should have that conversation in an appropriate venue and the venue we are in is to talk about the restaurant the rehave it

lization and 178,000 restaurants owned by republicans, democrats independents in every single district that we have the privilege of representing and that's how we are talking about how to get relief into the hands of individuals who have struggled under the most difficult circumstance hees. let's continue to focus on the question in front of the house. with that, let me yield to the distinguished the gentlewoman from pennsylvania, my friend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. scanlon: in southeastern pennsylvania and in cities and towns across the country restaurants are the cornstone of

our communities and these restaurants were hard hit despite the excellence of their food, many restaurants struggled to stay in business and some permanently shuttered. the fund passed as part of the american rescue lifeline and provided grants giving restaurant operators financial relief to keep doors open and keep people employed. but the funds weren't enough to match the need. i have heard from my constituents and everybody who is listening heard it from their constituents. and 300,000 applied for aid, 100,000 and fraudulent claims that were made in small business

relief programs. the relief for restaurants will provide additional financial support to restaurants and small businesses in the industries that are affected by the coronavirus pandemic. i'm glad this bill is getting this vote on the floor and i support the rule and the underlying legislation and i urge my colleagues to recognize this issue is still before us and should do the same. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentlelady from minnesota is recognized. mrs.fischbach: i appreciate my colleague from new york would love to have the conversation, would love to have the conversation in the appropriate venue and we would also love to have that conversation particularly in the committee if we could hear the bill, but the majority has chosen to shut out

almost every single republican bill and not hold hearings where it would be the appropriate venue. and i would suggest to my colleague from new york that he talk to his leadership about actually hearing this bill in committee and having the conversation and having the transparency and the input we could from the public. but until that time, mr. speaker, this is our venue. and with that, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from alabama. >> thank you to my colleague from minnesota. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i rise in opposition of the previous question so we can amend the rules to immediately consider h.r. 6858, the american energy independence from russia act. my friends on the other side of the aisle want to talk about restaurants and restaurants are very important, but understand when families can't put fuel in their tank, they can't afford to

eat in a restaurant. we are bringing them up now because we cannot our bill to the floor and our message out. this is the fourth time republicans try to bring this bill up for a vote and each time democrats have refused. families are suffering and the rising fuel prices is making everything much more expensive including bread, clothes and meals at our restaurants. president biden's solutions does nothing to fix the problems. tapping into our strategic reserves will do almost nothing to bring prices down. all it does is risk our reserves and endanger our national security. this administration is signaling to the oil and gas companies that they are going to come after them.

they need to get out of the business and let the business run themselves. one example, where i am from on the gulf coast the department of interior has allowed one lease sale in the past year and a half. under trump, we had two a year. we had the one sale that i'm talking about in a year and a half and the biden administration refuses to uphold two per year. he refuses to challenge to get those lease bids acknowledged. biden has said is a lie, i'm sorry. it is an out lie about what the drilling companies are. there are so many rules and regulations on the drilling companies. i understand it. we have to get the foot of the federal government off the next of the drilling companies. let's don't give it away to

russia and -- i'll cool off. republicans have a real solution to get american energy back and on the market and get prices down. this bill will restart the keystone xl and boost the lng exports. thank you, mr. speaker. and i urge a no vote on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities to the president. the gentleman is recognized. mr. morelle: i do want to just correct the record as it relates to the energy and commerce committee, this morning, we held a hearing with the heads of oil companies, multinational oil companies to talk about why they refuse to increase supply which would bring down the costs. i didn't do exceptionally well

in economics at the state university of new york but i remember the supply and demand issue. so we are going to work and push and urge those companies to increase supply to meet demand and bring the cost down and not much we can do what is going in ukraine although we are helping our friends. but let me remind everyone who is tuning in, the issue before the house of representatives today, the rule that's being considered is dealing with the difficulties that have been faced by restaurants across this country during the pandemic that has now lasted for two years and displacement of workers and impact it has had all across this country and we are striving to achieve a solution that will be good for everyone across all

50 states and small businesses that continue to be the backbone of our local communities. with that, i have been very, very grateful of the leadership of mr. blumenauer who has led the charge on this issue for some time now and i think i have bothered him dozens of times to ask what we can continue to do to advance his efforts and he has continued to provide leadership, and with that, i give him and yield three minutes to the gentleman from oregon, sponsor of this bill, mr. blumenauer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. blumenauer: i appreciate the gentleman's courtesy and his leadership antennassity in terms of trying to help our be beleagered neighborhood restaurants. our friends on the other side of the aisle, even if they got their dream piece of legislation, would not make any difference on the price of gasoline this year or next year. we are dealing with global

supply. one of the things that will make a difference to break the grip we have from the oligarchs and the sheiks is deal with renewable energy that is not going to hold us hostage. we have seen remarkable progress that is made and i'm sad that our friends on the other side of the aisle have been resistant to these innovations in terms of solar, wind, electric try fix, the things that will makes a difference today and tomorrow and fight the crisis that we face with climate change and global warming. this legislation will make a difference to 177,000 small neighborhood restaurants and other distressed businesses. from the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, these neighborhood facilities have been the hardest hit.

you have heard already they were subject to some over 4 million jobs lost in the first few months of the pandemic. the unemployment in the restaurant industry remains high and 90,000 restaurants have permanently closed since the start of the pandemic and we have heard from countless others that are tetering on the edge. restaurants are the cornstone of a community. they have employed 60% of americans at some point in their career. many of us on the floor of the house have had that experience. they are a major source of employment for people of color and women. and they support trillion dollar supply chain from farm to table. the federal government has provided help to those institutions through the restaurant rehave it lization

fund through the act i introduced in june of 2020. only one-third of all americans leaving 177,000 hanging in the balance. the relief for restaurants and other hard-hit small businesses will finish that drive. more than 235 members of the house are co-sponsors of the restaurants act including two dozen of my republican colleagues. my legislation would provide funding to help those restaurants. finishing everybody who is in line. $13 billion is a separate industry fund -- mr. morelle: i yield an additional minute to

mr. blumenauer. mr. blumenauer: separate industry neutral fund to small businesses like hospitality, travel and fitness. and timely the legislation extends the period of time that shuttered venue operators. grants can be spent to harmonize it with the fund. this bill can be paid for with pandemic relief funds that are recovered. mr. speaker, it is time for us to finish the job protecting our neighborhood restaurants and other distressed business. i am proud to have sponsored this and i appreciate the broad bipartisan support in the house and senate and i hope we will enact it today. i support the rule. thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from minnesota is recognized. mrs. fischbach: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, with all due

respect, restaurants and small businesses are facing difficulties and one of those challenges is high energy costs. delivery cost goes up, it cost more for their employees to get to work. it costs more for all of those things because of high energy costs. so this does affect restaurants and small businesses. and i think this affects restaurants, small businesses and every american. and with that, mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to oppose the previous question so we can immediately consider the american energy independence from russia act. mr. speaker, last night i held a town hall with over 2,000 of my constituents. and do you know what was top of mind to those people? it was not the previous question. it was energy prices in america and particularly the price of fuel. mr. speaker, it was

heartbreaking to hear from constituent after constituent after constituent who said that they were unable to afford the energy required to get to work and back just to put food on the table for their families. and you can imagine how embarrassing and heartbreaking it was for me to have to admit to my constituents that the reason for those high energy prices was the actions of their very own government. mr. speaker, since the beginning of the current administration there has been a concerted effort to constrain the supply of energy produced here in america. what we have is a classic problem of supply and demand. we don't have enough supply and yet this administration in its very first week issued an executive order completely halting the issuance of new gas and oil exploration permits on federal lands in this country. it issued an executive order, stopping the keystone x.l. pipeline. mr. speaker, that pipeline alone, if it were in operation

today, would allow us to import more than enough oil to completely offset our oil imports from russia. the tragic thing about this situation is that the administration is doing this out of the mistaken belief that it will make the planet greener. but nothing could be further from the truth. we produce energy more cleanly here in america than any other country on earth. so wouldn't we take actions that require us to import more oil from places like venezuela -- when we take actions that require to us import more oil from places like venezuela, which has more greenhouse gas emissions than oil produced here in america when we increase oil -- america, when we increase oil from places like russia who still have dirty practices, we are increasing global green house gas emissions. so, mr. speaker, if we increase energy production here, not only will we lower prices for our constituents who are suffering, not only will we increase our national security, but we will

also make our planet a cleaner place. i urge immediate consideration of the america energy independence from russia act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. morelle: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd now like to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from the state of texas, ms. jackson lee. ms. jackson lee: i thank the manager very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i thank the speaker for his indulgence. i thank the manager and thank him for his leadership as well. i thank of course the chairwoman of the small business committee and mr. blumenauer and the many supporters that have provided the support for this legis legislation. i am hoping that as my colleagues begin to see the light, that they will understand that it will be far worse for all of the employees that are in restaurants that may close, that

they will not even be employed to think about paying for any gas price, no matter how much they might be. i stand with them to ensure that inflation goes down and that we respond to gasoline prices. but they are not clear in what we are doing today. we're helping small and hard-hit businesses. sole pro pryer toes, independent contractors -- pro proprietors, independent contractors, to keep these employees who have suffered from the devastation of the pandemic. we're doing more. we're not spending an extra penny because we're recapturing those dollars from those who fraudulently used dollars before. and so we are making good on our promise to spend the american tax dollars correctly. we're having a data collection, we're going to have oversight on this particular program, to ensure that it is spent effectively. we're going to respond, if you will, to the needs of the mom

and pops, the old distinguished restaurants like this is it in houston, texas. burns barbeque. jay and jay's. people who have stood the storm but yet have kept employees but have figured that they didn't know whether they could keep their doors open. this is an important, vital piece of legislation. i support the underlying legislation which is a bill that deals with relief for restaurants and other hard-hit small businesses and the underlying rule. don't you get it? we're keeping businesses open and keeping people employed. that is what we're doing today. support the rule. and the underlying bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentlelady from minnesota is recognized. mrs. fischbach: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from iowa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

i urge all of my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can take up h.r. 6858, american energy independence from russia act. this commonsense legislation introduced by representatives mcmorris rodgers and westerman would require president biden to submit an energy security plan to congress to evaluate u.s. oil and natural gas imports, identify countries that pose an energy security risk to america and encourage domestic production of oil and natural gas to offset imports from russia. mrs. miller-meeks: in fact, in contrast tower colleagues' statement, iowa is a leader in renewable energy. 50% of our energy comes from renewable sources. we even pay restaurants for their unused and old cooking oil. we are an energy exporter and it isal all done without a government mandate. all of the oil imported from russia could be offset by ethanol made from corn in iowa. in order for the u.s. to become energy independent and secure, we must have an all of the above approach to energy policy. when we must unleush other

natural resource and produce our own clean, efficient energy here at home to ensure low energy prices and promote jobs in our communities. rather than promoting policies that mp har-- that hamper u.s. energy production and ceding security to adversarial nations like russia, iran, venezuela, we should promote exploration here at home and unleash our potential. we must ensure that the current ban on russian energy is sustainable by prioritizing u.s. energy production, including biofuels. just last week the president released a budget proposal that included 45dz billion -- $45 billion in new taxes on domestic energy production. this comes on top of other disastrous decisions over the past year and a half such as those that halt the keystone x.l. pipeline and the current delay over the five-year program for offshore energy leasing in the gulf of mexico. these policies are not working for hardworking american families and businesses who are dealing with high inflation and skyrocketing gas prices. the energy independence from russia act would immediately approve the keystone x.l. pipeline rerks move restrictions

on u.s. l & g exports, protect energy and mineral development. these are key steps we can take to promote u.s. energy, energy security and we must take action now. for this reason, i urge all my colleagues to vote yes on the previous question and support h.r. 6858 to make america energy independent. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. morelle: thanks so much, mr. speaker. i will say this, that i suspect when hopefully this bill becomes law and we have helped save the 178,000 restaurants around this country that a number of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be taking credit for it. i hope many of them vote for it, despite their unwillingness to really have a conversation about it today and to talk about ex extraneous issues.

before i reserve the balance of my time i want to ask unanimous consent to insert into the record a january 24, tweur, article -- 2022, article from cnbc entitled national restaurant association asks congress for more money as omicron hits the industry. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from minnesota is recognized. mrs. fischbach: mr. speaker, i am prepared to close. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. fischbach: mr. speaker, i appreciate that my colleague from new york talks about an extraneous issue. but gas prices and the cost of energy in america is a serious issue. and it is facing every american. every american is paying more at the pump and they are facing the decision of their family budget of how they are going to use that. in 2020 the last administration added 30 million barrels of oil to the strategic petroleum reserve.

now the biden administration is weighing a plan to release roughly a million barrels of oil a gas from this reserve for months on end. and after -- and this is after he released 30 million barrels in early march and 50 million barrels of oil back in november. which did nothing to prevent a spike in energy prices. congresswoman mcmorris rodgers and congressman westerman have introduced the american energy independence act to reverse president biden's disastrous anti-american energy policies. this bill is a real solution and it needs to be heard. we need to talk to this -- talk about this to the american people. this bill, 6858, that we have before us, is not going help restaurants and small businesses. but of course that is not the democrats' intention anyway. if it was, they would have brought this bill through the committee and worked with republicans to build an

effective piece of legislation. instead their intention is to push this legislation through that sounds good so that they can use it as a talking point to distract from their failed policies. this bill is just another example of the democrats' reckless spending habits. their solution to the efforts -- at the affects of inflation is to throw even more money at it. when will my colleagues learn that the spending is what causes the inflation? it is time for the more pro-growth policies, not government handouts. and, mr. speaker, i oppose the rule and the underlying bill and i ask members to do the same. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. morelle: thank you, mr. speaker. first let me thank my colleague and friend, mrs. fischbach. we spent a lot of time together in the rules committee and i always appreciate our conversations and while we may

not agree on issues from time to time, i always appreciate her earnestness and appreciate her good work. so thank you. and i want to thank alex: all my colleagues for -- thank all my colleagues for their words in support of the bill. congress acted last year to provide much-needed relief for restaurants and other small businesses. but we must do much more. our economy simply cannot survive without small businesses and it's paramount that we redouble our commitment to ensuring their continued success. i pledge to always be an ally in that fight. i know my colleagues join me in that. and i look forward to voting in favor of this effort, to bring much-needed relief to local restaurants and small business community. mr. speaker, i urge a yes vote on the rule and the previous question. i yield back the balance of my time. i move the previous question on the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. for what purpose does the gentlelady from minnesota seek recognition? mrs. fischbach: mr. speaker, i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3 of house resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings are postponed..

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi seek recognition? mr. thompson: on direction of the select committee to

investigate the january 6 attack on the united states capitol, i call up house report 117-284. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: resolution recommending that the house find peter navarro and daniel scavino in contempt of congress to investigate the january 6 attack on the united states capitol. pursuant to house resolution 1023, the report is considered as read. for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi seek recognition initiation? mr. thompson: by direction of the select committee to investigate january 6 attack on the united states capitol, i call up house resolution 1037 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1037, resolution recommending that the house of representatives find peter k.

navarro and daniel scavino junior in contempt of congress to investigate the january 6 attack on the united states capitol pursuant to house resolution 1023, the resolution is considered as read and shall be debatable controlled by the gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson, the gentlewoman from wyoming, ms. cheney and opponent of their respective designees. the gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson and the gentlewoman from wyoming, ms. cheney and the gentleman from indiana, mr. banks, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson. mr. thompson: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on this measure.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection mr. thompson: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: gentlem an is recognized. mr. thompson: i want to talk a little bit about what the american people ought to expect of their leaders, those who hold positions of public trust, the responsibilities that come with it. i have been thinking about these responsibilities for more than 50 years and all the time i have been fortunate enough to hold a position of public trust. it doesn't matter if you are an alderman, mayor, president of the united states or staff member working as a civil servant. when you work for the public, when the people taxes pay your salary, these jobs come with serious rules and serious obligations.

dan scavino and peter navarro both held positions of public drug. dan scavino was each drew salaries to the tune of over $180,000 per year. they both were to abide by certain rules and rocketses. and both swore ocean of allegiance to the constitution. the select committee wants to talk to them more than white house jobs. we want to talk about their roles of trying to overturn the 2020 election. we subpoenaed them for their records and testimony. they told us to buzz off. not a single record, no-shows for their depositions. their excuse was, as former white house employees, the

information we wanted, again, information about overturning an election was shielded by executive privilege, a protection for the president to make sure sensitive official conversations stayed private. in other words, they are arguing that their roles in trying to overturn an election had to stay secret because they had official roles as advisers to the ex-president. if they want to make those claims, ridiculous as they sound, here is what the law sounds, they need to show up and make those claims on the record under oath. they refused to do that, that alone means they are in contempt of congress. but i want to dig deeper into the argument these men are making. as i mentioned before, these are rules and obligations public

servants. you can't do government work on taxpayer's dime. you can do on your own time, but not when you are on the clock, that's the law. if you heard of the hatch act, it's probably when a cabinet secretary or white house official that crossed the line from their official duties into political matters. in fact, in 2020, mr. navarro was deemed by a government watchdog by violating the hatch act by using his official role to attack president joe biden and that prohibits to interfere with or affecting the results of an election. sound familiar? and in the case of mr. navarro

and mr. scavino trying to effect the results of an election wasn't knocking on doors or putting signs in peoples' front yards but trying to help a defeated president stay in power. it's not conceivable that their involvement and efforts could have overlapped with their official duties. but beyond that, it was a betrayal of the oath these men took. it was a betrayal of the public trust. even if you do it on your own time, trying to overturn an election is still trying to overturn an election. and when we know that people who stormed this building on january 6, had the same goal, trying to overturn an election, that's what the select committee is investigating. that's why we need to hear from mr. scavino and mr. navarro. as the select committee tries to provide answers to the american

people, these two are saying i worked at the white house when this took place. even if i was plotting to overturn the government, i was collecting a government salary at that time so i don't have time to talk about it. can you imagine? i served my community and country most of my life. like my colleagues, i labored to uphold my oath for the people i serve. i know my constituents expect that of me. to run into this behavior as we investigate a violent snarks -- insurrection, it can't stand. dan scavino and peter navarro must be held for the abuse of the public trust and defiance of the law. they are in contempt of congress, which is a crime.

and i call on my colleagues to do their duty to defend this institution and the rule of law and to votey on this -- vote yes on this resolution. and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentlewoman from wyoming is recognized. ms. cheney: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the select committee has conducted 800 interviews and depositions of witnesses who have knowledge of the events of january 6. this includes more than a dozen former trump white house staff members. so mr. speaker, when you hear my colleagues make political attacks on the select committee, i hope all of us can remember some basic facts. through these interviews, we have learned that president trump and his team were warned in advance and repeatedly that the efforts they undertook to overturn the 2020 election would

violate the law and our constitution. they were warned that january 6 could and likely would turn violent. and they were told repeatedly by our state and federal courts, our justice department and by agencies of our intelligence community that the allegations of widespread fraud sufficient to overturn an election were false and were unsupported by the evidence. and despite all of these specific warnings, president trump and his team moved willfully through multiple means to attempt to halt the peaceful transfer of power. to halt the constitutional process of counting votes and to shatter the constitutional bedrock of our great nation. as a federal judge recently concluded, the illegality of president trump's plan for january 6 was, quote, obvious. we are here to address two

specific witnesses who have refused to appear for testimony. the committee has many questions for mr. scavino about his social media work for president trump and the donald . win and queu anone. mr. scavino worked directly with president trump to spread president trump's false message that the election was stolen and to recruit americans to come to washington on january 6 to, quote, take back their country. this effort to deceive was widely effective and widely destructive and donald trump's stolen election campaign succeeded in provoking the violence on january 6. on this point, there is no doubt the committee has videos, interviews and sworn statements

from violent rioters demonstrating these facts. mr. navarro will also be a key witness, he has written a book bel coordinating and planning the activities of january 6. we have many questions including about his communications with roger stone and steve bannon regarding the planning for january 6. and as judge carter recently concluded quote, base dollars on the evidence the court finds it more likely than not that president trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the joint session of congress on january 6, 2021. in the case of both of these witnesses, mr. speaker, the committee would rather have their testimony than have to move this contempt citation. when you hear my colleagues attack the select committee, mre chosen not to appear.

in america, no one is above the law. neither mr. trump nor mr. scavino nor mr. navarro is some form of royalty. there is no such thing in america of the privileges of the crown. every citizen has a duty to comply with a subpoena. when you hear my colleagues challenge the committee's legislative purpose, remember, the d.c. circuit and the supreme court of the united states have afffirmed our legislative purpose. too many republicans are once again ignoring the rulings of the court, as many of them did in the run-up to january 6. mr. speaker, the tale of what happened following the 2020 election resulting in the violence of january 6 is a tale of stunning deceit. it is a tale of lies about our

election and contempt for the rulings of our courts. the election claims made by donald trump were so frivolous and so unfounded that the president's lead lawyer did not just lose these cases, he lost his license to practice law. the new york supreme court found, quote, there is uncontraverted evidence that mrg statements to courts, and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former president trump and the trump campaign in connection with trump's re-election in 2020. mr. speaker, those in this chamber who continue to embrace the former president and his dangerous and destructive lies,

ought to take a good hard look at themselves. at a moment of real danger to our republic, when the need for fidelity to our constitution is paramount, they have abandoned their ocean in order to perform for donald thrum. that will be their legacy. mr. navarro and mr. scavino have chosen not to comply with a congressional subpoena and they are in contempt. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i hope this is the last time we do this. just last week we watched members of the january 6 committee criticize the d.o.j. for not jailing their political opponents fast enough. now the committee is trying to refer two more of president trump's advisors to the d.o.j.

for criminal prosecution. mr. banks: the same d.o.j. by the way that slandered concerned parents as domestic terrorists. a d.o.j. overseen by a president who said president trump should be prosecuted. so let's be clear. we aren't voting today to rename a post office. so please, let's be-of the with ourselves -- be-you have the with -- be honest with ourselves. a vote to hold navarro and scavino in contempt of congress is to put them in jail for a year. neither of these men deserve this. the party line isn't a good enough execution today. disliking their politics isn't an excuse. you know, mr. scavino has two boys. he's a good dad. he doesn't deserve this. his boys definitely don't deserve this. so before we vote today i've got to ask, could anyone here

explain to those boys why their dad deserves to be behind bars for a year? mr. scavino grew up in a working class family in new york city. he's a form caddie who worked his way up to the white house through hard work and determination. mr. scavino lived the american dream. now thanks to the select committee he's living an authoritarian nightmare. the select committee will say that it's mr. scavino's fault for refusing to cooperate, they say. that is simply not true. mr. scavino asked time and again for the committee to follow the rule of law and provide him with a narrow and specific legislative purpose for the information that they were seeking. he asked, how is what you want from me pertinent to your investigation? and they refused to explain. but remember what they said last week. the january 6 committee must

enforce its subpoenas. but contempt is not enforcement. it is punishment. contempt won't get the committee any information. only the court can do that. but they don't want to go to the judiciary. they don't want neutral arbitration. they want political punishment. the select committee has never been interested in fact finding. in fact, jim jordan and i were both blocked from sitting on the committee because we promised to fully investigate the security failure at the capitol. the democrat leaders don't want that. they claim they blocked us for being too partisan. meanwhile, the committee's lead staffer signed his name to a false letter calling the hunter besider -- biden laptop disinformation. apparently lying to undermine democracy is a key qualification for employment of this

committee. if the january 6 committee gets its way, congress will have referred four former trump officials for prosecution in under six months. another record for the 117th congress. the select committee aims to do two things. silence legitimate questions about the breakdown of security at capitol. and punish their political opponents. it's that simple. dan scavino is accused of listening to his boss, the former commander in chief, who told him to, quote, invoke all applicable privileges and immunities. today's vote is not about wrongdoing. and it isn't about anybody's character. no matter what they say. today's vote is about the character of this house. it's about abusing the seat of our democracy to attack american democracy. the question is, do we live in a country where you can go to jail for working for the wrong politician? would you want to live in that

country? the question is, will you help create that country? because i think we've had a pretty good thing going for the last 240 years. and that's exactly why i urge all of my colleagues to vote no on this resolution today. thank you. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you very much. just for the record, madam speaker, let me say that we are here for this contempt process today. but the president's own daughter complied with the wishes of the committee. and i would think that if his daughter complied with the wishes of the committee, everyone else should. even the people who work for him. madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from maryland, the distinguished majority leader of the house. mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for one minute. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman

from mississippi for yielding. i thank the gentlelady from wyoming for her courage in standing for the truth. i disagree with many things that the previous speaker said. i disagree with his premises and with his conclusion in many respects. but i do agree with him on one thing. this vote is about the character of the house. i agree with him on that. which is why 435 of us ought to vote for this resolution. so that the house can do its duty. mr. speaker, once again we are forced to take this step, asking the justice department to charge

individuals with criminal contempt for refusing to answer subpoenas as issued by the committee investigating the attack on our capitol and our democracy on january 6, 2021. the two gentlemen of which the previous speaker spoke, i don't know, i have no war he will with them individual -- war he will with -- quarrel with them individually. but we are a nation of laws, not of men. and if we are to be a nation of laws, then we need to respond to legal process. and if we think it's askertations -- the assertions are wrong, we need to make our case. on the merits of this resolution there should be no doubt and it is about the character of this

house. the courage of this house to seek honesty, to seek truth. the individuals in question had intimate knowledge of the former president's actions and decisions on that day. no matter who their children are, no matter what their life has been, they have knowledge that is important for the american people to have through their representatives in congress. americans must have a full accounting of what transpired on january 6 and in the weeks leading up to it and perhaps subsequent. that is what the bipartisan select committee has been tasked with undertaking. by a vote of this house. sadly i expect maybe most of my colleagues across the aisle will

vote against this resolution. it is about the character of this house. perhaps they agree with the republican national committee which has said that the violent trump-led insurrection at the u.s. capitol, the deaths and injury of u.s. capitol police officers and an effort to prevent the certification of an election was, and i quote, the republican national committee, legitimate political discourse. how can anybody make that assertion? how can anybody in the republican national committee vote for it? why doesn't everybody on the republican party side of the aisle say that is not what we believe?

silence prevails. there is no doubt that the insurrection on january 6 itself was a danger to our democracy. but i agree with "the washington post" columnist and former white house speech writer for republican president george w. bush. michael, who wrote on december 16, and i quote, it is republican tolerance for the intolerable that threatens american democracy. very frankly, my friends on the other side of the aisle ought to be celebrating those in their ranks who have the courage to stand up for the truth. i've told liz cheney, if john kennedy were writing his book in profiles and courage today, i would urge him to include her and adam kinsinger in that boom -- kinzinger in that boom.

january 6 was a peril, a day of peril for america. but the greater crisis is when one of our two main political parties has become so hijacked by extremism and so enthralled to a dangerous demagogue that it condones, even celebrates, insurrection and violence. mr. speaker, how can the same party that claims it honors law enforcement simultaneously declare that violence -- violent attacks against police officers are legitimate? how can one of our two political parties be so craven for short-term partisan gain that it is willing to encourage and condone insurrection? how kits members use their sacred votes in the hour the people's house in an effort to impede the investigation of this

dark and dangerous day in the history of our democracy? because that's what this vote is about. not only the character of this house, but the character of this country. the character of the people who demand, hopefully, truth. because that is what will set us all free. because that's what this vote is about. whether you believe that the violent attack on january 6, one in which a mob threatened the life of the republican vice president, legitimate, political discourse? and threatened the life of the speaker of this house. the speaker of all the house.

in an attempt to overthrow our democracy. does that constitute legitimate political discourse? mr. speaker, i can't believe americans believe that. and we must reject that theory that the violence that we saw on january 6, the hate that we saw on january 6, is somehow legitimate political discourse. because if people believe that then our democracy is in grave danger. this vote is about whether you believe a certain individual can be held above the law in our country. it's about whether you believe the american people deserve to know all the facts about january 6 and whether those responsible for the attack ought to be held responsible. and most fundamentally, mr. speaker, it is about whether the congress can fulfill its

constitutional responsibility and ability to determine the truth. madam speaker, mr. speaker, this vote will reveal to us who was willing to show tolerance for the intolerable. it will reveal to us who is willing to stand up and defend our democracy and the rule of law, irrespective of party, irrespective of personality. that is a call to patriotism, to love of country, and to love of constitution. my fellow colleagues, let us do our duty to the constitution, to the declaration, to our democracy and to the people we represent. vote yes.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi reserves. the gentlewoman from wyoming is recognized. ms. cheney: thank you very much, madam speaker. madam speaker, i think it's very important as our colleagues consider their vote on this resolution to keep in mind the facts. number one, number one, neither mr. scavino nor mr. navarro has appeared in front of this committee. we interviewed 800 witnesses. most have cooperated fully and answered fully. some witnesses have taken the fifth. some witnesses have answered some questions and asserted privilege on others. somehow the former president can instruct someone not to appear, that is not sustainable and not found anywhere in the law. if mr. scavino or mr. navarro wants to assert some kind of a

privilege -- and, again, our questions have to do with political activities that are not covered by executive privilege but if they wish to assert that privilege they can appear and do so. madam speaker, in trump v. thompson, the d.c. circuit held and we were upheld in the supreme court, held that the committee's need for this information outweighs the former president's right to any kind of confidentiality. i think it's important for those facts to be clear and to be on the record and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from indiana is now recognized. >> madam speaker, i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. gaetz. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. mr. gaetz: gas prices are rising, the border has become a turnstile, inflation is crushing our fellow americans, and here we are back on the floor of the house reliving january 6. some of the members of the january 6 committee come from the swamps of washington, d.c. i come from the swamps of

florida, and i know alligator tears when i see them. and yet, we are lectured about performing for the former president. the reason scavino and navarro should not be held in contempt is because the january 6 committee is illegitimate, unconstitutional, kicking off the republicans that leader mccarthy sent to serve on the committee. you know, the -- we were accused by the majority leader of having our party hijacked. our party has ascended and time is on our side because when we take the majority back, this nonsense will come to an end. it's baffling to me that democrats are so eager to conduct oversight over the last administration that's out of power but it's hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil when it comes to the biden administration. they're worried about trump's trade advisor than joe biden's son. and they're more worried about dep advertising the right folks

to serve our border. the january 6 committee is a sham. no president would ever have privilege that would extend beyond the life of that presidency. and so no president would have the ability to have candid conversations with staff and advisors that might not immediately come back to bite them the moment they left the oval office. the american people see this for the partisan exercise that it is. probably some folks at the justice department even see it's a partisan exercise because not all of these contempt citations are well received at the justice department right now and this contempt referral should similarly be ignored and rejected and certainly is a stain on this house. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from indiana reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. kinzinger, a distinguished veteran of the air force and member of the select committee.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for three minutes. mr. kinzinger: i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam speaker, for all practical purposes, dan scavino's career is donald trump. scavino was 16 when they met and he is till this day a trump stalwart. he was part of the social media program. he was two years deputy chief of staff for communications. using social media to monitor trend was scavino's core business. he did that for trump during the 2016 campaign and he kept doing it through the stop the steal and the fraudulent challenge to the 2020 election. he also monitored extremist social media sites for the president. dan scavino was with the president on january 5 and 6. he spoke with trump by phone several times on january 6 and was with the president as many urged him to help stop the violence at the capitol. so dan scavino could shed light on what then-president trump

thought would happen on january 6, especially the potential for violence. did the president know the rally could turn violent? that his rhetoric on the ellipse could send an angry mob to storm the capitol? that what on the evening of january 5, president trump called a fired up crowd might take it literally when the next morning he told them to fight hard, that he was pouring fuel on the flames? dan scavino was there. so if he were willing to do his duty as a citizen, he could tell us a lot about that, but instead, he's chosen to stiff arm the american people. trump acknowledged scavino sometimes helped shape his tweets. trump retweeted a video that urged viewers to, quote, fight for trump. the january 6 attack was then just 2 1/2 weeks away. why did donald trump retweet that particular message? dan scavino could give us the inside scoop. while trump and the stop the

steal gag was trying to steal the election for themselves, president trump retweeted after queue none already had a video on how to steal an election. what would dan scavino say about why trump repeated a qanon blessed video on how to steal an election? he won't risk telling us. what did president trump's extremists on the donald and other hard right sites urging him to join a wild protest on january 6? posts show some took it as marching orders, in fact. dan scavino knew they would. he knew very well what his boss wanted. he knew sites like the donald attracted extremists. scavino said that a user on that site understood as literal marching orders or literal war drums. president trump and dan scavino had been in the white house for four years by then. they knew the january 6 crowd could turn violent. they knew exactly what they were doing. we are here today because dan scavino, a key witness, is

unwilling to speak with us. he failed to produce a single document in response to the subpoena. and he's clearly demonstrated his complete and utter contempt for congress. dan scavino's blatant disregard for our subpoena is -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. kinzinger: i yield back. thank you. mr. thompson: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. mr. kinzinger: dan scavino's blatant disregard for our subpoena is to ensure that the american people never get the firsthand story he has to tell. none of us should find it acceptable. it's contempt for the law and contempt for congress. i ask my colleagues to vote in favor of this resolution and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from wyoming is recognized. ms. cheney: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i'd like to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from california, mr. aguilar, for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. mr. aguilar: i thank the vice chair for yielding.

thank you, madam speaker. we've been entrusted by the american people to investigate the attempt to overturn a free and fair election. that attempt to subvert the will of the american people resulted in a deadly attack on the people in this building. but it was bigger than just one day of violence and destruction that resulted in the deaths of the u.s. capitol police officers. for weeks, various schemes were hatched by individuals ranging from state legislators to the former president's senior aides to members of congress with a singular objective, keep donald trump in office. these are the facts, madam speaker. facts that were backed up last week by a federal luj judge, who after -- federal judge, who after reviewing some of the evidence the committee has in their possession said in part the illegality of the plan was obvious. we're here today to hold two individuals involved, peter navarro, and dan scavino, in

contempt of congress. peter navarro has failed to comply with our investigation in any way, despite the fact that he's given multiple tv interviews. in fact, mr. navarro appeared on television in support of the fo former president's failed re-election efforts. so much so that he was found to have repeatedly violated the hatch act, but his political work did not stop when the election was over. we know mr. navarro led a call with state legislators about the efforts to convince vice president pence to delay election certification for 10 years. -- 10 days. and we know he spoke to steve bannon both during and after the attack on the u.s. capitol. mr. navarro has publicly stated he's protected by executive privilege but he's never sought counsel, as others had, and he's not sought relief to comply with our lawful subpoena. this is a textbook case for contempt, madam speaker, and while i'm not surprised by some of my colleagues who refuse to

pull their heads out of the sand and face the facts of what really happened and continues to happen, i remain deeply concerned about what this country looks like if the perpetrators aren't held accountable. i urge my colleagues to support house resolution 1037, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from wyoming reserves her time. the gentleman from indiana is recognized. >> madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from north dakota, mr. armstrong. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north dakota is recognized for three minutes. mr. armstrong: thank you, madam speaker. the fact is president trump has exerted executive privilege and mr. scavino has raised the issue of executive privilege at president trump's request. no matter how much my colleagues on the other side want to say differently, it is a legitimate assertion considering the d.c. circuit held that executive privilege can be raised by a former president. a determination recently reinforced by justice kavanaugh in trump v. thompson stating the

right of a former president to exert executive privilege exists even if the sitting president does not support that privilege. concluding otherwise would in fact actually eviscerate the privilege in total. and keep in mind that the ruling on executive privilege in trump v. thompson deals with a narrow set of documents from the national archives. it has no bearing on whether mr. scavino testifies. and the ruling does not apply to documents at issue in this case nor testified to the testimony sought by the committee or whether the committee has a legitimate purpose for conversations between president trump and his aide. the select committee has refused to acknowledge president trump -- mr. trump -- mm mr. trump's assertion of privilege. and we take a look at what trump v. thompson actually says and fails to even acknowledge the supreme court that nixon v. the

united states exists. it's not a settled question and it's not clear cut as some would have you believe. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from indiana reserves his time. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you very much. madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from florida -- california -- same neck of the woods -- for three minutes, the gentlewoman of the house administration committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for three minutes. ms. lofgren: thank you. no one is above the law. you know, we've all heard that phrase. it's bedrock principle. and we know it's what distinguishes democracies like ours from autocracies such as russia. sadly, a few of the former president's closest aides and allies seem to think they're special, that they're above the law, including senior communication official daniel scavino jr.

now, who is he? according to many reports, mr. scavino worked with the former president to use social media to spread lies regarding nonexistent election fraud and to recruit a violent, angry mob to d.c. mr. scavino also followed violent extremist social media on behalf of mr. trump. we have reason to believe that doing so provided mr. scavino with explicit advanced warnings of the violence that was to occur on january 6. he may have shared these warnings of violence with mr. trump before the 6th and we need to ask him about that. he reportedly attended several meetings with mr. trump and others regarding reversing the legitimate victory of president trump. he was also with the former president during the capitol attack when mr. trump failed to immediately try to stop it despite urgent bipartisan calls

for him to do so. you know, a federal court recently concluded that mr. trump likely committed a federal felony and that he and his allies, quote, launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election that, quote, spurred violent attacks on the seat of our nation's government led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers and deepened public distrust in our political process. the court said that his effort was, quote, a coup in search of a legal theory. the court found that, quote, if president trump's plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transfer of power, undermining american democracy and the constitution. democrats and republicans have agreed that the very foundation of our constitutional republic was threatened. we must prevent that from ever happening again. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell rightly explained that the public needs to know about

everything what caused and occurred on january 6 to inform the american people and legislative reform proposals. the select committee needs to speak with mr. scavino. he has to fulfill his legal and moral obligation to provide testimony and documents. otherwise, he should face consequences. we must vote yes on this resolution to find him in contempt of congress. in the united states of america, no one, including mr. scavino, is above the law. i yield back, mr. chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from mississippi reserves his time. the gentlewoman from wyoming is recognized. . ms. cheney: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i know my colleague and friend, mr. armstrong, knows very well that, first of all, the executive privilege is a qualified privilege. secondly, former president trump has not exerted executive privilege. third, i have tremendous respect

obviously for justice cavanaugh, but my colleagues continue to quote justice kavanaugh without noting that the opinion in the d.c. circuit, which was upheld by the supreme court, in that opinion the judge found a number of things, including, quote, to allow the privilege of a no locker sitting -- longer sitting president to prevail over congress' need to investigate a violent attack on its home and its constitutional operations would gravely impair the basic function of the leggure. the court also held under any of the texts advocated for former president trump, the profound interests in disclosure advanced by president biden and the january 6 committee far exceed his generalized concerns for executive branch confidentiality. and i would just repeat again, madam speaker, that mr. scavino and mr. navarro both have chosen not to appear in front of the committee to answer questions that are clearly outside of any potential claim of privilege

they may have. and even if they believe there's a claim of privilege, they're obligated to appear and make that assertion. they cannot simply refuse to respond to the committee's subpoena. and i would now like to yield to my colleague from florida, the gentlewoman from, mrs. murphy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's yielding how much time? the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for three minutes. mrs. murphy: thank you, madam vice chair f, for yielding. i support this resolution to refer peter navarro and daniel scavino to the department of justice for contempt of congress. i'll focus my remarks on mr. navarro. there's clear evidence that mr. navarro was involved in efforts to keep president trump in power after he lost the election. we subpoenaed mr. navarro, seeking testimony and documents regarding the actions he took to discredit the election and prevent the results from being

certified. mr. navarro made a blanket claim of executive privilege. this claim lax merit as a matter of law and common sense no president, either sitting or former, has claimed privilege regarding mr. navarro's testimony or documents. and mr. navarro has no authority to assert privilege himself. beyond that fundamental flaw, since the election mr. navarro has written and spoken widely about the subjects that are the focus of our subpoena. he's eager to tell his story, if he can do so on his terms, in a way that serves his interests. he published a book where he details the actions he took to change the outcome of the election. he writes that he worked with steve bannon on a scheme called the green bay sweep. its purpose was to encourage vice president pence to delay certification of the votes and send the election back to state legislatures. mr. navarro writes that he called attorney general barr, urging the department of justice to support president trump's

efforts to challenge the election in court, which barr declined to do. mr. navarro notes that he kept a journal detailing this episode and over action -- episode and other actions he took. while he was refusing to comply with our subpoena, mr. navarro made numerous media appearances, discussing his roles in the events culminating on january 6. mr. navarro has significant relevant knowledge. he's happy to share it on television and in podcasts, but he won't provide this information in response to a lawful subpoena. mr. navarro is in contempt of congress and should be referred for prosecution. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from wyoming reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. banks: madam speaker, i yield four minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for four minutes. mr. davis: madam speaker, 15 months have passed since january 6 of 2021. yet i've seen little evidence over that time to indicate the necessary progress has been made to ensure the capitol complex is

more secure. and i've seen no evidence of the politicized select committee is serious about identifying or addressing the issues that led to our capitol being so unprepared on that day, which should be its top priority. on february 17 of this year, the g.a.o. released a report detailing the lack of security preparedness by capitol police leadership and the capitol police board on and in the lead-up to january 6. the rank and file men and women who serve congress as members of the capitol police but the their lives on the line every day -- put their lives on the line every day yet the capitol police board failed them. they deserve better. instead of working to ensure our capitol police officers have the tools and the training they need to prevent another event like january 6, or taking long overdue steps to reform the capitol police board, the house has once again -- is once again voting on a contempt resolution because two individuals are not complying with another sham subpoena issued by house

democrats. i have a news flash for members of the select committee. you do not have limitless power. you cannot demand testimony, documents or even view the information of your political opponents without their consent or without the law on your side. you have neither. specifically mr. scavino and mro testify on specific topics that are related to their work in the white house, nor can they testify on communications between president trump and the president's closest advisors, as those communications are protected under president trump's claim of executive privilege. as a reminder, the american taxpayer is spending millions of dollars on this select committee. according to "the washington post," the select committee's on pace to spend $9.3 million by the end of december. to put that into perspective, that amount exceeds the current budgets for the committee on judiciary, agriculture, budget, ethics, the committee on house

administration, rules, science, small business, natural resources, homeland security, veterans' affairs and intelligence. that's right. this select committee is using more taxpayer resources on their partisan investigation than democrats have devoted to serving veterans, addressing rising prices in inflation, or helping our farmers during a massive supply chain crisis. this is nothing more than a sham investigation full of misuses of congressional authority, including speaker pelosi violating 230 years of precedent by refusing to allow the minority party to select its own committee members. failing to investigate pursuant to a valid legislative purpose, altering evidence to fit a certain narrative, lying to witnesses, falsely accusing witnesses, violating opponents' right to challenge subpoenas, and perhaps above all, refusing to investigate why speaker pelosi and the capitol police

board left the capitol so unprotected that day. i urge my colleagues to oppose and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana reserves his time. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you very much, madam speaker. madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from virginia, a veteran of the united states navy, mrs. luria. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from virginia is recognized for three minutes. mrs. luria: thank you, madam speaker. i've come to the floor many times over the last three years and discussed the oath of office. the oath to protect and defend our constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. every member of this body's for that oath and it's the same oath that our president and military officers, including those like mr. banks, swear in service to our nation. that's service when an american enlists or commissions in the armed forces when someone takes elected office and senior positions in the executive branch, they do so

to serve the american people. mr. scavino and mr. navarro had the duty to serve the american people. unfortunately they instead chose to serve the interests of one man who sought to advance his own agenda at the peril of american democracy. they now have the duty to respond to the subpoenas of this committee. but they have apparently decided that they're above the law. the american people deserve the truth about the attack that attempted to prevent the peaceful transition of power and the committee is united in our duty to investigate. this committee's conducted over 800 voluntary depositions and interviews with more schedules, including witnesses who worked in the previous administration and even close family members of the former president. the committee's received over 90,000 documents pertaining to january 6 and we followed up over 435 tips received through the committee's tip line. hundreds of witnesses have

voluntarily come forward and cooperated with our investigation. but mr. scavino and mr. navarro have refused to do their part. they've been given every opportunity to come forward, yet they've attempted to obstruct the pursuit of justice and to stonewall the committee's work and conceal the truth. despite both publicly acknowledging their roles and promoting election fraud conspiracies and counseling the former president on changing the outcome of the election. mr. meadows and today mr. scavino and mr. navarro, my question remains, what are you covering up and who are you covering for? their failure to answer that question about january 6 is disregarding in the law and they should be held accountable. that is why i will vote and i will urge my colleagues to vote, to hold mr. navarro and mr. scavino in contempt of congress. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi reserves his time. the gentlewoman from wyoming is recognized. ms. cheney: thank you very much, madam speaker. madam speaker, i think it's, again, very important as our

colleagues are contempt play the -- contemplating their vote on this resolution that they keep in mind the facts and we're hearing a number of things that are not consistent with the facts. first of all, with respect to the establishment of the committee. mr. davis knows, my colleagues know that we initially attempted to have a bipartisan commission, which in fact leader mccarthy instructed mr. katko to negotiate with chairman thompson, mr. katko did that. secured everything the republicans asked for. at which point mr. mccarthy walked away from the bipartisan commission. and then went over to the senate side and lobbied against the establishment of a bipartisan commission. the establishment in the select committee, again, is not what we would have hoped. we all distribute 35 republicans who voted for the bipartisan commission wanted a bipartisan outside commission. but we cannot let this attack go uninvestigated. mr. davis also knows that with respect to the membership of the

committee, speaker pelosi said that she would not name two members who had been identified by mr. mccarthy, that is completely consistent with the resolution. and mr. mccarthy then himself withdrew the other three and determined that he would not participate. finally, madam speaker, i continue to hear this allegation that the committee's not investigating what happened at the capitol, not investigating what happened with respect to the capitol police. not investigating what happened with respect to security that day. that's just not true. the committee has an entire team that is very focused on investigating what happened with respect to security at the capitol. it is the case, though, madam speaker, we must all remember that the former president provoked a violent assault on this body and the extent to which there were security lapses, the extent to which people did not anticipate that there would be a violent assault on the capitol provoked by the

former president is not the fault of the capitol police. that is the responsibility of the former president. and i would also note, madam speaker, that mr. davis voted yes on the bipartisan commission when it came up. i would now, madam speaker, like to yield three minutes to my good friend and colleague from maryland, mr. raskin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for three minutes. mr. raskin: thank you, madam speaker. thank you, madam vice chair. i want to underscore first the point that was just made by ms. cheney. the distinguished ranking member of the house administration committee was appointed to this committee or the appointment was accepted by speaker pelosi. but it was withdrawn by the minority leader. it was not rejected by the majority. it was rejected by the minority. madam speaker, you know, we're here in the broader sense to defend american democratic institutions and the rule of law. and our colleagues said before that if this investigation were valid, then we would be talking

to officials from the sergeant at arms' office and the national guard. i've got good news for my friends. first, every court that has looked at their claim that this is an invalid investigation, either because of its compsition or because it was intrinsically flawed in its pursuit of the facts about january 6, has rejected those arguments. every court. rejected the precise arguments our colleagues are floating on the floor today. but i'll go even further than that. we have in fact interviewed precisely the people that they set up as a test for the validity of our investigation. from the sergeant at arms and national guard. and as patriotic public officials living out their oaths of office and not bowing down to the humiliating consult of donald trump, they didn't need a subpoena from this committee. they came voluntarily. they not only understood their legal duty to testify, a duty

our colleagues, like my friend, the gentleman from ohio, clearly understand when they wield the gavel, but they also -- they also have come forward and said that it's a patriotic honor for them. it's not just a legal duty. it's a patriotic honor for them to render truthful testimony on this horrific attack against america, which interrupted the counting of electoral college votes for the first time in american history. this is mandated in the 12th amendment to the constitution, which says that the house and the senate must meet in joint session in order to count electoral college votes the first week of january. on the wednesday following a presidential election. what's remarkable to me is that what's remarkable to me is the caucus that's now drenched in

the trump-putin propaganda is not only denouncing democrats for searching for the truth, today, they've began the utterly cannibalistic process of cast gaiting republicans just because they disagree with the orthodoxy, the dogma handed down by donald trump. ms. cheney is the former chair of the house republican conference, and it's left to democrats to defend her against the victimification and the c -- victimification -- vilification and the castigation -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. raskin: you have to defend with mr. kinzinger and ms. cheney. if you don't act like a robot or member of a religious cult, they will attack you, they will vilify you, they will denounce you. these people, mr. kinzinger, ms.

cheney are constitutional heroes and they don't deserve your contempt, the insurrectionists and the lawmakers deserve your contempt because they're acting in contempt of the rule of law and the constitution of the united states. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from wyoming reserves her time. the gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. banks: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, dr. jackson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. jackson: thank you to my colleague from indiana for the time. madam speaker, i rise today to speak about two great patriots who i'm proud to call my friends, dan scavino and peter navarro. these two men have served our country honorably. sadly, they are now targets of the political witch-hunt simply because they served our country and they are loyal to our great former president donald j. trump. the illegitimate january 6 crew aid against trump and his close allies is yet another smear on this great unbody. it will go down in history by a

failed attempt by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to bring down good people simply because they disagree with their political beliefs. someone that was attacked by the left, i know how damaging this can be. the american people are tired of this partisan january 6 circus. it's time to stop this nonsense now. i urge my colleagues to stand up against this charade and oppose this baseless resolution. with that i yield back. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you very much. madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from wyoming is recognized. ms. cheney: i reserve, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves her time. the gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. banks: i yield five minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. jordan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for five minutes. jordan montgomery thank you, madam speaker. -- mr. jordan: thank you, madam speaker. thank you for yielding. one term, danger to our

democracy. danger to our democracy. think about this. democrats have closed the capitol, allowed proxy voting, kicked republicans off committee, won't let republicans serve on this select committee. first time in the history of the congress the minority leader was not allowed to put on his select committee the individuals he or she selected. first time in the history of our nation. democrats are trying to end the electoral college, trying to end the filibuster, trying to pack the court. this committee, the january 6 committee, altered evidence and presented it to americans as it were true and they accuse us of being a danger to our democracy. mr. gaetz was right. we have a border that is complete chaos. we have $6 gas in california. $4 gas everywhere in the country. we have crime at record levels in every major urban area in this nation, and we have an inflation problem that's at a 40-year high. and this committee has more contempt resolutions for a purely political reason.

i think the whole committee is purely political. designed to do one thing, keep president trump off the ballot in 2024. the gentlelady from wyoming in her opening comments used the term false message. big lie. i guess it's now false message. i started jotting things down. think of the false messages we got from them in the last few years. they told us the protest in the summer of 2020 were peaceful. got a billion dollars worth of damage around our cities that says it wasn't. they told us the dossier was real. they told us it was republicans, republicans that wanted to defund the police. it is laughable if it weren't so serious for the law enforcement. and those where mayors and security councils did defund the f.b.i., they said -- police, they said the f.b.i. didn't spy on the trump campaign. that's not true. we have a inspector general -- 19 lawyers, 40 f.b.i. agents, 30

million hard earned american tax dollars that said that false message was false. they said covid didn't start in the lab. sure looks like it did. they told us the lab wasn't doing gain of function research. sure looks likes it was. they said the vaccinated couldn't get it. we know that's wrong. every day there is a new announcement a member of congress is getting it. fully vaccinated, boosted. they said they can't transmit. you tell us the biggest false message, the biggest false message that's been confirmed in the last week how false it was, the hunter biden laptop was russian disinformation. the hunter biden laptop was russian disinformation. two weeks before the election, candidate biden in a debate is asked about his son's business dealings with foreign companies he says, quote, nothing is unethical. my son has not made money with business interests -- with companies with an interest in

china. we all know there are 4.8 million reasons why that statement was not accurate. how do we know? "washington post" told us. not me. not president trump. not republicans. "the washington post" told us last week two stories last week, a week ago today. one at 11:00 a.m. two eight-page articles four minutes apart confirming what we knew but what big media, big tech, democrats colluded to keep from the american people just days before -- just days before the most important election we have the presidential election, who's going to be our next commander in chief, the laptop was real. the eyewitness was real. the emails were real. the only thing fake was that collusion from those individuals, those entities to keep important information from we, the people, in the run-up to the most important election we have. and oh, by the way, they were joined by 51 former intel officials joined in the collusion. you know what's also

interesting? it's funny how that story has changed. 18 months ago it started off, wasn't his laptop. quickly switched to, well, it was his laptop but it was russian disinformation. and now it is, well, it wasn't russian disinformation but joe biden had nothing to do with it. now it was, well, joe knew what was going on but he wasn't really involved in anything -- in anything wrong. are on told us -- ron told us that, chief of staff told us that sunday. we need to be focus on the issues the american people want us to focus on. if you want to talk about danger to our democracy and the biggest false message, i would say, what happened -- one of the biggest dangers to our democracy and one of the biggest false messages is what happened 18 months ago where that story was kept from the american people. we could dig into that, find out went on there, why that happened. and we could also focus on the record crime, record inflation, record price of gas, and the chaos on our southern border that's about to get worse, about

to get worse as the democrats -- as the democrats look to -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 more seconds. mr. jordan: title 42. i urge a no vote and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers and i am prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. mr. thompson: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from wyoming. ms. cheney: i have no further speakers. i am prepared to close. mr. banks: mr. speaker, i am prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. banks: mr. speaker, it might feel really good today for my opponents on the other side of the aisle. it might feel really good in the vindictive sort of way to vote to put their political opponents behind bars. that might feel really good for my opponents across the aisle, but i guarantee you the history will not look back kindly on those actions in the years to

come. i guarantee it. it couldn't be any more un-american what they want to do today to vote to put two men behind bars purely because they disagree with their politics and the man they worked for. i can't think of a bigger reason for my opponents to vote no on such a -- un-american resolution. i urge all of my colleagues to vote no and do the same. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: thank you. the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from wyoming is recognized. ms. cheney: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, it does not feel really good today. it feels -- it feels sad. and it feels tragic that so many in my own party are refusing to address the constitutional crisis and the challenge that we face. the ranking member of the judiciary committee went to law school. i'm not sure if he passed the bar. but he knows that we all have an

obligation to abide by the rulings of the courts. so yes, it was a false story. yes, it was a big lie. in fact, former vice president pence has said that what president trump wanted him to do was, quote, un-american. it was also unconstitutional and it was illegal. mr. speaker, what gives me tremendous hope, though, is although so many in my party in this body have put loyalty to donald trump ahead of their oath to the constitution, the committee has interviewed scores of republicans from around the country who in fact have shown the kind of tremendous bravery and dedication to public service that every american can be proud of. republicans who were appointed by president trump to pose in the department of justice, republicans who stood firm, republicans who threatened to resign and refused to participate in president trump's efforts to corrupt the department of justice with the stolen election lies, yes, lies,

that led to january 6. we've heard from republicans serving in state legislatures and state and local governments who also stood firm. mr. speaker, it is crucially important that these body hold these justice gentlemen in contempt. it's crucially important that they have to abide by their subpoena. i urge a yes vote and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, let me say for the record, if there's any member on the other side who feels the strength to come and testify before our committee, i invite them right now to let us know and we will gladly entertain whatever information they have as to what happened on january 6. some of them ran out of this building fearing for their life. so there's no question that something happened.

and house resolution 503 says, absolutely, we have to find the facts and circumstances as to what happened and why. and make recommendations. and that's what we have to do. we have the constitutional power to issue subpoenas. if people do not follow subpoenas, we have the right to bring them before this body and recommend contempt citations. and that's what we are doing today. so it doesn't matter that if they were a father, a mother, osister, or a brother, had children, if they break the law, they break the law. no one's above the law. and that's what the point we're trying to make. we asked the individuals, suspend them to come before the -- subpoenaed them to come before the committee and they chose not to come and, therefore, they broke the law and that's why we're here today. so mr. speaker, as i mentioned when i testified before the

rules committee, it's absurd there should be any disagreement on -- at all about why we're here for this contempt resolution. if you listened to the arguments from some of my friends on the other side, they have very little to say of substance of this matter. we hear excuses. we hear attacks about process. we hear scare mongering about the select committee. let me remind my colleagues, we've conducted over 830 interviews and depositions and, again, i invite any of them to come talk to us if they want to. now, if for some reason they're reluctant or afraid, then i feel sorry for them. our constitutional democracy was challenged on january 6. we have to fix this. over 200 years we've operated in complete freedom, and all of a sudden, this institution was

attacked. and we have to fix that. we are the number one democracy in the world, but we lead by example. democrats are leading by example. the select committee is leading by example by bringing these two gentlemen who broke the law, who decided that it's better to deal with the law of donald trump rather than a constitution of the united states of america. and with that, mr. speaker, i want to thank my colleague, especially my friend from wyoming, ms. cheney. i urge every member to support adoption of this resolution. mr. speaker, with that i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to the rule, the question is on adoption of the resolution. the question is on adoption of the resolution.

those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the resolution -- pursuant to section 3 of house resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. [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: pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on adoption of the resolution will be fuel ohlowed by five-minute votes on ordering the previous question h.r. 1033, two, adoption of house resolution 1033 if ordered, and three, the motion to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 7276. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. fuany use of the closed-captiond coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. steube, i inform the house that mr. steube of florida will vote no on h.res. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. cawthorn of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. cawthorn will vote no on the

measure.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as the member designated by chairwoman johnsons and these members will vote yes on h. res. 1037. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virginia seek recognition?

>> as the member designated by mr. connolly and ms. porter, these members will vote yes on h. res. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. lawson of florida, mr. bowman of new york, mr. rush of illinois, they will vote yes on house resolution 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. bilirakis of florida, i inform the house that mr. bilirakis will vote nay on h. res. 1037. as the member designated by mr. long of missouri, i inform the house that mr. long will vote nay on h. res. 1037. as the member designated by mr. crawford of arkansas, i inform the house that mr. crawford will vote nay on h. res. 1037. thank you.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? ms. tenney: as the member designated by mr. owens of utah, i inform the house that mr. owens will vote nay on h. res. 10737. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. crist, mr. cardenas, mr. gomez and mrs. wasserman schultz, these members will vote yes on h. res. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. price of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. price will vote yes, he will vote yes on h. res. 1037. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. gohmert, i inform the house that mr. gohmert will vote nay on h. res. 1037. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by by the following members, cooper, cuellar, castro and harder, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on h. res. 10737. -- 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek reek nice? >> as the member designated by mr. huffman and mr. grijalva, these members will vote yes on h.r. 1037. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas, >> as the member designated by mr. taylor, i inform the house that mr. taylor will vote no on h. res. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. mccaul, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. mccaul will vote no on the previous question.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. mccaul of texas, i inform the house that mr. mccaul will vote nay on house resolution 10737. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. joyce of ohio, i inform the house that mr. joyce will vote nay on h. res. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. blumenauer of oregon, mr. schiff from california, mr. suozzi of new york and ms. bass of california, these four members will vote yes on h. res. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. albio sires, mr. donald payne, ms. lucille roybal-allard, ms. ann kirkpatrick, mrs. bonnie watson coleman and mr. josh

gottheimer, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on h.res. 1037. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from delaware seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. clark of massachusetts, i inform the house that ms. clark will vote yes on h.res. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. kahele, i inform the house

that mr. kahele will vote yes on h.r. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. newman of illinois, i inform the house that she will vote yes on h.res. 1037.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 220, the nays are 203, the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the vote on the ordering the previous question on house resolution 1033 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 73. house resolution 1022, resolution providing for

consideration of the bill h.r. 3807 to amend the american rescue plan act of 2021 to increase appropriations to the restaurant revitalization fund and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be 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: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. kilmer of washington state, inform nevada -- i inform the house that mr. kilmer will vote yes on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. bilirakis of florida, mr. crawford of arkansas, and mr. long of missouri, i inform the house that that those members will vote nay on the previous question. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as the member designated by chairwoman johnson, chairman meeks, chairman scott a representative peters, i inform the house that these members will vote yea on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. gohmert of texas, i inform the house that mr. gohmert will vote nay on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. newman of illinois, i inform the house that she will vote yes on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from new york seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. owens of utah, i inform the house that mr. owens will vote nay on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the from

arizona seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. huffman and mr. grijalva, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. mccaul of texas, i inform the house that mr. mccaul will vote nay on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from delaware seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. clark of massachusetts, i inform the house that ms. clark will vote yes on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. joyce of ohio, i inform the house that mr. joyce will vote nay on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek rk in addition? -- seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. lawson of florida, mr. bowman of new york, mr. doyle of pennsylvania, mr. mfume of maryland, mr. rush, they vote yes on h.res. 1033.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. steube of florida, i inform the house that mr. steube will vote no on the previous que question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. connolly and ms. porter, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. taylor of texas, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. taylor will vote no on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. kahele, i inform the house that mr. kahele will vote yea on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> i inform the house that mr. cawthorn will vote no on ordering the priest question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. crist, mr. gomez, mr. cardenas, and ms. wasserman schultz, i inform the

house that these members will vote yea on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. albio sires, ms. lucille roybal-allard, ms. ann kirkpatrick, mrs. bonnie watson coleman and mr. josh gottheimer, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on the previous question. >> as the member designated by mr. price of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. price will vote yes on the previous

question. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by cooper, cuellar, castro and harder, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on the previous question.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. blumenauer, mr. schiff, ms. bass and mr. suozzi, i inform the house that these four members will vote yes on ordering the previous question.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the nays are 221 and the nays are 206, the previous

question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor, say aye. those opposed, no in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the gentlewoman from minnesota. >> i request the yeas and nays. pursuant to section 3-s of house resolution 8, electronic vote. members are reminded, this is a five-minute vote. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. lawson of florida mr. doyle and mr. miff fume a of maryland vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from seek recognition? >> as the member designated by

mr. bilirakis of florida, mr. crawford of arkansas and mrm the house that these members will vote iowa on the rule. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentlelady from delaware seek recognition? ms. blunt rochester: as ms. clark of massachusetts, i inform the house that misclark will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentlelady from new york seek recognition? ms. tenney: as the member designated by mr. owe weapons of utah, i inform the house that mr. owens will vote nay on the rule. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> as the member designated by representative kilmer, i inform the house that representative will vote yes. >> as the member designated by mr. gohmert of texas, frows that he will vote no.

the speaker pro tempore: will will i inform the house that she will vote yes on h.r. 1033. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. steube of florida, i inform the house that mr. steube will vote no. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by by the following members, cooper, cuellar, castro and harder, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on h. res. 1033. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. joyce of ohio, mr. joyce will vote no on the rule. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. taylor of texas and pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. taylor will vote no on h. res. 1033.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. beyer: as the member designated by mr. blumenauer of oregon, mr. schiff of california, misbass and mr. suozzi of new york, those members will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. cawthorn, i inform the house that mr. cawthorn will vote yes. >> as the member designated by mr. huffman and mr. grijalva will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentlelady from virginia seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. connolly and ms. porter, these members will vote yes on h. res. 1033. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: as the member designated by mr. sires,

mr. donald payne, ms. roybal-allard, mrs. kirkpatrick and mr. got i'mer, these members will vote yes on h. res. 1033. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. mccaul of texas, i inform the house that mr. mccaul will vote nay on the rule. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mrs. wasserman schultz, mr. cardenas, mr. gomez and mr. crist, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on h. res. 1033. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek

recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. price of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. price will vote yes, he will vote yes on h. res. 1033. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as as the member designated by chairman scott and representative scott peters, i inform the house the house that they will vote yes on h. res. 1033.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. kahele, i inform the house that mr. kahele will vote yes on h. res. 1033.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 218 and nays

are 206. the resolution is adopted. and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is on the vote of the the gentleman from from new york mr. meeks to pass h.r. 7276 on which waned. the clerk will report the title. the clerk: a bill to direct the president to submit to congress a report on the united statesgovernment efforts to collect, analyze and preserve evidence related to war crimes and any other war crimes since february 24, 2022 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote.

>> smigd mr. lawson, mr. doyle of pennsylvania and mr. rush of illinois, they vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. steube of florida, i inform the house that mr. steube will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentlelady seek recognition? >> mr. mceachin and ms. porter, they will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. joyce mr. joyce will vote yes.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. bilirakis of florida, mr. crawford of arkansas and mrm the house that these members will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. new man of illinois, i inform the house that she will vote yes on h.r. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. taylor of texas, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. taylor will vote yes on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. kahele, i inform the house that mr. kahele will vote yes on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. cawthorn of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. cawthorn will vote yes on the measure. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. albio sires, mr. donald payne, ms. lucille roybal-allard, ms. ann kirkpatrick, mrs. bonnie watson coleman, and mr. josh gottheimer, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. owens of utah, i inform the house that mr. owens will vote yea on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from delaware seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. clark of delaware -- i mean of massachusetts, i inform the house that ms. clark will vote yes on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by goam erlt -- mr. gohmert designated me as his member, i inform the house that

mr. gohmert will vote nay on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. grijalva and mr. huffman, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. cardenas, mr. gomez, mr. crist, ms. wasserman schultz, i inform the house that these members will vote yea on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by the following members, cooper, cuellar, castro and harder, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. price of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. price will vote yes, he will vote yes, on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member

designated by representative kilmer of washington state, i inform the house that representative kilmer will vote yes on h.r. 7276. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> as the member designated by chairman gregory meeks, chairwoman eddie bernice johnson, chairman scott and representative scott peters, i inform the house that these members will vote yes on h.r. 7276.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 418, the nays are 7. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. without objection, the title

amended. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i hereby remove myself as a co-sponsor of h.r. 1297. the speaker pro tempore: the question is -- the request is accepted.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a message. clip to the congress of the united states. pursuant to the international emergency economic powers act 50u.s.c., national emergency act 50 u.s.c. 301 and section 301 of united states codes i mesh report i have issued an executive order in order to take additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in executive order 1402 of april 15, 2021, with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat of the national security, foreign policy and economy of the united states posed by specific foreign harmful activities of the government of the russian federation. the order prohibits the following. i, new investment in the russian federation by a united states

person wherever located. ii, the export ration, re-exportation or sale directly if the united states or by a united states person wherever located of any category of services as may be determined by the secretary of the treasury in consultuation the secretary of state to any person located in the russian federation. and iii, any approval, financing and guarantee by united states person wherever located of a transaction by a foreign person where the transaction by the foreign person would be prohibited by this section if performed by a united states person or within the united states. i enclose a copy of the executive order i have issued. signed, sincerely, joseph r. biden jr., the white house, april 6, 2022. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the committee on foreign affairs and ordered printed.

order in the house, please. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose -- for what purpose does the gentlewoman from nevada seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i request 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. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to con imraj late west career and technical academy's we the people team. they're not only studying history, they're making it. 1999 was the last time a southern nevada we the people's team qualified for nationals. but now, 14 students to from west tech's we the people team have changed that. as part of we the people, these

students are going that extra mile in their zivic education to study our history, our constitution, and our democracy. to mr. rosier and all the outstanding we the people teachers, we say thank you. i have no doubt that west tech's success later this month when they compete here in washington but i'm even more excited to watch where this passion takes them as leaders in nevada's future. congratulations, west tech's we the people team and good luck in d.c. with that, i yield the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from montana seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i ask 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. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to congratulate army veteran

mr. lynn lyses for being award the army good conduct medal. the army good conduct medal is awarded for exemplary behavior, efficiency and fidelity in active military service. he demonstrated exceptional skills during his service as a medic in the emergency treatment clinic in irwin army hospital at fort riley. in addition to his skills, mr. lips displayed a genuine concern for the well being of the patients he attended to. mr. rosendale:: he worked long, arduous hours to ensure the best possible medical care was provided to soldiers and their families and was always willing to serve above and beyond that which was required. his accomplishments not only reflected well upon himself but also upon his unit. congratulations, lin, on receiving this noble achievement and thank you for your service to our country. thank you, mr. chairman, i yield

back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, it is with great pride i rise today to recognize steve crammer from dire, indiana, as the 2020 recipient of the united steelworkers leo girard visionary award. steve has been a proud union member in the united steelworkers district 7 for over 36 years. he's former president of the u.s.w. local 9777 and now serves as vice president. he is also a councilman for the town of dier in the first district. mr. mrvan: his dedication is what makes his work truly visionary and commendable. i'm proud that northwest indiana's home to so many hard working and dedicated members of the united steelworkers and every day aappreciate their

invaluable contributions to the strength of our economy, our work force, and our community. congratulations to steve for your recognition, exemplary leadership for the steelworkers and all workers. thank you, madam speaker, and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, 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. mr. thompson: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i rise today to celebrate national library week and national library outreach day. this week is dedicated to promoting the importance of our local libraries our libraries serve as a place to connect. some use the library as a place to connect to the internet, others may use it as a place to connect with new ideas or classes. most importantly our libraries connect our communities. today's focus, national library outreach day, also known as national bookmobile day

highlights the outreach by local libraries. bookmobiles and other events help individuals who might not otherwise be able to access local libraries. from events at schools to senior living centers these service are essential to our community. i urge you all to make a visit to the local library this week. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from virginia seek recognition? >> i rise to address the house and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i stand here today to honor the life of hinrico county police officer trey marshall sutton. officer sutton was described as kind, confident and someone who devoted his life tores. originally from chesterfield county, officer sutton graduate

fled police academy earlier this year and he was training to serve in the hinrico county's patrol p.d. bureau. he was also soon to be married. last week his life was cut tragically short in a car crash in field training. in an instant, virginia lost one of our best, someone who nonstraited bravery and compassion through his actions. we'll remember officer sutton for his service to our community, for his commitment to our commonwealth and we'll remember his story as one of purpose and inspiration for our country. in the words of the hero's welcome prayer, through your selfless actions others will h hear the call. my prayers are with officer my prayers are with his classmates at the academy, his fiance and all of his loved ones. please join me in honoring the life of officer trey marshall sutton. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states of america, the most prosperous country in the world, has warned the american people that a food shortage is a real possibility in our near future. much like our national energy shortage, this potential crisis has been made much more likely by president biden's out-of-control spending and his unwillingness to tap into american resources, ingenuity and its people. since january of 2021, the prices of many of the key inputs used to produce our nation's food supply have substantially increased. amonia is up 203%. liquid nitrogen is up 162%. mr. rose: and farm diesel, used in almost every piece of farm equipment, is up a whopping 95%. spending more money won't fix this. in fact, it has made it worse by

causing the prices of everything to go up. if a food shortage does come to the united states, the sole person to blame will be president biden, who has wasted no time spending our country into a crisis. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise tonight to condemn vladimir putin for what he is doing to the children of ukraine. ms. speier: listen to these stories. ukrainian mothers are putting the contact details of their relatives on the bodies of their children because they want to make sure that if the children survive and they don't, there

will be some place for their children to go. emergency service workers are teaching children how to identify russian explosives made to look like toys. thousands of children have been abducted in ukraine and taken to russia. and ukrainian children have witnessed the murder and torture of their parents, including severed limbs, slashed throats, rapes and burning bodies. i'm proud to co-lead an appropriations request with representative schiff, capture and quigley to -- kaptur and quigley to ensure money for europe's demining budget in 2023. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i rise to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is

recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize the remarkable achievement of meats in arkansas. it was established in 1922 by a man searching for a better opportunity after escaping an inflation-ravaged germany. he found that opportunity in moralton, arkansas, and opened a small retail market which now has ex and it paneledded into a 48,000-square-foot processing plant. mr. hill: the story is truly inspirational and today it's still owned by that same family. current opener says, we still do things the old-fashioned way, which gives our meats that old-fashioned flavor. i commend pettigene meats for their outstanding achievement and i wish them continued success. thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek

recognition? ms. kaptur: 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. kaptur: mr. speaker, i rise tonight outraged over the systemic slaughter of ukrainian children by russian murderer vladimir putin. countless ukrainian children are being murdered and/or fanned and orphaned. everything is being destroyed by russia's war machine. fathers and mothers are being ripped from sons and daughters. the littlest are being left to fend for themselves as russia lays waste to everything ukrainians have ever known. no little child should be left to weep next to the unmarked grave of their parent that they will never see again. no child should have to ponder how they will eat or where they will sleep due to the actions of a tyrant who derives satisfaction from their despair. we have a global responsibility to end this bloodshed, fully arm

ukraine now. isolate russia from the community of responsible nations. starve putin and his oligarchs. make sure that we help ukraine withstand all that they must in order to win this war against russia's killing machine. let all democratic nations do everything they can to assure liberty in ukraine is victorious. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition? mr. grothman: i rise to speak for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. grothman: i rise to educate my colleagues and the public one more time as to what sort of disaster we are soon to have on the southern border. recently we have had frequently

90,000 to 100,000 people cross the border every month. people of whom we know little. people are skipping ahead of the line to people who want to come here legally. people from countries that are hostile to us. but as bad as it is to have 80,000 to 100,000 people come across, the biden administration is claiming that within the next month and a half, they will remove title 42, opening up the border to perhaps another 200,000 people a month above what we're already getting here. i personally think they're doing this because the ukraine war is going on and they think they can, you know, really land a death blow to the future of this country by opening up the border to people all over the world. i call upon american citizens and my colleagues to not forget about what's going on on the border. i call upon the press to treat this story with the gravity it should be given and to report on all the people who are going to

be -- begin to come here in the second half of may. we cannot have 400,000 people a month coming here. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, while preparing remarks, i considered showing much more graphic photos of ukrainian children brutalized at the hands of vladimir putin. but then i thought of some of the people who might see this. refugees of war, war veterans who would be reminded of their own pain and suffering. the truth is, for survivors who actually see an end to war, the trauma never recedes. it never leaves. the cost of war is simply too high. i come to the floor tonight not as a congresswoman but as a mother and a grandmother. my heartbreaks at these sights

of horror, of children lost or scared forever. ms. dean: last night my son sent me a photo of a child who is nearly the same age as his daughter, my granddaughter. on her back, a ukrainian child. her mother had written her name, her contact information, her birth date, in case the mother was killed or the daughter was left alone. i cannot imagine that planning. the fear, the despair, the trauma. no matter the war, we must think of the children. in syria, afghanistan, ethiopia, cameroon, anywhere on our planet. i pray for peace for anyone suffering at the hands of a brutal dictator. we must do everything we can to find a peaceful resolution. [speaking foreign language] the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek

recognition? ms. jackson lee: i ask unanimous consent to speak before the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: i'll start with associating myself with my colleagues who have just spoken and say glory to ukraine. and to indicate that my heart is broken. the words will not elevate of the despicable actions of vladimir putin. today we voted to secure and seek, i hope, an entitlement. he's a war criminal -- indictment. he's a war criminal and he's killing children. but i must, mr. speaker, suggest that we have a difficult problem at the border exacerbated by governor greg abbott who wishes to make mockery of the desperate people coming, including ukrainian refugees who gather at the southern border. today he's announced that he will bus these my grants to washington, d.c. i'm embarrassed. with the likes of george h.w.

bush, anne richards, henry b. gonzalez, barbara jordan, who are sisters and brothers of texas, i have to now live with governor greg abbott who disgraces us by suggesting that we must put migrants and drop them off on the steps of the capitol. i welcome them. why don't we sit down and resolve how we deal with these desperate people? why don't we find a way, as we were trying to do with george w. bush, to have an immigration policy? but when he does that, he will also do that to ukrainian refugees at the southern border. enough is enough. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 4, 2021, the gentleman from louisiana, mr. johnson, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all

members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject might have special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. during the last election, the democratic party managed to win a razor-thin majority here in this house and a split senate, 50-50. no objective person can look at those numbers and suggest that the president of this party, president biden, was given any kind of authority whatsoever to try to raddicly transfer -- radically transform our country. but that's what he's tried to do. for the worse. and the latest offense, the latest overstep, the latest overreach is this president has made the most left-wing nomination to the supreme court in american history. for those who didn't see this over the weekend, judge ketanji brown jackson test testified inr postconfirmation hearing written questions, for the record, quote, i do not hold a position on whether individuals possess natural rights.

you heard that correctly. president biden's nominee to the highest court in this land cannot say whether individuals possess natural rights. we can hardly imagine a more un-american position than denying the first self-evident truth of america. this central and foundational premise of our great country is that all individuals are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. among those are the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. listen, we have a news flash for the judge. those rights don't come from government. they don't -- they don't come from any human authority. they come from our creator himself. we are endowed with those rights by god. the fact that judge jackson cannot or will not acknowledge this simple fact is disqualifying for the highest court in this land. period. full stop. mr. speaker, the president's nomination is truly out of step with the country and this fateful moment and the primary

jobs americans elected president biden to do was to help unite this country. this is doing the opposite. his nomination to the supreme court is the latest example of just how badly he has failed. i am very thankful to my colleagues for joining me on the floor this evening to discuss president biden's radical nominee to the united states supreme court, but also, as you'll hear, the myriad number of other crises the white house is creating at home and abroad. mr. speaker, i yield first to the gentlelady from the great state of illinois, mrs. miller. mrs. miller: thank you. mr. speaker, title 42 is the only thing keeping president biden from fully handing our border to cartels and smugglers already taking full advantage of his incompetence and negligent. last week the biden administration announced they will be stopping border patrol from enforcing covid-19 restrictions on illegal immigrants by ending title 42.

title 42 must stay in place. it's a matter of national security. and my colleagues and i are calling on democrats to act in a bipartisan effort to force a vote on the bill to keep it in place. biden's open border policies are an unmitigated disaster. the crisis at our southern border is out of control and our customs and border patrol's already dangerously overwhelmed. ending title 2 expulsions will ending title 4 will show our border is wide open. it's also being reported the biden administration will divert resources from veterans to give free medical care to illegal migrants. i wrote a letter to the secretary of veterans affairs to oppose these efforts because we must put our heroes first and stand up for veterans. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield to mr. johnson the balance of my time. mr. johnson: thank you for drawing attention to that, mrs. miller. you're exactly right.

some of the border patrol officials say they estimate by rescinding title 42 the number of illegal border crossings will doubleover night sosmg instead of having 7,000 a day, we'll go to 18,000, 20,000 a day. the numbers are staggering. mr. speaker, i'm happy to yield next to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. burgess. mr. burgess: thank you. a recent survey show house americans are feeling about inflation. 52% of adults report they're under more financial stress today than they were one year ago. the poll also show house consumers' spending habits changed over the last six months in response to rising pries. 53% say they're cutting back on dining out. mr. burchett: 39% are driving less. 32% switched from a brand name product. 29% canceled a vacation. the economy is in a tailspin, mr. speaker, thanks to president

biden's big government agenda, his failed policies are making the cost of doing business more expensive and those increased costs are passed directly on to consumers. many companies use catchy slogans and tag lines to advertise their services. in this economy, some businesses might rethink their marketing campaigns. remember the $5 foot long at subway? it cottss at least $10 for a foot long sandwich from subway these day, mr. speaker. southwest airlines low cost flight model is wanna get away? flights are so expensive they should change their offer to, wanna go one way? did you catch that? one way? since that's all travelers can afford. wal-mart tells customers they'll save money, live better by shopping at its stores. americans are probably thinking more along the line of spend money, live worse after making a trip to wal-mart in recent weeks. finally, mr. speaker, lots of

folks are doing their banking with capital one which asks, what's in your wallet. pretty soon they'll be asking consumers, what's left in your wallet thanks to rising prices. mr. speaker, americans are really just fed up with president biden's handling of the economy from the same cnbc poll i referenced earlier, 61% disapprove of the president' response to inflation and 81% fear recession is coming in 2022. i would dare say cnbc is not the most conservative folks out there earlier this week, thank goodness, elon musk, he swooped in to twitter to save the company from the woke politics that are running it into the ground. censorship being one of those. president biden needs a similar hero to come in and stop this administration from destroying this economy. alteshtively he could simply give up on his big government agenda that's failing american citizens, mr. speaker. thank you, vice chairman johnson, i appreciate your lackluster leadership and your constant mention of

complementary snacks which are not here, coming forthwith, appreciate you and i yield the remainder of my time. mr. johnson: we always need a moment of brevity, don't we, the news is so bad but you pointed out and highlighted how difficult times are. that's a serious subject. mr. speaker i'm deliked to yield next to the gentleman who holds the disting of being the highest ranking military officer ever elected to the united states congress, my classmate, president of our freshman class, i still call him the the general mr. general jack berger. >> thank you to my colleague from louisiana who i rely on. if you're going to be anything as a military commander you rely on folks who work for you. i can tell you, i spent a lot of time with lawyers and mike you're the best when it comes to constitutional law. i'm proud to be here with you to talk about a certain level of,

you could say, lawlessness. mr. bergman: president biden's favorite public policy -- public policy shop, also known as the c.d.c., announced it would lift title 42 which has been used nearly two million times since march of 2020 to remove illegal immigrants. when title 42 is lifted this may, even more illegal immigrants will be incentivized to cross our southern border. this will spark an unprecedented surge, considering that we've already experienced record high illegal bored crossings under president biden in his first year plus. as border violations rise, so does the number of violent criminals allowed into our communities. i regret these circumstances forced opinion our nation by president biden's careless

policies. because of this, we must be prepared for more illegal immigrant crime. for this reason, i will be introducing legislation next week called the victims of immigration crime engagement restoration act, or the voice restoration act. voice was an office set up by president trump to connect victims of illegal immigrant crimes. connect them to their legal representatives, to any witnesses, with support of -- supportive resources like a hotline to answer questions, local contacts, social services referrals, and information about the custody status of detained illegal immigrants. in 2021, president biden dismantled voice. i repeat, dismantled voice. think for a second what that says about him and his policies.

and what he thinks about innocent american citizens. my legislation will permanently reinstate the voice office and i look forward to sharing more of the details soon. we have an out of control crisis on our southern border. predictable and avoidable, but it is so massive that it is impacting cities and towns all across our country. the democrat leadership in congress and in the white house have done nothing about this. this must change soon. and i know it's going to change here in probably about another eight months. because we're going to have new leadership. and my promise to you as a marine who doesn't know the word quit is that in the meantime, every day between now and then, i won't stop fighting, along with others, to secure our borders. with that, i yield back. mr. johnson: thank you for that fight and that very worthwhile

legislation, general bergman. you're right, the surge in crime is directly related to the board for the so many ways because we know dangerous people have come across that border. it's completely open to ms-13 gang members, violent criminals, convicted persons, criminals who come from other countries, you have child predators, even terrorists who have come across that border. we know this for a fact and still they won't change the policies. mr. speaker, i'm happy to yield next to the gentleman from california, mr. lamalfa. mr. lamalfa: thank you, mr. johnson, appreciate it. president biden recently announced his fiscal year 2023 budget. the proposal includes a plan to spend $73 trillion in a 10-year period that will add $15 trillion more to our national debt. this at a time when government spending is already driving inflation and making all these items that much more expensive. airline fares, lodging, gas, the cost of automobiles, new or

used. i stopped in at a dealer the other day, they're finding that people are willing to pay more for a used car than what the car cost new or trucks. it's crazy. so the american people are suffering right now under these economic conditions. all man-caused, all government-caused pretty much. so with record-breaking inflation and gas prices, instead having a budget that crafted to not combat these issues but add to them. it radicalize ours energy in a new green deal these guys want to do. make manager cost, making energy even less available. to americans. it includes zero mention of resuming the keystone pipeline since that was something on the first day of office they decided to put a stop to. the budget should be focused on getting people back to work, to making america thrive, combating inflation, not causing it, strengthening our energy independence which will bring prices down, not playing around

with strategic reserve and bleeding out a million barrels per day. that strategic reserve has a purpose and it isn't playing economics with it. it's supposed to be there for, indeed, time of crisis for our country. so instead of relying on russian oil and relying on other imported oil from venezuela, saudi arabia, whoever, we can do our own national oil independence with our own known reserves. so the direction the biden administration is taking with all this spending and it's starting to mimic my home state of california really, because our regulatory and tax policies there are already the model for what not to do. the federal government shouldn't follow that. so let's come back to common sense. i urge president biden and the democrats to not adopt this giant spending plan but move in a direction of giving people -- getting people back into production again. we've come out of this covid crisis. put them back to work.

have our economy thrive. energy independence, food independence, as california's ag situation is being decimated by the water being taken away. i asked the president to help us on this. help us grow food in this country. and get prices back down and not have empty shelves. that should be the focus of how we help the american people. not more crazy spending. thank you and i yield back. mr. johnson: thank you. so much of that is just common sense, my friend. i appreciate you pointing it out. sadly, unfortunately, this white house shows no intention whatsoever of reversing its policies and positions which could fix these problems. mr. speaker, i'm grate to feel yield next to the gentleman from the great state of texas, dr. babin. mr. babin: thank you. i certainly appreciate my good friend from my neighbor, louisiana. mr. johnson. for having this special order. no, it doesn't look like things are going to change, as you said. joe biden has no interest in

securing the southern border. he's proven it time and time again over the last 14 months. on day one of his presidency, our commander in chief stopped completely the construction of our border wall which is, by the way, something that congress appropriated funds for and it's something we know for a fact deters illegal crossings. in fact, the department of homeland security reported that illegal entries in areas with the new border wall system along the yuma sector plummeted more than 87% in fiscal year 2020 compared with the previous year of 2019. president biden's foolish decision to stop construction of this wall left millions of taxpayer dollars worth of steel just rusting away in the hot sun and the cold, wet winters. millions of your tax dollars simply gone to waste. he ended the remain in mexico

policy that had "the washington post" reported made illegal apprehensions fall by 30% and it's -- in its very first year alone. he's tied the hands of i.c.e. who last year deported the lowest number of illegal aliens since 1995, despite more than two million alien apprehensions. interior enforcement is drying up to nothing. and now he's scrapping title 42, the very last policy that saves c.b.p. from drowning this a complete sea of chaos. but if all of this isn't enough to convince you that joe biden doesn't have your best interests in mind, take a look at his budget request for 2023. he wants $73 trillion, that's with a t in spending. $5 trillion, another t, more in taxes. and our debt will increase by $16 trillion, with a t, over the next decade.

i did a quick search for the phrase border security, quote-unquote, in this budget. it's mentioned twice. we are facing the worst border crisis on record and a historic number of fentanyl overdoses from drugs illegally smuggled into our country, over 100,000 dead americans from drug overdoses and yet the president mentions border security only twice. do you know how often he mentioned the word climate? 187 times. joe biden claims that he's working to protect america, but folk, the facts actually say otherwise. the fact shows that he doesn't care about keeping you and your family safe. the facts show he doesn't care about protecting the livelihood you worked so hard for. and the facts show that he doesn't care about the sovereignty or the security of our great nation that we love, a beacon of liberty and freedom

for all the world to look at and envy. that's why they're coming here. shame on -- shame on president biden. thank you and i yield back. mr. johnson: john adams said facts are stubborn things and those are some tough facts. they cannot refute it because everybody can see it for themselves. by the way, dr. babin, i pulled up the u.s. debt clock, currently right now as we stand here the national debt is $30,367,412,800,000. mr. babin: it's going to fast happy to yield to another gentleman from the south, great state of georgia, mr. clyde. clyde clyde thank you -- mr. clyde: thank you. i really appreciate your willingness to highlight the issues facing our country, including the very serious issue of the possibly confirmation of an unqualified person, judge

ketanji brown jackson, to the u.s. supreme court. president biden's supreme court nominee, judge ketanji brown jackson, commonly known as k.b.j., is simply unfit to serve our nation's highest court. throughout her legal career, judge jackson has garnered a disconcerting record of being.[newline]so on crime -- of being soft on crime. as evidenced by her lenient sentencing, particularly of criminals convicted of egregious acts, including child sex torture. judge jackson is incapable of holding dangerous criminals accountable. additionally, the judge has revealed her allegiance to the radical left by refusing to define what a woman is. excusing her extremism by claiming she isn't a biologist. there are indisputable differences between men and women. and those differences must be both acknowledged and accepted in order for k.b.j. to probably adjudicate title ix cases. judge jackson also recently

declined to recognize americans' natural rights. the precious rights granted to us by god. failing to accept the basic principle that individuals possess inalienable rights, a principle that is the very foundation of our american values is supreme ladies qualifying for any individual seeking to serve our nation's highest court. yet despite judge jackson's frightening record and recent disqualifying revelations, the senate intends to vote to potentially confirm her to the supreme court this week. and while it is true that judge jackson's confirmation will not immediately alter the makeup of the court, it is naive and cowardly to make excuses when the stakes are this high. our country, our liberties and the make-up of the supreme court are on the line. if judge jackson becomes a supreme court justice, she will serve for decades, solidifying and strengthening the less menassing grip on our rule of

law -- menacing grip on our rule of law. her impact -- decisions will impact americans for generations to come, setting precedent that will ultimately guide our great nation once many of us in this chime bers are long -- chambers are long gone. this is exactly why judge jackson's confirmation is much larger than one vote. it's about preserving justice, protecting our freedoms and defending our constitution. i urge ebersoltary senator to -- i urge ebersoltaryer is -- ebersol tear -- every solitary senator to vote no on this confirmation. without question americans from maine to utah to alaska, from sea to shining sea, are watching intently, praying their senators vote -- senator's vote will represent our nation's constitutional principles, rather than appeasement to the left. america is watching. will our senators defend america by voting no or will they shrink back? we will not forget. thank you and i yield back. mr. johnson: thank you for highlighting that, my friend.

it is a serious issue. the longest lasting legacy of any president is who they put on those federal courts. and of course the most important is the highest court in the land. we cannot overstate how important this is. mr. speaker, i am happy to yield next to my good friend, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. rose. mr. rose: thank you, vice chairman johnson, for yielding, for hosting this special hour tonight. mr. speaker, president biden's budget is symbolic of his wasteful build back broke agenda that was filled with partisan provisions. 73 -- $73 trillion in new spending. $58 trillion in taxes. and $16 trillion in new debt all over the next 10 years. when hardworking tennesseans get together and come up with a household budget, they have difficult conversations with one another about what exactly they can afford. if something falls under the category of unnecessary and unaffordable, the last thing they do is put it on their

grandchildren's credit cards. but that's exactly what this budget does. president biden and congressional democrats praising his proposal are now on record seeming to have no issue with mortgaging our country and its children's future. even amidst the largest increase in inflation since 1982. there are many wasteful provisions in president biden's budget proposal. like the $11 billion being spent -- being sent to foreign developing countries to help adapt to global warming. but the one that i struggle with the most is the one that gives $400 million to planned parenthood and other entities that perform abortions. the hyde amendment has existed in every federal appropriations bill since 1976. it is one of the most longstanding and bipartisan agreements to protect federal taxpayer dollars from going towards abortion. president biden's decision to

purposefully keep this out of his budget proposal is wrong and will never get my support, nor the support of my constituents in middle tennessee who are firmly pro-life. leaving out the hyde amendment is only another partisan attempt to advertise the president's anti-life position and satisfy those that support the horrible atrocities of abortion. mr. speaker, i urge all members of the congress to stand firm in their commitment to protecting life. we must restore the hyde amendment and reject president biden's budget because no tennessean's tax dollars nor dollars borrowed from our children and grandchildren should go towards subsidizing planned parenthood and the immoral practice of abortion. thank you, mr. johnson. i yield back. mr. johnson: so well said. i appreciate you highlighting that issue. it's one of so many that we have deep concerns about with this administration and their budget and everything they do. we have to protect the sanctity

of every single human life, to defend the defenseless is the job that we have, the first job the primary job. mr. speaker, i'm happy to yield next to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. grothman. mr. grothman: thank you. our country is obviously in bad shape and i think our forefathers, if they saw the way we operated today, would be quite stunned and wonder where in their constitution they let us down to wind up where we are today. and i think of the three branches of government, the judiciary is the one which right now has let down the framers the most. our forefathers realized that a country with elections usually eventually fails because a majority can either want or be manipulated into wanting more stuff or ordering other people around to order them to be obeyed the way they would like other people to be behaved. a bill of rights, the bill of

rights is almost exclusively about restricting the role of government in american life. obviously the supreme court has largely abandoned that function. things got bad in the 1930's and 1940's, again in the 1960's. today one wonders what the court will say, what the court will ever say no to. where will judge jackson fit as we try to defend our constitution? we look, her inability to say what a woman is, her inability to talk about judicial philosophy. we know where she'll stand. she stableds with -- stands with woke america. i hate that word but that's what it is. it's somebody who has no respect for tradition and if you have no respect for tradition or common sense, you certainly don't have that near reverence which should be a requirement for many -- for

any supreme court justice. furthermore, president biden got himself in a position in which he said he's going to have to promote a black woman to that position. the very idea that you think decisions on a court should vary with the background of the person who is on that court shows you don't have that respect for the constitution. all americans should have an originalist view of the constitution and consider it the great, almost god-given, document that it is. i also have some concerns -- well, in any event. when you don't, when you don't have the respect for the constitution, you know you're not going to respect the second amendment. you're not going to respect the 10th amendment. it's a disaster we've ignored it. you're going to continue to stretch the commerce clause all

out of whack. you're going to continue to make america look like -- look at every individual as a member of a group, never as an individual in their own right. i wonder whether in any other areas of -- well, right now, about 2% of the lawyers in the country are black women. so what joe biden did was he took 98% of the possible resumes for this very important job and threw them in the garbage. i wonder if joe biden does that anywhere else in his life. does he throw away 98% of the resumes or potential resumes when he's looking through a -- for a new dentist, for a new plummer, for a new clergyman? throw out 98%? but that's what he's done in picking a new supreme court justice who could well be on the court for the next 40 years. our forefathers felt that by

giving us this constitution that we would -- well, they pointed out that this constitution is fit for a moral and religious people and not fit for anyone else. well, judge jackson -- will judge jackson respect that? i don't know. benjamin franklin had, they finished the constitution, said, we're giving you a republic if you can keep it. we are right now being tested whether we are the moral and religious people that can keep the republic that our forefathers felt they described in the constitution. it looks for me from everything you hear about her that judge jackson is not going to have that reverence to keep that constitution, to keep that republic, and we will therefore, with judges like that, wind up collapsing. thank you. mr. johnson: a lot of wisdom

there, my friend. you're exactly right if a judge begins with the premise that we have no natural rights, that does not bode well for where that logic leads. mr. speaker, i am happy to yield nix to the gentleman from -- next to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. keller. mr. keller: i thank the gentleman from louisiana. and, mr. speaker, many times we have heard president biden and his administration say that the crossings or excuse me the crisis we're facing at our southern border is seasonal. there is nothing seasonal about one million illegal aliens crossing our southern border in just six months. there's nothing seasonal about 400,000 illegal alien gotaways going undetected into our country. the crisis at our southern border is a direct result of president biden overturning successful policies put in place by donald trump. first, biden holds the -- halts the construction of the border wall. then he resinlded the remain in

mention -- rescinded the remain in mexico policy. now he's taking aim at one of the final remaining trump policies, title 42. which allows law enforcement to expel illegal aliens who pose a health risk. the department of homeland security predicts that as many as 12,000 to 18,000 illegal aliens will cross our southern border per day if title 42 is lifted. 18,000 illegal aliens in one day. in three days that would be greater than the population of pennsylvania's capital city, harrisburg. in less than three days. and a little more than a day it would be greater than the population of williamsport, pennsylvania, the largest city in pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. so, if president biden removes title 42, it goes beyond bad

judgment. it is reckless and it will turn the crisis into chaos at our southern border. thank you and yield back -- and i yield back. mr. johnson: thank you for that, mr. keller were. these words are not hyperbole. this is what the experts are saying. customs and border patrol agents, those officials who are there every day watching this chaos, this calamity that's developed, they are the ones giving us these numbers. they project 18,000 illegals a day. it's hard to wrap your mind around that. mr. keller: that's the executive branch. homeland security. mr. johnson: absolutely. these are the results of policy changes and they could easily be reversed if the white house would wake up and do something. so thank you for bringing that to our attention tonight. mr. speaker, you've heard members from across the country, north, south, east and west, who have expressed their outrage, their concern with all of the terrible policy choices that are leading to absurd results for our country. these are very dangerous times. there is no leadership in the

white house. there is no leadership in the administration. there is no leadership from the democrat majority in this house or in the split senate down the hall. we can turn these things around, we can stop these crises if we make different decisions. but they will not do it. mr. speaker, i'm thankful for my colleagues who have shown up tonight to articulate this for the american people. we can't say it more often enough or loudly enough. there is going to be a seat change in november. and we pray that we can hold and keep this republic until then. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 4, 2021, the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly, for 30

minutes. mr. kelly: thank you, mr. speaker. today, i rise to address some of the biggest problems in the united states and the world. as the war between russia and ukraine, many americans have been reminded how global our economy is. russia provided the united states with 8% of our nation's oil and refined products. a war with russia can spike gas prices. drivers in my home district, we have seen gasoline at $4 over a month. and this is latest the reminder we need to refocus and produce more energy right here home in america. let's go back to may, 2021 when two things happened, the united states imported a record amount

of russian oil and president biden waived restrictions on northward stream 2. four months earlier, the president canceled the xl pipeline. that pipeline would have delivered 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day. and that would have gone to u.s. refineries and created thousands and thousands of jobs but that is more oil that united states imports. this is a no-brainer, by back the pipeline. why would we not do that and not be energy dependent. we can't depend on russia, venezuela or iran to help our nation's energy and i applaud to

stop bank rolling the russian war machine by buying their products. according to the council on foreign relations, it is responsible for 40% of russia's budget. 8% of rush yap oil we imported equates to 672,000 barrels a day and this is on foreign energy sources to start. president biden should reverse his executive order banning the keystone pipeline. we must return to trump-era energy policies. to have tag the former president's tag line, let's make america great again.

u.s. imports come from canada. 11% comes from mexico. 72% comes from our neighbors from the north and south. we should be have rather paying our adversaries. while doing so but it improves relations with those closest to us and improves our national security. on the other hand, president biden has made americans poorer and our nation's security weaker during his first year in, anti-fossil fuel green new deal has placed unnecessary burdens on the oil and gas industry, even as gas prices are reaching records high, just last month,

president biden announced he is pausing decisions about new federal oil and gas drilling as part of his plan to tackle climate change. so far, president biden has announced he leased 80,000 barrels of oil. president biden will release up to 180 million barrels of oil over the next six months in an effort to dive down gas prices. that doesn't drive down gas prices. think about where it is coming from, the strategic emergency reserve. it is not used to rack up some political points, i'm doing this. it's not working and never will work. on november 23, administration

released 50 million barrels from the strategic reserve. the average price of gas dropped by a whopping two cents and following days and by december 6, it dropped over another three cents. so we saved a nickel and attacked our strategic reserve. 568 million barrels that are president biden is taking one-third of our nation's reserve and use it for short-term political gain that will not lower gas prices for america but has weakened the reserve. the this is to enhance national security. it's not to make your polls look better, mr. president. the 808 million barrels are

worth four days of u.s. oil consumption. and holding the president can withdraw from or refill the reserve. what is frightening is china has hardly tapped their oil reserve. this is harming our national security. i'm proud to represent the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, a place once deem called the saudi arabia of gnat tram gas. pennsylvania produces 21% of the natural gas extracted in the united states, that is second only to texas. in 2020, the energy information adds that the production was about 10% greater than u.s. total natural gas consumption. that means we can export natural gas that we produce, note apply

our european allies who are depending on russia. and it forges a stronger foreign policy in the process. russia's invasion of ukraine and the spike in fuel costs go hand in hand. if we are dmept on bad actors, we are subjective to their demands. we can reenforce relationships instead of falling behind and we give the american people the debater accepts of security that russia seeks to have only for itself. on the topic of foreign policy, i want to quote benjamin franklin, by failing to prepare, you are going to fail.

russia's unprovoked invasion of ukraine is a reminder that bullies like putin will stop at nothing, to upend democracy while chilling the opposition in the process. this type of takeover carries a precedent. this should remind all of us of what happened in the 190's and 1940's when hitler began it across europe. we watched from the sidelines hoping that the european forces could prevent further escalation that they were and we defeated the bullies. we can that the potential answers to modern power struggle

as russia's assault, the united states and nato we must respond together. nato which is a collection of over 30 nations which was formed after world war ii to prevent what? soviet aggression. nato has a responsibility to step up. and hand in hand, the united states, which is the first responder to anything that goes wrong in the world needs to have help from other people, not america alone. but america with our allies. nato's purpose is important today. powerful response. much like world war ii we have a looming conflict in theaters in the world including asia. today china is threatening

taiwan. and watching the dangerous situation in taiwan and what is going in those theaters, that isn't the only thing we have to be concerned with. taiwan is one of our major allies. and china has been quietly conducting combat readiness drills near taiwan and this matters for two reasons, the china is watching putin's attempt for a land grab because china is threatening to take over their own neighbor and this could direct the impact. 92% of the world supply of advanced semi-conductor chips from automobiles to cell phones are made in taiwan. if we have learned nothing from

the covid pandemic, it is that we cannot depend on other people around the world to snrie us with those things that we need the moist. this does not end right for us and tear apply for the free world. and any large scale attack in tay wan, these chips would be scarce as almost everything else in the world is right now and probably unavailable. i'm co-sponsor the facilitating the pabs act that allows for a new tax credit through 2032 for investment in any semi-conductor manufacturing facility and expenditures right here at home. what an unusual concept to

invest in american technology with american workers to make americans safer, not somebody a world away from us. let's do it right here at home. we make 12% of the semi-conductor chips. and that is hard for me to imagine. but we had a blind eye and deaf ear. and pennies and we want to what is so critical. these are just the crisis, history reflects how a robust american foreign policy has shaped the world and specifically the western hemisphere and probably this is doing more unnoticed than anything, in the 1800's,

president monroe knew that in its infancy, the united states was developing at a very quick rate and looked like other places around the world would say, you know what? they are getting stronger and better every day and maybe we need to get over there and get involved there. so the monroe doctrine came into effect and the whole idea behind that make sure people around the world could make an effort and get into our western hemisphere. as things went on and we got more powerful and all of a sudden and they looked at us and said who we were and what we were becoming and all the valuable things in our hemisphere. teddy roosevelt said, you know

what? i'm going to put together accomplished guidelines for any intervention in the united states or western hemisphere that are addressed action by nations or inaction by latin american nations but they are worth. if you look at the western hems fear and say let's take a close look. the deepwaterports in cuba all have significant foreign countries in there, mainly china. and people tell me, you don't need to worry about that panama canal. china is not really taking it over. i said, you know what, if you don't read history, you don't study history, you're doomed to repeat it.

why would we not look at what's going on right now in our western hemisphere and say, we have put things into place to protect us from foreign intervention. i'm going to tell you, look at the western hemisphere. south america, central america, the triangle. the deepwater ports in cuba that would be ideal for heavy military use and both ends of the panama canal. if you don't think that's a threat to american security, then you need to wake up. we're in great danger right now and not knowing it. first of all, the chinese are not very quiet about what they're trying to do. they have a theory that they want to take over the world. and they don't wish for about it, they don't sneak around about it. they just do what they want to do. their presence in africa should be a great awakening for us.

we have krepled ourselves with -- crippled ourselves with regulations and sanctions and so many things that we need and i don't know for what reason other than the fact that somehow we think that we're smarter than anybody else and we know that we can protect ourselves and the question is, really, how? and the answer is, we really can't. i guess our answer will be what it always is. we'll write a strong letter and exi ping will get it -- n'diaye ping will get it -- n'diaye ping will get it. we'll tell putin, need to stop doing what you're doing in ukraine and at some point we'll read history and say we've been down this road before. but we failed to take action at a time when it was absolutely critical and pushed it on and out of sight and the price we paid was incredible.

let's not do that again. there's an old saying that to be foretold is to be forewarned. with everything going on in the world today, we hear a lot of people using the term world war ii. i am not here tonight telling you that that's what's going to happen. i am here telling you tonight that america and the free world has to understands that we've seen this action before. we know what lies ahead of us and we know the cost of not addressing it early. we can do it through policy. but peace always come through strength. not through weakness. diplomacy is one thing. as teddy radios veld said -- roosevelt said, walk softly but carry a big stick. i would suggest to you that you go back to the years from 2016,

actually 2017, when our 45th president of the united states, donald trump, came into office, please tell me why for the four years mr. trump was in office the rest of the world stayed at bay. the bad actors of the world didn't attempt to do any of the things that they're doing today. certainly last summer and our demonstration of how we would leave a country high and dry, that we would take out our military first and leave our military equipment and citizens to face what was going on in afghanistan, was a warning to the rest of the world that you better be careful with the united states because if you're not they'll pack up their bags in the middle of the night and leave. that's not who we are, that's not who we've ever been and that's not who we can be in a free world if our friends and allies in the free world look at what our actions have been later, because actions always speak louder than words, but we continue to use words, thinking that somehow bad actors will cower and they'll walk away from us. that is not the america that we

know. that is not the america that 1.4 million of our men and women in uniform have died to protect. and to send a message to the bad actors of the world, we will always be here, we will always be on guard. we will never walk away from our responsibilities. i don't know what has happened to america. in a little bit over a year. people always say, i think it's better to be respected than feared. i think both have a great effect on everybody. i want both those to be in effect. when donald trump was our president, nobody messed with the u.s.a. look, we have so many things going on right now. we wonder what is the future? what is the future not only for america but for america's

friends and allies. we look at energy as one of the key issues that we're talking about today and we know that in america we have endless supplies of energy, whaled holding us -- what's holding us back now are our own regulations. i heard the administration say we have thousands of permit, why don't you just go ahead and use them. which shows they have absolutely no idea that having a permit isn't the same as extracting inginner -- energy. somehow i guess if you say it loud enough and long enough and to the right crowd they'll nod their head and say, i know you're right. you know, what get out into the field and see the people that actually do it. talk to the people that know how to extract energy. talk to the people that can go offshore. talk to the people that go deep down into the earth. talk to all those people and then tell them, don't worry, you have a permit, just go ahead and use it. by the way, if you don't use it, we'll start taxing you on your nonuse. how upside down is this

thinking? the last thing i'm going to address tonight is probably the most important issue of all. because everything we talk about right now, everything that we've addressed already is about life. there was a tradition here that on wednesdays people would wear red and they would wear red to remind people of the girls that had been kidnapped by boko haram and we wanted those girls back. so we'd wear red and would walk around here and say, we've got red on today because we want those girls back. boko haram has got to return those girls. so i started wearing red on wednesdays. friends on the other side would say to me, just so you're in onsetter with us -- in concert with us, you believe the same things we do. i said, i absolutely do.

they said, so you want those girls back? i said, yes, i do. but i don't just want the girls that boko haram took. i want the girls back that have been aborted. i want those girls back whose lives were ended. i want you to really face the truth of what's going on in america today. the wordsmithing that takes place here on the people's house, on the floor, of people talking about abortion as health care. so taking the life of a little boy or a little girl is health care. every night we see pictures of what russia is doing to ukraine. and yet we have a deaf ear to the cries of the unborn and we don't look at all of those who are being lost every day. if you don't see them, i guess they don't count.

congress has long required the taxpayer dollars are not to be used for abortions. and president biden has actively tried to circumvent this requirement. in april of 2021, under president biden's leadership, the n.i.h. announced it would no longer require fetal tissue research projects funded by the agency to go through an ethics advisory board. so the question then comes is why do we have an ethics advisory board if we're not diagnose to go to them? to find out what it is that we are talking about? then in september of 2021 we game the horrific allegations of illegal abortions being performed at the university of pitts for harvesting fetal tissue. i can tell you, me being on the floor tonight will resonate in pittsburgh and unfortunately it won't be by those who are pro-life, it will be those who think that somehow this is an attack on pitt and not an attack on unborn little boys and girls.

so for all those who do not like what i'm saying tonight, please take off your blinders and understand what's taking place. we began hearing all these horrible allegations of illegal abortions being performed at the university of pittsburgh for harvesting fetal tissue. these abortions were performed as part of pitt's participation in an n.i.h. program for the university to operate as a fetal tissue repository for research happening around the country. the abortions pitt are accused of performing are horrific. babies that survived the abortion would be born alive and then killed. this was to preserve -- this is really hard to understand. this is to preserve the fetal cells longer, a process known as

maximizing warm time. when you say, what is that? when you talk to the scientists, the idea is, the warm tissue is more valuable for our studies. so a baby boy or girl that survives this abortion, that's the tissue that's the most valuable to us. now, i think if any of us came upon some kind of accident and we somebody in gave danger, we would want to save them. somebody who has survived an unbelievable process and survived -- we would save them. we would not take advantage of that. and all this program was supported by taxpayer funding through the n.i.h. program. so congratulations, mr. and mrs. taxpayer, for all the things that you hate, you're helping to fund it. this isn't the only abortion project the national institutes of health is funnings, though. the n.i.h. -- funding, though. the n.i.h. expects to spend $88

million on human fetal tissue research in this year alone. these allegations began coming out -- when they began coming out, which i thought was a real good move by the university, they hired a law firm to conduct an independent review of pitt's abortion process. so somebody's questioning the process, so here's what i'll do i want to participate with you so i'll provide the funding to an independent research group. that law firm was a washington, d.c.-based consulting firm which employs pitt grads. the review determined pitt was totally in compliance with the law. they didn't say what pitt was doing was right, they said they were in compliance with the law. even though that report completely failed to look into planned parenthood or the upmc who were partners with this n.i.h. program. and all this came out, we sent a letter acres long with

representative morgan griffith, and other 50 of our colleagues, asking n.i.h. for answers on how it funds and oversees these abortion programs. and it took them months to respond to me. which is not unusual from any letter you send to any agency here in washington, d.c. when they finally did reply to us they simply pointed out to me and to the rest of us, please, look at pitt's independent review. now, this level of accountability to congress is completely unacceptable and it shouldn't take months for a government agency to respond to letters from any of us here in the house of representatives. we are here representing the people who voted us into office. and when they do, they should respond with a substantive answer. i don't need to be horsed around and told something and say, you just don't understand, which is absolutely correct. i don't understand in the united states of america why we are doing things and then covering them up by saying we did an independent review. we paid for it and these guys came up with the answer we were looking for. so they followed the money.

a few weeks ago congress finally passed a budget, the first since president biden has been in office. it was far from perfect but it included strong protections for the unborn. protections which have been in place since the 1970's. less than two weeks later president biden released his 2023 budget proposal, which included a full wish list of democrat anti-life priorities. here's some examples from his recent budget. number one, it eliminates the hyde amendment. the hyde amendment prohibits federal funding from being used to fund abortions. it became law in 1976. the hyde amendment has saved over 2 1/2 million lives. it also wants to eliminate the doeren amendment. the doeren amendment prevents taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortion in the district of columbia. now, without this protection d.c. taxpayer dollars can pay for an estimated 1,400 to 1,500

abortions every year. every year. and increased title 10 family planning by $113 million. title 10 is a prime funding source for planned parenthood, providing it with $56 million taxpayer dollars annually now on january 21, 2022, the biden administration awarded $6.6 million in title 10 funds through the american rescue plan. to abortion providers. $6.6 million dollars to provide funds for abortion providers. now, i'm catholic and oftentimes i have gone to my priest and said, father, is there some reason you cannot go into the

pulpit and talk about the honoredous things that are going in our country today? and you know the conference of bishops said they are expanding taxpaying and other riders were to be removed. we take this stand because abortion is not health care. i know i'm out of time. but maybe out of time doesn't take this country -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired mr. kelly: i'm going to use up the time. and you can keep hammering me. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is no longer recognized. the gentleman is no longer recognized. the gentleman is no longer

recognized. the gentleman is no longer recognized. i understand. there is a point of order. the gentleman is no longer recognized. the gentleman is no longer recognized. under the speaker's announced policy of january 4, 2021, the chair recognizes, mrs. boebert. mrs.boebert: biden c.d.c. and referred to now as the center for democrat control would be ending title 42. when liberal mayors are extending mask mandates on our children in schools and the american public is still being forced to mask up on airplanes, the biden regime has decided

that protecting the american people from diseases is not a priority if it comes at the expense of their amnesty and open borders' agenda. it is no could insendens they have dropped title 42, to prevent communicable diseases. and in fact, more than two million illegal aliens have been apprehended at our southern border since joe biden took office. and border patrol estimate 70% of these illegal immigrants have not been apprehended. so, in fact, that means 3.5 million illegal aliens have come across our border. republicans and democrats from

the house and senate have condemned cancelling title 42, some have called it dangerous and frightening and i call it an attack on the safety and security. and it has been reported that by the time the mid-terms roll around, nearly 7 million illegal aliens will have crossed the southern border that is larger than the population of denver, san francisco, atlanta, washington d.c., boston, seattle, miami, las vegas, miami, new orleans and detroit combined. can you imagine we have a product here that's working. we have a policy that is working to deter some people away from the border, but we are going to take whatever we have that is

keeping people out of our country illegally and do away with it. maybe it is to overrun our system and create and chaos and backlog. so american people have to accept amnesty. but it is intentional and members of the house freedom caucus are here to discuss with me tonight. i have members from the house freedom caucus who are going to address what is going on at the southern border. we have been at the southern border to see firsthand to see the invasion that is taking place, unlike the border czar who has failed to visit, i think she made a trip to el paso and the commander in chief who is in command of nothing, he hasn't been there at all.

i would like to recognize the former chairman of the house freedom caucus, my good friend, andy biggs mr. biggs: imagine, if you will, 100,000 people entering the country illegally and stopped on our border just in the first two weeks of this year but because of title 42 that allows the border patrol agents to turn people away because of diseases and sent them back away. you don't have to imagine it because that's true. that is what happened. if you ex trap late that, january, february, march, they turned over a quarter million

people under title 42. when it goes away on the 23, you will double the amount of people who are coming in through the apprehension route. that means we have another record month in march. that means that you are going to be sitting on about 300,000 to 400,000 apprehensions and what does that do? everybody here knows this. i have been down to the border with you, the cartels are in it to make money. and as they see this opening up, more and more people getting freedom to the united states, what they will do and what they are already doing is they will advertise. the n.g.o.'s will advertise. it will be chaos. chaos on the border and my

prediction is around 400,000 to 500,000 a month people coming in. a lot of people are talking about 18,000 people a day, i don't think it is going to be 18,000, it will be 20,000. that is 600,000 a month coming in and that is biggest that are mesa, arizona. and last half of this year, the last half of the year alone, you will be sitting at 4 1/2 to 5 million people brought into this country illegally and that is not counting the get-aways and it is enormous. i haven't touched on the inhumidity and talking about and not getting granular but the overrunning of american, our

culture and sovereignty and we won't have much in the nation and you say is this incompetence? the answer is no. this is willful. this is willful and this is what they want. mrs.boebert: do you believe the cartels have been emboldened during biden being president? mr. biggs: 100%. it used to be, they would have the coyotes take them and they don't do that anymore. coyotes put them on the border and say we don't have to go in, go with your cell phone and the biden administration says they will give a cell phone, but they will come across. and walking across and face timing, i made it in. they are dressed nice and clean.

the cartels are emboldened. this is spilling over into the country and seeing violence along the border and cartel members all over. if there are drugs being distributed. mrs.boebert: what about the illegal aliens with the help of the cartel, what do they owe the cartel? mr. biggs: the average price is 4 to 7,000 bucks. very few of people have that to pay. they can work it off delivering illicit drugs helping to or they come in and get a job and they are slaves to the cartel and they will never work it off because they are task masters

and they know how to keep folks under their thumb. mrs.boebert: you chair the border security caucus and you brought in secretary and thank you for bringing him to the hill. and talking about title 42 being a c.d.c. issue and not his policy to enforce. what is the policy that he could enforce? mr. biggs: the mig granted protocols. instead of nine people a day, nine people a day, you could enforce the way it is intended to be enforced and that would be thousands a day because we have thousands of folks coming in and that would be another deterrent. he could actually go in and

encourage us to fix the flores law or laws that would be deterrents but instead he has opened it wide open and taken away any deterrent and he is encouraging people to come into this country illegally. mrs.boebert: one final question for you here, you are a businessman, we have -- we may have 7 million undocumented workers in our country by november, what does that mean for our economy? mr. biggs: the underground economy for people, my estimate is about 25 to 27 million illegal aliens so you are going to have an underground economy. those people who are not skilled laborers will have a tough time.

they will go on social welfare programs. we are already in -- we are on the verge of stagflation, high inflation and shrinking g.d.p. and as that happens, you are going to exacerbate both of those problems and see the likes of something we haven't seen and might exceed jimmy carter who was the most unfortunate and incompetent president in my lifetime. mrs.boebert: we have more members to talk about title 4 #, thank you, congressman biggs, for your insight. and now, mr. norman, my colleague from south carolina, do you believe that this regime

is responsible for poor and desperate people and now to take this journey and break our laws and come into our country and live under the freedoms and probings but not as a citizen? mr. norman: to inform the american people what is going on. this president is causing this to happen for the american people. you are a business person. i'm in the development world. who would let anybody come into your business home? it is insane what this administration. taking title 42 has been said, it prohibits -- that's the only tool that president trump had at his disposal and president biden

has but he is doing away with it because that's what he is doing away with it. how unfair for that law enforcement agency, that law enforcement official stopping a car, not knowing who is in it and not knowing the background and no information, how safe is it for that law enforcement officer. how unfair for the municipalities in the cities who have to pay for the hospital care, the school. how fair? it is intentional and willful. and people ask me, he is burning the house down before i assume the november elections which the house will turn over and elect freedom caucus members who have the steel and the spine to do

it. he sold out not only to the citizens but sold out to china and those he is indebted to. >> will the gentleman yield? mr. norman: i will. >> we need to be speaking about this. of course i would call on our friends from this side of the aisle, it's interesting that we're standing on this side of the aisle. i mean, thank goodness somebody is willing to stand over here and defend the country. right? so it's going to be -- i call on my democrat colleagues to start answering some questions and start defending their country from this invasion. but if the gentleman doesn't know this, if you do a quick calculation, d.h.s., t this isnt congressman perry, congressman boebert, any of us up here, this is d.h.s. the department of homeland security are bracing for 18,000 crossings a day. mr. perry: 18,000 people coming across the border illegally each day. now, i don't know each one of

you, the size of your town, where you come from, but i suspect 18,000 in any town would make a pretty big dent unless you're talking about one of the major cities like los angeles or something like that but even so, 18,000 a day. ladies and gentlemen, mr. speaker, that's over 6 1/2 million people if we keep that rate up, 6 1/2 million people in one year illegally coming to our country. ralph, or lauren, representative boebert, could your business sustain something like that? mrs. boebert: absolutely not. the city just hit 10,000 for our population. so 18,000 people a day, i mean, that right there exceeds the little city of rifle, colorado. but this is something that we absolutely cannot endure. so i'm glad that we have this time tonight to discuss this. representative good, you have been to the southern border. you've talked to border patrol agents. can you tell me what you've

seen, what you've heard from border patrol agents? mr. goodlatte. yeah i've beenre -- mr. gooden: yeah. i've been there -- mr. good: yeah. i've been there a few times. february a year ago was the largest february in terms of illegal border crossings in the history of this country. we had 101,000 cross, some 3,000 a day, in february a year ago. we exceeded that by 64% this most recent february. we went with from 101,000 to 165,000. now, it's so bad what this president has allowed to happen this year, it doesn't sound like a really bad month for this president. that's because, again, it was 101,000 last february. but it increased as the year went on to where it was some 200,000 a month later on into the year as we know and two million in the first year this president was in office. and then as others have already pointed out, with him rescinding title 42, i guess he was afraid,

well, that's a policy, a law that might help repel some illegals back across the border, might allow us to return some, if we'd enforce the law. so we're rescinding title 42 which has already been said, we'll take it from 7,000 to 2 1/2 times as large, 8,000 a day is the average. 500,000 in the first 30 days. this president is on pace for some 10 million to 15 million illegal entries into our country in his first and hopefully only term. i was in a budget hearing today with you, congresswoman boebert, where we had secretary becerra there, the h.h.s. secretary, which as you know has been called in, h.h.s. has been called in not to help stop the border crossings, but to help facilitate those. and i asked him today, i said, who do you think should be let across our border and who should be prevented? are there any restraints would you put upon anyone that wants to come across our border? do you think everyone should be able to come across illegally? he said, well, quote, we're talking about violating the law. you're saying it's illegal.

why would we permit anyone to violate the law? our president is violating the highest law of the land. the constitution that we all and he swore to uphold. article 4, section 4, says the united states shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government and shall protect them against invasion. as we look to next year, i want to go on record and say, some of you are on articles of impeachment with me. you've drafted those. how do we declare in the public health emergency that it is, the national security crisis that it is, the health crisis that it is, the social services crisis that it is, the education crisis that it is and the unlawful process that it is and not hold this president responsible when we have the house majority, lord willing, a year from now? how can we not impeach this president? mrs. boebert: i agree with you. that absolutely need to be brought up in the next congress. now, these appointed

secretaries, they really have turned our border patrol agents into travel agents. they're being shipped all throughout our country, these illegal ilgrament -- immigrants. every state is now a border state. you're from virginia, we have ralph norman here from south carolina. i'm from colorado. but someone who has a front seat view here, the gentleman from texas, congressman chip roy, this has been a really hot topic for you and rightfully so. republicans and democrats from both houses of congress have said that they don't support ending title 42 and yet no legislation or action has been taken to reinstate it. what are your thoughts on that? mr. roy: i thank the gentlelady from colorado. i thank all my colleagues here from the house freedom caucus joining on the floor. i thank my friend from virginia who joined me just a month ago where we saw firsthand what is happening in real-time on the border. something that we know and unfortunately my colleagues on this side of the aisle refuse to acknowledge and refuse to do anything about. as you all know, one of our

freedom caucus colleagues, yvette harold from new mexico, filed 14 months ago a piece of legislation to require that title 42 be enforced at our border. for those listening at home, title 412 is our power as a country to stop communicable diseases and people with communicable diseases from coming across our border. and it is an important tool. the president trump and his administration put in place in his last year of his administration to ensure we stop the flow of people across the border and from inundating and overwhelming border patrol. we knew this was coming. 14 months ago. we knew this was coming. a year ago we came together, i filed a discharge petition as part of this team. to say that we can force a vote on the floor of the house. the speaker of the house refuses to bring to a vote a measure to enforce title 42. so everybody listening at home, the speaker of the house has control of the floor, refuses to bring forward a vote on title 42 to require enforcement of the

border, so we're trying to change that. we've got almost every single republican, i think save one, who has filed 210 signatures we need 218. where are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle? >> from the border states even. mr. roy: we have zero democrats. zero democrats on that title 42 discharge petition. as the gentlelady from colorado noted, there are at least four noteworthy united states senators who are democrats who said we should not end title 42. mr. tester, mr. manchin, ms. cinema -- sinema, mr. kelly. those four members, those senators, said we should not end title 42. now, i'll wrap it past someone else to say this. how many dead my grants is enough? how many dead americans from fentanyl poisoning is enough? how much money in pongts of dangerous cartels is enough? how many homes need to be

destroyed? how many cars need to be wrecked? how many d.p.s. agents need to be killed or endangered? how many people need to be harmed before this administration will do its job? how many criminals need to be let off in the united states and not prosecuted under i.c.e.? when are we going to change this and actually secure our country? that's my question for the secretary. mrs. boebert: congressman tiffany, we talk about this issue regularly in our meetings with the house freedom caucus. and one question that comes up regularly is where is kamala haris where is the border zarqawi in this? you have heard of any plans for her to visit the southern border? mr. tiffany: kamala who? in all seriousness, it's unfortunate that vice president harris has not fulfilled her mission to be the border czar. it's awful. but did you all see the news today in regards to the free phones that the white house

press secretary talked about today? free phones for migrants. so think about it i was down in panama almost a year ago. went to the darian gap. i saw the i.o.m. where did they get their money? they got a lot of their money from the united nations. who puts the most money into the united nations? yes, americans do. back home on the farm what we used to refer to this as, my colleague from texas just said, how many? how many? i would say to you also, how much? we used to refer to it as eating your seed corn. so americans pay an international organization to send debit cards to these people to make themselves up the panama pipeline all the way to the southern border. then you pay for a bus ride to get them to the airport. then you pay for an airline ride, philadelphia, baltimore, wherever, they're going around the country. then you pay for the education,

the free education they're going to get. you pay for the health care. that's what you americans are paying for every single day for over two million people. and it is about to get worse. and to highlight how it's going to get worse and how on use it -- obtouse this side of the -- obtuse this side of the aisle is, we're sitting in judiciary today creating another loophole in the virgin islands. there's another loophole being created for visa waiver privileges. something that we saw in the mariana islands that was created about a decade ago under the obama administration where they allowed parole for people to be able to come in, chinese nationals. there was like maybe eight births that were being done on those islands prior to this change that was made quietly into law. it ac central rated and there are 600 births of chinese nationals that happened in the mariana islands as a result of

that loophole. and if you want to see the reporting on it, the "wall street journal" did an excellent job and it was one of our intelligence agencies in 2017 that really dug into this. and, yes, here's this huge loophole and they want to now create it in the virgin islands. that's what we're voting on right tonight in the judiciary committee. they want to create another loophole and they're like, oh, it will only be a few people. you, the american people, do you believe that? i appreciate my fellow border stater being down here. mr. roy: you hold those mounties back up there. you keep them at bay. mr. tiffany: every state is a border state, including my state of wisconsin. >> i have something to add. it's not just the phones. what about the gas cards that's in this latest -- the budget that the president had? what about that? and just to put some context to this, texas i think, which -- i think you got about 15 million to 20 million people. south carolina has 5.3 million.

that's the number that's going to be coming into this country in the next four months, if the pace continues. it's a travesty. it's something that americans, we have got to be aware of and stop. god help us all if they do exactly what you said and to fund all of this, america's at the breaking point. mr. tiffany: if i may extend my point a little bit. think about it tonight we're debating in the judiciary committee creating another loophole. it shows how unserious they are, how they do not have the interests of the american people at hand. they want to create another loophole and this one's in the virgin islands, not in the south pacific. people are going to be able to be funneled in here by the thousands as a result of that loophole. just another way to bring people into this country to compete against hardworking americans who have to, you know, not home try to make their way up the scale, the economic ladder here

in america, but now with inflation, they have to fight that too. mrs. boebert: mr. chairman, we're wrapping up here 30rbgs seconds. final thoughts? mr. perry: final thoughts are there are democrats decrying this. they can do something about it here in the house. they can sign this discharge petition. bring the bill up. you don't believe that this -- we ought to continue to try and secure our border with title 42? vote against it. but let us have a vote. we're just asking for a vote. let's see what the vote count is. and then the american people will know who stands with them and who stands for a wide-open border. because that's what we're going to have. mrs. boebert: sounds like a just plan. mr. perry: we certainly appreciate you putting this together for us and provide the opportunity to come and talk on behalf of our constituents that are very concerned about this. tiff and mr. chairman, you could lead -- mr. tiffany: and mr. chairman, you could lead the way. mrs. boebert: congressman roy? mr. roy: i would only add that

i've seen reports that there's a number of democrats in the senate joining with republicans in the senate to try to do something about this. i hope that's true. but my little warning to that is, i keep hearing words about, well, let's keep title 42 in place until we see a plan. all right, like, i don't want one of these plans full of words. i want the border secure. i want title 42 enforced. and i want the border take amnesty off the table. we'd love to have you on that petition. mr. mrvan: sign the petition, and as winston churchill said, doing your best isn't good enough, we have to do what is required to close this border. mrs. boebert: thank you all, my colleagues from the house

freedom caucus for joining me on this issue. i encourage all members of congress to talk to a border patrol agent, ask them about the policies they need to secure our southern border. i guarantee they won't be telling you they need funding or personnel, they just need the policy to do their jobs so they can go home feeling like they've accomplished something and protected american citizens. thank you so much, mr. speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 11-b of house resolution 188, the house stands adjourned until 9:00 a.m.

>> oil with the good of's were in front of a house energy -- oil executives were in front of a committee to testify and how their industry operates. they said they were taking efforts to end relations with russia over the situation in ukraine.