call for a good constituent service. i am the author of the debt ceiling reform act and have been active on this issue for my entire time in congress. this achieves nothing, this constant perennial site for most of the existence for the debt ceiling we have not have it -- had it. this needs to be the last showdown. host: thank you. you have to get running. we will see you tomorrow morning at 7:00. the house live on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] day, o lord. trusting in your daily provision, may we find ourselves like trees planted by water. that we may receive the strength and refreshment you provide. in this may we face the heat of the day and the drought of spirit that attend the demands on our time. reveal to us the sustenance available to us as our roots, our very beings, reach deep to find anchor in your truth. grant us the security of your protection as weern for the -- we yearn for the refuge of your steadfast love. then may we as a congress, a country, and communities seek to rid ourselves of fear and anxiety. by placing our trust and confidence in you. extend to us your wisdom that we need not depend on our own understanding. test our minds this day and search our hearts, and if we are found wanting, be gracious unto us. in you does our hope find its foundation, and in your name will our prayers be answered. amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house the approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from arkansas, mr. crawford. mr. crawford: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker: without objection. >> i rise today to congratulate the kapazin ask. i family for their hard work and dead gigs that has enabled 70 incredible years of the business on lake george. this family-owned business has welcome people looking for the incredible beauty lake george has to offer. in 1953, george and margaret purchased property in huelets landing, new york, after falling in love in the quiet oasis. they wanted to share this quaint vacation spot with those who want to appreciate time with their families. there is nothing more important than family time together. i'm proud to recognize the hard work and dedication of the family. their contributions to hewlett's landing and the lake george area has been instrumental in the lives of many. their entrepreneurial spirit is a trademark of upstate new york and the north country. i look forward to witnessing 70 more years of their strong business in the lake george region. on behalf of new york's 21st congressional district, it is my honor to congratulate the family for 70 years of successful operating hewlett's on lake george. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recog recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. , tend and revise my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise to commemorate korean american day tomorrow. i'm proud to represent koreatown in los angeles, the largest korean american community of any congressional district in the country. tomorrow we recognize the landmark 120th anniversary of the arrival of the first korean american immigrants to the united states. and we honor the enduring legacy, sacrifices, and contributions made by generations of korean americans. this is why i urge my colleagues to support my resolution to recognize ideals of korean american day and essential contributions of korean americans to american life. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, today i rise to celebrate korean american day, making the arrival of the first korean immigrants to the united states in 1903. those brave pioneers paveed the way for generations of korean americans to make countless contributions to our great country. mrs. steel: like so many before me i came to this country with my family from korea. now i'm living my american dream. today we celebrate the strength of korean american communities like those in southern california. we recognize the power and impact of our achievements. and we honor the shared heritage of korean americans across our nation. as one of the first korean american women to serve in congress, i am proud to recognize this important day and to honor the millions of korean americans who have contributed so much to the success of the united states of america. and thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recog recognition? >> mr. speaker, ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. takano: mr. speaker, it should not be a partisan issue to support democracy's globally and in particular affirm the results of the free, fair, and credible presidential election in brazil last fall. the radio silence of my republican colleagues regarding the january 8 attack on brazilian democracy is inconsistent with their professed concern over freedom. on a bipartisan basis we should denounce a would-be autocrat who refuses to accept the results of elections and taking refuge within the united states. our contempt should also extend to american extremists who are undermining democratic institutions at home and abroad. our commitment to democratic freedom cannot be selective. fascism and communism are two sides of the same authoritarian coin. standing up for democratic values is not just about standing up to the chinese communist party, it's about condemning autocratic movements globally. we must defend democratic institutions here and everywhere, including any conspiracy undermining brazilian democracy. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to congratulate the shingle house american legion post 530 in potter county on its 100th anniversary. this friday, january 13, will be 100 years since its charter was enacted. in celebration of this monumental anniversary, shingle house is hosting a week long open house for the public. events include special meals, activities for all ages, and lots of prizes. in early years they gathered they dry cleaning shop of shorty. as time went on and membership grew, the post reached its top membership in 1999 when it had 284 members and 271 social members. today it remains a traditional style legion. with community engagement and a focus on projects to support the legion's four pillars. veterans' affairs and rehabilitation, national security, americanism, and children and youth. the post tirchs to support community projects like adopt a highway, local boy scout and girl scout troops, and wounded warriors. mr. speaker, the shingle house american legion post 530 continues to serve as a community pillar. from supporting local charities to provide ago meeting house for veterans of all ages that remain an important part of the community. congratulations to all shingle house american legion members on their centennial anniversary. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, after all the excitement over the speaker's race last week, it was good to get down to work this week. or not. let's recap. the new republican majority protected rich donors from paying their fair share in taxes. naturally. and in the process delayed working families from getting their tax refunds. way to go. next up a select committee on the so-called weaponization of the federal government. nothing like a joe mccarthy-style committee to stoke more fear and distrust of the federal government only two years after the attack on our capitol. and then criminalizing women's health care because of course that's why the american people gave the republicans the majority. the red wave the republicans dreamed about never materialized because the american people rejected their far-right agenda up and down the ballot. clearly they didn't get the message. and yet they did nothing to tackle inflation. the biggest issue for the american people in the last election. mr. speaker, this isn't what the american people signed up for. and it's going to be a long two years if this is all they are going to do. so i reluctantly yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentlelady from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, it is my honor to stand here and celebrate the induction of chief of police dr, texas. to the national law enforcement officer hall of fame. the chief has been both progressive and innovative by growing the partnerships within the community and surrounding agencies. his hard work and perseverance clearly demonstrates the dedication to his community. this monumental occasion truly reflects his great impact to both as a law enforcement officer and chief. miss de la cruz: on beof texas' 15th congressional district, i have the honor to say chief of -- chief jonathan flores and thank him, chief jonathan flores, for his life of service to our community and to our country. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? ms. garcia: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. garcia: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise to recognize the school board members from the seven seven school districts in my district in recognition of school board member appreciation month. i'm incredibly grateful for the extremely devoted school board members across my district from alding, houston, galena park, channel view, sheldon, pasadena, and humboldt i.s.d. these folks are doing incredible work on behalf of the people and the most important public servants i can think of. they are chaipg the next generation of leaders by ensuring our schools are places where students can learn, explore, and dream. i know that keeping our schools running smoothly and safely comes with plenty of late nights and a lot of behind the scenes work. and i'm truly grateful for the work of all the school board members and their service to the next generation of leaders. and i thank them for always putting children over politics. classrooms over bathrooms. books over bullets. and teaching over talking points. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize one of my district's leading industries that continues to grow and provide good-paying jobs to hardworking americans. according to the world steel association, more than six million people work in the steel industry across the nation. in mississippi county, arkansas, thousands of men and women are employed in steel mels and some of the highest paid workers. it is the backbone of our nation's infrastructure whether it's used to build roads, freight rail, schools, or green energy projects. steel is at the heart of it all and its growth will only continue. in 2017 alone, the american steel and iron institute found the industry was responsible for $520 billion in economic output. mr. crawford: that number continues to rise. recently u.s. steel announced the biggest capital investment in the history of arkansas right in my district. bringing with it 900 new jobs. as the chairman of the congressional steel caucus, i'll fight for policies that support the steel industry. i'm committed to working with the industry to get our steel on the market at home and across the globe. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. tan dar: , mr. speaker, it is my honor to stand in this well and represent the people of michigan's 13th district. last week for the first time in 100 years the house failed to organize on opening day. as a new member of congress, i found it to be a sad day for this body as an institution. a sad day for democracy, a sad day for american people. mr. speaker, house democrats are united and prepared to try to find common ground with the other side of the aisle to solve problems on behalf of the american people. but i am not sure if i'll find a willing partner across the aisle because of extreme viewpoints. the start of the 118th congress has in its short time of existence seen some sad days. . these sad days must stop. let's get to work. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from washington, mrs. rodgers, seek recognition? mrs. rodgers: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 5, i call up the bill h.r. 22 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 22, a bill to prohibit the secretary of energy from sending petroleum products from the strategic petroleum reserve to china, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 5, the bill is considered as read. the bill shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and the minority leader or their respective designees. the gentlewoman from washington, mrs. rodgers, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from washington, mrs. rodgers. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the legislation and to insert extraneous material on h.r. 22. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. rodgers: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 22, the protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act. america is suffering through the worst energy crisis in decades. president biden and the democrats' radical rush to green agenda is making life unaffordable all across this country. it's driving record inflation, strange household budgets, and weakening our electric grid. under president biden and the democrats control of china, gas prices -- gas prices rose to almost $6 per gallon. gas prices are 40% higher today. diesel prices are up almost $2 a gallon more than when president biden took office. the federal government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers. especially when it makes us more dangerously dependent upon china for critical minerals, solar panels and batteries to produce our own energy and electricity. and strengthens russia and opec's grip on world oil and gas markets. now to cover up his failed policies, driving our energy and inflation crisis, president biden drained our nation's strategic petroleum reserve at an alarming rate. america's strategic petroleum reserve, once the world's largest stockpile, has been depleted to the lowest levels since 1983. he released 200 million barrels of oil in less than two years, more than all former presidents combined. and as we know, much of that oil went to china because our refineries and pipelines are full. it now has nowhere to go here. in april, the biden administration sold a million barrels directly to a state-owned chinese company. millions more barrels went to oversea traders who eventually sent it to china. we also know that china is ramping up its purchases of crude oil from russia and the u.s. to boost its own reserves. china now controls the world's largest government-controlled stockpile of oil with almost a billion barrels at the expense of american taxpayers and our energy security. america's strategic petroleum reserve is meant for true energy supply disruptions like those caused by hurricanes and natural disasters. not to help china. draining our strategic reserves for political purposes and selling portions to china is a significant threat to our national security. the administration is not just hurting our own ability to respond to emergencies and national security events, they are actively bolstering the oil reserves of our most dangerous geopolitical adversary, the chinese communist party. this is unacceptable and it must stop. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and prohibit the sale and export of the strategic petroleum reserve crude oil to china. h.r. 22 prevents the secretary of energy from selling any products from the strategic petroleum reserve to any entity owned under the control or the influence of the c.c.p. or selling to any other entity that intends to export to china. enacting h.r. 22, preventing the biden administration from wasting our strategic reserves is the first step towards flipping the switch and unleashing american energy production. america has led the world in reducing carbon emissions and promoting innovation by utilizing our abundant clean, affordable, and reliable energy. we can restore this leadership without sacrificing our energy security or making everyday life unaffordable for people. that starts by enacting smart, workable, all-of-the-above strategy by lowering costs and emissions across the country. it includes our infrastructure and select tris grid -- electricity grid, making it more resilient, unleashing emissions free hydropower play and carbon capture technologies. republicans support a level playing field with a balance of energy sources. but without handing the keys of our energy future over to the chinese communist party. it's time to cut the red tape, expand energy production here at home, modernize our infrastructure, invest in new technologies, and create opportunities for jobs and economic development right here in the united states of america. i look forward to passage of this bill today, and i'm eager to get to work with my colleagues on additional solutions to make energy cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable for all americans. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, let me first begin by congratulating the gentlewoman from washington state on her election as the chairman of the energy -- chairwoman, i should say, of the energy and commerce committee. i rise in opposition to h.r. 22, the protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act. first, let's take a moment to remember how we got here. in 2015, when republicans last controlled congress, they lifted the 40-year ban on crude oil exports at the urging of their big oil friends. this irresponsible policy change allowed companies to export american-owned barrels of oil to our adversaries, including china. again, that was a republican policy pushed by house republicans eight years ago. and as a result, our crude oil exports to china surged, averaging a half billion dollars every day during the last year of the trump administration. china horded these barrels to build up its own petroleum reserves. back in 2015, i strongly opposed that republican bill out of concern that it would harm our energy security and ultimately lead to increased prices at the pump for hardworking american families. and it turns out i was right. and now republicans seem to be complaining about the very circumstances that they created, all to reward their bill oil friends. lifting the export ban damaged our economic security, refineries across the country, including in my home state of new jersey, have closed since the export ban was lifted in no small part due to oil company's desire to seek greater profits abroad rather than sending their oil to refineries here at home. domestic refineries suffered because of the export ban being lifted. a suffering that was then inflicted on the thousands of hardworking americans whose jobs were destroyed. now, if republicans were serious about addressing this issue, they would have brought forward a bill that banned all exports of oil -- crude oil to china. it represented only 2% of all the oil we sent to china last year. only 2% from the s.p.r. -- s.p.r.'s. republicans are scared of big oil's wrath. and why are republicans only banning s.p.r. sales to china? representatives houlahan and bacon issued a bill that prohibited sales under u.s. sanctions. that had 37 bipartisan co-sponsors. are they ok to exporting oil to putin's russia? it also speaks volumes, mr. speaker, this is their first energy priority after regaining the house majority. over the last two years, democrats passed the most significant climate law in our nation's history. we also passed the bipartisan infrastructure law that will modernize our energy infrastructure. but the first bill this congress isn't about investing in the resiliency of our electric grid but instead they're recycling a one-page bill in undoing the damage that they themselves created. republicans are here today denying their own history and muddying the truth by trying to place the blame on president biden. but president biden successfully used the s.p.r. to lower prices at the pump and provide relief to american families. when gas prices increased last year, the biden administration took decisive action to bring gas prices back down by releasing oil from the s.p.r. they released-on-unpress -- released an unprecedented one billion barrels a day, making up for shortages after the war in ukraine. this was a commonsense strategy that worked and thanks largely to president biden's actions, gasoline prices have fallen an average of $1.90 per gallon nationwide since their peak in june. but one thing this episode underscores is that fossil fuel prices are volatile. as long as we rely on gasoline and other fossil fuels to meet america's energy needs, our country's energy security and affordable remains at the whims of dictators like putin on the other side of the world. while i agree just like i did back in 2015 that we should not export u.s. crude oil to china, i want to stress that this bill could have been improved through bipartisan cooperation, regular order, and committee consideration. if republicans hoped to actually enact legislation, this is not a pathway to success. and i reserve the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield a minute to the gentleman, a leader on energy, dr. burgess. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burgess: i thank the chairwoman for yielding. i do want to speak in supporting protecting the strategic petroleum reserve from china act. the majority is wasting no time to reverse this reckless agenda that the biden administration has followed. republicans understand that energy policy is foundational to a thriving and dynamic national economy. and too long we've watched as democrats' energy policy was kind of an experiment for their radical agenda and unfortunately it hurt the american people in the process. now, interestingly in july of 2020, senator cornyn and i had a bill to allow filling the strategic petroleum reserve while prices were at historic lows. it was blocked by the democrats. they wouldn't even consider it. now today, we have an opportunity to protect america's resources, refill the strategic petroleum reserve so it can be used as it was originally intended to protect our people at times of crisis. i thank the gentlelady and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes now to the gentlewoman from florida, ms. castor, who chaired our climate action special committee in the last congress. the speaker pro tempore: gentlelady. ms. castor: well, i thank chairman pallone for yielding the time. you know, america should not be exporting our crude oil exports to an adversary and that was our national policy for 40 years until a republican-controlled congress authorized sending american crude oil abroad in 2015. china exploited that ill-advised policy change and exports of american crude oil to china increased nearly 100-fold during the trump administration to about 391 million barrels. last year in response to soaring gasoline prices caused by putin's unprovoked attack on ukraine, president biden successfully used the strategic petroleum reserve to lower prices at the pump and provide relief to american families. this was a commonsense strategy that worked. gasoline prices have fallen an average of $1.90 per gallon nationwide since their peak last june. however, we cannot rely -- keep relying on the strategic petroleum reserve to keep oil prices in check. that's why democrats have focused on lowering costs and avoiding price spikes through the inflation reduction act. because cleaner, cheaper energy is our future. it will lower cost, create good-paying jobs and help us build safer, more resilient, and healthier communities. plus, this bill is way too narrowly tailored. what we should be debating today is the far-sighted bill offered by my colleagues, congresswoman chrissy houlahan and congressman don bacon, a bipartisan bill that would completely ban all crude oil exports to china. that is a much stronger bill. it would ban, in addition to china, it would ban crude oil exports to all of our adversaries, including iran, north korea, but in the end, america's future isn't clean energy. that's -- is clean energy. that's how we'll lower the cost to american families. create good-paying jobs. and make sure we provide a livable planet to our kids and future generations. i appreciate the gentleman. i congratulate mrs. mcmorris rodgers of taking the gavel of the energy and commerce committee and look forward to working with her in the 118th congress. i yield back my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington. miss rodgers: the lady suggested we should be banning exports to russia, north korea, and iran. i might note that president biden has actually wanted to emport from russia and iran. pleased to yield to the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta, two minutes. mr. latta: thank you very much. mr. speaker, i rise in support of the protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act. legislation offered by my good friend, the gentlelady from washington state, and the chair of the energy and commerce committee. for the first two years of the biden administration, we have seen an unprecedented level of hostility toward america's energy producers. the administration has made every effort to undermine, avoid, and restrict oil and gas production in north america. while at the same time moving to drain our strategic reserves in an attempt to offset the price increases caused by the president's own policies. playing politics with the strategic petroleum reserve has resulted in the lowest level it's been in decades f this wasn't alarming enough, just wait until you hear who has been fitted from our reserves being drained. the chinese communist party. as part of this administration's strategic petroleum reserve sales, a little under one million barrels were bought by a chinese pret troa chemical corporation. this shortsightedness shows the biden administration's willingness to put our national security at risk by selling vital reserves to our adversaries in hopes of getting political advantage. this is not right and every single member of this body should be opposed to such actions. while we investigate these actions, we must ensure they never happen again. that is why i'm proud to be an original co-sponsor to protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act. this bill would prevent the secretary of energy from selling any products from the strategic petroleum reserve to any entity owned or under the control or influence of the chinese communist party or to any other entity that intends to export products to china. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california, a member of our committee and leader on environmental issues. mr. peters. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. peter: thank you, mr. speaker. my republican colleagues have promised to secure america's energy future. i chair this goal and egg eager to work together -- and eager to work together. the path to energy security is not through cheap political rhetoric or biden bashing but through bipartisan policy solutions. we all agree that oil from the strategic petroleum reserve should not be sold to our adversaries and prevent this, representees chrissy houlahan of pennsylvania and don bacon of nebraska, induced -- introduced an act yesterday with 34 democratic and seven republican co-sponsors. the bill prevents the sale or export of oil from the s.p.r. to china but also north korea, russia, iran, and any country currently under u.s. sanctions. i bet it would be approved by voice vote in this house today. by contrast, the bill we are debating today only prohibits s.p.r. sales to entities affiliated with china. given a pore -- given a more comprehensive bipartisan bill already exists, why would our colleagues be putting forward a more partisan bill with a partial solution that won't pass the senate? let me be clear, americans are looking for serious policy results not half-baked ideas designed for a press release. if my colleagues across the aisle are serious about energy independence, let's talk about that. they'll have to acknowledge that our path to true energy security is not by doubling down on oil. we have seen the costs of oil price shocks time and time again. in the 1970's the arab oil embargo caused oil prices to soar. in 1990 the gulf war spiked prices n2005 hurricane katrina damaged refining facilities. between december 2007 and july 2008 prices rose from $118 a barrel to over $160 per barrel before crashing during the great recession. in the last few years we have seen rapid volatility from negative prices during the pandemic to over $100 a barrel during the recovery. it's becoming very clear that we have to admit that doubling down on oil is a failed strategy. and true energy security will be achieved by reducing our relies on fossil fuels and investing in clean fuels of the future. let's do that for our taxpayers as well as the environment. i look forward to working together on real solutions. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. guthrie: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to clarify, russia and iran -- iran is part of opec. they are not the ones buying out of the strategic petroleum reserve. president biden went to opec to ask them to increase their production instead of doing american oil. also want to say 2015 to finish the sentence, the republican-controlled congress in 2015, it was also the obama administration worked together in a bipartisan way to unleash american energy, given a worldwide market for american energy, when you threw in president trump's administration and regulatory environment that made sense, we had record production of energy. we did ship it throughout the world. we also had record low prices here in america. the problem we are facing today is because of president biden and the democrats in congress' war on american oil. that's the problem we are here to address. the price of gasoline hit over $5 a gallon in the height of this war on oil. $4.80 a gallon in kentucky. when it was just over $2.20 something when president biden took office. american families are hurting because of this. small business owners are hurting because of this. they continue to struggle. instead of taking action to meaningfully unleash americans' energy potential, president biden opted to release supplies from the strategic petroleum reserve. what we need to do is get back to unleashing american energy not sitting out of our strategic petroleum reserve. president biden's abuse of the reserve jeopardizes our ability to respond to supply disruptions posed by natural disasters and other two emergencies. this including selling millions of barrels of oil from our strategic reserve to countries including china. by prohibiting our strategic reserves from being sold to china, this legislation is a significant step to restoring our energy security and providing needed relief for hardworking americans. we have the energy. we have the ability to produce. we need to move forward. we need to ban it from going to china and move forward on american energy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the lady from washington reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from california, mr. sherman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. sherman: what political nonsense this bill is. it allows that american oil company to buy oil from the s.p.r.o. on monday and sell it to china on tuesday. which means it's fine for them to see s.p.r.o. oil going to china as long as an american oil company makes money out of it. of course, as the ranking member points out, it allows all the other oil in the country, 98% of it, of our exports to china, to go to china unchecked. if we were serious about lowering prices for the american consumer, we would look at what the republicans did in 2015 when they ended our ban on exports and insisted that that be added to the spending bill or they would shut down the government. i had a bill introduced last month to ban american exports of oil when oil is selling for over $730 a barrel. $70 a barrel. we need to ban the exports of natural gas when prices are too high for american consumers. finally, this bill tries to attack the biden administration use of the s.p.r.o. to lower gas prices here where it's been somewhat effective and made money for the united states treasury. let's legislate seriously to lower oil and natural gas prices for the american consumer. instead of simply insisting if american sproa oil goes to china, an american oil company has to be the middle man and makes money out of it. joip the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington. mrs. rodgers: the language is very clear. if you look at subsection 2, such petroleum products will not be exported to the people's republic of china. pleased to yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from florida, mr. bilirakis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. bilirakis: congratulations on your chairmanship. i look forward to working with you. i rise, mr. speaker, as this legislation in support of this legislation. it's high time to stop the biden administration from continuing to provide china with oil reserves from the strategic petroleum reserve. under the current administration, we have only seen a war against domestic energy production. as a ban to cover up the consequences of biden's policies resulting in unprecedented high energy prices. it chooses to draw down the strategic petroleum reserve, a critical national security asset, drawing down these reserves to cover up failed policies is wrong. but doing it and then selling that oil to china, our chief adversary, is un-american in my opinion. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from pennsylvania, ms. houlahan, who has been working on this issue for some time. miss heul a han: -- ms. houlahan: thank you so much, mr. speaker. today we have an opportunity in this congress to close a loophole that has been opened since 2015. a loophole that enables our adversaries to purchase oil from our u.s. strategic petroleum reserves. there is a bill to close that harmful loophole. a bill that will strengthen our national security. a bill that will signal that we will not bend a knee to those who threaten the safety of our allies and service members both here and abroad. i'm not talking about the bill my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have put forward today but rather i'm talking about a bipartisan bill, my bipartisan bill, the banning oil exports of foreign adversaries act. we hear this phrase frequently in this chamber. it's that simple. so let's make this argument really simple. very, very simple. our new majority has put forward a partisan bill that bans american oil from the strategic petroleum reserve only to china. i have put forward a bipartisan bill with representative don bacon, and now with 44 others that would ban the sale not only to china but also to north korea, to russia, to iran, and to all other adversaries. it is modeled directly after similar and relevant legislation that i also introduced successfully in the ndaa regarding our critical minerals and rare earth element stockpiles. this bill, my bill, is stronger. it's bipartisan. and it has a chance in the senate. this bill, the bill we are talking about today, is weaker. it's partisan. and it will, unfortunately, likely never see it pass the senate's legislative graveyard. mr. speaker, it is very hard to hear my colleagues talk about returning to proper and regular order on the house, when in fact, if this very bill followed proper order and went through committee we would likely be voting on a different piece of legislation today. my republican colleagues know my background. i'm one of the most bipartisan members of this body and proudly served in the military for 13 years. i'm here today because we have a chance to put our national security above our party politics. i call upon my colleagues all of them to join me in good faith to support the bipartisan banning oil exports to foreign adversaries act. let's send this legislation through the proper order. strengthen it. and work together to get it signed into law. i urge my colleagues to look at the facts and to show service members and veterans that we put their safety and their sacrifice ahead of political gamesmanship. before i conclude i do want to thank my dear colleague, representative pallone, for his leadership and having included this bill, my bill, in the buy low and sell high act in last congress. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodger: thank you, mr. speaker. pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from ohio, mr. johnson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. johnson: mr. speaker, today i rise in support of h.r. 22, led by our energy and commerce committee chairwoman katry mcmorris rodgers. earlier this week it was reported that after president biden drained over 200 million barrels out of america's strategy petroleum reserve, his department of energy is now rejecting multiple bids to refill it. saying, that all is too expensive. this is hard to believe. . by canceling pipelines, halting leases and burdensome legislation, they are saying the taxpayers sorry. we depleted your national reserves, sold some to china and we won't refill it because it's too expensive. aren't they the ones making oil more expensive? it's like president biden is using this as a bannd-aid. this is a needed course correction in our national strategic strategy. i urge my colleagues to support it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield to mr. casten who is a leader on energy issues. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. casten: i thank my friend from new jersey. this is to prevent aid to china and lower energy costs. as written it will have the opposite effect. the s.p.r. released about 210 barrels of oil. most of that was consumed domestically. a small fraction was exported. and a smaller fraction may have gone to china. during the same period, domestic oil producers exported more than 10 times that volume so roughly 100 times the volume that was exported from that portion of our s.p.r. that happens to be above ground. so the failure to include u.s. producers in the export prohibition means this bill will do nothing to limit chinese access to american oil. but since the s.p.r. releases, as the majority notes, do reduce oil prices, curtailing our ability to use that tool will drive prices up. now, i cannot imagine that the speaker intended to enrich his neighbors so they can profit from chinese oil sales. so i would encourage him to vote no. i'd also encourage anyone who seeks to prioritize united states access to united states energy to oppose until we can make the necessary corrections to this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield half a minute to dr. bucshon, the gentleman from indiana. mr. bucshon: thank you. i rise to speak in support of the protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act. under this administration, we've increased our dependence on foreign energy sources and cause energy costs to sore. theed a -- to soar. the administration has sold millions of barrels from our reserve and helped china build the largest crude oil reserve. this must stop. i ask my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of this legislation, to stop the secretary of energy from selling any more petroleum products from the strategic petroleum reserve to china. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cicilline: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise today to oppose h.r. 22, the protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act. let's get one thing straight. the reason we're here today considering this bill is because republicans in congress voted in 2015 to repeal a 40-year ban on the export of crude oil, including to our foreign adversaries. despite this being a problem of their own making, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem more interested in playing political games with our country's energy security than offering concrete, effective solutions to the american people. when putin brutal invasion of ukraine and corporate greed caused gas prices to spike last year, the biden administration took decisive action to lower prices for working families by releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. not only did this move help protect the wallets of my constituents and americans all across this country, reports indicate that they returned a nearly $4 billion profit on these sales. if my republican colleagues would like to get serious about standing up to our adversaries, i'd consider such proposals. but i cannot support this piecemeal legislation trying to score cheap political points rather than lowering the energy costs. i ask my colleagues to vote no and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 22 because there's nothing strategic about an empty strategic petroleum reserve. what's worse than not having a strategic reserve is selling it off to adversaries so they can build their own. that's exactly what's been happening over the past two years. while our s.p.r. has been depleted in an attempt to cover up the failed energy policies of this administration, china is taking advantage by building up their own reserve. the worst part is that they -- their buildup has come from the u.s. reserves. let me repeat this. president biden has sold our valuable strategic petroleum reserve to china while americans faced the highest energy prices in a generation and the federal government that has failed to adequately address it by unleashing our own energy potential. and every barrel sold to china makes that decision even more damaging. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 22 to prevent the administration from selling any s.p.r. products to the c.c.p. or related entities. stop the attacks on american energy, unleash it, make us energy independent. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. huffman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. huffman: i thank the gentleman from new jersey. and mr. speaker, i rise to point out to my colleagues some context and facts that are totally missing from this debate. exports of oil from the s.p.r., regardless of destination, were not a problem before 2015. many of us were here and we remember exactly why that 40-year policy of the united states, a ban on crude oil exports, changed. it changed because that year a republican-controlled congress insisted on lifting the export ban. and the republicans in charge at that time refused to consider an amendment that was offered by our friend and former colleague, representative gene green. that amendment would have required exporters to have a permit. finding that their export of crude oil was consistent with the national interest. republicans did not create any restrictions on the destination of oil exported from our strategic reserves or any other source. if republicans had not lifted that export ban, we would not have this problem. if republicans hadn't blocked representative gene's amendment from even being -- green's amendment from even being considered we would not have this problem. instead, we're left with a republican messaging bill which reports to address a small part while ignoring the much bigger problem they created in 2015. if my friends across the aisle were truly concerned about u.s. exports going to china, they would put a more serious measure forward. at the very least, they would block, not just some small amount of at the troll from -- petroleum from the s.p.r., but the sell of all exports to china which includes much larger volumes outside of the s.p.r. in the international market, we don't know where crude oil ends up once it hits the global marketplace. connections to china may not go to china. sales to entities may go straight to china. the only way we can be sure that u.s. crude does not end up in the hands of foreign entities of concerned is to reinstate that export ban. we shouldn't be exporting our streej ig oil reserves -- strategic oil reserves to china. i wish they put forth a more serious bill now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. duncan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. duncan: i want to congratulate the gentlelady on her chairmanship. america was increasingly dominant in energy production, producing a surplus, a surplus. exceeding demand usually means you can have lower prices because you're providing supply that exceeds demand. and then when we have more supply, we can export. we can export to our allies with prices that compete with the opec cartel in the open market. that's what energy dominance can do. but my friends on the other side of the aisle want to push green energy, wind and solar. you cannot export renewable energy. europe is more reliant on vladimir putin for their energy. you know what, for political purposes, president biden sold off a strategic asset of this nation. he started dumping oil out of the s.p.r., the strategic petroleum reserve, put it out there so that china could buy it and china did buy it. this was an american asset. you know what, this bill that prohibits that oil from being sold to china and other adversaries makes sense. but the democrat talking points make none. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: and mr. speaker, i yield three minutes now to the gentlewoman from texas, a member of our committee, mrs. fletcher. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. fletcher: thank you, mr. speaker. energy security is a key component of our national security. our energy exports have a security impact around the world. as they do here at home. and that's why i'm disappointed this morning to hear many of my friends across the aisle criticizing and blaming president biden for taking action to lower gas prices for american consumers and to weaken russia's ability to fund its unconscionable and unjustified war that is unprovoked against ukraine by selling oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. the s.p.r. is a critical foreign policy tool and energy security tool and it has been for more than 40 years. the s.p.r. was created for this precise purpose, for this moment that we are living in. and these recent sales like every sale of crude in the u.s. are made on the open market to any entity wishing to purchase it. the effective utilization of the s.p.r. has successfully lowered costs at the pump for americans over the last year. in december, "the wall street journal" reported that the u.s. government made roughly $4 billion in profits last year from the sell of crude oil out of the s.p.r. and this is an important point to remember, because it's the direct work of this body. in 2015, the energy and commerce committee, under republican leadership, lifted the 40-year ban on crude oil exports. if i was here at the time, i would have supported the republican colleagues to acknowledge the xhoity and the importance of ensuring america's energy security and leadership. but it isn't right to complain now for those who support free trade in oil and for those to complain that the system worked as it intended to. the oil from the s.p.r. was put on the global market which brought prices here down at home. those that were sold made its way to china. this was not an unforeseen consequence. the then-majority on the energy and commerce committee explicitly rejected a proposal by a democratic member of the committee at the time, mr. green from houston, to license the export of oil the way we license l.n.g. exports which requires the department of energy to approve the sales. requiring d.o.e. approval on crude oil could have prevented the sales now concerned. i appreciate this is a step toward addressing those concerns but i am concerned this alone is insufficient and we need a more row dust mekism -- robust mechanism to address the sales concerned. certainly they would be concerned about sales to north korea or iran or other adversaries. i supported chrissy houlahan as bipartisan -- houlahan's bipartisan bill. there's still work to do here and i hope that moving forward we can work together to craft smart energy policy that enhances our energy security and best serves the american people. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from utah, a member of the committee, energy and commerce, mr. curtis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. curtis: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. 22. this morning i listened very carefully to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about this bill. many of which i have great respect for, their expertise in energy. but i heard terms like political games, partisan. and while this may be their perspective, i wish for just a moment we can transport all of us to my district to see the perspective there, which is one of great hypocrisy. on the one hand, instead of utilizing the vast american resources we cleanly produce, including in utah, the president chose to use this country's strategic reserve to try to lower prices. on the other hand, in fact, the president did this while attacking energy jobs in utah by suspending energy development on federal lands and raising the royalty to produce oil to contributing -- two contributing prices to rising gas prices. not only did this release from the reserve barely make a dent in the price, it strengthened our number one geopolitical adversary, china. . under no circumstances should our reserve be used to fund our adversarieses, regardless of our views in this chim blunt rochester of the use of the reserve by the biden administration. we should all agree our emergency supplies shouldn't be sent to adversaries. i yield my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield now two minutes to the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i thank the chairman very much for his leadership. and recognition that when we speak about this legislation and the question of blocking the utilization of the petroleum reserve during times of crisis, we must raise a question. obviously having experienced a big freeze in houston, texas, in the state of texas, where 151 people died, we had to face the question of a very poor energy system. a lack of access to fossil fuel, i must admit, a frozen nuclear system, and unprepared in terms of alternative energy. it was a freeze that we never experienced in texas. the idea of the utilization of the petroleum reserve for me is a national security issue. and this legislation literally says if the president has the need and necessity to protect the american people, it will not be allowed. mr. speaker, i have to rise in opposition. even coming from what has been called previously the energy capital of the world. but what we want to be in houston and i believe the nation, is a multidisciplined, recognizing that there is a climate crisis, but at the same time recognizing the importance of the strategic petroleum reserve for, in fact, the necessities of the president to be able to provide for this nation. the american people are listening. they want an executive who can make decisions that will block the russians from absolutely crippling us. they want a president who can utilize this reserve. so today i stand against this legislation because it baffles me as to how we can understain -- understand. joip the gentlelady yields back -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentlelady reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the lady from arizona, member of the committee, energy and commerce, mrs. lesko. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. lesko: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 22. this administration's war on american energy has sent energy costs through the roof. while this administration has continued to shift blame for the rise in prices, president biden is draining our strategic petroleum reserve meant for emergencies by selling off some of these reserves in a band-aid solution for his policy fai failures. since may of last year, the biden administration has sold off one million barrels of oil per day until after the midterm elections. thanks to president biden's actions, our oil reserve is now at the lowest point in 40 years. yet this administration has no plan to unleash american energy production, to replenish our emergency oil supply and reduce prices. and to make matters even worse, while the biden administration is selling off our emergency oil reserve at an unprecedented rate, some of these barrels of oils have gone to communist china. that's right. our emergency oil supply is now in the hands of chinese communist party. we are exporting a total of 300,000 barrels of oil per day to china. in part because of the biden administration china, not the u.s., has the largest government controlled stockpile of oil in the world. with this legislation house republicans are delivering on our promise to restore our nation's energy security and bert protect our national security -- better protect our national security. this legislation stops the biden administration from selling any more of our emergency supply to the chinese communist party. house republicans will continue to stand up to china and stop the biden administration from creeding our energy -- ceding our energy security to our enemies. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, may inquire how much time remains on both sides? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey has 5 1/2 minutes. the gentlelady from washington has 11 1/2 minutes. mr. pallone: i reserve at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield a minute to the house majority leader, mr. scalise, also a long time member of the house energy and commerce committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scalise: thank you, mr. speaker. thank the chair of the house energy and commerce committee, my dear friend, mrs. mcmorris rodgers for yielding and bring this legislation, h.r. 22 to the floor. such an important piece of legislation to start standing up for america's national security. because if you think about the strategic petroleum reserve, just think of the first word in that name. strategic. it's there for america's national security. spro as it's referred to, first of all, raiding spro, which president biden has done over and over and over again, depleting 40% of our national security strategic reserve. not to move world oil prices. as you can see, mr. speaker, multiple times starting in november of 2021, president biden has raided spro because he's attacked american energy as he attacked american energy starting on his first day in office, the price of oil and gasoline at the pump subsequently has risen dramatically, crushing middle class families. so he started feeling the heat. his answer should have been reverse the failed policies that are dramatically increasing gas prices by crushing american energy. but, no, that's not what president biden did. because the extremist on the left don't want that. they won't allow him to do it. so then he turned to spro he said maybe we can just try to trick the american people by raiding spro. he did. when he raided it, what happened? you got a sugar high for about a week and boom the price started going back up again. because the world markets recognize president biden has taken american energy off the market. we, by the way, mr. speaker, we are the only country in the world that can produce massive quantities of oil that is a free market country. the rest of the countries that have an abundant supply are cartels, opec, russia, iran, venezuela. they want a high price. the only check and balance to high prices of oil is a free market producing america. by the way, if you want to hide behind the green new deal and global warming and whatever other name they attach to it, climate change, they change the name every couple years because the american people figure out that all it is is an attack on american energy. so the price keeps going up. we are shutting off the cleanest producing country in the world. you want to lower carbon emissions in the world, produce more oil in america. it's not just about creating more jobs, it's not just about our national security, mr. speaker, it's about actually reducing global emissions. china, as this bill addresses, president biden selling our strategic reserves to china, china's building about a coal plant a week. a new coal plant every week. dramatically increasing carbon emissions while president biden shuts down american manufacturing and production. shuts down oil. which, by the way, we were reducing emissions during those times when we were producing energy. over and over again, raided pro, raided pro, raided spro the patients' bill of rights kept going on. what went down is america's national security. and that's what we are getting to the part of here. 40% of our reserves. you got two different ways to get energy. we can actually produce it. as the moniker right above the speaker's rostrum says, let us develop our natural resources. we have natural resources. we have the best technology in the world. we can produce it cleaner than anybody else in the world. as long as we are producing energy, it actually can lower the cost. we don't just produce enough for ourselves because, by the way, if we weren't allowed to export energy, then you would see a decrease in production. you would see a decrease in exploration. it's like a farmer. if a farmer can only produce and sell in america, they are going to plant a lot less because they can't have access to world markets. you want to have access to world markets. you want to also have a reserve in case, not in case you have a failed policy, as what we are seeing with president biden, you want a reserve in case there is a natural disaster. if a hurricane hits the gulf of mexico, as we have seen, it actually spikes the price. you have a previous disruption and you want to reserve to go and fill that need. if you have some kind of national security emergency, like they did in the 1970's, when spro was created, that's when we created this reserve for our country, when cartels controlled world oil markets. because we didn't have the technology to access, like we do today. we didn't have fracking technology, the ability to go 5,000 feet in the deep waters in the gulf of mexico to find billion barrel reserves like today. the cartels controlled everything. lines at the pump. you had to have an even numbered license plate to get gasoline on a certain day. that was the 1970's. so congress created spro. for our national security. mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. please take your conversations off the floor. the gentleman may proceed. mr. scalise: i understand a little history lesson might help people recognize how we got here. it's not by accident we got here. we should want as congress to be able to work together to fix this problem. to address the fact that prices have gone up not just for gasoline at the pump, when people are heating their homes in a cold winter. the price shouldn't be that high. by the way we were also by exporting energy helping our friends around the world. so we don't have to be dependent on oil from other places or natural gas. so putin as was the case in the build up to afghanistan, putin was making about $700 million a day, mr. speaker, selling his oil to america and europe. because president biden shut off american supply. no reason that should have happened. but that's what got us here. what can get us out? first let me remind you what else got us here. they are trying to blame everybody else under the sun. it was putin's fault. oil company's fault. the weather's fault. it's president biden's fault. day one, day one he started mountains of rules and regulations. these aren't laws passed by congress, by the way. these are rules and regulations that have come out of the biden administration just in the last two years, attacking american energy. not foreign countries. president biden was ok with pipelines from russia to europe. but he said no on day one to a pipeline from canada to america. all of these actions had a cost. the cost is dramatic prices at the pump for hardworking families. crushing the lowest income families amongst us. what agencies by the way are represented here? department of energy went after american energy. department of energy regulatory commission, the securities and exchange commission through woke policies going after american energy. the department of agriculture. yes, went after american energy in these rules and regs. the council on environmental quality. the department of state. that gets to the keystone pipeline. the environmental protection agency. the department of justice. gentlemen yes, the department of interior represented here in rules and regulations that crushed american energy. making us more dependent on foreign countries and leading to president biden raiding our sprj petroleum reserve. 40%, making our country less safe. this foolish necessary has to end. we can solve this problem. mrs. mcmorris rodgers and her committee, they have real ideas about how to solve this problem. the good news is, mr. speaker, under this majority, we are going to be bringing bills through committee to the floor to fix this problem. . if which just killed -- if we just killed this bill, 950,000 barrels already that president biden has already sold to china. but they have some magic answer. my question is, where was that magic answer two years ago, two months ago, two weeks ago when they were in the majority? they had the house, senate, and white house. i guess in the last two weeks they finally figured out the answer. because they surely didn't pass that to the president two weeks ago, two months ago, or two years ago. what they did do is they brought mountains and mountains of regulation to crush american energy. and biden gets on a plane called air force one, we checked it. there are no solar panels on the wings of air force one. it uses jet fuel. he flies to saudi arabia and begs saudi princes to produce more energy because he shut down ame america's energy production. no pipelines, no leases, no permits. he's done all those things and it led to higher prices. he didn't have to get on air force one and fly thousands of miles back and forth. who knows what the carbon footprint of that is. i'd love the press dig into that because they love to talk about carbon footprints for other things. he could have picked up the phone and called louisiana and say, produce more energy in america. cleaner, more efficient, better jobs than anywhere else in the world. he didn't do that. it's time we get smart policies. it's time we have some common sense in our energy policy so we stop crushing those middle-class families, to sell our oil to china, not just our oil, our reserves. this is our piggy bank in case there's a disaster. he's depleted 40% of it and keeps reduces it to mask his failed policies. let's get the policies right and start fighting for those hardworking families who are suff because of this. let's keep going to work for those families and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from washington. mrs. rodgers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pallone: i listen to the majority leader and i want to stress that history is not on his side. the fact of the matter is that the republicans created this problem by lifting the ban on the export of crude oil to china and the rest of the world when they were in the majority. and this bill does nothing to solve the problem. only 2% of the oil that's exported to china comes from the s.p.r. the other 98%, even if this bill pass, which it won't in the senate, will still allow the other 98% of crude oil to go to china. and the consequence of the republican policy was to destroy jobs at american refineries, including my home state of new jersey, because they allowed the crude oil to be exported and as a result, a lot of the refineries closed and we lost jobs here. so don't tell me that this is a bill that's going to help our country, help jobs. it's just the opposite. it is just masking the reality, which is they want to continue to sell oil to china, to russia, to iran, and to all our adversaries. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from pennsylvania, a member of the energy and commerce committee, dr. joyce. mr. joyce: i thank the gentlewoman for yielding. and i congratulate her on her historic leadership position. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the gentlelady, how many minutes? mrs. rodgers: 1 1/2 minutes, please. the speaker pro tempore: 1 1/2. mr. joyce: again, i thank the gentlewoman for yielding and i congratulate her for her historic leadership position. mr. speaker, our nation and our national security has always been tied to our ability to utilize the resources that we have right here in america to remain free. the energy resources that are underneath the feet of my constituents were vital to the production and fueling of the tanks, the planes, and the ships that gave americans the advantages that we needed to win world war ii. and now the chinese communist party threatens free nations with oppression. the biden administration has allowed our strategic petroleum reserve to be sold to the chinese companies for political purposes. instead of approving new leasing permits, biden delayed any drilling projects and canceled on day one the keystone x.l. pipeline. instead of incentivizing companies to utilize the resources we have in pennsylvania, biden targeted american energy producers with new regulations that made natural gas and oil more expensive for american families. selling away our strategic petroleum reserve for political gain has left our nation less safe and our energy less secure. to the chinese communist party, this boggles the american mind. it is time to refill our strategic reserves. it is time to stop risking our national security to score cheap political points. i urge all of my colleagues, all of my colleagues to vote yes on this important legislation. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the lady from washington reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i'll continue to reserve because they have more time on their side. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from ohio, leader on energy issues, new member of the committee, mr. balderson, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: how much time? mrs. rodgers: one minute. the speaker pro tempore: one minute. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. balderson: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you to the madam chair. and i look forward and i'm honored and blessed to be able to serve with you. instead of supporting american energy reducers, the biden administration decided to drain our energy reserves to the lowest levels since 1983. so who benefited from this decision to drain these reserves? the chinese communist party. now the largest government proeld petroleum reserve until the world. in fact, this administration referred to a subsidy of chinese communist party owned china petroleum and chemical corp. this bill bars the secretary of energy from selling any of the reserve. energy security and national security. we're fighting one of our greatest geopolitical challenges. i urge passage of h.r. 22, the protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act, and yield back, mr. speaker. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the lady from washington reserves? mrs. rodgers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i continue to reserve until we're prepared to close. mrs. rodgers: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. stauber. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. stauber: thank you, madam chairwoman. i rise in support of h.r. 22. the bottom line is, do we sell our strategic petroleum reserve to china or not? the answer is, we should never sell one ounce of strategic petroleum reserve to the communist country of china. remember, joe biden, as a candidate and on day one declared war on american energy by shutting down the x.l. keystone pipeline. we in america are paying way more for energy than we should because of the policies of this administration. so this h.r. 22, madam chair, is an easy one. the united states of america should not sell one ounce of our strategic petroleum reserve to the communist country of china. and i rise in strong support of h.r. 22. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mrs. rodgers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, new member of the energy and commerce committee, mr. weber. mr. weber: mr. speaker, i have paid attention to this s.p.r. since 2008 when i got elected to the texas house. i'm pleased to announce that the independent petroleum association of america endorses this legislation put forth by house republicans aimed at reining in the administration's misuse of the s.p.r. s.p.r. was not intended to be used as a political tool to bring down gasoline prices in an election year. next thing you know the president will give away free college tuition. oh, he did that, too. this is a band-aid on the overarching situation. the long-term solution is to enhance rather than hinder america's oil and gas production. our true domestic natural gas and oil from production to the supply chain is ready to work. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield myself 30 seconds, mr. speaker. it's certainly no surprise that the oil industry would support this bill because this bill does absolutely nothing to prevent them from selling to china, to russia, and all our adversaries. only 2% of the oil that's sold to china comes from the s.p.r. so they will be able to continue to sell to whoever they please. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman i reserve the balance of my time -- the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. van drew. 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from new jersey. mr. van drew: thank you. thank you, chairwoman. we're very proud of you and look forward to working with you and thank you for yielding. you guys got to be kidding me. seriously. you were in control. you had the house. you had the senate. you had the presidency. if you thought there were any good bills or good ideas to stop this or bills that were better than anything we're putting forward, why didn't you do them? you had the control. you didn't need us for a whole lot of other things. you voted and rammed things through that was radical. and yet this commonsense legislation, nothing happened. you can't be serious. that's a bad argument. since there's been one-party rule in washington, democratic rule, republicans were forced to watch president biden drain more than 250 million barrels, nearly 40%, 40% of our petroleum reserve. this puts our national security at risk. it puts the american people at risk. for our military, what will they do if they need the petroleum reserve? for our americans, what will they do when natural disasters strike and their town needs the petroleum reserve? for our rescue and emergency personnel, what will they do if they need the petroleum reserve? why would anyone ever vote against this bill? maybe if you want to lower gas prices temporarily for political gains you would oppose this bill, but make a choice. do what's right and vote for this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from washington. mrs. rodgers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: reserves. mr. pallone: i reserve, mr. speaker, until we close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield to the lady from texas, one minute, monica de la cruz. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. della krus: i -- ms. de la cruz: i rise in support of the oil and natural gas workers in south texas. this bill is a crucial step in holding china accountable and repositioning the united states as a global energy leader. it is essential that we recover our energy independence and stand up for texas' workers who have unfairly suffered as a result of this administration's misguided policies that have emboldened regimes like china and venezuela's narco dictatorship. the decision to prioritize foreign energy over our own puts american workers over our industries -- puts american workers, our industries, and our country at a disadvantaged. protecting american energy will strengthen both our economic and national security. i fully stand committed to fighting for all the natural gas and oil workers in south texas and across our nation. thank you. i yield back. mrs. rodgers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentlelady from washington reserves. mr. pallone: again, i'll reserve until we close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from florida, mr. mills. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mills: i came to talk about a speech today. but after hearing my colleagues on the left it's simple. they don't care about unleashing american energy, us getting to energy dominance to ensuring we have the global currency. they care about defending the chinese and c.c.p. that's why they have continued to try and prevent us from being able to sell our strategic petroleum reserves to china. that's why they tried to stop us from putting together a subcommittee that would have been a select subcommittee. it is very clear they do not want to go to an american first agenda. they do not want to protect america. they do not want to unleash american energy for the american people to get our costs under control. they want to continue to protect the communist china party and the chinese themselves. i rise in protection not just in support of h.r. 22 but the american people and the american workers. thank you, mr. speaker. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from washington. mrs. rodgers: may inquire to the time remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington has three minutes. mrs. rodgers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey has four minutes. the gentlelady reserve. mr. pallone: is the gentlewoman prepared to close? mrs. rodgers: i'm pleased to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from texas, mr. fallon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. fallon: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today as a co-sponsor of protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act. china should not be the beneficiary of the biden administration's full hardy abuse of the spro. it was at 695 million barrels and goes down to 3716789 that's half. while the chinese communist party has nearly a bill in reserve. this is an excellent piece of legislation. i urge swift passage. put america first. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from washington. mrs. rodgers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: she reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself 30 seconds. the gentleman talks about how china has built up its reserves. it's petroleum reserve. it's because you when you were in the majority stopped the ban on export. and they used that opportunity to build up their reserves. this has nothing to do with the spro. 98% of the oil that's exported to china is not from the spro. they use the opportunity since 2015 when you lifted the ban to build up their petroleum reserves on your watch. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. mrs. rodgers: pleased to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from new york, mr. lawler. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lawler: thank you, madam chair. thank you, mr. speaker. bottom line is america needs to be energy independent. we should not be relying on foreign government. we should not be relying on china, least of all. 60% of new yorkers, for instance, rely on natural gas. we need to expand our energy portfolio. we need to increase domestic production of energy. we need to protect our reserves. we should not be engaging in the type of behavior that the administration has with respect to china. and we should continue to do everything we can to reduce the cost of energy here in america and increase our production. that has to be the goal at all times. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady reserves. prepared to close. mr. pallone: i'm prepared to close. i yield myself such time as i may consume, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i find myself compelled to point out that listening to republican arguments today you would think they have been sacred stewards of the spro. that couldn't be further from the truth. when republicans had the majority in both the house and senate from 2015 to 2019, they passed six bills, none of which had anything to do with energy, that raided the spro for a total of over 260 million barrels of crude. now the republicans stand here criticizing president biden's usage of the spro and it's laughable. president biden's usage of the spro has helped lower gas prices by nearly $1.80 per gallon since their peak. and while the republicans want to pretend their tough on china, it's the opposite that's true. last year the biden administration was forced to sell 20 million barrels from the spro under one of those laws that i mentioned earlier that passed a republican-controlled congress. the republicans didn't include any restrictions, no restrictions or stipulations on that sale. as a result the administration was forced to sell to the highest bidders, including a firm owned by the people's republic of china. again i'm going to suppress in closing, the republicans caused china to have a huge petroleum reserve by lifting the ban on crude oil in 2015 when they were in the majority. we would not have this pro problem -- the speaker pro tempore: the house is not in order. please take your conversations off the floor. the gentleman may resume. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. prior to 2015 when the republicans lifted the ban on exports of crude oil, we had that ban in place for 40 years, 40 years. and then in 2015 they came in and they lifted the ban. they caused this problem. and during the trump administration the amount of crude oil that was sold to china was unbelievable. as a result the petroleum reserve increased significantly in china. they took advantage of the situation. if you really wanted to do something today, first of all you would say that the spro should not only be banned by selling oil from the spro to china, you should say that you can't sell it to russia. you can't sell it to iran. you can't sell it to north korea. you can't sell it to our adversaries which is exactly what the gentlewoman from pennsylvania ms. houlahan's bill does on a bipartisan basis. even beyond that you could simply say no crude oil should be sold at all. exported at all. or certainly not exported to our adversaries. that's not what's happening here. this is a problem that was created by the republicans and they pretend that they are doing something about it today. but in fact they are not. the reason is because they are with the big oil. they are with the special interests that want to sell this crude oil. continue to sell it overseas. and they don't care that it goes to our adversaries. that's the bottom line. this bill is not going to accomplish anything. i would urge my colleagues to vote no on the legislation. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from washington is recognized to close. mrs. rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. leadership matters. american leadership matters. you can't be a diplomatic power without a being a military power. you can't be a military power without being an economic power. you can't be an economic power without energy. in order to reverse the damage to our energy security and our global leadership, we must flip the switch and unleash american energy production. we need to stop the biden administration from wasting our strategic reserves. it's time to cut the red tape and expand energy production here at home. modernize our infrastructure. and create new opportunities for jobs and economic development. the democrats suggested that the bills included iran, russia, north korea that they would support it. the fact of the matter is, those are the countries this administration has gone to. they have gone to opec. iran, and russia. and asked them to produce more oil. ladies and gentlemen, i look forward to the passage of this bill today. i'm eager, i am eager to work with my colleagues on additional solutions to make energy more affordable, more reliable. it is america that is leading in clean, reliable, renewable, affordable energy. it is so important to energy dominance. it's important to american leadership. it's important to our economy. it's important to every person in this country that has been living with record high energy prices. every time they go to the gas station to fill up over the last couple years, they have been experiencing record high energy prices. ladies and gentlemen, we are prepared to lead. we want to unleash american energy. unleash clean american energy jobs. this is important to our national security. it's important to our economic security. i urge everyone to vote yes. pass h.r. 22. it's just the beginning. there is more to come. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 5, the previous question is ordered on the bill. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to prohibit the secretary of the energy from sending petroleum products from the strategic petroleum reserve to china, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the bill. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the bill is passed. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has requested the yeas and nays. the yeas and nays are ordered, those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 331. the nays are 97. with 0 answering present. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. if members can take their conversations off the floor. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the house will be in order. >> thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. >> thank you, madam speaker. with news that demar hamlin has finally been released from the hospital, i'm honored to join my fellow nfl alumni, congressman owens, and my colleagues here today to lead a moment in recognizing demar hamlin's inspiring story on the floor of the people's house. football has some downsides. but it also has the power -- the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. >> football does have -- thank you, madam speaker. football does have some downsides. but it also has the power to bring us together. to remind us of what really matters. and demar's perseverance has inspired millions. once again highlighted the generosity and fundamental goodness of the american people. demar, congratulations on your recovery. we are all with you. now i yield to congressman owens. mr. owens: i want to thank my teammate, collin. thank you for pulling us together. demar hamlin's fighting spirit and faith inspired all americans. his recovery reminds us of the power prayer. he's been in the prayer of millions of the last two weeks. and regardless of race, creed, or color. as we stand here today we see the vision of our founders. a promise to become a more perfect union a celebration of amar'e tock acy, a young man whose strength comes from god and family. we have seen our nation's heart of empathy. one that blesses us with opportunity to dream, strugglings overcome, and the ult mass prize to inspire and bless others. god bless demar, the hamiln family, teammates, and football community. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from georgia seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> today i congratulate my alma mater, the university of georgia, on their dominating victory over the t.c.u. horned frogs in monday's national championship. mrs. greene: last year the bulldogs ended a four decade long national championship drought. this year they became the first team in the playoff era to win back-to-back titles. coach kirby smart has built an incredible program with incredible players. several of which are from georgia's 14th district. lad, a graduate of north murray high school has started as wide receiver for two seasons at u.g.a. during his time as a bulldog he-e has amassed over 1300 total yards and 15 total touchdowns, two of which came on monday night. lad is not the only outstanding player from georgia 14. tate of rome. smilings of dallas. cole of calhoun. c.j. washington of seartown. jonathan washburn of ringgold. and kay brock from darlington school have made our district proud. go dogs. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from alabama seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask one minute to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise today to honor news anchor sheri jackson, who is celebrating her 25th anniversary today as a trusted voice of the cbs 42 family in birmingham, alabama. ms. sewell: sheri jackson is an award winning journalist who currently serves as the managing editor and member of the cbs 42 investigative team. she hails from st. louis, missouri. she made her home in birmingham in 1998 and has blazed trails reporting on the critical issues affecting birmingham and central alabama. her career has earned her praise and recognition, including best news anchor by the alabama broadcasters association. i'm grateful to her for traveling to washington, d.c., in 2013 to cover one of my proudest moments in congress. awarding the congressional gold medal to the four little girls. i know my constituents in birmingham are eternally grateful for her consistent and trusted voice. i ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing sheri jackson for her extraordinary career and congrat lating her on -- congratulating her on 25 years of exception work at cbs 42. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. >> i rise to this occasion to appreciate my constituents, especially those who have come here from india. we have a large portion of our community that is 100,000 people who immigrated from india. they represent some of the best citizens we have in america and make sure we streamline the immigration process who come here to obey the law and pay their taxes and be productive members of society. they pay about 6% of the taxes and amongst the top producers and do not cause problems and follow laws and don't have the problems other people have when they come to the emergency room for overdoses, because these are the most productive and family ownerred. god bless my constituents and look forward to meeting the ambassador and god bless dr. can kharni. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today to praise president biden for his work to restore our economy. the covid-19 pandemic caused economic issues that few experts could have predicted. it needed strong leadership to help our nation recover. thanks to president biden's leadership, inflation has come down for six straight months. gasoline prices are down almost $2 in a few months and the cost of goods are falling nationwide. these actions are saving millions of dollars for hardworking american families across the country. in addition, president biden's leadership has led to increased wages, 11 million new jobs and lowest unemployment in 50 years. his economic policies are working and we are lucky to have him in the white house. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. carter: i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: i rise today to honor and celebrate the life of c. lee butler of savannah, georgia. he was born in chicago and graduated from high school in 1944. five days after his 18th birthday he enlisted in the u.s. army and served on the italian front. while in law school, he met and married betty stanley. they have three children. in 1970 lee founded his own business, the judiciary group, a successful management firm. he served at memorial medical center and he was a member of wesley monumental united methodist dhump. on behalf of myself and the entire 1st district of georgia, we are sorry fr the loss of this great american. thank you. and i yield become. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from new york is recognized. >> buffalo and western new york have had fair share of challenges over the past last year, a racist mass shooter murdered local people, a blinding blizzard took the lives of dozens of our neighbors two weeks ago and what should have been an exciting football game turned into a night march for damar ham lynn and his family. today i rise to celebrate the people in the spirit of buffalo. we are more than neighbors, we are family. a family that sticks together and rallies around our teams in good times and in bad. i am proud of the way buffalo works through our struggles and proud still to call this place home. our best days are immediately in front of us. go bills. i yield back. >> unanimous consent address the house for one minute and revise and stepped my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from new york is recognized. >> the biden administration announced plans to ban gas stoves. the governor of new york embraced the same plan. the problem is that 60% of new yorkers rely on natural gas. 70% of our like that is generated by natural gas. while we absolutely embrace the move to reduce carbon emissions, the reality is natural gas has reduced carbon emissions than renewables over the last two decades. we need a comprehensive energy plan and portfolio that is an all of the above approach. we need clean, cheap, reliable energy. natural gas plays a critical role in doing that. and to try and ban natural gas and force homeowners to convert their home from gas to electric, the average homeowner will pay $35,000 to do. the question is who will pay for that? the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, it is the honor of a lifetime to represent the people of north carolina's 13th district. while we have seen chaos and confusion play out over the past week, i want to make it clear i am here to solve problems and not get caught up in politics as usual. it's important for the american people to know there are adults in the room and reasonable minds will prevail and i am committed to work across the aisle to do what's right for north carolina. the 13th district is the fastest growing districts in the country and congress needs to address the challenges that come with that growth on. my constituents need their tax dollars to be used responsibly to improve roads and decisions and bring down the cost of housing and child care and we need immigration reform that allows our economy to prosper. i support immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented immigrants known as the dreamers along with robust border security. and the time for action is now. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lamalfa: classified documents were discovered at president biden's think tank in washington, d.c.. they were at least six years old, he took them while he was vice president and lacked the authority at the time to declassify them. yesterday, a second batch of documents has been found. the timing of these discoveries were right after the november mid-term elections. knowing the history of shadily dealings with china and others, this raises national security concerns. mishandling classified information is a serious documents -- prb. and get special prosecutions and political witch hunts. this breach of national security should be investigated by congress and the d.o.j. to determine the magnitude of this offense. the d.o.j. wants to claim to be nonpartisan and must enforce equity across party lines. who has seen these documents and had access with the sloppy storage in pennsylvania or wherever else they are. and need to be accountable. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. it adjourn to meet at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from new york is recognized. >> the rent is too damn high. the rent is too damn high. we have people across the country struggling to keep a roof over their heads. we are the wealth theft nation in the history of the world outside of ancient african civilizations yet we cannot provide housing for every single person in our country. we have c.e.o.'s making record profitses and corporations making corporate profits. landlords are evicting tenants while continuing to raise the rent. we call on president biden to take executive action on this issue. we do not have a healthy democracy or healthy society unless we take care of our tenants and working-class people who are working 40, 50, 60 hours a week just to survive. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> it's an honor to be serving with you all from illinois 17th congressional district as a trusted neighbor in congress. i spent more than 20 years of my life as a broadcast meteorologistist making sure that people have the right information to make good decisions in times of dangerous weather. now i am here in congress to serve my constituents as their trusted voice in government. i am focused on delivering ruts for my constituents whether it's lowering food, energy or prescription drug costs and increasing jobs in our communities and protecting access to reproductive health care and i promise to work with either republican or democrat on commonsense solutions that solve the problems that we face every day. i am ready to put partisan politics aside and get to work in the 118th congress. i yield become. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. ms. kaptur: america's economic independence is based in energy independence. and today i voted for h.r. 22, a bill that prohibits selling oil from our petroleum reserve to china. however this bill does not go far enough. i was one of the members that saved the strategic petroleum reserve several years ago. we have to prohibit the sale of oil to other tyrants. in 2015, it was the republican-controlled congress that voted to begin exporting oil to you will iran, russia and china. well, how about that? americans cannot be dependent on any foreign adversaries. now it's time to ensure american energy independence in perpetuity. we protect our workers and companies when we stand up to adversaries and we must continue to advance new energy technologies and i look forward to republican support in doing so. that's the recipe for america's strength and liberty. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: let me, first of all, acknowledge damar hamlin. welcome home as he disdischarged from a buffalo hospital. that is the kind of strength and though i am not from buffalo and salute the bills. i ask america how does a six-year-old shoot a teacher? and the answer is research from the university of pennsylvania that children become shooters because they have access to guns. and so in so in my congressional year, 2023, i'm going to demand that this congress claims this as the year of the child. as the founder of the congressional children's caucus, i call upon my colleagues, democrats and republicans, to join this caucus. to be able to establish the premise that no child should go to bed hungry. no child should be without housing or good education. and no child should get off the school bus and be shot as two children were in washington, d.c. stop the gun violence. let this be the year of the child. let us lift up our children for them to be healthy adults. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from nevada seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. titus: i rise to discuss the protecting america's strategic petroleum reserve from china act which the republicans brought to the floor today to fix a mistake that their leadership in the 114th congress made. you wouldn't know that to hear them talking today. blaming other people. not themselves. back then 235 republicans voted to end our country's 40-year-long crude oil export ban. when they did that, trump took full advantage of it and under his administration over 391 million barrels went to china. now they want to rewrite history. you can't rewrite history. the evidence is there. this bill was a step in the right direction. like my colleague from ohio said earlier, it doesn't go far enough. why don't we extend this ban to north korea, iran, and russia. that way we can prevent all our adversaries, not just china, from using our oil to our disadvantage. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from colorado seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. ms. pettersen: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to recognize two of my most important constituents in the milestones in the week to come. this sunday, january 15, marks the 12th anniversary with my husband, ian. 12 years ago i said yes to our first date. it was the best decision i have made. i'm so grateful for your love and support all along the way. no matter how difficult our path, you have always been my rock and biggest cheerleader. i'm thankful every day for the life that we have built together. happy anniversary to my partner, best friend, and a dad to my most important constituent, my son, davis. january 19 is my son's third birthday. davis, you have been the greatest gift to both our lives. it has been amazing to watch you grow and see you become the loflg and empathetic little guy you are. nothing makes me happier and prouder than being your mom. your dad and i love you so much and i can't wait to celebrate you and all that you bring to our lives and the people around you. happy birthday, my sweet boy. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise on behalf of eastern, north carolina. neither 100,000 easton north carolinians have not have access to affordable health care, placing them in a medicaid coverage gap. madam speaker, more than a decade after the passage of the affordable care act, 12 states have declined to expand coverage. this is simply unacceptable. that is why one of my first acts as a member of congress includes co-sponsoring h.r. 31, the cover now act. this bill introduced by my good friend, lloyd doggett of texas, is a critical piece of legislation that would allow local authorities to provide health benefits to residents of states that have not expanded medicaid. madam speaker, the hardworking people of easton, north carolina, make up more than 20% of our state. we must do all that we can to keep them safe and healthy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. davis: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> when the supreme court overturned roe last summer, they took away hard fought rights from millions of women across our country. and now women in kentucky no longer have access to safe and legal abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. the country responded at the ballot box and my district overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional amendment to further restrict reproductive rights in kentucky. so how do we respond here? mr. mccarthy: last -- mr. mcgarvey: last night the republicans' first order of business was to make it harder for women to receive abortions and health care professionals to provide them. these decisions are best left between a woman and her doctor. but house republicans have sent a clear message that more legislative attacks against women's rights are on the horizon. i proudly voted against yesterday's attack on women and their doctors. i will continue fighting for reproductive rights. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i rise today for the first time as a member of congress to thank the folks back home in cincinnati and throughout the first congressional district. mr. landsman: i couldn't be more energized to be serving all of you in the country we love. my commitment to you and my new colleagues is to be here as a new transparent bipartisan and highly reliable leader. we are already working with republicans on legislative priorities that will help our children and families back home, capping the costs of insulin for children, helping folks pay their bills with an expanded earned income tax credit and the child tax credit. and providing additional grants to communities to recruit more police officers and firefighters. there will always be more that unite us than divide us. my work will continue to be finding common ground, working across the aisle, to get things done on the inshoes t that matter -- issues that matter most to you. thank you so much. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, last november the american people delivered a clear message, women want the right to make their own reproductive decisions. my republican colleagues must have missed that message because they just passed a bill that inserts politics into private family decisions. that bill is an attempt to create a false and gruesome narrative to interfere with a doctor's care for her patients and falsely suggest that doctors don't already have a legal obligation to provide the best possible care for their patients. ms. manning: this fear mongering is dangerous. it could leave doctors fearful of providing the best care for patients who are facing devastating circumstances. and it could cause further pain to families facing the heartbreak of a fetus with a fatal abnormality. the real aim of this bill is to vilify and punish women and their doctors. i voted no on h.r. 26. i will continue to stand up for women's reproductive rights. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i wish to congratulate the nurses of mount sinai medical center who after three days on strike reached a tentative agreement for safe staffing ratios this morning. our hospitals are facing extreme nursing shortages and it is affecting patient care. montefur alone in my district has had 760 vacancies. thanks to the tentative agreement and courage and effort of our nurses on the pickett line, hospital management is now committing to an aggressive hiring plan and to immediately implement safe staffing ratios, including an increase of over 170 nursing positions, and a 19.1% wage increase in additional benefits to help with retention. ms. ocasio-cortez: thank you so much to the new york state nurses association for their work. it is our privilege to stand in solidarity with you. mr. speaker, i would like permission to submit an extension of my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. january 12, 2023. i hereby adesignate the period from february, january 13, 2023, through monday, january 23, 2023 as a district work period under section 3-z of house resolution 5. signed, sincerely, k kevin mccarthy, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to 22u.s.c.6913 and order of the house of january 9, 2023 of the following members on the part of the house to the congressional executive commission on the people's republic of china. the clerk: mr. smith of new jersey, chair. mr. mcgovern of massachusetts. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 9, 2023, the gentleman from arkansas, mr. hill, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. hill: i thank madam speaker for the time to address the house. isn't it jut standing -- outstanding, madam speaker, to see the people's house opened once again to the public. and have the public in our galleries. and see the capitol opened to our families once again. that's a big change after the years of the pandemic. and our chamber being closed from the citizens and families that send us here to washington. that is a great way to have seen this house under republican majority leadership open the week. as we close this first week under republican leadership, back in the majority on this house floor, it's also good to see my colleagues on the other side of the aisle put a premium on talking about bipartisanship. i particularly like my friend from ohio, mr. landsman, and mro new freshmen members on the house floor for the first time this week as fully sworn members of congress talking about their priorities as newly elected democrats and seeking bipartisanship on this side of the aisle. this week the house has taken two important steps regarding our strategic competition with the chinese communist party. the c.c.p. madam speaker, those steps on this house floor were overwhelmingly bipartisan. first, we created a select committee on the strategic competition between the united states and the c.c.p. our vision of an integrated, open, free world where people can celebrate their religion. people can travel. people can trade. that strategic competition presses the western values of europe and the united states with the more narrow authoritarian view of the chinese communist party. secondly, we prevented oil being recracied from our strej petroleum reserve -- strategy petroleum reserve and being sold to communist china. today over 320 members of this body agreed with that by voting yes on h.r. 22. the strategic petroleum reserve has played an important role in u.s. energy and national security policy for four decades. it was created in response to the arab oil embargo in the early 1970's which resulted in the tripling of oil prices at the time. since that time the s.p.r. has remained a backstop for the united states in case of oil supply disruption. madam speaker, those on the other side of the aisle talked about america becoming the largest exporting nation in the world. somehow that's a bad thing. and that we freed our ability to export oil and gas outside the u.s. as if that were a bad thing. it's not. but they are two completely different issues. the strategic petroleum reserve is there for an emergency affecting the united states, our citizens, our households, our industry principally in case of a gulf hurricane. . from war or an accident somewhere else in the world. it's not meant to be supplying oil to everybody besides the united states. and just over the last year, president biden has released 180 million barrels of our strategic petroleum reserve, bringing it down to a 1985 level, a four-decade low. this is not smart economic policy or energy policy in this country. and in fact, over one million barrels went to a chinese affiliated company at the same time that china is reportedly holding its own crude oil reserves of 900 million barrels. anyone with realistic knowledge and expectations in and around the debate about claiment change or energy -- climate change or energy policy knows that this administration's policies have hurt our economy and at the same time weakening the globe fighting climate change. shutting down the keystone pipeline, discouraging new pipeline construction and through his bank and securities, environmental, social governance policies, e.s.g. policies that has discouraged badly needed capital investment to go to our energy industry and have weakened american global leadership and our strategic benefit as reference bed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, of energy independence. president biden has weakened our energy independence. instead the biden administration had doubled down, even tripled down on these bad policies that raised costs on every american. while president biden nanny state regulators this week considered outlawing your gas stoaive in your home, kitchen or your restaurant. republicans began their first step at unleashing an all of the above energy strategy. we have to let that sink in, that a federal regulator actually considered a serious policy proposal of banning you from having a gas stove in your home or in your restaurant. i mean everyone in america was shaking their heads this week with the nature of that new idea from the biden administration. republicans believe in an all of the above strategy which benefits america and benefits the globe and we must continue to invest in energy development in order to make it through a full global transition. first, we have to keep investing in natural gas. we have natural gas fields across our nation from the west coast to the east coast, in the heart of pennsylvania and of course in the heart of new york state where new york state's democratic leadership refuses to let that be brought online and let it be developed developing the tax base and consumers, and that in new york and pennsylvania alone believe it is larger and more lucrative than the largest oil field we know of in the persian gulf, but we will never see a pipe lynn to keith coast ports in this administration or any other democratic leadership. if the war in ukraine showed the world anything, it's that russia cannot be trusted any longer if they were ever to be a reliable source to europe for their energy consumption needs. united states stands ready to export more liquified natural gas to europe but the pipelines and other infrastructure don't fully exist in this country in order to have that impact to help our allies in europe and asia. we need to make that investment. second, i have a solution that democrats should meet all of their objectives for world energy reliance and consistent with their climate objectives. it's clean, it's renewable and we could export it to developing nations, nuclear energy. yet international financial institutions, the european bank for construction and development are reluctant to finance any nuclear power expansion in europe and yet the countries of central europe are demanding it. they want an all of the above energy strategy and the european bank which the united states is a shareholder, tunes a blind eye to clean, renewable, dependable nuclear energy. the ebrd insists of financing green projects and ignores this commonsense all of the above strategy. today's reactor designs are not the plants of yes, sir tear year at three mile island. they are safe and reliable and for many the top concern is what do we do with nuclear waste. research has said we have the ability to produce even more abundant energy. nuclear power plnts in france have the ability to do this but we don't do it here in the u.s. i visited a nuclear energy plant in air can awe. further, i learned that the process to length then the life of an existing nuclear plant here in the united states or much less build a new one is an immense tangle of regulatory red tape that takes years to navigate and millions of dollars of out of pocket fees. we in congress can streamline that kind of review. when america leads in research and development, that knowledge is exported around the world. we can only export that success if we have the successful policies in place to spur that development. we cannot expect the developing nations in africa, southeast asia or here in the western hemisphere to power their growing cities and growing in wealth populations by wind and solar alone principally because of the issues with storage deficiencies and production of energy from renewableables, efficiencies, that remains while improving, years in advance. solely depending on that is unrealistic. when america does not have the will to export that r&d, they will turn to bad actors like china and russia. our globe needs 100 million barrels per day to power our homes and economies and as more countries develop and their people grow in wealth and prosperity, their energy needs rise, not shrink. we cannot wait and have nothing to offer and we don't want to impose california's energy policies on the bolder and expect -- on the world and expect a good outcome. we should be investing in our energy options and republicans just as we started out here the first week, we will be bringing policies to this house floor to unleash all of the above energy policy, natural gas, wind and solar. the mistakes under this president means we don't have the capacity and dependability that we need not only today, but tomorrow. and this unleashing policy by house republicans not only puts america first but puts families across the globe first. first in opportunity, first in food and fuel security and in prosperity. madam speaker, i rise today to recognize a cherished member of my district staff. recently, joined tim griffin's team as the director of office of community relations. known as a.j. came to arkansas from india at age 11. she graduated from the university of arkansas where she graduated in 2011 and earned graduate agree at the bush school at texas a&m-t she joined my predecessor, then representative tim griffin in the office representing the 2nd congressional district. she served as an intern and legislative director while working to -- for him. when i took the oath in 2015, she joined my district representative and became my director. she on deeply cares for the constituents and now for her role for attorney general, she cares for the citizens of arkansas. if someone needed a passport or help with a visa, she worked tirelessly to make that happen. throughout my time in congress, she has been dedicated to serving the people of central arkansas. i thank her for her decade of service and i look forward to the work she will continue to do for our great state. madam speaker, i rise to highlight the mission of the arkansas martin luther king junior commission. for 30 years, the commission has led in community outreach and education. the commission his led by its executive director desean starborough. the m.l.k. junior commission seeks to promote a preserve the life and legacy of dr. king throughout the state. the commission's outreach projects of promoting education and encouragement of our youth to gig in positive leadership development and roles within their communities has been outstanding. i am proud to have been involved with the commission and watch it evolve into one the most active. the work of our commission has been praised by dr. king's daughter, dr. bernice king. i am honored to celebrate the milestone of the commission's 30th anniversary and look forward to watch its impact on our youth and our communities for years to come. madam speaker, i come to the house floor today to commemorate the life of a good friend and great leader in our state, hank brown, who passed away last month at the age of 82. he was born in oklahoma before moving to arkansas, where he graduated from high school in perryville in 1956. after four years of service in the navy, he received a management degree from little rock university. in 1995, hank brown found freight sales furniture in little rock which is now known around the region, arkansas and beyond as hank's fine furniture. in addition to leading and expanding hank's, mr. brown was an active member of our community. a passionate outdoors man he was a member of the board of directors at the nature conservancy in arkansas. the impact of hank brown will not be forgotten and i thank him for his philanthropy. his prayers are with his wife kathy and his children. i rise today to recognize three welding students from st. joseph's high school in conway, arkansas. nicholas covington, logan simon and weighed -- wade simon were nominated in skills u.s.a., a state competition held in hot springs. skills u.s.a. is a partnership of students, teachers and industry leaders working together across the country to make sure we have a fully skilled work force. the winning team will receive full scholarships to the welding program and could have the opportunity to participate in national and world welding competitions. i congratulate these students for their i congratulate these students on their accomplishments and i look forward to seeing the results. madam speaker, i want to rise today and congratulate mary smith for her two decades of service to the people of conway. last month mayor bart cassellberry of conway recognized ms. smith as an alderman. she was greatably appreciated by those around her. she's a bloived member of the conway -- beloved member of the conway community. i wish her all the best in her next endeavors and i thank mary for her years of service to the city of conway. madam speaker, i rise today to recognize the museum of discovery for winning the 2022 roy l. schafer leading edge award for resilience. this award, presented by the association of science and technology centers, recognizes organizations that have overcome significant and specific adversarial impacts on their museums. and yet were able to use that hardship and promote their mission and actually grow their potential. this award is touted as the science museum equivalent of an oscar. the little rock-based museum of discovery and their exceptional staff received this award for how they reboundedded from a six -- rebounded from a six-month facility closure due to flooding caused from a pipe burst in the terrible winter storm in february of 2021. the museum used this time to repair and extend their virtual operating capabilities, build on what they had started during the covid-19 pandemic, and through this tactical shift, they were able to deliver an immersive, deaply educational -- deeply educational virtual experience to thousands during this period of repair. i'm proud to honor the museum of discovery for their dedication and hard work, after a disaster that made them stronger and better for all that they educate in science and technology. madam speaker, i rise today to congratulate paul brouning, the assistant fire chief of the city of moralton, arkansas. paul recently announced his retirement after three decades of service with the moralton department. just before his departure, paul was given the opportunity to present the department's newest captain with his captain's badge. the recipient, his son, joseph brouning, who had been with the department 15 years. paul presented joseph with his original captain's badge as a token of his promotion. congratulations, joseph, on your promotion, and congratulations to paul on your retirement. thank you both for your dedication and service to the community of moralton. thank you, madam speaker. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arkansas yields. under the speaker's announced policy of january 9, 2023, the gentleman from texas, mr. green, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. green: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, and still i rise. to quote mayaing an lue -- mayaing an lue, and still i rise -- maya angelou, and still i rise. i'm the cream and hope of the slave -- dream and hope of the slave. i rise today as a proud descendent of enslaved people, a proud descendent of the foundational mothers and fathers of this country, foundational because they helped to build the infrastructure that allowed this great country to become the great nation that it is. there were many others who contributed to this country, but they by the millions contributed and their lives were sacrificed such that we might have the great nation that we have today. so i rise today to talk specifically about a conscious agenda, a conscious agenda, a conscious agenda is one that i believe can be embraced by all people of goodwill. a conscious agenda. i have before you and me some of what would be included in a conscious agenda. and i'd like to give a brief explanation about each. i'd like to set the stage by explaining some of what dr. king called to our attention with reference to this question of the conscious. in speaking to a group of clergy and lay persons concerned about the vietnam war in 1968, on february 6, in washington, d.c., dr. king concluded his speech with some very powerful language that addresses the role that conscious plays in doing some things and taking certain positions. dr. king's final words were, on some positions cowardess will ask the question, is it safe? i will add parenthetically here, is it ok for me to do this or will i be harmed in some way physically? cowardess will ask you, is it safe to do this? he goes on to say, expediency will ask the question, is it politic? does it make good political sense to do what i'm about to do? he further indicates that vanity asks the question, is it popular? if i do this, will i have a parade in my honor? will there be people who will celebrate what i'm about to do or what i'm doing? but dr. king concludes with this, he says, but conscience asks the question, is it right? and he goes on to say there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular. but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right. i'm not sure that it is safe, politic or popular to take a position on all of these issues, and i'm not sure that it's not safe, nor politic nor popular. but i do say this. conscience tells me that i should do this. there's a moral imperative to bring these issues before the congress of the united states of america. and i do so because conscience tells me it's the right thing to do. i believe that as a matter of conscience we should have a slavery remembrance day. and i understand that this day is one that ought to be commemorated, commemorated. unlike many other days that we celebrate, we commemorate this day. there can be some celebration of the lives of those who were lost to slavery, but this is a day for commemoration principally. and as a day of commemoration, i believe that we ought to let the world know how much we appreciate those millions of people who were enslaved, many of whom were born into slavery, lived as slaves and died as slaves. it's time for this country to show some appreciation for them. for too long we have revered the enslavers and reviled the enslaved. so this conscience agenda would have us recognize slavery remembrance day. and august 20 of 1619 is the date that the first enslaved people were brought to this country. it was on that day that a slave ship, the white lion, landed. and it brought with it some 20-odd, as it is said, enslaved persons. they were introduced to the english speaking colonies in this country. 20 human beings stolen, kidnapped and brought to our country. brought to our country and traded just as you would trade a horse, or you would trade some piece of machinery, traded, human beings, 1619, august 20. traded into slavery into this country. this is the day that we have set aside to recognize as slavery remembrance day. because that day set into motion events that haunt us to this day. and we ought not forget that date, august 20, 1619. i am so proud to tell you that this house has already passed a resolution honoring the persons who were enslaved. this house passed a resolution, some 218 members of this house voted in support of slavery remembrance day. this was already a part of the annals in the history of the house. it is therefore those who look through the distance of time, this time, to understand what happened. i can't explain it all today because i have much to say, but i will tell you that i'm proud to tell you, in fact, that the president of the united states of america, the honorable joe biden, a mantha i have great respect -- a man that i have great respect for, i support him, i have supported him, i support him today, i will support him tomorrow because of what he has done. this president recognized slavery remembrance day with a statement that he issued on august 20 of 2022. and in the many things that he has indicated in this statement, i will just focus on a very few words, some one, two, three, four, five, six, seven words that are contained within this statement. he indicated that great nations don't hide from their history. he said much more. but it's important for us to accentuate this statement. great nations don't hide from their history. because there are too many people in this country to this day who would have us hide from our history. have our history be proclaimed involuntary relocation, that's what's happening in the state of texas currently. we have a group of folks who want to proclaim slavery, the enslavement of human beings, as involuntary relocation. we cannot hide from our history. there are people who don't want it taught in schools. they want us to somehow give a rendition of history that reveres those who are the enslavers and reviles those who were the enslaved. for too long this has been the case in this country. it is my deair is and my belief -- my desire and my belief that people of conscience, that the conscience dictates that there is a moral imperative for us to change this misunderstanding of history. and to do this we obviously need a slavery remembrance day. in houston, texas, on august 20, 2022, we had an event, a slavery remembrance day event. 1,000 people showed up for slavery remembrance day, including our mayor, sylvester turner, a member, many of our notable members of the clergy were in attendance, our city council people were in attendance. state representative ron recommendeds was there -- reynolds was there. we had commissioner rodney ellis in attendance. many people of note were there. but there were also people who were not among the elected officials, people who simply wanted to let the world know that they understand the necessity to commemorate slavery remembrance day. and by the way, it is not unusual for us to have these remembrance days. we have a day to remember the day the pearl of the pacific, pearl harbor, was bombed. that is a day we set aside annually. december 7. we have a day to remember the day that the twin towers in new york were attacked, when our nation was attacked, and the twin towers came tumbling down. we have a day set aside to remember the holocaust, the horrors of the holocaust, so that we will never allow it to be repeated anyplace on the planet earth. there is no event comparable to the holocaust. just as there is no event comparable to slavery, the enslavement of the people that took place in this country. so what we want to do now is expand slavery remembrance day. we want to make sure that in every church, in every house of worship there's an opportunity on the 20th of august of this year to have a slavery remembrance day ceremony. wherein we will explain what happened and proclaim we must always remember these events that took place. slavery remembrance day is important and we need to commemorate the lives that were lost to slavery. i will say more as we move forward with our next conscience agenda item, which is awarding a congressional gold medal to the enslaved. a congressional gold medal to the enslaved. if you repeat things multiple times, people are more to remember than not. i repeat, we want to award a congressional gold medal to the american a enslaved. now there are many people who do not understand and because they don't understand, the reaction is why would you award a congressional gold medal to the enslaved? well, i have a dear colleague that my dear colleagues will be receiving. i'm going to read it, perhaps not in its entirety, but i will cover some of the important excerpts. this dear colleague reads, and this is a part of the style of it, the congressional gold medal, and it reads, confederate soldiers silence is a way of accentuating. confederate soldiers, confederate soldiers were awarded a congressional gold medal in 1956. the congress of the united states of america awarded a congressional gold medal to confederate soldiers in 1956. confederate soldiers were persons who fought on the side of many who were fighting to maintain the institution of slavery. we have revered the confederate soldiers. we have revialed those who were enslaved. silence accentuates. i use the personal pronoun because this is my work, but i'm a we person, i prefer saying we because nothing is done alone but it goes on to read, what congress did for confederate soldiers it, as a matter of conscience should do for the enslaved. what we did for confederate soldiers as a hatter of conscience, there is a moral imperative to do for the enslaved. so i'm asking members to support the historic congressional gold medal for america's economic foundational fathers, mothers and children, the enslaved. note that i said children. i am not proud that this happened. i love my country, but i speak truth to power, truth about power, unliberated, unbought, unbossed, unafraid and willing to stand here and say i love my country, salute the country, pledge allegiance and i want history to reflect properly that we honored the persons who helped build this country. that we would not honor those who sought to enslairve them and dishonor those who were enslaved. i am asking my colleagues to support the congressional gold medal for america's foundational mothers, fathers and children, the enslaved. there are already persons who have acknowledged that they will be original co-sponsors. i call them persons of conscience, persons of goodwill, persons who understand. i'm going to call their names. 19 such persons. if a name is not called, doesn't mean that the name won't be an original co-sponsor, but these are persons that i have talked to in passing and said they would like to be original co-sponsors. i consider them the persons of conscience who have decided to sponsor as original co-sponsors this congressional gold medal to the american enslaved. their names are the honorable maxine waters, the honorable benny thompson, the honorable detainee davis, the honorable jim mcgovern. the honorable brad sherman, the honorable barbara lee, the honorable clarke, the honorable hank johnson, the honorable david cicilline, the honorable pete aguilar, the honorable ted lieu. the honorable espaillat, honorable owe cast io cortez, honorable pressley and honorable carter. only the persons i have talked to and i have not talked to a single person who has said no, we should not honor the enslaved. no, it's ok to honor the confederate soldiers, but not the enslaved. i have not talked to a single person with that mind-set. every person immediately said yes, yes. sign me up. the deadline for original co-sponsors for this historic legislation will be february 28, 2023. last day of black history month. now a little bit more about why this is so important. on july 18, 1956, the congress, that would be the house and the senate awarded a congressional gold medal to confederate soldiers. to this day, congress has never awarded a congressional gold medal to the men and women and children who toiled for over 240 years. silence, i accentuate. toiled for over 240 years to comild the economic and structural foundation of the wealthiest nation to ever exist on the planet earth. these foundational mothers and fathers of our country labored constructing our cities, roads, bridges. they laboriously planted as well as harvested the food that fed our nation. they were the defacto producers of the cash crops that fueled our nation's foundational wealth. these enslaved human beings of african ancestry toiled as slaves. their humble hands were relied upon for the construction of some of our nation's renowned he had physicianes and monuments including the white house, the capitol building and the washington monument. in truth they sacrificed lives provided the again he cyst for our nation's economic preeminence. these sacrificed human beings, men, women and children were the greatest contributors to the american foundational economy yet their contributions are almost universally forgotten, underrecognized, ignored, overlooked and undervalued. for these and other justifications i am be speeching congress as a matter of conscience. silence i ac sen the thy ate. to award a congressional gold medal collectively to the human beings who are the foundational fathers, mothers and children that toiled as slaves without recognition to their contributions to the structural and economic development of the nation that we enjoy today. we are all the beneficiaries of their sacrifice. awarding a congressional gold medal to groups of individuals to those who may not know is not unprecedented. as the congressional gold medal was awarded to the confederate soldiers, but also to the tuesday qua gee airmen, the navajo code talkers and post minnesota umh to those who perished in afghanistan in august of 2021. it is my belief that the men, women and children who suffered a great crime against humanity, silence accentuates. who suffered a great crime against humanity, toiling unrenew mexico rated as slaves, are deserving of a congressional gold medal and deserving to the same extent as those who soldiered to preserve slavery. this is historic legislation and i want members to know if they wish to be recognized as a courageous person of conscience who is an original co-sponsor, that they would please contact my office. in the words of maya angelou, bringing the gifts my ancestor gave, i'm the dream and hope of the slave. i would hope that others join me in bringing forth this historic legislation. now, dear friend, i would call to your attention another piece of legislation. it is a resolution that would remove the name of richard russell from the russell senate office building. richard russell was a self-proclaimed white supremacist, self-proclaimed white supremacist. he helped to author the southern manifesto. he fought against legislation that would accord punishment for those who were lynched. he was a self-proclaimed white supremacist. his name ought not be on a building that is paid for with tax dollars. i am as adamant about this as i would be about a building having the name of someone associated with the third like. -- reich. i would never tolerate that. i would take the stand to get that person's name off the building. no one should have their name on a building that professes liberty and just ties for all. richard russell's name needs to be removed and his statue which happens to be in a rotunda devoted to him, his statue needs to be removed from the building. his name off the building, his statue removed from the building. he is a self-proclaimed white supremacist. i understand this is more than than some people can handle. as a matter of fact, it hurts me to even say it. if i could live my life and do otherwise, i would. but my conscience won't allow me to do it and my conscience dictates that i must do this. this is part of the conscience agenda. . . there are some who would say, whose name do you want? that's a fair question. and here's a fair reresponse. the fair re-- response. the fair response is, remove his name, let it revert to the name that it had prior to his name being placed on the building, and then select the name of your choice. we can remove his name, we can separate the removal of his name from the renaming of the building. the name that was on the building before it became the richard russell office building was the old senate office building. let it revert back to the old senate office building and then select the name. i have not pronounced at any point in time that i have a name. i have no name to offer. i offer justice to people who find that this name is offensive. and it is offensive. i don't go into the russell office building. that is my means of protesting what i see as something that is insulting. and my guess is that it is insulting to a good many other people. a good many don't know the history that i know, perhaps that's the reason they don't take the positions that i take. but i take this position as a matter of conscience. richard russell's name should be removed from the senate office building, paid for and maintained with tax dollars. the next item on the conscience agenda is the enactment of legislation that we will be filing styled with some variation possibly the securities and exchange atonement act. securities and exchange atonement act. as the chair of the subcommittee for oversight and investigations of the financial services full committee, we held hearings and we had the largest banks to come in. and we posed a question. do you think that your institution has done enough to atone for its predecessor institutions, or institution, having been involved with slavery? let me explain. many of our very large banks, i won't go into the names today, i'm prepared to, but i won't, many of our largest banking institutions had predecessor institutions, meaning banks that at some point they acquired, that literally engaged in the slave trade. one bank, more than one actually, one just came to mind, actually took slaves as collateral. just as you would take a car, a piece of furniture. human beings, collateral. and when the person that placed them in the contract as collateral defaulted, then they were possessed, just as you would go out and claim a horse that was collateral, they took possession of the slaves. they made money by trading in slavery and in slaves in this fashion. they knew to atone. there were insurance companies, insurance companies that insured slaves, just as you would insure a horse or cattle. insured human beings. for the benefit of the masters. so that if something happened to the human beings, the master would be comment say thed -- compensated. conscience dictates that there be atonement for this. the world has been set in motion such that you cannot create such egregious offenses and just walk away. and then later say, well, i had nothing to do with that. why should i have to be a part of the atonement process? because we are the beneficiaries of slavery. we are. and because the president, whom i happen to agree with, indicated that great nations don't hide from their history. but i would also add, great nations do the responsible thing as it relates to their history, which is to acknowledge it and then atone for transgressions. that's what great nations do. this is a great nation. there should be some atonement. so we will have this introduced, this legislation, and colleagues will be given the opportunity to be original co-sponsors, as well as co-sponsors. it's not asking too much for us to investigate, find out which of these megainstitutions engaged in the utilization of human beings as collateral and insured them as they would cattle. we should investigate and they should atone. because of all of these things making it clear that we need some sort of reconciliation, we will be introducing a resolution, legislation in the form of a resolution for a department of reconciliation. we have a department of labor to deal with labor issues. a department of commerce to deal with issues associated with commerce and business. we have a department of defense to deal with issues related to war and peace. we ought to have, as a matter of conscience, a department of reconciliation. with a secretary of reck sellation. just as -- reconciliation. just as we can a secretary of labor, secretary of commerce, secretary of defense. with a budget, just as we have a budget for the secretary of labor to further the aims of the department, there ought to be a budget for the secretary of secretary rillation -- reconciliation to further the aims of the department of reconciliation. it's time for us to take a systemic approach to dealing with the question of reconciliation in this country. a department of reconciliation with undersecretaries of reconciliation, just as we have undersecretaries of commerce, undersecretaries of labor. it ought to have a budget that is comparable to its mission. i have not set the budget, but i do believe that if we index it to the department of defense and make it some percentage of that budget, we're likely to have it funded on an annual basis. so i am of the opinion that we should index it, tie it to the budget for the department of defense. so that we will always have the money necessary. these things i would hope would happen in the 118th congress. i don't know that they will, to be very candid. but i do know this. my record will show that as a person of conscience, i brought them to the attention of the congress. and that the congress had every opportunity to embrace what i believe to be questions of conscience that have to be dealt with at some point. this is a methodology, a means, if you will, by which we can address some of the egregious circumstances emanating from the arrival of some 20-odd persons of african ancestry in the english speaking colonies on august 20 of 1619. that has to be addressed. we still have issues that can be logically traced back to the arrival of some 20-odd persons who were of african ancestry to their arrival, august 20, 1619. let me walk you through a bit of the history. yes, we ended a war that was a part of bringing slavery to an end. and we passed the 13th amendment. the war, 13th amendment, brought slavery to an end. except then there was something called the black codes. and these codes allowed persons to be arrested for not having a job. well, if you've been a slave and you're now free, didn't have the kinds of systems in place that we have now for persons who are unemployed, you'd be picked up and arrested. and then you could be placed into what is known now as, and then, as a convict leasing program, which was simply another way of saying slavery. people were placed into this convict leasing program and many of them never left and they were placed into this program for petty offenses. in houston, just outside of houston, we have a grave, a common grave with 95 bodies, 95 skeletons, the evidence of 95 people who were in a convict leasing program, all buried in a common grave. so sad. it hurts the heart. i understand why people don't want to hear it, because i don't want to say it. convict leasing. slavery by another name. moving forward in history, we then had lawful segregation. i lived through lawful segregation. i know what it's like to drink colored water. i know what it's like to go through a door that had coloreds on it. go through the back door to get my food. i just celebrated recently, last several months, september 1, my 25th birthday for the third time. i lived through segregation. i know the horrors of it. i know what it's like to be separated from others. i know what it's like to sit in the back of the bus. i know what it's like to understand that you have a separate line when you go into the food store, a line for whites and a line for coloreds. i know what it's like to be next in line and have every person who happened to be of angelo ancestry, to come ahead of you until every person is served, and then you take your opportunity to be served. you were last in line simply by being in line. didn't matter whether you got there first. i know what it's like. i know what it's like to go to schools with hand-me-down books, pages torn out. i know what it's like to be bussed by schools some 20 miles to another school, such that you would not be allowed into the same classroom with children who were of a different hue. i know what it's like. i suffered it. but i'm also very proud that we're beyond that. but i'm walking you through this history because there's a point to be made. the civil war, ending of segregation, ending of convict leasing, the one thing that they didn't end was white supremacy. the civil war and the 13th amendment did not end white supremacy. and that is what we have been fighting. by the way, not all by the way, not all persons what we call white are participating in -- intentionally in what we call white supremesy. but there is empirical evidence to support the notion that if you are a person of color and superior credit and you seek a loan, you are likely to get less money at a higher interest rate than a person who is not of color, that doesn't have superior credit. the evidence is there. testing has been done. there are many people who fight allowing us to do this testing and people who don't want the evidence to surface. they have given reasons why we ought not do that. we ought to do that by the means that we have truly come and understand that sometimes it's the color of skin, not the character within that determines the worth of women and men. the color of skin still does getting a loan. finished law school, four of us, applied for a loan. the loan officer cooperated with us and we cooperated with him. we received a loan to open a business, paid every payment on time and paid the loan off early. we went back to get another loan, a different loan officer declined to let us have a second loan. and when we judiciously explained we received the first loan, we are asking tore less money, we paid the first loan off and we paid it off early. we were never late with a payment, his response to us was you shouldn't have gotten the first loan. i lived it. i don't have to talk about what others have said, what they told me. this was a loan officer telling four lawyers who repaid a loan, paid on time, we paid the loan early, that they shouldn't have gotten that loan. one can only imagine if you're not me what that was like as a lawyer to be told that you didn't qualify for what you qualified for and you repaid. the point is this dear brothers and sisters and whether you like it or not, i consider you my brothers and sisters. i do, dr. king was right, there is only one race and that's the human race. i concur with him when he said each person is created equal and i believe he was right when he said black come flexioned, though skin may differ, affection deals in plaque and white the same. and i must be measured by my soul for the mind and standard of the man, and woman, i might add. i believe in my country. i have faith in the words in the declaration of independences, persons created equal, endowed by the creator with certain unalienable rights. i have faith, i have faith in the pledge of allegiance. liberty and justice for all. so don't class me with those people that hate the country. i am not a country hater, i'm a country lover just as i love members of my family that i have to tell the truth about and let them know when they've made mistakes, just as you have done with some of the people you love. you can love the country and make sure that it lives up to its promise. this is about living up to the promise, the conscience agenda. remember now, those who do this, i know that some to quote dr. king will ask and respond which asks the question, is it safe, ex speedens asks the question, is it politics and then vanity asks the question, is this popular. but it's conscience, it's conscience that will ask the question, is it right. i believe this is not only the right thing to do but the conscience agenda is the righteous thing to do. i shall pursue it. and i believe that there are persons in this congress who will join us in the conscience agenda, who will understand that there may be times that you have to do that which is neither safe nor politic nor popular, to quote dr. king, you do it because conscience says it's right. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 9, 2023, the chair recognizes the gentleman from will being, mr. grothman, for 30 minutes. mr. grothman: first of all, i would like to start out with housekeeping, a lot has been said over the last few days about the huge numbers of i.r.s. employees that are intended to be added by the biden administration and i just want to clarify some numbers. there are new employees who are going to replace retired employees, but there are still 25,000 new employees that are going to be added to the internal revenue service. over time, you would expect and this apparently surprises some people, you would expect the number of i.r.s. employees to drop. i used to do taxes. i haven't done those for over 25 years now, but even at that time, as things became more computerized, if you got interest income or dividend income or capital gain income, the i.r.s. would match up those numbers with what appeared on your tax return. if you got from u.s. bank $1,000 and didn't put it on your return you could expect a letter in the mail and give us $300. you don't need more employees to do that. and the state the size of wirveg that is 500 new employees. it's easier to bring down to the state level because we deal with such big numbers but whether you are talking about massachusetts, maryland, most or washington state, they can expect about 500 employees. and while we may -- may be some people are cheating, an increase of that size is appropriate. let's look one more time at the new numbers that were released over the christmas break as far as the immigration situation in this country. we have a new all-time record for the number of people coming here in november, over 200,000 -- 210,000 people. these numbers were released late on a friday, friday as always, so the mainstream which already does a bad job covering this issue, does not bring them up. a lot of the focus has been on title 42, while it didn't go into effect, it didn't there from becoming an all-time high. when i talk about 210,000 in though of 2022, a year before that, we were at 131,000 for november and the year before that, before president biden took office, we were around 20,000. we have gone from 20,000 to 210,000. just as scary and i am somebody who believes in intact families and the callousness to the agree of which the open border situation tears apart families. in november there were over 9,000 unaccompanied minors apart from their parents. a year ago people that were broken away, we had 10,000. the biden administration. the final year of another administration, the number was 1, 200. we had 200 unaccompanied minors. we are over 9,000. please, i wish when we have an open borders' policy, we are causing so many children to be raised apart from their parents. i want to point out the number of got-aways which is a dangerous subject group. there are two big groups of people coming here. people that ask for asylum, which they don't deserve it and turn themselves in. we do a little medical check on them and allowed to get information on them if we have the right name. we could do a little bit of criminal background check whether they have committed crimes in the united states or canada. there's another group of people called got-aways that race across the border and take advantage of the fact that right now so many border patrol agents are just doing paperwork. we got as far as i can see is the all-time high 733,000 got-aways in november of 2022. if you are somebody that is sneaking fentanyl across the border, if you are somebody who has a criminal record, how would you come here? would you turn yourself to the border patrol? not likely. that sub set is increasing even greater than the people turning themselves into the border patrol should scare every american to death. it is time for president biden to do more than a stop at the border. he has got to look at two years ago in november of 2020 when that 210,000 figure was under 20,000. and it can be done once, it can be done again. the american people and the press corps in america ought to hold him accountable and ask him to explain, we used to in 2020, we were under 10,000 a month. and now we are over 200,000 and we used to be able to keep the unaccompanied minors under 1,000 and now over 9,000. i am not including minors that were rented by other people because they thought it was easier to get here with a family and the border patrol knows that is happening as well and maybe you rent johnny to somebody who says they want to be a family. we don't know how often that it happens but know that it happens. i realize that black lives matter has been hostile to the traditional nuclear family. i realize that's an important group for a lot of members on the other side of the aisle, but i'll tell you, i don't like it at all when i see over 9,000 unaccompanied minors coming into this country. . . another number is the degree to which we separate a family and maybe one parent comes here with the kids but not two parents. in america our family court system, if people get divorced, we try to keep both parents around the area for the children. and it breaks the heart of the border patrol that they see no effort being done at the border. in other words, if one parent shows up with the kids, maybe dad, maybe mom has left home in guatemala, el salvador, wherever, we don't care. and it really bothers the border patrol because of course they know when it comes to american children, we love them enough that we try to keep both parents involved. but when it comes to the policy at the border, we don't care. i'm also told, by the way, that this policy bothers the governments of the countries that these people came from. because they themselves have family courts and they would like to keep both parents involved in their children's lives. and they don't like the callousness of the united states, how they don't care whether the family is a part or not -- is apart or not. there's another side to this story as far as what's going on on the southern border as well. and that is the number of deportations. you know, people say, oh, yeah, such wonderful people crossing the border, blah, blah, blah. well, they're not all that wonderful. they're people who commit crimes, they're people who commit -- catch doing wrong things, and while our immigration system is relatively weak, our deportation is weak compared to what it should be, at least some people historically have been turned back south of the border. now, if you look, that number was usually over 200,000 under president trump, 250,000, 260,000. it slipped to 185,000 in trump's final year, in part because of the covid. well, we recently got the numbers for fiscal year 2022, we're at 72,000. the covid crisis is not exclusively but largely over, so here we are at a situation in which we have under 1/3 of the number of deportations in which we used to have. so not only are we letting everybody here, not only are we encouraging the breakdown of the families by having so many unaccompanied minors coming here, but we are not deporting people like we have in the past. i've talked to a federal attorney and it disappointed him because he knows the rules they could have operated under in which you're able to now commit more crimes, do more bad things, and parentally the u.s. government doesn't care. and of course eventually, as we let more people commit crimes in this country, it's going to be an increase in the crime rate, it's going to be a less civil america. and i wish, i beg the biden administration to find some of the officials left over from the past administration and show them how it's done so we don't continue to have so many people who have committed criminal records wind up in the united states. now, speaking of things that have happened since the new year, we finally have the murderers in milwaukee -- murders in milwaukee, the city in which i was born in. i love milwaukee so much. when i was a child milwaukee had the lowest murder rate of the 25 biggest cities in the country. depending on the year, it was either them or san diego. well, this year we exploded to a new record. we went up from 197 to 224 in one year. 27 more than the previous all-time high. and i can remember when milwaukee had a much smaller population, but that number was under 40. well, what happened? part of it, of course, is the police hatred that goes on in our society. i think that really began around ferguson, missouri, where we had what was called the ferguson effect, and police began to become afraid to enforce the law. because no matter how much they were in the right, and of course the justice department did investigations in ferguson, they found out the policemen was in the right in that traj death, they still were -- traj death, -- tragic death, they still were attacked by opportunistic politicians and opportunistic clergy. you know, we had a situation in ferguson, they called the policemen racist, the justice department even under barack obama felt nothing had been done wrong. the opportunistic and offensive al sharpton showed up and attacked or verbally attacked the police in that area. rather than becoming -- being pushed to the side, we see politicians still try to ingratiate themselves to al sharpton, still try to promote his divisive world view. so it's not surprising, as the police back off, despite the population falling, the number of murders continue to go up. i beg the members of this body to reject the al sharpton divisiveness. stop standing up on the dais with him, stop attending joint meetings with him and promoting that lying clergyman. embarrassment to christianity. embarrassment to america. and i can't believe that members of this body -- there are members of this body who think he is somebody to promote, his view of the world. then we have what i think is the root cause, we have a continued breakdown of the family in america. we know that the black lives matter that was such -- played such a big role in the 2020 elections hates the nuclear family, but i wish our social scientists would do a little bit more investigation on the role of the breakdown of the family and the anger, particularly the young men, the fact that so many men don't have a family to take care of because the government takes care of all the families. and we work our way back to what the murder rate was in the 1960's before you had the huge war on the family initiated by lyndon johnson. but i ask the social sciences, i ask the journalists to demand information on the background of the murders that are caught -- murderers that are caught, not enough of them are caught, that are committing the murders in milwaukee, and also the backgrounds, the family backgrounds of those unfortunate souls who have died because of the police hatred that is foe meanted by members -- fomented by members of this body. my final comment here is with regard to another year gone, another year, we will wind up, we have the numbers shortly, with over 100,000 people dying of illegal deaths, illegal drug overdoses. we all know two things that politicians should do immediately. because almost all these drugs come across the border, we should shut down that border and prevent any more americans from dying. you know, big numbers are kind of easy to gloss over. and it's important to remember when we're talking about 100,000, i'm old enough to remember the vietnam war, we're having twice as many people die of illegal drug overdoses in this country as died in the vietnam war. and the vietnam war went on for 12 years and there were protests, there were so much commentary on the number of people who died. and they were all heroes and we should talk about it. but we have twice as many people dying in one year in this country as died in 12 years in vietnam and do you think any increased effort is made to close the border? no. the politicians don't care about that 108,000. and remember, they all had children, they all had parents, some had children, some had siblings, some had friends. but we're so callous, we don't care. another 107,000. what difference does it make? another thing we should do, because it's up to the police to find these drug dealers, we, one more time, should have a little more respect for the police. i will shortly be introducing a bill to allow the border patrol to hire more drug sniffing dogs. anybody who takes the tour down there, i'm sure joe biden didn't hang around long enough to find this out, but find out how tremendous those dogs are, they're not cheap. but when i think of all the people who died because of the drug overdoses, i really hope in the upcoming budget we maybe find more money by getting rid of all the new lawyers we are hiring to represent the people coming here illegally, and instead of hiring more lawyers, we hire more drug sniffing dogs and maybe we can reduce the number of americans who are dying of the drug overdoses as people across the border. so those are a little bit of things for the american people to digest. some more things the mainstream media ought to be taking up, a little morehead lines, even though -- more headlines, even though, even if the administration releases the immigration numbers on a friday, publicize, you know, the huge number of people who are coming across the border. don't not get aneglect that sized and stop -- anesthesized and stop caring about the huge number of americans being killed by drug overdoses. please take action. so thank you very much. and i would like to move that the house now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. thank you. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. giving you a front-row seat to democracy. [end video clip] host: congressman clay higgins is beginning his fourth turn -- term representing