will also screen live on c-span.org and available on the free c-span now mobile app. the u.s. house will be gaveling in for morning our speeches and we will be back at noon for legislative business. that will wrap it up for the program this morning. we are back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern. we hope you are too, have a great day. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., february 28, 2023. i hereby appoint the honorable anna paulina luna to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, kevin mccarthy, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant the order of the house of january 9, 2023, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties. with time equally allocated between parties and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and minority whip limited to five minutes. but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentleman from the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from north carolina, ms. foxx, for five minutes. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i've had enough with the biden department of education's utterly dishonestly accounting tricks. ed's 2022 financial statement doesn't have a leg to stand on. cpmg, an independent auditor, stated there were material weaknesses in the department's estimates regarding how much the biden administration's student loan debt relief plan would cost. the biden administration claims that its plan would cost $30 billion annually over 10 years, but this is assuming that the department of education has properly estimated the participation numbers. according to cpmg, the department has no evidence behind these numbers. and these numbers matter a lot. if these numbers are off by just 10%, the cost of biden's program would rise to $400 billion, according to the congressional budget office. folks in the biden education department need to go back and learn some math. at worse, the department is trying to hide the true cost to taxpayers of these debt bailout schemes. at best, the department is practicing shoddy accounting again. either way, this is a completely irresponsible way to govern such a major program. it's obvious to anyone paying attention that the department hasn't learned anything from its past mistakes. it was assumptions like this that got our student loan systems into this mess in the first place. when democrats passed the income-driven repayment program, i.d.r., they grossly underestimated the number of borrowers who would participate. this, in conjunction with the student loan moratorium, has led to a $311 budget deficit within the federal student loan program. in other words, the federal student loan program is already costing taxpayers a fortune. and the biden administration's actions will make the problem far worse. to put salt in the wound, the biden administration's proposed changes to i.d.r. will cost far more than they are letting on. while the department claims its changes will cost taxpayers $138 billion over the next 10 years, a nonpartisan student loan expert has estimated that the true cost could be $1 trillion. senator dirkson said, a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money. this is real taxpayer money. once again, the biden administration is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. as chairwoman of the education and workforce committee, i cannot let this pattern of deception and mismanagement continue. i'll spend the 118th congress doing everything in my power to hold this administration accountable. taxpayers deserve nothing less. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from texas, ms. garcia, for five minutes. ms. garcia: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, house democrats are putting people over politics by lowering health care costs and creating better paying jobs. we are cutting costs for health care coverage, capping insulin at $35 for medicare patients, and giving medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices. we expanded the affordable care act program, which will lower premiums for over 13 million americans. just in my district alone, 62,000 seniors with medicare will pay less for prescription drug prices. 29,000 people in my district will have access to affordable health care coverage due to lower premiums under the inflation reduction act. meanwhile, some extreme maga republicans are threatening to cut social security and medicare. house democrats will and always will protect seniors from medicare cuts or social security cuts because we put seniors over politics. in fact, house democrats increased benefits by 8.7% last year. to ensure a dignified retirement for americans who worked hard for these vital benefits. let me repeat that. worked hard for these vital benefits. this increase helped more than 80,000 people in my district who are on social security. that's more than 10% of my constituents. these are retired workers, disabled workers, widows and children who need these critical funds to survive. they've earned them. they paid into them. social security and medicare are a lifeline for our seniors and especially those in my district. we will always defend these programs and we will always put seniors over politics. we will never cut medicare. we will never cut social security. we will fight for our working families till the end. madam speaker, house democrats are creating good-paying jobs for all our american families. democrats have created a record 12 million jobs since president biden took office, and we aren't stopping there. let me repeat that. 12 million and we're not stopping there. that's almost as many jobs in two years as any president has created in a four-year term. house republicans are trying to undermine all this through bad lies and made-up stuff, suggesting that president biden has hurt our economy. he has not. the cost of everything that republicans would do would be 30% while giving the wealthiest americans cuts on their taxes. this is outrageous and just plain wrong. while extreme maga republicans hand out tax breaks to the wealthy, democrats have focused on lowering everyday americans' costs. we will continue to fight for working families. i'm not willing to use politics over people. i will always put people over politics and always, always people first. thank you, madam speaker. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from michigan, ms. tlaib, for five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina, mr. norman, for five minutes. mr. norman: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to celebrate the dedicated service and call to the ministry of dr. barry who served as a pastor for over 40 years. he grew up in statesville, north carolina, and was spiritually nurtured in the new sterling associated reform presbyterian church. graduating in 1979, he studied economics at the university of north carolina in charlotte. he also holds a master of divinity degree and a doctor of ministry degree. while at erskin he met his wife of fairfield, virginia, and they were married on june 26 of 1982. he had the honor and privilege of serving on various boards and agencies throughout the a.r.p. denomination. he served on the board of stewardship and a.r.p. foundation as well as the erskin college and seminary board of trustees. and he served as vice moderator of the a.r.p. general senate. he currently serves on the board of trustees, the conference center for the a.r.p. denomination. in addition to his service at the senate level, he's also served on various commissions and committees on the presbyterian level and first presbyterian -- second presb presbyterian where he served as moderator from 2013 to 2014. not only has the doctor generously served on various boards and committees in his community, he's also enjoyed being able to use his call to the gospel minuistry to impact youths, adults, and individuals with special needs at various week-long camps located in flat rock, north carolina. throughout his decades of ministry, the doctor has frequently served as a camp minister for camp joy, those affected by physical and mental disabilities. his heart makes him stand out as an honorable citizen and follower of jesus christ, sacrificing his time to help those around him. he has the encouraging and loving family. his wife, sarah, son, jamie, and daughter, rachel, who support him in walking his path of placing others above himself. barry has set the gold standard for decades of dedicated service and commitment to his congregation and his community for which he will long be remembered. for all that we all join in saying, thank you and god speed in your well-deserved years of retirement. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from michigan, ms. tlaib, for five minutes. ms. tlaib: madam speaker, i rise today on behalf of the 12th congressional district in the state of michigan to say to norfolk southern, don't dump your toxic waste in our state. last friday, we learned that shipments of solid liquid toxic waste from east palestine drained detrailment in ohio were being transported to michigan for disposal. norfolk southern chose to dump those at multiple sites, including one of our most negligent corporate polluter. these companies treat our communities poisoning our communities as a cost of doing business and we're done with it. i'm so proud of our residents that spoke up, that helped stop shipments from our state. i want to thank you them for speaking their truth and demanding better from the state and federal e.p.a. we will never give permission for corporate polluters to continue sacrificing the health and well-being of our communities and our families. our environmental regulators, state and federal, must aggressively protect all of us from this threat and hold these polluters accountable. madam speaker, i rise today to say d.t.e. energy, a utility monopoly in our district, charges some of the highest rates in our nation while providing some of the most unreliable service. right now many of our residents are in the seventh day of no power, no gas, heat, our electricity. this past week we have yet have a nightmare of close more than a million d.t.e. customers as well as 200,000 energy customers in our state who endured days on end without power and heat after a completely foreseeable winter storm. why? because d.t.e. doesn't invests in reliability. they pay for shareholders, executives. the company made $1.1 billion in profits last year alone. investor own utilities like d.t.e. will always, will always put profits over the people that we serve in this chamber. during the worst of the pandemic in 2020, madam speaker, d.t.e. shut off more to customers more than 80,000 times despite being subsidized by our own federal government with the tune of $268 million in cares act funding. the reason? they paid out $807 million to shareholders instead of keeping the power on for our residents who are struggling through the pandemic. since 2015, d.t.e. has received over $775 million in rate hikes. the second highest rate of increase in our nation. and they just announced their intention to seek another massive rate hike. d.t.e. has failed to invest in the infrastructure upgrades necessary t prevent outages. instead, choosing to maximize profits for its shareholders and contributions to avoid real n accountability. i am sick and tired of wealthy corporate executives lining their pockets while our communities sufr and are continued to be exploited. thanks why last year i recognized the human rights of utilities with representatives cori bush and jamaal bowman. access to utilities is not a privilege, y'all. it's a human right. people depend on it for medical, safety. every single family should have access to electricity, heat, and water. we need public power for all. . i re in memory of a community activist who worked to improve the lives of countless immigrant families aoss michigan. her life was cut short this past weekend in a tragic accident. ava worked for the michigan rights center, one of the state's strgest immigrant empowerment agencies where she championed policies to improve the lives of immigrants, and t.p.s. holders and other. she will be missed. she's known for her spirit of hope, optimism, and remains steadfast in her work. she could be counted on to offer a kind word to uplift other. her sudden passing will be felt deeply throughout our communities. please join me in honoring the life of miss ava alvarez. extend our condolences to her family. may she rest in power. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. bishop, for five minutes. mr. bishop: thank you, madam speaker. right now family and friends have gathered in winston-salem, north carolina, to celebrate the life after giant of north carolina politics, jim broyhill, who passed away last week at 95. mr. broyhill served in this house for 23 years and briefly as a member of the united states senate. his torrey began in the town of lenore where he was born the sun of james edgar and sadie hunt broyhill, whose broyhill furniture had become a thriving business and brand name known nationwide. ed broyhill, his father, despite living in a state where the republican party was almost extinct, was a republican national committee man. jim broyhill listened at the kitchen table as community and business leaders and politicians discussed current events with his father. it sparked jim's interest, but first he attended and graduate interested the university of north carolina, class of 1950, joined the family business, and emerged as a leader of the business community in his own right. he married louise and they started a family, raising three children. but like his father, mr. broyhill was passionate about politics. he also believed fervently in competition. more than anything he wanted to build in north carolina a competitive two-party system. in 1962 he materially advanced that ball in a surprise election to congress. you see, in the proceeding districting process, the democrat dominated state legislature drew districts designed to eliminate the only north carolina republican in the state's congressional delegation, charles joes in a of charlotte. but the -- joans in a of -- jonas of charlotte. once in washington, representative broyhill formed relationships with members of both parties. and learned how to be an effective member. he served patiently his entire career in the minority as democrats ran congress, just as he patiently nursed political competition back home. he advocated for lower taxes and less regulation, but he set the gold standard in constituent service. and as a result, after that first bear wind in 1962, he never again face add serious challenge in re-election campaigns. even now north carolina members pay heed to the broyhill model for serving constituent needs. mr. broyhill worked across the aisle for more rational business regulation and served as a mentor to fellow republicans in congress. meeting one-on-one with freshmen members and instructing them on the importance of constituent service and attending local events in the district. after his retirement, he briefly returned returned and served as secretary of commerce. he worked hard to bring new business to the state and had a great deal of success. mr. broyhill leaves behind his wife of 71 years. son, ed, who serves as a republican national committeeman himself. daughter marilyn, sick grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren. a son, phil, passed away sadly in 2014. in addition he leaves many, many friends and supporters. grateful constituents, loyal former staff, and members of congress who followed him into this chamber. just 15 months ago i had the privilege to meet mr. and mrs. broyhill myself. it cemented for the me the larger than life figure of jim broyhill who has long since entered the pantheon of foremost north carolinaian leaders. for all the care he furnished to the republican party as he broke one party dominance in north carolina, he was a humble public servant, loyal husband, father, and friend. it's my honor to pay tribute to his memory today. jim broyhill, rest in peace. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. porter, for five minutes. ms. porter: madam speaker, our economy thrives on competition and freedom. no employer should be able to block their workers from taking a better job. but that's what noncompete contracts do. they strip americans' freedom to work at the job that's best for them. as a result, workers are losing out on nearly $300 million billion in wages every year. companies stop incentivizing workers to stay because they don't need. to they are stuck. noncompetes also drag down the entire economy, hurting even those of us who aren't covered by them. everyone is harmed when wages are suppressed. innovation is stifled, and competition is prevented. i'm thrilled that the federal trade commission is ending this toxic practice. banning noncompetes will promote the ideals our country was founded on. open markets, economic mobility, and the right to control one's own life. i commend this effort to make our capitalistic economy more fair, free, and prosperous. madam speaker, i rise today to sound the alarm on the housing crisis crushing millions of americans. skyrocketing rents across the country are pummeling families and squeezing them out of their homes. let's face it, the rental market is broken and riddled with unfair practices. unreasonable background checks, crooked screening algorithms, and anti-competitive information sharing are just some of the many obstacles locking renters out from obtaining safe and affordable housing. i'm grateful that the biden administration announced new actions to increase fairness in the rental market. protect tenants. and make housing more affordable. rooting out predatory tactics and developing strong guardrails will help prevent future egregious increases in rent. as california's watchdog during the last foreclosure crisis, i know it takes fight to keep families in their homes. i urge leaders across government to stand up for renters. madam speaker, i rise to address how our government can address the issues facing our aapi community. supporting asian and pacific island americans requires recognizing the diversity within those communities. inadequate data limit our ability to serve all asian americans and pacific islanders. federal data on aapi people failed to capture differences across ethnic backgrounds. grouping um aapi people into one supercategory erases important distinctions in cultural traditions and lived experiences. blunt data instruments cannot produce targeted policy solutions to the dangers aapi communities face like hate crimes. in california, aapi anti-aapi hate crimes are up 177%. but some communities experience these threats more acutely. for example, a recent survey found vietnamese communities are 38% more likely to worry about hate crimes than other aapi communities. i'm leading efforts to fund community-based solutions to anti-aapi hate crimes. but making these tools even more effective requires data that identify at-risk groups. official data must guide our efforts to keep our aapi neighbors safe. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from wyoming, ms. hageman, for five minutes. ms. hageman: madam speaker, i rise today to talk about yet another instance of the insanity of wokism that is permeating our society, ruining our culture, and destroying our ability to govern. the scourge has infiltrated academia, media, and our corporate board rooms. it is now taking over our government functions. all on the backs of our taxptaxpayers. those very taxpayers who recognize this nonsense for what it is and being plucked clean by an elitist cabal of ecowarriors paid to destroy the very standard of living that allows them to focus on made-up crises rather than do the job for which they were hired. of what do i speak? the u.s. fish and wildlife service has now begun offering ecogrief training for its employees. yes. you heard me correctly. ecogrief. a made up condition that provides an opportunity for our oh so delicate employees struggling with a sense of trauma as they witness what they claim is a changing environment. it is one thing for a private company to waste its own money. but it's not ok for the federal government to misappropriate our money to further a political agenda that is intended to increase the cost of putting food on your table, a roof over your head, and gas in your car. it is our money that is being used for environmental activism instead of paying down some of our nearly $32 trillion in debt. it is our money that is being used to convince people that the united states is evil despite the fact we have lifted more people out of poverty, provide add better standard of living, and provide -- provided a better standard of living, and provided more opportunities for anyone in the country while at the same time using and managing our natural resources that protects our environment and sovereignty. ecogrief is admittedly a smaller budget item than many other woke programs. that however, is no reason to ignore what it portends as it is just the latest made up malady and another part of a larger scale assault on both common sense and american energy. biden's administration has gone to war on our energy industries by blocking the extraction, development, transport, and use of our abundant and clean fossil fuels. in other words, those energy resources that actually work. such as coal, oil and gas, and uranium. they seek to make this energy proffers by forcing the united states to beg other countries for the resources we need to power this country and our economy. permit something now longer, more complicated, more expensive, and designed to limit new energy development and production throughout every step of the process. oil and gas leases have declined by 97% compared to this point in donald trump's presidency. despitdespite bide irresponsibly tapping into our strategic petroleum reserves, gas prices remain stubbornly high, and natural gas a major source of home heating for half of america, is expected to increase by 25%. coal provides a quarter of america's energy. it is critical to manufacturing and vital to not only my state of wyoming but anyone who wants to ensure access to clean and affordable energy. it is under constant attack by the ever increasing and more restrictive rules issued from on high by the un-elected bureaucrats in washington, d.c. who suffers? the citizens of this country. with the poorest among us suffering the most. i believe that there truly is a special place in hell for people who adopt policies that are designed to create energy poverty. a situation where families must choose between buying food or heating their homes or putting gas in their cars. this will be one of biden's lasting legacies, shared misery for everyone except the liberal elite. white simply, we cannot afford the woke energy agenda being pursued by president biden. we sure as heck can't indulge in the latest made up condition of ecogrief. while it may seem that we are in a hopeless situation with a nonstop cycle of bad policies coming out of d.c., we cannot give up. with the republicans now in control of the house of representatives, we must pass legislation to claw back power from the administrative state. i am filing multiple bills to do just that. ultimately, the solution is in producing our affordable and plentiful american energy. but we cannot wait for two more years. our citizens need relief now. i hope that everyone in this chamber will join me in fighting against biden's war on energy. we must call out the nonsense and remind these un-elected bureaucrats who they actually work for. the american citizens who have no interest in paying for their counseling. for our friends at the fish and wildlife service who may be watching this speech, you may want to take that ecogrief seminar now before we legislate it out of existence. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. kaptur, for five minutes. ms. kaptur: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. . ms. kaptur: madam speaker, i rise today to mark more than one year of russia's expanded terrorist war against ukraine after its initial unprovoked invasion in 2014. the words of ukraine's poet laureate ring especially true today as when he penned them nearly two centuries ago. rise ye up, break your chains and water with the tyrant's blood, the freedom they have won. ukraine's moment to victory is now. the defining accomplishment of the 20th century was the victory of liberty over tyranny. vanc wishing nazi -- vanquishing n nazi. communism ended the cold war. the common defense of liberty, including nato, were founded. the u.s. marshal plan helped to secure and rebuild a war-torn but free europe. and both america and liberty prospered. through the bipartisan leadership of great americans, including general george marshall, secretary of war henry stimpson, and presidents harry truman and dwight eisenhower, america rose, though somewhat relucta reluctantly. the impulse for freedom haysened. for -- hastened. for america, helping liberty defeat tyranny has always been bipartisan. recall the images of president john kennedy in west germany declaring -- president ronald reagan stood behind the brandenburg gate nearly two decades later near the berlin wall demanding, mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. those images defined the boundary between east and west, free people versus subjugated people. it was barely two years after president reagan's speech and after over four decades of free world vigilance that the world witnessed the profound victory of the valiant workers in the steel yards of poland. soon, captive nations subjugated by the soviet union for decades began to tumble. first in 1989, poland. then, in 1991, ukraine. then, the entirety of the captive nations held subjugated by the soviet union. it was a major turning point in the arc of world history. the allied post-war institutions created to defend liberty still exist today. indeed, now with sweden and finland, joining nato, that alliance grows stronger than it has ever been. ukraine, too, seeks to join its european allies who are democratic in the european union. ukrainian soldiers, meanwhile, ba battle, vastly outnumbered, dying, dying, dying for the cause of self-determination and liberty against great odds. ukraine faces an enemy three times their population with far more military resources, but they fight. to gain a sense of what ukrainians are feeling right now, visit the world war ii memorial here in washington, d.c. seek to understand the sacrifices of the more than 400,000 americans whose lives were given to liberty in its cause on the atlantic, pacific, and african fronts during the 20th century so that we, our generation, could remain free. but under soviet domination, no nation in the world suffered more than ukraine. more than four million innocent people were systematically starved to death by josef stalin with millions upon millions upon millions more whose names we will never know murdered by stalin's brutal communist regime. america has been absent those horrors, thank god. despite these beastial atrocities, america at times has turned a blind eye to russian atrocities with the alliance with the soviet union to defeat nazism. madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to place the additional remarks in the record. and i thank those who are listening. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair recognizes the gentleman from guam, mr. moylan, for five minutes. mr. moylan: thank you, madam speaker. i would like to take this time to honor the late jacob cruz barns who sadly left this world earlier this month. jacob, also known as jake, was a proud son of guam. a proud veteran of the united states air force who served our great country for over 29 years in uniform. and jake also spent a good number of years ensuring that many needs of our community were addressed in public service. unfortunately, the last couple of years were very challenging for jake and his family. as he was unable to take -- to get needed care. that he required as he fought several medical challenges, including the fight for survival. the simple and decent services were unavailable in guam. for not only jake but for many other of our veterans. these are individuals who have put so much on the line to preserve freedom and democracy. to our great nation and our beautiful island of guam, that this country, that this government needs to invest more to ensure when it comes -- when it's their time to obtain reliable care that it's made available for them at home where they can be with their family and loved ones. sadly, jake had to relocate to the mainland to obtain additional care. we need to do more. this government needs to take note that guam has among the highest per capita enlistments in the nation, that we have proud patriots who call guam their home, that we have american citizens who are treated as second-class citizens when it comes to care. whether it be for our veterans or even when it comes to s.s.i. for our disabled residents. we can't say we're a land of opportunity when american citizens on u.s. territories are not provided equity. jake leaves behind a legacy of leadership, courage, and commitment to his family, our island and our nation. i had the honor of serving with his wife, long time senator and former speaker of guam legislature, tina barnes. over the past four years. she, too, has always been a staunch advocate for equity when it comes to benefits for our community. i witnessed firsthand the challenges she and her family had to endure to ensure that care was made available for jake. it wasn't easy. from the halls of this historical building, which represent democracy and freedom, i would like to honor a veteran, a son of guam, the late jacob cruz barnes. on behalf of the 118th congress, i would like to take and express my deepest condolences to his wife, speaker tina, his four children, his grand and great-grandchildren. and his many other family members. jake, thank you for your services and may you rest in peace. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today.