Mike Bost

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 848) encouraging the connecting of members of the Armed Forces in the United States to support structures necessary to transition from the battlefield.

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I rise to celebrate the impact our veteran community has made on the United States' economy. Our Nation owes our veterans a debt of gratitude. As a Marine Corps veteran, I am proud to lead a resolution with my friend and the VA Committee Ranking Member, Mark Takano, to designate this week as Veterans Employment Week. Military service provides a unique and valuable experience that equips veterans with a range of skills and qualities that can easily transfer into the workforce. Through their service, veterans learn discipline, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, and resilience, among other skills. These skills are highly sought after by employers across various industries and can be leveraged to excel in a wide range of careers. Additionally, veterans often bring a strong work ethic and a sense of duty that can contribute to a positive and productive work environment. Hiring veterans not only benefits the individual, but also organizations as a whole. Without veterans in the workforce, America would not be a world leader in innovation and economic growth. I am so grateful to the men and women who have served our country and continue to serve with their participation in the economy.

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, pursuant to clause 7 of rule XX, I move a call of the House.

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on Rollcall No. 417, and ``yea'' on Rollcall No. 418.

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, the picture before you here is the Honorable William ``Bill'' Black, who I served with in the State legislature. He passed on September 9, and I wrote these words September 9 when I learned God had called him home. He was a close friend and a mentor. William ``Bill'' Black. You, my friend, could teach the unteachable because you were truly a teacher. You always did it with respect. You were a great orator. You could deliver the message that you wanted and needed to convey that everyone who was listening could understand, whether you were the most educated scholar or just an average person from the street. In your own words, you would always put the cabbage down where the hogs could eat it. You did it through a story of life experience or a story of someone else's life experience. You used your ability to communicate to benefit your students, your constituents, and your colleagues to make your community, your State, and your country a better place. As a legislator, you knew and understood that every word, dot, and comma was important and would have an effect on generations to come. Because of this, you stood boldly in the gap of what is political gamesmanship and true statesmanship. Thank you for being the statesman that you were. Your tutelage, your ability to deliver your message through communication, and your understanding of the legislative process has made your community, your State, this country, and me a better person because of who you were. I will miss you, my friend. Thank you for all you have taught me. I love you, William, and I will miss you so.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, September is National Suicide Prevention Month. The CDC data shows that nearly 50,000 Americans died by suicide last year--an increase of 2.6 percent nationwide. Our veterans are at special risk. The risk of suicide for veterans is 57.3 percent higher than nonveterans, and 17 veterans are still lost to suicide every single day. In the 21st century, four times more servicemembers and veterans have died by suicide than have died in military combat. We can and must put an end to this crisis. We can do it with fast access to care, innovative mental health services, and continuing to strengthen the VA's partnership with our community-based organizations. The Veterans Crisis Line plays a vital role in suicide prevention. Veterans and their families can talk safely and anonymously with a trained crisis counselor. This type of access is proven to save lives. We have a sacred obligation to those who defended our country. In this Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, please reach out to anyone who you might think would be struggling. Remember, you can dial 988 on your phone and press 1. Let me say that again. You can dial 988 and press 1 on your phone. You are not alone. We have access to help for you. Honoring William ``Bill'' Black

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2795) to amend title 38, United States Code, to extend and modify certain authorities and requirements relating to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on S. 2795.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2795, a bill that extends VA's expiring authorities. The Veterans' Affairs Committee works on an extender bill every year. This year, it was introduced by my friends, Senators Tester and Moran. The 2023 extender bill does three things. It would extend VA's participation in the National Disaster Medical System for 5 years. VA has a mission to protect veterans and staff and support public health during disasters or emergencies. Second, the bill would also allow medical professionals who are contracted to perform veterans' disability exams to continue practicing across State lines. Now, VA depends on the contractors to perform most of the disability exams, and the contractors depend on this authority. This bill would continue the authority for 2 more years. Finally, the bill would continue to protect student veterans if their school closed or gets disapproved under the GI Bill. It would also allow the Secretary to restore the entitlement to education benefits for 2 more years. I support this legislation because it gives VA important tools to take care of all of our veterans. Without extending these authorities, serious impacts to operations might mean VA's ability to protect Americans during disasters would be limited, veterans' claims for disability compensation would grind to a halt, and student veterans would be left out in the cold if they attended a college that closed due to fraud or mismanagement. We can't let that happen. I once again thank Senators Tester and Moran for working on this legislation in the Senate, and I also thank Dr. Murphy for his work to lead and champion the legislation here in the House. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support S. 2795, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I am so proud to be on this floor and for what we do for the people, but it is interesting to watch the debates that occur on this floor sometimes to try to stretch, as I said, and draw things out. I actually had the opportunity earlier this afternoon during 5-minute speeches to talk about a friend of mine from the Illinois State legislature who did this very, very well. He was a floor leader in the State of Illinois. His name was William ``Bill'' Black. Bill was a great orator, and he could talk on every issue. I explained during that time that because he was an educator and then the president of a community college, when he became a legislator, he knew how to explain the issues exactly the way they needed to be explained so that whether you were a scholar or just an average person on the street, you could understand what was going on. Basically, he used a good southern Illinois term that said he would put the cabbage down where the hogs could eat it. Let me tell you, that is what I would like to do. As we have listened here, going off and leaving the bill we were actually debating on, we have talked about everything that is going on around here. I said earlier that it will continue to go on. Why? Because we have been elected by the people to work through this process. We are going to work through this process. I hope that there is not a shutdown. If there is a shutdown, is this the first time we have shut down? No, it is not. What we have to know is that we want to make sure we are getting it right. The American people want us to get it right. What legislators discover once we are here, with the 435 districts, what is happening in the ranking member's district, quite often his people feel different than the people of the Illinois 12th District, which I represent. They feel different because they come from different cultures. It is our job to try to come up with something that is balanced and that can actually operate this Nation the way we need to have it operated. Let me also say this: We also know that we can do a whole lot of things at the same time. Right now we are working on appropriation bills, and my colleague from the other side of the aisle said that we have not passed an appropriation bill. Well, we actually had one appropriation bill out, and there wasn't a single Democrat vote on it. It is kind of interesting to watch on this floor when somebody claims you haven't done anything. However, not a single vote came in from that side of the aisle. As we are moving forward, though, we do have the 12 budget bills to move. Now, will there be a CR? I don't know. Let me tell you the first thing we are going to do is we are going to move rules because that is what we do. We are going to move the rule, and we are going to have debates. I thank the members of the Rules Committee who worked all weekend long to try to make sure that through this process they are crossing the T's and dotting the I's. As I said in a speech on this floor earlier today, every comma, every dot, and every word matters. Every comma, every dot, and every word matters. Why? It matters because it is going to affect generations to come. It will affect people next week, next year, and 10 years down the road. What we do here is serious business. I am getting concerned sometimes that the only thing people want to see is the rhetoric back and forth when they don't understand how much time we do spend working across the aisle together to having successful pieces of legislation that actually get things done. We both knew, the Senate knew, with Senator Moran and Senator Tester, that this piece of legislation that we are working on today needed to be moved by the last of this month or these services would fail. Rightfully so, in a bipartisan manner, we have and we will move this tonight, and it will move on to the President so those vital services are not removed or even say a flaw in them where a problem could happen. Remember, all I said about the words and the dots and the commas: They aren't just words; they affect people's lives. That is why we have got to get it right, and we are going to work to get it right. Madam Speaker, I am ready to close, but I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for the spirited debate. Once again, that is the rhetoric I was talking about, to think that people on this side of the aisle don't want to take care of our veterans and feed our veterans, don't want to make sure that SNAP programs are passed and that those people in need are taken care of, that is the rhetoric we have got to stop. In this particular bill, this bill actually does provide and make sure that we can carry on these three areas of service in the VA that are vitally important. We want to make sure that our colleagues on both sides of the aisle support this legislation. I will encourage mine. I just heard the ranking member support and encourage his Members to support this legislation as well. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Murphy), the author on our side of this Chamber for this piece of legislation.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, many people know that I was in the State legislature prior to coming to Congress, I was a foreleader there and I knew and could identify when, for some reason, whether it is leadership on one side of the aisle or the other side of the aisle, who wants to drag the debate out. So I am going to do whatever I can to help them out here. Some things that were claimed here--I think it is amazing that the claims that actually cause fear through our Nation and through people who are providing services--we are going to try to work every way we can not to have a shutdown, but we have a responsibility, and that responsibility is to pass a budget. That is not what we were supposed to be debating here at this time, but I am glad to do that. If you remember when we were working on the cap, where we would increase the cap, I think the other side of the aisle said we were going to cut benefits for veterans. Veterans were scared all over the United States because they claimed we were going to cut benefits for veterans. Oh, and what happened? I told that--not only I as chair, but the Speaker and others--we are not cutting benefits for veterans. Okay. Let's see what actually--if the shutdown occurs, what actually is still covered at the VA? I think it is very important that the American people know. Healthcare will not be cut. It won't even slow down. Compensation and pension benefits and processing of claims on appeals, they will still be done. The Veterans Crisis Line, it is most important, and I know both myself and the ranking member know it is vitally important to make sure that those veterans--the veteran numbers right now are 17 per day that are committing suicide--we want to make sure that is open. Housing benefits for the homeless, open. National cemeteries and burial services and benefits, still going to be done. Essential IT functions, network data centers, cybersecurity operations, are still all going to be done with VA. The Office of General Counsel is still going to operate. The financial accounting and debt management center, maintenance and management of VA facilities, VA customer service operations, workforce management for electronic health records, the modernization office, VA appeal court operations, small and disadvantaged veterans business support operations--all not cut. Why? Because we have been working already with the Secretary of the VA to make sure those services remain in place. Are there certain things that will slow down, paperwork and things like that? I hope we don't go into the shutdown, but those essential services we are going to make sure are provided for our veterans. Why? Because our veterans deserve it. We want to make sure that we don't have fearmongering and concern in that way. I think there are people that should be concerned about a shutdown. I am concerned about a shutdown. That is why we are going to be--and this is very important for the American people to know--I know for a fact that I am possibly going to be offering an amendment tonight somewhere around 1 o'clock in the morning. We are going to work through the day and through the night. We are going to do it all this week to try to take care of the business of this Nation. People should feel secure that we are. That is not why we were here today. We wanted to talk about this bill and the importance of it. Why? Because these are essential services we must also pass by the end of the month. As you can see, we are going to continue to do the work. We are going to continue to work in this way, and I hope in a bipartisan manner that we are. We can go out and do press conferences and stand on this floor and claim, oh, this isn't getting done or that isn't getting done. I understand that. I have been around this process a long time. But understand, we are here to do our job and we are going to do our job. There are 435 Members in this Chamber, and all of them have opinions and all of them have ideas. You know what? We are doing a thing called regular order because many people called for that. You know what? There are two things in this life you should not watch being made because it ruins the taste of both--sausage and law. Now we are making law. We are coming together and running our heads together and arguing and debating. We are debating on our side of the aisle with our own colleagues, we are debating on that side of the aisle with their colleagues, and we are debating together to come up with the answers that we need to for this Nation to do it right. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, may I request the time remaining for each side?

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Chairman, let me explain this. As I said, auto dealers themselves, since we put this in place, cannot sell these vehicles. No one wants them even if the government is trying to force us to take them. They are offering tax incentives. They are offering everything that you think would drive somebody to purchase a vehicle they don't want. We, as United States citizens, and my constituents and your constituents, Mr. Chair, know and understand that we are consumers. We kind of like this freedom thing we have in this Nation. We want to make sure that that freedom works for us. I am going to tell you, it is vitally important that our farmers have vehicles that are affordable, that are reliable, and that they can do the job of providing the food, fiber, and all of the things that we require from our farmers to make sure that we can feed the world. Mr. Chairman, if we continue down this path, it doesn't allow them to do that. I encourage all the Members to support this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber).

Mr. BOST. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to restrict the Secretary of Agriculture from using taxpayer dollars to purchase electric vehicles. The American people have had enough of the Green New Deal mandates. Families and farmers in my district, who fear the steady march of Big Government, know that it is just the beginning before Big Government makes it harder to purchase the vehicles you want to drive and that you have to drive to operate your farms and businesses. I have talked to car dealers in my district that are having a hard time even moving electric vehicles off the lot. No one wants to buy them. Not only do electric vehicles cost more than gas-powered vehicles, but they also make us more dependent on global adversaries for the lithium batteries it takes to run them. Americans should not be forced to heel under the Biden administration's push for this radical agenda. There are better solutions. For instance, biofuels offer a tremendous energy opportunity for our country that supports our farmers in the fields and the consumers at the pump with cleaner and cheaper fuel. The USDA should be supporting and uplifting American farmers, not selling them out to please environmental activists. My amendment shows that the people's House will hold the Biden administration accountable to the people. Mr. Chair, I urge support of my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Chairman, first off, I have actually met with members of the Auto Dealers Association who have tremendous amounts of EVs sitting on their lots that they can't sell. Yet, we continue to push from the Federal Government and from the Biden administration to try to push that. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Harris).

Mr. BOST. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Captain Eleanor LeBeau Cooke. To friends and family, she was known as Ellie, the fifth of eight children of David and Victoria LeBeau. She graduated from Althoff Catholic High School in 2012 before attending Murray State University in Kentucky. In 2018, she answered the call of service and joined the Marine Corps and became an Osprey pilot. It was in the Marines where she met her beloved husband, Chase. Ellie received the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. In March of this year, she was promoted to captain. Three weeks ago, Ellie lost her life in a V-22 Osprey crash on a training mission off the coast of Australia. Two of her fellow marines also passed away. Her family and her home community in St. Clair County mourn her loss, as do countless other southern Illinoisans. She was special. As her obituary noted, ``There was just something about Ellie.'' Our prayers go out to Chase and to the entire LeBeau and Cooke families at this very difficult time. Semper Fidelis, Captain Eleanor LeBeau Cooke. Your impact on our Nation will be remembered.

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BOST

Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I, once again, encourage Members to support this legislation. This is truly a piece of legislation that helps the community know and understand how a gallant hero served this Nation. A Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest award. It is not given lightly. For a person who truly did face a time when persecution happened to his people but still served this Nation, it is a true honor that we need to bestow on him. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.