Dan Bishop

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor my good friend Don Reid and to wish him a very happy 90th birthday. Don, a stalwart conservative, served on the Charlotte City Council from 1991 to 1999. There, he established a reputation as a zealous defender of the taxpayer--demanding accountability, asking tough questions, and standing against imprudent and ill-advised big spending projects, even if that meant standing alone. Among those big spending projects: a proposed taxpayer-funded NBA stadium and an expensive light rail system. Twenty years off the Council, the passage of time has proven Don right again and again. In addition to his service on the Council, Don helped found the watchdog group Citizens for Effective Government and hosted weekly breakfast meetings in Charlotte that were must-attend events for those interested in local politics. Don, you continue to be an important voice on behalf of fiscal responsibility, and Charlotte is grateful for your service. Happy birthday.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to honor retired Lieutenant Colonel Allen Lamb of Lumberton, North Carolina, and to extend him best wishes for a very happy 90th birthday. Lieutenant Colonel Lamb, a decorated fighter pilot, led the legendary Wild Weasels tasked with destroying North Vietnam's air defenses, which included Soviet-made surface-to-air missile installations. The Wild Weasels baited the enemy into targeting them with their radar, allowing their teammates to detect and destroy the anti-aircraft system. On December 22, 1965, Lamb was the first Wild Weasel to destroy one of these missile sites, marking a key event in the war and saving countless American lives. For his heroic service, Lieutenant Colonel Lamb received two Silver Stars and a Distinguished Flying Cross. I am honored to call him a constituent. Happy birthday to Lieutenant Colonel Lamb.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, when the details are known, the absence of factual basis becomes plain. Nobody is getting wet. A University of Oregon economist showed, just in February, that the Shelby County decision to which this bill purports to respond, has not impaired Black voter turnout at all. There is no Jim Crow 2.0. This bill is about abuse of power. Democrats wish to entrench themselves in power and to use the Federal Government to obliterate the States in order to achieve it. You have to know the facts.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, to come to the correct conclusion, a law professor used to say, ``You've got to know the facts.'' And that is what the American people need here: the facts, not emotion. This bill would comprehensively transfer the power to govern elections in this country from the sovereign States to the Federal Government permanently and everywhere. So what is the factual premise for so fundamentally concentrating the power here in Washington and diminishing the States? What has happened to justify making pervasive and permanent what Chief Justice Roberts explained was ``a drastic departure from basic principles of freedom'' when it was necessarily undertaken in the 1960s, temporarily and in limited parts of the country? Well, Democrats offer lurid claims, but the American people are catching on. Like earlier this year, Stacey Abrams claimed that a simple voter ID law would be Jim Crow 2.0, but once the absurdity of that caught up to her, she looked so ridiculous that she tried to deny ever having claimed it. Nothing epitomizes this better than the slur repeated in the Rules Committee yesterday by my law school classmate and colleague, Congresswoman Ross. She quoted three ultraliberal judges in the Fourth Circuit who said that when the North Carolina legislature enacted voter ID and other reforms in 2013, it ``targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision.'' Activists and media have quoted that phrase over 7,500 times, according to Google. But few know that the three judges who stated that finding of fact were appellate judges who were supposed to be bound by the trial judge's finding of fact; or that the trial judge found in a painstaking 400-page analysis that the legislature's bill was not discriminatory. So the three appellate judges abused their power. Few know how the three liberal appellate judges became the final word, that a Democrat State Attorney General intentionally sabotaged the State's appeal to prevent an upcoming review by the Supreme Court. That AG abused his power.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to honor Johnnie Kershaw, a retired volunteer firefighter and native of Hoke County, North Carolina. The second oldest of nine children, Johnnie was born July 29, 1936, and moved to Brooklyn, New York, as a young man. There, he enrolled at Brooklyn Automotive School, where he learned transmission and auto body repair. In 1966, he returned to Hoke County and opened Kershaw's Body Shop, making him the first African-American man in the county to own his own paint and body shop. Throughout his 30 years of service as a volunteer firefighter, Johnnie received several awards, including the Outstanding Leadership Award, the Outstanding Fire Chief Award, and the Outstanding Safety Award. Now, at 85 years old, Johnnie continues to serve as a model leader for the Hoke County community. I am proud to recognize his achievements today and to call him a constituent.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, today I rise to recognize former U.S. Representative Sue Myrick who has a landmark birthday this Sunday. Congresswoman Myrick served the people of North Carolina's Ninth Congressional District from 1995 to 2013. Before that, Sue made history in 1987 when she scored a major upset against a two-term Democrat to become the first female mayor of Charlotte. Importantly, before politics, Sue was known for her faith life as a Sunday school teacher and private sector career as an advertising executive. In Congress for the Ninth District, Sue was a notable and effective conservative chairing the Republican Study Committee. Protecting America from foreign threats and securing our border defined her congressional career. As important, she was and is kind and caring, and she provided legendary constituent service. I am honored to serve in her place today and fondly remember her campaign slogan: We need Sue Myrick in Congress because ``Sue Myrick gets things done.'' Happy birthday to Sue.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, we should defeat the previous question in order to immediately consider H.R. 4698, Representative Burgess Owens' bill, called the Say No to Indoctrination Act. The Nation has awakened to the insidious ideology, or better said, theology of critical race theory and its allied neo-Marxian concepts, all spawned in the fringes of academia. After a few hardy individuals began focusing on this phenomenon, Americans have discovered with growing alarm that it seems to be everywhere: in the media, in the workplace, in our armed services, in healthcare, in churches, and, yes, in the classrooms where our school children are taught. With this daunting realization, employees, soldiers, and moms and dads from all walks of life have been speaking out. Now, the proponents of CRT are scrambling. Their first answer has been to play word games, to ridicule the notion that the ideology is present. But whether couched as CRT, critical social justice, conflict theory, race essentialism, intersectionality, White fragility, or many other names, Americans have seen it and they have caught on. So the second line of defense--we just heard it--by the activists is to erect a straw man to falsely ascribe to those who confront CRT a motive to deny or conceal racial and group injustice in our history. But Americans are on to that as well. They know that at the core of critical race theory is the mission to indoctrinate people, especially young people, into the idea that our country is forever locked into group conflict, especially racial conflict, so that the country, and certainly all White people, are irredeemably racists. It casts the American principles of individual liberty, meritocracy, and free enterprise as systems of oppression. This condemns the progress our Nation has made since first stating its founding principles.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, CRT has nothing to do with teaching accurate history. It is impossible to overstate the danger of indoctrinating Americans with the belief that their race, or other group membership, is the primary determinant of their path in life. My friends, Mr. Owens' bill ensures that this poison is not funded with taxpayer dollars. The U.S. Congress should catch up with the moms and dads confronting school boards across the country. I encourage my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and to support Representative Owens' bill.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, today I rise to congratulate Lumbee Tribal Council member, Terry Hunt, who during July's council meeting was honored for nearly three decades of service in the U.S. Army and the North Carolina National Guard where he served as a Command Sergeant Major. During the meeting, Councilman Hunt was bestowed with the Old North State Award, which honors guard members who have served at least 20 years and who have shown a dedication of service beyond expectation. He was also awarded the North Carolina Association Certificate, which honors National Guard retirees. Councilman Hunt was elected to the Tribal Council in 2018, representing District 14, which includes communities in Eastern Robeson County. I am proud to work alongside him and the other members of the council as we pursue long-overdue Federal recognition for the Lumbee. Congratulations to Councilman Hunt on this great honor. The people of North Carolina are grateful for his service.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. The Transportation Security Transparency Improvement Act is a commonsense solution to strengthen national security and promote communication with stakeholders. Involving stakeholders in policymaking is the most effective way to implement trustworthy and efficient decisions. As any stakeholder will tell you, information sharing is critical. My bill will improve consistency in TSA's designation and redaction of materials as sensitive security information, as well as address the security directive and emergency amendment process and its impacts on international aviation security. My bill will also ensure clear and consistent designations and emphasize TSA's outreach with carriers and local law enforcement to promote information sharing. Finally, the Transportation Security Transparency Improvement Act will instruct the TSA Administrator to implement guidelines to ensure all security and safety measures are being met. This legislation will undoubtedly improve aviation security by ensuring TSA clearly communicates critical security information to transportation security stakeholders.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate the Honorable Mike McIntyre, former Member of the House from 1997 to 2015 for his induction into the University of North Carolina's Order of the Golden Fleece, the oldest and highest honor society at UNC, where Mike received both a bachelor of arts and a juris doctorate. After graduating from UNC law, Mike practiced as an attorney in his hometown of Lumberton until he was elected to Congress in 1996. During his 18 years representing Robeson County and other parts of southeastern North Carolina, Congressman McIntyre acquired a reputation for excellent constituent service and advocacy for rural communities, including his work on the Agriculture Committee and his coauthoring the landmark Tobacco Buyout legislation, as well as fighting for full Federal recognition of the Lumbee. For Mike, country over party was not just a slogan, it was his approach to leadership. I am honored not only to carry on his work serving the rural southern Piedmont of North Carolina, but also to strive to emulate his example as I do so. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Mike on this appropriate recognition. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 18, and I ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and my fellow North Carolinian, Mr. Cawthorn, for having this Special Order. My comments will echo his. Look, the pandemic is over. Thank goodness. Our economy should be seeing robust growth. Instead, businesses cannot fill the record number of jobs available. In fact, the number one issue that I hear, not only from business owners and managers, but from all constituents, is that folks will not come to work, businesses cannot find workers. Last month, despite 9.3 million job openings, there were only 69,000 more new hires than in the month before. How is that possible with unemployment at 6 percent? Simply put, President Biden and Democrats have insisted on continuing to pay people more to stay home than to work. Despite consistent warnings from Republicans and economists, the so- called American Rescue Plan continued expanded unemployment benefit programs enacted in the heart of the pandemic. In my home State, in North Carolina, these expanded benefits are worth $650 a week. That is about $50 more than the Progressives' preferred minimum wage of $15 an hour. You don't have to be an economist to see why small businesses can't fill job openings, and it is beyond time that Congress fix this self-inflicted wound. That is one reason that Representative Jodey Arrington and I introduced the Jump-Start the Economy with Jobs Act. This bill, which ought to move promptly in this Congress, requires an individual who is currently receiving enhanced unemployment benefits to recertify that they do not have a job offer waiting for them in order to continue receiving enhanced benefits. If their former employer would receive a communication, and if they say we are prepared to give an offer to that person to come back to work, then they can't continue to receive unemployment benefits. How appropriate. That would tailor the program to those people that continue to need it because of a job dislocation they cannot resolve. Enhanced unemployment benefits should continue for those who truly need them and not for those who have a job waiting for them. The extended Federal unemployment benefits implemented during COVID- 19 had their time, but they should not be the mainstay now. They are, instead, artificially reducing the workforce. Across the country, let's all be thankful, communities are opening up their economies and getting back to normal. It is past time for this government to stop holding back the recovery and to stand up for small businesses, job generators, by ceasing to pay people to stay home. A good first step would be to enact the Jump-Start the Economy with Jobs Act.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, this is sensible and prudent to the administration of justice in my home State. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today makes a small but significant change to the Federal fraud statutes to protect veterans from criminals who seek to steal their benefits. It does so by inserting a new provision into the criminal code to complement the mail and wire fraud statutes. Unfortunately, there have been reports in recent years of criminals entering nursing homes in search of elderly veterans with the intent to defraud them of their Federal benefits. Like many crimes of fraud, these fraudsters present themselves to their victims as a helping hand in a time of need. This is a truly despicable crime worthy of this body's attention. This legislation has passed this House three times by overwhelming margins, including a vote of 417-0 last Congress. Our men and women in uniform have sacrificed much for us. They have earned our gratitude, our respect, and our protection. Mr. Speaker, there is little, in my mind, more contemptuous than someone who tries to defraud a veteran of what they have earned in defense of our country. We must put an end to this fraud. I urge all my colleagues to support this measure. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2694, the Criminal Judicial Administration Act of 2021. This bill strengthens existing laws that provide for the transportation and subsistence for indigent criminal defendants when they are brought to court proceedings. H.R. 2694 also allows a magistrate judge to finally decide post- judgment motions in a misdemeanor case where that magistrate judge was the judge who handled the underlying case. This provision will improve the efficiency of our court system by allowing our courts to manage caseloads in a more economical manner. I thank the bipartisan sponsors of this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.