Dan Bishop

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), who represents Athens, Georgia.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the majority leader.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde).

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close as well, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Molinaro).

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 7511.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1052, I call up the bill (H.R. 7511) to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to take into custody aliens who have been charged in the United States with theft, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, today, the House says the name ``Laken Riley'' through H.R. 7511, the Laken Riley Act. On this day, 2 weeks ago, the life of a 22-year-old nursing student, Laken Riley, a beautiful and vibrant young woman, came to an abrupt and shocking end, a totally unnecessary end, when she was abducted from her morning run around Lake Herrick Trail on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens and brutally killed, beaten to death and to a state of disfigurement by a criminal alien whom Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas were under legal obligation to detain. Laken's failure to return home alarmed her roommate, who called police. Police found her discarded body in the woods off the running trail, her skull crushed. Last Friday, Laken's parents laid their daughter to rest, their lives destroyed by the senseless and depraved actions of a criminal who should not have been here and the callous indifference of the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security. A Venezuelan, Jose Ibarra illegally entered into our country across the southwest border in 2022. The Biden administration released him, just like millions of others, paroled him into the country to roam wherever he pleased, rather than detaining him as the law required. Jose Ibarra roamed to New York City. There, in August, NYPD arrested him for driving a scooter without a license with a child on board unprotected by a helmet, and an independent obligation arose for Homeland Security to detain Mr. Ibarra; namely, that he had committed an offense involving moral turpitude by endangering that child. However, NYPD released him and Homeland Security did nothing. From New York City, Jose Ibarra roamed to join his brother Diego, another criminal illegal alien, in Athens, Georgia. Athens police arrested Diego in September for driving while intoxicated and without a license, also an offense involving moral turpitude which required detention by Homeland Security. However, Homeland Security again did nothing, and Diego, too, was promptly released. In October, Jose and Diego joined forces to rip off the local Walmart, and it must have been quite something for them to be arrested for shoplifting in this day and age, but arrested they were. Then another basis in law arose for mandatory detention, specifically two or more criminal offenses, by each of them, involving separate criminal acts. Again, Homeland Security utterly disregarded Congress' statutory command and did nothing. The Ibarra brothers were set free upon the community again. In December, a final chance came to prevent Laken Riley's fate. Athens police arrested Diego again for failure to appear for a fingerprintable offense. Why didn't they arrest Jose? Who knows. Maybe they figured, what is the point? Homeland Security will just continue looking the other way. Even though Diego was also now an absconder, he was released again. The big bureaucratic Department of Homeland Security did nothing. Secretary Mayorkas was asked whether Jose Ibarra should have been deported before he beat Laken Riley to death. He answered blandly that his agency works closely with law enforcement ``to ensure individuals who pose a threat to public safety are made the highest priority for detention and removal,'' which reminds me of the more than 30 times Secretary Mayorkas testified to Congress under oath that the border was secure. What the Secretary omitted to explain was the law he laid down in September 2021, the memo to the Department of Homeland Security employees, where he instructed that the grounds specified by Congress for detention would never be the basis standing alone for any detention by Homeland Security; the law according to Alejandro Mayorkas. Today, the Laken Riley Act presents two simple and straightforward amendments to law to break through the Biden administration's brazen, defiant, and reckless disregard for Laken Riley and all the other vulnerable Americans out there victimized already or soon to be victimized. First, it specifies theft offenses as a ground mandating the Secretary of Homeland Security to take into custody criminal illegal aliens like Jose Ibarra and to issue a detainer request to local law enforcement. How hard is that, Mr. Speaker? Shouldn't illegal aliens be required to be detained at the border in the first place? Shouldn't those who go on to engage in thievery in our country be detained and removed? Who could disagree with that? If H.R. 7511 only added another detention mandate to the slew that Secretary Mayorkas is brazenly defying even today, then it would be an act of futility. It would be more statutory commands to an administration that is lawless, and it would do nothing to honor the life and memory of Laken Riley. Therefore, the other essential element of this bill is to confer standing upon State attorneys general to bring civil actions against open-borders executive branch officials who refuse to enforce the Nation's immigration laws. This provision comes from H.R. 7322, the SUE for Immigration Enforcement Act, introduced by Chip Roy and me. It would empower States to hold Homeland Security accountable in Federal courts for flouting mandatory detention requirements, the limits of parole authority, and visa sanctions against countries that refuse to cooperate with repatriation of illegals removed from our country. This responds to the Supreme Court's ruling of 2023 in United States v. Texas that States lack standing in such cases, and it follows the roadmap set forth in the Court's opinion in that case inviting Congress to cure the standing defect by specifically authorizing such suits in statute. The provision confers standing upon a narrowly defined set of plaintiffs, the States, and it authorizes the judiciary to grant redress. As such, this legislation would ensure that harmful abuses of our immigration laws--in fact, those policies set forth by the Biden administration that are in direct conflict and contradiction with the plain meaning of our laws--will not go unchallenged. H.R. 7511 also honors Laken Riley's life and those who mourn her loss as well as all the other victims of the Biden border crisis. No law passed by this body can bring back Laken or take away the pain suffered by her family and countless other victims of criminal alien crime. The Laken Riley Act, however, will ensure that illegal aliens who commit theft offenses, as Laken's alleged murderer did, cannot be shielded by the Biden administration's continued reckless and callous indifference. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, many have said what the issue is. Many have mischaracterized it, in my judgment. The issue presented by the Articles of Impeachment and why they should be adopted by the House is not a matter of policy, it is not a matter of maladministration, it is not a matter of incompetence, it is not a matter of neglect, and it is not even a matter of refusal to enforce the law. It was stated succinctly and aptly in the District Court opinion that ultimately led to the United States Supreme Court last summer in the United States v. Texas. The core of the dispute is whether the executive branch may require its officials to act in a manner that conflicts with a statutory mandate imposed by Congress. It may not. You see, Madam Speaker, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, issued guidelines--administrative law--instructing the Department of Homeland Security not to detain criminal aliens nor those ordered finally removed. That is what he did, and that was flatly contradictory to statutes passed by the Congress in the mid-1990s. We are a nation of laws. The Supreme Court has said it cannot referee this dispute, it is up to Congress, and the Congress has but one means in this situation to vindicate the law. It cannot help the situation by shutting down the government or by cutting off funding. There is no new Cabinet Secretary to refuse to confirm in the Senate. There is but one means: the impeachment of the Secretary who purported to issue law defying the Congress. That must result in his impeachment if the law is to have any force and if the Congress is to remain of any significance in the jurisprudence in the law of the United States.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker Pro Tempore, today I rise to honor the legacy of the Union County Board of Commissioners Chair, Stony Dwight Rushing. Stony loved his family and he loved Union County. He was fiercely devoted to his wife, Anne-Marie, and his two children, Reagan and RyLee. Stony also served Union County for four terms on the Board of Commissioners from 2002 to 2006, and then again from 2014 to 2023. Over the course of these four terms, Stony's fellow Board Members chose him to serve as Chairman for two of them. Stony was a congenial presence and a highly effective servant to his community. He stood for our God- given rights and took every opportunity to make people's lives better. His larger-than-life presence that still echoes throughout Union County will truly be missed. Outside of his involvement with the Union County Board of Commissioners, Stony mentored young North Carolinians on the importance of firearm proficiency and safety. Stony served as a certified firearms instructor and owner of Take Aim Training Range. In fact, he was the NRA South Carolina Youth Hunter Education Challenge State Coordinator, and was honored as the 2013 NC Governor's Conservation Achievement Award winner for ``Hunter Education Instructor of the Year.'' Stony also served as the Union District Chairman for the Boy Scouts of America between 2006 and 2009. On behalf of the entire 8th Congressional District of North Carolina, I rise to honor and celebrate Chairman Stony Rushing's fruitful life and dedicated service to others. I thank Stony and may he rest in peace.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate Union County Public Schools teacher, Dawn Helms Stegall, on her retirement after 48 years of serving Union County's students and families. Dawn graduated from Piedmont High School in the class of 1972 before attending both Wingate University for a degree in history, and Meredith College for a degree in social studies and secondary education. In 1975, Dawn started her teaching career at UCPS at Sun Valley, where she taught history for 10 years. She accepted a job at her alma mater, Piedmont High School, where she taught history for the next 38 years. She was named UCPS Teacher of the Year for the 1989-1990 academic year and was later named the Region IV Teacher of the Year. Year after year, Dawn's students register among the highest scores for AP U.S. History. Dawn's dedicated leadership in the classroom has inspired several of her students to further study history and return to teach in the UCPS system. Dawn's years of service to the UCPS community also extends far beyond the classroom. Dawn helped start the Piedmont Barbecue in 1986 and continued every year until 2019. Over these years, the Barbecue has raised more than one hundred thousand dollars for Piedmont High students. It is clear, Dawn is the epitome of servant leadership. Once again, on behalf of the entire 8th Congressional District of North Carolina, I rise to congratulate Dawn Helms Stegall on a successful career and a well-deserved recognition for her years of dedicated service to Union County.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to introduce America to First Baptist Church Indian Trail in the person of Pastor Mike Whitson, who opened us in prayer. Pastor Whitson celebrated this past month his 40th anniversary in the pulpit at First Baptist. Indian Trail? You may ask, what is Indian Trail? It is a small town, I would say, immediately east of Charlotte, North Carolina, except that is not quite right. The mayor of Stallings, North Carolina, is in the gallery. Stallings is immediately east of Charlotte, and Indian Trail is immediately east of Stallings. It is a small town, and in its midst, the institution of First Baptist Church has over 7,000 members. In the course of the pastorate of Mike Whitson, more than 7,000 people have been baptized, and they have two satellite campuses. In 1992, they began the Metrolina Christian Academy, which now matriculates 1,477 students in one of the largest K-12 private schools in our State. There is ministry after ministry--to the county jail, a Russian language ministry. Where God undertakes to do His will, it can be in the most unexpected of places. It was related in the church's celebration of Mike's pastorate and his 40th anniversary that, in the early days, Mike would surprise everyone, certainly the men of the church, when he would bid them a farewell by saying: I love you. At first, they were taken aback, but after a time, they began saying to Pastor Whitson: I love you. That is what Pastor Whitson has meant, and the work of the Lord through him and in him is a masterful thing for the Nation to behold. It is my honor to have had him here in the House Chamber today.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Mr. Roy, for yielding. The President's budget recommendation came over a month late yesterday, and there was one detail I read in The New York Times, so it must be true, although that is the only place I have had a chance to see it yet, and what immediately popped into my mind when I read this detail, is that Karine Jean-Pierre said last week--I can remember her saying it--that the President's economic plan is working for the American people. That popped back into my head, because the detail disclosed by The New York Times is that the administration predicts economic growth in this fiscal year not 3\1/2\ percent, not 4 percent certainly, not 2\1/2\ percent, not 1\1/2\ percent, but six-tenths of a percent. You have to start talking about economic growth and what the economists call basis points, because it is so small. So if the economic plan of the Biden administration is working for the American people, that means 60 basis points of economic growth anticipated in the year. And guess what the Biden administration says about that? We should do nothing different. We should keep doing the same thing that is producing six-tenths of a percent of economic growth, except one other thing: We should pile the burden of a lot more taxes on the economy, because apparently that is going to--because what do we need? Thirty basis points of economic growth? Republicans believe we need to change.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Chair, I am grateful that the chairman and lead sponsor will, I anticipate, lend his support to this amendment. It will close a loophole that would defeat the purpose of the bill. In fact, absent this amendment, the bill would inadvertently validate the very conduct this bill aims to stop. Emerging evidence, most notably the Twitter files, depicts what one expert has termed the largest censorship program in U.S. Government history. On the pretext of protecting election infrastructure or enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act, personnel of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA; the Department of Homeland Security, DHS; the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; the CIA; the Global Engagement Center from the State Department, which most Americans had never heard of; and even the CDC practically embedded themselves with operators of social media platforms and corporate media to manage and curate Americans' public discourse, to induce Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, et cetera, to take down lawful and First Amendment protected speech of Americans time and again and again. In so doing, these omnipresent Federal agencies established working relationships with a small cadre of supposed internet research groups, affiliated in some cases with well-known universities and NGOs, but loaded with political partisans, who purported to create black-box analytical efforts to identify social media accounts that amplified content from Russia. But these purported experts, like Hamilton 68, didn't identify Russian-amplifying bot networks, as they claimed, through some sophisticated algorithm. They just found a bunch of American Trump supporter accounts and labeled them that. And for months and months, as they became a trusted source for media that cited Hamilton 68, Twitter ``trust and safety executives'' like Yoel Roth stood quietly by knowing that Hamilton 68 was a fraud. Guess what? Follow the money. Part of the working relationship between the agencies and the research groups was funding that flowed by the millions in government grants. Each day, it becomes clearer that between these three pillars--Federal security agencies, media operators, and internet analysts--a new Washington revolving door has emerged to facilitate the same people moving between them and profiting from the scam. The base text of this bill would allow exactly this process to continue, but there is never a legitimate law enforcement purpose for Federal agents to take down speech that the First Amendment protects. We have now seen agencies of the Federal Government once again targeting Americans for their political views. In the government's attempt to stop Russian misinformation, they have targeted and attacked Americans for simply voicing opinions that they disfavor. Their actions violate our First Amendment principles, and Congress must take this action to stop it. The amendment will address the flaw in the bill, but it is odd to me that Democrats who used to so revere the First Amendment are no longer concerned about it. In Lamont v. Postmaster General in 1965, which Democrats lauded, the Court held that Americans have a right to receive communist propaganda from abroad. The Democrats loved it then. Now, they don't even want Americans to be able to post their views on social media. How abhorrent. We will fix it. This bill will fix it. The amendment will fix the bill. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Chair, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer).

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, right now, family and friends have gathered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to celebrate the life of a 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 story began in the town of Lenoir, where he was born the son of James Edgar and Satie Hunt Broyhill, whose Broyhill Furniture had become a thriving business and brand name known nationwide. Ed Broyhill, Mr. Broyhill's father, despite living in a State where the Republican Party was almost extinct, was a Republican national committeeman. 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. He attended and graduated from 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. 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. In the preceding districting process, the Democrat-dominated State legislature drew districts designed to eliminate the only North Carolina Republican in the State's congressional delegation, Charles Jonas of Charlotte, but the plan backfired and elected two Republicans to Congress, Mr. Jonas and Mr. Broyhill. 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. As a result, after that first bare win in 1962, he never again faced a serious challenge in reelection 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 freshman Members and instructing them on the importance of constituent service and attending local events in the district. After his retirement, he briefly returned to Lenoir, and then served as secretary of commerce and chairman of the North Carolina Economic Development Commission. 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, Louise; son Ed, who serves as a Republican national committeeman himself; daughter Marilyn; 6 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. His son Phil passed away, sadly, in 2014. In addition, he leaves 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 me the larger-than-life figure of Jim Broyhill, who has long since entered the pantheon of foremost North Carolina leaders. For all the care he furnished to the Republican Party as it broke one-party dominance in North Carolina, his first priority was Louise, Ed, and Marilyn, his extended family whom he loved. Jim Broyhill was a distinguished gentleman, a humble public servant, and a loyal husband, father, and friend. It is my honor to pay tribute to his memory today. Jim Broyhill, rest in peace.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, it is my honor to gather with other Members of the North Carolina delegation on the floor this evening to acknowledge the passing of a great North Carolinian, the Honorable Jim Broyhill, who passed away at the age of 95 last week. Today, there was a gathering in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in celebration of his life, and my fellow Members and I have come to the floor this evening to ask the House to stand in a moment of silence in recognition of the service of this North Carolinian, who served 23 years in this House, served briefly in the United States Senate, and was substantially responsible for re-creating political competition and a revitalized Republican Party in the State of North Carolina. On behalf of the North Carolina delegation, I ask the House do now observe a moment of silence in honor of Senator Jim Broyhill.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Colorado and my colleagues will show in this hour that censorship of conservative voices proliferates among social media and other tech companies, banks and other commercial service providers, and massive public companies and capital markets pursuing ESG policies. As Mr. Buck suggested, it is worse than that because the leading and most insidious censors, whose predominant selection of conservatives to victimize, by the way, as only an aside, are the powerful and secretive agencies of Federal law enforcement and the so-called intelligence community. In only the most recent example of this egregious wrongdoing, and solely due to the commendable voluntary disclosure by a social media company of the Twitter files, we now know that not only the FBI but also the ODNI, NSA, and CIA audaciously abused their power to coordinate Big Tech and Big Media to suppress from circulation information that was highly significant to the 2020 Presidential election; namely, the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story. But even this jaw-dropping disclosure focusing on an isolated document brings home just how insidious, how brazen the conduct of these massive and unaccountable agencies has become. Here is one. Twitter files Number 7, Tweet 15, by one of the reporters with integrity, Michael Shellenberger: My colleagues at the Fort had a query for you. This is from Elvis Chan at the FBI to Yoel Roth at Twitter. My colleagues at the Fort is a reference to Fort Meade, the headquarters of the National Security Agency. He says that Twitter no longer provides their data feed, as they had in earlier years apparently, and asked if they would be willing to change it. Their data feed; comments, postings of 77 million Americans and more than 330 million people worldwide. My colleagues, Mr. Chan says, are currently contracting with a vendor for an analytic tool for open-source intelligence. The commercial version of this tool includes the Twitter data feed. However, the feed was disabled because the vendor said they did not want to violate their terms of service with Twitter. My colleagues are wondering if Twitter would be open to revising its terms of service to allow this vendor to continue having access to the Twitter feed. This representative of the FBI is asking for Twitter to reverse its policy to allow government agencies to conduct analytics on the discourse of the American people; mass surveillance of the public conversation; collection and preservation, so it can be searched at will by government bureaucrats for whatever purposes. And note, he makes reference to the provision of this, not to the FBI, but ``to members of the IC,'' the intelligence community. Bad enough if this were the FBI, but he is talking about the agencies who are supposed to direct their attention abroad for the sake of American security and, instead, they are seeking mass surveillance on Americans' utterances and those of unsuspecting people the world over. A good Democrat, William Proxmire said, power always has to be kept in check. Power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous. Mr. Speaker, in the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, we will plumb the depths of powerful agencies gone rogue; and then this Congress must act to keep in check power exercised in secret.