Byron Donalds

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which would name a Boston, Massachusetts, post office for Caroline Chang. Caroline was born and raised in Boston's Chinatown and started her career serving as an interpreter for community members seeking medical care. In 1970, Caroline Chang was appointed by the mayor of Boston as the manager of Chinatown's Little City Hall, where she continued her work advocating for the community. She went on to achieve a law degree from Suffolk Law School and to work for the United States Department of Health and Human Services for more than 30 years. Caroline Chang also helped establish the South Cove Community Health Center, the Chinese Historical Society of New England, and the Asian American Civic Association. I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation honoring this dedicated civil servant, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill which names a Melrose, Florida, post office for Pamela Jane Rock. Pamela Jane, a native Floridian, attended the University of Florida where she studied nutrition and dietetics and was a proud member of the Gator Marching Band. Pam remained a Florida Gator fan for the rest of her life and loved going to Florida football games with her family. In January of 2022, Pam became a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service in Gainesville, Florida. In August of 2022, Pam was attacked by dogs while delivering mail. She later died because of injuries she sustained in the attack. Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill honoring a dedicated postal employee whose life was tragically cut short while serving our Nation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 1060, which names a post office in San Bernardino, California, for Dr. Margaret B. Hill. Dr. Hill attended California State University, San Bernardino, and spent much of her life as an educational leader in the San Bernardino community. She served as the principal of San Andreas High School for 16 years, and later as the assistant superintendent of administrative services for the San Bernardino school system. In 2001, she was elected to the San Bernardino City Unified Board of Education, a position she remained in for 10 years. Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation honoring a dedicated, local civil servant, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 599) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3500 West 6th Street, Suite 103 in Los Angeles, California, as the ``Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Post Office'', as amended.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 599. In 2004, Congress unanimously voted to designate a post office in Los Angeles as the Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Post Office. Ahn Chang Ho and his wife immigrated to the United States as the first married couple from Korea, founding early Korean-American community groups and becoming a pivotal leader in the Korean-American community. In 2022, the lease on the post office named for Ahn Chang Ho expired, and the Postal Service moved the post office to a new location. This bill updates the current law passed in 2004 by transferring the Dosan Ahn Chang Ho name to the new post office building. Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill honoring this historical figure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, the Democratic Party is telling us that they care about taxpayers, but the son of the President of the United States is a tax cheat. He ignored Federal tax law on purpose. He laundered money through 20 LLCs. He concealed millions of dollars of overseas money, and the only reason he was able to accomplish these feats of getting so much money into his companies is because the President is his father. That is it. If you are asking why we are looking for an impeachment inquiry, it is because there were 170 suspicious activity reports at the Department of the Treasury, which we went and looked through, and every one of those reports said very clearly that there was evidence of money laundering and potentially tax evasion. There were hours of depositions. There is a web of LLCs with company names that have no business interests whatsoever. We have finally uncovered one example, Mr. Speaker, $5 million from a foreign company going to a joint venture partly controlled by Hunter Biden.

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, the next day, $400,000 goes from Hunter Biden to an account controlled by Jim and Sarah Biden. Sarah Biden writes a check to herself, and then $40,000 is in a check to Joseph Robinette Biden, the President of the United States. That is your evidence. If you want to talk crime: bribery, co-conspirator to firearm violations, and we can go on and on. Vote for the resolution. Congress must investigate these crimes.

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah, our new vice chairman, and congratulate him, as well. Mr. Speaker, President Biden consistently has stated that he never discussed business with Hunter Biden's associates. This is a lie. Let me repeat that for my colleagues across the aisle. It is a lie. Throughout our extensive investigation and from the lips of credible witnesses, it is abundantly clear that the Biden family business is Joe Biden. Let me emphasize, there is no Biden family business except for Joe Biden's 40-plus-year career in Washington, D.C. That has been the family business. As a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, we have followed the paper trail and we have conducted our investigation by the book. We have discovered damming evidence and we continue to do so every day. Our investigation has led to some alarming and eye-opening findings, which point to the President's knowledge and involvement in illegal business transactions. For example, in 2018, James Biden, the President's brother, received $600,000 in a loan from Americore, a financially distressed and failing rural hospital operator. Bankruptcy court documents suggest that James Biden received these loans based upon representations that his last name, Biden, could open doors in the Middle East based on his political connections. We all know James Biden doesn't have political connections, Joe Biden, his brother, has political connections. Specifically, Americore wired a $200,000 loan into the account of James and Sara Biden. Here is what makes the evidence damming. On the same day, James Biden wrote a $200,000 check from the same account addressed to his brother, Joe Biden. For the American people, the brother of James Biden is the President of the United States. The next example is an email obtained by the Committee from a Hunter Biden associate mentioning that 10 percent of the relevant joint venture be held by Hunter for the big guy. Ten percent of a relevant joint venture was held for the big guy. At this point in the Committee's investigation, we have established that Joe Biden is the big guy. Through the web of transactions that purposefully tried to hide the big guy's involvement, let me stress again that Joe Biden is the Biden family business. Let me illustrate an example of the confusing web of transactions. A Chinese company sent $5 million to a joint venture between Hunter and an associate. That same day, the joint venture sent $400,000 to an entity that Hunter Biden controls alone. Less than a week later, Hunter Biden wired $150,000 from this entity to a company owned by James Biden and Sara Biden. James Biden, the President's brother. Sara Biden later withdrew $50,000 from the same company. Less than a week later, Sara wrote a personal check to Joe Biden, aka the big guy, aka the President of the United States, for $40,000--the 10 percent of the $400,000 that was mentioned in the email by the associate to Hunter Biden. Another example is when a confidential human source overheard a Burisma executive claiming to have bribed then-Vice President Joe Biden for $5 million. As I stated earlier, Joe Biden consistently says that he never discussed business with Hunter Biden's associates. This was a blatant lie by the Commander in Chief and the American people deserve to know the truth. Joe Biden never thought that the Oversight Committee would get this far in its investigation, and additional damming evidence will soon be revealed to the American people. This leads me to my next point. The Foreign Agents Registration Act, more commonly known as FARA--to be clear, Hunter Biden has never registered as a foreign agent, despite his lucrative work being done on behalf of foreign interests and his many travels on Air Force Two. That wasn't just because he missed his dad. Specifically, Hunter has been documenting business transactions with a Chinese Government-based energy company called CEFC. Interestingly enough, the same company, CEFC, is the same one that is affiliated with the company that sent $5 million to Hunter Biden. How is this not the definition of being and acting as a foreign agent? Paul Manafort was convicted for far less. The time is now to open up an impeachment investigation pertaining to the President's direct link to blatant corruption, pay-for-play tactics, and acting as a co-conspirator to crimes committed by his family on behalf of Joe Biden himself. The Committee will continue to do our due diligence. We will not be worried about the distractions from the Democrats and from the press. We will dig through the confusing web of Biden LLCs. Mr. Speaker, the confusion of these companies and the confusion of these transactions were done on purpose to conceal this money from the American people and to conceal the money from the Internal Revenue Service. Joe Biden likes to talk about everybody paying their fair share, except him and except his son. They are not concerned about a fair share. We are going to continue to uncover all of this. We are going to answer and uncover all of the information that is going to outline exactly why, in my opinion, as I represent the 19th District of Florida, why Joe Biden deserves to be impeached. Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States has taken money from foreign sources. Meanwhile, the world is on fire. Is the President compromised? Do agents in the Chinese Government have the upper hand on the President of the United States while our enemies are on the move? These are serious questions that the House of Representatives has a responsibility to have answered. The way to get all that information is through the impeachment inquiry, which will continue here in the people's House.

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Chair, we should be in support of this amendment for one very important reason: The CFPB is unconstitutional. It is an agency that was given legislative powers through Dodd-Frank, one of the worst pieces of financial regulatory legislation ever to come through this Chamber, and it has no accountability and no oversight from Members of Congress. They go to the Federal Reserve to get their money. They go out to the public, and they actually are writing regulations that Congress has not even contemplated and putting out oversight that Congress has never actually voted for. They are doing it with no oversight from the people's body. Just yesterday, the CFPB went to Apple, Google, and the payment firms and came up with new proposed rules on digital wallets when this Chamber has not even come out with legislation around digital wallets or digital assets. We have not done that work in the people's House, so to allow an agency like this to continue to operate with no oversight, to go in and out of any company they choose to based upon the whims of Mr. Chopra, is not constitutional. Furthermore, it is not befitting for an agency under the government of, by, and for the people. Let me also add that the bill presented by Mr. Barr from Kentucky is a good step in the right direction because it would at least give Congress Article I oversight powers over the CFPB and allow us to do the thing that Mr. Perry is arguing for, which is zeroing out this agency and eliminating it altogether. Let's speak to the consumer protections that the gentleman from Maryland has talked about. Before CFPB, consumer protections actually were within the purview of all the other Federal agencies that are under the oversight guise of Congress. CFPB was created so that they wouldn't have to come here for oversight. I have no problem with making sure that consumers are protected, but not by a rogue, unconstitutional agency that should not exist.

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 513. personal explanation

Mr. DONALDS

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, $2 trillion deficit, $33 trillion in debt, and Washington just wants to continue to grow. Mr. Speaker, 20 percent inflation year over year is crippling every family in our country, and 8 percent mortgage rates are squeezing our real estate market, and Washington just wants to grow and grow. Our cities are overrun with migrants because of the reckless policies of the President of the United States. Fentanyl is killing 85,000 Americans year over year, and congressional Democrats refuse to secure the border. Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. This bill does one very important thing--really two very important things. Number one, it returns our government back to pre-COVID spending levels of 2019. COVID-19 is over. Why can't our government live within its means? Our people have to live within their means; our government should, as well. I remember when there was a baby formula shortage and mothers couldn't get food for their infants. Joe Biden was nowhere. Congressional Democrats were nowhere. All they said was spend more money while the problems persisted. They are building shelters in parks in New York City to house migrants, and congressional Democrats say there is no issue at the border even though everybody sees the problems that exist. This is the time to secure the border of our Nation and to cut wasteless spending in our government. If we are going to have a society and a government worthy of the people that we serve, Washington has to do something that Washington never seems to want to do: restrain itself. We have a fundamental obligation to secure this Nation and to secure the people that we all serve. Coming out here talking about what is going to happen with WIC is not going to solve the problem. Talking about the fiscal health of this Nation is going to solve the problem. Our national debt has been downgraded twice now. The Democrats want to spend more money. Support this measure.

Mr. DONALDS

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

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Chairman, I will be brief. My amendment does one simple thing, it actually restores the funding for the Foreign Agriculture Service to fiscal year 2019 levels. In short, Mr. Chairman, our government spends a lot of money, and we are not even sure if it is effective. One of the things that is critical to get our overall fiscal house in order is to start looking at line items in the Federal budget pre-COVID. We have plussed up a lot of these agencies and a lot of these departments, and the COVID pandemic was used as a reason to do so. My amendment is simple. The COVID pandemic is over and it is now time to start focusing on getting our fiscal house in order while still being focused on the programs that are important to the agriculture community and other communities. My amendment does that. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Chairman, let's be very clear. What we are talking about is moving the requested number for this appropriation down $23.4 million. In 2019, we spent $213,000,890 on the Foreign Agriculture Service. All we are saying is move it back to that line. The Federal Government will still be able to accomplish its mission, but we don't have the additional resources. We have to be prudent with the people's money so we can actually cut that back to 2019 levels and still accomplish the mission. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Harris).