Mario Diaz-Balart

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Madam Speaker, in honor of Women's History Month, I rise today to recognize Priscilla Grannis, whose inspiring life journey and determined work ethic has had a major impact on those around her and the wider Southern Florida community. Throughout her eventful life, Priscilla has proved that she is a strongminded and driven person who has risen to match many challenges in a multitude of areas. After receiving her undergraduate degree in music from Florida State University and a Master's of Music from Yale University, she joined the Miami Opera and performed with them for two seasons. She then furthered her music career by moving to Germany and performed overseas. While in Germany, Priscilla joined Hewlett Packard and became the Executive Assistant to the German CEO for a number of years. Her sheer will to achieve has constantly been displayed in her ability to adapt to any line of work. After moving back to Florida due to the unexpected death of her father, she took over the management of her family's cattle farm despite having no prior knowledge or experience in the industry. With her natural determination and enthusiasm, Priscilla turned the farm into a largely successful business centered on an ethical and responsible management style. In the late 1980s, Priscilla made the decision to enroll in Miami's St. Thomas University's law school, where she was a high-achieving student and graduated with honors. She then became an attorney in Naples and practiced law until retiring from the legal profession in 2014. Throughout her life, she has been heavily involved in politics and remains active in public affairs today. Priscilla previously served two years as the third Vice President of the Women's Republican Club of Naples Federated until being elected President of the Club, where she honorably served for six years before becoming treasurer, a position that she still holds today. Her dedicated involvement to the Women's Republican Club of Naples cannot be understated. Under her leadership, the club grew from about seventy-five members to over two hundred. Presently, Priscilla works for Florida House Representative Bob Rommel as his District Secretary. Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to know Ms. Grannis and I greatly admire her commitment to Southern Florida. Her natural motivation and determination have allowed her to make an impact everywhere she goes and I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing this outstanding individual.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this legislation. This bill shows that, despite our disagreements, when we work through our differences to find common ground, we can break the gridlock. I thank, by the way, Chairman Price for his leadership and his partnership. We have worked together now for over 4 years, and I have gained a special appreciation for his dedication to public service and, frankly, for his deep understanding of the programs under our jurisdiction. I look forward to continue working with him and continue developing our friendship. I would like to say a quick word about Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Member Granger and the role that they have played in pulling this funding bill together. I have had the privilege, Mr. Speaker, of knowing these two leaders for a number of years now. What all of us saw them achieve in just the last few days is no surprise to any of us in this body who know them well. They only achieved this through hard work, tough compromise, and grit, and they deserve our thanks. Mr. Speaker, let me turn a minute to the transportation and housing investments included in this bill. This bill doubles down our infrastructure investments from the 2018 T-HUD bill. Frankly, again, it is a second historic downpayment to rebuild our Nation. With this bill, we provide a total of $20 billion in new funding over 2 years for roads, for bridges, for rails, and for ports. That is a big number. As I said before, the T-HUD bill is the infrastructure bill and maybe the only one that we will get a chance to vote on. This bill will create jobs and improve the quality of life for countless Americans. I am also particularly proud that this bill makes a new investment in port infrastructure with a focus on seaports at high volume locations. This port program, coupled with other transportation investments in the bill, will create opportunities for American manufacturers and exporters. Mr. Speaker, I am also proud of the housing portion of this bill. This meets our commitments to help the most vulnerable among us with decent, affordable housing. This is a good bill, Mr. Speaker, particularly if you care about our veterans, our disabled, and our elderly.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. This bill also includes funding to rebuild urban, suburban, and rural communities with block grant funding that goes directly to the local decisionmakers and to the local communities. Again, this is a good bill, Mr. Speaker. I thank, again, the leaders for putting this together. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on what I believe is a bill that will create jobs, rebuild our communities, secure our future, and, yes, stop the gridlock.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to call on all of those who support freedom and democracy to stand with the long-suffering people of Venezuela. We have finally reached the tipping point where freedom for the Venezuelan people hangs in the balance. On Friday, President Trump recognized the duly elected leader of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the constitutional interim President of Venezuela. Shortly afterward the vast majority of Western Hemisphere nations affirmed their recognition of the Guaido government. On January 10 the OAS passed a resolution, Mr. Speaker, that refused to recognize the illegitimate Maduro regime, and OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro expressed his congratulations to Mr. Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate sitting President. Now, Mr. Speaker, it is time to choose to stand with the courageous protesters demanding freedom, many of them bruised and bloodied from the violence perpetrated on them by the Maduro thugs. Reports indicate that at least 29 protesters have been killed just since last week, and the Maduro regime holds hundreds of political prisoners. The Maduro regime has ruthlessly corrupted Venezuela's once-democratic institutions, including the Supreme Court. The U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights and others have documented egregious human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and torture. We have seen that the Venezuelan people continue to demand freedom in the face of teargas, imprisonment, and, yes, even bullets. The United States is standing with the Venezuelan people, sanctioning 65 of the most corrupt and abusive members of the Maduro regime, including Maduro himself. Congress and the administration are also working to alleviate the grave humanitarian crisis that the Maduro regime has caused, providing nearly $100 million in humanitarian aid to those Venezuelans who have fled to other countries and an additional $37 million in development assistance to Colombia. Earlier this year, my colleague, Congressman Darren Soto, and I worked together to introduce the Venezuela TPS Act of 2019 which would provide Temporary Protective Status to Venezuelan nationals here in the United States. The situation in Venezuela is way too dangerous to force them to return now. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, the humanitarian crisis rivals the grave democratic crisis in Venezuela. Under Venezuela's socialism, its people are suffering skyrocketing inflation, profound destitution, and shortages of necessary food and medicine. Venezuela was once, just recently, one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Now the vast majority of Venezuelan people have sunk into poverty. Hospitals are abandoned, Mr. Speaker, and food and medicines are scarce. But, Mr. Speaker, we have entered a time of critical importance. Rarely is there such an obvious choice between good and evil, freedom and enslavement, and accountable government and tyranny. From Venezuela's one last vestige of democracy came a glimmer of hope. From the democratically elected National Assembly, a leader emerged who was courageous enough to lead the opposition and face certain persecution. Juan Guaido stepped up to represent the Venezuelan people and work with the international community toward a democratic transition to unite the many voices in the opposition behind a common purpose: freedom, human rights, and free and fair elections. He has designated his charge d'affaires here in the United States, Carlos Vecchio, whose leadership was welcomed by Secretary Pompeo and who is coordinating between the Guaido government and the United States Government. Already as President Guaido is gaining strength, we are seeing signs of cracks from the Maduro dictatorship. The United States must continue to be the world leader in defense of those struggling for democracy, and others in the world community who value freedom also must stand with the people of Venezuela in their quest for democracy. Mr. Speaker, the people of Eastern Europe have not forgotten that we stood with them during those decades in their struggle against Communism for decades. They were victorious; and today they are free, and they are allies. The people of Venezuela will also be victorious. (The English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:) To the Venezuelan Armed Forces, this is the time to recover your honor, to recover your dignity and stand with the Venezuelan people in this noble cause, which is freedom. And to the brave Venezuelan people, you are not alone. The Trump administration, the United States Congress, the United States is with you. A las Fuerzas Armadas de Venezuela, este es el momento de recuperar su honor, de recuperar su dignidad y ponerse de lado del pueblo Venezolano en esta noble causa que es la libertad. Y al valiente pueblo Venezolano, no estan solos. La administracion del presidente Trump, el Congreso de los Estados Unidos, si todo los Estados Unidos estan con ustedes.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, here is the sad truth which, by the way, everybody knows, unfortunately: This bill, if passed, will not reopen the Federal Government. By the way, how do I know that? Because this bill already passed last week. It is sitting in the Senate. It has not reopened the Federal Government. This is another false attempt to fool the American people. Some of the great Appropriations members of our time would be rolling in their graves right now if they knew that the House is taking up a Senate bill with zero input and zero amendments from any Member of the House--not one Member of the House. So, obviously, we should reject this flawed strategy. But I want to thank the ranking member, Mr. Aderholt, for speaking about some of the specifics. I want to just talk about a couple of specifics in this bill where it falls, frankly, very, very, very, very short. Let me talk about a couple issues that are very important to Florida. Citrus is a key, critical industry for Florida. This bill does not adequately fund citrus greening research. It falls seriously short on funding something that is so important for the survival of our farmers and the industry in Florida. Also, Mr. Speaker, it falls short on combating the oriental fruit fly, another critical issue for our farmers in Florida. We have to recall that Florida is still recovering from the devastation caused by recent hurricanes. This bill falls short in helping the farmers in the State of Florida. But as I said at the beginning, Mr. Speaker, if that wasn't enough, this is all a charade. By the way, do you know what the sad part is, Mr. Speaker? I am going to be proven right. Last week, a lot of us said that about those bills that our friends on the other side of the aisle said were going to reopen the government. Do you know who was proven right and who was proven wrong? We are going to be proven right again.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. This is a sham. I would ask, respectfully, to defeat this bill, which is a charade, a sham, and will not open the Federal Government. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows that it will not reopen the Federal Government. It doesn't have any input from the House and falls shorts for Florida farmers and other farmers around the country.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. My objections are numerous. Again, there are a lot of reasons why I am objecting to this bill in this form today. One of the things that I think is important to note, because I have heard throughout the debate in all these bills how passing these bills will reopen the Federal Government: Mr. Speaker, I heard that last week on the floor of this House, on the same appropriations bills. I want to mention that again. Last week, on this floor, Members came up and said, if those bills pass the House, the Federal Government would reopen. Mr. Speaker, those bills passed the House. They didn't reopen the Federal Government, just like these bills, which are identical to the bills that were passed last week--identical--unfortunately, also will not reopen the government. Now, I have other objections as well, Mr. Speaker. This bill is, frankly, absurd because it takes a Senate product, ignoring all--all-- of the House Members' priorities. It is jamming it through this body without a single opportunity to amend or improve or change this bill in any way. Not one House Member has had one priority put in this bill because there are no amendments allowed in this process. Again, this ploy will not work. The Senate has no plans of taking up this legislation. And, again, this is deja vu all over again. I heard folks last week talk about, if the House passed those bills last week, like we are hearing now, the government would reopen. Mr. Speaker, those statements were not true last week, and they are not true this week, unfortunately. Now, not only did the bills last week not reopen the government. In fact, everyone on this House floor knows that this bill passing, unfortunately, will not reopen the Federal Government. Mr. Speaker, all the members of the press up there know that passing this bill, unfortunately, will not reopen the government. Heck, anybody who has been paying any attention knows that this is a sham; that, just like last week, those bills passing didn't reopen the government, and unfortunately, passing this bill, or these appropriations bills, in this manner will not reopen the government either. So by introducing these Senate bills without any changes to reflect the priorities of this body and without any opportunity for amendments, we are engaging in a sad, sad charade. I want to take some time, opportunity to discuss the real-world consequences of this stunt. Again, our majority is asking us, all of us here in this Chamber, to reject all of the hard work and all of the priorities of every House Member, Republican or Democrat. Mr. Speaker, in our House bill, I am proud that we decided to make a historic investment, for example, in ports: port infrastructure, the ports, seaports, including larger seaports that are critical to our country's commerce. In the House bill, we provided $250 million for this program. Well, the Senate didn't make this investment. They didn't think that that was as high of a priority. They missed that opportunity to build infrastructure that we need to create jobs and increase our ability to export American goods made by Americans. We also placed a higher priority on roads and on bridges than the Senate did and with an emphasis on funds that go directly and immediately to the States and the territories through the highway formula program. The Senate didn't have that priority. The Senate provides far less for this purpose, Mr. Speaker. Let me tell you what that number is, far less: $1.4 billion less for that direct spending in infrastructure, bridges, and roads that goes straight to the States. The Senate, instead, put a high priority on administrative accounts and programs with, frankly, higher overhead. This bill means less funding for your State Department of Transportations and fewer jobs rebuilding the highways and the bridges around our country. Mr. Speaker, we also included a provision that provided regulatory relief to, for example, sugar and beet haulers in Idaho and in Oregon. This narrow provision--and this is a bipartisan provision--simply made truck length requirements uniform between those two States--common sense. Again, this provision has support on both sides of the aisle, and it will help truckers and farmers in those States. But, you see, the Democratic proposal before you does not include even that commonsense provision, commonsense bipartisan provision. Mr. Speaker, we also included a provision in the House bill that allows for small increases in the allowable weight for trucks that run on electric batteries, an innovation to help the environment. This is another commonsense, bipartisan provision that this bill does not have, and it was not included in the Senate mark. This bill eliminates House and Senate report language--I want to repeat, both House and Senate report language. Now, what does that mean? That every single item we put in the report for Members, at the request of Members from both parties, is gone, is irrelevant in this bill. You see, the direction that we provide in our reports every year helps hold the bureaucracy accountable and ensure that our constituents have a voice in their government. Mr. Speaker, that language is gone. For example, we put directives in our report that require that the FAA take specific action, specific action to address airport noise, airport noise in our communities. Now, this is specifically important-- I should say especially important--to our Democratic colleagues in the subcommittee and the committee on this floor, and we accommodated all of their requests on this issue with new stringent requirements on the FAA, Mr. Speaker. This bill makes those requirements null and void. So let me now turn to housing programs. When we looked at the HUD budget, we made sure, in the House, in the House bill, the House mark-- and, by the way, this is done in a bipartisan way. We made sure that we scrubbed the administrative and overhead accounts and, instead, put funds towards programs that serve our neediest, our neediest citizens. This bill, unfortunately, falls far short on our charge to do the best that we can with the revenue, the taxpayer money. And, again, to make sure that the bureaucracy is held accountable, this bill falls short. Let me give you a few examples. In our bill last year, we included $50 million in new funding for a program that we call mobility vouchers. These vouchers are targeted at families with children, to enable them to move to neighborhoods with greater economic opportunity, and this initiative has strong bipartisan support from the authorizers and strong support from the advocates for the poor. The Senate bill does not include any funds, zero funds, for this program. The House also included significantly more funding for new vouchers for people with disabilities. This program helps families across the country that struggle to take care of severely disabled relatives, and it also serves, by the way, so many veterans with disabilities. We provided $390 million for this program. For tens of thousands of new vouchers, this bill before us, frankly, falls short there as well, by $236 million, and adds no new vouchers. You see, Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that every year, when I was chairman, I also worked to ensure that there was adequate funding for Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, or HOPWA. This program has a record of saving lives, reducing disease transmissions, and protecting communities. I am so proud of that. We provided $393 million in our bill to ensure that there was no reduction, no cut to housing services for this vulnerable population. The Senate, unfortunately, again, falls severely short, $375 million. This will result in 1,700 people losing their housing, which will put communities at risk. This, by the way, is a severe hit, particularly for cities likes Miami, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and many others. This is an area the Senate was counting on the House to fix, to fix their low funding levels. But, you see, Mr. Speaker, we don't have the opportunity because of this stunt that we are witnessing here today. Finally, we included $150 million for Choice Neighborhoods, which is a program that provides much-needed neighborhood rehabilitation-- revitalization grants, I should say. This has such strong bipartisan support in the House. The Senate did not prioritize it as much as we did, and they only provided $100 million. So I look forward to advancing a bill that protects this, all of these issues, and other important priorities for our House Members. I look forward to working to do that. But before I close, Mr. Speaker, I want to take a minute to thank somebody who has become a personal friend, Chairman Price. I will tell you, it has been an honor, Mr. Speaker, to work beside him for the past 4 years developing bills that truly meet the needs of our people, of our country, of our communities. These past 2 years, I think, have been particularly energizing as we worked on T-HUD bills that made substantial new investments in our Nation's infrastructure. Chairman Price and I have always been able to work together to find common ground, to find solutions, and that is the spirit of cooperation and good will that will get us, I am sure, to a breakthrough to end this impasse and to reopen the government once again. So, again, I do not have anybody in this Chamber that I am more pleased to work with than the chairman of this subcommittee. Now, today, on this bill, mark my words, Mr. Speaker, mark my words, the passage of these bills in this form will not open the Federal Government. Everyone in here knows that; just like last year, last week, we knew that they would not open the government, and we heard on this floor that they would. This bill, unfortunately, will not reopen the government. It falls short on our priorities. It does not include any of the House priorities; so, therefore, I respectfully would urge a ``no'' vote. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger), a titanium Texan, the ranking member of the full committee.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Rutherford), a former sheriff and my dear friend.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Palazzo), who, by the way, is not on the T-HUD Subcommittee but who has been an amazing asset to the full committee, but, in particular, to the T-HUD Subcommittee.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, if I might inquire how much time I have left.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, having no more speakers, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to first again commend the chairman. This is an individual who I know always works in good faith, and I look forward to working with him again. But, Mr. Speaker, I think it is very clear that we say what we are doing here today. This bill that already passed last week will not reopen government. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, let me tell you what potentially could have reopened government. You see, I went to the Rules Committee on Tuesday with an amendment, Mr. Speaker. The amendment was very simple. It has very strong bipartisan support. I think it could have been a way to reopen the government. It basically was the Dream Act, to legalize all the Dreamers, that has been cosponsored by every Democrat in this body last Congress, along with also legalizing all the folks who are here under the TPS program, and it then had the funding for border security, issues that should not be partisan and controversial, issues that the Members across the aisle and the leadership--let me talk about the leadership across the aisle--said that they support. I will never forget the Speaker of the House spent almost 8 hours on this floor saying that she wanted to fight for the Dreamers. Yet, there was a vote on Tuesday, Mr. Speaker, in the committee that she controls, the Rules Committee, on a party-line vote, the bill that would have, yes, funded border security--but would have legalized past the DREAM Act, and legalized those under TPS--was voted down on a party-line vote. Mr. Speaker, you want to know if there is good faith to reopen this government. That showed it right there. No, this bill will not reopen the Federal Government, unfortunately. Like last week, this same bill that passed didn't reopen it. Real efforts to reopen it, like that one that I mentioned, voted down four amendments, voted down a party-line vote. It is time to get real about reopening the government. It is time to get real about passing a real T-HUD bill. Let's get back to the people's business. This is not a way to do it. This is a sham. Again, I am grateful to the chairman because I know he is working in good faith, but this effort is not in good faith, so we must vote it down to get back to doing the real business of the people. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Yes, in its current form.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, this motion to recommit restores a House priority that had overwhelming support when we put together the FY 2019 T-HUD bill during the last Congress. As I mentioned in my opening statement, our House bill last year placed a high priority on increasing housing opportunities for people living with disabilities. We heard from members of humanitarian groups, nonprofits, and religious organizations, frankly, just from our communities, on the importance of ensuring that the disabled have humane housing options. Our bill, therefore, last year included $390 million for this program, to provide over 20,000 additional housing vouchers for people with disabilities. These vouchers help some of the neediest among us live, frankly, with dignity. The program provides a critical lifeline to families who struggle to care for the severely disabled. And it prevents, frankly, worst-case scenarios where severely disabled individuals would otherwise face homelessness. Mr. Speaker, this motion is a reasonable, partial restoration of funding for this program. This modest motion partially restores the disability voucher cuts that my colleagues are offering today, and, instead, provides an additional $71 million for this valuable program. The motion would provide 7,200 vouchers, and would correct a significant blemish in the Senate-originated bill that is before us today. Every single dollar of this funding goes directly to serve those in need. This is an account without bureaucratic overhead. Every single dollar goes to serve those who need it. It is a program with, again, a strong record of accountability and of performance. Not one dollar of this program goes to the Federal bureaucracy. These funds directly serve the disabled and their families, often, Mr. Speaker, through faith-based and community- based organizations. This program also serves a large number of veterans, some of whom, Mr. Speaker, became disabled in service to our country. This motion is offset by a reduction to HUD's Information Technology Fund, leaving the account at a very reasonable level of $209 million. Again, this is a manageable level for HUD IT, and it is a modest adjustment to bring dignity, relief, and help to individuals and families with disabilities. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mention a few words in honor of my dear friend and colleague Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Hispanic woman elected to the Florida House in 1982, the Florida Senate in 1986, and to this body in 1989. It has been a privilege working with her on issues that are important to our south Florida community and to our country, as well as on foreign policy issues, Mr. Speaker, where she fought on behalf of those struggling for democracy around the planet in places such as Communist China, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. She worked to combat anti-Semitism and protect the rights of Holocaust victims, while ensuring that those complicit were held accountable. I will miss her exuberant presence in this Chamber. There will never be another Member to serve with her joyful dedication, wit, and contagious enthusiasm. Chairwoman Emeritus Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and her husband, Dexter, have served our community and our country with honor and distinction. While we will miss her here in Congress, I am blessed to know that I will still always be able to rely on her counsel, her support, her love, and her friendship. (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:) My legislative sister, lleana Ros-Lehtinen, thank you for everything that you have done for our community, for our country, and for our cause, lleana, we love you. Mi hermana legislativa, lleana Ros-Lehtinen, gracias por todo que has hecho por nuestra comunidad, por nuestro pais, y por nuestra causa. lleana, te queremos.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. Mr. Speaker, for nearly a decade, the town of Miami Lakes has attempted to receive a unique ZIP Code. This would help with auto insurance rates, branding, economic development, and, frankly, lead to less election confusion and census confusion. Despite this, the Postal Service has yet to take action, unfortunately. I will tell you this is an important priority for my constituents back home in Miami Lakes. In fact, just last week, Mr. Speaker, I received a call from a constituent asking about what was going on with this issue. He was asking for an update and was relaying his frustration because of his rising auto insurance rates. Thankfully, this legislation solves that problem. It grants Miami Lakes and others their own ZIP Codes. I would like to give credit and thanks to Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid. It has been a privilege to work with him. He has shown great perseverance and dedication, and I am glad that, together, we are able to make this happen. However, as everyone knows, the work is not finished. Last Congress, the House passed a nearly identical bill like this one today. Unfortunately, the Senate did not take it up. There is ample time to get this passed before the end of this Congress. So I implore my colleagues on the other side and the Senate to get this bill to the President for his signature. We will not rest until this bill gets to the President's desk and it is signed into law. I want to again thank Chairman Gowdy for his help, and his committee staff as well. Also, I thank Speaker Ryan, Majority Leader McCarthy, and the whip, Mr. Scalise, for their help. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this legislation.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill for allowing us, those of us who knew, worked with, admired John McCain, to have this moment, to have this time to honor and to remember and to, frankly, speak about someone who all of us admired so much. Senator John McCain was, as you have heard from everyone and from all of us who knew him and who had contact with him, he was a patriot and he was a great American hero. I am profoundly blessed to count this man as both a trusted colleague and a loyal friend. We have heard so many things about him today, tonight, because, again, of this wonderful moment that Mr. Hill has done for us here tonight, allowed us to do tonight.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, one thing that some of you may not know about John McCain's time at the Hanoi Hilton was that he spoke of a Castro regime thug and his Cuban underling. They were sent to Vietnam to torture American POWs, to torture John McCain's friends. He had hoped to one day identify those barbaric individuals and bring them to justice. Sadly, John did not see that egregious injustice, along with so many perpetuated by the Castro regime, resolved in his lifetime. John witnessed firsthand the evil of communism, along with the tyranny and the inhumanity that it breeds. A tyrant capable of such brutal oppression of his own people could also be responsible for unspeakable atrocities to those who would stand up to the tyranny. Perhaps that experience, Mr. Speaker, personally motivated John McCain's passionate advocacy for freedom and human dignity, as well as his untiring outreach to those languishing under tyranny anywhere in the world, as Mr. Costa mentioned just a little while ago. He was a fitting chairman of the International Republican Institute's board since 1993, an organization whose mission is to promote freedom and civil society and democracy to some of the world's most repressive environments. That mission aligned perfectly with Senator McCain. So, yes, although I am deeply saddened by a loss of such magnitude, I will tell you that I am encouraged by the knowledge that his example will continue to inspire and educate for many, many generations to come. There will never be another one like John McCain and we are all fortunate to have had the benefit of his service to our Nation.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas.