Virginia Foxx

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I have had enough with the Biden Department of Education's utterly dishonest accounting tricks. The Department of Education's 2022 financial statement doesn't have a leg to stand on. KPMG, an independent auditor, stated that there were material weaknesses in the department's estimates regarding how much the Biden administration's student loan debt relief plan would cost. The Biden administration claims that its plan would cost $30 billion annually over 10 years, but this is assuming that the Department of Education has properly estimated the participation numbers. According to KPMG, the Department has no evidence behind these numbers, and these numbers matter a lot. If these numbers are off by just 10 percent, then the cost of Biden's program would rise to $400 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office. Folks in the Biden Education Department need to go back and learn some math. At worst, the department is trying to hide the true cost to taxpayers of these debt bailout schemes. At best, the department is practicing shoddy accounting again. Either way, this is a completely irresponsible way to govern such a major program. It is obvious to anyone paying attention that the department hasn't learned anything from its past mistakes. It was assumptions like this that got our student loan systems into this mess in the first place. When Democrats passed the Income-Driven Repayment program, IDR, they grossly underestimated the number of borrowers who would participate. This, in conjunction with the student loan moratorium, has led to a $311 billion budget deficit within the Federal student loan program. In other words, the Federal student loan program is already costing taxpayers a fortune, and the Biden administration's actions will make the problem far worse. To put salt in the wound, the Biden administration's proposed changes to IDR will cost far more than they are letting on. While the department claims that its changes will cost taxpayers $138 billion over the next 10 years, a nonpartisan student loan expert has estimated that the true cost could be $1 trillion. Senator Everett Dirksen said: ``A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking real money.'' This is real taxpayer money. Once again, the Biden administration is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. As chairwoman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, I cannot let this pattern of deception and mismanagement continue. I will spend the 118th Congress doing everything in my power to hold this administration accountable. Taxpayers deserve nothing less.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 166, I call up joint resolution (H.J. Res. 30) providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Labor relating to ``Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,'' and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.J. Res. 30, a Congressional Review Act resolution nullifying the Biden administration's attempt to politicize the retirement savings of Americans. ESG investing puts the future of millions of Americans in jeopardy. Due to Biden's reckless economic policies, too many Americans are worried about the rising costs of living. Diverting retirement savings to fund social justice causes will make this problem even worse. For current retirees, the situation is especially salient. Last year, the Biden Department of Labor published a rule allowing retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance, ESG, factors for making investment decisions and exercising shareholder rights. The rule removed commonsense protections for retirement savings established by the Trump administration, which ensured that retirement plan fiduciaries evaluate investments and exercise shareholder rights based only on the financial benefits to participants and beneficiaries. That is what retirement savers expect. Now, thanks to Democrats, workers can be placed into ESG investment vehicles by default. If a fiduciary finds that two investments are equal, the fiduciary is allowed to use collateral ESG factors to break the tie without justifying or documenting that decision. While my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have argued that the Biden rule is neutral, they have done a poor job of hiding the administration's true intentions. The Department issued the rule in response to two executive orders on climate change and the explanation of the rule is littered with Democrats' preferred political projects, such as labor relations, climate change, and workforce and corporate diversity. Further, DOL officials have repeatedly stated that they will pursue additional actions concerning ESG and retirement plans. The left is using ESG investment criteria as a political tool to cudgel companies into accepting leftist policies. This is how the left always operates. This is just the first step. If we let this continue, the left will use ESG investing to push noncompliant companies out of the marketplace. This is pernicious and it is hypocritical. It is unacceptable to encourage fiduciaries to sacrifice the savings of Americans to the orthodoxy of the woke left. In fact, this is prohibited under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, ERISA, as affirmed by the Supreme Court. Yet, the Biden administration's rule permitting and encouraging retirement plan fiduciaries to consider ESG when investing workers' savings flips ERISA on its head. By paving the way for ESG investing in employer-sponsored retirement plans, President Biden is threatening the retirement savings of Americans. Such a fundamental change to ERISA should be debated and considered in Congress, not enacted through executive fiat illegally. Americans invest to secure their future, not to fund the Green New Deal or leftist pet projects. Fiduciaries governed by ERISA should not be allowed to make investments they know will not pay off. A fiduciary's most important responsibility is to make investments that are in the financial interests of workers and retirees. It is time to stop this madness. That is why I support the resolution to nullify the Biden administration's destructive retirement plan rule. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to put workers and retirees above politics and vote for this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr), the originator of this CRA.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is a little ironic that our side of the aisle is being accused of being anticapitalist and anti-free market. I would like to clarify for the record the content of the Trump Department of Labor rule on retirement plan ESG investing. Under the Trump rule, if a fiduciary finds that an ESG factor is a pecuniary or financial factor, it can be considered when investing and exercising shareholder rights. Here are a few excerpts of the Trump rule, to set the record straight: ``Nothing in the final rule is intended to or does prevent a fiduciary from appropriately considering any material risk with respect to an investment.'' Another quote: ``The ERISA fiduciary duty of prudence requires portfolio-level attention to risk and return objectives reasonably suited to the purpose of the account, diversification, cost sensitivity, documentation, and ongoing monitoring.'' ``The proposal was not intended to suggest that these principles apply other than neutrally to all investment decisions. . . . '' To suggest that the Trump rule barred a fiduciary from appropriately considering any factor that may be material to an investment is blatantly false. If anything, the Trump rule was neutral as to the prudent decisions of fiduciaries. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.J. Res. 30, to stop the Biden administration from decimating the retirement savings of millions of Americans. ESG funds will not give retirees the secure future they need. According to a former BlackRock senior executive, ESG funds underperformed the broader market compared to non-ESG funds over the last 5 years. Retirees are already worried about the rising costs of goods and services, not whether a company is using plastic straws in its cafeteria. Americans deserve to have a secure retirement. This means retirement plans need to focus solely on workers' financial interests. That is why I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a spectacular company that is headquartered in North Carolina, Golden Corral. This year, Golden Corral and its many dedicated employees are celebrating 50 years of providing Americans across the country with home-cooked classics at an affordable price. Mr. Speaker, what makes this company truly exceptional is its unwavering commitment to serving the communities in which it operates. From its various fundraisers to support local initiatives to its longstanding partnership with a national nonprofit to support veterans and their families, it is abundantly clear that Golden Corral lives and breathes service. Congratulations to Golden Corral and its many employees on reaching such a historic milestone. Here is to many more years of service to America's countless communities.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, this speech is bittersweet. I stand to commend a member of my committee staff, Mandy Schaumburg, on her 20 years of public service. I thank Mandy for her years of service to this committee and this country and for being someone that I could count on to get the job done. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have high standards, and sometimes people struggle to meet them. Not Mandy. Mandy not only met those standards. She exceeded them. She will be missed by our team, by the committee, and by me. Throughout her 20 years in Federal service, Mandy worked for former Representative Mark Green of Wisconsin and for the U.S. Department of Education under the leadership of Secretary Spellings. Mandy made her mark on the Education and the Workforce Committee, as well. She served this committee under Chairs Boehner, McKeon, Miller, Kline, Scott, and me. Throughout this time, she became highly respected on both sides of the Capitol for her expert knowledge on education and human services policy and for her ability to build coalitions. Having great ideas in Congress gets you only so far. You also need someone who knows how to implement those ideas. This is what Mandy was best at. Mandy often came up with creative and strategic solutions that brought individuals across the policy spectrum together. As a result, she was able to see numerous pieces of legislation make it across the finish line. Throughout the last two decades, Mandy was involved in nearly every major piece of education legislation. This includes laws that provide relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina as well as legislation that reformed child nutrition laws, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, and so many more. Mandy has spent much of her career ensuring families have high- quality education options for their children. Fighting side by side with Mandy to spread education freedom has been an honor. She has also been a fierce advocate for maintaining student privacy, something that is increasingly under threat today. Additionally, Mandy worked on providing practical solutions to ensure schools are able to implement the school meal programs effectively. This allowed more children to get the help they needed while also protecting taxpayers. I have also appreciated Mandy's dedication to holding the Federal Government accountable no matter which party controls the White House. Oversight has always been one of my top priorities, and having someone on my team who is as equally committed to slapping back the hand of Big Government whenever it overreaches was a great encouragement. Lastly, Mandy's dedication to mentoring younger staff members strengthened her team and the committee as a whole. Mandy is one whose door is always open and whose creative input is always welcome. Her legacy on this committee will last long after she leaves Capitol Hill. As a committee conservative, Mandy will further the cause of freedom wherever she goes. I wish Mandy all the best. I thank her for her exemplary work.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the college-for-all mentality failed our country's students. It failed students who paid or borrowed for degrees with no return on their investment. It failed workers who lack the skills to succeed in their field. It failed businessowners who are left with open positions they can't fill. And it failed entire industries suffering from a widening skills gap. That is why I cosponsored the Promoting Employment and Lifelong Learning (PELL) Act. The PELL Act will allow students to use Pell grants for high quality, short-term education programs, creating even more pathways to the American Dream. Instead of financing an expensive diploma, students will obtain in- demand skills so they can be successful in the workforce. This is the right path forward for postsecondary education.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank my great friend from Wisconsin, who serves on the Education and the Workforce Committee, and is a very valuable member of that committee, as well as the Oversight and Accountability Committee. Mr. Speaker, today, the House rightfully condemned and denounced socialism in all forms and resolved to oppose socialist policies. As the Bible says in Proverbs 14, ``All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.'' Socialism is mere talk. Socialism is the idea that if you work hard, your neighbor will enjoy the fruits of your labor. Socialist regimes, in just the last 100 years, have impoverished, enslaved, starved, and even killed over 100 million people. This is a horrific cost borne by far, far too many. Socialism, no matter its form, will never have a place in our Republic.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, let me state a simple fact that has evidently been forgotten in Washington: The Federal workforce's primary imperative should always be to promptly serve the American people. Unfortunately, what the American people have experienced over the past 2 years is the exact opposite of what they deserve. Thanks to the Federal Government's pandemic-era telework policies which were instituted by bureaucrats in Washington, delay and disarray might as well have become hallmarks of Federal agencies and departments. According to a Federal Times report from October of last year, just one in three Federal workers has returned to his or her office in a full-time capacity. It is abundantly clear that something must change, and House Republicans have the solution. Mr. Speaker, I am particularly pleased to serve as a cosponsor of H.R. 139, the SHOW UP Act, that is sponsored by Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer. Under this legislation, the Biden administration would be prevented from cementing pandemic-era telework policies for the Federal workforce until it provides Congress with a viable plan to avoid the negative impacts of remote work. Yet again, House Republicans are acting on our commitment to the American people to ensure a government that is accountable. Mr. Speaker, it is time that the entire Federal workforce returns to its in-person capacity and fulfills its responsibilities to the American people. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 139.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, throughout the course of our lives, we are both blessed and fortunate to cross paths with and befriend individuals who harbor a profound sense of dedication toward serving others and their communities. To me and countless others, Virginia Smith of Stokes County, North Carolina, is one of those people. This year, she will retire as the chairwoman of the Stokes County Republican Party, a position she has held since 2003. To know Virginia is to know someone who lives and breathes the meaning of possessing a servant's heart. From organizing events with her church to her civic involvement within her community, wherever Virginia goes, you know that she is on a mission to serve, and she will not be deterred in that mission. Truly, she is a community-driven woman. I cannot overstate her rock- ribbed conservatism and how she has always espoused, promoted, and shared both the values and principles upon which our constitutional republic was founded. The simple truth is that we need more Virginia Smiths in this world. Her work as chairwoman and as a proud member of the Stokes County community has helped lay a foundation upon which our future leaders, the young men and women of today, can grow and thrive. Mr. Speaker, as Virginia enters this new and exciting chapter of her life, may she know that she has left an indelible mark upon the lives of so many people, me included. I am confident she will continue to do so. May God continue to bless her and her family in the days ahead. Reasonable Raising of Debt Ceiling

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, with $31.4 trillion in national debt, House Republicans are committed to finding a solution that is reasonable, sensible, and responsible regarding raising the debt ceiling. President Biden would be irresponsible not to negotiate. We must finally address Washington's reckless government spending if we want to put America on a better fiscal path. After 2 years of reckless deficit spending, the Biden administration is refusing to negotiate with Republicans to protect taxpayers and solve our Nation's debt crisis. Democrats accelerated spending following the last massive debt limit increase. After passing the largest debt limit increase in American history, it took Democrats only a little over a year to max out the Federal Government's credit card again. Democrats outspent record-high revenue. Despite record-high revenues from the Republican-passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Federal spending has continued to balloon, increasing by $10 trillion over the last 2 years, a record for a new President. There is a bipartisan path forward. Instead of refusing to negotiate, Democrats need to join Republicans in crafting a plan that protects taxpayers. All eight major spending reforms since 1985 have been attached to debt ceiling legislation. We must be, again, as Republicans say, reasonable, sensible, and responsible regarding raising the debt ceiling. We call on President Biden and the Democrats to join us in this effort.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, thanks to House Republicans, regular order has been restored in the people's House. From expedited votes to open, substantive debate on the merits of legislation that now take place on this very floor, the American people are seeing meaningful progress occur in real time, and it is so wonderful to see people in the gallery and in the halls of this Capitol. One-party rule in Washington had corrupted the legislative process for 2 years, and it failed every single American. Mr. Speaker, as part of House Republicans' Commitment to America, we highlighted our plan to ensure a government that is accountable. Every day, we are acting upon that commitment and placing accountability and transparency at the feet of the American people. This is exactly what good governance is all about. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle should take note.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I was appalled to learn that multiple schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, withheld National Merit Scholarship commendation award letters from hundreds of students. This is a problem. When political ideology stands in the way of students' success, it is a problem. When the pursuit of so-called equity starts harming students, it is a problem. When school bureaucrats hold students back to hide their own failures, it is a problem. The education bureaucracy failed these students. These students deserve to be rewarded for their hard work, and these students deserve an education system that will lift them up, not try to keep them down. These school administrators were trusted with the future of these students, and they broke that trust. Shame on them. Dual Enrollment

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, one silver lining of the pandemic is that it pushed more high school students to take dual enrollment classes. With the ever-rising cost of postsecondary education, dual enrollment programs are a great way for high school students to save on college costs. These programs allow advanced students to get a head start on their futures. This is the case at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, Alabama, where high schoolers made up a third of the student body, according to NPR. These students are benefiting from extensive State expansion of a dual enrollment program. The more education innovation we have, the better. Madam Speaker, we know that if a high school student takes at least one college-level course, that student is three times more likely to graduate from college than if the student didn't take a course. We should give students as many opportunities as possible to shape their own education experience, and encouraging dual enrollment is one great way to do just that. Filling the Skills Gap

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, it is no wonder we have a skills gap. For decades, people have been told that a bachelor's degree is the only path to a successful career. As a result, fewer and fewer young people are choosing to learn skilled trades. Without skilled professionals, who will repair our roads, homes, and cars? We need these men and women who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. Yet, applications for technical jobs dropped by almost 50 percent over the last 2 years. With a potential looming recession for those holding office jobs, many might be disappointed they missed out on learning a high-skilled trade. Fortunately, it isn't too late. Many open technical jobs pay a six-figure salary, and businessowners are struggling to fill them. If I had to give young people advice today, it would be to consider learning a high-skilled trade.