Russ Fulcher

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, it is 2022 in the U.S. Congress. We have crises with inflation, energy, and homeland security. We have got issues with the border, the Ukrainian invasion, and the list goes on. The only thing higher than the degree of partisanship is our national debt. The only thing lower than congressional approval is confidence in the President. So why would anybody want to serve at a time like this? There tends to be two types of congressional Members, those with a personal agenda, typically one that places themselves and the title of Congressman at the forefront, and those who sincerely desire to serve Americans and protect the divine principles our Nation was founded on. Louie Gohmert is clearly in the latter category. Time after time, when personal liberties were being challenged, taxpayer money misused, and Christian values maligned, Louie Gohmert would stand, and with his unrivaled passion he would state his case. Mr. Gohmert, you are that rare type of Member our Founders had hoped would sit in this Chamber in the future. You made your constituents proud. You honored biblical guidelines for governance. It is an honor to call you a friend. You will be missed.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6364 would extend the use of U.S. Route 209, a Federally owned road within the boundaries of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area for commercial vehicles in 2026. While I support this bill today due to the public safety issues involved, I would note that the bill was brought to the House floor prior to the committee requesting technical assistance from the National Park Service. At legislative hearing on this bill, the National Park Service requested the opportunity to work with the committee on a technical edit to the public law referenced in the bill. Instead of waiting for administrative feedback, the bill was rushed to the floor, and as a result, may fail to achieve its goal of actually enhancing public safety. Legislation placed on the suspension calendar should be thoroughly vetted to ensure it will execute correctly and achieve desired outcomes. I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to work with us to ensure that legislation considered on the floor is fully vetted in the future. Mr. Speaker, that said, I support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of the Gilt Edge Mine Conveyance Act. This bill reflects exemplary collaboration between the State of South Dakota, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Forest Service. I commend Congressman Dusty Johnson for his leadership on this proposal. The Gilt Edge Mine is a 360-acre former mining site in South Dakota. Mining began on the site in 1876 with sporadic operations until the 1990s. The Environmental Protection Agency declared the former mine a Superfund site in the year 2000. Mr. Johnson's bill authorizes the State of South Dakota to purchase approximately 266 acres of Forest Service land that will allow the State to clean up the Gilt Edge Mine Superfund site once the EPA completes its portion of the cleanup. This is a good bill that will lead to a more seamless cleanup effort and empower South Dakota to pursue additional water reclamation efforts. This bill will also allow revenue from the land sale to go toward maintenance and improvements at the Black Hills National Forest. Recent mismanagement of the Black Hills National Forest has hurt rural communities and jeopardized future forest management efforts. This is a key provision of the bill and the result of a compromise worked out with South Dakota that will improve the management and care of the Black Hills National Forest, and I strongly support its inclusion. This bill is an example of a win-win solution that not only empowers the State to enhance its environment and remediation efforts, but also reduces the burden on the Federal Government by chipping away at the massive Federal estate. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson).

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Madam Chair, what is a just transition to so-called clean energy? We have been hearing the term all week from my colleagues across the aisle. Does a just transition mean the highest inflation in 40 years or record energy prices? Does it mean handing out billions of dollars to the green socialist lobby? Does a just transition mean we let our Federal forests burn year over year without maintaining them? Or does it mean we don't give Tribes the same ability to take care of the forests as States have? Just transition means some, but not all, can maintain the spaces around them, and I am disappointed that my amendment was not included in today's bill. My amendment would have enabled Native Tribes and counties, which have to live with the unmanaged forests around them, to have an opportunity to help our forests be healthy. I stand in opposition to this bill for a lot of reasons, just two of which are not including Tribes and counties in this so-called wildfire response package.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the Committee on Natural Resources from the State of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, here we are, yet again, discussing the most important issue of our day: cats. Not just any cats, but big cats. My constituents have been hammering my office about this issue. Thankfully, my Democrat colleagues have been listening. Of course, I jest. I shouldn't be allowing this issue to be taking my time, and neither should you, Mr. Speaker. My constituents are not talking about big cats. There are some misplaced priorities here. They are talking about skyrocketing food and energy prices and the never-ending deficit spending from this Democratic Congress. That is what is going on in my district. Here is another big concern for Idaho and across the West: wildfire. Mr. Speaker, 5.6 million acres--that is million with an M--have burned just this year to date. For those of you who don't live in the West or are not familiar with it, wildfire is what you get when you choke off access to your forests and regulate away the ability to properly manage your land. That is what the current leadership is doing. Yet, here we are talking about big cats. Do I dare mention the southern border crisis? There were 207,416 apprehensions last month alone with who knows how many got-aways, how much sex trafficking, or how much illegal narcotics. But don't worry. Congress is working on big cats. Mr. Speaker, we have had a lot of things on the agenda here for the last few months, and there are many things that are burning in the minds of our constituents and the people whom we serve. The people whom we serve deserve better. The people whom we serve are not talking about the things that we are. But yet here we are working through things that simply do not matter in the scheme of everything else going on right now.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the proposed Federal authorization of what amounts to be abortion on demand. There are reasons the life issue is so polarizing. How we prioritize life, from before birth to the end of life, often defines our value systems. I believe life is the very character of God, that, indeed, we all have inalienable rights, the most important of which is the right to live. I will close my comments by pointing out three relevant position statements my friends on the other side of the aisle struggle with. All too often, they will support taking of life of the pre-born by abortion, but not taking of life of convicted murderers by capital punishment. All too often, they will support the statement ``my body, my choice,'' but not when it comes to vaccines. And all too often, they will support so-called reproductive health, but not if it is reproductive or healthy. Debates and decisions like these belong to the people, not the Federal Government.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding the time. As I speak, the West is literally burning. Major infernos are devastating States like California, Arizona, and Alaska. In New Mexico, the Hermit's Peak fire became the largest in State history nearly 1 month ago and is still not fully contained. This catastrophic fire has burned over 320,000 acres and cost taxpayers a whopping $224 million in fire suppression costs. In total, over 2.6 million acres have burned this year already, putting us on a pace to surpass every wildfire season in the past decade. Homes have burned to the ground. Thousands of brave wildland firefighters have put their lives on the line. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent trying to tame fires so intense, they create their own weather systems known as firenados. Why? The answer is simple. The lack of active forest management and decades of fire suppression and mismanagement have left our Nation's forests as dry as powder kegs and ready to ignite from a single spark. In the last decade, mismanagement caused over 70 million acres to burn, and we have no signs of it slowing down. According to the U.S. Forest Service, over one billion--that is billion with a b--acres across the country are at risk of experiencing severe wildfires. That is why I am offering this amendment. My amendment seeks to add forest management activities such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burning that enhance or create wildlife habitat--that is, enhance or create wildlife habitat--or reduce the risk of destruction to wildlife habitat due to wildfires as acceptable projects under the Recovering America's Wildlife Act. Catastrophic fires remain one of the single greatest threats to wildlife in Western States, such as my home State of Idaho. In California, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2020 that the Bobcat fire turned one of the most abundant wildlife habitats with lush canyons and a mixture of rare and endangered species into an ``apocalypse'' that looked like ground zero after a nuclear explosion. Experts believe this fire would reverse decades of conservation efforts. In Oregon, the 2020 wildfires have burned over 360,000 acres of critical spotted owl habitat, pushing the species into what researchers call an extinction vortex. Catastrophic wildfires recently forced the State of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to recommend moving the greater sage- grouse from threatened to endangered status in their State. This is the very action that RAWA seeks to prevent. These wildfires also killed nearly half of the State's endangered pigmy rabbit population. A Seattle Times report stated that rabbits had asphyxiated as the fire, in its fury, devoured oxygen from the atmosphere. There was nothing but ash and dust. No movement. No footprints. There was no chance anything survived. Is this what recovering America's wildlife looks like, choking animals in suffocating smoke, burning them alive? These catastrophic wildland fires are polluting our air, degrading our water, releasing massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, and turning rich and diverse wildlife habitat into barren moonscapes. Incentivizing better, more active forest management through my amendment will create healthier ecosystems and abundant habitat for diverse wildlife. That is exactly what this bill is intended to do. If we truly care about recovering America's wildlife, then you will support my amendment. If we adopt this, we will instruct the Committee on Natural Resources to add my amendment to include the forest management activities that modify, improve, enhance, or create wildlife habitat or protect wildlife habitat from wildfires as acceptable uses of funding under this bill. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include the text of my amendment in the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 471, the PAUSE Act, to protect all Americans from Biden's border crisis.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from New Jersey. It is an honor to join my colleagues here during this special week. Mr. Speaker, 3 years ago, I approached the podium for the first time to give my speech on the House floor. I chose my topic intentionally as it is an issue that I will always champion: protecting the lives of the unborn. There is no effort more worthy than supporting life. This issue defines our culture, our society, and our value system. Every year, I am overwhelmed at the outpouring of effort, energy, and support that floods this cause. So thank you, and thank you to my colleagues in the House and Senate who join me in this fight. Thank you to the health practitioners working nonstop to provide resources to help new mothers choose life. Thanks to our advocates on the ground, from the airwaves to in-person, for continually showing your support. And thank you to our pastors and religious organizations for seeking divine guidance and strength in this effort. I am inspired by you all and will keep doing everything I can to continue this fight to protect the unborn.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, there is no question that pregnant workers should be treated fairly and be provided with reasonable accommodations in the workforce. We are all in favor of commonsense guidelines to ensure this. Serving as a subcommittee ranking member in the Education and Labor Committee, I had the opportunity to dive deeply into this bill and participate in the full committee markup. While much of this law is redundant to the two laws that currently protect pregnant workers, I agree with many of the provisions in the bill, and it was substantially improved from the version introduced in 2019. During our markup, I asked for an amendment to clarify one specific provision before lending my support. My provision singles out religious organizations by removing the exemption found in nearly every civil rights bill, including the Civil Rights Act. Because each religion has its own unique customs, requirements, and traditions, it is not reasonable to mandate employment decisions that conflict with people's faith. By not including this longstanding Civil Rights Act provision, H.R. 1065 is likely to create legal risk for religious organizations. Pregnancy-discrimination or pregnancy-accommodation laws in at least 16 States and the District of Columbia also include a provision similar to the Civil Rights Act religious organizations protection. By adding a simple reference in H.R. 1065 to the Civil Rights Act, we can harmonize the bill with current law and ensure that religious organizations receive the same protections as outlined in the Civil Rights Act. This is the only reasonable thing to do.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Madam Speaker, I am honored and humbled to acknowledge the service provided to our Nation's Capital by the men and women of the Idaho National Guard. The presence of ldaho's Army and Air Guard contributed to the safety of our legislative process. I am so thankful to be blessed by the always optimistic American spirit that guides this divinely inspired country. Not only did our Guard protect the U.S. Capitol, they also protected the Members, staff, and employees of the legislative branch, and the constitutional process we follow. Idaho's National Guard worked alongside the Capitol Police and other law enforcement personnel to ensure that constitutional process could move forward uninterrupted. I extend my gratitude and include in the Record the names of the men and women of the 124th Fighter Wing and the 101st Civil Support Team:

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 682, the Reopen Schools Act, to get our kids out from behind screens and back in the classroom.

Mr. FULCHER

Mr. FULCHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 842, the so- called PRO Act. This bill undermines worker privacy, forces independent contractors to become employees, and overturns right-to-work laws in 27 States, including my home State of Idaho. The bill obstructs workers from getting rid of corrupt unions by blocking or delaying elections from taking place due to frivolous lawsuits. Now, I have an amendment. It is unlikely to see the light of day. So I will mention it here. It protects the worker's right to vote. Under my amendment, if an unfair labor practice charge is made, the election still takes place, with ballots secured by the National Labor Relations Board until the charge is resolved. Now, make no mistake, H.R. 842 would still be a bad bill, but at least my amendment would ensure union elections take place as scheduled, prioritizing worker rights over the unionization process.