Brett Guthrie

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3491, led by my colleagues Representatives DeGette and Hudson. This bill would authorize the INCLUDE Project at the National Institutes of Health, which advances research into Down syndrome to improve the health and quality of life of individuals with Down syndrome and their families. This project investigates conditions that affect people with Down syndrome, as well as the general public, with a hope of improving our understanding of the condition and advancing the quality-of-life outcomes for individuals with Down syndrome and patients facing similar medical issues. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I encourage a ``yes'' vote on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6238) to establish the IMPROVE Initiative within the National Institutes of Health, as amended.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the legislation and include extraneous material on H.R. 6238.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6238, led by my colleagues Representatives Underwood and Fitzpatrick, which authorizes the Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone Initiative within the National Institutes of Health. According to CDC estimates, more than 80 percent of the pregnancy- related deaths and roughly half of the severe maternal morbidity events could be prevented. That is why it is so essential for us to advance the IMPROVE Initiative, which supports research into identifying and reducing preventable causes of maternal death and ways to improve maternal health outcomes. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick), my good friend. He is a member of the Ways and Means and Intel Committees and is really passionate about these issues. My friend from Colorado has touched on this. It is something that we absolutely have to get to the bottom of. I am very thankful for the leadership of the gentlewoman from Illinois and the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. GUTHRIE. In closing, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8205) to amend the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act to reauthorize the provisions of such Act through fiscal year 2031, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the legislation and to include extraneous material on H.R. 8205.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 8205 led by my colleagues, Representative Quigley and Representative Calvert. H.R. 8205 reauthorizes the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Reauthorization Act, which has supported critical research and development for ALS therapies. The ACT for ALS program has worked to expand access to key therapies for both individuals with ALS and those with other rare neurodegenerative conditions. It is imperative that we pass this bill today to continue advancing research and therapeutic development in the fight against this disease. To my fellow Americans living with ALS and their caregivers, Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to let them know that I recognize their resilience and their commitment to a better future for themselves and other patients with ALS. Mr. Speaker, I want them to know that I stand with them, and I ask that my colleagues do the same. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I will mention Brian and Sandra testified before our committee. When I was first elected to Congress, the Ensor family from Bullitt County, Kentucky, came to see me, and I got to know Mitch. I went to his funeral services, unfortunately. I was touched by his family, which is why this bill is important to me. Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage everybody to vote for this bill. There may be a procedural call on this bill. This bill will pass this week. I look forward to seeing it pass, being sent to the Senate, and hopefully signed into law very soon. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. 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. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my friend from Florida yielding. It is fun today because I have my friend from Florida controlling time. I have another friend from Florida (Mr. Soto) speaking for the bill, and we have the sponsor from Florida. I will say also to the American people, Mr. Speaker, through you, that a very famous resident of Florida mentioned this to me in the Oval Office a few weeks ago, so I know there is strong support. It is actually called the Sunshine Protection Act, and the reason is people like the longer daylight hours. They like daylight even in the wintertime. I live on the very eastern end of central time. My district is split almost down the middle. I represent people who are on the very western end of eastern time, and I live on the very eastern end of central time. It does get dark at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon where I live. People want more time, and they want more daylight. The thing is that they just don't want to have to change their clocks. As my friend from New Jersey talked about, in 1974, we did vote to change. It was because of the energy crisis going on when I was a kid. They changed it in the middle of winter. It created all kinds of disturbance. What we have done with this bill is let people know ahead of time, you are not going to have to change your clock. We have General Assemblies that can lock in which time they want. We all know that Arizona and Hawaii stay on standard time. They will stay on standard time if their General Assembly so chooses. Any other State has the opportunity, whether they are in session or not. There is always a provision. I know in Kentucky they are not in session, but there is a provision that if Kentucky wants to stay on standard time, the Governor can call them into session and do so. I don't think they are going to do that. We have given States flexibility, but we have given our country consistency. I really appreciate the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Buchanan) for working hard on this bill. I believe it is the right time to do it, so I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 139, the Sunshine Protection Act, and I believe it will be good for the American people.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7757) to protect children and teens online, empower parents and strengthen families, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 7757.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 7757, the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act, or the KIDS Act. This legislation is the most comprehensive, impactful children's online safety package Congress has considered. I thank Ranking Member Pallone for his partnership and leadership on this issue. Protecting children should not be a partisan issue, and I appreciate his commitment and working with us to find common ground to address the very real challenges facing families today. Before I continue, I will recognize two parents who are with us in the gallery today: Deb Schmill, mother of Becca, and Maurine Molak, mother of David. They have experienced every parent's worst nightmare: losing a child because of online harms. Mr. Speaker, I thank them for their courage in sharing their stories and for turning unimaginable loss into tireless advocacy to help protect other children and families. Their presence here today reminds us of what is at stake, and their voices have helped shape this legislation. A key part of our approach was negotiating a package of impactful provisions. We worked hard to reach a workable compromise. The KIDS Act incorporates 13 bipartisan Member priorities from across the House to empower parents, protect children's and teens' privacy, and hold Big Tech and online forums accountable. The bill requires platforms to protect kids by default, including limiting addictive and dangerous design features and risky messaging functions. It gives parents stronger tools to monitor and manage their children's online experiences, establishes safeguards for AI chatbots, creates new protections in online gaming environments, and requires age verification for pornography websites to ensure kids cannot access explicit content. The legislation also modernizes children's privacy protections by requiring parental consent before collecting information from children under 14 and extending important new privacy protections to teenagers under 18. At its core, this legislation sends a simple message: Children deserve a safer online experience, parents deserve a greater voice in their children's digital lives, and technology companies must be held accountable when they fail to protect young users. While no single bill will solve every challenge facing families online, this legislation represents a significant and long-overdue step forward in establishing meaningful safeguards. It is an important milestone, not a finish line, in the effort to better protect children online and hold bad actors accountable. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), my good friend who is the author and chairman of the subcommittee who has worked tirelessly on this piece of legislation.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Miller-Meeks), a good friend who is a fantastic member of our committee and has worked hard on these issues protecting children.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lee), who not only is a great committee member on our committee, but is also one of the judicial minds on our committee who is a great legal scholar.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller), my good friend who has worked really hard to be an important part of this package.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for those data protections. That has been very important and a big part of the negotiations, and the gentleman has been a great advocate for that. I really appreciate it. I mentioned Ms. Schmill and Ms. Molak when we first started. I should mention the staff and their hard work. They had countless hours meeting with different groups. Members were meeting with different groups and working hard on this, but the staff has, as well. When I first took the chairmanship, very early in my chairmanship when my colleagues asked me to chair this committee, we sat down with a group of people to determine our priorities. Number one was this bill. Number one was this effort. Number one was this issue. People talk a lot of times about how we have so many young staffers on Capitol Hill. They are, and they are also young parents. I have seen from both sides of the aisle, a couple of our staff members have different opinions on other issues but sit down and put that all aside when it comes to their children, America's children. Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the hard, hard work. I really encourage my colleagues to vote for this bill tonight. I really encourage my colleagues to vote for this bill tonight because when we vote for this bill tonight, the House will put its imprint--and we have worked with the Senate, but the House will put its imprint to make sure that children are protected, parents are empowered, and Big Tech is held accountable. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7257) to amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require States to include supporting the physical security, cybersecurity, and resilience of local distribution systems in State energy security plans, as amended.