Tim Huelskamp

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. I appreciate my colleague from Georgia yielding me time to discuss this rule and the underlying issue. I do want to report that it was 229 years ago that the Virginia General Assembly ratified the Virginia statute for religious freedom. This was authored by Thomas Jefferson. The statute serves as the model for the free exercise clause in our First Amendment. This is what it said: No man shall . . . suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument, to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. Mr. Speaker, religious freedom is a fundamental human right protected by our First Amendment. It is essential to our free and flourishing society. Our Nation was found, in part, by individuals seeking refuge from religious persecution, from religious discrimination. For these pioneers and for all to come after, America was meant to be a permanent fortress of liberty and freedom for all who live within its walls. At its essence, the concept of religious freedom is about much more than religion. It is much more than just showing up to worship service 1 day or 1 night a week. It is about our fundamental human right to hold our own beliefs and to live out our lives according to these faiths. Religious freedom, quite simply, is about freedom itself. This is why the very first part of the very First Amendment to our Constitution is about religious freedom. It is our first and most cherished liberty. However, our ability to be free to live out the convictions of our faith not only in the public square, but also in the privacy of our own homes, in our churches, in our businesses, is in jeopardy right here in our Nation's Capital. The misleading name RHNDA is nothing more than a legalized discrimination. If allowed to go in effect, the government would force pro-life organizations, pro-life ministries, pro-life business, pro- life churches, pro-life individuals in the District to violate the very heart of their lives and their work and be coerced into paying for abortion on demand and be forced to hire antilife individuals who actually promote abortion. As a Catholic and as an American, I am offended by such coercion. Now is the time for Congress to stand up against this direct assault on our freedom of religion, our freedom of association, and our freedom of speech. I encourage my colleagues to join me and honor our constitutional oath of office by adopting this rule and passing H.J. Res. 43.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Madam Speaker, today I spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court as it heard arguments on whether more than 50 million Americans who voted to affirm marriage as between one man and one woman should have their voices snuffed out by as few as five unelected judges. To argue that the Constitution demands the Supreme Court invalidate centuries of marriage laws is a claim of legal fiction. Let me repeat; it is a legal fiction. There is no constitutional right to so-called same-sex marriage. Marriage predates government and the nations that make these laws. No judge, no jury, no court nor government can legitimately redefine marriage to suit their personal preferences. I implore the Supreme Court to do their job and correctly recognize that the people of every State are free to affirm or restore marriage as the union of one woman and one man.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, and I appreciate my colleague from Ohio bringing forth this important legislation. ``If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.'' James Madison wrote these words 227 years ago in his 51st Federalist Paper. It is an elegant way of expressing an ugly truth, that a government of the people cannot always be trusted to do right by the people and, thus, must hold itself in check for the sake of the people. When Madison penned the Federalist Papers, it was with a fresh view of what the British Parliament did to exert government control over the lives of the colonists, leading to the famous Boston Tea Party and, ultimately, a revolution. The targeted discrimination and unfair treatment of conservative organizations with the words ``Tea Party'' and others in their names that took place at the IRS under the direction of Lois Lerner shows what happens when government no longer feels accountable to the people and when the Constitution becomes simply a list of suggestions. Agencies can then become a political weapon for one party to use against the other. It is sad that we actually have to pass legislation to address these inexcusable actions. Every employee of the IRS, of this entire Federal Government, is ultimately a public servant. Once you stop serving the public and start serving political agendas, it is time for you to do something else. This bill will add targeting taxpayers for political purposes to the list of the 10 things that can get you fired as an employee of the IRS. I am not sure what is more upsetting about that sentence: that our government is so bureaucratic that only 10 things might get you fired at the IRS, or that political discrimination wasn't already one of those things. I urge my colleagues to support this straightforward, commonsense measure.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Midland Marketing Cooperative, located in Hays, Kansas, which celebrates their 100th anniversary in business on March 5 of this year. Midland started with 81 farmers, who put up a total of $10,000 to begin capitalizing their new cooperative. Since that time, the co-op has grown to nearly 1,000 members and has over $122 million in annual sales. They now operate 11 elevator locations, 2 full-service gas stations, 5 automated fueling stations, 2 feed mills, and 10 agronomy locations. In their five-county service area, Midland employs 62 full- time employees. When you add part-time and seasonal workers, that increases to 120 people. Midland Marketing Cooperative has returned over $62 million in patronage to their members. Thank you to Midland Marketing Cooperative and all the co-ops in my district who are keeping Kansas agriculture and our rural communities strong.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, last week I was deeply honored to welcome James Price and his wife Ellen into our D.C. office. They were in town representing the Disabled American Veterans and shared with me about how they serve our Kansas Veterans. For over twenty years Jim and Ellen have generously coordinated transportation services for our Veterans to the closest Veteran Affairs Medical Center in either Topeka or Wichita. Four days a week for over two decades, this couple has helped transport our rural Veterans in the greater Salina area who cannot get the necessary health care services at the local Community Based Outpatient Clinic. I want to commend their dedication and selfless sacrifice; they have made a very tangible difference in the lives of so many Kansas Veterans. Up until just a few years ago, Ellen coordinated with the Salina VA clinic and set up weekly transportation schedules for all the medical appointments for local veterans traveling to Wichita and Topeka. And Jim did much of the driving. In fact, during my conversation with Mr. Price, he reported that since he started driving vans for the VA over twenty years ago, he has logged over 200,000 miles as a volunteer. And at over eighty years old, he has no plans to retire. Jim and Ellen Price are shining examples of the many men and women who served us in the military and go beyond the call of duty to serve long after they leave the military. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Price, for your selfless dedication and commitment--and to the thousands of others across the First District of Kansas--who do so much to serve our Veterans.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, this week marks National Marriage Week. This is the time for Americans to recognize, to celebrate, to honor this time-honored institution and the critical importance of a man and a woman committing to each other and to the children of their loving union. The plain and simple truth is this: marriage is vital to our economic success, cultural well-being, and our children. And sadly, it is being trampled upon as we speak. Unelected judges from all across the country are forcing their personal feelings and biases against traditional marriage upon the American people. This judicial activism has thrown the social and legal status of marriage into chaos. Since the question of marriage is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, Congress must act now to right this wrong. That is why today I am reintroducing the marriage protection amendment to affirm the true meaning of marriage is between one man and one woman and to provide a clear policy for our Nation, especially for our children.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, today, February 12, 2015, I was not present for call votes number 77 and 78 due to attendance at the White House bill signing ceremony for the Clay Hunt SAV Act. If I had been in attendance, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall vote 77 and ``yea'' on rollcall vote 78. personal explanation

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Chair, here in Washington, D.C., I believe we have too many people working on K Street looking out for Wall Street when we should be, instead, fighting for Main Street. It is our Main Street businesses, our small businesses, that are the heart and soul of our economy and without which there will be no economic recovery. America has slogged through 6 years of a lackluster economy in part because our hardworking small business men and women are strangled by this administration's overregulation. During my 267 town hall meetings throughout my district in the last 4 years, the number one complaint is this: there is too much regulation on small business from faceless, nameless bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., who don't understand the needs of rural America. It is time for some red tape relief. It is time for some regulatory certainty. It is time to free up Main Street so they can kick-start our economy and get America back to work. As an active member of the Committee on Small Business, I encourage my colleagues to join me and millions and millions of small business entrepreneurs all across America and pass this bill today.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding. Mr. Speaker, over these next 2 days, you will hear many of my colleagues rise in support of H.R. 36, as well they should. This bill protects pain-capable, pre-born children from being subjected to violent, dismembering abortions, also known as D&E abortions. One former abortionist, Dr. Anthony Levatino, testified in May 2013 before the House Judiciary Committee and described the procedure by saying: A second-trimester D&E abortion is a blind procedure. Picture yourself reaching in with a Sopher clamp and grasping anything you can. Once you have grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set the jaws and pull hard--really hard. This is from a former abortionist describing the procedure: You feel something let go and out pops a fully formed leg about 6 inches long. Reach in again and again with that clamp and tear out the spine, intestines, heart, and lungs. How disgusting. How repugnant. How wrong. Any nation, any party, any person that claims to respect human rights and accepts basic science must reject this pain-filled act of barbarism. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this rule and, most important, in supporting H.R. 36.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Thank you, Congressman. I know we probably sound like a broken record--and for the marchers coming in tomorrow, that is something that they used before there were CDs. Isn't that great--we have all of these marchers coming in who don't even know what a record is because they are so young. In the battle for life, we are winning with this generation. They understand the reality of when life begins. I am so thankful for that, and I am so thankful for Chris Smith's leadership. Like one of my earlier colleagues, I remember being on the other side of the rally watching the Congressman and saying: Gosh darnit, I wish I could be like him. What can I do? That is what I would like to talk about tonight: What can we do to make a difference? Of course, as we will see tomorrow, a tremendous level of political involvement with tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of folks showing up here from all over the country. Generally you have people from Kansas to lead the march, and it is great to see some kids from Benedictine College and throughout my district as well getting involved, making a difference, both here in Washington and in their State capital, coming here for the March for Life, which we hashtagged ``Why We March.'' What else can we do? Very quickly, we can help and assist women and families in crisis pregnancies. There are hundreds and hundreds of facilities across the country that offer free help and free care, outreach for those in very difficult situations. We can do that. The second thing we can do is encourage families, current families, encourage marriage. Marriage is a founding block of our society, of our civilization. The more we can encourage marriage, the more we can encourage families and the more we can help our unborn. We can also consider adoption. For those who are listening today who are wondering, maybe that should be for me--sometimes it might be one spouse. Sometimes it might be another. I was with a couple of friends this weekend just talking about that, saying, think about it, pray about it, consider it, because there are literally tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of young folks who are looking for homes. So please consider that. And lastly, I ask, please pray for the unborn, please pray for birth families, and please pray for those who are considering adoption. Lastly, I want to briefly thank the four birth families who blessed our family with children. Some of them I know, some of them I do not. Two of them are in foreign countries and two of those families are here in this country. But that is a tough decision. I am so thankful for the men and women of this country that chose life and offered up their children for adoption.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the time from my colleague from Utah, and thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I was at the Kansas State Fair this past weekend, and the number one issue at the fair was this particular rule coming out of the EPA. I stopped by the booth of the Kansas Farm Bureau, I heard it as I walked through the streets of the state fair: ``Ditch the rule.'' And that is what we are trying to do here, to make certain that EPA regulators can't go in the backyards, the farm ponds, the road ditches, every place there might be a drop of water. This is a radical redefinition from the EPA, unelected, of course, trying to redefine the current language of the Clean Water Act. It is so radical, Madam Speaker, that a Congress controlled by the other side of the aisle even refused to authorize these changes, so the EPA is trying to do an end run, as they have done on numerous other accounts, trying, again, to rewrite clear law in reference to navigable waters. In western Kansas, where I farm, and where I have most of my constituents, they are worried. What kind of place have we come to in this country in which average ordinary Americans, whom we work for, whom the EPA claims to work for, are worried about those regulators? The State of Kansas will continue to regulate these issues. The EPA does not need additional authority. They have stepped well beyond the bounds of the authority we have given them as a Congress. I would encourage my colleagues to allow us to proceed, to move forward on this rule, and then get to the underlying bill, which is to ditch the rule from the EPA.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his work on this bill. As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, I want to take a moment to share a little about what this bill means for my Kansas veterans. Since coming to Congress, I have heard dozens of stories from Kansas veterans about their troubles with the VA. They have shared about how they are required to travel hundreds of miles for simple medical tests or to renew their prescriptions, all the while, driving past dozens of local hospitals and other health care providers with the ability and desire to meet their needs locally. Many Kansas veterans drive halfway across the State or to Colorado, Nebraska, or even Texas to get their simplest health care needs met. In fact, just yesterday, my office had to step in to help a 94-year- old World War II veteran. The nearest VA hospital was 240 miles away. He just had a recent serious surgery, and they said, you have to come into the hospital to renew your prescriptions. Thankfully, I was able to contact the VA and ensure this veteran could get his care in his local community, but as I tell folks in Kansas, you shouldn't have to call your Congressman to get the care you deserve. With this bill, hundreds of rural Kansas veterans will be able to use their new veteran choice card or Project ARCH, call their local doctor, and get their health care needs met. Just like Medicare or TRICARE, veterans should have the choice to schedule their own appointments, pick their own doctors in their own communities. When our veterans come back from serving and defending our country and return to communities across the United States, most of them don't ask for much, but I want our veterans to know that I believe you deserve the best, not just the mediocre, scandal-plagued culture we have seen at the current VA. This bill is just plain common sense. It is a big first step towards giving veterans real choice and real accountability. As this law is implemented, I remain committed to continuing to ask the hard questions and working to return the VA to its true mission, to serve our veterans.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, due to weather-related flight delays, I was unable to vote in the House on Monday, July 14, therefore I am not recorded as voting. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows: rollcall No. 405, I would have voted ``yea''; and rollcall No. 406, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Madam Chair, I rise today to speak in favor of the work the committee did in this bill to protect Americans from additional, unnecessary regulatory burdens. In particular, I want to thank them for protecting landowners in rural Kansas--and elsewhere across this Nation--from attempts by the Army Corps and the EPA to regulate, from Washington, every single drop of water that falls to the ground. When it passed the Clean Water Act, Congress never contemplated and certainly never authorized a definition of ``navigable waters'' that covered roadside ditches, prairie potholes, water tanks, or farm ponds in Kansas or elsewhere. This proposed rule by some bureaucrats in far-off Washington is a clear violation of the separation of powers within our Constitution. Ultimately, it is nothing more than a power grab of private property. In practice, this rule would require Kansas farmers and ranchers to apply for costly permits--to apply for permission to perform routine farming activities like building a fence, fertilizing, or even plowing, and if our food producers have to pay more to comply with Washington's overregulations, Americans will see it in higher prices at the grocery store. Madam Chairman, only in Washington would one try to define ``standing water'' in a ditch that is surrounded by prairie in Kansas as water that is capable of navigation. It is time for the administration to ditch this rule. Until then, this Congress should not spend a single penny in advancing this massive 370-page rule. I support the provisions in this bill.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Veteran Access to Care Act of 2014. I want to thank the chairman for his leadership not only on this bill, but investigating the current situation at the VA. This is a long overdue, proactive, multipronged solution I have been advocating for since coming to Congress. On the committee in the last 3 years, we have been investigating lavish conference spending at the VA, millions of dollars of outrageous bonuses, billions of dollars of cost overruns. These are all significant scandals in and of themselves. But what we are discussing here today is much bigger. It is about life and death. It is about dozens of veterans who lost their lives because of what happened at the VA; a systemic, nationwide problem, along with coverups, corruption, and, yes, criminality. It is shameful. Instead of fighting to preserve the status quo, it is time to ensure that veterans receive quality health care closer to home. H.R. 4810 is a proactive solution. It involves veterans choice, independent review of VA performance, eliminating those outrageous bonuses, and holding the administration and holding the VA accountable. Whether it is the veteran I met in Syracuse, Kansas, who was told he had to drive 10 hours round-trip three times in 10 days for care he could have gotten down the street at his local hospital, and he was told to drive to a facility that had a secret waiting list in Wichita, or the veteran Jack in Liberal, Kansas, who has waited 2 years for a doctor that was promised by the VA, or Larry in Oberlin, who I just learned a few weeks ago was told again to drive 10 hours to get a shingles vaccination that was just down the road, these are veterans who have been denied access to quality care. H.R. 4810 deserves to be passed. These veterans deserve quality care close to home. The answer is pretty simple, Mr. Speaker. I do not believe there will be a rush to the exits of VA, but it will meet the needs of Larry, it will need the needs of Jack, it will meet the needs of Joe, and hopefully millions of other veterans that deserve quality access to care.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, due to a family obligation, I was unable to vote in the House on Wednesday, May 21st, therefore I am not recorded as voting. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows: rollcall No. 223, I would have voted ``nay''; rollcall No. 224, I would have voted ``nay'', rollcall No. 225, I would have voted ``no''; rollcall No. 226, I would have voted ``no''; rollcall No. 227, I would have voted ``aye''; rollcall No. 228, I would have voted ``yea''; rollcall No. 229, I would have voted ``yea'' on H.R. 4031, the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014, of which I was an original co-sponsor.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Chairman, I am glad to join my colleague from Pennsylvania in cosponsoring this important amendment. But I must admit, it is regrettable--actually, no. It is actually shameful we actually have to be here today discussing this topic. As a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, I have heard over and over and over again stories of abuse, neglect, and mismanagement within the VA, but the one thing I never hear about is accountability. In fact, under the leadership of the current Secretary, a Senior Executive Service employee who has presided over mismanagement at the VA is more likely to receive a sizable bonus than to be disciplined or fired. This culture of anything goes has got to stop, and the best way to stop this is to send a strong signal across the Department of VA that Congress means business. It is obvious from the headlines about the sizable bonuses received by VA administrators at facilities in Georgia, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Phoenix that the performance award system at the VA is a failure. I have asked the VA in congressional hearing after hearing after hearing for a specific list of disciplinary actions that the Department has imposed on employees and executives who have presided over these delays and preventable veteran deaths. Instead of giving answers, they have only pointed to retirements, transfers, or bureaucratic slaps on the wrist, but not a single undeserved performance bonus has been returned to the taxpayers. These smokescreen attempts to create the appearance of accountability are unacceptable. Unfortunately, the story last week from Phoenix is not an isolated event. Just 3 weeks ago, in our committee, the VA admitted to another 23 preventable deaths occurring within their facilities. The senior VA bureaucrats responsible for the management of the facilities consistently received sizable bonuses from hardworking taxpayers. These administrators have been given a sacred trust to care for and serve our Nation's veterans. And, quite frankly, Mr. Chairman, they have broken that trust; and its time for accountability. For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, to defund these VA bonuses, and to return some accountability to the VA. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Chairman, over the past 3 years, I have conducted over 220 townhall meetings in my district. When we discuss Federal spending, my constituents do not want to hear about debt-to-GDP ratios or CBO scoring rules when it comes to the budget. What they want to know is why Congress has not balanced the budget yet and when we plan to do so. They want to know when Washington will stop spending money we don't have. They want to know when we will stop piling trillions of dollars of debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. This RSC budget would balance the budget the soonest of any of the alternatives before us, Mr. Chairman, and it would begin to pay down our debt the fastest. It is the type of results the American people demand out of Washington. I am pleased this budget includes some innovative and responsible reforms like Medicaid block grants, food stamp block grants, and a real timetable to save and secure Medicare. I am also pleased it would repeal ObamaCare. It would call for the passage of a real health care reform act like the American Health Care Reform Act, the JOBS Act, the REINS Act, throwing out our entire Tax Code and starting over, and it would restore work requirements for those on welfare and prohibit funding abortion providers. In short, this RSC budget is full of the right ideas to get our Nation back on track, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in voting for the RSC budget.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, the following speech has been delivered to audiences at various veteran service organizations and veteran events in Kansas by a brave young lady named Kristin Stowers who lives in the Big 1st District of Kansas that I represent. After hearing twelve year old Kristin Stowers deliver her remarks on her family's experience with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I wanted to share it with my colleagues in Congress. We could all learn a tremendous amount about sacrifice, commitment, and perseverance from this young lady's remarks. Invisible Family (By Kristin Stowers of Hutchinson, Kansas) It is hard to realize that these amazing people that gave up their lives to save and protect our nation and its people are gone. . . . It makes you see that life is not just a fairy tale ending that we were taught as children, we were taught that it was going to be okay in the end. We now realize you can't win every battle you enter. Some don't make it home to their families, but you have to say to yourself. We were put to the test to complete life a way that we see fit and once you have completed your mission, you wait patiently in your favorite place that you have always found comfortable. Where you wait to see your family that has not yet completed their missions. I know it is hard to coop with what you are going through I had to deal with it, but in a different way. My mother had a brain tumor and had to have surgery on my first day of kindergarten and had a stroke later on. Our house caught on fire in my fourth grade year and we had to live in a hotel for three months. My father was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and we as a family have to deal with the others sufferings each day. In the last few months we have discovered many other things have gone wrong in our relationship with each other causing more pain than intended. We have not gotten the chance to talk to each other about our problems at home and since the VA does not implement family counseling in their facilities, but they do have spouse counseling. Having said that, I would like to say that the injuries affect the whole family not just the spouse. PTSD is like a black hole, you get sucked in without even knowing what is happening around you. Your hoping that tomorrow will be better than today, but still hoping that when you come from school or work that the stress has not overcome them and they are laying in their chair. . . . Silent. . . . Dead. With the help of the VA it is still progressing, but still worse than before. It makes me think that he is floating away in a bubble, but God will not leave him without a fight. To this day he is in a battle with PTSD and the prize of the battle is him and us. . . . His family and friends. We are hoping that he wins, but you never know what the outcome will be. That is why we are all here. Every person in the world with PTSD is in a battle. Some lost and some still lead victorious and I trust him to be victorious. All I ever wanted is for the pain to end and many of you may be thinking the same thing, and I know this is over used but it will heal with time. I will promise you that it will get better even if it doesn't look like it. Just think they want you to carry on with your life even if it is looking grim at the moment. It takes guts to take that chance that you will never see your smiling family that on the inside is torn from your choices, but know that they are the right ones. It makes me realize that I will not have a perfect life and no one ever will with our missions, and the people that finish theirs when you're not ready to let go of the memories that you had together. The memories that will and have impacted your world and will leave a crater that you have to live with and have to move on even if you can't. The thoughts and the people will ever be imprinted in our minds and will never leave because the pain will always be demanding. People always think that war is just a thing that can be stopped on the spot, but they don't know the aftershock of the explosion that is a death or an injury that is fatal. The people that saved us from ourselves and different countries that are or was threating us. They saved us and our nation from danger and the problems of life. Heroes and Inspirations are these people that risked their own life to save the people that are going to change a million lives or just a few. Humans like this are my inspiration and I hope to be just like them; they changed a thousand people; a thousand points of views on life; and a twelve year old girl that is striving to be an inspiration just like them later on in life. Many young people have their favorite bands and/or actors as their people to look up too, and sure I have my own but I have many leaders in my life some I can't name but they changed my life no matter what they did to protect me, my family, and my neighbors. They will be remembered as the ones that grew up as the kids that were big hearted and the ones that were strong and brave. The reason we are here is these people wanted to save us and that is what they did and they bought us time. Time to spend thinking of ways to buy us more time. These warriors spent their lives saving their family and friends and their generations and so on. These are the people that are my heroes and my saviors at the time of need and always will be.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Thank you, Congresswoman. It is a pleasure and honor to join you tonight. I will keep my comments short. You have heard the words here tonight. You have heard the words ``religion tax.'' You have heard the words ``religious litmus test.'' You certainly heard the words ``religious liberty.'' Of course, we also heard that the principles of the First Amendment have to do with religious liberty and religious freedom. I was on the floor the day after the Supreme Court decision on the President's health care law, and I would like to issue a challenge to what is generally considered the swing vote of this current court, the Chief Justice himself. When I spoke about this issue, court challenges were already coming forward on this HHS mandate, but knowing that the Chief Justice is a Roman Catholic, I issue a strong challenge to the Chief Justice. Given the history of the Catholic Church in this country, it has been one of severe discrimination at times. I would ask the Chief Justice-- the deciding vote--to consider his core convictions. I believe he bears a particular burden to protect the religious liberties of employers and their employees from the excesses of his very own constitutional creation. The court asked to be in the middle of this position. They asked for the government to have the right to tell businesses what to do, whether for profit or nonprofit or businesses or non-businesses as well. What is at stake here is not the choice of businesses alone. What is at stake here is not necessarily what the government can tell selected entities. At stake is our Constitution and our rights and freedoms as Americans. We were founded on the issue of religious freedom and liberty from our very beginning. Tomorrow, I stand with the businesses, the non- businesses, and the private entities as well.

Mr. HUELSKAMP

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to visit with you this evening. I know many of my colleagues would like to visit about a very, very important topic; and that is the topic of marriage. We are currently in the midst of National Marriage Week, which is a global effort with 16 other countries to promote marriage. I think we are going to hear tonight, Mr. Speaker, some very important information on how important marriage is to our culture, to our families, to our society and, most importantly, in my mind, to our children. So first I would like to yield to the Congresswoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) to speak on this topic.

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Congresswoman Bachmann, I appreciate your leadership on so many issues. One of the inspiring parts of your life, to me, is you and your husband's efforts as foster parents. You have stories to share about the many children. Acting as a family, mom and dad to these kids, it sure must have made a difference in their lives.

Mr. HUELSKAMP. As you know, there are many parts of the country where we are short of foster parents, foster families. If there is one thing you can say to a couple considering that, what would your advice be?

Mr. HUELSKAMP. Congresswoman Bachmann, I appreciate your leadership both personally and here in Congress. So thank you for your time this evening. Next, I would like to yield to a colleague, a freshman from California. I might remind the body that five Justices on our U.S. Supreme Court apparently didn't think California voters should decide some issues of marriage. But Congressman Doug LaMalfa is becoming a leader here in Congress on that issue. I would like to yield to him and his thoughts on the issue of marriage, families, and protecting our children.