Jody Hice

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Master Sergeant Luciano ``Louis'' C. Graziano, a resident of the Tenth Congressional District of Georgia and the last known surviving witness to the German surrender of World War II. His story is truly incredible, and his contribution during his tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Europe is worthy of our nation's everlasting gratitude. On June 6, 1944, D-Day, Louis was aboard a landing craft with his men and landed upon the sands of Omaha Beach in Normandy France. Once beached, Louis drove a truck full of gasoline onto the sand. With no place to go, he abandoned the vehicle and gathered his weapons to get into the fight. He took up a position at the base of a cliff and fired a burst from a flame thrower to take out a German machinegun nest. But, Madam Speaker, further up the cliff were even more enemy machinegun nests. In quick thinking, Louis took a flare gun and fired a flare into those positions hoping to direct the fire of allied ships cruising just off the beach. The gun crews on the ships responded as hoped, unleashing their fire from larger caliber guns destroying those positions beyond. Advancing beyond the shores of Normandy, the French city of St. Lo and Reims were soon liberated. It was in Reims that Louis's skill in his craft would come into play and eventually afford him a seat to history itself. Upon establishment of a command post within the heavily mined city, Louis was ordered to install General Eisenhower's phone line. This phone line was vital for the General's real time communication, helping to bring about a timelier allied victory. As allied forces fought to reclaim the town of Bastogne, the Germans mounted a last-ditch counteroffensive known as the ``Battle of the Bulge.'' In response, all troops were being mustered to come to the rescue of encircled troops near the Belgian town of Bastogne. In a dangerous mission, Louis and his Captain had to search and find the lost armored element. They suffered frostbite, but their effort was successful. After, Louis returned to Reims to recover. Among the buildings in Reims, there was a ``Little Red Schoolhouse'' where General Eisenhower had his headquarters. It was there that the unconditional surrender of Germany was signed in the early morning hours of Monday, May 7, 1945. Louis was there, in the room, as General Yodl of the German Army signed the articles of surrender. Madam Speaker, Louis has served our Nation with integrity, excellence, and courage, and we, as Americans, owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for his incredible sacrifices to serve and protect our country at home and abroad. He not only has earned the admiration of his fellow Americans but that of our allies as well. On April 6, 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron approved awarding him the French Legion d'honneur, which is the highest French order of merit that can be bestowed upon an individual. For these reasons, I am honored to represent him in Congress, and it is with pride that I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the life and legacy of Master Sergeant Luciano ``Louis'' C. Graziano.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding his time. Mr. Speaker, we are all seeing gas prices soar--35 percent since January, since this administration took office. Whereas, what this administration inherited, under President Trump, was low and affordable energy costs and our Nation had actually achieved energy independence. There was record low unemployment numbers across all demographics. And prior to COVID, the average hourly wage earnings rose at the fastest rate in decades. So what has changed? Well, what has changed is a reversal of those policies that work. Unfortunately, President Biden has proved that he is far more concerned with appeasing the fringe left-wing environmental extremists in his party than he is in helping the average American by lowering energy costs and creating good-paying jobs. So with prices continuing to soar and massive labor shortages, it only makes sense that we should be doing the right kinds of things to get people back to work. And make no mistake, Biden's reckless energy policies have consequences. I know I hear all the time from veterans in my district who literally are having to make the choice between driving 45-plus miles to a veteran's clinic or trying to have enough money to survive. However, on day one, President Biden celebrated the canceling of the Keystone Pipeline and eliminated tens of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars for our economy. And yet, yesterday, the Biden administration gave the green light to finishing Russia's pipeline going down to Germany. This is the height of hypocrisy. Are you kidding me? That we are not going to allow our own country to have a pipeline, but we are going to approve it for Russia? That pipeline with Russia is literally going to give billions of revenue to the Putin regime, and the completion thereof is going to cause our allies in Europe to have to rely more heavily on Russian oil. We are the ones who ought to be selling American oil to Europe, not enabling their reliance upon the Kremlin. Under President Trump, we had a policy where America was first. It appears under this current administration that America is last. And I will just repeat this: This is what we have: Under President Biden, sanctions against Russia are canceled and they build a pipeline. Under President Biden, he cripples our own economy by canceling Keystone. It is time for us to get back to work.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding. I don't even know where to begin to respond to what we just heard. To imply that Washington, D.C., has no representation is absolutely false. It does have local representation. It also has a Delegate right here in the House of Representatives and has electoral votes for Presidential elections, things that no other city in this country has. This H.R. 51 flies in the face of what our Founders intended. They never wanted the seat of our government to be a State, and they specifically framed the Constitution to say so. Yet, what the Democrats really are trying to do, that they will not admit, is gain even more representation by creating a city-state whereby they get two more Senators. Again, this is absolutely against what our Constitution and our Founders intended, and this ought to be soundly rejected, permanently rejected.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, there is an unprecedented crisis at the southern border. Literally, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are crossing into the United States, stretching our patrol officers and enforcement down there to a breaking point. In February of this year, over 100,000 illegals were apprehended. That is a 28 percent increase from the year before. And I guarantee you, it is only going to get worse. The projections are even more than that this coming month. Illegal border crossings are now five times higher than before President Biden was inaugurated. And this is all fueled by the ``open border'' policies of this administration promising amnesty, ending the wall construction, halting deportations, handcuffing our law enforcement, and undermining border security. President Trump gave President Biden a secure southern border, and in less than 3 months, it has been dismantled. This is absolute insanity.

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, meanwhile, here in Washington, the Democratic majority is cheerfully pushing more legislation to incentivize more illegals coming here. We have this bill promoting amnesty. We are literally exalting illegals in this country over those who have waited years to become citizens. Madam Speaker, this is not rocket science. The Democratic party knows this is going to create a greater crisis, and they simply don't care. It is time to stop fueling the crisis and start solving it. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding. It is stunning to me that we are still wrestling through these type of issues. We have been watching over the last few months one radical piece of legislation after another and our country is beginning to suffer. We are watching gas prices go up, skyrocketing. We are still shutting businesses down. We are still seeing schools closed. We are watching our energy independence be reversed. Madam Speaker, it is one horrible bill, one horrible policy after another. And now we are watching a catastrophe on our southern border, and my friends on the other side of the aisle appear to not care what is happening at the southern border. We haven't honestly called it for what it is: a disaster. We are not willing to look at the national security issues of it. We are not willing to look at the danger that is occurring, the cartels, the human trafficking, the drug trafficking, the criminals who, perhaps, are coming across our border, the terrorists who may be coming across our border. And now what are we doing? We are looking at another outrageous piece of legislation that says: if you come work on a farm, we are going to give you amnesty. It doesn't matter what your background. It doesn't matter who you are. At the same time, we even have here around Capitol Hill fences guarding us, guarding the American people from the people's House, but we are going to open up our borders for who knows who to come marching through. Now we have a piece of legislation that says: just come work on a farm and we are going to give you amnesty. Madam Speaker, 1.5 million people are going to become citizens for working minimal time on farms. This is going to shield criminals. They are just going to come across the border, claim amnesty, come work on a farm, and before long, they are legal citizens here. We don't know who these people are. We don't know what their intentions are, but we are going to grant them amnesty through this bill. It is nonsense. It is frightening. It is irresponsible. It is endangering American lives. It is encouraging even more disaster and danger on our southern border. It makes absolutely zero sense for us to proceed with this type of irresponsible legislation, and I urge my colleagues to vote against this.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Ohio for yielding. Look, bottom line is, we all know that by definition criminals don't abide by the law. And that applies also when they are purchasing firearms. Nothing in this bill prohibits this type of individual from obtaining firearms. In fact, the majority of individuals in prison for committing crimes with firearms obtain their firearms through theft, the underground market, family members, and the like. But what this bill does is threaten everyday American citizens with up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for exercising their Second Amendment right in doing common practices. To say that this does not create a national gun registry, you cannot accomplish what is in this bill without a gun registry. The reality is universal background checks do not stop mass shootings. We do not have mass shootings because of lack of background checks. This bill will not make our communities safer. In fact, what it will do is cause law-abiding citizens to lose more of their Second Amendment rights. We shouldn't be focused here in Congress in taking those rights away. We actually should be strengthening the enforcement of laws we already have to make our communities safer. I stand with the Constitution and urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 8.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. 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. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona for yielding. Mr. Speaker, we are all concerned with this bill, H.R. 8. And the reality is, the big money donors and powerful special interest groups behind the Democratic Party for a long time have sought to undermine, restrict, and even eliminate the Second Amendment rights of Americans. With the Democratic Party now calling the shots here in Washington, quite frankly, the majority party is not even trying to hide their true agenda. Masquerading as supposedly good-faith proposals to end gun violence, what they are really putting in place are the stepping-stones to creating a national firearm registry and eventually even confiscating firearms. H.R. 8 is being considered later this week, and it would implement a universal background check system. The majority claims that this is an obvious solution to gun violence, but that is simply not the case at all. Gun violence in America is complex, and so are the solutions. But the overwhelming majority of criminals would not be stopped by H.R. 8 whatsoever. In fact, the Justice Department itself, by its own data, says that 75 percent of criminals in prison who possessed a firearm obtained it through theft, the black market, or family and friends. Secondly, we know that the vast majority of mass shooters would have been able to pass background checks. This bill does not in any way end gun violence. But what it does do is create a national gun registry that will eventually be used against law-abiding Americans. Without a permanent database of who owns a firearm, the Federal Government would not be able to determine whether a private firearm transfer took place with the required background check. So that brings to us the real aim of this bill, H.R. 8. It paves the way for this database to be used at a later date in a national gun confiscation program. Mr. Speaker, don't take my word for it. Even President Biden, himself, in August 2019, said that he does support confiscating assault weapons which he would consider AR-15 style. So, Mr. Speaker, the threat is real. We are in a major fight for those who are trying to dismantle and eliminate the Second Amendment. We are not blowing smoke here. H.R. 8 is a massive move in that direction, and we stand here tonight to say: No, we are not going to allow that to happen on our watch. We have to be vigilant, and we have to stand guard for our freedoms. Again, Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Arizona, for yielding to me.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, listen, the American people expect and deserve free and fair elections. They deserve to have one legal vote cast and one legal vote counted, but H.R. 1 turns all of our election process upside down. It upends our entire election system. Why are we doing this? As my friend mentioned, on the Oversight Committee, the entire year last year in Oversight, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle tried to push H.R. 1 because of COVID, and we saw what that did in our elections this past year, it totally created chaos. But now we want to nationalize it. The worst thing in the world that can happen is for the Federal Government to nationalize our election system. Part of what is in here is universal mail-in ballots to everyone on the voter registration files. What a disaster. We know those files are probably 10 percent inaccurate. So we are going to have millions of illegal voters receive live ballots. Then there is zero voter ID associated with this. Why in the world would we want no voter ID, unless this is some sort of scheme to give illegal voters the opportunity to vote without any proof of who they are, that they are legal? This is an absolute disaster, and ballot harvesting is a part of this, restricting the right of States to run their own elections. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I have heard a lot today about discrimination against the LGBTQ community and them being kicked out of housing or whatever. No one wants that. But my question, Madam Speaker, to my friends on the other side was: Would they also agree that no one who disagrees with their views should be kicked out of their homes or lose their job? Should adoption agencies not be allowed to continue operating if they don't believe in that? Should houses of worship close because they continue teaching the traditional biblical values and principles of male and female? And I would suspect the answer would be no; that they should be fired, they should close, because the bill itself clearly states that religious rights and freedoms are not protected in this bill. And that is what is so dangerous. This is a bill of tyranny, where government is telling people what they must believe and punishing them if they do not believe and do not conform. This is a dangerous bill. It codifies in itself discrimination.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. I appreciate the gentleman's leadership on this and he's a very dear friend from Texas. And I am grateful. Listen, I don't know that there are many issues that are much more significant, if any more significant, than what we are watching unfold in our society these days, with the cancel culture movement. And the gentleman brought up so many great examples. Everyone certainly, I believe, probably everyone on this side of the aisle has experienced this cancel culture in one degree or another, and it is, frankly, not a new thing. It started quite some time back. But certainly, it has built to the point of enormous momentum now to the point of literally destroying lives, destroying businesses, destroying careers, and that is what is disturbing to me. And I would just go on to say that this cancel culture--two main points that I just want to bring up, and I would love to have a bit of dialogue with the gentleman on this. But number one is: What is underneath it? What is causing it? What is the purpose? What is the motive behind cancel culture? I don't think we need to just deal with the results of it, but what is behind it. And I would suggest that it is a lust for power. And, as a result, there is an attempt to intimidate, an attempt to cancel, an attempt to threaten, and it is also that I am king of the hill and you are not. There is this desire for power behind the cancel culture movement, and I believe that is a significant issue, and I would like to hear the gentleman's thoughts on that, and then I will come back to another thought that I have and bounce that off you as well

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Absolutely. That is extremely well said and very potent in the way you presented that. And it has come to the point, even in just the last couple of days, I had a woman face to face I was speaking with about this, and she was hesitant to get involved in a relatively small way in trying to make a stand in her local community. And her words to me, I am afraid that if I do this, the FBI is going to come knocking at my door. And she had received those kinds of threats, those kind of whatever. She didn't go into details with me, the specifics of what had brought her to that point. But the realization to me is this cancel culture is like a cancer that is now infiltrating our society and its tentacles are reaching, they are far-reaching. And what contributes to part of this, I am afraid, we are participating in right here in this Chamber. And a quick example, we just passed the Equality Act. And I could not help but think, while this is being passed, and even some questions I had with it, sure, we don't want discrimination for anyone. This is the land of the free. Everyone has rights. But the bill itself specifically says there are no religious exemptions to this, that RFRA does not apply, which means people who have deeply held religious beliefs are going to be canceled from participating in their routine life if they disagree with the premise of this bill, and if they personally have convictions otherwise, that is being forced upon them. It is very concerning to me that we in this Chamber are actually participating in throwing gas on the fire of this whole cancel culture, even with legislation that is coming out of this body. I would like to hear your thoughts on that.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy here is an outrage. My fellow Georgian, Congresswoman Greene, stood right here in this House and took full responsibility for her statements. That is more than we can say for any of the many in this Chamber who have made outrageous, hate-filled, and vile statements and comments over the past years--and recent months, in particular. For example, a Democrat member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has repeatedly made blatant anti-Semitic statements. She still holds her position. The Democratic chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee encouraged supporters to aggressively assault anyone who supported President Trump. She still holds her position. The Speaker of the House has called Republicans enemies of the state. She still has her position. While we watch cities in flames, businesses being destroyed, officers killed, and civilians attacked, a member of the majority party called for further unrest in the streets. She still has her position. I have got four pages of similar comments, and this is by no means exhaustive. Inflammatory rhetoric around here has become commonplace, unfortunately, and Members of this House have absolutely crossed the line by calling for violence and making other similar remarks. The majority refuses to hold its own members accountable. This is the zenith of hypocrisy and injustice. Mr. Speaker, I call on and urge our Members to oppose this resolution.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 21, the FedRAMP Authorization Act. As Ranking Member of the Government Operations Subcommittee, it's my focus to ensure the American taxpayer enjoys the benefit of efficient, effective, user-friendly I.T. systems. We all know the appropriate use of cloud computing technologies can help achieve all of those goals, and I thank Subcommittee Chairman Connolly for his work on this legislation. As we work to understand and respond to the recently discovered SUNBURST cyberattack, the underlying purpose of the FedRAMP program-- the security of cloud operations--has never been more important. But as we also continue to respond to the ongoing pandemic, the demand for constituents and federal employees to interact remotely has never been greater. Thus, the flexibility that comes with cloud technologies has also never been more important. I am pleased the FedRAMP authorization includes provisions that will reduce the time required for companies to be certified as FedRAMP compliant at a given agency after they have already been certified elsewhere in the federal government. This provision will go a long way towards giving agencies the cloud-based tools they need in these trying times. Codifying FedRAMP is an important step in realizing the savings offered by cloud adoption and the savings offered by a more efficient security authorization process. I urge my colleagues to support the bill and look forward to continuing to work to improve government services for the American people.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. President, myself, members of the Georgia delegation, and some 74 of my Republican colleagues and I object to the electoral vote from the State of Georgia on the grounds that the election conducted on November 3 was faulty and fraudulent due to unilateral actions by the secretary of state to unlawfully change the State's election process without approval from the General Assembly and thereby setting the stage for an unprecedented amount of fraud and irregularities. I have signed the objection myself.

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. President, prior to the actions and events of today, we did, but following the events of today, it appears that some Senators have withdrawn their objection.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado, my good friend, for leading this Special Order. I am indeed honored to rise and celebrate and honor the book that, without question, has transformed my life, brought light into my life and to the entire world, and to join my colleagues in recognizing the most significant book in the history of our Nation, its founding, and its history throughout. Of course, we are talking about the Bible. As a pastor of 25-plus years, prior to coming to Congress, this opportunity to speak the Word of God on this floor is an extremely important thing to me personally and to our Nation. There is no question that Benjamin Franklin--and we have many, many, many, many examples--and I have a lot of them in my office. But Benjamin Franklin spoke very clear truth when he said that famous statement that: ``The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men.'' Without a doubt, it is in the Bible that we learn about the greatness of God. We learn that He is the object of true worship, that He is the fount of all blessings, that He is the light of the world. It is in the Bible that we learn about the holiness of God. And, yes, it is in the Bible that we learn about the sinfulness of every one of us as human beings, that we have broken God's moral standard in one of a thousand different ways. But it is in the Bible also that we learn how much God loves us, and in His great love, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins on that cross. It is in the Bible we learn that all of us who trust in Him can receive the greatest gift that anyone could ever receive, and that is the gift of forgiveness, which all of us need. I cherish this moment to speak about the truths of God's Word. Our country, as we all know, has been referred to over and over and over throughout history as a shining city on a hill. But we also know today that we are a Nation that stands at a critical crossroad. I believe it is times like this, more than other times, perhaps, that the verse that was quoted earlier, Psalm 119, verse 105, means so much to us. We need to heed that God's Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. More than ever, we need to heed, as a nation, as a body, as leaders in this great Chamber, the Word of God and let it become our light and our pathway. It is, I believe, our responsibility, as leaders in this country, to point our constituents, at least to the point of reminding them that the Bible is extremely significant, not only to us as individuals, but to us as a Nation, and that we need to encourage people to go back to the teachings, the principles, the truths, the eternal truths of God's Word. How different our Nation would be with that. Again, I want to thank my friend for leading this Special Order and all of my colleagues for taking time to come to speak to the truths of God's Word.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Speaker and am grateful for the bipartisan support for this bill. I want to say a special thank you to the ranking member, Mr. Bishop. It has been an honor to serve under him, both as the ranking member and the chairman of this committee. His leadership will be greatly missed. It has been an honor to serve with him and under his leadership, and I wish him the best in the years to come. Mr. Speaker, I think most Americans are very familiar with great military moments in our Nation's past and our history, and all of us could name different places where some of those memorable battles occurred. But many of the Nation's finest moments took place right here in our own backyard, and many people are not even aware of some of those battles. One of those took place in the other Washington, Washington, Georgia, in Wilkes County. As briefly was described, on February 14, 1779, there was a sizable force of British loyalists who collided with a small but ferocious band of American patriots. They were led by Colonel Andrew Pickens in the Kettle Creek area. They were outnumbered 2 to 1, and Colonel Pickens and his men suddenly attacked the Tory militia, catching them by surprise. It was a bloody battle, a severe battle, a brutal fight, but it ended up being one of the greatest victories in the southern campaign during the revolutionary time. This battle involved only a few hundred men, but the impact is enormous on the entire Revolutionary War. In fact, Colonel Pickens himself said of the Battle of Kettle Creek: ``I believe it was the severest check and chastisement the Tories ever received in South Carolina or Georgia.'' This engagement demonstrated conclusively that while the British could hold areas and cities like Savannah or Charleston, they could never grasp hold of the southern backcountry. The courage shown by the outnumbered patriots is nothing shy of absolutely legendary, and they are still honored in Georgia today. One of those stories that I would like to share today is of an individual named Austin Dabney. Despite being a slave, Mr. Dabney served with honor and distinction in the patriot military until he was shot in the thigh in the Battle of Kettle Creek. Though crippled and returned to servitude, Mr. Dabney's actions were never forgotten. In fact, after the war, in 1786, an official act of the Georgia legislature emancipated Mr. Dabney, and they granted him both land and a lifetime pension. This only scratches the surface of Mr. Dabney's story. Yet, it is something that we need never to forget. Kettle Creek was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and the 2007 report to Congress by the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service noted the Battle of Kettle Creek having demonstrable influence on the course, conduct, and results of the Revolutionary War. Congress has made significant strides in preserving many of the battlefields of the Civil War, but I think, unfortunately, many of the battlefields of the Revolutionary War have been forgotten. We need to remember those. This legislation is critical to not only preserving Kettle Creek, which has, by the way, tremendous support in the community and the State, but I strongly believe that the stories of both Colonel Pickens and the incredible stories of people like Austin Dabney are worth saving. They are worth saving for generations to come. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to Kettle Creek being studied for inclusion in the National Park System. I appreciate my colleagues' support for this and urge the rest of our colleagues to support this piece of history and this legislation.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mayor Larry Morgan, a man who faithfully serves the City of Louisville located in the Tenth Congressional District of Georgia, which I have the honor of representing. In 2007, he was duly elected as a member of the Louisville City Council, and two years later, the residents of this small, unique town chose him to serve as their mayor. Throughout the years, Mayor Morgan has demonstrated his commitment to the community by serving in various roles with his church, the county board of health, the downtown development association, the Georgia Municipal Association, the Georgia Airport Association, and the local Rotary club. In his own words, he values the ``gentle way of life that still allows time to visit and listen to each other's stories, to enjoy a leisurely meal together,'' and ``to help out neighbors who are struggling. It's a small-town life, but not just any small town.'' And he's a small-town mayor, but not just any mayor. Madam Speaker, he is a diehard Georgia Tech fan, a loving husband, father, and grandfather, a devoted Christian who is an advocate for his community, and a dear friend to our office. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Mayor Larry Morgan for his devoted public service and to extend to him wishes for good health, encouragement for the future, and gratitude for his continual leadership.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Biggs for yielding. Look, we have all seen the out-of-control left hijacking our cities across the Nation, and we know where the bottom line ends. It is organizations like Antifa, where they are targeting police officers, burning down buildings, destroying private property, besieging Federal buildings, attacking innocent civilians. We have seen what happened with the police in L.A. and the chants that took place there. But all this type of behavior does not happen in a vacuum. It doesn't happen in a vacuum. In fact, we are seeing all of this fueled by reckless rhetoric, much of it coming from our Democratic colleagues, where they say things like: All cops are evil, all cops are bad, and cries to defund the police. The result we are watching? Record numbers of police murdered and killed across the country, record numbers injured. Yet, the left is still calling to defund the police. Rather than condemn this lunacy that is happening in our country, the majority continues to appease, continues to fuel this horrible behavior. In fact, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee won't even admit that Antifa violence exists. He calls it a myth. It is unthinkable. Where is the leadership of the Democratic Party? Where is the Speaker of the House, for that matter? She has consistently downplayed this crisis that is happening in our streets. It is time that we have leadership here. It is time that we address the issues. The Speaker, frankly, should be ashamed of the absolute failure to address this horrific behavior that is happening and the unrest that is happening in our country. In fact, when the Senate passed serious legislation, the Speaker went out to say that the Senate is trying to commit murder. My question is, how many murders have occurred on the streets of America since she made that statement? Rather than work with us, the Democrats and the Speaker call us and the President domestic enemies and enemies of the state, and that is just totally unacceptable. It is time that we restore law and order in this country, and it begins by restoring it right here in this Chamber.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I appreciate those kind words, and it is an honor, indeed, in every way to serve with you both here in the Congress and for the kingdom of our Lord. I go back, and I think of some of the words of our very first President. He said that there were two indispensable supports, indispensable supports, upon which this entire Nation rests. They were religion and morality. And about those things he said: In vain would that person claim the tribute of patriotism, who would labor to subvert these two pillars of human happiness. In fact, he said, you could not claim to be a patriot if you did not understand the role of religion and morality as indispensable supports of this great country. And the reason for that is because this concept of limited government can only work when the people are able to self-govern their own lives with an authentic understanding of right and wrong. It is when people are able to govern their lives properly that we are able to enjoy the blessings of liberty in a country with limited government overseeing and bearing down on our lives. And so these are indispensable supports, supports these days that we are chipping away at, chipping away at on a regular basis. We see the results of it as now night after night on television we are watching radical left groups hijacking our cities and turning them into war zones. We are watching the horror, the spectacle of the violence and the burning and the looting, the destruction of human lives and businesses, of dreams, of what America consists of. And here we sit in this place doing virtually nothing about it. The silence is not only deafening, it is frightful, as we sit here doing nothing. In fact, the chants continue. From the other side of the aisle it seems as though there is an embracing of these types of chants that all cops are bad, to defund the police. It is as though we don't realize that it is impossible to have law and order if in the mix of it somewhere we don't have law enforcement. These types of chants are not only idiotic, they are dangerous, and they have consequences. This type of rhetoric in and of itself lights a fire for more of it. And we are watching the consequences, as my friend just talked about a few moments ago, as police officers are killed and shot and cities destroyed. Is this the kind of country we want to leave to our children and our grandchildren? Do we want to pass this problem on to them and say: Tag, you're it; you go fix it? This is our country, both sides of the aisle. This is our country. These are our dreams. These are our values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and we are watching them burn down right in front of us while we do nothing about it. Now is the time for this Chamber to stand up and to be vocal that we as Americans, from both sides of the aisle, love those things that unite us as a Nation, as we continue down this path of opposition to the Judeo-Christian principles upon which our Nation was founded on. The truth is Marxism and anarchy have no place in America, and it is our responsibility to defend those rights, to defend those blessings. Now is the time to stand up and discontinue this assault on our country and the values that bring us together and bring people from all over the world to this great Nation, rather than for us to continue burning them down. I want to thank my friend. The reality is if we do not stand up for American values and these great principles, no one else will. It is our task in this Chamber to do the right thing. And I deeply appreciate my friend for leading the way on this issue and for allowing me a few moments to speak.

Mr. HICE of Georgia

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member and my friend for yielding. I would counter by saying the greatest threat to democracy in the country is the current majority in the House of Representatives. What we are doing even right here today, what we are doing right now, we haven't even had a hearing on this. We are going to have a hearing on Monday for something we are voting on today. Absolute political malpractice is what we are watching right here. Why do we even debate this? Why don't we have a vote and then debate it? That is the same issue as what we are doing right now. My Democratic friends over here are blaming the President as though he is involved in voter suppression. We want to talk about voter suppression. We want to talk about influencing the vote. Our own Speaker Pelosi just a little while ago had a press conference in which she was touting, 100 days ago, the HEROES Act passed. What she did not say was what was in the HEROES Act: forbidding States from having voter ID. We are going to have universal mail-in ballots, no voter ID. We are going to have ballot harvesting across the country. So, we have no purging of votes. We are just going to send out millions of ballots, among which deceased people are there, folks who have moved, or ballots just being sent out all over the place. There will be no voter IDs required. Yet, all these ballots, somebody is going to vote for them and send them back in. Talk about political malpractice. The chairwoman herself ought to be the first to stand up and testify of the disaster of her own election that took over 6 weeks or thereabouts to get the results because these mail-in ballots kept coming and coming and coming, thousands of which were thrown out. It opened doors for lawsuits in your own election. It is just absolute insanity what we are doing here, to me. It is a representation of why people are so disgusted with Washington. We talk about the delays in the mail service. In April this year, we had a briefing--not a hearing, a briefing--to inform us of the delays that were going to be brought about in the Postal Service due to COVID. Well, that is happening. We have thousands of postal workers who are not working because of COVID. We also have great delays--would you not agree?--in cities like Portland, like Chicago. Of course, there are incredible delays. People are scared to death to even deliver the mail in cities like this. Here we come to a place like this to bail out the Postal Service with $25 billion that the Postmaster General himself says they do not need, with $14 or $15 billion cash on hand and another $10 billion waiting, if needed, in the Treasury. This is absolutely unneeded. Yet, this bill is going to give an additional $25 billion without any reforms. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill.