Mike Johnson

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for speaking about very important priorities for Louisiana, as well. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Miller- Meeks).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank Dr. Miller-Meeks for clarifying the record, for her expertise, and for 24 years in the U.S. Army as a nurse and a doctor. I really appreciate her good word on that. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley), who is overqualified to be serving in Congress, one of the brightest we have.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, we are just 2 days away from the August district work period, and on Friday our colleagues will return home to our 435 districts across this great country. I know on the Republican side everyone will be holding townhalls and roundtables, and they will meet with constituents and businessowners. They will be with the people that we represent here in the people's House. We have so much to relay to them. This has been a busy 7 months in this Congress, and House Republicans have passed a lot of important legislation. We are keeping our commitment to America that we ran on in the last election cycle. Here is a short list: The Lower Energy Costs Act. We passed that and it unleashed American energy production. The Secure the Border Act is the most comprehensive border security package ever passed by the United States Congress. The Parents Bill of Rights Act ensures that parents have a seat at the table. The National Defense Authorization Act that is full of important priorities and pushes back on radical leftist policy in our military. There is so much more. I could spend the entire designated hour going through the list of major accomplishments. The House Republicans also, by the way, ended the COVID-19 national emergency. We rescinded two backwards D.C. crime bills. We have conducted rigorous oversight of an administration that has played fast and loose with the rule of law. Not long ago, discussion of the Hunter Biden laptop was literally blocked on social media--I mean, literally. We have a 155-page Federal court opinion in the landmark litigation, Missouri and Louisiana v. Biden. The court looked at volumes of evidence and deliberated for months and issued a preliminary injunction order explained in these 155 pages. The court says that the facts show very clearly that the Biden administration and its agencies, including the DOJ, FBI, CDC, Department of Homeland Security, and others, were engaged in a whole- of-government censorship effort. They censored and silenced and suppressed the viewpoints of Conservatives, specifically online. They met routinely with the social media companies and told them to pull down voices and messages they disagreed with, so-called misinformation that none of them obviously can define. They blatantly violated the Constitution and the First Amendment. The court said that if all of these allegations are true--and that is what the facts show--it is, arguably, the most massive attack on free speech in the history of the United States. That is what the court said, not Republicans. We have been on that and we have been investigating that. News organizations just a few months ago called Members who dared to question the narrative about the Hunter Biden laptop as conspiracy theorists and extremists. Thanks to the work of our various committees, not only has this information been verified, but we have uncovered a wealth of information not only linking Hunter Biden to illegal activities, but very likely the President himself. We will take this time during the August work period to continue to share all these important facts with the American people. I am encouraged that people are following these developments and they are demanding accountability. Mr. Speaker, we have a great lineup of Republican Members here tonight to speak during our hour. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Van Orden), my good friend and a former Navy SEAL.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Van Orden for his service to this country and for his expertise on this, it is greatly appreciated. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, he made some great points. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Babin. He is right. That woke agenda has had a corrosive effect on the culture. Today I was reading a new Gallup poll, only 18 percent of 18- to 34- year-olds are now extremely proud to be an American. It is just shocking. That is the result. Ideas have consequences. Mr. Speaker, we will go from Texas all the way up to New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Langworthy).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his very important points. It is hard to be connected at all if we don't have broadband. It is related to health, education, and every aspect of our lives now. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend. There is so much wisdom coming out of California that I will stay with the theme. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte), who is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful Members of the Congress.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend. He never uses notes when he speaks. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), who is a good Southern gentleman.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to have had so many of our colleagues here tonight to share not only about these important appropriations bills but also to recount some of the many really important legislative victories and oversight responsibilities that we have fulfilled here in the first 7 months of this Congress. As I said in the opening, when we all go home now for this August district work period, we have a very important story to tell the American people. We will continue to share the facts. We will continue to encourage them by the good work being done here. The other thing we have to do, of course, is to continue to defend and support their faith in our institutions because, right now, faith in those institutions is at an all-time low. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I wish to include in the Record the following letter from the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association expressing opposition to Section 813 of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act. July 18, 2023. Dear Members of Congress: We write to urge you to oppose the weakening of a law that protects the millions of sports fans and spectators who attend professional and collegiate spotting events each year. The current statutory ban on aircraft--including unmanned aircraft systems (``UAS'') or drones--flying over large stadium sporting events throughout the country provides necessary safety and security protections against real and potential threats. We are deeply concerned about section 813 of the House version of the Federal Aviation Administration (``FAA'') Reauthorization Act. If adopted, the language would establish a broad and complex waiver program that would permit countless aircraft to fly near and over stadiums during games, putting millions of fans at risk, and unnecessarily so. Congress wisely eliminated a similar waiver program back in 2003, after discovering troubling and persistent failures, gaps, and vulnerabilities in the process for conducting background checks and issuing waivers. The FAA first established flight restrictions over large stadium sporting events immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in response to concerns about terrorists using aircraft as weapons. Congress subsequently twice codified and strengthened these restrictions, providing specific criteria for aircraft operations permitted within the flight restricted area. Section 813 would effectively eliminate the specific criteria and replace it with an open- ended waiver program. The long-standing, congressionally mandated flight restriction enhances the safety and security of large stadium events, while minimizing the disruption to the National Airspace System (''NAS''). Specifically, airspace over large stadiums--with a seating capacity of 30,000 people or more and where a NFL, MLB, and NCAA Division 1 football games or major motor speedway events, such as NASCAR and INDYCAR races, are taking place--is closed to all aircraft from one hour before until one hour after a major sporting event. The flight restrictions extend to three nautical miles from the center of the stadium and from the surface to 3,000 feet above the stadium. The flight restrictions do not apply to authorized aircraft, such as Department of Defense, law enforcement or air ambulance flight operations, or those in contact with air traffic control for take offs and landings at nearby airports, among others. Having devoted substantial resources to secure our stadiums on the ground, we regard the stadium flight restriction as essential to safeguarding the airspace overhead. Moreover, given the proliferation of UAS in our NAS, as well as the continuing need to remain vigilant to other current and emerging risks, the stadium flight restriction is as vital now as ever to our national security and public safety. We believe section 813 complicates the airspace over stadiums, compromises public safety and security, and courts potential disaster. We, therefore, urge you to uphold current law and maintain existing flight restrictions that protect the safety and security of millions of fans who attend large stadium sporting events every year. Sincerely, Cathy Lanier, Chief Security Officer, National Football League. David Thomas, Vice President, Security and Ballpark Operations, Major League Baseball. Bill Rhodes, Managing Director, Security, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. Dan Gavitt, Senior Vice President, National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, this week, Congress is going to take up one of the most consequential pieces of legislation that this body has considered in years. Despite the lack of fanfare from the national media, the REINS Act is a very important piece of legislation and has the potential to overhaul the Federal bureaucracy, overhaul what many of us and many of my constituents back in Louisiana refer to as part of the deep state. It also has the potential to restore Congress' constitutional role as the chief rulemaking body in America. However, to understand the necessity of this bill, it is important that we take a step back for just a moment and examine how Congress has ceded our lawmaking authority to nameless, faceless bureaucrats that aren't accountable to anyone: not to voters and really, largely, not even to those of us in Congress. Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution itself declares that: ``All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States. . . . '' All. All legislative powers. The Founders intended that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, of course--a radical idea that suggests that laws are unjust unless they come from the people. The way that is done in our system, in our unmatched constitutional Republic, is that it comes from the people through their duly elected Representatives in Congress. This idea, of course, was espoused originally by principles originated in the Nation's birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence. The Founders, having signaled their intent to break free from the world's most powerful nation were fearful of the undue power and influence of an absolute monarch, but of course, tyranny in any of its forms is an evil. Therefore, they created this system, this system that we have, with separation of powers, checks and balances, one that provides elected Representatives with the authority to make the laws, an executive to implement them, and a judiciary to call the balls and strikes about disputes over that. However, through the decades of congressional disinterest in lawmaking and an ever-growing Federal bureaucracy, the executive branch has usurped Congress' role as the rulemaking authority in America. It is important to note that this development has been somewhat of a slow creep, and it is not a sinister plan to upend Congress' authority. You can mostly blame the Congress itself for this having happened. Here is what has occurred: For decades, Congress has really willfully delegated its authority to Federal agencies, through passage of a patchwork of spending bills and the ``vote now, read later'' mindset. It also allows some of the duly elected Representatives of the people to evade their responsibilities because they don't have to take tough votes. If you can just make bureaucrats do it, it is a lot easier. However, think of the results of this. Just consider this one statistic: In 2021 alone, Congress here passed 143 laws, that is bills that passed both Chambers and were signed into law by the President. In that same year, by comparison, Federal agencies enacted 3,257 rules. That is 23 times the number of laws actually duly passed by the Congress. Unfortunately, these rules often serve the interests of liberal and progressive causes. That is the effect of it. They cater to the desires of environmental groups, unions, LGBTQ activists, and those who want to abolish the Second Amendment. We have example after example after example. Progressives have realized that congressional inaction has opened a window to usher in this agenda outside of the legislative or electoral framework. Their ideas aren't popular at the ballot box, so they entrust Federal agencies to do all that bidding behind closed doors. It is not American. Frankly, my concerns with the growth of the administrative state are viewpoint neutral. I don't somehow quietly hope for a similarly sized Federal Government that serves conservative political interests. No, we are intellectually consistent in this. Reining in the administrative state is not about retribution. It is about restoration; restoration of our founding principles, the things that made our great Nation in the first place. That is why passing the REINS Act is a critical first step in achieving these goals. This bill would reassert the Article I legislative authority of Congress and prevent excessive overreach by the executive branch in the Federal rulemaking process. What it means is that every new major rule proposed by Federal agencies would be subject to congressional scrutiny before going into effect. We define ``major rule'' as any regulation with an annual effect on the economy of over $100 million, any major increase in cost or prices for consumers, or any significant adverse impact on competition, employment, investment, or productivity of U.S.- based enterprises. By quick way of example, if Congress would have passed this bill in the last session, President Biden's student loan bailout, his ban on oil and gas lease sales, his plan to allow retirement funds to consider ESG, and even the mandated climate risk disclosures would all have been subject to an up-or-down vote by the people's duly elected Representatives in this body. Instead, in President Biden's first year, he finalized 69 regulations that carried over a $100 million price tag or significantly impacted the economy. Those regulations add up to more than $200 billion-- billion with a b--in regulatory costs, and Congress wasn't even consulted to approve one dime of it. The REINS Act represents a long overdue first step in restoring accountability and reducing government overreach. I am really grateful that House Republicans have prioritized this bill this week. We will pass it off this floor. We will send it to the Senate, and hopefully we can rein in the bloated government that is controlling all of our lives.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, while we are dealing with that, we also recognize and are delighted to celebrate National Police Week. It is my honor to lead this group of speeches tonight honoring the men and women who risk their lives daily to keep our communities safe. I am the son of a first responder who was critically injured and permanently disabled in the line of duty. My dad was the assistant fire chief in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1984. September 17 of that year, he was burned over 80 percent of his body, third-degree burns. He had about a 5 percent chance to live. He miraculously survived, and he struggled with those injuries for decades longer. I lost him just 3 days before I got elected to Congress. I know personally the risk that first responder families face every single day. Madam Speaker, we aren't just on the floor speaking tonight. We have work product to back up what we are saying. House Republicans have made support for law enforcement a central part of our agenda in this Congress. This week, we passed multiple pieces of legislation to support these brave men and women. Today, we passed the POLICE Act, which makes assaulting a law enforcement officer a deportable offense for those in the country illegally. This bill's passage could not come soon enough because, as we know, both illegal immigration and assaults on police officers continue to rise. Increased penalties like these will help deter future attacks against officers. We also passed the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act, which gives officers the option to purchase their service weapon at fair market value once they retire. It is just commonsense legislation. Tomorrow, we are going to pass H. Con. Res. 40. This resolution condemns efforts to defund or dismantle local law enforcement agencies, and it also condemns attacks against police officers. Just today, we watched sadly as Chicago laid to rest Officer Areanah Preston, who was tragically shot and killed outside of her home this month in a targeted attack. Officer Preston was just 24 years old, fresh-faced and idealistic, eager to serve the people of Chicago, but her life was cut short due, in part, to dangerous antipolice rhetoric, rhetoric often used in these Halls, and it is a shame. Madam Speaker, one would think that a resolution condemning attacks on police officers would pass through this House, of course, unanimously. Do you know what? That wasn't the case last night. Two Democrats in this body, one of which has paid astonishing sums of money for armed personal security, voted against this measure. This problem goes far beyond just those two Members in question. As I have recounted multiple times in our House Judiciary Committee, dozens of members of the House Democratic Caucus have publicly called to either defund or dismantle police departments when America lost its collective mind during the summer of 2020. This is exactly why it is so important that House Republicans lead the charge in support of law enforcement, and we will. After 4 years of inaction and demonization of these heroic officers, the people's House now decisively backs the blue. Madam Speaker, I am delighted to be joined by a number of my colleagues, some of the stars of the House, and I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawler).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my special order.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, House Republicans are here, yet again, to urge President Biden to avoid the impending default crisis and strike a deal with House Republicans. We have to do this. For over 100 days now, Joe Biden and Democrats have wasted valuable time refusing to offer a reasonable solution to raise the debt ceiling and prevent our Nation from default. House Republicans did our job. We did it here. We passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act almost 3 weeks ago. Our bill is a really important measure because it will do a number of things. It will save taxpayers nearly $5 trillion. It will set commonsense caps on future spending levels. It will grow the economy, it will increase American energy production, it will lower prices on working families, it will defund this administration's aggressive expansion of the IRS, and it lifts the debt ceiling. This is responsible legislation. We got together, and we did our job. The bill has not changed, and neither has our position. We will not, under any circumstances, accept a clean debt ceiling increase. We can't do that. We have stewardship responsibility. Our fiscal house is not in order here, and this negotiation may be the only real opportunity that Congress has to address Washington's spending obsession and begin to get our debt under control until the next election cycle. We are $31.7 trillion in Federal debt. Inflation is sky high, interest rates are only continuing to rise, and, yet, what does this President do? Joe Biden can barely be bothered to address the threat of collapse of our financial system. The entire debate is symptomatic of the unmitigated rot that has afflicted Washington. Our constituents know the parties have to negotiate; the markets know we need to negotiate; and until a decade ago, Joe Biden did himself. We have all these quotes on record. I mean, as recently as 2011, when he was in charge on the Senate side, he was over here negotiating with the House. He said over and over how important this was, how important it is to the process, and how anyone who says it is only my way or the highway was being irresponsible. Do you know what? He was right. We are just asking him to live by his own mantra. Look, I am confident that the White House will come to its senses soon. It has to. If not, Americans know there is only one person to blame. It is President Biden. Celebrating National Police Week

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for his compelling testimony. We took the House Judiciary Committee to lower Manhattan just a few weeks back, right in Alvin Bragg's backyard, the Soros-funded D.A. We let victims of crime tell their tragic stories. It was really something to hear. There is a lot to be said about this issue. Madam Speaker, I yield to another great gentleman from New York (Mr. Williams).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his good work and for his service, as well, and we will take care of the veterans. That is what Republicans do. That bill passed out of the Appropriations Committee sends a strong message that that was, let's say, misinformation by the other side about the veterans' funding. Madam Speaker, I am delighted to yield to the gentleman from the State of Utah (Mr. Owens), my dear friend and a Super Bowl champion.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend. That was so well said. I thank him for highlighting those specific examples of brave men and women in the State of Utah who put on the badge every day to do that really important job. Madam Speaker, I yield next to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Strong), a great Member.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I thank him for his service. I didn't know that about his bio. That is impressive. I am really, really grateful, as we all are, for those who gave their lives in the line of duty, and we do pray blessings over their families and all those left behind. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Baird), somebody who knows a little bit about sacrifice, one of my favorite people in the world.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for his service in keeping us safe. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I yield next to another gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend for his comments and the really sad state of things in California with so much that is going on there. You are right, it is a blue State that really needs to get its act together. I am glad that we can come here and have this opportunity to honor men and women in law enforcement as you have, so I thank you for that. Madam Speaker, as my friend was speaking here about officers lost in the line of duty, I was just looking over some statistics. On the web page that is titled: ``Officer Down Memorial Page'' they honor officers who are killed in the line of duty. They have a listing of the total line of duty deaths. So far this year we are sadly at number 42. I did not realize this until I was just sitting here doing the research, but my State of Louisiana is in the lead by total deaths by State as they are all listed. I would just close this Special Order hour by saying that there really aren't words. We can come to the floor of the people's House here, and we can share our thoughts and share our hearts. We can pray for the families of those who are lost in the line of duty and all those who serve so bravely each day, but words really do not do justice to the level of risk that is taken by those who put on the badge every day and go out and do that hard job. We need more of them. They represent the best of America, and we know that. All of my House Republican colleagues honor those who have served. We honor their families for their sacrifices and certainly those who have been lost in the line of duty. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, there has been so much misinformation here on the floor today, I think we have got to set the facts straight here. It is clear that providing refuge for individuals fleeing persecution has been a central tenet of U.S. immigration law for decades. The asylum process itself is a testament to America's history as a beacon of hope, freedom, and opportunity for millions around the world. However, here is the deal: Unfortunately, drug cartels, activist judges, human smuggling operations, the open borders lobby, and radical liberal administrations have worked in tandem to undermine that system, to undermine the integrity of the U.S. immigration system itself, and in the process they have weakened protections for those who are truly seeking a safe haven from persecution by forcing them into a yearslong line in immigration court. Look, we all agree that the current asylum system is in desperate need of repair, and the Secure the Border Act provides the necessary tools to fix it. We are hearing all kinds of fearmongering today from the other side. It is not a surprise. There will be hand-wringing and name-calling. We hear these accusations that Republicans are anti-immigrant and inhumane. We hear grandiose pronouncements that the Democrats are pro- immigrant and pro-humanitarian values, but all of this is to try their best to distract the American people from what they are seeing with their own eyes. The chaos at the border is intentional. It is designed by this administration, Mayorkas, and Biden himself. To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I ask you, what is humane about a human smuggler abandoning a 1-year-old child in a diaper at the U.S.-Mexico border? What pro-immigrant policy is pursued with aliens suffocating to death in tractor-trailers and freight train cars? What are the humanitarian principles behind policies that encourage child trafficking, sexual exploitation, and violence directed toward some of society's most vulnerable people? If you are going to be pro-immigrant and support humanitarian values, you have to fix these problems, and that is what we are trying to do here today. Being pro-immigrant and supporting humanitarian values does not mean maintaining the disastrous status quo because all that is going to do is give us more death, more exploitation, more real tangible harm to aliens and citizens alike. Mr. Speaker, we live in the greatest country in the history of the world; it is not even close. We are the most benevolent people in the history of the world. We have a rich history of an asylum program, protecting people who need it, but we have to fix this. These frivolous asylum claims are creating backlogs in the courts. I drafted the Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act. It is a big chunk of this immigration package today. We are trying to fix this so that we can do our duty as the humanitarian people that we are. Our bill necessarily codifies key terms; it makes uniform interpretations regardless of geography; and it reserves asylum for the people who truly need it. Our bill will prevent this flood of frivolous asylum applications that are running rampant and close the loopholes. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support the Secure the Border Act. Our country's stability, sovereignty, and security depend upon this. The stakes could not be any higher.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate that. I am a proud cosponsor with you of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act because we recognize biology is not bigotry, it is reality. It is a very good bill, and we will pass it this week. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield next to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens), the Super Bowl champion.