Mike Johnson

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I am so grateful for your expertise and wisdom and all the years you worked with troubled and incarcerated youth. This gentleman knows that of which he speaks. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield next to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you for drawing attention to it because energy security is national security, as we say all the time. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield next to my great friend, the great gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).

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, this evening, I have some of the most influential leaders in the House Republican Conference to address some of the key issues we are addressing this week together in the people's House. Mr. Speaker, I yield first to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Murphy).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. From one father to another, I thank you for those strong words. We will do that. That is our obligation. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield next to my friend and classmate, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Kustoff).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend who is always a voice of great credibility and reason. You're exactly right, and I am glad you highlighted that the first 100 days of this Congress under Republican leadership has been remarkably successful. As you said here, this week and in the days ahead, our important work has really just begun. We have a lot more to do. Mr. Speaker, in my remarks this evening, I would speak very briefly as a father. We have to defend women's sports. My wife, Kelly, and I have been blessed with four amazing children. Two of them are bright, beautiful young women who were high school athletes themselves. But today, radical transgender ideology is threatening the very same opportunities that my girls had, and all of our girls have had. This week, Congress is going to send a clear message: We will not stand by and tolerate the erosion of fair and equal competition in women's sports. We know that right now women's freedom to play sports at competitive, collegiate, and professional levels epitomizes how far we have come in breaking down so many boundaries. How in the world have we gotten to this point where women's ability to compete on a fair playing field is in question? Mr. Speaker, this week, Congress will vote, and we are going to pass out of this House the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. We will address one of the major problems stemming from today's extreme liberal ideology, all of these activists. Just in the last few years, we have seen countless instances of men competing in women's sports at all stages of competition. It is not fair. Our legislation would simply aim to crack down on this backwards policy by prohibiting federally funded education programs or activities of any kind from allowing biological men and boys to participate in the programs or activities designed for women. Biology is not bigotry. It is reality. Our legislation will make clear that one's gender, their sex, is based on their reproductive biology. It is our obligation; it is our duty and responsibility here to protect and defend the rights of women and girls across this country to compete and succeed in sports. I am proud to cosponsor the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, and I am glad that that legislation will accomplish that very thing. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, this week, we are observing the second annual celebration of Faith Month. Concerned Women for America and other sponsors are encouraging legislators across our country to give public display of our personal faith freely and openly. What a great exercise this is. Of course, even though there is a dangerous trend today to discourage the display or depiction of the exercise of our faith in the public square--certainly, there is a move to keep religion out of politics and to rigidly enforce the so-called separation of church and state--the Founders of this country would have certainly supported our efforts here today. Indeed, this common misunderstanding about the separation concept-- and it is an important one--is one that is useful for us to address. I think today is a good day to do it. In fact, it is one of my favorite subjects. It is a topic that I have debated and written and taught university courses on for about 25 years, about a quarter of a century. For two of those decades, I was in the courts defending religious freedom cases. I learned during that time that I really believe that this is among the most misunderstood subjects in our entire culture. You see, most people today who insist upon a rigid separation of church and state are unaware that that phrase derives not from the Constitution itself, of course, but from a personal letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. He explained that because ``religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God,'' the language of the First Amendment is a vital safeguard of our ``rights of conscience.'' Jefferson said he revered ``that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should `make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and state.'' That is what he wrote in his letter to the Danbury Baptists, but Jefferson clearly did not mean that metaphorical wall was to keep religion from influencing issues of civil government. To the contrary, it was meant to keep the Federal Government from impeding the religious practice of citizens. The Founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around. The majority of the Founders, having personally witnessed the abuses of the Church of England, were determined to prevent the official establishment of any single national denomination or religion. Of course, we know that, but here is the point. They very deliberately listed religious liberty, the free exercise of religion, as the first freedom protected in the Bill of Rights because--here is the key--they wanted everyone to freely live out their faith as that would ensure a robust presence of moral virtue in the public square and the free marketplace of ideas. Volumes written on this topic can be summarized probably best and most concisely by reference to the sentiments of our first two Presidents. In his historic Farewell Address, President George Washington, of course, famously said: ``Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.'' Our second President, John Adams, came next, and he said: ``Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.'' What these two Founders and their fellow patriots all understood from history was that there are many important rules and practices that can help build and sustain a healthy republic, but the key and essential foundation of a system of government like ours must be a common commitment among the citizenry to the principles of religion and morality. The Founders acknowledged in the Declaration the self-evident truths that all men are created equal and that God gives all men the same inalienable rights. However, they knew that in order to maintain a ``government of the people, by the people, for the people,'' as Lincoln later articulated, in ``this nation, under God,'' those inalienable rights must be exercised in a responsible manner. They thus believed in liberty that is legitimately constrained by a common sense of morality and a healthy fear of the creator who granted all men our rights. The Founders understood that all men are fallen and that power corrupts. They also knew that no amount of institutional checks and balances and decentralization of power in civil authorities would be sufficient to maintain a just government if the men in charge had no fear of eternal judgment by a power higher than their temporal institutions. A free society and a healthy republic depend upon religious and moral virtue because those convictions in the minds and hearts of the people make it possible to preserve their essential freedoms by emphasizing and inspiring individual responsibility and self-sacrifice and the dignity of hard work, the rule of law, civility, patriotism, the value of family and community, and the sanctity of every single human life. They knew that this would be important, and without these virtues indispensably supported by religion and morality, every nation would ultimately fail. Inscribed on the third panel of the Jefferson Memorial here in Washington is a sobering reminder to every American. It says: ``God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?'' This a great time to preserve our faith. We can never back down. I thank the Concerned Women for America.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I am going to pause here for 5 seconds, and I will tell you why. I did that to note something. I did that because I want to note that our Federal Government just spent $1 million in 5 seconds--$1 million. By the time I finish this speech, the government will have spent over $50 million. By the time my colleagues finish their speeches, that figure will be in the hundreds of millions. As it stands right now, our government is spending $197,000 per second, which as a recent publication by the America First Policy Institute points out, is faster than the speed of light. Let's look at this graphic here real quick. My staff just ran this up on the copy machine because I wanted to blow it up. This is a post by the AFPI. They point out the fastest things on the Earth, and they note that we are actually spending right now faster than the speed of light. The speed of light is 186,282 miles per second. We are spending $197,000 per second. Our national debt is well over $31 trillion right now--$31 trillion. Now, if those figures alarm you, Mr. Speaker, you are not alone. Everybody on our side of the aisle is deeply concerned about this. We understand what a risk it is to our national security and to the stability of our constitutional Republic. However, you won't find anyone--hardly anyone, I think--on the other side of the aisle who understands this or agrees with it. I mean, based upon their voting records, based upon their proposals to continue to raise taxes and raise spending, based upon some of the speeches they gave here on the floor tonight, they don't get it, and neither does the mainstream media. That ought to be of even greater concern to you. Earlier this month, the Congressional Budget Office released a frightening report. All Members of Congress in a bipartisan fashion met in the congressional auditorium this afternoon to hear the CBO Director relay some of this really frightening information. It is about our economic outlook. If you haven't heard about it yet, it is because really the media is not covering this. The 24-hour news cycle buries it for the next big thing, but there is hardly anything bigger than this. Let me give you a couple of the highlights that came out of that briefing this afternoon: Number one: Net interest on our national debt will reach $10.5 trillion over the next decade. Now, I know these numbers are big and it is sort of hard to grasp them, but you think about $10.5 trillion over the next 10 years. For reference, listen to this: since 1940 the total net interest payments on our national debt has been $12.9 trillion, adjusted for inflation. Since 1940. In the next 10 years, we are going to spend $10.5 trillion just on interest alone. It is staggering. Our national debt is going to reach $154 trillion by 2053--$150-plus trillion. That equals $540,000 per household when you adjust for inflation. That is more than four times the current median household income. Deficits are going to average--average--$2 trillion annually, or 6.1 percent of our gross domestic product over the next 10 years. The government had a lower deficit than this every single year from 1945 to 2009. The cost of the annual interest will balloon from $350 billion to $1.4 trillion in just a decade. That is 20 cents of every tax dollar that is collected by this Federal Government is going to go to paying interest on America's debt. Mr. Speaker, we are in uncharted economic waters. We have never seen anything like this. Our country has only faced an economic threat like this during times of war and pandemic. If you only listen to the media and Democrat politicians, all of our colleagues over here, you would think there is really no issue at all. I mean, the Biden administration continues to portray this rosy outlook. They were saying it today: the state of the economy isn't so bad. We are doing well. We are trending in the right direction, they say. That is absolutely not true. The CBO, by the way, is a nonpartisan entity. They don't choose a side. They just came in and presented the objective facts to Republicans and Democrats because we want to make everybody face this harsh reality. President Biden has touted that his administration ``cut $1.7 trillion of the deficit.'' He says that is evidence that he is really serious about the national debt, but that is obviously fiction as well. That reduction naturally occurred with the statutory end of the increased spending that Congress approved to combat COVID-19. That wasn't because of any shrewd economic policy from the White House. It is exactly the opposite. Speaking of economic madness, you know, tomorrow the President is expected to release his 2023 budget proposal. It is more than a month late. Every news report, all the early ones, suggest that his budget is replete with trillions of dollars in new taxes, raising taxes in the middle of an inflation crisis that he created; more spending on frivolous, liberal pet policies and projects and no plan at all to reduce the deficit. For the first time in his Presidency, he won't have a Democrat rubber stamp over here. He won't have the Democrats in charge of this House to go along with that destructive agenda. Mr. Speaker, the American people made their voices heard when they gave Republicans control of this House, and we are going to do our job. They have entrusted our new majority to provide a much-needed check on the Biden administration, and that starts with the power of the purse. Over the next few months, the discourse around here is going to intensify. There is going to be some heated debate. It is likely to get off track with squabbles about everything from defense spending to earmarks, but House Republicans will not lose sight through this of the bigger picture. We are going to rein in spending and inflation because we must. We are going to promote responsible budgeting because we must. We are going to chart our country on a course back to fiscal sanity. It is the duty of every Member of this body to do so. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield to a number of my colleagues tonight who will participate in this Special Order hour, talking about lots of important things on the hearts and minds of the American people. I just want to suggest that the debt is one of those. Mr. Speaker, I yield first to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller), my dear friend.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I point out, as he said, that our resolution blocking those crazy changes to D.C.'s criminal code was so strong that even Joe Biden couldn't agree to veto it. We are doing the right thing. We must continue, and we will. I am grateful to my Republican colleagues for joining me for this Special Order hour. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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, I thank the gentlewoman for highlighting that really important issue. The WOTUS rule has gotten completely out of control. Mr. Speaker, I yield next to the gentleman from New York (Mr. D'Esposito), one of our new Members to Congress.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for his service as a police officer, law enforcement, and also now in Congress. We are delighted to have you. Mr. Speaker, I yield next to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that wise counsel. It is about responsibility, and the gentleman said it so well. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Kustoff).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks; that was so well said. The gentleman is a great orator, and I love how he laid out the case methodically. That is what a former U.S. attorney from the Western District of Tennessee would do. Facts are stubborn things, as John Adams said. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline), another brilliant lawyer and also my good friend.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks. The regulatory environment is just out of control, and that recent Supreme Court opinion of West Virginia v. EPA came out on our side, and I think that some of these agencies will begin to have their wings clipped a bit, and hopefully this WOTUS rule will be handled appropriately. I thank the gentleman for highlighting that important issue. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Brecheen), one of the new stars of the Republican Party in the Congress, a former State senator there who now represents the Second District representing his people very well.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, it is a harsh truth, and we have to address it. My colleague is right. As he implied there, the inevitable result of living beyond our means today is that we and our children inevitably are going to have to live below our means tomorrow. We are going to have higher debt, higher taxes, less security, less opportunity. It is not going to be the same America that we have always known and valued. It is a harsh truth. Mr. Speaker, I yield next to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), my good friend.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao) for handling this Special Order tonight and bringing our colleagues here to talk about the reality of this State of the Union Address that we experienced here less than 24 hours ago. I appreciate what you said, and I thought it was appropriate that you brought as your guest a constituent who is in the energy industry because you explained how domestic energy production has been decimated by this President and his administration and how it is having an untold cost on the American people. But I wanted to begin with a quote, and I want to encourage my colleagues to listen carefully to these words of warning. This is really important. ``The tsunami of debt created by the policies of this administration has to go somewhere. . . . ``But as the rest of the world copes with the waves of U.S. debt, we are now all in the same leaky boat. There is just so much of our debt other nations want to hold. The more of it they accumulate, the closer we are to the day when they will not want any more. ``When that happens, slowly or rapidly, our interest rates will go up, the value of their U.S. bonds will drop, and we will all have big problems. We need both more awareness and more understanding of this fundamental threat to our economic well-being and the global economy. ``But the roots of that threat lie in the disastrous policies of this administration. ``Because this massive accumulation of debt was predicted, because it was foreseeable, because it was unnecessary, because it was the result of willful and reckless disregard for the warnings that were given and for the fundamentals of economic management, I am voting against the debt limit increase.'' Now, do you want to guess who said that? It was not Speaker McCarthy. It was not Leader McConnell. In fact, it wasn't any Republican. That quote that I just read to you is from Joe Biden himself when he was a Senator in 2006. If he was honest, he would have used that same language right up here last night, but he didn't. Of course, he wasn't honest. By the way, in addition to his vocal opposition when he was a Senator in 2003 and 2006, Senator Joe Biden joined Senate Democrats in opposing clean debt limit increases. In 2004, he missed the vote, but he said publicly he would have opposed it there, as well. So three times as a Senator he opposed the debt limit increase. Well, he is singing a completely different tune now. Everybody heard it. Mr. Speaker, President Biden's address to the Nation last night was a missed opportunity. Our country is mired in crisis after crisis of the President's own making: at home, at our border, abroad. Simply put, the President's rhetoric last night didn't match the reality that most Americans have been experiencing since he took office 2 years ago. John Adams said, ``Facts are stubborn things,'' and the actual state of our Union is more accurately summed up by one word: decline. Let's talk about just a couple of those facts very quickly. Just a snapshot. When President Joe Biden took office, we had peace through strength. We had American energy independence--actually, dominance. We had lower consumer prices, and we had inflation at about 1.4 percent. But since he took over 2 years ago, now we have war through weakness, we have foreign energy dependence, we have sky-high consumer prices, and the inflation rate in December was 6.5 percent. Now, you tell me. Are you better off today than you were 2 years ago? No. And that is what the polls indicate. Most Americans say and respond to the polls that they are doing worse off financially, and in many other respects, since this President took over. Right now, prices are still rising, crime is rising, drug overdoses are rising, illegal immigration is rising, and our country's leadership looks embarrassed and weak on the world stage. Republicans urged President Biden to take advantage of the state of the Union to chart a new direction, to get us out of this mess, to reverse the policies that have gotten us into this, to accept responsibility for the declining state of our country, and pledge to do better. But you know what? He didn't do that. He wouldn't have been the first American President to seek a reset. Presidential resets are common. They are often necessary, but he wouldn't acknowledge that last night. He did the opposite. The reality is that families right now across this country, in my district and in all of our districts--everybody knows this--are still paying more for just about everything, including food and gasoline and electricity and rent, in every category. According to all the polls, they can feel it, regardless of what this President wants to say from this podium in this Chamber. Here is what we need to do. We need to curb the wasteful government spending that is raising the price of groceries and gas and cars and housing and growing our national debt, and we need to increase take- home pay. We need to create good-paying jobs and bring stability to the economy through pro-growth policies that will enliven our economy and broaden the pathway out of poverty for more people, but that is not what this President is suggesting. You know what their solution was last night and every day here? More government growth and more spending. Does anybody really think that our national debt continuing to climb unchecked is an acceptable outcome in this year's debt ceiling talks? Joe Biden himself didn't think that. At least he didn't when he was a Senator. If no one thinks that, then let's start doing something about it. President Biden could have started last night, but he didn't. It was a missed opportunity. I think it was shameful, and I think the American people know better. I am grateful to my friend from California for yielding the time, and I will turn it back over to him. One of the things that the President said last night was that he wants to source materials from the U.S.; and as we have talked a little bit about energy, we have seen pictures of parts of the Amazon rainforest demolished so they can continue to drill wells over there. So we are importing, we are damaging environments, and we are not doing it here in the U.S., creating American jobs doing it in the best way we possibly can in the world, delivering clean energy for our American people. It is totally frustrating, so I appreciate the comments from Mr. Johnson. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman).

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Section 9: ``The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. ``The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. ``No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. ``No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census Or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. ``No Tax Or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. ``No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. ``No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. ``No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.'' Section 10: ``No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. ``No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. ``No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.'' Article II, Section 1: ``The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows ``Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office or Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. ``The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States. ``No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. ``The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them. ``Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--`I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.' ''

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, the 118th Congress is in full swing now. We are here working full time again for the American people. I just wanted to take a few moments tonight here on the House floor to clarify some things about how this new Congress has begun. I point out, first, for scheduling purposes, of course, the State of the Union is next week. It is a time for the President to take stock and speak to the American people about where our country is today and where we are heading. I hope the President is able to make good use of the opportunity, but I am afraid we are going to be subjected to more spin and few solutions to the major challenges, even the crises facing the American people. Mr. Speaker, much has been made by the Democrats and the press about how House Republicans have kicked off the 118th Congress, but we all know the chatter is not an accurate representation of what is really going on around here. The cameras don't capture it all. We are delighted that the C-SPAN cameras are roving about the floor now. It gives a little more personal view of what is happening here in the Chamber, but so much of what goes on outside these walls is not apparent to the American people. Let's be plain about this. Let's put it plainly in real terms what is actually happening now. There are some real reforms that have been brought forward by the new House Republican majority. We now have a much more open legislative process. As I explained to some friends back home over the weekend, we all remember the cartoon. I am 51 years old. We remember the cartoon Saturday mornings, ``I am just a bill on Capitol Hill,'' and it explained how a bill becomes a law. I explained to our friends from Louisiana who were in town that that has not actually been the way a bill becomes a law in this Congress for several years now. We are getting back to that process. We are getting back to what we were taught in civics about how this is supposed to work. Bills have to be limited now to one single subject. We will no longer vote on a bill without giving Members at least 72 hours' notice to review it first. What a concept. You might have to actually read that legislation before you vote on it. This is an important change: Any tax increase must now meet a higher threshold to pass. It was a simple majority, but now it is a two-thirds vote. That is a really important reform for the American people, given the state of the economy. There will be no new mandatory Federal spending increases without equal or greater budget offsets. We have a $31.5 trillion Federal debt. We cannot continue on this trajectory. These reforms are really important for us. By the way, remote voting and committee work are finally ended. No longer will you see Members phoning in their work. They have to be here. They have to come to work. Let's contrast that with the old way of doing business. Under the previous leadership of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi--the Democrats had been in charge here for 4 years--we had bills written behind closed doors, sometimes literally by just a handful of people. The bills were loaded up with unrelated policies. These bills were unveiled, then brought for a remote vote before anybody could possibly read them, much less debate or amend the legislation. We all know the Democrats are obsessed with having a top-down approach to legislating. I mean, they have all but shouted it from the rooftops over the past few weeks. Sure, that might have made former Speaker Pelosi's job easier, but it was not good for the American people. It was not good for the country. It was not good for this revered institution. I suspect if you ask the American people, they would all agree. This is just common sense. We are restoring common sense here. We made commitments to America, and we are going to fulfill them. Here is the reality: House Republicans have started this year by instituting the most positive reforms to this House in a generation. With Republicans back in charge, the status quo, where there is no transparency, no accountability, outright disregard for regular order, is finally over, and that is a very, very good thing for the country. Mr. Speaker, this week we are voting to end the COVID pandemic emergency order. This is one of the topics we have taken up, we have committed to the American people that we would do it when we started the Congress, and we have. President Biden has said the pandemic is over. His press secretary says it isn't. Since the White House couldn't get its story straight, we voted now to put an end to the public health emergency declaration. Since the pandemic is over, the emergency declaration should be over as well. Mr. Speaker, this week we are also passing the SHOW UP Act. Talk about something that is popular with the American people. This House has ended remote work in this body, the Senate did it long ago across the hall, and now we are voting to do the same thing for the remainder of the Federal Government. It is beyond time to require that the teleworking Federal employees return to work in order to remedy widespread terribly poor customer service. Consider this: The IRS, just the IRS, they have a backlog right now of more than 8 million tax returns from 2021. Prior to widespread teleworking, the backlog was approximately just 1 million. That is an unacceptable thing. We have Federal employees at all these agencies who literally have not come to work. Well, we are going to end that. It is clear that these backlogs and customer service problems are due at least in part to ongoing teleworking policies, even as the pandemic is now in the rearview mirror. Mr. Speaker, with Republicans back in charge, I could give you many examples of things that are going to be improving around here. That is just a couple. The House is back to work, and we intend to get the rest of the government back to work for the American people as well, whether all of our colleagues like that or not. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of California (Mr. Kiley), my new colleague on the House Judiciary Committee, to discuss another important issue from this week.

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, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Wisconsin. That is very well said. The evils of socialism have crept into all manner of our politics and areas of our culture. Mr. Speaker, I will end our Special Order hour by just reminding the American people here watching and keeping track of this, that again, as I said in the opening, the Republican majority is in charge. The Congress is now fully operational and we are back to work for the American people. Every week now, we will be passing substantive legislation that will send a message to the people that there is a new sheriff in town. Today, in our House Committee on the Judiciary, we had an hour's long hearing on the catastrophe at the border, hearing from those who are down there contending with that situation every single day. The hearings like that one will lead us to legislative repairs for some of these problems that have been created by the Biden administration and the Democrats in charge here the last couple of years. This week, we are voting to end the COVID pandemic emergency order at long last. We are passing the SHOW UP Act to get all these Federal employees back to work. And as Mr. Grothman indicated, tomorrow we will be voting to condemn socialism. There is going to be a dramatic change between the Republicans in charge of this House and the Democrats. We are grateful for the opportunity to lead. We will do that every day and we will make the American people proud with our policy reforms and our process reforms. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Republican Conference, I send to the desk a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana

Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I would like to kick off our first Wednesday Special Order Hour of the year by extending my congratulations and warm wishes to all of our colleagues, all the new Members, all the Members who are returning here. We have very, very important work to do in the 118th Congress. I want to thank our House Democrat counterparts, as well, for working with us to ensure a smooth transition from the minority to the majority. It is an important part of our institution, and we are grateful for how this has gone so far. We should all be rooting for the success of this Congress, obviously, because when Congress succeeds, everyone in our country benefits; and so we have an important responsibility before us. We are under no illusion that the governing in such a closely divided body over these divided times is going to be any easy task. We know that. We know what the challenges are. But we are also under no illusion that Congress has been operating as it should be. We think this can be done better, and our endeavor here is to show everyone how. This problem that we faced here has been around for a long time. Look at just what happened in the last Congress. We had trillions upon trillions of dollars in government spending, which sent inflation soaring. We had votes on immensely consequential, complex, 1,000-plus page bills sent to us just hours before we were called to vote upon them. We had Congress steadily outsourcing its authority over to unelected bureaucrats in the executive agencies. We had Members dial into congressional hearing, literally, from their bedrooms and their basements. We had Members voting by proxy while they were on vacation abroad. With the 118th Congress, we are here to declare that those days are over. The House is getting back to work. We are ending remote voting and remote committee work in the House. That is going to restore greater transparency and accountability in the legislative process. I actually believe that when we restore in-person work, as this was designed to be done, as the Founders intended, as they drew it up, it is going to have an added benefit because I believe it will help us rebuild comity and foster more civility in the House. I am not going to belabor this point, but I would just say, at the end of last year, Congress passed a 4,155-page bill. We spent $1.7 trillion on that omni; and I think it was one of the worst government funding bills in the history of Congress. Instead of individual bills to fund each Federal agency one by one, with a roll call vote and amendments and deliberation process, we didn't have any of that. We had all the agencies lumped together right before the end-of-the-year deadline with dozens of unrelated policies attached to it. I mean, everything from electoral college changes to retirement changes, cosmetics regulation, healthcare policies, salmon fishing, and horse racing regulations, all crammed in there together, under the guise of a government funding bill. The process for passing this bill was almost as ugly as the substance. It was written behind closed doors, I mean, literally, behind closed doors by a handful of people. It was brought to the House for a vote before anybody could possibly read it, much less debate or amend it. Is there a single Member, is there a single Member of this body who thinks that is the way we should conduct the people's business? I don't think so. So this should go without saying, but if we are going to fund each government agency and make changes to those unregulated policies, we should do it in regular order. We should do it in the regular process. It should require a full, open debate in committee and on the floor, with the opportunity to make amendments. Republicans are committed to do this. We are back in charge, and that status quo that we have had here, where there is no transparency, no accountability, outright disregard for regular order, those days are over. Campaign season is over. The House has elected our Speaker, and now it is time to get to work. Madam Speaker, tonight, with the remaining time that we have in our hour, we reserved the time because we want to introduce the American people to some of the bright, new Republican Members that have joined the body here. They are going to discuss some of the problems that are currently facing our country. They bring a fresh, new perspective to this, and their voices are very, very important. And we are also going to talk a little bit about the Republican vision for how we are going to address all of these crises. We are in charge. We are here ready to work, and I am delighted to introduce a few of these key Members. I would start first, Madam Speaker, by yielding to the gentleman from east Texas, Congressman Nathaniel Moran. I will say just a moment before I yield him the time, that we are neighboring districts. I represent Northwest Louisiana, and then right over the Texas border is my friend there. He is replacing the great Louie Gohmert who has finally retired from Congress. I will tell you just a quick bit about Nathaniel. He is formerly a West Point student, a graduate of Texas Tech University. He has a B.A. in Russian language and area studies, an MBA, and a law degree. He had a civil practice in the east Texas area, focused primarily on business and commercial litigation and transaction work. He served on the City Council in the city of Tyler, Texas. He was mayor pro tem and, ultimately, he was appointed the Smith County judge, and he served in that capacity from 2016 until he was elected to Congress in 2022. The thing about a county judge in Texas is they are, effectively, the boss in that area. They hold all the power. They do all kinds of stuff. They are not just a judge in a court; they are like an administrator over the whole area; and he did it so well. What I love about him most is he is a family man who is dedicated to his faith, and he is a patriot. They have four children, just like we do. He represents a great area, and we are delighted to have him. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Moran).