Dusty Johnson

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, this bill does three important things. First, it invests in these historically Black colleges, Tribal colleges, and other minority-serving institutions we have been talking about, and the value proposition for those is clear. It is a great American success story. The second important thing that the FUTURE Act does is invest in STEM education. We have talked a fair amount today about what an important and powerful engine that can be for economic growth within this country. We have also talked a fair amount today about the third component of this bill, which is streamlining and modernizing this complicated Federal student aid system that costs American taxpayers real money. That streamlining will help. Mr. Speaker, with that three-pronged value proposition, we have before us the FUTURE Act, which will continue this wonderful American investment in STEM education at these minority-serving institutions. I ask my colleagues to support the FUTURE Act. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Greetings, my relative, in Lakota is ``How mitakuye.'' I am honored to join the chairman, my colleague from Arizona, to usher this important legislation through the House after its passage through the Senate. Now, South Dakota and Arizona both have rich Native American history and culture, and we are here tonight to celebrate, to cherish, and, yes, to sustain that culture. The Esther Martinez Native American Languages Programs Reauthorization Act was introduced in 2006 by my friend Heather Wilson, who was a Congresswoman from New Mexico before she moved to South Dakota. This reauthorization of her bill will empower Native American Tribes to continue teaching languages like Lakota and Dakota to future generations. Let there be no mistake. There is pressing need for this work. Fewer than 1 percent of Lakota and Dakota Native Americans are fluent in either of those languages. That means there are just 2,000 Lakota and Dakota fluent speakers in the world. We are losing those speakers too quickly because of old age, and their ranks have declined by 65 percent in the last 15 years. Unfortunately, it is not just Lakota and Dakota that are threatened. There are 175 Native languages spoken in this country today, and there are estimates that, 30 years from now, fewer than 20 will be spoken. Why does this matter? Why do we care? Why are we gathered here tonight for such a just cause? It is because, Mr. Speaker, as we all know, language is the lifeblood of culture. Language opens a doorway for all of us, a doorway into understanding of peoples, into understanding their past, and maybe, most interestingly, understanding their future. That is powerful insight. Now, for example, Lakota-speaking Native Americans may say, ``mitakuye oyasin,'' which means, we are all related. But this, to me, is the most fascinating part about this, Mr. Speaker, you wouldn't just say that when you are around people with whom you are related. You would say that in a broader group of people, to demonstrate an interconnectedness, part of a larger family, that we have similar values and dreams and fears; there is a human condition. Now, English doesn't quite have a phrase like that. The fact that Lakota does tells us a lot about the Lakota people. This program, these dollars, are having an impact in Indian Country. For years, Lakota was, along with dozens of other Native languages, designated as ``severely threatened.'' Its status was recently changed to a ``reawakening language.'' That is an acknowledgment that projects funded by this program, projects that are working today in communities in South Dakota like Eagle Butte and Porcupine, are making a difference. So, Mr. Speaker, I would say thank you, ``pilamaye yelo.'' I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, for 46 years, the 120,000 Alaskan Natives in our country have had a champion working for them, fighting for them, advocating for them. He is the dean of this House and the former chairman of the Indian Affairs Subcommittee. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young.) (Mr. YOUNG asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. We are not here in this body to reauthorize feel-good programs. We are gathered here tonight not to reauthorize a feel-good program but to authorize a program that works, that makes a difference. The evidence is clear. Students who participate in these programs, they do learn language skills. They also are more likely to graduate high school. They are more likely to have high academic achievement. They are more likely to be successful in their communities. That is what the data tells us. We cannot let up now. These programs are working in a variety of States and a variety of communities. If we want a robust and healthy Native American culture in this country, we need to have a healthy and robust Native American language environment in this country. The Esther Martinez Native American Language Preservation Act is important, a critical component of that framework, of that environment. I ask my colleagues, I beseech them tonight, to reauthorize this program that is doing so much good throughout our country. I urge a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, it is National Apprenticeship Week. We have 7 million unfilled jobs in this country, and many of them are in the skilled trades. We have got to close that gap, and I think apprenticeships can help. There are companies like Midwestern Mechanical in Sioux Falls who understand that and have created their own in-house apprenticeship programs. Their apprentices get free classes while they work 40 hours a week in their field. They earn while they learn. Unlike many college students, they finish their program with a license, with a skill, with a job, and without college debt. Now, as we look forward to how do we grow this economy and how do we do a better job, we have to understand that, yes, 4-year degrees are important, but they are not the only way to close that skill gap. I think that in-house apprenticeships like those at Midwestern Mechanical show us an important way forward.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, since I joined this body in January, I have done my darnedest to steer clear of the political circus that we see on a daily basis in Washington. Instead, I have worked with so many Members to pass legislation preventing child abuse and legislation that makes it easier for Americans to save for school and for their retirement. We have made progress, and I have been a key part of that progress in USMCA, in welfare reform, and in implementing the farm bill. But, Mr. Speaker, the impeachment proceedings going on in this Chamber in the last few weeks have given me pause, and they should give pause to every Member of this Chamber and to all American people. I know--we all know--that some Members are for impeachment and others of us are opposed. But we should all admit that, by its very nature, impeachment is emotional, it is taxing, and it is divisive. You are talking about removing our President from office. This is no small thing. This is changing the trajectory of this country. Given how contentious and given how important that proceeding is, we have an obligation to play by the rules and to have a process that is open, that is sound, and that is fair. Mr. Speaker, we are failing at that special obligation. First, the Speaker has launched impeachment without a vote by this body, and that is unprecedented. Members have been denied their authority, their voice, their opportunity to be on the Record in that matter. Let us be clear: Under the Constitution, the authority to launch impeachment rests with the U.S. House of Representatives, not with the Speaker and not with the chair of House intelligence. Second, this proceeding has not been open and transparent. Instead, Members have been denied access to witness testimony and kicked out of committees. There is no live streaming and there is no TV coverage as we have seen in past impeachments. The result is that Americans don't have access to important facts because they can't get them. Finally, this proceeding has not been fair. In the past, Presidents have had an opportunity to have counsel present. Counsel has had an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, and they have been given an opportunity to review the evidence and to prepare a defense instead of battling secondhand accounts of closed-door testimony selectively leaked to the media. 228 Members of this body have already announced that they are for impeachment even though the evidence is not fully gathered yet, and, in any case, they have not reviewed it. How is that fair? Mr. Speaker, elections matter; transparency matters; due process matters; and faith in this Constitution, in our Constitution, and in institutions matter. As I said, it is time that this body lives up to its special obligation. Our country deserves nothing less.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, I thank the honorable gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse) for yielding. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to highlight, to call attention to a crisis that is facing our Tribal communities--really, our Tribal communities throughout the country--and that is violence against American Indian women. More than 1.5 million American Indian women have experienced violence--ultimately, sexual violence--during their lifetimes. The numbers are staggering. They have experienced violence, murder, and kidnapping at much, much higher rates than other women--1.5 million women. I know some of these women. Like my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I have looked in their eyes. I have heard their heart-wrenching stories of violence, of trauma. I have held their hands. I have hugged them as, through tears, they have described to me events that I otherwise could not imagine. In just the last few years, we have had 6,000 American Indian women, our countrywomen, who have gone missing; and just a few, just a handful of those cases have been logged with the Department of Justice. In that way, our Federal Government is not doing enough to combat this problem. We know--every one of us here tonight knows--that we can do better. That is why I have felt so good about how many of my colleagues today have mentioned Savanna's Act, which, clearly, I am a cosponsor of, I am a supporter of. It is not a perfect bill. It does not do enough, but it tries to highlight, it tries to call attention to, it brings attention to, it brings resources to the experiences of those 1.5 million American Indian women who have faced this violence. No, Mr. Speaker, it is not a perfect bill, but for those of us who have looked those women in the eyes, for those of us who have heard their stories, we know that it is an important first step and one that this Congress should take.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, this is a town where investigations can last for years, and sometimes, they cost millions. There are other investigations that are insignificant, little things. They are just meant to check a box so we can move onto the next task. Yes, I think we all know that, in D.C., there are two types of investigations, investigations that are for show and investigations that are for real. Well, in cattle country, we need an investigation for real. Times have been tough, really tough for cattle producers, especially the last couple of years. The producers that I know, they don't ask for guarantees or handouts. All that they want is a fair chance to earn a living. Unfortunately, prices have been soft, and those producers aren't sure that the market is accurately applying margin to our feeders and to our ranchers. Following the Holcomb fire, the market experienced extreme volatility. The producers that I know, smart and savvy professionals, are telling me that what happened in that aftermath did real damage to the viability of their businesses and to their way of life. That is why I was grateful to see USDA, under the Packers and Stockyards Act, open up an investigation into the cattle market. An investigation like that does not happen every day, and it has folks in South Dakota anxiously awaiting the results. I know that I am. What I have seen so far, what I have heard so far from USDA, gives me a good feeling that they are conducting this investigation for real, that they are working hard to gather and analyze the pertinent data. They want to get to the bottom of this. They want to determine to what extent, if any, there were unfair trade practices or market manipulation. That kind of a determination, Mr. Speaker, won't be easy. It will require real effort, real persistence, a real willingness to dig deep. As I said at the beginning, there are two types of investigations in this town, those that are for show and those that are for real. It looks like USDA is conducting this investigation for real, and thank goodness for that, because our cow-calf folks deserve that, our feeders deserve that, and, Mr. Speaker, our country deserves that.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, it is time. It is time for Congress to pass the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the USMCA. This is not, as many of you know, a new issue. The administration finished its work months ago--292 days ago, to be exact. That is 292 days that Congress has had to ask questions. That is 292 days that we have had to assess the benefits of the agreement. That is 292 days we have had to analyze the text of that agreement. During the August recess, I had conversations with hundreds, maybe thousands, of folks. Their message was clear: USMCA is a clearly better agreement, and Congress needs to do its job for the good of this country. There are a number of ways in which the President has negotiated a USMCA that is stronger, that is better than NAFTA. First, USMCA ensures that the digital economy will be more open and that it will be more secure. Second, the strong language on currency manipulation and on intellectual property provides a model for our way forward with other agreements, especially one with China. Third, Mr. Speaker, the benefits to the ag community are compelling. My colleagues have heard me speak before about the fact that our ag producers have not had the easiest time of it lately. They need USMCA. This agreement opens up new access to Canadian markets for wheat, wine, eggs, poultry, and dairy. It increases agricultural exports by $2 billion a year. That is why 1,000 ag groups from across the country have endorsed USMCA. They know that with fair access to markets, American producers can compete and win. USMCA is not perfect, but collectively, these improvements would create 176,000 new American jobs and would increase our GDP by $68 billion. That is real value, and it is value across the agricultural, manufacturing, and service sectors. The administration has done its job. It has negotiated an agreement that powers economic opportunity and grows American jobs. So, it is time. It is time for this body to act. It is time for the Speaker to bring this bill to the floor. Mr. Speaker, it is time for us to pass USMCA.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act. It is funny, in this town, rehabilitation is a word we use to kindly describe a bailout. For normal people, rehabilitation is a word that would conjure up the idea that perhaps today we are attempting to fix or improve the $638 billion pension problem before us. This bill would, more accurately, be called the bailout for multiemployer pensions act, because this bill does not contain any of the needed reforms to change the unsustainable trajectory of these plans. What does the bill do instead? It creates a new Federal Government bureaucracy. It allows for billions of dollars of loans to be just forgiven. It provides loan terms that actually encourage not paying down the principal of these loans. So to be clear, and to make no doubt, we do have to fix this pension problem, but real progress will only come from a careful, deliberate, and bipartisan process, and this bill was not designed to be bipartisan. In committee, Republicans were actually blocked from offering amendments that would have improved this bill. So here we are today, taking up floor time for a one-sided bill that does not fix the problem and that will not become law. When the majority wants to make real progress, I will be here, ready to fix the problem, ready to roll up my sleeves, ready to invest the bipartisan effort needed to make meaningful reforms. Until then, I will vote ``no'' on the bailout.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table H.R. 3401, with the Senate amendment thereto, and to concur with the Senate amendment. This bipartisan bill passed the Senate with 84 votes and could be sent to the President for his signature today.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, it is wet in farm country. In fact, our corn planting is so far behind that many South Dakota producers aren't quite sure how they are going to feed the 5 million cattle that are in our State. Now, these producers don't want a new government program. They cannot feed their cattle dollar bills. What they want, what they need, is the flexibility to help themselves. That is why Congresswoman Angie Craig and I introduced the FEEDD Act. It would provide the USDA the flexibility needed so that producers can go in and hay, graze, or chop cover crops that are on prevent plant acres and do that before November 1. Moving that date from November 1 to September 1 could make a real impact. The forage we need will come from those acres. It will come from that flexibility. Already this bill has received 27 co-sponsors and has been endorsed by 17 national ag groups. I look forward to working with them, to working with the Agriculture Committee, to working with House leadership to move this concept forward. We also have another option. USDA could do this administratively, and we continue to discuss with them the opportunity to get this success in that way.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Madam Speaker, today I rise to highlight the Johnson farm in Frankfort, South Dakota as the recent recipients of the state's Leopold Conservation Award. Alan and Mickie Johnson, with their son Brian and his wife Jamie, farm 1,800 acres of cropland and 500 acres of grassland in Spink County. Using various techniques and technologies, the Johnsons intend to leave the landscape in better shape than they received it. Working with Natural Resource Conservation Service, they have incorporated no-till farming practices and switched to a variable rate fertilizer system. Using farm bill programs such as EQIP, CRP and CSP, the Johnson family has demonstrated that you can do the right thing for the environment while remaining productive and economical. As this body debates solutions to environmental challenges, we should reflect on the accomplishments of those hard-working individuals who achieve conservation on the ground. I commend the Johnson Family on their achievement as stewards of the land as they raise nutritious food that many of us take for granted every day.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, in the 1960s, South Dakota's Ben Reifel became the first Lakota Indian to represent our country in Congress. He grew up dirt poor in a log cabin. He dropped out after the eighth grade, later going on to graduate from South Dakota State and from Harvard. Throughout his career, Ben Reifel, at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and for a decade here in Congress, fought to advance economic opportunity for American Indians. He celebrated hard work, education, and self-determination. He was respected in Indian Country, and he was respected in this Chamber. Last week, I filed a bill to put Ben Reifel's name on the Rosebud Post Office. I am hopeful that young Indian boys and girls will look upon that name and realize that great Americans have come and will come again from that sacred place.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, in 1961, South Dakota's Ben Reifel became our Nation's first Lakota Indian in Congress. He grew up dirt poor in a log cabin in rural Todd County. He dropped out after eighth grade but later graduated from South Dakota State and from Harvard. Ben Reifel was respected in this Chamber. That gentleman was respected in Indian Country. You see, throughout his career at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and for a decade here in Congress, he worked tirelessly to further economic opportunity for American Indians. Ben Reifel celebrated education, hard work, and self-determination. Yesterday, I filed a bill asking that Ben Reifel's name be placed on the Mission Post Office. It is my hope that young American Indian boys and girls will see that name and realize that great American leaders have come, and will come again, from that place.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Madam Speaker, in March 2019, the Black Hills Veterans community lost one of South Dakota's best. Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad was kidnapped and murdered when he returned to his native country, Pakistan, on a personal trip. Dr. Ahmad provided compassionate care to Veterans for over three years throughout the VA Black Hills Health Care System working in Sturgis, Hot Springs and Rapid City, South Dakota. For years, Dr. Ahmad served our community and our Veterans and specialized in care for hospitalized patients at Fort Meade Medical Center. His courteous and friendly demeanor only amplified his dedication to helping his patients. We are grateful for his service. On behalf of the constituents of South Dakota, I extend sincere condolences to his family. He is sorely missed.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Madam Speaker, I am honored to be a part of this Special Order tonight. I want to highlight the dire situation in my home State of South Dakota. Our State is just barely beginning to recover from dramatic flooding while, simultaneously, we are trying to prepare for the disaster to get worse as a blizzard this week will dump freezing rain and more than a foot of snow onto already saturated ground. Now, I have heard colleagues talk about similar and, in some cases, even more dramatic damage to their homes, and we have seen, in their States and in mine, commerce interrupted; we have seen livelihoods devastated; we have seen cattle killed; and, worse yet, we have seen human life lost. Now, within South Dakota, there have been many impacted communities, although perhaps none more dramatically than Indian Country. When I have talked to President Bear Runner, Pine Ridge; President Bordeaux, Rosebud; or Chairman Frazier from Cheyenne River, their texts, their phone calls, our face-to-face meetings, they are heavy with the frustration and the exhaustion, the irritation, the concern about what is going on for their people. Madam Speaker, put more appropriately, they are concerned for what is going on with our people. Right before I walked onto the floor here, I came from a meeting with Chairman Harold Frazier, and he had picture after picture after picture, Madam Speaker, of the devastation there at Cheyenne River: cemeteries under water, roads under water, cattle under water, cars under water. I know South Dakota is not the only community that is impacted. Many of us need a helping hand. Many of the people in our States are too proud to ask for a helping hand, but tonight I would just ask my colleagues in this body and my colleagues in the Senate to do everything they can to put politics aside and to pass a disaster relief bill that can do much-needed work for our country.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to request unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from any further consideration of H.R. 962, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act, and I ask that it be taken up for immediate consideration by this body.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, if the unanimous consent cannot be entertained, I would then urge the Speaker and the majority leader to immediately----

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, I grew up in a large working-class family in central South Dakota. I suppose there were some years when we were more poor than we were working class. But I want to make it clear, my parents worked hard every single day. So did I, and so did my brother and my sisters. Even with that hard work, there were times when we needed help from government to get by. I am who I am today because of the experiences of both welfare and hard work. Government assistance can help meet people's basic needs. We all know that. But on its own, welfare alone means surviving just barely on the edges. Welfare can meet short-term basic needs, but education and work--yes, education and work--they deliver long-term hope and dignity and purpose and opportunity. That brings me, today, to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP. Many of us call it food stamps. I know this program well from a number of personal and professional experiences. Most of you probably know that, under Federal law, able-bodied nonseniors--people between the ages of 18 and 50--who don't have children at home are required to work or train or volunteer or go to school for 20 hours a week to receive their benefits. To most Americans, these work requirements are common sense, just as they were when they were passed, in 1986, into law in a bipartisan manner. They are common sense because work isn't punishment. Work is opportunity. Unfortunately, over the years, some States have used gimmicks and loopholes to trigger waivers. Those waivers water down the work requirements that we have been talking about. These, I am sure, well- intentioned but misguided efforts, mean that one-third of our country lives in an area with no work requirements. Today, despite a record-high 7 million job openings, we have 2.7 million SNAP recipients who can work but who aren't. There is a better way, I am happy to say, and I want to tell you about it. A few years ago, because of State waivers, too many Arkansans were not experiencing the kind of dignity and opportunity that comes from work, so Arkansas changed course. They put their work requirements back into place, and the results were breathtaking. They were impressive. People who left the program because they didn't work or didn't train or didn't volunteer ended up better off than they were on welfare. Necessity pushed them into a job path that brought them more resources than welfare alone could ever provide. With all of those people moving off the welfare rolls and into the workplace, they were earning money, and the State saw its revenues go up. That kind of success can, and is, happening elsewhere. When Maine reimplemented work requirements, incomes of former enrollees more than doubled and caseloads declined by 90 percent. These results show all of us how important it is for us to close these loopholes. USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue should be commended for his efforts to do just that through a proposed rule, making sure that food stamp recipients are encouraged and rewarded for their work. I want to make very clear, these actions are not about taking aid away from areas that are struggling with high unemployment. There are clear exceptions for those areas. Instead, this is about prompting more States and more citizens to experience the successes that have been experienced by Maine and by Arkansas. We all know that every one of us does better, every single one of us does better, when we are pushed, when we are moved past our comfort level. Growth requires effort. That is true in athletics; that is true in academics; that is true in raising children; and that is true in all other areas of life as well. Denying millions of able-bodied SNAP recipients that push, that growth, also denies them a chance at a better future. In States where work requirements have been reinstituted, a clearer path out of poverty has reemerged. We have to do that elsewhere. We have to do that everywhere. I close today, Mr. Speaker, by saying that work has dignity; work is opportunity; and work is an American value.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Madam Speaker, it will be the 20th time Spearfish High School will represent South Dakota at the national ``We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution'' competition this spring. The team won the state competition Thursday at Black Hills State University. ``It's commendable that you guys do this . . . . I think this will be a memorable experience for you,'' Wes Brown, of the Vantage Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides education, training, and support for issues facing communities, said. He thanked the students for their hard work, the judges for their time, and everyone involved for making the event possible. The We the People program promotes civic competence and responsibility for upper elementary and secondary students. The program was created in 1987, directed by the Center for Civic Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Education for Democracy Act. During the competition, student units take on simulated congressional hearing questions, demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and current constitutional issues. Each unit prepares a four-minute statement to present to the panel of judges acting as a congressional committee, and they then answer follow-up questions posed by the committee members. The units are scored on understanding, Constitutional application, reasoning, supporting evidence, responsiveness, and participation. The Spearfish team is made up of seniors Lily Dennison, Gene Glover, Paxton Klug, Rigel Roberdeau, Kenna Comer, Kennedy Kaitfors, Rylee Niesent, Taylor Hersch, Justin Steedley, Hannah Tysdal, Ana Buchholz, Peter Marich, Morgan Roberts, Zach Tipton, Sophia Caldwell, Nathan Davis, Thomas Friedrich, Ella Neiman, Tim Doerges, Izzy Drumm, Jay Sayler, and Chelsea Williams. Patrick Gainey teaches the class. Unit 4, made up of Buchholz, Marich, Roberts, and Tipton, were named the best unit for the Spearfish team, and Friedrich was named the Larson Best Speaker Award for the team. Lead-Deadwood High School, taught by Matthew Campbell, also competed. The team is made up of students Chayton Bower, Carter Nelson, Eric Schumacher, Kyler Farmer-Winsell, Hunter Gudith, Chase Ladner, Michael Crawford, Harley Priest, Jasmine Riter, Luke Fish, Keegan Huntington, Zak Mau, Wyatt VandeVelde, Dylan Arehart, Dylan Janke, CJ Murray, Megan Snow, Raygan Mattson, Maxx Percy, Mackenzie Wetz, Zoe Bourgo, Brianna Pfeiffer-Munoz, Kaitlin Wilks, Carly Mehlberg, Abiah Morrison, and Alexis Morrison. Unit 6a, made up of Bourgo, Pfeiffer-Munoz, and Wilks, was named best unit, and Pfeiffer-Munoz was named the Larson Best Speaker Award for the team. Brown encouraged everyone to spread the word about the program. He said in the last decade, the most teams that participated in South Dakota were seven, versus the two teams competing this year. He added that Wyoming has 18 teams competing to represent the state. ``Thanks so much for putting in the effort,'' Brown said. Spearfish High School will join approximately 1,200 students from 56 high school classes from across the nation to compete in the We the People National Finals April 26-29 at the National Conference Center in Washington, D.C. ``I'm really proud of how hard the kids worked,'' Gainey said of the students. ``They put in--it's not just class time--they meet outside of school, they meet at each other's houses, they go and interview professionals, they talk to lawyers and public officials, to get information for their presentations. It's a class, I think, that inspires a lot of devotion and commitment to each other. I like it because it's a little bit like football or basketball in that you could have the smartest kid in the state and you still might not win because it's a team effort.''

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, since it is National Agriculture Week, I thought I would highlight how important market access is to South Dakota. Now, the numbers don't lie. South Dakota is our Nation's 10th largest ag exporting State. In fact, we send out $4 billion of ag products every single year. NAFTA deserves a lot of credit for that. In fact, our Nation at large exports more than $38 billion every year to Canada and Mexico. We need to keep that momentum going, which is why this body needs to ratify the newly negotiated United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. USMCA is clearly better than NAFTA was. Let's be clear: That doesn't mean that it is perfect, but it does mean that it is clearly better for our country. President Trump and his administration have made a number of much- needed improvements to that trading agreement. Let's send a clear message that the United States and South Dakota are open for business. Mr. Speaker, let's get to work.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, in South Dakota, we take great pride in our girls high school basketball, due to the incredible hard work of so many players and coaches. One of those hardworking coaches is Dawn Seiler, who has been coaching the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles for 20 years. Before that, she coached the McIntosh Tigers for 15 years Under Coach Seiler, the Golden Eagles of Aberdeen have made it to 18 State tournaments. And after her 596th career victory, she is the all- time winningest coach in girls high school basketball history in the great State of South Dakota. Coach Seiler has inspired generations of talented young women to do their best, both on and, more importantly, off the court. Aberdeen is proud of their coach, and they should be. Coach Seiler, congratulations on your historic accomplishment.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Speaker, as my new Governor just mentioned in her first budget address, in South Dakota, we don't spend money we don't have. South Dakota has never incurred any general obligation debt, and that doesn't happen by accident. It takes decades of prudent and, sometimes, unpopular decisions. I am proud to be a part of that history. Now, in Washington, the story is a little different. We haven't always had that same kind of intestinal fortitude, so our debt is $22 trillion. Mr. Speaker, I know there is plenty of blame to go around, but I am more interested in solutions. Taking our medicine--and we do need to take our medicine--will not be easy, and we can't do it all at once, but I am ready to take the tough votes. I am hopeful that some of my colleagues are as well. After all, fiscal responsibility is possible. Just ask South Dakota.