Mike Kelly

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the great men and women who serve and have fought in our military and risked their lives to protect this great country of ours. Each November, we are reminded of the heroism our veterans displayed both at home and abroad. My Congressional District, Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District, is among the largest constituencies of military veterans in our Commonwealth. More than 45,000 veterans call PA-16 home. That is 1 in 15 of my constituents, and it would be hard to go to any home anywhere in the district that I serve and not find people who have served in the military. Our office has a dedicated veterans' outreach program. Some of our representatives--right now it is Francis ``Chookie'' LaCamera; 36 years he served. We also had John ``P.K.'' Galanski, a Vietnam vet who never stopped serving. After he came home, he has been part of our service outreach program and has dedicated his entire life to taking care of our veterans. Also, a good friend and a guy who has done such a great job, Tony ``Gunny'' Digiacomo, another Iraqi war veteran who served in our office taking care of our veterans and now is a Crawford County VSO. And last, but not least, John Cuneo, who is an Afghani war veteran. When I talked to John about the Afghanistan withdrawal, I said: John, I just want to make sure you are okay. And he said: Mike, I haven't slept for 5 days. I lost friends in Afghanistan. I held them as they died. Some of them came back home, but they were deeply wounded and injured and probably will never fully recover. And I just don't understand how we arrived at this type of a withdrawal. I keep thinking to myself: Was it worth it? The loss of lives, the loss of limbs; was it really worth it? All I can say to him is: John, for 20 years our men and women in uniform have kept the home country safe. I don't know what more you could have done. I, too, have the sense of what your loss is and how deep it is. But please just remember that the American people will always be indebted to you for what you have done. And we know how difficult these last few months have been. We look back at what happened in Afghanistan and our withdraw from Afghanistan and I keep wondering, why? Why, this true 1 percent of Americans go and serve? How can they look at what is happening and think things are all right? That is why this month, this November, this Veterans Day, it is absolutely critical that we take time out of our daily lives and anybody we know that served, we thank them for their service. We thank them for their sacrifice. We thank them for everything they have done for this great country. I ask people to please remember: When they left to go serve us and to protect us, some of them never came home; never got a chance to celebrate another Thanksgiving; never got a chance to celebrate a Christmas. Most never had a chance to get married, have children, and enjoy the American life. They did it because they love this Nation. They gave everything they could possibly give. And there is a saying out there that all gave some, but some gave all. That is so true and that is why on November 11 every single American should stop and say a prayer for those who not only lost their lives but those who came home injured, and some injured in a way that they will never be able to have the life they had before they left. They are entitled to everything they have been promised, and, more importantly, they deserve it. They deserve that. So on this date, November 11, let's all stop just for a minute and think just how much this country, this Nation meant to those who served. I thank the gentleman so much for having the Special Order.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, Representative Keller and I indeed are very good friends and in complete agreement on what it is we are trying to do tonight. Madam Speaker, there are 54,511 veterans in Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District. These are men and women that have served in all types of activities in the military. Nearly 1 in 13 of my constituents are military veterans. Roughly 520,000 pending VA claims for disability, compensation, and benefits are out there right now. And 191,000 of those that are considered to be backlogged are older than 3 months old, 4 months old, and they can't even get the information that they need. Thirty-six percent of these cases this summer were considered backlogged. Again, over 4 months, these people are waiting for their records to be pulled. The National Personnel Records Center is operating at 45 percent of its pre-pandemic capacity--45 percent--while almost every other business and government entity is operating at full capacity. This delay prevents veterans from getting the benefits they deserve for months or even years. A lack of digital records prevents staff from accessing those records while working remotely during the pandemic. Representative Keller's bill would require the National Personnel Records Center employees to return to the job at 100 percent of capacity and improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the operations at the center. This is not just a request. This is honoring the service of those who have given all to defend this country. They are not looking for anything special. They are not looking for anything out of the ordinary. They are not looking for anybody to go beyond what they were hired to do. All they are asking for is for their records to be processed in the right time so they can receive their benefits. How can this Nation turn its back, and how can this group refuse to do this in a timely fashion and prevent this from happening further? All we are asking for is people to do their jobs. What an unusual concept for somebody to go to work every day and be asked to do their job, not doing it from home, but going on the job and actually doing the job for those who put their lives on the line for this Nation. Incredible that it would take a bill from Congress for people to actually do the job they were hired to do and fulfill their responsibility to our incredible veterans. I thank Representative Keller for bringing this forward, and I would urge this body to take a look at what we are doing right now and somehow come to an agreement that there is not--this shouldn't be a request. This is a responsibility to those who have served us so well. I thank Representative Keller for including me tonight and all the rest of my colleagues. Again, this is not just a request. This is a responsibility.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma, and we do sit on the Committee on Ways and Means together. Madam Speaker, I just think that where we look at today, I have heard so much in the last couple weeks about looking at this as kitchen table economics. Madam Speaker, if you want to talk about it in real terms that every single American would understand, people who actually do their bills at their kitchen table, that figure out what their future looks like at their kitchen table, then we need to start talking in terms that they understand. So when we talk about what America gains in revenues, what this Federal Government gains in revenues each year is $3.5 trillion. This Federal Government spends $6.5 trillion. Now, people say, well, that is not too bad. That is only a $3 trillion difference. But what it comes down to, if you want to use kitchen table economics, let's talk about what it means to people who actually sit at a kitchen table, sometimes work two jobs, sometimes not only the father but the mother gets up and go to work every day to put food on the table and put a roof over the head of their children and plan for the future. Let's talk about kitchen table economics, and let's reduce it down to terms that people actually understand: A person making $35,000 a year thinks it is okay to spend $65,000 a year. Nobody with any type of economic sense or common sense would say: I think that is okay. I think that is the way I should live my life. I think that is the way I should plan for the future because I think it is going to be really great for my kids and grandkids going forward. $3.5 trillion in revenue from taxpayers, and the government is spending $6.5 trillion. That is a difference of $30,000 a year for the average person on their kitchen table who is spending $30,000 more a year than they bring in. That is lunacy. Nobody would tell their sons or daughters to plan their life that way. The reason I brought this picture of this iceberg is because I believe America right now is facing a Titanic moment. The truth of the matter is, we can't really see what our total debt is. It is below the surface. Funded and unfunded liabilities right now, which the American taxpayers are responsible for, is $130 trillion. It is truly a Titanic moment. We are steaming toward an iceberg that is going to sink the ship. We sit back and talk about these things in terms that don't really matter. We talk about tree equity. We talk about this equity and that equity. What we don't talk about is the equity to hardworking American taxpayers. We don't talk the truth to them, and we hope that we will pass a bill that they can't possibly imagine it can't possibly be paid for by only those making $400,000 or more a year. The constituents that I represent in Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District know what it is like when they go to get a gallon of gas. They know what it is like when they have to heat their home this winter and know that it is probably going to be 50 to 60 percent more this winter than it was last winter. Their gas, their groceries, everything that they consume is going up at a rate that they can't possibly imagine. And they can't imagine it because they are not being told the truth. We are talking about we are going to build it back better. We are going to ruin the greatest Nation the world has ever known by unsustainable spending and by an administration that fails to tell the whole truth and what is below the surface and what is going to sink the ship. The tip of the iceberg is the only thing the American people see right now. The truth lies below the surface. Getting the truth out is almost impossible, especially in this House, in the people's House on this floor. Madam Speaker, I am sorry to interrupt you. I know you are busy reading something there, but perhaps you ought to read that bill. You ought to see exactly what is being proposed. I don't believe the majority has read that bill. I don't believe the majority really believes in that bill. But I do know the majority will continue to keep their heads down, read their phones, read their cards, and listen to a false narrative coming out of the White House and a complicit media that refuses to tell America the truth. We are at a Titanic moment. We are facing debt we cannot possibly sustain. We are taking ourselves out of a position to be the strongest country in the world, and we are doing it right here in the people's House. We are discussing taxes and cost of living that are off the charts, that we have never seen in our life before. And we can continue to read our phones, read the teleprompter, and whisper to people: Just pay your fair share. Really? Really? Is that the way we are going to run it? Is that the way we are going to go forward? Are we going to go home to our home districts and say: Look, you are just going to have to pay your fair share. That is what we are going to keep telling them. We will whisper our way through this crisis, and it will end up as a disaster. How anybody can sit on the floor of this House representing their home districts, three-quarters of a million people is what most of us represent, and go back home and tell them: I did what was right for you. Never before has this country ever faced the crisis it is facing now. It is not because of a foreign power. It is not because of somebody trying to take us over. It is the rotting that is taking place right inside this House in this session. Madam Speaker, I would implore every single Member of the House--I don't care if you are a Democrat; I don't care if you are Republican; I don't care if you are liberal or you are a conservative, just stop being stupid because there ain't no fixing stupid. The path we are on right now is a complete disaster. Everybody knows it. Not everybody speaks it because they just don't want to break ranks. This is a Titanic moment. This is what America is facing. I would implore each Member of this House to wake up and do what is right for the American people.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I was sitting in my office, and I couldn't help hearing that this is kitchen table economics, so I just want to reduce it down to what kitchen table economics actually is. This is a country that has an income of about $3.5 trillion a year. Meaning, if you were a regular family, that means you make about $35,000 a year. Let's reduce it to kitchen table economics. But we then turn around and spend $6.5 trillion, so that is telling the average family back home: Mr. and Mrs. America, understand something, you make $35,000 a year. You should be spending $65,000 a year and just increasing your total debt. We are at right now is between funded and unfunded liabilities. America is on the hook for $130 trillion. This is a pathway to destruction. Now we are going to point fingers back and forth: Well, you guys raised it, and you should have raised it. Mr. Speaker, you know what? There is no such thing as a debt ceiling here. There is no debt ceiling here. This is a sunroof. All we do is open it any time we want to irresponsibly spend money, and we just go ahead and keep spending and spending. It all falls on the backs of not only our grandchildren and our children but also on this current generation. This is absolutely insane and totally irresponsible.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, tonight we are going to be talking about the leading causes of death in the United States. I just want to go over this because I think sometimes we become disillusioned with what is actually happening. The National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on the leading causes of death in the United States but does not include abortion among their list of causes of death. Here is an accurate representation of the leading causes of death for 2019, which includes the number one cause of death. That is abortion. Also, deaths due to COVID in 2020 and 2021 are included for comparison. You start off with suicide or intentional self-harm, 47,511 Americans died. Influenza and pneumonia, 49,783 Americans died. Nephritis and nephrotic syndrome, kidney disease, 51,665 died from that. Diabetes, 87,647. Alzheimer's disease, 121,499 deaths. Stroke, 150,005 deaths. Chronic lower respiratory, 156,979 deaths. Accidents, 172,040 deaths. Cancer, 599,601 deaths. COVID, 656,488, and that is 18 months total. Heart disease, 659,041. And we all know about these deaths because you cannot watch TV or listen to any news when you are not constantly hearing about what people in America are dying from because it is a crisis for us. Abortion, 849,000. All the data are from one year, 2019, except for COVID. Deaths in the United States of America from COVID reached 528,600 at the one-year mark of March 2020 to March 2021, but the entire 18-month death toll is included in the comparison above. More unborn babies died daily from abortion in the United States of America than born children and adults from the COVID pandemic. We are asked to wear masks, we are asked to social distance, we are asked to self-quarantine. What we aren't asked is to address deaths by decision. Abortions. I would like to suggest that, not only all Members of this Congress, but the 330 million Americans that we represent, if they have the opportunity to do it, call their parents and thank them for being pro- life. How can we possibly be debating on this floor the destruction of life by a decision, not from a disease but from a decision? 849,000 souls cry out to us. They cannot defend themselves, but we can defend them. We will pass a law--it will get passed here on this floor. And people will say: Well, you don't understand. You know what, Kelly, I am really not for abortion, it is not my personal preference, but gosh darn it, it is what the Supreme Court issued. I tell all those Members, you have a voting card that is actually your personal preference and your decision. Please do not try to fool the American people about what is taking place right here in this House, the people's House, and say that somehow your personal preference would not be to see all these children aborted, but there is nothing you can do about it. Yes, there is. Vote the right way. Turn this down. Abortion right up until birth? Are you kidding me? How in the world can we ever talk about ourselves as being a Judeo-Christian moral country whenever we do things like this? Mr. Speaker, I just hope that America wakes up and looks at what is taking place right now and says, not on our watch, not ever on our watch, not at this time or any time. The greatest country in the world, the greatest nation in the world, the greatest protector of freedom and liberty cannot sit back and blindly accept what is happening in our country.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank my good friend from the State of Texas (Mr. Gohmert.) It is always a pleasure to be with him. Today I want to talk about something that is near and dear to all of us. Maybe I am exaggerating when I say dear to all of us. But I am referring to a Federal agency that at one time former Senator Orrin Hatch described as the most feared Federal agency in our country. I am talking about the IRS; I am talking about right now the operations of the IRS. In recent months we have learned that the agency has yet to process millions and millions of tax returns filed over the past 3 years. People across this country have been waiting to receive money that is theirs far longer than is reasonable. The agency should be working night and day to catch up. I want to take this opportunity also to thank my friends on both sides of the aisle, because for most people in our districts, we are the IRS. We are the people answering those tough questions and helping them navigate in an almost impossible Federal agency in order to get things done. Now, at the same time as this backlog persists, the agency is doing things that take us back to the last time that Mr. Biden was in the White House, and we have returned to those bad, old, dark days of the Obama administration when Lois Lerner and her cronies were targeting conservative, nonprofit organizations because of their political views. Just weeks ago, the IRS was caught red-handed, once again. In a letter declining a nonprofit status to a Christian organization, the agency decried biblical teachings as a nonneutral, politically oriented form of speech. These bureaucrats had the audacity to say that the organization's Bible teachings about the Christian faith, which are shared by millions upon millions of Americans of all different political views, were too aligned with the Republican Party to warrant nonprofit status. Now, upon learning of this shameful decision, my friend from Texas, Kevin Brady, and I joined Americans across this country to demand answers as to how the IRS could come to such an egregious conclusion. Thankfully, and only because of this oversight and the exposure to what happened, our legislative oversight and the public's righteous indignation caused this agency to reverse its course; but, again, only because of our oversight and the exposure to what was actually taking place within this agency. This IRS needs more oversight and accountability if we are to expect it to do the right thing. But the one thing I want to explain to all of our citizens across the country, if you get a call from the IRS, understand that that call is not from the IRS. The IRS will only contact you by mail. When I go home, and I think all of my colleagues are the same, I hear people tell me, ``The IRS called me.'' I say, ``That is not the IRS. That is a scam.'' But you know what? There are things we have to do. We have not only an obligation, we have a responsibility to improve all Federal agencies. Now, it is sad to say that the only scandal entangling the IRS this year isn't the one I just talked about. In an outrageous criminal act, someone, either inside or outside the IRS, breached IRS systems and leaked the confidential tax records of thousands and thousands of Americans to a left-wing propaganda outlet, Pro Publica, which proceeded to publish these private financial details in pursuit of a political narrative on tax policy. This is an astonishing breach of trust that should cause every American to wonder if his or her own tax information could be weaponized against them. It is not farfetched. When President Donald Trump's tax returns were leaked to The New York Times last year, I noted that if this could happen to the President of the United States, it could happen to any American. Now, Mr. Speaker, here we are. In 2019, the late Representative John Lewis and I worked together to figure out how we could reform the IRS so that it would better serve our taxpayers. We worked as friends, set aside any political differences we may have had, and authored the Taxpayer First Act, which was passed with overwhelming support from this entire Congress and signed into law by President Trump 2 years ago in July of 2019. The primary intent of this legislation was to make the IRS a customer-service-oriented agency. Our tax system is a voluntary system. After all, this is one of the few Federal entities that Americans will interact with consistently for their entire lives. From their birth until their death they will have actions within the IRS. There are few things more intimidating than having to resolve a dispute with the IRS, so making it a resource rather than an adversary was our chief aim. That is what we were trying to get to. But how can an agency that takes years to process tax returns, leaks private financial records to damage certain taxpayers, and wields its vast power to punish people or organizations with certain political or religious views be seen as anything other than an adversary? The IRS is one of the most powerful forces in our lives. I have heard this so many times when I go back home, and I am sure you have heard it, and I am sure most Americans feel the same way: People tell me, ``I don't mind paying my taxes as long as those moneys that I put in get used the right way, but I do fear the agency with which I have to interact.'' Let's work together to hold this agency accountable. It is not all members of the IRS who we are criticizing or who we are looking at right now. We are talking about certain things that happen within that agency that absolutely are terrifying to the average American. We, as a body, representing everyone in this country, need to take a look at where it is that we are failing and where it is that this agency has failed and why it has become such an intimidating agency. If you want to restore the faith in any of our agencies or any of the things that we do in our life, you do it by actually working within the framework of that agency and looking at what we can do as the personal representatives of the American people to cure the situation as it is now and make the IRS a service-based agency and not one of intimidation.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I would like to include in the Record the following speech that was written by local Butler, Pennsylvania historian and my constituent, Bill May. It was delivered at a headstone dedication ceremony for Civil War veteran Andrew Gomer Williams. Mr. Williams was a longtime resident of Butler where he practiced law. Born in Richmond, Virginia, Williams fought for the Union in the Civil War as a member of the 63rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He also attended Duff's Business College and was a tradesman, nail-maker, bookkeeper, and notary public. Williams served the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a member of the state House of Representatives and state Senate as well as the Soldiers' Orphans School Commission. After a long life of service to his community and our Nation, Mr. Williams died on April 6, 1923 in Butler and was interred in the North Side Cemetery. Mr. Williams is an American hero, which is why Chad Slater began placing the ``Grand Army of the Republic'' star and flag at his grave. The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the American Civil War. However, since Williams was not identified on his headstone as a veteran, the star and flag were routinely removed. As a result, Mr. Slater, Jason Tindall, and VFW 249 began a quest to install a proper headstone that would appropriately recognize Mr. Williams' service to the people of Butler, Western Pennsylvania, and our country. I thank each of them for working to preserve this vital piece of American history for future generations. (By Bill May) ``Monuments are as old as our race and all along the history of the dim and dusty age down to the bright and joyous present we have been perpetuating the memory of heroic men''. These eloquent words, so very appropriate this morning, are not mine, but were the actual words of Andrew Gomer Williams whose monument we gather here this morning to dedicate. He delivered them in a speech on September 11, 1889 on the Gettysburg Battlefield during ceremonies dedicating the monument to his regiment, the 63rd PA Volunteers, who fought during the famous battle on July 1 through the 3rd of 1863. Much like they gathered on that field 132 years ago, we gather here today on this field to perpetuate the memory of a heroic man. Ironically, Williams, who had fought for the Union, was born in Richmond VA, the Capital of the Confederacy on September 8, 1840 to a Welsh immigrant father and an Eastern Maryland mother. His family moved from Richmond to Pittsburgh in 1847 and from Pittsburgh to Etna one year later. The recipient of very little education, Andrew Williams went to work as a nail cutter in the local factory at the young age of 10. Maybe it was the sense of patriotism that swelled in Andrew Williams heart or maybe it was wanting to escape the dullness of factory work for the great unknown adventure of war, but regardless of the reason, we do know that at age 21 in 1861, Williams was helping to raise three companies of men to become part of the newly created 63rd PA Volunteers and leave the smoky city for the battlefields of his native South. He was elected Captain of Company E, but declined the honor and the rank to initially serve as their 3rd Sargent when their 3 years of service began on September 9 of 1861. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on the field during the Second Battle of Bull in 1862 and then in the Spring of 1863 he was promoted to the rank of Captain of Company E of the 63rd PA Volunteers. He fought in over a dozen battles and was wounded four times including at the Charles City Crossroads on June 30, 1862 and again at The Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. 1863 would find Williams leading his men at the Battles of Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. During the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5, 1864 Williams was thought to have been mortally wounded after being struck in the left temple by a Confederate minie' ball and left for dead. Miraculously he was found barely alive four days later on the Wilderness Battlefield. He was mustered out with the rest of his regiment on August 6, 1864. Williams would carry the external scars from the near fatal wound for the rest of his life. After his return home to Etna, he was unable to work for the next 3 years due to his wounds. He entered Duff's Business College in Pittsburgh to become a bookkeeper and also read law at home. In 1868, following his father's death in a boiler explosion at the Fort Pitt Foundry, he was forced to return to cutting nails in the Etna Rolling Mill to help support his family while continuing his law studies at night. Besides his father's tragic death, Williams throughout his life experienced the deaths of 13 members of his family by explosions, railroad accidents, burnings and drowning. In spite of all the personal and family trauma, Andrew G. Williams marched on and came to Butler in 1875 and upon being admitted to the Butler Bar the following year he immediately formed a partnership with Alexander Mitchell. This partnership would last until Mitchell's death 40 years later. During these four decades together the men claimed to never have had an argument or ever having signed a lease for their office on the Diamond with their word as their bond. The only day in the entire history of their practice they did not open was when both men's Civil War Regiments were holding reunions on the same date in Pittsburgh. The two lawyers closed up shop each afternoon at precisely 4:45 p.m. It was said that people along their walking route home could set their watches by their passing. The house Andrew Williams came home to each night was the home he built in 1887 for his second wife and their 3 sons and 1 daughter and for his 3 children from his deceased first wife. Williams' military service in the Civil War continued to play an important role in his life with his membership in the local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic or GAR, a Civil War veterans' group and contributing his time to help those survivors scarred by the effects of the war. He helped Civil War soldier spouses such as a Mrs. Kettenburgh of Edgewood whose husband had served with Williams and who came to Butler in 1908 accompanied by her two sisters to apply for a Civil War Widow's Pension. Kettenburgh presented Williams with the photo displayed in front of me taken just a few days before William's near fatal wounding at the Wilderness. He also volunteered serving on the Board of Directors of the Civil War Orphans Home that was located on Butler's Institute Hill from 1867 until moving to Mercer County in 1905. Outside of his legal practice and his Civil War related activities, Williams served one term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and four years in the Pennsylvania State Senate. He also served for 20 years as the Choir Director of Butler's First Methodist Church and rose to the rank of Grand Commander Knights of Templar of the State of Pennsylvania in the Masons. After a full life, devoted to his nation, his church, his community and most importantly his family, Andrew Gomer Williams died in his North McKean Street home on April 6, 1923 from pneumonia at the age of 83 @ 10:40 p.m. Fittingly for a man who had been a soldier in the Civil War, his funeral and burial were held on April 9th the same day only 58 years earlier that Robert E. Lee had surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at a place called Appomattox Courthouse Virginia.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, this has been a confusing time period I think for most of America, and why the confusion is becoming so cluttered among us all is because we are using definitions that sometimes don't seem to make sense for the situation that we are in. So I was thinking back, and not too long ago we were told that we don't have to worry about our borders because we really don't have a crisis there, what we have is a challenge. As we seem to constantly redefine or put different labels on what we know to be true, I think it is time for a moment of clarity. I went to Oxford Languages to find out just what a crisis is. So this is not my definition. This is what Oxford Languages has said: A crisis is a time of intense difficulty or trouble or danger; a time when a difficult or important decision must be made. So what is it I am talking about? I am talking about our crisis at our borders. So why would a guy who lives in western Pennsylvania worry about what is happening on the borders in Texas and Arizona? That is almost 2,000 miles away from where I live. That is almost 2,000 miles away from the people I represent. How could it possibly impact them? So I would tell my friends that if you don't think this is going to have an impact in the community you live in, this is coming to a town real close to you real soon. In Erie, Pennsylvania, we are now housing about 150 young girls who have come from the border. Now, I don't know where their starting point was. I know where their entry came, and I know now that these unaccompanied young ladies--they are 7 to 12 years old--have now been shuttled to Erie, Pennsylvania, into housing which is much better than what they were experiencing at the border. They are living there now, and I am not sure that they know what the consequences of this relocation means to them. I have been told that of those people who have come in, those little girls who have come in, approximately 30 of them have COVID. We sit in this House--the people's House--and we debate issues that are sometimes very confusing and very conflicting and separate us as a people. This is not an issue that should separate us. If we truly believe that there is a humanitarian crisis, then we should fix it in a humanitarian way. I have often been told that you can't beat something with nothing. The previous administration under President Trump had a very clear policy about how we were supposed to handle the surge at our borders, a very clear process, very clear what was to take place. That all changed. As the Biden administration came in, they said, no, this policy from the previous administration is untenable, it is not humane, and it is no longer going to be in existence. Again, Madam Speaker, you can't replace something with nothing. My question to the administration through several letters and through several requests for the HHS and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, was answered with no answer at all. So if you have no policy you have no answer. If you continue to say that we really don't have a crisis at our border, then you are either unaware or just choose not to say what you really have in mind, and you can only do that if you don't really have anything in mind. Madam Speaker, I think that in the people's House--and we are always defined as who is in the majority and who is in the minority and who represents whom and whose best interests are being upheld, and I would just suggest that this is the people's House. It is not called the Republic House or the Democrat House. It is called the people's House, and the people--the American people--need to have an answer to what is our policy on the border? What is our policy going forward? How are we going to relocate these children? They are children. My wife and I being the mother and father of four children and grandparents of 10 children, I cannot imagine in my life handing over my grandchildren or my children to somebody I don't know and saying: Would you please get them to America where I know they will be safe, sound, and well-treated? This is truly a crisis. More importantly, this is a dereliction of duty by the current administration. I am requesting that the Biden administration answer not just me from western Pennsylvania, the 16th Congressional District, but the people of America who deserve to know what this policy is, how it is going to be administered, and what do these contracts look like when we are transporting these children from one location to another, and, ultimately, where are they supposed to land? Where are they supposed to find refuge? Where are they supposed to find a loving family to take care of them? I have been told that 90 percent of these unaccompanied children are going to end up with family members, and my question is: Where did you collect that data? I have granddaughters who were 12, and I have granddaughters who were 7. I think it would be a difficult question to ask them what their future looks like whenever they have been shuttled off to someplace far away from home by people they don't know and then being told: Don't worry, everything is going to be fine, and 90 percent of you are going to end up with a family member. Really? Where is that data? I will close with this--and I really appreciate the gentleman yielding--it is time for Americans to stand up and demand that we have an answer to what our policy is at our border. What are we going to do with these children? If we are truly calling this a humanitarian crisis, then we need to have a humanitarian answer. No answer, no process absolutely is not the way America works. So I am calling on the administration today to please answer our questions. I will be in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Saturday where I will be able to physically examine where these children are, and I will come back to Congress with what I have seen happen. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 76. Stated against:

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, this has been an interesting day. And I know we want to debate this, and we brought up all kinds of things, all kinds of points of history and what happened and where it happened and all the rest of this, and we are very, very grateful to the Capitol Police and all those who came in to protect us. But the real debate right now about Pennsylvania is Pennsylvania's Act 77. Was it constitutional or was it unconstitutional? All the rest of the trimmings you can set aside and just decide: Was it constitutional or unconstitutional? Act 77 changed Pennsylvania's voting law and Pennsylvania's Constitution. Now, Pennsylvania could change that law, but it is done through an amendment to the constitution. It is not just done because somebody would like to see that done. We had a mail ballot that was available. It was an absentee ballot. We did not have a no-excuse ballot. What did Pennsylvania have to do to get to the point where they would have a no-excuse mail-in ballot? Number one, in two successive sessions of the Pennsylvania Legislature, that had to be passed in that legislation, one session after the other. If it passed both times, then it had to be published in every one of the 67 counties of Pennsylvania, twice. When that was finished, it then had to go before the Pennsylvania voters to decide whether they wanted the constitution amended. Pennsylvania did the first one. They actually did take a vote, and it was overwhelming. But then they scrapped it, and they put it in an omnibus bill. That is an unconstitutional change. You cannot do it. It is that simple. So I love the idea about Washington crossing the Delaware. I love the idea about Washington going through a terrible winter. I hate the idea of what we had to go through today. But if oaths don't matter, and we have all taken them, and if the Constitution doesn't matter, why do we even do it? Why go through this charade that somehow we are really close friends, except when it comes to the really important things? We have driven this country apart through the people's House, and we wonder what happened? The biggest loss on November 3 was not by Donald Trump; it was the faith and trust that the American people lost in this voting system because we have allowed it to happen. It is unconstitutional.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 8265 to extend the Paycheck Protection Program to keep millions of employees on the payroll of America's small businesses.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 8265 to extend the Paycheck Protection Program to keep millions of employees on the payroll of America's small businesses.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, on Saturday, August 22, 2020, I was unavoidably detained away from the House Chamber.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. It is nice working with the gentleman. This has been a couple of years in the making, and it is way over time. First, let's understand one thing: name and date of birth just isn't cutting it anymore, so this ban on HHS promulgating a unique patient identifier has resulted in a lot of American lives lost. Madam Speaker, Mr. Foster already referenced a Johns Hopkins study that said up to 250,000 deaths per year--and I want you to think about that number--250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error. When we are talking today about the number of deaths from the coronavirus, and saying now it has gone over 145,000, these are deaths caused by a virus. And then here, we have another opportunity, if we are using the right data, we could possibly wipe out medical errors just by having access to that data and being able to cross-reference. Mr. Foster also referenced about opiates that sometimes patients are prescribed as a way to handle the pain. Madam Speaker, I sat in the emergency room with one of my children. And a doctor said to him: We found out what you have; you do have MRSA. It is on your hip, and we are going to have to operate on you, and we are going to have to be able to try and scrape that off. Although it won't be gone forever, it will take care of the problem right now. This is what I am going to do. And he went through the procedure. He also talked about the anesthesia that he was going to use. And he said to him: Do you have any problem with anything I have told you? And my son said: No, none at all. Well, luckily, I was sitting there. I said: Well, Doctor, the fact that he is a heroin addict, would that have any effect? The doctor looked up and said: Oh, my God. Thank God you said something about it, because that would absolutely be fatal for him. Madam Speaker, it is not just happening in studies. We are seeing it on the floor all the time in our hospitals. We are seeing that somehow data that is available is not being made available because of some archaic ban. Somebody says: No, we shouldn't have access because it just doesn't make sense. It does make sense. It makes all the sense in the world. In the year 2020, and what we are looking at right now, and we are talking about finding a cure for the coronavirus and doing it in a safe and smart way, why wouldn't we be able to look at all the data that is available? Why wouldn't we be able to cross-reference it? Why would we sit in the dark and say, this is my best guess? It doesn't have to be that way. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster). This has been over 2 years trying to get this, and I feel very certain we will get it done, but this just makes sense. Quite frankly, the stuff we have been using for the last several decades it just--maybe back in 1999, when it was an issue for somebody, it made sense. Not today; not in 2020; not in the world we live in; not in the danger that we are putting people in just because we don't always have the right data in front of us. And we can do that. We have the ability to do that. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, we all have these memories of Mr. Lewis, and some of you knew him far longer and far better than I did, but I can just tell you this: The time that I spent with Mr. Lewis that I remember the most was not so much in a committee hearing or not so much on the floor, but in March of 2015 when I took my 8-year-old grandson to Selma for the 50th anniversary of crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. We started off in Birmingham and went to the Baptist church. And George, my grandson, could not understand, when we were looking at this, he was looking at some men in hoods. He said: Grandpa, who are those guys? I said: Those are the Ku Klux Klan. He said: Who are they? I said: George, these are people that you don't want to be associated with. They are haters. He said: Well, what did they do? I said: Well, this is the church they bombed, and they killed little girls that were practicing for a choir. And he goes: Why would anybody want to kill little girls? I said: Because they were filled with hate. They weren't filled with love. Now, at that same trip, Mr. Lewis was with us. Mr. Lewis was there. And I said: Mr. Lewis, I just want you to meet my grandson, George. And he stopped and he talked to George. And George said to him: Mr. Lewis, why do they have on hoods? If they are so tough and they are so brave and they are so courageous, why did they have to wear a hood? He said: George, at 8-years-old, you get it far better than some adults do. Now, we go to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and Mr. Lewis stops to take time to talk to a little boy. Not for a minute, not if you stand off to the side, son, I will get with you later on. No, he stops, he walks away from other people who were surrounding him and talking to him, and he stoops down and he talks to an 8-year-old boy to tell him how proud he is that that child is going to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with him. And as I watched that, I thought, what better example could any person give to a child than to spend that time with them. And I thought at that point, Mr. Lewis and I are both grandfathers. What an example for grandfathers, not just an example for fellow Americans, but what an example of who this man really was. And if you look on his tombstone, it is going to say born February 21, 1940; died July 17, 2020--80 years. The time between his birth and the time between his death are some of the most significant years in our country's history of someone who stopped to recognize what was going on and said: Not on my time. I will do everything I can to change this. I will go through any sacrifice. I will endure any type of pain, any type of ridicule, any type of beatings to prove a point to say, It is time. The one thing I always thought--I never, ever called him ``John'' by the way, because I just thought that would be disrespectful. Some of you know him much better than I did, so it was always ``Mr. Lewis.'' Mr. Lewis, every time I would see him, I would say: Good morning, Mr. Lewis. He would say: Good morning, my brother. We would have a subcommittee meeting, and I would say: Mr. Lewis, it was really good being with you. He would say: It was good being with you, my brother. And I say tonight, as we are here, we are not saying ``good-bye, my brother.'' We are saying, ``until we meet again, my brother.'' What a phenomenal human being and somebody who is going to be missed forever-- 80 years of being the finest example of humankind you could possibly be. Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing us to speak tonight. This is truly a family of the Committee on Ways and Means. We really do appreciate each other.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez).

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Chair, I thank Chairman Neal so much for hosting this Special Order. We truly are a family, and at times like this, that really comes out. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, the objective of this bill is to prop up the Affordable Care Act, so we want to pump money into Medicaid the program and then impose price controls on prescription drugs. H.R. 1425 lifted the provision in Speaker Pelosi's drug bill, H.R. 3, that gives the Secretary of HHS the power to set Medicare drug price controls for pharmaceutical manufacturers and use it as a pay-for. The savings from this price-setting power is meant for the expansion of the Affordable Care Act. Now, the facts are clear. Private investment in drug research and development fuels the innovation ecosystem for the new medicines. It is just that simple. Madam Speaker, the Congressional Budget Office has already determined that H.R. 3's negotiation provision would result in fewer cures. You have to be especially tone deaf to introduce legislation that punishes the very pharmaceutical companies that are going to innovate and mass- produce the vaccine the entire world is counting on to counter the spread of COVID-19. Last year, we were 80 percent of the way there on a bipartisan measure before we got sidelined by H.R. 3 and legislation just like this. Let's get back to the people's work and work together on solutions that make sense, like H.R. 19, drug legislation that would actually make it to the President's desk. Now, with all that in mind, let's talk about who it is that we are really talking for today, who it is that we represent on the people's floor, and who it is that we are looking out for because too often this becomes about November 3, 2020, and not about everyday lives back in the Districts and the folks whom we represent. I want to read a letter that I have read before because I think it really deserves to be repeated. This was sent to me in October of 2019. ``Dear Congressman Kelly: My name is Sara Stewart, and I'm from St. Petersburg, Pennsylvania. It is my understanding that the House Ways and Means Committee is having a public hearing on H.R. 3--the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019.'' This is the very H.R. 3, by the way, that is being included in H.R. 1425. ``It appears this legislation does not have bipartisan support and needs to take a more balanced approach. The balance is needed for patients like my 10-year-old daughter Maddie. ``Maddie suffers from a rare mitochondrial deletion condition called Pearson's syndrome, which is a disorder that occurs as the result of mutated genes in the body. These genes impact the mitochondria of her cells and prevent them from producing enough energy for the body to function properly. Pearson's syndrome is difficult to diagnose because it affects each individual differently. Maddie's symptoms through the years have included being blood transfusion dependent for several years, the inability to heal after sun exposure damage, becoming type 1 diabetic, progressively losing her hearing and her vision, kidney failure, and several other daily complications including developmental delays when having a body that runs on limited energy. It has been truly heartbreaking to see her endure this disease, but she continues to defy the odds.'' This child is a 10-year-old.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. ``My simple message to you, Mr. Kelly, and the rest of the committee''--and the rest of Congress--``is: There is no cure or treatments for Pearson's syndrome. Each day is a struggle to keep Maddie balanced so her body is able to better cope with symptoms of this terrible disorder. All we have, as well as many other families across the world, is hope. Please, don't let partisan bickering impact the ability of researchers to discover and innovate new therapies that could save Maddie's life one day. The clock is ticking, and Maddie is waiting.'' Madam Speaker, it simply comes down to this: if you want to develop new drugs, then don't penalize the people who develop them. Don't hold them as the bad guys when we require them. Please come up with something to address COVID-19.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Butler County's hometown newspaper, the Butler Eagle. As a life-long resident of Butler, I am proud to celebrate a special milestone for our hometown paper. For 150 years, the Butler Eagle has provided residents of Butler County with national, state, and local news that we count on. In the 60s, our family opened the Butler Eagle to see how many yards Terry Hanratty threw for or how many tackles the Saul brothers had for a loss on a Friday night. The Eagle, like many local newspapers across the country, is a big part of the community identity. These publications provide information that matters to us that larger, national news outlets do not. They tell us stories about friends and neighbors and their successes, new marriages, community events, high school sports, and so much more. We can count on the Eagle and papers like it across our great country to tell us what is happening close to home. National publications cover what one might expect: national politics, Congress, the president, and foreign affairs. While it is important to know what's going on in Washington, D.C., our system of government was designed to give local government a much larger direct impact on the lives of Americans. When local papers like the Butler Eagle cover mayors, city councils, county commissioners, and school boards, they perform a vital service that helps Americans oversee the elected officials who affect their lives far more personally than those in our nation's capital. Think about it. Our local zoning commissioners decide what we can build on our own land, or what can be built next door to us. City councils decide how much to invest in our local roads. Reporting on their decisions is crucial to functioning municipalities. Without local papers like the Butler Eagle, we would face difficulty assessing the leadership of our locally elected government officials. We would also lose a great deal of connectivity with our surroundings. Local papers provide a knowledge of and bond with our neighbors. So, as we celebrate the Butler Eagle's 150th anniversary, I thank the paper for its long record of service to the City and County of Butler, for informing us about important events in our neighborhoods, and holding elected officials accountable at all levels of government. We appreciate the many past and present reporters who take the pulse of our communities and convey their findings. In doing so, they have helped shape the identity of Butler and brought us together as a community. Best wishes for the next 150 years.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I was sitting in my office watching this debate, and I began to wonder who it is that we are actually debating against or what it is that we are debating against. I think back to the killing of Osama bin Laden when we stood together as the United States in saying this was the right thing to do at the right time because it would save lives; the only thing we regretted was that we didn't do it sooner when we had the chance to take him out, but we delayed because we weren't sure. I have gone back and read what President Obama said and he said, ``I made this decision on my own.'' Yet, today, we stand in the people's House, and we are worried more about the loss of an election in 2020 than the loss of American lives and the continued loss of lives around the world by one of the worst terrorists of all time. We sit here and try to pretend this charade is what we are concerned about. But what we are really concerned about is giving too much power to this President. This is a President who acted boldly. This is a President who carried out a strike that was so precise, so strategic, nothing else was hurt except the car in which that terrorist was riding in. Yet, we sit here today and say: Our problem in America isn't terrorists around the world. Our problem in America is that we have a President who is too damn strong. The rest of the world knows today that our enemies certainly do fear us, because they know there is a deterrent in the White House. Our friends and allies know that America will always be there, will always be there if we say we are going to be there, and we will always stand up for the values that this country has always stood for. To have this debate tonight and this resolution is not about securing America or making America safer. This is about taking powers away from the President of the United States. We can call this anything we want and say, not just this President but any President in the future. My God, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? This is the people's House and our biggest responsibility is protecting our American citizens, and we are having this debate tonight? Please, do not tell me this is about taking away the Authorization for the Use of Military Force. This is about taking away powers from the President.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, it is great to stand here today, and what a difference a day makes. It is really good to see Members on both sides of the aisle stand up and say: You know, we are really getting things done for America. I would like to say that this is a Christmas gift that is wrapped up in paper that is red, white, and blue. It is a jobs bill: 176,000 jobs, $68 billion in new revenue. And this was arrived at because, in 2016, a candidate for the Presidency made the same commitment that everybody who ever runs for the Presidency says: If I get elected, I am going to make sure that we replace NAFTA with something that makes sense for American workers. Promise made, promise kept. The 45th President of the United States has been on a tear improving this economy. Now, having said all that--and I do have friends on both sides of the aisle. I just think that sometimes when we are on the floor here, it is impossible to show that. There is a saying at Christmastime that says: Peace on Earth, and good will to men. That is not the saying. It is: Peace on Earth to men of goodwill. That is a saying we need to take here. One story I will share with you: As a child, I used to write a letter to Santa Claus every Christmas, and I would tell him everything I wanted. I would come down Christmas morning, and I never got everything I wanted, but I was sure as heck thankful for everything I got. This is a tremendous jobs bill for America. This is a tremendous accomplishment. I can't imagine anybody not voting for this. But I do want to take this opportunity to wish all of us a very Merry Christmas, and all of the people back home. For the staffs on both sides, I thank them for everything they did. This is the way that America is supposed to work and should continue to work as we end 2019 and go into 2020. It is a wonderful opportunity to show America that, on the people's floor in the House of Representatives, we can actually get things done.