Jake LaTurner

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, last year, Congress set aside $8 billion in the CARES Act for Tribal Governments to spend on pandemic-related expenses. However, much of this $8 billion was held up in litigation and distributed to Tribes only 4 short months ago, more than a year after the funds were originally appropriated. This money is supposed to be used by December 31, 2021, about 3 weeks from today. But it is irresponsible to expect Tribal Governments to spend all this money within a few months of receiving it. This bill would extend the deadline an additional year, giving Tribes more time to responsibly allocate these funds and best serve their people. I thank my colleagues, Representative Young of Alaska and Representative Cole of Oklahoma, for their efforts in working on this matter. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), who is the dean of the House.

Mr. LaTURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson).

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to thank a member of my staff for her tireless service to my district and our state. Whitney Tempel began her time working for the constituents of the Kansas Second Congressional District as an intern in 2017, and joined my team as a district representative when I was first sworn in. Each and every day, Whitney advocates for my constituents in every aspect of her job from grant applications to passport requests. Just this summer, I know that lives were saved in Afghanistan because of Whitney's perseverance and diligence in securing safe travel out of Kabul. This week is Whitney's last with my office, and while we are sad to lose her, I will always be grateful for her work and look forward to seeing the great things she has in store.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill to name a Brooklyn, New York, post office in honor of lifelong resident Joseph Lentol. Joseph Lentol is a former New York Assembly member who followed in the steps of his father and grandfather. He has been a strong advocate for criminal justice reform, serving on the Governor's Commission on Sentencing Reform, and is on the board of the New York State Public Defenders Association. Joseph serves as a role model to those in Brooklyn and beyond by interacting with and supporting his local community. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, agency guidance serves an important function in the Federal regulatory system. Agency guidance helps regulated parties and the public understand how agencies will interpret the laws and administer their programs. However, agency guidance can be--and has been--abused. For example, agencies can use guidance documents to intimidate small businesses and individuals into compliance with agency views, sometimes under the threat of enforcement action. Small businesses and ordinary individuals often do not have the legal resources or necessary background to understand when an agency statement is binding law. It can be difficult for them to determine what agency statements must be complied with versus what is merely a nonbinding description of an agency's views on which they can push back. Agencies have been known to try to start enforcement actions based on mere guidance. Agencies also have been known to attempt to issue binding rules by quietly slipping what they intend to be rules in guidance documents. This clearly bypasses the Administrative Procedure Act's requirements that were put in place to protect regulated individuals and small businesses. The courts coined the term ``nonrule rule'' to describe this Big Government sleight of hand. And the courts have rightly struck down such rules that only appeared in agency guidance. The Guidance Clarity Act offers a simple solution to these problems. It requires agency guidance documents to include the following explicit statement: ``The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and do not, of themselves, bind the public or the agency. ``This document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.'' With that stroke of the pen, gone will be the days in which agencies can use guidance documents to force small businesses and individuals to comply with nonbinding agency views. Gone, too, will be the days of agencies trying to issue nonrule rules that bypass the Administrative Procedure Act's requirement for legislative rules. I thank the sponsor of the bill, the ranking member of the Small Business Committee, Blaine Luetkemeyer, who has worked tirelessly on this bill since it was first introduced. I thank Chairwoman Maloney for her speedy efforts to help make passage of this bill a bipartisan success. And I also thank Senator James Lankford and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Gary Peters for their critical efforts to achieve a bipartisan compromise on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer).

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Guidance Clarity Act, small business owners and individuals across the country will soon have confidence that agency guidance, however helpful and clarifying it may be, is not legally binding. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this necessary bipartisan legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1170, which would name a post office after Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Friend, one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. Lieutenant Colonel Friend was a fighter pilot for 2 years during World War II, and destroyed critical Nazi military assets, bolstering the United States. He also served in Korea and Vietnam. After retiring from the military, he studied astrophysics and business at the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill to name a post office in Boulder, Colorado after Officer Eric Talley. Officer Talley served as a police officer in Boulder for 11 years before being killed during a mass shooting at a local grocery store, King Soopers, in Boulder, Colorado, on March 25, 2021. Officer Talley was the first police officer to arrive at the scene, and one of ten individuals who would be killed that day. He left behind a wife and seven children, who our hearts go out to. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill in honor of an American hero, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill in honor of an American hero, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill to name a post office after the late Representative Benjamin Arthur Gilman. Congressman Gilman was a Republican Member who represented New York between 1973 and 2003. During his time in Congress, he served as the chairman of the Committee on International Relations. He was also part of the congressional delegation to the United Nations and a member of the Ukraine Famine Commission. In 2000, he helped establish the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program at the State Department. The scholarship provides financial support to undergraduate students with limited financial means so they can study or intern abroad. Congressman Gilman was an important and impactful Member of Congress. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill to name a post office in Winchester, Virginia, after Patsy Cline. Patsy began singing and performing at events in the Winchester area from a young age. Her childhood home in Winchester was designated as a historic place in 2011 and draws visitors from around the world. This post office would further honor the memory of her. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill. I also heard a rumor that the chairwoman of the committee will be singing a Patsy Cline song in her closing. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill which would name a post office in Biloxi, Mississippi for Robert Stanton McKeithen. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, McKeithen enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Following his military service, he became a police officer in Biloxi. He was one of 13 Biloxi police officers to earn the Medal of Valor for his rescue efforts following Hurricane Katrina. Sadly, after 24 years of service as a police officer, he was shot and killed in the line of duty on May 5, 2019. He was only months away from retirement. He left behind his wife, a daughter, two stepsons, and one stepdaughter. As a law enforcement officer, Robert McKeithen served his community with honor, and I support naming a post office in his memory. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Palazzo).

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill which would name a Kansas post office after Captain Emil Kapaun, an Army chaplain during World War II. Captain Kapaun was an ordained Catholic priest and later served as an auxiliary chaplain in the U.S. Army where he ministered to American troops in the Burma and India theaters during World War II. In 1950 he was mobilized to support the Korean conflict and was captured by Chinese forces during the Battle of Unsan. As a POW he helped find food, cared for the sick, and led prayers and spiritual services for the other POWs. He died of illness and maltreatment on May 23, 1951. In 1993 Pope John Paul II declared Captain Kapaun to be a Servant of God, and he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama in 2013. I want to thank my colleague and fellow Kansan, Congressman Tracey Mann, for all his work on this project. Naming a post office after Captain Kapaun is a small way we can honor this patriot and son of Kansas for his service to our Nation. I might add that, as a Kansan, I am very proud of this, but as a Catholic, as well. We hope that it is soon Saint Kapaun. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Mann).

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill naming a post office after Captain Emil Kapaun in Herington, Kansas--although he was from Pilsen, a community of less than 100 people which has a beautiful Catholic church but no post office--so a post office in Herington after Captain Emil Kapaun. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which would name an Ohio post office for World War II veterans John Leahr and Herbert Heilbrun. The Tuskegee Airmen in World War II were tasked with escorting American bomber groups flying over enemy territory. I strongly support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup).

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of energy producers across our country and especially in my home State of Kansas. Over the past 9 months the Biden administration has put American energy producers on the back burner. Kansans are already paying over 40 percent more at the pump than they were last year, and yet my colleagues across the aisle want to ram through a reckless $3.5 trillion spending spree that would lead to the largest tax increase on working families and small businesses in decades. There is a laundry list of bad policy in this spending spree, including the Clean Electricity Performance Program, a Federal takeover of our Nation's electricity. This $150 billion program would dictate how we power our homes, businesses, and everyday lives. Democrats want to mandate energy providers to distribute a certain amount of renewable energy to their customers. Those who comply will get grants from the Department of Energy, while those falling short would have to pay fees to the Federal Government. This plan is absolutely ridiculous and will only make energy more expensive, undermine our grid reliability, and make our Nation even more dependent on Communist China. As these massive Democrat spending sprees continue to make their way through committees and eventually to the House floor, I will continue to fight for Kansas energy producers. Our focus needs to be encouraging domestic energy production across the country, having a robust energy portfolio, and ending our reliance on foreign energy. Democrats seem to think it is impossible to have affordable, bountiful, and innovative energy while also having clean air and water. That is simply not true. Oil and gas produced here in the United States is among the cleanest and safest in the world. It is time to end the assault on our energy producers and return to American energy independence.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the Women's Health Protection Act, or more accurately, the abortion on demand until birth act. This legislation imposes on-demand abortion until birth, meaning anyone can have an abortion for any reason up until the day the baby is born. Republicans, and as hard as it is to believe now, at one point even some Democrats, have been fighting for pro-life protections for decades. This bill removes nearly all protections for the unborn at the State and Federal level and allows babies to be aborted just based on the baby's sex, race, and disability. Since day one of the Biden administration, Democrats have made it their goal to push a radical pro-choice agenda, and this bill is no exception. For months, Democrats have been encouraging taxpayer-funded abortions in the United States and even going as far as limiting healthcare access to babies that survive abortions. My colleagues and I standing up here tonight are not the only ones who agree that this bill is wrong for our country. The Democrats' radical agenda is extremely out of touch with the majority of Kansans in my district. In fact, over 80 percent of Americans agree that abortion should be illegal in the third trimester. I am proud to be a member of the Pro-Life Caucus where we are pushing back to help ensure every baby is protected under the law and to be a voice for the millions of pro-life Americans who will not rest until the sanctity of life is protected. As my Democrat colleagues continue to advance their radical and immoral pro-choice agenda, my constituents can be assured that I will always unapologetically defend the most vulnerable among us, the unborn. And may God help us all in this effort.

Mr. LaTURNER

Mr. LaTURNER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the service of a fellow Kansan, and the man who handed me my college diploma-- Pittsburg State University President Steve Scott. Like myself, President Scott is a proud child of Cherokee County in Southeast Kansas. He first graduated from Pittsburg State in 1973, then went on to serve as a faculty member, department chair, dean, vice president of academic affairs, and provost before assuming the presidency in 2009. His leadership has defined our university and community for the entirety of his service, and his time at the helm of Pittsburg State will leave an imprint for years to come. I am personally indebted to his example and mentorship in my own life, and I know that countless other Gorillas would say the same. While I am sure President Scott will now be able to enjoy some well- deserved rest along with his wife Cathy and their grandkids, I am equally certain that he will continue teaching and serving the citizens of Pittsburg and Southeast Kansas in whatever he does next.