Doug LaMalfa

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, last month, Health and Human Services issued a notice of violation to my home State of California that is in direct violation of the Weldon amendment, by requiring all health insurers to cover abortions in their plans. Governor Newsom has 11 days left to comply with Federal law by repealing the abortion mandate or risk losing important Federal funds. In the shadow of the 47th anniversary of Rowe v. Wade, it is important that we buck the status quo that increasingly takes human life for granted. While Governor Newsom continues to blatantly disregard people's personal and religious views, I will continue to stand here as part of the fight to make sure Americans are never forced to pay for other people's abortions. Madam Speaker, I urge Governor Newsom to quickly repeal California's abortion mandate and get back in line with the rule of law.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize February as Career and Technical Education Month. Our education system should always be tailored to prepare all students, not just those attending a 4-year college. CTE programs ensure graduates have the vocational and technical skills necessary to succeed in the future. In fact, there are 30 million jobs in the United States that pay an average of $55,000 per year that don't require bachelor's degrees. The U.S. Department of Education estimates there will be 68 percent more job openings for transportation occupational careers in the next 5 years than there are people training to fill those jobs. With opportunities like these, students shouldn't feel forced to attend one type of institution over another. Not every student is bound for college, but every student should leave high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to join today's workforce.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, it is indeed National Gun Violence Survivors Week. We all share in mourning the loss of those lives that have been taken by those filled with anger, hate, and evil. However, gun violence is a misnomer. Evil lies in the hearts of people. Guns are inanimate objects, much like this pen, which isn't going to move for the entire time I am making this speech. It is naive to believe that more gun seizures, more violations of our Second Amendment, are going to do anything other than create more victims in gun-free zones. Ask Jack Wilson, who stopped evil because he was armed in that church in Texas recently. It is naive to think that evil will be disarmed. Only the innocent will be disarmed in this continued press to have our Second Amendment violated and eliminated.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Einar Maisch for his 34 years of service to the Placer County Water Agency. Water resiliency and infrastructure are pressing needs in northern California, and Einar has devoted his career to solving these critical issues. As general manager, he worked to make PCWA the local leader in water rights by overseeing the clear and transparent budget process, increasing customer accessibility to the agency, and expanding its regional and national influence on water issues. Throughout his long tenure, Einar has always prioritized the needs and interests of the customers and the community. His work will leave a lasting impact on water planning, resiliency, and management in northern California for decades come, and the north State is very thankful for all Einar has done. Madam Speaker, I thank Einar, and I wish him the best of luck in his much-deserved and probably busier retirement. May he keep his knowledge and experience available to all of us.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow will be the culmination of a very predictable series of events. There were never 67 votes to convict the President. There was never any bipartisan support for impeachment. This contrived process was never going to be successful, and everybody knew it. When House Democrats, first in a hurry in December to get the articles through, and then after a month's delay sent the articles over to the Senate, they claimed their case was compelling and overwhelming, yet their case had zero actual evidence and was made only of opinion or speculation or third-hand comments. Then the Democrat impeachment managers asked for more witnesses in order to prove their case that they had rushed through the House. Pure hypocrisy. The same has surrounded this entire so-called process. From quid pro quo to extortion to bribery, they have continuously grasped for straws--the same straws they try to ban in California, by the way--that would make their narrative more compelling. Here we are, over 4 months since this inquiry was announced, yet they found not a way to convince Americans that the President has committed an actual crime. Once the Senate votes to acquit the President, we must get back to work and do actual things.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my support for National School Choice Week. Every American enjoys choices, and, indeed, it is the American way; yet, when it comes to educating our children, one size fits all seems to be the norm--and is even forced upon families. Every family, regardless of their background, should be able to choose an educational option that is right for the needs of their children, whether that is traditional public schools, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, or other alternatives. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that, when a family can choose a school based on their own children's needs, there is an increase in college readiness and success in life after graduation. If we expect today's students to become tomorrow's world leaders, we should give them every opportunity to learn and grow and thrive, to have choices that work for them, not for the government and not for special interests. Expanding school choice is the most viable option to prepare students for success.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, this past weekend was the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge of World War II in Europe. I rise today to honor a great lady, Jean Fernandez, who is a veteran of that historic battle and turned 100 very recently. Living to be 100 years old is an accomplishment on its own, but Jean's story is particularly remarkable. Arriving after D-Day and before the Battle of the Bulge, Jean is one of the few women veterans who was actually able to serve in that role in our Nation during World War II. During her time as a nurse at the 179th U.S. Army General Hospital at Rouen in northern France, the hospital was constantly under threat of air attack, and many of the young men she cared for were severely affected by shell shock. Had it not been for the My Life, My Story program provided by the VA, Jean's story may not have ever been told. I had the pleasure of stopping by and spending some time with her at her 100th birthday party up in Susanville, and I enjoyed hearing her recount her time in the military as well as her extraordinary life. What a neat lady. She is an exceptional American, and I am very thankful for her service and really honored to have had a chance to get to know her and spend time with her.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Newhouse for his leadership on this and for providing this time for us here this evening to be able to talk about this issue in a very real and constructive way. The ESA passed in 1973, I think with a pretty strong bipartisan effort, signed by President Nixon. It was very well intentioned at the time, as were some of the other protection measures that were put in place for air and water. As we saw the other day here with the changing of the WOTUS rule, the waters of the United States rule, over time, regulations can get out of control. They can be used for politics. They can be used for controlling people, for NIMBYism, and for no-growth and all that. I think that is really what these have expanded into. Our job is to provide oversight. Our job is to provide course corrections, to make sure the ship is on the course it was intended 40- plus years ago. The package of reforms that are being talked about by my colleagues and the bills that are being offered aren't here to gut the Endangered Species Act or to eliminate species. It is to bring back that course correction that we are looking for. Though it was signed 40 years ago, it is our job to constantly monitor it and make sure it is working. We talked earlier about that 3 percent of species that were listed that have recovered. Now, 3 percent doesn't give you a very good batting average, I think, in any league, so that would be considered a failure. It is not because of a lack of effort or lack of spending. Certainly, in my own State of California, where species have been listed, we have issues with fish, with delta smelt, with salmon, and yet trillions of gallons of water are expended flushing the delta each year to find a lower result. Only two smelt have been caught in their check traps in the last five quarters, I think. That doesn't show success, but it shows a lot of damage to the people who need that water for other purposes as well. So, let's find and focus on things that are going to be helpful to the species to be recovered and doesn't have to damage people and their livelihoods along the way. Reform is necessary to refocus the efforts of the Federal Government to help them recover more timely. One of the longtime listed in California, the valley elderberry longhorn beetle, was listed for approximately 40 years. And, yet, in 2012, the Fish and Wildlife Service was saying: Okay, we think it is time to pull that from the list. Let's do the work involved to remove it from the list because they had seen some success in that time period. An important part that we don't talk about enough is what is known as critical habitat. Critical habitat is any host plant or other vehicle for a possible endangered species that might take residence there. So the bush itself, the elderberry bush, any one of those, basically cannot be touched because it might be a potential habitat for a traveling elderberry beetle, although maybe none of them have ever been tracked in that particular area. Yet, every single bush--it is a battle. It is a fight. Now, why are we fighting over the bushes? It is because many of these grow in floodplain areas, on levees that need to be maintained, rebuilt, and upgraded. We have a lot of potential for flooding in northern California. Indeed, it wasn't so much potential as several times we have had bad floods result. And I would mention in the Yuba City-Marysville area, two very big floods in 1986 and 1997 that happened from crumbling levees. Why don't they maintain the levees? Because they can't. It is getting the permits and getting through the process and then being able to afford it by the time you have done that with all the requirements that are put on to maintain this habitat. To maintain these elderberry bushes, in this case, makes it cost prohibitive for these local levee districts to be able to do their job. So, what happens? Nothing happens. And so, in 1986 there was a giant flood, hundreds, thousands of homes in 1986. In 1997, it happened again. If the lesson wasn't learned, 11 years later in 1997, it happened again in the Yuba City-Marysville area. And at this point, three lives were lost in addition to all of that other damage. Three lives were lost needlessly because we couldn't learn the lessons and get the permits done to get the levee work done. Why does that have to be? Because of roadblocks, because of endless lawsuits and slow-moving bureaucracies that won't issue the permits and help with the funding that needs to get done. So, finally, after all that was litigated, the government had to pay approximately $400 million in damages for the losses of life and property in these floods. It is pretty disgusting. But still, every single bush is litigated as a potential for critical habitat, even though there may not ever be one of the species you are talking about, in this case the valley elderberry longhorn beetle, that might potentially use it. So what happened with the delisting in 2012? Well, they finally gave up because of litigation and about how they do the sampling of the beetle; how they do the sampling of the habitat of the beetle. They said, Well, we can't tell if it is the valley elderberry longhorn beetle or the California elderberry longhorn beetle that might be making these boreholes in the plants and in the ground there. So they just gave up and said, We are not going to delist it anymore. That is similar to the situation my colleagues were talking about with the gray wolf. You can find plenty of gray wolves all over the upper Midwest and those other States. Yet, the standard seems to be in the Endangered Species Act, you have to find two or four remaining pairs in every single county, otherwise it is still listed as endangered in California or anywhere else. The rules have gone too far. We need caps on the attorney's fees that make it not such an incentive for environmental groups to use this as a way to get paid as well as the way to stop progress, stop things that people need. So I hope this package of bills at least can be a light and example of a direction we are trying to take back to reasonableness and how the Endangered Species Act is interpreted and used; not abused, not used as a weapon, weaponized against what we need for flood control to save peoples' lives or water storage. If we are going to play the climate-change game, then we need to be able to have more of these tools available to us to store water. It would certainly help if we had more input from our local stakeholders on this who actually know how to get a project done. Finally, the Marysville-Yuba City area I was talking about, using local districts and local efforts, they did some amazing work after a lot of roadblocks were overcome. So finally, the last bit--which is up to the Army Corps of Engineers--is going to be completed in that area of rebuilding the levees and putting the slurry wall in that is going to make them much less likely to erode and blow out. In 2020, the last piece is going to be done, if the Army Corps stays on their own unique schedule. This is many years after those two floods. So I commend the great work that has been done up to this point, but how many needless years of risk in these flood zones have to happen because we can't get out of our own way because of a permit or because of somebody's interpretation of a critical habitat for a creature that doesn't even show up to these critical habitat areas? I am tired of fighting the fight against people who don't seem to care how it affects the people who they govern. And so this is, I hope, a true effort that everybody can see to reform this act into something that actually works for people, works for the species, and gets a little better batting average than 3 percent recovery rate, which is pathetic, especially for the trillions of gallons of water we lose to the delta each year, the risk we have for people in flood zones, the high cost, the loss of potential, and the anguish that all of that brings. Madam Speaker, I am glad we had this time to be able to share this with the public that is watching and our colleagues who are hopefully listening that we can reform the act and still have it pursue the goals of making the endangered species, that we talk about and care about, come off those lists because they are thriving once again. We have seen some successful examples. The bald eagles, which I can see outside the window of my home in my rice field there, that is pretty tremendous. But we have got to get our batting average up, especially when you look at what it is costing society in lost potential and, unfortunately, sometimes in lost lives. Madam Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Newhouse yielding me the time, and I appreciate his efforts on this.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I wish to commend EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler for his recent clearing up of the definition of waters of the United States, known as WOTUS, indeed, causing a lot of woe for people in my district and the Western U.S., especially. Under the 2015 definition, it seemed every puddle, every ditch, every possible water source was going to be brought under the fist of the U.S. Government. With much dismay, many farmers, ranchers, people building, and people doing simple things were unable to understand what they were supposed to do. Indeed, it was a long arm of government overreach. What we have heard since then: ``Oh, the sky is falling. This is going to roll back protections.'' These aren't protections. These are things that are way beyond the scope of what government should be doing. It limited the scope of rivers and large streams and our oceans. So with all of ``the sky is falling'' you are hearing, no, it isn't anything like that. Indeed, it is putting it back into more equitable space. What this rule does is, indeed, end the confusion and ends the Federal overreach and helps us get back to business and still protect the environment.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the Cole-McCarthy amendment that would ensure the President can protect the United States and our ally, Israel.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to shed some light on how slow this urgent impeachment process really unfolded. The missile crawler-transporter used to transfer the NASA spacecraft to the launch pad travels at a rate of about 5,000 feet per hour. The slowest animal on Earth, the three-toed sloth, can travel at a speed of 792 feet per hour. The California banana slug can travel at 240 feet per hour, amazingly enough. It is approximately 610 feet from the House desk to the Senate desk. It took 28 days for Speaker Pelosi to send the articles to the Senate at a rate of about 11 inches per hour. Mr. Speaker, House Democrats never thought this was an urgent matter of national security, as was stated. Urgent matters don't move at 11 inches per hour. Indeed, there was time to use about a dozen different souvenir pens to sign the document one letter at a time yesterday. The dishonesty, the misdirection of House Democrats surrounding this impeachment process--well, the American public has had 28-plus days to figure this out. Thankfully, the Senate is going to take up the USMCA today before they get balled up for the next several weeks dealing with this impeachment disaster. Mr. Speaker, I hope they have a fair trial and treat the President correctly in this process.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), my colleague, and also Chris Smith for his tireless leadership on this. In the 47 years since Roe v. Wade, more than 60 million unborn children's lives have ended too soon. Life is the most fundamental human right, and I believe that life begins at conception. Science continues to build a case for this, and as technology develops, women are getting a clearer view of the lives of their babies when they go to the doctor's office. At just 6 weeks, an ultrasound can detect a child's heartbeat. At 20 weeks, a baby, we know, can feel pain in the womb. Unfortunately, many States still allow abortions after this stage. There is no fooling anyone anymore on this. These are true lives inside the womb, not just clumps of cells. Science and medicine make clear that life exists in the womb. If this is true, as I believe it is, those 60 million unborn babies deserved to have the most basic right, the right to live. Mr. Speaker, I thank all those pro-life freedom fighters who will be here this month at the March for Life and those who are doing it at home in their communities, at those clinics, at those pro-life centers. They have to endure a lot of harsh rhetoric from people on the other side of this. They, indeed, are doing the Lord's work. May God bless them, and I thank them for being part of this.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, today being his actual birthday, 91 years ago, in 1929. Dr. King has become synonymous with the civil rights movement and the right to ensure each and every one of us is treated equally, regardless of our background and upbringing. His strong Christian beliefs helped him inspire positive social change through peaceful protests and demonstrations. In a nation plagued by identity politics, his pursuit of liberty is as relevant now as it was during the 1960s. Dr. King demonstrated to the world that it is not the color of a person's skin that mattered but, rather, the nature of their character. Indeed, it is one of my favorite quotes and one to live by. The work of Dr. King is not yet done. He remains a shining example of the right way to lead, the right way to peacefully protest, and the right way to inspire. I look forward to joining the celebration at the Southside Community Center in Oroville, California, this coming Monday, where his legacy is celebrated and even brought forward by scholarships for the young people who will be there.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. In my home State of California, human trafficking is a massive and dangerous industry, with 375 reported cases of trafficking involving minors in 2018. This must end. That is why I am a cosponsor of H.R. 836, the Interdiction for the Protection of Child Victims of Exploitation and Human Trafficking Act, introduced by my colleague, Mr. McCaul from Texas. This bill would establish a pilot program to provide training to Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers on identifying child victims of trafficking, exploited children, and missing children. Indeed, the cues are out there, if we can see them. If our law enforcement is able to identify victims of human trafficking more quickly, it would lead to a safer environment, and identifying them a lot sooner would save more of the individuals. Our most vulnerable populations need our help in order to keep them safe from this truly heinous and disgusting crime.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to honor a good friend and a great leader in Shasta County, Sheriff Tom Bosenko, who served 40 years with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, 14 years as sheriff. He has worked in nearly every division of the sheriff's office, including patrol operations, school resource officer, SWAT, antigang enforcement, and the canine unit. Importantly, he was at the helm of the sheriff's office when the historic Carr fire hit last year. I can't thank him enough for keeping order and calm in directing people in a positive fashion during that time. Madam Speaker, he is a four-time recipient of the Best in the North State's Best Elected Official award. He has worn his badge with honor, never backing down from what needs to be done and shouldering the burden of keeping the community safe. I saw him everywhere I went during my time visiting around in the district there. He is a community guy. Madam Speaker, as a motorcycle lover, I think Tom will ride his Harley-Davidson right into retirement. He is, in retirement, still a fierce defender of our Second Amendment rights. Madam Speaker, I thank Tom for his unwavering service to the community, the people of the north State, and his example. He will be missed, certainly, but I know his successor, Sheriff Eric Magrini, will do well under Tom's tutelage. I appreciate him, and may God bless him.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, tonight, I rise to celebrate a dear man in northern California from the town of Palo Cedro in Shasta County. George Stevens celebrated his 100th birthday on December 28. Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure of being able to stop by and spend time with George and his family at the event at the Palo Cedro Community Center, to celebrate with him and recognize, also, his service to our country, which is pretty amazing. George is a Pearl Harbor survivor. He was there in the Army at the base there during the Pearl Harbor attack. Later, if that wasn't enough, he ended up being deployed to Europe, where he was at the Normandy invasion later on in 1944. And if that wasn't enough, a few months later in the winter, he fought at the Battle of the Bulge. None of us would have the freedom we have if it weren't for people like George and all of his comrades who were there in that war preserving freedom for us and so many others with that sacrifice. He is a true patriot, a great American, and he is a guy that still drives and does his home repairs around his place there in Palo Cedro. Mr. Speaker, we are really proud of George and wish him a happy birthday. I am glad I got to spend time with him and his family.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to commend President Trump for his actions in dealing with Iran. The White House has shown restraint up to this point, since Iran has been a bad actor going all the way back to 1979, one of the largest sponsors of terror the world has ever seen. The President has been patient, and, finally, with the actions recently at the embassy, took that step to eliminate General Soleimani, which was needed in order to not only send a message but stop a lot of the carnage. Moving forward, we hope for and wish for true freedom for the people of Iran so that they would be able to live more like they did pre-1979, with the freedom, especially for women, to associate as they please. This is not about regime change, and it is not about wanting to start a war. It is about, indeed, helping our neighbors and our colleagues in the Middle East to have stability from the state sponsor of terror.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, last night we were in the twilight zone, and now we are in a parallel universe today. Very interesting what we are doing here. I come from the high-tax State of California, where we bear the cost of so many tax increases from Sacramento. So all we are doing here is justifying the increase in the car tax, the increase in the gas tax, and spending the money on a dead high-speed rail project, the increase from a mysterious gas tax, and the cap-and-trade tax. All we are going to do here is reward bad behavior in California and five or six other high-tax States. Instead, let's get back on track with doing things that cause jobs to happen, as the bill that our Democrat colleagues don't like. They didn't like Proposition 13, which has saved homes in California. They have been complaining about it ever since it was passed. Now they are trying to eviscerate Prop 13 and raise taxes on businesses. This will justify that ability to do that. Don't send a message that they can raise taxes in California or other States any more by what happens in this place.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, ready, fire, aim. What we are hearing today are made-up articles to fit an ever- shrinking impeachment foothold. George Washington could be impeached under this criteria. Democrats believe they are saving our democracy with these hysterical, made-up charges, which is odd because we are a republic, not a democracy, as they keep insisting. No one came to Congress to impeach, we hear. Several new and returning Members have come specifically to impeach President Trump. I hear a lot today about sadness and solemnity. From impeachment? No, because their candidate lost in 2016. The American people chose Donald J. Trump to lead us into prosperity, not a socialist government. We will survive this day, but I call upon the American people to see through this sham, heal, and unite by speaking the truth.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, our Democratic colleagues have spent the last few months claiming there was clear criminal conduct from the President, but they don't specifically cite the crime in their Articles of Impeachment, which we are voting on tomorrow. The Intelligence Committee chairman, Mr. Schiff, said there was clear extortion, but extortion is not a direct crime they are accusing the President of in the articles tomorrow. The Speaker herself has decided to use the term ``bribery'' over the last few weeks, but that is not explicitly cited in the articles either. It seems like my colleagues across the aisle may have pulled back in accusing the President of bribery in the last week, realizing they couldn't enforce it. So what is it then? Collusion, quid pro quo, or just some vague catchall charge, which is what we are seeing. It is clear the American people are not in favor of this impeachment. Polling shows that they are moving against that. But what about polling? Indeed, Democrats know this isn't going to stick. This is going to be a problem for them, especially for those in the moderate districts. Let's get back to work and do what needs to be done around here.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Something needs to be underlined here. In this area here of a divided Congress, a divided country, this has been a unique opportunity to have a true bipartisan solution to a longtime, decades-old problem. I am proud of the work. Many of us have been able to get in the room as Members and as staff over many months and come to an agreement that is a pretty darn good solution for an ongoing problem. This isn't a border bill. This isn't a DACA bill. It is not a fence bill or an amnesty bill. This is a narrow bill having to do with having a stable workforce for agriculture in this country. I come from California, and many of the crops are very labor intensive. I am farmer myself, but I don't benefit from this bill. I don't need that kind of labor, but just so it is disclosed. But so many crops that come from California and others like the truck crops, the intensely labor needful crops, would disappear. We will end up importing them from somewhere else if we don't have this workforce continue. This bill makes for a legal workforce, a documented workforce. Why wouldn't we want that? But heaven knows, you say the word ``amnesty,'' people go running for the hills, running for cover. This is not an amnesty bill. How could it be when it has benchmarks for the certified ag workers to come in to be vetted before they get that certification and to have benchmarks to become a legal permanent resident? Yes, at the very far end, there is an opportunity for citizenship. The way the process works, it would probably take 18 to 20 years to accomplish. For those who are really concerned about it being a handout for citizenship or whatever, it still is a steep hill. Also, by and large, most American people would look at these ag workers as pretty good people. They are not perfect. There are issues here and there. But they are providing a needed service that I don't see a lot of Americans willing to do, not in this age of Xbox and all these other things where nobody is willing to go outside. I have worked a lot of years myself in the heat and the Sun, and it is not even as tough as some of the other crops. But for what we are talking about, we really need to move forward. This will help our dairies, which need year-round labor. We are losing our dairies in California. We are going to lose dairies in our country. Let's talk about the workers themselves for a moment. How humane is it, the process by which they have to come across the border, pay these people horrendous amounts of money, with the issues that they are subject to in coming across? No, we don't want that. We don't want them coming across illegally. We want them coming across with a certificate that they have been vetted. This bill has E-Verify in it. How big of a thing is that for Republicans, for conservatives, for people across the country? When this is phased in, we will have a very good process for verifying who it is that is coming in to do this work. We desperately need the labor. It has been a long process. It will be a long process to continue to bring the labor force in. I think if we want to be here 10 years from now still dealing with this, then let's vote ``no'' on this bill. But if we want to make a solution, this is one that we can get right now in this atmosphere in D.C.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, earlier tonight, the Democrat leadership of this House put to the floor a resolution, H. Res. 546, to state that Russia should not be allowed to officially rejoin the G7. That resolution calls out the President's desire to reengage with Russia in the G7 in an attempt to put Republican Members in the House in a false debate between supporting the President and supporting Ukraine's sovereignty. Madam Speaker, there is no debate, at least not in the Republican Conference. As we all have voted before: Russia must restore Ukraine's borders; The United States must continue to provide military aid to Ukraine to withstand Russian aggression; The United States must continue to assist our European allies in resisting Russian influence; and The United States must continue to sanction the irresponsible regime of Vladimir Putin. In all these policies, President Trump has actually gone further than President Obama: sanctions have increased; military aid has been elevated to include lethal weapons. I strongly support the President's policies to continue to support Ukraine and counter the Russian bear. Madam Speaker, NATO--where the President is over, today, working in London and remarked that NATO has become stronger--did not become a strong alliance by having the House of Representatives constantly undercut the Commander in Chief.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, my colleague from Virginia, on the other side of the aisle, just gave my speech. The USMCA is a very important document, a very important measure, that we need to pass without delay. Our trade with Mexico and Canada, our two most important trade partners in the world, needs to be secure so that we can start doing more business with them. It will be great for much in agriculture, our dairies, forestry, auto parts, and California wine to have the stability of this. It will also show the rest of the world that we are ready to do business and negotiate better deals with Japan, China, and others. Let's get this done. Let's not have the USMCA vote held up any longer or have it become leverage for other things. I ask Speaker Pelosi to please bring this to the floor because I think we can get many votes on both sides of the aisle and pass this right away.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, last week after many months of hard work by staff and Members here in a bipartisan fashion, amazingly in this atmosphere here, we introduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act legislation. This will really clean up the process for ag labor in this country, something desperately needed. It will be better for the workers, better for the farmers, and much better for the rule of law. With the problems we have on our border, the problems with immigration as it is these days, at least the ag worker section will be able to be much better monitored and much better regulated, and indeed, much better off for the workers themselves not having to live in the shadows. This legislation modernizes the H-2A program. It stabilizes wages, institutes a merit-based system for ag workers to eventually earn legal status after years of proven work and consistent employment in the U.S. ag industry. So when you look at the whole package here, where we stand right now with the disarray in nonofficial status that we have, this is going to be a vast improvement, and I urge people to get behind that.

Mr. LaMALFA

Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, after several weeks in the secrecy of the basement of this building, the impeachment process has moved upstairs, and it doesn't look a whole lot better in the light of day. Chairman Schiff has made it pretty much a one-man show and continues to deny a due process that you would normally see in a court of law, with bipartisan input. In other modern impeachment examples, you have seen input from both sides. We are not seeing that here. We have this really ugly display going on of a partisan witch hunt against President Trump. Nothing has changed by coming upstairs. It doesn't look any better under the light of the cameras. The star witnesses brought today, indeed, are not stars at all. They weren't even present on the call between the President of the United States and the Ukrainian President. Indeed, what we have is a sham. It needs to stop because it is dividing our country and dividing our ability to get anything accomplished in this place for the American people.