Cory Mills

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding those 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I want to approach a couple of things here. We keep talking about the idea that our presence and these 900 people in Somalia are somehow leading to a stabilization effort. However, the reality is this: When was our actual presence required for stabilization as opposed to counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operational tactics? We talk about the threats, but the real threat is China, which is existential to all of us. We allow them to go into Ghana, into the Ashanti belt, and completely pillage resources with no U.S. response. Where were our 900 troops that were there to help with this stabilization when our greatest adversary was there robbing and pillaging? By the way, where are we with regard to: If we are there to fight and combat Al-Shabaab, then why are we not taking a greater presence when it comes to the oil resource protection in Lake Turkana out in Kenya? It is a place I know very well because I spent time in Nairobi and also in Karen. We continue to try to act as if we are stabilizers, but do we not remember what took place in Libya, where we actually helped with supporting the destabilization that now has led to the Misrata militia, the Sirte militia, and further economic turmoil? Mr. Speaker, you can't point to a single agenda, whether it was Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia, or whether it was Libyan support--you can't point to a single one where our presence has actually led to greater stability. What it has led to is more U.S. lives being lost, more economic deficiency for America, and more of us trying to be the world's police and creating more adversaries and enemies throughout the world stage. Again, I continue to ask the same question to every one of my colleagues on the left and the right: How does our presence actually strengthen us from stabilization, provide us stronger allies, and give us the actual economic strength that we need to outpace China, which is our greatest existential threat? How does this 2001 AUMF that is being misused and abused for an open, carte blanche of warfare support America's goals?

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act. Under the Biden administration, American families are facing skyrocketing bills and rising costs of everyday goods. I see this and experience this every day as I talk to the constituents of Florida's Seventh District. By no fault of their own, they are struggling to put food on the table, gas in their cars, and to pay their bills. I thank our leadership and I thank Speaker McCarthy for bringing this important piece of legislation to the floor to help ease the burden many Americans feel by lowering costs. Not only will H.R. 1 lower energy costs, but it will also streamline our energy infrastructure and make us more competitive on the global stage as we are losing and being outpaced by adversarial nations, such as China and Russia. President Biden has waged a war, but not on our adversaries, on American energy, and he has made us more reliant on the adversarial nations I mentioned before, Russia and China. This administration has made us dependent upon our aggressors and weaker than ever, but no more. This legislation will get us one step closer to becoming energy independent and then dominant by increasing exports of American energy. It is time to restore our position on the world stage and ease the burden on every American family. I thank you so much for this opportunity. I am in strong, strong support of this.

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to state the obvious: There is no room for woke ideologies, sexualization of our children, and CRT in our classrooms. The legislation before us makes a few things clear, but the main point is this: Parents' rights matter. American citizens rose up and demanded a seat at the table when it comes to their child's education and curriculum, and they did that by electing a GOP majority in the House. I thank our leadership for bringing this legislation to the floor, and as a father, I want to make it a priority that we state that parents can and should protect their children. This bill ensures parents have a voice. It is time to show the American people we stand with parents, not educational bureaucrats who want to restrict our understanding and visibility of the issues. These parents are not to be labeled as domestic terrorists. They are proud parents who want their children to succeed and not to be indoctrinated. Mr. Chair, I stand in great support of H.R. 5.

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force licensed the executive branch to conduct broad military operations, and Congress has disregarded its constitutional oversight powers as a result. Repealing these outdated AUMFs restores Congress' constitutional check on executive fiat. The United States military forces are present in the Middle East pursuant to an Authorization for Use of Military Force that was enacted more than 20 years ago. At that time, Congress did not conceive that these authorizations would sanction an endless military commitment. The United States is not the world's policeman, and it is incredibly unwise to promote this level of involvement in international disputes. However, Democrat and Republican Presidents alike have abused the powers of war granted under the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs, and Congress must act to reign back the executive branch's war authorities. Further, continuing to dump trillions of dollars into these endless wars is irresponsible, runs contrary to American economic and security interests, and unnecessarily places American lives in jeopardy. It is clear that the basis for the AUMFs currently in force have long expired, and Congress must fulfill its constitutional responsibility and ensure we are conducting proper oversight of the executive branch's military operations. Now, I hear my colleagues on the left talking about leaving the Kurds and withdrawals, but yet, I note these are the exact same individuals that their party argues that it was time to withdraw from Afghanistan and leave our allies and Americans behind, something I know about, since I am the only Member of Congress who actually conducted the first overland rescue of Americans out of Afghanistan after they were left behind. I also note that these are the same people saying that pulling away is going to increase ISIS' presence. Is this not the exact same government that said that nation building was a great strategy for Iraq? Is this not the same government who utilized and helped to implement the 2005 Iraq Constitution that implemented Article 76 that sets forth a sectarian democracy giving rise to Iran's political stronghold? I have spent 7 years of my life in Iraq, almost 3 years in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Pakistan, northern Somalia, been blown up twice in 2006, a Bronze Star recipient, and a proud combat veteran. I can tell you that in the 20-plus years that we served in Iraq and Afghanistan, had it been a counterterrorism operation or counterinsurgency strategy, I could have fully gotten behind that. But we continue to play political football, and that is exactly what the dangers of AUMFs are. They allow people to basically do carte blanche with warfare, and that is not the intent. In fact, I would argue that we have already lost the advantage, and we should be refocusing our efforts on what is happening at our southern border, where just a day ago, we had two Americans who were killed by what I would consider to be a worthy adversary, which is the cartels. So we sit here today, and I am not going to talk about the arguments of the $86 billion that we left behind when we talk about the ISIS buildup. Let's talk about the ISIS buildup. What about ISIS-Khorasan? What about the Haqqani network? What about the Taliban, who has $86 billion in weapons, armament, defense products, millions of dollars of pallets of cash? They are now the closest to being a true caliph with an actual sovereignty in its borders and a recognized government. That is who we need to be concerned with. When I went to Afghanistan, I thought it was to help to fight from this becoming a safe haven of terrorism. Instead, we have actually promoted, funded, trained, and actually made it a safe haven of terrorism. The American people are not about endless wars. The American people are about us being involved in things that we have control over. Unfortunately, due to the political football and the fact that it was the suits, not the boots, making the decisions, we have no clear military objective, and that is why this has continued to be a failure.

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Madam Speaker, I come to the floor today to honor Stewart McNally, a United States Army veteran who sadly passed away last summer. Before he began his honorable service in the United States Army in the late 1960s, Stewart was the captain of the Arthur Hill Tech football team and went on to work at GM shortly after graduating. He served honorably, and after his service in uniform, he came to Florida in my district to begin another kind of service, his family. He moved to Florida's Seventh to take care of his elderly father, another civil servant, who served in the United States Army during World War II. His friends and family remember him as a loyal friend with a great sense of humor. He loved to cycle, fish, and run in his free time. Stewart is survived by his son, Jacob, and I am honored to help celebrate his life and incredible service to the United States of America.

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Madam Speaker, I come to the floor today to talk about a very special constituent from Florida's Seventh Congressional District. Eugene Henleben was born in St. Louis 100 years ago on February 7. He served our great Nation on a PT boat during the Second World War and on an aircraft carrier in the Korean war. After the war, Eugene moved to Chicago where he met his beautiful wife. They married in 1950 and had three children they raised in Glenview, Illinois. He spent most of his civilian career working as an engineer, and in 1992, he moved to the great city of Longwood, Florida, where he has lived ever since. Today, I am honored to recognize Eugene's service to our country and celebrate an incredible milestone in his life. Our Nation's veterans are the backbone of this country. To Eugene, I say thank you for your incredible service and your sacrifice in the two wars that you fought for this Nation. I wish you many more years to come with your family, and I thank you for your time and your dedication.

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a saddened occasion to talk about a son, a brother, a husband, father, soldier, agent, and friend, truly beloved by so many whose lives he touched. Alberto Bhoge was born February 12, 1984, and honorably served in the U.S. Army Reserves from February 2010 to September 2014. During his time serving honorably in uniform, he deployed to Afghanistan in April 2010 until February 2011 with C Company 478th Civil Affairs Battalion. If serving wasn't enough to dedicate your life and be willing to die for this Nation, he took his uniform off and continued his service in the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he protected our country through his civil service. Alberto passed on January 17, 2023, and is survived by his wife, who also serves with the FBI, and their two children. Mr. Speaker, I ask that everyone here today join me in praying for his family, friends, and all those who cared for Berto. We love you. God bless. Airborne.

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Madam Speaker, today, I want to introduce myself not just to the great people of Florida's Seventh District but to the rest of America. While I may not be in your district and your exact Representative, if you believe in our constitutionality, if you believe in the rights, liberties, and freedoms in which American exceptionalism once excelled in, then I will be your Representative. I came from a very humble upbringing. I grew up in a small town called Auburndale, Florida, in central Florida. My mother and father both suffered from drug and substance issues. They were in and out of prison nearly all of my life--my father spent nearly 30 years, my mother spent nearly 7 years. I bounced house to house until I was finally adopted and taken in by my grandparents. That is a very humbling experience for me, not just because so many Americans today are suffering from these things, but to also understand that I can hear your plight. Also, I understand the significant importance of being a nuclear family member. My grandparents didn't have much. My grandfather was a welder, my grandmother used to do hair on the back patio for women in the community. We lived on very little after my grandfather's disability. But the one thing that we always had was our love, our faith, and this Nation. I went on to serve in the 82nd Airborne and as a member of the Joint Special Operations Command, to serve honorably in our Armed Forces, and to be a Bronze Star recipient. My socioeconomic status and how I was born into what family did not define who I am. That is something very rare in this world. That is something that only exists here in America. I have been honored and blessed to create tremendous businesses with my wife, where we have gone on to serve over 200 of our law enforcement departments: SRT, HRT, the FDLE, the Department of Corrections, as well as for our members of the Armed Forces. In my family, we truly believe in the ideas of defend, not defund our men and women in blue, and that matters to us. I would just add that as I stand here, willing to serve yet again in a new uniform, I want you to know that accountability, transparency, and accessibility to your Members should be a top priority. That also means accountability for the wrongdoings of our Federal Government, whether it is the overstepping of State's rights and individual rights and the violations of the 10th amendment, or whether it is getting accountability for the wrongdoings of open borders, a failed Afghan withdrawal, and the America-last policies that have threatened our energy independence. Madam Speaker, I know something about these failed withdrawals. When Congressman Ronny Jackson from Texas reached out to me, he had a mother, Miriam, with three children, a 15-year-old boy, an 11-year-old little girl, and a 2-year-old little girl. They were left behind in Afghanistan after the Biden administration chose to abandon Bagram Air Base to hand over to the Chinese, that enabled over 40,000 Taliban, Haqqani, and ISIS Khorasan to be released from their detention centers, but it also shut down the commercial flights that many Americans had planned on using to return home. This mother and her three children only wanted to do one thing, return back home to America. When Ronny Jackson called the Department of Defense and the Department of State under this Biden administration, they failed to answer the call. That is why when he called me, we put together a great team that went over, and after 11 days and three failed attempts, the Biden administration not only threatened to shoot down an aircraft of Americans, which was a November aircraft that was there to save other Americans, but he thwarted us in three other efforts. The great thing about America is that we are not defined by the minority, which is our Federal Government. We are defined by the voice of the American people, which is the majority that cannot be silenced. That is why after 11 days, multiple attempts, and crossing into impermissible environments, we were able to rescue and conduct the very first successful overland rescue of Americans out of Afghanistan and return that mother and her three children back and they finished out their school year. Madam Speaker, the one thing I believe in is action. While I take this time to speak before you today, I want you to know that that is not what the American people are about--politicians speaking, but acting. When it came to the 2020 riots, we didn't sit back and ask to defend and dismantle our law enforcement. My wife and I, we stood strong as we donated hundreds of thousands of dollars and less lethal goods to defend our law enforcement, our communities, their businesses, and their homes. If I have learned nothing in my time in the military as a combat veteran, as a businessowner, as a foreign policy expert, and as an American, it is that it is time for action.

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, I had prepared a speech today to talk about my support for H.R. 22 and the protection of our Strategic Petroleum Reserves. But after hearing my colleagues on the left, it is very simple. They don't care about unleashing American energy, us getting to energy dominance, to ensuring that we have the global currency. They care about defending the Chinese and the CCP. That is why they have continued to try and prevent us from being able to sell our strategic petroleum reserves from China. That is why they tried to stop us from putting together a subcommittee that would have been a select subcommittee to go after the CCP and their malign activities. Mr. Speaker, it is very clear. They do not want to go to an America- first agenda. They do not want to protect America. They do not want to unleash American energy for the American people to get our costs under control. They want to continue to protect the communist China party and the Chinese themselves. I rise in protection, not just in support of H.R. 22, but of the American people and the American workers.

Mr. MILLS

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to talk about the economic resource warfare that the CCP has launched against the United States. As a former businessowner, I can tell you the CCP continues to steal hundreds of billions of dollars in intellectual property from American companies with no consequence. Under the current weak administration that has lost credibility on the world stage after the failed Afghan withdrawal, they have shown no course of action to combat these issues, but there is a plan now. Thanks to the American people who elected a Republican majority, I am happy to support establishing this select committee to hold the CCP accountable. I am committed to putting us back ahead of the malign Chinese aggressions. While this resolution is just a start, we need to also look at mitigating Chairman Xi's One Belt, One Road initiative and increase domestic production to offset our GDP-to-national-debt ratio while unleashing American energy production and strengthening the U.S. dollar. This bill is a commonsense approach that will put America first and stop adversarial reliance on nations that intend to eliminate the U.S. dollar from being the global currency, cut off Western Hemisphere supply chains, and advance China's goal of hegemony. Let's get this done and put America first.