Dave Min

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and the deadly and devastating consequences of their illegal actions, which will reverberate long after they are gone. The theme of today's Special Order hour is that the Musk is gone, but the stench remains. Elon Musk supposedly has left the Federal Government. I just want to remind people that when President Trump issued his executive order creating the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and appointed Elon Musk in the role related to DOGE, DOGE was created as a temporary organization. Elon Musk was appointed as a special government employee, and this was to avoid having any kind of Senate confirmation or congressional creation of the agency or any confirmation of Elon Musk. Mr. Speaker, I will remind you that the entire time that Elon Musk was in office or as a Federal employee, he was, in fact, exercising powers that were far greater than any special government employee would be allowed to have. He was exercising powers that would be at the highest levels of government, higher than an agency or department head, in effect, exerting powers that the President himself does not hold. He violated the law every single day he was a special government employee. DOGE employees continue to remain today. Even though Elon Musk is gone, there are something like a hundred or more DOGE special governmental employees and other employees scattered around the Federal Government that are in a position to continue the wreckage that Elon Musk created. I know that Elon Musk and Donald Trump have created a lot of news with their catfighting earlier today, but I will just remind folks, again, that the damage Elon Musk did is going to take a long time to repair. What he did, essentially, was try to upend the Constitution. Elon Musk, as a special government employee, purported to be able to undo acts of Congress, to illegally impound funds that Congress had appropriated, to undo laws we have created, and to undo agencies we have created. There is a long list of stuff that he did, that DOGE did, including illegally deleting or ending the Department of Education, ditto with USAID, the U.S. Institute for Peace, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Importantly, most of these were institutions created through acts of Congress, funded with appropriations authorized by Congress. Even my children know that the Constitution is clear on this point: Congress and only Congress has the power to enact laws. Congress and only Congress has the power to appropriate funds. It is very clear in our Article I authorities. The President does not have the authority to try to undo our laws or to impound funds that we have appropriated. Certainly a special government employee like Elon Musk does not have that authority. This is about a core tenet of the Constitution of the United States that every single one of us in Congress swears to support and defend when we take office. Yet, too many on the other side of the aisle during this entire time pretended like this wasn't happening, pretended like Elon Musk was not violating the law every single day. Now he is apparently gone from the Federal Government, but the vast amount of wreckage that he did during his time with DOGE is something that we are going to have to analyze and understand because there has been a complete lack of oversight from Congress, including from the Oversight Committee that I sit on, over these past few months. There had been reports that Elon Musk and DOGE were given complete God-level access to the Federal Government's top systems: including private and sensitive data for all Americans, classified information, budget information, and payment systems, et cetera. From a conflict of interest standpoint, Elon Musk has vacuumed up many billions of dollars in Federal contracts for his companies and enriched himself. Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink have all profited under Musk's time as a Federal employee. At the same time, he went out of his way to kill several enforcement actions that were underway by different Federal agencies against his businesses, allowing his companies and himself to evade oversight. He was able to help place key personnel in agencies that now are looking to benefit his companies financially. Mr. Speaker, going back to the data privacy point, Elon Musk and DOGE have allegedly used Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, within Federal agencies. This model has likely been trained on nonpublic data by incompetent DOGE workers. DOGE has also sought access to sensitive government data for millions and millions of Americans, while likely violating the Privacy Act of 1974 repeatedly. This is not just a matter of our information being out there, potentially being used by Musk's AI systems in violation of all laws; it is also a major national security concern. Bad actors will now have a much easier time siphoning off U.S. data due to the cybersecurity vulnerabilities that Elon Musk has created. Earlier this morning, the Oversight Committee held a hearing on how artificial intelligence has been integrated into the Federal Government by Elon Musk and DOGE. Entrusting DOGE with our personal data is not only a terrifying thought but one that will have terrible consequences for Americans throughout the country. Trying to automate the Federal Government through AI without a true plan or any data privacy safeguards, while firing haphazardly many of the technology support workers who understood those systems, is going to have a massive negative impact on Americans. Mr. Speaker, I see that I have here with me a fellow Member, and I will concede in just a few moments. I will continue by saying that many of my constituents right now are complaining about some of the effects we are already seeing from the haphazard and illegal cuts to personnel made by Elon Musk and DOGE, including many who are complaining now that they are having difficulty accessing their Social Security benefits because of the mass cuts in SSA. These are real people that are not getting their benefits. They can't get anyone on the phone when they try to call Social Security. The reality is that Elon Musk, again, illegally fired a bunch of workers, even though he had no such authority to do so. I will emphasize that this body, Congress, has refused to engage in any oversight to date over Elon Musk, and the only reason that we may be able to do so right now is because Elon Musk, apparently, is in a tit for tat with Donald Trump. I suspect some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will finally wake up to some of the wrongdoing, some of the illegal actions that Elon Musk has been engaged in since January 20. I will also point out that this has never been about waste, fraud, and abuse. It has certainly never been about efficiency. You don't eliminate entire agencies and departments as Elon Musk has done, you don't get rid of 50 percent of the personnel at Social Security, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration if you are simply trying to improve efficiency and get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse. This was always about finding enough cuts to try to partially pay for the massive $7 trillion tax cuts for billionaires that House Republicans, Donald Trump, and Senate Republicans want to pass right now. That is what this is about. There is a slash-and-burn attitude to firing many thousands of Federal employees. They have attempted to fire hundreds of thousands of Federal employees, including those at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Labor, and other critical agencies. We have seen this firing be so haphazard that they have had to hire some of them back, including the decision to fire all the National Nuclear Security Administration personnel responsible for overseeing our U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and then having to rehire them once they had realized who they had actually fired. He fired key scientists and pandemic experts, as well, and he repeatedly miscalculated and misrepresented the savings that DOGE cuts had made to our budget. They have also made the Federal Government much more bureaucratic and less efficient. I have a lot of burgeoning life sciences industry in my district, lots of companies doing medical devices and innovative drugs. They have all reported to me that they are deeply concerned about the massive cuts at the Food and Drug Administration because those cuts mean that they can't get anyone on the phone. They can't find people to try to prove their drugs and devices, and this has created additional red tape and hurdles that made it very difficult. There is a lot of uncertainty right now. These are companies that, again, are creating thousands and thousands of jobs, providing billions of dollars in collective impact to the southern California area. We are seeing this story writ large across the board right now. Mr. Speaker, I will talk some more about the enormity of DOGE's illegal cuts, as well as how they have fared in the legal system. Since DOGE was stood up by President Trump and Elon Musk, it has cut: About $6.5 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development; $502 million from the Department of Education; $232 million from the Social Security Administration; $192 million from the General Services Administration; $173 million from the Department of Agriculture; $152 million from the Department of Health and Human Services; $133 million from the Department of Transportation; and $119 million from the Department of Commerce. We didn't have any transparency into what these cuts were justified on, what they were meant to do. These were in addition to the attempts to shutter USAID, the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the U.S. Institute for Peace, and many other critical agencies, departments, and programs. Mr. Speaker, I will note that the courts have continued to find that these cuts were, by and large, illegal, that Elon Musk did not have any authority to undo acts of Congress, and that Congress and only Congress can shut down agencies that we have created. Congress and only Congress can defund agencies from funds that we have previously appropriated. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Stansbury), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman for her comments. It has indeed been a messy day. I think that prices are getting too high at this moment in time. Elon Musk is, I believe, really inflating the price of popcorn right now. This is something that is going to affect my household. Mr. Speaker, I want to continue back to Elon Musk. Whatever side is taken in this debate, we cannot forget that Elon Musk, again, repeatedly violated the law. He made illegal spending cuts. He tried to eliminate agencies created by Congress. This was not jaywalking. We are talking about serious crimes against the Constitution of the United States. His actions were characterized not only by their illegality but also by their immorality and incompetence, the three I's. We saw the immorality as he continued to cut programs that were meant to help our poorest and most vulnerable. Social Security is a lifeline program for all the seniors around the country, including the ones in the district I represent. He called it a Ponzi scheme. He cut so much of the workforce. Again, I have many constituents now complaining they can't get access to their benefits. They can't get anyone on the phone when there is a mistake. It seems deliberate in its scope. They have been incompetent. I have mentioned many of the things they have done as far as firing the nuclear inspectors and miscalculating DOGE's savings. They granted a DOGE staffer access to edit sensitive Treasury systems, prompting an internal forensic investigation. They gutted the CFPB, only to unsuspend staffers and uncancel contracts after it became apparent that CFPB could no longer perform its legally mandated functions. They inadvertently canceled funding for Ebola prevention. They uncanceled lease terminations after agency and congressional pushback. This could go on and on. The point is that this, again, was never about efficiency. It was never about finding waste, fraud, and abuse. That was always the big lie. What Elon Musk was trying to do was reshape government illegally against the express will of Congress. Unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle failed to stand up to this abuse of law and this direct attack on our Constitution and our authorities. The courts, thankfully, have stepped up. Right now, the Trump administration and DOGE are embroiled in over 252 lawsuits. They have lost almost all of these at various stages at the district court and appellate level, including several in the Supreme Court. They are continuing to appeal. Even as this has happened, many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, rather than stand up for Congress' authority under the Constitution, have tried to go after judges. They have threatened judges. They have tried to take away some of their authority. We saw that most recently in the big, beautiful bill, which I think Republicans are now realizing was actually a Frankenstein-level monstrosity of extreme provisions that many of them did not realize were in there. One such provision was the one in that bill that would effectively neuter the judiciary's power to hold any administration official in contempt. This provision is a little wonky. In essence, it prohibits Federal courts from enforcing contempt citations which a judge can issue for noncompliance of a court order. Now, what this would do is effectively shield the Trump administration from wrongdoing and that no judge could enforce any penalties against the Trump administration for failing to respond to court orders, for failing to obey the Constitution or the law. What is concerning about this that is we have found an increasing number of Republicans who are publicly admitting now that they didn't realize that this provision was in the big, beautiful bill that they passed. Of course, we all remember a couple weeks back this bill was pushed through in the dark of night, after 1 a.m. It was clear that it was rushed through so quickly that most of our colleagues did not have time to read it, did not understand what was in it, and did not have time to have their staffs review what was in it. This was an unconscionable process that is leading to outrageous results. We are also seeing other examples of provisions that my Republican colleagues were not aware was in the bill. Just earlier this week, Marjorie Taylor Greene, whom I serve with on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, noted that she did not realize that there was a 10-year moratorium on artificial intelligence regulations created as part of this big, beautiful bill and said explicitly that she would oppose it. She had a chance to oppose it when the bill was on the floor but didn't read it. I would suggest to my Republican colleagues that maybe reading the bills that we are passing is a good idea before they decide to vote on them, particularly when they are rushing it through on a partisan line vote. I come from a legal background. I started my career turning down Wall Street to go work at the SEC to crack down on corporate fraud, and to uphold the rule of law. I have continued fighting for the rule of law my whole career, including as a law professor at UC-Irvine. What we are seeing right now is deeply offensive to the rule of law. What we saw this last election cycle is Elon Musk spending $290 million on behalf of Donald Trump and other Republican candidates. Mr. Speaker, $290 million is a lot of money. That has paid off very well, a very good return on investment for Elon Musk because his wealth has gone up $100 billion with a b since he took office. Despite all the disasters we have seen, and despite the massively declining sales of Tesla, his net wealth has gone way the hell up. That is because he uniquely, even as other spending gets cut--willy-nilly because a 21-year-old coder named Big Balls decides to delete a line of code--Elon Musk is getting massive new government contracts including an $8.5-billion contract for Tesla from the GSA for electric vehicles; a $2.4 billion contract for SpaceLink--which was originally meant for Verizon but which was canceled and mysteriously then transferred over to SpaceX which happens to be conveniently owned by Elon Musk--and on and on and on. Now this looks like a quid pro quo. This looks like something that should not be allowed to exist, particularly when you have a man, Mr. Speaker, who is repeatedly, flagrantly, and knowingly violating the law every single day and upending the Constitution. The damage to this country that we are going to see over the next several decades, that we are seeing already happen right now, is going to be devastating. Just earlier last week, I had a townhall at UC-Irvine which I represent. As many people around the country are beginning to realize, a lot of what is happening right now is threatening our economic present but also our economic future. There are massive cuts being made to science and research funding for universities which have long been the basis for our innovation economy. Whether in California, Boston, Atlanta, or around the country, we know that high-end research creates jobs. It leads to innovation that leads to new companies. It is what has made America great over time. Yet, right now, those cuts are massive. Right now we have seen NSA, NIH, and other agencies in the Trump administration illegally refuse to spend and allocate research funding that Congress has appropriated. That, in turn, has led already to firing of many grad students of programs' innovations. Also, concerningly, we are starting to see the compounding effects of the attacks on legal immigrants here, people here on student visas. Mr. Speaker, you may recall that just a few weeks back, the Trump administration announced that they would be rounding up a whole posse of students who had minor run-ins with the law. In the University of California system alone, there were something like 165 students here on valid student visas who have been arrested with no due process and put into deportation proceedings. In one case it is because they ran a stop sign. In another case it was because they were in a domestic dispute. Their partner called the police. When the police arrived, they actually found that the immigrant, the person here on a student visa, was not the abuser but actually probably had been abused. They decided not to proceed with this. However, because there is a police report, even one that falsely accused this immigrant, that immigrant was put into deportation proceedings. The Trump administration did reverse that policy after public outcry. We are seeing that the best and brightest foreign students who have traditionally come to this country, to places like Harvard, MIT, UC-San Francisco and Stanford, are not coming here. They are going to other countries right now. That cumulative effect is draining our future right now. We are talking about entire industries predicated on technology, on research, and on life sciences that we expect to see massive declines in in 10, 15, or 20 years. We are robbing our future right now, and for what? I don't know, to give Elon Musk a little bit more? The damage is going to be incalculable across the board. However, I think the biggest damage that we are going to see is to our public trust in our institutions. Right now we are seeing corruption on a scale we have never seen before in the history of this country. A $400 million Qatari gift of a palace in the sky to Donald Trump was just the thing that made the news. Meanwhile, he is having dinners with massive donors who are giving billions and billions of dollars to his meme coin. We are seeing bribes happen across the board. We are seeing emoluments over and over and over to the President and his family. Mr. Speaker, yes, we are seeing Elon Musk getting a ransom from the Federal Government as far as new contracts that have personally benefited him to no end. We have to start enforcing the rule of law in this country. As someone who has always believed in the rule of law and who has stood closely side by side with our law enforcement officers, with our prosecutors, and with those who are trying to uphold the rule of law in this country and the Constitution, I would urge my colleagues on the other side of the room to start thinking about that oath that we took when we took this office to support and defend the Constitution. Those are not just words. They are the foundation of what it means to serve in Congress, of what it means to serve in the Federal Government, and of what it means to be a patriotic American. Mr. Speaker, if you are not enforcing the Constitution of the United States and if you are not enforcing the rule of law and standing up for the authorities of Congress, which is a coequal branch of government and not a lackey of the President, then what do we stand for? What are we doing here? I know that many of my colleagues on the other side are scared of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, frankly, too, but that should be no excuse for not standing up and doing what is right. We have to stand up and have an accounting of all the damage that Elon Musk did during his time at DOGE. Again, he is a special government employee who never disclosed his conflicts of interest and who illegally exerted his authority that an SGE should never have and that the President of the United States does not have. We need a real accounting of what happened, the damage that has been done, as well as all of the laws and Constitutional provisions that he and every other member of DOGE has done. This is the time to do it. I would urge my colleagues to actually start stepping up for the Constitution. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of a true trailblazer, a man that many see as the godfather of Asian- American journalism, K.W. Lee. Mr. Lee immigrated to the United States from Korea in the 1950s. He began his career in journalism by exposing poverty and corruption. In the 1970s, Mr. Lee's tireless pursuit of the truth saved the life of Chol Soo Lee, a wrongly convicted Korean-American immigrant on death row. Later on, Mr. Lee founded Koreatown Weekly, the first national English language Korean-American newspaper. As tensions were rising in Los Angeles in the 1990s, he launched The Korea Times English Edition to give Korean Americans a place where their stories could be told on their own terms in the media. K.W. Lee's life is defined by his tireless pursuit of the truth and paving the way for Asian Americans to have a place in journalism and have their voices be heard. After 96 years of fearless journalism, he will be deeply missed.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind my colleagues that Congress and only Congress has the power of the purse. Yet, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have unlawfully impounded billions of dollars of congressionally approved funds. They have illegally slashed funding for veterans, food for hungry babies, and purported to terminate entire agencies created by Congress. This is not consistent with the Constitution or with democracy. Trump and Musk are asserting the powers of dictatorship. Unfortunately, our Republican colleagues have refused to enforce the law or the Constitution when it comes to this administration. That is why I, along with Representatives Liccardo and Vindman, introduced the Protect Our Constitution and Communities Act, or POCCA. POCCA affirms the separation of budgetary powers and creates a private right action for individuals, States, and local jurisdictions that have been harmed by the administration's repeated violations of the ICA. POCCA would also hold accountable any public official with decisionmaking authority who knowingly and intentionally violates the ICA, such as Elon Musk. It is time to stand up for the rule of law and to put the power of the purse back where it belongs, in the hands of Congress. This National Police Week, I urge my colleagues to consider supporting this important law enforcement priority.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to highlight the heroism of a number of police officers in the Newport Beach Police Department in my district. This, of course, is National Police Week. The heroism of these officers is worth noting. Just earlier this year, Officer Ragan Grego, Officer Roberto Salcedo, and Officer Jonathan Sunshine valiantly saved the life of a man who was pulled from the ocean after going into cardiac arrest. On July 4, Officer Kyle Cameron, Officer Michael Querry, Officer Bernadette Sanchez, and Officer Heather Thomson helped save a man's life after he was injured in a violent stabbing. Sergeant Ricardo Adame, Officer Tony Gallegos, Detective Joshua Granger, Officer Jack McMannis, and Officer Salvador Torres rescued an unconscious woman by pulling her from her vehicle, which was partially submerged in the ocean. Each of these brave and quick-thinking decisions reflects the fearlessness and ingenuity of the law enforcement officers in Orange County, which I represent. I am proud to represent such courageous law enforcement officers who tirelessly work to keep our community safe, and I thank them for their service.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Tracy Havens, a second grade teacher at Hicks Canyon Elementary School in my district. Tracy has taught our kids in Irvine for the past 20 years and had the honor recently of being 1 of 6 educators out of 20,000 across Orange County to be selected as Orange County Teacher of the Year. Tracy is known for her outstanding ability to build a positive classroom culture and to find creative ways to engage her students. Tracy goes above and beyond outside of the classroom, as well. She mentors teacher candidates and serves as a lead math model for her district while also helping her students leave their mark through community initiatives. Teachers like Tracy inspire us all and are the foundation of the American Dream. As a product of California public schools myself, the father of three young kids in California public schools, and a former educator, I know how important public education is for economic advancement. Dedicated teachers like Tracy who go the extra mile for their students are the key to a good public education. I congratulate Tracy on earning Teacher of the Year, and I thank the thousands of teachers across Orange County for their tireless work for lifting up future generations.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material into the Record.

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, we just heard all day from Republicans on the other side of the aisle that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is going to lead to helping small businesses and reducing the deficit. Yet, what we just missed in all of this discussion was any discussion of the T-word, and I am not talking about Trump here. I am talking about tariffs. In fact, when I talk to the small businesses in my district, that is the number one, number two, and number three concerns that they have. When Members talk about the deficits and the jobs creation that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are supposed to have, note that this is going to add $7 trillion to our national debt. It will blow up our deficit. In fact, Donald Trump is responsible for roughly 40 percent of the national debt just in the 4 years in which he was in office. He oversaw, of course, the worst jobs record of any President since Herbert Hoover. That is right. He oversaw the worst jobs growth of any President since the Great Depression. It now looks like he is doubling down on those failed policies, and congressional Republicans are looking to support those efforts and potentially take us into the Great Depression 2.0, as economist after economist has warned us. Mr. Speaker, that is not what I am here to talk about today. I rise today to speak about the Trump administration's egregious Hatch Act violations and also Congress' failure to hold Donald Trump and his administration accountable for these gross violations of law. That is, of course, a theme that we have seen. Trump has bent and broken the law and key provisions of the Constitution over and over. Yet, this body, which, as any kid knows, is supposed to be a coequal branch of government to the President, to the executive branch, has rolled over and played dead rather than holding anybody accountable. Today, we heard another oversight hearing about something that people in my district just don't care about: trans athletes who are fencing in different types of competitive atmospheres. That may be something for local sporting bodies to take up. It is not something that is pressing to my constituents. It is not pressing in the way that the corruption, the lawlessness, the tariffs, or so many other things are. The Hatch Act, I think, embodies the problems that we are seeing right now with just the sheer criminality and lawlessness of this administration and the failure of Congress--again, a coequal branch of government--in standing up for itself. We have an hour for this Special Order, but we would need much more time to talk about all of the Hatch Act violations made by members of the Trump administration. Mr. Speaker, this is important to me because, as someone who has spent my career trying to uphold the rule of law, I turned down Wall Street to begin my career at the Securities and Exchange Commission to crack down on corporate fraud, exactly the type that Donald Trump and many of his allies are committing right now, such as securities fraud, corporate fraud, and the like. When I was a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, I spent my career trying to uphold law enforcement and the rule of law, and right now we are just seeing a level of sheer criminality and lawlessness that is unprecedented in history. What is happening right now makes the Teapot Dome scandal and all of these scandals we read about in history look like penny-ante stuff. The Trump administration is doing everything it can right now to allow for people to violate the Hatch Act. I emphasize the Hatch Act was a series of laws passed by Congress to prevent senior officials in the administration from abusing their official executive branch positions to campaign and to engage in politics. Of course, the Trump administration issued an executive order essentially undoing many of the provisions of the Hatch Act, allowing members of the administration to use their official offices to campaign for Donald Trump and Republicans, something that is totally outrageous, something that is totally in defiance of the Hatch Act. Again, this is a law that we passed in Congress, and, no, the President does not get to make law by executive order. This President has issued more executive orders than the last approximately 10 Presidents combined already, and we are only 3\1/2\ months into his Presidency. Executive orders do not rewrite laws that we pass. I remind my colleagues of something that my kids learned in third grade: Article I of the Constitution gives Congress and only Congress the authority to create laws, to enact laws. The President does not get to rewrite laws that we passed, including the Hatch Act, by just having his lawyers come up with some nonsense and calling it an executive order. Yet, that is what we have seen done here. The administration has also directed the Office of Special Counsel to refer Hatch Act violations by White House-commissioned officers directly to the President for disciplinary action, rather than the Independent Merit Systems Protections Board. What he is basically saying is to send those to the White House. If Members expect this White House to enforce any violations of law committed by a Trump supporter, my colleagues haven't been following the news at all. Of course, this White House, this President, from the very beginning, when he pardoned all of the January 6 felons, including people who had assaulted police officers, he was, again, showing his contempt for the rule of law. If we rely on the White House to enforce the law, we have another thing coming. Mr. Speaker, this is good news for people like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who told viewers during a FOX News interview in March that they could buy Tesla stock, that they should buy Tesla stock, again, violating his position, abusing his position, going on national television to promote a stock aligned with Donald Trump's interests. It also looks to be great news for people like Lynne Patton, who is returning to work for President Trump this week after finishing up a 2- month suspension from Federal service after she improperly used her position with the Department of Housing and Urban Development for political purposes during President Trump's first term. It is also good news for all of the White House employees who helped set up that shameless display where Trump and his White House essentially turned the White House lawn into a Tesla dealership, promoting Tesla. Where is the rule of law? Where is the concern for enforcement of the rule of law? I know a lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle profess to care a lot about crime. Yet, we have seen them turn a blind eye over and over to the many, many acts of criminality committed by this administration. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garcia), my colleague from Long Beach, the former mayor of Long Beach, and the best-looking politician out of Long Beach.

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I echo the comments just made by Mr. Garcia. We are roughly 3\1/2\ months into Trump's second term, but it looks to be shaping up like a more extreme and more radical version of the first term, where the Office of Special Counsel identified over 12 different members of President Trump's administration as having violated the Hatch Act. As a refresher, Kellyanne Conway promoted Ivanka Trump's clothing line in the last Trump administration. Stephanie Grisham, Nikki Haley, and Dan Scavino engaged in political activity on their government social media accounts. Former Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue unlawfully promoted President Trump's 2020 reelection campaign. I will say that the acquiescence of Congress at that time, the failure to hold Donald Trump accountable for those abuses, those violations of the rule of law, has led Donald Trump to be even more bold and aggressive in violating the law this time around. At this point, I think this is very clearly the most corrupt administration in history. Already, we have seen them engage in breathtaking actions that are unprecedented, all of which have created constitutional crises. They fired over 17 inspectors general to start the term. They issued a mass pardon of those convicted of assaulting our government, including police officers, on January 6. They went after the FBI and tried to fire anybody who was seen as insufficiently loyal to Donald Trump at the FBI. They did the same thing at the Department of Justice. They looked to illegally usurp our Article I powers by firing thousands of government employees, redirecting funding that we had appropriated here in Congress, violating the Impoundment Control Act, and trying to rewrite laws by shuttering agencies through executive action that Congress had created. As a reminder, Congress and only Congress, under Article I--this is something that the Founders in their great wisdom decided was important, the separation of powers, something we all learn early on. Apparently, not too many of my colleagues on the other side have incorporated this message: Congress and only Congress has the authority to pass laws and to appropriate funds. That is exactly what they are trying to take away from us. We have seen this time after time. Now, it is with the illegal sweeps of immigrants, including immigrants who are here on travel visas, leading to a stark drop in tourism, and the possibly illegal usurpation of our taxation authority by an unprecedented series of tariff announcements. A great gauge of how corrupt things are right now is by seeing how much litigation has already proceeded against the Trump administration. We have seen over 220 lawsuits brought against them in their first 100 days. That is clearly a record. It is also a record of how many of them they have lost already, how many motions they have lost, how many motions have been filed against them that they have lost in court. In response, rather than trying to adhere to the rule of law, the Trump administration, again, exhibiting its utter contempt for the rule of law, has gone after members of the judiciary. At this point, there are not a lot of guardrails left. They have gone after the IGs. They have weaponized the Department of Justice. They have weaponized the FBI. There are the courts, and there is Congress. Unfortunately, Congress, with the majority on the other side of the aisle, has decided to roll over and play dead and be Donald Trump's lapdog rather than enforcing our constitutionally mandated duties. When we take office, you may remember that we all swear an oath to defend and support the Constitution of the United States. That means regardless of what party affiliation you have or what party affiliation the President has, regardless of what threats the President or Elon Musk may make against you, we swear to a higher power to take that oath, to support and defend the Constitution. Right now, that is not happening with Congress, and Donald Trump and his minions have become emboldened to attack the courts. I have attempted to bring light to these issues through my membership on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, as well as part of the rapid response team that our leadership has set up. For example, I have sent letters to the law firms that acquiesced to the Trump administration and the Florida bar for the apparently unscrupulous ethical behavior of Attorney General Bondi. We have seen them go after higher education. We need to stand up and fight back right now. Donald Trump has weaponized the Federal Government to go after Columbia, for example, based on what appears to be a personal vendetta over a real estate deal that didn't happen like 30 years ago. As my colleague from Long Beach mentioned earlier, another outrageous example we have seen is the Trump crypto meme coin, which President Trump is using to profit personally from the Presidency. We just saw a couple of weeks ago that an Abu Dhabi firm had invested $2 billion into the coin, directly enriching the President. He is going to celebrate this by holding a meme coin gala dinner this month for the top holders of his coin. The level of corruption right now is breathtaking. It is unprecedented. Unfortunately, he is not going to stop because Congress is not stepping up to enforce our rights. We are not stepping up to do the oversight that is required of us. As the Romans used to say, who watches the watchmen? When there are no guardrails in place, who watches the watchmen? Unfortunately, right now, Congress, which is supposed to act as a coequal branch of government, is failing to uphold its duties. Mr. Speaker, I note that this is unprecedented in its corruption. We will continue to see violations of the Hatch Act. We will continue to see a failure of enforcement of the rule of law, but I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the Trump administration to consider reversing its reckless and dangerous terminations of Forest Service employees. I represent an area in Orange County that is prone to the same types of wildfire risks that we saw devastate Los Angeles not too long ago. We are about a month or two away from fire season. We have had a number of fires similar, but smaller in scope, to the one that just hit Los Angeles due to the Santa Ana winds that come through our area in southern California every year and also due to drier conditions because of climate change and droughts. We know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and so we need to have these types of resources in place. As wildfires grow more and more intense, as the risks of wildfire become more and more ubiquitous, our firefighters are tired. They are understaffed, underresourced, and underpaid. We need more funding to protect our communities from megafires. Instead, this administration is choosing to strip our key first responders in the U.S. Forest Service of resources that make millions of Americans safer, including the ones I represent in Orange County. Let's be clear, if we are looking for efficiency, this is the opposite of efficiency. There is nothing efficient about firing essential public safety officials right before fire season. These are the people we deploy to try to clear the brush. They are the first responders who alert our fire departments of early onset wildfires before they become deadly multibillion-dollar disasters. That is why we rehired so many of the very same people that DOGE tried to fire in the first place due to the inefficiency, the gross incompetence of Elon Musk and the people who are working with him. This administration is also lying about retaining employees to help fight fires on the ground. Around 75 percent of those who were let go had firefighting experience, and now we are having to rehire some of them. This is what happens when you have 21-year-old hackers named ``Big Balls'' deciding how to cut our agencies as opposed to experts who know what they are doing. The incompetence of DOGE and Elon Musk is exposing Californians and millions of people around the country to unprecedented danger. We have to do something about it before it is too late. I urge Congress to intervene, reverse these cuts, and stop this administration from putting more Americans in harm's way.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 78.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, Elon Musk spent $277 million supporting Donald Trump's campaign last year. In return, Trump has done all he can to support Musk's business ventures, awarding billions in potential contracts to Tesla and SpaceX. Trump even turned the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom to try to boost Tesla sales. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose investment firm owns hundreds of millions in Tesla stock, went on national TV to try to increase Tesla's sagging stock price. Our own colleague, Ms. Marjorie Taylor Greene, spent thousands of dollars buying Tesla stock this year and then tried to weaponize the DOJ to help increase Tesla sales. This is all blatantly unethical, and much of it is illegal. At the same time, Ms. Greene's DOGE subcommittee, following the example of Elon Musk in February, is calling for the defunding of NPR and PBS. Yes, Elon and Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to kill Elmo. However, here is the thing: Public broadcasting receives just a tiny fraction of funding compared to the government contracts Elon stands to gain. In fact, if you take away the new military contract for cybertrucks alone, you will pay for all of PBS and NPR. Unlike cybertrucks, PBS and NPR won't get recalled because they are falling apart. What is happening right now is pure bait and switch. Republicans are trying to slash Medicaid, public schools, and programs like PBS so they can give billions to Elon Musk and his fellow oligarchs. The corruption we are seeing right now is outrageous, unprecedented, and cannot stand.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Minister Dwayne Roberts of Second Baptist Church for his incredible 50 years of service to our community. Second Baptist Church is the oldest Black church in Orange County, and it has become a home for faith, music, and fellowship. Minister Roberts' 50 years of leadership are unprecedented. He served longer than any minister in the church's history. Through his gift for music ministry, he has touched and transformed countless lives. Minister Roberts' talents are numerous. He is a singer, musician, songwriter, and compelling speaker. For 50 years, he has used these gifts to help others. Last weekend, I had the honor of joining his congregation to celebrate Minister Roberts' 50th anniversary. I was moved by the love and respect for the minister in that room. This Black History Month, I am proud to recognize Minister Roberts and his tremendous legacy in Orange County.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Madam Chair, I rise today in opposition to the disastrous GOP budget resolution. This bill seeks to cut $3 trillion in spending, supposedly by targeting waste and fraud, but the entire domestic discretionary budget is only $917 billion, and that simply doesn't add up. There is only one way to get to $3 trillion in cuts, and that is to slash lifeline programs, including nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid. Under the GOP budget, over 136,000 of my constituents would lose their healthcare, including over 42,000 children. This budget would also take food away from hungry children and deny healthcare to sick veterans. Why are House Republicans pushing such an immoral and cruel agenda? It is not to reduce our deficits. In fact, their budget adds nearly $1.6 trillion a year to our debt. No, it is to pass tax cuts for billionaires and foreign investors. In fact, over $350 billion of these same tax cuts went to foreign investors over the last 10 years. Let's be clear: If this budget passes, kids are going to go to bed hungry so that we can give more money to Elon Musk and investors from Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia. This is immoral. It is wrong. Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to oppose this horrible budget measure.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, is repeatedly and blatantly breaking the law, including by usurping the legislative and appropriations authority expressly reserved to Congress. Musk has claimed powers that even the President himself does not hold, including the authority to ``delete'' agencies created and funded by this body. Among other things, he has gained control over the Treasury's payment system, the mechanism for processing all payments made by the Federal Government. Musk promised to cut $2 trillion from the Federal budget. The entire domestic discretionary budget is only $917 billion, which means the only way Musk can achieve this promise is through massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Musk now has the ability to shut off Social Security and Medicare payments with the flip of a switch. Controlling our payment systems also gives Elon Musk access to the personal information of every American who has ever received a Social Security, tax refund, or other government payment. Why does he need this information? What safeguards are there against abuse? We don't know. This cannot stand. We in Congress must act, enforce the law, and uphold the Constitution.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in respectful opposition to H.R. 471, the so-called Fix Our Forests Act. Right now, as we all have seen, tens of thousands of families are without homes. Our knowledge right now is that 28 people have died. The scale of the devastation in Los Angeles is just unthinkable. Mr. Chair, I represent a district just to the south of this catastrophe. Thankfully, we have not been affected, but we are subject to the same dynamics year after year. In recent years, we had the Santiago Canyon fire, the Laguna fire, the Canyon fire, and a number of others. When you compile 80- to 100- mile-an-hour winds, made worse because of climate change and the annual Santa Ana winds, with dry conditions, that combination is basically creating tinder conditions. That is why we are having this fire. I just want to note that this particular bill has done nothing to prevent the Los Angeles fires and would do nothing to prevent similar wildfires going forward. Mr. Chair, firefighters will say that when you have 80- to 100-mile- an-hour winds, little embers can turn into massive fires, and there is nothing that we can do to stop that. Firefighters cannot be deployed and water or other resources cannot be deployed until the wind dies down. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of misinformation about these L.A. fires, that there is not enough water or that somehow our water systems are inadequate. Many have described these fires as blowtorches, trying to fight a fire that is like a blowtorch. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues who are believing these conspiracy theories to talk to actual firefighters about how they might fight fires like this because I have talked to firefighters, and they have told me that measures like this would not have prevented the L.A. fires. This particular bill has some important provisions that I support. Some of these have been mentioned in opposition by people on my side of the aisle, but I would note that it lacks the funding mechanisms to actually make these implementable. It also fails to include any permanent pay increase for Federal wildland firefighters who continue to be underpaid and overworked. This bill is, at best, a messaging bill, an unfunded mandate. I note that it is wrapped up in this inextricable question of: Will Californians get the aid that our families so desperately need? Unfortunately, that seems to be a question that increasingly looks like the answer is going to be: Only with grossly political conditions. I note that I introduced an amendment to make clear that Federal disaster assistance to the Los Angeles fire victims needs to be prioritized and must come with no political strings attached. This is something we have done for every other disaster out there in America. When we have had hurricanes in the Southeast, when we have had flooding in parts of the country, California has stepped up. We get 60 cents back for every dollar we pay in tax funding. I am disappointed that we are politicizing aid to California now that we need it. I was disappointed that my amendment was blocked from even basic consideration. I am disheartened to know that House and Senate Republicans continue to threaten conditions on the basic aid that Californians need right now. This is un-American and inconsistent with every other Federal disaster response. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because it is the 52nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and reproductive freedom, and the lives and well-being of countless women in this country are under attack. We are 1 week into the Trump administration, and House Republicans are already introducing draconian legislation to strip away the reproductive rights of women. This legislation will exacerbate the growing crisis in reproductive healthcare, driving OB-GYN doctors out of the profession, and endangering the health of women. This cannot stand. As the father of a 12-year-old daughter, I refuse to let her grow up in a world where she has fewer freedoms than the generations that came before her. That is why I am proud to announce that I have joined the House Pro-Choice Caucus. As a California State Senator, I led legislation to protect and expand reproductive rights and abortion access, and I am proud to take up this fight in Congress. Every person deserves the autonomy to make their own healthcare decisions, and we must continue to do everything we can to restore reproductive freedom and move our country forward. Women, not politicians in Washington, D.C., should be making their decisions on when, whether, and how to start a family.

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I was just elected to represent California's 47th Congressional District in the heart of Orange County, and we have quite a sizeable Chinese-American population. I have spoken with many constituents who are deeply concerned about the future of Taiwan, particularly in the face of increased aggression and a lot of rhetoric. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we signal here that we are strengthening the relationship between our two countries. For the past 75 years, the United States and Taiwan have enjoyed a special relationship, one rooted in our shared values of freedom and democracy. That has also been bolstered by a strong national security relationship founded on Ronald Reagan's Six Assurances to Taiwan. Of course, we have had a strong economic relationship based on a lot of mutual trade and investment, including around semiconductor chips and other critical goods. Now, this is the seventh largest trading partner of the United States. It is a large trading partner of my State of California. I think it is important we end this regime of double taxation, continue strengthening our ties, encouraging more economic investments, and ensuring that we are bolstering our national security. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye.''

Mr. MIN

Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, my name is Dave Min. I was just elected to represent the 47th Congressional District in Orange County, California, just south of the fires. While we are not affected by these, we are subject to the same fire risks on a year-by-year basis. What we are seeing right now is a biblical-level disaster in California. The scope of this devastation is unprecedented. Now, as has been mentioned before, is a time when we need to come together, understanding that with climate change we are going to continue seeing biblical-level events going forward. When we have had past disasters, whether hurricanes in southeastern United States, Florida, the Gulf Coast, tornadoes, flooding, and, yes, wildfires, we have stepped up. The people of southern California have stepped up to help those in need. That is the American way. That is the California way. What is being proposed right now in tying conditions to aid is un- American. It is despicable. It is pathetic. We have never done this before. I urge my Republican colleagues to think about the precedent they will be setting if they set conditions, political conditions to this aid because the next time a disaster strikes, it could be their district, their area, and they do not want to set this precedent right now. People are struggling. Thousands of firefighters are exhausted. We need your help.