Ralph Norman

Mr. NORMAN

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, those words are just another banner of pet projects. This is what the public is sick and tired of in this country, especially when we are $33 trillion in debt. Overall, ferries play a minor role in the United States transportation system, providing roughly 1 percent of the public transportation trips in 2019--1 percent. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act more than tripled the annual dedicated ferry funding, setting aside $2.3 billion, with a b, for ferry funding. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment, stop this boondoggle, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, my amendment reduces the salary of Julia Gordon, who is the Assistant Secretary for Housing and the Federal Housing Commissioner, to $1. Ms. Gordon has a long history of anti-police rhetoric that makes her unfit for public office. Among other things, she retweeted an inflammatory post that described police officers as ``the people killing us.'' She also suggested in a letter that she wrote--not a tweet or a retweet--that cases of police violence are not just outliers but ``. . . stem from flawed and biased systems that require structural change.'' Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, in response, it is her words that are inflammatory in a day and time that is uncalled for. My view is shared by the National Sheriffs' Association, a leading law enforcement group that opposed her nomination. Ms. Gordon also has a troubling history of denigrating her fellow Americans residing in southern States, as I do. She retweeted an article that asserted the South has rejected nearly everything that is good about this country and has become just one big nuclear waste site of extremely radicalized resentment. That is unheard of. We should not spend another dollar on paying her salary. By the way, she makes $158,500, and when you add all the other things with it, she is probably closer to $200,000. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to adopt my amendment, and I yield the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, my amendment prohibits use of funds for the consideration of the social cost of greenhouse gases--and I don't know how they define social costs--in the development and implementation of budgets, Federal procurement, or environmental reviews. President Biden is directing agencies to consider the flawed social cost of greenhouse gases in the development and implementation of budgets, the Federal procurement process, and environmental reviews. Democrats use the social cost of greenhouse gases metrics to justify sweeping climate policies and strict regulations. This impacts everything from purchasing goods and services, conducting environmental reviews of all kinds, and levying climate penalties against private businesses. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Rutherford).

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, as Sheriff Rutherford said, the social cost of greenhouse gases is an extremely inefficient policymaking tool that can be manipulated. The Biden administration continues to use unproven figures to attempt to justify its radical environmental policies that drive up the cost of every family in this country today. Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, my amendment prohibits the use of funds for the implementation of the rule entitled ``Equal Access in Accordance with an Individual's Gender Identity in Community Planning and Development Programs.'' My amendment defunds an Obama administration's Housing and Urban Development rule that requires equal access for individuals in accordance with their gender identity in shelter programs that are funded from HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development. This means women and young children can be housed in shelters with a male stranger simply because these men identify as women. Mr. Chairman, think about the impact this has on residents of female- only shelters when men who claim to be women are allowed to share bathrooms and shower access. These concerns are not hypothetical. In California, nine homeless women filed a civil complaint after a homeless shelter enabled sexual harassment because a male identifying as a female entered the shelter and showered with a woman. In Alaska, a faith-based shelter filed a lawsuit because female residents would rather sleep in the woods in extremely cold temperatures than get harassed alongside a biological male. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, it is amazing we even have to debate this. It just shows that my friends on the opposite side of the aisle support the perpetrators of the crime rather than the victims of the crime. Forcing women and children to share their private spaces with biological men is wrong. It is dangerous in any setting, but especially in a setting as intimate and vulnerable as a homeless shelter. Mr. Chair, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, as the designee of the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles), I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, my amendment prohibits funds from being used to purchase or lease a vehicle for use by the Secretary of Transportation. Two years ago, Secretary Buttigieg was gifted with a taxpayer-funded Mustang Mach-E for dedicated use. The retail value of this electric SUV was valued at more than $40,000 and proudly assembled in Detroit, Michigan, USA, the auto capital of the world. No. I am just kidding. The Ford Mustang Mach-E has since been recalled for battery issues. Apparently the battery cannot handle owners flooring it. It was made in Mexico by foreign workers. Putting aside the Secretary's own tone-deaf decision to use taxpayers' funds to purchase a not-made-in-America vehicle, Mr. Buttigieg's noted proclivity for the finer things in life apparently extended to any mode of transportation. Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, as the designee of the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles), I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, if there is one thing that my colleagues, Republican or Democrat, can agree on, it is that government corruption undermines faith in our Republic, and none more than this present administration. It would, therefore, be astounding to see or hear any Democrat attempt to justify opposition to this simple amendment that would prohibit funds for air travel by the Secretary of Transportation, or any other, in economy class on a commercial flight. In February, we learned that the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Transportation was opening an audit into Secretary Buttigieg's extensive use of private jets. Despite the Secretary's own rhetoric on the need to combat global warming, in the first 2 years of the Biden administration, Mr. Buttigieg took at least 18 flights using taxpayer-funded private jets. Make no mistake, there is no excuse for Secretary Buttigieg to waste taxpayers' money on private planes when commercial options were readily available to him. Mr. Chair, I urge passage of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, access to affordable, reliable cars and trucks is critical to every facet of American life. Instead of ensuring that Americans have access, the Biden administration has included a multifront fight against the internal combustion engine as a centerpiece of its war on American consumers. On this front, it is the new corporate average fuel economy standards, known as CAFE, for 2027 to 2032, which ratchet fuel economy standards to require automakers to meet a fleet average of 58 miles per gallon. You might as well put a top on a riding mower. Good luck with trying to get that kind of mileage. Based on EPA's list of most efficient vehicles, no vehicle for model year 2023, even including the small hybrids, reaches 58 miles per gallon. A bicycle would probably be over 58 miles per gallon. There is no path to reaching a fleet average, which would include larger vehicles, that high in less than 10 years. These standards will fail to increase actual vehicle efficiency because automakers already know that the goal is unachievable, and they won't waste their time trying to comply. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, this is more than just words. This is going to force American taxpayers to pay fines for falling short, which will increase the price of any new car with an internal combustion engine by thousands of dollars. Biden has made it clear all along that his goal isn't to improve gas- powered cars but to eliminate them in favor of electric vehicles. If you talk to any car dealer, no one is buying them. Unless they had subsidies, they wouldn't be selling. For many drivers, EVs simply aren't a viable option. They may not have a garage and may rely on street parking. They may live in an area where the electric infrastructure can't support the fast charging of an EV. They may drive long distances where, when you run out of electricity, good luck. Mr. Chair, I urge the adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, what my amendment does is it reduces the salary of Tracy Stone-Manning, director of the Bureau of Land Management, to $1. Mr. Chair, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Rosendale), my good friend.

Mr. NORMAN. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. NORMAN. Madam Chair, I have been sitting here for about an hour listening to the debate back and forth on amendments. The amendments the Republicans are putting up are wanting to put some fiscal sanity back in this House. My good friends on the left are wanting to spend more money. The priorities and the cancer in this country is the bankruptcy of America. The amendments I have will offer to cut programs that need to be cut. Amendment 108 prohibits funding for the American Climate Corps. My amendment would prohibit funding for the American Climate Corps that the Biden administration recently established through executive order. This costs, by the way, $30 billion. The Biden administration describes the American Climate Corps as a workforce training and service initiative for careers in clean energy and climate reliance economy. As part of the administration's Justice40 goal, the Corps will focus on equity and environmental justice. The American Climate Corps will cost, as I mentioned, $30 billion. Instead of funding Democrats' woke climate agenda, why don't we focus on a pro-growth agenda that spurs the economy and prioritizes American energy independence? Mr. Chair, I urge support of my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, I met a lot of the young people in the Corps. They are good people. They build bridges. They build roads in our national forests. Now, to task them with stopping storms and stopping hurricanes, that is preposterous. They do active work. To say they can effect that is just, it is laughable if it wasn't so serious. Democrats want to focus on social movements and further entrench environmental justice in the bureaucracy. These priorities are misguided and harmful. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment and ensure that we don't waste more valuable taxpayer dollars and resources to fund the Biden administration's radical climate agenda. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, this is another spend-a-thon by my friends from the left. My amendment would prohibit funding for the rule titled, ``Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards.'' My good friend, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller) and her family are big time farmers in Illinois, and anybody that farms the land--let me tell you what this is going to affect. As far as the actual vehicles, it affects all models in model year 2027. EPA last tightened the NOX emissions standards for heavy- duty vehicles in 2001. The new standards are 80 percent more stringent than the current rules. The examples of heavy-duty trucks, it is going to affect every farm in this country. It applies to engines used and a broad spectrum of heavy-duty vehicles, including trucks from class 2b. That is the Ford F-250 through the class 8. These are semitrucks. It affects mobile homes. It affects schoolbuses. It affects pickup trucks and vans. The cost is from $2,568 per vehicle up to $8,304 for new equipment on semitrucks. The American Truck Dealers estimates it is more likely a $42,000 increase. That is per truck. Talk about putting people out of business. Talk about attacking farmers and everyday Americans. This overreach of government could reach over $55 billion in the lifetime of the program. I urge my colleagues on the left to reconsider this vast overreach of government. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chair, the compliance cost is unbelievably high. Owners and operators of trucks will be forced to leave the market or keep less safe trucks on the road. According to the Truckload Carriers Association, the rule outpaces available technology and would worsen the already tight equipment market. I hope everyone that is tuning in tonight listens to what this amendment will do to every American in this country, regardless if you are a farmer. If you just own a pickup truck, this is what we are talking about. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.