Phil Roe

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance), a fellow classmate of mine.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize April 11 through 15 as National Retirement Planning Week. Saving for retirement is one of the most important steps that Americans can take to build a better future for themselves and their children. Unfortunately, too often, saving for retirement remains a distant goal that is put off in exchange for more immediate needs. A GAO report released last year found that, among households with those aged 55 and older, roughly 29 percent have no retirement savings or a defined benefit plan. With this in mind, it must be a national priority for us to communicate the importance of retirement planning. By encouraging more Americans to adequately prepare for their retirement years, we can significantly enhance retirement security in the United States. Recognizing this week as National Retirement Planning Week is an important step in helping to raise awareness of this need, and I commend the members of the National Retirement Planning Coalition for their efforts in educating Americans about the importance of retirement planning. I wish you all the best as you continue this valued campaign.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, today I rise with a heavy heart along with my friends, Congressman Cooper and Congressman Barr, to offer our sincere condolences to the family of Justin and Stephanie Shults, two of the Americans who were killed by radical Islamic terrorists in the March 22 Brussels attack. These cowardly attacks targeted innocent bystanders like Justin and Stephanie. This is not the first time the First Congressional District of Tennessee has experienced tragedy in this manner, as Sergeant Frederick Greene was killed at Fort Hood, Texas, in the 2009 attack. Justin Shults grew up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where he was the valedictorian of Gatlinburg-Pittman High. He graduated from Vanderbilt University and received his MBA from the Owen School of Management, where he met Stephanie, his beautiful wife. They shared their love of adventure, which took them to Belgium for work. Justin's mom, Sheila, was a single mom who worked hard to provide for three children. They are a loving, Christian family who ended each conversation by saying, ``I love you,'' and those were the last words that Justin's mom said to him. I can only imagine the grief that accompanies losing your child in such a sudden and violent manner, and we all join in offering Justin and Stephanie's families our prayers and deepest sympathy. The family wants to thank those who have called them from around the world to offer their condolences. Indeed, we extend our condolences to all families who lost loved ones.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I thank both Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Brown for their kind remarks. It is a great honor to be here today, Mr. Speaker, as I rise to support H.R. 2814, which honors the sacrifice of a Vietnam war hero and names the VA clinic in Sevierville, Tennessee, after Specialist Four Dannie Arthur Carr. Four Specialist Carr was an unmarried soldier who was killed in action and left no children to carry his name. I can think of no higher honor than to lend his name forever to the Veterans Affairs facility in his hometown. The son of a Baptist minister and World War II veteran, Carr was born in June of 1947 in Sevier County, Tennessee. He attended Gatlinburg- Pittman High School, where he was a star basketball player. Carr entered the United States Army at the age of 20 in 1967 and proudly served B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Division. In combat, Carr displayed valor, having been awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. He was killed in action by artillery fire on the day before Independence Day, July 3, 1969, at age 22. The heroism of Specialist Carr is well known and held in high regard throughout Sevier County. All the local municipalities have approved resolutions supporting the naming of this Veterans Affairs community- based outpatient clinic after Carr. In Tennessee, aptly nicknamed the Volunteer State, we hold a proud history of volunteerism in military service and ensure that the legacy of those who fought and died for this country is preserved. Naming this facility after Dannie Carr will do exactly that, preserve the legacy of an American patriot who bravely gave his life at such a young age. Mr. Speaker, I would like to note that this bill does not remove anyone's name from the VA clinic in Sevier County. The facility I propose naming after Carr is a vacant medical facility that, through the leadership of Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters and Sevierville Mayor Bryan Atchley, we were able to secure a lease to the Department of Veterans Affairs for a whopping $1 per year. It is not currently named after another soldier. Specialist Carr is an obvious top choice when considering this honor. I urge my colleagues to preserve the legacy of this brave American soldier, Specialist Dannie A. Carr, taken from this Earth at such a young age, and pass this legislation.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage my colleagues to vote to override President Obama's veto of the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act. I practiced medicine in rural Tennessee for over 30 years, where I didn't just talk about health care; I actually provided it for patients. The problems that I saw in the system were a major reason why I ran for Congress. The premise of the Affordable Care Act was to increase access and decrease costs. Everyone in this room agrees with that. Unfortunately, the President's healthcare proposal was a 2,500-page bill that defined what kind of health insurance coverage you bought and then fined you when you didn't buy it, even if you couldn't afford it. Access might be up because Americans are forced to buy into the President's healthcare law, but so are costs. I hear from east Tennesseans almost every day who are worse off--not better off--under ObamaCare. The President was wrong to veto this legislation, just like he is wrong when he says Republicans have no ideas for healthcare reform. Republicans have many ideas and have introduced numerous pieces of legislation to put patients and doctors in charge of their healthcare decisions, not the government and not insurance companies. I know I have a comprehensive bill, and so does Dr. Tom Price of Georgia, as many of my colleagues do in the Doctors Caucus. It is time to repeal this flawed law and give the American people the viable healthcare options they deserve. I encourage my colleagues to support overriding this veto.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, Tuesday morning President Obama formally announced his plans to unilaterally expand gun control laws. Unsurprisingly, the President has again overstepped the boundaries and powers of his office. While we all want fewer senseless acts of violence, the President is choosing to punish lawful gun owners and restrict their Second Amendment rights instead of addressing the actual causes of mass murder, such as the need to improve our mental health system and the growing threat of terrorism. In addition to the constitutional questions about his actions and the mislaid blame toward lawful gun owners, these executive actions won't even accomplish what the President claims is his reason for acting. Not a single mass shooting committed over the last few years would have been prevented by the gun control measures currently being discussed, a statement The Washington Post's Fact Checker gave a rare Geppetto checkmark, which is being described as ``the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.'' As a physician, I think if you want to try to prevent mass killings, you have to do more to intervene with individuals before they commit these heinous acts, which is why so many of us believe reforming our mental healthcare system is critically important. As a proud American and concealed-carry permit holder, I am opposed to this executive overreach but will work tirelessly to accomplish reforms that reduce the chance of mass shootings ever occurring.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. I thank Dr. Price for the work his committee has done. I practiced medicine in rural Tennessee for 30 years. I didn't talk about health care. I actually provided it for patients. It was a major reason that I ran for Congress. The premise of the Affordable Care Act was to increase access and decrease costs. Everybody in this building agrees on that. What we got was a 2,500-page bill that few people read that defined what you bought and then fined you when you didn't buy it, even if you couldn't afford it. That is what has actually happened. Healthcare decisions should be made between families, patients, and their doctors, not by big insurance companies and certainly not by Federal bureaucrats. So what is happening to middle class working people in this country today? Their out-of-pockets and copays have skyrocketed. In the hospital that I worked in, 60 percent of the uncollectible debt is now owed by people with insurance. That is because they cannot afford the out-of-pockets and copays. We Republicans have had many ideas. Dr. Price has a bill. I coauthored a bill with the Republican Study Committee to replace this, and I will suggest, Mr. Speaker, that you will see that on this floor to be debated if we are successful in doing this.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and ranking member for doing the Herculean work on this bill, Every Student Succeeds Act, and the conference report. Many, many, many hours and many Congresses could not make this happen. They did. My hat is off to them. When I go home to Tennessee and talk to the teachers, students, administrators, and the parents, what do I hear? There is too much Federal control, too many forms to fill out, we are teaching to the test, the students are frustrated, the teachers are frustrated. Just go sit in front of a group of teachers and ask them: Would you be a teacher again? I promise you that over half of them will hold up their hand and say: No. I wouldn't be a teacher again. That is terrible. We have to make an environment where the educators are enjoying what they do. For the most part, I think teachers have one of the most important jobs in this country. I am a product of the public education system, 23 years. If I hadn't had great teachers, I would not have had the opportunity to be a doctor and I wouldn't have had the opportunity to serve in the U.S. Congress. So I am forever grateful. What do we do? What do they say? They say: Look, this adequate yearly progress we are being judged on, these tests, as far as our students moving along, the Common Core--I hear that all the time at home--we don't need a national school board telling us what to teach in our community. We heard them. Both sides of the aisle heard them and said: Okay. What we will do is we will push that control back down to the local level and you decide what is your curriculum, but you are going to be held accountable for how your student outcomes are. If you have students and minorities, we will be able to ferret those out and improve those students' outcomes. We have eliminated or altered 49 different programs into a flexibility grant that will make it easier for the administrators to run their school systems. I think the main thing we want to do at the end of the day is that we want to create an environment where our students have the best opportunity in the world to achieve because they are now competing on a world basis. For that reason, I think this bill does that. I encourage my colleagues to vote for this. I am proud to stand on the House floor today in support of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Everywhere I go in my district, I hear from teachers, parents, administrators and students, who all tell me that we need to return control to the local level. Just as a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work for health care reform, it will not work for education. Each state, school district and student are different, and local administrators, teachers and parents--not the federal government--should make decisions based on what's best for their students. There are a lot of good reasons for conservatives to support this bill, because on virtually every account it reduces the federal government's ability to control state and local education. This bill replaces the national accountability system with a state-led one, ensuring local leaders' voice is heard. It also eliminates duplicative, expensive and unnecessary programs and replaces them with a Local Academic Flexible Grant, providing funding for school systems to better serve and support their students. Perhaps most importantly, conservatives can feel good about supporting this because of how far it goes in stopping the federal government's intrusion into academic standards and curriculum, and in particular the adoption of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. While these standards were developed in a process that began as a state-led initiative, in recent years concern has increased as the Department of Education has been coercing states into adopting these standards as a condition of getting education waivers and grants. The bill would take away the Department's ability to require Common Core as a condition of federal grants, which ensures the decision on whether or not to adopt Common Core will truly be left up to the states--as it should be. If you claim to be concerned about or opposed to Common Core, then you must support this bill. Mr. Chairman, a lot of people ask me, why does it matter whether we agree on education policy? Well, on my way home after work just the other evening, I met a boy at the grocery stow who was looking for some items on the shelves. He asked me for help in locating crushed pineapples because he told me he couldn't read the words. So I helped him and we found the crushed pineapples. But it hit me--this is why we want to invest in education. We have to have a system that ensures that boy and thousands of other kids just like him are given the opportunity to succeed in life, and that starts with a good education. We have a great opportunity to start helping that child by agreeing to this bill, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make that happen.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 511, the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2015. There are more than 550 federally recognized Native American tribes across the United States. Each of these tribes has a unique history and distinct culture that have helped shape who they are today. And each tribe has an inherent right to self govern, just like any other sovereign government does. That right is rooted in the Constitution and has been reaffirmed by courts for almost 200 years. Because of it, tribal leaders are able to make decisions that affect their people in a way that makes the most sense for their tribe and best protects the interests of their members--or, rather, they should be able to make those decisions. We are here today because, for the past 10 years, the National Labor Relations Board has ignored longstanding labor policy and involved itself in tribal activities. Since its 2004 San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino decision, the Board has used a subjective test to decide on a case-by-case basis whether a tribal business or tribal land is for commercial purposes, and if it is, the Board has asserted its jurisdiction over that business. Now, if the Board were to do the same with a school, a park, or any other enterprise owned and operated by a State or local government, no Member of Congress would stand for it. Why, then, should we stand back and allow the NLRB to impose its will on businesses owned and operated by Native American tribes? The answer is simple: we shouldn't. In fact, we have a responsibility to protect tribal sovereignty, and that is exactly what H.R. 511 will do. The bill under consideration will amend the National Labor Relations Act to reaffirm that the NLRB cannot assert its authority over enterprises or institutions owned or operated by a tribe on tribal land. It very simply reasserts a legal standard that was in place for decades and returns to tribes the ability to manage their own labor relations--as they have a sovereign right to do. I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Rokita), my colleague, for his leadership on this issue and for continuing the work of those in Congress who have helped lead the fight to protect tribal sovereignty over the years. It is time for all of us to join that fight, stand with the Native American community, and restore to Indian tribes the ability to govern their own labor relations. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2015. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), my friend and colleague on the Education and the Workforce Committee and a veteran of this great Nation.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, in hearing testimony at our subcommittee hearing, a number of Indian tribes have labor boards at their particular reservation, so I just want to have that in for the Record. Also, all we are asking for is to treat the Indian tribes exactly the same as local or State governments are treated. If they are sovereign, they are sovereign; if they are not, they are not. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, certainly what we are after here today are the rights of Native Americans, whose rights have been trampled on by this country. We have had treaty after treaty that we have ignored. Maybe we can finally, with this piece of legislation, get one right here. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Rokita), my very good friend and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer.)

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Just for clarification, Mr. Speaker, many Federal labor laws specifically exclude Indian tribes from the definition of employer, including title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. In contrast, statutes of general application, including the NLRA; Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act; Age Discrimination in Employment Act, ADEA; Fair Labor Standards Act; Family and Medical Leave Act; and Employee Retirement Income Security Act, ERISA, are silent in their application to Indian tribes. Federal courts have held that the statutes of general application--specifically, FLSA and ERISA--do apply. Otherwise, they do not. At this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem), my good friend, which I had the privilege of visiting her beautiful State about a month ago.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Yes. I am prepared to close.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) and thank him for his service to this great Nation.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer).

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham).

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I guess what sovereignty means for an Indian reservation is you can be sovereign as long as we tell you what to do. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce). New Mexico has been a very active voice on this issue.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Mr. Scott. He is a delight to work with, and I want to thank him for working with me on this. Policymakers on both sides of the aisle have long agreed on the importance of protecting sovereignty of Native American tribes. Today, we have an opportunity to prove that we are committed to that bipartisan goal. In my packet here, I have literally page after page of tribes that have supported this piece of legislation. To me, being sovereign means that you are able to make your own decisions. What we are seeing the NLRB do is nibble away a little bit at a time at the authority that the local tribes have over local matters. Look, the political job I had before I came to Congress was being mayor of a city. I had more rights than the Native Americans who occupy this land, many of them my district, the Cherokee Nation. The Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2015 is a simple, commonsense measure; but it means a great deal, particularly to those in the Native American community. As tribal representatives have said, this bill will prevent unnecessary and unproductive overreach into tribal affairs. It will empower tribal governments to make decisions that are the best for their people, and it will ensure the Federal Government honors and respects the sovereignty of the tribal nations. Just as importantly, it shows that we are serious about honoring the commitments and making good on promises we have made to Native Americans and broken many, many, many times. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 511. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.