Steve Scalise

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, this week, we say good-bye to a longtime member of my staff and also a long-known face here on the floor of the House, Ben Napier. Ben started his career on the Rules Committee, and he has been a part of Team Scalise for nearly a decade. Starting as floor assistant and working his way all the way up to the position he serves today: floor director of the House of Representatives for the last 6 years. Nobody knows the ins and outs of floor procedure better than Ben, and he is a trusted presence and a familiar face on the floor to all Members. Ben has had a hand in every piece of legislation that has crossed the floor in the last 9 years and has shepherded nearly every House Republican through the process of getting bills to the floor. Ben has been an integral part in setting and carrying out the House agenda during our time in the majority and has overseen major legislative wins, touching everything from tax reform to energy policy to crypto modernization. Ben has been a trusted adviser and a critical team player. His departure will be felt by everyone on Capitol Hill, but I know he will excel in his next chapter. I thank Ben for his years of dedicated service to the Capitol family. Thank you and congratulations, Ben.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear friend from the great State of Texas, the chairman of the House Committee on the Budget, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and in moving this process forward. Let's keep in mind that we worked incredibly hard, especially here in the House, for months to negotiate all the details of what needs to happen in this budget reconciliation. It is all laid out in this House budget. We also need to get started with the reconciliation process. The process is where eleven of our committees in the House will go to work to start making improvements in so many areas to get America back on track. Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, that is why we all come here. We come here to solve big problems. We deal with small issues, too. It is not often, but every now and then we deal with a big issue that can actually improve the lives of families all across this country. We can solve problems that have been going unanswered for years and decades. Mr. Speaker, we can address that in this resolution. Let's go through some of the things that this resolution allows us to do because this resolution doesn't do any of those things, it just opens the door to start that reconciliation process. The product front and center that most people talk about and that is a big piece, but surely not the only piece, is to make sure that Americans don't face a massive tax increase. Mr. Speaker, if we listen to our friends on the other side of the aisle, they brag that they want these tax rates to go up. They want the 2017 tax cuts we passed with President Trump to expire. They don't mince any words about that. In fact, it was even talked about during the campaign. The voters surely had a say on what they wanted when President Trump said he wanted to keep tax rates low on hardworking families and his opponent said she wanted those cuts to expire so those tax rates would go up on those hardworking families. The hardworking families of America said where they wanted to go. In fact, the majority of all Americans said they don't want their taxes to go up. Think about which tax rates will go up. On the other side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues love to talk about class warfare as if that is something Americans should celebrate. I think it is insulting to any American who believes in the promise of the American Dream to try to insult and separate our country based on how much money they make. Whatever a person makes today, the greatest thing about America, the greatest country in the history of the world, is that whatever someone is today, however much they make today, wherever they came from today, they can be anything they want to be if they work hard, play by the rules, and follow their dreams, whatever that dream is, even if that person wants to be a billionaire Mr. Speaker, frankly, talk to most billionaires. They didn't start off chasing wealth because that is not what gets them there. They chased the idea of something bigger than themselves. It usually involves bringing a lot of other people along with them. It involves creating a lot of wealth for a lot of other people along the way, too. I guess the people on the other side of the aisle want to crush that ability. Mr. Speaker, go to Marxist countries, which is the utopia of some of the people on the left. Those Marxist countries don't have any billionaires to beat up on because they don't allow anyone to have that opportunity. They tell people what they can do, how much they can make, what kind of job they can have, and what their potential is. That is not America, and that never should be America. Mr. Speaker, Americans can be whatever they want to be because of what is great about this country. If a person happens to get success, however it is defined--and it doesn't even have to be financial--if someone gets success, why should the government want to punish them for achieving it? Again, there are great examples all over the world of how failed that approach is and every one of those countries has experimented with that, and it has been a dismal failure. I don't see any of the people, that want to change America to that, going to those other countries, because those other countries are so failed. Let's start with that. Look at the individual income tax rates. We want to keep them where they are. We would like to make them lower, but we surely don't want them to go up as the other side of the aisle wants to do. If these tax cuts are allowed to expire, which a ``no'' vote today would ensure, if the tax rates expire, it is not millionaires and the billionaires they keep talking about; it is 95 percent of all families in America who would see their taxes go up. Unless a person makes $70,000 a year and thinks they are a billionaire, their taxes are going to go up. If they make $50,000 a year, their taxes will go up. The alternative minimum tax comes back. A lot of people don't know what that is because we got rid of it in 2017. Every member of the Democratic Party voted ``no'' because they didn't want those taxes to go away, but, luckily, we got the votes without them and passed it. For the middle class of this country, that was a kick to the gut. We got rid of that. That would come back 100 percent, and all of those people in the middle class would see a massive tax hike. Think about small businesses. People love to come here and talk about small businesses. We should do everything we can to help the creation of more small businesses and to help the growth of our existing small businesses. Mr. Speaker, what happens if there is a ``no'' vote on this resolution? There is a tax provision called 199A. Very few people might be able to explain it if they were asked to explain it. Let me tell you what it is. 199A, that would expire if we keep going with this resolution, is the equalizer for small businesses to be able to compete on the same level playing field as a large business, a massive, multinational corporation. The massive, multinational corporations already have their tax rates set at 21 percent. Think of the small business down the street, the mom-and-pop store, the business that is hiring three people, that is allowing that person to maybe be the next billionaire. They are not there today, but they might want to get there. If 199A goes away, all of a sudden that small business and every small business in America goes from paying a 21 percent equivalent to almost 43 percent. Mr. Speaker, the small businesses will get crushed because they won't be able to compete with the big, multinational corporations. I don't know why the Democrats who oppose this resolution want multinational corporations to get a two-times advantage over every small business in America, but that is what a ``no'' vote means. The Democrats can hide behind billionaires all day long. The billionaires will benefit from that. We want to allow those small businesses to keep thriving. Yes, maybe some of them will become billionaires, and I am not going to attack them if they do. We ought to celebrate it if they do. Some of them actually don't make it. A lot of them won't make it if this resolution fails, Mr. Speaker. We protect that as well so they can have their shot at the American Dream; so the single mom who has maybe never had a family that was able to afford their own house can go own their own business and one day buy their own house, maybe get a nice car, and maybe get the nice things in life. They don't have that opportunity if this resolution fails. That is what is at stake. We do a lot of other things that we will open up the door to go do in reconciliation by passing this resolution. We secure America's border. Now, again, this was a major issue on the campaign, and I know the folks on the other side want an open border. Thank God President Trump won and followed through on his promise to secure the border. We now have a 95-percent reduction in illegal crossings at our border. However, that doesn't solve the problem, Mr. Speaker. President Trump wants to continue to give our Border Patrol agents the tools they need to do their job effectively. Why the previous administration denied them these tools we can all debate, but the voters of this country made a decision in November. They said: We don't want our Border Patrol agents to be at a disadvantage with the drug cartels in Mexico, which they are. Drug cartels have better technology today than America's Border Patrol agents. That is a disgrace. Mr. Speaker, you can see drones, and you can see night vision goggles not with our Border Patrol agents. Do you know who has got them? It is the Mexican drug cartels. Our Border Patrol agents who risk their lives to keep our families safe don't have that same ability. Shame on anybody who wants to deny them that ability to have at minimum the same technology, if not more and better, than the drug cartels. We give them that better technology in this resolution. We also do something, Mr. Speaker, that we used to all agree on in this Chamber, and now, unfortunately, it has become a partisan issue. We still believe in strengthening America's defense. Believe it or not, the bad guys are still out there. There are not necessarily more of them, but it is the same people who have been bad for generations, and if we sit back and stay complacent and don't keep up, go look at China's military right now, how much they are advancing their naval fleet that we are not. We can look at all the other countries, Iran and Russia, those countries still intend bad things on our friends, but one day they want to have those bad things apply to us too, Mr. Speaker. How do we stop it? It is by having a strong national defense. We bolster our national defense in this resolution. Why does President Trump call it one big, beautiful bill? It is because it does a lot of critically important things all in one resolution that helps get this country back on a strong footing. What else it does is it produces incredibly needed savings, Mr. Speaker, savings that the American taxpayers want, as well. They want their tax dollars being spent better. They want to see this Congress find a way to get back to balanced Federal budgets. Why don't we all work together to do that? We are here working together to do that. Unfortunately, the other side of the aisle doesn't want to achieve that. They want to vote against any attempt to save money. They criticize DOGE when they identify hundreds of billions of dollars of tax dollars being wasted in foreign countries and here on American soil wasted. People who work two and three jobs and are working their tails off to help provide for their family are incensed when they hear about this waste. They say: When is somebody going to do something about it? President Trump said: I am going to do something about it. He actually campaigned about that too, Mr. Speaker. He said what he would do, and he is doing it. There should be a parade applauding a President who actually ran on saying I am going to do things and then he is actually following through on the promises. The other side can still be upset that they lost the election, and they will keep losing elections as long as they stay in denial about what this country wants, but this country, the American people, 77 million of them, went to the polls and said: These are the things we want our President to do, and their President whom they voted for is doing those things. He needs help from this Congress to continue to follow through on that. That is what passing this resolution today does. It starts that process. There will be more time to debate every one of these items I talked about, and the people who are against all the things I laid out can still talk about why they are against them. They can make up fake bogeymen: Oh, it is the billionaires, it is this, it is that the disabled people are going to lose benefits. Do you know what we do, Mr. Speaker? We strengthen benefits for people that are truly needed, Mr. Speaker, because so many of these programs that once used to be so great and talked about and lofty have been abused. How many illegals are here, people who are here in this country illegally, are on some of these programs that are going bust? Yes, they are going bankrupt. Those aren't my numbers, Mr. Speaker. You can go look at Biden's own actuaries on those programs. Biden's actuaries said that those programs are going bankrupt, and the other side just wants to demagogue and say: Leave them alone; leave them be. To let them go bankrupt would be irresponsible. We can make them work better for the people who are actually here in America who pay into those programs and who have earned those programs or who had something bad happen in their life where they have to be on one of those programs, instead of people who are stealing from those programs. As far as the waste, fraud, and abuse alone, government agencies have given reports on $60 billion a year in waste just in Medicaid, and they want that waste to continue on the other side. That is what a ``no'' gets us. It is allowing the $60 billion a year in waste in Medicaid and fraud in Medicaid to continue. That is the theft of hardworking taxpayers' money. That is taking healthcare away from the disabled who need it. Let's actually get back to having these programs work for the people who funded them, who paid into them, who deserve to be on them, and who need to be on them. That is what we do with this resolution. Let the other side keep demagoguing and keep making up stories, false stories, and personality fights with a person they don't like who won an election and they are still angry about that result. They should look in the mirror, and maybe one day they will say: Why? Why did all those people, 77 million of them, go to the polls and say: We want President Trump to be in the White House to go do those things he said he would do? He is doing them. Let's help him do it. Everybody should be supporting this. Whoever is not can still try to be roadblocks. We are going to keep moving forward, Mr. Speaker, because the future direction of this country demands it. The people in this country demand that we keep moving forward and fixing the problems that are holding them back and holding more greatness for this country back. Mr. Speaker, I urge everybody to vote ``no,'' but anybody who doesn't want to vote ``no'' needs to understand what they are blocking and understand what they are voting ``no'' on. The rest of us are going to keep going to work for those hardworking people who are tired of struggling, Mr. Speaker. They are tired of waiting for the right kind of things to happen in Washington. We can finally make those right things happen. We do it by voting for this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I urge approval of the resolution.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, for his leadership in helping negotiate a really important bill to keep the government funded. As has been duly noted along the way, over this past year, roughly 6 months in this House, the last majority in the last Congress passed over 70 percent of the government funding bills, Mr. Speaker. We passed them to the Senate. Back then, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats were in charge, and they chose not to pass a single House appropriations bill, not one. The House under Republican majority, not always with help from the other side but we still got it done on our own, passed over 70 percent of the government funding bills. Eventually it got to a point where we had to let the Senate try to get something done which, unfortunately, they didn't. Then we got to the verge of a shutdown. We said we are not going to let that happen, and we had a short-term funding bill. Here we are again on the eve of another potential shutdown, and this Republican majority said we are not going to let that happen. In fact, this Republican President Donald Trump said we are not going to let that happen either. It would be irresponsible to have a government shutdown. Maybe it is because Donald Trump said he is for it that then the Democrat leadership decided they were going to be against it. When did they decide they were going to be against this bill? They decided this before the bill was even written. Before it was filed, they came out against it and started saying things that were in the bill when it wasn't even written, Mr. Speaker. You heard them talking about cuts to Medicare, cuts to veterans. The bill wasn't even written, and they were already making up stories to try to figure out how to vote ``no'' and shut the government down. That is sadly where this Democratic Party has gotten. The Democratic Party of today is a leaderless, rudderless ship. They don't have an agenda. You saw it at the State of the Union, Mr. Speaker, when you saw President Trump--not only laying out his agenda-- that 77 million people, a majority of Americans, went to the polls to elect. That is the mandate that President Trump got, not just with the majority of Americans and a majority of the electoral college but all seven--seven out of seven swing States all voted for President Trump because they wanted that agenda implemented. You know what irritates the Democrats the most? What irritates them the most is the fact that President Trump is following through on the promises that he made, actually doing the things he said he would do. He is securing the border. That was the number one issue all across this country. No matter which State you went to, people wanted a secure border. He is following through on it, and yet the Democratic Party is criticizing him for doing that part of his job. Rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in government is something that should be bipartisan. In fact, it used to be bipartisan to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, but now, because Donald Trump is doing it, the Democratic Party of today up here in Washington is so consumed with hatred that they oppose even rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse that has been not only highlighted up here but people around the country are talking about getting rid of that waste once they have seen it. A lot of this was a veil that was pulled down where people couldn't even find out what was going on because the payment systems were being hidden by the Biden administration. We couldn't even find out about a lot of that spending that we were anecdotally hearing about, but finally you saw it on full display. It was so embarrassing that some of those employees have left. Fortunately, a lot of that taxpayer money that was being wasted is now being saved, and the money is being recouped so that we can shore up programs that work vitally for people. The President talked about Social Security, a program that we help protect. When you have got somebody that is listed as 300 years old in the Social Security system, that shows you the kind of fraud and abuse that is going on. President Trump is willing to confront that and take it on so that people who actually paid into the program their whole lives can get the benefits they deserve. That is what people elected President Trump and this majority on the Republican side to do. You would think Democrats would want to join in and help accomplish that, and yet here they are on this floor talking about things that aren't even in the bill, trying to scare people. They are talking about cuts to veterans in the bill, and maybe it is because they just didn't read the bill. It is only 99 pages long. I would urge them to go read it. They might actually vote for this bill in the next hour because they will realize, in fact, the cuts that they are talking about are not true. They are not in the bill. There is an increase for veterans in this bill. You know what else is in this bill, Mr. Speaker? I again applaud the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and his members for negotiating something that has been needed for a long time, and that is the largest pay raise for our junior enlisted military personnel in over 40 years. Now, if somebody doesn't think our men and women in uniform deserve that pay raise, maybe they will vote ``no.'' I am proud to say I am going to be voting ``yes'' to support our men and women in uniform who have been waiting for that raise and deserve it. How can you justify a ``no'' vote on that, Mr. Speaker? That is actually in the bill. As they talk all day about what is not in the bill because they were against it before it was even written, if they actually read this bill, again only 99 pages, it is a pretty quick read, you would find out that that pay raise for our troops is in the bill. Stronger funding for our veterans is in the bill. Why are they voting ``no,'' you would ask? It is just because the name of the President is Donald Trump. I think the people of this country are fed up with that kind of hatred that consumes people here in Washington. Again, when you watch the State of the Union Address, and the President is not even talking about his agenda, he is introducing and paying tribute to a 13-year-old boy who just beat cancer, they couldn't even stand up and applaud that on their side because of the person who said it? If the hatred is so consuming that you can't even support what is great about America, maybe you need to reevaluate what is important in doing these jobs. We are elected to represent the people, and if the President, no matter who he is or she is, has a great idea, you support it. There were a lot of things about Barack Obama's policies I disagreed with, Mr. Speaker, yet, when he said something that was good for America at a State of the Union Address, I stood up. We actually worked with the President. The chairman was part of that, Chairman Cole, in passing the 21st Century Cures Act, the last bill that Barack Obama signed to help put more funding in the NIH so we could cure major diseases. We protect those gains in this bill. If they are advocating to vote ``no,'' they are advocating for a government shutdown. It is a binary choice. It is not like there is a plan B behind door number two, Mr. Speaker. If the plan is to vote ``no,'' what you are really saying is you want to shut down the government. We all get to bring a guest to the State of the Union, and they get to sit up in the balcony. You have the First Lady and the President's guests up there. Again, there was the 13-year-old boy who beat cancer who was a guest. The widow of a slain police officer was in the balcony, and Democrats would not even applaud and pay tribute to her. They were there. Everybody else got to bring a guest. Most Democrats bragged that they were bringing Federal workers as their guests. You saw a lot of them holding rallies in front of Federal offices with Federal employees, some of whom hadn't shown up for work in 3 years since COVID, but they found their way to the office not to work but to protest. Democrats are about to vote to furlough all of those Federal workers. Why? Not because of what is in the bill. They have been telling you stories that aren't even true about what is in the bill. They don't like it because of the name of the President of the United States. Aren't we bigger than that? Aren't we a better country than that, Mr. Speaker? This is our responsibility to get this job done and then turn the page and go to work. This is the business, frankly, of the Biden administration that we are cleaning up, and we all ought to join together and finish that and then come together and start a real appropriations process where we move not just 70 percent of the bills in the House and zero in the Senate. Senator Thune, to his credit as the new majority leader, has vowed to actually work on a true appropriations process so we are not working at the midnight hour on CRs but where we can actually have a fully functioning appropriations process, something we haven't seen in this town in a long time. We have to first take care of yesterday's business before we can start on tomorrow's appropriations process. It is critical that we get this job done, not to vote to lay off and furlough all the Federal workers and the TSA agents. You won't even be able to go to the airport or your favorite Federal park if they got their way. Let's actually get our work done so we can start a 12-bill appropriations process that moves through the Senate too where you can actually have a negotiation between two sides of the aisle, again, something we haven't seen in a long time but is long past due. It is a new day in America, and I applaud President Trump. This morning we had Vice President JD Vance come and talk about the importance of passing this bill because they want to fix the problems of this Nation. They want to fulfill the promises that were made during the campaign and follow through on the mandate that was given to President Trump, Vice President Vance, and this Republican majority in the House and Senate by 77 million people to turn this country around. Let's get back to being the greatest country in the history of the world. We can do it. We can come together and solve big problems. We solve big problems by first taking care of the basics of government and that is to keep the government open. Let's pass this CR. Let's see a big vote to do it, too. I welcome both sides of the aisle. My friends on the other side, they can criticize a bill they have never read that wasn't even filed, but once they look at this bill, I think you might even see some of them vote ``yes,'' as well. Let's get our work done, and let's move on to the next challenges that the American people expect us to deliver for them.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I move that the message of the President be referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered printed.

Mr. SCALISE

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

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Chairwoman, I thank my friend from Arizona for yielding to me for 1 minute. Madam Chair, I rise in strong support, first of all, of this budget resolution. It is a critically important piece of legislation. Frankly, it might be one of the most important resolutions that this Chamber has taken up in years to start the process of delivering on the mandate that President Trump and this House and Senate Republican majority got from the voters of America in November. I understand that my friends on the other side of the aisle are upset with the voters of America that the minority lost the election. My Democratic colleagues are upset with the results. If everybody here listened to what the American people said in November, frankly, first of all, they would vote for this resolution because the resolution delivers on those commitments, the things that were talked about, the things that sent people to the polls that say: Let's finally get America back on track. How do we do it? Number one, we start by staving off a $4.5 trillion tax increase. That is $4.5 trillion. We have heard a lot of hyperbole over the last few days. Just here on this House floor, we have heard from the other side of the aisle, Madam Chair, about millionaires and billionaires. For some reason, it seems like, if somebody is successful in America, the other side of the aisle wants to demonize them, as if that is wrong. Clearly, if Members read this resolution, this resolution is not about millionaires and billionaires. This resolution is about whether or not Congress is going to stand up for the middle class of America, who will be devastated if this resolution fails. A lot of times, when we come to the House floor, Madam Chair, my colleagues can vote for or against a bill, and maybe the bill does good things. Maybe Members think the bill does bad things and nothing happens if they vote against the bill. Some days, nothing happening is a good day. Today, if nothing happens, it is not nothing that happens. Let's be clear: Members have options, Madam Chair. They can vote ``yes'' to pass this resolution and get this process of budget reconciliation started, or they can vote ``no,'' like all of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle brag that they are going to do. If that is the case, Madam Chair, maybe I can persuade a few. Maybe Democrats don't know this because clearly my colleagues on the other side of the aisle haven't read the resolution. We hear Democrats talking about Medicaid over and over again: Cuts to Medicaid. Cuts to Medicaid. Clearly, my colleagues haven't read the resolution because, if they read the resolution, the word ``Medicaid'' is mentioned a total of zero times in the resolution. That is all my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to talk about. If Democrats read the resolution, the minority would talk about what this does to engage 11 different committees in this Congress to start a process called budget reconciliation, where they will go into open hearings, on C-SPAN. Everybody in America can watch the deliberations, where there will be a discussion about how to get this country back on track. The people of this Nation are hungering for that. They are not hungering for people yelling and screaming and telling lies and trying to scare people with false information. We are here to talk about facts, and the facts are that a ``no'' vote imposes $4.5 trillion in taxes that primarily hit middle- and low-income families, not the millionaires and billionaires that my colleagues seem to want to demonize. For example, President Trump was heard talking at every rally about no tax on tips. Clearly, the other side of the aisle was against that. They wanted everybody's taxes to go up. They said they were against renewing the Trump tax cuts, let alone adding things like no tax on tips. We know they were against making sure that those people who work for tips don't have to pay taxes on it. Well, who are those people who work for tips? Madam Chair, last time I checked, Elon Musk does not work for tips. The billionaires aren't the ones working for tips. In fact, we went back and checked. There are over 6 million Americans in this country who actually do work for tips. Madam Chair, what is their average salary? Is it $1 million? Is it tens of millions? Is it $1 billion? No. In fact, the average salary of tip workers is $32,000 a year. That is who we are helping in this resolution. Those tip workers who are struggling, some of them may be working two or three jobs. They are not the millionaires and the billionaires. They might actually be able to take a family vacation for the first time if they don't have to pay a tax on tips and if the 87,000 new IRS agents who Democrats created in the last administration are not unleashed on them to go audit them, to try to make them pay more money on their tip money, which is what is happening. Madam Chair, we say: No, they shouldn't have to pay taxes on those tips. The other side of the aisle says ``no'' to that. My colleagues hide behind Elon Musk and hide behind billionaires and millionaires, except it is not the millionaires and billionaires who we are trying to help. Democratic Members want to confuse the voters of this country so that, when the minority votes ``no,'' the middle class of America doesn't realize and revolt that Democrats just voted with their ``no'' vote to impose a $4.5 trillion tax hike on the middle class of this country. Look at the big number. Taxes on every income level go up. Madam Chair, for those who pay income taxes in America, if the other side of the aisle votes ``no,'' everybody's income tax rate goes up. Who are those folks? It is 145 million families. It is not 145 million people. I am talking about 145 million families in America who make less than $1 million will see their taxes go up. It is a tax increase not on the millionaires and billionaires if my colleagues vote ``no,'' but it is a tax increase primarily on middle- and lower-income families. Why aren't Democrats telling us that? Why haven't Members said that on this House floor? It is because my Democratic colleagues don't want the American people to know the truth. The minority wants to create class warfare and try to divide the country against itself. Shame on people who want to divide this country even more. It is time we unite this country and grow this country, grow the middle class, actually create more jobs and wealth and opportunity. Madam Chair, as Mr. Schweikert pointed out earlier, and he has the charts to prove it, wealth and opportunity for lower and middle-income families is what happened in 2017 and beyond when we started with the Trump tax cuts. Just because minority Members don't like the person whose name is behind those tax cuts, Democrats want to try to demonize him, but the facts still remain. Who benefited the most? We were losing our middle class in America in the decade before we passed those tax cuts. Why? Go look at the record, the facts. We were losing great American company after great American company. They were moving out of America. They were leaving the country. Why is that? It is because we had the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Madam Chair, the other side would say: Stick it to them even more. Raise tax rates even more. Madam Chair, there are laboratories of democracy where that has been tried. It is called New York and California, and every time they keep raising rates, what happens? People move in droves. A million-plus people have left those States to go to other States, such as Texas, Florida, and Tennessee, where there is no income tax. Sure, we are seeing it happen in America, but what happens if Democrats destroy America's system? Where do people go? Well, some of those people left America. Madam Chair, we don't want that to happen. We actually brought companies back. The logos of all of them would be recognized if we put them up. There is too many to mention that left America over years and years, and nobody did anything about it. Everybody knew why it was happening. We made our country competitive again. How? It was by lowering tax rates. Madam Chair, everybody should have been for that. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party back then said: We are going to vote ``no'' on that. Every single Democrat voted ``no.'' Why did my colleagues on the other side of the aisle make it a partisan issue? I don't know, but I know this: We lowered those tax rates to make America competitive. We are a globally competing economy. Our companies in America don't just compete against the person down the street. They are competing against companies all over the globe, and we should applaud that. We shouldn't just applaud it, by the way; we should make sure they remain the most competitive businesses in the world and that America remains the most competitive country in the world, but we weren't. We were not. That is why we were losing people. Imagine people saying: I am going to leave the United States of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. It is because our country stopped being competitive, and we finally did something about it. In 2017, this Republican majority did something about it and finally brought those jobs back and brought wages up. Wages grew for everybody. Companies were giving out bonuses and pay raises. Our unemployment rate went to virtually zero. Those are the facts. Democrats want those tax rates to go up. Not all of them expire. The corporate rate remains, by the way, competitively low at 21 percent. The corporate rate stays at 21 percent. Do my colleagues know what doesn't stay low if Democrats vote ``no''? I am a ``yes'' vote because I want our country to be competitive. I want our small businesses to be able to be competitive with big businesses. My Democratic colleagues love beating up on the big guy, but guess what the minority is going to do, and let's look at the facts. Madam Chair, every small business in America is under a provisional tax code called 199A. If companies are not a small business, they probably have never heard of 199A. If they are a small business, a 20- person mom-and-pop shop on Main Street America, anywhere in this country, 199A is their lifeblood because that is what allows a small business, a 10-, 15-, 20-person American Dream story who started their own business, to now compete and pay the same tax rate as the big, global, multinational corporation who is at 21 percent. Madam Chair, what happens if Democratic Members vote ``no''? Again, the ``no'' vote does not mean nothing happens. If Members vote ``no,'' they are saying they want the small business now to go from a 21 percent effective rate to as high as 43 percent in taxes. Think about this: The mom-and-pop small business is barely hanging on. They have beaten all the internet competitors, and they are still able to hold onto those jobs, show up at work every day, and employ the 20 people or the 15 people that they are creating jobs for. If the other side gets their way, that small business jacks up to a 43 percent tax rate when their competitor, the big, global, billionaire corporation, is still at 21 percent. That is what happens if Democrats vote ``no.'' Why haven't my colleagues said that during the debate? I haven't heard it yet. Again, all we hear about is the billionaires and the millionaires are the ones getting all the breaks, except it is not true, Madam Chair. It is just not true. Every small business in America gets kicked in the gut if this fails. It will be every small business in America. Look at the numbers. This is over 20 million small businesses. Think of how many workers that is. Do Democrats just want to kick all of those workers out to the street and to the unemployment rolls? If businesses are paying 43 percent and their competitor is paying 21 percent, one doesn't need a math degree to figure out how quickly they are not going to be able to compete. We made them competitive in 2017. Why does the other side want to vote ``no'' and all of a sudden make every small business in America uncompetitive with the big billionaires? Madam Chair, Democratic Members are defending the billionaires. This is insanity, but that is the reality of what happens if Members vote ``no.'' Again, maybe by me going through the actual details, we might convince a couple of Members that maybe somebody duped them. Someone gave Members some talking points. Someone mentions the words ``millionaire'' and ``billionaire'' and, next thing we know, we have a parade of 200 people who will just line up and bash the resolution, except it is not in the resolution. Do my colleagues want to stand up for the middle-class families of this country? Vote ``yes'' on the resolution because that is who we are defending. Republicans are going to defend the ability for the next billionaire company maybe, but right now it is a dream in somebody's basement. This is what is great about America. If my Democratic colleagues haven't, they should go look at their favorite company. Go look at the biggest companies. Most of them started with a dream in somebody's garage in Silicon Valley. I know a lot of entrepreneurs who started with great ideas and risked it all over and over again, and then ultimately they might have hit it big, but the only way they were able to hit it big is because they had the ability in the United States of America to turn that dream into a reality where now, all of a sudden, they might hire 300 people. We ought to applaud that. We ought to celebrate that. We ought to make sure that remains in place. The day we take away that ability in the United States, God help us as a country because the few people who still want that dream but don't have America to go to pursue it, they might go to other places, but there just aren't that many other places in the world to pursue it. We cannot crush the American Dream of America. It starts with strengthening the middle class and the lower income families' ability to compete with the big guys so that maybe one day they can be, and then they, too, will be demonized by the other side. In the meantime, give them that ability to compete fairly, and you take that away if you vote ``no'' on this bill. Those are the facts. Whose rates go up and whose rates don't if this bill fails? That is where we are. I do think it is important to, one more time, go through the facts of the 2017 bill because so many lies have been told about that. The poverty rate dropped to the lowest level in history. This isn't the millionaires and billionaires. When we passed the bill in 2017 that every Democrat voted no on, the poverty rate in America dropped to its lowest rate in history. Unemployment hit a 50-year low, and lower- income workers--not the millionaires and billionaires, lower-income workers--saw their wages grow substantially faster than the highest 10 percent of income earners. Whose side are you going to be on today? We are going to give everybody an opportunity to stand up for those hardworking people who want their shot at the American Dream. Stand up for that waiter or waitress who is working their tail off tonight and who is going to come home and go: Wait a minute. I might not have to pay taxes on my tips. I can save that money and, for the first time, start a college fund for my kid. It is not the millionaires and billionaires that benefit from that. It is the average income worker. There are millions of them, by the way. The average income is $32,000 a year. That is who House Republicans are fighting for, and we are going to deliver for them because that was the mandate that the people of this country gave us. Whether you agree or not, whether you like Donald Trump or not, Donald Trump ran on very specific things, and he is delivering on those things. I applaud President Trump for actually following through on the promises that were made. Promises made and promises kept actually matter in this town, and they are rare. When it happens, we ought to applaud it. When this majority actually delivers, we are going to see on that board real soon who actually stands with the 77 million people of this country who said we want this change, that we demand this change, and that we are going to go to the polls to vote for this change. Let's preserve the American Dream. Yes, at the risk of offending a couple of people, I am fine with saying: Let's make America great again because America deserves to be great again. Don't put a $4.5 trillion tax on the middle class of this country. Let's let this country grow. Let's see opportunity flourish. We will do it. We need to pass this bill to start that process. Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Chair, I thank Mr. Schweikert for yielding and I thank the gentleman from California's Central Valley for his passion. He has been a vocal advocate for the things that are necessary to keep these programs like Medicaid strengthened. As we know, some of these programs are weakened right now. As we move this through the process, he surely has my commitment and that of all of leadership that we will continue to not only listen to him, but his district is going to have a very loud voice as this process moves forward to protect and make sure that people who are on these programs, who are deserving, and who need these programs are going to--frankly, we all ought to be focused on getting better services to these people and rooting out the waste, fraud, and abuse. That is what we are focused on, protecting those people who are on these programs who need them so desperately as Mr. Valadao has fought for years to deliver. He will continue to do that, and we absolutely commit to that for him and others.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and thank one of the longest serving members of Team Scalise, a son of Covington, Georgia, and a proud Ole Miss alum, Bart Reising. Bart came to the Hill in 2011 after working on political campaigns and served my good friends, Austin Scott and Bill Flores, as their scheduler before joining my team in 2014 as operations director during the last few months of my chairmanship of the Republican Study Committee. Bart continued his role as operations director when I was elected majority whip. He kept our office operations moving smoothly. Bart made sure that the workers in this beautiful Capitol, the men and women who literally make sure we have a functioning building, and the Capitol Police who protect us always knew that Team Scalise appreciated their efforts. Later, as my member services director, he worked with so many of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to make sure their needs were heard and taken care of. When I became the majority leader and all my staff's roles and responsibilities expanded, Bart took on the role of deputy chief of staff, a position that my chief has often reminded me has been instrumental to the success of our team and our House majority in the last Congress. Bart has been a mentor to so many young Hill staffers, always taking time out of his incredibly busy schedule to meet with interns and staffers alike, providing invaluable guidance as they navigate their Hill careers. To me and my wife, Jennifer, and our two children, he has been a dear friend. He is fiercely loyal, and I am deeply appreciative of all he has done for me and this institution. While Bart may be leaving the Hill, he is forever Team Scalise. I wish Bart good luck in this next new adventure that he is now embarking upon. I know his parents, Craig and Susan, and his brother, Brett, are so proud of what he has accomplished. I thank him for the positive mark he has left on this great institution.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, we have heard enough on this. We can talk about it for an hour, four hours. The bottom line, Mr. Speaker: Why don't we get back to work for the people of this country. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion to refer. I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the motion to refer. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk to refer the resolution to the Committee on Ethics.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, the Member being referenced in the resolution has actually resigned from the House of Representatives. Therefore, the question is moot. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion to refer, and I yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk to refer the resolution to the Committee on Ethics.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Westerman, as well as the House Committee on Natural Resources for moving this bill forward. I thank my good friend, Mrs. Dingell, for her strong support as well, as she just expressed. I am honored to speak on behalf of my bill to update the boundaries of the existing Atchafalaya National Heritage Area to include Lafourche Parish which is in my district. Stretching across 14 parishes in Louisiana, the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area protects our region's storied culture and resources. From Cajun music, to zydeco, to our bayous and abundant natural resources, Louisiana has unparalleled culture and heritage and is home to some of the most unique and special landscapes in the world. The Atchafalaya National Heritage Area brings awareness to this region and tells the rich story of Louisiana's treasured culture and history. I am proud to lead the effort with my delegation colleagues to ensure that Lafourche Parish, the only parish in the historic boundary area that is left out of the original designation, is finally included in this national heritage area. This bill corrects a long-overdue oversight that will complete the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area. I would especially like to thank my fellow Louisiana delegation members, as well as the executive director of the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, Justin Lemoine, the Lafourche Parish President, Archie Chaisson, the parishes originally included in the designation, and the other stakeholders for their support in this effort. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' for this bill and in celebrating the great, unique heritage that we enjoy in south Louisiana.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life of Bernard `Bernie' Marcus and his many contributions to our great nation. Bernie was not only the co-founder of The Home Depot; he was also a self-made man, born to an immigrant family, who on many occasions turned adversity into opportunity. He earned his degree from Rutgers University where he enrolled in pharmacy school. He went on to work in both the manufacturing and retail industries before becoming Chairman of the Board and President of Handy Dan Improvement Centers in 1972. At age 49, Bernie, alongside his friend Arthur Blank, sought to bring to life a ``vision of a one-stop shop for do-it-yourselfers''--The Home Depot. The pair opened the first two Home Depot stores in Atlanta, Georgia in 1979. Today, there are over 2,300 stores worldwide. Despite all of his success. Bernie remained humble and always sought to live up to his mother's approach of ``the more you give, the more you get.'' His generosity to numerous charities undoubtedly helped so many throughout his lifetime. He supported causes like helping Jewish communities, our military veterans, and children with autism, just to name a few. He also started the Homer Fund to help The Home Depot associates who fell on hard times. He built The Home Depot with the core values of giving back, excellent customer service, entrepreneurial spirit, respect for all, and doing the right thing according to their website. These values hold extra meaning for me as well. When I was working my way through college at LSU to become the first in my family to earn a degree, I worked as a Home Depot associate and experienced firsthand the embodiment of these values. They still hold true for me today as they did back then. Bernie truly believed in giving back, and his legacy of generosity and philanthropy will outlive him in the lives of people he has touched. Bernie helped create a ``nation of doers'' and our world is certainly a better place because of him.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of my fellow Louisianan, Barry Melancon, who is retiring after 30 years from his role as President and CEO of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and CEO of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. Barry Melancon has dedicated his 41-year career to the accounting profession, Mr. Melancon began his role in 1995 at the age of 37, which made him the youngest CEO in the organization's history and now the longest serving CEO of AICPA. Mr. Melancon's professional career began in Louisiana where he practiced as a CPA, eventually leading the Society of Louisiana CPAs before beginning his leadership role at AICPA. Mr. Melancon achieved an impressive number of accomplishments for his work on behalf of the accounting profession. In addition to testifying before Congress, Accounting Today named Barry Melancon the Most Influential Person in Accounting for 17 consecutive years, as well as the National Association Executive of the Year. Mr. Melancon has served as a member of AICPA's delegation to the International Federation of Accountants, board member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, board member of the Center for Audit Quality, chair of XBRL-US, and board chairman of the Global Accounting Alliance. Barry Melancon also received an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from his alma mater, Nicholls State University, and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the 2023 International Accounting Forum and Awards. It is my honor to recognize Barry Melancon for his passion, longstanding dedication, and leadership in the accounting profession. I am proud that a fellow Louisianan has played such a nationally prominent role in advancing innovation in his industry and mentoring a new generation of leaders. I commend Barry Melancon for his many years of dedicated service and wish him the best in his retirement.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I object to the motion.

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, if we want to go through every comment and tweet from the other side, we will be happy to do it.

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, first of all, the tweet has been deleted already and removed, but I object to the motion.

Mr. SCALISE. I object.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, Members are advised that upon completion of our scheduled legislative business, votes are no longer expected in the House on Thursday, September 26th, and Friday, September 27th. The last votes for the week and the month are now expected to take place tomorrow evening. We expect Members will be able to walk off the floor tomorrow at approximately 6:45 p.m. This is a change from the previously announced schedule.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee for yielding and for bringing this bill. Especially I thank Mr. Self for his leadership in working for so long on this important bill. Mr. Speaker, it is not often that we will walk amongst people who are larger than life. During my years in Congress, I have been honored to serve with two people whom I would put in that category: Sam Johnson and John Lewis. Both of them have amazing stories that are well chronicled. I got to know Sam over the years that I served with him. It was a treat to be able to just sit down and hear stories and talk to him about the things I had heard about him because Sam was truly larger than life, Mr. Speaker. We heard stories of his early days as an Air Force pilot. This was back in the days before the Apollo missions when our Air Force pilots were trying to push the boundaries to figure out just how far we could go, how fast we could go, and how high we could go. They were doing things that had never been done before. I had heard a story that Sam challenged Buzz Aldrin. Buzz, of course, famously was the commander of the Apollo mission, the first mission to land on the Moon. He was the second man to walk on the Moon after Neil Armstrong. I heard that story, and one time after Sam had left Congress, I had the opportunity to meet Buzz Aldrin. I said: I want to ask you about this story. I heard that Sam Johnson challenged you to a fighter pilot race. He just lights up. Buzz Aldrin was just incredibly accomplished and was a national hero in his own right. He lights up at the words: Sam Johnson. He said: That is not the whole story. Yes, Sam Johnson challenged me to a fighter pilot race. We would practice every day, and I would usually beat Sam. He said that the night before the race, Sam had souped up his plane, and, sure enough, the next day we had this race, and Sam just flies by and wins the race. Sam was just an incredible person. He had an unbelievable sense of humor. I got to see that. Later on in life when we both had our physical challenges, we challenged each other to a scooter race. It was not quite the same thing, but I never saw him laugh as much as at that because, again, Sam was just an amazing person who for all the things he went through still maintained a great sense of humor while he exhibited so much leadership. Nonetheless, we know the story that Sam lived through 7 years in the Hanoi Hilton. He wrote a book about it. As I started to get to know Sam, I said: I am not going to really truly understand Sam unless I read the book. The book is called ``Captive Warriors.'' So one week when I was going out of town, I got the book, and it was one of those books you get not for easy reading because it was a difficult read. I teared up a lot because he goes into great detail of the things that happened to him during those 7 years. As Mr. Self talked about, he was one of the elite men who was being held captive, and so they held him in a special place, a separate place. They put Sam in shackles for a number of those years he was held. They broke almost every bone in Sam's body, but they never broke Sam's spirit. That is the one thing I think that probably frustrated the Viet Cong so much is that for all the things they did to him physically and mentally they were never going to break Sam because he loved this country. He loved his commitment to service, and he maintained that throughout those 7 years. We know the medals he won: two Silver Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with Valor, and two Purple Hearts. Sam wrote a line in his book, ``Captive Warriors,'' that I will read: ``If hell is here on Earth, it is located on an oddly shaped city block in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam.'' This was a man that I had the true, distinct honor of serving with because of who he was. When you met Sam, you were not let down. You truly understood you were in the presence of greatness. May we all strive to have the kind of character and integrity that Sam Johnson had when he lived his life. Let's honor him today by passing Mr. Self's legislation to name the VA hospital in Plano, Texas, after my dear friend, an American hero, Sam Johnson.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, every day in this Chamber, as Members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats do the hard work of the House and the people that we represent. We rely heavily on the great staff, people that have dedicated themselves to service, to help us get this House functioning, do the work that we need to do, and to help us do our jobs better. From time to time, some of those great staff members go on to do other things. Today, unfortunately, is one of those days. I rise to pay tribute to Annie Wolf. Annie is here with us today. Annie has served here in the House for 10 years on the floor. We know the intensity of floor duty for those staffers that work here. That is when some of the most heated things happen, and you need a level staff. We need staff that really understand the rules of the House, that understand how to keep us on track so that we can still get the things done we need to even when we have some of the hottest debates. Annie is one of those people that has always been a calming voice, always been a person you can come to and ask for guidance. Whether she might agree or disagree with what you are trying to achieve, she will help you understand what the rules are to do what you want to do. That is what professional staff are all about, and that is what Annie has done for 10 years here on the floor, 5\1/2\ of those in my office. I have been honored to have Annie work in my office, and so many people on both sides of the aisle I think have been better legislators because of the professionalism of Annie Wolf. She is going to go on and do some bigger things. She is young and she has a bright future ahead of her, but I thank her for her years of service here and all the things that she has done to make this a better institution so that we, the people that serve the people of the United States, can do our jobs properly. In the gallery watching, we have her mom, Mary Minkler. Annie's husband is here. Adam Wolf, I know you sacrificed a lot in taking care of things and taking care of the family when she is here working late hours because we have had a lot of late nights, but we have gotten a lot of big things done because of Annie. Her brother, Patrick, is here, as well. To the entire Wolf family, we thank you for loaning her to us to provide her great service to this country. She is going to go on to bigger and better things, but we will miss her here, and we thank Annie Wolf for her service to the United States House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Kelly, after 26 years, you have earned everything that is ahead of you. We will miss you here, but even better things are ahead. Thank you for all you did for this institution, this United States House of Representatives. God bless you in the future. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for those wonderful comments. For the last few years, Kelly served as the staff director for the Rules Committee and most of that time working with our now- Appropriations chair, but then Rules chair. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).

Mr. SCALISE. We miss those days, though.