Thomas Tiffany

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this amendment. Madam Speaker, there isn't enough time to talk about all of the crazy things in this bill, so I am going to focus on the one provision I think takes the cake and something that should have been put in this bill. The bill before us today, which I am calling the politician enrichment act, will force American taxpayers to fund partisan political ads. You heard that right, Mr. and Mrs. America. All those negative, mudslinging campaign ads you see on TV every election cycle--the ones you can't stand--well, now you have to pay for them, too. In fact, you get to chip in $6 of your money for every $1 the politicians raise. How is that for the swamp taking care of its own? But, wait, there is more: This new taxpayer-funded gravy train will expand a loophole in campaign finance law that is already big enough to drive a fully-loaded Brinks truck through. Madam Speaker, thanks to a generous carve-out in Federal law, Members of Congress are able to funnel campaign contributions into their personal bank accounts by simply hiring their spouses as campaign consultants. In fact, one high profile Member of the body--this body--exploited this loophole to the tune of $2.8 million in the last election cycle. You think it is bad now, Joe and Jane Taxpayer? Just wait until you see how bad it gets when you are paying for it.

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment, specifically, a provision in here taking a trail in Wisconsin and turning it into National Park Service unit status. This proposal before us has not been introduced as a standalone bill this Congress and has not been heard by the Natural Resources Committee. We have not discussed the impacts of elevating this trail to National Park Service unit status, and there have been no hearings to afford local officials or adjacent landowners the opportunity to express their views. Too often in this body, we see Members who represent urban constituencies rushing to expand Federal control over rural communities far from their own homes. And too often, these decisions marginalize the voices of people in the affected communities who must live with the consequences: Federal land management agencies in Washington, D.C., imposing new limitations on access, use, and impacts to private property owners. Mr. Speaker, we have also spent much time in this body discussing the Park Service maintenance backlog, which is significant. We should be mindful of that backlog and the fact that land managers lack sufficient resources to care for the units already under their supervision. I am also concerned that the passage of measures like this one will further fuel the Federal Government's insatiable appetite to annex yet more private property. And more Federal land ownership means further erosion of the property tax base, higher local property tax burdens, and strained local budgets. Let me give you this analogy. A homeowner, their roof is falling in. The lot next to them comes up for sale and they say, gosh, I have got to buy that lot, and they don't take care of their own home. That is, in effect, what we are doing with our national parks here in the United States of America. To be clear, I believe that Wisconsin is home to some of this country's most special places, including this scenic and picturesque trail. On this fact, my Wisconsin colleagues and I agree. But I believe this amendment is the wrong approach, Mr. Speaker, and I would encourage a ``no'' vote on the amendment and the bill.

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose H.R. 803, the western wildfire bill. Make no mistake, while some seek preservation, what we need is management. It always seems like those who seek to preserve, they go to the places that are most well managed. These places now will suffer as a result of that. But I want to emphasize three things that all Americans are going to lose with this bill. Job security: We have already seen 11,000 jobs jeopardized by the abrogation of a contract by President Biden in regard to the Keystone XL pipeline. Economic security: Lumber prices continue to rise. Taking timber off the marketplace is not going to make the cost of building a home any cheaper. You want to get kids out of their parents' basement? You are not going to do it this way, by raising the price of being able to build a home. National security: We have become an energy-independent country here over the last 10 years, and it has gotten us out of the forever wars in the Middle East. This jeopardizes those achievements. Job security, economic security, national security are all at stake here with this bill.

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, while America and Congress' attention has been diverted from the real issues, we have seen something over the last couple of weeks that is going to compromise American security in three ways. One is national security; two, our economic security; and most important for millions of Americans, their job security. First came the White House decision to shred the Keystone pipeline permit, a slap in the face to our friends in Canada and a pink slip for countless Americans who rely on the strategic energy security project for their livelihoods. But you know what may have happened, most importantly? With a stroke of a pen, a contract was eliminated. Can other countries trust America anymore? Can Americans trust our President and our executive branch when, at a stroke of a pen, they unilaterally say that contract is null and void? Then came the moratorium on Federal oil and gas leases, the prospect of a long-term drilling ban on public lands, and even steps to halt energy projects on private land. The White House has also pushed the U.S. back into the U.N.'s Paris climate treaty, subjecting American interests to the whim of international bureaucrats. By the way, the English were smart enough to get out of one of those agreements. They called it Brexit. These things will kill family-wage American jobs that can't be outsourced, raising prices at the pump and draining trillions of dollars from the U.S. economy. All of this was done with a stroke of a pen, without approval from Congress, and the ramifications will be disastrous. Madam Speaker, when it comes to national security, it is no coincidence that we have seen peace break out in the Middle East over the last few years. The diplomatic achievements of the Trump administration in that troubled region are a result, in part, of policies that have made American energy dominance a reality. We gained the upper hand when we began producing more petroleum and became energy independent in America. By turning back the clock on these historic gains, the new administration is putting more American lives and treasure at risk. Closer to home, the economic costs will also be dire. The cancellation of the Keystone pipeline and new energy restrictions have put Wisconsin jobs on the chopping block, including more than 2,000 jobs at Michels and Precision Pipeline, two fine American companies and Wisconsin companies. These companies will not be the only victims of the Biden administration's great leap backward. Thousands of downstream companies provide support services to pipeline firms, businesses like parts suppliers, steelworkers, fracking sand mine operators, and even restaurants, taverns, and other Main Street businesses that count energy industry workers among their customers. All of these businesses are in the crosshairs for another economic hit, this one inflicted by their own government in Washington, not a pandemic in Wuhan. Even more galling was the administration's glib response that these hardworking Americans should simply suck it up and find better jobs. Is that what unity looks like, Madam Speaker? By taking aim at Americans who work in oil and gas, the Biden administration will cripple a key stream of revenues for State and local governments, funding that they rely on to pay for schools, road repairs, first responders, and public health services. In Wisconsin alone, the loss of revenue associated with the cancellation of Keystone is estimated to hit $3 billion. I would like to emphasize, while we are here with the chair of the Western Caucus and hearing from Members from the west side of Mississippi--Wisconsin is on the east side of the Mississippi--it is Eastern States that are going to be hit with this equally hard, including the States of Ohio and Pennsylvania. While people in our communities are struggling to pay their bills and find work, this administration is killing jobs and making their lives more expensive. While those on the other side are pushing a $350 billion State bailout, the White House is choking off their revenues. While our Nation faces rising threats from foreign adversaries, the other side is taking active steps that will make America less safe, less secure, and less self-reliant. American workers are tired of being lectured about carbon emissions by people who fly around the world on private jets, like President Biden's climate czar, who admitted that even if U.S. emissions dropped to zero, it would make no difference because 90 percent of CO2 comes from other countries. In fact, a third of the total global emissions come from China. The bottom line is that access to affordable, abundant, and reliable energy is essential to a dynamic economy supporting millions of good Made in the USA jobs in American manufacturing. Madam Speaker, when the White House attacks homegrown energy jobs for purely political gain, China wins and America loses.

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, my father once said to me: Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. In the short time I have served in this body, one thing is clear: This is not a serious place. Last year, we watched as the other side delayed COVID relief for months to inflict maximum pain and sway the outcome of the election. The Speaker said as much. Yet, these last 2 days, we have seen just how fast they can move when they want to exact political retribution on their opponent. My friends on the other side now have complete control of both Houses of Congress. In a few days, they will control the entire executive branch as well. Madam Speaker, Joe Biden has talked unity and healing. Is that what this is today? Is accusing Republican lawmakers of sedition and calling for their expulsion the plan for healing? Is working with Silicon Valley to digitally disappear those with whom they disagree with the plan for reconciliation? I was among the first to condemn the riots in Madison months ago, and I condemn what happened last week. But where were the swift accusations of incitement and insurrection from the other side last year? Is today's political theater a preview of what the American people can expect from single-party rule, 2 years of double standards, of punishing those who voted for someone else? Madam Speaker, I hope Mr. Biden is watching today and that he will rise to the moment and call off this effort to rub salt in the wounds of millions of Americans. It is now time for all of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, to turn down the temperature.

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on the comments from the Congressman from the First District of Michigan. Today, I recognize a good friend and great American, Tom Casperson, who passed away this weekend. Tom lived in Representative Bergman's district in Escanaba, Michigan. I knew Tom as a State senator when he worked on numerous issues across State lines with me. The Good Neighbor Authority promoting better management of our national forests originated at a hearing Tom and I put together in Breitung Township, Michigan. Tom Casperson may have had a greater impact on Upper Peninsula issues in the Michigan Legislature than anyone who served the Upper Peninsula. While I knew Tom as a State senator, he will be remembered for far more than that, including as a man of great faith. Mr. Speaker, I send my deepest sympathies to Tom's wife, Diane, and their family. It has been a great privilege to have known such a fine man. May Tom Casperson rest in peace.

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona for yielding some time to me here this afternoon. First, we are setting up a picture here on the easel to the right of me. And what you see there are not the wildfires in California. What you see is a picture from my district in western Wisconsin of Minneapolis at the end of May as the city was burning. Organized anarchist groups like Antifa have been engaging in systematic criminal activity including assaults, widespread property damage and destruction, repeated looting, and attacks on law enforcement and others. They have turned parts of Kenosha, Madison, and Milwaukee in my State, as well as neighborhoods just over the border in Minnesota, into post-apocalyptic hellscapes. And if I can take just a minute. Growing up in western Wisconsin, I will never forget, it was always a treat to go into the Twin Cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. And in the Midwest, Minneapolis and Saint Paul were always known as the best of the big cities to live in. They can no longer say that after what has happened here in 2020. These are not mostly peaceful protests, and Antifa is not a myth. These are orchestrated assaults on civil society and the American way of life designed to spread terror and chaos, to destroy businesses, and to shake the very foundations of our country. First, it was Minneapolis and Atlanta, then Portland and Seattle, then Milwaukee, Madison and even Kenosha. Tomorrow it could be your community. So let's talk about those cities here in Wisconsin. Madison: In June, a violent mob vandalized the State capitol and other State buildings, shattering windows, hurling Molotov cocktails and destroying historic monuments. In fact, it was very fortunate that the Molotov cocktail that went into the county building just off from the State capitol did not lead to a loss of life. They attacked a statue of Hans Christian Heg, a statue that I was just walking past a few months ago as a State legislator in Wisconsin. He was a Civil War veteran, immigrant, abolitionist who fell at Chickamauga fighting to end slavery and preserve the Union. Yes, they tore it down. His nearly 100-year-old sculpture was decapitated and thrown into a lake by rioters. The mob also tore down the statue of Lady Forward, a monument that is emblematic of Wisconsin being the first State to ratify the women's suffrage movement. The original Lady Forward statue was first placed in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol in 1895. And for my friends on the other side of the aisle, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, if you don't think they are going to come for you at some point, go ask my former colleague Democrat State Senator Tim Carpenter, who was beaten by rioters during that unrest and needed surgery to recover. He told the media, ``I don't know what happened . . . all I did was stop and take a picture . . . and the next thing I'm getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head.'' That is a Democratic State senator. Roving bands of thugs looking to intimidate residents torched and looted State Street. The State Street riots proceeded when they tore down the statues around the beautiful State capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. But let's talk about Bernell Trammell. In July, Mr. Trammell, an activist known for carrying handmade signs supporting President Trump, was gunned down in broad daylight in Milwaukee. To date, no arrests have been made. Mr. Trammell is an African American. And, in fact, I am quite sure he supported an African American former state senator that I used to work with. There is growing public concern that the violence and lawlessness that has plagued Milwaukee for months has rendered local officials either unwilling or unable to thoroughly investigate his murder and bring those responsible for his death to justice. And that includes the top law enforcement official in Wisconsin. We are hearing nothing from him in regard to Bernell Trammell. The failure of local officials to apprehend any suspects a month after this brutal crime was committed sets a dangerous precedent, one that could encourage more politically motivated killings and undermine the civil rights protections afforded to all Americans. I have asked Attorney General Barr and the U.S. Attorney to initiate a civil rights investigation into his killing as they did into the shooting of Jacob Blake. Kenosha: During the Kenosha riots, at least 56 businesses were severely damaged or destroyed racking up a $50 million price tag. Thank you, President Trump, for coming to Kenosha and offering your assistance. The destruction has left business owners devastated and wondering whether they will have the money to rebuild and stay in the neighborhood. The Uptown neighborhood, home to a majority of minority-owned businesses, was among those hardest hit. One news report described the plight of one local business owner: Inside La Estrella Supermarket, owner Abel Alejo surveyed the water and smoke damage his shop suffered. Carpeting in a hallway was spongy with water as he surveyed packages of spoiling food that needed clearing out last week. A few pinatas still hung overhead from an intact part of the otherwise broken ceiling in the closed store. Wauwatosa: According to police, a mob targeted the home of a Wauwatosa policeman, vandalizing his home, physically assaulting him, then firing a shotgun through his back door. A Democrat state representative participated in the unrest and actually accused the officer, who lives in the home with his girlfriend and two children, of aggressively provoking the confrontation by ``choosing to come out of his home.'' So I think about my district. I was talking to the mayor a short week after I was sworn in on May 19, when the riots were happening in Minneapolis, and he was wondering, along with lots of other citizens in St. Croix and Polk Counties on the western edge of Wisconsin, are the riots of Minneapolis going to come to our community? We can only hope that that does not happen here as we close out 2020.

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Stauber-Tiffany- Cox amendment, and I thank the gentleman for the time. This amendment comes after many years of experiencing well-documented U.S. Navy maintenance backlogs and deficiencies in much-needed naval upgrades. These backlogs and deficiencies seriously inhibit our force- in-readiness and operational capabilities. Our military needs to be the readiest it can be in order to meet the challenges of the future, and this amendment will help them do that. Shipyards across the country are ready, willing, and able to support the maintenance and upgrade requirements needed by our naval assets, including one in Superior in my congressional district. These non- homeport shipyards can support vital surge capacity, addressing maintenance needs that cannot be addressed in a timely fashion at homeports. This change will also support good, family-wage jobs across the country. Mr. Speaker, I ask for a ``yes'' vote on the amendment.

Mr. TIFFANY

Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Leader McCarthy and the Members of the Wisconsin delegation in attendance here today. And I would like to thank Congressman Sensenbrenner for his kind introduction; I wish him the best as he concludes his years servicing the people of Wisconsin in the Halls of Congress. Thank you, Speaker Pelosi, for taking time out of your busy day to conduct this swearing in. My message is simple. Ten years ago I was given the great privilege to represent the people of northern Wisconsin in the State legislature in Madison. I made one commitment to them, to advance the cause of freedom and liberty. Today, I make that same commitment to the good people of northern and western Wisconsin, to fight for those same enduring ideals that form the foundation of the American Republican. Madam Speaker, I wish to thank my mother, Virgal Tiffany who, along with my deceased father, Pat Tiffany, raised my seven brothers and sisters in the little town of Elmwood, Wisconsin, with love and devotion. I am here today, Mom, because of the persistence and determination you have lived your life by every day. Madam Speaker, I suspect that she is down in her kitchen right now canning sauerkraut and pickles just like she has always done as a farm girl. Yes. And, finally, to my wife, Chris, and our three daughters, Karlyn, Lexie, and Katherine, they are up in the gallery there. I hope you are as excited as I am as we turn the pages to a new chapter in our lives. Thank you for standing with me all of these years.