Mark Walker

Mr. WALKER

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Chairman, who better to address these problems than parents, States, and local school boards. Let's talk about specifically what the A-PLUS Act does. One, it restores education decisionmaking to State and local leaders who are better positioned to make informed decisions about the needs of their local school communities. It allows States to consolidate funding for any and all programs that are authorized under the ESEA, and it also reduces bureaucracy and increases transparency of student outcomes by redirecting accountability to parents and taxpayers, not Washington. Fundamentally, I believe that government is more accountable, almost always, the more local, and it becomes more effective. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Chairman, I am introducing the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success, or the A-PLUS, Act. When most of us come to Washington, one of the promises or one of the things that we try and do best is to return as much power or, should I say, decisionmaking back to the States and back to the people. I believe the A-PLUS Act does that. It allows the States to opt out of as many as 80 different Federal programs, returning that opportunity. Some may say that No Child Left Behind, that it allows the opt out, and it does; but what it doesn't do, it doesn't allow the States to opt out of the mandates and still keep their Federal funding. That is why we believe this is a crucial amendment. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. DeSantis), my distinguished friend.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. WALKER

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1640) to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit to Congress a report on the Department of Homeland Security headquarters consolidation project in the National Capital Region, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I, once again, urge my colleagues to support this strong bipartisan piece of legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1640. Mr. Speaker, since 2006, the Department of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration have been working towards completing a consolidated headquarters on the historic St. Elizabeths campus in Washington, D.C. However, as with many other Federal projects, the consolidation has run up against cost overruns and construction delays, at times estimated to be more than $1 billion over budget and 12 years behind schedule. Earlier this year, I visited the site personally to see firsthand the progress being made and the immense challenges that lie ahead. I remain concerned that taxpayers' dollars will be put at risk without better management. This bill, H.R. 1640, the DHS Headquarters Consolidation Accountability Act of 2015, would require the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Administrator of General Services, to investigate and submit a report on the estimated costs and property needs of the project. While we were encouraged by the updated DHS St. Elizabeths plans published earlier this year, we still believe that increased oversight of the consolidation project will help ensure accountability and the efficient use of our constituents' taxpayer dollars. Mr. Speaker, accountability is a fundamental aspect of citizen-ruled government and something that our constituents expect their representatives to uphold. H.R. 1640 does just this, and I look forward to the bipartisan support this legislation will receive. I reserve the balance of my time. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives, Washington, DC, June 15, 2015. Hon. Michael McCaul, Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security, Ford House Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman McCaul: I write concerning H.R. 1640, the Department of Homeland Security Headquarters Consolidation Accountably Act of 2015. This legislation includes matters that fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In order to expedite floor consideration of H.R. 1640, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will forgo action on this bill. However, this is conditional on our mutual understanding that forgoing consideration of the bill does not prejudice the Committee with respect to the appointment of conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matters contained in the bill or similar legislation that fall within the Committee's Rule X jurisdiction. I request you urge the Speaker to name members of the Committee to any conference committee named to consider such provisions. Please place a copy of this letter and your response acknowledging our jurisdictional interest into the Congressional Record during consideration of the measure on the house floor. Sincerely, Bill Shuster, Chairman.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. WALKER

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1350) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 442 East 167th Street in Bronx, New York, as the ``Herman Badillo Post Office Building.''

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 1350, introduced by Representative Jose E. Serrano. H.R. 1350 designates the post office located at 442 East 167th Street in Bronx, New York, as the Herman Badillo Post Office Building. Mr. Badillo was a United States Congressman who represented the South Bronx. He was born in Puerto Rico and has the distinction of being the first United States Congressman of Puerto Rican heritage. Throughout his life, Mr. Badillo overcame hardship and adversity. After being orphaned at a young age, he moved to the United States when he was 11. From there, he went on to achieve great things. Mr. Badillo graduated with honors from City College in 1951 and, shortly thereafter, graduated from Brooklyn Law School, where he was valedictorian of his class. In addition to the first Puerto Rican-born Congressman, he was the first Puerto Rican-born city commissioner and Bronx Borough president. I agree with my colleague Representative Serrano's assessment of Mr. Badillo: he truly is a testament to the American Dream. Herman Badillo passed away on December 3, 2014. Naming a postal facility for Mr. Badillo in the community that he served will honor him as the great public servant he was. I urge Members to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALKER

Mr. WALKER. I thank Congressman DeSantis. Mr. Speaker, tonight, in closing, we have had an evening which we have called and labeled ``the People's Night,'' one of many that we plan on holding. I thank the dozen or so colleagues who have shown their concern. We talk much about awareness these days, but few times do we get to the accountable and to the action step process. Government has run amuck. That is why many of us ran to begin with. I sent out an email this afternoon, asking a few of the constituents back home what some of the things are they are concerned about. The president of our local women's Republican club sent back two paragraphs and listed about 12 or 13 things. Those are the kinds of things we need to be calling out. It has been a privilege to be with my colleagues this evening. I appreciate their time as they continue to show strong support for these wonderful men and women. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALKER. Thank you, Congressman Buck. With that, it is my privilege to yield to the gentleman from Georgia, Congressman Jody Hice, my colleague and a former fellow minister.

Mr. WALKER. Thank you, Congressman Meadows. I appreciate your words tonight. Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of interest these days in the growing list of candidates that we have running for the 2016 Presidential election, and one of the things that drove me to make a decision in running for Congress to begin with was the great abuses that we have in some of the particular agencies. Three years ago, none were more glaring than the State Department and the actions taken by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. To this day, I can't understand why she could look and even hug a family and tell them point-blank that this was about a video. Nine days later, our President followed up with pretty much the same inaccurate jargon. It is my privilege to yield to the gentleman from Colorado, Representative Ken Buck, my friend, tonight, who is going to talk some about her work and her time. He is a great conservative from the State of Colorado.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, when we talk about accountability, we think of great leaders here in the Congress, even people who have reached out as mentors. I can think of no one higher that has that honor for my respect than the colleague, the part of our delegation from North Carolina, Mr. Mark Meadows, and with that, I yield to him.

Mr. WALKER. Thank you, Congressman Brat. I appreciate your shedding light. Mr. Speaker, this administration, from the very beginning, went a long way in promising transparency and accountability. In fact, it was President Obama himself who expressed: ``My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.'' In the same speech, President Obama went on to say: ``Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset.'' President Obama said: ``My administration will take appropriate action consistent with law and policy to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use.'' Well, that is what he said, but it has been the exact opposite for the Department of Justice. Many of us have heard about Fast and Furious, and we may have time to get to it. What I want to talk about tonight is Operation Choke Point, and here to do that tonight is one of the strong conservatives in all of Congress, my colleague from South Carolina, Mr. Mick Mulvaney.

Mr. WALKER. Thank you, Chairman Chaffetz. We are going to talk about some specific egregious behavior. It wasn't long that I was here and serving with Chairman Chaffetz on the House Oversight Committee that we were requested to meet with the inspector general of the EPA. It was in that moment, only weeks after I had arrived, that here we have an inspector general, a gentleman appointed by the President, who had reached out to us in his tireless efforts to even so much as to get the EPA to respond. The arrogance that stems from that agency has been grossly misused and abused. It is my privilege tonight to acknowledge one of my North Carolina colleagues to talk specifically more about the Environmental Protection Agency. With that, I yield to the gentleman from the Charlotte, North Carolina, area, Mr. Hudson.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, tonight is a night about accountability, about taking responsibility. Many of my colleagues that will speak here tonight were sent by districts of people who wanted to hold this government accountable in both the fiscal and social arenas. I think back today, though it was unplanned, on June 15, 1775, 240 years ago this very day, George Washington accepted the position as commander in chief of the Continental Army. Washington was serving in the Second Continental Congress as a delegate from Virginia when his peers voted unanimously to hand him the reins of the entire Revolutionary Army. About 100 paces from where I am standing, on the back of these Chambers, standing in the Capitol's rotunda is the history of how America was birthed into existence. It is displayed through the most glorious artwork. Of all those paintings in the rotunda, I am most intrigued by John Trumbull's work on Washington submitting his resignation in 1783, after completing his assignment, through struggles and severe setbacks, more than 8 years after accepting the position. Now, while some of these paintings depict those of conquests or discoveries, this particular work captures the great character of Washington. You see, Congress had granted Washington the powers equivalent to a dictator; yet the humility and the wisdom of Washington understood that, for a republic to survive, it must be held accountable by the people. His resignation that day stated this: I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence or a lack of self-confidence in my own abilities to accomplish so arduous a task which, however was superceded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven. You see, Washington had resolved that a citizen-ruled government, though different than others in the past, had a chance to do something, to be something, something exceptional. Two hundred and forty years ago today, Washington laid the cornerstone of freedom through accountability to the people with a unique blessing from the divine power of Heaven. That is why we have assembled tonight, to talk about what Washington's vision was: a citizen-ruled government that would hold the Federal Government and this administration accountable. Tonight I would like to introduce the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a committee that I am privileged to serve on, someone who has been a champion on government oversight. I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz).

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the topic of my Special Order.

Mr. WALKER. Thank you, Congressman Hice. With that, I yield to the gentleman from the State of Texas, Mr. John Ratcliffe, one of our sharpest new Members from the State of Texas, a district attorney, who we asked specifically to come out to share some thoughts tonight specifically about some of the continued abuses.

Mr. WALKER. Thank you, Representative Hudson, for the passionate remarks regarding our veterans. It is a shame, the abuse that we see sometimes of the veterans. But there has probably been no greater abuse than that of our own Internal Revenue system. With 75,000 pages, 8,000 pages that have been added under this administration, we can see why abuse and corruption exist. What better person to speak on that than an economics professor. So I now yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Brat), a new Member of the Congress.

Mr. WALKER

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 728, introduced by Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer. H.R. 728 designates the post office located at 7050 Highway BB in Cedar Hill, Missouri, as the Sergeant First Class William B. Woods, Jr. Post Office. Sergeant First Class Woods was a Special Forces senior medical sergeant and native of Hermann, Missouri. After graduation from Northwest High School in Cedar Hill, Missouri, he enlisted with the United States Marine Corps as a rifleman in 1996. Sergeant First Class Woods later enlisted in the United States Army, and in 2003, he attended the Special Forces qualifications course. Sergeant First Class Woods earned the distinguished green beret and was deployed to Afghanistan in July 2009 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He gave his life for his country about a month later. On August 16, 2009, in a hospital in Germany, Sergeant First Class Woods died from wounds he sustained while conducting a mounted patrol in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, 2 days before. Sergeant First Class Woods will be remembered not only for his personal accomplishments, graduating from many of the Army's elite schools and earning numerous medals, but also as the example of courage and sacrifice. I urge Members to support this bill to name a post office in honor of this brave young soldier. I would like to add that Congressman Luetkemeyer was, unfortunately, unable to make it this evening for the consideration of his bill, so I will submit for the Record a statement from the Congressman. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALKER

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.