Ted Yoho

Mr. YOHO

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers).

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Chairman, I respect the opinions of my chairman and ranking member, but I would surmise that if we go back to when we did the no-fly zone in Libya, we used the AUMF from 2001 and 2003, the 9/11 AUMF, and that has led to a failed state because the President did not come to this body to ask for authorization. This body did not challenge the President, and it has led to a failed state in Libya that now is a recruiting center for ISIS. So when does this stop? When does Congress take this power back so we don't put people in harm's way? Had they come to this body, Libya may still be run by Muammar Qadhafi. And I am not saying he is a good guy, But ISIS probably would not be a recruiting center in Libya as a failed state. So I urge my colleagues, let's bring this debate to the House floor, and let's have that debate so that we don't keep muddying the waters and spreading and stretching an AUMF from 15 years ago. I think it is irrational, and I think it is inappropriate for this body to continue with failed policies. It is time to get this right. The American people are counting on us, and our military is in harm's way. Mr. Chairman, I encourage people to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOHO

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Farm Credit on its 100th anniversary. On July 17, 1916, the Federal Farm Loan Act was signed into law, thus creating the Farm Credit System. Since then, Farm Credit has provided our Nation's rural communities with the financial tools they sorely need. At a national level, Farm Credit has provided more than $260 billion in credit to more than 500,000 rural customers. In my district, the Farm Credit System serves over 544 borrowers and customers, providing roughly $160 million in credit. As a large animal veterinarian, I have seen firsthand how Farm Credit has served generations of young farmers and ranchers who rely on these tools available to start successful businesses, businesses that keep American farming strong. Without the Farm Credit System, our farmers in Florida and the Nation would not have access to the much-needed credit required to farm so that they can feed not just America, but the world.

Mr. YOHO

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to an incredibly important piece of legislation that will provide essential funding for programs which will go miles toward helping every young person in America who has maybe had a misstep reach their potential and achieve their American Dream. As I travel my district, I am so impressed as I meet some of the most incredible young people in north central Florida. These young Americans have the capability of literally changing the world and the capability of bettering their communities and setting a positive example for the youth that will follow in their footsteps. Unfortunately, too many will fall victim to the circumstances in which they were born. Too many will become familiar with the inside of a juvenile detention facility, as the image of the classroom fades from memory, and the all-too-often reality of life behind bars begins to materialize. I want to stress that if this happens to even just one child, that is one child too many. We live in the greatest nation on Earth. We tell our children they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up, yet we know the reality for some is that as these very words are spoken, there is no truth to them. These are the youth who fall subject to the cradle-to- prison pipeline, and it is unacceptable. These are the children in our communities, children who go to school with our own kids and, yes, in some cases even our own children. We have the ability to change their reality. H.R. 2197, the Youth PROMISE Act, will do just that. The Youth PROMISE Act establishes a PROMISE Advisory Panel of State representatives as well as local PROMISE Coordinating Councils, which will develop and implement evidence-based locally controlled--not Washington-controlled--youth violence prevention and intervention practices and mentorship opportunities. These practices will occur on a community level, working with families, working with schools, nonprofits, juvenile justice advocates, and law enforcement officers to intervene early in a child's life to prevent them from starting down a path that can easily define the remainder of their lives. Last Congress, the Youth PROMISE Act garnered the bipartisan support of over 130 Members of this body in Congress, yet it sat in committee for nearly 2 years. This Congress, the Youth PROMISE Act has sat in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce for over 400 days without action. Our youth cannot continue to wait. There are many issues that Congress deals with which Republicans, Democrats, and Independents cannot agree upon, but this is not one of them. If they have not already, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this vital piece of legislation. I urge leadership in the House and the Senate to bring up this bill for a vote, a vote for our challenged youth so that they may continue the great posterity of this Nation.

Mr. YOHO

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Chair, my amendment is simply a commonsense measure to help reduce the size of out-of-control Federal departments that continue to grow annually unchecked, increasing both scope, size, and increasing our spending, both discretionary and mandatory. Our Nation is over $19 trillion in debt--let me repeat that--$19 trillion in debt. This Chamber, us, we, the people, in government, or Members of the people's House in charge of the taxpayers' purse strings, must start taking action to actively reduce our expenditures. I appreciate the chairman and ranking member for their hard work on this bill. But I am concerned that the cost it will place on the American people is too great. We can do better and we must do better. This amendment is offered as a modest solution and establishes a 5 percent across-the-board cut to the Department of Energy's total employees. In the private sector, when scrambling to cover your costs, you have to make decisions, including sometimes the elimination of positions that are not essential to the overall purpose and mission of the organization, or you simply can't afford it. Not only is reducing the current size of the Department's full-time staff essential, but I think it also should be accompanied by a 1-year hiring freeze. In 2013, when the government was shut down--and I want to remind people that the government shut down over money, and it wasn't from an excess; it was from a lack of it--the Department of Energy was faced with this very dilemma and made a decision to furlough 69 percent of its workforce. These workers were deemed nonessential. I understand the circumstances were extraordinary, but the Department was still able to target areas within it that were not deemed essential to maintaining its most necessary functions. My amendment is only requiring the Department to reduce its full-time employees by 5 percent, which in the scheme of things is nominal, but essential, in getting our country back on track fiscally, and it is the right thing to do. For our Nation to remain prosperous and to keep the American Dream alive for generations to come, we must make these decisions now. We must scale back Federal spending. One cannot have personal freedom without financial freedom. That same philosophy also applies to nations if they wish to pass on to their future generations the blessings of our past and our current posterity, liberties, and freedoms. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the chairman and ranking member's opposition. I would like to remind them that this amendment is a necessary step in reducing the size and scope of the Federal Government. We are approaching $20 trillion in debt. That approximates to about $60,000 for every man, woman, and child in America. When we talked about nonessential employees, I didn't have any in my office. Everybody in my office was essential, so we didn't lay anybody off. We didn't put them off. The gentleman laughs, which is fine. The executive departments and agencies have gradually taken on the personification of the 1958 horror flick, ``The Blob.'' Departments like the DOE are consuming everything in their path and increasing their own presence in the private sector. At what point do we say enough is enough? At what point do we say we are going to get our spending under control? This is a small, 5 percent incremental change to the Department of Energy. It is not specific because it gives the flexibility to the Department to come up with the changes that it wants, keeping in mind that our Federal Government's number one task is national security; so the people who are tasked to run the Department of Energy can make the commonsense and the needed reforms that they need to. Again, in the private sector, you see the major companies changing and laying off people as they need to. Government continues to grow, and it adds not just to the discretionary spending, but also to the mandatory spending that goes into Social Security and retirement. We have a responsibility to the American people and to future generations to fix the problems at hand instead of giving rhetoric and saying: Well, it is not specific enough. We need to stand up and say: The time is now. If we start now with small, incremental changes, we can change the direction of our Nation's debt while we still have the option because the day will come when we will not have that option with our out-of-control spending. I am telling my colleagues, if they really want to change the debt structure in this country and get a handle on it, it is time we start now and stop talking about it. I urge people to support this. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOHO

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Texas. You wouldn't have hurt my feelings if you would have said one of the younger Members, but that wouldn't have been true. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the growing army that is fighting human trafficking worldwide. I rise to speak out against this heinous crime known as human trafficking, the scourge of our time in the 21st century, a $32 billion industry. The statistics are overwhelming, as we have heard all the estimates of over 22 million people being trafficked worldwide. Sometimes, though, they seem far away. It is estimated that the individuals in the adult entertainment are often victims of human trafficking, people in farm camps, people in domestic servitude. There are people being trafficked for human body parts. It goes on every day. People often say, ``That kind of stuff happens overseas'' or, ``That doesn't happen here.'' There is an acronym called NIMBY, not in my backyard. People don't think this happens. No, it happens in our own backyards. It happens here at home. It happens in your State, in your county, and more than likely it happens in your town. Human trafficking happens as we speak. Human trafficking knows no skin color, no gender, no socioeconomic background. It only knows how to exploit, abuse, and victimize. Who is guilty of this? Well, nation-states are guilty of this, criminal gangs, drug cartels, people needing labor, and terrorist organizations. People are doing this for greed, profit, and power. They are the scum of humanity, the people who are involved in this. ISIS, as we all know today, traffics people for terrorist reasons. They sell children from 1 to 9 years of age. Children 1 to 9 years of age bring the most for ISIS, $168. Young women between 9 and 18 have dropped in value. They are worth $128. ISIS even gives away slaves for rewards of deeds that we deem are bad deeds. The alarming estimate of more than 1 million teenagers run away every year in the United States. Runaways are the most at-risk youth and susceptible of trafficking. Runaways are the most at risk when they leave. In fact, runaways are typically picked up by the pimps or traffickers within the first 48 hours. Who does this sort of thing? Well, the perpetrators aren't of a certain stereotype. They are of all backgrounds. I don't want to name any backgrounds, but they are people of low, no, and high profiles. This year in my hometown of Gainesville a trafficking ring was discovered and six people were arrested. Last week a person of high profile, one of the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, was arrested for sexually trafficking a minor in New York. Just last year a 15-year-old girl was discovered by police in a motel room being sexually abused and trafficked several times a day. When I say several times a day, we are talking 15 to 20 times a day their body is being sold, like an amusement ride. Her parents had been handing out missing child flyers in the neighborhood when somebody recognized her picture from an online ad. That young girl went from being a runaway to a trafficking victim in less than a month. That 15-year-old girl could be the son or daughter of you, your friends. It could be your niece or nephew, your brother or sister. However, it is not just runaways that become victims of trafficking. Traffickers don't discriminate based on economic class, race, gender, or age. Traffickers are motivated by profit. The average cost of a slave worldwide--worldwide--is less than $90. That is the value the scum of the earth puts on the value of a human's life. As the world's fastest growing and third largest criminal enterprise, it is shocking how little people know about this horrendous practice. Further, it is appalling how little is put toward the effort to stop it. In my district, we have created the North Central Florida Human Trafficking Task Force, which is aimed at bringing together community partners from the Federal, State, and local levels to combat trafficking. For many, education awareness is half the battle. We teamed up with the Department of Homeland Security and used their Blue Campaign to raise awareness. This week here on Capitol Hill we celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act sponsored by Judge Ted Poe of Texas, and I am a proud cosponsor of this important legislation. I thank my colleagues for their support of this bill as well. This issue, the issue of human trafficking, is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Back in January, several of us took to this very House floor to speak of the horrors of this crime. But taking a stand on one particular day or highlighting the issue once a month doesn't even begin to cover what the victims experience on a daily basis or the horrors and nightmares they have for a lifetime. We must always, always be vigilant and active in our fight. If we become aware and educate just one other person to know what the signs are, we can help end this horrific tragedy. Mr. Speaker, no neighborhood is immune. No city is exempt. These slaves, or victims, are a part of our daily lives quietly suffering, but being traded like livestock and treated beyond comprehension. We cannot in good conscience continue our daily routines without making every effort to stamp out the practice of forced labor, domestic servitude, sex trafficking, or the selling of body parts. Whether you are a college student, businessowner, or stay-at-home parent, we all play a role. First, I ask my colleagues to stand with me as we take another step in taking down trafficking. Thank you to all those both here at home and abroad who are fighting every day to make this modern-day slavery a thing of the past. All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men, women, or people to do nothing. Finally, thank you to my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), for hosting this Special Order.

Mr. YOHO

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 200: I intended to vote ``yes'' instead of ``no.''

Mr. YOHO

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, the current administration has changed the way business is done in America. By making unilateral changes to the white collar exemption within the Fair Labor Standards Act, businesses across our Nation will be forced to change their investment and growth strategy. This Big Government pie-in-the-sky philosophy does not grasp the realities of Main Street America. The change would require employers to pay overtime for all employees who make $50,440 or less per year. The administration's own Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the Small Business Administration pointed out that research for this comprehensive rule change was based on assumptions and lacked industry data and involvement. Here is another example of an agency reinterpreting an old law from 1938 and changing it to fit the current administration's agenda. This is lawmaking by executive fiat and it is unconstitutional. It is time for Congress to revive the legislative veto and hold an unaccountable executive branch accountable.

Mr. YOHO

Mr. YOHO. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on tonight's Special Order.

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I want to very quickly thank all of the Members who have volunteered their time to speak tonight. I know they are running on a tight schedule, as we all are. With that in mind, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. McMorris Rodgers), a tireless advocate for conservative values, whose bold leadership, tenacity, and kindness make her one of this body's greatest Members. I would like to thank her for introducing H.R. 4730, the Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act, that is a vitally important piece of legislation that will go a long way in helping to eliminate Federal programs that have not been authorized by Congress, yet somehow still come in to receive appropriations. I am a proud cosponsor of this legislation, and encourage all Members of the House to support it.

Mr. YOHO. I thank the gentlewoman from Washington for her great words in preserving our Constitution and for the work that she is doing to bring Article I powers back to the House. We get blamed a lot for the dysfunction in this country about what this body is not doing, and the gentlewoman is so right in bringing this power here; so I thank her for her leadership on that. Mr. Speaker, I yield to a stalwart from the great State of Utah, Mrs. Mia Love, who is leading a charge and is making quite a name for herself.

Mr. YOHO. I thank the gentlewoman from Utah, and I appreciate the work she is doing. Keep it up. We only have a Nation to save. Mr. Speaker, the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. Ours is the shortest Constitution in existence and is the longest-serving--227 years since its ratification in 1789. Our Founders can have many things said of them, but one thing we can all agree on is, through divine guidance, they got this as near to perfection as a document can be. Our Constitution has created the freest, the largest middle class, the most successful country on the planet. For the first time in recorded history, it has allowed people to become self-determining, it has allowed for personal freedoms never before seen in human history. It grants us unalienable rights, those being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It allows for personal property rights. These are the things that allow a Republic, as ours, to flourish and for ideas to be created and expanded upon because they allow for the possibility of that unlimited potential inside each and every human on the planet. It is our Constitution that allows for the way of life we have for which others will risk everything, including life, so as to have a chance at freedom. So it is a document worth protecting, preserving. It is a document that should be revered by all so we can pass it on to our future generations, as well as the prosperity and the good fortune that was inherited by us, this generation. The price that has been paid came from the blood, sweat, and tears of our Founders, from the people who came before us, and from every military person, including their spouses and families; and each and every Member of Congress takes an oath and a pledge to uphold our Constitution. Article I, section 1 reads: ``All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.'' Article I, section 8 lists clearly that Congress has the power to lay and collect taxes, to provide for the common defense, to regulate commerce, to declare war, to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. It ends in section 8: ``To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States or in any Department or Officer thereof.'' The President's responsibility, as delineated in Article II, section 3, reads that the President is to see that the Laws are faithfully executed. I want to repeat that. The President is to see that the Laws are faithfully executed. This is called the Take Care Clause. I have only spent 3 years here, but in that time we have watched this body work multiple times to rein in not just the executive branch, but the administrative agencies. We have sued the President and have won two times in the Supreme Court. We have had fights over the power of the purse. We have had Supreme Court fights whether it has been dealing with immigration laws and rules or not enforcing the laws on the books. We have fought the President just on enforcing the laws that are already on the books. We don't need any more laws. We just need to follow the ones we have. This is not just this administration--this is previous administrations--but I fear where we are going in this next election. If we don't get our House in order, if we don't bring back Article I powers to this House, at that point, when we overstep the boundaries of our Constitution by an executive branch or by administrative agencies, it is too late to try to reel them in. Now it is urgent to do that. To put it off any longer would be buying fire insurance for your house after your house catches on fire. It is too late. In addition, as I talked about, we have fought overstepping, out-of- control Federal agencies that are wreaking havoc on American businesses and are costing every American, according to the CBO estimates, approximately $14,500. If I look at the administration's rules and regulations that have come out since 1999 to 2008, there have been approximately 750 rules that have come out. From 2009 to 2015, there have been over 530 rules coming out just from the Obama administration. If I look at the final rules and regulations that were issued just under George Bush, the amount for his 8 years was 2,430. When I look at President Obama's rules and regulations--and we are only 4 months into his last year and term--to date, the Obama administration has had over 28,000 rules and regulations coming out, which are strangling and suffocating American businesses, paid for by the American taxpayers. I recently introduced H. Res. 693, which asks for a permanent select committee to investigate not just this executive branch, but all future ones so that we can have in place a vehicle to rein in an overstepping administration. Mr. Speaker, I yield to a colleague and a classmate of mine from the State of Texas, Mr. Randy Weber, who has cosponsored H. Res. 693. I appreciate the gentleman's work on this important topic.

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber). I appreciate him standing up for the rule of law because, if we are not a Nation of law, everything falls apart, civil society falls apart. Just last week in my district there was a fight over transgender bathrooms. It is a fight people want to have. We came up here at the beginning of last week and spoke in front of the Supreme Court. They heard the argument on the President's Executive order on November 20, 2014, to waive our immigration laws and grant 4 to 5 million people here illegally resident status. That case was heard last week, and there was a large group of proponents wanting the Supreme Court to side with the President. Our President has said over 22 times that he cannot change that law. He has admitted to that. I thought it was ironic that the people in my district were arguing over transgender bathrooms and the group up here--and I know a lot of them were here illegally--were arguing in the United States of America in front of the Supreme Court, the freest country in the world. The only reason that they can come up and have a voice of dissension is because we have a Constitution. Our Constitution, when it was formed, wasn't a Republican idea and wasn't a Democratic idea. It was something that came together after 1,000 years from the Magna Carta on up that formed a Constitution that formed the Republic that we have. When I look at the people arguing--and, you know, it is the Republicans against the Democrats or the Conservatives against the Liberals or whatever group you want to put in there--the only reason we have those arguments is because we have a document that is an American document. It is American ideology that all parties should come together to preserve. That is why this argument is so important. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman, a freshman from the State of Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his comments, for his work, and for bringing this to light because, again, these issues that we are discussing are not Republican or Democrat. This is about the rule of law and maintaining the uniqueness of this institution, and that is something all Americans benefit from. If we lose it, all Americans are going to be hurt by that. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Benishek), a friend and colleague.

Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time. I got a notice from the EPA when I first got up here. It was January 2014, and it was a pamphlet with their new regulations. In that, what they were talking about is that their new rules and regulations would have minimal effect on air quality and human health, but they are going ahead anyway. In the example you brought up about the wood-burning fireplaces, we have done a tremendous job of cleaning up the air quality in this country, as other countries need to do, but we shouldn't go after things that aren't going to really have a difference. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. YOHO. Reclaiming my time, I think you and I were in a meeting the other day in one of the committees. We had a fellow, he was an attorney who worked under the Reagan White House, and he worked with the EPA. He was saying the EPA went from regulations to clean stuff up. Now it is regulations that you can't. You can't have coal-fired power plants, you can't do this, and it was an agency of can't. I think you were in that meeting. It shows, again, the overstepping of agencies, and it shows how administrations or executive branches rewrite laws or they legislate from the executive branch through the administrative agencies, and we have seen an increase in this. Again, it is not just this administration, but I think President Obama, this administration has done us a favor by bringing this to light with the 24,000 regulations that are coming out that are crippling the American economy and businesses. If it is doing that, it is crushing the middle class and all Americans.

Mr. YOHO. May I add to that?

Mr. YOHO. We went to a coal-fired power plant in our district, and they were saying in the old days a typical coal-fired power plant would put out approximately 50 pounds of mercury a year. Today it is less than 2 pounds. That is a significant difference from 50 to 2. That is a 48-pound reduction in mercury going into the atmosphere. What is the significance and the benefit going from 2 pounds to 0, and at what cost do you go forward? Being a veterinarian for 30 years, I have never treated an animal with mercury toxicity. I think you need to have common sense in regulations, and, of course, the worst place to go for that is government. I will let you continue.

Mr. YOHO. I appreciate the gentleman's participation and his leadership. Mr. Speaker, this is not a Republican or Democratic argument. That should not even weigh into this. It is not conservatives versus liberals. These are American ideologies that we all have to come together to preserve, and I can't think of one person more suited to talk about this than somebody I have a lot of admiration for who sits on the House Committee on Agriculture with me. He is from the State my wife is from, the State of Iowa. I yield to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King).

Mr. YOHO. The interpretation we got: ``and seasonably wet areas.'' I come from Florida. It is seasonably wet all year long. I mean, we get 57 to 60 inches of rain a year, so everything is seasonably wet in our great State, and they fall into that. The little puddle in my yard, when it rains, it might stand 3 or 4 inches. We are on a sandy soil. When it stops raining, it goes away in 5 minutes, but that could be interpreted as navigable waters, and I am probably 10 miles from a body of water. It is just amazing.

Mr. YOHO. Yes, it would be all of Florida.