[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H455-H460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    INTRODUCING REPUBLICAN FRESHMEN



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  January 12, 2017 on Page H455 the following appeared: 
INTRODUCING REPUBLICAN FRESHMAN
  
  The online version has been corrected to read: INTRODUCING 
REPUBLICAN FRESHMEN


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  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to be here 
tonight. As we all get started in a new session, we get started with 
the newness and excitement. We have already hit the ground running.
  This Congress is going to be one of action. The American people 
spoke. They spoke loudly--they have been over the past few years--
saying that the direction of our country needed to change. By changing, 
they meant change toward a government that is more conservative, one 
that is listening to them and hasn't forgot that it is not about the 
government worker that we are about in this place and not about 
government in and of itself, but it is about what government does for 
the American people.
  Tonight, as I have taken on my role as the vice chair in the 
Republican Conference, we have been talking about how we can introduce 
our Members and also work to get our messaging out.
  Tonight is the first night where we have some of our new freshmen 
here on the floor, Mr. Speaker, as you can well attest to. We are going 
to take time just to get to know them, where they came from, introduce 
them to the floor, and introduce them to what we are going to be about 
and what their passion is to share with as part of our majority going 
forward.
  The first gentleman is a dear friend from my home State of Georgia. 
He is, as what we call back home a dagg, D-A-G-G. We don't use the 
extra G, but we will do the first G. How about that?
  He is a mayor from West Point, Georgia. He understands what real life 
is about. He understands about making jobs and getting people taken 
care of. He also is a dentist. He is going to stay on this side of the 
aisle tonight, Mr. Speaker, because I am not going over there to find 
out anything about that.
  We are excited to have him. It is going to be a good time tonight.
  I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Ferguson).
  Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to deliver my first remarks 
on the House floor.
  Before I became mayor of West Point, I watched my hometown almost 
fall completely apart. I saw what happened when bad Washington policies 
almost destroyed my hometown by creating the environment for 
manufacturing jobs to go overseas. I watched Federal programs that were 
failing to meet the needs of my friends and neighbors try to take the 
place of good jobs.
  The Federal programs weren't fixing the underlying programs in my 
hometown. They were simply catching people in the cycle of poverty, and 
we surely didn't want a handout. We wanted jobs.
  I was faced with a choice of whether or not to move my dental 
practice and my family away from my hometown to a more profitable 
community or get involved and be part of the solution. I chose to get 
involved and work to better the lives of my neighbors and my hometown.
  Instead of being satisfied with one-size-fits-all government programs 
that simply perpetuated the existing problems, we worked to bring 
manufacturing jobs back to West Point, Georgia, by making targeted 
investments in economic development and infrastructure.
  We attracted a Kia Motors manufacturing plant, and the automotive 
industry brought with it suppliers and other related businesses that 
produced over 15,000 jobs in just a few years.

                              {time}  1815

  The city of West Point and the surrounding area today is revitalized 
not because of Federal Government programs or regulations, but because 
we worked at the local level to find solutions to meet the needs of our 
area.
  I ran for Congress so that I could apply these lessons at the Federal 
level. We need policies that make America the most competitive place in 
the world to do business instead of creating policies that incentivize 
companies to take their jobs overseas. We need policies that help get 
people out of poverty instead of trapping them in a multigenerational 
cycle of property.
  I know firsthand that more government programs do not make 
communities, schools, or individuals great. In fact, I have lived 
through and governed out of the dependence created by bad D.C. policy 
and government programs that continue to trap people in poverty.
  What we have collectively done to those in poverty with these 
policies is morally wrong. There is a better way, and we will do right 
by our fellow Americans. I am excited to work with my colleagues to 
craft and enact these policies that will improve the lives of our 
citizens.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from 
Georgia and his passion to serve and be a part of what is going to be 
going on here. We are a week away from the inauguration of our new 
President-elect, and we are excited about that and moving forward.
  As we move across the country, all the way to Arizona, our next 
speaker is the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs). I am looking forward 
to serving with Andy Biggs on the Judiciary Committee. His background 
is working to promote a conservative, small-business agenda, which is 
something that is going to be valuable here. He is also an author. For 
those of us working in intellectual property and copyright, that is 
very important. There is so much job creation that is made by the 
intellectual spark that comes from our entrepreneurs. Tonight I am 
honored to have the second of our speakers, Andy Biggs from Arizona's 
Fifth Congressional District.
  I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for 
yielding, and I am grateful for this opportunity to introduce myself to 
this Chamber.
  My name is Andy Biggs. I represent Arizona's Fifth Congressional 
District. I hope to pick up where my good friend and predecessor, 
former Congressman Matt Salmon, left off. He left me big shoes to fill, 
but I am blessed to be able to counsel with him, and I am honored to 
follow his example.
  My district covers parts of the southeast metropolitan area of 
Phoenix, the

[[Page H456]]

cities of Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Queen Creek, and communities like 
Sun Lakes. Many families have lived there for generations. They are 
hardworking, patriotic, and faith-driven people.
  I am a native Arizonan, one of the few. I live in Gilbert with my 
wife of 35 years, Cindy. We have six children and four grandchildren. I 
received my bachelor's degree in Asian Studies from Brigham Young 
University, my master's degree from Arizona State University, and my 
law degree from the University of Arizona, and I have pursued 
additional graduate work.
  For the past 14 years, I have had the opportunity to serve in the 
Arizona State legislature where I served as the senate president for 
the last 4 years. During that time, we balanced the budget, going from 
the worst budget situation in the Nation on a per capita basis, and we 
reduced taxes. We cut government regulations. We asserted Arizona's 
10th Amendment rights, and protected life at all stages.
  When Congressman Salmon decided to retire last year, he asked me to 
run for his seat to ensure that his constituents would continue to 
receive the adherence to conservative principles that Congressman 
Salmon stood for. After a four-way primary, I won my primary election 
by 27 votes.
  On the campaign trail last year, I promised my constituents that I 
would fight to achieve six major goals and introduce bills to reflect 
those goals in this Congress:
  Preventing Members of Congress from being paid until a balanced 
budget is passed. Yahoo.
  Reining in bureaucratic rulemaking and restoring Article I authority 
to Congress.
  Ending the ObamaCare loophole that is designed to benefit Members of 
Congress.
  Passing Grant's law to protect innocent U.S. citizens from violent 
illegal immigrants.
  Ensuring that Common Core never becomes a Federal mandate and that 
States and local officials have authority over the teaching of our 
Nation's youth.
  And my sixth initiative is to remove Arizona from the out-of-control, 
overburdened, and out-of-whack 9th Federal Circuit Court district and 
placing it into a newly established district that more accurately 
reflects Arizona's values and promotes and protects due process rights.
  I have worked hard to achieve these goals already, and will continue 
to pursue those goals.
  Last week, Members of this body were filled with great optimism and 
enthusiasm for the future. I am hopeful that we will continue in that 
spirit as we await a new administration and strive to do the bidding of 
our constituents. I will never forget the people who elected me to this 
high office and the principles that are important to them and my home, 
Arizona.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Again, we see the quality and we see who the American people have 
sent here, people like Andy Biggs. We got started with the REINS Act, a 
bill that I sponsored that talked about reining in regulations. Andy 
jumped in with a couple of amendments. He wanted to be a part of the 
solution to start with.
  Next up is a gentleman from Kentucky, the First District of Kentucky, 
Mr. Comer. He comes to us from a farm background. He wore the blue 
jacket and the green jacket, 4-H and FFA. He was the Commissioner 
of Agriculture for the State of Kentucky. He has been a legislator. He 
also is a good friend of my Commissioner of Agriculture, Gary Black. 
Gary called me up and said there is a good one in Kentucky. I said when 
Gary says that, we know something good is going on.

  It is my pleasure, Mr. Speaker, to yield to the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Comer).
  Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for 
yielding. It is indeed an honor to be a Member of this great body. I 
ran a 14-month campaign for Congress not simply to have a prestigious 
title ahead of my name or to simply come to Washington to point fingers 
at the other political party and blame everybody else for our Nation's 
many problems. Rather, I ran for Congress so I could come here and work 
to solve our Nation's many challenges.
  The First Congressional District of Kentucky stretches from the 
foothills of Appalachia all the way to the western most counties along 
the Mississippi River. It is a conservative, rural district comprised 
of 35 unique counties with the main industries being agriculture, coal, 
and manufacturing.
  My constituents feel like Washington has forgotten them. Unfair trade 
agreements have cost us good-paying manufacturing jobs. The EPA's war 
on coal has devastated the coal economy and its massive economic spin-
off. Overburdensome regulations like waters of the U.S. threaten the 
viability of our family farmers, and an unsustainable government 
takeover of our healthcare system, better known as ObamaCare, has 
significantly increased healthcare premiums on my small businesses and 
working middle-class families.
  Mr. Speaker, as I stand here today, there is a great sense of hope in 
Kentucky. My district voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump and voted 
out of office six incumbent Democrat State representatives. My people 
expressed their displeasure at the polls, and for once they feel like 
their voices were heard and their votes mattered.
  I have heard my people's cries. As a farmer, small-business owner, 
and parent of three small children, I have also felt their pain.
  Mr. Speaker, I pledge here today to work with my fellow freshmen 
colleagues, the incoming Trump administration, and the leadership in 
Congress to make America great again. I am proud that in the first 2 
weeks of this Congress we have passed bills to undo the regulatory 
damage that the Obama administration has done to our businesses. In the 
coming weeks, I look forward to repealing the failing ObamaCare 
healthcare system and replacing it with a market-driven healthcare fix. 
I am confident that I can play a role in working with the new 
administration to renegotiate our main trade deals to ensure that 
American workers are on a level playing field.
  There is a better way to run America. The assault on the private 
sector must end. The disregard and disrespect for conservative, pro-
family values must end. The bloated Federal Government must shrink and 
Congress must regain control of our Federal Government away from 
unelected bureaucrats. That is the will of the people of Kentucky One.
  The voters spoke loudly on November 8. I look forward to working with 
my fellow freshmen colleagues to ensure that we improve our economy, 
abide by the Constitution, and restore the confidence of the American 
people.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I thank the gentleman.
  Those are exciting values. My district is one of the more rural 
agricultural districts. We are not far from Atlanta, but poultry is 
important to my district, and I appreciate him bringing those values to 
us.
  Mr. Speaker, our next speaker is Brian Mast from Florida. I got to 
know Brian when he was running for this office. I got to visit with him 
in his district as he was running.
  Let me just say that many times we talk about elections with campaign 
ads and speeches, and all of those kind of things that are very true, 
but it is also when a person connects with the people they are 
representing. When they connect with them in such a way that it sort of 
even transcends their ideological perspective. I remember a story that 
I want to tell. We were at a polling precinct and we were holding 
signs. People were early voting. I remember one lady parked her car and 
got her young child out. She came up to Brian and said: I am a 
Democrat; I am voting for other Democrats, but I am voting for you, and 
I wanted my daughter to meet you.
  When you make that kind of connection, that is what makes America 
great. That is the kind of connection people need to have with their 
Federal Government. That is why the people's House is such a special 
place to be, and the people's House has a special Representative from 
Florida.
  I now yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mast), representing 
Florida's 18th Congressional District.
  Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Collins) for including me in this Special Order tonight and for 
yielding to me and for becoming a friend of mine.

[[Page H457]]

  Mr. Speaker, it is with tremendous honor and humility that I rise to 
represent the hardworking values of the 18th Congressional District of 
Florida, with communities like Palm Beach Gardens, home of the PGA 
tour; Stuart, Florida, home to the U.S. Sailing Academy; Port St. 
Lucie, the spring training home of the New York Mets; and Fort Pierce, 
Florida, the home of the only Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in the entire 
country. It is an amazing place for anyone to go to.
  Before I go any further, I do want to--and I know I am joined by the 
rest of my freshmen colleagues, and probably the entire body, when I 
say that our thoughts and our prayers have been with our new colleague, 
Mr. Rutherford from the Fourth District of Florida, the sheriff as I 
call him. He is a friend and a patriot. I know that we are all praying 
for his speedy recovery.
  As I talk to people in my community, there is one issue that keeps 
them up at night more than any other issue, and that issue is the water 
quality in our area, or rather, the lack thereof. I can tell you, it is 
nonnegotiable. It is a nonnegotiable priority for me, that we allow the 
water in our community, water that used to be so blue that it looked 
like something out of a postcard, to once again become clean for this 
generation and for future generations.

  When I was studying at Harvard, I studied the environment. I did very 
specific work in watershed infrastructure. I can tell you, it doesn't 
take an academic to know that these waterways are irreplaceable 
treasures. They are central to the economy and the quality of life in 
our region. It is why most people I know make our 18th District home, 
why they call it some place that they want to live for the rest of 
their life. It is the water and it is the weather. To tell you the 
truth, if you take the water away, the weather isn't always that 
comfortable.
  Right now there is water being discharged from the center of our 
State, Lake Okeechobee into the Treasure Coast of Florida, destroying 
our community, putting our people out of business, killing sea life, 
and making people sick. What makes our community so beautiful is 
literally being robbed from us, and this cannot continue. Our lagoon 
and our estuaries have to be restored. I will work endlessly to 
strengthen the partnership between our local, State, and Federal 
agencies to upgrade that infrastructure; not just talk about it, but 
actually get it done because this is life or death for the community 
that I represent.

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. Speaker, if I sound heated over this, it is because I am heated 
over this. When I look back at history and see that the Panama Canal 
took less than a decade to build once the United States Government got 
involved, that the Hoover Dam was built and open in 5 years, as far as 
I can tell, construction technology has only improved since the 1930s, 
but the infrastructure restoration surrounding Lake Okeechobee and the 
Florida Everglades is taking decades. It is an absolute embarrassment 
that the water infrastructure projects in Florida are taking so long 
and at such a great social and economic cost to communities like my 
own. We can't afford to wait any longer, and this will be my top 
priority.
  Another issue that I hear about constantly is from people in our 
community talking about the role America's weak foreign policy over the 
last 8 years has played in destabilizing the Middle East and making our 
country and communities--places like Fort Pierce, where the terrorist 
who attacked the Orlando nightclub lived, where he worshipped--making 
our country less safe.
  As a Member of Congress, I will work every day to provide the men and 
women of our armed services with the tools and the flexibility that 
they need to do their job and to come home alive.
  When I was serving in the Army, I had the honor to work alongside the 
best men and women that I have ever known. I worked as a bomb 
technician in our highest level of military special operations; and 
under the cover of darkness in Afghanistan, our job was to kill or 
capture the most menacing targets each and every night that we could 
find.
  I witnessed firsthand the extremists that want to literally destroy 
our way of life. My scars and the scars of my fellow veterans and 
peers, they should be a continual reminder of the enemy that we are 
fighting and why the work that we are doing is so important.
  For me, on September 19, 2010, I found my last explosive device, and 
it wasn't that much different from so many others that have claimed the 
lives of friends of mine. It was homemade explosives encapsulated in 
pieces of glass--nails, ball bearings, shrapnel that was meant to 
detonate whenever it was stepped on.
  Mr. Speaker, the people that put that bomb there, that manufactured 
that device, who have killed or wounded our bravest men and women, 
their goal is to wipe our country and our allies off the face of this 
Earth, to bring that same war to our hometowns as they have done in so 
many places already, places like New York and Boston and Chattanooga, 
San Bernardino, Fort Hood, and Orlando.
  Eight years of failed international leadership has created a vacuum 
of power that is being filled by ISIS and other terrorist groups. ISIS 
right now has more money, more land, more resources than al Qaeda did 
at 9/11.
  Sitting back and waiting for peace, that is not a strategy. 
Containment, that is not a strategy. We need an aggressive strategy to 
root out extremists, eliminate any safe haven to prevent future attacks 
on the United States of America.
  I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, I am as well aware as anybody that 
defeating those who come against us out of a hatred, it comes at a 
cost. Friends of mine--too many friends of mine--have lost three or 
four limbs, have been blinded, have been covered on their entire body 
with burns, have had massive head trauma or some combination of all of 
the above injuries.
  Sadly, I am also aware of how often the VA fails these men and women, 
and I can tell you that it is not an option. We have to do better. We 
owe our veterans better than the care that they are getting right now.
  Improving care for our veterans, it starts with reforming the 
Department of Veterans Affairs. I strongly believe that the best way to 
do this is to give veterans the flexibility to choose anytime, anywhere 
medical care. The increased competition will force the Department of 
Veterans Affairs to provide a higher quality of care to our servicemen 
and -women.
  Beyond this, we have to eliminate the corruption and the incompetence 
at the Department of Veterans Affairs to reduce the claims backlog 
currently plaguing the VA hospitals across the country. These pending 
claims make it nearly impossible for the men and women who fought in 
places like Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Saigon, Mogadishu, 
Kandahar, Mosul, and any other places to live their life, as they have 
to wait years for a decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
Fixing these problems will ensure that the future generations of 
servicemen and -women are not burdened with the same challenges that 
today's veterans are facing.
  In addition to physical health care, we have to do more to help 
veterans with mental health care. There is a stat that is thrown around 
all too often that there are more than 20 veterans a day who take their 
own life. I have known some of them. I could tell you how that is an 
unacceptable rate that far exceeds the average of the civilian 
population. But the fact is, to lose just one veteran from suicide is 
completely unacceptable.
  This is very personal to me. I have seen firsthand the impact that 
war can have on soldiers returning home, all of whom daily work through 
the trauma of having friends whom they are forced to remember who 
didn't come home with them.
  Not a week goes by where I don't get a call from someone who wants to 
talk about the fact that they want to step in front of a bus or go to 
sleep in their garage with the car running and never wake up. Often 
this call comes after a traumatizing experience that they have just had 
at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  We need to be there for one another, and we need to be there for our 
veterans. I think often about something that President Kennedy once 
said. He said:


[[Page H458]]


  

       The cost of freedom has always been high, but Americans 
     have always been willing to pay that price.

  Our veterans, they do pay that price. They make tremendous personal 
sacrifices. But just because they are always going to be there and they 
are always willing to make these sacrifices for our freedom, that 
doesn't mean that we can take their service for granted, which 
is exactly what is happening every single time one of our veterans is 
failed.

  I am committed to doing all that I can to increase mental health 
resources for our veterans and doing anything, whether that is 
legislatively or personally, to reduce veteran suicide rates.
  But we also have to do more to assist returning veterans in finding 
jobs and starting new careers once they do exit the military. I know 
that the men and women that I served with were among the most talented 
and hardworking men and women that I have ever met in this entire 
world.
  Veterans know what it is like to work in high-pressure situations, to 
be held to a standard of excellence. They know the stress of loading 
their body down with hundreds of pounds of equipment and trekking that 
across long distances, working together as a team. They know what it 
takes to go out there and get the job done, no matter what challenge is 
placed in front of them. And they know what it is to not just risk the 
bottom line, but to actually go out there and put their own life on the 
line.
  Veterans are among the most qualified employees for any position. But 
veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, they face an 
unemployment rate that is substantially higher than the national 
average. I am committed to working with local businesses and community 
leaders to discuss ways to reverse this troubling trend, as well as 
supporting legislation that will help our veterans use the very unique 
skills and talents that they have developed for the rest of their life.
  Mr. Speaker, following my service in the U.S. Army, I made a very 
conscious choice to volunteer with the Israeli Defense Forces because 
our countries share common ideals of freedom and democracy and mutual 
respect for all people, something that I know firsthand is not common 
in most of the Middle East.
  During my time in Israel, I served alongside soldiers driven by love 
for their fellow man rather than by hatred for their neighbors. I 
learned with each family that I got to know just how much each family 
truly desires peace with every neighbor of Israel, regardless of their 
religion or their history with those countries. The same cannot be said 
of Israel's enemies.
  For the United States, the choice is very clear: we either stand with 
a historic friend and ally who shares our values, or we cave to groups 
like the Palestinians or countries like Iran who represent everything 
that the United States is not.
  I have found that the most important time to stand for what is right 
is when it is the most difficult time to stand for what is right. This 
moment in history is no different. We have to be proud of who we are, 
and we have to stand with those who stand with us and stand against any 
terrorist regime who seeks to threaten even one of us.
  Mr. Speaker, the last thing that I want to say tonight is simply that 
it is a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to serve the people of 
Florida's 18th Congressional District. I know very well that the office 
that I occupy, it doesn't truly belong to me. It belongs to those 
people. And the simple fact is that the status quo has not been good 
enough for them. Families across the country, they are hurting, and I 
know that we have a lot of work to do.
  I have laid out a number of priorities to help the 18th District and 
to strengthen our country, but I also know this: the problems 
Washington, D.C. is facing, they cannot just be fixed with bills and 
laws.
  One of the most important lessons that I ever learned in the 
military, that I ever learned in combat, was that inspiration matters. 
Military leaders that I had who displayed courage and valor and 
selflessness, they drew the exact same thing out of every single 
soldier that surrounded them. And that is my goal as I am here in the 
Halls of Congress, every day, that I work to, above all, inspire each 
peer that I have here, Republican and Democrat, to have courage and to 
make sure that their sense of duty is to America above anything else, 
and to make sure that we serve selflessly and, every day that we are 
given the honor to serve here, to make this country and our communities 
that much better.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, as you can tell, the passion 
that this class brings is no more better exemplified than by our friend 
from Florida (Mr. Mast).
  We now go back north. All over this election, it was an election 
heard clear all over the country, from the north to the south, to the 
areas in between, from Georgia to California. We have new voices, fresh 
voices here, ones who come from business, who made their life helping 
others find the workforce skills, the development.
  That is what my friend, Mr. Mitchell, from Michigan's 10th 
Congressional District, Paul Mitchell has done. He has made that a 
process in his life, one that he wants to lead, and he wants to lead by 
helping others. There is no greater satisfaction than to watch somebody 
else that you have helped succeed, and he understands that. So he 
brings that desire to us tonight.
  He comes from the wonderful State of Michigan. He is a Spartan, 
Michigan State University. As he comes along tonight, we look forward 
to what Paul Mitchell from Michigan's 10th Congressional District is 
going to bring to us tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Mitchell).
  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank the people of Michigan's 10th 
Congressional District. I am honored to represent them and humbled by 
their trust in electing me to the 115th Congress.
  The weight of this office is not lost on me. As Majority Leader 
McCarthy said:

       If you walk on the floor of this House and you don't get 
     goosebumps, it's time to go home.

  Standing here at this podium, I have goosebumps.
  People often ask me why I ran for Congress. Put simply, I ran with 
the goal of helping people achieve their American Dream. For too many, 
the idea of the American Dream is just that: an idea, a fantasy, a 
fairytale.

  I believe in the American Dream because I have lived it. I was born 
in South Boston to a working class family. Opportunity took my family 
to Michigan when I was 11. My dad got a good job building trucks on the 
line at General Motors, and my mom worked at the Salvation Army. My 
parents worked hard to provide for me and my six younger siblings. I 
learned the value of hard work at a young age watching my parents.
  I was the first of my extended family to go to college and worked 
full-time to pay for my education; and then I dedicated my career to 
workforce training, helping people build the skills necessary to get 
good jobs to begin their careers to support their families. There is 
something about the pride that comes when someone gets a job. Their 
whole world changes when they see what they are able to achieve and 
what their work does for their families.
  Over the last several years, failed policies and an unstable economy 
have put the American Dream out of reach for many. Though overall 
unemployment rates are down, long-term unemployment is high; labor 
force participation rates have dropped dramatically, and wage growth is 
anemic.

                              {time}  1845

  Instead of getting ahead, many Americans are just getting by.
  In the November elections, Americans screamed for relief. My message 
to the people of Michigan's 10th District is that your voices have been 
heard. We are already working here in the House on measures to roll 
back regulations to support families, businesses, and the economy, and 
to breathe life back into the American Dream.
  In order to make it possible for more people to achieve their 
American Dream, we must give them the freedom and the tools to succeed. 
This begins by stemming the extreme regulatory overreach, fixing our 
healthcare system, and strengthening our workforce

[[Page H459]]

while restoring our critical infrastructure.
  As we have learned in the last 8 years, we cannot regulate our way 
towards a stronger economy. The opposite is true: government overreach 
cripples our economy. From my years of running a business, I have 
firsthand knowledge of how excessive regulations make it harder to 
succeed. Time and resources that could be better spent on growing a 
business and creating jobs are spent navigating a never-ending and 
confusing maze of Federal regulations.
  Many of those regulations have been imposed without a cost-benefit 
analysis, placing costly burdens on families and businesses while 
providing little benefit. Regulators have exceeded their authority by 
placing undue burdens on those struggling to make the economy work.
  The House has already acted by passing the REINS Act and the Midnight 
Rules Relief Act. Each of these measures would put accountability where 
it rightly belongs: with the people's elected Representatives in 
Congress, not with unelected bureaucrats.
  We are also reforming health care in American to prevent further harm 
to families and businesses. Patients and doctors should be in charge of 
their health care, not the government. Since the Affordable Care Act 
was passed, patient choice and access to care has declined while costs 
are ever increasing.
  Despite all of the promises, many people who had plans or doctors 
they liked could not keep them. Insurance carriers are forced to 
severely narrow their networks to combat cost.
  Our healthcare reform is a better way to increase accessibility and 
patient choice, in addition to reducing cost. We will do that by 
allowing purchase of coverage across State lines, authorizing 
businesses and individuals to band together to increase purchasing 
power and negotiate prices, allowing health savings accounts, and 
expanding risk pools. Our plan focuses on putting power where it 
belongs: with the people, with the patients.
  Government overreach does not stop with our health care. I know that 
surprises you. The one-size-fits-all approach to education legislation 
in recent years has failed America's students. It is time to put 
parents and individuals in control of their education and give them 
options that will best suit their needs. I am eager to advance 
solutions that will help students learn and be better equipped for 
future jobs, to create flexibility for working families and prepare the 
workforce for a modern economy.
  In addition to a strong workforce, our modern economy requires a 
robust infrastructure. It is essential that we protect and strengthen 
America's infrastructure to keep Americans safe and create jobs, and I 
plan to work with this House to do just that.
  There is much work to be done, but I stand ready to work with my 
colleagues in the House and Senate to revise the American Dream. It is 
more than an idea. It should be more than a wish. I have lived it, and 
I want every young person in America to have the ability to pursue 
their American Dream.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for bringing that 
passion for helping others, for bringing that passion to teach.
  I have always said that I believe that those who want to get involved 
in politics and run for elected office, there are two things that they 
need to be a part of. Number one, they need to care for people deeply. 
They need to make sure that they have people at the first and foremost. 
They need to have alligator skin to let a lot of things roll off their 
back, but they also need to have a heart that cares. They also need to 
be willing to understand that our job involves teaching; and, Paul, I 
appreciate you sharing that.
  Our next speaker for the night, we share not only the privilege of 
serving the people's House, but we also shared, up until just recently, 
a common passion. We both served in the United States Air Force. 
General Bacon distinguished himself in that regard, helping our airmen 
all across the world, doing so with integrity and doing so with a 
passion for this country that he will bring to this floor, and we are 
excited about that.
  He will take that passion for what is really the concerns of the 
world and be a part of it. When I saw that in the Nebraska Home, when I 
went out there and was walking with him and seeing and listening to him 
talk, you could hear the desire to serve and to be a part of the 
wonderful heartland of America.
  I don't believe, Mr. Speaker, they could have sent a better witness 
to not only blue proud Air Force values, but also American values. And, 
hopefully, as we continue, all will see the Nebraska values shown in 
General Don Bacon.
  With that, I yield to the gentleman from Nebraska's Second 
Congressional District (Mr. Bacon).
  Mr. BACON. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding, and, Mr. 
Speaker, what an honor to be able to introduce myself as a freshman of 
the 115th Congress and serve with some great colleagues and freshmen. 
It is great to be called a freshman again. It has been a long time 
since I have been called a freshman.
  I am very honored to serve the Second District of Nebraska. It is one 
of three districts of the State that consists of a county-and-a-half 
around Omaha, and it is a great home, a great place to live.
  I was raised on a farm in a small town in Illinois, Momence, 
Illinois, a town of about 1,800. We had corn, soybeans--I baled hay 
four times a year--beef cattle, and I did that until I was 21 years 
old. I know firsthand how hard our farmers work to make a living, and 
it is an honor to be able to serve on the Agriculture Committee to make 
a difference there.

  I started serving in the Air Force back in 1985 as a 21-year-old, as 
a newlywed. My wife and I had 16 assignments; four different continents 
we were located in, coast to coast, and a lot of places in the middle. 
I was very honored to be able to serve as a commander of five different 
units, to include Ramstein Air Base in Germany. And there I got to see 
firsthand the importance of working with our allies and the importance 
of NATO, and I am going to take that experience with me.
  I was also honored to serve as the commander of Offutt Air Force Base 
near Omaha, Nebraska. I loved the missions there. I loved the people. I 
had several different flying missions, a nuclear mission there as well, 
and I look forward to being a strong voice for Offutt and our military 
community there.
  I was also able to deploy four times to the Middle East, and I look 
forward to using the experiences that I have learned to make sure that 
our men and women are equipped and trained to win.
  I also did missile defense in Israel. It was an honor to work with 
our Israeli friends. I look forward to being a strong voice to improve 
the friendship with our great ally Israel.
  Out of those 16 assignments, I did have three assignments at Offutt, 
and I will tell you that my wife, Angie, and I loved eastern Nebraska. 
The people are friendly. They have character. They love the military. 
And we are so blessed to be able to call it our home now, and so 
honored to be able to represent the great people of the Second 
District.
  I will be serving on three different committees. I will be on the 
Armed Services Committee, the Agriculture Committee, and the Small 
Business Committee. I look forward to using my experiences to make a 
difference in all three. I am going to work my hardest on all three to 
make a difference.
  One thing I am certain of: when Americans are put on a level playing 
field, we win. When our businessmen and -women and when our farmers are 
put on a level playing field, we win.
  It has been our own government that has put our citizens at a 
disadvantage: high corporate taxes, regulations, our broken healthcare 
system. I am going to dedicate myself to fixing these because we need 
to help our Nation get on this level playing field where we start 
prospering and succeeding once again.
  During my time at Congress, I look forward to doing the following and 
focusing on the following goals:
  I want to reduce the burdensome regulations. And we have had a great 
start in the 115th Congress. It is so exciting to see the great votes 
we have already taken. We have over 3,000 regulations, on average, that 
are put out by our agencies. And when you add up the cost

[[Page H460]]

of those from the past and those present, it adds up to almost $2 
trillion, Mr. Speaker. That is almost 10 percent of our GDP, and it 
falls unfairly on our small business community, our farmers, and we 
have got to do better.
  We need to reduce the cost of health care, and we are starting to 
work on that now. I look forward to being part of the solution. We need 
to ensure that folks have patient-centered health care that is 
supported by their doctors, not Federal bureaucrats running their 
health care where it is a one-size-fits-all approach.
  I am going to work hard to open up markets for farmers and ranchers. 
Nebraska has such a great agriculture, farming, and ranching community. 
We are going to give them that opportunity, and we are going to work 
hard to do it.
  I am going to work hard to reform a broken Tax Code. It is not right 
that our Nation has the highest corporate taxes, and it puts us at a 
disadvantage when we compete overseas and with our neighbors. We must 
fix that.
  I want to work hard to rebuild and restore our military's readiness. 
It is hard to believe, Mr. Speaker, that our readiness is at the lowest 
level since post-Vietnam, and it is wrong. We have got to fix it.
  Finally, I want to work hard to restore our allies' faith in our 
Nation. Leading from behind has been a failure.
  I will close with this thought, and it is something that I 
communicated much during the campaign. Winning elections is not the 
goal, but it is a means to an end.
  Mr. Speaker, we are going to work hard in this Congress and I am 
going to be dedicated to working my hardest to deliver results for the 
American people and our district. It is about defending liberty. It is 
about ensuring that we have opportunity and prosperity for the next 
generations. It is about making sure that our Nation stays secure.
  I thank the gentleman again for this opportunity to introduce myself.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. It is good to have the General here.
  It is going to be an interesting time. I know you are the last 
speaker here, but not the last of all of the freshmen. We are going to 
be doing this more in the coming weeks. But I just know as I watch 
tonight, it is the passion of your class coming in.
  I have watched you all as you have come and gone through orientation 
and done all of the things together and that there is a bond. I notice 
you come and sit together and you all talk together, and there is an 
understanding that you all come here for a purpose bigger than 
yourselves--and that is exciting to see. So I am excited to have you 
here. It is going to be a good year.
  Mr. Speaker, as we have introduced and talked about these new Members 
and they have allowed themselves to introduce themselves, one of the 
things that I wanted to do is just make sure, as we look ahead, we see 
folks who have made a place--they made a place in their communities; 
they made a place in their homes. As they look forward to serving here 
in this Congress, we are looking forward to having them here.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to take just a few moments to discuss something 
else, and that is, as we move forward and as we continue here, the 
majority, with these new freshmen and all coming in, are going to be 
fighting for what matters. It is sort of amazing to me now that, as we 
enter tomorrow and we take the first step toward repealing, really, 
what is a disastrous law, it is amazing now the cries of: Oh, what is 
going to be done? What are you doing now? But it didn't seem to matter 
just a few years ago when they said: Here is what you are going to 
have. You are going to take it no matter what it does. You want your 
doctor? Keep him.
  That is a lie.
  You want to keep your health provider? Keep him. Your insurance is 
fine.
  That is a lie. It is amazing now how some on the other side are just 
wanting to start yelling and saying: Oh, you have got to have a plan.
  Have a plan?
  Let's remind the American people why we are here. The majority is 
here because of 6 years of poor decisionmaking. It started at the base 
and has gone up. And we are going to continue as this majority to put 
people first, those who get up every morning, who want a job, who want 
to be able to go to their job and to start businesses and start and use 
that intellectual capital so that they can continue to do those things 
without government interference.
  I heard just the other day as I was here working on a rule, Mr. 
Speaker, I heard one of the speakers actually say that we should not 
put these burdens on government employees because it would make their 
jobs so much harder.
  Please, tell me where the voice is for the American worker out in the 
field every day just trying to make ends meet. It is in this majority. 
And we will continue to put forth policy that takes away the government 
overreach and puts it back where it belongs, and that is in the 
entrepreneurs, the moms, the dads, the kids, those who have a dream 
right now in a freshman English class or a science class, that have a 
dream that one day they will own their own business or go further.
  Mr. Speaker, let's put this in perspective. This majority is putting 
people first, and over the past 6 years, the American people have 
responded. It is now our time to act. People say, if you don't have a 
plan, then you are not understanding. This is friends and neighbors 
that elected us, and we will not fail in this moment.
  We have said what we are going to do. We are going to put people 
first in their businesses, in their jobs, and in their health care. 
When we do that, that is what makes America great.
  So tonight is the first night for letting our freshmen come, share 
their heart. We have heard their passion. We are going to continue to 
hear their passion as new and more freshmen come.
  Mr. Speaker, you are part of that. There are many others that will be 
a part. I am looking forward to leading in our majority, putting people 
first, putting Americans first, and this country is going to be the 
better for it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time.

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