[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 23, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H3071-H3078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1815
REPUBLICANS ARE ADDRESSING THE MAJOR CRISES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Gimenez) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, during our time tonight, my colleagues and
I will address the major crises happening here at home and happening
abroad. Our message tonight will all have a consistent theme: House
Republicans are leading the fight, whether it is protecting the Hyde
amendment, taking action to fix President Biden's economic crisis, or
holding China accountable for the COVID-19 coverup once and for all.
On the last point, the time has come for Congress to take seriously
its job to hold China accountable for their role in the proliferation
of the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has killed over 600,000
Americans, ruined the American economy, forced into closure many
people's livelihoods, and destabilized our way of life.
Just as we did in the aftermath of 9/11 and in response to the Great
Recession, Speaker Pelosi and her colleagues on her side of the aisle
cannot abdicate Congress' constitutional responsibility to investigate
the origins of COVID-19 and the roles both the Chinese Communist Party
and the World Health Organization played in preventing an expeditious
global response.
A March 2020 report by the University of Southampton found that if
interventions in China could have been conducted 1, 2, or 3 weeks
earlier, then cases could have been reduced by 66 percent, 86 percent,
and 95 percent, respectively. That is inexcusable.
Luckily for the American people, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and
House Republicans have a plan to hold China accountable and ensure an
atrocity such as the CCP virus never happens again.
The American people deserve transparency. That is why Congress must
declassify information related to the origins of COVID-19. Yes, that
includes any report that comes from President Biden's recent requests.
For far too long, the government has allowed individuals with known
ties to the CCP or Chinese state-owned enterprises to benefit from
American research and innovation. That is why we must continue to
pursue policies that curb any gains made by the Chinese Communist
Party.
It is also time for Congress to prohibit the National Institutes of
Health or any entity that receives grants and funding from NIH from
conducting research or spending resources on research with malicious
foreign actors. This includes China. Our taxpayer dollars should not be
going into arming our adversaries.
Foreign policy is a crucial element in holding China accountable.
Congress must compel the administration to flex its foreign policy
posture and reform the World Health Organization. As more information
comes forward, it is evident that the WHO was complicit in China's
coverup of the exploding pandemic. Their negligence is directly
responsible for the loss of millions of lives. We need trusted actors
such as Taiwan to form part of the organization.
In keeping in line with a tough foreign policy stance, Congress must
implement a new round of tough and deliberate sanctions on anyone--
whether they are Chinese nationals with ties to the CPP or high-level
executives at the World Health Organization--who willfully participated
in the coverup of the COVID-19 pandemic and helped prevent a robust
global response. Millions of lives are on their hands.
Another tool at our disposal is for Congress to pass the resolution
introduced by my Florida colleague, Congressman Michael Waltz, and
Senator Rick Scott to prevent Beijing from hosting the Winter Olympics.
Finally, we need to allow them to sue the Chinese Communist Party and
any CCP official who participated in the coverup that killed over half
a million Americans. They deserve no sovereign immunity.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for us to do our jobs and join Leader
McCarthy and the House Republicans in holding China accountable,
holding our adversaries accountable, and ensuring an atrocity such as
this never happens again.
Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to introduce the Congressman from Texas,
Congressman Van Taylor. Congressman Van Taylor is a decorated Iraq
[[Page H3072]]
War veteran and an important member of the Financial Services
Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Taylor).
Mr. TAYLOR. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Florida's 26th
District for yielding.
On the heels of a global pandemic, which crippled small businesses
and hurt workers, President Biden has offered a budget that doesn't
address the problems that we so desperately confront as Americans.
There is not any additional funding for border security at a time
right now when our border is in crisis, despite the fact that this
budget has the highest sustained tax burden and is the largest budget
ever in the history of this country. It is the largest budget to ever
be before this body.
The prescription in that budget is exactly the opposite of where we
need to be going. As our economy comes out of the fits and starts of
recovering from COVID, this threatens to overheat even further our
economy.
We know our economy is overheated. Let me give you a couple of
examples.
Since May 2020, home prices have increased by almost 13 percent. Used
car and truck prices are up over 20 percent. Lumber prices are up over
300 percent. Cold rolled steel has gone from $630 a ton to $1,450 a
ton.
Our economy is overheated. The last thing we need is the massive $55
trillion of taxes and spending that is in the budget today in front of
this body. You heard me correctly, Mr. Speaker, $55 trillion directly
from the pockets of Americans who are already struggling to pay these
higher gas prices and to pay for higher prices for groceries. This is
all a result of President Biden's misguided fiscal policies.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my Democrat colleagues to please reconsider your
support for Biden's broken budgeting methods. In the great State of
Texas, small businesses and families live within their means. We must
do the same.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague from Texas
for his great words.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the 22nd District of Texas
(Mr. Nehls), who is a veteran law enforcement officer.
Mr. NEHLS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight some of the stated
goals of the INVEST in America Act.
The INVEST in America Act creates and sustains good-paying jobs,
restores global competitiveness, tackles climate change, modernizes
infrastructure, and spurs long-term economic growth.
These are laudable goals that most if not all of us here support.
However, Mr. Speaker, when you focus on the rail title, the INVEST in
America Act misses on all of those marks and, in fact, has the
potential to turn back the clocks on our envy-of-the-world freight rail
system.
Freight railroads provide excellent, high-paying jobs, with a Class 1
freight employee's compensation averaging $132,000 per year.
On competitiveness, the freight rail industry met the demands of our
Nation during the pandemic by never closing and continually moving the
goods we needed to preserve public health. They did all of it, I might
add, without asking for any bailout money.
On the environment, freight railroads are also the most fuel-
efficient way to move freight over land. On average, railroads move 1
ton of freight more than 480 miles on 1 gallon of fuel.
On modern infrastructure, unlike the rest of our Nation's
transportation system, our freight rail system receives the highest
grade from the civil engineers for their infrastructure, a B.
On economic opportunity, freight rail's economic impact in 2017 alone
manifested itself in over 1.1 million jobs, $219 billion in economic
output, $71 billion in wages, and nearly $26 billion in total tax
revenues.
The freight railroads can meet all of these goals because the
railroads, not the American taxpayers, spend the $25 billion annually
needed to improve and maintain their infrastructure. Private companies
are simply better custodians of infrastructure networks than the
Federal Government, and we should be utilizing that simple reality, not
bemoaning it.
While President Biden, Secretary Buttigieg, and Chairman DeFazio
regularly profess their love for trains, the truth is that it only
extends to the highly subsidized passenger version.
The INVEST in America Act spends almost $100 billion on Amtrak.
Amtrak ridership was already collapsing outside of the Northeast
Corridor before COVID. Where passenger rail makes sense, private
companies like Virgin Trains are building new passenger lines.
The rail title couldn't include provisions to accelerate the
deployment of new safety technologies on freight rail but ensures that
French toast will be served on every Amtrak train. It does nothing to
expand freight rail service by moving new and in-demand products like
liquefied natural gas but will pay to roll empty Amtrak trains through
new parts of the country.
If Amtrak is so good and deserves an 850 percent funding increase
from the previous rail title, I challenge everyone voting for the
INVEST in America Act to use Amtrak instead of an airline the next time
you need to head from your district to the Capitol.
This rail title is too expensive, too damaging to the economy, and
too partisan to pass. However, it is not too late to work together.
I introduced an amendment to the Rules Committee to strike the entire
rail title. The base text is simply too flawed to fix, and we must do
better.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to introduce the Congressman
from California, Mike Garcia. Congressman Garcia flew over 30 combat
missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a naval aviator. We thank
him for his service.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garcia).
Mr. GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on
Congress and the Biden administration to hold China accountable for its
role in the COVID-19 pandemic. The evidence suggests that this virus,
like too many other things in the world, was made in China.
Despite the growing evidence surrounding China's lack of transparency
and mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, House Democrats continue to
stonewall Republican efforts to investigate the origins of COVID-19.
Republicans have made numerous calls for the need to investigate the
origins of COVID and hold China accountable, but the majority has yet
to hold a single hearing on it.
This is shameful. Americans deserve transparency, and they deserve
answers. We must hold China accountable for its coverup of this deadly
virus that has taken the lives of 3.8 million humans worldwide,
including 600,000 American lives.
Under the Trump administration, we had an investigation in place to
investigate the origins of COVID-19, but that necessary investigation
was ended by this Biden administration. Instead of holding our
adversaries accountable, the current administration is bowing down to
them. They have chosen a strategy of appeasement rather than
accountability.
If America wants to remain a leader on the global stage and if we
want to remain a safe and secure nation, then we must hold China and
other adversaries absolutely accountable.
My Republican colleagues and I stand ready to work across the aisle
to deliver the transparency and answers that Americans deserve. I hope
that our colleagues across the aisle will join us in our efforts.
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Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, Glenn Grothman from Wisconsin is an
experienced legislator in Wisconsin and a United States Congressman.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).
Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
As we turn on the news every night and we think again and again about
all of the changes to America that have happened in the last 4 months,
it is so easy to just focus on the border or focus on the inflation or
focus on the constant drumbeat that America is a horrible, racist
nation. And by doing so, we forget the huge changes we have had in
American law and American funding that affect the number of abortions
that happen not only in the United States, but around the world.
It is hard to believe that throughout most of this country's history,
even before ultrasounds were invented, the consensus in this country
was that abortion was horrific; it was murder.
[[Page H3073]]
What have we done in the last few months?
First of all, we have repealed the Mexico City policy so that funds
are once again going to organizations abroad that don't directly but
indirectly fund abortions.
Secondly, we have overturned President Trump's Protect Life rule,
which will reopen Title X Family Planning funding for Planned
Parenthood. We believe that under this, Planned Parenthood has received
$60 million a year, which not only, in part, goes to fund abortions,
but also goes to fund an organization that is designed to encourage or
change America's traditional dislike of abortion.
We are restoring funding to the U.N. Population Fund, which supported
China's birth limit law, and is also proselytizing for abortion.
In the latest attack on unborn babies and pro-life Americans,
President Biden released a fiscal year 2022 budget that removes the
Hyde amendment, the longstanding provision that prohibits Federal
funding of abortions.
We don't believe this is what Americans want. The vast majority of
Americans do not support taxpayer funding of abortion. So much for the
unity that President Biden promised us.
There is, over time, more and more scientific literature that
demonstrates unborn babies can feel pain at a very earlier gestational
age, at the 15-week-old gestational age. So much for science. This is
pro-abortion extremism. We can start by making the Hyde amendment
permanent by passing H.R. 18, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I couldn't agree more with the gentleman
about the Hyde amendment. I think the majority of Americans couldn't
agree with the gentleman more about the Hyde amendment. We need to
maintain that the majority of Americans do not want to fund taxpayer-
funded abortions.
Mr. Speaker, Congressman John Rose from Tennessee is an eighth-
generation farmer and a key member of the Financial Services Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).
Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Gimenez for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise before you tonight to speak on behalf of those
who cannot speak for themselves. The right to life is one of the
founding principles of our Nation. Every human being born or unborn is
entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Our government was created to secure these rights without exception,
not to take them away. Yet, today, we see this right under attack as
the Biden administration continues their war on the unborn by seeking
to remove the Hyde amendment, a longstanding pro-life protection that
has saved 2.5 million lives from abortion since 1976.
As a father of two sons, Guy and Sam, I have been blessed to watch
them grow from a tiny dot on a medical monitor to the strong and
healthy boys they are today. When I look at my sons, I am crestfallen
for the millions and millions of children whose lives have been cruelly
taken right as they were beginning.
Not too long ago, President Joe Biden stated: ``Those of us who are
opposed to abortion should not be compelled to pay for it.''
But this proposed budget fails to include the Hyde amendment, making
it clear that President Biden does not value life. Before coming to
Washington, I vowed to be unapologetically pro-life.
I stand before you tonight because I, along with most of my fellow
Tennesseans, disagree with this administration and believe taxpayer
dollars should never be used to fund abortions.
Societies are measured by how they treat their most vulnerable. That
includes the unborn. This is why it sickens me to see the Biden
administration's intention to use the power of the Federal Government
to force us to support and fund organizations that perform abortions.
I thank God for the miracle that is life, and I will work to secure a
chance at life for every unborn baby so that we may hear their voice,
see their potential, and give them the same basic opportunity at living
that we have secured and received ourselves.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
Congressman Glenn Thompson from Pennsylvania is the ranking member of
the Agriculture Committee. Mr. Thompson and I share a common experience
as former firefighters.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Thompson), a Congressman and a former firefighter.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank my brother
firefighter for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the importance of the Hyde
amendment.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson penned three
unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
As Members of Congress, it is our job to uphold those rights, and
that can start with protecting the Hyde amendment. For over 40 years,
the Hyde amendment has maintained bipartisan support and passed through
Congress. Even President Joe Biden, then-Senator Joe Biden, supported
this amendment.
The Hyde amendment ensures that Americans are not forced to pay for
abortions with their tax dollars. But this year, the Hyde amendment is
under attack. The current administration budget proposal calls for the
Hyde amendment to be removed from the fiscal year 2022 budget. This is
radical, even for Democrats.
The Hyde amendment saves lives. Since its original introduction,
nearly 2.5 million lives have been saved from abortion. With nearly 60
percent of Americans agreeing that taxpayer dollars should not be used
to fund abortions, we must keep the Hyde amendment in the fiscal year
2022 budget and beyond.
For these reasons, I am proud to be an original cosponsor of H.R. 18,
the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. This bill would make the Hyde
amendment permanent and governmentwide. Mr. Speaker, we know life
begins at conception. That is why we must stand up and continue to
fight for the unborn.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Thompson for his comments.
Mr. Speaker, Congressman Scott Perry from Pennsylvania retired as a
brigadier general in the Army and now represents the people of
Pennsylvania's 10th District. I thank the gentleman for his service.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Gimenez for being here and
inviting us.
Over the past year and a half, the American people have endured a
nationwide pandemic and its impact on every aspect of all of our lives.
More than 600,000 Americans have died, and their families have suffered
the immeasurable grief of that. This was all preventable.
The Communist Party is directly responsible. I don't know why we
can't say it. I don't know why we can't look into it. Our economy was
devastated and lives were crushed; things that can never be gotten
back. People lost jobs. People lost their dreams. It can't be gotten
back.
It is going to take our economy years to rebuild. Americans want
answers and they deserve answers. I don't understand why the majority
party here doesn't want to investigate this. They want to investigate
everything else, but they are not interested in this.
Let me tell you what we know. In November of 2019, scientists at the
Wuhan Institute of Virology came down with a sickness consistent with
COVID-19. We know that the World Health Organization's initial report--
and I say initial because it was so politically charged, they had to
come up with another one--China maintained sole authority of those
investigating it.
Oh, by the way, 60 of the people who were investigating it weren't
scientists. Somehow we trust them, but we can't have our own
investigations. The Chinese Communist Party is guilty of obstruction of
evidence. It is clear. It is clear.
Now, while the majority has denied calls for an investigation,
continuing the cult of fear--and let me talk to you about the cult of
fear. Remember when touching a doorknob was supposed to give you the
virus?
You couldn't shake hands. You had to buy as much toilet paper and
water as you could because you couldn't go to the store. You couldn't
visit your loved
[[Page H3074]]
ones. And heaven forbid your kids go to school. And even today, when we
want our kids to go to school, we are told we are terrorists and
science deniers.
Let's stop the cult of fear. Let's stop it. Let's get the majority
party, let's beseech the majority party to open an investigation
because the American people deserve to know the origins of this virus.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congressman for his comments. I
couldn't agree with him more. My opening statements were about China
and their complicity, and we do need to investigate China and the World
Health Organization and find out what did they know and when did they
know it. Again, as I said, if we had known about this 1, 2, or 3 weeks
earlier, we could have saved an incredible number of lives.
Mr. Speaker, Congressman Michael Cloud represents the 13th District
of Texas and is the only Texas Republican on the Agriculture Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cloud).
Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate being here, and I thank the
gentleman for leading this. This is such an important topic.
We have seen ourselves in the last year and a half go from the
greatest economy the world has ever seen to very perilous times for the
American people.
Some of it not of our choosing; some of it, unfortunately, of our
choosing. About a year and a half ago I would ask in virtually every
meeting I went to in my district throughout Texas, I would ask every
industry: What is your biggest problem right now?
And they would tell us: We can't find enough people.
Now, the reason was very different a year and a half ago than it is
today. I get the same answer, but for very different reasons. A year
and a half ago the economy was doing so good. Businesses were booming.
We were hiring. Wages were growing across every demographic. Now it is
because we are paying people to stay home.
This is an attack against the American worker, against the American
economy, against the American work ethic that took us from struggling
Colonies to an amazing, amazing influence on the world stage, to the
greatest economy ever in all of humanity.
Now, what is really troubling is to see the attack against the
American worker that this administration has chosen to pick out,
certain industries that were very strong for us, particularly the
energy industry. We have seen pipelines shut down here, while pipelines
are encouraged to be built in our adversarial nations. We have seen
this push toward green energy so that we can buy solar panels from
China, while China continues to build hundreds of coal power plants.
So this, obviously, isn't about the environment. This is about
destabilizing the economy here at home, while we empower adversarial
nations abroad.
Recently, I was at the border. And we funded border infrastructure in
the last administration. But now we have stopped it, even though the
contract is already signed, and we won't even continue the contracts
enough to plug in the lights that are already built at the border.
What is going on at the border is wreaking havoc on communities
throughout our States and throughout this Nation.
We talk also about China and the devastating impact they have had on
the coronavirus. We need to investigate that. This administration needs
to step up and investigate that. There was some talk some time ago
about how Fauci had sent money to the Wuhan lab and whether or not that
was funding gain-of-function research or not.
Whether or not it was, what in the world are we doing sending money
to a Wuhan lab when China is the number one thief?
They steal more intellectual property than any other nation-state
from us.
We can make America work. America works when we support the American
worker. Let's get back to doing that.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Cloud for his comments.
Mr. Speaker, Congressman John Joyce of Pennsylvania is part of the
Doctors Caucus and has worked with the U.S. Navy at Naval Hospital
Portsmouth in Virginia during Operations Desert Shield and Desert
Storm. I thank the gentleman for his service.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce).
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, my commitment to life is
rooted in the unequivocal truth that every person is created in the
image and likeness of God. As a father and a grandfather, I can tell
you that there is no greater gift than new life.
As a doctor, I can tell you that science confirms what we have known
for centuries. Every unborn child is a person deserving of fundamental
rights. During the span of my own medical career, I have witnessed
remarkable innovation. With today's technology, there can be no doubt
that a child in the womb is a living person.
Despite this evidence, Democrats are mounting unprecedented attacks
on pro-life protections. First, President Biden repealed the Mexico
City policy. Then House Democrats blocked the Born Alive Abortion
Survivors Protection Act. Now they are attempting to repeal the Hyde
amendment, which bans Federal funds from being used to pay for abortion
services.
{time} 1845
Since 1976, this key protection has been attached to all legislation
passed in Congress, preventing American taxpayers from funding abortion
against their will.
It is wholly reprehensible to require pro-life Americans to pay for
abortion against their conscience. As Congress considers appropriations
legislation, I urge my colleagues to dispense with their attack on the
longstanding Hyde amendment.
To uphold the dignity of human life, we must preserve this
protection. It is simple: The Hyde amendment saves lives.
Despite the challenges ahead, we must persevere in this fight. As we
read in Romans 12: ``Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.''
Our enduring commitment to protect image-bearers and defend the
sanctity of human life will prevail.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, who would know better about protecting life
and saving life than the good doctor from Pennsylvania and my
colleague, Congressman John Joyce.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), who
has led a distinguished career in business and public service and
serves as a member of the Financial Services Committee.
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and appreciate him calling
us together tonight to talk about the mistakes that President Biden is
making, the crises that his policies are brewing across a number of
areas.
Tonight, I rise, Mr. Speaker, to address the state of our economic
future.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress came together last
year on a bipartisan basis and targeted relief to provide for families
and hardworking Americans.
Now, as vaccines are distributed and Americans are returning to work,
the Biden administration is spending an unprecedented amount of money
in an untargeted way. Six trillion dollars, Mr. Speaker, and $6
trillion of deficits for 10 years to come. They are funding a manic,
untargeted wish list that, in my view, is going to impoverish our kids
and grandkids and contribute to too many dollars chasing too few goods.
When you combine this fiscal policy with the Federal Reserve buying
of $120 billion of Government debt every month, you are brewing
inflation, Mr. Speaker. In my view, inflation is just a tax on
hardworking Americans trying to save for retirement, trying to save
money for kids in college, trying to buy the necessities of gas, food,
build a new home, add onto a home; and this inflation is a tax on
working Americans. Joe Biden and his illiterate economic policy, both
in monetary policy and fiscal policy, are contributors.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans have a better way. We have a better way to
target spending, balance our budget, and not impoverish our kids and
grandkids. If Republicans take this House back, Mr. Speaker, we will
get our economic house in order.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Meuser), who comes from a family dedicated to public service. He
serves as a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and the Education
and Labor Committee.
[[Page H3075]]
Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, we are here with over 600,000 American
fatalities from the COVID virus.
Anyone who referred to the COVID virus as the China virus, or
originating in Wuhan, has been somewhat ridiculed along the way. Yet,
the evidence continues to mount that the origins of the virus were
certainly from Wuhan and very likely from the Wuhan virology lab.
Leader McCarthy recently put out eight pillars of action, an action
plan, for what we, in a bipartisan manner, as Americans, should
mandate, should require, should pursue.
The first, number one, is declassification of intelligence; bringing
transparency to U.S. intelligence about what China knew about the
virus, about its origins, and when they knew it.
Number two, prohibit the dangerous gain of function research in and
with China.
Number three, prohibition on the National Institutes of Health that
are funding adversarial foreign governments. We need to ensure American
tax dollars don't fund foreign governments intent on harming the U.S.
and our allies.
Number four, an overhaul of the World Health Organization and
counterintelligence investigation. Transparency and clear understanding
of the inner workings of the World Health Organization is what
Americans and the world are demanding.
Number five, utilizing existing authorities to perform investigations
and launch independent investigations of COVID's origins.
Number six, visa restrictions and sanctions on any agency or
individual who there is evidence to show was involved in any form of
coverup or misleading of the general public when it comes to COVID's
origins.
Number seven, yes, waive Chinese sovereign immunity; allow families
of COVID victims to sue China for any damages.
And, unless the above is met, we relocate the 2022 Olympics from
China. The world cannot gather in China for peaceful games when we have
strong evidence to believe that this virus originated in Wuhan and was
covered up.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from
Pennsylvania's 13th District for those strong words and strong ideas on
why we need to hold the people accountable who unleashed this horrific
virus on the United States and the world at large.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller),
who is a farmer, a business manager, and a member of the Agriculture
Committee and Education and Labor Committee.
Mrs. MILLER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration is
promoting its American Jobs Plan as an infrastructure proposal. In
reality, it is just a tax-and-spend package that has little to do with
actual infrastructure.
We can all agree that the Nation's infrastructure is a key component
to a well-functioning economy. However, Democrats are disguising a
liberal wish list of big government programs as infrastructure.
Of the $2.25 trillion in total spending, only 5 percent is going to
go toward traditional road infrastructure projects.
The Biden administration is labeling everything they propose as
infrastructure in an attempt to deceive the American people into
thinking that they are talking about roads and bridges.
Our constituents deserve an honest accounting of what Congress
proposes to do with their hard-earned tax dollars.
President Biden's infrastructure plan is not about infrastructure; it
is about growing the size and power of the Federal Government.
This plan is fiscally irresponsible, and it adds to the massive debt
burden that we are leaving our children and grandchildren. We should
mourn over what we are leaving our children and grandchildren.
The American people deserve better.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I couldn't agree with the Congresswoman
more. As a father and a grandfather, it is atrocious, the debt that we
are going to be leaving our children and our grandchildren. We are
stealing their future. They will not have the money that they need to
provide for their programs and their infrastructure that they are going
to need to fund in the future. That is one of the reasons why I
wholeheartedly agree with her.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Mann), who is
a fifth generation Kansan and proudly serves on the Agriculture
Committee and Veterans' Affairs Committee. He represents Kansas' First
District.
Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss winners and losers under
President Biden's policies.
When I was a kid playing eight-man football for the Quinter Bulldogs
in rural Kansas, there wasn't much room for debate on the winners and
losers of the game. You either won or you didn't. You either scored
more touchdowns, more 2-point conversions, and got more tackles than
the other team, or you didn't. Plain and simple.
The same is true with America today. President Biden's progressive
policies make for very clear winners and very clear losers. Consider
these three examples:
Winner number one: Communist China. Loser: America.
On January 31, 2020, America received warning that the coronavirus
had possibly been engineered in the Wuhan Institute of Virology in
Wuhan, China. In late 2020, America began investigating the link
between the spread of the coronavirus and the Wuhan lab. In one of his
first acts as President, Joe Biden prematurely ended the investigation
into the Wuhan lab.
Now, with new, insurmountable evidence that the coronavirus could
have been engineered in the Wuhan lab, President Biden and Speaker
Nancy Pelosi refuse to investigate the origins of COVID-19 even with
overwhelming support for an investigation. On top of that, President
Biden refuses to stop American taxpayer-funded research at that very
Wuhan lab.
It has been more than a year since the pandemic shut down the
country. Today, nationwide, coronavirus cases have dramatically
decreased. America is finally getting back to normal. Businesses across
the country are ready to reopen and welcome back customers.
Unfortunately, President Biden's bonus, the new monthly unemployment
checks being distributed on top of the already existing unemployment
checks, is paying a premium for workers to remain at home rather than
finding work. The data doesn't lie. There are nearly 8 million job
openings in America right now, a new record. I have heard from
countless small business owners in the Big First who cite the Biden
bonus as the reason they cannot find workers and completely reopen.
While Communist China covers up COVID-19, President Biden is denying
science, keeping people unemployed, and hurting America's prosperity.
Under President Biden's policies, America loses.
Winner two: The Mexican cartels. Loser: America.
President Biden created a full-scale crisis at our southern border.
He promised outright citizenship to more than 11 million illegal
immigrants, placed a moratorium on deportations, and halted border wall
construction.
These lax policies lure drug cartels, who in turn make hundreds of
millions of dollars exploiting children. The cartels will even throw
migrant children in the Rio Grande as a distraction, to avoid being
apprehended. The daily average of unaccompanied minors crossing the
southern border has skyrocketed since President Biden took office.
These policies also create chaos for Americans living near the
border. American farmers and ranchers on the border are forced to check
their livestock in the daylight, as it is too dangerous for them to
leave their homes at night. American families are keeping their kids
indoors at all hours of the day. American law enforcement officers and
Border Patrol are overworked and shorthanded.
Meanwhile, President Biden and Vice President Harris have yet to
visit the border and refuse to secure our country and enforce
immigration laws. Under President Biden's policies, America loses.
Winner three: Socialism. Loser: America.
Just a few weeks ago, later than any other President in a transition
year, President Biden released his $6 trillion
[[Page H3076]]
budget. The budget is the most egregious, most shortsighted, and
costliest budget America has ever seen.
President Biden's budget is a progressive wish list in disguise. He
wants us funding the Green New Deal, spending $174 billion on subsidies
to the electric car market and $40 billion to retrain employees who
lost their jobs after he blocked the Keystone Pipeline, all in an
attempt to replace the oil and gas industry. He wants $63.5 billion for
international spending, but none for America's longtime ally, Israel,
clearly bowing to Democrats on their record of anti-Semitic language
and slurs. And he refuses to protect our dollars from being spent on
abortions, removing a pro-life protection that 77 percent of Americans
support and a protection even Biden supported for years before his
Presidential campaign.
While socialists are pleased with Biden's latest spending spree, the
economic disaster to follow will cripple American families' purchasing
power and leave future generations with the crushing burden of the
national debt. Under President Biden's policies, America loses.
Sadly, the greatest loser in all of this is our freedom, the freedom
to open our businesses and make a living when we choose, the freedom to
own land without the fear of a land grab, the freedom for law-abiding
Americans to own and use firearms, the freedom to live out our faith
without being persecuted by the government, the freedom to speak freely
on college campuses, and the freedom to win.
Our Founding Fathers ensured that these freedoms do not flow from a
king, another country, or government, and they never will. Under
freedom, America always wins.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr.
Carl), who is a successful small business owner and a valued member of
the Armed Services Committee and Natural Resources Committee.
Mr. CARL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Gimenez for overseeing this and
calling us together.
Mr. Speaker, let's not forget what we have gone through in the last
year and a half.
In the last year and a half, personally, I have seen a campaign that
we have had to run while talking through doors. We had campaigns that
were virtually unheard of in the past.
Those of us that did win, when we came to Washington, we were all
treated equally, but we were treated like a disease. We were locked
down in a hotel; our food was slipped to us through a plastic cover, in
a paper bag; and that is the way we lived for a week through
orientation.
{time} 1900
I am not blaming anyone. We had no idea what was going on. We all
lived in fear. We all worried about this. But we are Americans and we
are tough. We are tough. So we have made it. We have made it so far.
The changes we have seen, the birthdays that we have missed, the
parents that we have seen that have passed away without us being there
with them, I mean, we have all lived through this. We have got to reach
across the aisle, and we have got to get America answers, answers to
where this pandemic actually started. I encourage everyone to do that.
Millions have lost jobs and necessary incomes while countless others
lost loved ones to the virus. Meanwhile, the American public is
constantly being misled over the origins of the spread of this COVID-
19.
First, we need to declassify all information related to the origins
of COVID-19. Then we need to prohibit the National Institutes of Health
from giving funds to irresponsible foreign governments, like China.
And, finally, we need to investigate the Chinese Communist Party's role
in the origin and the spread of this virus.
The evidence is clear that the Chinese Communist Party intentionally
hid information and lied about the truth about this virus. It is time
for answers, and it is time for us to hold them accountable for the
spread of this horrific pandemic. The American people and the whole
world deserves to know the truth.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stop, hesitate,
and let's work together on this. Let's join together and find out the
truth and prevent something like this from happening again. It is very
important to this country and this Nation.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Babin), who represents Texas' 36th District. He is a lifelong
resident of east Texas and my colleague on the Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee and the Science, Space, and Technology
Committee.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Florida, a former
mayor, for yielding. I am a former mayor myself.
Mr. Speaker, every single action that the Chinese Communist Party
takes leaves me with no doubt that they are not friends of ours. For
years, Beijing has stolen American intelligence, technology, and
intellectual property in their relentless pursuit to supersede us as
the number one superpower in the world.
So it should come as no surprise to anyone that more than a year
after COVID-19 magically manifested itself and escaped China and took
the world by storm, killing millions, we are still asking ourselves:
How did it happen? Is there something that China is not telling us?
The simple answer is yes, there is plenty that the CCP is not telling
us. We can't even begin to solve the question of how this happened
until we start a formal investigation.
Unfortunately, it is not just the CCP who refuses to allow a
transparent and thorough investigation into the pandemic's origins. It
is also my colleagues across the aisle. After all, secrecy and
diversion seem to be a standard practice for both the Democrat Party
and Beijing.
Why are the Democrats refusing to allocate resources so that we can
solve the problems and questions surrounding something this major?
They are perfectly happy to spend $1.9 billion of Americans' hard-
earned tax dollars for security upgrades to the Capitol complex due to
the events of January 6, where one person died, but cannot be bothered
to spend a dime to investigate how 600,000 Americans died.
There is mounting evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic started in a
Chinese laboratory and that the Chinese Communist Party covered it up.
Don't the more than 33 million Americans who have been infected with
COVID and the loved ones of the more than 600,000 Americans who passed
away from it deserve an explanation?
To blindly just believe that this global pandemic started from a bat
in a wet market in the very same city where genetic analyses of
coronaviruses are done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology without doing
any sort of an investigation is a dereliction of our duty. It is
inexcusable and downright ignorant.
This administration and this Congress must hold the Chinese Communist
Party's feet to the fire and give us some answers. We deserve the
truth.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Franklin), my friend and colleague. He has served as a naval aviator in
the U.S. Navy for 26 years. I thank him for his service.
Mr. C. SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, because of its great
weather, beautiful beaches, and low taxes, a friend who once served as
my Congressman liked to say that, for many around the country, Florida
is the reward for a life well lived.
As liberal States continue to run their governments into the ground
and the pandemic has accelerated our ability to work remotely, it is no
longer just retirees who are moving to the Sunshine State in droves. In
fact, nearly 330,000 have relocated there in the past year alone.
With its strategic location along central Florida's I-4 corridor,
Florida's 15th Congressional District is one of the fastest growing
areas in the country. Our current transportation infrastructure is
already inadequate. It is a problem that will only accelerate going
forward unless we act now. I am sure many communities across the
country can relate.
Both sides of the aisle can agree that our Nation's highways,
airports, water infrastructure, ports, and broadband networks are the
arteries of our national commerce and worthy investments of taxpayer
money.
The good news is Republicans are taking the lead to meet these
infrastructure needs. First, we are proposing a major overhaul of our
Federal
[[Page H3077]]
project review and permitting processes. When I formerly served on the
board of the Transportation Planning Organization in my home district,
we routinely had critical needs that waited years for funding. Some of
those have still not been funded. So speeding up that process is a
critical first step.
We are also proposing a $460 billion framework that will make crucial
investments in our Nation's transportation system, water
infrastructure, and broadband networks. This framework represents an
investment in the real infrastructure Americans need, not bizarre
reinterpretations of infrastructure or partisan pet projects.
Congress has talked about infrastructure investment for years. It is
time to put words into action. I hope the President will continue to
listen to voices on both sides of the aisle to enact a bipartisan
solution that our country so desperately needs.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee
(Mrs. Harshbarger). She has been a successful pharmacist and business
owner for over three decades.
Mrs. HARSHBARGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the
important need for an investigation into China's role in the origin of
COVID-19.
More than 600,000 Americans and 3.8 million people have died
worldwide from the virus, and now it is becoming more evident than ever
that the virus may have originated from a leak at the Wuhan Institute
of Virology.
It is also clear that China withheld critical information at the
beginning of the pandemic to cover up how deadly the virus could
become. We have demanded an investigation to find out what Chinese
Communist Party leaders knew and when they knew it. My colleagues from
across the aisle have blocked our attempts.
Millions have died and countless others have suffered from the
economic effects of the pandemic. The American people deserve answers
as to how the outbreak originated, and the Chinese Communist Party must
be held accountable if they are responsible for the outbreak and its
global spread.
The bottom line is this: China lied and people did die. We need an
investigation now.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Wittman). He is an experienced government official. We share a common
background in local government, having both served as mayors.
Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, over 3.8 million people across the world
have died from COVID-19, over 600,000 Americans have died. We deserve
to know how the COVID-19 pandemic began.
There is mounting evidence to show that the Wuhan Institute of
Virology is a probable source of that. If we look at the assertions by
China to say that this was transmitted naturally from a bat through a
wet market, things just don't add up.
If we look at the information we have gotten from our intelligence
communities, if we look at what we have seen to this point across the
whole spectrum, we deserve to know exactly what has happened.
If we want to uncover the truth behind COVID-19, if we are serious
about preventing future pandemics, if we are serious about holding
China accountable, then I believe we need to do everything we can to
follow the science.
By profession and by education, I am a biologist. In fact, I worked
in and ran laboratories for years, laboratories that handled pathogenic
organisms. I know the things that need to be done to uncover exactly
what happened at the Wuhan lab.
It doesn't make sense to look at the assertions that China makes and
somehow believe that that is indeed the case. I don't think that this
is a random event. I do believe that there are links to the Wuhan lab
that must have an independent and thoughtful evaluation of exactly what
happened.
We have to force China to allow a free, objective, and independent
evaluation of exactly what happened at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
and determine what role did it play in the origins of this pandemic. We
have to do that.
I want to ensure the investigation happens and that we hold Chinese
officials accountable. That is why I introduced The World Deserves to
Know Act, because, indeed, the world deserves to know. The World
Deserves to Know Act will sanction key Chinese officials in their
Centers for Disease Control, in their national health commission who
obfuscated data, the data necessary to determine exactly what happened;
and also, through our intelligence gathering, to identify those
individuals in the Chinese Communist Party that persecuted scientists,
that persecuted citizen journalists that sought to divulge the truth
about what happened there. There must be a free, open, and independent
evaluation that is allowed in order for us to know. Again, the world
deserves to know.
In the meantime, what my bill would do is also prohibit funding from
going to China from any U.S. institution, our universities, our
colleges, anyplace that would send money either to the National Health
Commission or any entity associated with the National Health
Commission, like the Wuhan lab for the research that we have seen going
on there, the gain-of-function research. We have to make sure that that
happens.
I want to make sure, too, that we identify where dollars have gone
from the U.S., from the National Institutes of Health or any other
governmental entity or any entity associated with our Federal
Government, State governments, or local governments that may have sent
money to China for gain-of-function research. We have to know exactly
where the money went, where it came from, and who was the decisionmaker
about how that money got there. And that needs to go all the way up
through our bureaucracies not only at the Federal level, but at the
State level also. Anywhere there is an association, that needs to be
known.
I want to make sure, too, that my bill allows Taiwan observer status
in the World Health Organization to make sure that they check China's
malign influence over the organization. Taiwan was at the very
beginning of making sure that this was transparent.
This is not about political gamesmanship. This is about getting to
the truth not only for the sake of truth itself, but to make sure the
United States never suffers another pandemic like the one we just
endured.
I hope that all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me
in holding China accountable and supporting and cosponsoring The World
Deserves to Know Act.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from
California (Mr. LaMalfa). He represents California's First District. He
serves on the Agriculture Committee and the Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee.
Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, we talk a lot about infrastructure around
here. The American people wonder what is that actually going to mean
coming out here. Well, it really needs to be focused on things that we
are short of, but would be fixing our highways, fixing our bridges,
things like that.
In California, where I come from, the subject is water. Water storage
is desperately needed. We have had some years of drought, but we also
have not added to our water storage in a significant way in 40 years.
With a growing population, there is a growing need.
For example, what does that mean to all Americans, not just
Californians?
The food we eat. The top crops in California that are grown
approximately 99 percent or more in California are almonds, artichokes,
celery, figs, garlic, raisins, kiwis, honeydew, nectarines, olives,
cling peaches, pistachios, plums, sweet rice, and walnuts.
If California is not growing those items, where do we intend to get
those?
{time} 1915
For almonds especially, California grows all the domestic production
Americans use and 77 percent of the global production. We also produce
92 percent of the Nation's avocados, grapes, lemons, and mandarins. No
avocados? No guacamole.
What are we going to do, import all this? We have to be producing
this stuff in the State of California.
What does that mean? We need to invest in water infrastructure. We
can be raising Shasta Dam, which is a Federal project. Eighteen feet
yields over 600,000 new acre-feet for these crops. We could be building
Sites Reservoir. Both of these have been invested in slightly by the
Federal Government lately. We need to do much more because we are the
leading State in so
[[Page H3078]]
many of the important products that Americans actually use.
So, we have to talk a lot more about water storage.
Mr. GIMENEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________