[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 31, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H517]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MONTHLY COMMITMENT CHECKLIST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Mann) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight a few of the ways 
that I am keeping my commitment to the people of the Big First.
  A few weeks ago, I released my commitment to the Big First, which is 
a legislative roadmap for the 118th Congress that details my plans for 
an economy that is strong, a government that is accountable, a future 
that is built on freedom, and a nation that is safe.
  Here are some of the ways I am working to get America back on track.
  To create an economy that is strong, I voted ``yes'' on the Family 
and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which the House just 
passed. Kansas families and small businesses are already paying the 
price of President Biden's inflation tax. The last thing we need is 
87,000 more IRS agents and 1.2 million more audits.
  I voted ``yes'' on the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection 
Act because it is a clear-cut way to fight back against one of the most 
egregious pieces of legislation from the last Congress.
  The $72 billion of taxpayer money that Washington Democrats allocated 
to the IRS last year would have ballooned the agency to a size larger 
than the Pentagon, State Department, FBI, and Border Patrol combined. I 
am committed to creating an economy that is strong by stopping 
President Biden's audit army, and I am keeping my commitment.
  To create a government that is accountable, I voted ``yes'' on the 
Strategic Production Response Act, which the House also passed. 
President Biden has been playing fast and loose with one of our 
country's most important national security assets. His administration's 
energy policies have caused prices to skyrocket at the pump, and using 
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a political tool to mask that 
failure has led to severe U.S. energy insecurity and depletion of our 
oil reserves, which poses a threat to our national security.
  I voted ``yes'' on the Strategic Production Response Act, which is a 
step toward ending President Biden's war on fossil fuels, empowering 
domestic energy producers, and resurrecting American energy 
independence by protecting our SPR from an administration that clearly 
doesn't understand how important it is. I made a commitment to hold the 
government accountable, and I am keeping that commitment.
  To create a future that is built on freedom, I voted ``yes'' on the 
Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, which the House passed. This vote 
was crystal clear: If a child is born alive following an abortion or an 
attempted abortion, that newborn child deserves the same standard of 
medical care that any newborn deserves.
  It is horrifying that we need to address issues like this in a free 
country, but Washington Democrats have advocated for unthinkable, 
gruesome policies that constitute an all-out attack on human life. I am 
proud to be a pro-life Member of Congress, and I will always support 
policies that protect life. I made a commitment to building a future 
based on freedom by supporting the God-given right to life held by 
unborn American citizens, and I am keeping my commitment.
  To create a nation that is safe, I will vote to denounce the horrors 
of socialism later this week. I hope that all of my colleagues can get 
behind this. Socialism ideology runs counter to everything we stand for 
in America because it requires the concentration of power, which 
results in totalitarianism. Democracy, on the other hand, enshrines 
individual liberty and gives people a voice in who governs them. 
Socialism creates famine, devastation, and bloodshed. It tears families 
apart, creates exile and mass theft, and flatly denies individual 
rights as fundamental as personal property.
  You don't have to look very far, Mr. Speaker, into the history of 
socialism to find these abuses and atrocities. They happen every time a 
country tries socialism on for size.
  It seems that certain people in America would like to experiment with 
socialism, but enough socialist experiments have been conducted 
already, and the verdict is clear: Socialism has no place on American 
soil.
  I made a commitment to ensuring that America is a nation that is 
safe, which means continuing to stand strong as a world leader in 
democracy and freedom. I am keeping that commitment.
  When we reflect on our work, it helps us to stay the course in the 
future, and we still have a lot of work to do in the 118th Congress. We 
need to create a balanced budget and strengthen the supply chain. We 
need to lower taxes and secure the southern border. We need to fully 
fund a robust police and military. We need a comprehensive 
reauthorization of the farm bill with strengthened crop insurance. We 
need a maintained stepped-up basis tax provision and global food 
security legislation that stops wars before they start.
  I will be keeping all of these commitments to the people of the Big 
First, and I will continue to spend time thinking, praying, and 
reflecting on how best to serve the people in my district. I did not 
come to Congress to be a caretaker in the slow demise of America. I am 
here to fight and work to make America stronger. With all of us working 
together, our brightest days are yet to come.

                          ____________________