[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 123 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H3645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING THOMAS HEILMAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Good) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
extraordinary athleticism and achievement of Albemarle County swimmer 
Thomas Heilman.
  On June 26, the 16-year-old Heilman claimed his spot in the world 
swimming championships after earning the silver medal in both the men's 
100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter butterfly races.
  Heilman broke a longstanding record for his age group when he 
finished the 200-meter butterfly just 22 milliseconds behind the winner 
of the race, a swimmer 5 years older than him.
  By finishing the race in 1 minute, 54 seconds, and 54 milliseconds, 
Thomas Heilman broke the 15-16 National Age Group 200-meter butterfly 
record which Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps had held for 22 
years.
  Heilman's coach, Gary Taylor, of Cavalier Aquatics in 
Charlottesville, said Thomas is very coachable, has a tremendous work 
ethic, strives to be his best self, and is the consummate teammate.
  Thomas has certainly made Albemarle County and the rest of Virginia's 
Fifth District proud of his accomplishments. I am honored to represent 
this extraordinary young man in Congress, and I wish him success in his 
already outstanding athletics career.


                Democrats Made the NDAA a Cultural Issue

  Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Republican leadership 
and the House majority for passing what was an outstanding NDAA, our 
National Defense Authorization Act, last week, that focuses on the 
priorities of force readiness, effectiveness in lethality, and ensuring 
that America has the strongest military machine on the planet. It 
focuses on Republican priorities that the American people voted us, the 
majority, to implement.
  The strong NDAA is reversing the policies of the previous majority 
and the Biden administration that were so harmful to our military. I am 
going to remind everyone that it was the Democrats, the former 
majority, that made the NDAA, the defense bill, a cultural issue, an 
ideological issue, with their policies. It was the Democrats who put 
abortion funding into the military bill. It was Democrats wanting to 
pay for transgender surgery and the Democrats who focused on DEI and 
CRT ideology in our military. It was the Democrats who said the purpose 
of the military was to fight the climate war and put a climate focus on 
our military funding. It was the Democrats who were discharging members 
of the military for not getting a vaccine they didn't want and didn't 
need.
  This new NDAA that was passed last week with the Republican majority 
and sent on to the Senate simply reverses the harmful policies that 
have been hurting recruitment and reducing the effectiveness of our 
military. This now goes on to the Senate, and I hope the Senate will 
pass this Republican House bill to make our military stronger and make 
our Nation safer.

                          ____________________