[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 149 (Thursday, September 14, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H4303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING MIA ETHRIDGE

  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 life of service of 20-year-old Louisa County EMS and 
firefighter Mia Ethridge.
  Mia was fatally injured in an accident back in July while responding 
to a call for help. She tragically succumbed to those injuries on 
September 1, 2023.
  Firefighter Ethridge leaves behind a great legacy of passionately 
serving her community and will be remembered by many for her kind and 
welcoming personality.
  Stafford Fire Captain Gustavo Leite, who trained Ethridge, described 
her by saying: ``She was always there. An incredible young lady with 
leadership, she had the heart and the spirit.''
  I offer my sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and 
community, and my prayers remain with them as they grieve the loss of 
her life.
  In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 1, Paul writes: ``Praise be to God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God 
of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.''
  May her family find comfort in this as they mourn her passing and 
remember her life.
  It is an honor to recognize the exemplary public servant that Mia 
Ethridge was and the selfless devotion she had to helping others.


                     Path Forward on Appropriations

  Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, the appropriations path forward is 
simple, but it requires strong leadership from the Speaker, who must, 
one, persuade the Republican Conference to support the return to the 
2022 spending levels that he committed to in order to ascend to the 
position in January and for which 217 Republicans voted in April; two, 
pass our 12 appropriations bills out of the House at the committed 2022 
levels, implementing the Republican policy priorities for which we 
campaigned and the American people entrusted us with the majority back 
in November; three, the passage of those bills represents a good-faith 
effort to appropriately fund the government and avoid or quickly end 
any pause in affected nonessential spending, and then it is the 
responsibility of the Senate to avoid another Schumer shutdown; and, 
four, ensure strong, principled, and courageous conservatives are 
included on the conference committee to negotiate with the Senate for 
the best possible outcome for the American people.
  The American people are counting on us. They have entrusted us with 
the majority as we ran on returning fiscal sanity to this House and 
implementing Republican priorities that would reverse the harms under 
which the American people are suffering perpetrated by the Biden 
administration.

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