[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H2780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SEC NEW CLIMATE DISCLOSURE RULE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Nebraska (Mr. Flood) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FLOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the Securities and 
Exchange Commission's new climate disclosure rule.
  Since President Biden took office, his agencies have weaponized 
rulemaking to impose job-crushing regulations. In just 3 years, he has 
dramatically expanded the Waters of the U.S. rule, issued presidential 
executive orders, and established a new climate corps.
  The new climate disclosure rule requires extensive disclosures on 
CO2 and other theoretical climate risks.

                              {time}  1100

  These disclosure requirements will have devastating downstream 
consequences. The rule will likely serve as a gift to activist lawyers 
looking for reasons to declare open season on industries they oppose.
  It is a breathtaking expansion of regulatory power by an unelected 
agency using power that was not delegated to it by Congress. The SEC 
should stick to its core mission of regulating financial markets and 
get out of its newfound hobby of dabbling in climate alarmism.
  I applaud the work of my Financial Services Committee colleagues and 
the Western Caucus on pushing back against this draconian rule, and I 
hope to see it repealed.


               Congratulating Chancellor Doug Kristensen

  Mr. FLOOD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to thank Chancellor Doug 
Kristensen for his 22 years of service to the University of Nebraska at 
Kearney.
  After 14 years in the State legislature, many of those as speaker of 
our unicameral body, he was named chancellor at UNK and became the 
longest-serving chancellor in the university's history.
  Chancellor Kristensen, a native of Kearney, has been described as a 
champion for UNK and rural Nebraska. During his time in the State 
legislature, he helped shepherd then Kearney State College into the 
University of Nebraska system. His leadership has been nothing less 
than transformative.
  From new housing to athletic facilities, Kristensen oversaw many of 
these priorities during his two decades of leadership. One of his most 
successful achievements was helping grow rural Nebraska's healthcare 
workforce.
  Chancellor Kristensen's work at UNK will have a lasting impact on 
Nebraska for generations to come.
  I congratulate him on an outstanding career, thank him for his 
service to the State and the university, and wish him the best in his 
next chapter.


                       Recognizing Luke Farritor

  Mr. FLOOD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Luke Farritor, a 
University of Nebraska at Lincoln student who recently won the Vesuvius 
Challenge grand prize by deciphering passages of text from digital 
scans of a carbonized scroll. This young man is smart.
  Last year, Farritor, a Lincoln native, decided to take on the 
challenge of deciphering text on papyrus charred into a lump of carbon 
by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
  Because the scrolls were carbonized, they are virtually impossible to 
unroll without destroying them. Farritor created a machine-learning 
model that senses tiny differences that can reveal ink. Yes, he is that 
smart.
  Along the way, he enlisted help from peers across the globe to pitch 
in and decipher the burnt scrolls recovered from an ancient library.
  Luke and his team ultimately submitted 15 passages containing more 
than 2,000 characters. The work contained in the passages they 
recovered hadn't been read since at least 79 A.D.
  Congratulations to Luke. His innovative talent has already taken him 
far. We look forward to seeing what challenge he takes on next.
  We hope he stays in Nebraska. We want him to live there.


                  Thanking Meteorologists in Nebraska

  Mr. FLOOD. Madam Speaker, I want to talk about something that was 
very destructive last Friday. We had several EF3 and EF2 tornadoes 
ravage portions of my district, Congressman Bacon's district, and 
Congressman Smith's district.
  The silver lining here is that the meteorologists at the National 
Weather Service office in Valley, Nebraska, used all of their talents, 
all of the equipment, and everything in the power of the National 
Weather Service to identify these tornadoes and get that lifesaving 
information to the people.
  What they did saved lives. We did not lose one person's life in the 
State of Nebraska. Over 400 homes were destroyed.
  I also want to say as a Nebraska broadcaster myself, the men and 
women of the Nebraska broadcasting companies, in multiple languages, 
went to work and got Nebraskans the information they needed to take 
shelter and stay away from these potentially and very obviously 
dangerous tornadoes.
  We ought to be proud of this Federal agency, the National Weather 
Service. We ought to be proud of what they do. They don't get the 
credit very often.
  I also recognize the broadcasters not just in Nebraska but everywhere 
in our great country that go to work every day to get people lifesaving 
information. In this case, you can look at everything that happened. 
Our emergency alert system worked. Our meteorologists and our TV 
meteorologists and radio and television folks came together to deliver 
for the great State.

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