[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 14, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H2036-H2038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                            EVENTS THIS WEEK

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Moore 
of Utah was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.)


                             General Leave

  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this 
Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Utah?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, again, it has been quite a week for 
the House Republicans with the long and late committee hearings as we 
move forward on our reconciliation package and deliver substantial wins 
for the American people. Like I mentioned, they were overnight, so 
anybody that might have got caught snoozing for a few seconds here or 
there, we don't want to be too hard on them since it was an all-
nighter, and we are not in college anymore.
  It is significant what we have accomplished. The Energy and Commerce 
Committee just finished up, and the House Ways and Means Committee 
earlier. We have got 11 or so committees that have contributed to the 
one big, beautiful bill, the reconciliation package. We want to see 
this thing get advanced as we continue to make it into law as the 
process plays out. We are going to move this conservative and effective 
agenda.

  Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to be a part of this process and for the 
work my colleagues here are putting into this, as well.
  In addition to the reconciliation work, House Republicans are honored 
to recognize Police Week and highlight the important work of our law 
enforcement officers that they do each day.
  I just was walking through the Capitol rotunda, and I saw a few 
police officers here taking a tour of this special place. It is such a 
great opportunity for us to be able to celebrate the work that they do. 
They put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe. They 
support local programs, mentor our youth, and respond to crisis.
  They are our trusted partners and neighbors, and House Republicans 
are continuing to pass legislation to support and equip our law 
enforcement officers to best serve our families and communities.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for joining me tonight to talk 
about these important topics.
  To do that, I will kick it off right by yielding to the gentleman 
from Utah (Mr. Owens), my good colleague and close friend from the 
great State of Utah.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Blake for the time.
  Mr. Speaker, this week, we honor the brave men and women who wear the 
badge, those who serve with courage, professionalism, and heart to keep 
our communities safe.
  National Police Week is a time to give thanks and to reaffirm our 
support for the law enforcement officers, from Utah to D.C., who put 
their lives on the line every single day.
  These officers aren't just responding to emergencies. They are 
neighbors, trusted members of our communities, and our role models.
  Today, I also want to honor a fallen hero from my home State of Utah, 
Sergeant Bill Hooser of the Santaquin Police Department. Sergeant 
Hooser gave his life in the line of duty, and this week his name is 
being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial here in 
our Nation's Capital.
  Mr. Speaker, may God bless the Hooser family. May He continue to 
comfort them and be with them always. We will never forget Bill's 
service or sacrifice.
  House Republicans are taking action to support those who serve. This 
week we are advancing commonsense legislation that equips, respects, 
and protects our law enforcement community.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank every officer, every family who has lost a hero 
in the line of duty. Their service matters. Their sacrifice will never 
be forgotten.
  We back the blue. We trust our officers, and we will fight to protect 
those who protect us.
  God bless our law enforcement community. God bless the Hooser family, 
and may God continue to bless our great Nation.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the 
greatest State in the country. I appreciate his willingness to be here 
to support this week and his message on this really important Police 
Week.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Scott 
Franklin), my good colleague and veteran, an all-around great 
legislator from the great State of Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank my well-rested 
friend and colleague from Utah for the time.
  Mr. Speaker, this evening as we recognize National Police Week, I 
rise to honor the brave men and women in uniform who serve with 
courage, integrity, and selflessness.
  Every day, law enforcement officers put themselves in harm's way to 
protect our communities and uphold the rule of law. They respond 
without hesitation, often under dangerous and unpredictable 
circumstances.
  A recent incident in my district highlights what that commitment 
looks like. Last month, in Bartow, Florida, a man who had brutally 
assaulted and held his own parents hostage later opened fire on 
responding officers during an intense confrontation at a local shopping 
center. Despite the danger, members of the Polk County Sheriff's Office 
and the Bartow Police Department responded swiftly to protect innocent 
lives.
  During the confrontation, Deputy Edwin Alexander was shot in the arm, 
and Officer Mark Sills was shot in the chest, his body armor likely 
saving his life.
  Thanks to their training and resilience and the grace of God, both 
are expected to fully recover. Their actions are a powerful reminder of 
the bravery shown by those who serve. They stepped in to shield others, 
knowing full well the risks they faced. Their story reminds us why we 
pause this week to honor law enforcement.
  National Police Week is not only a time to honor those who were 
killed in the line of duty, but also to thank those who continue to 
answer the call with distinction.
  These officers, along with thousands of others across the country, 
deserve not only our gratitude but our unwavering support. May God 
bless them, their families, and all who protect and defend our 
communities.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Crank), who 
is a new member this term. He took over for a good friend of mine. We 
have a very common district. I represent Hill Air Force Base, and he 
represents the Colorado Springs area, which we all know is where the 
Air Force Academy is located. With a lot of shared connection to the 
Colorado Springs area and his district in Colorado and Utah first, both 
being strong Air Force communities, I am thrilled to be working with 
such a great new member of the Conference.
  Mr. CRANK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding 
me time.

  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand here today on National Police Week 
to honor the great men and women who protect us every single day, who 
wear the badge, and who protect our communities.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank specifically our El Paso County Sheriff's Office 
and our Colorado Springs Police Department and all of the local law 
enforcement in Colorado. They put themselves on the front lines every 
single day.
  I have had the pleasure of doing ride-alongs with our sheriff's 
office and our Colorado Springs Police Department. I say to my 
colleagues, Mr. Speaker, that if you haven't stood in their shoes, 
don't be critical of the job that they do because if you take the time 
to go do it--and many times we have people who come and want to shadow 
a Member of Congress for a day--it is a great opportunity to do that. 
Take a minute and shadow a police officer for a day. Go on a ride-along 
and learn what they do. I have, as I said, had the privilege to do that 
many times.
  I recall being on a ride-along in the middle of the night, total 
darkness, walking up on a car. The police officer has a flashlight, and 
had I not been there, that police officer would have been there by 
themselves, and essentially they were there by themselves. I

[[Page H2037]]

wasn't armed. Imagine doing that for a living day in and day out. 
Imagine pulling a car over on the side of the road and not knowing if 
it is just a lady or a man who had a little bit of a lead foot or 
whether it is an escaped killer who is going to gun you down.
  That is the danger that the men and women of law enforcement face 
each and every day.
  It is easy for us to come here to Washington, D.C., and to the 
Capitol every day and cast our votes. Why? Because we have police who 
protect us each and every day, back in our home communities, but also 
right here at the U.S. Capitol.
  In my former life, I was a talk show host. I did many other things, 
but as a talk show host, in my community one time, there was a 
shooting. It was unfortunate. It was a young man who got pulled over. 
Police were questioning this young man, and as he was talking to the 
police, he turned and started to run. As he turned and started to run, 
he reached into his shorts, and he started to pull out a gun. By the 
way, they had been told before a description of this young man and that 
he had a gun. As he turned to run, he was fired upon by the police 
officer, one shot, and it killed the young man, sadly. There was 
another man with him who didn't resist. By the way, he survived and did 
well.
  There were some members of my community who stood up and wanted to 
make an issue out of that, and I kept reiterating the fact that unless 
you stood in their shoes, what would you do? What would you do if you 
were the person who had to make that split-second decision about 
whether or not you were going to fire to save your life or to take the 
life of another person?
  I also met, by the way, with that police officer after that. He was 
very emotional, and he told me that he had spent nearly 20 years 
patrolling that community, 20 years sitting with young girls who had 
been sexually assaulted as victims and with their families and helping 
them through that, 20 years dealing with someone in that community who 
had been murdered. He was their advocate. He was their protector for 20 
years.
  All of a sudden, when his life was threatened and a gun was pulled on 
him, there were some in the community that didn't support him.

                              {time}  1815

  We don't ever want that to be the case in the United States of 
America. For me, unless you stand in their shoes, you can't be 
critical.
  They protect our communities, and I want to emphasize that our local 
law enforcement in Colorado Springs, in El Paso County, in southern 
Colorado, choose to work with Federal authorities. They are not ICE 
agents, but they go to a lot of places. They work with our Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement agents to root out people who are breaking the 
law. They help protect our communities.
  That same police officer who you complain about when you get pulled 
over because you had a lead foot, Mr. Speaker, that same police officer 
is the police officer who you call in the middle of the night when you 
hear a noise in the backyard and something at the door.
  We have to protect the rule of law, and we only do that through 
protecting our men and women of law enforcement.
  A few weeks ago in Colorado Springs, we had a raid by the DEA of a 
nightclub where over 100 people were detained and arrested for criminal 
activity. There was trafficking of adults and trafficking of children. 
There were drugs. There was all sorts of illicit behavior there.
  The men and women of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, the 
Colorado Springs Police Department, the Drug Enforcement 
Administration, and many others worked hand in hand to make sure that 
the citizens of my community stayed safe through that all.
  I also thank the men and women of the United States Capitol Police, 
whom I walk past every day. Mr. Speaker, I urge every Member, as they 
go past our police officers, not to grumpily look at them, not to pass 
by and act like they don't exist, but to take a moment to shake their 
hand, tell them thank you, and look them in the eye and tell them how 
much you appreciate them.
  We couldn't conduct our business, the business of the United States 
Government, in this Capitol Building if we didn't have those men and 
women who stand watch for us each and every day, and we need to be very 
thankful for them, as well.
  I will continue to support the police as long as I serve here in the 
people's House. It is important to me, to my community, and, most 
importantly, to the rule of law. If we don't respect the rule of law, 
we will lose everything in the United States of America.
  We have to have a system that our Founders established that allows us 
to know that we will be treated fairly. We pass the laws, and those 
laws are then carried out by law enforcement all across the country. We 
expect them to be carried out in the traditions of our Founding 
Fathers, in the tradition that people are treated fairly, that if they 
get pulled over for speeding, they will be treated the same way.
  We have the protections of our Constitution that our police abide by. 
We are so fortunate in America to have the men and women who protect us 
each and every day, and we must continue to protect them and stand with 
them.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado 
for his comments and anecdotes on his support for the police. It is 
very important.
  I thank my colleagues for being here tonight to show their support 
for law enforcement and recognize the sacrifices that these officers 
and their families make on a daily basis.
  National Police Week is a great opportunity to stop to thank our 
local police officers, but we really should be committing to do this 
throughout the year.
  I started a little tradition. I actually did it on the walk over from 
the parking lot to the University of Utah Huntsman Center basketball 
game. There are always a few police officers there directing traffic 
for the few hours of that. I had four boys under the age of 10 at the 
time. I was trying to help get them out of their shell, talk to other 
adults, and be a little bit more engaging with folks. I have kind of 
forced this on them, and now they have taken it on their own. When we 
see a police officer, we walk up and look them in the eye, he or she, 
and say thank you.
  I shared this with the local police force back home, and it is just 
one of those things that, as they do the big things for our community, 
we should be able to do the small things.
  Teaching my boys to say thank you to police officers, the most basic, 
simple, fundamental elements of being a dad, in my opinion, shouldn't 
be a question of whether you do it. Watching them walk over to a 
complete stranger, but they are in uniform, and they look up at them in 
the eyes--they regularly don't look at folks in the eyes. It is always 
a little awkward for them to learn that interaction--and they just say, 
``Thank you, Officer.'' It is a neat experience and something that I am 
glad I started.
  The smallest thing is very much appreciated by those in our community 
who do the greatest and biggest things for us. We always feel they are 
one phone call away. They are ubiquitous in our community.
  The police officers whom I serve, their chiefs and their leadership 
are some of the best in our community, and I could go county by county 
and talk about them. Their sacrifice is very much appreciated, and they 
do the good work that is needed in Utah.
  I appreciate the gentleman from Colorado for highlighting the Capitol 
Police, as well as the D.C. Metropolitan Police, as we spend a lot of 
our time back here, as well. They do an exceptional and professional 
job.
  They also beat us in the Congressional Football Game for Charity that 
we do each year. I am nursing an injury from the soccer charity game. I 
have turned 45 this year, and I think I have finally realized that I am 
no longer 18. This has been a very important lesson to learn. I am no 
longer invincible, and I need to act my age when it comes to some of 
these intramural types of sports.
  The Capitol Police always play the Members of Congress in an annual 
charity match that goes to supporting some of their priorities, and 
since I have been in Congress, they have always beaten us. They are 
quite the athletes.

[[Page H2038]]

  Over the last few weeks, we have been talking a lot about the big, 
beautiful bill, as it has been named. This morning, the Ways and Means 
Committee adjourned from our markup after 18 straight hours. We went 
through the night. Other committees did that as well. The Energy and 
Commerce Committee recently finished up, just a few hours ago.
  I want to express how proud I am of the work that went into this, the 
countless amendments that the Democrats also put up to create an 
opportunity to dialogue, to create an opportunity to debate. That is 
important.
  When we are in the minority, Republicans put up amendments to 
constant legislation that the Democrats are doing, and it does create 
opportunities for dialogue. I think once we go through that, there is 
obviously a lot of posturing and messaging going on, but there is real 
communication.
  After a housing affordability amendment was put up--it ultimately 
failed, of course, as most of these things do; they are usually put up 
as posturing--I walked over to the gentleman from the Los Angeles area 
who put up the amendment and showed him some of the things that I am 
working on, some of the market-based solutions to this.
  We have to find some real, sustainable fixes to housing affordability 
and making sure first-time home buyers have an opportunity to get in 
there. This created an opportunity for me to share with him what some 
of my stakeholders back home are doing. I set up meetings for these 
guys from Utah with HUD a little while ago.
  It is a really neat opportunity to see these types of things 
happening off-camera. There is real collaboration going on. This is a 
moment. This bill, as we advance this, will be a reconciliation bill. 
Traditionally, in my recent memory, these have been majority-rule 
votes. The opposition party doesn't vote for these. These go on party 
lines. The vast majority of what is in this particular one, we actually 
have a lot of bipartisan support on it.
  This tax bill that we are doing, the Energy and Commerce Committee is 
doing a lot of other things regarding their committee of jurisdiction. 
Candidly, this has taken several years in the making.
  We have known that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is going to expire at 
the end of this year. We have an opportunity to reestablish and to make 
permanent where we can some of the really progrowth, positive 
provisions that come out of that piece of legislation.
  Other areas of the tax code that have been adjusted or dialed, we are 
going to try some new things, only for a few years, though, to see how 
they work out. That is the nature of tax policy. The things that were 
put for a time limit from 2017 have, in my opinion, stood the test of 
time and been a strong proponent for progrowth tax policy. We are going 
to make those permanent in this bill.
  There are other things that are going to be newer to the tax code, 
and we will try them out to see how it plays out in 4 years to give us 
time to be able to analyze and see how they are being effective and 
overall impact.
  This is going to provide real relief to American families, workers, 
and businesses. The bill expands the child tax credit, provides 
critical tax breaks for small businesses and the working class, and 
makes America more competitive on the global stage. It also makes the 
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, like I mentioned, preventing a massive 
tax hike that would otherwise happen at the end of this year.
  This moment is why I worked hard on the Ways and Means Committee. I 
look forward to what we can accomplish as we move this through the 
process, through the Committee on the Budget, through the Committee on 
Rules, on to the House floor, over to the Senate, and, hopefully, 
signed by the President in relatively short order.
  I am grateful that several provisions stemmed from legislation that 
my team and I have been pushing over the last several months, including 
a permanent increase to the child tax credit and additional support for 
families in the range of $500. Families are going to get a $2,500 tax 
credit with respect to their dependents.
  It also makes the adoption tax credit partially refundable up to 
$5,000 to help children find permanent, loving families by removing 
income as a barrier to adoption. That is key.
  The concept of refundability is a sticking point. Republicans 
constrained that a little bit more. Democrats want to overextend it. 
There is debate on where that sweet spot is.
  We are making a significant portion of this adoption tax credit 
refundable and giving us an option for more American families to be 
able to choose adoption as an option. One of my siblings adopted all 
four of his children from infancy. It is tough. It is expensive.

  There is a lot that goes into it just on the financial side, let 
alone the emotional side and everything associated with it. It is 
important to do, and we are doing some of that in this legislation.
  We are also increasing the HSA contribution limit and cap for small 
business expensing, reinstating a temporary deduction for charitable 
contributions, and 529 accounts will now extend to include career 
training and credentialing.
  We are providing income on tax-exempt status to servicemembers 
serving in dangerous regions, and we are renewing the successful 
Opportunity Zone program, which delivers an additional $100 billion of 
investment over the next decade for rural and distressed communities or 
both.
  We are investing in education and creating new tax credits for 
individuals who contribute to scholarship organizations. I am also very 
passionate about teaching the next generation about the power and value 
of compounding interest and capitalism and how it can help them get 
ahead.
  The money accounts for growth and advancement--again, a catchy tune 
here--being the MAGA accounts, will demonstrate to American youth the 
power of compounding interest and the possibilities that can come with 
investing.
  Beginning on January 1, 2026, parents of children under 8 years old 
can open a MAGA investment account for their children. The government 
would seed accounts for newborns with a $1,000 Federal deposit.
  These investment accounts would be eligible to receive contributions 
from family members, employers, nonprofits, and government entities. 
They will help set up the next generation for financial well-being--not 
even just well-being, but literacy on what this can actually do.
  It is not just these individual accounts. If taught right and if we 
were able to educate properly on this and people can see it in their 
own lives, this will give them a chance to learn the value of this and 
that it affects every decision that they make.
  Instead of spending a few extra dollars here, I could put it into 
savings, an interest-yielding account. What that does in the course of 
10 years is far more beneficial than what that short-term gain would 
have been with that individual purchase. Those types of lessons can be 
learned when people have some stake in the game.
  There are endless more provisions from this tax bill that I could 
share from our markup last night that will deliver on the Trump 
administration's and the congressional Republicans' priorities and make 
a lasting impact on the success of our children, workers, and 
businesses.
  I look forward to watching these policies work through the 
reconciliation process and eventually becoming law.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________