Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives U.S. House 20240714

Unfortunately, they have to work harder than anyone else to have access to the same opportunities afforded to their friends and classmates in the same country that we all love. Hat is the case of aliz beth a 23yearold dreamer from my district and also from my neighborhood from Little Village in chicago. He liz beth is paying her way through college by making and selling tamales. She started helping her mother sell them on the streets of chicago. Since elementary school, she has been waking up at 3 30 in the morning to make the tamales. She will graduate from college next he year and we could say r story is a hallmark of are success. This ignores the dark reality of and her story is a pictureperfect example of america spirit and hard work and she deserves that credit. Her story is far from a feelgood story. Yet, it is another example of how our political system has failed. He liz beths success is hers along. Our government continues to fail her by maintaining an antiimmigrant policy that fails to account nor children brought here against their will. The dream and promise act passed in the house of representatives must be passed in the senate immediately. Up to 2. 5 Million Immigrants across the country, they would be eligible for protection under House Resolution 6, including 137 immigrants in chicago. Through the dream and promise act, over 85,000 people in my city who live in mixed status families would have legal certainty. I applaud elizabeths determination to fulfill her dream of graduating from a fouryear university. But i also hope that the members of the senate are hearing the cries of aspiring Young Americans who want to continue to contribute to our country to lead our country, to be exemplary citizens to give them a path to legalization and citizenship. Madam speaker, there is one more member, the gentlelady from texas, congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee would like to join me tonight. I recognize the gentlelady for as much time as she needs. Ms. Jackson lee first, i would like to congratulate the gentleman from illinois not only for his legacy and leadership here in the United States congress, but really for the work of reconciliation and friendship in the great city of chicago working with so many different groups and understanding the issues dealing with immigrants. I rise today to say to my fellow americans something utilized by president johnson and i would think as he said it many, many years ago. I use it now because it is important in a nation that is enormously diverse that we use the words fellow americans so we cannot pit one group of americans against another. These immigrants against those who are here or those who have been immigrants that have come now or gotten status or been here for a long time. Let us not let the administration pit one against the other. When i think of immigrants, i think of every Single Person who has come to this nation and they have come in many different colors and Different Air as. Native americans were already here. Africanamericans came here as slaves the there were people as african descent, there were people from britain and germany and people from south asian asiapacific and those who have come from the southern border. Why do we have the right to demonize individuals who have come in a recent time, individuals who want an opportunity to work, to contribute and yes, to put on the uniform. Im reminded of captain khan. He was a pakistani who died in the recent war in iraq. He came here to this country. His family came here to this country. I join with my colleagues to say we must pass the legislation, the comprehensive Immigration Reform and pass the legislation that includes the promise act and must recognize that we have to confront the issue of dealing with the treatment of those who have come most recently. How do we deny, when those of us who have been to the border, for example, literally talk to persons who have said they watched their father being beat to death and ms13 come to make them a member. How are you going to challenge that . How do you challenge a woman who got on the road and had a baby on the road because people said she owed them money and were going to kill her. How about an aunt to came back and found her nieces and nevada fuse drugged and all they had to do was escape for their lives. I believe that standing here today is recognizing there must be a solution. Let me share with you just some of the comments from a hearing that we had on the oversight of family separation and c. B. P. Shortterm custody. In march, 2017, former secretary john kelly announced that d. H. S. Was considering a proposal to separate families as a mines of detering migration and that is what they did. Today, it was indicated that they had not reunited every one of those children. Who of us in america would welcome the idea of children being snatched from you. This wasnt a situation of abuse and you find out they could not find you or the child to reunite. In september, 2018 report, the Inspector General found that the d. H. S. Was not prepared to implement to deal. Can you imagine that . They just didnt have the facilities to deal with this sri detrimental policy . What about the policy. That is International Law. That is a law that allows individuals fleeing persecution o come to any country and seek asylum. Under our law, you could seek asylum. Those administrations that were reasonable recognize that Domestic Violence could be taken into consideration. Let us realize where we are. This Trump Administration are eliminated Domestic Violence right out and wanted to eliminate the right of individuals to file for asylum. A lawsuit said no, mr. President , you cannot do that. You cannot do that and deny the right under International Law and national for these individuals to be use the process that has been used to so many before this. This. And this report that in actuality, a report was made public on july 2, although it was given to the department of Homeland Security much earlier than that, but i think this was report on the c. B. P. And b. P. Facilities at the border. We voted on a 4. 6 billion appropriations at the beginning of july to help and provide better resources, but one of the things that was said was to the secretary of Homeland Security, d. H. S. Needs to address dangerous overcrowding at El Paso Processing Center and d. H. S. Needs to address dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detentions in the rio grande valley. This isnt Sheila Jackson lee, but this is the Inspector General report. We are our brothers keeper. Africans are coming across the border seeking relief and all we ave to do is follow our law to allow the aseal usm process and rerpped if they can stay or not say and use our humanitarian agencies to either help settle them in the United States or resettle them back out of the United States and having an agreement that after the a seal umh has failed, that they can remain and mexico which was originally spoken of. Since i have been to mexico at e the policies mexico the border does not have the resources or the housing or the jobs to take care of these individuals who are there. I want to make it very clear, my fellow americans, on this floor, this particular Democratic Congress in the majority has recognized the importance of americans. We passed legislation to protect against eliminating preexisting conditions and bring down insurance costs we passed 15 an hour wage increase as federal law, we are working other gun safety and working on issues dealing with americans but must call our higher angels and recognize the responsibility to address the concerns of our people. As i conclude my remarks, let me say i hope we will be able to work on the 9,000 children that are held by health and Human Services of what we call shelters. Let me state it publicly, those i worked with, that the shelt i. R. S. Do not belong to you, but belong to the people of the United States and that means the members of the United States congress. No member of congress should be blocked from going into the facilities or talk to them that they have been in the centers for 100 days and not supposed to be there that long. There needs to be a system to expedite a young steer. And so, i want to put health and Human Services on notice, on notice, not to block any of us and facilitate toll sbrling act to provide them comfort and move their cases. Not pull them out, but to help the system, not concern to move forward on behalf of these young people. Congressman garcia, i thank you to share some of my thoughts about how we have to face the broken immigration system to recognize that many people who are working, paying taxes and paying a mortgage, and their families, who seek opportunity. I believe that together in a bipartisan manner, we could do this as we have done this for 1800s and om the 1900s. Let me thank you for your leadership and im happy to yield back. Mr. Garcia thank you, congresswoman jackson lee. To close this evening, i want to call our attention again, what we are seeking to do in this special order hour was to again highlight and shed a spotlight on the administrations assault on immigration and Asylum Seekers that is taking place. I do it seeking to express the sentiment, the concerns, and he aspirations of especially immigrant groups in my district that i represent. Who are they . They are people who have come from asia, who have come from germany, who have come from ireland, who have come from eastern europe, who have come from africa and the caribbean as well as latin america and even other countries. It is my hope that as the house of representatives begins its summer recess, that this congress and the white house will reflect on the nations great history of welcoming people who are fleeing oppression and as congresswoman jackson lee noted that we allow ur better angels to impact, to inspire, and to move us. As we continue our path, striving to become a more Perfect Union there isnt a better way forward than by embracing those who are fleeing persecution, those who are fleeing violence, and those who are fleeing terrible conditions in the countries that they were born in. I want to thank the congressional progressive caucus for its assistance in arranging for this special hour. I want to thank those who have joined me tonight to share their stories. Madam speaker, we can and we must do better and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. With that, under the speakers announced policy of january 3, 2019, the gentleman from florida, mr. Yoho is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. Mr. Yoho thank you, madam speaker. I have a threepart series and i would like to open at this moment and yield as much time as needed to my good friend, mr. Scott perry, from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry i thank the gentleman from florida for offering me just a moment to talk about something thats very important to me. I rise today at a time when the United States and the International Community must step up efforts to combat Money Laundering. Money laundering is a critical source of funding for terrorist organizations, drug cartels, like the ones that my good friend from florida might be talking about tonight. Drug cartels and other organized crime rings. Its used to disguise profits from or financing for ill list activity. Money is moved in a variety of ways across borders and through the Global Financial markets to evade detection by Law Enforcement. Global Financial Markets just like ours. While exact numbers cant be determined, estimates suggest that annual sums of Money Laundering is in the trillions of dollars. Trillions. Money laundering facilitates a broad range of serious underlying crimes including the financing of north koreas Irans Nuclear Proliferation Networks and the activities of terrorist organizations. Money laundering also plays a significant role in drug, human, and wildlife trafficking. In todays world in todays world, money launderers rely on new and old methods. The crime is conducted through shell company, cash smuggle, gamble, cyber related methods and investments in mobile commodity, including dwhroings might not think about like gems and real estate. Yes, real estate. For example, we have recently seen a rise in Money Laundering through Luxury Real Estate purchases. Some people come to me and say theres a housing crisis. When money launderers are raising the cost of housing by overpaying for a property, thats a problem for vulnerable populations in the United States. These real estate purchases happen in major u. S. Cities as well as International Cities like london and dubai. Mr. Speaker, madam speaker, Money Laundering threatens political stability, democracy and free markets around the globe and we must take steps to counter it right now. I thank the gentleman for the time. I yield back the balance to him. Mr. Yoho madam speaker, im entering into the second fez of our special order. I rise today to honor the memory of rosewood and reflect on the tragedy that happened in 1923. Rosewood was a small, rural town in my district. It is in North Central florida, North Central florida, west florida, in between otter creek, chiefland and cedar key. It was build around the pencil mill and turnen tine industry, a mixed town of blacks and whys. In 1915 it had a population of approximately 355 people. The town had started to become seg regate. The neighboring town of sumner developed at the time and was primarily white. In january of 1923, a yuck white woman claimed a black hand assaulted her. The accusation started a riot, ultimately resulting in the burning of the entire town and e death of countless nombs rosewood community. Within thoifers violence starting, many survivors fled to the surrounding woods where they hid and wait forward rescue train sent there to take people out of the area of violence. At the end of the week, only one build regular mained standing, and to this day, the death toll is still unknown. And no buildings remain. The story by the young white woman was found to be a lie. She was the black mans loverful her significant other beat her and she lied and blamed the young black man to save face. The rosewood massacre, which occurred just outside of my district, is one that went nearly forgotten for over 60 years because of the destructive nature of prejudice and hatred caused by the survivors who lived in fear. Rarely sharing their stories, even with families and close friends. I firmly believe that in order to learn from our history, we have to make an effort to remember it. We should memorialize these events and thats why we put up plaque we put up markers or statues. Lest we forget it and within a generation or two, the mistakes of the past are repeated because the next generation will grow ignorant of the struggles of the past. From the store roifs when the stories of rosewood started recirculating in the 1980s, it brought a new level of awareness to the state of florida and the understanding that we as a society can in the be complacent in senseless acts of violence. It even inspired a movie in hollywood to illustrate the ugliness of the past hatred and violence. Violence and prejudice that have no place in our society and we have a duty to ensure that this tip of tragedy never happens again. Today in rosewood, a marker ands just off the highway, memorializing the town that never returned. Survivors and their descendants have shared their stories, hoping that rose wds memory would not be erased. One of these is a constituent of mine, ms. Lizie jenkins. Who has been working on this tragedy for the last 25 years. Her goal, and ours, is for individuals to remember and to never forget the hatred, the racism of the past, and to honor those who suffered in the past so future generations do not repeat the pain, suffering, and mistakes of the past. She has a dream to accomplish this and that is to create the rosewood museum. Madam speaker, its been almost a century since the erosewood massacre. Itll it will be by remembering and learning from this tragedy we can work toward a future full of acceptance and knowing ms. Jenkins, i can confidently say there will be a rosewood museum. Madam speaker, id like to move on to the third portion of our special order. And with it, we are going to talk about how to solve the problem at the southwest border and how to move beyond Border Security. But i just listened to an hour of people ranting, putting blame on this president for the hatred, the racism hes caused, i heard the member on the other side talk about the ban on muslims. We cant move forward and fix things if we use false narratives. There was not a ban on muslims. President trump put a ban on countries, in fact, the same six countries that president obama put a ban on. And recommended to put a ban on. There was never a ban on muslim countries. I want to i went to indonesia on a codel, a bipartisan one, and there was a member of this congress from the other side that asked the indonesian Prime Minister at the time what is the sentiment in the Muslim Country about a ban from our president , President Trump at the time, about the muslim ban that hes placed on there . He knew good and well that President Trump didnt ban muslims in this country he put the ban on the same six countries that president obama did. But there was no complaint. And i bring that up just because if were going to solve the problems of this country, one that this body this body, look at it, its empty. Theres two members of congress in here. And they been complaining im sorry. I stand corrected, madam speaker. There are three members of ongress. But if were going to fix this problem, its going to take more than three of us, wouldnt you agree . And they sit there and they give great speeches about how tearing the country apart, the president is thearg country apart what a shame this is, the hatred, the vitriol coming out of the white house, how people are being taken away from their families and theres no toothbrushes or diapers or theyre sleeping on floors. Im just glad the other side is acknowledging there is a crisis. But for the first half of the year, there wasnt a crisis. They refused to say there was a crisis. We just did a special order here last week. My good colleague mr. King was here. We had other members and we had pictures from 2014 when president obama was here and it was funny. Because members of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were railing about the crisis in 2014. Theres been times in this body when the democrats had the majority in the house, the senate, and the white house. And there were times, and i was there, when the republicans had the same majority. House, senate, and white house. And it saddens me because this talk and discussion about weve got to fix these things, when both parties were in control they didnt do it. What really saddens me is i see people using political opportunities for their next election. I heard a lot of that tonight. There were no solutions in that. We talked for an hour last week on the crisis at the border. The situation at the border. The atrocities at the border. The drug cartels are profiting from this. We stay as a divided house. I implored President Trump and ill do it again tonight he needs to Call Congress back in session when we reconvene tomorrow and i would do it every time this body goes on a break, until we fix our Border Security and until we come up with an immigration bill and i want to move in to what i really really wanted to talk about. In order to have a to move forward, we have to have solutions. Ive been i have been here for seven heers years and seen comprehensive come up. When you put comprehensive in front of a cause, it doesnt happen, it is political speak that says its not going to happen because the room becomes divided and everybody uses it as a Political Tool for the next election. What i want to do, instead of doing comprehensive Immigration Reform, i want to focus on a small bite of the apple and what e have proposed and we are legislation, and shared it with 40 members of congress, we have shared this with the senate in a bipartisan manner, is a Guest Worker Program. If you will allow me to look and the bill will be a Guest Worker Program, three silos, agriculture, hospitality and construction. These are are in the lower skilled bills. They are not rocket scientists or engineers, these are the skills we need for agriculture for Food Security, for construction and for our hospital. And in the past, we have not had a good program to stay in the work field that they decided to work in. So this bill will be under a banner, but thee separate bills, Guest Worker Program. The first bill will be a Guest Worker Program for agriculture and i would like to focus on that tonight. America has the lowest cost food of the industrialized world because our farmers can produce so well, but they cant benefit from that if they dont have the workers to go out and work in the field. I was a person at the age of 15 working in produce. The produce came in from the farm and i loaded the farm and i id that to work my way through college. People say americans wont do that. In order to fix this this, we have to have a labor solution or our farmers wont keep farming. Our goal is to create dependable work force. It would be in two phases. The first face, is we create a pool of workers before they come into the country. We would have a relationship and agreement between country a and our state department. If we pick out guatemala, the state department would have a relationship with our state department. And when a person applies, he becomes an applicant. The person he comes from will verify the country and not involved in drug or gang activity. Once they apply, that information goes through the department of Homeland Security and they do a back grouped check. And do it on the International Data base and domestic data base. If that person clears the data base, that information goes to the usda. We move it where it can be better monitored to fulfill the needs of agriculture. That person does president come into the country until the job is open. That employer has to still advertise for domestic help when that position is not filled, a producer can ask for that worker to come in. That worker comes in that they are going to work in the agriculture sector. They have to be 18 years of age. But it applies to them individually. Once they get accepted in the program and come into the country, they become a partnership papt. At that time, they get issued a guest worker identification card. That card will have 15 digits in there for security. In addition, it will have the initials a. G. Saying it is an agricultural work permit. They have been allowed into the country legally. And the work permit goes on for five years and stay in this country for five years at a time and work 75 of the year in agriculture, but it allows them to move back and norte seamlessly because we have an agreement. The person can travel around the country to work a seasonal crop. So in florida or citrus harvest is done by midjune, that would ahow that worker to go up to new york, maine to work crops and has the ability to go back home. That permit is good for five years at a time and do this indefinitely. A cutoff age. We are realming 50 years of age. There is a fee of 200 for that. The second part is dealing with the people here that came in illegal. Our proposal would allow a person to apply to this program under the understanding that the federal government is not here to deporter you. The federal government is giving you away to get into a program and have legal residence here. During that period of time when the applicant is applying, there will be a wamb, a background check will be done if d. H. S. Says this person is ok, he can enter this program. If he has minor rig you lations, he will have a period of time where he can get straight with the legal system. Upon completing that he enters into the Guest Worker Program. 500. He pays a fee of 2, there will be a fine for coming into the country illegal, what s been proposed is 1,500 to 2,000. Every year a person renews 4 andahalf years into this ogram there will be a 2,500 fee. As a person comes into the country or comes into the program, they get issued the guest worker Identification Program which is called the card and will be embedded in biometrics and gave a list to them to think what is necessary d. N. A. , all that they can choose from and ask them to put their biometrics in there so that card is secured and will have a 15digit code that will be a hack hoof proof secure card. And designating that person is a guest worker. He is allowed to get a drivers license if he passes a test in the state, he will get a guest worker drivers license. It is something to give that person a drivers license so he can work on a farm. If that person gets accepted into the program and has a family that came in with him illegally, there is a waiver over his family. If he gets accepted into the program or gets accepted into the program, his family can stay in the country five years at a time. If his children came in illegally, they are protected until the age of 18 at which time they have to make a decision to apply. There will be three sectors, agriculture, hospitality and construction. At that point, like i said, the person can move around the country and work crops and go back home knowing they can get back into this country. Everify would work as a person enters the program. The data is already in d. H. S. When they start their squob, the employer puts their smart card into a reader. It identifies the person, a positive identification. We have eliminated 100 of the fraud that occurs with the Current Systems. And we requestion that the individual worker has to check into a federal office on a monthly basis. Every time in america has a courthouse or a post office. Paysart of the fee, 2,500 for the equipment. I would be the same equipment that we use when we go to do a retail sale. You put your card in there and reads it and tells d. H. S. Where this person is. The employer is required to use the everify. And this would be seamless and they are already in the system. So they go through the system. And everify will become mandatory once we get the expected population we need. At that point, all employers will be using the e develop verify system. We have give yep a portal for people to come into this country legally and stay up here five years at a time and bad players that sneak into the country or employers that are hiring people illegally, if an employer hires people outside of the system once its mandatory and gets caught, it is 2,500. Repeat offender, that fine will go up and subject toll jail time. The beauty of this if a worker leaves the Guest Worker Program and they try to work in a different sector and get found out by the people that are doing the inspection, they have given up their right to stay in this country on a Guest Worker Program. And the things we hear back about that, is that people voluntarily enter this program and have agreed to work in agriculture only or one of the other sectors. If they work outside of that, they understand they have broken it. This is selfpolicing. For the people that choose not to enter any of these programs, they are here illegally and will be dealt with. We are asking to have sequencing done on this. We have to agree on Border Security. I hear this fight over Border Security but when i go on trips and talk to my colleagues on the other side, they say they agree with Border Security. If we agree to it, lets do it and this body is empty other than this three. I think the president should call us back. Lets get this done and we have to have enforcement of the laws on the book. We are providing a Guest Worker Program for the people we need on our force and third part of the sequencing and deal with dreamers and daca down the road but we cant do it until we have away for people to come into the country legally and take that group that came in illegally and put them in a legal process. This is something we have shaferede with over probably close to 60 people in a bipartisan manner. We have shared this with agriculture groups from california to maine, to new york, washington state, florida, north dakota, from dairy to pine, timber, fruits and nuts and everybody tells us this is the most commonsense reform they have seen. We have shared it with the Committee Chair on the democratic side. Im excited because of the bipartisan nature in the house. We shared it with senators and senators are working with us to make this happen. Our goal is to make this happen this congress. We are looking for people to go to our website. I think i can do that in here to get more information. We had a short video that covers this. And if we do nothing, we are going to have a repeat of the last 35 years when Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to people. This body has blamed the other side for hatred and racism or the other side for wanting to give everybody amnesty, if we do nothing, this problem will grow and grow and divide this nation more. This is the time to act. And i would hope people would come back to congress over the break and lets get something done. Madam speaker, i appreciate the opportunity to be here. At this time, if my good friend from iowa would like to say something, i would yield time to him. 4 mr. King i thank the gentleman from florida for yielding to me. I appreciate very much the work done by dr. Ted yoho in this congress. Id like to have the members know that ted yoho gets up every day and grinds away with an eye toward making America Great again and putting us in the right place. I recall a meeting he called together here, kind of an offcampus meeting about how to save america from a congress that doesnt seem to want to look to the horizon, let alone over the horizon. Theres a lot of commonsense thats been put together in this immigration policy and i want to carefully evaluate all the components of it and i know that were in discussions right now about how it might even be improved a little bit. But im open to this discussion, i think hes brought up some very important points. I would add one i hope would be incorporated into this, is to take the everify, the mandatory piece of this, and expand the expand it into a bill that ive had before this congress a number of years called the new idea act. It would work seamlessly with whats been described here tonight, incorporate the language that when an employer, when you put together a committee, a threeway team, the i. R. S. , the Social Security administration, the department of Homeland Security, and require them to Work Together for the cause of enforcing the Immigration Law and deny in addition to the penalty that was been suggested here, deny the deductibility of wages and benefits paid to illegals. I would give the employers safe harbor if they use everify but if they are using illegal labor they can i. R. S. In a normal audit then would come in, run the Social Security numbers and identifying information of the employees listed in the tax forms, through the everify program. If they cant be verified, the i. R. S. Can deduct the wages and benefits paid to them as a remove it as a business expense which puts those wages and benefits paid to illegal into the gross receipts where they show up in net income that makes it taxable. When we first did this math it would be if you would take a 1 an hour illegal and deny that deductibility of that ourned the old tax policy would take us to a 16 illegal who would have interest and penalty and theres a sixyore statute of limitations. That, madam speaker, would put the i. R. S. In the position where, i get to this conclusion by asking a question. What agency what department is most respected and maybe even most feared by the American People . Since ive been drug through audits a few too many times, i will tell you that business people, the employers in this country, they dont want the i. R. S. Looking into their books. And they dont see that they can negotiate much of a compromise with the i. R. S. So i think giving a sixyear statute of limitations on that accumulate that liability, it makes it a far more it makes it far more likely that employers would voluntarily go in and clean up the work force. Had that been done years ago we wouldnt be in the situation were in today. The labor situation we have is a bit more complex down in the southern part of the United States than it is up in the heart of the heartland where i am. That is, we seem to be able to find the people in the tractors and combines and trucks and get our crops in the ground, get them back out again. Its a little smoother up that way. The labor situations in florida, arizona, california, other state, thats a different situation. What i would suggest though is that temporary workers be required to be bonded. I introduced legislation to do that. I hope thats something we can discuss as well, incorporating into this proposal. I pointed that out to the president in a meeting in the oval office sometime back he seemed to respond favorably to that suggestion. I pointed out that he has the authority to go forward with a Bonding Program now. And that and so i noticed that a few weeks later he issued an order that directed the executive branch to do the research and put the pieces together so that they can activate a Bonding Program. But think of it this way. Whether youre going to be a guest worker in the United States or a visitor to the United States, you need a come to america to do that. When you apply for that visa, post your credit card, just as if you walked into a hotel and they said your room is paid for but we need a credit card to hold for any incidentals that might come. Post that credit card on your see is a application to temporarily come to america. If you go back under the terms of the visa, that hold is released on that credit card. If you overstay your vee, is a the credit card is charged for that fee and that fee go into an Enforcement Fund to enforce the Immigration Laws we have in the country. We need a rule of law restored in the United States of america. No place in all of our law is it less respected than it is in Immigration Law. As i listened to some of the rhetoric over here on the floor tonight, still its breath take to hear how intentionally the term legal and illegal immigrant are conflated so that the very meritorious legal immigrant who respects our laws is that meritorious legal immigrant is con flighted into the same term with the one who disrespected our laws. The one who disrespected our laws gets asthind same merit that exists for those who respect our laws and want to come to america for an opportunity to succeed and to prosper. I make another point, madam speaker, that i dont hear in this dialogue on immigration. And that is that america has a unique vigor. Weve got a unique vitality. Weve got a cando spirit. And a lot of that vitality, vigor, and cand spirit comes from the legal immigrants that have had the aspiration to come to america and i say that, if theres a family of 10 siblings, boys and girls together if one of them has the ambition and eagerness to come to the United States, to respect our laws and come to the United States, the one who chooses their they selfselect to come here is going to be the one in that family who has the most ambition and most vigor. Thats one reason why america is a cando country because weve gotten that quality of people who selfshreked as legal immigrants to come to america. I appreciate the gentlemans work on the immigration policy and i look forward to examining all of the language there and having an open dialogue on. This i also applaud the very diligent effort that has gone forth on this issue and many others. I thank the gentleman from florida and i yield back to the gentleman. Mr. Yes hoe i appreciate it, mr. King. I thank you for the things you stand for. Youre a true patriot that loves america. You brought up a great point. The Current System allows people to use the Social Security number. So you can come into the country, get issued a Social Security or people will eventually as they come in gravitate and get on an i9 form, theyll use a fraudulent or fake i. D. Number, Social Security number, that, theyre a dime a dozen out there, there are counterfeiters out there doing that, it gums up the system. Its an accounting nightmare. It creates confusion in the people who are supposed to regulate this. It gets to the point where they cant track the people because theres so many fraudulent numbers. Where theres confusion, theres inertia. Thats why nothing gets done. I think you look at the Current System because its not workable. The h2a program was designed for seasonle Seasonal Agricultural workers but we dent use it that way because its not enforced. Theyre supposed to come in for 10 months and then go home. You can get a waiver. The waiver can go for three years. If its not enforced, theyre forgotten, fall into society and nobody knows where theyre at. Therest an identification number, 15 digits in length, with the designation of a. G. , for agriculture, plus the smart chip that has the biometrics. We separate guest workers from the rest of the population. So we have a database of just guest workers that will be a lot easier to track, itll be a lot easier to know where people are as people have to check into the system, the onus is on the worker. They can check in at their place of employment, they can check in at a post office or a federal courthouse. Its going to be easy for people to stay compliant. If they are not in compliance with checking in, theyll have a grace period, they have to come compliant. If theyre not compliant after a period of time theyre subject to deportation. One of the things we talked about is what happens if somebody creates a deportable felony . That would be Something Like maybe vehicular homicide from a d. U. I. Which weve seen too many of those in the news. They would be subject to deportation. If theyre here with a family, that they came in illegally they got accepted into this program, if that were to happen, they have put their family at risk of deportation. I dont like that part. But its also, we need to look at the other side of that. Weve allowed people to come into this country, to be a guest worker. Ive had the experience of being a veterinarian, practicing for 30 years in large animal. We dealt with cattle farms, dairy farms, horse farms, people who did grow crops fruits and vegetables, name a crop, weve pretty much dealt with it. Ive gotten to the point where i talk to a lot of people who were here at migrant workers. I sympathize with them. I was still working on the farm, that was one of my ambitions of going to vet school, i wanted to be outstanding in my field, i wound up being out standing in everybody elses field. We got to know the immigrant. We got to a point where we could ask them are you here legally or illegally . And they were so honest. They said i came in illegally. And i even asked them dirked you pay a price to come in . They said yeah, 2,000. 5,000. 8,000. And this was probably 12 years ago, 11 years ago. I would ask them, do you want to become a citizen . And it amazed me how many of these people said no. I just want the opportunity come here, make a living, and go home. So the whole one the impetuses behind this was lets create a system where people can fulfill the need we have and fulfill the need they have. Ive stayed in touch with some of these people. Theyve made enough money to go back home career ate a farm of their own and they dont have to come back. But theyll refer people into the system. So if we can streamline that make it easier for people to come in. When we have Border Security. They can come in, the legal way, theres no need to sneak in if we can take that group that came in illegally and move into this, the ones that know they probably dont have a bad record, theyve moved into the system. So we can start cleaning up this mess and youened ai shared the analogy working cattle, you know, when we have our calves, we sort out the ones over here, males over here, females over here. Its a way to sift through the problem we have. If we do nothing the problem will grow. The h2a system right now, one of the flaws, it was supposed to be a 10month program. People coin come in, our producers are paying 1,200 to 2 to get a person into the country, for the permit, the transportation and all that. When they come into the country about 25 of the people who come in on an h2a abscond and go off the grid. The producer cant get people to come back. That theyve hired to work. And theyve made that commitment. With this system, that person will have that ag designation. The h2a program will have the ag designation. With the program the goal is to make it a 10month seasonal program. After 10 month, you go home. You have agreed to that. If you only want to work 16 week, work the 16 weeks and go home. It gives flexibility to the worker. Gives flexibility to the producer. It creates Food Security for us. Because this is something we need. And we get rid of the adverse wage effect. And we go to the prevailing wage which usually is about 115 above minimum wage but as you and i know, people that work in agriculture and if theyre picking crops or shipping stuff, they are making 250 to 300 a day. They work their tails off. Theyre appreciative of the opportunity they have, as you said, because they want to live their dream. And they may become a citizen down the road. There is no citizenship with this. It is a way for people to come in and work. We dont we get rid of the touchback provision of bob goodlattes bill last year. That comes from feedback from our dairy folks and other industries. I need yearround workers. A touchback does not work because weve had these people that have been in here illegally for five, 10, 15 years. Lets Work Together as americans to solve a problem so that we can sift through this and end people coming in illegally and if you have any other thoughts youd like to add, feel free. Mr. King i thank the gentleman from florida. Id add that, one thing that crosses my mind as i talk and listen here this evening is that the Social Security numbers that multiple uses of a single number. It might even be all zeros. And all zeros might be used a thousand times in america or more. And but i hear these stories. Some of the employers will say we followed all the laws were required to follow. Commonsense isnt something we hold them accountable for apparently. So the Social Security administration, under barack obama, stopped issuing no match latters letters. Nomatch let letter would go out and say this Social Security number youre using isnt a match and then it should go to the employer too. I believe it used. To i understand that the Trump Administration may be picking that up again and issuing nomatch letters. But thats not where it should stop, thats where it should begin. Mr. Yoho they brought that up that the nomatch letters, theyre up in a tizzy. But if we go back prior to president obama, there were no match letters. This is whats wrong when you have bad policy. When you get rid of a program or a requirement thats working, people get complacent. Theyre like, hey, i dont have to match up Social Security. So theres no reason for me to even apply legally. And then when you try to reinstate it, you get angry people. And it gums up the system again. Thats why, if we have a good system in place, there is no reason to back away from it. Because this will be a policy that will live beyond you and i. Mr. King i add to the gentleman, in 1986, when the amnesty act was signed by Ronald Reagan, there was a requirement that each employer would have i9 documents that would be filed. And so we began then, as soon as applicants came in, we took a copy of their information, we took the documents and kept them in our documents carefuly. Any individual who came in and applied, we had the right file for, expecting an i. N. S. , that was immigration and National Services personnel at that time, to be at our door any time, spoking poking through all of our records. The records are still probably sitting in my archives somewhere. But that was going to work. They believed it was going to work. What happened was, because slowly along the way the aclu filed lawsuits and people kind of ducked and dodged and they found a way to rationalize a way around it until they got around to, well, i cant be as an employer i cant be required to make a judgment call. So if im looking at a picture of someone, i cant be sure that thats the face of the person thats in front of me. And so they would make the presumption that was best for their business interest rather than best for the Law Enforcement thats part of it. Then if i. C. E. Doesnt show up when the nomatch letters come through because theres no theyre not cooperating with the Social Security administration, to go through those records when its very probable if a Social Security number is being used in maybe 10 places in 10 different towns, you cant get to 10 jobs simultaneously. So it should make sense that nine or at least eight of those are phony. And they ought to go in and identify those employers and the employees and if theres law violations, bring charge against them. That hasnt been happening for years in this country. It needs to happen. This component that you proposed looks to me like it is an improvement to segment off some of this, but i still say, we need to go into the Social Security nomatch and fix that. Mr. Yoho i think thats a great thing. Thats something we do need to go into. But then we need to have the alternative. You brought up a good point that ive experienced too. Talking to our producers. If you get an i9, which is the form to apply for a job, if theres a Social Security number, if you question that and not hire that person because you think its not legal, he has the right to sue you and hell win. If you dont question that and hire that person, department of labor shows up or i. C. E. , theyre going to fine you for hiring a person that you didnt verify. So it is a mess. Its like, how did we become the great country we are with such a i was going to say messed up system or Something Like that. This is not rocket science. This is a Simple Program and theres a commonsense reform. One of the things i didnt bring up and i think youd asked me about this is the i. D. Numbers as also a tax number. Taxes will be taken out of that. Thats why i dont want Social Security associated with it because Social Security denotes benefits. If im paying this, i get benefits. Those are not tied here. The money that goes in will go to other resources and what were proposing is were going to make it a requirement, each person that comes in as a guest worker has to have a Catastrophic Health insurance policy. If you come in here and drive a car, you have to have insurance. So, this will be something that were sitting down with the insurance companies, we have a pool of about a Million People that are going to need some form of Catastrophic Health insurance. The other thing were proposing is if theyre here legally, they have a guest permit to work here, we go to direct primary care. These are companies around the country. It was amazing because i went and visited one. If youre between the ages of 18 and 2530r, your monthly costs 20 or 30, your monthly cost for your Health Insurance is 25 a month. 25 a month. If you want blood work its 40 a month in my town. If you want an m. R. I. , its 250. Thats Affordable Health care. Beauty of this is the employer can bring in a group of people, he can get direct primary care for a small amount of money, will allow him to deduct that cost, and then there is a Catastrophic Health insurance. So we have covered Health Insurance, weve covered insurance, driving insurance, weve covered a way for people to come in. Weve given them a number so that we know where they are, theyre not gummed up in our Social Security system. And so weve started to separate into different silos or categories and envelopes where theres d be so that rational thought to this. You brought up rationalizing. I shouldnt have used that word. Rationalizing is rationalizing, make rash of a lie. Thats use ration of a lie. Thats used too often up here. We want to make commonsense reforms to have a program that works for the immigrant, works for our employer, and it works for our nation. And ill yield you. Mr. King i thank the gentleman. I want to add another piece to this. This is an observation that i think applies across this country in a lot of places today. Some of my constituents made a practice of going out through the parking lot at the packing plant and picking up the check stubbs and payday that were just dropped down on the asphalt. Then they stack a bunch of them up and put them in a big envelope that would spring like an accordion and mail it off to me. Here it comes in my mailbox. What is this . Theres no letter, theres no message, no return address, just my address on there, and all these check stubbs with no names on them. But the withholding, it tells me, is zero. Zero, zero. No state withholding, no federal withholding. So what that tells me, weve got a lot of people that are working unlawfully in america, that when they apply, they claim the maximum number of dependents so theres zero withholding at the wage scale theyve got for a federal income tax or a state income tax, and yet they still say, well, theyre paying taxes. Well, yes, theres sales tax. I suppose in the rent youre paying a share of the property tax. Some of those things are taking place. But thats another place the system is gamed. By using Social Security numbers. So im hopeful that the gentleman has zeroed in on a way to address that. Mr. Yoho we have. Thats the beauty of the system. We get rid of all that. Its not a Social Security withholding. Its going to be a tax. Its it will be a guest worker tax and money will be taken out. And i think this is something that when we sit down like i said, as ive shared this with members in a bipartisan manner, they get excited about it. And our producers get excited about it, industry gets excited about it. Lets work to finally be the congress that says, we fixed this problem. And make the American People proud, make our nation safer. I h that, madam speaker, yield back. Is that right, steve . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. The clerk senate 504, an act to amend title 36, United States code, to authorize the American Legion to determine the requirement for membership in the American Legion and for ther purposes. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers announced policy of january 3, 2019, the chair recognizes the gentleman from owa, mr. King, for 30 minutes. Mr. King thank you, madam speaker. Its my privilege to be have the opportunity to address you here on the floor of the United States house of representatives. And continue some of this dialogue. But im changing the subject a ittle bit here this evening, madam speaker. I wanted to talk up take up the topic that had this house of representatives tied up in nots last january, about january 15 or so. And i was the direct subject of those things. It has to do with to refresh peoples memory, a misquote on me that came out of the New York Times that alleged that i had tied three phrases together, two of them are odious ideologies and the other one is one of the most meritorious ideologies that the world has ever seen. Those two, a misquote by the New York Times, i believe that i have introduced a document thats been publicly available since some time last march 6, its dated, that makes it very clear that the New York Times misquoted me. And that a lot of the media out there that went into a hyperventilation fit, was jumping on an issue that weve seen the pattern of many times over. I came across a little comment about the New York Times that said, all the news that fits the narrative. Well, that seems to be what happened last january 10 when they wrote a story on me about all the news that fits the narrative. The narrative that they had created, not necessarily the facts. I would point out, madam speaker, that there have been a whole series of narratives out here that turned out to be inactionable or perhaps false. But i would say that the biggest one and the one that tied america up in nots the longest knots the longest and most intense were the allegations against Justice Brett kavanaugh. Of all the folks that accused him, none of their allegations held up. They were not corroborated in any way. It was clear that he was targeted because they didnt want a conservative constitutionalist sitting on the bench. Im very thankful he is sitting on the bench and im also very thankful and grateful of the way he conducted himself throughout those hearings. Thats not the first time weve seen that. I drew great sympathy for Justice Clarence thomas when he endured what he referred to as a hightech lynching back in the early 1990s. And the allegations made against him were hyperventilation of the first order. It was maybe the worst that we had seen. But i go back even further to judge bjork who became a verb when he was bjorked by the United States senate and allegations against him that became at a certain point untenable and unsurvivable from his career standpoint. These people ive mentioned so far were all wronged. Let me put another one in, madam speaker. Covington contact lick boys. Down here by the catholic boys. Down here by the lincoln memorial. Standing there respectfully and patiently while a musical device was being pounded in front of the one young mans face, that turned into a better than a week of intense media assaults and attacks verbally and keyboardwise against those Covington Catholic boys because the medias narrative fit their narrative. All the news that fits their narrative, but not the truth and not step back and take an objective look and try to understand whats going on. Its seldom that the world is as bad as the media would like to tell us that they are. So the Covington Catholic boys were exonerated when the camera was panned back and we looked at it in the full context of what was going on. They were patiently ebb douring something and experiencing something enduring something and experiencing something, im sure it was a unique experience for them. They hadnt spent time to speak of here in washington, d. C. Hadnt been involved in a demonstration of that kind. Just innocent young men, clean cut, one of them wearing a make America Great cap, probably more of them doing, that and patiently there. And people would say, you have ever seen such a punchable face . I would call it a very innocent face of a young man who kept a tight little smile on his face while he waited for that drum to be finished being beat in front of his face. And id add another one about that same period of time. Michael cohen. The president s attorney for that period of time, or former attorney, whom the news media was all over that Michael Cohen had been directed to lie to congress by the president of the United States, donald trump. And that was a story that lived for four or five or more days until the truth actually came out that that narrative was false. False narratives, justice kavanaugh, false narratives on the Covington Catholic boys, false narratives on Michael Cohen. And then we had at about the same time, the story on Jussie Smollett who said he had been attacked in an apparently attempted lynch by some folks of the opposite race that he is. Turned out that when we saw the videos of who was buying these this rope and the other material in the store not very far from there, those folks were not the they were not there to attack Jussie Smollett because of anything to do with race. But it had to do with what surely appears to be a hoax. And then now we have a federal investigation into the attorney the prosecuting attorney in chicago who found a way to turn Jussie Smollett loose. But thats another case where the narrative that was delivered by the media day after day after day fwals, but it was false, but it was the narrative that told the story that they wanted to be told, all the news that fits the narrative. We have another one here just recently. Passed behind us just a few days back. State representative erica thomas of georgia who made an argument and cried in front of the media that she got into an altercation in a store and she was told by a man to go back where you came from. And after that was scrutinized and after the video was watched and the people that were witnesses there were finally came forward and got their narratives out, we found out that that story wasnt true either. It was all the news that fits the narrative of the New York Times and others, but it wasnt true and she finally admitted it. Heres some other stories that were put before us, where theres been no consequence and Governor Ralph Northam who was either the fellow in blackface or in a k. K. K. Costume. No action taken othat on that that was a long time ago. Im ok with looking at the man he is today. It was also a narrative the news media wanted to be true. I believe its one of those two things seems to have a lot of legs. Lieutenant governor justin fairfax, multiple accusations of sexual assault, no action. Attorney general mike herring confessed he was in blackface no action down there. Theres a stalemate in virginia no consequence for these three allegations in virginia. No consequence so far for Jussie Smollett. O consequence so far for erica thomas. Ill point out, i have not been critical of the statements made by members of congress, no matter how much press they have gotten, the quad squad has gotten a lot of press for certain statements. They do have the right to free tom of speech. Th regard to a. O. C. , rashida pressley, their statements are pretty stark. People to recognize we have the right to freedom of speech. Its a constitutional guarantee. I sat with some people who were, ill say significantly seasoned in the world, in the business world. These folks were out of europe. I said to them, you need constitutional protection for freedom of speech in the same way, along the lines that we have in america because were protected. We can say what we want to say, freedom of speech, religion, the press, and to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. Thats america. We have the ability to express our thoughts and ideas and freely exchange them with others, generates other ideas. Bad ideas drift by the wayside after theyre examined in open public dialogue and good ideas get legs, as you saw tonight, congressman yoho, lifting his immigration bill before everyone for an opportunity to debate. There were good ideas good ideas sustain themselves. Bad ideas if you have a rational public that believes in the age of reason and we need to be sustaining this age of reason, then the world is a better place. If we suppress thoughts and suppress dialogue, if we tell people they dont have fre dom of speech if we punish them for exercising their constitutional right to freedom of speech, it diminishes all of us because then we dont have competing ideas. We only have the repetition of politically correct utterances. And that is not going to sustain the greatest nation the world has ever seen. It is built on these freedom. America was built on freedom of speech, religion, freedom of the press, the Property Rights in the fifth amendment no double jeopardy, you face a jury of your peers. And the rights that are not enumerated in the constitution devolve to the people and states respectively. And were built on Free Enterprise capitalism and Judeo Christian values and we are descended from the full flow of western civilization that come heres to america and today we are the flagship of western civilization. Now ive named all of this but want to state again, a. O. C. , ilhan omar, rashida tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and every other member of the United States congress and everyone in the United States of america has a godgiven right to freedom of speech and thought and expression and religion and assembly and press. If we dont protect those rights, america devolves toward the third world, not ascending onward andup ward into the shine stig that was so well and eloquently envisioned by Ronald Reagan. And so if we disagree with what someone says, we can state our on sigs and our reasons why. And we need to have we need to have respectful disagreement here in this congress, the debate that was taken place here over the years have shaped the fabric of america. Often says the greatest debate body in the world here. Im not as convinced of that today or this year as i was up to this point. When i see that, false allegation made against me, and a misquote in the New York Times, intentional or not, is turned into something that supposedly is fact. Then the things that are clearly not facts are prerepeat over and over again by a media that wants their narrative to be true so there was a resolution that came to the floor here of the house that was im named in the first paragraph. H. Res. 41. On january 15, 2019. And it starts out this way. Whereas on january 10, 2019 , representative steve king was quoted as asking, White Nationalist, white supremacist, western civilization, how did that language become offensive . Thats part of the quote, not all of it, its not even quoted in the condition text the article quoted it in. But thats a true statement that is a quote that was published in the New York Times. Thats what it says. Whereas steve king was quoted as saying that. And then, there are a whole series of whereases here that reject the odious ideologies of White Supremacy and White Nationalism. Theres a whole lot of other ode yose ideologies some of them openly defended here on the floor of the house of representatives, not by me, not by anybody. I agree with the whereas. The rejection i put into the congressional record the previous friday was more clear and more stark and it rejected those odious ideologies more distinctly and more effectively than the resolution that was introduced by mr. Clyburn. All those whereases i agree with. Got down to the resolved of this resolution and it says revolved that the house of representatives once again rejects White Nationalism, White Supremacy as hateful expressions of intolerance that are tront rah dict contradictory to the values that define the people of the United States. Agreed again. Madam speaker, im making this point that the world seems to forget, i supported this resolution because it was true. All it said about me was that the New York Times that i had been quoted as saying that. Thats true. The new york quoted me as the New York Times quoted me as saying that. I voted for this i asked all the members to vote for it. For a number of reasons. But one of them was i didnt want to see this congress split over Something Like this why are we policing something of this nature . Why does congress think that we should police the speech of members on the floor here or especially if it doesnt violent the rules. Or outside the chambers. Never in the history of the United States house of representatives has a been removed from committees because of even an accurate quote by the press outside these walls that didnt take place in this building or on this Capitol Grounds in any way whatsoever. Never has even an accurate quote been used to sanction a member of congress. So we have instead a misquote that was in a 56minute telephoned interview with the New York Times reporter who our leader, Kevin Mccarthy, said he could type as fast as anybody can talk and pageant wait accurately. Im wondering why he stopped me a couple of times and asked me to repeat a sentence so he could get it right. In fact im going to guess that there isnt anybody that can take a conventional typewriter nd type accurately and punctuate accurately. The wonderful christy over hering her magic keyboard, can barely keep up at about 250 words a minute when im rolling along and i feel a little sorry for her but i like her a lot. Thats my point. Theres in reporter thats even capable of doing that. But he has convinced Kevin Mccarthy that he is the magic finger man and he wouldnt possibly make a mistake, not a hyphen, not with a comma, not with a voice inflection. Voice inflections this will be harder, christy. Sig ziegler used to use this to describe how things can be misconstrued. Im saying this quote was more than misconstrued, it just happened to fit the narrative that the New York Times and a number of other liberal organizations wanned. But sig ziggler but put it zeigler put out this way. For those watching on cspan. To understand how language works, it works like. This he would say, i never said she stole the money, with the emphasis on the word she. That says one thing. I never said she stole the one. Another way to say it, i never said she stole the money. With the emphasis on thed were stole. Another one is, i never said she stole the money, with the emphasis on the word said. And the last one is, i never said she stole the money, with the emphasis on the word money. Theres four different meanings that come out of exactly the same words. And Kevin Mccarthy and a handful of others believe that somehow the punctuation that was in the New York Times and the hyperventilation that emerged on the punctuation in the New York Times is justifiable to attempt to disenfranchise 755,000 iowans and he doesnt remember or acknowledge that more people voted for me in the last election than they did Kevin Mccarthy or the chair of the republican conference and the legitimacy conferred upon me was conditioner ifed after any other allegation other than this misquote that happens to be of the New York Times. Now id add, handling language in this way is this way. That the dialogue that went on in that 56minute interview was the dialogue that the reporter refuses to even speculate as to what question it was that he might have asked me. Pretty sure that he didnt have that tiped out in his notes either. So he doesnt know the question. But im going to submit that it was about the discussion that had to do with the weaponization of language. The weapon sigs of language has been calculated by the left. I happen to know that there was a meeting in the Mandarin Hotel here in washington, d. C. That commenced on november 12, 2016, and that was going to be a meeting on how to exploit the hillary presidency, she was going to be president elect on that tai when that threeday conference began. But as it turned out it was president elect donald trump they had to react to and figure out how to take the highest levels of the Democrat Party that emerged in the Mandarin Hotel, including george soros whose picture was in the front of the article written by politico on that day. Out of that came a number of weaponization strategies. One was the Resistance Movement yusm saw demonstration in the streets all over america, that commenced after that. All the way through the inauguration and a month or two after that. The idea was dont let donald trump govern. If you werent successful in beating him in the election if you lets just say peter strzok and lisa paige and the rest of that cabal they fell short in the election but they continued to try to deny donald trump the opportunity to rule and to function as a president of the United States. That topic has been before us intensively as recently as yesterday, madam speaker. And so the strategy that came out of the Mandarin Hotel on that conference that began with the Democrat Party at the highest levels there including george soros and the d. N. C. On sunday, the 12th of november, happened to be Charles Mansons birthday, i hop to know, i dont know why i know that our discussion in that interview with the New York Times was about the weaponization of terms. And i have spoken of the weaponization of terms before hat in an interview with the Christian Science monitor and there its a clear quote that rolls along that says, its about weaponization weaponizing these terms. I used the terms, if i can find t here, madam speaker, the christian since monitor article. Using the terms western civilization or western culture , why sit that they are trying to turn that into a pejorative term . And that was that interview was clearly done in the Christian Science morton, its clear that would be the topic i was talking about, not in advocacy for the odious ideologies but wondering why the left would be seeking to weaponize the very meritorious term western civilization. Thats clearly the case. And i have been attacked for defending western civilization but i have never defended White Nationalism or White Supremacy. I would point out on this chart, madam speaker that when was it used . When were these terms used within our dialogue . Heres one, this is a quote from me. Went through lexisnexis and went on back and ask from the year 2000 up until the end of 2018, how many times was i quoted as using the term White National imor White Supremacy. You can see down here in the red and green, clear on out to the end of 2018, never. Not one time was i quoted as using either one of those terms that identify the odious ideologies in the all the lexis nexis searches that were there. It makes it implausible, unless those terms were fed to me by the New York Times, its unlikely they would have ever been uttered in that interview. But i said on defending western civilization, ive been consistent and clear on that, madam speaker. So this chart in the blue line shows the utilizations of western civilization the times ive been quoted using western civilization, instead of zero times being used, western civilization total, that number shows on here, but heres the utilization of it. It totals 276 times. So to keep it sism, i boiled it down to the text here. Number of times quoted as saying western civilization, 276 times since the year 2000 the press has quoted me as using that term. Im fine with that. I proudly defend western civilization. Consistently. But when did i ever say White Nationalism or White Supremacy or any derivative thereof . Zero times, zero. So its pretty clear that when the New York Times plugs that in, i was likely responding to the utilization of those terms in a question, if those words were even said at all. Heres another little chart. The leader made a point that, well, you know, i had used i had defined White Nationalism and i had defined it in an earlier interview by saying that it is a derogatory term and it implies racism. But it might have meant something different. I said one, two, or three years ago. This is in october 20 interview with dave price on w. H. O. How often was the term White Nationalism use historically, going back to the year 2000 . And you can see this line staying down here near zero, all these years from 2000 all the way up to 2015, you would say today, virtually zero times, virtually no times, excuse me, not zero, but virtually no times was the term White Nationalism even used in our dialogue. Until you get to 2016 where it jumps up to this is these numbers really are 100 to 200 times a year throughout all the publications, all the writers, all things that show up that searches everything in print, including the blogs of way back. So this is virtually none. 100 to 200 times a year by everybody. Then in 2016 it jumps from virtually none up to 10,000 times a year. And then when you go to 2017, it jumps all the way up to 30,000 times. And in 2018 its still up there at 20,000 times. 10,000, 30,000, 20,000 times used, never not virtually unused before. And i explained and asserted that theyre weaponizing that term and theyre injecting it into the political dialogue and using it as a term against anybody that they can stick this label on. And thats exactly what was going on. And thats exactly what i defined in that interview that was so objected to by the minority leader of the house of representatives. I was far more right than i thought. It was a general understanding i had. Now when i go back and look at the facts, i just nailed it cold. As to whats going on. The left is weaponizing terms. I was explaining that. I explained it accurately. More accurately than i thought i had. Whats my reward for being so precise and my reward for being so accurate, my reward for defending western civilization is a decision thats unprecedented in the history of the United States congress to stifle my freedom of speech and to limit to the extent they could my ability to be reelected going into the future. Thats the kind of thing we cant have in this congress. Is for someone to be sitting in leadership that thinks that they have the authority to determine who is not going to represent people outside of their own district. Thats destructive to our constitutional republic. The voice of we the people elects the representatives. And when they do so, they have a right to the fullthroated representation. And thats been denied so far this year because of the arbitrary and capricious and false conclusion that has been brought by Kevin Mccarthy. Borne by Kevin Mccarthy. That situation needs to be rectified. Anyone who has red this sixpage fact check document, not one person has found a hole in it. Not one rational person has found a hole in it. Those that did read it and consider it said, you make some good points. Yes, it makes sense. Well, we maybe have to find a time to fix this. But its not very convenient right now. My point is, madam speaker, if you find somebodys been locked up in jail and the d. N. A. Tests prove that they are not guilty, you dont wait until they have a good job, you open up the doors and you give them back their freedom. In this case, you give back to the people of iowa the fullthroated representation of their senior member, the dean of the iowa house of representatives, and one of the things my constituents like about me is they always get the straight, unvarnished truth. Whether they like it or not. Theyll come up and say, i dont agree with you on everything, but i know youre telling me the truth, i know youre working hard and i know that your objective in this youre objective in this and we need somebody who we dont have to wonder what theyre saying. I dont ever dance around with words. I tell people what i think and what i know and i give them the good news when its there and im eager to do so, and i give them the bad news when its time because they deserve the straightest of answers. We are straight talkers in the midwest. Were descended from people who came across the prairie to live free or die out there in the plains. And we built a pretty good place. And it is the best place in the world to live and raise a family. And we have people that are coming back when theyre young sometimes, theyll go off and look at the rest of the country or the world, but they come back, especially when its time for the kid to go to school and they contribute back to the community, generation on top of generation on top of generation. Thats some of the things that ive worked to establish. In the time ive been here in congress, weve taken iowa into number one and a fourth Congressional District and a number one in the production of Renewable Fuels and energy. By the time you add together the ethanol, biodiesel and wind and now solar, we produce more b. T. U. s of energy than any other Congressional District thats a renewable side of this. We have transportation routes that have been set up. Fourlane highway 20 is done. Rerank in the top first or second or third in corn and soybeans and in pork and in ag production, right at or near the top in all of that. Its a wholesome place. When i look outside from my place, i see no neighbors but i never had a bad one. And weve got a crop that looks great this year. And when i see all those little kids boiling up to the front of our church to put their dollar in the basket, those kids are going to grow up in this those communities too. And were going to have generation after generation that replicate and improve upon the success that weve had. But we cant do that if were going to live in a country where theres an arbitrary censorship taking place and no opportunity for me to even defend myself. Innocent until proven guilty. Well, thats true for a whole bunch of these people that i named. But steve king instead is guilty by accusation, guilty by false allegation. Even now that ive proven to the house of representatives that beyond any reasonable question, this was a misquote, it was something that wasinned up and created a that was ginned up and created a lynch mob. Its time to cut the rope and get me back to the full force of where my constituents deserve, to give them the fullest representation thats there. And ill face any accuser, any time, and ill deliver all the facts. If anybody can find a hole in this sixpage factcheck document any other statement ive made, id be happy to look anybody in the eye. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. King madam speaker, i appreciate your attention on this matter here this evening. And i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Does the gentleman have a motion . Mr. King madam speaker, i move the house do now adjourn. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the motion to adjourn. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Accordingly, the house stands adjourned until 9 00 a. M. Tomorrow. Announcer members voted unable temporary extend protected status for venezuelans, allowing individuals to remain in the u. S. Because of the political crisis in venezuela. That ends the business in the house this week. A monthlongn recess. Resumes september 9. Announcer cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. We discussed a deal to raise the governments Borrowing Limit with two members of the Budget Committee monday morning. Thenlk with brendan boyle, dan meuser