the clerk: h.r. 4111, a bill to require the secretary of the treasury to direct the united states executive director at the international monetary fund to advocate that the fund provide technical assistance to fund members seeking to enhance their capacity to evaluate the legal and financial terms of sovereign debt contracts, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters, and the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. wagner, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlelady is recognized. ms. waters: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. waters: thank you. mr. speaker, earlier this year, the financial services subcommittee on national security, international development, and monetary policy held a hearing on china's lending practices and their impact on the international sovereign debt architecture. the hearing examined china's dominant position as the largest official creditor in the world with china as you outstanding claims larger than those of all other bilateral creditors combined. we also examined how china lends with respect to the terms and conditions. china imposes on borrowing countries through its sovereign debt contracts. among the witnesses who testified were authors of a recent study that examined 100 china sovereign debt contracts, which found that since 2014, every sovereign debt contract examined contains strict, nondisclosure requirements that prohibited the borrower from disclosing the terms of and even the existence of the debt itself. many of the contracts examined sought to elevate chinese government loans over other creditors by requiring the creation of china-controlled offshore collateral accounts and by explicitly prohibiting the debt from being included in any multilateral debt restructuring initiative. the study also found a number of contracts with cross-default and accelerated payment provisions that gives china substantial leverage over an array of domestic and foreign policy decisions that a borrowing country may undertake. the absence of transparents not only -- transparency not only prohibits citizens from holding them accountable for their borrowing decisions, but it shows their picture which can undermine sovereign debt rescheduling operations that are based on systems of trust and equitable burden sharing among all other countries' creditors. for example, in zambia, one of three countries that applied for debt relief under the new g-20 common framework initiative, new revelations about undisclosed chinese debt nearly doubled its total official debt amount owed from $3.5 billion to $6.6 billion. opacity also creates greater opportunity for political capture and corruption and undermines debt risk management and surveillance work. it was this context in which i introduced our committee's ranking member patrick mchenry h.r. 4111, the sovereign debt contract capacity act, which directs the treasury to use the influence of the united states at the i.m.f. to advocate that the fund provide technical assistance to bolster the capacity of developing countries, debt managers to evaluate and negotiate both the financial and the legal terms in sovereign debt contracts. it's important that this kind of capacity building also be available through multilateral challenges like the i.m.f. which have a wider global reach. multilateral approaches can also be more effective since national programs risk being perceived as an instrument of power politics and beholden to certain interest groups within a country. to be sure, some countries sign bad contracts for the wrong reasons, including corruption and governance problems. in a country that's running up oppressive, hidden debts because its leaders are corrupt, training is not going to help a lot. but ensuring that technical assistance is available to any developing country that requests help in assessing the technical, legal complicits of sovereign debt contracts would be an important step in reform of the sovereign debt crisis management system. for these reasons, i urge my colleagues to support this bill, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs. wagner: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. wagner: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of h.r. 4111, the sovereign debt contract capacity act, an important piece of legislation sponsored by our chairwoman and co-sponsored by our committee's lead republican. china has now become the world's largest official creditor, but the details of its lending remain notoriously opaque. at a hearing in may, the financial services committee examined how china has been using strict confidentiality arrangements, cross-default provisions, and other tools to hide the details of its loans and potentially influence borrowers, domestic and foreign policies. a recent analysis by the research group adata has also shown that 42 countries now have public debt exposure to china in excess of 10% of their g.d.p. which is largely hidden from conventional reporting to the world bank. h.r. 4111 would address this problem by supporting technical assistance from the international monetary fund to help developing countries better assess these debt contracts. this legislation builds on a bipartisan law authored by our colleague, congressman hill of arkansas, that requires the treasury department to push for greater chinese debt transparency at the international financial institutions. together, these two bills are clear statements that our committee wants treasury to prioritize the threat of china's hidden debt and give countries the necessary technical assistance to push back on beijing. h.r. 4111 is especially timely since the i.m.f. is confronting serious difficulties carrying out new programs since china has been so slow negotiating its loans to i.m.f. borrowers. if the international monetary fund can't accurately assess borrowers' liability to beijing, it will have trouble providing its own financing. in other words, china's opaque lending practices are not just a threat to borrowing countries, it puts at risk the operations of the i.m.f., world bank, and other multilateral lenders. this is unacceptable. i commend the chairwoman for sponsoring this legislation and hope that our committee can continue to work in such a bipartisan manner to address china's exploitation of countries around the world. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 4111, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri reserves. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers, and i'm prepared to close. i reserve the balance of my time until mrs. wagner yields back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs. wagner: i thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the chairwoman, again, for her strong legislation. i'd just urge all my colleagues to support 4111, the sovereign debt contract capacity act, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri yields back. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: mr. speaker, i yield myself the balance of the time. in closing, i want to note in a h.r. 4111 also directs the u.s. to advocate for the i.m.f. to develop and promote a shared understanding of standard terms and sound practices with respect to sovereign debt contracts. officials for countries that sign oppressive debt contracts are often told that the proposed terms are market standard. where either there is no standard or whether standard is quite different than what is being proposed. this will be another positive reform of the sovereign debt architecture. i'd like to thank ranking member mchenry for working with me on this important bill, h.r. 4111. it has been endorsed by bread for the world, one, and the afl-cio. i urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 4111. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative -- >> mr. speaker. i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? ms. waters: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-s of house resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? ms. waters: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2989, the financial transparency act of 2021, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2989, a bill to amend securities and banking laws to make the information reported to financial regulatory agencies electronically searchable, to further enable the development of regtech and artificial intelligence applications, to put the united states on a path towards building a comprehensive standard business reporting program to ultimately harmonize and reduce the private sector's regulatory compliance burden, while enhancing transparency and accountability, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters, and the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. wagner, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. waters: thank you. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. waters: i rise in support of h.r. 2989, the financial transparency act of 2021. as chairwoman of the house financial services committee, i'd like to thank representative maloney for her leadership on this bill, as well as representative mchenry, the ranking member of the committee, for working on this bill in a bipartisan manner. the financial transparency act takes a proactive approach to modernizing our data standards and publication protocols within the financial services industry. this bill requires that the s.e.c., the fdic, the o.c.c., cfpb, the federal reserve, the fhfa work with the treasury to adapt data standards for the information it collects and to upgrades their reporting requirements so that reported data is stored in an open, searchable, and accessible manner. the bill also ensures that these standards are created in a coordinated manner to enable searchability across these agencies. helping to catch bad actors more easily while promoting greater transparency and trust from the public in our financial system. in this digital age, it is imperative that our regulators keep up with our rapidly changing financial markets and utilize technology in a way that safeguards our data while promoting the safety and soundness of our financial system. this bill puts the united states on equal footing with many other countries that already have begun using searchable data, formats and submissions to regulators. this commonsense bill will also benefit retail investors as they will be able to search through publicly available documents rather than having to manually save each document in order to extract the information they want. in addition, companies that analyze this data will be able to more quickly report their findings to the public, helping better inform the investing public about the state of our capital markets. h.r. 2989 will also benefit regulated entities like banks, credit unions, asset managers, and public companies, as they will now have clearly delineated criteria and frameworks to upload their data, ensuring consistent data standards and the ability for financial institutions to do more efficient compliance tasks that must be performed manually today. for these reasons, i urge my colleagues to support this bill, and i reserve the balance of my time. .. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs.wagner: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of representative maloney and ranking member bipartisan legislation h.r. 2989, the financial transparency act of 2021. our securities and banking laws require agencies to collect data from regulated entities each year. yet, there is no consistency in the manner in which they collect this data. data is off difficult to find and understand. this commonsense legislation ensures our regulatory agencies are working together to adopt consistent data field and formats for the information they collect. and they will better organize data and make this information available in open-source format this benefits investors and the federal government. setting standards will foster more transparency and increase the efficiency for everyone who generates, collects and uses the information. this bill will make financial data more easily available and will reduce overhead costs and streamline work. i applaud congresswoman maloney for her commitment to this issue. and establishing uniform data standards is critical to ensuring an efficient and effective regulatory framework. i urge all the support this commonsense legislation and vote yes on h.r. 2989 the financial transparency act of 2021. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized . ms. waters: i yield five minutes to the the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs.maloney: i thank the chair for the chair woman yielding. i rise in strong support much h.r. 2989, financial transparency act of 2021. a bipartisan bill that i interviewed with ranking member mr. mchenry. financial transparency act would require our financial regulators to adopt data collection standards for the information they collect under current law including the adoption of electronic forms to replace paper-based forms. all data would be made available in an open-source format that is searchable, downloadable and without license restreubgs. under the bill, treasury is establishing standards that would allow the standardization and sharing of this. such data standards would include a legal identifier that would give treasury to provide effective oversight across our financial markets. the legal identifier is used throughout our financial markets today and this bill would encourage agencies to continue moving in that direction. each financial regulator is tasked with adopting standards. the regulateors maintain the ability to taylor its regulations as needed to set the needs of each entity and have the ability to scale any regulatory requirements in order to reduce burdens on smaller entities. i want to be clear this isn't imposing burdens ol market participants. this is modernizing and making more transparent the data that is already reported to our regulateors and that the regulateors publish today. the bill ensures confidential business and supervise sroer information remains protected. the end result of this bill will be more transparent and data that is really comparable across business and all sectors. this is a win-win for regulateors, for investors, for the public for accuracy, and for industry. for regulateors, they will be able to analyze and search the data that is given to them. the data is regulated entities are reporting. this will improve efficiency and overall government operation. for investors, open data publications will allow for kpaeurbgt of data sectors and are empowering them to update information. industry will be able to report the required information using software in the format required by their reyou lateors. mr. speaker, the financial transparency act builds on past congressional efforts to make data more accessible, useful and more accurate. this has clear benefits for our market participants and would improve the ability of our regulateors to monitor financial stability and safety and soundness of our financial markets. i want to thank ranking member mchenry and their staff and coordination on this important effort and chairwoman waters and her staff with working with me on advancing this bill. this was truly a bipartisan effort and we would not be here without everyone working in the same direction. i all of my colleagues to support the financial transparency act and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs.wagner: thank you, mr. speaker. i would ask unanimous consent to insert into the record written remarks by the ranking member, mr. mchenry, on this important legislation and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the woman's request will be covered under general leave. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: i'm prepared to close and am prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is reserving. mrs.wagner: i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 2989 and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri yields. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: i yield myself the balance of the time. i would like to ask unanimous consent to include in the record an exchange of letters between the committee on financial services and the committee on agriculture on this bill. teufplt without objection. ms. waters: mr. speaker, in closing, i would like to state i strongly support this bipartisan bill. the financial transparency act helps modernize our regulatory framework that the private industry and public all benefit. this provides greater transparency, accountability and efficiency. and this bill does exactly that. i thank representative maloney and representative mchenry working with my staff to get this bill across the finish line and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california yields. will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2989 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative -- for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i request the yeas and nays. pursuant to section 3-s of house resolution 8, yeas and nays are ordered pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on the question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? ms. waters: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2265, financial ex phroeulttation prevention act of 2021 as amended. the clerk: h.r. 2265, a bill to amend the investment company tax of 1940 to postponethe date upon redemption of certain securities as specified and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: purpose to the rule, the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters and the gentlewoman from missouri, ms. wag wagner each will control 20 minutes. ms. waters: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to extend and revise their remarks and insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. waters: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in h.r. 2265, the financial exploitation prevention act of 2021 sponsored by ms. wagner. it is not a surprise that adults over the age of 65 are sometimes the target for financial exploitation and have become victims of financial crimes. just last week, in its annual report ol elder fraud and apus, the department ofjustice reported that in 2020 alone, seniors suffered over $1 billion in financial losses due to fraud and unlike other adults, seniors are dependant on their savings to support them in retirement making any fraud that much harder to recover from. brokers and investment managers will stand in as the stewards of the savings of seniors in a unique position to protect elders from financial crimes. in 2018, the securities and exchange commission released a policy letter called a no-action letter stating that the commission would not take an enforce agent against an investment company including mutual funds if the person paused a payment on the suspicion of financial. this pause of cashing out the savings can provide invaluable time to ensure that the redemption is consistent with the will of the senior. h.r. 2265 would codify this s.e.c. letter and would make changes to describe how mutual fund adviser can establish the process at each fund to protect seniors. i would like to thank mrs. wagner to craft language in this bill. this is a helpful piece of legislation that will provide one more tool to market participants to protect investors and our nation retirees. i urge members to support h.r. 2265 and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs.wagner: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs.wagner: i rise in support of my bill the financial exploitation prevention act a mr. bilirakis: that will combat the exploitation of seniors and other vulnerable adults. i thank representative mchenry and chairwoman waters. exploitation of seniors is a growing problem. the number of americans 65 and old is projected to nearly double from 52 million in 2018 to 95 million. this represents an increase from 16 to 23% of the u.s. population being 65 years old and older. and right now, 44% of households headed by a baby boomer and 30% of silent generation own mutual funds. the risk of financial exploitation for elderly households only increases. roughlily 1-5 investors are victimized by financial fraud and they lose $2.9 billion annually in reported cases and unfortunately, some estimates indicate that only 1-44 cases of financial abuse is ever reported. my bill proposes a solution to fight elder abuse. some mutual funds are held with the mutual fund and service by the transfer agent or direct fund accounts as they are known, the transfer agent is typically responsible for opening and servicing the account. maintaining account records and servicing as the point of contact. under current law when a agent success pets exploitation in a direct account, it cannot law fully delay the disbursement of proceeds while the investigation occurred. my legislation codifies that the no-action letter from 2018 that permits a mutual fund and its transfer agent to delay of a security if it is reasonably believed that a request was made by exploiting seniors or other vulnerable adults. . this will make sure they receive the hard-earned savings they have built up over the years. additionally, and importantly, my bill also requires the s.e.c. to report to congress on additional potential legislative solutions on how to further combat financial exploitation of seniors and vulnerable adults. this legislation, mr. speaker, is needed to provide certainty to protect our seniors, and i strongly urge my colleagues to support the financial exploitation prevention act. i am grateful to the chairwoman and to the ranking member and all of committee that has worked on this in such a bipartisan fashion, mr. speaker. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri reserves. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: i thank you, mr. speaker. there are no more democratic speakers, and i have -- i have no further speakers. and rather than close, i'd yield to the gentlelady, the author of this legislation, to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs. wagner: i thank you, mr. speaker. and i, again, thank the chairwoman and her team for making this very important piece of legislation that is so important to our seniors and to our vulnerable adults happen. again, in to 18, the s.e.c. put together -- in 2018, the s.e.c. put together something strongly we should be looking at as we move forward. i'm pleased we were able to bring it to the floor today in a bipartisan fashion. i urge all colleagues to support my bill, h.r. 2265, the financial exploitation act of 2021, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri yields. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2265, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? ms. waters: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5142, as amended, to award posthumously a congressional gold medal, in commemoration to the service members who perished in august on august 26, 2021, during the evacuation of citizens of the united states and afghan allies at hamid karzai international airport, the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 41 -- h.r. 5142, a bill to award posthumously a congressional gold medal, in commemoration to the service members who perished in afghanistan on august 26, 2021, during the evacuation of citizens of the united states and afghan allies at hamid karzai international airport, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters, and the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. wagner, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. waters: mr. speaker, i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs. wagner: i thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. wagner: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 5142, a bill to posthumously award congressional gold medals in commemoration to the service members who perished in afghanistan on august 26, 2021. mr. speaker, during the 20-year war in afghanistan, we lost over 2,000 brave men and women, more than 20,000 service members returned home wounded in action. i believe in my heart that every single soldier we lost in afghanistan was a tragedy. we must remember their sacrifice. in the waning days of this war, the biden administration made decisions that put u.s. service members in harm's way and unfortunately, mr. speaker, on august 26, we lost 13 more service members and more than 20 were injured. 11 marines, one navy corps man and one was killed by an isis-k bomber outside the hamid karzai international airport on this terrible day in august. mr. speaker, i represent the people of missouri's second congressional district. on august 26, my state lost a hero. lance corporal jared schmitz. this courageous young man had been stationed in jordan on his first deployment when he was called into afghanistan to defend the civilians fleeing the taliban's advance. he was eager to be one of the brave men and women on the front lines, making a real difference for the americans and allies trapped in a terrifying and dangerous situation. lance corporal schmitz felt a calling to be a united states marine. so much so he had gotten his parents' permission to enlist at just 17 years old. he was just 20 years old when he lost his life in the terrorist attack at the airport in kabul. lance corporal schmitz and the 12 others we lost in august went above and beyond the call of duty to protect those stranded in afghanistan. i sadly don't believe we will truly understand why lance corporal schmitz and his fellow soldiers died. nevertheless, their families and all americans deserve answers, mr. speaker, and those who made the decisions that resulted in the senseless deaths will be held accountable. in the meantime, i am grateful for their service and their sacrifice that is being commemorated by this legislation. the bravery and valor shown by these service members are unquestionable, and i hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this bill. and i look forward to standing next to the family of lance corporal schmitz as they're presented with a congressional gold medal, commemorating their son's service and valor. i thank you, mr. speaker. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri reserves. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized. mr. cicilline: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, as we mark nearly two months since the bombing that killed more than 116 innocent afghanis and american military personnel at the hamid karzai international airport, i rise in strong support of this legislation to award posthumously a congressional gold medal to the 13 u.s. service members that gave their lives that day. those individuals, sergeant johanny rosario pichardo, sergeant nicole gee, staff sergeant darin hoover, corporal lopez, corporal humberto sanchez, lance corporal david espinoza, lance corporal jared schmitz, lance corporal rylee mccollum, lance corporal dylan merola, lance corporal kareem nikoui, navy corps man maxton soviak, and staff sergeant ryan knauss. mr. speaker, as we recognize these extraordinary heroes and also understand that this honor cannot come close to filling the void left by their loss, i cannot think of anyone more deserving of such a distinction. these brave service members represent the very best of america. knowingly putting themselves in harm's way to help evacuate thousands from the region. a true embodiment of the american spirit. their legacies live on in the thousands of afghan refugees they saved who now have an opportunity to live lives free of violence and persecution. and so as we represent these extraordinary american heroes and recognize them with the congressional gold medal, let us all live lives worthy of their sacrifice and service to our great nation. i urge all my colleagues to vote yes and to join me in honoring these great american heroes. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs. wagner: -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. wagner: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from michigan, the sponsor of this bill, ms. mclain -- mrs. mcclain. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. mcclain: thank you, mr. speaker. war is an incredible teacher, a brutal instructor. we learned lessons about triumph, sorrow, loss, and pain. war teaches us to appreciate the simple things we take for granted. like the ability to speak your mind, freely practice your religion, even seeing your loved ones once a day. it also teaches us that in war there are no unwounded soldiers. there are those that came back with both visible scars and invisible battle wounds, and there are those that did not come home at all. today, we pause to honor the 13 american service members who lost their lives during the evacuation efforts at the kabul airport in afghanistan on august 26, 2021. these 13 fallen warriors, along with many others, made the ultimate sacrifice. each of them knew their duty and they accepted the risks. not many answer the call, but they volunteered anyways. sent to evacuate americans and afghans that struggled to get past the taliban checkpoints in kabul and through the airport gates, fearing they would be left behind and left for dead. they knew the mission and valiantly forged ahead. helping hundreds to safety, overcoming their own fears. when a suicide bomb attacked them and took their lives. the terrorist act took the lives of at least 170 afghans, 11 marines, one navy corps man, and one army special operations soldier. including lance corporal david lee espinoza of laredo, texas, sergeant nicole gee of california, staff sergeant taylor hoover of salt lake city, utah, staff sergeant ryan knauss of tennessee, corporal hunter lopez of indigo, california, lance corporal rylee mccollum of wyoming, corporal dylan merola of rancho kuch amonga, california, lance corporal kareem nikoui of california, corporal daegan william-tyeler page of omaha, nebraska, sergeant johanny rosario pichardo of lawrence, massachusetts, corporal humberto sanchez of long port, indiana, lance corporal david espinoza -- excuse me jared schmitz of wentzville, missouri, navy corpsman maxton soviak of berlin heights, ohio. i could not be more grateful to their service to our nation. while we as a nation grieve for the service members we lost, we often forget about the families who have lost even more. to be a gold star family is an honor no one wishes for. we owe our sincerest gratitude to the families who eagerly awaited these 13 service members' return. we can never thank them in a way that will make up for their loss. awarding the congressional -- awarding the congress' highest honor is a small token of appreciation. thank you to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who joined me on this effort. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri reserves. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. . ms. waters: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is rebg recognized. mr. cuellar: i thank the chair woman for her leadership. today we honor fallen servicemembers to award them with this congressional gold medal and proud to be a co-sponsor of this legislation h.r. 5142. on august 26 an explosion from the suicide terrorist bombing killed 13 of our servicemembers. one of those servicemembers was my constituent, lance corporal espinoza. his mother and stepfather and brothers and sisters mourn his loss and are endlessly proud of david. while we attended his funeral, we knew that families across the united states also mourned their loved ones. david joined the marine corps to protect our nation and demonstrating the selfless acts of service to his country. he embodied grit, dedication, service and value. lance corporal david lee espinoza be honored and never be forgotten and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs.wagner: can i make an inquiry of the time left on my side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri has 131/4 minutes. mrs.wagner: i yield two minutes to the the gentleman from michigan. meyer meyer i rise in support interviewed by my colleague. this bill will award gold medal to u.s. members killed in the final week of the afghanistan aevacuation. and servicemembers were killed in a killed marking one of the deadliest days. the selfless and brave americans were put in an impossible situation. they he pit phaoeuz what it means to be a hero and knew the risks and stayed at those gates to keep them open buying time for more lives to be saved. the chaos of those days and the danger cannot be overstated and we owe a debt of gratitude for the sacrifice that they never have been forced to have been made. and americans on the ground displayed in our final days and every american should demand accountability from the senior first. today we honor the 13 lives lost and keep those families and those who loved them in our prayers. and the grateful nation honors them today. i thank my colleague from michigan for interviewing this important legislation. and i yield back. ms. waters: i'm prepared to close until mrs. wagner yields back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs.wagner: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. brian mast. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized mr. mast: i was asked by somebody about this piece of legislation the congressional gold medal of the 13 killed on august 26 and why not a gold medal for the thousands that have been killed on the war on temporary, the ones that i wear on my wrist and those that we see the markers for in arlington national cement cemetery. and we could give every one of them a thousand gold medals and wouldn't represent a thousand of what we owe those of what we give to those. this gold medal isn't with that, but what we owe to the living. this will gold medal is a rule of america's leaders being weak. that's why we are awarding this gold medal. we owe our fighters strength. we owe them that we never be intimidated and never back un, or restreet or never surrender. as leaders, if we can't promise that to our fighters, then we owe it to them that we never ask them to leave. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri reserves. the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs.wagner: i yield two minutes two minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. waltz. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized mr. waltz: as we reflect on 13 mr. morrison: killed in action, 13 more gold-star families, they did their mission. they did their jobs. their operation and mission was to secure kabul international airport to evacuate our embassy and those who worked with us and those to evacuate and they did their job. they went above and beyond. after pulling grueling long shifts in august heat in afghanistan and everybody who has served there knows how difficult it can be, they were working with grassroots veteran organizations who stepped up to do frankly what should have been done and to help those who had stood with us and stood for that flag for 20 years. they, on their own time, at great risk were getting people out. they knew the dangers and everybody who served there knew it was a matter of time they were going to be hit and yet, they did it any way. i'm proud to support this legislation but we owe them answers and owe their families. why were they defending an airport in the city of 4 million people. and why were the assets pulled before our employees were out? why? why? why? so many questions and so many answer and i tell this body, i will not rest and i will never forget and we will get those answers of those 13 gold star family deserve and there are lib accountability for 13 more dead americans. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri reserves. ms. waters: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri recognizes. mrs.wagner: i ask unanimous consent to insert written remarks by mr. luetkemeyer, my friend and colleague from phoeuz. the speaker pro tempore: the request will be covered by general leave. mrs.wagner: i would like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from tennessee mr. burchett. mr. burchett: the congressional gold medal and least we can do for the 13 servicemembers killed. one of those 13, ryan knauss was from my district and his family is nays of mine. his grandfather called me shortly after and described the scene we have seen it in movies and he had to live it. the car pulls up and army officers got out and informed that his grandson had perished in afghanistan. my momma endured that very same thing when she was a young girl and her brother roy died fighting the nazis. it's in my head pretty thick. he was killed by helping complete strangers and that's what he loved to do and loved helming force. and knauss was the final american military kargt in afghanistan. we were devastated by his loss. on september 11, they held a great local tribute to this fallen hero. on september 21, i attended his funeral as he was laid to rest. we honor him and 12 fellow heroes further bypassing this legislation. the true heroes are the men and women of our armed forces. they keep us free and safe every day. i thank you for allowing me to speak and i yield the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri reserves. ms. waters: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized. mrs.wagner: i yield two minutes to my friend and colleague from texas, a classmate of mine, the gentleman from florida, mr. weber -- texas, mr. weber. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. weber: little that we can do here today can make a difference of what those families endured. we can opbld supply a small token of our appreciation. the greatest fighting force of our men and women. i want you to think with me here. when the world has a calami t-frp y and doesn't matter if it is a hurricane, tsunami or earthquake or rebellion, invasion, when the world has it and they dial 911, who is it that answers? united states of america, isn't it, with the greatest fighting force that this world has ever known. when america is safe, the world is a safer place. to the families, the gold star families that their family members gave all, we owe them a debt of gratitude. may god bless them and may they rest in peace, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri reserves. ms. waters: i continue to reserve. mrs.wagner: i'm prepared to close. and i would simply urge my colleagues to support h.r. 5142 to award hose humanously a congressional gold medal to the servicemembers that perished in afghanistan on august 26, 2021. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: i would ask all of my colleagues, all of the members of this house to support this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5142 as amended. those in favor say aye those opposed, no in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and without objection, the motion toreconsider is laid upon the table. the chair lays before the house a message. the clerk: to the congress of the united states, section 202-d of the national emergency act 1622-d provides for the automatic termination within 90 days prior to the university days the president publishes and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the afters date. in accordance to this provision i have sent the enclosed notice that the emergency with respect to the democratic republic of the congo declare an executive order of october 27, 2006 to continue in effect. the situation in or in relation to the democratic republic of the congo which has been marked by widespread violence continues to threaten the stability and poses a threat to the foreign policy of the united states. therefore, i have determined it is necessary to continue the "t.m.g." energy declared in executive order with respect to the situation in or in relation to the democratic republic of the congo, signed joseph r. biden junior, the white house, october 25, 2021. ., . >> when the house returns live coverage here on c-span.