continue to flow in. so in my view they'll get stronger as time progresses but they are also doing things toin more people. so the combination of those things will have a pretty substantial effect on the battlefield but will take time to play out. we have the means to continue to provide security assistance and will flow in in a very meaningful way. >> that concludes our press briefing. thank you veryuch for attending. thank you gentlemen. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org. >> just a moment, we'll return you to live coverage of the u.s. house. members are coming back to vote

on amendments to the national defense authorization act. live coverage here on c-span. state union for further

consideration of h.r. 8070. would the gentleman from north carolina mr. armstrong, kindly take the chair? the chair: the house the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 8070 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to authorize appropriations for the fiscal year 2025 for military activities of the department of defense for military construction and for defense activities of the department of energy to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year and for other purposes. the chair: when the committee of the whole rose earlier today a request for a recorded vote amendment 47 printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered

by the gentlewoman from florida ms. luna had been withdrawn to the end and that amendment stands adopted. pursuant to clause 6 of 18, the proceedings will now resume on those amendments printed in part b of house report 118-551 on which further proceedings were postponed in the following order -- amendment number 37 by ms. greene of georgia amendment number 52 by mr. rosen dale of montana, amendment numbere of texas amendment 40 by mr. gaetz of florida, amendment 41 by mr. grothman of wisconsin amendment number 42 by mr. norman of south carolina, amendment number 43 by mr. higgins of louisiana, amendment number 44 by mr. clyde of georgia amendment number 45 by mr. williams of texas amendment number 46 by

mr. steube of florida amendment number 48 by ms. boebert of colorado amendment number 49 by mr. mills of florida amendment number 50 by mr. waltz of florida and amendment number 53 by mr. norman of south carolina. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 37 printed in part b report 118-551 by the gentlewoman from georgia ms. greene on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk: amendment number 37 printed in house report of 118-551 offered by ms. greene of georgia. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the recorded

vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

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the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 74, the nays will 343. the amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 52 printed in part b of house report 118-551 by the gentleman from montana mr. rosendale, on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 52 printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered by mr. rosendale of montana. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will be counted. a sufficient number having risen, recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute,

inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 213 the nays are 206. the amendment is adopt. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 55 printed in part barvetion of house report 118-551, by the gentlewoman from texas, ms. van duyne on which further proceedings were postponed, on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 55 printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered by ms. van duyne of texas. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 214, the nays are 207. the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is a request for a recorded vote on amendment number 40 printed in part b of house report 118-551 by the gentleman from florida mr. gaetz, on which further proceedings were postponed and the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment 40 printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered by mr. gaetz of florida. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. a sufficient number having arisen a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 134, the nays are 276 the amendment is not adopted. the amendment is on 114 by the gentleman from wisconsin mr. grothman on which proceedings were postponed and

the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the cldment. the chair: amendment 114 offered by mr. grothman. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. a sufficient number having arisen. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 216, the noes are 206. the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is a request for a recorded vote on amendment 42 printed in part b of the house report 118-551 by the gentleman from south carolina mr. norman, on which proceedings were postponed and prevailed on voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment 42 offered by mr. norman of south carolina. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 12, the nays are 212. the amendment is not adopted. pursuant to clause 6-a of rule 18 the committee rises.

the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under considering the bill h.r. -- that votes cast by delegates and resident commissioner were decisive on a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reported to the house that during consideration of bill

h.r. 8070, pursuant to resolution 1287, the votes cast by the delegates and the resident commission own a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman were decisive. the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 42, printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered by mr. norman of south carolina. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 6-h of rule 18 the chair will put the question to the house de novo. the question is on the amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to.

for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 211. the nays are 208. the amendment is adopted. pursuant to clause 6-h of rule 18 the committee will resume its sitting. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of the bill h.r. 8070. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2025 for military activities of the department of defense for military construction and for

defense activities of the department of energy to prescribe military personnel strength for such fiscal year and for other purposes. the chair: when the committee of the whole rose earlier today the amendment had been rejected on a recorded vote on which the votes cast by the delegates and resident commissioner were decisive. that vote has been rejected by the house. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 43 printed in part barvetion of house report 118-551, by the gentleman from louisiana, mr. higgins on which further proceedings were postponed, on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 43 printed in part b of house report 118-553 offered by mr. higgins of louisiana. the chair: a recorded vote is requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is

ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc.esentatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 214 the nays are 210. the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 44 printed in house report 118-551 on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 44 printed in part b of house report 118-5 a 51, offered by mr. collide of georgia. the chair: a recorded -- a recorded vote has been requested. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered.

members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 192 the nays are 230. the amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is request for recorded vote on amendment number 45 printed in part b of house report 118-551 by the gentleman from texas mr. williams, on which further proceedings were postponed on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 45 printed in part b of house report 118-551. offered by mr. williams of texas. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. this will be a two-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] &c

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 218, the nays are 208. the amendment is adopted -- 206. the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 46 printed in part b of house report 118-551 by the gentleman from florida mr. steube on which further proceedings were postponed and ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment 46 printed in part b of house report 114-551 offered by mr. steube of florida. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise

and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen. a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 221, the nays are 202. the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is a request for a recorded vote on amendment number 48 printed in part b of house report 118-551 by the gentlewoman from colorado boebert on which proceedings were postponed and ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment 48 printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered by ms. boebert of colorado. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a recorded vote will rise.

a sufficient number having arisen. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 215, the nays are 206. the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is a request for a recorded vote on amendment 49 printed in part b of house report 118-551 by the gentleman from florida mr. mills, on which further proceedings were postponed and ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment 49 printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered by mr. bills of florida. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house

proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 217, the nays are 206. the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is a request for a recorded vote on amendment number 50 printed in part b of house report 118-551 by the gentleman from florida mr. walz on which further proceedings were postponed and the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment 50 printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered by mr. waltz of florida. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

. the chair: the yeas are 205 and the nays are 216. the amendment is not adopted. the the unfinished business is request for recorded vote on

amendment number 53 printed in part b of house report by the gentleman from by mr. norman on which further proceedings were the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 53 printed in part b of house report 118-551 offered by mr. norman. the chair: those in support of a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. house of representatives how manies

the chair: the yeas are 218 and nays are 205 the amendment is adopted. the question is on the motion -- for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? mr. rogers: i move that the committee do now rise. the chair: the question is on the motion that the committee do now rise. those in favor, say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the committee rises rises. the chair: the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration has directed me to report the committee has had no

resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the committee has had under consideration h.r. 8070 and has come to no resolution thereon.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? the chair will entertain requests for one-minute

speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. carter: i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized without objection. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i rise today to mourn the loss of caroline do you living who tragically passed away at the age of 11. she passed away may 18 after sustaining multiple injuries in an accident and from pierce county georgia and attended patterson elementary. she was an a-b honor roll student. she was awarded the highest achievements in reading and social studs the p.e. award.

caroline participated in sports including basketball and softball where she made the pierce county 12-under softball team. caroline had a love for animals and road rode her house. she was a member of first baptist church and attended sunday school classes. she was a loving and caring young lady who mid us feel value and i send my deepest condolences to her family. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker i rise to

acknowledge a significant part of our journey to towards justice and reconciliation in our state. last month a historic statewide antilynching proclamation was signed by governor cooper designating antilynching month in north carolina. this resulted from the efforts of the community remembrance project of warren county naccp which partners with the equal justice initiative. it shines a light on the painful and often overlooked history of lynchings in our state and calls for awareness recognition and the significance of civil rights to ensure that such atrocities never happen again. thank you mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition?

>> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker the chaos at our border today is caused by president biden ending the effective policies of president trump. it was first act in office and has cost our nation dearly. now we face a crisis. our cities and states are overwhelmed by millions of illegal immigrants who are costing billions while american citizens are pushed to the back to the line. fentanyl is flowing through along with gang members and terrorists on the f.b.i.'s list. we witnessed the murder of laken riley, yetnt has done nothing. we must restore the remain in mexico policy. end catch and release and enforce the laws on the books and on top of those who entered must be deported to restore

order. president trump's policies worked and we must return to them. this is not about politics but about the safety and sovereignty of our great nation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. kaptur: i rise today with heavy heart to honor and remember mr. morgan williams, a remarkable red white and blue patriot who loved free holder agriculture and its connection to liberty. an experienced fr agricultural rift was a friend and tireless advocate for u.s.-ukraine relations. he devoted himself to develop the foundation and business council profounding influencing

the growth and strength of business ties between our two nations and understood the potential of ukraine to our world. he compassionately the largest collection of artworks about stalin's forced famine in ukraine in the last century upon millions of innocents perished and supporter of ukrainian history and culture. his love for ukr have left a mark and his absence is a great void. we honor his memory and commitment to liberty and his understanding of the land freely held or not freely held and not freely held how permanent surfdom. we need to strive and free for a free ukraine. your difference has made a difference on planet earth. . .

. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for up with minute -- for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker on may 22, the community i'm fortunate to represent in the san francisco bay area lost a community leader and a giant for justice equity and inclusion. mr. desaulnier: and a good friend willy mims. throughout his life willy demonstrated his passion for his community, working tirelessly to empower and serve contra costa county and the bay area. a teacher by training he spent more than 25 years in the classroom, supporting and inspiring young minds and advocating on behalf of parents and students. a civil rights leader, willy was an original mem the pittsburgh california, black political association and executive board member of the east county branch of the naacp. and was instrumental in the creation of the antioch

california, school district's african-american male initiative which sought to address racial disparities between black students and their peers. for his tireless work, willy received the dr. martin luther king freedom fighter award in 2008 and was the county 2024 humanitarian of the year award. it was an honor and a pleasure and i'm filled with gratitude to have known willy and to be his friend over the years. he will be deeply missed by his family friends and the community. it thank you, mr. speaker -- thank you, mr. speaker and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. porter: dealing with a flight delay or cancellation is tiring and frustrating and it often feels like the airlines are working against you rather than treating you as a valued customer. when things go wrong even

getting a refund can be discouraging or impossible. but not anymore. thanks to the biden administration's new rule, airlines must now automatically refund customers for tickets and fees when a flight is canceled or significantly delayed. i applaud the administration's rule and congress should do even more to stand up to the airline industry. i have consistently taken on airlines who spend tens of millions of dollars each year lobbying washington to prevent protections for travelers. this congress i introduced four bills to protect americans from corporate abuse when they fly and i'll keep working to hold airlines accountable and do right by travelers. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 9 2023, the gentleman from michigan, mr. bergman is recognized for 60

minutes -- bergman is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. bergman: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend theiremarks and to include extraneous material on the topic of this special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. bergman: thank you, mr. speaker. june 14, 2017, was a dark stain on america's history. there are several of us in this room today who would not be here for two reasons. number one first and foremost, by the grace of god. and number two by the fact that then-majority whip steve scalise showed up for practice that morning. because without his security can detail none of us would be

here. the deranged gunman that took revenge upon republicans on the baseball field that morning sought to give no mercy just to create havoc. we know that we are better than the behavior that we saw that day. the bond that brought us all together especially that day on the baseball team, spread i believe throughout the country to bring people together at a time when we needed it and we continue to need it. when i mentioned leader -- now leader scalise coming that day he is only here because of the actions of one of our members and that man is representative brad wenstrup, combat surgeon

dedicated soldier and ready for the task at hand, as i personally witnessed tending to representative scalise on the field. it was truly brad's readiness and professionalism that enabled the lifelight to occur and scalise to successfully make it to tospital. i commend colonel wenstrup for what he did and the calm with which he did it. it is the calm, not the excitement that drives us to the positive results. i cannot thank him enough as a personal friend and what he has done for the community as a whole to show what good behavior really means in the face of

extreme adversity. i'm honored to be among my colleagues here tonight and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. under the speaker's announced policy of january 9, 2023, the gentleman from ohio, mr. wenstrup, is recognized as the designee of the majority leader. mr. wenstrup: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank those that are here tonight to speak on the experience from that day. i thought it would be appropriate that we start with mr. duncan. mr. duncan was one of the first to lead practice that day and he will share his experience at this time. mr. duncan: i thank the gentleman for holding this special order to talk about what happened in 2017. one year ago tomorrow marks the day we had baseball practice right before the game. the day before the game. and ron desantis, now governor of florida representative from

that state rode to the game with me every morning. or to the practice. and that morning we were on the field, i wasron was starting third baseman. and as we did at every practice, we had infield practice, then we had batting practice, and then during batting practice, many of us were out there shagging balls. ron was at third, i was at shortstop. ron said, when are you thinking about leavi jeff? he said, i've got a meeting i could get to if we could head on. i said, you've done infield and batting practice, i have. and chairman conaway mike conaway from texas was in the batting caning batting i said, let's let chairman conaway finish and then we can go. conaway finished, we ran off the field, i ran around the pitcher's mound steve can less was -- scalise was at second base i fist bumped him. tom rooney was at facemask and tom said, dunn first base and

tom said, duncan, what time is it? i told him what time it was. tom had to leave so he left. he was it's first -- he was the first one out of the gate. ron desantis went off the field and then i went off the field and out in the parking lot i was stopped by a gentleman who said, excuse me, can you tell me who is practicing today republicans or democrats? i said, this is the republican team practicing and he said, thank you. turned out that was the shooter. i was face to face with him for a brief interlude beforee left the parking lot to go into his van by the ymca and load his weapons and get prepared to fire about 137 rounds at my colleagues that i left on the baseball field that morning as i drove back to the capitol. a lot of god winks in that event that morning. and i can't thank anyone but my lord and savior for getting me off that field and away from danger because i would have been standing at shortstop ron

desantis would have been at third base. trent kelly was the third baseman after ron left and first shot was fired at trent had a chain link fence is/8 -- 1/8th of an inch, saved trent's life, rattled the gentleman and made him erratic spraying bullets across the field to hit steve scalise, matt barth, matt mika and others the gentleman from had come from illinois to the washington area to assassinate republicans. he had a list in his pocket with six or eight names that he wanted to kill. my name was on that list. and i was face to face with him. and thank god he wasn't prepared at that moment because he had targeted me specifically. my name, my address my age my physical description among other things. so a lot of god winks on that field that day. and we're just thankful that no one died. especially our majority leader,

steve scalise my good friend who the next year after recovering from his wounds and coming out to the baseball field, had the first pitch in a live pitch baseball game, of off a bat, hit directly to him. he was at second base, i was at shortstop. i came around to back him up behind the bag. and i was the first one there to take him in my arms and hug him and just praise god that he was there for that moment. i want to give, as i wrap up here give others a chance to share their memories. i'll give a special shoutout to some hero that was day -- some heroes of that day. that's matt bayley and crystal griner who were there who fended off the shooter and kept much more harm from being done if that shooter had been able to get on thield. and then the alexandria police department that showed up 11 minutes, 12 minutes after the shooting started. that's how quickly it happened. and dispatch the assassin.

who the f.b.i. said was hoping to die suicide by cop. he was an assassin. let's call him what he was. he knew he'd probably die that day but he wanted to take out as many republicans as he could. and it was a tragic day that day, but it was special because no one died, everyone lived and all the god winks that were there. so i thank the gentleman and i yield back. mr. wenstrup: thank you. there clearly was a lot of divine intervention. we ent event tonight 6/14/2017, a day of infamy in america. infamy which means an evil act. and it truly was that. i remember watching jeff duncan leaving. i was out in the outfield. and i was thinking to myself, i usually have to leave early.

today i don't. i can stay longer. there were so many things that were divine intervention. i met the groundskeeper a couple months later. he said, i don't know why but i locked the third base gate the night before. if that was open, he could have walked right in. the fences are 20 feet high. people can't just hop the fence and get out. thank goodness for steve scalise. he took a bullet for all of us. the first shot rang out it hit a link in the fence right by the bullpen, it was our last practice so pitchers weren't in the bullpen. another divine intervention. trent kelly two-star general couple of tours overseas, at third base. he immediately cries out there's a shooter. and everyone started to disperse. along the way everybody was trying to help one another. young man, matt mika, was his

severely in the side of his chest and out the front of his chest. steve went down and he was crawling towards the outfield. and then he came to a stop. and there he lay. in the meantime, everyone else was running to try and get out on the facemask side. dive -- first base side, diving into the dugout which served as a bunker as the shooter eventually started shooting above the bunker. you can see the bullet holes there we were blessed that david and crystal were there as was said, and the alexander police ultimately. they were both hit actually. but they were there and saved our lives. i had changed my mind for some reason after i had batting practice, i was on my way back to the outfield and i changed my mind and went down to the batting cage which is outside the fence of the field. on the facemask side, the -- first base side, shooter started on the third base side. shot rang out about 7:00 in the morning. i got down on the ground. i served as a combat surgeon in

iraq, my instincts kicked in. i'm thinking, who is doing the shooter? how many people -- shooting? how many people doing the shooting? god put me in the place where i could see the shooter i could he soot capitol police, i could see where everyone was including i thank god for that. i thank god for that. when they took him down, i was able to run out to steve. there were 136 rounds fired that day and most people don't know that. this went on for a while. most people think oh, guy came along and fired a shot. it was far more than that. when i got to steve, i was able to recognize that he was hurt worse than people might have thought because he was bleeding internally. we were able to slow down his bleed hinge and the rest was history and was able to make it to the hospital.

when he got to the hospital, he no longer had a blood pressure, but they were able to save his life. a lot of miracles and a lot of sacrifices made. it is interesting that it happened around the baseball game because baseball is the only sport that i know that has a play called the sacrifice where you give of yourself to advancing another and i saw so many people on the field that day doing whatever they could to help those that were here. paul ryan came to the floor that day and said an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. and i agree. we are fortunate to be here today, all of us. and that's part of what we want to talk about today how grateful we are to god for the divine intervention that occurred for so many as we tell our story.

could have been far worse. and to think that in one morning, steve scalise wasn't there, there is no capitol police and this man could have walked on to that field killing the 20, 30 members of congress and staff possibly changing the balance of the house of representatives in one morning. i contend that is an snarksd insurrection. that is an insurrection that we survived. we stand here today grateful and don't want this day to be pushed aside in the books of history. this is bigger than that. god was on our side. we did everything we could for each other on that day. and that's an important message that we want to share with america. with that, i would like to now

introduce the manager of our baseball team after a very successful stewardship of baseball game last night and i shared with the skipper this is representative roger williams of texas and how night before the game asked me when this game comes around, do youk of the events of that day? and i think of the events every day of my life. mr. williams. mr. williams: thank you brad. and special to be here tonight thank you for calling us to remember this day. toas yesterday. i got up that morning just like we all did and got ready and went to practice. my situation was that i was hitting growables to trent kelly. -- ground balls and started to

scalise, i'm coming at you. and as soon as i ball to scalise, the shot rank off. little did i know the shooter was 20 feet behind me. i did not know that. a shot went off and trent kelly yelled he has a gun head for cover. when he said that, my instincts told me to get to the dugout. and the dugouts were dugouts and dug into the ground. and i remember i ran to the dugout and jumped and like jumping into the swimming pool with no water. and i remember as i was in the air heading into the dugout, i said i'm not surprised because the anger we have up here. when i hit the dugout, i slid all the way on the concrete and slid into the arms of jeff flake

and mo brooks. and we three were in the corner and as brad said this guy was firing. there were shells going into the dugout. two of the coaches larry hardy was in that dugout. done watson was in that dugout. and we were all trying to stay away from the action and out of nowhere came my aid who worked for me and came to every batting practice and when the shooting he ran to the right field foul pole and the shooter shot at him 10 times and missed him and zach decided the only way to stay alive was to run to the dugout and during to running he got shot in the leg. and he dove into the dugout not

knowing i was there. he dove in the dugout and dove right in my arms. and at that moment you had a bonding of a 67-year-old man and a 24-year-old in my my arms and he said i'm hit. i'm hit. mo and jeff didn't know what to do and didn't have the experience of dr. wenstrup. we took off our belts to stop the bleeding and we all hunkered down and we heard that scalise was down. we couldn't see it. we heard steve had been hit and shots were going off and didn't hear anything from the capitol police and we thought in our situation, we thought they probably had been killed. and we decided that we were going to charge him.

maybe it would work and maybe it wouldn't. we made that commitment to do that and we heard the sirens and we were praying for sirens. and arlington police. and when they got there. we heard shooting not just an ak-47 going off but heard 9 millimeters going off. praise god for crystal and david. david bailey was shooting like this at the perpetrator to keep from coming around to the rest of us. and finally it ended. and i remember somebody started yelling everybody out of the dugout. everybody out of the dugout. and i said i'm not getting out of the dugout. i don't know who that is.

i'm staying here. we saw the police and got out of the dugout. helicopter had come to get steve. a lot of chaos. people gathered around together. dr. wenstrup saw me and i had been injured in the ankle and called an ambulance for me and said get him to the hospital. and was in an ambulance and took me to the hospital. that night, i was in the hospital. brad came to see me. i will never forget that. president trump called me and vice president pence called me and said should we play the game tomorrow. i said absolutely. but -- and later in my situation, i got hit with shrapnel and i had a lot of treatment and decision if i didn't get better in two weeks

that i might lose my leg. so it was a life-changer for all of us. but steve brad wenstrup showed courage like i have never seen. but we had gals and everybody did their thing. but the range was that day and what you talked and something as small as david bailey's cell phone and david reached to get his cell phone because david felt he was surrounded by isis, which would have been a whole another story. he called for help and got hit got hit in the phone. if it hadn't hit his phone might have hit him in the side, he might not have made it.

but i think that was an angel. and reminded me that god is in charge. could have been just the opposite. i remember in the dugout as we were being the shooting was going on, two things going on, to die. i was not afraid of dying. but i did hope that my wife remembered i wanted this "put me in coach i'm ready to play" at my funeral. i had a granddaughter coming in october. so god was in charge. he took care of us, the perpetrator paid for his act. the arlington police said david bailey and christie griner saved us and we are owing to them and

not often you get to hug someone and thank them like we were able to. brad said and the others, it didn't come along on this day. you wake up every morning. and every time you have baseball practice you think about it. and we wear bracelets today that have the date of the shooting that say in god we trust. so it's a day i'll never forget. i'm thankful for god letting us have another chance. as brad said, there were several articles written about the shooting. one article i read was a -- talked about if it had gone just the opposite, things politically and in the world would be much different, but they weren't. and crystal griner and david bailey and arlington police, i get to see my granddaughter and

coach. i am in congress and still love my wife. for that i'm grateful. at the end of the day we can do this. people shouldn't be angry and that's the goal we havein congress to agree to disagree. i end my speech, in god we trust, praise the lord. god bless america. thank you. >> thank you. now we are going to hear from mr. barry loudermilk who was there that day and not only there and survived but participated in helping others throughout that entire time. mr. loudermilk. mr. loudermilk: i thank my good friend brad for this moment. i think back to that day at noon

when we gathered into this chamber, i sat right over here in the front row. speaken went to the podium and as was said already he said an attack on one of us is af us. as i look around the chamber not much has changed from this day. the carpet and chairs are the same some of the people are the same. but none of us who were on the field that day are the same. it's had an impact on all of us. as you just heard coach williams tell his story we all have the same story but different perspective. some of it -- we were in different locations. i was in a different location that representative wenstrup who was in a different location than our coach. but we all experienced the same

thing. and one thing that you will hear that is consistent are the miracles that happened that day. one of the things that this has had an impact on me as we have all dealt with some level of traumatic stress afterwards, but this has built my faith. help brews 11 hiesm 11, substance is the thing that faith hopes for and the evidence of things unseen. none of us saw angels on the field did he flecting bullets that day. none of us were there when the angels spoke to the groundskeeper and impressed upon him to lock the gate on the third base side of that field. had he not called a grounds keeper at 9:00 that evening before our practice and had not

chainlocked that gate, that shooter would have gotten on the field and would have been a different story. . . . . we didn't see the angels conducting the miracles buthe evidence was there. i was standing at home plate. i'd just put on a batting helmet and i was waiting to my tush to step into the batter's -- turn to step into the batter's box and take some live pitching. rodney davis was there ahead of us and he was hitting. as i was standing there i heard the distinct sound of the report of a firearm. now where i live in georgia that's not unusual. i'm working in the backyard, i hear shots all the time. people sighting their rifles, doing targeting practicing. so i didn't think much about it at the moment but then i realized, i'm not at home in georgia, i'm in alexandria, virginia. why am i hearing a gunshot? the next sound i heard was our third baseman trent kelly holler he's got a gun run.

at that moment i started running up the first base line. many of my colleagues, as you heard, went into the dugout. but as one of the veterans, immediately my training kicked in and i thought, this is not a great place to go in case the shooter gets on the field. however, to get off the field would expose me longer, but i decided to head past the dugout and go out the gate. ed a i'm running i -- as i'm running i see the ground erupting on each side of me and i realize that the shooter was targeting me at that moment. as i reached the gate, i turned to go out of the field and i heard the sound of a round hitting the fence post next to me. the gate, about 20 feet outside the gate, is a wooden shed. my training started coming back to me. when you're under assault seek

concealment, find the aggressor if you have a means to fight back fight back. if not plan an escape route and get to safety. those things were running through my mind. i saw the shed, i went behind the shed. but i couldn't see where the shooter was because he was down the first base line. i needed to get where i could see the shooter as i rounded the corner of the shed where i'm looking back down toward the back stop, that's when i see one of our staff members, matt mika, walk around the other side of the shed, already covered in blood, and lay down next to the capitol police s.u.v. at that moment i realized, i can't escape now i have a colleague who is down, i have to stay and help him. i jumped up and started to run to him when brian kelly another staff member who had gone around the side of the shed with me, he hollered barry get down, get down. as i went down to my knees i heard the sound of a bullet go

right past my head and hit the shed next to me. i didn't realize it, but the shooter had come around the back of the back stop and had targeted where i was and brian kelly. as i went down i saw david bayley and crystal griner come around the back of the s.u.v. both of them trying to engage with the shooter. within a couple of moments the shooter came around the back stop was next to a concrete building and started shooting underneath the susk s.u.v. -- s.u.v. one of the rounds hit crystal griner in the ankle and i saw her immediately go down. david bayley then would walk out and expose himself so the shooter would turn and start targeting him to give us an opportunity hopefully get to matt mika and crystal griner. however, any time we would start to try to move up to help them, he would turn and start shooting back at us again. what seemed like an eternity,

the gun fire was going over and over again bullets would run the ground right next to us. but we stayed there. brian kelly and i stayed there because i wasn't going to leave matt alone. finally, i saw david bayley's pants flutter and he started to limp and i realized he had just taken a round in the leg. as we found out later he'd taken shrapnel from where a bullet ricocheted off of a car's wheel. when i realized that if david bayley goes down, the shooter's coming directly to us, but within a few moments we heard another distinct sound of a different type of firearm. it was the lexa police -- it was the alexandria police who had arrived. as i stood there and i looked, david bayley fully exposed himself as the shooter came around the other side of this concrete building and was standing there shooting at david

bayley, as he was returning fire saying drop the weapon, drop the weapon drop the weapon. it was about that moment the alexandriaolice then took down the shooter. my immediate reaction was to go to matt mika and help him. but with a gaping hole in chest i thought i could do more damage than good trying to put pressure on it. but one thing i could do, i could pray for him. so i laid my hands on matt and we prayed. i don't remember what i said that day. but then i realized the s.u.v. has to have a medical kit in it. so i asked crystal griner, do you have a medical bag and she said yes it's in the back. i got up and i ran around and by the time i pulled the medical bag out, i wassan astonished when i came -- i was astonished when i came back around the s.u.v. the paramedics were already there with matt mika. i was surprised they were there that fast. i didn't realize steve scalise

had been shot at that moment but i looked and there was a crowd gathered out on the field and someone told me out to the field and dropped the bag off to brad and the others who were on the field and i looked and i don't know how he got there but david bayley was there checking on steve scalise. he still didn't realize he had been hit in the leg and he was trying to walk off the field by himself so i helped david walk off the field and that was one of the most memorable moments. as others have said, if it had not been the heroism of -- for the heroism of david bayley and crystal here today. if it wasn't for the brotherhood and the camaraderie of all of us supporting each other things would be a lot different here today as well. i think it's interesting that we're discussing this just a few days after the 08th anniversary of -- 80th anniversary of d-day.

my father was a medic in world war ii and he landed at d-day. and one of the things that he used to tell me as a child he said brothers who share a foxhole are friends who share a foxhole, are brothers for life. there's a bond between all of us here that cannot be broken, cannot be shaken. did that day change me? yes. i had the choice to let it negatively effect me or to positively effect my future. and i chose the positivity. look for the positive. make positive change. and i believe that we have done that. we're stronger because of it. i think we are wiser for it. but we're also more dedicated to one another to see each other through these things, regard lings of -- regardless of when some of us leave this great

institution, we will never spiritually leave one another. god bless all of you. and thank you. i yield back. mr. wenstrup: thank you very much barry. you know, i'm grateful for you bringing that bag of medical supplies from the capitol police van. because there were things in there i needed. and were able to put a clotting bandage on, use a better tourniquet than a belt and we started supplying liquids to steve. to help sustain him. also helping me right there was mr. gary palmer, and next we're going to hear from mr. balmer. -- mr. palmer. mr. palmer: thank you brad, forgiving us this opportunity to -- for giving us this opportunity to reflect on the events of june 14, 2017.

regardless of what we do the rest of our lives, that day will bind us togete that day. the interesting thing is the day before i saw the man who attacked us. he was sitting in the bleachers behind the back stop looking nye opinion very -- in my opinion, very distressed. and i thought about going over and talking with him. but we were trying to get to practice and get practice started. so i didn't see him again until later. as congressman duncan related, i was actually over at second base with scalise when duncan and ron desantis left. trent kelly was already over at third base. so i moved over to shortstop. and our practices are a lot of

banter back and forth at each other. it's a lot of fun. a lot of ragging each other. and all that was going on and then i heard a sharp crack and i immediately recognized it as a gunshot. and i yelled at trent kelly that it was a gunshot and trent said, and the bullet had whizzed by him, by the providence of god by an act of god that bullet had struck a link in the chain link fence. the shooter after he had asked democrats, walked over to his van which he had been living in for about three months, and parked in the parking lot of the ymca across the street from the field and they were doing some construction, there were some little containers there that blocked our view of anyone approaching from that side.

so he came up on the outfield end of the third base dugout and maybe about four feet, five feet from the fence fired that first shot. and there was a few seconds' hesitation before anything else happened. it was almost like it was just a single shot. and when i yelled out at trent trent turned around and saw him and h got a gun, get off the field. and everyone was kind of stunned. things just kind of froze for a moment. until the gun fire erupted. and so the only openate, thank god the third base gate was closed but the only open gate was on the first base side and so we're all running in that direction, others -- i remember seeing general bergman jack bergman, lying flat on the ground by home plate along with

mike bishop of michigan. others scrambling to get in the dugout. i saw scalise get hit. i knew he was hit low. i didn't know where. but i knew he was hit low because of the way he fell. and as i was running across the infield trying to get off the field, i had two thoughts that went through my mind. one was if today's the day i'm ready. and then i thought i wonder what it will feel like. as i got off the field took cover behind a big oak tree that was really between where the little building were barry loudermilk and his -- the other guys had taken shelter and that concrete block building where the shooter had taken a position i saw crystal griner on the ground and from the blood on her leg i thought she was shot in the leg. turns out she was shot through

the ankle. and she was trying to pull herself up toward the front wheel well of the s.u.v. to, i think try to get in a position to return fire. and behind the oak tree was trent kelly and john mole n.r.a. from michigan -- moolenaar from michigan and i don't know who said it, but someone said we needed to pull back to a concrete block building behind us where the concession stands were where the restrooms were. and when i pulled -- got back there, i took the position beside brad wenstrup and brad and i were at that corner and scalise had dragged himself with his hands and arms out of the infield, out in the outfield. he had started -- when he started doing that, when i was still by the oak tree, he kept raising up trying to look -- i

think he was trying to see where he was shot. and i started yelling at him to get down, get down. because bullets were flying everywhere. and when he got out in the outfield he just lay quietly. brad would yell out to him raise your hand, for show of life and steve would raise his hand. we were praying this would end so that we could get to steve in time to give aid. thankfully someone yelled out he's down, he's down. and brad, and there were about what brad, five or six of us that got out there. when i saw where he was shot, i knew he was in trouble. i knew that there would be bone fragment i knew there would be lead fragments and i also knew that i had no clue what to do other than put pressure on the wound. barry loudermilk brought the

first aid kit out and gave it to me and i opened it up and was providing brad with whatever materials that we could find in the bag. brad fashioned a lower body town et of getting scalise's baseball shirt off and was able to make that and when the e.m.t.'s showed up they had one and my understanding brad knew how to put it on and got it on and that's what saved steve's life. these are individual actions that i think were handed by the hand of god and no other explanation for why 136 rounds were fired at people we were, five

people were hit, five victims but none of them. the only person who died that day was the shooter. the other thing that struck me was the members' reaction. nobody screaming. nobody panicked. you hear a lot of times of what people talk about in combat or these type of situations and they say time slows down. everything was so focused and as soon as the shooter was down, our members sprang into action helping each other. i was so proud of how our guys responded and didn't panic because it was certainly a situation where most people would have panicked. congressman loudermilk mentioned

david bailey being wounded. when bailey came out to be by the side of steve scalise, i offered to try to tend to his wound and refused treatment. he would not leave the side of steve scalise. the ep log i guess of this, i guess is how it has affected us and made our bond even stronger. as i said at the very beginning we are bound together for life. a wonderful relationship that we have with each other as members of congress and members of republican baseball team, but this is an event that defines us in many respects and i'll never frgt. but the ep log is the disappointing part of the story. there is no doubt in my mind this was an act of political

violence. it was clearly an attempt a planned attempt to kill congress. when we had a briefing by the f.b.i. and steve scalise got out of rehab several months after shooting and gathered us in the room to have the f.b.i. to give us an report and an individual was attempting to commit suicide by to remember both the capitol police officers were shot. when the alexandria police showed up and fired on him initially, he returned fire on them. if this was his intention to commit suicide by cop he wouldn't have been firing on them. he came there to kill republicans. it was one of the most shameful

days in my opinion for the f.b.i. to come before us and steve scalise in a scooter because he was unable to walk sitting right in front and to read a report to us that wanted to describe this, categorize this as an attempted suicide. i am so grateful to brad wenstrup who has refused to accept that and has continued to pursue the truth and get the f.b.i. to classify this as what it was because the truth needs to be told. but also story. as scalise continued his rehabilitation at meedstar hospital and another part of the story, too. when the ambulance arrived to

take scalise to george washington hospital, there was so much traffic and steve's blood pressure was basically he had minutes not hours. it was evident they weren't going to get over there and the department of interior helicopter and radioed the helicopter to land at the baseball field and took steve out of the plans and only place that had a place was meedstar hospital and just so happened and i believe the providence of god, one of the top surgeons in the country was on call and still for two days, we didn't know if steve was going to make it. when steve did his rehab he is a huge l.s.u. fan and we went to great lengths to put on an

l.s.u. cap and i played at alabama and that was a one-time event and i will never do that again and it happened that fall, l.s.u. was playing at the university of alabama. i called the university and asked them to invite steve scalise to be our guest because steve you give him an objective and he will achieve it. i had the honor of hand delivering a letter of invitation from coach nick saban to steve in the hospital. coach saban and knew each other when he was the head coach at l.s.u. and i stood there and read the letter and steve scalise was at the university of alabama for the l.s.u.-alabama

football game. we beat them, which we usually do but it was one of the great moments for me to go through this tragic event see this guy fight for his life achieve an objective, come back on this floor and stand at this microphone and give one of the best speeches i have ever heard on the floor of the house of representatives. in conclusion, i think we all understand what happened that day. we understand condition of our country right now the anger the division that potentially could tear us apart. i don't think we need to be reminded of the responsibility we have in conducting the

affairs of the governance of this country in a way that not only allows us to continue to function as a nation, but restores respect for the chamber, restores respect for the separation of powers, restores respect for our ability to disagree but still live together. tomorrow as we said is the 7th anniversary of that event. i know, as my colleagues have all said, it's a day we will never forget. but i hope a as that day was that every member of this body that we have a responsibility in how we conduct our business and present our arguments and that we dedicate ourselves in trying to bring unity back in a country that right now is stricken with anger

and malice that if we don't deal with it properly is going to do enormous harm to our ability to live together, to govern together and to give those who follow us, an opportunity to live and what is the greatest country in the history of the world. congressman, i yield back. mr. wenstrup: thank you very much. and i thank all my colleagues who participated in this event tonight. people ask me, what is your greatest memory of your time in congress? and i tell people the day that steve scalise walked back on this floor truly is. and i want to thank those who are watching and listening tonight, i encourage people to read steve's book, maybe i

shouldn't say it on the floor and sums up all the miracles of the day called "back in the ories sentimental to all of us. a lot of lessons learned but it is pretty interesting. if you listen to everybody you recognize that we went to a baseball practice and as a result we carved out our chapter in history and affirmed our faith in god. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 9 2023, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. roy for 30 minutes. mr. roy: i thank the speaker. and i thank the gentleman who was just speaking on the floor my friend, mr. wenstrup, my

friend mr. palmer, for what they were just doing reminding theeople what happened seven years ago and gets glossed over for the politically motivated attack on members of congress that it was. a lot is made, a lot of statements were made about january 6 and things that occurred but not enough is made about what happened that day when someone was targeting our friends, our colleagues for political reasons and it gets frankly ignored by some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. and steve scalise -- a stark reminder who serve here. but the country shouldn't forget what happened and forget what those gentlemen on that field went through and why that is so

critically important. i thank them for that and certainly thahem for their continued service. i do think it's really important that we remember as a body in that we're here. why do we convene as a congress? why do we come here and engage from all over the country from 50 states and flying here each week and conduct business. because too often it turns into a clock-punching exercise where people come in, fly in and go to some meeting or fundraiser or event or quick hearing and do their thing and vote and go home. but what we have to remember when we come here, we are supposed to be stopping for a moment and remembering that we are representing 750,000 every americans and we have an

obligation to fight for them and do what we said we would do when we ran for office to represent them in the first place. and much has been made, i am reminded when i go all over the country and doing campaign events or personal business, i am reminded people watch what we say here and watch videos what we say and from time to time, people bring up to me a speech that i gave about six months ago in which i asked rhetorical but important and emphatically, name one thing we have done, name one thing we have accomplished and i was talking about our republican colleagues in particular. i stand behind that question and important question to ask. of course, it is clipped to leave out the important parts which was name one thing we have

accomplished besides doing something that is equivalent of democrat-like or something that is the soft version of what our democratic colleagues want to do. i want to remind people, because it is important what we have been able to accomplish as the united republican party under two speakers. we passed the limit safe, grow act which republicans passed an increase in the debt ceiling that was relatively modest, a dollars in exchange for very significant policy challenges to get our country on the right track. . we repealed the subsidies that are empowering billion dollar corporations empowering china undermining our ability to produce energy effectively.

we implemented spending caps, to limit the discretionary spending cut back on the weaponized department of justice, department of education, so many different agencies across the bureaucracy. we passed the reins in to rein in the regulatory state saying if something so going to have saryn impact it has to be apprised of congress. we implemented work requirements on snap and medicaid. we worked together to try to transform this country as we told the american people we would do. we did that together. we united to do it. again we modestly increased the debt ceiling. modestly relatively speak in exchange for actual policy changes to take our country back and put it on the right path. we did that. we passed a strong border security bill that says you'll either be detained or turpd away that simple. most americans support that.

you'll be detained, if you have some sort of claim asylum claim or something else, some human tarp exception but you'll be detained for the full time until we adjudicate it or you'll be turned away. that's effectively what we passed in what we cull h.r. 2. our second big bill number. our bill we united to pass, again. for the first time. for the first time in tech kids, if not ever. this body came together and we passed a bill that would legitimately secure the boarder of the united states and force the hand of an administration that's refusing to secure the border while our country is being underfined -- undermined and engaged. even as we speak reporting thyme seeing pop up on my phone about the number of foreign national chinese foreign nationals, the 24,000 last year, amount of fentanyl pouring in the dangerous individuals being encountered. reporting on a daily basis. this administration, leaving our country wide open, refusing to

do anything about it this republican congress voted last year to pass h.r. 2 we passed it we sent it to the senate and chuck schumer did nothing with it. the national defense authorization act. we are in the middle of working on that bill as we speak for fiscal year 2025. we passed an f.y. -- in f.y. 2024 and nda a and this year -- this year we're working on something similar that's supported by conservative, by republicans. i don't agree with everything in it but it's a bill that's taking a giant step forward to refocus our military on being a military. on killing people and blowing things up. on doing the hard work of defending a country when called upon to do it, hopefully sparingly. but we have a military that is now currently gone offtrack. it's turned into a social engineering experiment. recruiting is low.

we have individuals in our military who are tired of being told that they've got to be a part of abortion tourism or transgender training. or whatever deferment i. planning and training that is being impressed upon them rather than just learning how to jump out of a helicopter, fire a today, we passed amendments on ndaa that will move it in the right direction. poled back on the d.e.i. pulled back on the transgender woke policies. pull back on the climate executive order by the president of the united states that's undermining the readiness of our military. we passed that amendment today. passed an amendment to end abortion tourism so you done have taxpayer dol aabortion. because the department of defense should not be a social engineering experiment. republicans today united to do that. this last year we united to do that. last week we passed a bill to

sanction with teeth actually sanction the international criminal court because it is wishing to and seeking to issue warrants on the prime minister of israel for simply defending his country. we passed that. we passed that bill with unanimous republican support. i think there were two present votes. 42 democrats. we did that by uniting as republicans to send message to the world that we b the international criminal court illegitimate, not only is the international criminal court wrong not only sit undermierng ally israel, but we should sanction it with actual sanctions. not watered down exceptions for the united nations. exceptions for all manners of these international organizations, so it doesn't have teeth. we passed sanctions with teeth. sending it over to the senate. chuck schumer refuses to stand with israel. chuck schumer refuses to do the work we're supposed to do as our country when our allies are being targeted and importantly

when the international criminal court is carrying out activities that will be turned around and focused on us that will be used against our own military. so again a united republican party over the last 18 months. when we have united we have passed limits to spending. modest debt ceiling increases for legitimate policy changes that would put us on the right path. a border security bill that would secure the border. a national defense authorization act now maybe twice come tomorrow that would repurpose our military on the military end or limit reduce, the social engineer the woke poll swisms pass and international criminal court sanctions bill with real teeth. and last year we passed a significant number of appropriations bills with significant policy changes and we had 1,100 amendments processed. we were moving things in the right direction. but here's the trick.

there are a lot of pieces to this. but here's the trick. how do you get that turned into law here's the dirty little secret in the town. most of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle would tell you, you must win elections in order to get that tone. they are not wrong. you cannot have the majority without elections. you cannot get the votes you need without the elections going the way you want to get the votes you need to pass the law. i agree. but here's the secret. you're never going to get stuff passed when you always have an excuse for not passing it. i'll say that again. you'll never get something signed into law when you start with the excuse for why you won't get it signed into law. all of the good things i just mentioned, all of the good things i say that this united

republican party has done in the face of absolute abject failure by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle the other end of 1600 pennsyl avenue. these great things but they have stopped. they have sat in the senate. because you have to be willing to sacrifice something. to fight to achieve to force these thoings a clon collusion. -- these things to a conclusion. my colleagues will say you got to win votes and you can't ask too much. there are times when you can ask too much. but when you were current members of our own body saying we won't have 60 votes in the senate in january so you have to factor that in to why we won't get appropriations bills we would prefer, why we should only have a continuing resolution going into a lame duck, so we can have the powers that be use the pressure of christmas to

pass an omnibus spending bill in december? i don't agree with that. but we're already being told we won't have 60 votes in the senate so you must accept it. the reason why i'm focusing on this for a second is, the people that i represent always ask me why. why don't you get these things done? the people i represent frankly people all across run into, they ask me why. why can't you secure the border? pretty simple question. why can you not secure the border. well, i have to tell them, i'm 1/435th of one half of one third of the federal government. so we have to go build the votes. but when you have the votes to build something like h.r. 2 and you send it over to the senate. then the only question that's going to matter is whether it's this year right now or whether it's next year if you hope to go out to the election season and

get a bigger majority by a handful of seats, get the majority in the senate by a couple or three seats and hope to get the white house then you say then don't worry. we'll do it then. or some will say oh we can't even do it then, we won't have 60 in the senate. the point is you have to pick something and fight for it. pick some number of things and fight for them. you have to take to the message to the american people. you have to be willing, you have to be willing to risk that precious to quote lord of the ring that election certificate that you hold on so tight that you done actually use it. i would rather serve one more term and jam through as much freedom legislation i possibly could, than to serve five more terms or 10 terms and not get

passed what we need to get passed. the average american family today is hurting. the average american family today, the average young person in america today can't afford their health care because this government has destroyed the health care market and made it impossible to afford. can't afford a vehicle because this government has regulat vehicles and made the price of gasoline and the vehicles that they want to buy cost prohibitive. they don't think they can afford houses and often case can't because this government has been blowing money driving up interest and creating an environment in which housing costs are now astronomically expensive. they don't think they can frankly, bring family into this world and have children because of the things i just talked about. they don't believe they can afford them. we have a responsibility as

leaders of this country in this chamber and the other chamber in the executive branch, we have a responsibility to actually deliver for the american people to preserve and protect the way of life that we cherish. that we sit here on the floor and regale the men who walked into the wall of bullets at normandy regail our founding fathers of the declaration of independence. we have to p preserve and protect the pursuit of happiness. the ability to carry out and live your unalienable rights given to you by god. but we're not doing that. i'm going to be blunt. we are not doing that. i would say of late that i believe that the republican conference has been doing some good work to make very clear to the american people what we can and will do if it trust -- if entrusted with the majority and

the majority in the senate and a republican in the white house. that. i believe again that the national defense authorization act with amendments and policies that reduce the woke social engineering and increase the focus on military, i believe the h.r. 2 bill, the border security provisions, i believe the appropriations bills that moving in the right direction and changing the process not perfect. i believe last year's limit save grow efforts. i believe a loft policies we're trying to advance. i believe the international criminal court bill. i believe the bill i'm trying to bring to the floor the save act to m citizens can vote in federal elections. i believe these demonstrate clearly the difference between republicans and dems and de clearly what republicans can do to unite for a purpose to ditch the american people against the swamp we can campaign against. but you'll never achieve those results if you come here and capitulate on tai one out of fear. fear of government shutdown. fear of failure.

fear of the slim majority. near possibility the president might veto it. fear of getting cross-wise with some politician who may something about you on twitter. instead, we should take this great work and we should take it and take it to the american people take it through the elections. and then set up the fight. set up the fight in 2025 to take our country back. because this country turns 250 years old in two years. on july 2. 2026. we will be celebrating our 250th birthday separating from england. two days later came the agreement on the language of the declaration. what are we going to do for the people on our 250th birthday? what are we going to be able to say to our kids and grandkids on our 250th birthday? next year, what are we going to

do to set the stage? if republicans go out and get elected, they take the white house, take the house take the. will we be able to take the policies that we came together to pass but failed to force through the senate and failed to force the president of the united states to even move, frankly, halfway will use our power then? will we use our power in january to get any of them signed into law because it doesn't matter if you keep getting elected. doesn't matter if you win elections if you don't do anything with it. will we finally take a chart and tweak it and hopefully better and stronger, will we finally to secure the border of the united states to force the president and transcend time not just in president trump's tenure but

once and for all will we do that as republicans? we better. will we ensure that our tax policy is geared towards working class, hardworking middle class families and small businesses struggling to make ends meet as opposed to corporations and k-street lobbyists? will we actually cut spending? and address the $35 trillion in debt that will be $38 trillion by the time we start the next congress and will we end the reckless spending without any limit or will we just slug and continue to borrow in object liveion if you look at the interest we just spent in may it is 79% of all of the personal income taxes collected into the

treasury. 80% of that which we collected from the american people through their took their money, 80% of that is just used to pay interest expense in may. think about that. imagine if you were sitting at home 80% of your income from your job imagine that, 80% of your income from your job in may was used to pay the interest in our mortgage. what do you have left for like that water gasoline, for food, for your kids, for your clothing? we don't -- or will we deal with spending in next congress? will we fully restore energy freedom, repealing the subsidies or subsidizing massive corporations undermining the ability for americans to afford energy powering up e.v.'s?

will we repeal the disastrous inflation reduction act so-called 1.2 trillion in subsidies. will we repeal it and end the so-called tailpipe rule? will we take back our country and provide the energy freedom that allows for human flourishing. 3 billion around the planet who don't have access to reliable energy. why would we move backwards instead of forked? will we end as we are trying to do in the ndaa, a toe in the water, will we end the social experimentation at the pentagon and instead bolster our military with the confidence and pride of defending the country instead of following a woke social agenda.

you must take a shot or you'll lose your job. will it make our military stronger? will we use the power and strength of our military through peace and strength acknowledge use our pelosi to start? use our spending power to end the weaponization a 75-year-old woman facing two years in prison because she prayed at an abortion clinic and dared to go to an abortion clinic and said how much do i have left to give on this earth but give my life to stand up for the unborn. even if you disagree with me and even if she was doing something that was stopping the law enforcement, two years in prison? under the face act?

are we g end the weaponization against its people and politicians to end turning this country into a banana republic. we have united in purpose and produced these results and border security and ndaa, appropriations bills sanctioning the international criminal court hopefully passing the save act will we take those things and turn those to victories that force them ug the president can sign them? will we finally take our country back and restore it to the american people and give them energy freedom so they can afford the energy that allows automobiles to go about their work and drive interest rates down to afford a home again and make education affordable and useful instead of subsidizing it

and then paying off the loans who and paying off the loans. what will restore and secure our borders and stop the lawless from coming across the rio grande and which the dollar is worthless and we didn't do our job here? will we pass tax reforms that are good for families and small businesses not for k-street. these are the questions that the american people want us to answer. they are tired of hearings, they are tired of speeches. i'll look in the mirror. i'm giving another speech. they want to see us do it. so my call to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle but particularly my republican

colleagues on the side of the aisle, we owe it to the 400,000 tombstones sitting on the other side of the potomac and that flag and our kids and grandkids and owe it to the world so er beacon of hope, we owe it to restore american independence restore liberty and freedom restore faith in a government that is doing its constitutional job we owe them that not excuses. we owe them to deliver. not to come back and say well, we tried. we owe our being when we are here in this town to work and get our job done. not to play politics, not to campaign not to go to another political event but to be here and do our job.

it is an honor to serve in congress but no point in being here if we aren't going to deliver for the sent us here to deliver for them. we will win the arguments if we'll make them. we will loose the arguments fg we are too afraid to fight. i'm tired of the celebrations of all the people who have fought, bled and died for this country wi absence of a conviction politically, with all due respect to the chamber who won the uniform and fought and bled for this country, politically, are you willing to fight bleed and politically die for your country? until you are willing to risk that and take that election

certificate and say i'm going to take this thing for a spin and do what i said i'm going to do and let the american people decide until we are willing to do that, we are going to be relegated to, in reagan's phrasing the ash heap of history. i happen to believe that we can take this country back but i happen we don't, don't take the steps right now to rescue her that we are going to lose her, we are going to be that generation that reagan talked about when reagan said we are only one generation away from extinction. the question for us is, what will we do? thank you mr. speaker.

the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman have a motion. mr. roy: i move to adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor, say aye. those opposed, no. the yeas have it, the motion is adopted accordingly the house standsurned until 9:00 a.m. >> earlier today, after a greeting ceremony at the g7 summit in italy, president biden participated in a news conference with ukrainian president zelenskyy. watch the tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern

on c-span, available on c-span now our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? >> comcast is partnering with 1,000 community centers to create wi-fi enabled lift zones so state of the unions from low-income families can get the tools th for anything. >> comcast sother television pde you a front row seat to democracy. >> c-span's "washington journal," our live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics and public policy. from washington, d.c. and across the country. coming up friday morning, the arms control association's darrel kimball discusses the state of nuclear weapons in the

u.s. and that the u.s. may be forced to amid growing threats from china, russia and north korea. then carrie severino talks about the decision to preserve access to the abortion medication mifepristone. and kathy manning on the supreme court's decision to reject consideration of a case involving mifepristone. join in friday. on c-span. now our free mobile app. or online at >> u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin held a news conference in brussels, belgium. they brief red porters about ukraine's progress and using u.s. weapons.

this is about 25 minutes.