Hitting the Ground Running

Floor Speech

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, with President Trump officially in the White House and the inauguration festivities behind us, House Republicans are hitting the ground running this week on critical bills to protect the most vulnerable among us and to respond to the devastating wildfires ravaging throughout southern California.

Just to capture what just happened maybe 30 minutes ago, in the House of Representatives, we just passed the final version of the Laken Riley Act, which is commonsense, immigration border security protocols that put the lives of Americans first.

It is so commonsense, I am going to highlight: There are two people, and primarily probably just one, that made this so we couldn't do this a year and a half ago when it should have been done in the 118th Congress.

We just had over a dozen Democrats in the Senate vote for this bill. We had numerous Democrats in the House also support this bill. What is the difference today versus 6, 8 months ago when we tried to pass this? It is Senator Schumer.

Senator Schumer, as the leader of the Senate, would not allow for this bill to come up. He told those 12 Democrats in the Senate, I am not going to give you a chance to actually vote for sensible border security about the life lost of a Georgian because of absolutely insane border falter from President Biden.

Chuck Schumer basically said to a big portion of his Democratic Senators: I am not going to give you a chance to vote on something sensible. The House sent it over to us. We are not going to vote on it.

One change was made. Senator John Thune was put in the leadership position where he, with Republican Senators, decided to bring this to the floor, and a dozen or so Senators came on board from the Democrat side and voted for something sensible.

I wish the American people would truly understand that that is why elections are so important. That is why you put conservative leadership over in the Senate coupled with what we are doing in the House to provide sensible legislation, not extreme legislation like when it gets highlighted.

Mr. Speaker, it is literally going to make a positive impact, and that is just the second day. President Trump now has something to sign and show the American people that he hears us and he is ready to go and move about this.

I commend the bipartisan group of individuals from the Democratic Party in the House and the Senate that were willing to sort of buck the trend and say let's do this. I am very excited about that. I make that point. Obviously, I am a little frustrated it took so much time. It should have been brought up under Senator Chuck Schumer when he was the majority leader. That is clearly not the way he is going to govern.

Who knows if President Trump would have signed it. If the Senate leaders are going to push, you can sometimes get something across the finish line in the White House, even in an opposing White House.

We got that done today. This week we are focusing on Congresswoman Wagner's Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, another very commonsense piece of legislation that protects the fundamental right to life by ensuring that babies who survive an attempted abortion receive the same medical care health providers would have administered to a fetus born at the same age.

If a baby survives an abortion, this bill says to that physician they have to administer the same healthcare treatments that they would in any other labor situation. This legislation also requires that healthcare providers transport the child to the hospital and report abortion violations to law enforcement.

As southern California continues to struggle with devastating wildfires, House Republicans are also supporting Chairman Westerman's Fix Our Forests Act which enhances resiliency after wildfires and reduces regulatory burdens that hinder active forest management.

I am grateful to my colleagues for joining me this evening to discuss these necessary pieces of legislation. I gladly yield to my colleague from Wisconsin (Mr. Van Orden).

Mr. VAN ORDEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I look at this issue from a different perspective. I was a combat medic in the United States Navy SEALs teams for over two decades. If I had encountered an enemy combatant that was injured on the battlefield, and I have, if I did not render medical aid to the best of my ability, up to and including to the detriment of my own troops, I would be subject to prosecution.

When we talk about the most innocent amongst us, unborn children, who survive the most traumatic circumstances imaginable, an attempted abortion, when we say as a body that we will not render medical aid to that human child, we are less of a people.

Unfortunately, tomorrow we are going to hear many of my Democrat colleagues say that this bill is to restrict a woman's right to have an abortion. That is a lie. We are going to hear many of my Democrat colleagues say that this is vindictive. That is a lie. We are going to hear many of my Democrat colleagues say that Republicans want to burden women who find themselves in a place where they feel like they must abort their unborn human child. That is a lie. Enough.

This is about the sanctity of human life, the dignity of a child, and our ability as a nation and as a body to express humanity to someone who has done nothing wrong, not to themselves, not to our culture, not to our society.

I implore my Democrat colleagues to look at the life of a human child that has survived possibly the most traumatic circumstance, an attempted abortion, and think of that child as their own. Think of that child as someone that is a child of God, that is the apex of creation because that is exactly what that child is. They deserve all of the respect that we can possibly give them because they are our children.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for his passion. It is always appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to hearing more of his perspective on what is ravaging through his State. Our hearts go out to those affected. As we hear many conversations about the California wildfires, we constantly hear that concern for the human element of this and a sincere desire to find improvements in how we can support them now and address this going forward.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I will quickly touch on it, as well. I anticipate there will be some clear bipartisan support on this. If we are looking at it through a lens of common sense, we should get an abundance of it.

I reflect back to Monday when President Trump, during his inaugural address, said we will be the party of common sense. It is something that I want to sincerely communicate as I wrap up here.

There are a lot of games that get played in Washington. There are a minority and a majority and a lot of back and forth that goes on. I have experienced both. I have experienced it all, from the White House switching, the Senate switching back and forth, and the House going back and forth.

There are a lot of games. There are a lot of times that the majority will put in a bill that has some poison pills in it for the minority, and it becomes an entire messaging bill, a party-line exercise.

I was subject to it for my first term. Not every bill from the majority was like that. I joined on, in a very bipartisan way, sometimes not even from the majority of my side.

You have to look at the policy. I have seen a sincere effort from us not to go down the poison pill route, just to get them to say they are going to vote against it and then we go out there in the public world and use it for campaign purposes.

This Fix Our Forests Act is such a sincere, commonsense approach from Chairman Westerman, who is a forester by trade. He has delved into this issue. He knows more about it than virtually anybody here in Congress. He can dive in and talk about how we can protect, preserve, and enhance our forest health, while also protecting our communities, by putting the type of forest breaks in there, controlled burns, things like that that have proven to be very successful.

My State goes through this all the time. We have seen devastation happen, and we have learned from it. That is all we are asking to do in this moment, is to take a look.

Honestly, I hope it ends up being a net positive. With all the destruction and the sadness that has gone on and the devastation in California right now, I hope it has captured the attention in all 50 of our States to recognize there are better ways to do this and that it is not a partisan exercise.

That is what we are trying to accomplish this week with Chairman Westerman's Fix Our Forests Act, a commonsense bill that works to prevent destructive wildfires, improve emergency response by providing new tools and advanced technology, and cut burdensome regulations and hinder active forest management.

I have served under Chairman Westerman on the Natural Resources Committee. He leads with a really sensible approach to solving problems. It is something we absolutely need more of back here.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues tonight for being here to help share the message of what we are trying to accomplish this week.

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