Scalise On Our Military, Condemning Anti-Semitism, Improving Air Travel

"This is going to be another busy week, where House Republicans move forward on the agenda that we laid out last year [and] getting things done for hardworking families across this country. But I'd be remiss if I didn't point out what we did last week, and how significant it was to pass a National Defense Authorization Act. You know, the week started with a bill that should have been very bipartisan. There were over 1,000 amendments filed on the bill. We had over 300 amendments that we brought to the House Floor, and everything was moving smooth[ly], in a bipartisan way, until an amendment passed that pushed back on the indoctrination that President Biden has tried to force into the Department of Defense, moving the Department of Defense away from its core mission of being prepared for the aggressive actions of our adversaries.

"You see what China's doing with their military. Our military was not meeting that same mission. We refocused the military with that bill, we gave a much needed pay raise -- over five percent pay raise to our troops with that bill -- and yet almost every Democrat walked away on the final passage. What was also important and there was an amendment -- that I didn't see a lot of press coverage about -- but I think it says a lot about where the Democrats priorities were, because how we spend the money is as important as how much money is being spent.

"You know, when you look at the fights over lowering spending -- and we need to have those -- once we finally get spending brought down to lower levels, we still need to focus on how that money is being spent and make sure it's being spent in the right places. And even more important[ly], make sure it's not being spent in the wrong places. And so there was an amendment brought to the Floor during that long vote series on Wednesday night that said taxpayer dollars -- [I] think Thursday night -- taxpayer dollars cannot go to the Taliban. And we all know what happened when President Biden made that ill-fated decision to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, leaving Americans behind enemy lines, creating 13 more Gold Star families, many of whom I met with this week who still demand answers from the Biden Administration that they're not getting. And they deserve those answers.

"This Republican majority is going to keep fighting to get those answers for those families who lost their loved ones in defending our country, but they sure don't want to see our taxpayer dollars going to fund the Taliban. And when we brought that amendment -- very straightforward amendment -- every Republican, of course, stood up and said, "No, taxpayer dollars shouldn't go to fund the Taliban.' Almost every Democrat voted against that amendment, so they're going to have to explain those kinds of votes.

"And so as we move forward this week, we've got a very straightforward build in the [Federal Aviation Authority] authorization. Over 100 amendments that are going to be in order, that you saw the Rules Committee move out yesterday, so that we can have a robust debate on how best to provide for our nation's aviation travel. America is still the gold standard, but we have serious problems that need to be addressed, and this bill starts that process of addressing some of those problems.

"But you're going to see more amendments voted on, but you're also going to see some important legislation. I'm glad that Mr. Molinaro is here, because he identified a problem as it was happening, where they saw that in New York they were starting to use our schools -- not for places of learning but instead -- for places of sheltering people who come here illegally. We saw the devastation that was done to our kids during COVID when the union bosses colluded with the Democrat White House to shut down schools, when all the science said kids should be back in schools. We were fighting to get kids back in schools, and it was Democrats and union bosses fighting to keep kids shut out of schools. And now, the data is very clear that millions and millions of American young people will never make up [for] the learning loss that they experienced.

"And here the Democrats go again, trying to use our schools for their own social experiments. Trying to use our schools to cover up for their failed border crisis that they created. Well, the school should be the place where kids go to learn, and I appreciate and applaud what Mr. Molinaro has done to stand up for those young people and we hopefully will get a very strong vote on that.

"I know Chairman Comer talked about the work that he and the other committees are doing. We have three committees coming together this week -- tomorrow, in fact. Not just the Oversight Committee. We've got the Ways and Means Committee, and we've got the Judiciary Committee all coming forward to bring this whistleblower testimony. And isn't it interesting that -- the same week that we see President Biden's poll numbers continue to fall, the same week that President Trump's numbers continue to rise -- but the same week that we've got a whistleblower coming forward [and] testifying that, while he was at the [Internal Revenue Service] trying to dig deeper into this Biden crime syndicate, he was told to stand down by people above him? They wanted to dig deeper and they were told not to, because of the last name of the person they are digging into? That now, you see the Biden Administration going after President Trump once again, and it begs that question, is there a double standard? Is justice being administered equally?

"And finally, we look forward to welcoming President Herzog and celebrating Israel's 75th anniversary as a Jewish state. Many of us have been there personally. We welcome when leaders, whether it's the Prime Minister, the President of Israel, come here. I think you're going to see very rousing applause for the President and we're going to be passing a piece of legislation today, just to continue showing solidarity between the United States and Israel, to stand up against the anti-Semitism that -- unfortunately -- is growing on the Democrats' side. And then, ultimately, to stand up [to] those who have tried to call out Israel as "a racist state,' and to show that we stand with Israel, and I think you're going to see a very full chamber, and a very raucous welcome for the President."

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