[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 176 (Wednesday, October 25, 2023)] [House] [Pages H5048-H5053] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] ELECTION OF SPEAKER The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question now recurs on the election of a Speaker. The tellers will please come forward to take their seats once again. The nominations are now in order. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Stefanik). Ms. STEFANIK. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, Mr. Clerk, colleagues, on behalf of the House Republican Conference, I rise today to nominate the gentleman from Louisiana, Mike Johnson, as Speaker of the people's House. We convene this esteemed body today at a time of great crisis across America, a time of unprecedented challenges in this hallowed Chamber, and a time when the very existence of our most precious ally, Israel, is under attack from forces of evil. Yesterday, our dear colleague, our former Conference chair, the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, nominated Mike Johnson in our Conference. She put it best when she said: ``Trust has been broken, and we have come to a standstill. How do we restore trust between Members, leadership, and ultimately between Congress and we the people?'' Mrs. McMorris Rodgers noted that there is a sense that it cannot be business as usual. She said: ``Above the Speaker's chair in the House Chamber is our Nation's motto, In God We Trust.'' She went on to say: ``The times in which we are living demand boldness, unity, and transformational leadership that begins with trust in God and each other. Trust is when the magic happens. In the story of King David, we are reminded that man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'' Today is the day that House Republicans will humbly look in our hearts and elect Mike Johnson as Speaker of the people's House. A man of deep faith, Mike epitomizes what it means to be a servant leader. A deeply respected constitutional lawyer, Mike has dedicated his life to preserving America's great principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Mike is a titan on the Judiciary Committee and a dedicated member of the House Armed Services Committee. As vice chair of our Conference, he has united all of our members to speak clearly and boldly on behalf of the American people. A friend to all and an enemy to none, Mike is strong, tough, and fair. Above all, Mike is kind. At this very moment, this Republican Conference knows that we live in perilous times and that the American people are hurting. Families are struggling under the pain of inflation caused by reckless, far-left spending, unable to afford groceries, heat, or gas. We have an inhumane open border, with millions illegally smuggled and trafficked and tens of thousands of children lost in the chasm of the incompetence and negligence of the Biden administration. Israel is under attack by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists committing atrocities, with Israelis suffering the bloodiest days in modern memory. Crime is skyrocketing on our streets, while there are vicious calls from the left to defund our great men and women in blue. American energy production has been crushed by Joe Biden's radical, failed far-left Democrat policies, causing seniors, farmers, and families to pay more at the pump. Americans fundamentally understand that the Federal Government has been illegally weaponized against we the people, shredding the Constitution, targeting conservatives and parents. Yes, I will say it again: The Federal Government has been illegally weaponized against we the people, shredding the Constitution, targeting conservatives, parents, and even Joe Biden's top political opponents. The people are looking to this great Chamber to save America, and save America we will. As we embark on the path ahead, I am reminded of Galatians 6:9: ``And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.'' House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson will never give up. Today is the day we get this done. May God bless our next Speaker, Mike Johnson, and may God bless the United States of America. {time} 1300 The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar). Mr. AGUILAR. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, I notice a little bit more of a smile on your face today than we have in the past. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, I rise today at the direction of the Democratic Caucus to place into nomination for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Honorable Hakeem Jeffries from New York. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, you may agree with this, but we are back here 22 days into this Republican-manufactured chaos and House Republicans have brought us to the exact same position that we were back then. All of the infighting, all of the disarray just to end up where we were 3 weeks ago. These past few weeks, we have been left wondering if Republicans were truly intent on solving our issues, reopening the House of Representatives, and rallying around someone to lead this Chamber, or has this been about something else? Has this been about a focus of House Republicans to find the person who can pass their extreme litmus test to oppose marriage equality, enact a nationwide abortion ban without exceptions, gut Social Security and Medicare, and support overturning a free and fair election? It is a fair question. Nowhere in that candidate questionnaire is it about growing the middle class, helping our communities, keeping the costs of healthcare lower, and making life for everyday Americans better. The gentlewoman from New York said it right: This has been about one thing. This has been about who can appease Donald Trump. House Republicans have put their names behind someone who has been called the most important architect of the electoral college objections. He spearheaded the legal effort, joined by more than 100 of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle in support of a dangerous and baseless lawsuit to overturn the results of the 2020 election. On the eve of January 6, some of my Republican colleagues even called this a failed strategy. Yet those same individuals plan to stand right next to him today. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, House Democrats believe that when Members of this body voted to reject the results of the 2020 election, they forfeited their ability to lead this Chamber. On this side of the aisle, we know what leadership looks like. Hakeem Jeffries has never turned his back on the will of the American people. The son of two social workers, he has always stood by the side of working families. The most pressing needs of everyday Americans are his North Star. He believes that everyone in America should have the opportunity to get ahead and achieve their version of the American Dream. He believes that access to affordable healthcare is a right, [[Page H5049]] not a privilege. He believes that reproductive freedom must be guaranteed, not stripped away. He believes that working families, not the wealthy and the well-connected, should be rewarded. He believes in growing the middle class so that everyone can succeed. He believes that our schools and our communities should be safe and free from gun violence. He believes in investing in public schools, not depriving students of fact-based education by banning books. He believes in taking care of our seniors and our veterans, not slashing their benefits. He believes in living up to the promise that America is a beacon of hope and a land of opportunity. He believes in defending democracy against all enemies and adversaries, foreign and domestic. He believes in standing by our allies, Israel and Ukraine. He believes in keeping our government running and open. Let me be clear: This is not just a belief system. Leader Jeffries has the track record to back it up. He is certainly a far contrast from who Republicans have nominated, with or without their votes, to nominate today, but if House Republicans choose they can still join us on a bipartisan path forward. Let's come together to fund our government, support our allies abroad, and deliver for working families. Let's open up the people's House and end the chaos, end the dysfunction, end the extremism. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Reading Clerk will now call the roll. The tellers having taken their places, the House proceeded to vote for the Speaker. The following is the result of the vote: [Roll No. 527] JOHNSON (LA)--220 Aderholt Alford Allen Amodei Armstrong Arrington Babin Bacon Baird Balderson Banks Barr Bean (FL) Bentz Bergman Bice Biggs Bilirakis Bishop (NC) Boebert Bost Brecheen Buchanan Buck Bucshon Burchett Burgess Burlison Calvert Cammack Carey Carl Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Chavez-DeRemer Ciscomani Cline Cloud Clyde Cole Collins Comer Crane Crawford Crenshaw Curtis D'Esposito Davidson De La Cruz DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Donalds Duarte Duncan Dunn (FL) Edwards Ellzey Emmer Estes Ezell Fallon Feenstra Ferguson Finstad Fischbach Fitzgerald Fitzpatrick Fleischmann Flood Foxx Franklin, Scott Fry Fulcher Gaetz Gallagher Garbarino Garcia, Mike Gimenez Gonzales, Tony Good (VA) Gooden (TX) Gosar Granger Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Green (TN) Greene (GA) Griffith Grothman Guest Guthrie Hageman Harris Harshbarger Hern Higgins (LA) Hill Hinson Houchin Hudson Huizenga Hunt Issa Jackson (TX) James Johnson (LA) Johnson (OH) Johnson (SD) Jordan Joyce (OH) Joyce (PA) Kean (NJ) Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) Kiggans (VA) Kiley Kim (CA) Kustoff LaHood LaLota LaMalfa Lamborn Langworthy Latta LaTurner Lawler Lee (FL) Lesko Letlow Loudermilk Lucas Luetkemeyer Luna Luttrell Mace Malliotakis Mann Massie Mast McCarthy McCaul McClain McClintock McCormick McHenry Meuser Miller (IL) Miller (OH) Miller (WV) Miller-Meeks Mills Molinaro Moolenaar Mooney Moore (AL) Moore (UT) Moran Murphy Nehls Newhouse Norman Nunn (IA) Obernolte Ogles Owens Palmer Pence Perry Pfluger Posey Reschenthaler Rodgers (WA) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rose Rosendale Rouzer Roy Rutherford Salazar Santos Scalise Schweikert Scott, Austin Self Sessions Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smucker Spartz Stauber Steel Stefanik Steil Steube Strong Tenney Thompson (PA) Tiffany Timmons Turner Valadao Van Drew Van Duyne Wagner Walberg Waltz Weber (TX) Webster (FL) Wenstrup Westerman Williams (NY) Williams (TX) Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Yakym Zinke JEFFRIES--209 Adams Aguilar Allred Auchincloss Balint Barragan Beatty Bera Beyer Bishop (GA) Blumenauer Blunt Rochester Bonamici Bowman Brown Brownley Budzinski Bush Caraveo Carbajal Cardenas Carson Carter (LA) Cartwright Casar Case Casten Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Cherfilus-McCormick Chu Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly Costa Courtney Craig Crockett Crow Cuellar Davids (KS) Davis (IL) Davis (NC) Dean (PA) DeGette DeLauro DelBene Deluzio DeSaulnier Dingell Doggett Escobar Eshoo Espaillat Evans Fletcher Foster Foushee Frankel, Lois Frost Gallego Garamendi Garcia (IL) Garcia (TX) Garcia, Robert Golden (ME) Goldman (NY) Gomez Gottheimer Green, Al (TX) Grijalva Harder (CA) Hayes Higgins (NY) Himes Horsford Houlahan Hoyer Hoyle (OR) Huffman Ivey Jackson (IL) Jackson (NC) Jackson Lee Jacobs Jayapal Jeffries Johnson (GA) Kamlager-Dove Kaptur Keating Kelly (IL) Khanna Kildee Kilmer Kim (NJ) Krishnamoorthi Kuster Landsman Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lee (CA) Lee (NV) Lee (PA) Leger Fernandez Levin Lieu Lofgren Lynch Magaziner Manning Matsui McBath McClellan McCollum McGarvey McGovern Meeks Menendez Meng Mfume Moore (WI) Morelle Moskowitz Moulton Mrvan Mullin Nadler Napolitano Neal Neguse Nickel Norcross Ocasio-Cortez Omar Pallone Panetta Pappas Pascrell Payne Pelosi Peltola Perez Peters Pettersen Phillips Pingree Pocan Porter Pressley Quigley Ramirez Raskin Ross Ruiz Ruppersberger Ryan Salinas Sanchez Sarbanes Scanlon Schakowsky Schiff Schneider Scholten Schrier Scott (VA) Scott, David Sewell Sherman Sherrill Slotkin Smith (WA) Sorensen Soto Spanberger Stansbury Stanton Stevens Strickland Swalwell Sykes Takano Thanedar Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Titus Tlaib Tokuda Tonko Torres (CA) Torres (NY) Trahan Trone Underwood Vargas Vasquez Veasey Velazquez Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Coleman Wexton Wild Williams (GA) Wilson (FL) ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--0 NOT VOTING--4 Boyle (PA) Correa Gonzalez, Vicente Van Orden personal explanation Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker Pro Tempore, today, I missed rollcall vote No. 526 and No. 527 on the floor of the House of Representatives. I was in Philadelphia to be with my wife for a surgical procedure. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Present'' on rollcall No. 526 and ``Hakeem Jeffries'' on rollcall No. 527. {time} 1350 The SPEAKER pro tempore. The tellers agree in their tallies that the total number of votes cast is 429, of which the Honorable Mike Johnson of the State of Louisiana has received 220 votes and the Honorable Hakeem Jeffries of the State of New York has received 209 votes. Therefore, the Honorable Mike Johnson of the State of Louisiana, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress. The Chair appoints the following committee to escort the Speaker- elect to the chair: The gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise) The gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer) The gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Stefanik) The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Hudson) The gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Palmer) The gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. McClain) The gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy) The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds) The gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern) The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman) The gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. Rodgers) The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington) The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Fallon) The gentleman from New York (Mr. Molinaro) The gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack) The gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries) The gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark) The gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar) The gentleman from California (Mr. Lieu) The gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene) [[Page H5050]] The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) The gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse) The gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Escobar) The gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Underwood) The gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee) The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Jacobs) The gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Crockett) And the Members of the Louisiana delegation: Mr. Graves Mr. Higgins Ms. Letlow Mr. Carter The committee will retire from the Chamber to escort the Speaker- elect to the chair. The Sergeant at Arms announced the Speaker-elect of the House of Representatives of the 118th Congress, who was escorted to the chair by the Committee of Escort. {time} 1400 Mr. JEFFRIES. Speaker Mike Johnson, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Whip Clark, Chairman Aguilar, all of my colleagues, and government on both sides of the aisle, it is an honor and a privilege to once again stand before you as House Democratic leader. From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made clear that we will find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues whenever and wherever possible for the good of the American people, and House Democrats have repeatedly done just that. It was House Democrats who provided a majority of the votes necessary to avoid a catastrophic default on our debt that would have crashed the U.S. economy and triggered a job-killing recession. It was House Democrats who provided a majority of the votes necessary to avoid a government shutdown that would have hurt everyday Americans. It was House Democrats who provided a majority of the votes necessary to secure $16 billion in disaster assistance for Americans whose lives have been devastated by extreme weather events. From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have been governing for the people. We continue to look forward to finding bipartisan common ground whenever and wherever possible. House Democrats will continue to partner with President Biden and Senate Democrats to put people over politics. House Democrats will continue to fight for lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, and to build an economy from the middle out and the bottom up and not the top down. House Democrats will continue to push back against extremism in this Chamber and throughout the country. House Democrats will continue to protect Social Security, protect Medicare, protect Medicaid, protect our children, protect our climate, protect low-income families, protect working families, protect the middle class, protect organized labor, protect the LGBTQ community, protect our veterans, protect older Americans, protect the Affordable Care Act, protect the right to vote, protect the peaceful transfer of power, protect our democracy, and protect a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. These are blue lines in the sand, and we will work hard to make sure that they are never crossed. We must also continue to stand by President Biden as he works to bring American hostages and Israeli hostages and international hostages held by Hamas back home. {time} 1415 We must also stand by our friends on the international stage. We have no better friend in the Middle East than the State of Israel. Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish and democratic State. The special relationship between the United States and Israel is unbreakable. Our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad. Israel has a right to defend itself under the international rules of war against the brutal terror unleashed on its citizens by Hamas. Our ironclad commitment to Israel's security and the effort to defeat Hamas is not inconsistent with the goal of achieving a lasting and just peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. In many ways, it is a necessary ingredient because Hamas is not good for Israel. Hamas is not is good for America. Hamas is not good for the free world. Hamas is not good for the democratic aspirations of the Palestinian people. We must also support Ukraine in its courageous effort to defeat Russian aggression. There are only two paths in front of us: We can either stand up for Ukraine or bow down to Vladimir Putin. That is not a difficult choice. We must stand up for America's national security. We must stand up for democracy. We must stand up for freedom. We must stand up for truth. We must stand up for the Ukrainian people until victory is won. It is my expectation that in the next week or so the Senate will send over for consideration a bipartisan national security funding package for Israel, Ukraine, and our other allies throughout the free world that also includes humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians and others who may be in harm's way. The House of Representatives should take up these national security and humanitarian relief packages immediately in totality and without delay. The time for gamesmanship is over. The time for brinksmanship is over. The time for partisanship is over. It is time to get back to doing the business of the American people. Let me conclude with an observation about the state of our democracy. Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential election. He is doing a great job under difficult circumstances, and no amount of election denialism will ever change that reality. Not now, not ever. Throughout the years, Presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama and Dwight Eisenhower to Lyndon Baines Johnson, have spoken to this Chamber and urged us to put aside partisan politics for the good of the American people. President Lincoln spoke to this Congress on December 1, 1862, in the middle of the Civil War, and noted that we in this institution had the power and bore the responsibility to save the Union. The stakes were high. As articulated by President Lincoln, we could either nobly save or meanly lose America as we know it; the last best hope on Earth. This is a turbulent time in the American journey, and we have but one charge to keep during this moment of great fragility. Our Union must be sustained. Our Union must be strengthened. Our Union must succeed. There are many throughout this country who are understandably alarmed at the turbulence of the moment, at the chaos, the dysfunction, and the extremism that has been unleashed in this Chamber from the very beginning of this Congress, but this too shall pass. Our country has often confronted adversity. The good news is we always find a way to make it to the other side. We faced adversity in the 1860s in the middle of the Civil War when the country was literally tearing itself apart. We faced adversity in October of 1929 when the stock market collapsed, plunging us into the Great Depression. We faced adversity in December of 1941 when a foreign power unexpectedly struck, plunging us into a world war with an evil empire of Nazi Germany. We faced adversity in the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s when the country was struggling to reconcile the inherent contradictions between Jim Crow segregation and the glorious promises of the Constitution. We faced adversity on September 11, 2001, when the towers and the Pentagon were unexpectedly struck, killing thousands of lives in an instant. We faced adversity right here in the House of Representatives when, on January 6, 2021, a violent mob of insurrectionists, incited by some in this Chamber, overran the House floor as part of an effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power. Every time we faced adversity, the good news here in America is that we always overcome. That is the power of American exceptionalism. That is why America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. That is why I remain optimistic about the future of [[Page H5051]] this country. That is why America is the last best hope on Earth. God bless you. God bless the House of Representatives. God bless the United States of America. It is now my solemn honor and responsibility to hand over the people's gavel here in the United States House of Representatives to a family man, a hardworking man, a Baptist man, a southern man, a son of a firefighter's household, the gentleman from the great State of Louisiana and the 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Honorable Mike Johnson. Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you all. First, a few words of gratitude. I want to thank Leader Jeffries. I do look forward to working with you on behalf of the American people. I know we see things from very different points of view, but I know in your heart you love and care about this country and you want to do what is right. We are going to find common ground there. I want to express my great thanks to our Speaker Emeritus, Kevin McCarthy. Kevin has dedicated over two decades of his life to selfless public service; 16 of those years in this House. You would be hard- pressed to find anybody who loves this institution more or who has contributed more to it. He is the reason we are in this majority today. His impact can never be overstated. I want to thank him for his leadership, his friendship, and the selfless sacrifice that he and Judy have made for so many years. You helped build it, Kevin, and we owe you a great debt of gratitude. I want to thank the dedicated and overworked staff of this beleaguered House. They accept praise so stoically. Ms. Susan Cole, our House Reading Clerk--yes, all the clerks and all the staff, they are terribly overworked. This has been a grueling process, but they have served an integral role in keeping our Republic. We thank them for that service. I know we all do. I want to thank my dedicated wife of almost 25 years, Kelly. She is not here. We couldn't get a flight in time. This happened sort of suddenly. We are going to celebrate soon. She spent the last couple of weeks on her knees in prayer to the Lord, and she is a little worn out. We all are. I want to thank our children: Michael, Hannah, Abby, Jack, and Will. All of our children sacrifice. All of them do, and we know that. There are not a lot of perks to being a Member of Congress' kid. I want to thank all of your families as well for what they endure and what they have had to endure for the last few weeks. We have been here awhile. I want to thank my faithful mother, Jeanne Johnson, who bore me at the age of 17; my brothers, Chris and Josh; my sister, Laura; all their families and all of our extended family. In Louisiana, family is a big deal, and we have a bunch of them. I especially want to thank all the extraordinary people of the great State of Louisiana. We have never had a Speaker of the House hail from our State, and they have been lifting us up. I thank the people of Louisiana for the opportunity to serve you in Congress, and I am humbled by your continuous support. We will make you proud. To my colleagues, I want to thank you all for the trust you have instilled in me to lead us in this historic and unprecedented moment that we are in. The challenge before us is great, but the time for action is now, and I will not let you down. I want to say to the American people on behalf of all of us here: We hear you. We know the challenges you are facing. We know that there is a lot going on in our country, domestically and abroad, and we are ready to get to work again to solve those problems, and we will. Our mission here is to serve you well, to restore the people's faith in this House, in this great and essential institution. My dad, it was mentioned my dad was a firefighter. He was an assistant chief of the fire department in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, a little town in northwest Louisiana. On September 17, 1984, when I was 12 years old, he was critically burned and permanently disabled in the line of duty. All I ever wanted to be when I grew up was the chief of the fire department in Shreveport. After the explosion on that fateful day, he nearly died and it was a long road back. It changed all of our life trajectories. I am the oldest of four kids. {time} 1430 My dad lived with pain all the rest of his life, for decades more. I lost my dad to cancer 3 days before I got elected to Congress. He wanted to be there at my election night so badly. I am the first college graduate in my family. This was a big deal to him. Several weeks after that, in early 2017, it was my freshman term, and it fell to me to be in the rostrum one night to serve here as Speaker pro tempore. I thought that was a big deal until I figured out that is what you do for freshmen late at night. I think, if my memory serves, Ms. Jackson Lee was winding down one of her long, eloquent speeches--not that I was not enraptured by her speech. I looked up at the top of the Chamber there and I saw the face of Moses staring down. I just felt in that moment the weight of this place, the history that is revered here, and the future that we are called to forge, and I really was just kind of almost overwhelmed with emotion. It occurred to me in that moment that it had been several weeks, and I had not had an opportunity yet to grieve my dad's passing. I just had a sense that somehow he knew. I had tears come to my eyes, and I was standing here, and I am wiping them away, and then it suddenly occurs to me the late-night C-SPAN viewers are going to think something is very wrong with the new, young Congressman from Louisiana. It wasn't Sheila's speech, I am sorry. I just knew in that moment that my dad, my father, would be proud of me, and I felt that he was. I think all of our parents are proud of what we are called to do here. I think all the American people at one time had great pride in this institution, but right now, that is in jeopardy. We have a challenge before us right now to rebuild and restore that trust. This is a beautiful country. It is the beauty of America that allows a firefighter's kid like me to come here and serve in this sacred Chamber, where great men and women have served before all of us and strived together to build and then preserve what Lincoln did refer to as the last, best hope of man on Earth. We stand at a very dangerous time. I am stating the obvious. We all know that. The world is in turmoil, but a strong America is good for the entire world. We are the beacon of freedom, and we must preserve this grand experiment in self-governance. It still is. We are only 247 years into this grand experiment. We don't know how long it will last, but we do know the Founders told us to take good care of it. I want to tell all my colleagues here what I told the Republicans in that room last night: I don't believe there are any coincidences in a matter like this. I believe that Scripture, the Bible, is very clear, that God is the one that raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you, all of us. I believe that God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment and this time. This is my belief. I believe that each one of us has a huge responsibility today to use the gifts that God has given us to serve the extraordinary people of this great country--and they deserve it--and to ensure that our Republic remains standing as the great beacon of light and hope and freedom in a world that desperately needs it. It was in 1962 that our national motto, In God We Trust, was adorned above this rostrum. If you look at the little guide that they give tourists and constituents who come and visit the House, if you turn in there to about page 14 in the middle of that guide, it tells you the history of this. It says very simply: These words were placed here above us. This motto was placed here as a rebuke of the Cold War-era philosophy of the Soviet Union. That philosophy was Marxism and Communism, which begins with the premise that there is no God. This is a critical distinction that is also articulated in our Nation's birth certificate. We know the language well, the famous second paragraph that we used to have children memorize in [[Page H5052]] school, and they don't do that so often anymore, but they should. G.K. Chesterton was a famous British philosopher and statesman. He said one time: ``America is the only nation in the world founded upon a creed.'' He said it is listed with almost ``theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.'' What is our creed? ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,'' not born equal, created equal, and they are endowed with the same inalienable rights--life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. That is the creed that has animated our Nation since its founding, that has made us the great Nation that we are. We are in a time of extraordinary crisis right now. The world needs us to be strong. They need us to remember our creed and our admonition. Turmoil and violence have rocked the Middle East and Eastern Europe. We all know it. Tensions continue to build in the Indo-Pacific. The country demands strong leadership of this body, and we must not waver. Our Nation's greatest ally in the Middle East is under attack. The first bill that I am going to bring to this floor in just a little while will be in support of our dear friend Israel, and we are overdue in getting that done. We are going to show not only Israel but the entire world that the barbarism of Hamas that we have all seen play out on our television screens is wretched and wrong, and we are going to stand for the good in that conflict. We have a catastrophe at our southern border. The Senate and the White House can no longer ignore the problem. From Texas to New York, wave after wave of illegal migrants are stressing our communities to their breaking points. We know that our streets are being flooded with fentanyl, and in all of our communities, children and even adults are dying from it. The status quo is unacceptable. Inaction is unacceptable, and we must come together and address the broken border. We have to do it. The skyrocketing cost of living is unsustainable, and Americans should not have to worry about how they are going to feed their family every week because they can't afford their groceries anymore. Everybody in this room should think about this. Here are the stats: Prices have increased over 17 percent in the last 2 years; credit card interest rates are at the highest level in nearly three decades; and mortgage rates are now at a peak we haven't seen since 2001. We have to bring relief to the American people by reining in Federal spending and bringing down inflation. The greatest threat to our national security is our Nation's debt. While we have been sitting in this room, the debt has crossed to almost $33.6 trillion. In the time that it is going to take me to deliver this speech, it will go up another $20 million in debt. It is unsustainable. We have to get the country back on track. We know this is not going to be an easy task, and tough decisions will have to be made, but the consequences if we don't act now are unbearable. We have a duty to the American people to explain this to them so they understand it well. We are going to establish a bipartisan debt commission to begin working on this crisis immediately. We all know that we also live in a time of bitter partisanship. It was noted, and it has been on display here today. When our people are losing their faith in government, when they are losing sight of the principles that made us the greatest Nation in the history of the world, I think we have to be mindful of that. We are going to fight. We are going to fight vigorously over our core principles because they are at odds a lot of the time now in this modern era. We have to sacrifice sometimes our preferences because that is what is necessary in a legislative body, but we will defend our core principles to the end. In his farewell address, President Reagan explained the secret of his rapport with people, and I like to paraphrase his explanation all the time. He said: You know, they call me the great communicator, but I really wasn't that. I was just communicating great things, and they are the same great things that have guided our Nation since its founding. What are those great things? I call them the seven core principles of American conservatism, but let me concede to you all, I think it is really quintessentially the core principles of our Nation. I boil them down to individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity. Those are the foundations that made us the extraordinary Nation that we are. You and I today are the stewards of those principles, the things that have made us the freest, most powerful, most successful Nation in the history of the world, the things that have made us truly exceptional. In this time of great crisis, it is our duty to work together, as previous generations of great leaders have, to face these great challenges and solve these great problems. I will conclude with this: The job of the Speaker of the House is to serve the whole body, and I will, but I have made a commitment to my colleagues here that this Speaker's office is going to be known for decentralizing the power here. My office is going to be known for Members being more involved and having more influence in our processes, in all the major decisions that are made here for predictable processes and regular order. We owe that to the people. I make this commitment to you, to my colleagues here and on the other side of the aisle, as well: My office is going to be known for trust and transparency and accountability, for good stewardship of the people's treasure, for the honesty and integrity that is incumbent upon all of us here in the people's House. Our system of government is not a perfect system. It has got a lot of challenges, but it is still the best one in the world, and we have an opportunity to preserve it. The last thing I am going to say is a message to the rest of the world. They have been watching this drama play out for a few weeks. We have learned a lot of lessons, but do you know what? Through adversity, it makes you stronger. We want our allies around the world to know that this body of lawmakers is reporting again to our duty stations. Let the enemies of freedom around the world hear us loud and clear: The people's House is back in business. We will do our duty here; we will serve the people well; we will govern well; and we will make everyone proud of this institution again. We are going to fight every day to make sure that is true. I look forward to the days ahead. I genuinely believe in my heart that the best days of America are still ahead of us. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. I am now ready to take the oath of office. I ask the Dean of the House of Representatives, the Honorable Hal Rogers of Kentucky, to administer the oath of office. Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. When our Founding Fathers chose a bold, new, and innovative self-rule government, it was met with deep skepticism by the world's monarchs. They said self-rule is only a dream. Our Founders said they are right; it is the American Dream. Now it is our dream. We are in charge. The speakership of the United States House of Representatives is the crucial outpost for the well- being of the people's government, the keeper, if you will, of the dream. Sir, if you wish to assume this awesome responsibility, please raise your right hand. Mr. Rogers of Kentucky then administered the oath of office to Mr. Johnson of Louisiana, as follows: Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you God. (Applause, the Members rising.) Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Congratulations, Mr. Speaker. [[Page H5053]] ____________________