LEGISLATIVE DAY OF APRIL 20, 2026
No chapters available yet
Legend
Transcript markers
- text Sentence being played
- text Search result
- text Intervention cited by the link you opened
Click a sentence to play the video from that moment. Select text to quote it with the speaker, timestamp and link.
More options
Floor U.S. House of Representatives
Follow its sittingsJohn Joyce
Clinicians have emphasized that this approach provides patients with a better experience in private and less stimulating environment to begin their healing process. On behalf of all the constituents in the 13th Congressional District, I congratulate UPMC on this successful implementation. Thank you. Mister speaker, I rise today in recognition of National Library Week and the critical role that libraries play in communities across Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District. Libraries are so much more than just a place to borrow books.
They offer lifelong opportunities in learning through reading. Through my work in Washington, I've had the privilege of bringing books from the Library of Congress to many libraries across Pennsylvania's 13th District. But many libraries are facing real challenges in simply keeping their lights on. That is exactly why I introduced the Community Passport Services Access Act. This legislation takes a practical, common sense step to help libraries remain viable community hubs by allowing the library to continue offering passport services, bringing in needed revenue, expanding services for residents, and reinforcing their role as a one stop resource for the public.
This bill is about keeping library doors open. Gentlemen Thank you, mister speaker, and I yield back.
J. Hill
Gentleman yells back. The chair now recognizes the general of Tennessee, mister Cohen for five minutes.
You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run. You never count your money. When you're sitting at the table, there'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done. If you recognize those words which most Americans would, it's the words that are the gambler. The gambler was performed by successfully by Kenny Rogers, but it was written by Don Schlitz.
Steve Cohen
Don Schlitz was 23 years old when he wrote that song. He was one of the greatest songwriters of our time. He passed away last Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 73. He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and he won two Grammy Awards. He had three CMA Song of the Year Awards and was ASCAP's Country Songwriter of the Year four consecutive years.
What a career he had. Among his 25 hits that hit number one were of course The Gambler by Kenny Rogers, Forever and Ever Amen by Randy Travis. When You Say Nothing At All, Keith Whitley made a hit out of it and so did Allison Krause. Forty Hour Week by Alabama, One Promise Too Late by Reba, He Thinks He'll Keep Her by Mary Chapin Carpenter which who co wrote the song with Don. Strong Enough to Bend by Tonya Tucker and the On the Other Hand by Randy Travis.
He had his first major hit with The Gambler in '78. He was 23 and he'd come to Nashville after going to Duke for a while. He wanted to be a songwriter and he came to Nashville with $80 in his pocket. That was the first song he wrote that ever got recorded. Bobby Bear did it first, didn't sell enough or well, and then finally Kenny Rogers got it and it's become one of the greatest songs we know in history.
That song would win him both the song of the year at the CMA Awards and the country song of the year at the Grammys. He was also a friend of mine. He was a wonderful human being with a big heart. He used to call me his congressman even though he lived in Nashville and I was in Memphis. I was honored by that appellation and I'll take it for the rest of my life as a great honor.
He served at the room at the inn helping people who were homeless. He just had a big heart. He leaves his wife, Stacy, who's a sweetheart, a son and a daughter, Corey, Pete the son, and a brother and a sister. He leaves behind a great legacy and a great history of country music and songs that move the spirit. God bless you, my friend Don Schlitz.
I yield back the balance of my time.
J. Hill
The gentleman yields back to the chair and I'll recognize the gentleman from Arkansas, mister Hill for five minutes.
I thank the speaker. I rise today to recognize the extraordinary work of the Arkansas Mission of Mercy Dental Clinic and its executive director, my good friend, doctor Terry Fiddler of Conway, Arkansas. For more than twenty years, including just last weekend, Arkansas Mission of Mercy has provided free high quality dental care for families who would otherwise go without. Each year in Conway, hundreds of Arkansans line up in the early morning hours, some arriving before 3AM for the chance to receive care. Throughout these annual clinics, Mission of Mercy has served more than 28,000 patients and delivered over $23,000,000 in free dental services across our state.
This effort is powered by more than 800 volunteers, including dozens of dentists, hygienists, and medical professionals who give their time to serve their neighbors. Doctor Fiddler and the Arkansas Mission of Mercy are not just restoring smiles, they're restoring dignity, health, and quality of life for thousands of Arkansans. I thank doctor Fiddler, his team for their years of service to our state. Mister speaker, I rise today to talk about the importance of financial literacy. April is National Financial Literacy Month, and it's worth pausing to recognize why it matters so much to our families.
Every day, Americans make decisions that shape their financial future, how to save, how to budget, how to plan for the unexpected. These choices have lasting consequences and yet too many people navigate them without the right tools or knowledge. As a former community banker and investment advisor, helping Arkansans understand their finances and plan for a secure future was one of the most rewarding chapters in my career. The basics are simple but powerful. Live within your means, Save for that rainy day.
Take advantage of compound interest. Plan ahead. It's never too early or too late to learn about financial literacy. If you don't know where to start, reach out to your local bank or financial adviser or financial planner in your community. When Americans have the confidence and knowledge to manage their money well, they are better positioned for long term success.
Mister speaker, I rise today to honor the life and extraordinary legacy of a true Arkansas leader, John Perfoy Gill, who passed away last month at the age of 89. John was a decorated marine, retiring a lieutenant colonel, and a distinguished attorney who helped shape Arkansas law for decades. From serving as a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention to leading the Arkansas Bar Association, his impact on our legal community is lasting and profound. But John's leadership extended well beyond the law. A historian, a preservationist, and a storyteller who dedicated his life to capturing the spirit of the natural state.
His books, his work with our state parks commission, and his deep involvement in historic preservation ensured that Arkansas story would be told and long remembered. I had the privilege of working closely with him to honor Scipio a Jones where John's resurgent advocacy were instrumental in placing this foundational and incredibly, important attorney's portrait in the Little Rock Post Office that now bears his name. John was a dear friend and a trusted voice. I loved our collaboration in historic preservation, outdoor recreation, and public service. He leaves behind not just an extraordinary professional legacy, but a loving family, a stronger Arkansas, and a standard of service that will continue to guide us.
Mister speaker, I want to recognize, that last month on March 6, Alan Greenspan celebrated his centennial, a 100 years old. Most Americans know him well as a man who ran the Federal Reserve for nearly twenty years, four presidents, historic prosperity, and a few more than a few financial crises under his watch. Often called the maestro, he was confirmed as the Fed chair on 08/11/1987, just two months before Black Monday, the largest single decline in market history. The next morning, the Fed issued a one senate statement. The Federal Reserve, consistent with its responsibilities as the nation's central bank, affirmed today its readiness to serve as a source of liquidity to support the economic and financial system.
Short, calm, unambiguous. Market stabilized, the crash did not become a depression. That was Greenspan. Precise under pressure, deliberate when others were panicking. He went on to navigate the savings and loan crisis, the Gulf War recession, and the dot bomb boom.
My best wishes for his centennial and my best wishes to his family. I yield back.
General yields back. Chair, I now recognize the gentleman from Connecticut, mister Courtney, for five minutes.
Joe Courtney
Thank you, mister speaker. Mister speaker, I rise to draw attention of the house to another milestone in the extraordinary history of the submarine capital of the world, Groton, Connecticut, where this Saturday, USS Idaho SSN seven ninety nine will be commissioned. Idaho is the twenty sixth Virginia class attack submarine delivered to the US Navy and the seventh such vessel built by the US submarine industrial base in the last forty years. It is a technological marvel weighing 7,800 tons and the product of a workforce at the electric boat shipyard of 26,000 hardworking, talented people. Building a submarine is an extremely complex enterprise.
Submarines operate in an environment that does not support human life with a crew of a 135 sailors. The boat is powered by a nuclear reactor and is armed with an arsenal to carry out its mission of deterrent so important to our national security. Needless to say, there is no margin for error in its construction. The good news is as as the output of the Virginia class program has grown, the proficiency of a new generation of shipyard workers has accelerated over the last ten years, and the submarine quality scores by the Navy during submarine sea trials has steadily improved. In the case of USS Idaho, the Navy recorded the highest score in the history of the Virginia program.
Mister speaker, this successful commissioning is happening at a time when the volume of production is also hitting historic highs, and hiring has been growing over the last ten years. This poster produced by the US Navy depicts the volume of submarine construction tonnage in The US starting in 1952, to my far right, through the present and into the future of 2054. The orange bar represents tonnage in 2026, which is on par with the peak of high rate production in the midst of the Cold War. There is no question, mister speaker, that Groton, Connecticut is the submarine capital of the world, full stop, period. It is not as some are trying to claim are trying to say is is reclaiming its title.
John Joyce
Indeed, after Idaho's commissioning on Saturday, EB and its teaming partner, Huntington Ingalls, are hard at work delivering the USS Arkansas SSN 800, which is now in the water performing sea trials, and USS Utah SSN eight zero one, which I visited in Groton with chief of naval operations, Darryl Caudle, a few days ago, soon to be floated off to join Arkansas for at sea testing. They will be the twenty seventh and the twenty eighth Virginia class submarines delivered to the fleet as soon as the end of this calendar year. At the same time, mister speaker, Groton is the yard where the first of the Columbia class SSBNs, USS district district of Columbia, is in final stage of production and assembly. Columbia submarines weigh 21,000 tons, two and a half times the size of a Virginia. And once again, the EB workforce defied the skeptics and naysayers when the Navy announced that the delivery of that boat is being moved up to calendar year 2028 from 2029, which was the Navy's prior plan.
Joe Courtney
As ranking member of the Sea Power Subcommittee on House Armed Services, I cannot overstate how extraordinary it is to have the first in class of a of a program delivery its delivery date move forward rather than back. The strong momentum at the Gratin Yard and its sister shipyard in Quatsa Point, Rhode Island received another round of good news when EB recently announced its hiring goal for 2026. The overall goal is 8,000 new workers in 2026, 3,400 in Rhode Island, 4,600 in Groton. The plan will take the workforce from 26,000 to over 30,000 for the first time since the nineteen eighties. Once again, the skeptics are scoffing at this goal, but as someone who has been directly involved in the adult job training programs and helping equip career and technical schools as well as regular comprehensive high schools with apparatus to run metal trades curriculum, I have no doubt that Groton will meet its goal.
Indeed, a week ago, EB held a job fair in Waterford, Connecticut expecting perhaps a few 100 visits. Instead, 1,800 people showed up. They had to cut off the line a few hours into the event because the HR staff was so overwhelmed. Mister speaker, on Saturday at the USS Idaho commissioning the head of naval reactors, admiral Bill Houston, the successor to the father of the nuclear navy, Hyman Rickover, will deliver keynote remarks, and it will be a proud moment for the ship's commanding officer, commander Chad Gulli Gulliourat, his crew, and their families. It will also be a strong reaffirmation at the Graton Subbase, America's oldest submarine base, that the men and women who work at Electric Boat have once again demonstrated to our nation and the world that Graton is still and always will be the submarine capital of the world.
Thank you, mister speaker, and I yield back.
J. Hill
The chair now recognizes the gentleman from Florida, mister Bean, for five minutes.
Aaron Bean
Thank you very much, mister speaker. Mister speaker, we all know why a bicycle can't stand up by itself because it's too tired. We also go through life being too tired sometimes. But for two married veterans in Northeast Florida, they are overcoming being too tired because they, mister speaker, are on a mission. Ashton and Casey Kroner are undertaking an amazing journey.
This June, they will leave Green Cove Springs, Florida and travel all 737 miles here to Washington DC to advocate for change on bicycles. They call it pedal for impact. Casey is currently battling cancer. His journey reflects what too many veterans experience, a health system that should work better. His story is not about blame, but about awareness, urgency, and getting this right for the next veteran.
Mister speaker, veterans face higher cancer risk due to toxic exposures, yet screening still rely largely on age rather than exposure history. That gap leads to delays, difficult treatments, and outcomes we can and must improve. Ashton and Casey are seeking solutions as they ride through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. They carry a simple message, screen earlier, detect sooner, save lives. And in a town about moving the needle, when we all talk about leadership, they show us what you can accomplish sometimes that moving the needle comes by moving the pedals and shifting into high gear.
Mister speaker, sometimes we're all too tired, but Ashton and Casey show us that no moment no moment is too big to squeeze the brakes. We must keep moving forward for our veterans and in the fight against cancer. Godspeed on their mission and journey. Pedal on Ashton and Casey. I yield back.
Joe Courtney
Pursuant to clause 12 a of rule one, the chair declares the house in recess until 2PM today.
Ask anything about this video — I analyse its transcript to answer.