LEGISLATIVE DAY OF APRIL 27, 2026

09:33 - 10:43

John Joyce

Mister speaker, I rise today to introduce the Medicare Advantage Improvement Act, a bipartisan common sense effort to strengthen a program that millions of seniors rely on. Medicare Advantage has grown rapidly, but with that growth, serious concerns have arisen. Across our country, seniors are facing unnecessary delays, burdensome prior authorization requirements, and inappropriate denials of care. These hurdles are harmful. They take away time from the doctor patient relationship, and in some cases, they actually delay critical treatment.

This legislation is about ensuring that when a doctor and a patient determine that a patient needs a specific care, that that care is delivered without interference from unnecessary red tape. Medicare is a promise to our seniors, and we in congress have a responsibility to uphold that promise. This legislation would protect our seniors, strengthen accountability, and ensure that Medicare Advantage works in the way that it was intended. Thank you, mister speaker, and I yield back.

10:44 - 10:50

Redner 1

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia, mister Subramaniam, for five minutes.

10:55 - 15:33

Suhas Subramanyam

Mister speaker, places of worship and nonprofit centers have always been sanctuaries of hope, spirituality, and community in our country. But violence and hate continue to be on the rise, and places of worship are increasingly becoming targets. Between 2021 and 2023, attacks on churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques increased by nearly a 100%, and overall hate crimes in The US are up more than 80% since 2015. 2025 was ranked as the fifth highest year for hate crime in the FBI's thirty four year history of tracking this data. We need to do more, and that's why I'm calling on my colleagues to continue to support nonprofit security grants and other hate prevention programs.

We need to help nonprofit organizations, especially houses of worship and religious community centers, enhance physical security against terrorist attacks and threats to them. I urge my colleagues to call out the rise we're seeing in hateful rhetoric, and it has no place in our communities, it and certainly has no place in the halls of congress. So let's fund this effort. Let's continue to support and protect our places of worship. Mister speaker, we can all agree that the USDA's food safety inspection service is critical to keeping our food safe and protecting us from foodborne illnesses.

But this administration is trying to undermine this office and our country's ability to prevent foodborne illness, because just last week, the USDA announced that it is moving its food safety headquarters from DC to another part of the country, and now 200 food safety experts will have to choose between uprooting their lives or staying in their job. And we've seen this before. The last time the administration moved a USDA office across the country, it was two research focused offices, and moving them was a complete disaster for the work of those offices. They lost over a third of their full time staff, particularly the most experienced people, and they saw steep declines in agency productivity, and it completely disrupted the grants and research that they do. This administration claims that food safety offices continue operating without interruption during these moves, but that's just not true from experience.

And in every other case, the people who resigned were the people who had the most experience, the people we needed the most. The American people can't afford to have an inexperienced, understaffed, and unproductive food safety office, so the USDA needs to stop this move and stop jeopardizing our nation's food safety. Mister speaker, we've been hearing for weeks now about how the DHS shutdown needs to end because TSA workers need to get paid. And I agree, TSA workers have now been working with sporadic pay for ten weeks. They may even get furloughed again until we decide to end the shutdown by putting the senate bill on this floor.

But I wanna draw your attention to the president's budget because while the president and his administration talk about the importance of TSA workers and keeping lines short at the airport, the president's own budget suggests cutting almost 10,000 TSA agents. This is all part of a larger plan to get rid of the TSA altogether for those keeping score at home like me. This is chapter five of project twenty twenty five, and cutting these TSA jobs would mean a lot of things like worse quality service, cuts to employee pay and benefits, customer dissatisfaction, and higher risks of errors at places like our airports where there's no room for error. I could keep going, but the next time the president or any administration official talks about how we need to end a shutdown to support TSA workers, just look at the president's budget. Finally, mister speaker, data centers hold critical information we use every day and keep the Internet running.

And whether it's AI or blockchain or any other innovations in technology, data centers are gonna be a key part of this. And because data centers are so critical, they are becoming targets during wars. Look at the Russia Ukraine War. Russia is attacking Ukrainian data centers. Iran has struck commercial data centers in The UAE and has said that data centers are military targets now.

Well, my district is home to hundreds of data centers, and families, schools, parks, places of worship are all close to data centers in my district, and so the people living around these data centers shouldn't have to worry about being a target anymore. So that's why I'm introducing the Data Infrastructure Risk Reduction Act. This bill will direct the Department of Homeland Security to develop a strategy to protect data centers and the communities around them from being targeted during attacks. The government needs to do everything possible to protect these communities because Americans deserve to know that if a data center is gonna be built next to them, we will protect that community, and they won't be a target at that point. So I urge my colleagues to cosponsor and pass this bill.

Thank you, and I yield back.

15:35 - 15:39

Redner 1

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas, mister Hill, for five minutes.

15:45 - 18:58

J. Hill

I thank the speaker. Mister speaker, financial fraud is a plague. Financial fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes in this country, harming families and seniors across the nation. Last year alone, Americans lost more than $12,500,000,000 to scams. These crimes steal hard earned savings and retirement funds, they destroy lives, and they undermine confidence in our financial system.

That's why it's critical for every American to take simple steps to protect themselves. Never share banking or personal information unless you verified the source. Be cautious of unsolicited calls and emails. Review bank statements regularly and look and use strong and develop strong passwords and multifactor authentication to secure your accounts. If you suspect fraud, report it immediately to law enforcement or the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.

As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, I have a mission to protect both Arkansans and all Americans from financial crime. It remains a top priority. Mister speaker, I rise today to express appreciation to First Service Bank of Arkansas for their contributions to our beloved, respected Arkansas military community through their annual operation Red, White, and Brave. This program has raised both awareness and funds that provide resources for home modifications and financial assistance efforts for both veterans and current active duty members and their families throughout our Central Arkansas area. This program raises money through donations, events, and an annual charity golf clinic.

Every day, I love representing the amazing volunteers and generous citizens across our 2nd District. Local community businesses like First Service Bank that dedicate time and effort to help our veterans and the people of Arkansas are a real feature and strength of Central Arkansas. Mister speaker, I rise today to congratulate Randy Massinelli on his retirement as vice chancellor of the government and community relations unit at the University of Arkansas and to thank him for his dedicated service to his community and our proud state. As a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas and a proud graduate of the University at Fayetteville, mister Massinelli served in the United States Army for fifteen years, rising to the rank of major before moving to higher education. While in the army, Randy served in numerous assignments as the officer in charge of ground convoy movements for the Persian two missiles in Europe and a combat tour in the Persian Gulf War, earning countless honors including the Brown Star for service and sacrifice.

In 2014, Massanelli joined the University of Arkansas and has been bringing his keen judgment and personal experience working tireless hours to help, obtain important research grants and funding for the University of Arkansas. Mister speaker, I wanna thank my friend Randy Massinelli for his years of service and commitment to Arkansas. His work as a model for future generations of public servants and his devotion to our state is truly commendable. Mister speaker, I yield back.

19:00 - 19:05

Redner 1

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania, mister Thompson, for five minutes.

19:14 - 21:38

Glenn Thompson

Mister speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Penn State wrestling team for winning the NCAA division one wrestling tournament last month. This historic achievement marks the Nittany Lions fifth consecutive title and Penn State's thirteenth team title over the last fifteen years. The NCAA wrestling tournament hosted in Cleveland, Ohio saw the Lions qualify all 10 wrestlers for the three day event with seven wrestlers placing as top seeds. The team scored a 181.5 points, breaking their own record of a 177 points, which they set last year. To include the champ to conclude the championship weekend, four Nittany Lions earned individual national titles.

In addition, Mitchell Messenbrink was named the February outstanding wrestler. Much of the success is a testament to the leadership of head coach Cal Sanderson, who has been with the team since 2010. Cal, a former collegiate wrestler and Olympic athlete, knows exactly what it takes to deliver a championship level team. As the university's head coach for more than ten years, Kale has delivered the team from strength to strength. Another accolade that the team can tout is winning the Big Ten championship for the fourth consecutive year.

As a former high school wrestler myself and a Penn State alumni, I love seeing the success that the Nittany Lions have had each year. Penn State wrestling brings together the student body, Penn State alum, and the state college residents to watch an exciting evening of matches. There's nothing quite like a packed Bryce Jordan Center on a Saturday evening. I was a former wrestler at Baldaguaria High School under the leadership of coach Dick Rhodes. And in 2015, was honored to be recognized for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

The leadership and discipline I learned through practice has struck stuck with me throughout my life. I know that all young men at Penn State will be able to take the lessons that they learned through wrestling and apply it to other aspects of their lives. Mister speaker, the athletes, the coaches, and the staff should all be proud of this amazing accomplishment, And I wish the team the best as they continue working towards their goals next season. Thank you, mister speaker, and I yield back the balance of my time.

21:38 - 21:43

Redner 1

The chair recognizes the gentleman from California, mister Kiley, for five minutes.

21:51 - 27:00

Kevin Kiley

Mister speaker, last week, yet another state returned to the era of gerrymandering, marking a further regression for democracy in America. This entire redistricting war has been a total disaster for our country. What's more, it has been utterly pointless. As was predicted, neither side is really going to come out ahead. Every side has lost.

Meanwhile, the whole conflict that has spread from state to state to state has caused partisanship in this country to truly bubble over. It has destabilized representation across the country. It has further eroded trust in the fairness of our political process. It's further eroded the idea of representation and government by the people. It is past time for congress to take responsibility for the fairness of our own elections throughout this country, and we can do that in two ways.

Number one is by passing my bill to end mid decade redistricting. I introduced this last year. If it had passed last year, we could have avoided this whole thing. But we can still pass it now to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. Number two, by the time of the next census, when we're supposed to do redistricting, we should pass legislation to end gerrymandering in this country once and for all.

The way I'm proposing we do this is setting up a truly independent commission in every state much like California had before it was sidelined last year. Mister speaker, gerrymandering is a plague on democracy and is well past time that The United States moves past it and assures fair elections and fair representation for every citizen in our country. Mister speaker, a new report titled California's economic performance review 2025 paints an paints an absolutely alarming picture of our state's current economic performance. Just to give you a few of the highlights or or really lowlights, California right now has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 5.5% with over 1,000,000 unemployed workers. There were 181,700 private sector jobs lost in twenty twenty five and four hundred and thirty two thousand nine hundred private sector jobs lost in the last three years.

Meanwhile, almost all of the actual job growth has come from government. There are now 1.9 unemployed workers per job opening in California. That is the worst ratio in the country with layoffs and separations up by 57 in 2025. Net business establishments in 2025 were down almost 90% since before governor Newsom took office, and almost all of the new firms that were created were sole proprietorships with almost with no employees. California, meanwhile, has the highest cost of living of any state, with six of the 10 most expensive metropolitan areas in the country.

Electricity rates in our state are nearly double the rest of the country for homes and almost triple for industry. We also, of course, have the highest gas prices by far in the country. California has the highest poverty rate in the nation at 16.4%. California had 1,900,000 residents lost to other states over the last seven years, and that includes 409,000 workers lost in job to job migration over the last five years. All this time, the budget grew by 68.2% since 2009 with a structural deficit that is now 20 to $35,000,000,000 annually.

And, oh, by the way, there's been nearly a 50% drop in the number of high earners filing tax returns over $10,000,000 just in the last five years, and that number is gonna go up a lot with this entire wealth tax scheme that's being proposed right now. Mister speaker, California is the greatest state in the country. We have more to offer than any country any state in the country. With our state's abundant natural resources, its amazing companies and people and culture, there is absolutely no reason we should not be outperforming every other state, but instead, we are underperforming every other state by a lot to the detriment of our own citizens. So I am once again calling upon leaders in Sacramento to chart a different course, one that is pro worker, pro opportunity, pro growth.

And I'm encouraging those of us here in the house to look at what California has done wrong because it provides us a good road map of what we should be doing in order to get the economy and the cost of living right. Thank you, mister speaker. I yield back.

27:01 - 27:08

Redner 1

Pursuant to clause 12 a of rule one, the chair declares the house in recess until 2PM today.

02:05:19 - 02:05:23

J. Hill

The house will be in order. Their prayer will be offered by chaplain Kevin.

02:05:25 - 02:05:51

Kevin Kiley

Would you pray with me? Great is your faithfulness, o God, our father. New every morning are the mercies you offer unto us. Even as we remember and honor the life of our friend and colleague David Scott, our souls are saddened by his passing. But this we call to mind, and in this we have hope that congressman David Scott, your son and servant was one who