MIL USHOR-2b Engine

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jim Baird (R-IN-04)

Congressman Baird Votes to Keep Government Funded, Support Disaster Relief and National Security

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At the beginning of Black History Month, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced a bill to award a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal to the “Golden Thirteen,” which were the first 13 African American officers in the United States Navy. In 1944, 16 African American men completed the required training course to become officers and passed their exams. Twelve of those men were commissioned as officers and a 13^th was made a chief warrant officer, while no reason was given by the Navy as to why the remaining three men did not receive the commissions they had earned.

“These officers passed their exams with high marks, despite being given half the standard amount of training time,” Norton said. “When the group was accused of cheating and were forced to retake their exams, these men passed once again and scored higher on the exam than the first time, ultimately earning the highest average of any class in Navy history at the time. These men served their country honorably, even with the challenges against them. They oversaw all-Black units and the training of Black recruits. It’s time now that we honor these brave men with a Congressional Gold Medal to thank them for their service.”

Norton’s introductory statement follows.

Statement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

on the Introduction of the Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act

February 2, 2026

Today, I introduce the Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act.  This bill would award a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal to the 13 men who became the first African American commissioned and warrant officers in the United States Navy.

In 1944, the Navy began officer training for 16 African American men.  At that time, there were no African American officers in the Navy.  These 16 men were expected to complete their officer training in eight weeks, even though officer training was normally 16 weeks.

These 16 men supported each other, including by placing blankets over their windows and studying as a group by flashlight at night. Each brought to the group his own expertise to help the others.

When their officer training was completed, all 16 passed their exams.  With some claiming that the group must have cheated, the group was forced to retake certain exams, and the group scored even higher.  The average grade for the group was 3.89 out of 4.0, the highest average of any class in Navy history at that time.

Even though all 16 men passed their exams, the Navy commissioned only 12 of the men, and a 13^th was made a chief warrant officer.  Three returned to the enlisted ranks, with no reason given by the Navy.

During the men’s careers, they oversaw all-Black units or the training of Black recruits.  One would go on to make his career in the Navy after World War II, with the rest returning to civilian life.  In the 1970s, Captain Edward Secrest, a former instructor, gave the group the name the “Golden Thirteen.”

I urge my colleagues to support this bill to honor the first African American officers in the Navy: Jesse Walter Arbor; Phillip G. Barnes; Samuel Edward Barnes; Dalton Louis Baugh, Sr.; George Clinton Cooper; Reginald Ernest Goodwin; James Edward Hair; Charles Byrd Lear; Graham Edward Martin; Dennis Denmark Nelson; John Walter Reagan; Frank Ellis Sublett, Jr.; and William Sylvester White.  The three men who passed their exams but were not made officers were Augustus Alves; J.B. Pinkney; and Lewis “Mummy” Williams.

###

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (7th District of Washington)

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (1st District of Washington)

Today, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) released the following statement on the government funding bill that passed the House today.

“ICE is terrorizing families in our communities and causing violence across our nation with American tax dollars. The recent horrific tragedies in Minnesota are just the latest examples of an unchecked agency rotting from the head down under Secretary Kristi Noem’s failed leadership. Democrats in Congress are demanding stronger legal guardrails, real oversight, and meaningful accountability. Because of our pressure, the White House is now at the negotiating table to address these concerns.

“Given the lawlessness we’ve witnessed under the Trump administration, I could not vote for legislation that provides additional resources to ICE without much-needed oversight and accountability. Democrats must use the ongoing negotiations over the next two weeks to secure the critical reforms Americans are demanding for ICE. Any potential agreement that comes before the House must protect innocent Americans and rein in this rogue agency.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman John Garamendi – Representing California’s 3rd Congressional District

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Brett Guthrie (2nd District Kentucky)

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, delivered the following opening statement at today’s hearing, examining fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. This hearing follows the largest Department of Justice health care fraud bust in history and the widely reported allegations of welfare fraud in states like Minnesota. 

Oversight of federal health programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, falls under the jurisdiction of Chairman Guthrie’s committee. In addition to launching the investigation that led to today’s hearing, the Committee also recently sent a letter seeking answers about alleged Medicare fraud in Los Angeles County.

Chairman Guthrie’s opening statement as prepared for delivery:

Good morning and thank you, Chairman Joyce, for holding this hearing on Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Today’s hearing sounds the alarm on the tremendous loss of taxpayer dollars to fraud – and the real consequences for patients, providers, and public trust.

Together, Medicare and Medicaid provide health coverage to more than 140 million Americans, including seniors, people with disabilities, low-income families, pregnant women, and children. These programs are lifelines, not abstract budget figures. When they are exploited and plundered, Americans lose access to care, confidence in the system, and resources intended to improve health outcomes.

Each year, tens of billions of dollars are lost to fraud, waste, and abuse. But financial loss is not the only consequence of these fraud schemes. When providers bill for services never rendered or criminals flood Medicare or Medicaid with fake claims, the system becomes harder to oversee, less responsive to legitimate patients, and financially unstable. Health care costs rise for everyone, and trust in these critical programs erodes.

Operation Gold Rush illustrates the growing scale of the problem. This recent, nationwide enforcement action by the Department of Justice was the largest health care fraud takedown in history. This operation targeted several health care fraud schemes leading to criminal charges against 324 defendants in 50 federal districts and 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices across the U.S. The various schemes involved over $14.6 billion in intended loss.

Twenty-nine of those defendants were charged for their roles in transnational criminal organizations that used stolen identities of over one million Americans—spanning all 50 states—to submit over $10 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare for durable medical equipment that patients never ordered or received. Many seniors learned their Medicare or other personally identifiable information had been compromised only after being denied legitimate care.

This was not an administrative error—it was organized crime exploiting our nation’s health care programs. We must ensure taxpayer dollars are used for quality health care, not siphoned off by criminal enterprises. Republicans took steps to this end in HR 1, and we must continue the effort to preserve Medicare and Medicaid for those who need these programs.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today. With that, I yield back.

Chairman Guthrie’s full opening statement can be found here. 

Chairman Guthrie’s five minutes of questioning can be found here. 

Additional highlights from today’s hearing provided by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce can be found here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steve Scalise (1st District of Louisiana)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) to discuss Democrats’ opposition to funding the government and Republicans’ efforts to prevent another long, painful Democrat shutdown.

Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise’s full remarks. 
Highlights from Leader Scalise’s remarks:“Once again, today, Republicans will reopen the government after Democrats shut it down. It’s like we’ve seen this movie before, just a few weeks ago, that Democrats shut the government down for a record amount of time. It took President Trump working with Republicans to finally get it reopened. We’re going to do that again today. As the whip said, if some Democrats want to join us, we welcome them. But you’ve seen their leaders, like Hakeem Jeffries, say they want to keep the government shut down. You’d ask why. Well, it’s surely not over ICE because we’ve already funded ICE in the One Big Beautiful Bill.“What does a no vote mean today? If Democrats, like Hakeem Jeffries, vote no today, they’re voting against a 3.8% pay raise for our troops. That’s in this package. What they’re saying is they don’t want our troops to even get paid, let alone get a pay raise. Because, as it stands today, troops will not get their next paycheck if Hakeem Jeffries and Democrat leaders get their way. TSA agents who keep our airports operating so people can go see relatives flying around the country, that will shut down if Democrats vote no. FEMA is right now giving aid to a lot of states that have had massive damage from freezes. Democrats voting no shuts that down.“And so Republicans will be the responsible party, once again, to keep the government open, to reopen this government, and focus on the priorities that the voters elected Donald Trump and House and Senate Republicans to go implement. We will keep doing that work, even with a razor-thin margin. I know, yes, sometimes the odds look lower than the Patriots winning the Super Bowl, but that’s okay, because we are here to do a job, and we’re going to do that job. Whoever wants to join us on the Democrats’ side is free to.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steny H Hoyer (MD-05)

WASHINGTON, DC – This morning, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) joined Members of Congress and Ukrainian leaders to deliver remarks at a press conference hosted by Co-Chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Congressman Mike Quigley (IL-05), and Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02) to kick off the start of Ukrainian Week 2026. Below is a transcript of his remarks:
 

“Thank you very much, Marcy Kaptur and Mike Quigley, for leading this caucus and raising the banner of freedom that America has stood for over a century; 250 years, to be exact. Madam Ambassador, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for representing an extraordinarily courageous people; people who have stood in the cold – much colder than this, as Mike Quigley pointed out – who are being attacked every day. The White House yesterday, I heard – not yesterday, but a few days ago, Mr. Witkoff said, ‘We were so appreciative that Mr. Putin has agreed to stop for a week the savagery that he is visiting on the Ukrainian people.’ Of course, he didn’t keep that week.

“Ladies and gentlemen who stand before me, people who are watching, Ukrainians, Americans, and those of all nations who are committed to democracy, the Ukrainians have shown courage. The people in that House now need to show courage. We have had over 300 votes every time we have put a bill on the Floor to support Ukraine. Over half of the Republicans on every vote, save one of 12. We now have 214 Democrats who have signed – excuse me, 215 who have signed a petition which will bring to the Floor of that House the Ukrainian Support Act. That’s not talk. That’s action, which is what we need. You’ve heard it. We have two Republicans who have signed that, notwithstanding the fact [that] I believe there are hundreds more who say they support Ukraine. At this press conference, I ask one more, one more person to sign a discharge petition that says, ‘Support Ukraine.’ Not with words, but with action, with an articulation of support, a commitment of money, a sanction on the aggressor: the criminal Putin.

“So, I am pleased to join all of you in raising high that banner. Talk to everybody in the Congress of the United States who have not signed that petition and say, ‘On this almost fourth anniversary, stand up, speak up, speak out. Sign the discharge petition.’ Let us give the Ukrainians the loud voice of the Congress of the United States [in] supporting their quest for freedom, democracy, and sovereignty. Thank you.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, today spoke out against out-of-control immigration enforcement and misplaced priorities at a Committee markup. He also condemned “open and notorious unprosecuted corruption” and outrageous pardons of convicted felons.

In his remarks, Congressman Cohen said in part:

“We put more money into ICE, making it the largest law enforcement agency in this country. ICE was given $75 billion over four years. They get more money than the FBI, the DEA, U.S. Marshals and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms multiplied by two every year…And what are they doing? They’ve killed two Americans, Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti. They are dead forever. Why? Because people we hired and we pay a large amount of money to took their guns out and shot them. Shot them like Kristi Noem shot her dog…

“What are we turning America into? We’ve hired Brown Shirts to go out and harass our citizens. They consider the protesters as the opposition, and they kill them…We’ve got a messed up set of priorities in this country.”

Congressman Cohen was also critical of Jeff Bezos bankrolling a $40 million documentary on Melania Trump, saying, “you’re talking about open and notorious unprosecuted corruption in our country.” And he listed off pardons the president has provided to frauds and convicted felons that a recent Judiciary Committee report said deprived victims of $1.3 billion in restitution.

See Congressman Cohen’s remarks on ICE and corruption here and on Trump’s pardons here.

# # # 

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)

WASHINGTON — This morning, at the weekly House Republican Leadership press conference, Speaker Johnson discussed House Republicans’ overcoming Democrat objections to responsibly end the partial government shutdown, the status of DHS negotiations, and Republicans making tax filing easier for working families.

“We have to make sure we maintain the important parameters here; we can’t go down the road of amnesty. You can’t in any way lighten the enforcement requirement of federal immigration law,” Speaker Johnson said. “That’s what the American people demand and deserve. We want dangerous, illegal criminals to be sent out of the country, and they’ve been very successful at that. But these negotiations are going to go forward.”

Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.

On DHS funding negotiations:

The President obviously has reached out to state and local officials in the state of Minnesota. The events there have been tragic and unnecessary. He’s made clear his desire to deescalate the situation and to support an honest investigation of what’s occurred there. We now have Tom Homan in charge of operations there, and he’s an extraordinary leader. He has 40 years’ experience. He’s highly decorated, has worked in Democrat and Republican administrations, and he knows what he’s doing. And there’s more order being brought to the chaos. Now, I want to hasten to say that the chaos is because in large measure, the local and state officials in Minnesota have not been participating with federal law enforcement operations. And they’ve created a dangerous situation there. And that is really a big part of the problem here.

The White House and the Senate continued in good faith. They’ve agreed to separate the Homeland Security funding bill, and that’s fine. So, we have two weeks now to negotiate in good faith on both sides. The White House and Senate Democrats are going to engage in that, but the House Republicans are as well. We have to make sure we maintain the important parameters here; we can’t go down the road of amnesty. You can’t in any way lighten the enforcement requirement of federal immigration law. That’s what the American people demand and deserve. We want dangerous, illegal criminals to be sent out of the country, and they’ve been very successful at that. But these negotiations are going to go forward.

On the effects of a shutdown on DHS:

If the Democrats do insist on keeping the government shut down, their pointless obstruction is going to have no effect on border security. We’ve secured our immigration enforcement, as has been noted by the leaders here this morning. We did fund ICE operations for a few years now. What they’ll be shutting down, don’t lose this, what they’ll be shutting down is FEMA operations as we’re cleaning up from the winter storms. They’ll be shutting down TSA, which is obviously necessary to keep the country moving through our airports. Coast Guard operations, I mean, so many important functions in the Department of Homeland Security is what will be adversely affected by these partisan games.

Let’s hope and pray that they don’t do that. Let’s hope that over the next two weeks we can negotiate and get this done. They say they want a real negotiation with President Trump and Republicans over immigration enforcement policy, and we are happy to have that debate. And I said in a gaggle earlier this morning that what must be a part of that discussion is the participation of blue cities in federal immigration enforcement. You can’t go to a sanctuary city and pretend like the law doesn’t apply there. It does. And so, we are going to be working through all that.

On Republicans making tax filing easier for working families:

Last week marked the beginning of tax season, and millions of American families are working through that right now, and they’re recognizing the amount of time and money spent complying with the Federal tax code is going to be significantly reduced this year because of great Republican policy, some of the things we did in the Working Families Tax Cuts, the big beautiful bill. Obviously, we intended to cut taxes and to advance America First pro-growth policies, but we also sought to reduce the tax burden on Americans because we know that reform in the tax system isn’t just about reducing rates, it’s also about reducing the paperwork and the compliance burden on Americans. And you heard these stats, I’ll repeat them, but our Working Families Tax Cuts locked in the doubled standard deduction, it boosted it further to $31,500 for American families. That’s a lot of money to hardworking folks. And again, we remind you, Democrats voted against all those great reforms.

These successful reforms are going to save Americans 210 million hours per year in paperwork and $13 billion in compliance costs. That’s real money to real people, and we’re proud of that. Nobody likes paying taxes, but Republicans have reduced the amount you owe and made your returns significantly easier to file.

###