the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house

a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms. washington, d.c. may 6, 2024. i hereby appoint the honorable randy k. weber sr. to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, mike johnson, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 9, 2024, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with time equally allotted -- allocated between the parties and each member other than the minority and majority leaders and minority whip limited to five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. mr. joyce: mr. speaker, last week president biden

unilaterally made the decision to cancel more than $6.1 billion in debt for 300,000 art students across our country. this is a bailout. this bailout is an insult to the tens of millions of americans who either paid off their student loans or who never attended college in the first place. instead of using taxpayer dollars in an attempt to win votes, president biden should be turning his attention to the runaway inflation that has impacted every man, woman and child in america. parents shouldn't have to choose between buying gas or buying groceries for their families. parents should not have to dip into their savings or into their retirement accounts to afford basic goods. sadly, under president biden these decisions have become all too common. it is time to stop wasting

taxpayer dollars on student bailouts and green new deal initiatives. it is time to return to fiscal restraint, it is time to put a stop to the runaway inflation that has become the trademark of the biden administration. thank you. mr. speaker, last week the house homeland security committee released documents that identified over 45 airport locations that were used by president biden to secretly fly over 400,000 illegal immigrants into our country. these documents, which the biden administration only turned over-under subpoena, show that secretary mayorkas and president biden have been transporting illegal immigrants into communities across the united states. it is clear that president biden

is using our regional airports to spread this crisis and effectively make each and every state a border state. the american people cannot afford to have a homeland security secretary that fails to keep america safe. and pennsylvania families cannot afford a president who cares more about illegal immigrants than about the american people. thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from guam, mr. moylan, for five minutes. mr. moylan: thank you, mr. speaker. today i rise to recognize mayor john cruz as he serves his final term representing the village after almost two decades. before becoming the mayor of guam's capital, cruz faithfully served the government of guam

for 25 years. his tenure shows his commitment to the people of guam has been unwavering since the beginning. he has been a strong advocate for the island and a champion of public service. present day, cruz is known by many of his constituents for his beautification efforts in his village, ensuring guam's special capital remains a cultural and an historical hub. most importantly, cruz is a family man. a devoted catholic and a reliable mayor who puts his constituents first. i'd like to thank mayor cruz for his dedication to the people of hagatna. his leadership has been instrumental in making the village what it is today. i wish him the very best in retirement and i'm certain his legacy will be an inspiration to all future leaders to come. thank you, mayor cruz.

mr. speaker, today i rise to honor a remarkable individual who has made significant contributions to the field of medicine. dr. vincent duenes. his deep passion for healing and his tireless dedication to patient care has made a profound impact on the lives of countless individuals in my community. the island of guam. as he retires from his position, i'd like to thank hinge for 45 years of -- thank him for 45 years of service at the guam memorial hospital authority. in addition to his distinguished career as an internal medicine doctor, he has also held title of g.m.h.'s associate hospital administrator of medical services, medical director of respiratory therapy, among many other positions. one of the most remarkable aspects of dr. duenes's career is his exceptional ability to

provide compassionate care. he has fostered an environment where patients can feel heard, understood and supported. aside from his time at the medical field, dr. duenes also served our nation in uniform for 20 years. he was a member of the guam army national guard, ultimately retiring with the rank of colonel. dr. duenes's accomplishments and contributions to medicine are truly inspiring. his dedication, expertise and passion have made a positive impact on countless lives in guam. today we honor dr. duenes and wish him the very best in his retirement. i am certain his legacy will continue to inspire future doctors to come. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. weber. mr. weber: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the life and legacy of one senator carl allen parker, a true southeast texas giant. born inport arthur during the great depression, senator parker dedicated decades to serving the people of southeast texas. he was a distinguished lawyer, statesman and beloved native son of port arthur. he leaves behind a legacy of unwavering dedication to public service and tireless advocacy for the people of our great state. he will be remembered for his 34 years as a member of the texas legislature, starting with his election to the house of representatives in 1962, and then later to the texas senate where he served until 1995. as we mourn the passing of this remarkable man, let us also

celebrate his extraordinary life and the lasting impact he had on our state. may his legacy inspire future generations of public servants to follow in his footsteps and continue the work of building a better texas for us all. mr. speaker, i rise today with a heavy heart to honor the extraordinary life of the honorable kenneth randall huffstadler. his relentless dedication to public service and remarkable contributions to our community will always be remembered as a county icon. randy was the texan whose life exemplified faith, family and service. his tenure as a judge was marked by a steadfast commitment to upholding our united states constitution, with integrity and diligence, he interpreted and

applied the law to ensure fairness and justice in every single case that crossed his bench. despite losing his battle to cancer too soon, randy's legacy of courage and strength will endure, inspiring us all. though he may no longer walk among us, randy's impact will continue to be felt in the lives he touched and the values he instilled. to his beautiful family, randy was the epitome of love, strength and devotion, cherishing each moment with him as the greatest gift of his life. and to the judge, we say farewell with gratitude and admiration. mr. speaker, i rise today to honor a distinguished texan, gerald sullivan, who has been selected as the 2024 buck and ball honoree. gerald's story is nothing but a pure lone star legend,

showcasing grit, guts and a whole lot of texas-sized success. from galveston county to the halls of texas a&m, gerald's entrepreneurial shirt spirit has left an -- spirit has left an indelible mark. as chairman of the portland of galveston -- port of galveston, he steered us through hurricane ike's wrath. his dedication to education and sharing insights with students reflects his commitment to the next generation. not to mention the sullivan family's sentry-long legacy -- century-long legacy in the beef industry and shipping from the port of galveston to caribbean nations like haiti and cuba. gerald and suzanne, his lovely bride, congrats, gerald, on receiving the buck and ball award from the brian museum in galveston where they are preserving texas history. gerald, your commitment and dedication are inspiring to

southeast texas and i'm glad and proud to call you a friend. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida for five minutes. mr. gaetz: mr. speaker, i seek unanimous consent to enter into the congressional record part 2 of the interim report that i have prepared for the house of representatives entitled unwelcome in nyjer. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gaetz: mr. speaker, i rise to warn this body of the deteriorating conditions in the african country of nyjer and to give rise to the concern of service members and contractors, more than 1,000 of them right now are functionally being held hostage in nyjer. they are being used as pawns during a negotiation that's left america at the bended knee of

third world criminals and thugs, as our troops seek medicine and freshwater and troop rotations. how did we get here? well, it started back in march of 2023. secretary of state anthony blinken went to niger and proclaimed that it was a model of resilience. a platform for great democracy, it would be where america would execute its africa strategy. one year later, almost to the day, there was a coup in niger and guess who overthrew the government that we said was the great model of resilience? people we trained. we trained the coup leaders to go throw out the democratically elected government of nijer and i know this will surprise you but after that occur, they say they want our bases that u.s. taxpayers have poured more than $1 billion into, gone. they want our service members gone. and so i came to this floor after hearing from some of my

constituents who were stationed in niger and after the overthrow of the government, there weren't resupply flights. they said, congressman, we are going to be out of medicine in may if we don't get this sorted out. three days after i filed part 1 of the report that i am supplementing today, the biden administration announced that we will be leaving niger. a welcome sign, i'm sure, but the leaving didn't actually happen. we have people who are now more than 200 days into a 180-day rotation and while the negotiation regarding retrograde and withdrawal are ongoing, the government in niger is using the well-being and health of our service members as leverage to get what they want out of our government, our troops aren't getting medicine for malaria, for cholesterol, for their blood pressure, chronic conditions, and i have received the letters from the wives, from the fathers of the people who are in niger now and they say, we know that our family members are being extorted by the local

governments when they try to leave, hundreds of dollars to even bring a bag through the airport. we know that russians are behind the wire. you know what a real u.s. president would do? say that c-130's are on their way to niger today with the water and the medicine and the food our troops need, that they will have a full fighter pilot escort there and if the government or any other third world thug tries to even turn on their air defense systems, we should show those leaders and those thugs what the target package looks like on their houses and their family members, because it should not be americans that are suffering because president biden and blinken are so embarrassed that their strategy in africa failed that they're willing to let americans' conditions deteriorate. ... they willing at the our let military spouses and family members wonder what's happening to their loved ones with their blood pressure ricing and no medication. or concern what will happen now that we are in may and there is

not sufficient malaria medication. we should always keep our people he's women being at the forefront of our minds. today, today we should be resupplying our troops in niger, africa, we should dare these thugs and criminals to mess with us while we are doing this. this is an embarrassment, but saving politicians and people like biden and blinken from embarrassment is not worth putting u.s. troops at risk. i will say on this on our government, an niger government to ensure our military members and families are properly treated. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to krause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in

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