Joe Courtney
Representative for Connecticut · Democratic · United States
“After it was discovered by the Secret Service that the plane had serious vulnerabilities and the President flew home on one of the older Air Force Ones, the Qatari plane went into another overhaul and received maxed out upgrades, as the President said, which cost even more taxpayer funds.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“Given its low mileage and all the expenditure of government money and training, the notion that this plane should be mothballed in a couple years and donated to a Trump museum is an insult to the intelligence of the American people. Mr.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“Its service life will last for years. Just as the Air Force One plane that flew for over a decade after Ronald Reagan left office, this Air Force One should be used to benefit the Nation and not be used as a vanity project. Mr. Speaker, this bill is about exercising congressional stewardship of property that belongs to the U.S.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“Speaker, as the ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the Air Force executive airlift programs, I will remind the House that this aircraft is not the property of any one person, including the President of the United States. That plane is the property of the U.S. Government and U.S.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“The plane then went through a well-established legal process for transfer of excess Federal property that President Reagan had no control over, which is designed to protect the interests of the taxpayer. Mr.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, on September 4, President Trump was asked about the future of the Qatari Air Force One plane, which, after a messy rollout in July, he flew on to Ireland this past weekend and said: ``I haven't made a decision, but it will probably go to the museum. It is scheduled to go to the museum.'' Mr.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
The complete record
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“Its service life will last for years. Just as the Air Force One plane that flew for over a decade after Ronald Reagan left office, this Air Force One should be used to benefit the Nation and not be used as a vanity project. Mr. Speaker, this bill is about exercising congressional stewardship of property that belongs to the U.S. taxpayer, and it should be easy for every Member of this Chamber to support. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, it asserts what is both legally the right thing to do, but also morally the right thing to do. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me and Ranking Member Smith to cosponsor this commonsense measure. ____________________”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“The plane then went through a well-established legal process for transfer of excess Federal property that President Reagan had no control over, which is designed to protect the interests of the taxpayer. Mr. Speaker, everything about this Qatari gifted plane has been problematic: the unanswered questions of a foreign emolument, the lack of transparency on the cost of the initial retrofit, the rocky maiden voyage to Turkiye, and the President's repeated claims of ownership and control of the plane, which by law he does not have.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“Given its low mileage and all the expenditure of government money and training, the notion that this plane should be mothballed in a couple years and donated to a Trump museum is an insult to the intelligence of the American people. Mr. Speaker, some may point to the example of the Air Force One plane at the Reagan Library as justification for President Trump's claim that he has the right to abscond with this plane after he leaves office. In fact, Mr. Speaker, the Reagan Library plane was in Air Force service for 13 years after he left office in 1988 and served President George Herbert Walker Bush, President Clinton, and President George W. Bush until it was decommissioned in 2001.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“After it was discovered by the Secret Service that the plane had serious vulnerabilities and the President flew home on one of the older Air Force Ones, the Qatari plane went into another overhaul and received maxed out upgrades, as the President said, which cost even more taxpayer funds. Just a few days ago, it was announced that the Air Force had contracted a new pilot simulator training program for the Qatari plane to the tune of $45.3 million. Clearly, Mr. Speaker, the U.S. taxpayer has huge skin in the game regarding the future of this plane. It is also clear that this plane has ample long-term service life left in it. At the time it was gifted to the Air Force, it had only 800 hours of flight time, which is a fraction of the normal full-service life of a comparable Boeing 747 jet.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“Speaker, as the ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the Air Force executive airlift programs, I will remind the House that this aircraft is not the property of any one person, including the President of the United States. That plane is the property of the U.S. Government and U.S. taxpayers, and it is under the control of the U.S. Air Force. It is a plane the U.S. taxpayers spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last years to retrofit prior to its maiden flight to Turkiye for the NATO Summit.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, on September 4, President Trump was asked about the future of the Qatari Air Force One plane, which, after a messy rollout in July, he flew on to Ireland this past weekend and said: ``I haven't made a decision, but it will probably go to the museum. It is scheduled to go to the museum.'' Mr.”
House of Representatives14 September 2026Source ↗
“She did, however, show favoritism, and that was to her beautiful family: her husband, Michael, of 59 years; her two daughters, Stacey Papa and Meryl Baldwin, and their husbands, Steve and Bill; their five grandchildren; and many more relations who are carrying a heavy burden of grief because of her passing. They did have great support on August 16th when hundreds and hundreds of her admirers and friends showed up at her wake, expressing their love and appreciation for the contributions Nancy's family made to her impactful life. I particularly thank the town manager of Tolland, Brian Foley, who showed so much care and compassion to help Nancy's family. Mr. Speaker, I ask the House to join me in a similar recognition and express our condolences to Nancy's family for their loss. ____________________”
House of Representatives31 August 2026Source ↗
“In 1986, she ran for a vacant seat in the Connecticut House of Representatives in a district next door to where I live, and at the same time, coincidentally, I was also running as a first-time candidate. We both prevailed and the following January were assigned our desks in the Connecticut House Chamber next to each other, which began a long and fruitful friendship, both politically and personally. She shortly became chair of the Education Committee and presided over one of the most difficult, contested issues in the State, namely allocating public school funding. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, it is an issue where you cannot please all the people all the time.”
House of Representatives31 August 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with the House the sad news of the loss of one of the State of Connecticut's finest public servants, former Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, of Tolland, Connecticut.”
House of Representatives31 August 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Chair, I urge a ``no'' vote from all our colleagues, and I yield back the balance of my time.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Chair, I think Congresswoman Tokuda did a very nice job in terms of laying out the reality of what is actually going on in communities where military installations and military bases exist. Those are tax exempt properties where the communities are, again, more than glad to educate the children of military servicemembers. They have to find a way to finance the cost of that education. Unfortunately, the existing programs in place today, DoDEA and Impact Aid, fall short in terms of making sure that those communities are fairly reimbursed. Mr. Chair, we are not in a place where there should even be a discussion about starting new funding programs for education paid for by the taxpayer until we keep the promise to those communities that we are going to reimburse the cost of educating military schoolchildren. For that reason, Mr.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Chairman, this is a voucher program, and vouchers cost money. That is really the issue that I think the proponent really didn't, in my opinion, adequately address. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda).”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Again, this amendment would generate a new cost to the Pentagon's budget in terms of DoDEA funding and Impact Aid funding who, again, today are not actually up to the levels that fully paid for those services. For that purpose, I oppose the amendment. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“If you look at the President's budget that came over, Mr. Chair, there was actually a cut to Impact Aid in terms of what was sent over. We are going to be in a fight over at the Appropriations Committee to restore funding. Again, as someone who represents a district with public schools that are proudly in the business of offering education for K-12 students, this, again, is just going to be another pressure, external pressure, in terms of reducing what, in fact, these communities really deserve, which is to have the military fully compensate an item that families really depend on in terms of making sure whether they are deployed or whether when they are on base they are getting education and that the local community is not taking an unfair hit in terms of paying for those services.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Education Committee, I represent a military district with about 7,000 sailors and officers. Many of those children use local schools which the Federal Government partially reimburses through the Impact Aid Program. The notion that we are going to start a new program--and really this program is about who pays. It is about funding vouchers. It is not really whether or not military families have a choice in terms of whether they themselves want to go to a parochial school or to a private school. That is not the point. The point that we are talking about here is, again, that this is going to put a stress on the Pentagon's budget, who already, as I said, underfunds Impact Aid and DoDEA schools.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Norcross), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. {time} 1650”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“If Republican leadership is serious about passing a 66th NDAA with bipartisan support, the SAVE America Act merger should be stripped from the bill or later in conference. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to achieving that outcome, if not today, then later in the NDAA negotiations with the Senate. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Particularly, its approval of the administration's request for $1 billion for obsolete battleships without a detailed design. I would note, last month the Senate Armed Services Committee wisely voted to reject this wasteful request. That money should, instead, be spent for the Marine Corps' request for new landing ships, which is missing from both this bill and the new reconciliation bill. Mr. Chair, the NDAA has passed for 65 consecutive years because of disciplined avoidance of irrelevant hyperpartisan amendments. Unfortunately, the NDAA rule passed earlier today merging the NDAA with a completely nongermane voter suppression bill, the SAVE America Act, violates that long tradition.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“It also provides $12.5 billion for Virginia-class attack submarines and full funding for shipyard wage improvements and workforce pipelines which are vital to hiring and retention. Adding more Virginia subs will grow our undersea fleet and keep our commitment to Pillar One of the AUKUS security agreement to sell three in-service subs to the Australian Navy in the 2030s. Multiyear contracts for destroyers and oilers are also included, as well as investments in missiles and hypersonics from unmanned surface vessels. Ukraine has demonstrated how effective unmanned systems are in their defense against Russia's Black Sea invasion, and we must embrace that trend and expand our unmanned capabilities. There are areas of disagreement in this bill.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Chairman, as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, I yield myself 2\1/4\ minutes. Mr. Chairman, I rise to endorse many provisions of the Seapower and Projections Forces mark of the 2027 NDAA, which our subcommittee crafted under the able leadership of my good friend, Chairman Trent Kelly. A whole range of much-needed Navy warships and auxiliary platforms are authorized in this bill using multiyear contracting, which will save money for the taxpayer and provide certainty to our shipbuilding industrial base to invest and grow. The bill authorizes $15 billion for the Pentagon's number one acquisition priority, the Columbia-class ballistic submarine program.”
House of Representatives21 July 2026Source ↗
“I have the honor to represent the amazing university campus and stores and also Avery Point. Well done, bravo, and kudos to all of them. Just watching them celebrate on the court last night was really so exciting for all of us from Connecticut and from all across the country where many of these players come from. I was texting with the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, which is the home of Paige Bueckers, and he was as happy as anyone in Connecticut to see her great victory. ____________________”
House of Representatives7 April 2025Source ↗
“Their last win was in 2009, and there were a lot of naysayers out there that while the UConn program has hit its peak, in 2023 in USA Today there was a headline: ``UConn's dynasty is officially dead. That is good news for women's college basketball.'' That is probably the ultimate bulletin board material for someone like Geno Auriemma, if you know him. What is so striking about Geno is just the loyalty of his players. He had all these former stars of the UConn program who have gone on to be at the WNBA who were all there yesterday in Tampa, Florida, rooting them on. The same for the bench. He is an amazing leader and a really talented coach. John Wooden, the legendary coach, never got 12 national titles during his time. I congratulate Coach Auriemma and the team. We have here the college basketball capital of the world.”
House of Representatives7 April 2025Source ↗
“All records are made to be broken, but it is hard to even imagine any other school's team that could come close to 12 national titles. They were led by Paige Bueckers who is going to be one of the greats in the history of college basketball. She scored 17 points and had numerous rebounds, steals, and blocks. She has had every award imaginable for a college basketball player: ESPY Award, John R. Wooden Award, and Naismith Awards, but winning that trophy which so far had eluded her is just a storybook way for her career at the University of Connecticut to finish. She was joined by Azzi Fudd, who is a junior, 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, which is really saying something when we have a teammate like Paige Bueckers.”
House of Representatives7 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate a stunning, dominant victory by the UConn women's basketball team yesterday over a very good University of South Carolina team by a margin of 23 points, which actually is lower than really where it was for most of the second half. It is an amazing group of women student athletes who, again, rose to the occasion to take the UConn women's basketball program into further heights with its 12th national title.”
House of Representatives7 April 2025Source ↗
“It is really the people on Main Street who are going to feel the brunt of a tariff policy that goes completely in the opposite direction of the promises that he made on the campaign trail. It is time for Congress as a coequal branch of government--and, Speaker Johnson, if you are listening, please, you have the ability to bring to the floor a countermeasure to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and stop the madness in terms of where this administration is taking our economy.”
House of Representatives31 March 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, candidate Trump and President-elect Trump consistently and repeatedly promised the American people that when he was elected, on day one that he would lower the cost of living for Americans. He very effectively campaigned on that issue, and I think that that was a major driving force in terms of why he prevailed on November 5. In fact, he said that in a number of interviews after the election.”
House of Representatives31 March 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, last year, candidate Trump, President- elect Trump, and now-President Trump repeatedly told the American people that he won't touch Social Security. We are now 2 months into his administration, and we are finding that the opposite is true. A headline yesterday in The Washington Post read: ``Long waits, waves of calls, website crashes: Social Security is breaking down.'' Next to me is a poster board from The Wall Street Journal.”
House of Representatives26 March 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, we are now in the eighth week of the 119th Congress, which has distinguished itself with incredibly low productivity and low effort. So far, we have brought up just a bunch of moldy old leftovers from the last Congress. We have been averaging roughly about two votes a day since the Congress was sworn in on January 3.”
House of Representatives24 February 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, at the end of the first week of President Trump's Presidency, he announced with great fanfare that he was imposing 25 percent tariffs on our neighbors, Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The Wall Street Journal, hardly a Democratic newspaper, described this effort as the dumbest trade war ever.”
House of Representatives10 February 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, today, January 13 in Washington, we are in a little bit of a hiatus waiting for a new administration and a new Congress to begin the process of bringing forward new policy proposals and a budget.”
House of Representatives13 January 2025Source ↗