Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act of 2021

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act, the HAVANA Act. Our bill would provide assistance to the employees of the intelligence community and other Federal Agencies who have suffered from traumatic brain injuries at the hands of our foreign adversaries.

I am joined today by a bipartisan group of cosponsors, including Senators Warner and Rubio, the chairman and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senators Shaheen, Cornyn, Bennet, Burr, Gillibrand, Blunt, Heinrich, Sasse, Feinstein, Cotton, King, and Risch. Most of those are members of the Intelligence Committee, and they share my deep concern and my determination to get to the bottom of what has happened to these brave men and women who have been attacked.

For many years, American personnel serving in Cuba, China, and elsewhere have experienced unexplained, serious medical harm, including, in some cases, permanent brain injuries. These conditions are believed to be connected to a mysterious direct energy weapon used by those who are our adversaries.

As we investigate the source of previous attacks and seek to prevent future ones, the bill that I am introducing today would provide additional financial assistance to Americans who were injured and who continue to experience debilitating symptoms. Too many of the victims have had to fight to get the medical care they need for their injuries. This is completely unacceptable.

Last year, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a report on the more than 40 American diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, and at least a dozen American diplomats at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China, who suffered symptoms ``consistent with the effects of directed, pulsed radiofrequency energy.'' Just this month, the New York Times reported that the number of American personnel who have fallen ill under these mystifying circumstances is much higher, possibly more than 130 cases. Now, we are even hearing reports of cases occurring within the United States.

The injuries that many of these victims have endured are significant and life-altering. These attacks have left Americans serving our country with damage that ranges in severity but can include reduced balance, eyesight, and hearing. Some have severe, permanent headaches. Others have brain injuries that have resulted in reduced cognitive function. Many of them can no longer perform their jobs and have been forced to medically retire.

To make matters worse, some of the victims did not receive the financial and medical support they should have expected from their government when they first reported their injuries. This is an outrageous failure on the part of our government to care for those who serve.

Our bill would give additional authority to the CIA Director and to the Secretary of State to provide financial support to these Americans who experience traumatic brain injuries from attacks that occur while serving our country. Due to limitations in the current law, several victims suffering from cognitive impairment are not receiving all of the medical care and other assistance they need to cope with the impacts of their injuries. The authorities provided in the HAVANA Act will help to rectify this problem.

I have spoken personally with some of the victims of these heinous attacks. This is a group who unfortunately is growing in number. To those victims, I want to pledge to them today that, along with the cosponsors of our bill, I am totally committed to making sure that our government finds out who is responsible for these devastating attacks, and I further pledge to the victims that you will receive the financial support and medical care that you deserve.

I have spoken several times to CIA Director Burns about these attacks, and I am heartened by his commitment and his attitude. He has made commitments to the Senate Intelligence Committee, as has the Director of National Intelligence, to care for these victims and to get to the bottom of these attacks.

We need a whole-of-government approach to identify the heartless adversary who is deliberately targeting American personnel.

The public servants who work in our Embassies and Consulates and in other locations overseas make many personal sacrifices to represent America's interests. They deserve our strong support when they are harmed in the line of duty, just as we care for soldiers who are injured on the battlefield.

I hope all of my colleagues will join us in supporting this vital legislation.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act of 2021. This important legislation would expedite the visa process for adult children of Filipino World War II veterans, so they can reunite with their relatives in the United States. Today, fewer than 6,000 Filipino World War II veterans remain. Many of these veterans are now in their late 80s and 90s, and have been separated from their loved ones for far too long.

During World War II, more than 250,000 Filipino soldiers fought under the American flag to protect and defend the United States in the Pacific

theater. These Filipino soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder with U.S. servicemembers, and approximately 60,000 died in battle. The U.S. government promised these veterans compensation and benefits in exchange for their loyal service to our country. However, after the war, Congress passed the Rescission Act of 1946, denying Filipino veterans many of the benefits conferred to other World War II veterans.

Filipino World War II veterans were not awarded U.S. citizenship until 1990, more than 40 years after they risked their lives for our Nation. Although the Immigration Act of 1990 granted U.S. citizenship to approximately 26,000 Filipino nationals who served during World War II, the law did not confer citizenship or residency to their children. Therefore, the children of the Filipino veterans are required to apply for family-based green cards which are subject to an annual limitation as well as a country cap. Under the cap, only seven percent of recipients are permitted to come from a single country. These limitations have created a large backlog of people trying to reunite with family from the Philippines and as a result, some Filipino applicants must wait nearly two decades before their petitions can be considered.

In an attempt to partially resolve this issue, in 2016 under the Obama Administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) established the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) program to reunite veterans and their surviving spouses with their adult children and siblings. Under FWVP, USCIS can grant parole on a discretionary, case-by-case basis, to a veteran's family member so that they may come to the United States as they wait for their immigrant visa to become available. This policy recognizes the extraordinary contributions and sacrifices of Filipino veterans while also allowing these elderly veterans to be cared for by family. Despite the value of this program, the Trump Administration announced its intention to terminate FWVP and in December 2020, published final steps to end this program in the Federal Register. I joined Rep. Ed Case in sending a bicameral and bipartisan letter with colleagues to President Biden in February, urging the new administration to rescind the termination efforts and renew FWVP.

The threat to end FWVP persists to this day. The legislation that I am introducing, the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act of 2021, would resolve this issue permanently and fulfill our nation's promise to honor the Filipino World War II veterans' service to our country. This bill would help to reunite these families by exempting the sons and daughters of Filipino World War II veterans from immigration limitations in the Immigration and Nationality Act. This change in law would benefit only a few thousand surviving Filipino World War II veterans who desperately want to be reunited with their children in their last years.

I call on my Senate colleagues to quickly pass this bill.

Mr. President, I rise to introduce the ``Rosie the Riveter National Historic Site Expansion Act.'' The Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park honors the history of Richmond, California as the home of World War II shipyards and the women and men who supported the war effort domestically.

Richmond, California was chosen as the site for this National Historical Park because it has so many surviving sites and structures from the World War II era that help tell the diverse stories of the home front. According to the National Park Service, ``these stories include the mobilization of America's industry and the changes in production techniques; the struggle for women's and minority rights; the labor movement; the growth of pre-paid medical care; advances in early childhood education and day care; recycling and rationing; major shifts in population; and changes in arts and culture.''

This legislation would add the Nystrom Elementary School to the existing National Historical Park.

During World War II, the Nystrom Elementary school was built to teach the children of shipyard workers. The school was part of a planned development including the Maritime Child Development center, which has already been preserved as part of the park, and the Nystrom housing area, which has been scheduled for future preservation and redevelopment by the city of Richmond.

The bill would also give the National Park Service the authority to add additional sites to the park through cooperative agreements and to acquire additional sites for inclusion in the park.

Having the Nystrom Elementary school identified as a site of the park will help the National Historical Park better preserve, interpret, and share that history with visitors. To understand the social changes that occurred during World War II, it is important to have sites that represent those changes as tangible evidence.

The City of Richmond and the West Contra Costa Unified School District support adding the school to the site. I thank my colleague, Representative Mark DeSaulnier, for championing this effort in the House.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of the ``Rosie the Riveter National Historic Site Expansion Act'' as quickly as possible.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.