Department of Homeland Security Vehicular Terrorism Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2025

Madam Speaker, I rise to raise a question of the privileges of the House and offer the resolution that was previously noticed.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with humility, fear, and conviction, conviction that American citizens have a right to choose their elected Representatives, fear that my convictions will be dismissed as naive, and humility that I am as liable to deceive myself about my first duties, where my strength comes from, and to whom I owe my loyalty as anyone else on this floor today.

It is clear to me that my responsibility as an elected Representative to my community is to say loudly, consistently, humbly, and with love that no one has the right to subvert the right of the people to choose their elected Representatives.

I like Chuy Garcia. I think his reasons for retiring are noble. We are not here to adjudicate the character of Chuy Garcia. I am asking the body to consider a set of facts laid before us tonight about how he chose his successor and deprived Americans the right to choose their elected Representative.

Moral accusations and bitterness are not going to move this country in a stronger direction, but we can't keep bringing these same broken tools to the urgent struggle of preserving our inheritance as a nation.

With humility, I lay out the facts.

One week before the filing deadline, Congressman Chuy Garcia filed for reelection and submitted the necessary signatures for that petition, but 3 days before the filing deadline, he also began collecting signatures for his chief of staff, who shares his last name.

Just hours before the filing deadline, Representative Garcia's chief of staff submitted the paperwork to run with at least 2,500 signatures attached to it, and Chuy Garcia's signature was the very first one listed in the petition. He had at least 3 days of work that he has publicly acknowledged where he knew that his chief was going to be running against him, and he did not communicate his intention to retire.

He did not communicate his intention to retire. You don't get to have your cake and eat it, too. If you are not going to run, you don't get to choose your successor no matter how noble the work you have done beforehand.

The day after the filing deadline, once it was clear that there would be no Democratic alternative to his chief in a D+17 seat, he announced his retirement.

It is easy to get caught up in the culture of D.C., of political complacency, or believing that your opponents are so broken that the ends justify the means, but you cannot win the right to represent people through subversion. All you do is engender distrust in the government and apathy in the citizens of this great country.

We don't have to say that a thing is perfect to say that it is worth fighting for. In fact, we can't truly fight for a thing if we don't acknowledge its shortcomings.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we are not here to adjudicate the character or quality of work of what has gone before in the career of Representative Garcia. That is not the question at hand.

No good work means that you are able to end your career with impunity in choosing your successor. This is not who we are as a country. People bled and died for the right to elect their own Representative.

To say that you can, at the last moment, submit at least 2,500 signatures, when your name is at the top of the list--and to the question of legality, this is not a question of whether or not what he did was legal. This body does not adjudicate State election law. That is not what we are trying to do here.

We do not choose the rules in Illinois' elections. We cannot imagine every illegal thing, every amoral thing, and make it illegal. Legality is smaller than morality, and the question at hand is: Do we condone a subversion of an election because it is playing by the rules?

That is not what we are here to do.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, true love persists in a confidence, not in your supremacy in making a choice for your voters, but in your service and humility that they have the right to choose. When we start making choices for people without their consent, we have walked away from the fundamentals of democracy.

I feel deeply for the sacrifice that it has taken him to serve his community. That does not legitimatize the way in which he left his seat and choosing a successor and refusing to be forthright with his constituents.

Mr. Speaker, to the question of primary challenges, in both the 2020 and the 2022 election, as I have seen in reporting, Chuy Garcia carried 100 percent of the primary. That does not sound like a whole lot of a primary challenge when you are carrying 100 percent of the votes in the primary. That doesn't mean that he was not chosen in that, but you can't walk away from a commitment to allowing voters a choice and a clarity on what you are going to be doing.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this is certainly not a game. This is certainly not a short strategy. It is long work to remain committed to the primacy of Americans' right to choose their elected representatives. Nothing validates the choice to subvert an election, not the trespasses of an administration, not the long and noble work of a public servant, not the valid and unknowable bitterness of a family's suffering, not fidelity to identity politics. Nothing validates subverting an election.

We are not here to adjudicate, as I have said, the measure of Chuy Garcia's work or his character. The question is: Do you have the right to choose your successor?

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, there is a famous saying in Baptist circles: ``If you don't kill your sin, your sin will kill you.'' Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt, but there are natural consequences, and the consequences of subverting an election and choosing your successor are a slide toward a very ugly future for our country.

There is an argument that has been made that they don't know about it so it is not wrong. That is not true. That is not true. We know about it. We know about it, and that can place on us an accountability, not just when it is politically convenient to condemn someone but when it is in your own family. That is the point.

That is the point, that when there is a spade, you call it a spade, whether it hurts or not. You have to have confidence that Americans will make the choice for themselves. That is the whole point of this experiment in democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The point is well made that Americans are suffering. A nonpayment of utility bills, people having their cars repossessed, people losing their businesses, people going without meals, that is in my community, and that is real. We do not dutifully serve the long work of building a self-determining country by turning our constituents into petitioners who would only demand free things from us, a relief from this pressure of the consolidation of corporate power. No, we also have to stand before them with honor, confidence, and respect in their ability to choose their elected representatives for themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, there are claims that this is not the work that we were sent here to do. Then what gives us the right to be here if not being sent here? There is a premise here. We have to be endowed with trust, and that has to be reciprocal with our voters.

I would argue that there is a very loud demand, a fervent, clear call by Americans right now for accountability and transparency, and it is not just about the Epstein files. It is all of it. They want us to stop this fight and be honest, deliberate, and respectful, to humbly serve.

That is what real leadership is. It is humility and service, not choosing for them what would be best for them.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, while there are many ways to litigate many of the votes, the question at hand is: What gives my colleague the right to represent a community? It is the choice of his voters. Nothing gives him the right to choose his successor.

We cannot walk down this path. When we stand and say that everything around us is bad, it risks us conforming to that wrongness and orienting our policy around it.

This is a false choice to say that I can either attack here or I can attack here. We can pursue wherever we disagree. We also have to call a spade a spade, and that is what this is about. This is about accountability.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we are not called to do anything more than walk with humility, to love justice, and to work diligently. Chuy has worked diligently. Nothing in that legitimizes the choice to choose a successor or to support gathering over 2,500 signatures. It does not legitimize waiting for days when he knew that he was not going to run for reelection and ensuring that his chief of staff would be his successor.

That is not the path our country can stand on. A country that refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing when it happens has got bad things in store for it. I humbly ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here, believe it or not, with a grateful heart. Over the last several days, many of my colleagues have reached out with kindness and understanding. I appreciate their concern for me and their desire to keep our Caucus united.

I wasn't expecting to stand here to debate my retirement, but before any of us are Members of Congress, we are husbands, we are grandfathers, we are sons, we are mothers, and we are sisters. We are regular people, but life reminds us that our jobs come second to the people waiting for us at home.

After nearly 40 years of public service, I decided not to seek a fifth term, and I am proud to have served with integrity and respect.

I turn 70 next spring, and I decided that it was time to dedicate more of my time to the people who have sacrificed the most so that I could serve: my wife of almost 50 years, my children, my grandchildren, and the family that steadied me through victories and through heartbreak.

When my daughter, Rosa, passed away in 2023 and left us four beautiful young children, it shook our entire world. Overnight, our house became a home for those kids. We did what every family does: We stepped up. We held them close, and we gave them love and stability.

Despite dealing with multiple sclerosis, my wife, Evelyn, carried the heaviest load as their day-to-day caregiver. Because of my wife, I was able to keep meeting the responsibilities of my job here and in the district.

I filed to run for Congress because this work is more important than ever, and I wanted to deliver for my community and to be part, hopefully, of a new House majority next year.

I followed the rules of Illinois and its election law. When the ballot was open for anyone to file--as they had over the past 6 years and the four times that I stood for election--and contrary to claims that were made earlier today, I did not circulate any petitions that I was accused of circulating. I only circulated when I filed on the first day.

As I looked ahead, I had to be honest about what the next term would demand and what my family needed. I saw the big picture: supporting my wife as we manage her illness, taking better care of my own health, and being present for the grandson that we just adopted 2 weeks ago. It was a tough decision, but I made that choice as any husband, father, and grandfather would make at that moment. I stood by my family values, as we ask others to do.

Every one of us knows the pressures that come with serving here, but I hope that none of my colleagues ever face the circumstances that my family has faced in the last 3 years.

Meanwhile, my district and my community are under assault by our own government, and I ask my colleagues to listen. Members may have seen the reports, but pictures don't convey the screams of families being separated, U.S. citizens being arrested without cause, and the indiscriminate gassing of innocent families, including a 1-year-old just a week ago.

Families in my district are living with fear and trauma that no one should have to endure in our country.

Last week, we returned after 54 days with the House shuttered, including a 43-day shutdown. We returned hoping for Democratic unity. Therefore, I was shocked to be called out in a resolution on the House floor.

I think you would agree with me that voters don't want these arguments in Congress. The voters want us to be working to help them afford healthcare, rent, and childcare.

Mr. Speaker, none of us wants to spend the next year trading divisive disapproval resolutions.

The Speaker pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Our voters do not want this either. We should not be distracted by political ploys when our constituents want us to stay focused and to deliver for them.

I am going to finish my term with the same love and commitment that I brought to my first day of Congress here. When I arrived in this country as

a 10-year-old, I never dreamed I would be here. I hope that we can all agree on this: When a colleague chooses his family, that shouldn't be a moment for division. It should be a moment for understanding and unity. One day you might be the one making that choice, and you shouldn't have to debate it on the House floor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H. Res. 878. While I respect the sponsor of this resolution and appreciate very much her work on behalf of her constituents in southwest Washington, I cannot support this measure.

My friend and classmate from the 116th Congress, Representative Chuy Garcia, embodies the highest ideals of the American Dream.

Born in Mexico, Representative Garcia moved to the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago in the 1960s and never left. After earning his citizenship in 1977, Representative Garcia graduated from college and began his career in public service with a community-based housing initiative.

Since his time as a member of the Chicago City Council, the Illinois State Senate, and Cook County Board of Commissioners, Congressman Chuy Garcia has served his community, the Congress, and our country with great distinction.

As it relates to the matter under consideration, in nearly every election he has been a candidate, Representative Garcia has faced opposition in both primary and general elections. Representative Garcia has proven himself unafraid to campaign. He has sought other offices and come up short.

During the filing period in Illinois, any qualified citizen and any qualified resident of the State could have filed to challenge Representative Garcia. In fact, Representative Garcia won a competitive primary just last cycle.

Throughout his career in public service, Chuy Garcia has demonstrated a broad and deep respect for his constituents. This includes his fierce advocacy for Chicago's immigrant communities, teachers, public employees, and the economically striving and struggling among us.

Representative Garcia is a dedicated public servant, and his record of accomplishment is worthy of celebration.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I once again remind the Members that any one of the citizens of this district could have filed petitions. In fact, Mr. Garcia has faced primaries before and general elections before.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia), my very good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Vermont (Ms. Balint).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Vermont.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Salinas).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier in the debate, I deeply respect the sponsor of this resolution. We are fellow appropriators, and I observe firsthand the energy and commitment she brings to serving the people of southwest Washington.

This resolution is wrong. It shouldn't be before us. The House has so much work we need to do. We need to address the affordability crisis in America, save healthcare, and fight the cost of the actual corruption happening on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Let's get back to work.

I commend my dear friend, Representative Garcia, for his long and distinguished tenure in public life and as a devoted public servant. I wish him and his family the very best as they begin the next chapter of their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this ill-conceived resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong defense of the great character of a loving friend, father, husband, and brother, Congressman Chuy Garcia.

My friends, there are moments in the Nation's history when a single life stands up and declares without arrogance and without apology that freedom must mean something for everybody or it means nothing at all.

Congressman Chuy Garcia is such a man. He is, in every profound and dangerous sense, a freedom fighter. Not in the fashion of myth or marble, but the kind born of neighborhoods where

dreams have been bruised and people still need to rise. Yet, people still rise because of a Congressman like Chuy Garcia, the kind who understands that the struggle for human dignity is never finished and never optional.

Chuy Garcia's life is stitched together with the same thread that carried our greatest fighters forward, the belief that one does not have to accept the world as it is, but he glimpses into what the world ought to be. That is leadership.

Leadership is not a performance. It is not a posture. It is a way of standing with the vulnerable, a way of insisting that compassion is not weakness, that justice is not a luxury, and that democracy is not a spectator sport but a lifelong calling.

Beside me is a picture that warmed my heart from childhood. This is Congressman Chuy Garcia then campaigning with the great Harold Washington, the former Congressman from the First Congressional District.

Chuy brought the African American and Mexican communities together. There was a time--before the word Hispanic was created--we knew Chuy as a Mexican American. Chuy walked hand in hand with us in Chicago. In 1997, while he was the State senator serving alongside then Senator Barack Obama, Chuy Garcia was the chair of the Black Caucus of the Illinois State Senate.

He has walked arm in arm with the African- American community, not as a visitor, not as a distant ally, but as a brother in the same long struggle for liberation. He understands that the battles of the South Side echo the battles of Little Village, that the pain of displacement, disenfranchisement, and dismissal does not respect ethnic boundaries, and that our triumphs, when we dare to claim them together, can shake the foundation of this Nation. He has marched with us, organized with us, fought alongside us because he knows that our destinies are intertwined.

Today, let us honor the courage of a man who has refused to be cowed, refused to bow to power, or be silenced by cynicism; a man who reminds us that to lead is not simply to occupy an office but to carry a people; a man who teaches us that loyalty to the truth, to the community, to the least among us is the highest form of patriotism.

Let Chuy Garcia's examples lead us out of our complacency and to a greater level of integrity and to a higher calling. Let this unyielding spirit remind us that America becomes America only when ordinary people dare to demand the extraordinary.

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by clarifying something that was said on the Record. The sponsor of the resolution is stating that Chuy Garcia has won his primaries with 100 percent of the vote. All you have to do is go to the board of elections or BallotReady and recognize that in 2024, in his last election, his opponent got 30 percent of the vote. I want to make sure that facts matter here, and when there is misinformation, I wanted to clarify that.

Let me go ahead and say at a moment when so many Members of Congress have conceded their power to Donald Trump, voting rights are on the line, super-PACs continue to buy congressional seats, and the representation of Black and Brown working families is threatened, this resolution is nothing more than a cheap political stunt pulled from the playbook of some of my Republican colleagues.

Do you want proof? Some of the ones that have been suppressing the most votes have been clapping every time she speaks. It is a do-nothing resolution that targets a leader who has been holding the line in defense of democracy, someone who is not beholden to super-PACs, like foreign lobbies or Big Oil, like the American Petroleum Institute. He is someone who has voted against bills like the SAVE Act, which endangers the voting rights of women in our country. He is someone who voted against the Laken Riley Act, which allows the persecution and racial profiling of Latinos by ICE agents. He is someone who voted against the recent Republican continuing resolution, which did not protect affordable healthcare and provided a slush fund for Senators investigated for their role in the insurrection.

Chuy Garcia has stood his ground for working families and our democracy in moments when others have not, including the sponsor of this resolution of disapproval, who has opened the doors to authoritarianism by the way she votes.

You don't have to agree with how the events of his decision to step down unfolded to recognize that this resolution is misguided and disingenuous.

Disapproving of his actions while you allow big money in politics, outside spending in elections, and rampant corruption to go unchallenged or uninterrupted is the height of hypocrisy.

Mr. Speaker, while we need to hold each other to high standards--we do--we also need to reform a system that too often makes it nearly impossible to ensure working people like Chuy Garcia, like me, and so many others here, are well represented in the face of moneyed interests set on their destruction.

I invite you today to vote ``no'' on this performative, bad- intentioned resolution, and join me in getting dark money out of politics, protecting and expanding voting rights in America, and fighting for authentic representation of all our communities. Vote ``no.''