Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve policies that will protect our planet, keep loved ones healthy, and preserve access to clean air, water, and land for future generations.

Lately, there has been a relentless assault on the environmental policies that were crafted to protect us, including the commonsense prohibition of offshore drilling in the Atlantic. Despite the Defense Department stating that offshore drilling may impede and hamper military readiness activities, the American people were told that our oceans were open for exploitation.

Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable. That is why, today, I introduced the bipartisan Defend Our Coast Act with my friend, Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina. The Defend Our Coast Act will prohibit the Department of the Interior from issuing leases for the exploration, development, or production of oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf in the mid-Atlantic.

Prior tragedies such as Deepwater Horizon's oil spill proved that drilling accidents can be dangerous, expensive, and life-threatening. Mr. Speaker, I urge you to bring the Defend Our Coast Act up for a vote. Offshore drilling negatively impacts our coastal communities. It is not worth the risk.

Let us commit ourselves to leaving the Earth a healthier and safer place for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in remembrance of a literary giant and Richmond, Virginia, native, Tom Wolfe.

Mr. Wolfe was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, in 1930, and attended my own alma mater, St. Christopher's School.

A pioneer of the New Journalism movement, he worked for the Springfield Union, The Washington Post, the Herald Tribune, Esquire, and also wrote influential novels.

His multitude of subjects ranged from the hot rod and custom car culture of Southern California, to the interactions of famous actors and Black Panthers at a Park Avenue fundraiser, to the meteoric rise and fall of a fictional New York bond trader.

In an interview, Bryon Dobell, Wolfe's editor at Esquire, said this about him:

``He has this unique gift of language that sets him apart as Tom Wolfe. It is full of hyperbole; it is brilliant; it is funny, and he has a wonderful ear for how people look and feel.''

With his passing, we have lost an important and deeply gifted writer. I am truly saddened by this great Virginian's passing, and I send my condolences to his friends and to his family.

Mr. Speaker, more than 24 million people in the United States are affected by asthma. Of that, more than 6 million are children. The children who live with asthma must limit their physical activities or even miss schooldays because of lung disease that is linked to outdoor air pollution. But if we act now, future generations will not have to face such a reality.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on our Nation's leaders to protect human health and promote a healthy environment for this generation and the next.

Last month I introduced the Healthy Environment for Children Act because our children deserve an environment that will not hurt, hinder, or force them to live indoors. The Healthy Environment for Children Act would prohibit any reduction, consolidation, or

termination of the National Center for Environmental Research, also known as the NCER, and its affiliated programs. By preventing such changes, my bill will safeguard critical research into the effect of chemicals, climate change, and air quality on children's health.

Mr. Speaker, the time to act is now. I urge you to think of our future and to bring this bill to the floor for a vote.

Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment seeks to preempt important State-level protections that help ensure truck drivers are treated fairly and that they are able to do their jobs safely.

This language would not just erase existing meal and rest break requirements for truckers, it would affect all State and local wage and hour laws, with adverse implications for everything from workers' compensation to the minimum wage. Such changes would be deeply harmful, and I urge my colleagues to oppose them.

Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned by the administration's continued assault on essential regulations that protect our health and our environment.

All Americans need, deserve, and have a right to breathe clean air. Historically, we have upheld that right to reasonable, science-based limits on pollution, but that tradition is under assault.

Last week, the administration directed the EPA to weaken the standards for ambient air pollution.

By allowing for emissions trading, this directive will magnify existing environmental injustices, enabling increased pollution in communities that already live with dangerously high concentrations.

The order also softens public health mandates under the Clean Air Act. It restricts what kind of scientific data regulators can use, and it increases their workloads without providing new resources.

Mr. Speaker, if we ignore the best available science or if we starve agencies of the resources they need to actually uphold commonsense limits, then we are not protecting the American people.

Last week's directive was dangerous and a needless mistake. Like the rest of this administration's dirty energy agenda, it needs to be reversed.

Mr. Speaker, every American--in fact, every human being--has the right to breathe clean air. If this Congress trammels that right in the name of corporate profits, that choice is not just an abstract moral failure, it is a concrete public health disaster, one that will cause needless suffering, especially for our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.

The regulations this bill seeks to impede are long overdue. The earliest form of the Brick and Clay rule dates back to 2003. That was more than 14 years ago, and now some of my friends in the majority are seeking even longer delays.

We have been putting pollutants into our air and we can never unring that bell, but we can do better moving forward, and we need to make those improvements sooner rather than later.

We all know that justice delayed is justice denied. Justice has already been delayed by more than a decade. We can measure that cost.

The Brick and Clay rule, in its current form, would reduce the amount of toxins in our air by hundreds of tons per year. If we delay the rule another

year, or 2 years or longer, all of our families, all of our constituents are going to be breathing dirtier and more dangerous air.

This bill is a direct attack on our right to live in a clean and healthy environment. I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this misguided legislation.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Nadler for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 4712.

This act is a continuation of the House Republicans' decadelong attempt to rob women of their constitutional right to safe, legal abortion care. The bill we are considering today, however, takes these attacks on women a step further.

H.R. 4712 seeks to supersede doctors' professional judgments, imposing unnecessary, and potentially harmful, new standards of care. Violation of these extreme standards will result in harsh criminal penalties.

This bill seeks to intimidate doctors. If passed, it will discourage them from providing care and make it harder for patients to receive the help they need.

That is why it is opposed by respected medical organizations, such as the American College of Obstetricians

and Gynecologists, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health, and many others.

It is simple: healthcare decisions should be between a woman and her doctor.

Madam Speaker, again, it is simple: healthcare decisions should be between a woman and her doctor.

Politicians are not medical experts and have no place interfering with the provision of compassionate, evidence-based care.

Madam Speaker, I am an attorney and you can trust me with a lot of things, but a medical decision on someone else's behalf is not one of them.

As we mark the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we should be advancing policies that help women and families, rather than restricting access to healthcare they need and deserve.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 4712.

Mr. Speaker, my Advancing Seniors and Kids Act would permanently reauthorize CHIP, fund community health centers, prevent damaging cuts to our safety net hospitals, and make other changes that protect the health of children, seniors, and our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.

For months, Congress has failed to act on these issues, and the result has been completely avoidable pain and suffering. Right now, Americans wake up every day and worry: How much longer will my child, my family members have healthcare?

Mr. Speaker, we can take that fear away right now. Extending CHIP and funding community health centers, these are commonsense policies with bipartisan support. We should have passed clean extensions a long time ago, but we can make amends right now.

We know that healthcare coverage saves lives. We know that CHIP covers almost 9 million children. It is critically important that we do the right thing. If we let CHIP lapse, if we do not protect hospitals and community centers, there will be horrible consequences for families across this country.

Today more Americans have coverage than ever before. Medical bankruptcies are a lot less common than they were in the past. We are making progress.

I am urging my colleagues to build on that progress and not to abandon it.

A solution is right here in front of us. I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and join me in supporting quality and affordable healthcare for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise again today pleading with my colleagues that we must come together to support a long-term funding solution for the traditionally bipartisan Children's Health Insurance Program, commonly known as CHIP.

Mr. Speaker, there is a family in Chesapeake, a locality in my district, that demonstrates the dire challenges families across Virginia and this country face without CHIP.

CHIP serves as a lifeline for this family with four children, ages 8, 7, 4, and 2. Before this family had access to CHIP, these children did not have health insurance or well child visits with a doctor. The parents limited the 7- and 8-year-old children to indoor activities because they were afraid the children might break a bone or sustain a serous injury.

The mother also missed visits to the doctor's office for vital prenatal care because she was worried about doctor bills. The parents missed work and kept the children home during flu season because they could not afford a doctor's visit.

With CHIP, the mother and children all have health insurance, they are up to date on their wellness exams, and the children play outside again.

Mr. Speaker, for the health of my constituents and millions of other Americans, we must immediately come together for long-term funding for

Mr. Speaker, I stand here today on the anniversary of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

On December 14, 2012, Newtown, Connecticut, lost 20 innocent children--most, 6 years old--to gun violence. We also lost six brave teachers and staff who did everything possible to protect the students in their care.

As a father, I cannot imagine anything more painful than the loss of a child. As an American, I struggle to imagine a more horrific tragedy than that which happened in Newtown.

Mr. Speaker, many of us thought this tragedy would fairly move the needle on policy. That did not happen. Just last week, the House passed major legislation loosening gun safety laws.

I want to remind my colleagues in the majority that it is not too late to act. We cannot bring back those whom we have lost, but we can and must ensure that more families do not face the pain that Newtown families faced.

I urge my colleagues in the majority to join this side of the aisle in supporting commonsense gun safety reform. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. Help us to end this scourge.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor a fellow Virginian, Richard Cullen, who is in the midst of transitioning his law practice into ``becoming one of the boys'' again.

Richard Cullen is a dedicated public servant who has served our great Commonwealth in different capacities during his longstanding career at both the Federal and State levels.

Mr. Cullen was raised in Staunton, Virginia--located in our State's cherished Shenandoah Valley--and completed his education at the University of Richmond's T.C. Williams School of Law where he served as the editor-in-chief of the school's law review.

Richard began his career at the Federal level with former Congressman Butler of the Sixth Congressional District. He continued to serve Virginians at the State level when he was appointed in 1991 as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Richard also served at the State level, from 1997 to 1998, as the attorney general of Virginia. He is a Virginian's Virginian who values his community.

On behalf of our great Commonwealth, we thank Richard Cullen for his continued service.

Mr. Speaker, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Senate's version of tax reform would increase the deficit by $38 billion in 2018. By 2027, the debt would increase by a whopping $1.4 trillion.

I stand here today calling for tax reform legislation that would help my constituents and millions of other Americans.

Mr. Speaker, the GOP tax plan is irresponsible governing. Many of my constituents say that their families have yet to recover from the great recession, and I hear them loud and clear.

I cannot stand by silently while my colleagues on the other side of the aisle rush through a bill for which it will take years for our economy to recover. This bill raises taxes on 82 million middle class households solely to create giveaways for the wealthy few.

We have only 9 legislative days left this calendar year. It is time to focus on legislation that will give Americans a better deal. We need commonsense, reality-based legislation that will create opportunities for all Americans, not just the select few.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise against H.R. 1, the so- called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and its effects on our veterans.

H.R. 1 would cut the successful work opportunity tax credit, a Federal credit available for employers to incentivize them to hire veterans.

In 2016, there were 453,000 veterans that were unemployed nationwide--16,000, alone, in Virginia.

Mr. Speaker, today, on their behalf, I call on my Republican colleagues to find solutions that do not sacrifice those who have sacrificed enough.

House Republicans have suggested that the work opportunity tax credit, at a cost of $1 billion, is simply too expensive to keep in place. However, I cannot help but wonder why the same is not said about repealing the estate tax, a $269 billion tax cut for the wealthy.

My Democratic colleagues and I are taking a different approach by founding the Reinvesting in Our Returning Heroes Task Force. Instead of hurting, we are helping veteran businessowners and veterans who need jobs.

Mr. Speaker, my father is buried in Arlington. He was a Korean war veteran. He said that the American GI only asked of his country what he was prepared to give, and that is his best.

Mr. Speaker, this tax cut is not our best.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak on the importance of reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program, commonly referred to as CHIP.

In my home State of Virginia, there are 66,000 children and 1,100 pregnant women who rely on CHIP. Almost 6,000 of those children and pregnant women live in my district. They need a clean reauthorization of CHIP. Instead, this week, we are expected to vote on a bill that will put my constituents at risk.

As reported from committee, this new version of CHIP, the so-called HEALTHY KIDS Act, is loaded with poison pills that would undermine the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid. According to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, CHIP with Medicaid boosted the rate of children's health coverage to more than 95 percent.

Mr. Speaker, why tamper with such success? I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to bring a bill to the floor that reauthorizes CHIP and supports our constituents.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, the goal of forest management should be to make our forests more resilient--more resilient to the impacts of climate change, drought, and wildlife--but contrary to its title, H.R. 2936, the so-called Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017, does not achieve these goals.

This bill includes exemptions from analyses required under the National Environmental Policy Act, restricts judicial review of certain forest management activities, amends the Equal Access to Justice Act to limit payment of attorneys' fees, and scales back the wildlife conservation efforts of the Endangered Species Act.

Mr. Chairman, this bill desperately needs improvement, and I am disappointed that my commonsense amendment--offered both in committee and again to Rules, this time with my colleague, Mr. Beyer from Virginia--is not being considered by the House.

My amendment would have struck two sections of this bill that are designed to allow approval of timber projects without adequate consideration of the impacts to some of the most vulnerable living creatures on Earth: those listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

The first offending section would put the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a 90-day shot clock to complete consultations required under section 7 of the ESA. Such a provision is both unnecessary and deeply harmful.

The second section my amendment would have struck is designed to prevent ESA consultation from happening altogether when FWS lists a new species or designates critical habitat for a listed species. This simply defies logic.

Getting ESA consultation right--and ensuring that it happens in the first place--is a small price to pay for preserving irreplaceable parts of our natural heritage.

Mr. Chairman, H.R. 2936 attacks responsible forest management policy and promotes commercial logging at the expense of sound environmental review.

Instead of giving gifts to special interests, Congress should be addressing the effects of climate change, working to reduce the risk of wildfire, and fixing the wildfire budget.

Mr. Chairman, this bill takes us many steps in the wrong direction, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''