Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Pattee Colvin in the Sunland neighborhood area of Los Angeles, California.

Pattee is the founder of Making It Happen, a food and clothing pantry in Sunland whose mission is to help those in need.

Ms. Colvin's motivation for founding Making It Happen is truly inspiring. Pattee worked for a local business for many years, but in 1999, when she became disabled, she lost her job and home. For several years, Pattee lived outdoors in the rugged Sunland-Tujunga ``wash'' while also maintaining a job at a local answering service company. As a member of the Chapel of the Hills Church in Sunland since 2002 who lived off the food provided from the church's hot meal program, in 2007, Pattee's life truly turned around, in large part due to the church. She enrolled in the church's Christian Sobriety Program, a program that she subsequently ran for several years and found new employment at Suzuki Insurance Company, a local business where she currently works. Homeless for many years, Pattee bought her own mobile home in Sunland in 2015.

In 2013, Ms. Colvin created Making It Happen located at the Chapel of the Hills Church in Sunland. Since its inception, Making It Happen has expanded to include housing assistance and free health clinics. In addition, the non-profit participates in events focused on community assistance, such as the Homeless Connect Days, and supports Sunland- Tujunga schools by sponsoring Back-to-School events and a Family Christmas Celebration for the homeless and underserved children.

When the coronavirus pandemic began, there was an enormous increase in demand for food and meals, and their Saturday food pantry attendance grew from about 60 individuals and their families to almost 200 individuals and their families. At the height of the pandemic, their Sunday Hot Meal program increased from 75 people to 200 people. Stepping up to the challenge, the organization began offering a weekday lunch program, which included meal deliveries, and in response to COVID-19 safety protocols, changed the manner in which they serve the needy; from a walk-through pantry and seated dinners to a drive-through and delivery.

Along with giving back to the community through Making It Happen, Pattee enjoys

spending time with her daughter, family, and friends.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional District, Pattee Colvin.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Mara Leong- Maguinez of Pasadena, California.

A native Pasadenan, Mara attended Westridge School, obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California, and received her Master of Public Administration (MPA), Nonprofit Sector Management degree from California State University, Northridge.

Ms. Leong-Maguinez's career has been dedicated to helping children and families in the local community. This began with her seven-year employment as Development Director at the Families Forward Learning Center in Pasadena (formerly known as Mothers' Club), an organization that provides two-generation learning programs to low-income families. Mara's experience at Families Forward increased her passion for providing comprehensive services and inspired her to obtain her Master's in Public Administration and dedicate her career to managing community-based organizations. She then went on to serve as Director of Development at the Downtown Women's Center and Chief Development Officer of the Youth Policy Institute.

In January of 2020, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic began, Mara began serving as Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House Pasadena. The Ronald McDonald House Pasadena, located near Huntington Hospital and Shriners for Children Medical Center, is a home-away-from- home for families with critically ill children who are receiving medical treatment, providing these families with a comfortable, caring place to stay, meals and therapeutic family support services at little or no cost to the families. When the pandemic hit, Mara worked to implement comprehensive safety and cleaning protocols and adjust the physical spaces within the House, while simultaneously obtaining funding and gathering support to keep the House open during this crucial time, which was especially important as several families had to stay there for greater lengths of time than usual due to the pandemic.

Mara lives in Pasadena with her husband, Roman Maguinez. Along with volunteering for Families Forward, Mara enjoys cooking and bicycling in the beautiful Pasadena area.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional District, Mara Leong-Maguinez.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Dr. Rebecca Crane of the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

Born in California but raised primarily in Connecticut, Rebecca returned to California in the late 1980's where she attended the University of California San Diego graduating with a degree in Visual Arts with minors in biology and chemistry. After a year of working on an

immunization project in Paraguay and an HIV screening clinic in Los Angeles, she attended Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, where she obtained her Medical Doctor and Master of Public Health degrees. Dr. Crane completed her medical residency in combined internal medicine and pediatrics in Los Angeles and became an attending physician at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, where she worked as a primary care physician, and was a breastfeeding advocate for mothers in the newborn nursery. Rebecca moved to Urgent Care after several years in Family Medicine to accommodate the needs of her family and other pursuits. Acting on her passion to advance women's health, Dr. Crane led a committee at Kaiser to make the hospital a Baby Friendly Hospital.

Rebecca and her family moved to Silver Lake in 2008, where her children attended local schools, including Micheltorena Street Elementary School. One of Rebecca's greatest accomplishments has been as an active member from 2008 to 2015 of Friends of Micheltorena, the support group for the school, where she helped to revitalize the school and bring in a dual-language program, in addition to being a founding member of the Micheltorena School and Community Garden.

As an essential frontline worker during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Rebecca has been grateful to be able to serve her community through this crisis. She experienced the fear, sorrow, uncertainty, and exhaustion that accompanied most frontline workers at the outset of the pandemic, but the fear subsided after treating her first COVID-19 patient and she settled into the comfort of work, as Kaiser's Urgent Care was adapted into two separate units, with a temporary testing facility in the garage. Earlier this year Rebecca assisted in organizing a three-day event at Kaiser called ``A Time to Grieve, a Time to Heal,'' to commemorate all the patients, family members, and loved ones her fellow healthcare workers had lost during the pandemic, and to honor all the hospital staff.

In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys spending time with her husband, Jordan and their two children, Lucy and Hollis, in addition to hiking, camping, and gardening.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional District, Dr. Rebecca Crane.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Lori Rosales of the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

Born and raised in Colorado, Ms. Rosales attended the University of Northern Colorado and received her Master's in Education with Administration Credentials from Loyola Marymount University. With a firm belief that all children need to be educated fairly and are valued, to that end, she has spent nearly two decades in education: as an elementary school teacher, a high school principal, an educational consultant, and in her current position working for the University of California Los Angeles Center X Math Project.

It is motherhood and her volunteer career with Friends of Atwater Elementary (FoAE), a parent support group for Atwater Elementary School, that are the most near and dear to Lori's heart. A longtime Atwater Village resident, for the last four years, Lori has served as president of FoAE, bringing her community-building skills to the organization. Under her stellar leadership, she organized and succeeded in the effort to bring the Spanish Dual Language Immersion Program to the school, an effort she considers her greatest accomplishment. In addition, FoAE raised funds for beautification and projects such as the Innovation Lab, the garden program, the installation of new murals, and a bilingual math program.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Ms. Rosales organized volunteers to sort and pack books so all the school's children would receive books to read at home, sent 350 stuffed animal bears (Cubby the Bear is Atwater Elementary School's mascot) to the children for emotional support, and fundraised for school supplies for each child in the 2020-2021

school year. Additionally, when the school became aware of a few families who experienced the loss of loved ones or employment loss due to the pandemic, they contacted Lori, who swiftly responded, gathering financial donations from neighbors in the community for those families, enabling neighbors to become directly involved in helping their neighbors.

Lori is married to her college sweetheart from Colorado, Craig Rosales, and they have three children: Estes, Tyson, and Vinny.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional District, Lori Rosales.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Dr. Wint Hun of La Canada Flintridge, California.

Wint was born in Chauk, an isolated area of Myanmar. Wint's hero and mentor, her father, was a medical doctor who worked in an underserved area and encouraged her to become a physician who would have a positive effect on the community she served. After he passed away, her family moved to Yangon, Myanmar where her mother, now a single parent, raised her and her sister. After her high school graduation, with a film resolve to follow in her father's footsteps and become a physician, Wint enrolled at the University of Medicine in Yahgon, one of the oldest medical schools in South East Asia, and obtained her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree.

After Wint graduated, she moved to the United States and continued her studies. She finished her residency in Internal Medicine at NYU Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, and then moved to Southern California, where she completed her Infectious Diseases Fellowship at the University of California, Irvine.

Board-certified in Infectious Disease and Internal Medicine, Dr. Hun treats patients in her office and at Adventist Health Glendale, University of Southern California (USC) Verdugo Hills Hospital and Methodist Hospital in Arcadia. Believing that everyone deserves kindness and respect, Wint cares for her patients as she would for her own family, listening to their needs and finding a solution together.

When coronavirus became a world-wide pandemic, it struck at the core of Dr. Hun's specialty as an Infectious Disease physician. From the outset of the pandemic, Dr. Hun's fearlessness and expertise emboldened USC Verdugo Hills Hospital's team, giving them courage to battle the healthcare crisis. She was also an indispensable resource to the Infection Prevention team, as it developed rapid isolation and testing protocols to keep patients and staff safe. Dr. Hun is thankful for the opportunity to help so many people and is especially honored to be part of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital's outstanding care team.

Dr. Hun and her husband, Victor Chan live in La Canada Flintridge, and they enjoy traveling, gardening, and spending time with friends and family.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional District, Dr. Wint Hun.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Daisy De La Torre of the Elysian Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

A life-long resident of Elysian Valley, Daisy attended Immaculate Heart High School and in 2017, obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from the University of San Francisco. In 2018, she began her vocation as a nurse at Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital.

As a labor and delivery nurse, Daisy has been an essential frontline worker with coronavirus patients throughout the entire pandemic. New life is normally celebrated daily in her unit, however due to the coronavirus, uncertainty and anxiety developed in this unit, as expectant mothers were occasionally compelled to experience their babies' births alone. In some instances, due to the mothers' COVID-19 positive status, mothers were separated from their babies after they were born. Ms. De La Torre stepped up to the challenge, working overtime as needed and consistently providing kindness, comfort, and compassion to those under her care, often substituting for absent family members, while concurrently welcoming new lives as so many lives were lost nationwide.

When Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) became scarce at the hospital, Daisy contacted local Elysian Valley businesses, nonprofits, and friends, such as Waxpaper, LA Mas and Suay Sew Shop who quickly responded with donations of locally made masks for hospital staff, as well as for family members and neighbors. Daisy's leadership extended beyond obtaining PPE and she worked with LA Mas, a nonprofit organization to provide food to families in need in the Elysian Valley area during the pandemic.

Daisy was one of the first group of frontline workers to receive a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in December of 2020, and has been a strong advocate for vaccine awareness, assisting in this effort through social media platforms and scheduling vaccine appointments. She is grateful for the opportunity to help people through nursing and for the many blessings in her life.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional District, Daisy De La Torre.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Alycia Belle of Hollywood, California.

A compassionate leader, Alycia has selflessly devoted her time to organizations and programs that benefit the Hollywood community. She served as the Director of Development for Blessed Sacrament School, a Catholic School within the Jesuit tradition, which closed its doors in 2021 after being in operation for over a century. Prior to the school's closure, Ms. Belle raised $941,000 for campus improvements and more than $3.5 million for Jesuit Education that provided scholarships to families in Hollywood. She cofounded and implemented a program called Jesuit Alumni Mass, or JAM, to engage alumni from every Jesuit Institution and give them the opportunity to connect while encouraging them to become involved with their Jesuit community in Hollywood. Alycia also positively impacted the lives of children from the Alexandria House, which offers safe housing for women and children who are in the process of moving to permanent housing. The organization holds a special place in Alycia's heart, since she was raised by a single mother. Under Alycia's guidance, the Blessed Sacrament community welcomed several children from the Alexandria House.

Passionate about helping people and improving lives, Ms. Belle co- founded The Urban Sanctuary, which offers a safe environment within the sacred space of the Blessed Sacrament Church's nave, where individuals experiencing homelessness may seek guidance and rest. Alycia is also exploring sharing this model with churches that have underused space and homeless visitors.

Ms. Belle supports the Hollywood Police Activities League (PAL) and is grateful for their inspiring team-building programs and their dedication to youth. In addition to taking part in their events and encouraging families to participate in PAL's programs, she has hosted their meetings at Blessed Sacrament Church. Alycia also enjoys volunteering for Project Angel Food.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Alycia had the whole Parish Community online with live streaming masses within a matter of days. She also supported moving The Urban Sanctuary outdoors and worked with the Hollywood Food Coalition to provide meals to people in need. Furthermore, Alycia supported the Hollywood YMCA in implementing a shower program for unhoused individuals.

IN addition to her extraordinary work in the non-profit arena, Alycia advocates for women-owned businesses. She owns Hollywood Handy Construction, Inc., which is a certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBE). Alycia is married to her supportive husband, Jason, and together they have four children.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional District, Alycia Belle.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, MiMi Aung of La Canada Flintridge, California, who is receiving Special Districtwide Recognition for her trailblazing work on the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter.

MiMi credits her mother, who was the first Burmese woman to earn a doctoral degree in mathematics from an American university as her inspiration. MiMi's family returned to Myanmar when she was a toddler, where MiMi resided until she moved back to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue her education. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and her Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, with her thesis focus on signal processing and communications, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In 1990, Ms. Aung moved to Southern California and began working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), fulfilling her childhood dream of space exploration. She began her career by working on mathematical algorithms for deep space communication with

spacecraft hundreds of millions of miles away from Earth, and during her 30 year career at JPL, was selected for various positions with increasing degrees of responsibility specifically in Deep Space Network projects, organizational line management, technology development, and space flight projects. The numerous technical areas she engaged in included spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control; autonomous systems; deep space signal processing and communications; optical communications and multiple-spacecraft formation flying.

With Ms. Aung as the Project Manager, worldwide history was made on April 19, 2021, when the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took its first flight and was the first powered, controlled flight in the planet Mars' atmosphere, and the first such flight anywhere outside of Earth.

Believing that young people should pursue what they believe in, and that critical thinking and industriousness play a big role in pursuit of their heart-felt objectives, MiMi is a frequent keynote speaker at various Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) summits and conferences and local area schools.

MiMi and her husband, Dr. James Shell and their two children live in La Canada Flintridge. Madam Speaker, for her extraordinary achievements in the science realm, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional District, MiMi Aung.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the HAVANA Act.

I was proud to introduce this legislation in the House, and I appreciate the continued support from Ranking Member Nunes, Chairman Meeks, and Ranking Member McCaul in moving this legislation through the House and to the President's desk.

Every day, thousands of patriotic Americans serve our country abroad, representing our values and interests across the globe. They are diplomats, soldiers, intelligence officers, and more. But we must never forget they are also mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and sons and daughters who routinely make tremendous personal sacrifices in service of their country.

In return for their service to our Nation, we have a sacred responsibility to make sure that we take care of them. That is what this bill does.

Over the past several years, public servants from the intelligence community and elsewhere have experienced symptoms of unknown origins. These cases, which have been described as Havana syndrome or anomalous health incidents, named for the cohort whose symptoms onset in Havana, remain a mystery.

But two things are clear. First, we must spare no effort to identify their source and to hold anyone responsible accountable. Second, we must ensure that those who are injured receive the highest quality of care and the benefits that they need as they recover.

The HAVANA Act does just that. It would adjust and expand the authority we gave to the intelligence community and the State Department in 2019 to provide compensation for those experiencing these injuries to also include those suffering from traumatic brain injuries. Members of both parties have united behind this critical legislation to provide benefits to afflicted individuals.

Even as we pass this legislation, our work is not done. On a bipartisan basis, the Intelligence Committee has continued to provide vigorous oversight of how individuals experiencing these health incidents were treated and how they are being treated today. We will continue to prioritize this issue and put our people first.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Mr. Castro and Mr. McCaul, for their efforts.

Madam Speaker, an open letter to President Joseph Biden:

Mr. President, in just 5 days, the world will mark the 106th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian genocide, the systematic murder and displacement of 1.5 million Armenian women, men, and children by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. This will be the first April 24 of your Presidency and your first opportunity to follow through on your promise to recognize the genocide and your decades of leadership on this issue.

On behalf of hundreds of thousands of Armenian Americans, the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of genocide survivors, I ask you to keep that promise and recognize the Armenian genocide.

The facts of the genocide are not in serious dispute. They were recorded in real time by American diplomats who lacked a name for the barbaric and systematic extermination of the Armenian people but knew that it was without precedent in human history. Millions of Armenians were beaten, raped, killed, and marched across deserts by the Ottoman Empire.

From the blood and rubble, the Armenian people survived. Tens of thousands of orphaned children owe their lives to the generosity of Americans who created the Near East Relief Foundation. Those children and their descendants crossed the ocean to build lives in Los Angeles and across the Nation.

You know these facts well, and you have spoken about them directly, including as a candidate for President. As President, it is now in your power to help right decades of denial and in so doing give meaning to your statement last year when you acknowledged the genocide and said that silence is complicity.

As a candidate and now as President, you have spoken of your commitment to human rights. You have spoken of an America who leads not by example of our power, but by the power of our example. If that principle is to have meaning, we cannot waver from it just because it may be inconvenient.

The word genocide is significant because genocide is not a problem of the past, it is a problem of today, including in Xinjiang where Uighurs face a relentless campaign by the Chinese Communist Party to wipe out their culture. And it is a danger today in Artsakh where Turkey assisted Azerbaijan in making war on the Armenians again, and in so doing, threaten another potential genocide. What a comfort it would be to the perpetrators of crimes against humanity in the present day if the most powerful nation on Earth could be cowed into silence about the events of a century ago.

In recognizing the genocide, you will be joining both the House and the Senate who voted overwhelmingly in 2019 to do so.

Mr. President, we must not resort to euphemisms or half-truths. The murder of 1.5 million Armenians was an atrocity--that is surely true-- but it was more than that. The act of seeking to destroy a people and a culture is a different kind of evil, and it was not until Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide that we had a word to describe it.

Millions of Armenians, in Yerevan and across the world, tens of thousands of my constituents, Mr. President, will look to you later this week to see if you will join leaders in France, Germany, the European Union, the Vatican, and in 49 States in recognizing the genocide.

It is my deepest wish that you will speak the truth in all of its horror and recognize the Armenian genocide.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Michael ``Mickey'' DePalo for his innumerable contributions to veterans and the residents of the City of Burbank, California.

Mickey has been a Burbank resident for sixty-five years. He graduated from Burbank High School in 1964, and the following year, began his four-decades-long career with the City of Burbank Parks and Recreation Department. Shortly after graduating from college, Mr. DePalo briefly left the City of Burbank to honorably serve in the U.S. Army for two years during the Vietnam War.

As a child, Mickey played many sports, including flag football, baseball, softball and basketball. His love of sports continued into adulthood, and along with participating in Burbank sports leagues, he has generously volunteered his time and knowledge to the sports organizations for decades. He was a volunteer baseball, flag football and basketball coach for the City's Parks and Recreation Department, and a volunteer assistant coach for his son, Michael's youth basketball teams. Additionally, Mr. DePalo was Loyola High School Cross Country Team's volunteer coach and the race director for Burbank's Run for the Hungry for ten years.

A staunch advocate for veterans and their welfare, Mickey has been Chairperson of the Burbank Veterans Commemorative Committee and the emcee for the Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies at McCambridge Park in Burbank for over thirty years. Under his leadership, the committee has organized numerous veterans events in Burbank, including one event that Mr. DePalo is most proud of--assisting the City in 1998 to be selected as a site to host The Moving Wall, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. that tours the nation. He also worked on the Hands Across the Battlefield program, which partners with community businesses and individuals to collect and send supplies to our troops, and has raised funds for youth and veterans organizations in his role as Sr. Vice Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8310.

A few of the numerous community awards and commendations Mr. DePalo has received include the Burbank Association of Realtors' Citizen of the Year Award, an induction into the City of Burbank's Athletics Walk of Fame, the L.A. County Older Americans Volunteer Service Award, and the Veteran of the Year Award from both Assemblyman Paul Krekorian in 2009 and from Assemblymember Laura Friedman in 2017.

It is my honor to call Michael ``Mickey'' DePalo a friend and I want to thank him for over half a century of extraordinary support and dedication to our nation's veterans and the community of Burbank. I ask all Members to join me in paying tribute to this extraordinary American patriot.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act.

Those unfamiliar with Los Angeles may think it is a series of communities interconnected only by freeways. But in fact, the opposite is true. It is connected by the wildlife and open spaces that bridge our communities and bring us together.

Mr. Speaker, for nearly 20 years, I have worked with my constituents to expand, preserve, and protect the space that surrounds the L.A. Basin, known as the Rim of the Valley. My legislation, which is included in H.R. 803, is the Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act, and it would expand the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area to include these pristine lands. The legislation will protect almost 200,000 acres of open space for generations to come.

Los Angeles is one of the most park-poor regions in the country. And during the pandemic, while many of us are stuck in our homes, it has caused us to reevaluate our priorities and consider what matters most.

For me and many Angelenos, it has been spending time with family and getting outdoors--hikes through Griffith Park, runs through the Verdugos, or walks in the Arroyo. Trails are full on weekends, and that won't change after the pandemic ends.

By expanding the national recreation area, the National Park Service will have the authority to make capital improvements, like repairing hiking trails and maintaining facilities for public enjoyment, studying wildlife and its habitats, and participating in cooperative conservation with local landowners. It will help ensure that wildlife corridors that allow Los Angelenos to witness mountain lions, like P-22 and P-96, black bears we have come to know, like Meatball, and other precious wildlife are still present in our own backyards.

This package of bills will also support the Biden administration's commitment to conserving public lands and waters, as well as protecting communities from the effects of climate change.

Like the last Congress, it is my hope that the House can pass this bill with bipartisan support, and we will finally see this legislation through to the finish line.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that we have a willing partner with President Biden, who strongly supports H.R. 803.

I thank Chairman Grijalva, Representative DeGette, and my other colleagues who have bills in this package, for all the work they did on this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 803.

Madam Speaker, 1 week ago, the President incited an insurrection against Congress to prevent the peaceful transition of power. It was the most dangerous moment for our democracy in a century.

Today, we invoke the remedy the Founders provided for just such a lawless President: impeachment.

More important, today, we begin the long road to restoration. America has been through a civil war, world wars, a Great Depression, pandemics, McCarthyism, and now a Trumpist and white nationalist insurrection. And yet our democracy endures. It endures because, at every juncture, every pivotal moment when evil threatened to overtake good, patriotic Americans stepped forward to say, ``Enough.''

This is one of those moments. To preserve this sacred place, this citadel of democracy, for ourselves and for posterity, let us say, ``Enough.'' Enough.

Mr. Speaker, 6 days ago, I was standing right here, fulfilling my constitutional duties to certify the election. And, 6 days ago, Donald Trump was on the Mall, whipping a

mob into a frenzy with false claims of stolen elections and unconstitutional schemes. It was a big lie, the same big lie he had been telling for weeks.

He told the mob, ``We are going to the Capitol'' and ``to fight like hell,'' and they did. Five died. Many more were hurt. And we were seconds away from something much worse.

My colleagues, upholding our oath, the Constitution, and our democracy means recognizing that every second that Donald Trump is President the Nation is at risk. We have the power to do something about it. Mike Pence must do his duty, invoke the 25th. If he won't, we will move with urgency to do ours and impeach Donald Trump again.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the objection.

Madam Speaker, a little more than 2 months ago, America performed an extraordinary feat. Under some of the most trying circumstances in our history, our fellow citizens conducted a free and fair election, vindicating our Founders' belief once again, that we were capable of self government and a peaceful transition of power.

On November 3, the American people chose Joe Biden to be their next President by an enormous margin. The successful conduct of that election, among the most secure in American history, was not an accident. It was the result of the dedicated work of thousands of volunteers, canvassers, poll workers, electors, and State and local election officials.

When the conduct of any State election was challenged, the courts, through judges appointed by Democrats and those appointed by Republicans, heard unsubstantiated claims of fraud, found they had no merit, and said so.

But most important, the American people persevered. In the midst of the worst pandemic in a century, America had one of the most impressive elections in a century, with historic voter turnout.

Our fellow citizens did their civic duty. The question we face today is: Will we do ours?

That we are here, with a substantial number of our Members seeking to overturn an election is remarkable, tragic, and all too predictable, for it is the natural result of a locomotive set in motion months ago with a myth. For weeks and weeks, before, during, and after our election, a dangerous falsehood was propagated: That our election would be marred by massive fraud.

Never mind it was the same election which brought the very men and women to this Chamber who would challenge its results. What value has consistency when measured against ambition?

A former Senator from Georgia, remarking on a contested election over a century ago, said: ``Able men, learned men, distinguished men, great men in the eyes of the nation, seemed intent only on accomplishing a party triumph, without regard to the consequences to the country. That is human nature. That is,'' he said, ``unfortunately, party nature.''

Was he right?

We stand in a House which was once the place of giants. Have we become so small? Does our oath to uphold the Constitution, taken just days ago, mean so very little?

I think not. I believe, to quote our dear departed friend, Elijah Cummings, that we are better than that. I think Elijah would be proud that the debate here today is not between Democrats and Republicans, and that some Republicans, including the Republican leader of the Senate, remain devoted to the principle that we are a nation of laws, not individuals, let alone a single individual.

It may seem unfair to the new Members who have only just taken the oath for the first time, that they should be so soon tested with one of the most consequential votes they may cast, no matter how long they serve. But it is so, and none of us can shrink from that responsibility. Nor can we console ourselves with the intoxicating fiction that we can break that oath without consequence because doing so will not succeed in overturning the election. An oath is no less broken when the breaking fails to achieve its end.

We must be mindful that any who seek to overturn an election will do injury to our Constitution, whatever the result. For just as the propagation of that dangerous myth about this election made this moment inevitable, our actions today will put another train in motion. This election will not be overturned.

But what about the next? Or the one after that?

What shall we say when our democratic legacy is no more substantial than the air, except that we brought trouble to our own house and inherited the wind?

This isn't the first time we have had a contentious election, and it won't be the last. In 1800, John Adams lost a closely contested election to Thomas

Jefferson, in the first peaceful transition of power from one party to another in our history. Adams was hardly pleased with the result, choosing to skip the inaugural activities, but he did what leaders are required to do in a democratic government when they lose. He went home. He went home.

Jefferson would later refer to his victory as the Revolution of 1800, but marveled that the Revolution had occurred ``by the rational and peaceful instruments of reform, the suffrage of the people.''

It has never been our place to overturn an election, and if we hope to remain a democracy, it never will be.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition.

Madam Speaker, 80 years ago today, Franklin Roosevelt delivered his third inaugural address. ``Every realist knows,'' he said, ``that the democratic way of life at this moment is being directly assailed in every part of the world--assailed either by arms, or by the secret spreading of poisonous propaganda by those who would seek to destroy unity and promote discord in nations still at peace.''

Today, the principal threat to our democracy comes from a different but also poisonous propaganda of those who seek to destroy our unity and promote discord.

According to this propaganda, America cannot conduct a free or fair election. Our elections are rigged and doomed.

According to this propaganda, the voters can no longer decide who shall be President. The Congress must decide for them.

At a time when our Nation faces an unprecedented health crisis, with thousands dying every day, with Americans struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head, who are we to say that the man America chose to lead us out of this calamity shall not take office?

The coronavirus will claim more American lives than all of the casualties in World War II. To meet that moment will require unity, not discord; will require an abiding faith in our country, in our democracy, in our government's ability to function and provide for the needs of its citizens.

The Members of this body cannot continue to challenge the merits of an election that was fairly conducted and overwhelmingly won by Joe Biden. It must stop.

Look at the damage that was wrought in this House today, to this country today. Is that not enough?

Roosevelt said: ``This Nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women. . . . Our strength,'' he concluded ``is our unity of purpose.''

Let us unite once again in defense of the greatest hope of freedom- loving people around the world, this precious democracy.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin).