Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his extraordinary work in this area. And I am a proud cosponsor of the Equality Act.

Madam Speaker, I am Alma Adams, and my pronouns are she, her, and hers. Tonight, I rise during Pride Month to honor some of the many LGBTQ elected officials who are working to make North Carolina a more equal and inclusive State.

Last week was Charlotte Black Pride Week, so I am happy to say that North Carolina's 12th Congressional District, which I represent, is home to LaWana Mayfield, who made history in 2011 as Charlotte's first openly gay elected official. Since then, Al Austin and Billy Maddalon joined her as LGBT members of the Charlotte City Council.

In Davidson, Jane Campbell, a retired captain in the United States Navy, serves on the Davidson Town Commission. And Charlotte's John Arrowood made history as the first openly LGBT judge on North Carolina's Court of Appeals.

All of these individuals put themselves forward for public service because they know that we can't sleep on fairness and equal rights. And I am working hard as an ally in Congress, alongside members of my congressional office, supporting the LGBTQ community, and I promise to continue to fight for their rights.

I wish everyone across our country happy Pride. Now go forth and continue to fight because we can't wait for equality; we have to win it.

Madam Speaker, as one of the original sponsors of Juneteenth legislation in the House, I am proud to stand with my colleagues in voting to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, of our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Of emancipation instead of dehumanization. Of a message that made its way from Washington to Texas, freeing women and men upon its sight.

It is our history, a reminder of deeds darker than death or night, and a debt unpaid that must still be made right.

On this Juneteenth, I encourage all Americans to reflect on the long walk to freedom, that took Union soldiers from sea to shining sea. Though we've travelled a long way, that walk continues today.

And while I am overjoyed to send this legislation to the President's desk and make it the law of the land, the work continues.

When Congress made MLK Day a federal holiday in the 1980s, it didn't end the economic injustice that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought against his entire life.

In fact, the gap between rich and poor has only widened since then.

So as we celebrate this victory for our history, we must remember that while Juneteenth marked a victory over slavery, it was only the start of our fight for voting rights and equal justice under the law.

That fight, that long march to justice and equality and equity will not be over until we have fully protected the right to vote for all Americans, guaranteed equal justice under law, and achieved equitable treatment that repays the debts of past wrongs.

Madam Speaker, thank you for joining me in celebrating Juneteenth, thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it a federal holiday . . . and never giving up the faith.

God bless.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor our friend and colleague, Alcee Hastings--a pillar of our Congressional Black Caucus.

Congressman Hastings was a compassionate leader who always spoke his mind and served his constituents with purpose.

For nearly thirty years, he used his position in Congress to speak truth to power and advocate for our country's most vulnerable.

I admired both his courage and his unique ability to bring reason and deep thought to the many conversations we had together. He was a friend and mentor we all respected.

One thing I'll never forget about Congressman Hastings is his wonderful sense of style, his fun, colorful socks, and--I have to say-- his great taste in hats.

And, while he will be deeply missed here in Congress and within our Caucus, we will carry on in his memory by advocating for the causes he dedicated his life to--supporting working families, communities of color, children, immigrants and all those in need.

His legacy as a civil rights activist, judge, and powerful, passionate leader in Congress will live on, and be a model for us all.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Connecticut for all his great work on this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1195.

As chair of the Committee on Education and Labor's Workforce Protections Subcommittee, I work every day to ensure that all workers are treated with dignity and respect because workers deserve nothing less. Our labor laws must be held to that same principle.

Unfortunately, our healthcare and social service workers face disproportionately high rates of violence on the job. We must do something to address that, and the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act does just that.

This critical piece of legislation requires that OSHA issue a workplace violence protection standard for employers in these sectors in order to actively prevent, address, and track workplace violence incidents.

We have always relied heavily on the selflessness of healthcare and social service workers, and that truth has been even clearer during the COVID pandemic. We must ensure their well-being just as they work tirelessly every day to ensure ours.

Madam Speaker, I urge support of H.R. 1195.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record letters from the American Society of Safety Professionals, who actively support this bill.

American Society of

Safety Professionals,

March 25, 2021.

To: Contacts, Stakeholders and Participants Workplace

Prevention Legislation [HR 1195]

From: Joseph Weiss, ASSP External Affairs

Comments of the American Society of Safety Professionals

(ASSP)--The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care

and Social Service Workers Act (HR 1309 & S 851)--

Confirming ASSP's Position on HR 1195.

Greetings: The attached statement and comments were

originally submitted by the American Society of Safety

Professionals (ASSP) in support of The Workplace Violence

Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (HR

1309 & S 851) in April 2019.

We understand this legislation has been reintroduced as HR

1195. Our comments in the April 2019 statement remain current

and reflect our position on HR 1195.

ASSP stands ready to assist with initiatives and endeavors

to help move occupational safety and health forward. Please

contact us if you have any questions regarding our support of

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the fourth annual Black Maternal Health Week.

As the founder and co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, I want to take this time to speak briefly about the Black maternal health crisis in America, where Black mamas are disproportionately and needlessly dying.

Across the country, Black women from all walks of life are dying from preventable pregnancy-related complications at three and four times the rate of non-Hispanic, White women. However, 60 percent of Black maternal deaths are preventable.

Research suggests that the cumulative stress of racism and sexism undermines Black women's health, making them more vulnerable to complications that endanger their lives and the lives of their infants. Unfortunately, current healthcare practices are inadequate in addressing the health consequences of living with stress.

The Black Maternal Omnibus Act of 2021, a package of 12 bills, will comprehensively address every dimension of the maternal health crisis in America to save lives and end racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health outcomes.

This crisis demands urgent attention and serious action to save the lives of Black mothers, women of color, and other marginalized women across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues and this Congress to stand together with me to ensure that our mothers and babies have the resources they need not only to survive but to thrive. Black mamas can't wait, and neither will we.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and for his support, and for his leadership on the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, as I have done for my entire career, from the North Carolina House to the U.S. House, in support of equal pay for equal work.

It is 2021, and women are still subject to unequal, unfair compensation in the workplace. This truth, this wage gap is at its worst for women of color. Black women, for example, earn an average of 63 cents on the dollar compared to men.

This issue persists in nearly every line of work, regardless of education, experience, occupation, industry, or job title. And if you don't believe that data, take it from me. I have lived it.

The Paycheck Fairness Act is an opportunity for Congress to strengthen the Equal Pay Act, to bolster the rights of working women, and to put an end to the gender-based wage disparity once and for all.

We cannot continue to rob nearly half of our Nation's workforce of the wages they deserve, nor can we continue to force women to work far more just to be paid fairly.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the National Partnership for Women and Families in support of H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act.

National Partnership for

Women & Families,

April 13, 2021.

Dear Member of Congress: The National Partnership for Women

& Families is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy

organization committed to improving the lives of women and

families by achieving equity for all women. Since our

creation as the Women's Legal Defense Fund in 1971, we have

fought for every significant federal advance for equal

opportunity in the workplace, including the Lilly Ledbetter

Fair Pay Act of 2009. We write in strong support of H.R. 7,

the Paycheck Fairness Act, and urge you to vote for passage

while opposing any harmful amendments. This critical bill

will help our nation build back an economy that works for

everyone by ensuring that all women can work with equality

and dignity.

As the Paycheck Fairness Act recognizes, women and workers

from communities of color continue to face significant pay

disparities in the United States. On average, women working

full time and year-round are paid only 82 cents for every

dollar paid to men, and the wage gap is widest for women of

color. Among women who hold full-time, year-round jobs in the

United States, Black women are typically paid 63 cents,

Native American women 60 cents and Latinas just 55 cents for

every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. White, non-

Hispanic women are paid 79 cents. Asian American and Pacific

Islander (AAPI) women who work full time, year-round are paid

as little as 52 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-

Hispanic men, as Burmese women are. Asian American women

overall are paid just 87 cents for every dollar paid to

white, non-Hispanic men. The wage gap persists across

different industries, occupations and education levels and

exists in nearly every congressional district.

These troubling statistics underscore the need to update

our nation's equal pay laws. The Paycheck Fairness Act would

make it safe for workers to discuss their wages with each

other. Employers can currently mask compensation

discrimination with pay secrecy policies that forbid

employees from discussing pay and benefits. Secrecy and the

threat of retaliation leave workers unable to learn about and

challenge pay disparities. In a survey of private-sector

workers, over 62 percent of women and 60 percent of men

reported that their employers discourage or prohibit

discussing wage and salary information. The Paycheck Fairness

Act would make pay secrecy policies illegal.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would also prohibit employers

from screening job applicants based on their salary history

or requiring salary history during the interview process.

Women are typically paid lower wages than men even in their

first jobs. Salary disparities that begin early in a woman's

career can follow her from job to job when employers are

permitted to base a new hire's salary on her prior earnings.

People should be paid fairly for the job they are being hired

to do.

The bill would also make it more difficult for employers to

justify pay discrimination. Workers in the same company who

do the same job and have the same amount of experience,

education and training should be paid the same. Currently,

however, employers are able to explain away differences in

pay too easily by relying on a catch-all defense in the Equal

Pay Act. The Paycheck Fairness Act would close that loophole

and require employers to prove that any differences in pay

are not sex-based, are job-related concerning the position in

question, and are consistent with business necessity and

account for the entire difference in compensation. Employees

claiming pay discrimination would also have new opportunities

to prove that the employer's defense is the pretext.

In addition to these critical provisions, the Paycheck

Fairness Act would also allow workers alleging pay

discrimination within the same company to file class-action

suits; would change the remedies of the Equal Pay Act to

treat gender-based pay discrimination claims the same as

other civil rights violations that result in unfair pay;

would recognize companies that want to do better; and would

improve fair pay enforcement, data collection and disclosure.

Closing the gender and racial wage gap is a crucial measure

to take in response to COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic,

women and people of color have disproportionately experienced

the adverse effects of the public health and economic crisis.

Women and people of color have been on the front lines

working in our most essential occupations, but forces like

wage inequality have kept them underpaid and undervalued. The

Paycheck Fairness Act would ensure that workers are given the

support needed to ensure pay equity during this time of

crisis.

Updating our nation's equal pay laws is also crucial to

reducing negative impacts resulting from the mass exodus of

women from the labor force during the pandemic. Women's labor

force participation is at a 33-year record low, with nearly a

million moms having left the workforce, largely due to the

difficulties of balancing full-time work and care

responsibilities. Increases in women's labor force

participation rates drove the significant narrowing of the

gender wage gap during the 1970s and 1980s, a narrowing which

stagnated in the late 1990s, around the time women's labor

force participation peaked. Without the Paycheck Fairness

Act, progress on closing the gender wage gap could be set

back decades, especially since women face financial penalties

for taking time out of the workforce, with one study finding

that women who took just one year out of the workforce had

annual earnings 39 percent lower than women who did not.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen existing federal

protections, ensure more equitable workplaces and allow women

to remain in the workforce and maintain their economic

stability at all phases of life. At the current rate of

progress, projections are that the gender wage gap will close

in 2041 for Asian women, 2069 for white women, 2369 for Black

women, and 2451 for Latina women. Women cannot--and should

not--wait that long for pay equity. It is time to clarify and

strengthen existing federal protections for women in the

workforce by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. We urge you

to vote in support and opposed harmful amendments.

Madam Speaker, I was with the Speaker at her press conference. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 105.

members recorded pursuant to house resolution 8, 117th congress

Allred (Wexton)

Babin (Fallon)

Cardenas (Gonzalez, Vicente)

Crenshaw (Fallon)

Greene (GA) (Gosar)

Grijalva (Garcia (IL))

Jayapal (Raskin)

Johnson (TX) (Jeffries)

Keating (Clark (MA))

Lawson (FL) (Evans)

Lieu (Beyer)

Lowenthal (Beyer)

Mfume (Raskin)

Moore (WI) (Beyer)

Moulton (Underwood)

Napolitano (Correa)

Neal (Lynch)

Nehls (Fallon)

Norcross (Pallone)

Omar (Pressley)

Payne (Pallone)

Porter (Wexton)

Rush (Underwood)

Sewell (DelBene)

Slotkin (Stevens)

Stefanik (Tenney)

Steube (Timmons)

Trahan (Lynch)

Wasserman Schultz (Soto)

Watson Coleman (Pallone)

Wilson (FL) (Hayes)

Wilson (SC) (Timmons)

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Michigan and all of the chairs and the co-chairs of this committee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the women of the United States House of Representatives for Women's History Month. This Women's History Month marks the 101st year of women's suffrage in the United States.

Despite the fact that women have had the right to vote for 101 years, we still don't have equal justice under the law. That is why earlier today, we passed a resolution to remove the arbitrary deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment, because there is no expiration date on equality.

Yet, to this day, women are still paid less for our work, face workplace harassment, and are discriminated against, simply because of who we are.

Women who work full-time, year-round, still make 82 cents on the dollar for men's earnings. Fighting against these disparities and ensuring our Federal Government and policies are reflective of the whole country is why having women at every level of government is so important, in our House, State houses, and, yes, even in the White House.

So this month, in particular, we draw strength and inspiration from those

who came before us and those remarkable women working among us today, from Shirley Chisolm, the first Black woman to serve in Congress; to Nancy Pelosi, the first and only woman Speaker of the House; to Kamala Harris, the first female, first African American, and first South Asian American Vice President in United States history. She was sworn in by the first Latina Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor.

A hundred years ago, only one woman, Alice Mary Robertson, was elected to serve in Congress. Currently, a record 144 women were elected to this Congress, with 120 women in the House of Representatives alone.

I am proud to say that when I was elected and sworn in in 2013, I became the 100th woman. However, there is still a lot of work to be done; 144 out of 535 Members is just 25 percent. That is just not what our country looks like. Women make up over 50 percent of this Nation.

Women's History Month is a reminder of the importance and the urgency of that work and the need for us to continue breaking those glass ceilings.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.

Workers, especially people of color, built this country, and they have kept it afloat. Never has that truth been more evident than now, as we grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite their essential roles in our society, though, we have seen workers' rights systematically suppressed for decades, including the fundamental right to ban together to organize and to advocate for fair treatment, for fair pay, and benefits for safe and healthy work environments, and for the respect and dignity they are due as working people, let alone the backbone of our economy.

But, Mr. Speaker and colleagues, let's be clear. This is not just about fairness. It is about justice, economic justice. Workers, especially women and people of color, have driven economic growth in this country, but have seen the fruit of their labor concentrating and accumulating in the hands of the wealthiest. In other words, their work, their sacrifice has not trickled down.

Enough is enough. Workers deserve their share. They deserve justice. I strongly support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the Laborers' International Union of North America.

LiUNA!,

Washington, DC, March 8, 2021.

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Representative: On behalf of the 500,000 members of

the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), I

write to ask you to support H.R. 842, the Protecting the

Right to Organize (PRO) Act, when it comes to the House floor

for a vote. The right to join a union is critical to ensure

that workers receive fair pay and benefits and safe jobsites.

The PRO Act will expand the National Labor Relations Act

(NLRA) to ensure that workers and unions have real,

enforceable protections under the law.

One of the most significant problems with the NLRA is the

absence of effective remedies for workers against employers

who break the law. Often, employers fire union supporters to

defeat union organizing efforts, knowing that the penalty is

low, only lost wages, and even that is reduced by the amount

the worker earns on any other work that he or she finds after

getting fired. H.R. 842 will address this serious problem by

authorizing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to

impose penalties of up to $50,000 for unfair labor practices.

The PRO Act strengthens enforcement of the NLRA in other

important ways. For example, the PRO Act allows workers to

exercise First Amendment rights to free speech against so-

called secondary employers. It strengthens workers' and

unions' representational rights and protects immigrants'

labor rights. Significantly, it adopts the so-called ABC test

for distinguishing employees from independent contractors.

Under the Bill, a person is an independent contractor only if

the individual is free from the employer's control and

direction, the service is outside the normal course of the

employer's business, and the individual is customarily

engaged in an independently established trade or business.

H.R. 842 will also prevent employers from misclassifying

workers as supervisors and will establish that employers with

control over employees are held responsible for their actions

in the workplace, including users of temp agencies. This

addresses an important circumstance, since three million

people are employed daily by temp agencies. The PRO Act would

also ban captive audience meetings, giving workers the power

and freedom to decide for themselves if union representation

is right for them. Importantly, the PRO Act would push back

on the recent so-called right to work laws, which harm unions

and our members, by allowing unions to recover fair share

fees covering the costs of collective bargaining and

representation.

For these reasons, and for the many other improvements to

labor law in the Bill, LIUNA supports the PRO Act and asks

you to vote yes when it comes to the House floor.

With kind regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

Terry O'Sullivan,

General President.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas and our co-anchors. I want to thank our Chairwoman, Congresswoman Beatty; Congresswoman Sewell, as well; and to all who have participated tonight. Thank you, Brother Torres, as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of my colleague and friend, my hero, a hero to all of us, John Lewis, and to mark the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march.

When our country was founded almost 250 years ago, African Americans were denied full access and participation in society, and we have been fighting to rectify these wrongs ever since. Among the most important influential agents of this mission was John Lewis, the conscience of this Congress; a mastermind of good, good, good trouble; a courageous and compassionate man who gave everything, including his blood and his body, to the civil rights movement.

From Selma to the U.S. House, John wasn't afraid to put everything on the line for what he believed in. Fifty-six years ago, he marched so that people who look like me could be full participants in our society. Fifty-six years later, we are still fighting to be seen, to be heard, to be counted in our democracy, a democracy that we helped to build.

For centuries, this country has made promises to marginalized communities that have gone mostly unmet, promises of freedom, equality, and access to opportunity.

In my home State of North Carolina, discriminatory voter regulations plague our past and even our present. Most recently, we have experienced a decade of voter suppression laws that target minority voters with surgical precision and illegally gerrymandered maps that have thrown our election into chaos. Voting in North Carolina has never been treated as it should be, as a fundamental right for all citizens. The For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will address this by cleaning up corruption in Washington and returning us to a government of, by, and for the people.

H.R. 1 will protect and expand voting rights, restore integrity to government, and put the priorities of the American people ahead of special interests. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act provides the tools to address discriminatory election practices and will protect all Americans' right to vote.

These important bills are critical first steps toward healing our democracy. I won't allow voter suppression to continue to be the norm in North Carolina or in our Nation. That is why we must honor our friend John's legacy by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and sending both of these bills to the President's desk.

Our power, our message.

Mr. Speaker, I raise my voice today to add my support for the steps taken by the House Agriculture Committee under the leadership of Chairman David Scott to include provisions in H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act, to begin to correct the long and documented history of USDA discrimination against producers of color.

The existence of this longstanding discrimination cannot be disputed. Every year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spends billions of dollars in programmatic and direct support for American producers and we know that those resources have, unfortunately, not been equitably distributed due to discrimination. The provisions included in sections 1005 and 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act are a tailored approach towards correcting the wrongs felt by too many.

I am not alone in raising my voice and support for these provisions. In addition to the support of many Members of the House Agriculture Committee and of the 117th Congress, more than 200 organizations have voiced their support for this language. Among those who have spoken out in support of these provisions are:

Advance Carolina, Raleigh, NC; Advancing Collective Equity, Portland, OR; African Alliance of Rhode Island, RI; Agri-Cultura Cooperative Network, Albuquerque, NM; Agricultural Missions, Inc., New York, NY; Agroecology Research-Action Collective, Oakland, CA; Alabama Rivers Alliance, Birmingham, AL; Alabama State Association of Cooperatives, Epes, AL; Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Oxnard, CA; Alliance for the Great Lakes, Chicago, IL; Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, New Market, VA; American Farmland Trust; American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3354, Saint Louis, MO; American Sustainable Business Council, Washington, DC; Amy's Kitchen; Atrisco Valley Farm LLC, Albuquerque, NM; Bayer; Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc.; Black Family Land Trust, Inc., Durham, NC; Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, Tillery, NC; Black Farmers and Ranchers New Mexico, Jerales, NM; Bolthouse Farms; Boulder County Farmers Markets, Boulder,

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Leger Fernandez for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to give voice to the millions of Americans who are calling on us to raise the wage.

Our minimum wage workers, many of whom we have come to call essential workers, have a base pay of $15,080 a year. It doesn't take a Ph.D. to know that you can't survive on $7.25. Yet, we expect millions of our neighbors to do it, even during a pandemic and an economic crisis.

From the North Carolina General Assembly to the U.S. House of Representatives, raising the wage has been part of my life's work. I know how a couple of dollars an hour can be the difference between prosperity and poverty. I know it because I have lived it. You see, my mom was a domestic worker. She cleaned other people's houses so I wouldn't have to, so I could focus on going to school and getting a good education. Day in and day out, I saw that no matter how hard she worked, her earnings were barely enough to get us by.

Colleagues, this is not because she didn't work hard enough. It is because she didn't make enough.

Now, decades later, that reality has only gotten starker and the need to address it more pressing. The minimum wage has been at $7.25 for over a decade, the longest stretch in U.S. history.

Mr. Speaker, it is simply impossible to pay the rent and feed your family when you are only making $1,250 a month. That is not far off from the average monthly rent of an apartment in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Make no mistake about it, $7.25 is a poverty wage. That is why it is time to raise the wage to $15 an hour.

A $15 minimum wage would give 27 million low-wage workers a raise and lift nearly 1 million people out of poverty. In my district, in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, it would mean giving a raise to 80,000 working women. 146,000 workers in the 12th District would see an average pay increase of over $4,000 a year.

In this moment of crisis, as we grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, a $15 minimum wage is more important than ever.

It is also important to note that essential and frontline workers make up a majority of those who would benefit from this wage increase. I believe in essential wages for essential workers. That is why we can't pay an essential worker or any worker a poverty wage.

We must take action to deliver on our Nation's promise of equal opportunity for all. In the strongest possible terms, I urge support for increasing the Federal minimum wage to $15. If it can't happen in tomorrow's package, I urge our committee and this body to take it up next week because America cannot wait.

Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman is exactly right. We have to do it, and we have to do it now.

Essential workers need essential opportunities to get a decent wage so that they can take care of their families. Working hard is not enough if you don't make enough. Right now, folks who are making this $7.25 do not make enough to make ends meet.

That is right.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the National Apprenticeship Act of 2021.

By creating nearly 1 million new apprenticeship opportunities and yielding over $10 billion in net benefits, this legislation is a lifeline for our economy and for countless Americans, including those in my home State of North Carolina.

With a proven track record of success, we know this is a safe and smart investment, something our country desperately needs right now.

I am also pleased that this legislation includes a bill which I led with Representative Mondaire Jones, the Apprenticeship Access for All Act, language that will advance programs that promote the recruitment, employment, and retention of people of color, individuals with disabilities, and individuals facing barriers to employment, especially in high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand sectors and occupations. After all, we must be sure that everyone has access to opportunity.

This vote is about ensuring our workforce gets the investment it needs and the support it deserves. This vote is about showing the American people that they are seen, that they are heard, and that we deeply care about providing them pathways to a stable future. This vote is also about upholding Congress' commitment and obligation to serve every American.

I urge support.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to include in the Record the following letter from the Center for Law and Social Policy in support of the National Apprenticeship Act of 2021.

Madam Speaker, last Wednesday, domestic terrorists breached the security of our Capitol, desecrated the temple of our democratic republic, and disrupted one of our most sacred duties: counting the people's votes for president.

This mob acted on baseless conspiracy theories under the direction and encouragement of Donald Trump.

While they did not stop us from fulfilling our constitutional duty, six people died, including two Capitol Police Officers.

Today, we gather to deliver accountability; and it starts with the President, whose actions and words led directly to the insurrection on January 6th.

Make no mistake, the choice is clear: we either stand as guardians of justice and democracy, or as appeasers of fascism, autocracy, and white supremacy.

We have an obligation to defend the sanctity of our Constitution and lead our country toward healing and unity.

That does not happen by brushing the President's actions under the rug. It requires speaking the truth and doing the right thing.

If my colleagues are supporters and champions of American democracy and the rule of law, they should vote YES on this resolution, and show that attacks against our most sacred institutions will not stand.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, I want to first offer my thanks to Chairwoman DeLauro and our other appropriators for their tireless work on this year's Labor-HHS bill.

I offer this amendment to recognize the important work of the National Center for College Students with Disabilities and to press the Senate to act.

The national center, located in Huntersville, North Carolina, sets as its mission to improve retention and graduation rates of U.S. college students with disabilities. It accomplishes this through technical assistance and outreach and the dissemination of peer-reviewed research that tries to determine the needs of disabled college students, their families, disabled service providers, and higher education staff and faculty.

Additionally, the center has developed and is constantly updating a public clearinghouse that contains disability resources at institutions of higher education across the U.S. This allows disabled students to access crucial information to intelligently assess their higher education options.

Last but not least, the center empowers its students through the dissemination of a weekly newsletter that reports current events and news about the disabled in higher education, promulgated by its student group DREAM, or Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring.

To sum up, the center has been a godsend for the 20 percent of college students who have some form of disability since its $2.5 million authorization in 2015, and that expires at the end of this fiscal year.

Madam Chair, this amendment would add $500,000 to the higher education account, which funds the national center. If passed, it will be used in conference with the Senate to justify a new authorization.

Without more funding, the center will close in June 2020, wasting 5 years' worth of taxpayer dollars used to create groundbreaking research for our disabled students. It would leave thousands of higher education staff, faculty, and students without support for the disabled in higher education.

The center has bipartisan support on the Education and Labor Committee, and it is expected to be included in the next Higher Education Act reauthorization.

I thank the chair of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee, Representative Susan Davis, as well as Representatives Huffman, Moulton, Bonamici, and Lowenthal for cosponsoring this amendment, and I urge the House for its support.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, my amendment would add $3 million to the Children and Families Services Programs account.

I do want to thank Chairwoman DeLauro for her work on the Labor-HHS bill, particularly the inclusion of

a line item for the Social Services/Income Maintenance Research program, as well as report language to support Community Resource Centers.

These centers, or CRCs, as they are called, help administer social programs such as Medicaid, WIC, and SNAP. But, unlike other State one- stop shops, CRCs have completely integrated services, which allow for greater efficiency.

Instead of repeating their story to multiple administrative staff during the screening process, customers can be screened and assessed at one central administrative service area, which provides initial screening and assessment for all programs and services offered in the

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), our distinguished subcommittee chair.

Madam Chair, I respectfully challenge my colleague and would certainly invite him to go to the Community Resource Center in Mecklenburg County to see the work that they do every day, to see how they stabilize families and help reduce the need for those seeking social services to travel multiple times to access Federal programs.

The last thing we should be doing is burdening working Americans by increasing their costs to receive the helping hand that programs like Medicaid and SNAP provide.

Madam Chair, I would just, again, urge support for the amendment, as our most important job as Members of Congress is to make the lives of Americans better.

The CRCs do that work, and let's do ours and ensure that they have the resources they need to continue that progress.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.