Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Barbara Ann Guardino who died on January 29, 2024, at the age of 90. Barbara was born in Lawton, Oklahoma to Everett and Velta Server on January 11, 1934, and was one of four children.

Barbara and her family moved to San Jose, California when she was 13 years old. She graduated from James Lick High School where she met Richard Venture Guardino.

They were married at Saint Patrick's Church in San Jose in 1954.

Barbara and Richard had four dearly loved sons, William Richard, Michael Joseph; Mark Anthony, and Carl Thomas. She also loved her daughters-in-law: Janet, Patti, Chris, and Leslee, and her wonderful grandchildren: Natalie (Danny), Nancy (Tim), Billie (Carrie), Jessica, Siena, Jake, Chris (Ashley), and David. She adored her four great- grandchildren: Taylor, Teagan, Naomi, and Geo, and she was very fond of her dog Mi Amigo.

Barbara Guardino will be fondly remembered by all those who were privileged to know her for her love, her kindness, and her dedication to family and friends.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring the memory of Barbara Guardino, an extraordinary American, and in extending our most sincere condolences to her large and loving family.

Mr. Chair, I rise, sadly, in opposition to this bill, H.R. 485.

I support, and everyone here supports, banning quality-adjusted life years, also known as QALYs. It is a discriminatory metric that should not be used, and Democrats are the ones who recognized this in 2010 when we banned Medicare's use of QALYs in the Affordable Care Act.

If this bill simply banned QALYs, it would pass the House, the Senate, and become law. It would become law quickly. However, the problem is that the legislation bans QALYs and ``similar measures.'' I have repeatedly said that this vague ``similar measures'' phrase is a problem, including during the hearing and the markup of the bill.

This overly broad ``similar measures'' phrase weakens the Federal Government's ability to negotiate drug prices by ruling out any type of comparative effectiveness. Without this analysis, CBO found that States and the Federal Government would have less leverage for drug discounts.

The CBO estimates that this ``similar measures'' phrase will raise Federal costs in Medicaid by nearly half a billion dollars--that is with a b--and by nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in TRICARE and the VA. It also means out-of-pocket costs will rise for veterans and Federal workers, and State budgets will be hit by higher Medicaid spending.

Mr. Chair, I have tried everything I could to fix this legislation. I voted ``present'' in the markup to continue bipartisan negotiations and met with the chairwoman about changing the language, but the bill before us today is the same bill that passed out of committee. It adds insult to injury because the Republicans are using the Affordable Care Act Public Health Prevention Fund to pay for it. Over 170 patient and public health groups oppose using this fund as an offset.

My Republican colleagues have said they wish the legislation could be bipartisan, but their actions say otherwise. This bill has only five cosponsors, all Republicans, no Democrats. It has a poisonous pay-for, and the Veterans' Affairs and Armed Services Committees never heard the bill despite its major impact on the VA and TRICARE.

This is, in my view, a partisan bill that needlessly cuts public health to increase drug spending, and that is why I urge my colleagues to vote against it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and praise an extraordinary American, Stanford Women's Basketball Coach, aka `T Dawg', Tara VanDerveer. On January 21, 2024, she won her 1,203rd game, setting an all-time record for the most coaching wins in the history of college basketball. She achieved this in 45 seasons and has led her team to three N.C.A.A. champIonship victories.

Tara VanDerveer is the daughter of Dunbar and Rita VanDerveer and was born in Boston in 1953. She didn't play basketball at her first high school, but she played when she transferred to Buffalo Seminary in her junior year. She attended Albany University where she played as a freshman, then transferred to Indiana University, Bloomington where her team reached the AIAW Final Four.

After college, Tara took an unpaid assistant coaching position at Ohio State where she quickly ascended to Assistant Coach and Head JV Coach. She then became Head Coach at the University of Idaho. She returned to Ohio State as Head Coach for the 1980-1981 season and left to become Stanford's Head Coach in 1985. Her record at Stanford was 27- 5 by her third year, and her team earned a bid to the N.C.A.A. tournament in 1988 and has done so every year since. In 1989 Stanford won the Pac-10 regular season and in 1990 reached the Final Four. Tara took a one-year leave from Stanford to coach the U.S. Olympic team, winning the Gold at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Tara is loved by her players and is known for her fairness and her moderate temperament. Her rules for leadership success include having a vision for her team, maximizing each player's strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses. She wants her players and staff to complement her, not compliment her, and she always remembers her father's advice that you `can't win the Kentucky Derby on a donkey.' She is a good listener and a constant learner who credits her parents for teaching her the most about leadership.

Tara VanDerveer and the Stanford Women's Basketball team have brought entertainment and joy to legions of fans. Home game nights are sacrosanct for the team's devotees. They won't miss a game for anything. The fans know how much Tara deserves the almost fifty Coach of the Year awards she has earned.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring Stanford Women's Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer. I'm exceedingly proud to represent her and her teams in the Congress and know that all my constituents join me in a huge college cheer for this amazing champion. She is widely and affectionately known by her well- earned sobriquet, G.O.A.T. Tara VanDerveer is indeed the Greatest Of All Time. She is a national treasure and a jewel in the crown of the 16th Congressional District.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Donna Lynn Taub, who passed away on November 10, 2023, at the age of 75 due to pancreatic cancer. Donna was a tremendous source of love and joy to her family and all those who knew her, and her multifaceted talents were invaluable to our community.

Donna Lynn Taub was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 27, 1948, to parents Abe and Florence Newman. She was close to her siblings, Neil and Lois, playing with them outside for hours on end. She also had many lifelong friends who she met as a girl and remained close to throughout the years.

Donna graduated from Levittown Memorial High School in 1966, and went on to study art history at American University in Washington, D.C. She became an art teacher in San Francisco, and on September 15, 1977, Donna married Dr. Eli Taub, after being introduced to him by her brother. Dr. Taub said that he fell in love with her intelligence, wit, and red hair.

Donna and Eli had two children, David and Ilana, the latter inheriting her beautiful red locks. Donna was devoted to her children in all their endeavors, including Girl Scouts and school performances. After raising them, Donna and Eli travelled the world together, including Europe and Asia, enjoying many visits to Israel and going on countless cruises.

Donna was highly versatile in her professional life. After her children were born, she became a travel agent based in Los Altos. She also began selling books on eBay and trading stocks, and was very successful at it all, paying for new cars with her earnings.

Donna is survived by her beloved husband Eli, her son David and his wife, Michelle, and her daughter Ilana. Her grandchildren are Mettabel, Atalia, and Zebulon.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in offering our condolences to Donna Taub's family and honoring the life of this extraordinary woman. How blessed I am to have known and represented her. We are a better people and a stronger country because of her and how she lived her life.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Don Horsley, a great patriot and true public servant, who died of cancer on November 24, 2023, at the age of 80.

Don Horsley was born in San Francisco and moved with his family to Daly City where he attended high school and earned his Bachelor's degree from San Francisco State. After college he worked for the Daly City Police Department, then became a juvenile counselor for the San Mateo County Probation Department.

Don began work at the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office in 1972, and in 1993 was elected County Sheriff. As Sheriff he upgraded deputy training and helped plan the new corrections center to include medical and mental health care facilities.

In 2010 he was elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, where he served with distinction until 2022. While on the Board he improved mental health services, improved access to parks and open spaces, and provided expanded services for the homeless.

Don Horsley was a remarkable man and a tireless public servant whose tremendous legacy and impact will not be forgotten. He was a man who cared about the most vulnerable in our community, was a man of enormous integrity, and had a great sense of humor. He lived a full and distinguished life, and his work defines what good government is all about.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring the life and work of Don Horsley, and in extending our most sincere condolences to his entire family.

He was a good man who did great things to better our communities and strengthen our country. Don Horsley was a national treasure.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and work of Michael E. Fox, Sr., a strong force for good in the South Bay who died on November 3, 2023, at the age of 87.

Michael Fox was born in Chicago on September 23, 1936 and attended Bishop Quarter Military Academy there, Campion Jesuit High School in Wisconsin, graduated from Notre Dame University in Indiana, and earned a degree in Brewing Science and Technology from the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago. He met his wife Mary Ellen in Illinois, and the couple moved to California. They bought a home in Saratoga in 1965 and acquired a small beer distributorship, which grew from 10 employees to more than 200 during 50 years of business.

Michael Fox and Mary Ellen were renowned for their extraordinary philanthropy, and he held leadership roles in countless charitable

organizations. His good works earned him accolades such as Santa Clara County Philanthropist of the Year, two Papal awards, and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Public Service from Santa Clara University.

Mike Fox was deeply devoted to his family and his Catholic faith, and his commitment to both inspired his life and brought him great joy. He was kind and affable and mentored many people over the years, ran marathons and loved Broadway musicals. Any cause that would uplift others became his cause.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring the life and work of Michael Fox, and in extending our most sincere condolences to his entire family. He was a good man who did great things to better our communities and strengthen our country. Mike Fox was a national treasure.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during Roll Call vote No. 722, 723, and 724 on December 14, 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted: on Roll Call No. 722, NO, on Roll Call No. 723, YES, and on Roll Call No. 724, YES.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the full committee for yielding time.

Today, the House is going to vote on my legislation, H.R. 3226, the PREEMIE Reauthorization Act. I thank the co-leads of this legislation: Representatives Miller-Meeks, Kelly of Illinois, Burgess, Blunt Rochester, and Kiggans for their work on this important effort.

I first introduced the PREEMIE Act in 2005. It is the first and remains the only law to focus solely on the prevention of preterm births.

H.R. 3226 will improve future policy by studying the current gaps in our healthcare system that have kept rates of preterm births high and by crafting recommendations for how to address them.

Every day in the United States, 1 in 10 infants are born prematurely, placing them and their mothers at an increased risk of complicated health problems.

America's prematurity rate is one of the highest in the developed world, and it is the leading cause of newborn death.

Even babies born just a few weeks prematurely can face serious health challenges. We saw a significant 4 percent increase in preterm births in 2021, the highest recorded rate since 2007.

This bill was advanced by the Subcommittee on Health and the full Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously and enjoys bipartisan cosponsorship.

The PREEMIE Act will help prevent newborn death and disability, expand research into the causes of preterm birth, and promote the development, availability, and uses of evidence-based standards of care for pregnant women. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an extraordinary woman, Luisa Buada, who brought culturally sensitive, integrated primary and preventive health care to thousands in a highly underserved community. She brought this care regardless of ability to pay or immigration status and collaborated with community partners to address the social determinants of health.

Luisa Buada was the founding Executive Director of Clinicas de Salud in the Salinas Valley and the Berkeley Primary Care Access Clinic, and cofounded LifeLong Medical Care in Berkeley as part of a merger with Over 60 Health Center in 1996.

In the early 2000's in the wake of the closure of the Charles Drew Health Center by the federal government, a group of community leaders and I came together to explore creating a new, vital health care system to support the low-income communities of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Residents and representatives of Stanford Health Care and San Mateo County met regularly for months to form what is now the Ravenswood Family Health Network, a Federally Qualified Health Center that now cares for approximately 21,000 patients. Of these, 7,576 are children and adolescents, 90 percent are low-income, and 88 percent identify as an ethnic minority. About 63 percent are enrolled in public health coverage, and 27 percent are uninsured.

Luisa Buada was the consultant in the development of Ravenswood, and despite her insistence that she was only temporary, after serving 12 months as Interim Chief Executive Officer she became Ravenswood's Permanent CEO in November 2003. Luisa received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing in 1977 and her Master's degree in Public Health Policy and Administration from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990. In March of 2010, Buada was inducted into the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame. In 2013 she received the California Senate Woman of the Year Award for the 13th District and was a 2016 San Francisco Chronicle and St. Mary's College Visionary of the Year Award Honoree. She received the 2016 John W. Gardner Exemplary Leadership Award from the American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley and in 2018 she received the California State Assembly Woman of the Year award for the 24th District. She has earned and deserves all these honors.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring Luisa Buada as she begins her retirement. She has been an extraordinary leader who brought health services to many thousands who otherwise would not have been cared for. She is a national treasure that I shall treasure all the days of my life.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and work of a great American and former United States Senator, Richard Clarence Clark. Dick Clark was born on September 14, 1928, in Paris, Iowa, and died peacefully on September 20, 2023, at his home in Washington, D.C., at the age of 95.

Dick Clark enlisted in the U.S. Army after high school and served his country in England during the Korean War. He earned a Bachelor's degree at Upper Iowa University and his Master's at the University of Iowa. He then taught at Upper Iowa University, worked as a volunteer for the Democratic Party, and in 1972 he ran for the U.S. Senate. Partly in response to his unorthodox campaign tactic of actually walking 1,300 miles across Iowa to meet the voters, he won the seat. He served on the Senate Foreign Relations, Agriculture and Public Works Committees and after losing his race in 1978, he was soon appointed Ambassador-at- Large by President Jimmy Carter and spent most of 1979 serving as the administration's coordinator for refugee affairs, working to provide aid and housing for tens of thousands of people fleeing wars and famine in Southeast Asia. He then worked on the presidential campaign of Senator Ted Kennedy and became a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies.

Dick Clark has been described as hardworking, studious, well-liked, and a highly respected Senator. He was all these and more. I first met him in 1994 when I was invited to participate in my first Aspen Institute Congressional Program as a newly elected Member of the House of Representatives. This program, initiated and directed by Dick Clark, fostered relationships with members of both parties and provided high value information on a variety of policies presented by experts and discussed by Members. Dick Clark said that ``good policy depends on informed policy makers'' and many minds were shaped and policies refined as a result of this superb Aspen Congressional Institute. Dick was as fine a human being one could ever know . . . a kind man of enormous integrity, a beautiful friend and a true patriot.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in paying tribute to this remarkable man, his life and his work, and in extending our most sincere condolences to his wife Julie, his three children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandsons. We are a better and stronger nation because of him.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during Roll Call No. 514 and No. 515 on October 2, 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted:

Yes on Roll Call No. 514, and Yes on Roll Call No. 515.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Kathleen King who is retiring as CEO of the Healthier Kids Foundation, a non-profit foundation focused on the health needs of underserved children and youth in Silicon Valley. She served the Foundation and the children of Santa Clara County for 15 highly productive years.

Kathleen King is a native Californian. She attended public schools in San Jose and graduated from West Valley College and Santa Clara University. She is married to Mark Stark and has 5 children: Marie, Allyssa, Nick, Matthew, and Robert.

Kathleen worked for nearly 20 years at Applied Materials and was a member of the Saratoga City Council and twice the City's Mayor. She is also a member of several other state and community boards including the Valley Medical Center Foundation, Lincoln Law School Silicon Valley and the California State Dental Board. She also served on the Housing Trust Board and is a member of the American Leadership Forum. She was a founding member of Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative. She was described by Mark Pearl, M.D., a professor at Stanford University and former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, as dynamic, visionary and highly effective.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring Kathleen King on her retirement from the Healthier Kids Foundation and in thanking her for her extraordinary service to the children of our community. She is a national treasure.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and work of an extraordinary constituent, John D. Lemes, who died in Los Altos, California on May 15, 2023.

John was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 30, 1936, and he attended Punahou School where he excelled in track and football, and was key to Punahou winning Hawaii's state football championship in 1953.

He attended Colgate University and shortly thereafter moved to California. He met and married Karen Lemes and spent a lifetime devoted to her. Together they had five children; Lucia Nicholson, Renee Seligman, John (Ocean) Lemes, Jennifer Springer, and Frank Lemes, and 14 beloved grandchildren who brought him great joy.

John spent 26 years as Chief Internal Auditor for the County of Santa Clara. He was also active in his community, serving on the Santa Clara Federal Credit Union Board, coaching soccer, and serving his church in various positions.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring the life of John Lemes, and in extending our condolences to his wife Karen, and his entire family. He was a great and good man, a patriot and

a citizen who served his community. We are a better Nation because of him.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding time to me, and I thank him for support of my bill, the Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act of 2023.

My congressional district was named for the materials that semiconductors are made of--Silicon Valley.

Mr. Speaker, 30 years ago, the United States manufactured nearly 40 percent of all semiconductors. Today, we produce only 12 percent. This lack of domestic semiconductor manufacturing poses a significant risk to our economy and national security.

The semiconductor supply chain is fragile, and it can be disrupted easily, with serious consequences to our daily lives.

To bolster domestic semiconductor production and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, my legislation directs the Department of Commerce's SelectUSA program to develop strategies to attract investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and supply chains.

It will leverage the considerable downpayment Congress made in the CHIPS and Science Act and expand opportunities for the private sector to invest in American manufacturing.

This bipartisan, bicameral legislation, along with the investments made in the CHIPS and Science Act, will bring the U.S. back to being number one in the world in semiconductor manufacturing and maintain leadership in technological innovation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Pence for his partnership on this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to vote for it. This is a very good bill, and it is going to build on what we need to bring this manufacturing back to the United States and make us number one in the world.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 298. On roll call vote number 298, I would have voted YES.