Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the full committee for his full support of this legislation from the very beginning.

Mr. Speaker, this has been somewhat of a long journey. It began in March of last year, 2021, when a group of Members, bipartisan and bicameral, were invited to the White House to meet with President Biden. When we gathered there, he spoke about his vision for creating ARPA-H, an advanced research project for health.

It is modeled after DARPA, the highly innovative and successful small agency that was created many years ago. I think one of its chief assets is its autonomy, and its successes are extraordinary because of the way it is shaped. They have produced the internet, GPS navigation, and Moderna's mRNA vaccines.

This bill is shaped to maximize the promise of ARPA-H.

All of us have a relative or someone in our family, extended family, and our communities that when receiving a diagnosis, it is a death sentence. That is what the mission of ARPA-H is directed to address. I have full confidence that, the way this legislation is shaped, it can meet that challenge.

It will be a place where highly innovative ideas are tested, and if the approaches fail because these are high-risk undertakings, then the agency will quickly move on to new ones and redirect the money. It will be flat and small like DARPA, but it has a mighty mission.

Mr. Speaker, I thank all the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee on the majority and the minority side. We have really worked hard together on this to shape something that is worthy of the American people and has the ability to produce. From the chairman of the full committee to the ranking member, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, to the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. Guthrie, ideas kept coming forward. We polished them, added them to the legislation, and, in some instances, dropped other parts of the draft.

Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge the work of my staffer, Aisling McDonough, who has given her all on this; the staff of the committee; the scientists, because well over 100 of them leaned in and gave us their ideas and advice on how best to create a small agency that would be nimble but highly effective; and the patient advocates. So many of them have cheered us on and given us their best input, as well.

Today is the day. The House is poised. I urge all of my colleagues to

support this because when this mission is executed, I think even if one deadly disease is addressed and cured, we will have succeeded. I think we are going to do better than that.

Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk made in order under the rule.

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

I offer this bipartisan manager's amendment to improve and strengthen

the bill. I thank my Republican colleagues on the Health Subcommittee, including Ranking Member McMorris Rodgers, Ranking Member Guthrie, and Dr. Burgess for working closely with me on this bill over the last several weeks.

This manager's amendment makes sure that the structure of ARPA-H will help the Agency achieve success. Specifically, the amendment requires: First, two-thirds of the ARPA-H program offices be exclusively dedicated to research and development; number two, not more than 15 percent of the ARPA-H budget to be used on administrative expenses; and, thirdly, removes the requirement of Senate confirmation of the ARPA-H director.

I think these are commonsense provisions that improve the bill and, ultimately, strengthen ARPA-H and its mission; and it is why I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Jean McCown, her career in public service, and as Associate Vice President of Government Affairs at Stanford University. Jean is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Boalt Hall Law School. Before joining Stanford in 2004, she was a partner at the law firm of Ritchey Fisher Whitman & Klein, where she focused on land use, environmental and real estate matters.

Jean was a member of the Palo Alto City Council from 1990 to 1998 and served as mayor in 1993. She previously served on the Palo Alto Planning Commission and on regional transportation committees including the CalTrain Joint Powers Board and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Jean McCown served on the board of the Greenbelt Alliance for many years and is now a board member of the Palo Alto Community Foundation and Alta, formerly the Palo Alto Housing Corporation.

The honors she has earned include the John W. Gardner Leadership Award in 1994 from American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, and the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce Athena Award in 2004.

As Associate Vice President within the Office of Government Affairs at Stanford, Jean McCown focused on the University's government and community affairs efforts and initiatives at the city, county and state level. She maintained relationships with community-based organizations, government officials, local businesses and citizens to support effective communication and dialogue within the Stanford community and between Stanford and its neighbors. While at Stanford she provided strategic leadership for the Searsville Watershed Restoration project and provided strategic guidance for the Middle Plaza Housing Project in Menlo Park. She helped build supportive relationships with the Palo Alto Unified School District and secured the fire services contract between Stanford and the Palo Alto Fire Department. Jean led multiple General Use Permit negotiations with Santa Clara County, provided strategic guidance for the Hospitals Renewal projects for the Stanford adult and children's hospitals, and helped spearhead the Palo Alto Mayfield agreement creating new public playing fields and housing for the City.

Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring Jean McCown for her extraordinary work and in wishing her every blessing in her well-deserved retirement.

Madam Speaker, I rise in full support of H.R. 7667, the Food and Drug Amendments Act of 2022 and I'm proud to sponsor this strong, bipartisan FDA user fee bill.

Our nation is an international leader in biomedical innovation. With that achievement comes an increasingly complex FDA review process for drugs and devices. Over the past few decades, the user fee agreements have evolved to ensure the FDA has the resources necessary so its reviews for drugs and devices are prompt, transparent, and predictable. The agreements included in the bill before us today are the latest evolution, and will in total, provide billions of dollars to the FDA over the next five years, allowing FDA to hire hundreds of new full- time employees. These resources will help the FDA recover from the pandemic and pick up its regular day-to-day work even more effectively.

Beyond the user fee agreement, the bill includes several important legislative riders. It includes key portions of my bipartisan DEPICT Act, which I introduced with Representatives Kelly and Fitzpatrick. FDA data shows that for the drugs approved in 2020, 75 percent of clinical trial participants were white. Only 8 percent of trial participants were African American and 11 percent were Hispanic. The DEPICT Act included in the bill would statutorily require drug companies to demonstrate how they will include diverse populations in their clinical trials by reporting to FDA a ``diversity action plan'' with targets by demographic subgroups. As we heard from Dr. Mesa during our hearing, diverse clinical trials are not only fair and just--it's good science.

H.R. 7667 also includes important reforms to the FDA's inspections program based on bills introduced by Representatives Griffith and Welch, as well as by myself and Representative Hudson. These provisions will help the FDA catch up from a two-year inspection backlog due to the pandemic and conduct a pilot program of unannounced foreign inspections.

H.R. 7667 includes targeted reforms to improve the accelerated approval program so that drugs approved under that program ultimately show their clinical effectiveness.

The bill reauthorizes the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (BPCA), which I first authored in 1997. Thanks to BPCA and its partner, the Pediatric Research Equity Act, 900 drugs newly have pediatric use information.

Overall, this is a very strong bill with many worthy reforms, and I encourage my colleagues to vote for it.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, where is the soul of America in this Chamber? I have listened to every speaker since the debate began.

I think that Shakespeare would say: Thou dost protest too much.

We have simple, profound facts. Our children are being blown away. Last week, the first funeral, that casket could not be opened.

I think every single Member here is a parent. Walk behind that casket. Think of yourselves and your own children. They deserve solutions to this. There has to be more from you than damning the Democratic Party.

Come on. We are Members of Congress.

Many of us say a prayer, the Lord's prayer. And at the end we say: And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of every girl and woman whose rights, lives, and futures are on the line if Roe v. Wade is struck down.

For the first time in our Nation's history, the Supreme Court is poised to take a constitutional right away from the American people, creating a time when America's daughters will not have the rights their mothers had. The Court's intent to turn back the hands of time by a half century, without the consent of the governed, is devastating.

If Roe falls, there will be a patchwork of States with differing laws and restrictions, causing societal chaos. Twenty-six States are likely to ban abortion, few with exceptions for rape and incest, subjecting more than 36 million women and girls to the black markets of back-alley abortions.

House Democrats will gather on the steps of the Capitol today, across the street from the Supreme Court, to stand with the millions of women whose basic reproductive rights are being stripped away by this ruling.

The Supreme Court is now surrounded by protective fencing. I think the Justices are fenced off from reality.

This is private, personal, and serious, and women should be able to make their own decisions.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the legacy of a dear friend, a mentor, and a colleague, Norm Mineta.

Secretary Mineta was an American patriot who served his country with distinction in the military, in Congress, and as a cabinet secretary in two administrations. He was a trailblazer and a man of many `firsts'. He was the

first Asian-American mayor of a major city, San Jose, California; the first Japanese American from the contiguous 48 states to serve in Congress; and the first Asian-American cabinet secretary.

When I entered Congress in 1993, I was fortunate to serve with and learn from Norm Mineta. With our Congressional Districts bordering each other, we worked shoulder to shoulder on behalf of our constituents. Our staffs worked closely together as well, and our offices had a friendly baseball competition in which Team Eshoo faced off against Team Mineta.

Secretary Mineta held a great love of his country, and despite being interned during World War II, he was not consumed by bitterness. Among his many contributions to our nation was the key role he played in enacting the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided reparations and an official apology to Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II.

While serving as Secretary of Transportation, he was highly regarded for his steady leadership after our country was attacked on September 11, 2001, when he grounded all air traffic in the U.S. in little more than two hours. He is also remembered for his work to establish the Transportation Security Administration, the TSA, and for his insistence, informed by his personal experience having been interned, that the agency never engage in racial profiling.

It is fitting that he was recognized during his life by having the San Jose International Airport named in his honor, and being awarded the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.

Through his lifetime of service, Norm Mineta made our country better and stronger. He was a hero in Silicon Valley and beyond, and I'm proud to have worked with him and proud to have been his friend and colleague. I shall miss him greatly and hope that my prayers are a source of comfort to his beloved wife Deni, his sons David and Stuart, his stepsons Robert and Mark, and his many grandchildren.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to be present during Roll Call vote number 131. Had I been present, on Roll Call vote number 131, I would have voted YES.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5497, the BURMA Act which is important legislation to support the courageous people of Burma as they struggle to wrest democracy from the hands of their authoritarian military.

On February 1, 2021, after a decade of promising democratic reforms in Burma, the Burmese military (also known as the Tatmadaw) seized control of the civilian government, declared a state of emergency, and unlawfully detained State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and many Members of Parliament. In response, the people of Burma took to the streets to demand the restoration of civilian rule, only to be met with the Tatmadaw's brutal campaign of repression, involving extrajudicial executions, mass arrests and disappearances, and other authoritarian tactics.

H.R. 5497 is legislation to hold the Tatmadaw accountable for their human rights abuses by authorizing targeted sanctions against the Burmese military and its affiliated entities. These sanctions will deprive the Tatmadaw of the resources they need to continue their violent suppression of the Burmese people. H.R. 5497 also provides much-needed funds to support pro-democracy civil society groups in Burma and alleviate the severe humanitarian crisis caused by the Tatmadaw's violence and mismanagement of the economy.

I'm pleased that this legislation advances many of the goals outlined in H. Res. 896, a resolution I introduced on the one-year anniversary of the coup to condemn the Burmese military's human rights abuses. My resolution calls for tough sanctions against the Tatmadaw, robust humanitarian assistance for the Burmese people, and increased efforts to hold the Tatmadaw accountable for atrocities.

At a time when democracy is being threatened around the world, it's imperative that the United States join with the courageous people of Burma who are fighting to restore democracy in their country. By passing H.R. 5497, Congress will demonstrate our solidarity with the Burmese people, and I urge all my colleagues to support this bill and vote yes.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1916) to provide health insurance benefits for outpatient and inpatient items and services related to the diagnosis and treatment of a congenital anomaly or birth defect, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1916.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in full support of H.R. 1916, the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act. On behalf of the 4 percent of American children born annually with congenital anomalies or birth defects, I am very proud to sponsor this much-needed legislation.

This bill will ensure that health plans do not deny or delay medically necessary treatment of congenital anomalies. In many cases, coverage for well-known anomalies, like heart defects or spina bifida, is already the standard. But for babies who have oral defects such as cleft palates, skeletal defects, congenital cataracts, or hearing defects, insurance companies have systematically denied or delayed medically necessary treatments.

I became a sponsor of this legislation after Kevin Koser testified at our Health Subcommittee, which you are a member of, Madam Speaker, about his beautiful son, Kannon. He shared with the subcommittee how Kannon asked Santa Claus for teeth so he could ``chomp big bites'' of food.

I was really shaken by that and by the fact that in our country, such a rich and great country as America, we would put treatment that allows a child to eat out of reach because of insurance red tape.

A baby named Rosie in my congressional district is one of the 1,300 babies born in the United States each year with congenital cataracts. In just a few months, her family spent over $4,000 out of pocket on contact lenses for her. Without these lenses, babies like Rosie are blind, and they have no chance of ever developing normal vision.

These stories are repeated across our country every single day, but today is the day that we can begin to change that. This legislation is one of the most popular bills in the House, with 316 bipartisan cosponsors, including more than half of the Republican Conference.

The time has come for this important, popular, and much-needed bill to finally pass the House of Representatives.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, the bill that we are taking up today was passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee. It hasn't changed. The gentleman, Mr. Griffith, had an amendment. He withdrew it. He had the opportunity, but he withdrew it.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

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

I thank the gentleman for his kind comments about me. I think that there are a couple of important points to be made. And that is that CBO estimates that insurers will respond to this bill by raising premiums by less than 0.1 percent. What CBO does not score are the savings from providing this needed medical care because that medical care goes on and on and on. And the costs to families are exorbitant.

As I said earlier today, I think this is a very good bill. I acknowledge all the advocates from all over the country that worked so hard to bring us to this moment.

Madam Speaker, I look forward to the vote today on this bill that has been with us since 2020, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in full support of this legislation. Seated here on the floor, listening to our Republican friends--price controls, socialists, killing innovation. I am not going to use all of my time using their language.

How about this? Diabetes kills. Diabetics need insulin. They have to be able to afford it. They have paid their taxes all of their lives, hardworking people.

So the cost for this? Sign me up for it. Sign me up for it to help people, to invest in our own people.

This is absurd, the prices in our country, when it costs $15 to manufacture.

So today, we stand with your constituents as well as ours to lower the price of insulin for those that need it so that they can go on with their lives.

Madam Speaker, in today's economy, signing up for digital services often requires us to agree to lengthy terms and conditions that many users likely ignore and then

unknowingly sign away certain rights such as filing a lawsuit or joining a class action. The Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act addresses this rampant abuse of our legal system by banning mandatory pre-dispute arbitration clauses in employment, consumer, and civil rights cases.

These forced arbitration clauses are increasingly found in consumer contracts, requiring users to waive their right to sue in a court of law and instead resolve any disputes through arbitration. Because arbitration is secretive, lacks important due process protections, and produces decisions that cannot be appealed, it too often shields bad actors from accountability and prevents consumers from enforcing their rights in our justice system.

Many consumer contracts that include forced arbitration clauses empower companies to collect unseemly amounts of data from their users and abuse that data for profit. The problem is acute in highly concentrated industries where corporations wield significant market power because consumers often have little or no alternative to these anti-consumers contracts. This model of what's been labeled ``surveillance capitalism'' is bolstered by forced arbitration clauses that ensure the most egregious abuses of consumer data cannot be challenged in court. My legislation to protect consumer privacy, the Online Privacy Act, bars the use of forced arbitration clauses in user agreements about privacy for this reason.

No one should be required to sign away their right to access our justice system when they sign up for a credit card, cell phone plan, or social media account. The FAIR Act is critical legislation to protect the rights of consumers, particularly regarding online privacy. I'm proud to be a cosponsor of this important legislation, and l urge my colleagues to vote for it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in full support of H.R. 2471, the fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill.

Every Member has met with countless constituents who have pleaded for Congress to do more to address diseases that are currently death sentences . . . pancreatic cancer, Alzheimer's disease, glioblastoma,

Mr. Speaker, as the proud Representative of more than 20,000 veterans in California's 18th Congressional District, I rise in support of H.R. 3967, the Honoring Our PACT Act. This long-overdue legislation makes good on our promise to care for those who have risked their lives to defend our country.

Today, most veterans who seek care and compensation from the VA for medical conditions resulting from service-connected exposure to toxic substances are denied because the VA maintains highly restrictive standards for what constitutes toxic exposure. For years, I've heard from veterans in my District who have described the great frustration of being denied the care and compensation they need.

The Honoring Our PACT Act addresses this issue by acknowledging that toxic exposure is a cost of war. The bill recognizes many new categories of veterans as eligible for care and compensation for toxic exposure, including veterans exposed to burn pits, atomic radiation, PFAS, and other dangerous substances. If enacted, the CBO estimates this legislation will increase the number of veterans receiving VA healthcare by 15 percent over the next decade.

Importantly, H.R. 3967 finally puts into place a legal recourse for veterans and their families who were exposed to toxic chemicals in drinking water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Many of these veterans suffer from cancer, Parkinson's disease, and ALS as a result of their exposure, but they've been denied compensation because of an anomaly in North Carolina state law. I've consistently advocated for remedying this injustice, and I'm pleased that the Honoring Our PACT Act does so by establishing a federal cause of action related to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

When our country sends our brave women and men of the U.S. Armed Forces into harm's way, it is our collective responsibility to provide them with the health services, opportunities, and care they've earned. Passing the Honoring Our PACT Act strengthens this sacred promise, and I urge all my colleagues to support this bill and vote yes.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and work of a dear friend and great man, Jay Jackman, who died of Parkinson's disease on January 17, 2022.

Jay Jackman was born in New York City in 1939 and raised in Brooklyn where his father instilled in him a love of political activism and a passion for justice. Jay was a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia Medical School, did his medical residency at Stanford University, and was a graduate of the Hastings School of Law. He dedicated both his medical and legal careers to justice for all.

After his residency in psychiatry, Jay ran a drug treatment program in San Francisco, then moved to Hawaii. Upon his return to California, he worked in forensic psychiatry and psychiatry at Stanford University. He also served on the Foothill-DeAnza College Board for five years and was an advisor to the Democratic Clubs at Stanford. He served as a liaison from Stanford to the Democratic Party and was one of the early members of the Peninsula Democratic Coalition. He was a key member of the Santa Clara County Central Committee and the California Central Committee of the Democratic Party. After going to law school at age 60, he served as an expert witness in more than 250 capital cases, where he often tried to help prisoners escape the death penalty.

Jay leaves his beloved wife, Myra Strober, his children Tenaya, Rashi and Jason, and his stepchildren Jason and Liz.

Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring the life of this good and great man and in extending our most sincere condolences to Myra and his entire family. Jay Jackman bettered our country every day of his life, and was a special blessing to me and countless others.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Peter V. Lee, the first and only Executive Director of the highly successful health benefit exchange, Covered California. He leaves the organization to `look for the next mountain to climb.'

The story of the extraordinary success of Covered California is the history of Peter Lee's tenure. As of January 31, 2021, Covered California announced that 1,744,000 people, a new record high, had signed up for health coverage. Under Peter Lee's leadership, uninsured rates dropped 20.5 percent for Latinos, 12.4 percent for Asian Americans and African Americans, and 8.3 percent for Caucasians. All this has been achieved with rate increases kept low.

Peter Lee was unanimously confirmed as Executive Director by the Covered California board on August 23, 2011. Prior to serving as Executive Director of Covered California, he was the Deputy Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at CMS where he worked to improve care and reduce costs. He was the Director of Delivery System Reform for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1995 to 2000 and the Executive Director of the Center for Health Care Rights. From 2000 to 2008, Peter was the CEO and Executive Director for National Health Policy of the Pacific Business Group on Health and the former Director of Programs for the National AIDS Network. Prior to this, Peter was a practicing attorney in Los Angeles.

Peter Lee is a member of a pioneering California health care family and his work at Covered California continued in that proud tradition. His grandfather, Russel Van Arsdale Lee, founded the Palo Alto Medical Clinic (now the Palo Alto Medical Foundation). His father, Peter Lee, founded the Family Medicine Department at USC and, at risk to his career, spoke out in favor of Medicare in 1965. His uncle, Dr. Philip R. Lee, helped create and implement Medicare, and served in the Clinton Administration as an Assistant Health Secretary. His uncle, Dr. Hewlett Lee, was a highly regarded and well-loved surgeon. Peter earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his law degree from USC.

Peter Lee's work has improved the lives of millions of Californians and created a national model for other states to emulate. His tenure as Executive Director created a strong, vital organization well suited to continue its mission of service and innovation after his departure.

Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring and thanking Peter Lee for his outstanding work and in wishing him every blessing as he enters the next chapter in his superb career.