Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6229) to authorize the programs of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 6229, the bill now under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to speak on behalf of my bill, H.R. 6229, the National Institute of Standards and Technology Reauthorization Act of 2018.

NIST's mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve all Americans' quality of life.

Since its establishment in 1901, NIST has helped position U.S. technology at the leading edge, making contributions to innumerable products and services that rely in some way on technology, measurement, and standards.

Such technology ranges from developing biometric standards for law enforcement or new materials for protective equipment of our Nation's firefighters to atomic clocks and earthquake-resistant skyscrapers. This legislation authorizes NIST's industrial technology services, construction activities, and bolsters the scientific and technical research and services lab activities for 2 years.

NIST has the mission and capabilities to contribute to areas critical to the U.S. global competitiveness. To this end, this legislation authorizes increased investments in four emerging technology areas: quantum science, artificial intelligence and data science, advanced communications and the Internet of Things, and composites research and standards development.

These investments will launch discoveries and technical advances that will significantly affect the Nation's economy in the coming decades. As we have heard in our committee, the potential for artificial intelligence to help humans and further scientific discoveries is immense.

By advancing our ability to store and process large and complex data sets through AI and machine learning, computers are able to refine and enhance future predictions. This advanced technology is already creating tremendous developments in many fields, including medicine, manufacturing, and finance.

This legislation also directs NIST to capitalize on its deep and varied expertise in advanced composites. NIST is directed to connect research that will provide the evidence and data needed to set industry standards and design guidelines to encourage the safe adoption and application of composite materials in U.S. infrastructure projects.

NIST plays a very important role in protecting the Nation from cyber threats through its ongoing cybersecurity research. NIST is examining the applications of blockchain technology, and creating voluntary frameworks and standards to help reduce cyber risks to Federal agencies, multiple industries, and critical infrastructure. Its cybersecurity technical standards and risk management frameworks are widely regarded as one of the best and most comprehensive in the world.

I want to thank Ranking Member Lipinski for cosponsoring this important legislation with me. As the chairman has mentioned, he has been an essential partner with us in getting so many of our bipartisan bills put forward.

I would also like to thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Johnson for assisting in ushering this bill through the Science, Space, and Technology Committee on a bipartisan basis.

As industry's national laboratory, NIST is dedicated to supporting research and technology development in the areas of national importance from communications technology and cybersecurity to advanced manufacturing and disaster resilience.

This bill supports NIST's critical work of helping U.S. industries and improving Americans' quality of life by developing new measurement tools, providing authoritative data, and bringing stakeholders together to find solutions to ensure U.S. competitiveness in the 21st century economy.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Committee on Oversight

and Government Reform,

Washington, DC, September 21, 2018.

Hon. Lamar Smith,

Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, & Technology, House of

Representatives.

Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing concerning the

jurisdictional interest of the Committee on Oversight and

Government Reform in H.R. 6229, the ``National Institute of

Standards and Technology Reauthorization Act of 2018.'' As a

result of your having consulted with me concerning the bill,

the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will not

seek a sequential referral and agrees to forego formal action

on the bill.

The Committee takes this action with our mutual

understanding that by foregoing a request for a sequential

referral of H.R. 6229 at this time we do not waive any

jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in this or

similar legislation. Further, I request your support for the

appointment of conferees from the Committee on Oversight and

Government Reform during any House-Senate conference convened

on this or related legislation.

Finally, I would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters

on this matter be included in the bill report filed by the

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, as well as in

the Congressional Record during floor consideration, to

memorialize our understanding.

Sincerely,

Trey Gowdy.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko).

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you again for the opportunity to speak on this important piece of legislation and to thank my colleagues and Ranking Member Lipinski for their support.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the Capital Beltway Warriors, based in Loudoun County, Virginia in my district. The Warriors recently participated in the USA Hockey, Disabled Hockey Festival, where the team took 1st place in the Warrior C Division. The team based in Loudoun County provides opportunities for disabled veterans in the National Capital Region including Northern Virginia, Southern Maryland, and Washington, D.C. to learn and play ice hockey.

The Capital Beltway Warriors were founded in May 2017 by Mike Vaccaro, Rob Worringer, Jerry Leger, Matt Holben, and David Dixon. Since then, the Capital Beltway Warriors have had a leading role in the rehabilitation needs of our local veterans wounded in the defense of the United States by providing opportunities to play ice hockey with their fellow veterans. As of today, there are 45 active Members of the Capital Beltway Warriors.

The Capital Beltway Warriors have fostered a camaraderie amongst teammates and their commitment to our community is exceptional. This rehabilitation program for our service members is extremely inspiring to see as the Warriors improve the quality of life for our veterans and bring awareness of the incredible sacrifices made every day by our service members. The team also provides education on veteran care and benefits and assists in communication with veterans' service organizations. The Capital Beltway Warriors have left a lasting impact on the lives of many of our community's service members and, today, we celebrate their many achievements.

This past April, the Capital Beltway Warriors competed against twelve teams from across the country and brought home a victory as they became Standing Warrior C Division Champions. The Capital Beltways Warriors prevailed over the Deluth Warriors 5-3 to capture the Championship. The Capital Beltway Warriors hockey program has certainly earned this distinct honor, and we applaud them.

I want to commend the Capital Beltway Warriors excellent leadership, coaching staff, and players for their achievements. Congratulations to President David Dixon, Major, U.S. Army Retired and Board of Directors Jay Bottelson, Captain, U.S. Navy Retired; Matthew Holben, Veteran, U.S. Army; Michael Vaccaro, U.S. Army Reserve, Veteran U.S.M.C.; and Damien Windt, Veteran, U.S. Army for your hard work and leadership. I also want to commend the following players for earning the Championship title: David Dixon, Jason Brooks, Damien Windt, Jay Bottelson, Matthew Holben, John Bass, Joey Martell, Jon Bonar, Cody Parker, Michael Vaccaro, Chad Reesey, Chris Whipple, Michael Agostini, Matthew Patterson, and Brandon Swenson.

The Capital Beltway Warriors team has made Loudoun County and Virginia's Tenth Congressional District proud. Winning a championship is an extraordinary achievement, and it attests to the team's noteworthy athletic talent, commitment to teamwork, tireless dedication, and determination to succeed.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in honoring the Capital Beltway Warriors for winning the Standing Warrior C Division of the 14th USA Hockey, Disabled Hockey Festival and representing our region with such distinction. I would also like to thank the Capital Beltway Warriors for their commitment to our veterans wounded in the defense of the United States; and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate and thank Concern Hotline for 50 years of selfless service to the people of the Northern Shenandoah Valley. In 1968, prompted by the stark reality of the highest rate of suicide among Vietnam Veterans on the East Coast, a group of caring community leaders in Winchester and the northern Shenandoah Valley, decided to intervene. They formed the first valley suicide and crisis center, where those feeling confused and desperate could call a number at the George Washington Hotel and be patched to a volunteer ready to be of support.

Fifty years later, the organization is still doing extraordinary work, sometimes as a bridge-builder for Northwestern Community Services, before patients can make an appointment with a clinician. A trained staff of 35 volunteer ``listeners'' and two paid employees, are on duty 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, receiving calls on their cell phones and providing objective, confidential and anonymous contact with a fellow resident of the northern valley, anytime a person needs them and for as long as he or she needs them. The positive culture of Concern Hotline does not label any caller a ``chronic caller'' but welcomes all callers, including ``frequent callers.''

The personal touch is what distinguishes Concern Hotline from many other telephonic support organizations. Their mission is ``to comfort and calm community members experiencing stress and crisis'' and they do what no other program in the community does: they simply listen compassionately. For its long history, the Concern Hotline team has kept the following commitment: ``We listen to your troubles and stresses, we hear your stories of hardship and pain, and we bear witness to your struggle to lead a happy, healthy life.''

Mr. Speaker, I have always considered it a great honor to recognize and thank our community heroes such as our law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians for their willingness to help us during some of the most desperate times of our lives. Similarly, I ask you and our colleagues to join me in recognizing and thanking another group of community heroes, the volunteers and staff of our suicide prevention programs, and most especially the heroes of Concern Hotline, who, as listeners, have been saving lives and giving hope to the residents of the Northern Shenandoah Valley, for the past half century.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a good and decent man from the northern Shenandoah Valley, Mr. Webster Washington, on the occasion of his 99th birthday. Born on April 20, 1919, on a cattle farm in Stone Bridge, in Clarke County, Virginia, Web Washington was the 5th child among 11 siblings. His father was the manager of the farm and his mother was a stay-at-home mom, taking care of Web and his brothers and sisters.

Although Mr. Washington does not dwell on it, as an African-American man born on a farm in Clarke County in the early 20th Century, his opportunities were very limited. He did most of his schooling at White Post School, involving a 2 mile walk each way. Because he didn't have the transportation or money to go on to school in Berryville, as soon as he graduated from White Post in the 7th grade, he started working on the farm, milking cows, cutting corn and doing everything else a farmhand did, even as a young teenager. At 20, he married Pauline Evans from Winchester and over the next several years they had 5 children. During their 42 years of marriage, he and Pauline faced their struggles together. In pursuit of gainful employment, the Washingtons moved to Bethesda, Maryland, where they both worked for well-to-do white people as domestic servants, including, for him, as a chauffeur to a successful lawyer. Thereafter, Web worked on a farm in Berryville, before moving to Winchester in 1947.

And it was at that time, that the Washingtons hit the lowest, most difficult period of their lives. They felt the pressure of caring for their five children and yet, as an African-American family, they had difficulty finding work and a place to live. As Mr. Washington put it, the additional burdens that racial discrimination put on him and his wife meant that ``jobs were scarcer and housing in Winchester was almost impossible to find, even rentals.'' It was shortly thereafter that they became connected to the John Mann church on Cork Street, and, over the next 70 years, that connection has sustained Webster and Pauline and their family in their 42 years of marriage, and after her passing, his second wife, Mattie and him in their marriage of 24 years, until her passing several years ago.

Through his faith in God and the support of his John Mann Church family, Webster Washington says ``I've been down and out, and the Lord brought me back,'' finding work as an orderly at the Winchester Memorial Hospital and later taking care of a doctor's office, he was able to buy his own house, first at 601 Gray Avenue in Winchester and then a home in Stephens City. Asked whether he had time for sports or a social life, he responded that his priority on providing for his family and serving in every possible position in his church, left little time for anything else. The highlight of his life was a wonderful 5-day transoceanic cruise that Mattie and he took in the 1980s. Asked what he believes God will say about his life, he humbly says he doesn't know. ``All I know is that the Lord has been good to me.''

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and our colleagues join me in honoring Webster Washington on his 99th birthday, a good and decent man of faith, who has made a success of his life by humbly dedicating himself to his family and his church.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and congratulate the Lovettsville

American Legion Post 1836 on receiving their charter from the American Legion Department of Virginia. This new Post, located in the heart of Lovettsville, Virginia, will play a vital role in supporting the Lovettsville community of veterans, active military and their families by offering support and camaraderie as well as honoring the many sacrifices of service members at local community events such as this past Memorial Day and Fourth of July. This kind of community service is extremely inspiring to see in Virginia's 10th District as this American Legion Post will improve the quality of life for Virginians and bring awareness of the incredible sacrifices made every day by our service members.

I would like to give special recognition to Post Commander, Nathaniel Fontaine, as well as American Legion Officers: Lizzy Fontaine, Harold Baker, David Steadman, Scott Barton and Nick Hayward. These officers are an inspiration to men and women everywhere, and their efforts to the American Legion Post are truly honorable.

With the chartering of this Post, our Lovettsville community takes another step forward in the care and service to our Veterans and service members. I look forward to the positive impact this American Legion Post will have upon all individuals in Virginia's 10th Congressional District.

Mr. Speaker, I take great pride in celebrating with you and our colleagues the establishment of American Legion Post 1836. I ask that you join me in congratulating the entire leadership and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and thank an extraordinary leader from the 10th Congressional District, Mayor Robert J. ``Bob'' Zoldos II of Lovettsville, as he completes 20 years of service to the town, first as a member of the Town Council and then as Mayor for three consecutive terms from 2012 to 2018. Incredibly, during the same time frame, Mayor Zoldos has excelled in his full-time job as Deputy Fire Chief with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department that has included international rescue mission deployments with Virginia Task Force One, Virginia's Urban Search and Rescue Team, to Kenya, Turkey, Taiwan, Iran, and Haiti. Most recently, he was Task Force Leader of U.S.A. Search and Rescue Team One's response to Japan's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Inspired for a career in public service by his father, Robert J. Zoldos, who was a volunteer firefighter and town council member in Leesburg, Virginia, Mayor Zoldos has been an outstanding team leader in all that he has undertaken. Upon announcing his run for Mayor on February 6, 2012, he stated, ``While I don't covet the title of mayor, I feel the same need that many of you have expressed . . . that we must keep politics out of our Lovettsville and keep the `love' in it.'' Indeed, as an inspirational team leader for his colleagues in the government of Lovettsville and for the residents of the town, Mayor Zoldos has kept his promise to keep Lovettsville ``a wonderful and neighborly place in which to live and to own a business.''

No one has worked harder than Mayor Zoldos in championing town activities and events that have brought Lovettsville's creative initiatives regional recognition and have attracted participants from all over the East coast. In fact, the Mayor has often been seen climbing ladders, moving barrels, acting as master of ceremonies, setting up tents, installing decorations and cleaning up trash at the close of events. To create a stronger community, he also instituted a weekly email known as the ``Mayor's Message,'' writing more than 300 weekly messages in his unique conversational style, in order to keep everyone informed about what was happening in the town and the actions taken by the Town Council.

As Mayor, he has understood that economic development is critically important to the enhancement of the quality of life of Lovettsville's residents, especially for the ability to provide community based services and generate additional revenue to support the town's infrastructure. For this reason, he worked diligently to attract and maintain businesses in the town, and is deservedly proud of the opening of the Lovettsville Town Center during his tenure. Mayor Zoldos also advocated the transition from outsourcing water and wastewater services in the town as well as the development of an in-house capability which included the hiring of skilled utility workers to operate and manage the town's water and wastewater treatment facilities, that has resulted in considerable cost savings and improved customer service for the town's residents. Mayor Zoldos also supported the establishment of Lovettsville's first Fiscal Policy Manual which provides professional guidelines for building financial reserves to meet future requirements and achieve financial stability.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and our colleagues join me in thanking Mayor Robert ``Bob'' Zoldos II, a gifted leader and public servant, as he completes 20 years of extraordinary service to the people of the town of Lovettsville and the 10th Congressional District of Virginia.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize an extraordinary leader, colleague, and dear friend, Delegate Joe T. May, as well as his wife Bobby and their two daughters, Elaine and Beth. They are honored today for their incredible philanthropic contributions to Virginia Tech College of Engineering.

Delegate May's life and legislative legacy is certainly one to be recognized as it is full of service to his constituents, commonwealth, and country. It was Delegate May's electrical engineering degree from Virginia Tech that jumpstarted his long and successful career as a businessman, engineer, and dedicated public servant.

Delegate May's experience as only one of a few professional engineers in the entire General Assembly enabled him to play an integral role in passing numerous legislative initiates, including a bill to establish the House Science and Technology Committee, of which he would later serve as chair. When I served in the House of Delegates with Joe May, I was honored to serve on this committee with him. He was a trusted and valued colleague to all who worked with him. This year, Delegate May and his family have gifted his alma mater, Virginia Tech College of Engineering, with $5 million dollars for a pilot program to aid students who will be the first generation college students. His generous gift will inspire many hopeful students to pursue their dreams of a successful career, just as Delegate May did.

With this donation, the college will be able to recruit 60 promising first-generation students from across Virginia into a four-year pre- college educational program in the field of engineering. The overall project is expected to provide 300 students with the gateway to pursue engineering degrees, as well as the monumental courage that will excel their careers for life. These students will experience an interactive engineering discipline, made possible through labs and a mentoring system.

Delegate May is the true embodiment of a public servant and an accomplished engineer. This donation to Virginia Tech's College of Engineering will, in this important age of technology and innovation, provide students from across the state of Virginia with valuable educational opportunities and, without a doubt, will positively impact their lives.

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to recognize Delegate May and the May Family Foundation for this extraordinary investment to future and prospective engineers, businesspeople, and leaders. This impact which will touch so many young lives will be forever valued as a selfless act meant to serve as a building block for a greater society. I look forward to Delegate Joe T. May's ongoing contributions to future generations of Virginia students, and I wish him and the entire May family the best in their future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Schenck Foods Company, located in the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, for 90 years of extraordinary success under the leadership of four generations of a family-owned and operated business. In 1928, the partnership of Bob Schenck and Howard Cahill founded the Valley Food Company, that manufactured Blossom Potato Chips. Thereafter, the company became the Schenck Cheese Company, distributing retail food items over a radius of 30 to 40 miles for Kraft Foods. And, in 1952, the company incorporated as Schenck Foods Company with a product line that included food service items to support institutional food customers.

Like so many other great American small businesses, the company responded to situations of adversity, such as severe economic downturns and competition from large chain stores, by establishing a corporate culture based on an absolute commitment to excellence both in products sold and in customer service provided, which has generated a stellar reputation for the company and wide regional consumer loyalty. Offering more than 5,000 different products, Schenck Foods

proudly serves more than 4,500 customers, within a 150-mile radius of Winchester, Virginia.

The company's relentless commitment to innovation has resulted in important partnership initiatives with local, organic, sustainable and farm-to-table providers and a revamped and comprehensive walk-in ``warehouse store'' that includes a large professional kitchen where chef-created tasting dinners will be held and food vendors may demonstrate their products and buyers may learn to use them. The Schenck Foods corporate culture of excellence includes not only a strong commitment to its more than 100 employees but also an unwavering commitment to philanthropy and giving back to the Winchester and northern Shenandoah Valley community that it serves. On behalf of the people of the 10th Congressional District, I thank the leaders and employees of Schenck Foods for their compassion and generosity.

In the invitation to its 90th anniversary celebration, current president and CEO, Jason Huntsberry, summed up the critical importance of the close relationships that have been established over the past nine decades, when he wrote: ``On behalf of my family and the entire Schenck Foods family, both past and present, we want to thank you for allowing us to serve this great community for the last ninety years. Without the dedication and loyalty of our employees, customers and partners, our near century of success would not be a reality.'' Mr. Speaker, as we reflect on the past and look to the future of this great company, I ask that you and our colleagues join me in congratulating Schenck Foods Company for 90 years of amazing success and in anticipating for the company, an exciting future of innovation and outstanding corporate citizenship in the community that it has served so faithfully.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and congratulate Sacred Heart Academy, a Christ-centered school awarded the National Blue Ribbon of Distinction, on the occasion of its 60th year of excellent service to the people of Winchester, Virginia and the northern Shenandoah Valley. Sacred Heart Academy was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in 1957. From the beginning, it has been committed to providing for its students, a safe and nurturing environment that is conducive to academic excellence and guided by a strong set of morals

and values. The school currently has 245 students enrolled in grades pre-K through 8 and although it is now staffed by laity, the school continues the tradition of teaching daily religion classes and guiding students in living a prayerful, spiritual life. Furthermore, the parish priests visit the school weekly to aid in the teaching of the faith, and the students participate in weekly Mass.

During its 60-year history, Sacred Heart Academy has developed into a school with extraordinarily high academic standards. A milestone in the school's academic development was the completion, in 2009, of a 14,000 square foot addition to the school, that included a state-of-the-art science lab, media center, a music room, an art room, conference rooms and additional classrooms, as well as a peaceful courtyard that is conducive to meditation. This addition made it possible to house the entire student population under one roof, bringing social cohesiveness and a new vitality to the student population.

Sacred Heart Academy prides itself on its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiative that included the acquiring of a 30-unit iPad2 mobile lab in the summer of 2012. With the use of digital responders purchased the year before, the mobile lab integrates many technological applications into the classroom and allows teachers to obtain immediate feedback on how well the students are understanding the scientific concepts being presented.

The opening last year of the Rev. Stanley Krempa gymnasium, named after the longtime priest at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, marks another important milestone in the mission of Sacred Heart Academy to ``nurture the development of the whole child.'' With high standards in academics, the arts, and sports, the school offers a rich environment in which each child can excel and explore his or her unique potential.

The award of Sacred Heart Academy with the National Blue Ribbon of Distinction in 2013 celebrates the extraordinary academic success of the wonderful students of the school. It also recognizes the extraordinary dedication of the administrators and teachers at the school to high standards of learning for all students, to data collection and honest analysis of their teaching effectiveness, and to staying at the forefront of best professional practices.

The National Blue Ribbon of Distinction was also awarded to Sacred Heart Academy because of the faithful commitment and resourcefulness of the entire school community to overcome all obstacles that it has faced. The families of the school make up a close-knit community on which the school is heavily dependent. The volunteer in-service program asks that each family serves at least twenty-five hours a year performing volunteer tasks such as lunch and recess duty, chaperoning field trips and even assisting in the classroom. An active Parent Teacher Organization holds major annual fundraisers, without which the school could not function successfully. The generosity of other members of the Sacred Heart Parish and that of the Diocese of Arlington has also helped to accomplish important goals for the school.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join me and our other colleagues in congratulating the entire ``family'' of Sacred Heart Academy on its extraordinary success over the last 60 years and wishing that, in the second half century of its existence, it continues to be a special blessing to the people of Winchester and the northern Shenandoah Valley.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the one-year anniversary of the death of Liu Xiaobo, Chinese writer, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Renowned as a freedom fighter, he is praised for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

Mr. Xiaobo was instrumental in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, one of the most significant protests of communist rule in China.

Throughout his life, his works were banned and censored by the communist Chinese government. Mr. Xiaobo drafted some of the most influential literature to protest Chinese communism including The Monologues of a Doomsday's Survivor and the October Tenth Declaration and created the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, a nongovernmental, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization offering free association for Chinese writers.

Mr. Xiaobo was formally arrested four times by the Chinese government under such charges as ``inciting subversion of state power.'' His works were deemed subversive by the Chinese Communist Party and actively censored. On June 26, 2017, Mr. Xiaobo was released from his prison sentence on medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Mr. Xiaobo died on July 13, 2017 in Shenyang, China. Many believe his imprisonment greatly contributed to his deteriorating health.

Throughout his life, his work received international recognition as a defender of freedom from groups such as Reporters Without Borders, the Nobel Prize Committee, Hong Kong Human Rights Press, and many others. As a Member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I feel especially motivated to bring to light Mr. Xiaobo's work.

Today, many others like Mr. Xiaobo are detained by their government as prisoners of conscience--a person who has been imprisoned for holding political or religious views that are not tolerated by their own government. We are grateful to live in a nation where our freedom of religion, press, speech, right to assemble and petition the government are protected at the highest level. With these remarks, I would like to commemorate a wonderful life dedicated to human rights and political freedom and bring attention to the many others who are threatened with becoming prisoners of conscience.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about our wonderful colleague, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and who I was first privileged to meet when I was a staffer here in Congress in the 1990s.

She has gracefully served the people of Florida's 27th District since 1989, and she embodies the type of success story that people think of when they think of people, wherever they come from all over the world, who come here to the United States.

At just 8 years old, she escaped the brutal regime of Fidel Castro with her family to come to America in pursuit of a better life, to a place where she and her family could find success, and certainly they have found that. But she has never forgotten where she came from and always fought for the oppressed all around the world and those less fortunate.

So she was not only the first Hispanic woman in Congress who fought for all of the things that we have been illuminating here, but she was the first--she had many firsts here, but the first chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, where she was able to take that experience that she had at 8 years old and now, really, bring it all around the world and to be able to bring that kind of heart that we know Ileana has.

Every bit of her heart is matched by a wonderful sense of humor. And you know when you see Ileana on the floor, or wherever you see her anywhere, she is cheerleading for everybody. She is fighting for everybody, and she is always happy. She is here with her grandchildren, and she is just a joyful person. We will miss that great smile of hers.

She has been a mentor here to so many women. When she was first here in Congress, there were not many Republican women; and certainly as the first Hispanic woman, she was the first Republican Hispanic woman, also. So she was a great mentor for those of us who were staffers at the time, which is how I was first privileged to meet her. And she has taken this calling to heart as a public servant and has always done the best for her constituents.

She is a woman of great honor, a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. She has changed this Congress and our colleagues for the better. She is someone for whom we join together in the Ileana Ros- Lehtinen fan club. And there are, I think, pretty close to 435 Members you could have for that fan club.

We will miss her insight, her intellect, her graciousness, and, as I said, her sense of humor and her passion for representing her constituents, representing the oppressed, and representing human rights all around the world.

Ileana, it has been a pleasure to serve with you--first as a staffer, now, for these past 3\1/2\ years as a Member of Congress where you were such a great mentor, and all of us know you will continue to serve your community even when you leave here in Congress. We know that is in your heart, and we know you will always be a woman who gives to others, and we are so proud to have been able to serve here with you in Congress. God bless.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Walden and Ranking Member Pallone for their leadership in working with us on a bipartisan basis for this important package.

We all know the stories and have heard the stories time and again from our businesses, from our schools, from families visiting us, and we know this epidemic is hitting everybody. So I appreciate the opportunity to join together with my colleagues today to address this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 5473, the Better Pain

Management Through Better Data Act, and I would like to thank Representative Ben Ray Lujan for joining me in making this a bipartisan effort as an introduction as it went through committee, and now here as we are continuing to address this on the floor.

Opioid addiction we know is plaguing our communities all across the country, creating victims, devastating families, and creating economic ruin. Long-term solutions to combating this crisis depend upon safety with existing therapies and deployment of novel next generation therapies.

We need to ensure the policy and regulatory environment allows for greater adoption and use of less addictive treatments. This legislation will facilitate better clinical data on nonopioid alternatives so that doctors have more prescribing options and fewer opioids are prescribed in the first place, lowering the risk of addiction.

The FDA is responsible for protecting public health by ensuring the safety and efficacy of drugs, biological products, and medical devices. While there may be alternatives to opioids for certain patients and conditions, there is a need for additional clarity and flexibility regarding what drug developers need to do to help reduce the need for opioids as part of the pain treatment regimen.

This bill directs the FDA to have public meetings and issue guidance to industry, addressing data collection and labeling for medical products that reduce pain and may replace, delay, or reduce the use of oral opioids. This is one more effort to remove the barriers to investment and unleash the full potential of biomedical expertise to address this growing crisis.

This is the primary reason, I am pleased to say, our bill has the strong support of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, also known as BIO, which represents more than 1,000 businesses, academic institutions, State biotechnology centers, and related entities.

The experts believe this bill will stimulate renewed research and development, and more effectively prevent abuse. This is a step in the right direction and allows doctors to better meet their commitment to their most vulnerable patients by giving them both diverse and better options for nonaddictive treatments for pain.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the House today for addressing this issue, and really the ability to work together and find these solutions that we know are plaguing so many of our families. Everywhere we go we are all hearing about these stories, and I am heartened today we have joined together to provide more solutions.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the Members of this body to concur with the Senate amendment to my bill, the Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant Program Authorization Act of 2018, so that we may send this bill to the President for his signature.

I appreciate all the work that Chairman Goodlatte and the committee has done and the bipartisan nature in which they have worked with us, as well as the administration and the Attorney General.

This bill will help address the problem of the rise of violence from gangs like MS-13 that have threatened my area in Northern Virginia, as well as the entire Washington metropolitan region and other places such as Long Island, Houston, and Los Angeles. MS-13 is actually active in 40 States and the District of Columbia, and their goal is to grow.

Gangs like MS-13 have branched into human trafficking as well as drugs and, of course, their murderous rampages. In Virginia, we actually, several years ago, increased the penalties on any of these gang members involved with human trafficking, so we know we constantly need to change how we address these gangs.

Now, let's just look at some of the recent headlines in The Washington Post, our local paper, which they have actually covered the violence, the murders, the trials and more of the approximately over 30 killings over the past several years, and that is the number according to the gang task force.

Here are some of the headlines:

``MS-13 Is `Taking Over the School,' One Teen Warned Before She Was Killed.''

``He Was Flashing Gang Signs on Facebook. It Got Him Killed by MS- 13.''

``Heinous and Violent: MS-13's Appeal to Girls Grows as Gang Become Americanized.''

And finally, one: ``She Told the Girl She'd See Her in Hell Before Stabbing Her. Now She's Guilty of an MS-13 Murder.''

That particular murder was detailed about a young woman, Damaris Reyes Rivas, and her body was found here, this highway, which is just in Springfield, in Virginia, about a dozen, a little over a dozen miles here from the Capitol. You can see the MS-13 gang signs here, and that is where they left her body.

At age 12, Damaris was brought to the U.S. by her mom to escape gangs in El Salvador. By 15, she was dead, killed by those very gangs, numerous gang members, who then sent a video of her killing back to El Salvador because that is one of their goals, to show what they have done here.

Just to give you a little detail on this, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Morrogh played the videos in court, saying he wanted to make clear for the judge the depravity involved in the horrific murder of the high school girl. Her mother was in the courtroom.

The prosecutor said: ``Some kids are prodigies at the violin, and some kids are prodigies at violence. This is a prodigy at violence.''

The first video shows Damaris in the Springfield, Virginia, woods, being interrogated by the gang members, numerous gang members, all of whom were between the ages of 15 and 21. They shout at her as she gets up from the snow-dusted ground.

At one point, they clicked a cigar cutter, threatening her that she could lose a finger. They made her take off her shoes and her shirt so she could feel how cold it was. They were interrogating her about a previous MS-13 murder.

People were wielding knives, and they could hear, ``Just stick the steel in her,'' another one was telling them. They took her away to another area, then they took her back into the woods, forcing her to crawl through a 3-foot tunnel covered in MS-13 graffiti. Then they brutally murdered her, and they left her body, and then they came back that night to take the video of the murder to be able to send it back.

As the prosecutor explained, those videos were taken so some of the MS-13 members could send it back to El Salvador to earn a promotion within the gang, which requires violence to move up the ranks.

Now, these are The Washington Post stories, I should add, and they also have written stories about how gangs are a problem in our jails. This is in Maryland.

It says: `` `Our incidents every month are predominantly MS-13,' said a jail investigator speaking on the condition of anonymity for his safety. `They are vying for the control of our jails.' ''

So there is violence going on in our jails as a result of this also.

We had another victim, Carlos Otero Hernriquez, in Leesburg, Virginia. His body was dumped in a quarry in West Virginia after a brutal murder. The acting U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia said of the killing: ``The hallmark of MS-13 is extreme violence. . . . This brutal kidnapping and murder is a tragic reminder of the impact MS-13 has on communities here in Northern Virginia.''

MS-13 gangs prey on their own community, as the example of this young woman.

Last summer, I went on a ride-along with the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force, which is comprised of 13 local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies working together. They are going to be--they should be--some of the beneficiaries of the bill here today.

I do want to assure everyone, they work very carefully with the community. What they do is--their projects are to educate, to prevent, to work with the children in schools. They have Spanish-speaking members of the task force so they can make sure they are working with the kids to keep them safe.

In one case, they had an MS-13 member who was trying to recruit his brother to join the gang, and then when his brother would not join the gang, they put a hit out on the brother. Fortunately, the gang task force was able to intervene, protect that brother, sort of a Cai and Abel type of situation. Abel was protected. Cain, we were able to have the task force deal with him.

But what I saw in working with the Task Force is their need for more technology, their need for resources. Whenever I talk to them, they talk about how they need to be out in the schools, at the fairs.

At one local fair in Herndon, actually, I believe it was in Mr. Connolly's district, the task force told me, at a Labor Day fair, they identified up to about 200 suspected gang members, just in there, weaving about among the children.

So when we went on the ride-along with them, in one night, they picked up four suspected gang members. One of them turned out to be somebody who, at 16 years old, had committed murder in El Salvador; and then he had already been deported from the country twice and was now back on Sterling Boulevard in Sterling, Virginia, about 25 miles or so from the Capitol. There he was, on a Friday evening, as children and everyone else were playing around. He was covered with gang signs when he lifted up his shirt.

One of the tools that our gang task force needs more of is a little device that looks a lot like an iPad where, when you put the fingerprint of that gang member on the pad, his record then came up and we could see the entire record, and the gang task force members knew who they were dealing with.

So it is clear that the resurgence of MS-13 is a multifaceted problem that needs a multifaceted solution, incorporating efforts from all levels of government, law enforcement, and communities. Passing the Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant Authorization Act of 2018 today, which the Senate has now already passed, will really get us back on the path to getting the resources that they previously had in our local task force.

They called us today to let us know they aren't even getting the money that they used to get. Unfortunately, this was State money that they used to get that they aren't getting anymore that the State attorney general's office used to provide them, and now they

aren't getting it. So this is needed more than ever in regions like ours.

I know the gentlewoman in Houston, they have problems there, too, and the beauty of this program is they work with those communities that are being targeted. They work with those children. They protect them. They become their friends. But they also get the MS-13 gang members out.

Now, we do have another bill that I know the chairman worked with us to get out, which would make sure that we don't have MS-13 gang members able to get in the country in the first place; and if they are here, we can remove them more quickly. That still needs to get through Senate passage also.

But I am pleased that now, today, we have been able to make sure that we don't see this proliferating in our communities, this kind of gang activity, and to see these gang signs as we are driving home from work, going to a soccer game, you know, going to see our kids, and seeing that this is going on in our communities. This is something that cannot be happening in our communities.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important legislation to protect our communities and combat gang violence and provide more safe neighborhoods.

Mr. Speaker, I think when I was speaking about the ride along that I did with the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force, someone said they thought they heard me say they had picked up 14 in one night. I just wanted to clarify. If it sounded like 14, I meant to say 4. So it was four in one night. Nevertheless, it goes to the problem of right in our communities there were four people there that they were able to pick up.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 10 Fairfax, Virginia area high school seniors who plan to enlist in the United States Marines after graduation. These students have excelled in their academic and extracurricular activities, and I offer my sincere congratulations upon their high school graduation.

I commend these student leaders for their selflessness and courageous decision to serve their country as members of the United States Marines:

David Kha; Luke Kim; Ismael Shehat; Zachary Torres; Alex Cundith; Jasper Allison; Joshua Adkins; Ian Framstad; Robero Fuentes; Jenish KC.

These students will be honored by the Our Community Salutes Fairfax Chapter of Our Community Salutes at their Inaugural Military Enlistee Recognition Ceremony on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 in Sterling, VA.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking these young men and women and their families for their dedication to serving this great Nation. We owe them and the many Americans who have served and will serve a debt of gratitude.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 7 Fairfax, Virginia area high school seniors who plan to enlist in the United States Army after graduation. These students have excelled in their academic and extracurricular activities, and I offer my sincere congratulations upon their high school graduation.

I commend these student leaders for their selflessness and courageous decision to serve their country as members of the United States Army:

Jacob Ziemann; Kage Smith; Brian Letchworth; Nathaniel Brown; Izik Austin; Jamalia Richards; Eric Kim.

These students will be honored by the Fairfax Chapter of Our Community Salutes at their Inaugural Military Enlistee Recognition Ceremony on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, VA.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking these young men and women and their families for their dedication to serving this great Nation. We owe them and the many Americans who have served and will serve a debt of gratitude.