Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present on July 12, 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 292, NAY on Roll Call No. 293, and NAY on Roll Call No. 294.

Mr. Speaker, I often say that Vermont is held together with duct tape, twine, and hundreds of volunteer hours.

I rise today to highlight the work of Lewis Lyman Sumner. His 54-year commitment to the Halifax community has been immeasurably impactful. He served for over half a century on the Halifax Select Board and gave 6 years of service to the National Guard. He is also a 50-year member of the Grange--such incredible public service.

The Sumner family has deep roots in Halifax and has been a staple in that community since they settled there in 1783. Lewis and his family continue to operate their family farm.

Lewis served his community as emergency management director for eight FEMA disasters, working tirelessly to keep Vermonters safe during these emergencies.

Lewis and his wife, Laura, are both dedicated public servants. Laura served as town clerk for 43 years until her retirement in 2010.

I close by thanking Lewis, Laura, and their family for their years of service to southern Vermont.

Madam Speaker, I just want to start by giving a heartfelt thank you to my colleague, Morgan McGarvey, a dear friend whose family has become close to my family. Our wives have become close.

It just means so much to me to be standing here on the floor of the House. It is a place where I never thought I would be in a million years not just because I am a child of an immigrant and a working-class mom but because I am a gay American.

I knew at 11 years of age that I was gay. I also knew that it was not something that was accepted by my family or my community or my teachers or my friends, but it didn't matter. That is who I was.

I also knew that my calling in life was to alleviate suffering, first as a teacher--I taught middle school for many years--and then as a State legislator, and now in Congress. That has been the through line of my life. It is using whatever position of power I have in order to alleviate suffering in all its forms.

Madam Speaker, I just want to tell you what it is like when you know at 17 years of age what you are called to do, and you do not see a path to do it, not only because I had nobody in my family who had ever run for office, but it was because as a gay American I knew the world had not changed enough for me to be able to safely run for office.

Even when I decided to run, it terrified my parents. They did not want me to be so public about being not just gay but having a family, a wife and children. Nor did they want me to open our lives up to the world to say: This is what a family can look like and not just survive but to thrive.

For the first few months when I was elected to be a State senator, my dad would start almost every single phone conversation with some version of: Have they vandalized your house yet?

Have they slashed your tires yet?

Are you getting a lot of hatred?

I would say: Dad, if I am getting that, I am not going to tell you because I don't want you to be worried.

Even today, I have to remind them constantly: Don't read the comments. Do not read the comments on social media about me because you will not see me reflected in those comments, and you will feel so heartbroken that your daughter, who is finally doing what she was always called to do, is going to be on the receiving end of hate. For what?

For standing up for marginalized people in my community. Sometimes that is members of the LGBT community. Sometimes that is the rural poor in my community who need me to stand up for them. Sometimes that is people of color who are being discriminated against or just regular families who can't put food on the table or pay for affordable housing. I would be a target for doing the work of an elected official, not because I am doing my job poorly, but simply because of who I am.

Madam Speaker, I will tell you who I am. I am a very proud American citizen who contributes deeply to her community, her State, and her Nation.

That will never matter to some people. All they will see is that I am a gay American and, therefore, I am suspect and not to be trusted.

I have to tell you, Madam Speaker, this is the greatest honor of my life to be here in Congress. I never thought that I would get here.

It sickens me to my core when I sit in committee hearings or I listen to discussions on the floor and people say things about me and my community that are not just rooted in ignorance but often in hatred, distrust, and fear.

It doesn't have to be this way. It really doesn't.

Madam Speaker, in your communities, regardless of your Congressional District, you have gay Americans and trans Americans. They may be in your family, and they don't feel comfortable telling you because they know how you feel. They see your votes and they hear what you say about us on C-SPAN.

Morgan just gave voice to something that is at the heart of it for me and my constituents which is: Where is your love?

Where is your compassion?

I have had the opportunity to talk to two different sets of parents of trans kids who have come to the Capitol to say: Our own government is talking about our children as if they are demons and as if they are monsters. They are dehumanizing our children, and they are blaming us, the parents, saying that we are terrible people because we love our children, we support our children, and we want them to get the care that they need and that they deserve.

They said in both these meetings: We need you to speak for us because we are not in those rooms and we are not in those Halls when people are saying not just insensitive things but cruel things and uneducated things about our lives.

We have people in our LGBT community who are thinking of leaving their home States right now because they fear for their lives and for the lives of their children. It is not hyperbole.

Yesterday, I was at a leadership meeting for some young people who had won a wonderful award. I went to speak to them, and afterwards one of the moms came up to me. She gave me a hug.

She said: You don't know what it means to my kid to see you here as an openly gay woman serving in the House of Representatives.

She said: I am fearful for her, not because I don't love her and support her, because I do, but I fear because of the hatred that she receives on a daily basis.

She said: Not just from the community, but from elected officials.

As Morgan said, these are children.

Almost every week I have families come to visit me in Vermont. Some are parents of trans kids, some are parents of gay kids, and some are just parents of kids who want to be part of something powerful like elective government.

I can't tell you, Madam Speaker, how proud I am every time they say to me: I am so glad that I voted for you. I am so glad that you are sticking up for all of our kids.

They say: That gives me hope for the future that we are going to ride out this backlash.

What we see right now is what we saw when I was a kid, and instead of being on the receiving end, instead of it being about trans kids, it was about gay kids, and we were the bogeyman.

I hear some of our elected officials on TV talk about how they are protecting families by passing legislation like ``don't say gay.'' This is absurd because these kids in Gen Z are so far ahead of

us. What they see are people and not labels.

I think about my own family. If we were not in Vermont, if we were in Florida or in Texas or somewhere else where people are passing these ridiculous bills about ``don't say gay,'' my own children would be in school being ashamed or being made to feel ashamed of their family.

This is about real people. This isn't about some slogan.

Madam Speaker, it shouldn't be about playing to your base so that you can raise more money or drive people to the polls because you want to make them fearful of Americans who are just living their lives. That is all they want. That is all I ever wanted.

It is Pride Month, and we threw a big party in Vermont last week for pride. One of the young men who helped me organize it told me that the day before this event his car was completely and totally trashed and vandalized. It had hateful homophobic messages all over it.

I was so frustrated and sad that this was how we were ushering in pride. Even more than that, I hated that I could sit with him and say: I have had the same experience. I had to have my car repainted because someone decided to scratch ``dyke'' into the side of my car.

So I was grateful that I could sit with him, and I thought: Have we learned nothing?

Just the other day in Vermont a poet was harassed at a poetry reading because he is a man of color and he is gay. They basically chased him out of a poetry reading because somehow his poetry was going to be so dangerous for the people of that town.

We are talking about ideas.

Why are we policing ideas?

We have seen this before.

So I am here today, Madam Speaker, because I want you to know that pride is about going through the hard stuff too. It is about not glossing it over with rainbow flags, parades, drag queen story hours, and the things that are celebratory--yes, they are--but it is also about acknowledging that some people are trying to drag us back. They are trying to erase our experience, our identities, and our families.

I could not be more proud to not just represent my community but also all of the Vermonters who support me, who elected me, and who said: Yes, yes, we see the work that you do. We see the compassion that you bring to your work, and it doesn't matter to us that you are a gay American. You are the right person for the job.

I need my colleagues here to understand that this is about real people. It is about real families. It is about promise and possibility. It is about every single kid believing that they have the right and opportunity every other kid has. It is about how families feel regardless of what their family looks like that the government is not going to come after them and infringe on their personal freedoms.

Pride is a month about freedom, about living your life true to yourself and to have a heart wide-open to the world and inviting other people in to celebrate.

We should have enough room in our hearts. We should make enough room in our hearts. We should be driven by compassion, love, empathy, and basic human dignity.

That is why I am standing up today.

Madam Speaker, I love Representative Morgan McGarvey, and I thank him for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I always say that Vermont is held together with duct tape, twine, and hundreds of hours of volunteer service.

The other thing that we know about Vermonters: They pay their bills. They also stay when you are in the midst of an emergency, which is where we are right now.

Mr. Speaker, I led my senate chamber. When you are facing a budgetary crisis, you don't leave. You stay. You engage. It doesn't matter if it is 1 o'clock in the morning, 2 o'clock in the morning, or overnight, you stay.

We are public servants.

I can't believe that not five so-called moderate Republicans--because we hear about them all the time, that there is a group of reasonable Republicans. Where are they? We need just

five to sign the discharge petition and be done with this.

Pay our bills, that is what we are talking about--pay our bills and not be held hostage and make dramatic cuts that are going to affect veterans, going to affect students, going to affect working families. That is what we are talking about.

Where are they? Where are the five moderate Republicans that we always hear about?

They are not here. They left.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2811, the default on America act.

A budget reflects our values, and we can plainly see where the Republicans' priorities lie. They are threatening default with catastrophic consequences, and why? Why? So they can secure 10 years of devastating cuts that American families depend on. Those programs will be devastated.

Republicans have to abandon this dangerous path. America pays our bills. We must prevent default as we have done countless times under Democratic and Republican Presidents, including President Trump.

A default will be a terrible blow to low-income and middle-income Americans. They don't care about these reckless political games. They care about how disastrous a default will be on them in their quest to buy a house or lease a car or pay for college. They don't care about this. They care about results.

I sit on the Budget Committee and have a front row seat to this nonsense. We have to pay our bills, and we have to reject the ransom note.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Chair, I rise in the strongest opposition to H.R. 734.

This is one of the most powerful bodies in our Nation. We should be using our influence and our power for good. We should be alleviating the suffering of our constituents and not fanning the flames of fear and enabling discrimination.

What upsets me the most about this bill is that it is devoid of compassion for the kids who just want to live their lives.

I was honored yesterday to meet with Rebekah Bruesehoff. This wonderful 16-year-old girl spoke about the incredibly positive impact sports and community have in her young life. To Rebekah and trans kids everywhere, there are allies in Congress who care deeply about you, and we will continue to fight for your rights.

We should not be choosing to use the power of this institution to attack young kids who just want to live their lives.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote for the motion to recommit so that I can offer an amendment to protect student athletes' sexual privacy and keep schools accountable when sexual abuse occurs.

Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the text of this amendment.

Ms. Balint moves to recommit the bill (H.R. 734) to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce with instructions to

report the bill back to the House forthwith with the

following amendment:

Strike the text of the bill and insert the following:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill and to speak clearly and directly on H.R. 734, which Republicans are ironically calling the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. This bill is undeniably an attack on our kids and does nothing of substance to protect girls.

Bills like this are aimed at taking away rights from LGBTQ Americans, specifically our kids. Kids and their families are being targeted and harassed for political gain. I ask, is this really the Nation that we want to live in?

Sports bans for kids are cruel and unnecessary. These bills are clearly, at their core, un-American. They are about restricting rights. They are about barring kids--kids, kids--from full participation in sports.

The U.S. House of Representatives must not participate in this obvious fear-based hate and discrimination of trans youth. We risk lives when we don't stand up clearly and loudly against discrimination of all kinds.

This bill would have us believe that we should be afraid of trans youth. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When I talk to these kids and their families, when I listen deeply to these kids and their families, what they say is: I just want to live my life. I just want to have friends. I want to be myself. I don't want to go to school and be picked on.

They need our support. They do not need us demonizing them and fearmongering and bullying.

Today, Republicans blocked our amendments, which would have actually supported our girls in schools. My amendment would have strengthened protections against harassment in schools based on sex, race, color, national origin, disability, and age. It would have restored protections against harassment and ensured equal opportunities for all students. It would have also required schools to take additional steps to protect students that have experienced sex-based harassment.

We cannot keep putting our children in harm's way with this hateful rhetoric that is coming directly from inside the Halls of Congress. Instead, let's do our job and take real steps to actually protect our children.

Madam Speaker, this week I have heard from grandfathers, moms, students, and even from my Uber driver the other night, all asking some version of the same question, which is, how can we continue to allow our children to get murdered in their schools?

This week, six Nashville families are heartbroken. The parents of three 9-year-olds are grieving. They will join the families of thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of American families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. Four hundred American children have been gunned down this year already.

It is unbelievable that it is happening in this Nation.

I do not accept that this is the cost of freedom in this country. Americans have said overwhelmingly that they want us to do something about it. We in Congress actually could do something about it. We can vote on the floor of this Chamber for background checks and to ban assault weapons.

Throwing up our hands and saying there is nothing that we can do is a dereliction of duty.

I stand with the children of America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote against the previous question so that the House can address more serious matters like the future of seniors' hard-earned benefits.

Bringing forth H. Res. 178 gives this body the opportunity to finally affirm our commitment to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare.

This is what American families want us focused on. When I talk to Vermont families, they are concerned with putting food on the table, with keeping their families safe, with how to afford lifesaving medications, not with propping up corporate polluters at the expense of our future.

Americans need us, on the record, promising that families won't have to choose between essentials like medication, food, and housing. Cutting Social Security and Medicare hurts the poorest and most vulnerable among us. These programs support seniors to age with dignity. They support Americans with disabilities to receive the security that they absolutely depend on.

We are not going to let Social Security benefits go away--we are not. Over 65 million Americans rely on hard-

earned Social Security benefits--65 million. These programs are how we preserve the American middle class, and it is how we support all of the working families in each of our districts.

We need to expand the infrastructure and funding of these programs to fully support seniors in their retirement. We owe them this.

Mr. Speaker, I want all Americans to know, Americans are not going to stop fighting to protect your hard-earned benefits. Again, I urge my colleagues to turn their attention to real issues that impact real American families, and defeat the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of a terrible mental health crisis among youth in our Nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent youth risk behavior survey reveals that our kids are really struggling.

One in four teen girls reported seriously considering attempting suicide in 2021, and LGBTQ teens and girls report extremely high levels of mental distress, violence, and substance abuse.

They need us to stand up for them. They need us to stand with them. We need to make investments that will actually help. We have real work to do.

But what do my Republican colleagues have us spending time on this week? A sham bill that does nothing for our kids. It inserts the Federal Government between parents and students and schools. It promotes censorship. It promotes banning books.

It is not about freedom. It is not about protecting kids.

As a former teacher and as a mom, I know that all children deserve a safe and affirming school environment. When I talk to Vermont families, which I do all the time, they aren't concerned about these kind of culture wars. They need us to take our jobs seriously and address the real everyday concerns. That is why I am in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, as a former teacher, I know that education can be and should be a pathway to financial freedom. For over 45 million Americans facing crippling student debt, education has become an unsustainable economic burden.

Student debt is keeping Americans from buying homes, starting families, and saving for their futures. It is holding back a generation from getting the education that they need, that they want, and that they deserve. This impacts all of us. Our education suffers because of this debt. Our economy suffers, our families suffer, and our children suffer.

President Biden's student debt relief plan will change lives and open doors for so many working families.

It is urgent that the Supreme Court uphold this critical program that will free millions of Americans from this heavy financial burden. So today I call on the Supreme Court to support President Biden's plan and make the historic step in making higher education attainable for everyone in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the burden that healthcare costs put on American families. No one should have to choose between putting food on the table and affording their medication.

Nearly 3 in 10 American adults take prescription drugs each day and say that they have skipped doses. They have cut pills in half or they have not filled prescriptions. This is dangerous.

In the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats made major progress in lowering drug costs and making healthcare more affordable. We capped the out-of-pocket costs for seniors. We capped the cost of insulin at $35, and we finally gave Medicare the power to negotiate prices.

Let's build on this. Let's cap the cost of insulin at $35 for every American. Let's continue to lower the cost of medical expenses and insurance premiums for every American.

American families are struggling while Big Pharma continues to reap the benefits. Let's build on the progress in the Inflation Reduction Act and provide working families with the help they so desperately need.

Mr. Speaker, we can't truly address the mental health crisis in this country without addressing the stigma head-on. For that reason, I rise today to say that I am one of the millions of Americans who balance day-to-day life with managing anxiety and depression.

It isn't always easy for me to share my struggles with mental health, but I know that facing mental health challenges does not make you weak. It makes you human, and it gives others permission and courage to also speak openly.

We have to change the national conversation so that we can pull together bipartisan support to finally address our mental health crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to turn their attention to our country's growing mental health crisis.

Addressing mental health gets to the root of some of our country's most challenging issues. The issues do not exist within a vacuum. They touch education; they touch housing; and they touch substance use disorder.

I will not stop bringing up this issue until our communities feel heard and receive the support they desperately need.

Mr. Speaker, over 65 million Americans rely on Social Security benefits. They shouldn't have to choose between essentials like medication, food, or housing. That is why it is our job to expand and shore up Social Security and not gut it.

Cutting these programs hurts the poorest and most vulnerable among us. We must support seniors to age with dignity. We must ensure that Americans with disabilities receive the security they depend on. Social Security is an essential tool that lifts up 9 million American women out of poverty.

Two-thirds of my home State, Vermont, are middle-aged or older. We need to expand the infrastructure and funding to fully support them in their retirement. We owe them this.

I want Vermonters and all Americans to know I will not stop fighting to protect their hard-earned benefits.