Floor Statements

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, it is an honor to speak in support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect the voting rights of all Americans.

Our democracy is at its strongest when every American can participate and make their voice heard--something that our friend, our colleague, a mentor to many of us, the late John Lewis--it is what he fought for his entire life. But in too many communities across America, voter suppression efforts are making it harder for Americans to vote, especially Native Americans, who continue to experience geographic, linguistic, and legal barriers.

That is why I am proud that the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act includes the Native American Voting Rights Act, which I was proud to introduce in August in the Senate and spent years fighting for in the House, developing this legislation with voting rights advocates across America. This much needed legislation would protect the sacred right to vote and reduce barriers to the ballot box for voters living on Tribal lands--vital progress to protect the sacred right to vote for all Americans.

This past year, America has seen unprecedented efforts to restrict access to the ballot box, to make it harder to vote, and silence our voices, especially Native voices. It is unacceptable, and it is all the more reason why the Senate must pass robust voting rights legislation that empowers Tribes and Native American voters, because our democracy is strongest when everyone participates.

It is our moral imperative to protect the right to vote, to combat the discrimination that has long kept Americans from exercising this right. With millions of Americans calling on this body to deliver on voting rights legislation, I strongly support the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. It is

the right thing to do. It is the time to get this done.

Mr. President, it is an honor to speak in support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect the voting rights of all Americans.

Our democracy is at its strongest when every American can participate and make their voice heard--something that our friend, our colleague, a mentor to many of us, the late John Lewis--it is what he fought for his entire life. But in too many communities across America, voter suppression efforts are making it harder for Americans to vote, especially Native Americans, who continue to experience geographic, linguistic, and legal barriers.

That is why I am proud that the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act includes the Native American Voting Rights Act, which I was proud to introduce in August in the Senate and spent years fighting for in the House, developing this legislation with voting rights advocates across America. This much needed legislation would protect the sacred right to vote and reduce barriers to the ballot box for voters living on Tribal lands--vital progress to protect the sacred right to vote for all Americans.

This past year, America has seen unprecedented efforts to restrict access to the ballot box, to make it harder to vote, and silence our voices, especially Native voices. It is unacceptable, and it is all the more reason why the Senate must pass robust voting rights legislation that empowers Tribes and Native American voters, because our democracy is strongest when everyone participates.

It is our moral imperative to protect the right to vote, to combat the discrimination that has long kept Americans from exercising this right. With millions of Americans calling on this body to deliver on voting rights legislation, I strongly support the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. It is

the right thing to do. It is the time to get this done.

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize and share the inspirational story of native New Mexican Ms. Stella Lavadie, who celebrated her 100th birthday on April 29, 2021. Her friends, family, and neighbors know Stella as a warm-hearted woman who celebrates her veteran community with great pride and has lived a remarkable and impactful life. A member of the ``greatest generation,'' Stella was born in 1921 in Taos, and while she grew up partially in Wyoming, she returned to New Mexico as a young adult to attend my alma mater, New Mexico Highlands University. In a pivotal moment, Stella recalls seeing Uncle Sam on signs in Albuquerque beckoning her: ``I want you!'' they said, and she answered the call. Stella enlisted for the Women's Army Corps in 1944 at the Bruns Army Hospital in Santa Fe and trained at Fort Des Moines. Taking great pride in her fatigues and dress uniform, Stella completed duty stations in Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Dakota. Stella completed her service in 1946 when the war was won, but she has said she would gladly have stayed in the Women's Army Corps if given the chance.

Throughout her life, Stella has carried with her meaningful memories from her service, including fellow Women Army Corps member Ruby Hart singing ``Till we meet again'' and marching in formation every Saturday morning in front of the ranking officers. Upon returning home to New Mexico, Stella continued her Federal service working at the University of California in Los Alamos, then at the Atomic Energy Commission also in Los Alamos, before rounding out her career with a combined 32 years at the Bureau of Land Management doing essential work contributing to the management of New Mexico's Federal lands. She raised three children as a single mother in the 1950s, due to her husband's early death, and built a beautiful family in her own home State of New Mexico.

I want to personally wish Stella a happy 100th birthday and thank her for her service and barrier-breaking accomplishments. In 2015, I had the pleasure of greeting Stella on her visit to D.C. on Honor Flight No. 0615, and I was honored to celebrate her birthday in a drive-by celebration this year.

Stella, thank you for your service, and it is an honor to play a small part in your story.

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize and share the inspirational story of native New Mexican Mr. Bennie Montoya, who will celebrate his 100th birthday on August 20, 2021. Bennie is a member of the ``greatest generation,'' and his heroism and courage- filled life are an inspiration to us all.

Bennie was raised near Santa Fe in the Village of Agua Fria as the youngest of six siblings. After finishing the ninth grade at Harrington Junior High in Santa Fe, Bennie left school to help his family on their ranch, until he was drafted in August 1942. Bennie trained at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX, prior to shipping out for Normandy to serve his country at one of the most significant battle sites in U.S. military history. At 23 years old, Private First Class Montoya landed in Normandy 6 days after D-day, and to this day, he recalls the bloodied waters and fallen soldiers from the momentous battle.

During the war, he worked as a switchboard operator and also had the responsibility of driving his commanding officer from post to post. On December 17, 1944, when Private First Class Montoya volunteered to drive a senior military officer to the next post, he was ambushed by German soldiers and taken prisoner. As a prisoner of war, Bennie was forced to dig graves for Nazi soldiers who were killed in action. He was often made to do hard labor in the freezing snow with no shoes and suffered frostbite while under their abuse.

Private First Class Montoya was finally liberated in 1945 and sent to a POW rehabilitation and recovery center in Santa Barbara, CA. Honorably discharged, Bennie made his way back to New Mexico unbeknownst to his family. The story of his homecoming speaks to the power of prayer and the bond between family members. His mother, as told by others with her on that day, kept a prayer card to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost people and things in her pocket. As she was cooking and praying, she was overcome with emotion. What followed was nothing less than a joyous reunion: Bennie's mother stepped outside to collect herself and continued praying, and when she looked up and gazed across the fields, she saw Bennie walking towards her, duffel bag in tow.

Bennie has lived a full and meaningful life since his time in the Army. Upon his honorable discharge, he was awarded several medals, including a Purple Heart. He raised four children in Agua Fria with his wife, Mary, before losing her to a drunk driver. Professionally, Bennie worked in the local banking industry for 27 years. He still lives in Agua Fria, where he is an upstanding and highly regarded member

of his community, and attends mass at San Isidro Catholic Church.

I want to personally wish Bennie the happiest of birthdays as he prepares to celebrate 100 years and thank him for his service and sacrifice during World War II.

Bennie, your service will never be forgotten, and I am forever grateful for your role in fighting for our freedom.

Reserving the right to object.

Madam President, there is not a single Democratic Senator in this body who believes that someone who commits a violent crime should not feel the full weight of the U.S. judicial system for their crimes. I hope my friend from Texas would agree with that. I don't think there is a Member in this body--Democratic, Republican, Independent, the staff--not a one. I think the same holds true for our colleagues who work just down the corridor from us in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Now, we must do everything in our power to make certain that those engaged in violent crimes face prosecution and feel the full weight of the law. That is not just bipartisan; that is the right thing to do.

Where I disagree with my colleague is the assertion that immigrants are inherently criminal. They are not. They are people whom our kids go to school with, whom we work with, who grow our food in America, who work to prepare that food or even stock the shelves, teach in classrooms, serve in the U.S. military defending our freedoms in the United States of America.

So to my friend from Texas, this seems to be a continuance of the harmful proposals from the Trump administration. I certainly think that many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle in the U.S. Senate also disagree with the hateful pronouncements from Steve Miller. This feels like a continuance of that, to strike fear in Americans and to breed distrust in immigrants.

Now, I agree with my colleague that we have to work together to stop that false narrative. This false narrative must stop because it is not contributing to fixing the broken immigration system we have in the United States.

I agree with my colleague that we should come together and work in a bipartisan way to learn from one another. I am new to this Chamber, but I am not new to these challenges.

I certainly hope that my colleagues who are traveling to the border-- and I commend them for doing so because this is an important conversation we should be having. I hope they travel to Matamoros. I don't know if my colleague from Texas has done that. I did.

I traveled down there with a group of colleagues. We had a chance to visit with the Border Patrol in El Paso. We had a chance to visit with Border Patrol in Antelope Wells in New Mexico and Lordsburg in New Mexico. We have had the honor of traveling down into the Rio Grande Valley, down to Brownsville. We had a chance to visit with folks on the frontlines, not just wearing the green uniform of our Border Patrol and those working with the Department of Homeland Security but those who are also providing humanitarian relief.

Those camps in Matamoros that I went to, they still exist. And one of the questions that needs to be asked is, What are these kids going through? What are they thinking about to travel thousands of miles because of the concerns that they have for their own health and well- being? I hope we can have that conversation and solve this problem. So let's find a way to work together.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: We need to go after criminals and felons, not children and families. In truth, I think we can get there.

So as I close, I just say: Let's be a beacon of hope to the most vulnerable. Let's make sure we go after these criminals and felons, wherever they may be, and they feel the full weight of the law. But when it comes to the broken immigration system in America, let's work together to fix it.

Therefore, I object.

Madam President, I rise today in anticipation of a historic vote that the Senate will take in a few moments to confirm Debra Anne Haaland as Secretary of the Interior. I am incredibly humbled to be able to preside over this body's confirmation, in just a few minutes, of my good friend and fellow New Mexican.

This marks the first time that a Native American will take her seat in the President's Cabinet, making her the second highest ranking Native American to ever serve in the Federal Government.

As a Pueblo woman and 35th-generation New Mexican, Deb Haaland has a long overdue perspective to contribute to the Department of the Interior's mission of protecting our natural resources and public lands, and honoring America's trust responsibilities to Tribal nations.

She is uniquely equipped to begin to repair the relationship between the Interior and the domestic nations it serves--to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, these indigenous nations, these sovereign nations, these important departments, the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Indian Education.

Speaking to Pueblo and Tribal members in New Mexico, I know the significance of her confirmation, how it transcends policy. For young people in our State, she is the embodiment of the old adage that if you see it, you can be it.

Knowing my friend Deb, although she will be the first, she is committed to not being the last.

As former vice chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, Deb Haaland also brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her role as the Interior Secretary. She has been a longtime champion of climate action, creating good-paying jobs, clean energy, and outdoor recreation.

She played a key role in passing the Great American Outdoors Act out of the House of Representatives, successfully protecting New Mexico landscapes and setting ambitious goals for conservation with her Thirty by Thirty Resolution to Save Nature. But of all the qualifications and accomplishments that Deb Haaland will bring to the Department of the Interior, there is one that stands out to those who know her best--her empathy.

Deb's experience as a single mother struggling to keep a roof over her family's head allows her to connect with compassion to her constituents and informs every aspect of her work. It is fitting that she will serve under a President who has made empathy the trademark of his administration.

I have no doubt that Secretary Haaland will leave a mark on the Department of the Interior and on history as we know it. I look forward to continuing to work with my friend to make a difference for the people of New Mexico.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, the funding provided in the American recovery package is critical to New Mexico's students, workers, and families.

Among many measures important to New Mexicans, the budget resolution provides emergency funds to close the homework gap for K-12 schools and libraries, including those on Tribal lands. It provides emergency funding for our rail and air infrastructure, including maintaining essential air service in rural areas and passenger rail throughout the Southwest. It includes emergency grant funding to support local newspapers and broadcasters, who continue to provide fact- and evidence-based reporting on local and national issues as advertising revenues plummet.

New Mexico faces a digital divide, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing disparities between the students who have broadband access and the one in four who don't. Failing to address these disparities risks widening the homework gap and making it harder for students, especially those living in rural and Tribal communities, to catch up. The budget resolution under consideration does right by students, not only by helping them survive the public health emergency but also by thriving long term.

By providing emergency funding for rail and air infrastructure, it also saves jobs and communities in New Mexico. Our small airports and rail stations are hubs of commerce that connect rural New Mexico with markets across the United States and the world. As a new member of the Senate Commerce Committee, I am ready to get to work and get the job done on these New Mexico priorities.

What Congress is working toward today--providing essential support to help fight and recover from the coronavirus pandemic--matters little if those most in need do not trust in America's institutions enough to benefit from this support. That is why I am particularly proud of the resolution's support for local journalism. With this resolution, Congress has an opportunity to help our students, protect jobs and businesses, and fulfill our moral duty. The Senate must do everything in its power to provide the tools for the American people to recover and to rebuild.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise to speak on the resolution's investment of $8.6 billion through the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

Our Native American brothers and sisters on Tribal lands are four times more likely to contract COVID-19 and twice as likely to die from it. The Navajo Nation has seen extended families ravaged by disease, families like the Muskets, who were careful to protect their elderly parents, Benjamin and Louise, from the virus. Despite taking the necessary precautions and having access to electricity and running water--something many of our Navajo brothers and sisters still lack-- the whole family became ill. Because the overburdened IHS-run medical center closest to them was unable to treat Benjamin's advanced condition, he was flown to one of the nearest hospitals in Albuquerque that would have taken hours to have gotten there by car. He died far from his beloved Louise. Five days later, Louise also passed.

In New Mexico, community members and students are still mourning the loss of Laura Escalanti, a beloved Tewa teacher at Pojoaque Valley High School, from San Ildefonso Pueblo. ``Ms. Laura,'' as she was known, imparted on her students pride in themselves through language. Her funeral procession from Ohkay Owingeh to San Ildefonso Pueblo brought mourners out from their homes to the roadways to bid farewell to their teacher of more than 20 years. Sadly, there are too many Native American families and communities mourning loved ones.

This resolution strikes at the heart of the health disparities and circumstances that make Tribal communities more vulnerable to COVID-19. It provides Tribal and public governments with critical funding to take action against the deadly virus and the havoc it has wreaked on their citizens, their economies, and the public health infrastructure. The budget resolution provides necessary investments to support Tribal governments that have struggled to maintain public and social safety network services.

It also provides the Indian Health Service, which is the primary vaccine provider for over 330 Tribal nations and urban Indian health organizations, with funding and resources to respond to this crisis.

Access to nearby hospitals and emergency services may be dozens, even hundreds of miles away in my State, and we must do everything in our power here in the Senate, here in the House, and in Washington, DC, to ensure that every hospital and clinic has the staff and supplies to get families the care they need.

Our response to COVID-19 must support and protect the most vulnerable among us. Today's resolution recognizes that, and I am proud to support it.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, more than 3,000 of my fellow New Mexicans have lost their lives to COVID-19. They were New Mexicans like Teresa, an essential medical worker from Springer, NM. She bravely went to work to test Haitians for COVID-19 and to stop the spread of the disease. Tragically, Teresa contracted COVID-19 and passed away over the Christmas holiday, leaving behind her husband Roger and their three children.

But Congress has another chance to spare other families the pain that Teresa's family is experiencing, the very thing that drove Teresa every day to go and save others. This resolution will allow Congress to mount an aggressive public health response and prioritize resources where they are needed most--for vaccines, testing, and public health programs that fight COVID.

Funding included in this package will be aimed at dramatically increasing rates of testing, bolstering the supply chain to increase the availability of testing supplies and personal protective equipment, hiring and training public health workers to administer the vaccine, and increasing vaccine production.

As Congress focuses on getting vaccinations into every arm as quickly as possible, strong Federal funding is especially critical for States like New Mexico, where vaccines and medical supplies must travel longer distances to reach the communities that need them.

We know we have the capacity to get these vaccines in people's arms. We need more vaccine. Vaccines are essential to the priorities I have heard from many of my constituents--safely opening schools as soon as possible because this pandemic is widening the achievement gap that already existed. To meet this goal, Congress must invest in safely reopening schools and make facility improvements to ensure every educator, the people who prepare the food, drive the buses, keep the schools looking clean, social workers and nurses, and every student is safe to return.

America must provide quality distance learning to those who are not yet ready to return and work to address widespread learning loss that exacerbates the achievement gap. It is also clear that the toll of COVID-19 on students' learning and mental health will last for years, meaning investments are necessary well beyond this academic year.

The Senate must act for the families who have lost loved ones, for Roger and Teresa and their three kids, and for parents struggling to keep their students safe and healthy.

The Senate must act to defeat this virus and to rebuild our Nation's economy. It must pass this budget resolution.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, 50 million Americans, including 17 million children, are facing food insecurity because of this public health and economic crisis, with Black and Latino families more likely to go hungry. In New Mexico, one in three children and one in five adults are at risk of hunger. In the wealthiest country in the world, this is simply unacceptable.

The budget resolution focuses on getting relief to the people who need it most, beginning with an extension of the 15-percent increase in supplemental nutrition assistance benefits through September of 2021. Increasing SNAP benefits has proven to be one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus, and it has the dual benefit of allowing families to purchase the food that they need to stay healthy, as well as supporting businesses that accept SNAP dollars.

The budget resolution also bolsters the WIC Program to ensure that children and their mothers have access to a nutritious diet necessary for healthy development, an important investment in the future of our country. This funding increase is especially significant for States like New Mexico, where nearly a quarter of children are born into families with incomes that fall below the Federal poverty line.

In addition to addressing hunger, this resolution includes critical support for the people who grow our food, produce our food--our farmers and ranchers. In New Mexico, farmers and ranchers, who were already struggling due to drought conditions, face new challenges due to COVID- 19. Shuttered restaurants left chile growers and dairy farmers without their customer base and scrambling to find new markets. Ranchers experienced long delays at meat packing plants where workers were hard hit by COVID-19. Those workers need help too. The pandemic also made it harder to find workers to cultivate the land and tend to the animals.

This resolution also supports a provision I advocated for to provide debt relief for minority and disadvantaged farmers and ranchers who did not receive their fair share of COVID relief under the last administration.

It is said that societies are judged by how they treat their most vulnerable. It is sad because not everybody opens their eyes to see how this should be measured.

The Senate must act for the families and children facing hunger and for our hard-working farmers and ranchers--those that are producing food, picking food, preparing food, and getting it to market and stocking the shelves.

We must pass this budget resolution.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. Speaker, I am here to speak on the importance of Title X Family Planning programs and to condemn the Trump administration's misguided efforts to prevent patients from making fully informed health decisions.

This week, the House will begin to reverse years of deep funding cuts to this vital program, a slash-and-burn approach that has had drastic impacts on the health of women and families.

Consider this: 7 years of Republican cuts left 1.2 million without access to proper care.

This is shameful.

I am proud to have led, with the support of more than 190 of my colleagues, the effort to urge the Appropriations Committee to include $400 million for the Title X Family Planning program in fiscal year 2020.

Nearly 4 million people struggling to make ends meet, including people of color, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and people in underserved rural communities, receive care at Title X centers.

We must support the health of millions of Americans by supporting Title X and preventing States from discriminating against potential Title X providers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Equality Act because equality and fairness are core American values.

Right now, fairness is not codified in our justice system, and it is long past time to end discrimination.

When half of Americans live in a State without legal protections for LGBTQ individuals, that is not equality.

When LGBTQ Americans can be fired, evicted, and discriminated against because of who they are, who they love, or how they identify, that is not justice.

The opportunity before us is a historic one. I want to thank my colleagues who have led the effort to bring this bill to the floor.

My colleagues who vote ``no'' on this will be judged.

Mr. Speaker, this is something that we should be working on together. We will pass the Equality Act for the dignity of all Americans.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support the rule because, for the past 2 years, the Trump administration has relentlessly sabotaged the Affordable Care Act and attacked my constituents' access to care.

My Republican colleagues use a lot of smoke and mirrors to talk about these plans, so today I want to read straight from the Texas Department of Insurance website, texas.gov. This page is titled: ``What You Need to Know About Short-Term Health Insurance.''

Right there, the Texas Department of Insurance says: ``Know what the plan covers. It is important to ask what's covered and what's not. For example, short-term plans might not cover emergency care, maternity care, prescriptions, or certain other services. They might not cover care for accidents or health issues.''

Listen closely to this: ``These plans also do not have to cover preexisting conditions. If a company sells you a plan, it may deny a claim if it determines you had a related condition in the past.''

There it is in black and white on the Texas Department of Insurance website. These Trump junk plans discriminate against people with preexisting conditions.

Let me continue, because it gets better, to the third point, ``Other costs.'' Here the State of Texas specifies that ``short-term health plans often have lower premiums, but other costs may be higher.''

Let me translate. These Trump junk plans might be cheaper for us up front, but you will pay more money for less coverage on the back end.

That is why, today, I stand proudly with my Democratic colleagues for standing up to the Trump administration's harmful policies and for acting to protect healthcare for the 50 percent of Americans who have a preexisting health condition.

The Trump administration's destructive policies will force the American people to pay more money for less coverage. If you don't believe me, just go to the website yourself. This is unacceptable.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the rule and ``yes'' on Ann Kuster's bill, H.R. 986.

Mr. Chair, I want to share a story of one of my constituents, Rayen. Her story is hard to hear, but we cannot tune it out.

When Rayen first reached out for protection, her partner, Daniel, had struck her with a wrench, raped her, and strangled her to the point of unconsciousness. But Tribal police had little jurisdiction over Daniel, who is not Native American. They were forced to turn the case over to Federal prosecutors.

Next, Rayen went missing. Her body was found several weeks later, beaten and strangled.

Rayen's story is representative of the violence women, especially Native women, face every day. This violence is an epidemic in our country. Native women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than any other ethnicity.

We need to act. The Violence Against Women Act is a pillar of our Federal response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

Passage of H.R. 1585 will ensure that every survivor of domestic violence is given the protection they need to rebuild their lives after experiencing violence.

Mr. Chair, please join me in voting for this legislation in memory of Rayen and in memory of all the women who have faced domestic violence and assault.