Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand before you today in strong support of H.R. 1.

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking Congressman Sarbanes, Speaker Pelosi, Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, and my colleagues for their work on this issue.

H.R. 1 is historic legislation. It will restore transparency in our government and put the power back in the hands of the people.

It will reduce the role of dark money in politics and make it easier to vote.

Perhaps most importantly, it will reaffirm that this is the people's House and our work here is for them. There could be nothing more fundamentally important than that.

Too many have lost faith in the process; too many have lost faith in their government. They look around and wonder who is on their side, who is fighting for them. They see rules rigged against them, and every day it gets harder and harder for their neighbor to buy insulin or for their daughter to shake off the incredible burdens of student loan debt.

This legislation, H.R. 1, is an important step in how we stand up for our communities and for the people. It is a tool that allows us to act on the many issues impacting working men and women, the family that I was raised in.

It will also give Americans a greater voice in their government. This legislation will allow automatic voter registration and create a national holiday for election day.

I am also proud to submit an amendment to H.R. 1 that will expand election infrastructure grants to promote voter participation, secure our elections, and increase funding for these efforts to engage all parts of our society in our democracy.

Looking ahead to next week, I am looking forward to reintroducing with my colleagues the Native American Voting Rights Act. This legislation will make sure that communities are not left behind as we strengthen our democracy.

House Democrats committed to the American people that we would fundamentally change Washington if elected to the majority; we committed that our work would be for the people. This week, we are living up to that commitment.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, our democracy is at its best when all voices are heard. Unfortunately, whether due to an antiquated voting system or restrictive voter laws, too many Americans face too many obstacles to participating in our elections.

There is also an immediate need to protect election security. Russia attacked our democracy in 2016 and could do so again. That is why, last Congress, I introduced a Voting Innovation Prize Act, to tap into America's innovative spirit to strengthen our democracy. These are competitive grants.

Today, I am proud to offer an amendment based on that legislation. My amendment will expand the election infrastructure grants to promote voter participation, secure our elections, and increase funding.

Madam Chair, I thank Chairman Bennie Thompson for working with me on this amendment, and I urge adoption of this amendment and the For the People Act.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I yield as much time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), the chair of the Committee on House Administration.

Madam Chair, I urge adoption of this amendment, I urge adoption of H.R. 1, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of New Mexico state Representative Henry ``Kiki'' Saavedra, who passed away earlier this week.

Kiki was a legend in the Roundhouse. A longtime friend and colleague of my father, I grew up playing with his young sons as our dads worked together. I remember his laughter, and later, as I grew up, I saw how that infectious spirit brought people together politically.

He was well liked and respected by everyone, regardless of party. And, whether it was infrastructure projects or funding issues, he got things done because of it.

Kiki was truly a special person, and I know his impact will be felt in the Legislature for decades to come.

My prayers are with Kiki and his loving family during this difficult time. May he rest in peace.

Madam Speaker, the pain from this Trump shutdown is being felt deeply in every corner of my district in New Mexico and across America.

We have farmers and ranchers that are unable to plan for their production. Tribal communities are facing disruptions in their healthcare services. People are not getting urgent questions answered by the IRS, and some families are worried that there are going to be liens put on their homes.

A local health clinic in my district, the Pecos Valley Medical Center had their Federal loan halted, even though the project has been approved, which means they can't draw down on funds. This means they will have to pause their efforts to expand access to mental healthcare and it could jeopardize the project.

Over 800,000 families, individuals across America are not being paid. Over 150,000 veterans that are furloughed, some of them are working without being paid. Chef Jose Andres is feeding thousands of people who are lining up just down the street between here and the White House.

Madam Speaker, I say to the President, come outside and go see what Chef Andres is doing. These families are hurting. End this shutdown. It can end today.

Madam Speaker, I was unexpectedly detained.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 40.

Madam Speaker, New Mexicans are working tirelessly to provide for their families. They do not have the luxury of ignoring their bills until the President figures out what it takes to run a government.

President Trump clearly does not understand the anxiety that comes from choosing between a mortgage payment and gas in the tank or not being able to pay your bills at the end of the month.

I have heard from many in my district who are hurting because of the Trump shutdown, constituents like Andrea. Her family became a one- income household after her 4-year-old son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy.

Her husband is a furloughed USDA employee. Because of her son's medical needs, their family has already been living paycheck to paycheck, and the shutdown immediately put them into survival mode.

The shutdown must end. Democrats have put multiple bipartisan plans on the table to open the government. Madam Speaker, I implore Mitch McConnell to let the Senate vote to end this shutdown for the hundreds of thousands of families being hurt, families just like Andrea's.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Senate amendment to H.R. 767, the SOAR to Health and Wellness Act of 2018.

This bill establishes a training program for healthcare and social service providers in order to better identify potential victims of human trafficking when they come into contact with healthcare or social services professionals. The bill provides grants to appropriate entities to help train these providers on how to identify and appropriately treat potential victims of human trafficking.

Nearly 21 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking, forced labor, or sexual exploitation. At some point, many of these unidentified victims will come into contact with a healthcare provider or social services professional. It is critical for these providers to know how best to care for these individuals and how to ensure they can coordinate their treatment with other providers in a way that is culturally relevant, trauma informed, and patient centered. Helping healthcare professionals better recognize the signs of trafficking and improve their ability to intervene can truly be the difference between life and death.

Mr. Speaker, the House passed H.R. 767 on February 26 of this year, and we are now considering the amendment to the bill that the Senate agreed to yesterday. These changes reflect bipartisan efforts to streamline the text of the legislation, while maintaining the bill's intent and scope as originally passed in the House.

I want to thank Congressman Cohen for sponsoring this important piece of legislation and for his leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill. I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Mary Lynn Roper.

Mary Lynn has been a force for good in our community. She has blazed a trail for so many aspiring journalists in New Mexico.

Generations of young people will look to the example she set not only in her professional field, but also in the way she gave back to the community. Mary Lynn was instrumental in the launch of ``KOATS for Kids,'' a clothing drive that helps children in New Mexico stay warm in the winters, and she spearheaded the ``School Supply'' program for schools and students in our region.

Her decades of service in the newsroom at KOAT have also made a tremendous impact. She ensured that the stories of the people of New Mexico were told and her legacy in the field of journalism will be lasting.

I want to personally congratulate Mary Lynn Roper on her retirement and thank her for her service in New Mexico.

I have no doubt that she will continue to make a difference in whatever the next adventure brings.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6, the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act.

This is an important step forward in the fight against the Nation's opioid epidemic. However, this Congress must acknowledge that this is not the end.

Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. There is much more work to do to ensure that families get the help that they deserve.

I am pleased that this package includes language that I have championed to address gaps in prevention and gaps in access to treatment. In addition, this bill will create pathways to behavioral healthcare jobs in communities like New Mexico.

Still, Congress must do more. As we have heard from Representative Cummings, this is going to take much more money, investment, and comprehensive legislation.

Mr. Speaker, every community in America has suffered from the opioid epidemic. These are our moms and dads, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters. All across America, families are suffering.

This is not a new problem. Earlier this year, The New York Times wrote about how one of the most distressing truths of America's opioid epidemic is that it has been with us for 150 years. For more than a century, this crisis has been breaking communities.

This certainly isn't a new problem in New Mexico. Since 2000, New Mexico has had one of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in the United States. This cycle must be broken because, if there is no action, America is doomed to see these tragedies repeat for another 150 years.

This week, we are working on passing a package of bipartisan bills to address this crisis, and that is good. However, if you listen to our friends on the other side of the aisle, you might think that congressional Republicans think this problem has been solved.

We need to do more and be more aggressive. As The New York Times wrote, serious legislation needs to be considered, such as proposals modeled on the Ryan White CARE Act that would appropriate $100 billion over 10 years for research, treatment, and support. One of the packages we have today is a bipartisan approach around the Ryan White CARE Act. The funding is not sufficient. We can do more.

Last year in Congress, we came together in a bipartisan fashion to provide a billion dollars to States to address the opioid crisis in the 21st Century Cures Act. We all knew that the billion dollars included in Cures would only be a first step. That is what people said.

I am going to say today what I said last Congress when we were debating these bills: While the House is taking a step toward addressing the opioid epidemic, this is a missed opportunity.

There are good policies in this package of bills, but I am deeply disappointed in the lack of investment on such an urgent crisis facing America. Congress can and must do more.

On behalf of 129 people who will die today from a drug overdose, Congress must do more to address this crisis in a deeply meaningful way. And to do that, real investment must be made, large dollar investments that save lives across America.

My bill extends the bipartisan block grant funding passed in Cures for an additional 5 years. These grants would continue to support States in their efforts to enhance access to treatment, bolster substance abuse prevention programs, and expand evidence-based initiatives that will help address this deadly epidemic.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an editorial written by The New York Times, titled, ``An Opioid Crisis Foretold,'' from April 21, 2018.

[From the New York Times, Apr. 21, 2018]

An Opioid Crisis Foretold

(By The Editorial Board)

One of the more distressing truths of America's opioid

epidemic, which now kills tens of thousands of people every

year, is that it isn't the first such crisis. Across the 19th

and 20th centuries, the United States, China and other

countries saw drug abuse surge as opium and morphine were

used widely as recreational drugs and medicine. In the West,

doctors administered morphine liberally to their patients,

while families used laudanum, an opium tincture, as a cure-

all, including for pacifying colicky children. In China, many

millions of people were hooked on smoking opium. In the mid-

1800s, the British went into battle twice--bombing forts and

killing thousands of civilians and soldiers alike--to keep

the Chinese market open to drug imports in what would become

known as the Opium Wars.

That history has either been forgotten or willfully ignored

by many in the medical and political establishments.

Today's opioid crisis is already the deadliest drug

epidemic in American history. Opioid overdoses killed more

than 45,000 people in the 12 months that ended in September,

according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The epidemic is now responsible for nearly as many American

deaths per year as AIDS was at the peak of that crisis.

Experts say that the death toll from opioids could climb

for years to come. Millions of people are dependent on or

addicted to these drugs, and many of them are increasingly

turning to more potent, illicit supplies of heroin and

fentanyl, which are cheap and readily available on the street

and online. Yet only about 10 percent of Americans who suffer

from substance abuse receive specialized addiction treatment,

according to a report by the surgeon general.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on ordering the previous question so we can take a meaningful step toward defeating this crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Better Pain Management Through Better Data Act.

Current data collection models used by the Food and Drug Administration to measure clinical effectiveness are not ideally suited to accelerate development of opioid-sparing products. This bipartisan legislation will better allow the FDA to obtain the data they need to more quickly approve label claims for nonaddictive pain medications.

I think I have said this at least 100 times at this point, but we must work with our pharmaceutical partners and the FDA to make sure that patients across the country have nonaddictive pain management options.

I come from a blue-collar district with ironworkers and ranchers and a whole lot of jobs where wear and tear on the body is inevitable. It is simply unrealistic to think that we won't have people who need access to pain therapy. That is where nonaddictive therapies come in. This bill is another step forward in making sure that everyone has more options to treat pain.

While we are talking about nonaddictive pain medications and how important they are to break the cycle of addiction back home, I want to take a second to direct my comments toward all the pharmaceutical manufacturers who are developing or plan to develop drugs in this space: This is important. We need you to be innovative, and we need you to be aggressive.

That being said, Mr. Speaker, I am already starting to be concerned regarding the cost of these drugs. Let me put this in plain English. I am worried that the people living in different parts of America may be able to afford these drugs but families who are struggling and worrying about how to make that family budget work are going to be left out. If people can't afford these therapies and these treatments, they are not going to make a bit of difference.

We cannot create another layer of people who can afford medications and therapies and people who cannot, especially not when this issue is so important. All nonaddictive pain medications must be affordable, accessible, and of high quality.

I appreciate the hard work of the committee staff, Chairman Walden, Ranking Member Pallone, and all the stakeholders who helped get this bill to the finish line.

This epidemic is affecting too many New Mexicans, too many Americans, to not think about long-term strategies for preventing opioid use disorder in the future.

I appreciate Chairman Walden's remarks. I thank him for acknowledging that this is not the end of our work.

This committee has much work to do not just with this package, but into the future, until we are able to help everyone who is fighting addiction in America. I look forward to working with our colleagues, with the administration, and with anyone and everyone out there to make a difference when it comes to addiction in our country.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Guthrie and Dr. Bucshon for working with myself and Mr. Gene Green of Texas on this bill.

I rise today in support of the Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act. This bill would fund at least 10 comprehensive opioid centers across America. These centers will focus on community engagement, prevention, treatment, and also recovery services.

They can be newly established centers or can build upon existing infrastructure. They will be located in areas hit hardest by this epidemic, and they will serve those who need help the most.

Since 2008, New Mexico has had one of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in the country. According to the CDC, New Mexico had the third highest drug overdose death rate in the Nation in 2013 and the second highest in 2014.

Almost every county in New Mexico has a higher rate than the national average. In some of the most hard-hit New Mexico counties, the overdose death rates were more than five times the national rate.

Now, we know 10 centers across 50 States will not solve this problem. Still, we hope that these centers can stand as examples for what substance use disorder facilities could strive to be.

I hope that these comprehensive centers will give families hope, researchers data, and communities across this country the resources that they so desperately need.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Pallone for the time and for his leadership. I thank Chairman Walden and his team for their work on this important piece of legislation, and, again, special recognition of the work of Mr. Johnson and his staff of Ohio for being so willing to work on this important policy and for the incredible team that he has assembled as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Peer Support Communities of Recovery Act.

Anyone who has heard me speak about opioids knows that I believe strongly that to address this opioid epidemic, we must address our Nation's workforce challenges. We have phenomenal providers in New Mexico, and Mr. Johnson has them in Ohio, but what we both know is that we don't have enough of them.

This is a numbers game. Unfortunately, the number of people with substance use disorder far surpasses the number of providers and treatment staff. That is where peer support recovery specialists come in.

For those of you who haven't heard me talk about this or who did not tune in to hear our Energy and Commerce Committee witnesses throughout the hearing process, peer support recovery specialists are people who have lived and experienced, sadly, the challenges with substance abuse, who have fought against their addiction and are in recovery, and who have received training to help others who are in the midst of the fight now. Peer support recovery specialists provide immediate, ongoing support and treatment linkages to individuals in recovery.

As Carlene Deal-Smith, a peer support recovery specialist of the Totah Behavioral Health Authority program in Farmington, New Mexico, testified:

Being able to connect to our patients both through our

shared heritage and shared struggles with addiction has

allowed me to function as a bridge between them, the staff,

and the community. This work has enabled me to be effective

as a community support worker and mentor. Most importantly, I

am living proof that recovery can happen.

These people provide an incredibly important service to the community. Peer support programs also mean jobs for individuals who may not otherwise find those opportunities. Ms. Deal-Smith explained to us this job got her through hard times in her own journey with substance use and made her feel proud to serve the community and help her people in such an important way.

I am grateful that the House has acknowledged the importance of these programs, and I am hopeful that the Senate will do the same very soon.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, I would like to recognize the leadership of Chairman Shuster, Ranking Member DeFazio, and my friend and colleague, Mr. Larsen.

Mr. Chairman, the amendment I have at the desk today will help start a Federal process in providing additional flexibility for storage of native and San Juan-Chama water to benefit the Middle Rio Grande region.

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority has been working for more than 5 years to obtain congressional authorization to increase storage in Abiquiu Reservoir by about 35,000 acre-feet. This will provide greater and much-needed flexibility for water operations to support municipal, agricultural, and environmental purposes.

This amendment starts that process by expediting the feasibility study for Abiquiu Dam. According to the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, the added storage will also provide opportunities to benefit acequias in northern New Mexico, many of which have the oldest water rights in the Rio Grande basin, but do not have any ability to store water for use in drought years; management of operations in the Middle Rio Grande for Endangered Species Act compliance; and for the Rio Grande Compact compliance for the State of New Mexico.

This project is supported by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Corps of Engineers, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management. WildEarth Guardians, the Nature Conservancy, the Audubon New Mexico, the city and county of Santa Fe, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, Rio Arriba County, and the Rio Chama Acequia Association.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of this amendment so that these communities can move forward with this critical project, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I oppose this bill because I believe that it makes it more likely that a future interim storage site--potentially one in New Mexico--becomes a permanent home for nuclear waste.

I know that these are tough issues, and I agree that we have a responsibility to address the waste issues that result from our country entering the atomic age.

However, addressing nuclear waste is not our only responsibility. Seventy years ago, rural New Mexico became ground zero for the detonation of the first nuclear bomb. This marked the beginning of sickness and suffering for generations of people who lived and grew up in the Tularosa Basin.

``That atomic bomb,'' Gloria wrote to me, ``has caused anguish to so many people in New Mexico. . . . The people from New Mexico have suffered physically, mentally, and financially. And we are all here in hope that you will find a way to help us.''

It has been over 70 years since the Trinity Test. Seventy years, and the Federal Government has done almost nothing to recognize or compensate those impacted by that test. They are not alone.

In 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to begin to right this wrong. However, we have since learned that there are many more individuals who are sick or dying because they worked in the uranium industry, lived near a mining operation, or lived downwind from a test. The Navajo, Hopi, and Yavapai Apache Indian Reservations were particularly affected.

That is why I have repeatedly introduced the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments to compensate those workers. We have had Navajo elders travel out here to Washington, D.C., and ask us in Congress, ``Are you waiting for us all to die to solve this problem?'' The Rules Committee rejected amendments that I offered.

Why in the world is it that the people of New Mexico, where the first bomb went off, are the only ones that are left out of protections?

People in Nevada, Colorado, and Utah are included, but New Mexico has been left out. The first place the bomb was tested, these people weren't given a warning. All they saw was a light flash when they were in their kitchens or outside working.

Mr. Chairman, this deserves action, and I hope I can work with my colleagues to get this done.