Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Like so many Texans, I grew up in a household that honored a tradition of gun ownership for hunting, for collection, and for sportsmanship, and also honored gun safety. I was taught to shoot by my uncle, Raymond O'Rourke, jail captain and the chief marksman in the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.

I also live in a State that has a license to carry process which requires safety training, though 18 States do not. Texas requires that someone who has a license to carry be 21 years or older, though 15 States do not. Texas requires that those who abuse their partners not be allowed to have a license to carry, though 14 States do not. Texas does not grant licenses to violent offenders, though 22 States do. Texas does not grant licenses to people convicted of stalking, though 21 other States do.

What H.R. 38 does, Mr. Speaker, is it subjects every Texan and every El Pasoan whom I represent to the lowest common denominator in the United States. It will make our State less--not more--safe. That is why I oppose H.R. 38, and I ask all my colleagues to join me in doing the same.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the Chamber on Monday, November 13. Had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call votes 623, 624, and 625.

Mr. Speaker, the tax bill that this Chamber voted on 2 weeks ago was bad enough, added $1.5 trillion to the debt, 36 million middle class households will see their taxes go up, and 50 percent of those tax cuts would go to the wealthiest 1 percent in this country.

But the Senate bill that is being debated on the other side of this Capitol right now is even worse. In addition to what I just described, we will see 13 million Americans lose their ability to see a doctor, to stay healthy, to take care of themselves, and even to live their lives.

For those lucky enough to have healthcare, their premiums in Texas, for example, will go up, on average, $1,700 a year. We will see 1 million of our fellow Texans lose their health insurance if this bill passes.

Now, many people have called my office to ask what they can do to help. The number for the Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. It will be the public pressure that will help to form the political will for our colleagues in the Senate to do the right thing and to vote ``no'' on this tax bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota, our ranking member on the committee, for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, we have a crisis in suicide among veterans today in this country. The official estimate, which I agree with the ranking member, is probably an estimate that is too low: 20. I think the real number is much higher than that, but 20 a day, we know for sure, are taking their own lives in this country after they have put those same lives on the line for this country.

Amidst that crisis, we know that those veterans who have an other than honorable discharge are taking their lives at twice the rate of those veterans who have an honorable discharge.

Thanks to Mr. Coffman, my colleague from across the aisle, thanks to the bipartisan support of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, and the leadership from the chairman and the ranking member, we are beginning to address that, in ensuring that the 22,000 veterans who have an other than honorable discharge since 2009, who incurred post- traumatic stress disorder or military sexual trauma while in service to this country will now be able to see mental healthcare providers. Before this, they were precluded from that.

I want to thank the Trump administration and especially Secretary Shulkin for doing the most that they could administratively to see these veterans in crisis in emergency rooms, but we need to take the next step and ensure that they have preventative care, continuous care, and continuity in that care going forward so that we save more of these lives.

Given what these veterans have laid down for this country, what they have done for the United States, making us stronger and better, serving at less than 1 percent since 9/11 so that so many others do not have to serve, the least we can do is to make sure that they have access to the care that they have earned.

I want to thank Mr. Coffman and his team, the minority and the majority staffs for incorporating the best ideas from both sides of the aisle to make sure that we have a bill that will become law that ensures that we do our best for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank our colleagues on the other side of the Capitol, in the Senate, especially Senator Murphy, who worked on the companion legislation of this, to make sure that we have something to bring to the President's desk.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman Weber for bringing us today. I also want to extend my condolences for the loss of life and the devastation that was visited on the communities that he represents. I know that he is doing his best to unite those communities in every way possible to ensure that they get back on their feet, they rebuild, and are bigger and better than ever. Party difference doesn't mean anything at this moment. It is all of us as Texans. I join Chairman McCaul in agreeing that we cannot have a better moment as a State. I am grateful to him for bringing us all together today.

As he said, I have really had an opportunity to spend some time traveling Texas, and especially southeast Texas, starting around the time that Harvey hit. I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, that in Austin, Texas, on the 25th of August, I was there as the first evacuees were leaving southeast Texas, coming from Victoria and Corpus Christi and other places that were under mandatory evacuation orders. They were arriving at Red Cross shelters that were staffed both by the professionals and the volunteers.

I was told by the head of Red Cross in Austin that they had never seen a greater turnout of volunteers on the first day of a disaster. In fact, I met a young man named Luis Zamora, who at the time was a rising junior at Tarleton State University and a member of the National Guard, and who was so disappointed that his colleagues in the Guard were called up, but he was not. He drove himself down to the Red Cross headquarters so that he could sign up, volunteer, and help staff one of these shelters, welcome those who were fleeing this storm, and help try to make their lives a little bit better.

It reminded me of visiting some of the shelters in San Antonio, where I had a chance to see their great Mayor Ron Nirenberg in action personally welcoming people coming from other parts of the State. To every one of them, his message was: We are so glad you are here. Stay as long as you need to. We are going to make things better for you. You focus on you. We will do our best to take care of you.

That really was the message we heard everywhere that we went.

When we found ourselves in Victoria helping to transport some medical supplies for two of those hospitals, we met an extraordinary young woman named Lisa Price, who had been up for the last 72 hours, as many of the people working in those hospitals were, trying to coordinate care for those in need, coordinate the evacuation of those who were no longer able to be cared for in hospitals that only had backup generator power and did not have reliable water and could not keep those medicines and vaccines chilled.

There were volunteer ambulance corps from all over the State of Texas who had driven down to Victoria to help transport these patients out. Lisa and others were helping to coordinate that. Her husband, Jason, a Department of Public Safety Trooper was out on those roads that had no streetlights, that had no working traffic signals, trying to ensure the safety of his fellow Texans. Two extraordinary heroes who exemplify the way that Texas met this challenge.

I certainly spent some time in Houston, where we heard tale of all of the first responders, certainly folks who were working under the great fire chief there, Chief Pena. But also first responders who came from across the State. El Paso sent folks from the El Paso Police Department and the El Paso Fire Department. They made over 100 rescues not just in the Houston area, but also in the greater Beaumont area, including rescuing a 1-month-old child from chest-high waters. Again, we saw that both from first responders and everyday citizens who risked their own lives to save the lives of fellow Texans.

We were in a parking lot in Victoria, where we were picking up supplies to take to Rockport. We knew, however, that Rockport was under a mandatory curfew, enforced by DPS. So I approached two DPS cruisers that were in the parking lot at Walmart, where we were going in to buy ice and water and diapers and other supplies that they might need in Rockport. I wanted to ask these two DPS officers if they could help us to get into Rockport under the curfew. As they were rolling down their window and I began to introduce myself, they said: I know exactly who you are. You are Beto O'Rourke. We are from El Paso. We were one of the first volunteers from the Department of Public Safety in El Paso to come out to Victoria, and we have been working this community, communities like Cuero, Port Lavaca, Rockport, and other places.

They wanted to be where the action was. They wanted to be out there saving lives. And it made me so extraordinarily proud of El Paso and Texas once again. It is like the 90 soldiers from Fort Bliss from one of the aviation brigades who were in southeast Texas as well trying to facilitate the rescue of their fellow Texans, being where the need was at its moment of greatest importance, again, making us so proud.

Congressman Weber, I will conclude by telling you that, as we came in to Rockport and were able to successfully get in under curfew to make our delivery, we were blown away and inspired by the volunteer fire department, 20 people strong, 8 of whom had lost their homes and literally everything in their homes but had not lost a minute's service to their fellow community out of that Rockport fire station.

They were living in the fire station because they had nowhere else to live. They were responding to triple or quadruple the service calls. The rains had now ended. The fires had begun. There was some question about the viability

of those structures, and they wanted to be there to save lives.

That fire chief, Steve Sims, and the men and women who serve under him are the absolute best of us as Texans. I am so glad that you and every one of our colleagues from Texas, Republican or Democrat, House Member or Senator, are focused on making Chief Sims, the members of that fire department, and every Texan affected by Harvey whole again. We have got to use their inspiration and their example to do the important work that is here before us.

So I thank you once again for bringing us together, allowing me to join you and work with you and our colleagues to make sure that Texans fully recover from Hurricane Harvey bigger and better than ever. Thank you.

Thank you. I cannot think of a better way to spend it than to be here with you.

Mr. Speaker, this last Sunday, I had the opportunity to go to Port Arthur and the El Vista neighborhood. Pictured here is the Channel family flanked by the amazing Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens and County Commissioner Sinegal. You have Tomeka, McKenzie, and their father, Quincy, who are trying to find something to save out of a house that was all but destroyed. Ms. Tomeka showed me these pictures of McKenzie who is now a college student at TSU. His first grade picture and his kindergarten picture were just about all that they could save from their house.

But I will tell you, the Channel family, like Texas, was undefeated and promised me that they were going to build their house back bigger and better than ever. That is the spirit of our State. It is the spirit of the people in southeast Texas in communities like Port Arthur, Orange, Beaumont, Houston, Port Lavaca, Victoria, Rockport, and so many others.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you and the other Members of this body for voting to support our State and other areas hit by recent storms to the tune of $15 billion. It is going to help us build back bigger and better than ever.

Mr. Speaker, later this evening, perhaps early tomorrow morning, this body will be voting on a series of appropriations measures to fund our armed services and the VA. Tacked on to that, at the whim of the chairman of the Rules Committee, in what I can only describe as the most undemocratic, unrepresentative fashion, is a provision to fund a border wall between the United States and the country of Mexico to the tune of $1.6 billion, a mere down payment on total construction costs which are estimated to be over $20 billion.

I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, that we keep in mind some very basic facts; the first being that the border between the United States and Mexico has never been safer or more secure.

Last year and the year before, we saw record-low levels of northbound apprehensions from Mexico. If you look at where we were in the year 2000, you had 1.6 million apprehensions from Mexico. Last year, you had a little over 400,000.

Do you know who so many of those apprehensions were? They were kids, young families, scared and frightened, leaving the most horrific brutality that we can imagine from the Northern Triangle countries of Central America, literally fleeing for their lives to this country, which is comprised of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, and is the very foundation of our success. Apparently, this is who we are trying to wall off and protect ourselves from with this $1.6 billion boondoggle.

We now see, in the last 4 years, that more Mexican nationals are leaving the United States for Mexico than are coming north from that country into ours. We have twice the Border Patrol agents that we did in 2001: 20,000 Border Patrol agents. Today, you and I, the American taxpayer, are spending $19.5 billion a year.

We are long past the point of diminishing returns with this very precious public resource. We are trying to solve, Mr. Speaker, a problem that we don't have.

Case in point: the city that I have the honor of serving and representing, El Paso, Texas, is regularly ranked the top, the second, or the third safest city, not just in Texas, but in the entire United States, using FBI crime statistics as crunched by CQ Press.

We are the safest community, yes, because we have excellent local and Federal law enforcement, including the Border Patrol. But we are also the safest city because of, and not in spite of, the fact that a quarter of the people who I represent were born in another country, most of them in Mexico. They are not, Mr. Speaker, the rapists and criminals that then-Candidate Trump would have us believe that they are.

So, if there is no rational, logical, fact-based case for a wall, why in the world would we be spending $1.6 billion on this, instead of creating more jobs or ensuring that more Americans can see a doctor or that more kids can go to a great school with excellent public school teachers?

Here are some of the other consequences. There was excellent reporting in The Texas Observer, followed up by the LA Times, on the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. It is about 10 miles southeast of McAllen, Texas. It is the last refuge for the ocelot, for 400 different species of birds, bobcats, and armadillos.

They are planning to build the wall right through that refuge. That belongs to you, me, our families, and our descendants. That is our heritage that we are about to wall off and destroy.

We are dividing communities; we are diminishing our relationship with Mexico, who should be our closest partner; and we are making our communities, including El Paso and other communities in Texas, less safe, as we militarize them and as people who live amongst us question whether they can go to local law enforcement to report a crime, serve as a witness, testify in a case, or help contribute to the safety of our communities.

Let me bring this fact to your attention, Mr. Speaker. On Sunday, in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio, Texas, the bodies of nine dead immigrants were found in the back of a trailer. A tenth died later in the hospital.

Tuesday morning, in El Paso, three bodies, including those of children, were dredged out of the canal that joins us with Cuidad Juarez and Mexico.

Mr. Speaker, since 1998, 7,000 people--human beings--have died trying to cross into the United States. As we further militarize and wall up and make it harder for people to come as legitimate asylum seekers; refugees; folks who want to work in our economy; people who want to join their families, be with their moms, dads, brothers, and sisters, their children, we ensure greater suffering and death.

Mr. Speaker, we do not need a wall. We need comprehensive immigration reform. We need to treat each other with dignity and respect. That ensures our safety, security, and success.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stand against a proposal that we will vote on later this week to spend more than $1.6 billion to build a wall that we don't need at our border with Mexico.

We have never had lower apprehensions coming from Mexico in my lifetime. We had 105 apprehensions per Border Patrol agent 10 years ago; last year, it was 25.

The border has never been safer. We have never spent more money-- $19.5 billion a year--and instead of putting this $1.6 billion toward jobs or healthcare or reducing student loan debt, we are trying to solve a problem that we don't have in this country.

We need to instead look to the example of El Paso, Texas, one of the safest cities in the United States. It is the safest not in spite of its connection with Mexico, not in spite of the fact that so many people whom I represent in that community were born in another country--most of them Mexico--but because of those things.

When we treat each other with respect, dignity, and compassion, we also create security, safety, and success. Mr. Speaker, that is the example that we should be following, not a $1.6 billion investment in a wall that we don't need.

Mr. Speaker, there are tens of thousands of veterans in this country who have served this country; put their lives on the line, literally; and saved the lives of countless other servicemembers who, because of their service, have mental healthcare-related conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, which contributed to them having an other than honorable discharge.

Mr. Speaker, with an other than honorable discharge, those veterans are unable to go into a VA and see a mental healthcare provider, despite the fact that they are more than two times likely to take their own lives.

Now that we all know this, I hope that Members will join me in cosponsoring the Honor Our Commitment Act, which I introduced with Mike Bost in the House and Chris Murphy in the Senate. It is bipartisan and bicameral. It honors our commitment and obligation to those servicemembers who did right by this country, and it will save lives.

I look forward to the full support of this Chamber, passage of this bill, and having the President sign it into law.

Mr. Speaker, today marks the 111th anniversary of the Antiquities Act. Over more than a century, Presidents of both parties have preserved and opened to the public over 157 monuments, like the Grand Canyon by President Theodore Roosevelt, or Zion in Utah by President William Howard Taft, or the Pacific National Monument in Hawaii by President George W. Bush. It is also connected to our economy and jobs, with 7 million jobs in the United States connected to outdoor recreation in our national monuments.

While this administration is reviewing certain monuments, we need to protect the ones that we already have, like Organ Mountains National Monument in New Mexico, or Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

We also need to think about expanding national monuments where we have heritage that we want to preserve, like Castner Range, that preserves 10,000 years of human history and civilization in El Paso, Texas, where the United States and Mexico meet.

Mr. Speaker, let's work together to strengthen the Antiquities Act and not diminish its protections.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Hawaii for yielding to me and for her leadership on this issue. I served with her for 2 years on the Homeland Security Committee of the House of Representatives and saw her ability to balance the national interests and capitalizing and maximizing the opportunity that immigrants provide and have always provided to the United States while ensuring that we protect the homeland and our sacred commitment to every person and family that we represent to make sure that they are safe.

I think that the community that I have the honor of representing in Congress, El Paso, Texas, is a case in point. We are one of the safest cities in the United States today.

If you use the FBI's crime statistics as crunched by CQ Press, they routinely rank El Paso, Texas, the safest city in not just the State of Texas, but in the United States. For the last 20 years, we have been the safest, second safest, or third safest in the country. That is not in spite of the fact that we are connected with Mexico--our sister city is Ciudad Juarez--and it is not in spite of the fact that 24 percent of the people that I represent were born in another country, most of them in Mexico.

In fact, our security, our success, our strength is connected to the fact that we are a city of immigrants, that we are connected to the rest of the world through our shared border with Mexico, and that understanding that is critical to preserving the security and public safety which is such a critical part of our job. I will give you an example.

Not too long ago, under this administration, a woman who was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico was in an El Paso County courtroom seeking a protective order because her boyfriend threatened her life. The judge in that courtroom granted that protective order, and as that woman was leaving the courtroom, she was apprehended by a plainclothes Border Patrol agent. That has never, to my knowledge, happened in our community in the El Paso County Courthouse.

The consequences of that are not just that this one person was taken off the streets and placed into detention and custody. The consequence is that we have fewer people from the immigrant community in El Paso coming forward to serve as witnesses to crimes, to report crimes in the first place, to testify, to take part in the criminal justice system in a way that has kept our community safe.

By definition, today, because of that one act, because of the climate of fear and intimidation and anxiety produced by this administration, El Paso, Texas, the State of Texas, this country is less safe.

If we want to respond to the most urgent issue that each constituent of ours depends on us for, that is their safety, their security, that of the community and the country that we serve, then we need to make sure that we treat everyone within our communities that we represent with dignity and respect. We need to make sure that local law enforcement is not seen as a tool of Federal immigration law, but that they are there to preserve and to protect the peace and to serve the constituents and the people who live in those communities.

I would also add that next week marks the fifth anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program implemented under President Obama. It was an important step that this country took to realize the gains that we and future generations will receive by ensuring that those young people who arrived on our shores and through our land ports of entry like El Paso, through no fault of their own, at the tender age of 5 or 6 years old and who are now in school or want to serve in our military or want to create jobs themselves are able to stay here and flourish so that we receive the benefit of their potential.

I hope this Congress, every colleague from both sides of the aisle, will work with me and others to ensure that we have, if not comprehensive immigration reform, which I think should remain the goal, reform in those areas like for the DREAMers and the DACA beneficiaries that is most urgent and to the States that we represent and serve, like Texas, with 200,000 DACA beneficiaries out of 700,000 nationwide. It is the right thing to do for our security. It is the right thing to do for economic growth and job creation. It is the right thing to do in the best interests and traditions of this country.

So I conclude by again thanking the gentlewoman from Hawaii for leading this discussion on this critically important issue, and I thank her for the privilege of being able to speak tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to rise and join with my colleague, the Honorable Barbara Lee, to acknowledge and celebrate the ``Return to El Paso Roots'' event, which will take place May 26 through 29, 2017 in El Paso, Texas. This historically significant event salutes the African American families, friends, and students who attended the historic Douglass School, the first school for African Americans in El Paso.

Andrew Morelock established the school in 1883 as a refuge and haven for the children of African American El Pasoans barred from attending schools with white children. First named Franklin School, it became Douglass School in tribute to the noted abolitionist and statesman, Frederick Douglass. The school sought to allow children to thrive in a fully supportive community committed to their success and academic achievement. Douglass School provided much more than a quality education; it also provided community and a sense of well being and belonging for its students.

The school desegregated in 1955 following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, and the site is now an historical site in El Paso. Douglass students excelled, and the school produced a notable array of successful graduates, including the family of my esteemed colleague, Congresswoman Lee.

During the ``Return to El Paso Roots'' event, former students, families, friends, and El Paso residents will come together in celebration at the historic McCall Neighborhood Community Center. The late Leona Ford Washington, a retired Douglass schoolteacher, founded the Center in 1983. She dedicated her life to the needs and development of the El Paso African American community. It is pertinent to highlight the history of The McCall Neighborhood Center as it prepares to host many events for ``Return to El Paso Roots''.

The McCall Neighborhood Center is the former home of Marshall and Olalee McCall. Mr. McCall was the first African American postal worker in El Paso, and his wife, Mrs. McCall, was a principal at Douglass School. Following Mrs. McCall's tenure as principal from 1937 through 1944, the home served as a daycare center as well as her music studio. The McCall Neighborhood Center is an important foundation in the El Paso community.

In this celebration, we acknowledge and honor the tremendous contributions of the African American community to the success and development of El Paso, and the work they have done to make our community, the State of Texas, and our country a more just world.

Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join Congresswoman Lee and me in saluting the Douglass School students, families, and friends who will come to El Paso to commemorate and celebrate this remarkable community.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to rise today to recognize E Company, 141st Infantry Regiment, which served with valor and distinction during World War II.

In 1940, E Company, along with the entire 141st Infantry Regiment was federalized and assigned to the 36th Infantry Division. E Company was distinct in its heritage and was composed almost entirely of Mexican- American soldiers. A vast majority of E Company's soldiers hailed from El Paso.

The 141st Infantry Regiment shipped off to North Africa in April 1943. The regiment was one of the units in the amphibious invasion of Italy at Salerno, and they suffered heavy casualties. As the 141st fought its way through Italy, the regiment, as well as E Company, fought with distinction. The 141st reinforced units at Anzio, helped tip the scales to rout the Germans, and entered Rome in June 1944. This culminated 137 days of combat during which the 141st Infantry Regiment suffered over 3,000 casualties. The Germans called the 141st ``wild men from Texas, skilled in fieldcraft and fighting.''

The regiment then participated in a third amphibious landing, its second combat assault against a fortified beachhead, and entered Southern France. The 141st continued to fight through Central Europe. E Company participated with the regiment in all its major campaigns and battles. The unit deactivated in December 1945 after the war. The regiment had suffered 1,126 killed, more than 5,000 wounded, and over 500 missing in action. Its soldiers were awarded an astonishing three Medals of Honor, 31 Distinguished Service Crosses, 492 Silver Stars, and 1,685 Bronze Stars.

The valor and bravery of the soldiers of E Company, 141st Infantry Regiment must not be forgotten. As America prepares to reflect on the sacrifices made by our service members this Memorial Day, I ask that we take a moment to remember the soldiers of E Company. They represented the best of El Paso, Texas, and the nation as our brave service members valiantly fought the forces of tyranny. I am honored to represent the men and women of El Paso who carry on the legacy of E Company as they continue to stand against injustice and pursue the American dream.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the chairman of the full committee, and I join the ranking member of the full committee in honoring the work of Chairman Roe, his staff, and his ensuring that we do the right thing for every single one of the veterans in this country that we are here to serve.

It would be easy just to criticize the Choice Program which has not worked fully as intended. Too many of the veterans that we represent are still getting bills when their provider in the community, the VA, and the third-party administrator can't resolve their differences.

Too many veterans are having too hard of a time in getting an appointment in a timely fashion. And as we learned recently, the VA still is not fully measuring the true wait time for the more than 3 million appointments that have been made through the Choice Program right now. We don't have the kind of accountability that we must have.

All the same, the Choice Program is bridging care for veterans who need it in millions of instances. To simply allow the sunset to take place without having the time necessary to work on some of the necessary fixes would be irresponsible. So thanks to the chairman and the ranking member, we are able to do that today.

We also ensure that the VA becomes the primary payer, which is going to reduce some of the billing headaches that veterans have unnecessarily been subjected to.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to point out that the bill contains the Vet Connect Act, which I was able to author with Congressman Benishek, a bipartisan bill, last session, re-introduced this session.

It is bicameral, as well, in the Senate. We have Senators Tester, Isakson, and Manchin, who authored this bill that ensures that veterans' private medical information follows them from the VA to their provider in the community and then back to the VA, ensuring that every appointment, every provider, and every doctor can make informed medical decisions on behalf of those veterans. Right now, at the current rate of inclusion of veterans' personal medical information, it would take 60 years to get all the data into the hands of the doctors who need to make that care.

This brings the VA and the veterans under the VA's care into modern medical record keeping and sharing. It honors all of the HIPAA regulations; ensures privacy of veterans' medical records; but, most importantly, ensures that they are going to get better, more informed quality care, better outcomes, better treatment. It is what the veterans that we serve have earned and deserve.

I am very proud to join my colleagues in this to work for its passage. I hope that the other Members of this body will join us in supporting this unanimously.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to rise today to recognize the Silhouette Civic and Social Club, which holds a commendable record of service to the El Paso community.

This Saturday, March 25, 2017 the club will recognize their 50th anniversary. Founded in 1967, the Silhouette Civic and Social Club has served the El Paso community through events, social activities, and scholarships.

The Club's founders wanted to create an organization with a unity of sisterhood dedicated to enriching and supporting the El Paso community. Three of its founders, Doris Gary, Baby Ruth Boswell, and Edna Black, still actively participate in the organization's activities to this day.

The Silhouette Civic and Social Club, affectionately referred to as the ``Ladies with the Big Hearts,'' has graciously supported churches, shelters, and crisis centers through regular donations. They have supported El Paso's McCall Neighborhood Center, which preserves and advances the History of the African-American Community in El Paso, as well as the Reynolds Home, a shelter for homeless mothers and children.

They are most proud of providing college scholarships for deserving, honorable high school graduates. Their grass roots initiatives help young El Pasoans pursue the American Dream.

I thank the Silhouette Civic and Social Club for their efforts to improve our community and have a positive impact on the world through their generosity. The ``Ladies with the Big Hearts'' represent the compassion, selflessness, and community that is indicative of our country's southwest border and the people of El Paso that I have the distinct privilege to represent.