Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I thank the full committee chairman for giving me this time.

Mr. Chairman, I am proud, on behalf of the people of the First District of Illinois, to rise today in support of H.R. 987, which includes my legislation, the Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act.

My legislation included in today's package prohibits the practice of pay-for-delay where brand-name companies compensate generics to prevent the entry of cheaper drugs into the market.

I have long stood against these anticompetitive deals that limit competition and force consumers to pay more for their medications.

This disgraceful and deceptive practice ends now. I stand with my colleagues to stop drug companies from continuing to rig the system in an attempt to take advantage of hardworking Americans.

My legislation will take a meaningful step toward bringing this behavior to a screeching halt and holding drug companies accountable once and for all.

With today's package of prescription drug bills, we are making progress toward addressing the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs and are making good on our promise that no American should be forced to make the choice between paying their bills and buying their pills.

Madam Speaker, I wish to acknowledge Mark K. Colip, OD on his appointment as the sixth president of the Illinois College of Optometry, the oldest and largest college of optometry in the country and the largest provider of eye and vision care in Illinois.

Dr. Colip has dedicated his career to improving optometric education and the profession of optometry and has served in increasing positions of responsibility at the Illinois College of Optometry for the past twenty years. He has led multiple projects and campaigns that have garnered unprecedented alumni and community support and devoted his life's work to studying, understanding, and influencing the national optometry applicant pool.

Because of his leadership, Madam Speaker, the Illinois College of Optometry had a 250 percent increase in fundraising revenues over the past nine years, demonstrating significant successes compared to any prior period in the college's history. Dr. Colip is dedicated to the sound financial management of the College, utilizing his business acumen and service prioritization to enhance essential fiscal strategies, and has served in volunteer positions within the American Optometric Association, the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry, and the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education throughout his stellar career.

He has earned the recognition of Distinguished Scholar and Fellow by the National Academies of Practice for his extensive involvement and dedication to furthering practice, scholarship, and policy in support of inter-professional care and his dedication to helping the underserved, participating in six international medical mission trips.

Needless to say, Dr. Colip has a deep-seated passion and commitment to the success of the College and its students, alumni, patients, employees, and community. So, Madam Speaker, I applaud Dr. Colip for his years of hard work and congratulate him on his appointment as president of the Illinois College of Optometry and wish him nothing but continued success.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to highlight the staggering cost of insulin.

A study published last September estimated that manufacturers could charge between $7 and $11 for insulin and still make a profit. In reality, Madam Speaker, the list price today is $275 a vial.

This is an unconscionable markup on a critical, lifesaving drug, as diabetes is the primary cause of death for 85,000 Americans each and every year.

While insurance covers some of the costs, insulin is, all too often, unaffordable for the 17,000 Medicare beneficiaries in my district who depend on it to survive. That is because it can cost a senior on Medicare living in my hometown over $1,400 a year to pay for their diabetes medication.

To combat this issue, I introduced the Insulin Access for All Act. My legislation ensures that Medicare and Medicaid recipients pay nothing out of pocket for their insulin.

I urge my colleagues to join with me in reducing the cost of insulin for all Americans.

Madam Chair, during Roll Call Vote number 81 on H.J. Res. 37, the Buck Amendment, I mistakenly recorded my vote as Yes when I should have voted No.

Madam Speaker, I would like to include in the Record, an article by Trip Gabriel that was published in the New York Times on January 15, 2019 detailing racist remarks and divisive actions made by Rep. Steve King.

[From the New York Times, Jan. 15, 2019]

A Timeline of Steve King's Racist Remarks and Divisive Actions

(By Trip Gabriel)

While some Republicans suggested the Iowa congressman's

views were new to them, Mr. King has a long and documented

history of denigrating racial minorities.

Representative Steve King of Iowa, who was stripped of his

House committee seats on Monday night after making remarks

defending white supremacy, has a long history of racist

comments and insults about immigrants.

Republicans rarely rebuked him until recently, with some

suggesting that Mr. King's language and views were new to

them.

``This just popped up on Friday,'' Representative Steve

Scalise, the second-ranking House Republican, said on Sunday,

when asked if the party would penalize Mr. King for saying,

in an interview with The Times, ``White nationalist, white

supremacist, Western civilization--how did that language

become offensive?''

National Republicans courted his political support in Iowa:

He was a national co-chairman of Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential

effort and of Gov. Kim Reynolds' 2018 election. House

leadership appointed him chairman of the subcommittee on the

Constitution and civil justice. And President Trump boasted

in the Oval Office that he raised more money for Mr. King

than for anyone else. Yet Mr. King, who won a ninth term in

November, has publicly promoted white nationalists and neo-

Nazis on Twitter and disparaged nonwhite groups for years.

2002

Mr. King, in the Iowa State Senate, files a bill requiring

schools teach that the United States ``is the unchallenged

greatest nation in the world and that it has derived its

strength from . . . Christianity, free enterprise capitalism

and Western civilization.''

Mr. King is the chief sponsor of a law making English the

official language of Iowa.

2005

Now in Congress, Mr. King introduces the English Language

Unity Act, a bill to make English the official language of

the United States.

Mr. King sues the Iowa Secretary of State for posting

voting information on an official website in Spanish,

Laotian, Bosnian and Vietnamese.

2006

At a rally in Las Vegas, Mr. King calls the deaths of

Americans at the hands of undocumented immigrants ``a slow-

motion Holocaust.'' He claims that 25 Americans die daily

because of undocumented immigrants, an unsupported and

illogical leap from government statistics, which years later

influences talking points by President Trump.

On the House floor, Mr. King demonstrates a model of a 12-

foot concrete border wall topped with electrified wire that

he designed: ``We need to do a few other things on top of

that wall, and one of them being to put a little bit of wire

on top here to provide a disincentive for people to climb

over the top or put a ladder there. We could also electrify

this wire . . . We do that with livestock all the time.''

2010

Mr. King on the House floor, speaking of how law

enforcement officers can spot undocumented immigrants:

What kind of clothes people wear . . . what kind of shoes

people wear, what kind of accent they have . . . sometimes

it's just a sixth sense they can't put their finger on.

2011

Mr. King in a speech opposing the Affordable Care Act's

mandate to cover contraception:

Preventing babies being born is not medicine. That's not

constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let

our birthrate get down below the replacement rate, we're a

dying civilization.

2012

On a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference

with Peter Brimelow, an open white nationalist, Mr. King

referred to multiculturalism as:

A tool for the Left to subdivide a culture and civilization

into our own little ethnic enclaves and pit us against each

other.

2013

Mr. King on why he opposes legal status for Dreamers, who

were brought into the country as children:

For everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out

there that weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size

of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana

across the desert. Those people would be legalized with the

same act.

2015

Mr. King invites the far-right, anti-Islam Dutch politician

Geert Wilders to Washington and appears with him at the

Capitol. Mr. Wilders has called Islam ``not a religion,''

said the Quran was ``worse than Mein Kampf,'' and called for

the closing of mosques.

Mr. King tweets a selfie with Mr. Wilders in front of a

portrait of Winston Churchill.

Mr. Wilders praises Mr. King for having ``the guts to speak

out.''

2016

At the Republican National Convention in July, Mr. King

claims that nonwhite groups haven't contributed as much as

whites to civilization: ``This whole business does get a

little tired. I would ask you to go back through history and

figure out where are these contributions that have been made

by these other categories of people you are talking about.

Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to

civilization?''

Mr. King to The Washington Post days later: ``The idea of

multiculturalism, that every culture is equal--that's not

objectively true . . . We've been fed that information for

the past 25 years, and we're not going to become a greater

nation if we continue to do that.''

In a tweet during a meeting in Amsterdam with Mr. Wilders

and Frauke Petry, the leader of Germany's far-right

Alternative for Germany party, Mr. King says, ``Cultural

suicide by demographic transformation must end.''

In October, Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's far-right

party, tweets a picture of her meeting with Mr. King, the

first elected American official to meet her.

Also in October, Mr. King meets in Austria with leaders of

the far-right Freedom Party, including Heinz-Christian

Strache and Norbert Hofer. The party was founded in the 1950s

by former Nazis.

2017

``Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our

destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody

else's babies,'' Mr. King tweets in his endorsement of Mr.

Wilders in Dutch elections.

On March 14, Mr. King defends the tweet on Breitbart radio:

``We're watching as Western civilization is shrinking in the

face of the massive, epic migration that is pouring into

Europe. That's the core of that tweet. They're importing a

different culture, a different civilization--and that culture

and civilization, the imported one, rejects the host culture.

And so they are supplanting Western civilization with Middle

Eastern civilization and I say, and Geert Wilders says,

Western civilization is a superior civilization--it is the

first world.''

On Iowa talk radio, Mr. King recommends ``The Camp of the

Saints,'' a racist 1973 novel about an invasion of Europe by

nonwhite immigrants.

Mr. King tweets agreement with Viktor Orban, Hungary's

authoritarian leader: ``Mixing cultures will not lead to a

higher quality of life but a lower one.''

2018

Mr. King says he does not want Somali Muslims working in

meatpacking plants in Iowa: ``I don't want people doing my

pork that won't eat it, let alone hope I go to hell for

eating pork chops.''

Asked by a reporter for HuffPost if he is a white

nationalist or white supremacist, Mr. King responds: ``I

don't answer those questions. I say to people that use those

kind of allegations: Use those words a million times, because

you're reducing the value of them every time, and many of the

people that use those words and make those allegations and

ask those questions can't even define the words they're

using.''

In an interview with a web publication in Austria,

unzensuriert.at, which is linked to the far-right Freedom

Party, Mr. King again praises the novel ``Camp of the

Saints'': ``This narrative should be imprinted into

everyone's brain. When you are importing people, even

importing one single person, you are importing their

culture.''

In the same interview, Mr. King demonstrates familiarity

with the ``Great Replacement'' conspiracy theory, also known

as ``white genocide,'' which posits that an international

elite, including prominent Jews like George Soros, are

plotting to make white populations minorities in Europe and

North America. ``Great replacement, yes,'' Mr. King says.

``These people walking into Europe by ethnic migration, 80

percent are young men. They are somebody else's babies.''

Mr. King endorses a Toronto mayoral candidate, Faith Goldy,

who had recited the ``14 words'' used by neo-Nazis and gave

an interview to a podcast for the neo-Nazi website The Daily

Stormer.

The Anti-Defamation League writes to Speaker Paul D. Ryan

calling for the censure of Mr. King for endorsing Ms. Goldy.

The group also notes that the Austrian Freedom Party is

``riddled with anti-Semitism and Holocaust trivialization.''

Representative Steve Stivers, chairman of the Republican

House election committee, condemns Mr. King in a tweet: ``We

must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms,

and I strongly condemn this behavior.''

Asked on Oct. 21 on WHO-TV in Iowa, ``What is a white

nationalist?'' Mr. King answers: ``First of all, I think you

have to be white, but then we've got Rachel Dolezal who

didn't have to be black to be black. It is a derogatory term

today. I wouldn't have thought so maybe a year or two or

three ago. But today they use it as a derogatory term and

they imply you are a racist. That's the bottom line for

that.''

2019

``White nationalist, white supremacist, Western

civilization--how did that language become offensive? Why did

I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history

and our civilization?'' Mr. King said in an interview with

The New York Times published last week.

Madam Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of the House and offer a resolution previously noticed.

Madam Speaker, while I strongly condemn white supremacy and white nationalism, my position remains unchanged. Anything short of censure is shallow. Steve King has made a career of making racist statements. That is the only thing he is known for and this pattern of rabid racism must be confronted head on by the House of Representatives. This resolution just restates the obvious. It does not address Steve King's violent, vitriolic, and rabid racism. This Democratic resolution is an insult to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. as we recognize his birthday. We must proceed with a vote to censure him with the same zeal that the House used when censuring Charlie Rangel. Yesterday, the notice I provided of my privileged resolution to formally censure the Member from Iowa, started the clock for a floor vote to punish him for his bigotry and racism. We need to be clear to the American people that we use condemnation to express our disapproval of those not in the House. We use censure for those in the House, Steve King is a sitting member.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 2 of rule IX, I hereby give notice of my intention to offer a question of privileges of the House.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the form of a resolution appear in the Record at this point.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3191, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018. I was delighted when Senator Jones introduced companion legislation to my bill, H.R. 1272, and I am even more excited to see that his bill has passed the Senate by unanimous consent and is now before the House.

Mr. Speaker, with the passage of this legislation, families and communities that have waited too long for answers about the loss of loved ones during the tumultuous Civil Rights Era may finally have the chance for closure.

Mr. Speaker, this bill came to fruition because of the hard work of a group of students from Hightstown High School in New Jersey and their teacher, Mr. Stuart Wexler. These dedicated students learned firsthand the legislative process, from drafting to markup, to where we stand today, floor passage. I thank them for their dedication to this cause and applaud them for their diligence.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 404.

Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to H.R. 4606, the Ensuring Small Scale LNG Certainty and Access Act.

Madam Chair, this bill is unnecessary, as the Department of Energy has already finalized a rule that would approve any application to import or export as much as 0.14 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day if no environmental reviews are required.

Additionally, Madam Chair, I offered an amendment to this bill that would have protected the property rights of landowners, but that amendment was refused by the Rules Committee.

Madam Chair, my amendment would simply have ensured that eminent domain would not be exploited for the construction of any pipeline used to import or export any of the gas through this expedited process.

Madam Chair, Members from both sides of the aisle have been bombarded with complaints from their constituents who have been forced to defend their own property rights due to aggressive tactics employed by companies seeking to appropriate their land in order to make a profit.

Congress should stand on the side of these constituents, as my amendment would have ensured, instead of making it easier for private companies to seize land from American citizens. This is especially true in cases where applications are expedited, with little or no opportunity for public input or public debate through the process, as the underlying bill mandates.

Madam Chair, although my constituents are strongly opposed to this bill, and although my amendment was not made in order, I would urge my colleagues to support both of the amendments offered by my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Ranking Member Pallone's amendment would require public hearings so that the American people will have the opportunity to have their voices heard in this process.

Additionally, Congresswoman DeGette's amendment would require LNG export applications to demonstrate that the natural gas was produced in a manner that minimizes dangerous methane emissions.

A June 2018 report by Science magazine found that 13 million metric tons of methane are emitted yearly by the oil and gas industry, despite the fact that there is already existing cost-effective technology available to reduce these emissions.

So, Madam Chair, I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support both the Pallone and the DeGette amendments. If those two amendments are defeated, then I would urge all of my colleagues to oppose the underlying bill, H.R. 4606.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with excitement and a sense of pride in my heart. Today, Mr. Speaker, I am here to share some great news coming out of my hometown of Chicago, Illinois, because next week, on Monday, a group of smart, dedicated, and hardworking young African American men from Dunbar High School located in my district will start new jobs in the skills-based industry.

These jobs, Mr. Speaker, and the young men's employment are a result of a robust partnership and a sincere commitment to diversity that brought the city of Chicago, the Chicago public schools, and the IBEW Local 134 together to form an innovative construction trades program.

Mr. Speaker, I am extremely encouraged by these motivated and diligent young men who never gave up and who saw the opportunity and hope that was available to them that extended beyond their environment. This program, the partnership it represents, and the hopes that it inspires is spot on. It is exactly the type of investment our most vulnerable communities need because it has the potential to yield life- altering results.

Programs like this one not only provide hope by decreasing joblessness, but they have the ability to play a major role in reducing the pervasive violence that plagues our Nation and our communities.

This particular program, Mr. Speaker, is an important endeavor that offers more opportunities to underserved communities across the Nation by providing students in their junior and senior years of high school the chance to learn skills in fields including general construction, carpentry, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, welding, and electrical work, among many, many others.

After graduation, students have multiple options available to them. They can enter a pre-apprenticeship program; they can pursue a postsecondary education; or they can obtain professional certification that will lead to immediate employment, as it has for these young men.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to take a moment and recognize Mayor Rahm Emanuel's commitment to seeing this program's initiation and inauguration to get off the ground.

Additionally, Mr. Speaker, this would not have been possible without the hard work and devotion of some dedicated individuals and organizations. So I want to thank the IBEW Local 134 and Don Finn, its president, and the city of Chicago, the Chicago public schools, and, most importantly, the instructors and the mentors of these young men for their persistence in seeing that this vision emerged and ensuring that the next generation that builds America represents the diversity of America.

Mr. Speaker, I sincerely wish these young men the best as they embark on this new chapter in their lives. I want them to know that, with their perseverance, they have made it easier for those individuals, those young men and young women, who will follow in their footsteps.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer my amendment that finally addresses a longstanding and discriminatory gap in coverage and expands treatment options for those suffering from addiction.

This House, Mr. Chairman, should be commended for its work on opioid addiction, but let us not forget that we have insidiously ignored another pervasive and catastrophically destructive addiction that is known as crack cocaine.

To remedy this, Mr. Chairman, my amendment would expand the bill to include those individuals suffering from cocaine use disorder and explicitly clarifies the inclusion of cocaine base, more commonly known as crack cocaine, which, along with opiates, is a double-barrel cause of drug-related deaths in communities like mine all across this Nation.

Too often, Mr. Chairman, this House seems to only have focused on issues when they have affected the majority, the White population. This leaves vulnerable, non-White, minority Americans without any chance to escape from their illness and their resulting suffering.

Too often, Mr. Chairman, the government's response to minority Americans has been mass incarceration instead of treatment. Too often, Mr. Chairman, crises that impact the African American communities are seen as a criminal justice problem, while those that affect the White community are seen as a public health problem. That phenomenon changes today.

I know opponents of this amendment will say that we should be expanding coverage to all those suffering from addiction. I wholeheartedly agree, Mr. Chairman, with that statement. However, while more remains to be done, today's action is a step in the right direction.

This is an important moment for those who have been addicted to crack and have been denied such access to treatment. Today they will finally get relief as we make historic progress in the fight against addiction and the injustice that continues to tear communities apart.

For this reason, I urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in supporting this worthwhile and meaningful amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

Mr. Chairman, before I close, I want to, in a most sincere and humble way, thank Chairman Walden for his outstanding leadership on this matter, and for his breadth of understanding of the difficulties that my constituents have as a result of the omission from treatments for crack cocaine and other similar addictions.

I do understand the ranking member on the full committee's problems and concerns. I do understand, and I accept it. But, Mr. Chairman, we have to go forward on this particular amendment and on final passage.

Mr. Chairman, I thank Congressman Walden, and all of the staffs, for working with my staff on this critically important issue.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today out of anger and frustration at a deplorable situation in my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. I was shocked to read in yesterday's Chicago Tribune about the callous disregard demonstrated for our poor and vulnerable citizens by Alden Management Services, who operate Wentworth Rehabilitation & Health Care Center in my district, and I am here today to call on Alden to shut it down.

This so-called skilled nursing facility allowed a patient to remain on fire while an employee enjoyed a beverage. To add insult to injury, many residents have to endure bug bites, bruises, and other forms of neglect. This is the epitome of negligence and should not happen. This is America.

It is not a coincidence, Mr. Speaker, that most of these residents are poor seniors and African Americans. Where were CMS and the other regulatory and oversight authorities?

Mr. Speaker, this is reprehensible. Once again, I call for this hellhole to be shut down immediately.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House Chamber for rollcall vote 178. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.'' Additionally, on rollcall No. 179, I was inadvertently recorded as voting ``nay.'' I support H.R. 3053, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017, and my vote should be recorded as ``yea.''