Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the hard work and dedication of the great students, teachers, and staff members of Ewing and Hopewell Valley Central High School, among other schools across the great state of New Jersey, for their participation in the 2021 New Jersey Thespians All-State Show Songs for a New World. From acting on the big stage, directing the show to lighting design, Elliot Block, Ryan Dwyer, Olivia Gross, Molly Higgins, Chloe Lumond, David LaRaus, Olivia Levin, Nia Whaley, Fatima N'diaye, Jack Creegan, Katherine Rochon, Jason Wylie, Jenna Parilla Alvino, Jessica Bohenberger, and Carolyn Little, dazzled us all and showcased great commitment to representing our state on a national level at the International Thespian Festival.

Under the direction of Katherine Rochon, for the first time ever, a New Jersey show was selected to have a main stage performance at the 2021 International Thespian Festival. Even during this historic time in history, when a pandemic is changing the layout of our classrooms, these students, teachers, and staff members committed their time to bring joy to our community. This display of courage and the betterment of their craft attest to the kind of leadership and tradition that can only be obtained when we persevere through adversity.

On behalf of the great state of New Jersey, I would like to formally congratulate these great individuals for not only this outstanding achievement but for their amazing display of teamwork and dedication.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Reverend Dr. DeForest B. Soaries on his retirement as the spiritual leader and senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey. As a pioneer in the faith-based community, Dr. Soaries shared his teachings of spiritual growth, educational excellence, and economic development for the last three decades.

Reverend Soaries served not just his flock, but as the first African American man to hold the prestigious position of New Jersey's Secretary of State, he led the entire great State of New Jersey. Dr. Soaries devoted his time to implementing grassroots initiatives to enhance the quality of life for thousands of New Jersey residents. Bridging the gap between underserved communities and voting accessibility as former chairman of the United States Election

Assistance Commission, he assisted Congress in establishing the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Dr. Soaries has worked tirelessly to pave the way for the next generation of civic leaders through his numerous community initiatives to free individuals from the burden of debt by launching the dfree Financial Freedom Movement and currently serves as an independent director at three companies: Independence Realty Trust, Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, and Ocwen Financial Corporation.

I applaud Dr. Soaries for his outstanding accomplishments and commitment to creating opportunities for economic empowerment in our state. On behalf of the state of New Jersey, I would like to formally congratulate Reverend Dr. DeForest B. Soaries on his retirement and wish him the very best as he embarks on his next chapter of life.

Madam Speaker, first of all, I thank Representative Leger Fernandez for managing this very important Special Order hour. I want to tell her and you, Madam Speaker, that I have been totally inspired by my colleague's comments thus far on the benefits of the Build Back Better Act, on helping us to remember and to reimagine.

I remember Thanksgiving as well. I come from a big family, and there are about 30 of us that get together. It didn't happen last year. But because of this leadership out of this administration, the Democratic Caucus in this House and in the Senate, we were able to deliver resources so that people could get the things that they need to stay in their homes and get vaccinated.

I, for one, am happy to say that my whole family is vaccinated, and we also have the booster, so we are going to get together for this Thanksgiving dinner. I am grateful to the visionary President, Joe Biden, for this.

I am here tonight to speak about something that I am passionate about. I want you to know, Madam Speaker, that I am rising today because I feel that the way our country has treated working people has just been unacceptable.

Billionaires pay a smaller share of their wealth in Federal taxes than the middle-class and the working-class people who built this country.

Our system is antithetical to our country's founding principles, and, yes, it is broken. Our country has failed its

people, and we must do better. We can't do better, though, without building back better.

Although the current bill does not include all that we had hoped it would, it is still going to transform the lives of those who need it most.

For example, it will give working parents the freedom to raise their newborn children and make a living. That is why Build Back Better extends the already extremely successful child tax credit expansion Democrats first passed in the American Rescue Plan earlier this year.

It also incorporates my Healthy MOM Act to ensure new mothers have 12 months of postpartum healthcare coverage so they are supported when they need it most.

It will also make an unprecedented investment in putting floors beneath our feet and roofs above our heads. The Build Back Better Act includes $65 billion for safer, more accessible public housing. It also invests an additional $25 billion to construct and rehabilitate low- income family housing and another $9 billion for lead remediation to safeguard our children's health.

This bill also puts us back on the right path to prepare against the threat of climate change. It makes a historic $29 billion investment in greenhouse gas reduction and $3 billion for climate justice block grants. It will also ban new offshore oil and gas leasing along our coasts to create a cleaner, brighter future where all of our children can thrive.

Right now, the American Dream is just that, a dream, for far too many people. Building back better is a crucial step toward making that dream a reality.

Since our Nation's founding, working Americans have paid more than their fair share. It is time we finally reward them.

Today's Build Back Better Act is not the bill we had in mind when the President first announced his agenda, but we are still on the verge of making the biggest investment in working American families in more than half a century.

I am very proud of that. We all ought to be very proud of that. We ought to be proud that we can work hard. We stood together; we fought together; and together, we can make it happen.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for spearheading this Special Order hour and for giving me an opportunity to share a few of my remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today optimistic, optimistic that our country is on the verge of taking a historic step forward for all of our communities. The Build Back Better Act is a once-in-a-generation investment in our country as a whole and in Black Americans, specifically. For too long, our country's institutions have been apathetic and even adversarial toward Black people. Four hundred years of slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, and other forms of systemic violence have trapped Black Americans in a vicious cycle from which it can be nearly impossible to break.

The Build Back Better Act will not instantly remedy four centuries of that pain and hardship, but it is a crucial starting point. Through revitalizing infrastructure and funding essential social services, the President's agenda will set the next generation of Black Americans up for success.

Building back better means directly confronting the Black mental health crisis. This bill would fund universal childcare and pre-K, allowing Black mothers to return to the workforce while giving Black children the early childhood care that they need.

Building back better means giving those same Black children safe places to grow up, to learn, and to thrive. We will do that by making the single-largest housing investment in our Nation's history.

Building back better means ensuring those very same children have long, successful lives. That is why the bill invests billions of dollars into historically Black colleges and universities. This is new money on top of our annual funding of HBCUs.

Many of us in this Chamber today, myself included, wanted more out of the Build Back Better Act. No, this bill is not perfect, and much more work will remain to be done after its passage. This does not change the fact, however, that the Build Back Better Act represents monumental progress for our country; progress for everyday Americans; progress for elder Americans; progress for children in America; progress for working Americans; and, yes, progress for African Americans and other minorities.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my wonderful colleagues to support the Build Back Better Act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me to be able to address something that I think is so critical and is such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

There are so many elements of this Build Back Better agenda that touch us from the very youngest to the oldest to the middle class to the working class to those unable to work and those at greatest need.

I would like to speak on the aspects of the impact on our climate, the decisions that we must make.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because Congress has an opportunity to address the climate crisis, yet some Members still refuse to take this issue seriously. Climate catastrophe is no longer some distant threat. It is here, and it is now. We are witnessing it firsthand, yet we continue to ignore its very real and very deadly effects.

This year we saw the single largest wildfire in California history. We saw temperatures surpass 100 degrees in the Pacific Northwest. And we saw Hurricane Ida devastate my home State of New Jersey as well as many others.

These tragedies were not inevitable. We could have avoided them had our country made it clear decades ago that climate change is not a political issue but a real issue that we need to respond to. We now face the consequences of our past and present decisions. This could be our last chance to take long overdue action and spare our children from having to raise their children in an increasingly hostile world.

The Build Back Better Act includes crucial climate investments. But these provisions are in jeopardy as some of our colleagues seek to eliminate them.

The Build Back Better Act must include climate action. It is nonnegotiable. We need to pass the President's entire agenda, and we need to pass it now. We might never get another chance.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for this opportunity to speak on such an important issue.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of the 60th Anniversary of the Delaware River Basin Commission.

60 years ago, under President Kennedy, governors from Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York came together to sign concurrent compact legislation to form a regional body in order to protect, manage, and improve the Delaware River Basin. This profound coming together of the federal government and state governments as equal partners in signing of the Delaware River Basin Compact was a first in our nation's history.

Working together regardless of political boundaries, the Delaware River Basin Commission has worked tirelessly to ensure the health of the Delaware River and the surrounding ecosystems and communities through implementing flood damage reduction, protecting fisheries, abating and controlling stream pollution, improving water quality, and more.

I thank the Delaware River Basin Commission for their work, and congratulate them on their 60th Anniversary.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Rev. Robert Moore for serving as the Executive Director of the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) for 40 years. Rev. Moore has worked tirelessly on critical issues of peace including gun control, disarmament, the reduction of nuclear weapons, voter engagement, and countless other causes.

In his role as Executive Director, he has led critical peacemaking efforts through the Coalition for Peace Action, which celebrated its 40-year anniversary last year. Rev. Moore led many grassroots initiatives in the United States including the inaugural Peace Voter Campaign in 1995 as well as one of the largest demonstrations in national history in 1982 where one million people gathered in New York to call for a freeze on nuclear weapons.

In honor of Rev. Moore's illustrious career and dedication to peacemaking efforts, the Princeton Municipal Council declared that September 8, 2021 is ``Reverend Robert Moore Day'' in Princeton, New Jersey. Rev. Moore's dedication to building a more peaceful world is an inspiration to us all and today we celebrate the impact and importance of his work.

I congratulate Rev. Bob Moore on his notable achievements.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the threat of extreme heat in the United States and applaud the action of President Biden in mobilizing an all-of-government effort to protect our vulnerable populations from this increasingly common disaster.

Climate change threatens everyone on this planet, and it will continue to do so for generations. While some regions will experience scorching droughts and wildfires, others will experience catastrophic hurricanes and flooding.

Environmental activist Wendell Berry said, ``The world is not given by our fathers, but borrowed from our children.'' The consequences of our past and present decisions are creating a dismal and desolate future for our children and for our children's children.

Unfortunately, even if we rapidly reduce our carbon emissions today, our planet will continue to warm for some time.

Heat threatens the lives of children, the elderly, outdoor workers, and more, as prolonged exposure leads to health risks, such as heat cramps, heat stroke, and of course death.

This summer we experienced this new, hotter than normal heat across this country. In late June, the Pacific Northwest region experienced an abnormal heat wave that led to unprecedented numbers of deaths and hospitalization.

July was the Earth's hottest month on record.

In early August, over 80 million people across 20 States, from Washington to Florida, were under excessive heat warnings and advisories. Simultaneously, States along the East Coast experienced triple-digit heat indexes as a combination of heat and humidity created hazardous and deadly situations.

Most recently, following Hurricane Ida, 10 people died from heat in New Orleans after vulnerable residents lost power, and temperatures climbed to over 90 degrees.

Disadvantaged communities suffer the most from these frequent heat occurrences. Communities of color and low-income communities disproportionately experience higher temperatures than their White and wealthier counterparts.

Decades of discriminate urban planning, like reducing tree cover or increasing hard surfaces, have led to temperature disparities in our most vulnerable communities.

Moreover, in many of these communities residents struggle with significant preexisting and chronic illnesses, like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, which become fatal in extreme heat.

For some Americans, higher temperatures are not merely a nuisance, they can be deadly. I applaud President Biden's recent decision to address extreme heat.

From protecting outdoor workers by establishing OSHA standards to expanding cooling centers and cooling assistance amidst heat waves, President Biden's commitment to the health and safety of the American population is vital to ensure that fewer lives will be lost to increasing temperatures.

Earlier this year I was proud to introduce the SHADE Act, which aligns with the ambitious goals of President Biden's extreme heat initiatives and addresses the heat disparity experienced in disadvantaged communities. The SHADE Act would create a grant program to plant trees in formerly redlined districts and overburdened communities.

Thanks to the research of Dr. Jeremy Hoffman, Dr. Vivek Shandas, and Nicholas Pendleton, we now know that historical discriminatory housing policies have long-lasting consequences, making formerly redlined neighborhoods hotter than non-redlined neighborhoods.

Climate change is not a distant or slow moving threat. It is here now, and many Americans are battling the consequences of it alone. Too many are losing that battle.

While efforts to combat climate change must be a priority, we must also mitigate the impacts we are already facing. We must ensure that all Americans can adapt and can survive in this new normal.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5305, the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act. This important piece of legislation will achieve two vital goals: keeping our government funded through December 3 and providing much-needed relief to areas impacted by natural disasters this year.

The emergency assistance is vital for my constituents who were heavily impacted by Hurricane Ida, which caused historic flooding across central Jersey. This assistance will ensure that townships and individuals in my district can fully recover and repair from the damages of the storm.

Along with this funding, I am pleased to see the inclusion of canceling the outstanding balances of FEMA's community disaster loans.

This will lift a financial burden that New Jersey, as well as other States and territories, have struggled with in the wake of recovering from multiple disasters dating back to Hurricane Sandy. I have been fighting for this relief with my New Jersey colleagues for years, and I thank the chairwoman from the bottom of my heart for working with me to get it included in the text.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill and its quick passage towards the President's desk.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor Fannie Lou Hamer, whose speech on the violent oppression of Black voting rights on August 22, 1964 still rings too true today. Delivered to the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Convention, her speech details the violence at the hands of agents of the state that she and other Black Americans encountered

in trying to register to vote in Mississippi in 1962 and 1963.

The various barriers, via literacy tests and intimidation, as well as the physical beatings endured by Fannie Lou Hamer and her compatriots remind us of the critical importance of the proactive right to vote. She was a civil rights leader fighting for voting rights and women's rights. She dedicated her life to speaking up and out through her activism and campaigns for elected office. Her words continue to inspire and to underscore the importance of supporting the right to vote in the face of new barriers and new, surreptitious Jim Crow laws.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the full text of her remarks delivered on that day in 1964.

Testimony Before the Credentials Committee, Democratic National

Convention, Atlantic City, New Jersey--August 22, 1964

Mr. Chairman, and to the Credentials Committee, my name is

Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, and I live at 626 East Lafayette

Street, Ruleville, Mississippi, Sunflower County, the home of

Senator James O. Eastland, and Senator Stennis.

It was the 31st of August in 1962 that eighteen of us

traveled twenty-six miles to the county courthouse in

Indianola to try to register to become first-class citizens.

We was met in Indianola by policemen, Highway Patrolmen,

and they only allowed two of us in to take the literacy test

at the time. After we had taken this test and started back to

Ruleville, we was held up by the City Police and the State

Highway Patrolmen and carried back to Indianola where the bus

driver was charged that day with driving a bus the wrong

color.

After we paid the fine among us, we continued on to

Ruleville, and Reverend Jeff Sunny carried me four miles in

the rural area where I had worked as a timekeeper and

sharecropper for eighteen years. I was met there by my

children, who told me that the plantation owner was angry

because I had gone down to try to register.

After they told me, my husband came, and said the

plantation owner was raising Cain because I had tried to

register. Before he quit talking the plantation owner came

and said, ``Fannie Lou, do you know--did Pap tell you what I

said?''

And I said, ``Yes, sir.''

He said, ``Well I mean that.'' He said, ``If you don't go

down and withdraw your registration, you will have to

leave.'' Said, ``Then if you go down and withdraw,'' said,

``you still might have to go because we are not ready for

that in Mississippi.''

And I addressed him and told him and said, ``I didn't try

to register for you. I tried to register for myself.'' I had

to leave that same night.

On the 10th of September 1962, sixteen bullets was fired

into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tucker for me. That same

night two girls were shot in Ruleville, Mississippi. Also Mr.

Joe McDonald's house was shot in.

And June the 9th, 1963, I had attended a voter registration

workshop; was returning back to Mississippi. Ten of us was

traveling by the Continental Trailway bus. When we got to

Winona, Mississippi, which is Montgomery County, four of the

people got off to use the washroom, and two of the people--to

use the restaurant--two of the people wanted to use the

washroom.

The four people that had gone in to use the restaurant was

ordered out. During this time I was on the bus. But when I

looked through the window and saw they had rushed out I got

off of the bus to see what had happened. And one of the

ladies said, ``It was a State Highway Patrolman and a Chief

of Police ordered us out.''

I got back on the bus and one of the persons had used the

washroom got back on the bus, too.

As soon as I was seated on the bus, I saw when they began

to get the five people in a highway patrolman's car. I

stepped off of the bus to see what was happening and somebody

screamed from the car that the five workers was in and said,

``Get that one there.'' When I went to get in the car, when

the man told me I was under arrest, he kicked me.

I was carried to the county jail and put in the booking

room. They left some of the people in the booking room and

began to place us in cells. I was placed in a cell with a

young woman called Miss Ivesta Simpson. After I was placed in

the cell I began to hear sounds of licks and screams, I could

hear the sounds of licks and horrible screams. And I could

hear somebody say, ``Can you say, `yes, sir,' nigger? Can you

say `yes, sir'?''

And they would say other horrible names.

She would say, ``Yes, I can say `yes, sir.' '' ``So, well,

say it.''

She said, ``I don't know you well enough.''

They beat her, I don't know how long. And after a while she

began to pray, and asked God to have mercy on those people.

And it wasn't too long before three white men came to my

cell. One of these men was a State Highway Patrolman and he

asked me where I was from. I told him Ruleville and he said,

``We are going to check this.''

They left my cell and it wasn't too long before they came

back. He said, ``You are from Ruleville all right,'' and he

used a curse word. And he said, ``We are going to make you

wish you was dead.''

I was carried out of that cell into another cell where they

had two Negro prisoners. The State Highway Patrolmen ordered

the first Negro to take the blackjack.

The first Negro prisoner ordered me, by orders from the

State Highway Patrolman, for me to lay down on a bunk bed on

my face.

I laid on my face and the first Negro began to beat. I was

beat by the first Negro until he was exhausted. I was holding

my hands behind me at that time on my left side, because I

suffered from polio when I was six years old.

After the first Negro had beat until he was exhausted, the

State Highway Patrolman ordered the second Negro to take the

blackjack.

The second Negro began to beat and I began to work my feet,

and the State Highway Patrolman ordered the first Negro who

had beat me to sit on my feet--to keep me from working my

feet. I began to scream and one white man got up and began to

beat me in my head and tell me to hush.

One white man--my dress had worked up high--he walked over

and pulled my dress--I pulled my dress down and he pulled my

dress back up.

I was in jail when Medgar Evers was murdered.

All of this is on account of we want to register, to become

first-class citizens. And if the Freedom Democratic Party is

not seated now, I question America. Is this America, the land

of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep

with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be

threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human

beings, in America?

Thank you.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize some of the amazing track talent from the 12th District.

This past weekend, Athing Mu of Trenton, the child of Sudanese immigrants, dominated her 800-meter Olympic qualifying race, nearly breaking the American record despite an early collision on the track. This young woman is finally getting the recognition she has worked so hard for.

No less impressive was Dunellen's own Sydney McLaughlin, who broke the world record for the 400-meter hurdles, becoming the first woman to ever run the race in under 52 seconds.

We have known about these extraordinary young women for quite some time back home, but now America has had the opportunity to see them in action.

New Jersey is so proud of them. I can't wait for them to show the world what they will do at the Olympics.

Madam Speaker, Juneteenth is a day for me of commemoration, not of celebration, because it reminds us of something that was delayed in happening.

It also reminds me of what we don't have today, and that is full access to justice, freedom, and equality. All of these are often in short supply as it relates to the Black community, and it is still delayed.

So, as we take this time to acknowledge Juneteenth and to recognize Juneteenth National Independence Day Act--something I definitely support--I pray that we do not lose track of the fact that we have so much more work to do to ensure that we have the fairness, the equality, the opportunity, whether it is voting, working, or just living healthfully in the United States of America.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 100th Commemoration of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre, where on May 31-June 1, 1921, a white mob of thousands of people shot and murdered Black residents of America's ``Black Wall Street'' in Tulsa, Oklahoma, looted their homes and businesses, and burned more than a thousand homes, churches, schools, and businesses. The horrific events of this deadly attack were the result of a series of failures of leadership that ultimately fostered race-based violence, discrimination, and oppression.

This was a failure of law enforcement to protect Tulsa's Black residents and maintain civil order. A failure of the judicial system, as many of the residents who fled the Massacre were detained in internment camps immediately following the Massacre and a grand jury placed the blame entirely on the Black community and indicted 85 people--mostly African Americans--with Massacre-related offenses. A failure of our American promises of the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Justice was not served. No White person was ever held individually accountable for crimes committed during the Massacre, and the vast majority of survivors and their descendants were never directly compensated for these harms.

The attack on the thriving Black community continued on throughout the years and is evident even in today's society; as the community sustained millions of dollars of property damage and many Black survivors of the Tulsa massacre and their descendants have not been able to recoup the wealth that had been stolen or destroyed during the Massacre. And still today, despite calls for justice and accountability, our government leaders continue to fail the victims of the Tulsa-Greenwood Massacre and their descendants by refusing action to right the wrongs that were perpetrated on innocent community members 100 years ago. Over the decades, local ordinances to prevent rebuilding, redlining, and so-called ``urban renewal'' policies have prevented Black Tulsans from rebuilding a thriving community. Expressways, funded by the federal government, literally cut through areas of Greenwood, displacing Black families and businesses.

Madam Speaker, though we are 100 years past the heinous Tulsa- Greenwood Massacre, Black Americans are unfortunately not far removed from the continued injustice of systemic racism and oppressive tactics that block upward mobility out of poverty and suppress opportunities to create and maintain generational wealth. As we take time to recall the injustice of this Massacre and continue the call for justice for the descendants, let us also reflect on the continued efforts of injustice that plague minority communities today. We need accountability, we need economic justice, and we need criminal justice reform. We cannot continue to delay justice and equality. The time for change is now.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that January 6 was a frightening experience. It was an assault upon the fundamentals of this Government. It was an assault upon the place I thought I was going to be the safest I could possibly be, and we politicize this.

This is an opportunity to bring this bipartisan commission into existence so that we can get out of the politics of it and look at the facts that happened, the evidence that happened, and the recommendations that will ensue from that effort.

I wholeheartedly support this effort. I am grateful for the bipartisanship of it, and I pray that all of our colleagues will support this.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from New Jersey for those kind words, and I thank my colleague from the other side of the aisle for supporting what I think is a very important piece of legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to call on all of my colleagues to support the Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act.

Over the last several years, data has indicated an alarming increase in the suicide rates for Black children and teenagers, while a recent study has shown that suicide intervention programs--while successful among White, Asian, and Hispanic children--have done little to help African-American and Native-American youth.

Two years ago, I launched the Emergency Task Force on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health, sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus. The task force's report that inspired this bill is an urgent call to action.

Regardless of race, gender, and socioeconomic status, every individual should have access to mental health resources and treatment.

This bipartisan bill will provide much-needed grants for culturally competent mental health services, increase funding for the Minority Fellowship Program, and direct research and resources at Federal departments and agencies. I basically am echoing what my colleagues have already shared with you.

We must pursue this equity in mental health because the systems we have in place simply do not address the mental health needs of all communities.

Madam Speaker, I call upon all of my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.