Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Prairie View A&M University, on the occasion of its 150th anniversary celebration for its outstanding contributions to higher education.

Prairie View A&M began as an Agricultural and Mechanical College for the ``colored youth'' with just 8 students. Today, it stands as Texas' second oldest public institution and a leading Carnegie-classified R2 research university, enrolling more than 10,000 proud Productive Panthers.

As an exemplary Historically Black College and University, Prairie View A&M is home to numerous distinguished research centers and institutes, including the National Center for Infrastructure Technology and the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center. Throughout its history, the University has expanded access to higher education, particularly for underrepresented communities, by fostering an environment of growth, academic achievement, and innovation.

Under the visionary leadership of President Dr. Tomikia P. LeGrande, Prairie View A&M has launched its ``Journey to Eminence'' plan, an ambitious effort to elevate the institution as a premier public historically Black university and a national model for student success, with an emphasis on research excellence, increased graduation rates, and strong post-graduate outcomes.

Prairie View A&M's legacy stands as a testament to the power of access, opportunity, and academic excellence. Its impact will continue to shape generations of leaders for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of Texas, I commend Prairie View A&M University on this remarkable milestone and extend my deepest gratitude for 150 years of service to students, to Texas, and to the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this constitutional amendment that would lock the number of Supreme Court Justices at nine.

The more I listen to this debate, the more it is abundantly clear to me that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have no desire to use the power that was given to us under the Constitution.

When President Trump starts a war in Iran, they refuse to pass a War Powers Resolution.

Now I am hearing an argument that we should lock the number at nine because that is what the Supreme Court wants, but that is not how the Constitution works.

The Constitution says that it is Congress that has the power to set the size of the Supreme Court. It is our call, and this has happened multiple times in the history of this country.

Ask yourself, why would my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to give that power away? Because they want to lock in this Supreme Court--this Supreme Court that has gutted voting rights, this Supreme Court that has taken away a woman's right to choose, and this Supreme Court where Justices take secret gifts and private jets and answer to absolutely nobody.

Americans are asking for something in the Supreme Court. They are asking for reform. They want to see ethics reform. They want to see term limits. They want to see a Supreme Court that reflects the American people and not just the few, a small group of elites.

Congress should be using its power, not giving it away.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Jackson for setting this up and for shining a light on such an important issue.

Mr. Speaker, President Trump has spent more than a year promising that he would make life more affordable for Americans, but when he took office, instead of lowering grocery bills, rent, and healthcare costs, he went straight after diversity, equity, and inclusion. He threatened private corporations that refused to give up their programs without legal action, while Vice President JD Vance even went so far as to describe these policies as discrimination against White men.

That sounds ridiculous because it is, and my constituents know that.

Last month, a Federal judge ruled that Houston's minority and women- owned business enterprise program is unconstitutional for considering race when awarding city contracts because of President Trump's anti-DEI policies.

That program was created under the President Reagan administration because Houston had clear evidence that Black, Brown, and women-owned businesses were being left behind in city contracting. That evidence still exists today in 2026.

Across industries, Black-owned businesses were consistently at a disadvantage. The goal of the program was simple: to address those barriers and give qualified businesses a fair opportunity to compete.

Instead of asking why those disparities exist, we are being told that addressing them is the issue. If you look at every single metric for families in this country, whether it be annual income, wealth accumulation, or education, Black folks are behind in just about every single metric.

Instead of us asking why those disparities exist and instead of us working as a government to solve those problems and address those disparities, we are now being told that it is reverse racism to address issues that come from a system that enslaved folks in this country and perpetuated inequalities and Jim Crow for much longer than that.

Houston knows better. Republicans call DEI policies handouts and reverse discrimination, but we know that is not true. This is how we correct injustices that disproportionately harm Black and Brown communities like the ones I serve. That is what these programs are about, and that is a promise that is worth defending.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose H.R. 9237, which, if we are being clear, cuts veterans' benefits.

The President and my colleagues on the Republican side in Congress have no problem sending our men and women off to war, but the real measure of a nation is not just how it treats their servicemembers when they are on Active Duty. It is how it treats them when they are no longer dodging the bombs, the bullets, and the storms at sea and when they are no longer serving in war.

As a Congress, we have to do right by our veterans, and this bill simply does not do it with $57 billion in cuts for disability benefits for veterans. It raises home loan refinancing fees $4 billion on veteran borrowers.

Mr. Speaker, I am the son of two veterans, and we would have never purchased our first home when I was in high school were it not for a VA home assistance loan. That is to say not just for me but for so many folks across the 18th Congressional District of Texas.

I keep hearing my colleagues on the other side of the aisle saying that we have to find money to offset to be able to pay for some of the other benefits in this bill. Yet, if we are pinching pennies, let's tell the President to end his war in Iran, which has cost taxpayers billions and billions of dollars. It is time for this Congress to do right by our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote against H.R. 9237.

Mr. Speaker, last week marked 4 years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade

and ripped away the constitutional right women had relied on for nearly 50 years.

In Texas, Republican politicians rushed to impose some of the most extreme abortion bans in the entire country. They promised that these laws would protect life. They told us that there would be no consequences.

However, now the consequences are here, and it is women who are paying for them with their lives.

Since Dobbs and Texas' total abortion ban, infant deaths in Texas jumped from 1,985 to 2,240 in a single year. That is a 255-death increase.

It should pain each of us that here in this country, a woman can walk into a hospital with a medical emergency, and doctors will have to stop and ask whether politicians will put them in prison if they save her life.

If those pushing these abortion bans truly cared about life, they would be fighting for affordable childcare, paid family leave, and better maternal healthcare.

On this anniversary, I hope that we all stay committed to fighting so that every single woman in this country can get their freedom and their right to an abortion back in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Faster Labor Contracts Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am just astonished to hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle argue that this bill was rushed when they failed to take it up in committee, when we all know that under their leadership, the committee has focused on attacking unions and attacking trans kids.

Maybe if they focused more on education and workforce, we would see more bills like this come to the floor through a proper process that actually helps unions.

I represent Houston and the longshoremen on the Ship Channel, like my grandfather; freight drivers; steelworkers; and electricians. These are folks that without them, this country would come to a screeching halt.

Right now, when those workers vote to form a union, what the law requires is that the employer bargain in good faith. That is exactly what the law requires, but we all know that is not what happens in real life.

In reality, employers stall. They run out the clock. That is why the average time between a union vote and the first contract is over a year, a year when the bosses hold all of the cards. That is a loophole that lets employers act in bad faith. All this bill does is close it.

It sets clear deadlines; a fair process; mediation, if needed; arbitration as a backstop; and it only applies to first contracts. It is focused, and it is reasonable.

When workers follow the rules, the rules have to work for them. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I urge my colleagues across the aisle to spend better time when they are managing their committees.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose H.R. 7892, the so-called No Aid for Ghost Students Act. Think about a first-generation student who is applying with a FAFSA for the first time. It is already one of the most confusing processes out there, but all this bill does is make it worse.

This bill would require the government to run every single financial aid application through a fraud detection algorithm, and if you get flagged, the college that you have been admitted to cannot release a single dollar until you jump through hoops to prove who you are.

When a student gets flagged, there is no timeline, no appeals process, no accuracy standards. For a kid who does not know the system, that could mean a missed enrollment deadline. It could mean lost housing. It could mean the end of a dream before it even starts. I know that as a first-generation college grad.

However, I want to be very clear about how this bill will impact folks. We heard earlier that this only applies when there is a real fraud risk, but that is a misnomer. Study after study on identification verification programs and fraud detection algorithms consistently show a higher false positive for Black and Hispanic users. Who are the students who are going to get flagged the most here? I bet they are going to be disproportionately Black. I bet they are going to be disproportionately Latino. I bet they are going to be lower income, those experiencing homelessness, eligible noncitizens, working adults who cannot afford to take a day off to drive to the financial aid office.

My colleague on the other side of the aisle said it best, and I completely agree: Taxpayer dollars are finite. Therefore, why is this body supporting the President and his war of choice? Why is this body supporting the President's creation of a ballroom? Why is this body supporting a President who is creating a fund for folks who stormed the Capitol?

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle could have targeted the fraud where it actually exists in higher education, but they didn't. Instead, they are locking in a brand-new unevaluated system into law with zero guardrails. That does not protect taxpayers. It just gives this administration unchecked power to delay aid to the students who need it the most.

If even one student in this country is denied financial aid wrongly because this algorithm did not work out properly because we rushed the process and didn't have accuracy standards, that would be an absolute travesty to the people that we serve.

Mr. Speaker, I oppose this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, June is Pride Month, a month celebrating the contributions of the LGBTQ community, but it also must be a month of speaking hard truths.

Texas has more anti-trans murders than any other State in the Nation. Over half of Texas victims are Black transgender women.

We cannot celebrate Marsha P. Johnson and not protect the women who look like her.

Last week, Persia Amarra Conway was killed in Houston. She was 33 years old. She was loved, and she is not alone. Jade Roberts, Diamond Brigman, Muhlaysia Booker, name after name after name, were all from Texas, all taken from this Earth, stripped from their loved ones and from their communities.

These killings are happening across our country, and silence is not an option. This Pride Month, I say clearly: We must stop the targeting and killing of members of the trans community in Houston, in Texas, and across our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, grocery prices are up. Gas prices are up. Families across this country are choosing between rent and food. What does this administration do? They just created a $1.7 billion fund, not for working people, but for the President's people.

The President confirmed it himself. January 6 insurrectionists, who stormed this very building, can apply. These are the same people he already pardoned. Now, they get a payout as well using taxpayer dollars with no court, no judge, just a commission that the President controls, writing checks to whomever this administration decides deserves one.

It amazes me that this President, who has said that we don't have money to provide people with childcare, a President who has said we don't have money to provide people with healthcare, that this President and his administration could somehow find $1.7 billion for compensation for criminals, $1.7 billion in reparations for rioters, $1.7 billion in income for insurrectionists.

This is corruption, and the American taxpayer is footing the bill. The American people deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act.

Eight years ago, Kimberly was a student at a Texas high school, and she and several of her classmates and teachers were murdered by a student who brought his parents' gun to school because it was not properly secured.

Their deaths were both a tragedy and entirely preventable.

Safe firearm storage is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce gun violence, suicides, accidental deaths, and having stolen weapons end up in the hands of people who should not have them.

Seven million children in this country are in a home with a loaded and unlocked firearm. Every year, hundreds of kids are killed and injured because guns are within arms' reach.

This bill aims to change that. It requires safe storage devices with every firearm sale. It provides grants so that communities can distribute those devices. And it gives retailers a tax credit to make it easier for them to do the right thing.

Kimberly and her schoolmates should have come home that day. This bill ensures that every single kid does.

Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear about what this bill is. This is part of a greater effort to ensure that we have cash bail systems throughout this country, which would keep rich people on the streets, even if they are violent criminals, and would have poor people locked behind bars because they don't have the money.

Picture two people accused of the same low-level, nonviolent misdemeanor and who come from the same background. A judge looks at both of them and says neither is a flight risk and neither is a threat of harm to the community. The bail is set at $1,500. Because one person can pay the $1,500, they are back on the street. The other person is in jail for 6 months, maybe a year. They lose their apartment. They lose their job. They may even lose custody of their child. That is not justice. That is a tax on people who don't have spare cash.

I know this because we experienced this in Harris County. My home county, Harris County, asked the right question and found the answer. Judges started releasing people accused of nonviolent misdemeanors before trial. Do you know what happened to crime? Absolutely nothing.

Pretrial release went up 30 points, from 50 percent in 2015 to over 80 percent today. Repeat offending did not go up, not even a little.

Mr. Speaker, I was proud to defend that consent decree. Let's be clear about what this is. If somebody is a threat to the community, they should be in jail, regardless of whether they have a billion dollars or a thousand dollars. If they are not a threat to the community, they should not be left to languish in jail, potentially lose their livelihood, their family, all so we can make cash bail companies more rich. We should be about protecting the community, not protecting industry.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New York for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this resolution to bring an end to the President's war in Iran.

This administration started a war that the American people never asked for. A majority of Americans oppose it, and every single day, Americans are paying for it.

Before this war started, gas in Houston cost about $3 a gallon. Today, it costs over $4 a gallon. That is the largest 2-month gas price spike in the recorded history of Houston, which is the energy capital of the world.

The average Houston family is paying $100 more every single month just to fill their tanks. This administration told us that they would put America first. Instead, they have put Americans, our servicepersons, and our wallets last.

This administration has blown up the global markets. People are paying more for groceries. Businesses are paying more for supplies. People are struggling to get by that much more because of this President's actions. The experts say prices will fall slower than they rose, even if this war ends today.

The American people did not ask for this war. It was forced upon them, and Congress must force it to end. I urge my colleagues to support this War Powers Resolution.

We have heard a lot of conversation about imminence here tonight, but that is not the question before us. The question before us is: Who has the power to declare war? That is the United States Congress.

We have seen this President haphazardly bring us into a dispute overseas, resulting in the deaths of 13 U.S. servicepersons, while at the same time conducting foreign policy over Truth Social, saying that he is going to annihilate an entire civilization.

I don't care what your feelings are about any nation. This country operates by a Constitution, and the President must follow it the same way as anybody else.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this War Powers Resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because the right to vote is under grave attack. The Supreme Court opened the door, and Republican officials throughout the South are running straight through it.

Republican State legislatures are racing to redraw congressional maps across the South, and they have one clear goal: to make sure that Black communities cannot elect a candidate of their choice.

Look at Tennessee. Memphis is a majority-Black city, and instead of keeping it whole in one district, Republicans sliced it into three separate districts and imported White voters from hundreds of miles away. That is not an accident. That is a blueprint.

In Texas, a Trump-appointed Federal judge found that Republicans used race to dismantle minority districts, like in my hometown of Houston.

I have seen so many Republican officials argue that this is not about race. But look at North Carolina where Republican legislators requested data on voting patterns broken down by race. They then changed the voting rules based on that data, and a Federal court said that they targeted African Americans with ``almost surgical precision.''

This is about race. These maps are a pattern, and after Callais, it is spreading like wildfire.

Cracking Black communities apart district by district is not politics. It is a declaration that Black voices do not belong in this democracy.

Our Nation is better than this. Racist cheating has no place in the greatest democracy on Earth.

This Congress must fight back.

The right to choose our own Representatives is sacred and something our ancestors have fought and bled for, and we will not let it be stripped from us community by community or ZIP code by ZIP code.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and commemorate the 160th Anniversary of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.

Mr. Speaker, 160 years ago, formerly enslaved persons got together along Buffalo Bayou with nothing but faith and freedom. There, they built a church with their own hands, their own bricks, and their own will. That church is Antioch, which has served Fourth Ward, downtown Houston, Texas.

Antioch has been a hub of activism since Reconstruction. It had its doors open during the civil rights movement, where people needed organizing and courage. Under Pastor Lou McElroy and First Lady McElroy, that mission continues today.

Isaiah 43 tells us not to dwell on the former things. Antioch's impact is not just the past. It is present. The congregation is still educating, organizing, impacting, and showing up for Houston each and every day.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Antioch Missionary Baptist Church on 160 years of excellence and service to Houston, Texas, and to this Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of Houston's and this Nation's great public servants. Ambassador Arthur Schechter ended his journey in life on April 13, at the wise age of 86. He was an attorney, a diplomat, a philanthropist, and one of Houston's most committed civic leaders.

Ambassador Schechter was a Houston man through and through. He built his legal career there, fought for maritime workers and working people and poured himself into this community for decades.

His impact didn't just stop in the city. President Clinton appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas in 1998, and he served our country with dignity and honor.

The Governor General of the Bahamas called him the finest ambassador ever posted to that country. That says everything you need to know about the ambassador.

When Ambassador Schechter finished his post abroad, he continued the work back home. He chaired Houston's Public Transit Authority and helped open Houston's first light rail on our Main Street. He rode in that very first car with his grandchildren. That image captures who Arthur Schechter was. He didn't just build things. He made sure that the people he loved and everyone else in our communities got to experience them.

To Joyce, to Jennifer, to Leslie, and to the grandchildren and other family members that Ambassador Schechter loved so deeply, an entire Nation is grieving with you. God bless Ambassador Schechter in his service. May we carry his legacy forward.