Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to a commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 221 and NAY on Roll Call No. 222.

personal explanation

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to a commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 208 and YEA on Roll Call No. 209.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for her support, as well as the chairman for moving this forward.

I rise today in support of H.R. 1993, the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Commemorative Coin Act, as we are fast approaching the 25th anniversary of the worst attack on American soil in our history, a day when we lost almost 3,000 of our loved ones, neighbors, and friends in a coordinated attack by terrorists who wanted to destroy the very values for which our country stands: liberty and justice for all.

We can never forget those we lost, and I will never forget that day myself, watching from my apartment building less than a mile away as the second plane hurled itself into the towers. Then, seeing people covered in soot walking uptown while our heroes, the NYPD, the New York Fire Department charged downtown into the building to try to save whomever they could.

Nor can we forget what came in the days and weeks that followed: countless heroes who rushed into the danger, who then spent months on a pile that turned out to be poisonous, searching for survivors.

These individuals are the very best of us, and their selflessness and courage embody the resilience of our city, what it means to be a New Yorker, and our country. We will never forget them.

Since 9/11, more people have died from 9/11-related health problems than even died that day. I was proud to have joined last year with my Republican colleagues from New York to ensure that we fully fund and indefinitely fund the World Trade Center Health Program, which now has well over 100,000 members from every State in the country.

As we approach this anniversary, I am proud to lead this bill to direct the Department of Treasury to issue coins to commemorate this dark day in American history and to ensure that the events of September 11, 2001, are forever enshrined in our collective memory.

Commemorative coins recognize some of the most important events and people in American history: the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed racial segregation, the brave African-American high school students at Little Rock Central High School after Brown v. Board of Education, the astronauts who took the first steps on the Moon. It is fitting that the victims and heroes of 9/11 will be honored in this same way.

Proceeds from the sale of this coin will go directly to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center to support its critical work educating future generations and remembering those we lost.

This legislation has received overwhelming bipartisan support.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friends and fellow New Yorkers, Chairman Garbarino and Representative Mike Lawler, for their partnership and work on this bill. We have over 300 of our colleagues who have joined in this effort, and I am deeply grateful for their support as the Representative of 9/11 in Congress.

We must honor our promise to never forget, and I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this critical legislation.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today, due to a commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted NO on Roll Call No. 174 and YEA on Roll Call No. 175.

personal explanation

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today, due to a commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 138 and YEA on Roll Call No. 139.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to a commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 137.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to a commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 127, YEA on Roll Call No. 128, and YEA on Roll Call No. 129.

personal explanation

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today, due to a commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 125 and YEA on Roll Call No. 126.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to an urgent commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 109 and YEA on Roll Call No. 110.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to an urgent commitment in my Congressional district. Had

I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 105.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to an urgent commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 97.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss this administration's massive coverup of the Epstein files in order to conceal President Trump's involvement.

This coverup reached its apex last month when Attorney General Pam Bondi falsely testified under oath before the House Committee on the Judiciary. The Attorney General testified: ``There is no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime. Everyone knows that.''

This is a lie. In the 3 million or so documents that the DOJ has disclosed to Congress under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, there is credible evidence that Donald Trump committed a crime. That, of course, excludes the nearly 3 million pages that the DOJ is refusing to turn over.

Donald Trump is mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files. There are multiple allegations that he sexually assaulted young girls, but I want to focus on one victim's allegations that the FBI unquestionably found to be credible.

The DOJ tried to hide reports of three of the four interviews that this victim gave to the FBI, but pressure from the media and Congress forced them to disclose them. Now we know why. She credibly accuses Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was between 13 and 15. In each of her interviews, this victim recited the same account of her interaction with Donald Trump.

On August 7, 2019, she explained that she was between 13 and 15 when she was left alone with Donald Trump, who ``mentioned something to the effect of, `Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be.' Trump unzipped his pants and put [her] head down, `down to his penis. [The victim] bit the [s] out of it.' Trump struck [the victim] and said words to the effect of: `Get this little [b] the hell out of here.' [The victim] advised she bit Trump's penis because he disgusted her.''

She provided some additional details in the next interview 2 weeks later. Then, a month later, she met again with the FBI and asked ``what the point would be of providing the information at this point in her life when there was a strong possibility nothing could be done about it.''

She didn't speak to the FBI again, but the FBI certainly found her story credible. In a 21-page PowerPoint presentation that the FBI made to prosecutors, they included this victim's testimony. They would not have done so if they did not find the evidence credible, which means that Attorney General Bondi lied when she stated under oath that there is no evidence that Donald Trump committed a crime.

We are just scratching the surface because the Epstein files also reveal that Donald Trump has made false statements over the past quarter century about Jeffrey Epstein. We know, in 2002, he called him a terrific guy and said: ``It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.''

In a birthday card in 2003 that Donald Trump gave to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday, Donald wrote for himself: ``We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.'' ``Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?'' ``A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday--and may every day be another wonderful secret.''

In that same year, Palm Beach County opened an investigation into Epstein that eventually was turned over to the FBI. The investigation became public in 2006, and the Palm Beach County police chief received a call quickly after from Donald Trump, where Trump told him: ``Thank goodness you're stopping him. Everyone has known he's been doing this.'' What innocent person calls the police chief about an investigation upon just learning about it?

The recent documents also show that Jeffrey Epstein e-mailed Ghislaine Maxwell and said: ``I want you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is Trump. [Redacted victim] spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned.''

Trump also denied that he ever went on Epstein's plane, but, of course, the Southern District of New York said that he was on his plane eight times, often with young women.

The reason why this matters is because we don't have half of the Epstein files. If the Attorney General is covering this up in such a degree that she is redacting things from the public that she then shows to Congress, what else is she covering up?

I will just show that this document here was redacted to the public. It was unredacted to Congress, and it completely disputes everything that Donald Trump has said about Jeffrey Epstein, about what he knew about the allegations, about his disgusting behavior, about whether he had ever been to Jeffrey Epstein's house, saying: ``I may have been there with my wife.'' Asked if any young girls were there, ``No. May have been children of guests, but that's it.''

Well, we know that is not the case.

Now, why is this important? Because if the Attorney General is covering up this information that she then reveals to Congress, what else is she covering up about Donald Trump's involvement in the Epstein files?

Mr. Speaker, I rise to condemn the skyrocketing wealth inequality in this country.

Over the last couple of decades, the rich have gotten richer while working families have been left behind. The very wealthiest of Americans pay an average effective tax rate of 3.4 percent. Elon Musk pays 3.3 percent. Jeff Bezos pays 1 percent. Yet, wage-earning Americans pay nearly 30 percent.

Put simply, our tax system is rigged. That is why I introduced the ROBINHOOD Act, to make these billionaires pay their fair share so that we can deliver universal childcare and Medicare for all.

These billionaires avoid paying taxes because their assets and money is in stock. They don't sell their stock. Instead, they take out loans against their stock, and they don't pay taxes on their loans.

Put simply, this bill would tax those loans and would generate nearly $30 billion of revenue. This is the right way to tackle our wealth inequality and to make the wealthy pay their fair share.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to an urgent commitment in my district. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 70.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to condemn the out-of-control, untrained, secret ICE paramilitary that is beating and killing Americans all around the country.

Under this administration, rogue, lawless immigration agents are sowing chaos, causing terror and fear, and inciting violence on our streets. They are doing it with impunity because there is no accountability from the FBI.

This is not the America we know and love. This is not the democracy that freed itself from a king.

This is fascism, pure and simple. If the administration will not hold these rogue agents accountable, then we must do it.

That is why we must pass my ICE OUT Act to end the current qualified immunity standard for ICE and CBP agents and ensure victims of this excessive force can seek justice and accountability.

I will keep pushing Congress to do everything in its power to rein in this authoritarian immigration dragnet and get ICE out of our communities.