Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from Pennsylvania for yielding the time.

I rise today with a warning for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. You are setting a very dangerous

precedent by trying to hold an Attorney General who has provided all of the substance requested in a subpoena in contempt.

Let's be very clear: This precedent that you are setting is one that your own former President and Cabinet Secretaries repeatedly violated in the last administration.

In 2019, the former President famously said that he would defy all congressional subpoenas, and then he did just that during the impeachment inquiry. The State Department refused to turn over a single document.

Under your precedent here with Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has provided everything that you have asked for except for the audio recording of an interview with President Biden and the special counsel, you are moving into dangerous territory.

There is no legitimate legislative purpose to require the Attorney General and the Department of Justice to turn over the audio recording of an interview of which they have already turned over the transcript.

Now, I hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle use explanations such as demeanor evidence and character evidence. That is all well and good if you are considering whether or not to prosecute President Biden, but that is not the job of Congress.

There is no legitimate legislative purpose in figuring out ``demeanor evidence'' as to how President Biden sounded when you have the information.

It is particularly galling that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are going to try to hold the Attorney General in contempt for this narrow, narrow issue when he has substantially complied with the subpoena, when five of my Republican colleagues completely defied lawful congressional subpoenas last time, including the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

You are setting a dangerous precedent, and, you, my friends on the other side of the aisle, ought to think twice because what goes around comes around.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 50th anniversary of a trailblazing advocacy organization, the Ms. Foundation for Women. For a half century, the Ms. Foundation has been at the forefront of the fight for gender and racial equity in our country.

Since its founding in New York City by Gloria Steinem, Patricia Carbine, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Marlo Thomas, the Ms. Foundation has invested over $90 million in 1,600 organizations fighting for equal justice worldwide. From working to end domestic violence to fighting for women's rights in the workplace and helping to lead the charge against the AIDS epidemic, the Ms. Foundation has always been at the forefront of critical national issues.

In the fight for reproductive justice and freedom alone following the disastrous Dobbs decision, the Ms. Foundation has distributed more than $1 million in grants to organizations across the country to help vulnerable women and women of color access the healthcare they need.

For the past 50 years, the Ms. Foundation has been devoted to making the United States a more just place for all people, and I look forward to working alongside them for the next 50 years.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Connecticut very much for yielding.

I rise today, alongside so many of my colleagues, to make one thing very clear. Republicans' proposed funding cuts to SNAP are unconscionable and will send millions into poverty and food insecurity.

SNAP is an essential lifeline that working families across America rely on to put food on the table. In New York City alone, where I come from, more than 1.7 million people rely on SNAP benefits to help them feed their families. Nationwide, there are more than 41 million SNAP recipients.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 92 percent of SNAP benefits go to households with income below the poverty line and a shocking 54 percent go to households at or below half of the poverty line.

It begs the question: What do my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have against working families doing their best to succeed? Do you not care if our children go without food?

It is just simply unacceptable. Food is a basic necessity. In the wealthiest country in the world, it should not even be a question whether our government is going to make sure that everyone, especially innocent children, have basic necessities.

Our budgets show where our priorities lie. Let's reverse these draconian cuts to SNAP, let's not cut taxes on the wealthy, and let's put our families and our children first.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a proud American Jew who steadfastly supports Israel's right to exist as a democratic Jewish state and its right to defend itself after Hamas' barbaric and unprovoked attack on October 7.

The United States must continue to support Israel, to defeat Hamas, release the hostages, including Americans stuck in Gaza, and provide all funding, weapons, and intelligence necessary in order to do that, and that is President Biden's clear policy, as well.

This bill does not do any of that. It does not support Israel. It does not provide any additional funding, any additional weapons, nor any additional support for Israel. Even though Republicans delayed for 6 months, I was pleased when this body finally, in a show of bipartisanship, voted to support Israel with the supplemental aid package several weeks ago. This bill is designed to undermine that bipartisan support, which Israel desperately needs.

As a Jew, I am, frankly, sick and tired of the Republican Party using Israel as a political weapon to divide us, which aids Hamas, Iran, and Israel's enemies.

Mr. Speaker, I have one simple request of my Republican colleagues: If you truly care about Israel, please stop using it as a divisive political pawn. Just stop.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of a giant in the New York City AAPI community, Don Lee.

Don was driven by a passion to support his AAPI neighbors and make government work for everyone. He connected underserved AAPI businesses with resources and government contracts traditionally kept out of reach.

After 9/11 devastated the Manhattan Chinatown community, Don served as a liaison between neighborhood businesses and FEMA.

He protested for transit access after the Grand Street Subway closure in 1995, helped expand licenses for Chinatown street vendors, and tirelessly fought against anti-Asian hate in the wake of COVID.

Throughout all of this, Don was the board chair of Homecrest Community Services for two decades, an anchor for disadvantaged communities throughout South Brooklyn. Homecrest created three new centers under his leadership.

Last weekend, Don passed away, somewhat suddenly, and we all mourn his loss.

On a personal note, Don was an early supporter of mine who took the time to invest in me, mentor me, guide me, and helped build my relationship with the large AAPI community in my district.

My heart breaks for his wife, Lai, and daughter, Victoria, in the wake of his passing, but I know that they, along with New York's AAPI community and our entire city, are inspired by the life Don led and the legacy that he leaves.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of this bill that includes an absolutely essential national security program. However, I will support this bill only if the amendment that would impose a warrant requirement on queries regarding American citizens fails.

First, a warrant is simply not needed because the query in question is not a new search. It simply identifies any contacts or communications with Americans within the universe of information that was already lawfully obtained from the original search, and that original search can only be of foreign nationals on foreign soil.

I spent 10 years as a Federal prosecutor and obtained hundreds of search warrants. Based on that experience, I can say with confidence that requiring a warrant would render this program unusable and entirely worthless.

Based on the information available to law enforcement, it would be impossible to get probable cause to obtain a search warrant from a judge in a timely manner. Additionally, even if it were possible, the time required to obtain a search warrant from a judge would frequently fail to meet the urgency posed by a terrorist or other national security threat.

A warrant requirement is unnecessary and unworkable and I, therefore, urge my colleagues to oppose the Biggs amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Illinois for scheduling this Special Order.

I rise here tonight once again to lift up the 133 hostages--innocent babies, grandparents, young women who have suffered from awful sexual abuse, and so many others--who were all brutally and illegally captured on October 7 by Hamas, a terrorist organization that has held them in treacherous conditions for 6 months.

We don't actually know how many are alive because Hamas has violated just about every single humanitarian law that exists and will not provide a basic list of those who are alive or even provide wellness checks and daily medication to the elderly. Eight of these hostages are Americans, three of whom are sadly now confirmed dead.

Three weeks ago, Itay Chen, a 19-year-old soldier in the IDF who was on the border of Gaza on October 7, was determined to have been killed on that fateful day.

Hagit and Ruby, Itay's parents, my constituents who are here tonight with several other families of hostages, have fearlessly and courageously led the families of hostages to focus our attention on the urgent need to bring them home. Ruby and the other hostage families should not have to work so hard to keep the hostages front of mind.

Since when do Americans show indifference to eight of our own held hostage by a terrorist group? Since when do international organizations and democratic countries around the world simply allow a terrorist group to hold hostages from 26 different countries captive for 6 months with deafening silence? Is it only because they are Jewish that they are viewed differently?

We all want this conflict to end. We want the violence to stop. Let me give you two simple actions that can end this conflict immediately. First, Hamas can lay down their arms and relinquish control of the Gaza Strip. Second, and most importantly, Hamas must release all the hostages, including the deceased bodies. That will end this today.

There was a permanent cease-fire on October 7 when Hamas executed the worst terrorist attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Hamas has vowed to repeat that attack over and over again if given the opportunity.

Just imagine if after 9/11, al-Qaida controlled Mexico or Canada and vowed to continue to attack the United States from our own border again and again. Would a single person in this country have called for us to retreat and let al-Qaida remain in power next door, poised to replicate 9/11 again? Of course not.

There are many calls for some kind of cease-fire, and there is no question that some kind of cease-fire is long overdue, even though everyone seems to have a different understanding of the term.

No question Israel must do its part. The Israeli Government must increase humanitarian aid so that displaced Palestinians can get the food and medical care they need. They have been doing that much more robustly since a conversation between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu last week. The Israeli Government must be willing to enter into a reasonable agreement to stop the violence and get the hostages out.

One requirement of any reasonable, rational cease-fire agreement must include that the innocent, tortured, illegally held hostages are released. I dare, I challenge, anyone in this building, in my district in New York City, or in any of the 435 districts around this country to publicly say that a cease-fire agreement of any kind need not include the return of the illegally abducted hostages.

Israel has no control over the hostages. Hamas does. If any reasonable cease-fire agreement necessarily includes the return of hostages--and it must--then there can be no cease-fire agreement of any kind if Hamas is not a party to that agreement. If you are calling for a cease-fire, then you must call on Hamas to release the hostages.

I say to our administration, I say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of this Capitol, I say to our allies around the world, Hamas and the countries that harbor and communicate with their leadership must feel much greater pressure to release the hostages. More and more are dying every day. We must bring them home. We must bring them home now.

Mr. Speaker, I hereby remove my name as cosponsor of H. Res. 1068.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to condemn this rushed, baseless sham impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas that will go down in history as one of Congress' darkest moments.

The Republican argument for impeachment boils down to their view

that Secretary Mayorkas has intentionally caused the influx of immigrants over our southern border. Never mind that, even if true, this is not a high crime or misdemeanor that has ever been used before in the history of our country. Never mind that, no court has found the Secretary or the Department of Homeland Security to have violated the law. In fact, the United States v. Texas case, which my friends on the other side of the aisle like to cite so frequently, actually reversed a district court ruling and held that there must be discretion given to the Secretary as there has been given to every single Department Secretary for 27 years.

Never mind that every one of those Department of Homeland Security Secretaries has interpreted the law the exact same way that Secretary Mayorkas has. Never mind that Republicans have sued him to stop him from implementing the policy changes that the administration has tried to put in effect to address the situation at the border. Never mind that House Republicans are impeaching him for failing to address the problems at the border while he has spent months negotiating a bipartisan bill in the Senate to do just that.

The reason for this partisan stunt is simple. Donald Trump and House Republicans want to use the border as an election year issue rather than actually solve the problems through necessary legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues who care about the Constitution, the rule of law, and this institution to vote ``no.'' They will otherwise come to regret this.

Mr. Speaker, due to a family emergency, I am not recorded for votes on November 2, 2023.

Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 570.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Florida, who has been such a terrific mentor and model for so many of us. I also thank you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing us this Special Order hour to highlight the horrific conditions, 116 days in captivity, that more than 100 hostages are enduring.

I stand before you today to highlight the tragic case of Noa Argamani, a 25-year-old Israeli woman who many know from a video posted by Hamas on October 7 of her being abducted by terrorists and taken away on a motorcycle, screaming ``Don't kill me.''

This is a still photo from that video. You can see the absolute terror in her eyes as she is being kidnapped into Gaza by armed terrorists who had brutally murdered, raped, and tortured her friends and fellow Israeli citizens.

This is a photo of her before October 7--a beautiful smile, full of life, hope, and a bright future ahead.

Noa should have been released with the other female civilians--one of the categories that Hamas had agreed to release--who were released during the temporary cease-fire 2 months ago, but she was not, and we know why. Hamas broke the agreement with Israel because they did not want Noa to describe the rape and violence that she endured in captivity. We know from other hostages that were released at that time that the same awful sexual violence that occurred with horrific brutality on October 7 continued in the dark, damp, cramped tunnels in Gaza, and that was 61 days ago. Two months.

At least as of 16 days ago, we know that Noa is still alive. We know because Hamas released a psychological terror video of her sitting with two other hostages, but we know nothing about her condition because Hamas refuses to allow the International Red Cross into Gaza to check on the medical conditions of the hostages.

That is required by international law, but somehow for many the fact that Hamas is a designated terrorist organization that has violated countless international laws--and cease-fires, I might add--seems to give them a pass at adhering to international law about medical checks and wellness visits.

Since when do we allow terrorist organizations to dictate how international law operates?

What makes this even worse is that we haven't heard anything from Qatar nor Egypt nor Turkiye nor any other country with influence on Hamas to push and prod them to allow international medical professionals to access the innocent civilian hostages, even though we know from those who have come out that their conditions violate a host of international laws.

I have met with families and mothers of some of the young women who remain in captivity. They, of course, are devastated, worried, and distraught about their daughters. Do you know what keeps them up at night? They assume that their daughters are pregnant with babies of Hamas terrorists. Imagine that being a mother's final thought before she falls asleep and her first thought when she wakes up.

Noa's mother, Liora, has an additional heartbreaking cause for urgency. You see, Liora is currently battling terminal stage 4 brain cancer. She is desperately hoping that she can see her daughter before she passes away.

This tragic story hits me especially hard because my father died of brain cancer 34 years ago, when I was just 13 years old. I remember to this day the last time I got to see my father before he died. I still feel lucky to have been able to say good-bye.

Noa deserves to have that same memory, too, and Liora deserves to die with the peace of mind that Noa is out of captivity and hopefully on her way to healing.

This is an excerpt from a letter that Liora Argamani, Noa's mother, sent to President Biden. She wrote, I am terminally ill with stage 4 brain cancer. All that is running through my mind before I part ways with my family forever is the chance to hug my daughter, my only child, one last time.

We cannot wait any longer. Noa will soon lose her mother. While every single additional day that Noa spends in captivity could be her last, it could also be her mother's last.

The international community must pressure Hamas to immediately cease their illegal kidnapping of more than 100 innocent civilians who are being tortured, raped, and horrifically treated.

Israel has reportedly agreed with the United States, Qatar, and Egypt to make significant concessions to Hamas to release the hostages. It is now incumbent upon Hamas to agree to do so, and for that to happen, the international community must apply pressure on Hamas to agree to the proposed cease-fire and release the hostages.

We must bring them home. We must bring them all home now. Time is running out.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a resolution to censure Congresswoman Elise Stefanik for providing aid, comfort, and support to the rioters and insurrectionists who violently attacked this Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to undermine our democracy and illegally stop the peaceful transfer of power.

Since that attempted coup, Ms. Stefanik has repeatedly and persistently expressed support for the duly convicted insurrectionists. Last week, echoing the inflammatory language of criminal defendant Donald Trump, Ms. Stefanik disgracefully referred to the January 6 insurrectionists in prison as ``hostages.''

Ms. Stefanik's support of convicted criminals charged with offenses against the United States Government, including attempted violence against Members of this body, is simply unacceptable from a Member of Congress, nor is it acceptable for a Member of Congress who purports to oppose anti-Semitism to equate convicted insurrectionists with the more than 130 Israeli hostages who remain subject to horrific conditions in Gaza. She, therefore, must be censured.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in staunch opposition to this resolution.

The Republicans have already spent 12 months on this exact investigation. They have obtained more than 100,000 pages of documents and dozens and dozens of hours of witness testimony, but there is simply not a shred of evidence proving any wrongdoing by President Biden related to his son or otherwise.

Whatever complaints that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have about how the Department of Justice investigated a private citizen, Hunter Biden, you should ask Donald Trump and Bill Barr, who were in power at the time that this investigation was going on.

Since there is no evidence, now we are going to move the goalposts, claiming an impeachment inquiry is necessary to gather more evidence, but Chairman Comer himself said earlier this year that he had received 100 percent compliance from the administration, and they can only cite two low-level career officials at the Department of Justice who have not testified, even though their supervisors have.

Just this morning, Hunter Biden showed up to the Capitol ready to provide evidence. The Republicans refused to take his testimony.

How can you sit there saying you need more evidence when you prevent the central witness in the investigation from giving you evidence?

What are you afraid of?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for organizing this very important Special Order hour, and I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving us the time to do this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to shine a light on the Metzger family from Kibbutz Nir Oz, which suffered the unimaginable loss of 38 members of the kibbutz, and from where a shocking 75 innocent people were taken captive by Hamas. That is almost one-third of the innocent hostages who were abducted by Hamas on October 7.

Two of those abducted were Tamar Metzger, age 78, and her husband Yoram, age 80. They are grandparents.

Mrs. Metzger was released 2 days ago, after 52 days in captivity.

My family had an opportunity to spend some time with the Metzger's son, Nir, and his two children, Ran and Omer, this week in New York.

According to Nir, the Hamas terrorists, teenagers, dragged his mom out of her bathroom, bashed her face in with a rifle, and severely injured her knees and legs as they violently took a 78-year-old woman to the tunnels of Gaza.

In Gaza, both Metzgers were kept in a tiny, dark, and moist room in an underground tunnel, where there were 12 mattresses on the floor for the 2 of them and 10 other hostages from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

There was essentially nowhere for them to walk or move. They were not allowed to speak. If they did speak, the terrorists would beat them. This happened to a number of them, including 78-year-old Mrs. Metzger at least one time.

Yoram remains held captive in that dank darkness underground, unable to move, unable to speak, under constant fear of being beaten by Hamas terrorists.

We cannot allow another day to go by before these innocent civilians are released back to their homes in Israel. We cannot stop pushing and pressing Hamas to release them and putting pressure on allies and other countries in the Middle East--in Qatar, in Egypt--to put pressure on Hamas to release the illegally abducted civilians who are kept captive in the tunnels of Gaza without any light, without food, and without any ability to move around.

It is time to bring them home. It is time to bring them all home.

Mr. Chairman, boy, you would think this was the Congress of New York State, given how much focus my colleagues on the other side of the aisle put on New York State. I will tell you, as a Member of Congress from New York City, we are doing just fine.

This bill, however, is not at all just fine. It is yet another ploy by the Republicans to score political points without actually addressing the desperately needed reforms to our immigration system.

Immigration is a Federal issue, yet New York City, where both this bill's sponsor and I come from, is bearing the financial burden of this issue.

This bill would make it harder for cities and States to get Federal support for immigrants who, like so many of our descendants, are fleeing horrible conditions in their home countries to seek a better life in the United States.

On both sides of the aisle, we agree we have to fix our broken immigration system. Defunding migrant housing sites is not the solution.

Instead of closing down these sites and sending children potentially into the street and the cold, let's focus on legislation that actually does make our communities safer. Let's focus on fixing the fentanyl trade problem we have and the human trafficking problem that is plaguing our southern border.

That is why, as an amendment to this bill, I proposed my Disarming Cartels Act, that would stop the flow of more than 500,000 American- manufactured guns into the hands of the drug cartels in Mexico, who are responsible for the bulk of the crime that occurs on the southern border.

Over 70 percent of the guns recovered from crime scenes in Mexico come from the United States. Hundreds of thousands of American-made guns are sent to Mexico every year because you cannot get a gun quickly in Mexico. That, of course, is too much common sense. That would actually solve the problem. That doesn't score political points.

Mr. Chair, that does solve the problem. This does not solve the problem. This is just a political ploy, a messaging bill, that does nothing to solve our open borders.

Every single Republican witness that has come before the Homeland Security Committee this Congress has acknowledged that the outflow of American-made weapons of war to the cartels in Mexico is a massive cause of crime at the border.

Why won't you address it? Why won't you join it?

Why won't you even allow the bill to come to the floor?

Is it the gun lobby?

Is it because you just want to use immigration as a political cudgel, and you don't want to find solutions?

Instead of fear-mongering, let's get some solutions together. Let's work together. We are ready. We just need a partner that will stop messaging and start solving problems.