Floor Statements

Mr. Chair, I recognize my dear friends, Chairman Womack and Ranking Member Hoyer, and I do mean that in the truest sense of the word, for their work on this bill, which does contain several of my priorities.

I do want to respond quickly to the chairman's comments about the border really being the problem with fentanyl coming across into the United States and that it is not necessary to fund the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

When you focus on safety, making sure that you can keep people safe from harm that they can't avoid on their own, we need layers of protection. So it is a fool's errand to cut an office like the Office of National Drug Control Policy because we aren't doing enough, in your mind, to handle drug entries into the country from the border. It is ``both/and'' when it comes to safety, not ``either/or.''

Unfortunately, this bill, although it does contain several of my priorities, has so many misguided, toxic, and extreme provisions that it will make us all less safe and careens our government once again toward a shutdown.

This is a bill that is rather unsung. I always try to come and talk about this bill. It does have a whole lot of acronym agencies that have far reach into Americans' protection, security, and safety. It is so important that we make sure we shine a little bit of a spotlight on it as a result.

This bill does prioritize reducing pool and spa deaths by providing $2.5 million for programs authorized under my Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, for which I appreciate the chairman's help. As the leading cause of unintentional death for children under 5 in the United States, drowning is clearly a public health threat that we must confront.

However, sadly, overall this bill makes all of our constituents less safe. This bill handcuffs consumer watchdogs, leaving hardworking families more vulnerable to fraud or dangerous deadly products. It guts the Consumer Product Safety Commission's already paltry budget, slashing resources at an agency that has a major focus on protecting children and families. We need

to keep families safe, not make them nervous to choose products when they walk down the aisles of a store.

On top of protecting scammers and cheats, this bill hurts public servants and threatens our national security.

How does it do that? The same Republicans who claim to support our national defense and Armed Forces would cut the National Security Council in this bill and the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

The same Republicans who boast how tough they are on heroin and fentanyl actually cut the Office of National Drug Control Policy in this bill.

Don't believe Republicans who claim to be the party of law and order, either. This bill actually underfunds multiple levels of our Federal courts and the public defenders. This bill basically waves white-collar criminals right on through to do their sketchy business by cutting the SEC and the FTC.

If you want to empower scammers and cheats or get more robocallers bothering you at home by ringing your phone off the hook, vote for this bill, but if you want to protect families, vote against it.

Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Brenda C. Snipes.

This powerful and inspirational woman gave 55 years of her life as a public servant to our schools, to our democracy, and to the people of Broward County, Florida.

She moved to Florida in 1964 with her husband, each beginning their careers as educators, and she eventually became principal of C. Robert Markham Elementary School before retiring in 2003.

Soon after, Governor Jeb Bush appointed Dr. Snipes as supervisor of elections, where she served for four terms.

Dr. Brenda, as she is affectionately known by so many, is celebrated for many achievements, but I will mention just one:

She helped register more than 50,000 local high school and college students to vote during her tenure.

A champion of voter education, awareness, and outreach, Dr. Brenda Snipes was not only a leader in our community, she was a friend of over two decades.

Mr. Speaker, her impact and commitment to the people of Broward County will never be forgotten.

Rest well, my friend.

Mr. Speaker, two years ago, thousands of Cubans peacefully demonstrated for their basic rights, and their corrupt rulers responded with a brutal, indiscriminate crackdown.

Maykel Castillo Perez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara both helped forge the historic and resurgent prodemocracy movement on July 11. They have been imprisoned ever since. Maykel, a Latin Grammy-winning rapper, coauthored the song ``Patria Y Vida,'' an anthem for the mass demonstrations. Luis Manuel, an Afro-Cuban visual artist, has fought passionately for free expression and against censorship.

Maykel disappeared from public view after being detained without a warrant on May 18, 2021, and a kangaroo court sentenced him to 9 years in prison. The U.N. reports Maykel remains in prison ``solely for his prodemocracy activism,'' enduring inmate threats, solitary confinement, and denied family visits and medical attention. Yet he still rebels however he can. On the anniversary of the July 11 protests, he sewed his mouth shut and tattooed ``Patria Y Vida'' on his arm. Maykel told friends: ``I have enough strength to keep bleeding . . . I prefer with great pride to descend in a coffin than to bow.''

Luis Manuel's despicable treatment is compounded by the jarring legacy of anti-Black racism in Cuba. On July 11, he too was arrested after posting a video on his plans to join Cuba's mass democracy demonstration.

Like Maykel, he was tried behind closed doors and thrown in a maximum security prison. Due to abuse, bad medical care, and denial of food and water, Luis Manuel is suffering from extreme weight loss and severe medical issues.

I am grateful the Biden administration granted humanitarian parole to both Luis Manuel and Maykel, but for the Cuban regime, exiling these patriots isn't enough. Their very existence is a threat.

While these cases are egregious, thousands of peaceful prodemocracy protesters have been jailed, tortured, or killed. If we truly intend to live up to our Nation's values, we must work tirelessly to liberate those who continually sacrifice their freedom for others.

As co-chair of the Cuba Democracy Caucus, I proudly join forces with Freedom House and Amnesty International to demand justice for Maykel and Luis Manuel through the Defending Freedoms Project.

I intend to use my platform to ensure their unconditional release is a top priority in any discussion of Cuba policy.

I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me.

(Spanish translation of the statement made in English is as follows:)

Hoy me levanto para exigir la liberacion inmediata de dos presos de conciencia cubanos. Maykel Castillo Perez y Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara ayudaron a empezar el movimiento pro-democracia el once de julio.

Ellos estan encarcelados desde ese dia. Maykel, rapero y ganador del Grammy Latino, es coautor de la cancion ``Patria y Vida'' que fue himno de las protestas.

Luis Manuel es un artista visual afrocubano que ha luchado duro por la libre expresion y contra la censura.

Maykel desaparecio de la vista del publico tras ser detenido sin orden judicial, y un tribunal irregular lo condenoa nueve anos de prision.

Segun el informe de las Naciones Unidas, Maykel sigue encarcelado ``unicamente por su activismo a favor de la democracia''.

Sin embargo, todavia se manifiesta como puede. En el aniversario de las protestas, se cosio la boca y se tatuo ``Patria Y Vida'' en el brazo.

El trato despreciable recibido por Luis Manuel se ve agravado por el preocupante legado del racismo contra los Afrocubanos.

Tambien fue arrestado luego de publicar un video sobre sus planes de unirse a manifestaciones masivas por la democracia en Cuba.

Al igual que Maykel, fue condenado y encarcelado atras de a una prision de maxima seguridad. Luis Manuel a sufrido una perdida extrema de peso y graves problemas medicos.

Agradezco que President Biden este ofreciendo libertad humanitaria a Luis Manuel y Maykel, pero para la dictadura cubana exiliarlos no es suficiente. Su propia existencia es una amenaza.

Si queremos estar a la altura de los valores de nuestra nacion, debemos trabajar todos los dias para liberar a los que sacrifican por los demas. Como copresidenta del Caucus para la Democracia en Cuba, voy a luchar al lado de Freedom House y Amnistia Internacional para demandar justicia para Maykel y Luis Manuel.

Voy a hacer todo lo posible para abogar por su liberacion incondicional.

Espero que mis colegas de ambos partidos se unan a mi.

I'd like to share more about these brave patriots, in their own words and those of people who know them well. The following is a letter written by Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara to the Miami Herald, entitled: `Cuba's authorities have stolen my youth just for speaking my mind'. It was published July 10th of this year, two years after his arbitrary arrest.

I am an artist and a political prisoner in Cuba. I was

arrested on July 11, 2021, on my way to a protest in which

thousands of my compatriots rose up across the island to

demand freedom.

I've been imprisoned ever since.

Last year, I was sentenced to five years in prison on

charges of contempt and insult to national symbols, because I

used the Cuban flag in a performance in August 2019. This is

how the Cuban government views my art. I was tried, alongside

my dear friend, the Grammy Award-winning rapper Maykel

Castillo--known as El Osorbo--who is now serving a nine-year

sentence for similar offenses. My imprisonment is a result of

the Cuban authorities' systematic strategy to silence the

voices of young people. They have been harassing me for

years, arresting me 50 times between 2017 and 2021 and also

through defamation, violation of privacy, threats and police

beatings. But it wasn't until the historic protest of 2021

that the regime decided to lock me up for a longer period of

time so I could no longer communicate with my people.

I'm imprisoned in Guanajay, a maximum-security penitentiary

southwest of Havana. Many of my fellow prisoners are serving

life sentences for murder. The authorities have separated me

from other political prisoners. I share a cell with three

others. I'm allowed to talk to other inmates in the hallway,

but I'm only taken out to the yard when other prisoners are

gone. I should be allowed to spend an hour outside every day,

but I'm only let out occasionally at the whim of the guards.

I've lost weight because of the scarcity of food and poor

quality of meals. I'm often afraid to eat because the food

looks rotten. After I was sentenced in June 2022, the rules

for visiting me changed. Now my family can only visit me once

a month, instead of twice. No one else is allowed. Even my

beloved uncle is banned because of his involvement in

activism.

More than 1,800 Cubans, mostly young and Black, were

arrested in the protests in 2021. Of these, 897 have been

tried, and 777 remain in prison. Many are minors. Some have

been sentenced to up to 30 years for sedition. But there's no

evidence that the protest was premeditated. It started in a

small town outside Havana, when a young boy posted a video on

Facebook of people protesting power outages. Within hours,

thousands of Cubans decided to take to the streets.

Since that day, hundreds of young Cubans have been trapped

behind bars. Every day is the same. Violence is constant.

Only one's body changes. Your hair falls out and your face

ages prematurely from pain, frustration and sadness. Your

friends leave the country. Lovers' caresses are long gone.

The soundscape here is always the same. All you hear is the

murmur of death slowly approaching. In these harsh

conditions, human beings are stripped of their youth. They

wander the four square meters of their cells with no sense of

future.

I speak as a young man in today's Cuba. We are full of

energy and confidence, determined to lend our talents to the

quest for a truly democratic and free Cuba. The regime that

has survived for 64 years on the Caribbean's largest island

is once again trying to crush a generation, just as it

crushed and erased those who preceded us.

Today every young Cuban is a political prisoner. A censored

artist. An exile inside and outside Cuba. Even if you're an

accomplice of the system, you will inevitably be crushed like

the others, because to be young is to be daring and reckless,

eager to bring change to the world. It means fighting for

love, dreams and utopia. But these qualities are

considered crimes in Cuba, and that condemns us all to

martyrdom.

Today, as I approach the age of 35 behind bars, I reflect

on the loss of youth under a dictatorial system. Forced to

survive political violence, we all lose 90% of our physical

and intellectual productivity. Only 10% is left for creative

and life-affirming pursuits.

On behalf of the young Cubans locked up in the island's

horrible prisons, I appeal to people of conscience around the

world to support our struggle to liberate ourselves and our

country. All we did was demand the right to choose our

political future and to speak our minds.

No one should have to give up their youth for such a just

cause.

Next, I'd like to share a story written by Julyssa Lopez and published January 6th, 2023 in Rolling Stone magazine detailing Maykel Osorbo's life and current detention. The article is titled ``Two Years After `Patria Y Vida.' Cuban Rapper Maykel Osorbo Remains in Jail.''

Maybe it was the excitement of post-lickdown celebrations

or the simple triumph of getting through the worst of the

pandemic, but the energy felt different at the 22nd annual

Latin Grammys back in November of 2021. Thousands of people,

dressed in shimmering gowns and slick suits, had gathered at

MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for the awards ceremony.

At the end of the night, when it was time for the anticipated

Song of the Year category, the air turned electric as people

waited to hear who might take home the trophy--maybe be a

massive pop name like Cammilo or Rauw Alejando, who were both

nominated and sitting in the audience.

Instead, the award went to ``Patria Y Vida,'' a song that

started out in a small studio in Miami and spiraled across

the streets of Cuba in 2021. The title, which inverts the

popular Fidel Castro-era slogan ``patria o muerte,'' took on

such force that it became a common chant during the

unprecedented demonstrations that swept the island that

summer. Despite its political impact, no one expected

``Patria Y Vida'' to win in Las Vegas, particularly because

of how traditional the Latin Recording Academy can be. Five

of the song's performers--Yotuel Romero, Descemer Bueno,

Eliexer ``El Funky'' Marquez Duany, Alexander Delgado

Hermandez, and Randy Malcom Martinez--appeared onstage,

shocked and tearful, to accept the award. But there was one

artist notably absent: the rapper Maykel Osorbo.

At that precise moment, Osorbo was sitting in Kilo 5 Y

Medio, a maximum-security prison in the rural, tobacco-rich

region of Pinal del Rio, Cuba, far from the glamour and

glitterati of the awards show. By then, he'd been jailed for

six months, after authorities detained him on accusations

that included assault, resistance, public disorder, and

``propagating the epidemic,'' all of which outside lawyers

supporting him say are false charges. His family heard from

him only sparingly, and they worried about his health, which

had deteriorated since his arrest.

Since the late 2010s, Osorbo--whose real name is Maykel

Castillo Perez--had gained attention on the island as one of

the most public figures of Movimiento San Isidro (MSI), a

collective made up of dissident artists and intellectuals in

Havana. He was also known for his bold, outspoken music,

which caught the ear of Romero. Romero had begun working on

``Patria Y Vida'' in October of 2020, and he'd been

collaborating with other artists who, like him, had moved to

the U.S. from Cuba. Still, he felt the track--which was

inspired by the political anthems of nueva trova legend

Silvio Rodriguez--needed the voices of people still living on

the island. He asked Osorbo to be part of the song, aware

that the music risked provoking the Cuban government; the

lyrics call for freedom and mention several activists by

name. Bus Osorbo wasn't afraid.

He and his close friends El Funky recorded verses in

secret, sending them to Romero through WhatsApp. Over the

next few months, they watched in awe as the song caught on in

Cuba, becoming a rallying cry as unrest started brewing in

the country. Frustrations had been mounting as Cubans faced

food and supply shortages something many saw as a direct

product of government mismanagement and the effects of the

pandemic--though others, including Cuban president Miguel

Diaz-Canel, pointed to the effects of the U.S. embargo.

Additionally, there was a tightening of restrictions during

lockdown that reflected the Cuban government's broader limits

on civil liberties. Osorbo continued working with MSI, often

using his platform to speak out and demand justice for people

who'd been detained for expressing themselves. His rising

popularity and outspokenness made him a frequent police

target and, according to the humanitarian organization

Prisoners Defenders, he was arrested and beaten multiple

times before he was thrown in prison in May 2021.

Meanwhile, tensions in Cuba boiled over in July that year,

resulting in rare nationwide protests. Many of them were set

to the sound of ``Patria Y Vida''--a sign that even if Osorbo

was locked away, the messages he'd gotten out were still

resonating with people.

After the Latin Grammys that November, there was a faint

sense of hope: Perhaps such massive international attention

would eventually mean Osorbo's release. In February 2022, the

United Nations Group on Arbitrary Detention responded to a

complaint, spearheaded by Prisoners Defenders, and determined

that Osorbo had been ``persecuted and arbitrarily detained

for exercising his fundamental rights to freedom of opinion,

expression, assembly, association and participation.'' They

demanded his release, and Osorbo's friends organized to fight

for him. El Funky, who moved to the U.S. in 2021, released

music lambasting Cuban authorities for imprisoning artists,

and Osorbo's partner, the activist Anamely Ramos, spoke out

at demonstrations and rallied supporters on social media.

But in June 2022, a court in Havana made its final

decision. Osorbo was sentenced to nine years in prison;

artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, a close MSI associate,

was sentenced to five. Javier Larrondo, the president of

Prisoners Defenders, believes some of the recognition Osorbo

got for his music did help. In addition to winning Song of

the Year, ``Patria Y Vida'' also secured the award for Best

Urban Song, making Osorbo a two-time Latin Grammy winner--

and, perhaps, lightening his sentence. ``Given the way crimes

were fabricated the way they were for Maykel, if he'd been

hidden in anonymity, he perhaps could have even had a 12- or

13-year sentence dropped on him,'' Larrondo says.

Still, the sentence was a painful one for him and those

who'd been following Osorbo's case. Osorbo will turn 40 this

August: he'll be almost 50 by the time he's released. People

have continued to denounce his imprisonment: Last month on

Christmas Eve, the Argentine-Venezuelan singer Ricardo

Montaner called for his liberation. Others, like El Funky,

want to make sure Osorbo isn't forgotten. ``We're going to

keep making music, keep speaking up, until Maykel is free,''

he says.

Maykel Osorbo grew up in Old Havana as an only child. When

he was 10 years old, his mother left in the dead of the

night, part of a swell of Cubans who left the island after

the 1994 Maleconazo protests that led then-

president Fidel Castro to briefly allow citizens to leave the

island voluntarily. Osorbo was largely on his own after that.

``Maykel had a hard childhood,'' says El Funky, who met

Osorbo in the neighborhood as a kid. ``He had to become a man

at a really young age and went through really difficult

things.'' They stayed friends throughout the years, and they

always had a love of music in common. They both wanted to be

performers, but El Funky had to put his career ambitions on

hold in 2005, after his first child was born, to focus on

opening a cafe with his father.

In 2013, Osorbo came knocking on his door. ``He said,

`Compadre, you have talent, we've known each other for years.

There are all these music festivals in Cuba with prizes. I

have a studio where we can work without a problem,'' El Funky

remembers. At first, El Funky told Osorbo that he was done

with music, but Osorbo had a way of inspiring. Within a few

months, they were releasing songs together and independently,

building recognition as artists in the neighborhood. They

rapped about life in Cuba, and invariably what they were

releasing was political. ``I've always said that anyone who

writes songs about everyday realities in Cuba is talking

about the situation in Cuba,'' he says. ``So, without meaning

to, we were making protest music.''

Osorbo's work took on a radical urgency in 2018, when Cuba

proposed Decree 349, a law that prohibited any artistic

expression in both public and private spaces without approval

by the government's Ministry of Culture. Authorities were

also given the power to shut down artistic activity that they

deemed as containing ``sexist, vulgar or obscene language.''

Many artists and poets spoke out against the law, many of

them eventually creating the MSI collective. Osorbo took on a

central role alongside Otero, who was arrested dozens of

times for staging demonstrations and art performances.

Osorbo's music became more direct than ever, filled with

lacerating critiques of the government. In late 2020, he

teamed up with El Funky for ``Diazcarao,'' a heated,

blistering rap that directly took aim at president Diaz-

Canel. El Funky believes that song is what started to rattle

the government, just before ``Patria Y Vida'' exploded into

the world.

Once they'd recorded their parts in ``Patria Y Vida,''

Osorbo and El Funky decided to take a huge risk by shooting a

few scenes for a music video Romero was planning. They worked

with the video director Anyelo Troya, who pawned off one of

his cameras to get better equipment for the shoot, and snuck

into an abandoned building in the dead of night. The Cuban

government had enforced lockdown curfews, and they'd all face

fines and even jail time if they got caught. They had three

friends stand watch the entire night, switching off so they

could sleep, and featured Otero in the video as well. Once it

was finished, the video made an impact quickly, garnering one

million views within three days.

``People who know me and my work were like, `Now you really

went crazy.' I knew there was going to be a fallout,'' El

Funky remembers. Ramos says that shortly after the song came

out, she heard people starting to use the phrase 'patria y

vida' casually on the street, and she noticed neighbors

playing the song in public. She says that she was stunned by

how much other Cubans were connecting to ``Patria Y Vida,''

but she was concerned about Osorbo. ``All of us knew when we

saw the reaction it got that there were going to be

consequences. We know the authorities weren't going to

forgive something like that.''

Cuba, at the time, had been ramping up arrests on artists

in particular. A 2021 report from the international NGO

Freemuse, which has been documenting and researching

incidents of censorship and suppressing freedom of

expression, showed that Cuba's rappers are some of the most

persecuted rap artists in the world. Prisoners Defenders

outlined more than 120 ``repressive police acts'' committed

against Osorbo between 2019 and 2021, including beatings and

arbitrary detentions. In one incident, he was picked up by

police when he was at a park with his two-year-old daughter,

who was left alone after authorities took him away.

Clashes that intensified that April ultimately led to his

arrest. According to Prisoners Defenders, Osorbo had been

walking to MSI headquarters when he saw police harassing a

woman on the street. He attempted to intervene, and police

moved to arrest him instead, despite not having a reason. By

then, Osorbo had become a beloved figure in town, and

neighbors quickly jumped in and helped him escape. They

surrounded police officers and screaming at them to let

Osorbo go, showing the mass support he had from Cubans. (An

image of Osorbo holding one handcuffed arm up in the air

after evading arrest went viral.) Almost a month later, on

May 18, authorities picked him up again, handcuffing him

shirtless and without shoes on while he was at home. Like

many of the previous arrests, this one was made without an

arrest warrant or clear charges against him. He's been held

ever since.

EI Funky was detained at one point as well, but ultimately

let go. ``I'm not the type of person they were going to

arrest,'' he says. ``I've done stuff, don't get me wrong, and

I'm a person who has a lot of support, but I don't have a

personality like Maykel and Luis Manuel. These guys are

leaders--natural leaders. When they thought of things, what

they'd come up with was so ingenious that it was a danger to

the state.''

In addition to his work with Prisoners Defenders, Larrondo

is a singer who's played the most renowned Venues in Spain

and several other parts of the world. He's performed with the

legendary Celia Cruz and sang on an album alongside artists

such as Gloria Estefan and Alejandro Sanz. He understands the

value of freedom of expression intimately. His interest in

Osorbo's case came from his experiences both as a musician

and a defender of human rights, and he's been working with

the hope of finding organized, systematic ways for the

artistic community to show solidarity with artists who are

oppressed around the world.

``Patria Y Vida'' was the main storyline at the 2021 Latin

Grammys, and the song's two wins made headlines around the

world. There was some inevitable controversy, with skeptical

fans and musicians arguing that ``Patria Y Vida'' reflected a

Western, anti-left political agenda and noting that the

government organization USAID has used Cuba's hip-hop scene

in the past as a way to infiltrate the Cuban government.

(Some Cuban rappers Rolling Stone spoke to have countered

that regardless of what the U.S. has done, Cuba's artists and

hip-hop scenes have their own voice.) But more broadly, the

Latin Recording Academy was applauded for swaying from its

more risk-averse tendencies and recognizing a song with a

strong social message.

And then, as the months passed, Osorbo's story largely

faded from mainstream coverage--and, seemingly, from the

Latin industry and Latin Grammy's consciousness. Osorbo, who

remains behind bars, wasn't mentioned at the 2022 awards

ceremony this past November, and El Funky says no one

contacted him about other efforts to raise awareness.

However, he has kept writing music about Osorbo and other

political prisoners in Cuba, refusing to back down. Artists

such as Romero have also spoken out; he's currently working

on a documentary about ``Patria Y Vida.''

Larrondo believes that cases such as Osorbo's illustrate a

violation of fundamental rights, and that limits on artistic

expression--like other human-rights violations--require

bigger, broader movements in response. ``In the music

industry. as well as in the sports industry. there isn't a

systemic process to show solidarity with oppressed artists or

athletes,'' he says. ``I say this thinking of the Iranian

case of the athlete sentenced to death. I haven't seen soccer

players, or soccer clubs, express themselves against that

sentencing in a big way, doing things like organized moments

of silence at stadiums. the same way I haven't seen artists

defending the freedom of Maykel Osorbo in a massive way.''

He adds: ``The fact that some artists have stood up for

Maykel is good, but without some coordination or a major

response from the collective art world to support a Latin

Grammy winner, and a constant, permanent message--without

that. you can't have that person set free from prison. Any

artist in any regime could suffer things similar to Maykel.''

Ramos worries constantly about Osorbo's medical condition

in prison. She says he went through a critical period in

which skin lesions and boils appeared on his skin, perhaps a

result of contracting scabies or an infection in prison.

Though he's since stabilized, she wonders if the symptoms

could be a sign of cancer, and she believes the Cuban

government is actively withholding medical attention--

something it has been accused of doing with prisoners in the

past. Beyond that. she says Osorbo's mood has dipped,

especially after the holidays ``He's really not doing well,

and he's been that way for a long time.'' she says.

``Especially these days toward the end of the year, which is

a tough time that you typically spend with family.''

Despite all this, Osorbo recently managed to share an audio

recording, which was posted on his social media accounts.

It's a message of gratitude to his family, his friends, and

above all, those who have supported him. ``Those supporters

have been there for me at all times, they have made me

grow,'' Osorbo says. ``They have made me leave behind who I

was and they've made me who I am.''

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

Let me be clear. The act that the gentleman is trying to defund does not require auto manufacturers to install kill switches. It does not do that.

Passive drunk driving technology is a vital tool in safeguarding our loved ones and other innocent people on our roads. This new technology offers a lifeline of hope to not only save lives

but to prevent the lifelong emotional toll and gargantuan costs these accidents inflict on families.

Deadly drunk driving accidents can echo across generations, but we can seize this opportunity to stop such tragedies.

Between 2019 and 2021, Florida saw a 31 percent increase in drunk driving crashes. In Mr. Massie's home State of Kentucky, 190 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in 2021 alone. That was a 26 percent increase.

When we saw these grim statistics, we acted in a bipartisan fashion in Congress. How often do we see that? Both Republicans and Democrats supported the HALT Act to require auto manufacturers to make this passive technology standard in new vehicles.

The sponsor of this misguided amendment will tell you that he worries about privacy concerns. We heard the same inane calls with seat belt requirements.

You don't have a right to engage in potentially fatal behavior that we know poses a major health threat to public safety.

Passive drunk driving technology is pro-police. This anti-drunk driving technology lightens the load on police officers, allowing them to focus on more pressing safety concerns.

The importance of this technology goes far beyond statistics. It is about saving lives, preventing heartbreak, and making our roads safer. It is a passionate call to action to prevent alcohol-impaired driving from shattering the lives of those we hold dear.

This amendment, I understand, was dubbed the kill switch amendment, and it does not require a kill switch. It simply requires passive technology to help us prevent drunk driving.

In the name of the 406 people who were killed by a drunk driver in my own State of Florida last year alone, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment. Let's take steps to reduce deaths due to drunk driving, not increase them.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this bill.

We have felt the effects of climate change for years in south Florida, draining millions from State and local government coffers to respond to the cycle of natural disasters.

What is the majority's response in this bill?

A crippling 39 percent cut to the EPA and policy provisions that will severely undercut efforts to curb CO2 emissions. We haven't seen EPA funding levels dip this low since 1991, which ironically is when experts told us that we needed to start tackling climate change.

What does that mean for people watching us at home? More asthma, higher rates of cancer, and more frequent natural disasters, upending American families' lives.

We need to invest in clean energy, not just right now, but yesterday. Besides underfunding clean energy efforts, this bill also neglects the cherished Smithsonian Institution. I was extremely disappointed that this bill bars funding for the new National Museum of the American Latino and the operation of the existing Molina Family Latino Gallery.

The legislation that created this museum enjoyed strong bipartisan support just 3 years. The Latino community is so integral to America's heritage, it baffles me why the majority would block the Smithsonian from highlighting their historic and cultural contributions, especially since Congress established this museum.

We must embrace the beautiful mosaic that makes our Nation so incredible, and that includes investing in public museums to provide a cultural and educational platform.

This bill, by the way, also underfunds the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I respectfully requested the majority to include an additional $2 million over fiscal year 2023 for the museum's education program.

The intentional, genocidal violence inflicted on Israeli civilians and the unconscionable apathy of many nations--and far too many in our own Nation--is a sobering reminder that Israel is surrounded by hostility and danger. Anti-Semitic threats and attacks in the U.S. were already skyrocketing up 37 percent in 2022. Only by fully funding education programs can we truly combat this rise in hate.

Let's take some pride in America. Let's not cloak bigotry and ensure that we can educate people and promote understanding and unity, build up our public spaces, not starve and neglect them. For these reasons and many others, I urge Members to vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in pain. As Florida's first Jewish Congresswoman, the debate we are having today is deeply personal. I have never felt this magnitude of agony, shock, and anger burning in the hearts of the entire Jewish community. For me, for many of us, this goes beyond our belief in the survival of the Jewish state and rises far above politics as usual.

Today should be a moment of unity for this Chamber, a time where partisan games and showmanship are put aside. The House should be voting on a simple bill to provide urgent security assistance to Israel in her battle against Hamas terrorists. This same terrorist organization that perpetrated intentional genocidal violence on Israeli civilians on October 7, who just yesterday vowed to repeat that massacre over and over again.

That is why this House should send a clean bill to the Senate. Instead, Speaker Johnson is willingly jeopardizing Israel's security by making support for Israeli existence contingent on issues totally unrelated to its security. He has taken an unprecedented step and one with potentially fatal consequences.

I have seen statements from colleagues across the aisle since October 7, ones proclaiming an ironclad commitment to Israel. I have heard their promises over the years to never condition aid to Israel. You know you have looked pro-Israel leaders in the eye and promised that you would never do that. Think about it. But here we are.

We cannot send a message to our strongest ally in the Middle East, especially in this dire hour of need that the U.S. will only support Israel if we can score political points against Democrats. We cannot hold Israel security captive as she reels with over 230 of its citizens still being held hostage. That is why last night I offered an amendment that would have eliminated this offset, which isn't an offset.

It would have eliminated the false choice Republicans are forcing upon us by tying Israeli security assistance to

unrelated policy debates. Yet to my dismay, but not surprise, my colleagues across the aisle rejected my amendment, preventing it from even being voted on on the floor today. When given the chance to fix their mistake, Republicans rejected it, once more opting for political gamesmanship.

Our sole Democratic ally in the Middle East deserves better. Don't try to say you have Israel's best interest at heart if you are willing to jeopardize Israel's security in this way. The Israeli people deserve better.

``Am Yisrael Chai,'' ``The people of Israel live.''

Mr. SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks to the Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and the State of Israel and to speak out against the horrific murder of 1,400 Israeli civilians and the kidnapping of hundreds more.

The unspeakable, genocidal violence inflicted on Israelis and the Jewish people by Hamas terrorists goes beyond condemnation. It demands action.

As part of a bipartisan and bicameral delegation, I was in the region in pursuit of peace when Hamas launched their cowardly attack on civilian communities. Three days later, I met with Israeli's unified leadership and pledged continued U.S. support for the defense of the Jewish state.

President Biden has led our Nation in mourning the dead, praying for the kidnapped, and mobilizing to support Israel in eradicating Iranian- backed death cults like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic jihad, which are dedicated to the elimination of the Jewish people.

Israel has never had a stronger ally and the Jewish community has never had a stronger advocate or stronger voice in the Oval Office.

The unconscionable apathy of many nations and many in our own Nation is a sobering reminder of the fact that Israel remains surrounded by hostility and danger.

As a proud Jewish American and Zionist, let me be clear: Israel has a right to defend itself, and Hamas must be destroyed.

As an advocate for peace, normalization, and a two-state solution, it must be stated that Hamas is the primary obstacle to all three.

We should not tolerate Americans who rationalize massacres and lionize monsters while spouting off anti-Semitic tropes and accusations.

I will not equivocate because there is no equivalence between Israel's righteous efforts to protect its civilians and democracy from terror and Hamas using innocent Palestinians as a human shield, broadcasting carnage, burning families alive, and raping teenage girls to death. ``Am Yisrael chai''; ``the people of Israel live.''

Mr. Chair, I stand here as a proud member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies for many years. I unfortunately rise in opposition to this harmful bill.

Let's start with the two most obvious problems. It raises energy costs for families, and it has zero chance of becoming law.

It was drafted with one goal: to appease MAGA extremists.

The new Speaker of the House just spoke of reaching across the aisle for all Americans, yet one of the Republicans' first major acts is to jam through a bill that raises their energy costs and undermines our security, all just to keep their rightwing base happy.

How do we know? Instead of fortifying our power infrastructure and confronting the climate crisis, it fixates on blocking the Army Corps of Engineers from renaming items that celebrate the Confederacy. You just cannot make up this stuff. That rockets to the top of the priority list for House Republicans.

As we recover from the hottest summer on record, it cuts a critical clean energy program by half a billion dollars, choking off vital energy efficiency avenues to battle climate change. House Republicans have drafted a bill that is entirely removed from the realities that our families and the entire planet face right now.

I recently had an affordable housing roundtable with Broward County in my home State of Florida, and they all talked about being rent burdened by climbing housing costs. Yet, this bill takes away funding to help American homeowners keep their homes safe and energy efficient to cut their power bill.

Instead of investing in a stronger America, it cedes supremacy to a Chinese Communist Party that throws its full weight into infrastructure and clean energy investments.

If Republicans want to craft a bill that helps American families, start by abiding by the bipartisan budget agreement that was signed into law by President Biden just a few months ago.

In the rare instance where this bill actually honors that agreement, it fully funds a $425 million budget request for Everglades restoration, which I am thankful for, and it allows us to keep moving the EAA Reservoir project forward.

Beyond that, though, this bill has dramatic funding gaps that jeopardize America's energy stability and independence. It raises costs for families, hurts job creation, fails to tackle the climate crisis, and rolls over to Chinese and Russian competitors.

Mr. Chair, for all of these obvious reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this so- called CR, which is a MAGA gift basket to far-right extremists.

Let's first address the reality. The gutting cuts in this bill do not continue current funding like we have historically done in continuing resolutions. Instead, this so-called CR slashes cancer and Alzheimer's research, defunds the police, and undercuts allies like Israel and Ukraine.

Republicans claim to care about our borders, but this invites more immigration problems. Instead of giving migrants a path to work and pay taxes, it leaves them to languish in substandard private prisons.

This grab bag of budgetary garbage stands no chance of becoming law and just slingshots into a shutdown in 36 hours, a shutdown that harms everyone, from seniors and servicemembers to this Nation's most vulnerable and its very security. It snarls small-business loans and trade, delays home loans, and could force Federal contractors into layoffs.

It is a MAGA recipe for more chaos and inflation, and my home State of Florida will feel it first. The longer it drags on, the deeper the airport lines will get as TSA agents and air traffic controllers go without pay and passport processing slows down.

Worse, it actually makes our military serve without pay. Don't forget, in the 2019 GOP shutdown, they forced Coast Guard members into food banks. That does not make America stronger.

Instead of making communities less safe and handcuffing FEMA's recovery responsiveness, which this CR does, why don't Republicans join Democrats to fight Big Pharma and keep lowering drug prices like insulin?

Instead of a shutdown that closes Social Security field offices, which this CR does, and takes food from the mouths of children, why won't Republicans join Democrats to bolster education, healthcare, and climate investments like Americans want? Why? Because MAGA extremists don't want to make life better for all Americans. They want to inflict pain on their own leadership, on our government, and on the American people. Why? Because it covers up their lack of an agenda, excites their base, and throws gas on their bonfires of distraction and chaos.

America deserves better than that and so does this institution.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the State-Foreign Operations bill while having tremendous respect for my colleague from Florida, with whom I share many points of view, but certainly not on the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill before us.

Here we are, for the fourth time this week, bringing forward a bill that has no chance of becoming law. This bill is supposed to invest in programs and people that ensure the national security of the United States, protects her interests abroad, and promotes our democratic values around the world.

This bill is supposed to show that the United States stands up for our allies and democratic values while countering adversaries on the global stage.

This bill is supposed to fund the programs that improve the lives of women and girls around the world by investing in education, health, and economic development.

It is supposed to ensure the United States can effectively wield our soft power.

Instead, this bill packages devastating cuts with petty partisan riders. It needlessly harms our career servicemembers and diplomats. It sends a message that the United States is willing to abdicate our role as a moral superpower, a role China and Russia are eager to fill. This bill says we will abandon our allies, our interests, and our democratic agenda all to cater to the whims of an extreme fringe.

The world is at an inflection point, more complex, more rife with threats than ever before. If there is any doubt, just look around. Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine, and China has ratcheted up its aggression in the Indo-Pacific and ruthlessly cracked down on dissent at home. Authoritarians and dictators prop each other up, from Latin America to the Middle East. They all bait the United States, challenging us to step up or stand down.

In the face of that, this bill abdicates our responsibility to offer a viable alternative to protect allies and our vital interests here and around the globe.

We all know that when we gut programs to promote global education and health, when we cast aside entrepreneurship support, and when we neglect multilateral institutions doing vital work, we undermine our ability and credibility to protect and defend, to truly make sure that we can keep the world safe with our allies.

We lose our seat at the global table to ruthless thugs, dictators, and fascists when we try to pass harmful policy like this bill proposes. We do that at our own peril and imperil everything that Americans hold dear, which is why I encourage my colleagues to oppose this cruel and dangerous bill.

Mr. Chair, I rise to oppose this bill because it is incomprehensible to me that the majority would actually spend as much time--really, any time--on culture war riders and focusing on their extremist priorities as opposed to protecting the national security interests of our Nation.

Here we are, once again, considering a bill that has no chance of becoming law as we hurdle recklessly toward a costly government shutdown that will be damaging most importantly to the morale of our troops, which this bill purports to actually want to protect, and to the defense of our Nation.

Worse, this historically bipartisan national security bill has been hijacked by radical rightwing extremists. Instead of confronting grave national security threats like climate change, this bill is riddled with bigoted attacks on Americans who bravely serve our Nation. It needlessly politicizes the military and undermines the freedoms of those who risk their lives to protect ours.

My colleagues across the aisle were tasked with crafting a Defense bill that supports all of our servicemembers, not just those who are White, straight, and conservative, and they failed miserably on that mission.

I won't stand idly by as culture warriors try to undermine the service of LGBTQ+ individuals who bravely fought and continue to fight for our country every day.

To top it off, listen to this: The report that goes along with this bill puts the word ``extremism'' in quotes. Republicans can't even admit that this is a real concept or threat.

I plead with my Republican colleagues to put forward a Defense bill that focuses on the real needs of the members of our military, focuses on the actual national security interests of our country, and stops feeding the extremism that is actually emanating from their own party. I beg them to stop using this critical bill, one that we literally count on to keep every American family safe, as a disruptive wedge for partisan, discriminatory policies.

Keep America strong. Don't divide it.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise to express grave concern that the majority has included in the Homeland Security appropriations bill a cut to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. In the face of the grave and significant threats against nonprofit organizations across this country, rising threats toward religious and other nonprofit institutions, these cuts will likely have a profound impact on the safety of our community across the country and in Florida and our community in particular.

We strive to foster an open and safe environment in our communities and our houses of worship, in line with the core value of welcoming the stranger.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the CTC, faith-based institutions are more susceptible to attacks by violent extremists due to their symbolism, perceived lack of security, and accessible locations.

We are going in the wrong direction in this bill, and the amendment to increase the amount of funding provided for nonprofit security grants is critical. At a time of increased vulnerability to threats of hate-motivated violence by domestic extremists, the House should be significantly increasing funding for religious institutions and at-risk nonprofit organizations, not cutting them and putting more people at risk. Shame on us if we don't increase the bottom-line number for nonprofit security grants.

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

Mr. Chair, my amendment gives my Republican colleagues a chance to reconsider some of the cruel and reckless partisan riders tacked onto this atrocity of a Homeland Security bill.

Republicans are really done, obviously, pretending that they just want people to immigrate here legally. This bill puts their bitter disdain for all immigrants on clear display because when President Biden set up legal pathways to reduce pressure at the border, the radical right objected. They took aim at Dreamers and refugees with legal status. By taking away their right to work, they threaten to harm our economy, jack up inflation, and condemn these communities to poverty in the process. That is not securing the homeland. It is inflicting vicious harm.

Instead of registering immigrants and offering the chance to work and pay taxes, this bill would leave immigrants to languish in private prisons that fail to meet bare minimum standards for convicts, all at taxpayer expense.

This Republican bill blocks inspections of detention facilities so our constituents can't see the horrific treatment and squalid conditions that migrants are forced to endure.

Even that malevolence doesn't satisfy my Republican colleagues. Listen carefully here. This bill goes further to mandate that every last one of these prisons is filled to the brim, packed full of people who have not been convicted of a crime, have not faced a judge, and have not seen a lawyer.

Finally, this bill blocks legally admitted migrants from being reunited with their families, separating children, even toddlers, from their families. Yet, MAGA Republicans will still preach to all of us about family values.

I know the people they are marginalizing in this bill, people who come from Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti. They are my neighbors, my friends, my children's classmates. They are like family in my community.

None of us are happy with our immigration system. Why not work toward a bipartisan plan that balances legal pathways with unbiased enforcement?

The secret is out: Republicans don't want a solution. They want more chaos and more heartbreak. They want more desperate people trying their luck against the Rio Grande or the Florida Straits instead of safely applying online from home and coming through a port of entry. The pain is the point for these extremists.

Mr. Chair, I wish my amendment could make sense of this bill, but these provisions barely scratch the surface. All I can hope is that my colleagues will show a shred of courage and common sense, even if it means facing jeers from the radical rightwing fringe, their base who is holding this majority hostage.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to join me in countering this effort to deepen the despair of families who have had enough of it for one lifetime.

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

Mr. Chair, I will give a couple of examples of the type of torture that the language in this bill supports and endorses.

One provision, section 404, prohibits funds for asylum officers to adjudicate fear claims, which is the point of our asylum program.

Republicans include the perfect provision to demonstrate that they value disrupting due process for migrants more than they value speeding up results for their constituents. They want to block asylum officers, who receive extensive training and face enough difficulties as it is, from assessing whether refugees have a reasonable claim to asylum.

While Republicans continue to engage in massive hyperbole, leaving people with the impression that people are storming the border, this bill actually prevents a lawful, orderly asylum process from occurring because the Republicans defund it in this bill.

Another section eliminates the inspections of detention facilities. All I have heard since the MAGA majority gaveled in this Congress is oversight, oversight, oversight. Yet, when it comes to our detention facilities where vulnerable women and families are held indefinitely without a trial or legal counsel, Republicans want no oversight at all.

These inspections are critical. These inspectors ought to get combat pay for what they walk into. At one facility in my home State, Mr. Chair, an investigation found severe violations, including sexual voyeurism by guards, denial of menstrual products as punishment, refusal of lifesaving medication and healthcare, beatings, and extended solitary confinement.

Yet, Republicans in this Homeland Security bill actually eliminate funding for inspections of detention facilities and allow this torture to continue. It is outrageous.

Mr. Chair, I will use the balance of my time to underscore my fierce opposition to these toxic anti-immigrant provisions.

I will always stand up to counterattacks on legal pathways for migrants. I will also condemn cruelty against the vulnerable, even when it is justified by deterrence. I will never stay silent when opportunists try to blind the American people to the trauma we are inflicting on a generation of refugees.

The extreme MAGA Republicans ignored dozens of commonsense requests from bipartisan Members regarding detention conditions, preserving asylum access, and ensuring that Congress upholds its oversight responsibility.

Mr. Chair, I hope my colleagues will join me in mitigating the most harmful components of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this heartless bill which cuts nutrition assistance to mothers and children and needed relief to our hardworking farmers.

If my Republican colleagues insist on preserving their tax cuts for the rich at all costs, please have the decency not to do it on the backs of women, children, and farmers.

Yet, as cruel as these cuts are, it is enough to satisfy the small band of MAGA extremists now running this House. Republican leaders have caved to them again by adding harmful, divisive riders just to bring these bills for a vote. This legislation should have a toxic hazard warning on it.

One rider blocks women from accessing mifepristone via telemedicine or the mail, even in States that allow it. This sneak attack on abortion medication would vastly restrict a woman's right to control her own body. Since it is so unpopular, of course, Republicans are adding this healthcare access barrier now in the dead of night.

This isn't the only extreme rider on this bill. Instead of putting children and farmers first, this bill blocks the FDA from regulating nicotine standards.

You are a doctor. That is shocking.

It does this, mind you, despite scientific data showing that it will mean more addicted kids and fewer saved lives. In Florida alone, 32,300 people die each year from smoking-related deaths. Instead of helping hungry children and struggling families, Republicans give handouts to big tobacco in this bill.

Look, I know Americans are divided on many issues, but there is one thing we can all agree on: We do not take food assistance away from children, families, seniors, veterans, and the disabled that desperately rely on that funding. Yet this extremist MAGA bill does just that.

Mr. Chairman, as an appropriator, I always echo the adage: Show me your budget, and I will show you what you really value.

This bill exemplifies the ugliest of all values if it takes food from the mouths of the hungry, if it blocks women's reproductive care, and if it cuts funds to American farmers.

For these reasons, I strongly urge my colleagues to reject these cold-hearted values and vote ``no'' on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great enthusiasm that I rise to recognize the remarkable work of the Urban League of Broward County.

The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to elevating the

standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. Founded in 1975 as an affiliate of the National Urban League, the Urban League of Broward County is a community-based organization dedicated to empowering communities and changing lives.

The League helps our underserved communities achieve their highest true social parity, economic self-reliance, power, and civil rights. The organization promotes economic empowerment through education and job training, housing and community development, workforce development, entrepreneurship, health, and quality of life.

The League helps our community achieve these goals through a variety of programming--from their Summer Enrichment Program, which offers students the opportunity to create, discover, and learn, to ADVANCE-U, which offers a full range of essential economic resources for residents to help them succeed in the workforce, stabilize their finances and build assets.

The Urban League of Broward County's commitment to the health and wellness of Broward's families is extensive, impressive, and inspiring. I am grateful to the leadership and staff for their tireless efforts to fight for the rights of my constituents and all Americans to live with freedom, dignity, and prosperity.

I thank President and CEO, Dr. Germaine Smith-Baugh, and everyone at the Urban League of Broward County for improving the lives of those in Florida's 25th Congressional District.