Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the NSF for the Future Act, a critical piece of legislation that would bolster our Nation's research enterprise and enhance our status as a world leader in science and research. It is so wonderful that it has been done in a completely bipartisan way.

Included in this legislation is a bipartisan bill I introduced, the NSF Technology Research Institutes Act. This important bill would create a grant program at NSF that will fund technology research activities at institutes of higher education. This will further our national innovation enterprise and ensure our technology workforce has the requisite skill set to work on cutting-edge research as the key to success in the 21st century.

This program will enable our academic institutions, including those I represent in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, to further provide their students with critical research experience to build the robust technology workforce our country urgently needs.

I look forward to working with the Senate to ensure this critical bill is signed into law.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today also to highlight this critical bill that will help North Carolinians.

This commonsense legislation will revise North Carolina's judicial district lines to place Fort Bragg, one of the largest military installations in the world, entirely within the eastern district. Currently, the district lines bisect the base, resulting in unnecessary administrative and logistical problems for the people of our State.

This legislation will ease the burden of traveling miles to Durham, Greensboro, or Winston-Salem and, instead, let servicemembers resolve court matters in nearby Fayetteville or Raleigh. A similar redistricting occurred several years ago when Congress moved Butner into the eastern district.

This bipartisan piece of legislation will benefit our servicemembers and their families.

I am honored to work with my North Carolina colleagues, Congressman Hudson, Senator Tillis, and Senator Burr, my colleague from law school class, and the entire delegation to get this bill across the finish line. I am pleased it passed out of the Senate, and I look forward to passing it in the House and having it signed into law by the President.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a pioneering institution in the field of early childhood education located in my district, Project Enlightenment.

Project Enlightenment provides extraordinary services to families and children, and I was privileged to visit with them last week.

In the late 1960s, insightful staff from the Raleigh city schools, Wake County Mental Health and Dorothea Dix Child Psychiatry recognized that strengthening a child's social and emotional development in the early years would have long-term benefits. They were right, and the American Families Plan recognizes this fact.

Project Enlightenment has offered prevention and early intervention services to young children by providing services to the primary caregivers in their lives. Over the years, they have helped people all over the State of North Carolina and all over the country.

I am grateful for the attentive staff that includes a variety of professionals. Because of their commitment to our children, they truly make our county and State a better place.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize an extraordinary public school in my district, less than 1 mile from my house, Wiley Elementary School.

For the second time in 5 years, Wiley has been named a top magnet elementary school in the Nation for its dedication to excellence.

It is both an international magnet and a true neighborhood school. A diverse and welcoming community, Wiley's teachers, faculty, parents, and staff go above and beyond to ensure that every student receives the best education possible.

Wiley offers the International Studies Magnet Program, which allows students to take as many as eight electives, including five foreign languages, in elementary school. Through this program, students are able to learn about cultures other than their own and experience diverse perspectives.

I believe the foundation to a quality education begins in elementary school, and I know that Wiley is setting students up for success.

I am honored to represent Wiley Elementary School in Congress, and I am awed by all that their children achieve.

Mr. Speaker, debt collectors often operate with impunity, threatening servicepeople, denying small business owners due process, and harassing customers and homeowners with repeated calls, texts, and emails.

Harassment by debt collectors negatively affects students' career decisions, small business growth, homeownership, and families' financial stability. It hurts the economy and amplifies racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequities across the Nation.

For example, rates of student loan distress are especially concentrated among low-income borrowers, borrowers in rural areas, and borrowers of color. Debt collectors incessantly contacting borrowers without consent adds another layer of loan distress, particularly during this pandemic.

This is why I introduced an amendment to this bill that requires a GAO investigation of communications by debt collectors, including specific recommendations for Congress to reduce the harassment and abuse of individuals with debt.

The Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act is critical to protecting students, servicemembers, small business owners, and consumers with debt from predatory practices.

I urge my colleagues to support this entire legislation. It is important for the dignity of the average borrower in this country.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is not just about the past, it is about the future. Gender-based wage discrimination exists in every State and in many industries.

In the tech industry, which has a huge presence in my district in North Carolina's Research Triangle, women typically make thousands of dollars less than men in the same roles. Unsurprisingly, women in tech often leave the industry due to unfair compensation, much to that industry's detriment.

Pay inequity also follows women into retirement. Women have, on average, only 70 percent of the retirement income men have.

One of the best ways we can help close the wage gap is through salary negotiation training, which is one of the key provisions of this bill.

I am thankful to groups like Ladies Get Paid and countless others working to empower women to help them advocate for their work.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill for the sake of future generations.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record this letter from the National Council of Jewish Women.

National Council of Jewish Women,

Washington, DC, April 14, 2021.

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Representative: On behalf of our 180,000 members,

advocates, and supporters, National Council of Jewish Women

(NCJW) urges you to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7)

without amendments that limit its scope or undermine its

critical protections.

NCJW is a grassroots organization of volunteers and

advocates who turn progressive ideals into action. Inspired

by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by

improving the quality of life for women, children, and

families and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.

The Torah compels us tzedek, tzedek tirdof--to pursue

justice. To that end, we advocate for employment laws,

policies, and practices that provide equal pay and benefits

for work of comparable worth and equal opportunities for

advancement.

Nearly 60 years after passage of the landmark Equal Pay

Act, the gender way gap persists. Overall, women earn only 82

cents for every dollar earned by men, and the gap is much

wider for women of color (Black women earn 63 cents,

Indigenous women earn 60 cents, Latinas earn 55 cents, and

some Asian American and Pacific Islander women earn only 52

cents). Earnings lost to these gaps are exacerbating the

financial effects of COVID-19, falling particularly heavily

on women of color and the families who depend on their

income.

The Paycheck Fairness Act, which has been passed three

previous times by the House of Representatives, mostly

recently in the 116th Congress, offers a much needed update

to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by providing new tools to battle

pervasive pay gaps and to challenge discrimination.

We cannot build back an economy that works for everyone

without ensuring that all women can work with equality,

safety, and dignity, starting with pay equity. Passing the

Paycheck Fairness Act would mark a vitally important step

toward ensuring this becomes reality. I ask you to vote YES

on the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7) without amendments that

limit its scope or undermine its critical protections.

Sincerely,

Jody Rabhan,

Chief Policy Officer,

National Council of Jewish Women.

Madam Speaker, I attended a Press Conference on pay equity. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 105.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to say how honored I am to be able to file two amendments to the critical reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

My first amendment aims to protect the safety and privacy of survivors by creating a statutory mandate that a victim's safety should be central to housing decisions made by covered housing providers. This amendment will ensure that housing providers do not evict survivors, keep their information confidential, and prioritize their safety when considering admissions, assistance, transfers, and more.

My second amendment is a direct response to an issue in my home State of North Carolina. Sexual assault nurse examiners, or SANE nurses, play a critical role in providing medical care to sexual assault survivors and collecting evidence for criminal prosecution.

Unfortunately, in North Carolina, SANE nurses can be difficult to locate, and some survivors travel to multiple hospitals and have to wait hours to see a SANE nurse. My amendment allows certain grants in the bill to be used to create databases.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Lawrence for her leadership and for organizing this Special Order hour on this incredible night in this incredible month of Women's History Month.

I also want to point out that all three women from the North Carolina delegation participated, and that is true sisterhood.

I rise today to highlight an extraordinary North Carolinian in honor of Women's History Month, Reverend Nancy Petty.

Nancy is a trailblazer in the community. As a member of the LGBTQ community and the faith community, she has championed marriage equality and brought these welcoming ideas to her own church, Raleigh's historic and progressive Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. I worshipped virtually with Pullen just last Sunday.

A kind and compassionate person, Nancy often preaches inclusivity and understanding. She has focused on facilitating interfaith dialogue with Raleigh's Muslim community and has partnered with the Jewish community on social justice advocacy.

She truly represents the best of our community, and I am honored to call her a friend and a neighbor. She has inspired a generation by her example to treat others the way you would want to be treated.

I am so pleased to recognize Reverend Petty for this Women's History Month and the example she sets for us all.

Madam Speaker, the American Rescue Plan will finally deliver needed aid to individuals, families, workers, businesses, and healthcare systems. I am proud that this Congress has taken such swift action to get this important work done.

I want to highlight one part of the bill that would be life-changing for hundreds of thousands of people in my State.

Sadly, North Carolina is one of only 12 States that has not expanded Medicaid under the ACA. This failure has left over 600,000 low-income North Carolinians without healthcare.

The American Rescue Plan provides an added incentive for States like mine to expand Medicaid. The bill offers a 5-point increase in the Federal funding match for Medicaid for 2 years to States that choose to expand the program during this pandemic. This would bring North Carolina more than $2 billion in Federal healthcare coverage for our most vulnerable people and help our hardest-hit hospitals.

Madam Speaker, our State desperately needs the relief provided in this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Article of Impeachment. The President's responsibility for the violence and insurrection that occurred last Wednesday cannot go unanswered. The President has had multiple opportunities to modify his behavior to bring this country together. Instead, he uses his power to further divide us. He is unrepentant.

Congress must act for the good of this country.