Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 521, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 85th Anniversary of the Daughters of Penelope. This fine organization was founded on November 16, 1929, in San Francisco, with the mission of improving the well-being of Greek women and providing them with opportunities to make significant contributions to American society. Over the past 85 years, Daughters of Penelope has grown into a leading international organization of women of Hellenic descent and Philhellenes, recognized and respected worldwide for its scholarship programs and public advocacy.

Today, the Daughters are instrumental in promoting the ideals of ancient Greece, with a focus on education, philanthropy, civic responsibility, and individual excellence through community service and volunteerism. Most recently, through their 250 chapters around the globe, they have supported efforts to end domestic violence in the United States and Greece by sponsoring domestic violence centers, shelters, and hotlines.

I am proud to work with them on these important issues and look forward to continuing our partnership to empower the next generation of female Hellenic leaders.

Well, thank you very much.

I would like to thank my colleague, Congresswoman Norton, for arranging this important discussion about an issue that is moving quickly in State capitals across the country, here in Washington, D.C., but in Congress maybe not so much.

I would like to speak about the legal regulated use of marijuana for medical and commercial sale because this is an important issue that has garnered attention nationwide as States and communities continue to enact laws to allow for legal and carefully regulated and taxed sale and use. We see this in all parts of the country, in all types of communities, and we see it not just passed by State legislatures, but mandated through public referenda.

I represent the heart of the Las Vegas Valley in the State of Nevada where, for nearly 14 years, we had a voter-approved mandate allowing for medical marijuana. Then just last year, the State legislature put forth a legal framework for medical marijuana businesses to be permitted, regulated, and to go into operation around the State.

This has led to enormous interest from investors and entrepreneurs, researchers, and, most importantly, patients who now can benefit, through the assistance of their physicians, from medical marijuana for the treatment for all kinds of things, a variety of things: epileptic seizures in children, PTSD treatment, pain relief from cancer, appetite enhancers for people undergoing chemotherapy, and HIV/AIDS.

Nevada is now one of 23 States with legal marijuana for medical or commercial sale, and those numbers continue to grow after poll after poll shows increasing support for legalization and regulation. We saw two States just in the election last week where marijuana was approved.

Now, that brings us to what is happening here in Congress. Over the course of the last 113th congressional session, we have seen considerable advancements that had not been the case up until now. A few years ago, just a short time ago, only a small group of Members of Congress would be willing to speak out about medical marijuana, much less support any kind of legislation that would update our Nation's antiquated drug laws. But today, Democrats and some Republicans have come together to advocate for this industry and work to update the Nation's laws to catch up to what is happening in the States and to reflect the realities of what is going on in Nevada, in Washington, D.C., and in places around the country.

For the first time, with the help of leaders like Congressman Blumenauer, Congressman Rohrabacher, and others, the House of Representatives passed not one, but two significant amendments to protect the rights of States when it comes to legal marijuana sales and use.

As more States and communities move forward with ballot initiatives like the one that passed here in D.C., 2-1, or with regulatory laws like those that were just enacted in Nevada, it is important that we, as elected representatives of our communities, become educated and advocate for the community's best interests.

Because of the important potential role that medical marijuana will play in Nevada's economic future and because this conversation is so quickly becoming a national issue, I have tried to educate myself and have been traveling the country visiting dispensaries, growers, and experts in the industry to learn about the fiscal and scientific potential, as well as the obstacles that are faced by these businesses.

I traveled to the Berkeley Patients Group, The Apothecarium, and Blum dispensary in the San Francisco Bay area to learn more about how the industry has evolved from leaders like Sean Loose, Ryan Hudson, and Salwa Ibrahim, all of whom are recognized experts and innovators in the field of medical marijuana.

I went to Arizona to visit with Beth Stavola and Dr. Sue Sisley and discussed the advantages of medical marijuana in treating veterans with PTSD and for helping seniors. I also met with folks at Monarch Wellness Center to hear how an entrepreneur's personal history with his mother's medical condition inspired him to open Scottsdale's first medical marijuana dispensary. And I recently traveled to Colorado, where I was very impressed by CannLabs' facility that is bringing the highest standards of quality and safety to the medical cannabis industry.

I would encourage my colleagues here in Congress to visit these businesses, talk to their employees, and see firsthand that today's industry is not just some little head shop on the corner with a picture of Che Guevara. It is a very professional, very scientific, very regulated industry. It is a modern, professional office with skilled and educated personnel.

So we have more work to do. It has begun, but we have a lot to do as we start the 114th Congress. We should concentrate on issues that are having a significant impact and bringing uncertainty to an industry that is booming and needs certain protections. We also need to regulate it to protect children, for example, and also hold it accountable so it can make a financial contribution by being a legal, regulated operator that pays taxes.

Congress should also allow medical personnel at our veterans hospitals to recommend the best available care for our Nation's veterans, and that may include medical marijuana. This could help with the effects of PTSD that are far too common in our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

We must also ensure that products are available for vital research into the medical benefits of marijuana. So far the research has mostly been on the negative side. What are the possible positive contributions that can come from studying the benefits so we can advance the science and move us beyond that notion of ``Reefer Madness''?

And as you have been hearing from my colleague, it is important that, in considering all of this, Congress respect home rule and the will of the people. That is certainly true in the District of Columbia. Their laws need to be respected because they have been enacted in the best interests of that own community. Just as State laws are, we need to respect those states' rights.

I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on this important issue and to protect the rights and interests of those communities like Washington and States like Nevada where the people have decided that this is the way of the future.

I thank you for letting me join you today, and I look forward to working with you on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, October 12, 2014, marks the 75th anniversary of the Hispanic Reading Room of the Library of Congress which is located in the Jefferson Building. Since 1939, the Hispanic Division has been systematically acquiring books, journals, newspapers, photographs, prints, maps, posters, sound recordings, and other materials from and about the greater Hispanic world. Today with more than 13 million items, the Library of Congress possesses the most extensive collection in the world on the history and culture of Latin America, the Caribbean, Iberia, and U.S. Hispanics/Latinos.

Hispanic Division specialists assist scholars from all over the United States and indeed around the world with information about materials in all formats in the Library's collections. The reading room's website www.http://loc.gov/rr/hispanic which can be accessed in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, is an important resource for students as well the wider public for finding books, maps, images, audio-visual materials, music, and many other sources to learn about the history and culture of the greater Hispanic world. The website is visited more than 100,000 times per month.

The recently issued Hispanic American Members of Congress, 1922- 2013, published by the Government Printing Office and available online, was compiled by the Office of the Historian of the Clerk of the House, with help from specialists in the Hispanic Division who provided expertise and access to the vast collections of the Library of Congress. The first and much smaller edition of this directory was prepared in the Hispanic Division in 1994 and published in 1995 by the

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today with the people of the Republic of

China (Taiwan) as they celebrate their upcoming National Day on October 10th.

I visited Taiwan as a state legislator and often welcome its representatives to Las Vegas and to my Washington, DC office. With the expansion of the Visa Waiver Program to include Taiwan, we hope to continue to welcome more Taiwanese tourists and business travelers to Las Vegas.

Nevada's First Congressional District is home to a vibrant Taiwanese American Community that enhances our local culture.

I am proud to consider myself a friend of Taiwan. The relationship between our two nations has been strong over the past century. This mutually beneficial partnership relationship has strengthened and enriched our economic, political, and cultural ties.

It should be fostered and promoted in the coming years.

I congratulate the people of Taiwan on the occasion of their National Day and join them in their celebration.

I thank the gentlewoman from Arizona for yielding to me and for all her hard work on behalf of our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, as the ranking member of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, I rise in support of S. 2258, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act.

Unlike Social Security COLA increases, Congress must act each year to provide veterans with the COLA increase that they earned and deserved.

I was proud to introduce the corresponding legislation in the House with our subcommittee chairman, Jon Runyan. Together, we also introduced legislation to make this yearly adjustment automatic.

So today, the House will pass a number of bills that are designed to meet the bipartisan goal of ensuring our Nation's heroes receive all the benefits they have earned. But there is an important bill that has been blocked from consideration in the House. That bill is H.R. 2529, the Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act, which would provide all married veterans and their families access to Federal benefits that they deserve.

Last week in the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, only one Republican had the courage to vote to provide access to VA benefits to legally married, same-sex couples, regardless of where they live, couples who received the benefits while they were in the military but lost them upon becoming veterans if they reside in certain States.

We heard all types of pitiful excuses. We heard that it was unconstitutional for Congress to force States to adopt Federal directives. That is ridiculous and intellectually dishonest. In fact, this House voted unanimously earlier this year to mandate that States provide instate tuition for veterans, a bill authored by the very Member who made the specious states' rights argument against H.R. 2529. And if you can even believe it, we heard process arguments as an excuse for not doing the right thing. I would remind my colleagues that they are the ones who make the process.

So when we vote today to adjust the COLA, remember that this increase is meaningless to thousands of our Nation's heroes in States like Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. They will not be receiving the benefits they earned and deserve. It is shameful and it is unfair.

So, Mr. Speaker, while I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2258, I would remind them of these facts and implore the Republican leadership to do the right thing and bring H.R. 2529 to the floor for a vote so all veterans will get the benefits they earned and deserve.

Mr. Speaker, earlier today, the Republican members of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, with one notable exception, voted to deny LGBT veterans the Federal VA benefits they have earned if they happen to live in a State that does not recognize marriage equality.

The Defense Department provides for LGBT soldiers and their families, regardless of where they live, but not the VA. While they are wearing a uniform, they and their families are covered, but once they take it off and become a veteran, too bad. If they live in Florida or Texas or Nevada, too bad.

It doesn't matter that they fought to defend this country, not a particular State. It doesn't matter that the VA and the VSOs support giving them benefits. It doesn't matter how brave they were, how much they sacrificed, or how long and honorably they served, too bad. They get nothing, according to the Republicans.

This is unfair and unjust, and they should be ashamed for lacking the courage to do the right thing by our Nation's heroes.

Madam Speaker, I rise to give voice to the 63,000 unaccompanied minors who have sought refuge at our borders since last fall. These vulnerable children have fled terrible violence and poverty in their home countries.

In August, I traveled to McAllen, Texas, where I visited the border with CBP agents, I toured processing centers, and I met with Mexican officials to discuss the issue.

There is no easy or quick solution to this very complex problem, but there are some steps we can take to relieve the crisis: provide resources for shelter and other social services for these children in U.S. custody; encourage economic investments in Central America; assess the effectiveness of U.S. funding for antigang programs in Central America; and increase the number of immigration judges to ensure children move quickly and fairly through the process.

But in the end, this crisis simply underlies the necessity for us to enact comprehensive immigration reform. So I urge the House Republican leadership to listen to the American people and bring this reform to the floor for a vote.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 15, a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill to properly address the humanitarian crisis at the border.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding.

I thank Mr. Michaud and Chairman Miller for their leadership on this important bill.

As a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, I have been working with my colleagues to ensure that veterans have access to the highest quality care in a timely fashion. This legislation before us takes important steps towards that goal.

I am especially pleased that the compromise includes three of my bills, which ensure that: one, all victims of sexual assault in the military, including those in the National Guard, have access to the care they need; two, that spouses of those who have died in service to our country get education benefits; and, three, more residencies are going to be funded at VA hospitals in areas of the country that are underserved by doctors in private practice.

Our committee, I know, will continue to work in a bipartisan fashion with the new Secretary to ensure that all veterans have access to the benefits and care that they have so bravely earned.

Today, we are acting on behalf of a grateful Nation to provide our country's heroes the care they need and restore their trust in the VA. So I urge my colleagues to support this conference report to the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act.

Mr. Speaker, in 2 days, we will go home, leaving behind a long list of unfinished business, but it is not for lack of trying on the part of Democrats.

We have introduced bills, signed discharge petitions, protested on the steps of the Capitol, and fasted on the Mall, all to try to prompt or at least shame the Republicans into some kind of action, but they are shameless.

Apparently, they just don't care. They don't care if women get paid less, as long as CEOs get record salaries. They don't care if children stack up at the border and families are divided, as long as they can sue the President.

They don't care if people struggle to get by on low wages or with no unemployment insurance, as long as corporations can keep their tax loopholes, and they don't care if the environment is raped, as long as big polluters can continue to circumvent regulations that protect our air and water.

Before we go home, we need to show the American people that Congress does care about them, and we need to pass important measures that jump- start the middle class, so we can say we did something while we were here.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from California for yielding to me, and for addressing this important issue of coverage for victims of sexual assault in the National Guard.

I rise in support of the Brownley motion to instruct. As you have heard described, this proposal addresses an unacceptable gap in current law that effectively leaves some victims of military sexual assault without the support and treatment they need.

Members of the National Guard and other reserve components of the armed services have fought bravely for our country, many completing numerous tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the attacks on September 11, more than 50,000 guardsmen and guardswomen have been called to service both at home and abroad. We recognize the value of their service, of the National Guard, and of other reserve components, and we thank them for their sacrifice.

Unfortunately, some guardsmen and -women, like other members of the armed services, are victimized by sexual assault while on Active Duty. If that happens, they are provided all of the VA resources and services they need to recover and heal, physically and emotionally. These benefits, however, are not offered to members of the National Guard or other reserve components who experience sexual assault while on inactive training missions. For example, members of the Guard are required to participate in training missions one weekend a month and two weeks a year, but benefits and services, such as counseling and medical care, do not extend to victims sexually assaulted during those mandatory training missions. This oversight is simply unacceptable and leaves so many who have served our country so bravely without assistance or support during a devastating time.

On May 28, the House unanimously agreed to a solution to this problem by passing legislation I introduced last year, the bipartisan National Guard Military Sexual Trauma Parity Act. This legislation is supported by a number of the leading veterans service organizations.

The National Guard Military Sexual Trauma Parity Act would fix this omission and clarify that all victims of sexual trauma in the National Guard or other reserve components have access to the care they need to help them recover from acts of sexual trauma while they are on inactive or reserve duty.

The Senate wisely included this language in the VA reform bill that passed their body 93-3, and it is important that this provision, which has been passed by the House already, be included in the final version of the bill. I was pleased to hear it mentioned by our colleague from Colorado, so I am glad that there is support for keeping it in the conference report.

I encourage my colleagues to support the Brownley motion to instruct to ensure that all victims of sexual assault, regardless of what kind of duty they are on, have access to the care they need.

Mr. Speaker, everyone deserves the opportunity to travel and explore the many incredible destinations located throughout our country, but individuals with disabilities, however, face much greater difficulties when they try to arrange travel.

Now, Las Vegas, my district, is a world leader in disability access. We have more handicap-accessible guest rooms than any other American city. Our casinos offer gambling tables and slot machines designed for wheelchair users, and all our show venues have designated handicapped seating.

Other places could benefit from our example, and that is why I have introduced the Travel and Tourism for All Act that would require the National Council on Disability to conduct a review of existing disability standards in the tourism and hospitality industries and provide recommendations to help Congress ensure that people with disabilities are able to enjoy traveling throughout the U.S.

This act would ensure that we continue to set the international standard for disability accommodation in the hospitality industry, and it will attract tourists from other parts of the world where accommodations are less welcoming.

I thank my friend from Illinois for yielding and for visiting my district whenever she can.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4450, the Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act of 2014. I am an original cosponsor of this legislation, and I thank my friend from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) for his leadership on this issue.

During the 111th Congress, I was proud to be an original cosponsor of the first Travel Promotion Act, which actually established Brand USA. Prior to the passage of that act, the United States was one of the only countries in the world that did not promote its unique destination to foreign visitors.

Since its creation, Brand USA has played a critical role in bringing foreign visitors to destinations throughout the United States, including my district of Las Vegas.

Through innovative, targeted, and effective marketing campaigns, Brand USA has directly connected foreign visitors with world-famous destinations in Nevada's First Congressional District, including the fabulous strip; the new arts district; and the hip, edgy downtown section of Las Vegas.

Foreign visitors to the United States are critical for the success of the travel and tourism industry. Average foreign visitors stay 17 days in the United States and spend $4,500 during their visit. This certainly creates jobs in Las Vegas and around the country.

Brand USA has been very effective in bringing more of these visitors to the United States. For example, as you have heard, in 2013, Brand USA was directly responsible for a million new visits, generating $3.4 billion in new visitor spending and supporting 53,000 U.S. jobs, and this is all without spending a dime of taxpayer dollars.

Today, we have a chance to reauthorize the work that began with the Travel Promotion Act and remains so critical to our economy still today.

I look forward to continuing my work with Brand USA to support the travel and tourism industry, to bring more visitors to Las Vegas and to other destinations around the country, from the Grand Canyon to Niagara Falls, Chicago, and even Nebraska, so I urge my colleagues to support

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call for an immediate end to the Turkish occupation of Cyprus. This year we mark the 40th anniversary of Turkey's aggressive and illegal division of the island.

During their forty year occupation, Turkey has taken little action to bring peace and stability to the island. In fact, they have done just the opposite, bringing tens of thousands of settlers from mainland Turkey to live in the homes of Greek Cypriots and further complicate any solution to the Cyprus Problem.

The Turkish government has been complicit in the destruction of Greek churches and the systematic demolition of Greek culture in the northern areas of Cyprus.

Time after time, the Turkish Government has stood in the way of a mutually agreeable resolution. Despite the lack of commitment from the Turkish authorities, Cyprus remains committed to finding a settlement to reunify Cyprus in a manner that respects the rights of all inhabitants of the island. It is far past time for Turkey to seriously work on finding a solution to this problem.

Cyprus is a strong ally of the United States in an area of the world that can be unstable and unpredictable. It is critical that the United States strengthens our relationship with Cyprus, especially on issues such as energy and tourism.