Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

For the past month, Muslims in the United States and around the world have heightened their spiritual awareness through self-restraint, reflection, and fasting.

Sundown today marks the end of Eid al-Fitr, or the festival of breaking the fast. Eid is a major holiday filled with celebration and festivities for Muslims.

I am honored to represent a religiously diverse district. New Jersey's 10th Congressional District is a remarkable and vibrant community filled with people of all faiths.

Across the country, we have seen the rising tide of discrimination and hate aimed at religious minorities. Just last month, during the middle of Ramadan, an arsonist burned down a mosque in Connecticut. But hate will not break the American spirit.

We are made stronger as a people because we are free to live and worship openly.

So on this holy day of Eid, let us come together as a Nation and celebrate our diversity.

Eid Mubarak.

Madam Speaker, had I been present on Tuesday May 21, 2019 and Wednesday May 22, 2019, I would have voted in the following way: Yes on the Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on the Rule H. Res. 389, Yes on H. Res. 389 Rule Providing for Consideration of both H.R. 1500--Consumers First Act and H.R. 1994--Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, No on the Steil Amendment to H.R. 1500, No on the Burgess #6 Amendment to H.R. 1500, No on the Burgess #7 Amendment to H.R. 1500, Yes on the Stevens Amendment to H.R. 1500, Yes on the Green Amendment to H.R. 1500, No on the Republican Motion to Recommit on H.R. 1500 and Yes on Final Passage of H.R. 1500.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate a nonprofit organization that helps serve the intellectually and developmentally disabled community in my district. For the past forty years, JESPY House has been a vital part of South Orange, New Jersey.

JESPY House has provided housing, job training, and life skills to hundreds of disabled people during its long history as a public service organization. In two weeks, JESPY House will host the grand opening of its newest expansion--the Michael Och House, a Center for Aging at

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Reverend Joseph L. Jones of Monumental Baptist Church in Jersey City, New Jersey, on the occasion of his retirement.

Reverend Jones has been a part of the Monumental Baptist Church family for 54 years. He spent the last 23 years as its pastor.

Reverend Jones helped grow the church's Sunday school, Bible school, and prayer service programs, but he also helped grow educational opportunities in the community at large.

Under Reverend Jones' leadership, Monumental Baptist Church has gone out into the community to expand career and educational opportunities for everyone. That is something to be proud of.

As Reverend Jones says, he has always lived by the motto: ``Do something good for someone else.''

I am proud to represent Monumental Baptist Church, and I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the retirement of Reverend Joseph L. Jones.

Mr. Speaker, let me first thank my colleagues, Delegate Plaskett and Congressman Horsford for hosting tonight's Special Order hour on Judge Keith's legacy and the Trump administration's recent attempts to roll back the social safety nets in our country.

Judge Keith's legacy cannot be overstated. He was an icon for African Americans and, indeed, all Americans. He was a Black pioneer in the legal field whose rulings took on Presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush. For 60 years he sat on the Federal bench and consistently ruled in favor of expansive civil rights in this country. It is because of Judge Keith and others like him that thousands of young Black people have entered the legal profession and rose to the top.

He was a judge who always extended a hand down to help lift others up. That is the American way, and it is worth fighting for. Sadly, we live in a time when people in power don't always help uplift others. We have a President who is doing his best to beat down everyone who doesn't think, look, or vote like him.

Now we see that the President has set his sights on America's neediest people. He and his cronies are peddling a myth that the vulnerable people who rely on our social safety net are lazy folks who just want a government handout.

But we know that is not true. Some people just need a hand up every once in a while. The Trump administration's attempts to roll back the social safety net is a life-and-death matter for thousands of Americans who struggle to make ends meet. We live in an unpredictable world. One day you can be on top, but the next day you might be knocked down. The social safety net is our country's promise that we will help people get back up again.

Sometimes people need a little help buying food, or getting healthcare, or just scraping by. There is nothing wrong with that. We all know someone who has had hard times, and when we are having a good time, we need to look out for each other. That is the American way.

I have said this before but let me say it again: I have never met a person who wakes up in the morning and says: ``I want to be poor today.'' That is just not reality. And let me add this: I have never met a person who wakes up at 5 a.m. to go to her first job; comes home at 1 p.m. to take a nap; and heads out to her second job at 4 p.m., yet still lives paycheck to paycheck.

I never knew anyone that said: ``I like the struggle. I like the difficulty. I like being poor.'' That person does not exist. That is just not how the world works.

Social safety net programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and housing assistance are supplements that help people struggle just a little bit less. Yet, my colleagues across the aisle and their friends in the White House keep pushing a false narrative that people who rely on government assistance to make ends meet are freeloaders or take government handouts and buy drugs. The 45th President keeps pushing his callous, immoral narrative in order to tear apart our social safety net.

In my district, 17.9 percent of the households rely on SNAP to feed their families. They aren't lazy. They aren't addicts. They are hardworking people; some of them with two or three jobs just trying to make ends meet.

And now the President is trying to define them out of existence. According to reports, his administration wants to change how inflation is calculated in the official poverty measure in order to define poverty out of existence and deny people access to our social safety net.

Well, Mr. President, that is not going to work for the American people. The United States Government should be making it easier for Americans to maintain a decent standard of living. The fact of the matter is that 70 percent of Americans rely on at least one Federal program at some point in time in their lives. The President's focus on ripping apart our social safety net with heartless cuts is wrong, it is immoral, and it is shameful.

It isn't about cleaning up waste, fraud, or abuse. It is about pulling the rug out from under people. Programs like SNAP are not just some unlimited handout for people who are sitting at home doing nothing.

Currently, 44 percent of the people who use SNAP have at least one person in the family working. But even though they are working, they might make minimum wage and are still below the poverty line.

When it comes to families with children who are on SNAP, more than half of them bring home wages. But the problem is, their income isn't enough to actually live on. So when the self-proclaimed billionaire in the White House talks about making people who receive SNAP benefits work or defining poverty out of existence, he is just repeating the same old fake news that the Republican Party has peddled for decades.

This is unacceptable, and as a Member of Congress, I am here to serve the people in my communities, and that means all the people. We have to protect our most vulnerable and those in need. Let us end the administration's war on the working poor and help make their lives better for all of our constituents.

Madam Speaker, from their health outcomes to their unemployment income, from their education rate to their incarceration rate, Black men and boys are disproportionately impacted by government policies.

It is not that Black men and boys are falling behind. It is that they have never been ahead.

For centuries, government policies have redlined Black men and boys into a lower social status than their White counterparts. This is an institutional problem.

Yesterday, I joined with many of my colleagues at the House Triangle to stand in support of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson's bill to create the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys.

We were joined by young men who want nothing more than to live the American Dream free of discrimination. This country owes them that.

H.R. 1636 will bring together experts to tackle the wide range of issues that have kept Black men and boys behind for hundreds of years. It will mark the beginning of the end of racial disparities that have kept communities across the country down.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to support it.

Madam Speaker, the contrast between Republicans and Democrats on the issue of healthcare could not be any clearer.

Why do Republicans in the Trump administration want to make Americans sick again?

They want to eliminate protections for people with preexisting conditions. They want to take us backward.

Democrats, on the other hand, want to make America healthy.

We want to expand healthcare access. We want to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, and we want to make sure that people with preexisting conditions are not denied insurance coverage.

Madam Speaker, more than 200,000 people in New Jersey who purchased their insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace have preexisting conditions. That is why H.R. 986, the Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act, is so important.

It would block the Trump administration's efforts to weaken the Affordable Care Act's protections for preexisting conditions, because there is no going back to healthcare discrimination.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the proceedings during the former Members program be printed in the Congressional Record and that all Members and former Members who spoke during the proceedings have the privilege of revising and extending their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, today I introduced a resolution designating this week as National Infrastructure Week.

With every day that passes, the need for Federal infrastructure investment grows more and more urgent. Our roads, our bridges, our canals, our tunnels, our drinking water, our sewage facilities--they are all suffering because the Federal Government has not invested in rebuilding America's infrastructure.

Lives are on the line because our infrastructure is crumbling, and our drinking water is not safe. Our constituents are begging us to rebuild America's infrastructure.

Instead of that, the President is still obsessed with building his wall. Well, Mr. Speaker, that is not going to work for the American people.

Americans want water infrastructure that is not tainted with lead. They want roads that aren't full of potholes. They want bridges that aren't falling down. They want airports and schools that are safe.

They deserve nothing less. Let's go to work for the American people.

Madam Speaker, May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor America's mothers and to raise awareness about maternal mental health.

Each year in the United States, an estimated 1.3 million women suffer from perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, such as maternal depression.

To all the mothers or potential mothers out there, know that maternal depression is nothing to be ashamed of. It is the number one complication of pregnancy in the United States, and it can affect women regardless of the outcome of the pregnancy. Do not be afraid to reach out to healthcare professionals to get treatment.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring the mothers, the survivors of maternal depression, and the great organizations

across the country that are supporting women's mental health.

By raising awareness, we can help protect the mental health of women and mothers in our communities.

``Mommy, there are gunshots at my school.''

Mr. Speaker, no parent should ever hear those words, but that is the call a parent got yesterday when two students entered STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado and opened fire.

Within minutes, first responders subdued the shooters, and I am thankful for that, but quick is not fast enough.

One teenager died, and eight people were wounded.

As a parent and a Congressman, my heart aches for the families and loved ones of the child who died and those who were injured.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's shooting is one of 41 incidents of gunfire on school grounds this year alone. Eight people have died and 20 have been injured. We have lost far too many children to gun violence in our schools and in our streets.

I am proud of the progress the House has made to reduce gun violence, but the Senate GOP's inaction is outrageous. They need to do what is right: dump the NRA and pass some of this legislation we have sent to them to reduce gun violence.

Enough is enough.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Joseph M. Juliano upon his retirement from the City of Orange Fire Department after 30 years of service.

Dr. Juliano's commitment to the people of Orange, New Jersey, was inspired by his mother, Patricia, who was the first woman elected to the Orange City Council.

Dr. Juliano joined the Fire Department in 1988 and rose through the ranks during his 30-year career. He retired with the rank of fire captain.

In addition to being a firefighter, Dr. Juliano has served on the Orange Housing Authority for the past two decades, with the motto of ``getting Orange back on track.''

Dr. Juliano is a community leader and a role model from Orange, New Jersey, and I ask that my colleagues join me in honoring his service to the people of my district.

Madam Speaker, I proudly honor Essex County College on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Over the past half-century, Essex County College has helped educate and enlighten thousands of students from New Jersey and across the country.

Essex County College opened in 1968 to more than 3 thousand students. By 1970, the school needed a new campus and was relocated to what we now call University Heights in the Central Ward of Newark-- across the street from my congressional district office. Essex County College has grown and expanded across the community in the decades since it opened. Today, Essex County College has more than 13 thousand students across its degree, certificate, and job training programs.

Throughout the 1970s and continuing today, Essex County College has invested in local communities. The school has opened and operated extension campuses throughout Essex County. It provides off-campus educational services like the popular Saturday Youth Programs. Essex County College helps students enter the workplace with marketable skills.

Essex County College has provided a foundation of education for generations of students. Through leadership and community investment, Essex County College is leading the way toward greater opportunity. Under President Anthony Munroe, I know that Essex County College will continue to flourish for years to come. I ask that my colleagues join me in celebrating their 50th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Trump administration's Title X gag rule. The gag rule is a Federal prohibition on funding for healthcare providers who may refer patients to an abortion.

The Title X gag rule will endanger patients who rely on health clinics that will lose Federal funding. That means women will have less access to cancer screening, reproductive health services, birth control, and health education.

By prohibiting medical caregivers from making decisions in the best interest of patients, the gag rule puts lives at risk. All patients, regardless of geography, income, race, or identity, should be able to access whatever medical care and health information their healthcare provider thinks is relevant.

The Trump administration should not be deciding what a doctor or a nurse or any healthcare giver tells their patients.