Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

House Republicans failed to discuss the facts about the border security. Since May, the administration has removed or returned or expelled more than 500,000 individuals who entered the country illegally nationwide.

This is the highest total of expulsions in the last decade: It has arrested 14,000 smugglers. It has seized more than 43,000 pounds of fentanyl. It has confiscated thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin, and meth.

It could do so much more with the proper support and resources from Congress, but Republicans don't want to give that support. They don't want to discuss effective border policy. Under the previous Republican administration, Border Patrol was an absolute joke.

Instead of righting the wrong, Republicans want to blame others for their mistakes. It is failed leadership, and I know voters are watching.

They are at the behest of the twice-impeached former President of the United States, who has asked them to keep this subject alive so he can win.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the political attacks on the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

House Republicans have put forth House Resolution 863 to blame Mayorkas for our border crisis, yet Republicans are responsible for the crisis.

The Trump administration presided over the largest immigration flow in this century. Under Republican leadership, or lack of, America had 11.4 million undocumented immigrants. It was the largest number in U.S. history. Republicans took more than 3 years to resolve asylum and other migration cases. Democratic administrations took less than 1 year.

Republicans allowed millions of illegal immigrants to stay in this country and sent a message to millions more that Republicans do not enforce immigration rules.

However, Republicans do not want to talk about these facts. Instead, they want to target political enemies and do nothing to solve the border crisis. They are working at the behest of the former President who has told them to do nothing.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to support Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and declare this Congress a Republican do-nothing Congress of epic proportions.

House Republicans continue to focus on chaos, dysfunction, and extremism. They continue to put politics and personal profit over the needs of the American people.

Democrats help Americans. Thanks to President Biden's leadership, wages and the stock market are up; inflation and gas prices are down.

Also, in the last 4 years, the Biden administration has created 14 million new jobs and supported a record-setting number of American businesses.

House Democrats want to work with Republicans to solve issues, such as protecting our border and Social Security. We are ready to get to work with our colleagues across the aisle. Hopefully we can build something together.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the Republican war on women and their continued efforts to lie about it in Congress. Their bill, H.R. 6918, is named the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act, but it does not do that at all.

It takes food money away from lower income families, and it gives it to the most extreme antiwomen and antifamily groups in America.

Also, it would force women to give birth before they are ready to have families, and numerous studies show such births create more poor children who will need government assistance or go hungry.

A bill that helped families would include provisions for childcare and paid family leave, but Republicans only want to force women to give birth. After they do that, they don't care about the child or the mother. In fact, they seem to want to control who can get pregnant in the first place.

We must do everything we can to stop this extreme and unpopular Republican agenda.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of the greatest Americans, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King spent his life making sure all Americans were given the same rights regardless of color or creed. He had a dream. He had a dream the country would find a peaceful path to racial equality, and his dream attracted more than 250,000 people to Washington and the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

His work helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. These Acts restored rights to African Americans that had been denied them for decades. For his work, Dr. King received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. For his work, he received assassination from a bullet.

If he had resorted to violence himself, none of these events would have happened, and we would not have the movement for equality we have today.

So let us take this week to honor the legacy of Dr. King and remember his legacy as we continue to fight for all rights of all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to question the Republican commitment to the American people.

They prefer to waste taxpayer dollars attacking hardworking, patriotic American civil servants and fail to address the issues facing our country.

In 7 days, government funding will run out.

Republicans should be working with Democrats to continue funding vital programs to help working Americans. They should be discussing how to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, how to support our allies of Ukraine and Israel, how to help the Palestinian families caught in the crossfire of the deadly conflict in Gaza, and how to provide the cleanest air and water possible for the American people.

Instead, they are too busy pandering for social media clicks with political stunts and continue to do absolutely nothing to help the American people.

I hope they know the voters are watching, and they will remember their inaction in November.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss blatant Republican hypocrisy. Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee discussed whether to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress because he rejected a congressional subpoena.

It is insulting and ironic, given that elected Republicans Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs, and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy did the same thing.

They took an oath of allegiance to America, but the issue is not congressional subpoenas. The issue is the truth.

Hunter Biden wants to tell the truth in a public hearing, but Republicans do not want the truth. They want a story based on lies and deceit.

They want Americans to think Hunter Biden is the problem with our country, but it is failed and incompetent Republican leadership that is the problem.

It is the unpopular and dangerous Republican agenda. That is the problem. Their blatant hypocrisy to cover up the truth is a national tragedy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for giving me the opportunity to speak on my mentor, my hero, EBJ, who, you see, when I arrived in Congress 11 years ago after the death of my father, the late Donald Payne, Sr., EBJ put her arm around me and said, everything is going to be all right, and whatever you need, I will be there for you.

So I rise today to honor a mentor, a trailblazer, and an esteemed former Member of Congress, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson.

Representative Johnson served the 30th Congressional District in Texas with distinction for 30 years, and she was the first registered nurse ever elected to Congress.

We hear of all the firsts, that our honored colleague was able to break through those ceilings. In the 1960s, Representative Johnson fought for minority women's rights, and her work inspired her to start a long and distinguished career in politics.

As we have heard, she was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972. I have a picture that hangs in my office of my father on the rostrum, as freshman Members are allowed to take their picture there when they arrive here in Congress. My father is standing there at the podium, and right next to him is EBJ. So I am fortunate that I will have a memory of her every time I enter my office in New Jersey.

She really, on the personal side, looked out for us, gave us guidance, very quiet, but when she told you something, you understood that she was not playing around--that is for sure--and it was always to your benefit. You may not have appreciated it at the time or felt it was a little terse, but, in the long run, it was always right.

So I am here just to pay honor and homage to a great woman--a great woman, a woman that defied odds that were surmountable and was able to accomplish so much with everything stacked against her. She still was able to accomplish incredible things, and so I am grateful for my colleague--and I am not surprised--the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Johnson, for keeping it real.

We need to understand what did happen to her, because it is a crime and a tragedy. After serving this country all these years and, in her retirement, having to suffer like that is wrong.

We will remember the good things. We will remember the parts about her that we loved.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to praise President Biden and my Democratic colleagues for our work to support the American people this year.

We are building bridges and paving new roads across this country. We broke ground on the new Hudson River tunnel to boost travel and the economy.

We are lowering prices on insulin and other lifesaving medications.

We are improving education.

We are protecting voting rights.

We are fighting for reproductive rights for all women.

We are creating jobs and investing in new semiconductor chip technology to protect American innovations.

The American people told us that this is what they want done. We are doing them.

Republicans threw out the House Speaker for the first time in U.S. history and worked for their reckless political agenda instead of the American people.

Democrats work for America. Republicans work for themselves.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support the Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act.

This bill would take important steps towards ending the epidemic of gun violence in our country.

It would create a license gun owners would need to get before the purchase of a firearm. It would require universal background checks and close loopholes to avoid them. It would ban individuals who present a safety risk from owning a gun. It would raise the minimum age for buying a gun and establish a 7-day waiting period before a gun purchase could be made. It would ban military-style assault weapons and ghost guns. It would hold the gun industry accountable for the harm their products cause to society, and it would provide funding for Federal research into gun violence.

We must do something to stop this country's epidemic of gun violence. The longer we wait, the more lives we lose.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to cast my vote for rollcall vote Nos. 710 through 717. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall vote No. 710, ``nay'' on rollcall vote No. 711, ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 712, ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 713, ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 714, ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 715, ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 716, and ``nay'' on rollcall vote No. 717.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the Republican Presidential frontrunner's criminal connections after the latest Republican Presidential debate.

At least 11 key figures in Donald Trump's past administration were indicted or convicted of serious crimes during and after his administration.

Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign manager, was convicted of tax and bank fraud. Michael Flynn, Trump's National Security Advisor, was charged with working with Russia.

Tom Barrack, a Trump fundraiser, was charged with spying for the United Arab Emirates. Steve Bannon, Trump's political adviser, was charged with stealing millions of dollars from border wall investors.

In addition, more than 1,100 people have been charged after Trump encouraged them to overthrow the U.S. Government on January 6, 2021.

An appeals court ruled that Trump could be sued for inciting that insurrection. These are not the associations of someone fit to be a Presidential candidate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss President Biden's successful actions to battle climate change.

In the last 3 years, the Biden administration has protected more than 21 million acres of public lands and water. It launched the American Climate Corps to mobilize the next generation of clean energy and conservation workers. It has helped the country cut fossil fuel emissions in half by 2030.

The President's climate actions have generated more than $350 billion in clean energy private investment and created more than 210,000 clean energy jobs in the last 15 months.

Now, the administration continues its climate improvements with a $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund and new standards to reduce methane emissions and other pollutants from oil and gas operations.

These actions show the President's commitment to reducing climate change and supporting America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the bipartisan efforts to make our Nation's pipeline network safer.

Recently, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure introduced the Promoting Innovation in Pipeline Efficiency and Safety Act, or PIPES Act, of 2023. This bill would help secure 2.6 million miles of pipelines that carry natural gas and petroleum to communities nationwide.

It would allow the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to hire more workers to monitor pipeline safety and create proper protections to regulate carbon dioxide pipelines more efficiently. Also, it would promote more methods to contain greenhouse gases.

In addition, the bill would make it easier for historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions to educate and develop the next generation of pipeline safety professionals.

As the ranking member of the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, I applaud my colleagues from both parties for creating a bill that works for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the groundbreaking of the country's most important infrastructure project, the Hudson River Tunnel.

Officials are about to start construction of a new Tonnelle Avenue Bridge. It will help connect New Jersey to a new Hudson River Tunnel.

The benefits of the Hudson River Tunnel project are numerous. It will create more than 72,000 jobs, generate more than $87 million per month for local communities, and utilize American suppliers and manufacturers through the Buy America requirement. It will increase opportunities for minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses on the project. In addition, it will create a faster, more effective means of transportation for 200,000 daily commuters.

I fought to include $66 billion for projects such as this one in the bipartisan infrastructure law, and I am proud that my work will finally result in a new Hudson River Tunnel.