Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3488, the Preclearance Authorization Act of 2014.

As a Member who represents a major international airport, I had deep reservations about the Department of Homeland Security's decision to open a preclearance facility in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. I was concerned about the prospect that limited Customs and Border Protection personal resources would be diverted from domestic airports like Newark Liberty International Airport to overseas posts, which could result in wait times for clearing customs exceeding anyone's definition of reasonable. I also had concerns about DHS' decision to conduct preclearance at an overseas airport where U.S. carriers do not have a presence, thus giving a competitive advantage to a foreign-owned airline.

H.R. 3488 addresses both of my concerns. Regarding customs processing times, the bill requires DHS to certify to Congress that the establishment of preclearance operations in an additional country will not significantly increase processing times at airports in the United States. As for opening preclearance facilities at airports where U.S. carriers do not operate, this bill would prohibit DHS from doing so going forward.

United States airlines and the jobs they create and support across the country are critical to our economy. Efforts to ``push out our borders'' for security reasons must not come at the expense of the competitiveness of U.S.-owned and -operated airlines. I commend the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meehan) for recognizing this fact and for bringing forth this legislation before us today.

If enacted, H.R. 3488 will result in stricter requirements as well as enhanced oversight and accountability regarding how DHS decides to expand preclearance operations.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as you heard, H.R. 3488 enjoys the support of members of the Committee on Homeland Security. Indeed, this bill has a bipartisan collection of 154 cosponsors.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support H.R. 3488, the Preclearance Authorization Act of 2014, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in support of H.R. 4263, the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014.

The Internet has changed the world. It has changed how the government

serves its citizens, how businesses serve their customers, and how the public engages in activism.

The responses to the Boston Marathon bombings and Hurricane Sandy, which devastated my State, underscores the power and the potential of social media. After each of these devastating events, we saw the Internet used to galvanize ordinary citizens into action.

In the wake of the Boston bombings, Boston residents used Google Docs to let marathoners know that their homes were open to those who were unable to return to their hotels. After Hurricane Sandy, survivors posted the horrific images of homes washed away on Twitter and Facebook to help the world understand the strength of the storm. Survivors also used social media to reconnect with loved ones and to share information about which gas stations, grocery stores, and pharmacies were open.

In my district, the local utility PSE&G used social media to communicate with customers about how to prepare for the storm to mitigate damage and about power restoration afterwards. Public Service Electric and Gas' use of social media was so effective that it was recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as a ``best practice.'' And CS Week, a nonprofit that focuses on customer service for utilities, gave PSE&G an award for innovation and customer service.

Although PSE&G's use of social media was incredibly successful, there were important lessons learned that should be shared among organizations utilizing social media during a disaster response. For example, PSE&G exceeded the allowable number of tweets per day and needed to reach out to Twitter leadership for a temporary expansion of capacity. In addition to spikes in social media use during the disaster, PSE&G learned important lessons related to the tone of communications and the demand for information during a disaster.

H.R. 4263 would authorize the Social Media Working Group that sits with the Science and Technology Directorate to facilitate the exchange of best practices and lessons learned related to the use of social media during disasters. The measure would also ensure that the Federal Government and first responders continue to fully utilize the capabilities of the Internet and social media to communicate with more people during disasters.

I would like to congratulate Subcommittee Chairwoman Brooks on the success of her efforts to ensure the way government officials and first responders communicate with the public before, during, and after disaster strikes keeps pace with evolving technology.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4263.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers as well, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in strong support of H.R. 4289, the Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act.

Mr. Speaker, when I began my work on this subcommittee last year, I was shocked to learn how much money had been spent on interoperable communications since the September 11 terrorist attacks. Nationwide, we have spent over $13 billion to achieve interoperable communications at the State and local level, and we are not there yet.

Given the degree of attention that the Federal Government, in general, and DHS, in particular, have devoted to interoperability, I was surprised to learn that DHS has not achieved Department-wide interoperability.

Police officers and firefighters from Newark to Jersey City and across the

10th Congressional District of New Jersey never leave my office without reminding me how important interoperable communications are. Nevertheless, according to a November 2012 inspector general report, DHS has invested over $430 million into communications capabilities for its 123,000 radio users since 2003, but Department ``personnel do not have reliable interoperable communications for daily operations, planned events, and emergencies.''

Indeed, the inspector general testified before the committee in May that in 2012 it asked 479 DHS field radio users to access and use the specified channel to communicate. Only one of those 479 radio users-- one of 479--could get on the common channel. That is a 99.8 percent failure rate.

The problem is not technology. Instead, the inspector general found that the Department had not established and implemented protocols to ensure that components put practices in place to achieve interoperability.

H.R. 4289, the DHS Interoperable Communications Act, which I introduced with my colleague on the Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee, Chairwoman Brooks, requires that certain actions be taken by DHS leadership to drive components in the field towards interoperability. The legislation directs the Under Secretary for Management to issue policies and directives related to interoperability, develop a strategy to achieve DHS-wide interoperability, and report to Congress biannually on the Department's progress.

Interoperable communications capabilities are critical to the mission DHS carries out and to first responders across the United States. DHS must lead by example.

Toward that end, I was encouraged that the Department's acting Under Secretary for Management, Chris Cummiskey, expressed his commitment to addressing this issue when he appeared before the subcommittee last month. It is my hope that this legislation will bolster his efforts and make it clear to everyone in the Department that Congress is looking to DHS to achieve interoperability.

Before reserving my time, I would like to thank Subcommittee Chairwoman Brooks for working with me on this measure. We have found that there are many issues in terms of this matter, and we have worked in a bipartisan manner to make sure that interoperability is achieved.

I would also like to thank Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Thompson for their help in addressing this issue.

Mr. Speaker, we have looked at this issue. We continue to talk to first responders throughout my district and throughout the Nation. We know that these issues around homeland security are bipartisan, and we have been able to work on this committee in a manner which we all have the same goal, which is to make sure this Nation is safe and the homeland is secure.

I urge my colleagues to support improving the interoperable communications at DHS by voting for H.R. 4289. Our communities are safer when DHS has the capabilities necessary to effectively carry out its mission. Mr. Speaker, we always have to make sure that we keep our first responders safe.

Mr. Speaker, interoperable communications capabilities are essential to DHS' ability to carry out its mission on a day-to-day basis when disaster strikes. H.R. 4289 would put DHS on the path to achieving cross-component interoperable communications, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure. We must protect our protectors. Our first responders deserve the ability to communicate with each other.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today to celebrate two very different anniversaries. Fifty years ago, we enjoyed the Freedom Summer and the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that paved the way for voting rights in this country.

Sadly, Mr. Speaker, 49 years later--and 1 year ago today--the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, saying that it was outdated and unjustified.

Since this decision, we have seen that the Voting Rights Act is needed more than ever now before. From 2000 to 2013, there were a recorded 148 violations in 29 States, meaning 29 States have actively tried to pass laws, such as requiring a photo ID or cutting out early voting, which limits access to the ballot.

It is time we pass the Voting Rights Amendment Act, of which I am a proud cosponsor, and keep fighting until voting rights are reinstated in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I follow the gentleman from New York. I rise today because I think it is absolutely unconscionable that after more than 6 months the House Republicans continue to fail to act to extend unemployment benefits.

There are more than 3 million Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own who are waiting for Congress to do something for them. I have heard from many of them, my constituents, about their struggles because of Congress' failure to act.

Lily of Linden, New Jersey, has been out of work for 2 years. She and her husband have dipped into their entire savings just to get by. Because of her age and her illness, she has found it increasingly harder to find gainful employment. It has come to this sad point, Mr. Speaker, that Lily can no longer afford her medicine, and her family may soon be homeless.

By failing to act, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have coldly turned their backs on millions of Americans and people like Lily. Turning their backs on people who have elected them is simply unacceptable, and I will not stay silent.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 193, please let the record show that my vote on final passage would have been a ``yes.'' Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Personal Explanation

I would like to thank the gentleman from New York for that kind introduction.

I want to also say that we are here tonight on a very serious issue in tonight's Special Order. As so aptly put by the gentleman from New York, it feels like pneumonia in a lot of communities that we represent. I would dare to say that we might even need to call it an epidemic, because it has risen to epidemic proportions.

Mr. Speaker, this Nation is supposed to be the land of opportunity, the land of equality. We are a Nation that says that if you work hard and you do the things you are supposed to do and you do everything that we ask you to do, you too can be successful and provide a better life for you and yours. That is the promise of America.

Unfortunately, for too many in this country, this promise has been broken.

Generation after generation, millions continue to experience generational poverty in this country--and this is especially true for people of color.

Too many of the people in the district I represent in New Jersey have worked their entire lives. They have endured hard labor. They have worked two or three jobs. They have made minimum wage their entire lives. Yet they are still in poverty. The same is true for their parents before them and their grandparents and their great- grandparents.

Unfortunately, for too many people of color, the opportunities to succeed and move beyond circumstances of poverty are too little and far between. This leads to the wealth gap we see today. That wealth gap, Mr. Speaker, is unconscionable.

In the 21st century, African Americans own just 5 cents for every dollar of wealth Whites own. More than 62 percent of African American households do not have assets in a retirement account. The median income of an African American is just over $33,000, barely above the poverty line. And African Americans are less likely to own homes, with just 44 percent of African Americans owning homes compared to 74 percent of Whites.

In New Jersey alone, the poverty rate has grown to a staggering 28 percent. Many economists believe that this is an underestimate of the number of people falling into poverty in New Jersey.

How can those who are clawing just to get by even begin to think about creating wealth for their children or future generations? How can a single mother who works 40 or more hours a week still find herself in poverty? How does she begin to dream about saving for her children's college education or to save for a home or to plan for her retirement? The simple answer is they can't. And the racial wealth gap will continue to grow even wider.

Mr. Speaker, there is so much Congress can do to change the course of this country and to help those who are working hard and playing by the rules.

The priorities we place within our national budget determine whether we strengthen our economy and grow our middle class or whether we create a greater wealth gap between the haves and the have-nots.

This Nation has a clear choice, Mr. Speaker. The Ryan Republican budget cuts hundreds of millions of dollars in vital education investments, ends the Medicare guarantee for seniors, and it will cost this country more than 1 million jobs next year alone. And if that is not bad enough, the Ryan Republican budget asks working and middle- class Americans to pay for the thousands of dollars in tax breaks given to the wealthiest among us. That is why, in good conscience, I cannot support such a budget.

At a time when too many people are still desperately struggling to make ends meet, I know that the people in my home State of New Jersey deserve better. I believe that all Americans should demand better as well.

In contrast, the budgets that the Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus have proposed recognize the dangerous course this country is on and work to move us forward rather than divide us deeper.

The Democratic budget builds ladders of opportunities to grow our middle class by investing in education, strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and protecting the 8 million people who, for the first time, now have access to affordable, lifesaving health care.

The proposals within the Democratic budget would restore the American promise that if you work hard, you can succeed. And not only can you succeed for yourself, but you can generate wealth and create a better life for your children and your grandchildren.

That is the choice that each Member in this Congress has to make, and it is a choice every American has to make. This choice will determine the direction of this country, not only for this generation, but for generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, it is not a zero-sum game. We all can be winners with the right kind of focus and investment; and in doing so, we will strengthen this country for future generations.

As I stated and made clear, we are talking about people that have played by the rules and have worked hard, working 40 hours-plus, and yet still find themselves on the margins. We are not even talking about the hundreds of thousands of citizens that I represent that we don't even want to help with programs such as SNAP anymore.

I am not even talking about the needy in this country, Mr. Speaker. I am talking about the people that play by the rules and that are doing everything that they have been asked to do in this great Nation and still find themselves on the margin.

So we will continue to raise these issues. We will continue to talk to the American people and get them to understand that we cannot continue down the path that we are headed. It is bleak. It is grim. It is a total U-turn in where this country has gone.

I can only think of the statements that have been made by several individuals in this country that are distasteful and disgusting over the past several weeks. We need to keep the American Dream alive for everyone.

Mr. Speaker, with the deadline to sign up for the Affordable Care Act approaching, I want to encourage everyone, especially young people and people in my district, to sign up for health insurance.

For those who think the process is too cumbersome or you won't get an affordable rate, listen to this story from a 29-year-old woman from New Jersey, Fawziah Qadir. She said: My employer agreed to provide $300 a month towards any health plan I could find.

Unfortunately, trying to find an affordable insurance plan on her own in New Jersey where she lives, she said, was insane. One quote was over $700; others provided flimsy coverage.

Full of frustration, Fawziah's mother told her about the health care insurance marketplace. She says that when she logged onto healthcare.gov, she was surprised to find out how easy it was to enroll.

With her employer's contribution, she has a comprehensive plan that costs just $63 a month. That is less than a cell phone bill or a cable bill, and we are talking about something much more important--our Nation's health.

Don't wait. Go to healthcare.gov and find a plan that works for you.

Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague for allowing me the opportunity to speak.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1459 because it could have severe unintended consequences for the 10th Congressional District of New Jersey, which I represent.

This is yet once again an attack on the President's authority, but in this case, H.R. 1459 would create unnecessary obstacles regarding the President's ability to conserve lands and protect our country's most notable destinations.

The Antiquities Act has been used to protect a site in my district that commemorates the outstanding achievements of a great American inventor, Thomas Edison. This great innovator produced many of the inventions loved across the world--silent and sound motion pictures, the motion picture camera, phonographs, and the electric storage battery.

For more than 40 years, Thomas Edison's laboratory complex located in West Orange, New Jersey, was cranking out innovation after innovation. The laboratory employed at one time over 100 people, working on various projects from chemistry to physics to metallurgy.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower used his authority under the Antiquities Act to establish the Edison Laboratory as a national monument. One year prior, in 1955, Congress had established Thomas Edison's home as a national historic site. Six years later, the Edison National Historic Site legislation combined the two into a unit of the National Park System.

Recently, the laboratory complex underwent an extensive renovation and had a grand reopening in 2009 to welcome America to explore two new floors of the laboratory that were previously closed to the public. The museum collections at Thomas Edison National Historical Park are by far the largest single body of Edison-related material in existence, and it is the third largest museum collection in the National Park Service.

I don't believe Thomas Edison would appreciate this partisan bill which could turn out the lights on our future national monuments that honor innovators such as him.

I ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 1459.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from Missouri and the gentleman from Texas for giving me this opportunity to speak on a true hero in our community.

In New Jersey, Ms. Tolentino is someone that is looked to with great esteem. She led the way on many issues moving women and minorities forward and showing that they had a rightful place at the table of power, the ability to serve, and the distinction to lead.

I rise today in support of H.R. 1376, to name the postal facility located at 369 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Jersey City, New Jersey, after the late Honorable Shirley A. Tolentino.

Shirley Tolentino was born in Jersey City, served as a distinguished jurist in Hudson County for over 26 years, and was a trailblazer for women and African Americans as public servants in New Jersey. She was a product of the local public school system in Jersey City, where she was an honor student, graduating from Snyder High School. She then earned a scholarship to attend the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey, graduating with a degree in Latin with honors.

To put herself through law school, Judge Tolentino worked as a high school Latin and English teacher while attending Seton Hall University School of Law, graduating as the only African American female in the class of 1971.

After law school, she became a deputy attorney general in the State of New Jersey, where she remained until she rose to the bench in Jersey City in 1976. She became the second African American woman to be named as a municipal court judge in New Jersey, and the first to be appointed to the Jersey City Municipal Court.

In 1980, Judge Tolentino earned her master of laws degree in criminal justice from NYU Graduate School of Law, while continuing to serve in the municipal court. In 1981, she continued to blaze a trail for others, becoming the first African American presiding judge of Jersey City Municipal Court. Her successes didn't stop there. In 1984, when she was appointed by Governor Thomas Kean, Judge Tolentino became the first African American woman to ascend to the Superior Court of the State of New Jersey.

Later, she was appointed to the original Coleman Commission, which would later be called the New Jersey Supreme Court Task Force on Minorities. During her time on the Commission, she became the chair of the Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice, and also served as a Supreme Court chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice and Minority Defendants. With all her professional achievements, she viewed her appointment and time served on the Commission as her greatest accomplishment.

Over the years, Judge Tolentino's career was highlighted by many firsts, and she accomplished much during her years on and off the bench. As a member of the Jersey City Hudson County Urban League, the Hudson County Girl Scouts board, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Hudson County CYO, the Visiting Homemakers of Hudson County board, and a host of other local organizations, she was an integral part of her community.

Throughout her success, Judge Tolentino always called Jersey City home and actively participated in community service in the city that bore and raised her.

Judge Shirley Tolentino passed away on October 31, 2010, and is survived by her husband, Dr. Ernesto Tolentino, children, and grandchildren.

It is not a coincidence that the post office to bear her name would be located on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. There is no better way to honor the achievements of Judge Tolentino and at the same time provide a permanent monument of possibilities and hope for young women, African Americans, and the citizens of Jersey City.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill in honor of her legacy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the robust U.S.-Taiwan relationship and mark the 35th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, TRA, of 1979.

The TRA set in motion a bond between the people of the United States and Taiwan that continues today. It is more critical now than ever before that we understand the value of that bond and work to promote it at every opportunity. Members of Congress who have been here long enough to see the benefits of the TRA in action know that it is an integral part of sustaining the mutual security and commercial interests of our two governments.

Our commitment to Taiwan has remained steady in times of amity and times of crisis. In July 1995, when Beijing conducted a series of missile tests in the Taiwan Strait in a brazen attempt to intimidate the Taiwanese people, the U.S. deployed the largest military fleet in Asia since the Vietnam War. Thankfully, disaster was averted. Today, an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence is maintained across the Taiwan Strait. But our nation's choices during that tense period were a potent symbol of our steadfast support of Taiwan.

The United States recognizes Taiwan's unfailing determination to promote a free and fair democratic society. We, as a nation, have supported their efforts over the last three and a half decades by providing military assistance and fostering commercial exchange. Today, Taiwan is a close ally and collaborator in global efforts to combat terrorism. Recently, Taiwan was invited for the first time to attend the 38th assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, as a special guest of Council President Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez. Through their active engagement with ICAO, Taiwan provides a multiplier effect to our own efforts to ensure safe and secure air travel and protect air passengers from the threat of hijackings and terrorist attacks. Such collaboration among partners would not have been possible without the TRA.

Today, 35 years after the passage of the TRA and nearly two decades since the Taiwan Strait Crisis, I would like to reassert our nation's role in maintaining peace and stability abroad. Our ongoing engagement with Taiwan and preservation of the TRA demonstrates our

commitment to all of our allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

While we recognize the TRA, it is also important that we recognize the departure of Ambassador King Pu-tsung who has fostered the U.S.- Taiwan relationship for the last 18 months as their chief envoy to the United States. Ambassador King will soon return to Taiwan to serve as Secretary-General. Under the guidance of Ambassador King, the U.S. and Taiwan have enjoyed a very successful era. I have enjoyed the opportunity to work with Ambassador King and look forward to working with his successor in the future as we continue to strengthen our unique relationship.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud President Barack Obama for signing the Presidential proclamation recognizing March 2014 as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

I would also like to give a special thanks to the 146 Members of Congress who signed onto the letter I authored and sent to the President requesting the issuance of this proclamation.

Finally, but more importantly, thank you to the colorectal cancer community who have given their time, sweat, and tears to raise awareness about prevention and early detection. Our efforts have not gone unnoticed.

This month, the highest office in the land, the President of the United States, brought national attention to our fight.

What better way to pay tribute by remembering those who have lost their battles to colon cancer, such as my late father, the honorable Congressman Donald Payne, Sr., who I followed into Congress, who lost his battle with cancer 2 years ago today.

This proclamation honors his memory and it honors those who are fighting the battle against colon cancer today.

I thank my colleagues, the gentleman from New York and the gentleman from Nevada for their continued leadership on these CBC Special Orders. I am honored to join them once again on a topic that is paramount right now in our Nation's history, and also a situation that we must deal with in a manner to keep this Nation moving forward.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my friends on the other side of the aisle to do one simple thing. It is something that we expect from every American, and every person in this country expects it from us. That simple thing I am asking for, Mr. Speaker, is for Congress to pay our Nation's bills on time. There should be no resistance, no strings attached, no threats of default. Americans deserve better than to have the full faith and credit of the United States of America held hostage so that some of my Republican colleagues can demand ransom for their radical agenda.

Mr. Speaker, the full faith and credit of the United States is nonnegotiable, period. So I am urging this Congress to raise the debt ceiling swiftly and to do it with no strings attached.

Only recently in our Nation's history has the debt ceiling been used as a reckless bargaining chip. In fact, since the great hero of the other side, Ronald Reagan, took office, the debt ceiling has been raised 45 times. It is nothing new, and it is nothing radical.

Now the allegations put out there about what raising the debt ceiling will do to our deficit are misleading at best. The debt ceiling does not grow our deficit by one single dime. Rather, what it does is permit the government to pay what this Congress has already decided to spend. We had the credit card. We used the credit card. Now it is time to pay our Nation's bills and pay them on time.

So, Mr. Speaker, raising the debt ceiling is in fact the fiscally responsible thing to do here. If we default, the cost to American families will be significant: 26 million Americans won't get their Social Security checks on March 3. I will repeat that: 26 million Americans will not get their Social Security checks on March 3.

There are 1.5 million seniors, children, and disabled New Jerseyans who receive Social Security to help make ends meet, and many of them will not see their checks if this is not followed through.

Nearly 4 million Americans may not receive their disability benefits, including 50,000 veterans in New Jersey. Now the other side of the aisle needs to take these things seriously. They talk about supporting veterans. They talk about supporting working families. They talk about all of these values, but if the debt ceiling is not raised, these families will not get the support and the benefits that they need to make ends meet. So, Mr. Speaker, it is incumbent upon the Members on the other side of the aisle instead of just talking the talk, walk the walk.

New Jersey families will have to pay higher interest rates for mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and credit cards. Many families in my district already can't afford to send their children to college. A default would put a college education even further out of reach.

I am hopeful that my Republican colleagues have learned their lesson from the last default threat in 2011 and from shutting down the government last year. The last time we threatened to default in 2011, the economy flew into a tailspin. Consumer confidence took a nosedive, and our credit rating was downgraded. Our economic recovery came to a screeching halt because of it. In an already fragile recovery, we cannot afford another possible meltdown of our economy.

So I am urging my Republican colleagues to help try and set an example, hoping that they have learned their lesson from last year, when they shut down the Federal Government. Let's pay our Nation's bills on time, Mr. Speaker. If we demand this kind of responsibility from the American people, then we should demand it from ourselves.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to remind every Member of this Chamber that just over a year ago this Congress voted to provide $50 billion in much-needed Hurricane Sandy relief, including to my home State of New Jersey. I fought very hard for that money, and now this Congress has the responsibility and obligation to ensure that the Federal Sandy recovery funds are being distributed properly to the people who need it most. Constituents from my district are still displaced from their homes and are awaiting much-needed help.

According to a report released by the Fair Share Housing Center of New Jersey, low-income individuals are being denied claims at a higher rate than wealthier individuals. There is a need for more transparency on the standards being used to distribute these funds.

Also, a report on where and whom the funds are going to is obviously needed. I urge my colleagues to make sure that proper oversight is conducted and that the funding gets to those communities who are in most dire need.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1791 the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1791 would formally authorize grant recipients under the State Homeland Security Grant or Urban Area Security Initiative programs to use the funding to enhance medical preparedness and medical surge capacity.

Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency already permits grantees to use these funds to enhance medical preparedness, this measure will give some predictability to grant recipients as they struggle to rebuild and maintain a robust medical response capability at the State and local level.

Additionally, I am proud to support this effort to provide resources that will equip our first responders with home medical kits. When disaster strikes, we have an obligation to protect our protectors. We also have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.

During the full committee markup of H.R. 1791, the committee unanimously approved an amendment I offered. This amendment would ensure that resources are available to develop plans to distribute countermeasures to schools and child care facilities, the elderly, individuals with special needs, and low-income communities in the event of a biological incident.

I would like to thank the full committee chair, Mr. McCaul, and the subcommittee chairwoman, Mrs. Brooks, for supporting my amendment. I also look forward to continuing to work with both of you in the future on other initiatives such as H.R. 3158, the SAFE in our Schools Act, to ensure that the needs of our schoolchildren and other vulnerable populations are adequately addressed in emergency preparedness and response plans.

On behalf of the ranking member, Mr. Thompson, I would also like to thank Chairman McCaul for working with us to reauthorize the Metropolitan Medical Response System, the MMRS. This program provided targeted grants to 124 highly populated jurisdictions to support the integration of emergency management, health and medical systems into an organized response to mass casualty events.

The program has not been funded since fiscal year 2011 and its authorization has lapsed. I sincerely hope that the next time we meet here on the House floor to address medical preparedness, it will be to consider bipartisan reauthorization legislation for the MMRS. As State and local governments continue to stretch their budgets to make up the reduced Federal support across many programs, we must make sure that the public health community is prepared and equipped to keep our constituents safe.

I look forward to working with my ranking member and the majority to ensure that MMRS remains a priority for this committee.

In the meantime, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1791. With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge passage of this measure as a small step to address gaping needs at the State and local level when it comes to medical preparedness.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1791, and I yield back the balance of my time.