Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the late Michelle Langer, who was senselessly murdered in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting. Virginia Beach lost Michelle far too soon.

For 12 years, Michelle, also known as Missy, was a faithful administrative assistant for the Department of Public Utilities for the City of Virginia Beach. She had plans to retire soon. An Ohio native, Missy's heart was drawn to Virginia Beach and she decided to call it home. Missy's life of hard work and service to the community will forever be remembered.

Missy will be missed by all her loved ones. Hampton Roads significantly benefited from her presence; she made our community a better place. Today we remember and honor her life.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the late Richard H. Nettleton, who was senselessly murdered in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting. Virginia Beach lost Richard far too soon.

Richard worked as an engineer for the Department of Public Utilities for the City of Virginia Beach. For decades, Richard served Virginia Beach faithfully. Richard was well-known by all in his field and many of his colleagues admired and respected his work.

Not only was he a public servant, but he also served overseas. Richard served in the United States Army in Germany. Friends described Richard as a dedicated worker and a leader. Richard's life of hard work and service to the community, as well as his selfless attitude, will forever be remembered.

Richard will be missed by all his loved ones. Hampton Roads significantly benefited from his presence; he made our community a better place. Today we remember and honor his life.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the late Mary Louise Gayle, who was senselessly murdered in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting. Virginia Beach lost Mary Louise Gayle far too soon.

Mary Louise Gayle, also known as Mary Lou, worked as a right-of-way agent for the Department of Public Works for the City of Virginia Beach for 24 years. Friends described Mary Lou as happy, loving, and a good person. She was a dedicated mother and grandmother. Mary Lou's life of hard work and service to the community, as well as her cheerful attitude, will forever be remembered.

Mary Lou will be missed by all her loved ones. Hampton Roads significantly benefited from her presence; she made our community a better place. Today we remember and honor her life.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the late Tara Welch Gallagher, who was senselessly murdered in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting. Virginia Beach lost Tara far too soon.

Tara was a hardworking engineer who worked to educate the community about clean water. She served the Department of Public Works for the City of Virginia Beach for six years and contributed significantly to the mission of improving the water quality of the Lake James Watershed. Tara's life of hard work and service to the community will forever be remembered.

Tara will be missed by all her loved ones. Hampton Roads significantly benefited from her presence; she made our community a better place. Today we remember and honor her life.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the late Katherine A. Nixon, who was senselessly murdered in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting. Virginia Beach lost Katherine far too soon.

Katherine, also known as Kate, worked as a civil engineer for the City of Virginia Beach for over 10 years. Kate's coworkers and loved ones described her as a smart and caring person who was the supervisor everyone would want. Kate's life of hard work and service to the community, as well as her compassionate heart, will forever be remembered.

Kate will be missed by all her loved ones. Hampton Roads significantly benefited from her presence; she made our community a better place. Today we remember and honor her life.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the late Ryan Keith Cox, who was senselessly murdered in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting. He displayed a heroic and selfless act right before his death. Virginia Beach lost this hero far too soon.

For 12 years, Cox, known as Keith, worked as an account clerk in the Department of Public Utilities for the City of Virginia Beach. Keith, during the horrific shooting, led several individuals to safety and barricaded them in a secure room. After ensuring those individuals were safe, Keith bravely reentered the line of fire to find more individuals to carry to safety, which then lead to his death. Keith did not think about himself in the midst of danger, but instead thought about how to protect and save others.

Friends described Keith as someone who would sacrifice for others. Keith's life of hard work and service to the community, as well as his sacrificial and heroic acts, will forever be remembered.

Keith will be missed by all his loved ones. Hampton Roads significantly benefited from his presence; he made our community a better place. Today we remember and honor his life.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the late Christopher Kelly Rapp, who was senselessly murdered in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting. Virginia Beach lost Christopher far too soon.

Christopher worked as an engineer for the Department of Public Works for the City of Virginia Beach. Rapp graduated from Old Dominion University and studied civil engineering. He brought his knowledge and expertise to the city just 11 months prior to the shooting. Friends described Rapp as positive and kind. Rapp's life of hard work and service to the community, as well as his positive attitude, will forever be remembered.

Christopher Kelly Rapp will be missed by all his loved ones. Hampton Roads significantly benefited from his presence; he made our community a better place. Today we remember and honor his life.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the late Robert Williams, who was senselessly murdered in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting. Virginia Beach lost Robert far too soon.

Williams, known as Bobby, worked for the Department of Public Utilities for the City of Virginia Beach for over 40 years. Bobby was a true public servant and was dedicated to his work and mission. Many remember learning from him and praised his knowledge of the institution and the system. Bobby's life of hard work and service to the community will forever be remembered.

Bobby will be missed by all his loved ones. Hampton Roads significantly benefited from his presence; he made our community a better place. Today we remember and honor his life.

Mr. Chair, as a Navy veteran, I believe in focusing our limited resources toward efforts that will make our forces more effective, reliable, and efficient.

I oppose this amendment that would decrease the National Nuclear Security Administration's budget by $20 million and allocate the money to a program to develop low-enriched uranium fuel for submarines and aircraft carriers.

Drawing on my 20-year Navy experience in the supervision and operation of naval nuclear propulsion systems, it makes little sense to divert these resources. Our highly enriched uranium reactor design has successfully powered our submarine fleet, delivering a critical leg of our nuclear deterrent and our aircraft carriers, providing our unique sustained forward presence capability for nearly seven decades. There is no need for this amendment.

Top Navy leadership and the Secretary of Energy clearly state that a low-enriched uranium design for naval nuclear propulsion ``would result in a reactor design that is inherently less capable, more expensive, and unlikely to support current life-of-ship submarine reactors.''

Meanwhile, Admiral James Caldwell, Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, says that investing in LEU would negatively impact reactor endurance, reactor size, and ship costs, and its success is ``not assured.''

I have no doubt that we could eventually develop a reactor design using LEU, but would it continue to meet our operational and strategic defense needs? No. It would make our platforms inherently less capable, less operationally available, and more expensive to operate. In turn, it would require more of these assets to accomplish the same objectives.

If the genesis behind this amendment is to advance issues of nonproliferation, it makes little sense to draw down the budget of the very agency that is tasked with the security of nuclear weapons and nuclear fuel.

I will conclude as I began. We need to commit our limited resources where they are most efficiently used to support our operational forces and our national defense. These dollars are best spent on the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Mr. Speaker, today I am happy to announce House passage of a commonsense amendment to prohibit Federal spending for offshore drilling throughout the entire Atlantic Ocean.

Protecting our coastal Virginia district from the threat of offshore drilling is among my top priorities. One of my first actions in Congress was cosponsoring the Defend Our Coast Act. This bipartisan bill would forbid any drilling, exploration, development, or production of fossil fuels off the Continental Shelf in the mid-Atlantic region.

As a 20-year Navy veteran who trained off the Virginia coast, I know that having to dodge oil platforms would impact military readiness and undermine our national security. I also know what offshore drilling could do to Virginia's beautiful shorelines and thriving economy. This is why I proudly cosponsored and continue to support Congressman Frank Pallone's amendment to protect and preserve the Atlantic Coast from offshore drilling.

I urge the Senate to follow the House's lead.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record a statement submitted by Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman, founder and spiritual leader of the new Temple Lev Tikvah (Heart of Hope), a Reform Jewish congregation in Virginia Beach.

My heart indeed overflows with hope, gratitude and love as

I humbly though proudly announce the blessed birth of the

youngest synagogue in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads. It is

housed in a unique ecumenical Christian setting, the only

such in the world, making it now an even more exceptional

interfaith center. Church Of The Holy Apostles, established

in Virginia Beach in 1977, is both an Episcopal and Catholic

congregation. Their loving embrace of my new Reform Jewish

Temple is ample and inspiring testimony to their genuine

ecumenical spirit reaching beyond their own common and

diverse Christian traditions. With this golden opportunity we

are making and impacting history. Our one God is surely

smiling upon us.

They graciously invite their Jewish brethren to tend to our

four-thousand-year-old nourishing roots that have blessed the

human family, instrumental in birthing the two other great

monotheistic world religions of Christianity and Islam.

Bishop James Magness of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern

Virginia and Bishop Barry Knestout of the Roman Catholic

Diocese of Richmond are to be commended for their broad

ecumenical vision, spiritual fortitude and shining faith in

action. Together we reaffirm a holy bond in face of a complex

and trying history. We are committed to overcome troubling

past shadows. Having already made major strides forward, we

should maintain and build upon those breakthrough

accomplishments of monumental change.

We are mutually enabled to cultivate a precious interfaith

linkage, appreciating each other's differences and

particularities while celebrating our often overlooked but no

less important commonalities, as we collectively admit to our

shortcomings, ignorance and biases. This awesome journey of

mutual discovery while interfacing under one roof, challenges

us all to bring out the best God planted within us. It gains

added critical significance against the unsettling backdrop

of the global resurgence of consuming dark forces. Anti-

Semitism with its recent deadly and shocking manifestation in

American synagogues, along with horrific terrorist attacks on

Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and others at worship and

elsewhere.

I am acutely mindful of my personal sacred responsibility

to ever be a builder of Shalom's essential bridges of

healing, hope and harmony. After all, I am a family member of

the Holocaust's surviving remnant of European Jewry.

Let us count our blessings even as we commit to turning

blemishes into blessings and keep from turning blessings into

blemishes. We shall together yet repair our blemished planet

into a blessed and better home for all of God's children. The

Divine delights in diversity, God's divinity and human

dignity are one and inseparable.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor life of Colonel Richard Beland of Poquoson, Virginia--a dedicated patriot and public servant who passed away surrounded by family on Friday, May 10, 2019.

His 30 years of service in the United States Air Force included training students for a decade, flying 290 combat missions in Vietnam, serving as an Advance Agent for Support and Security for Air Force One for two different administrations, and serving as a member of the NATO Flight Safety Group. Following his retirement in 1989, Colonel Beland served his local Poquoson Community's Board of Zoning Appeals for 18 years, with eight of those years as Chairman. He also faithfully served as a lector and usher at Langley Air Force Base Chapel.

Colonel Beland's dedication to his country and local community brings great honor to our district. I am proud to recognize Colonel Beland's leadership and the role he played in making America a better place.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today grieving for Virginia Beach, a great city in our district, where the year's most devastating mass shooting happened last Friday.

That morning, 12 innocent people left their homes for work, but they didn't return home to their families, and they never will. Eleven of them were devoted public servants with more than 150 years of combined experience, and one was a dedicated contractor. I am honored to remember them today.

Laquita C. Brown, a right-of-way agent who lived in Chesapeake, was an avid traveler who chronicled her trips to New York City, Europe, and West Africa. A friend of hers called her ``Ms. Worldwide.'' Her 40th birthday was coming up in November.

Ryan Keith Cox, an account clerk who lived in Virginia Beach, had a golden voice and sang in his church choir. He had recently accepted his own calling to the ministry to follow in the footsteps of his father, a friend, Pastor E. Ray Cox, and the pastor of New Hope Baptist Church.

During the shooting, Keith guided colleagues to safety, but did not join them so he could look out for others.

Tara Welch Gallagher, an engineer who lived in Virginia Beach, educated the public about clean water and served her city for 6 years. Tara's survivors include her husband and her 22-month-old son. Her husband told a reporter: ``She was everything to me.''

Mary Louise Gayle was a right-of-way agent who lived in Virginia Beach. A proud grandmother, she had just turned 65, and her children planned to take their mom to Portland later this month to celebrate her birthday.

Alexander Mikhail Gusev, a right-of-way agent who lived in Virginia Beach, moved from Belarus to seek a better life in America. He was a generous and thoughtful person, who was said to grab his lawnmower and cut his neighbor's lawn without even being asked.

Joshua O. Hardy was an engineering technician who lived in Virginia Beach. He was a loving uncle, a healthy eater and runner, he smiled on the job, and found time to write a beloved children's book that spoke to youth about strangers in their midst.

Michelle ``Missy'' Langer, an administrative assistant who lived in Virginia Beach, loved the Pittsburgh Steelers, Paul McCartney, and the ocean. A friend said, ``I will miss her smile and her hugs. That is the hardest thing.''

Richard H. Nettleton, an engineer who lived in Norfolk, helped design, install, and maintain Virginia Beach's water and sewer systems. An Army veteran, he enjoyed mentoring young engineers.

Katherine A. Nixon, an engineer who lived in Virginia Beach, was a devoted wife and mother to three daughters, one of whom is just 15 months old. According to her neighbor, her final call was to her husband just moments after she was shot.

Christopher Kelly Rapp, an engineer who lived in Powhatan, played the bagpipes and loved Scottish music. Compared by some to Mr. Rogers, he was known as encouraging and enthusiastic.

Herbert ``Bert'' Snelling, a contractor who lived in Virginia Beach and was visiting the Municipal Center for a permit; he led his church's security team, and in his work, he did everything from small handyman repairs to building homes.

Robert ``Bobby'' Williams, a special projects coordinator who lived in Chesapeake, worked for Virginia Beach for 41 years. He helped build the seawall in our city and planned on retiring this year to spend more time with his family.

The losses here will never be replaced, but so many heroes emerged to prevent further horror.

Over the weekend, I saw heroic first responders--police, fire, and EMS personnel--who ran into the line of fire to

save others before comforting our community in the immediate aftermath of this tragedy.

As the hours and days go by, we hear tens, if not hundreds, of stories of the heroism of individuals who helped save lives during this tragic event, including the officer among the first responders who, in the performance of his duties, took a bullet to protect our community, and was, by the grace of God, saved by his protective vest.

I saw believable bravery in Sentara Hospital where Sunday, I had the honor of visiting a survivor of the shooting. She clasped my hand as I stood at her bedside, and her strength and resolve were palpable as she had only narrowly come away alive.

I saw love and hope at heartfelt vigils across our community where people of all faiths joined in prayer to remember those who left us all too soon.

I saw strength among our city leaders and police chief as they addressed our grieving community, determined to remember the 12 we lost far too soon.

Mr. Speaker, I continue today in grieving for Virginia Beach and for those that we lost.

Those who knew the victims are making statements that we need to hear.

Bert Snelling's neighbor told a Virginian-Pilot reporter, ``It's the world we live in now, and it's a shame.''

A friend of Missy Langer's told The Washington Post, ``This kind of stuff has got to stop.'' And another friend said, ``She didn't deserve to die like that.''

None of them did.

This is a moment where doing nothing is no longer an option. To prove that point, all we have to do is look at the first responder who ran into the building and took a bullet to protect his fellow citizens. To him, it was never an option to not act.

If there is a lesson that we take out of this tragedy, all we have to do is look at him.

We must run into the building together.

We must act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember and honor the 12 wonderful people whose lives ended far too soon in Friday's mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

Our city, our Commonwealth, and our Nation grieve.

Now is the time for healing, coming together, and determining ways to prevent this kind of tragedy from ever happening again.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my House colleagues to please join me in a moment of silence for those who lost their lives.