Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the recipients of this year's Right Direction Awards.

The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia established the Right Direction Awards in 2015 in an effort to uplift and celebrate D.C. youth. Since then, over 150 inspirational young people in D.C. have received this award.

The Right Direction Awards honor D.C. youth who demonstrate tenacity and resilience in the face of significant challenges, including experiencing isolation, homelessness, loss of loved ones and acclimating to a new country.

Congratulations to this year's recipients: Darrell Anderson, Dineia Jones, Kaitlyn Arbertha, Dieudonne Kazzembe, Mylan Barnes, Maleek Loggins, Eric Curry, III, Jymeen McGrier, Robert Edwards, Osman Milla, Arno Fonkoue, Daja Mitchell, Isabella Getahun, Ariyah Nash, Antwon Gibson, Ashanti Paylor, Shaniya Gibson, Derren Richardson, Christy Hill, Eric Wade, Jr, Dellvon Hughes and Jamarri Kane-White.

Madam Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to join me in honoring this year's recipients of the Right Direction Awards for persevering through major life challenges to have a positive effect on their community.

Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the Improving Reentry for District of Columbia Residents in the Bureau of Prisons Act of 2022. This bill would require the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to place D.C. residents serving sentences for D.C. Code felonies in BOP facilities within 250 miles of D.C. Under the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, individuals serving sentences for D.C. Code felonies are in BOP custody.

Currently, more than 2,000 D.C. residents are serving sentences for D.C. Code felonies, and they are in BOP facilities across the United States. While Congress will not provide funding to BOP to build a new facility for these D.C. residents, there are more than enough existing BOP facilities within 250 miles of D.C. to house all of these D.C. residents. Under this bill, BOP could place a D.C. resident outside 250 miles upon the request or consent of a resident, and BOP could place a D.C. resident outside 250 miles without consent in extraordinary circumstances.

Having D.C. residents closer to D.C. will help them maintain relationships with family and support networks and help them as they reenter society, which should be a priority of BOP.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, today, I introduce a bill to amend the recently enacted fiscal year 2023 continuing resolution (CR) to provide $50 million in emergency supplemental appropriations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) for humanitarian assistance for migrants. The funding would remain available until expended.

In a cynical political stunt, the governors of Texas, Arizona and Florida have sent approximately 14,000 vulnerable people fleeing desperate and dangerous situations in their home countries to the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago and Martha's Vineyard in the last several months.

In fiscal year 2022, Congress provided $150 million for the EFSP for humanitarian assistance for migrants. As of September 28, 2022, approximately $1 million of this funding remained available. I, along with several colleagues, sent a letter to the House Committee on Appropriations requesting that the CR provide $50 million in emergency supplemental appropriations for the EFSP for humanitarian assistance for migrants, but it was not included in the introduced version of the CR. We then filed an amendment to the CR at the Committee on Rules to provide this $50 million, but the amendment was not made in order. The enacted CR only provides funding for the EFSP at the fiscal year 2022 rate of operations. D.C., New York City, Chicago and Massachusetts have increased their requests for EFSP funding, and without additional appropriations, the EFSP may exhaust its funding.

This $50 million would ensure that D.C. and other jurisdictions, as well as non-profit groups and volunteers, have the resources they need to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants. As we continue to work to provide increased funding for the EFSP for humanitarian assistance for migrants in the regular fiscal year 2023 appropriations bill, I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Joi Mitchell for receiving the Relationship Rockstar Award for her outstanding work as an AmeriCorps fellow with Saga Education in the District of Columbia.

Joi received the award for her exceptional work with students at Anacostia High School and Ron Brown College Preparatory High School in the District of Columbia during the 2021-2022 school year. The Relationship Rockstar Award prioritizes respect and values relationships and providing positive experiences through inclusiveness and excellence.

Improving the academic outcomes of low-income students is one of our nation's most urgent challenges. By high school, many low-income students are three or more years behind grade level, especially in math. In many schools, large class sizes have made it impossible for teachers to offer students the individual instruction they need. That is why the work that Joi is doing each day with ninth graders in the District of Columbia has made such a big impact on their lives.

Joi was previously a facilitator for a mentoring program in the South Side of Chicago, where she led sessions and offered personal guidance to young women. Joi is a joyful person who set out to help others, especially children and youth--part of what makes her such a great fit as an AmeriCorps fellow and tutor working with youth in the District of Columbia.

Madam Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to join me in honoring Joi Mitchell for her outstanding work as an AmeriCorp fellow with Saga Education and for her positive impact on students at Anacostia High School and Ron Brown College Preparatory High School in the District of Columbia.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Promoting National Service and Reducing Youth Unemployment Act to address one of the greatest workforce tragedies--our unemployed young people--while filling the employment gap the public sector is facing as more workers choose the private sector. Youth unemployment is harming our young people and costing our country billions of dollars each year in lost productivity and tax revenue, among other costs. Although the total unemployment rate has reached a relative low (3.7 percent), the youth unemployment rate is nearly 7.9 percent. These young people have not had a fair chance to use the high school or college education we strongly urged them to obtain.

What is particularly disappointing, especially in today's low unemployment economy, is the high unemployment rate for young people who heeded our advice to graduate from high school and college. The unemployment rate is currently 7.9 percent for people 16 to 24 years old, which is 4.2 percentage points higher than the total unemployment rate, and hundreds of thousands of them now compete for unpaid internships wherever they can find them.

By significantly adding 500,000 new members to AmeriCorps, my bill would need no new administrative structure or bureaucracy but would allow unemployed youth to earn a stipend, obtain work experience and develop a good work history to help secure future employment. The bill would significantly expand job opportunities for young people who have done what they could to get a job, but, despite their best efforts, remain unemployed. AmeriCorps participants receive a living allowance and are also eligible for an education award equal to the value of a Pell grant, school-loan forbearance, health care benefits and childcare assistance. By expanding AmeriCorps, we would reduce the number of unemployed young people, provide them work skills and experience and help understaffed state and local governments provide services.

My bill would also establish that the minimum wage for any AmeriCorps State & National member would be 200 percent of the federal poverty line, and would not allow for a decrease in that amount, as is allowed under current law. AmeriCorps members serve their country and gain skills, but we should increase the minimum wage for everybody, including national service members.

For some time, it has been clear that policies to address the most stubborn forms of unemployment need to be targeted in order to be effective. Without significant targeting, many young people will continue to face their first years as adults without jobs and with no way to acquire necessary work experience. They deserve a better start in life as adults.

I ask my colleagues to support this urgently needed, targeted assistance for our unemployed youth.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, Chairman Grijalva, for yielding, and I thank him and Chairman Neguse for bringing this bill to the floor.

This bill would authorize the Georgetown African American Historic Landmark Project and Tour to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia commemorating the enslaved individuals who endured forced migration to the United States by way of the transatlantic slave trade. The National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission unanimously supported this bill, and it passed out of committee by unanimous consent.

We must not hide this history. Enslaved individuals, known and unknown, rest at the core of our Nation's history. The atrocities of the system of chattel slavery shed light on our Nation's central struggle between slavery and freedom--a freedom under which some could be owned, beaten, separated from their families, and denied any rights.

This bill provides for the creation of a powerful marker of truth- telling and remembrance. Let us honor the personhood of these individuals who were repeatedly assumed to have none so that they will never be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Madam Speaker, today I introduce the District of Columbia Home Rule Expansion Act of 2022, which would expand D.C.'s authority to govern its local affairs. Specifically, the bill would give D.C. the authority to prosecute and grant clemency for all D.C. crimes and eliminate the congressional review period for D.C. legislation.

D.C. should--and will--be a state. However, until Congress grants D.C. statehood, there is no constitutional or policy reason Congress should not pass this bill. This bill is about local control over local affairs. It does nothing more than give D.C. the same authorities states and territories have over certain local governmental functions. Under the Constitution, Congress has plenary authority over both D.C. and the territories. It has already used its plenary authority to give the territories the self-governing authorities this bill would give

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding to me. And I appreciate her correction of the prior speaker on the other side who repeatedly said that Federal employees could not be fired, ignoring the figures that the Chair had given of 10,000 employees fired last year.

This is a civil service system. It is not a private system. It rules under the Constitution and under the rule of law. That is the difference between working for the Federal Government and working for a private employer.

I speak in strong support of the Preventing a Patronage System Act-- note that word--Patronage System Act, of which I am a cosponsor.

This bill would prevent a future President from reimposing the schedule F scheme that would move tens of thousands of career employees into positions that would essentially be a new form of political appointment. The nonpartisan, apolitical civil service system is critically important to how our government functions.

President Trump attempted to--former President Trump attempted to illegally create this new class of Federal employees, in contravention of the Constitution and, more specifically, these employees' rights.

We need to encourage the best to join the Federal Government, and this type of ploy by the prior administration would hinder that effort; instead, allowing an administration to engage in a patronage system. The government needs experts, not political cronies.

I appreciate Congressman Connolly for introducing this important bill, and I am pleased to be able to speak in support of it.

Madam Chair, I missed one committee of the whole vote due to committee activity. Had I been present, I would have voted ``YEA'' on rollcall No. 436.

Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress

Baird (Bucshon)

Barragan (Beyer)

Bass (Correa)

Brooks (Fleischmann)

Bush (Bowman)

Carter (GA) (Mace)

Cawthorn (Boebert)

Cleaver (Davids (KS))

Conway (Valadao)

Cuellar (Garcia (TX))

DeSaulnier (Beyer)

Dingell (Kuster)

Fallon (Nehls)

Johnson (TX) (Jeffries)

Jones (Beyer)

Khanna (Jeffries)

Kilmer (Jeffries)

Kirkpatrick (Pallone)

Lawson (FL) (Evans)

McCaul (Van Duyne)

McEachin (Beyer)

Moore (WI) (Beyer)

Newman (Beyer)

Norman (Duncan)

Palazzo (Fleischmann)

Pingree (Kuster)

Rice (NY) (Deutch)

Rush (Bowman)

Ryan (OH) (Correa)

San Nicolas (Jeffries)

Sanchez (Pallone)

Schiff (Deutch)

Scott (VA) (Beyer)

Scott, Austin (Cammack)

Stansbury (Pallone)

Swalwell (Correa)

Wasserman Schultz (Soto)

Wexton (Beyer)

Mr. Chair, I thank my good friend, the chair of our committee, for yielding time.

I come to speak in strong support of the Whistleblower Protection Improvement Act, of which I am a cosponsor. I especially appreciate this bill since, as a Member of Congress for the District of Columbia, many Federal employees are my constituents.

Importantly, this bill would expand whistleblower protections and ensure due process and enable relief for whistleblowers. We should appreciate and celebrate our Federal employees, especially our whistleblowers, and I am particularly pleased that this bill would clarify that Federal employees cannot be retaliated against for sharing information with Congress.

It is important that Congress have full information about the operations

of our government, and this good-governance measure will help with that goal.

I am grateful to Chairwoman Maloney for introducing this important bill, and I am pleased to speak in support of it.

Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the No Fencing at the United States Supreme Court Act, which would prohibit the installation of permanent fencing at the U.S. Supreme Court. Last year, I introduced a bill that would prohibit the installation of permanent fencing at the U.S. Capitol complex.

After the Supreme Court's draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health was leaked in May, the Supreme Court installed temporary anti- climb fencing around its grounds, which remained in place until late August. While the Supreme Court has not announced plans to install permanent fencing, temporary security measures often become permanent.

While I understand the importance of protecting the Supreme Court building, the Justices and Supreme Court employees, we can and must maintain our commitment to security without sacrificing public access by using the least restrictive means necessary to address security.

Permanent fencing would send an un-American message to the nation and the world, by transforming our democracy from one that is accessible and of the people to one that is exclusive and fearful of its own citizens. The Supreme Court has long welcomed First Amendment protests and demonstrations without becoming a fortress.

Public property should be open to the public. The distance between government and the people has grown, with trust in government, including the Supreme Court, low. We should not entrench that distance further by placing intimidating barriers between ourselves as public servants and the people we serve. There are more effective, less obtrusive security solutions than archaic fencing.

Moreover, the Supreme Court is in a residential neighborhood in the District of Columbia. The Supreme Court grounds are widely used by both D.C. residents and visitors. Permanent fencing would block that use.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise to express concern about the welfare of Emad Shargi, a longtime resident of the District of Columbia who has been unjustly and inhumanely detained in Iran since 2018.

While visiting his wife's family in Iran, Mr. Shargi was arrested in the middle of the night by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and forcefully taken to the notorious Evin Prison, where he was held in solitary confinement and intensely interrogated for eight months. He was then released and cleared of the fabricated charges but was denied the return of his travel documents and banned from leaving the country. In November 2020, he was sentenced, without a trial, to 10 years in prison on fabricated charges. He is in Evin Prison. His family and I are concerned about his well-being.

I call upon the State Department to prioritize the immediate release of Emad Shargi and to do everything possible to bring him home safely.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5315) to direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish in the Department of Transportation a drone infrastructure inspection grant program and a drone education and training grant program, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5315, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5315, the Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant Act, legislation sponsored by Mr. Stanton of Arizona and Mr. Graves from Louisiana.

In recent years, small unmanned systems, also known as drones, have been valuable assets in the inspection, maintenance, and repair of the Nation's critical infrastructure. Drones have many uses, from surveying transmission lines and inspecting bridges, to assessing damage from natural disasters. As this aviation technology continues to evolve, State and local governments should have the opportunity to leverage these systems to help identify and address the growing infrastructure needs across the country.

H.R. 5315 establishes a drone infrastructure inspection grant program and a drone education and workforce training grant program at the U.S. Department of Transportation to help increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve worker safety, and reduce carbon emissions related to critical infrastructure projects.

Specifically, the bill authorizes competitive Department of Transportation grants for State, Tribal, and local governments to purchase, lease, contract for services, or support the operational management of small drones to perform certain infrastructure projects. H.R. 5315 ensures that these Federal funds can only be used for small drone technology manufactured or assembled by a U.S. company, includes safeguards for related labor agreements, and prioritizes projects conducted in historically disadvantaged communities.

In order to help equip the future U.S. transportation workforce with the skills necessary to capitalize on drone technology and compete globally, H.R. 5315 also invests Federal funding in drone workforce training and education programs at universities and community colleges. This program will be particularly beneficial as the U.S. aviation sector works to achieve a workforce that better reflects the diversity of the country as a whole.

H.R. 5315 has the support of cosponsors from both sides of the aisle and the endorsement of several key organizations representing the U.S. aviation and aerospace sector, and State, Tribal, and local governments.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter of support from these organizations.

September 8, 2022.

Hon. Nancy Pelosi,

Speaker of the House, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Steny Hoyer,

Majority Leader, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Kevin McCarthy,

Minority Leader, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Steve Scalise,

Minority Whip, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Minority Leader

McCarthy and Minority Whip Scalise: We write in strong

support of H.R. 5315, the bipartisan Drone Infrastructure

Inspection Grant (DIIG) Act, and respectfully request that

the bill be added to the House floor schedule. The DIIG Act

addresses the urgent critical infrastructure inspection

backlog our nation faces today, while also investing in the

drone workforce of tomorrow.

The bill's purpose is twofold. First, it would authorize

the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to provide

competitive grants to state, tribal, and local governments to

use secure small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to perform

critical infrastructure inspections. Drones provide states

with a safe and cost effective way to identify and repair

critical infrastructure problems in early stages, saving

money, time, and preventing needless consumer and worker

injuries and death.

Second, the bill would invest in our nation's future

workforce by authorizing USDOT competitive grants for

workforce training and education at institutions of higher

education, including community colleges. This would position

current and future workers to capitalize on the fast-growing

drone economy, and help to cultivate a diverse workforce. To

date, over 90 institutions have been approved by the Federal

Aviation Administration as VAS-Collegiate Training Initiative

Schools. This bill would nurture a dynamic workforce--ready

to adapt to the technological advancements of the future.

The DIIG Act passed out of the House Transportation and

Infrastructure Committee by a bipartisan vote of 54-4 on

April 28th. We hope you join us in supporting the DIIG Act by

adding it to the House floor schedule as soon as possible.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

National League of Cities (NLC), National Conference of

State Legislatures (NCSL), National Association of Counties

(NACo), National Association of State Aviation Officials

(NASAO), American Association of State Highway and

Transportation Officials, Association of Uncrewed Vehicle

Systems International (AUVSI), Commercial Drone Alliance

(CDA).

NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors

Association, Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research

Alliance, Inc (NUAIR), Alaska Department of Transportation &

Public Facilities, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Kansas UAS

Joint Task Force, Texas Association of Counties, San

Bernardino County.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stanton).

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 884) to direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a national aviation preparedness plan for communicable disease outbreaks, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 884, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the National Aviation Preparedness Plan Act of 2022, legislation sponsored by the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen).

If there is one lesson of the coronavirus pandemic, it is that we were not prepared for a pandemic and must be prepared for the next one.

While a number of mitigation efforts were eventually implemented in aviation, they should not have taken almost a year to put in place. In fact, in 2015, the Government Accountability Office issued a recommendation to develop a national aviation preparedness plan for communicable disease outbreaks.

The Government Accountability Office has since found that had the Department of Transportation implemented such a plan, it ``could have improved coordination between public health and aviation sectors during COVID-19 to address issues like passenger screening.''

H.R. 884 seeks to resolve this oversight by requiring the Department of Transportation, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security, to develop a national aviation preparedness plan.

That plan, at a minimum, would lay out the responsibilities of airports, airlines, and government entities in responding to future pandemics, improve coordination among stakeholders, and identify appropriate equipment to protect frontline aviation employees, among other things.

This means we could establish the necessary procedures and methodologies to combat pandemics prior to their onset and eliminate the confusion surrounding who should take action.

Fortunately, we have come a long way since the start of the pandemic. Vaccines are widely available, daily COVID hospitalizations and death rates have decreased, and air travel is returning to prepandemic levels.

But we could have done better. This bill, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in committee, will ensure the lessons learned from the current pandemic are not forgotten during the next one.

For these reasons, I encourage my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5774) to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to ensure that unmet needs after a major disaster are met, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5774, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 5774, the Expediting Disaster Recovery Act, legislation introduced by Mr. Graves of Louisiana.

This legislation is designed to expedite the delivery of Federal disaster assistance and address the unpaid, unmet needs of disaster survivors.

The authorizations in this bill allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to estimate the total cost of disaster recovery and provide States up to 10 percent of this estimate when a major disaster is declared.

States would be able to use these funds to administer a broad range of recovery solutions not covered by FEMA's individual assistance program. Such activities could include home repair and support for business activities.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.