Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Mejia for her leadership.

Mr. Speaker, the 14th Amendment means what it says: ``All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. . . .'' Those are the words on paper.

Donald Trump and Stephen Miller attempted to rewrite the Constitution through an executive order banning birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. It is the same legal arguments that were first used when a white supremacist wanted to deny U.S. citizenship to Chinese Americans.

Four Supreme Court Justices dissented in the ruling to protect the 14th Amendment. That tells us that we are not safe from these continuous attacks from Donald Trump and his administration on our Constitution, on our freedom, and on our neighbors.

We know that the White House is currently scheming to have Trump's activist Supreme Court rehear the case that upheld the 14th Amendment, that upheld birthright citizenship.

This is all part of a larger agenda to dehumanize Black and Brown people in this country, to strip away their rights, and to normalize questioning who belongs here. Who is American enough?

It is why Republicans have funded Donald Trump's immigration agenda by $200 billion and why on the 158th anniversary of the 14th Amendment, my colleagues and I launched the Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force.

Our goal is simple: to defend the Constitution, to coordinate oversight and public education efforts, and to respond strongly to the Trump administration's attacks on our rights, on our freedom, on our Constitution, our country, and our communities.

We will stand up to these attacks on civil liberties. We must continue this fight to ensure that the citizens of the United States are protected and that nothing erodes these constitutional protections. It is our duty. It is our responsibility, and it is the oath we swore when we took this public office.

Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to be a co-chair of this task force and so proud to stand here in defense of our Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Pride Month ending today for most of the country, but still ongoing in our great State of Washington, where we just can't get enough.

I am also rising today to honor the resolution that I introduced alongside Representative Green, a longtime champion for LGBTQ equality.

LGBTQ people have been dutifully serving in our military for decades. We are your neighbors. We are your elected officials, teachers, mentors, and friends. Despite Republicans' unrelenting attempts to erase queer and trans people from our history books, from our public spaces, and from our military, LGBTQ Americans are standing strong in our truth.

That is the beauty of Pride Month and why I am so proud to introduce this resolution today to honor the many contributions of LGBTQ Americans to our country, contributions which are outlined in this resolution, so that no matter what attacks come on our government websites and in agencies across the executive branch, we will still have the story of so many brave LGBTQ leaders.

Who knows when the majority party will be organized enough to move the NDAA through the House, but we know when it does come, it will come with several anti-LGBTQ amendments that have absolutely no business being attached to the overall package.

Our Republican colleagues talk a lot about protecting our freedoms yet spend so much time trying to strip freedoms away from LGBTQ Americans, like the freedom to access healthcare by stripping TRICARE coverage for medically necessary, lifesaving care for trans people, and even taking away mental health coverage from trans kids and the freedom to

serve our country by moving to codify Trump's ban on trans servicemembers.

There are thousands of trans people who are willing to die to protect our country, but Trump, Vance, Hegseth, and House Republicans want to ban them from serving, or even the freedom for kids to participate in sports without being subjected to invasive and traumatizing exams to determine their gender before they can put on a jersey.

I would like to see some of my colleagues experience what a transvaginal ultrasound feels like. For a kid who is a survivor of sexual assault or trauma, or even one who is not, it is incredibly painful and traumatizing.

These actions are all part of a larger pattern we are seeing at the State level, across the country, by this administration, by House and Senate GOP leadership, and even by our activist Supreme Court, to attack and villainize LGBTQ Americans.

I want to be clear. The NDAA amendments do absolutely nothing to strengthen our military readiness or improve the lives of everyday Americans. Like everyone else, LGBTQ people want to afford childcare and housing, and have access to healthcare, and be able to contribute to an economy that works for all of us.

I look forward to a day where Members of Congress drop this bizarre and personal vendetta against queer and trans people and get back to working on real issues: to lower costs, ensure we all have healthcare and housing and childcare, and make America the country we know it can be.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the tremendous occasion that is happening in my district this weekend.

A memorandum of understanding, the first of its kind, between the Suquamish Tribe and the U.S. Navy has finally been reached after years of good faith negotiations. This MOU sets a new standard for how our U.S. military collaborates with Tribal Governments to respect Tribal sovereignty and to preserve treaty rights.

The Suquamish Tribe has stewarded the lands and waters of the Salish Sea or the Puget Sound since time immemorial and has been a gracious neighbor to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the U.S. Navy's Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton.

The shared waterways include Tribal fishing grounds and shellfish beds, and this MOU will compensate the Tribal members for the access that will be impacted during the construction of the Navy's proposed Multi-Mission Dry Dock.

The Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program and its M2D2 project are a once-in-a-century investment to modernize four aging naval shipyards into new, modern facilities that will serve our Nation into the future.

In my district alone, there are 12 federally recognized Tribes that often neighbor our four DOD installations, and this serves as a model not only for Washington State but the Nation.

I commend the Navy and the Suquamish Tribe for their years of leadership and perseverance in reaching this historic agreement.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Federal Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention Act, bipartisan legislation that I am proud to lead with Representative Self.

This bill is rooted in a pretty basic idea: If someone is convicted of defrauding a Federal program, they should not be able to turn around and keep doing business with the Federal Government. This isn't about politics. It is about protecting taxpayer dollars and making sure that the Federal Government is worthy of the trust that the people place in it.

In every community we represent, people work hard, pay their taxes, and expect government programs to be run with honesty and accountability.

Each year, the Federal Government awards more than $700 billion in contracts to various agencies. Taxpayers expect those dollars to support families, to strengthen communities, and to deliver the services Congress intended, not go back to people who have already been convicted of abusing public funds.

This issue was brought to us by the inspectors general, the public servants who spend every day rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse across the Federal Government. They identified a real gap in the current system.

Too often, individuals convicted of fraud involving Federal programs remain eligible to apply for and receive Federal contracts. Under current law, agencies can suspend or debar these individuals, but the process can be slow, staff intensive, and inconsistent.

We have been told that preparing one single suspension or debarment package can take up to 20 hours.

For agencies already operating with limited staff and growing backlogs,

that means people who should be barred from Federal contracts can slip through the cracks. That is exactly the kind of problem Congress should be working together to fix.

According to a study by the inspectors general, of 550 felony fraud convictions involving pandemic-related Federal program funds over a 3- year period, more than 95 percent of those convicted were not suspended or debarred from doing business with the government. That is unacceptable.

Our bill creates a clear, commonsense standard: Individuals convicted of fraud involving Federal programs would be automatically ineligible for Federal contracts for at least 3 years. That means stronger accountability, more consistent enforcement, and more time for the inspectors general to focus on other cases of waste, fraud, and abuse.

The American people are owed more accountability and transparency into what taxpayer-funded contracts are being approved.

The Federal Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention Act is a targeted, bipartisan solution to a documented problem. It protects taxpayers. It supports the work of the inspectors general, and it helps make sure Federal dollars go where they are supposed to go. I am grateful to the inspectors general who raised this issue and helped us develop this legislation, and I thank Representative Self for his partnership.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support the Federal Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention Act.

Mr. Speaker on May 12, 2026, Oversight Committee Democrats convened the first-ever hearing to solicit testimony from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes. The hearing, ``Survivors Fight for Justice: Exposing Epstein's Crimes in Palm Beach and Across the World,'' marked a critical step forward in the fight for justice and accountability.

On behalf of all the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes, I rise to include in the Record the testimony offered by Ms. Courtney Wild:

Hello. My name is Courtney Wild.

When I was 14 years old, I was abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

He abused me until I was 17 years old.

What happened to me was terrible. But what happened after

that--by our own government--changed my life just as much.

I came here today to ask for one simple thing: Make sure

this never happens again.

I filed a case under the Crime Victims' Rights Act because

the government secretly made a deal with Jeffrey Epstein.

They signed a non-prosecution agreement.

They made that deal behind closed doors.

And they never told me. They never told any of us.

Instead, they sent letters telling us to ``be patient,''

even though they knew that the case was already over.

For years, I believed there was an investigation happening.

There wasn't.

When I found out the truth, I went to my lawyer, Brad

Edwards.

He took my case in 2008, and he fought for me against the

government--for over a decade--without ever being paid or

knowing what would happen next. We wanted to do the right

thing for all the victims.

Together, we just wanted answers to a simple question: How

could this happen?

We had to fight all the way to the Eleventh Circuit, which

took years, just to get the emails between the government and

Jeffrey's lawyers to help us understand what happened, When

we finally got them, they showed something I will never

forget--

The government wasn't just negotiating with Epstein's

lawyers, it looked like the government was trying to make him

happy and make sure that he was okay with the punishment that

they were going to give him. It seemed like they must have

forgotten that there were 40 of us kids that he had abused. I

was so confused because where I come from, if you commit a

crime, you go to jail. I have never heard of the feds letting

you help them decide which crimes they are going to charge

you with or if you're cool with how long you're going to

spend in jail, But I thought, what do I know? Maybe that's

how it works for rich guys.

Finally, after more than 10 years of fighting, in 2019, a

federal judge finally ruled that my rights--and the rights of

the other victims--were violated by the Non-Prosecution

Agreement. But there was nothing that could be done about it.

There was no remedy.

I just want to say that again: The court found that the

government violated the law . . . and nothing happened. That

means the law--the Crime Victims' Rights Act, 18 USC 3771--

does not matter. And if a law has no consequences, it doesn't

protect anyone.

I was lucky. I had a lawyer willing to fight for me for

over a decade. Most victims will never find that. So, I am

asking you to fix that. Fix the Crime Victims' Rights Act so

that it actually helps victims in the future. I have my own

ideas, and I know my lawyers have more ideas, but I really

hope that if nothing else comes of this, we can finally get

this legislation right.

There needs to be a clear definition of what it means to

``meaningfully confer'' with victims. I still don't know what

that means but I know that it never happened for me.

There must be real consequences and penalties in the

statute that apply automatically when a court determines that

a victim's rights have been violated. The answer after years

and years of litigation cannot be that nothing happens when

you finally win and prove that your rights were violated.

If prosecutors choose to ignore victims' those victims'

voices must be put on the record, memorialized, and

preserved--especially when a deal is made behind closed

doors.

There needs to be an attorneys' fee provision, so victims

can find lawyers who will stand up for them.

If those changes had existed back then, maybe what happened

to me--and so many others--would not have happened.

My case against the government for violating the rights of

at least 40 of us Palm Beach kids was happening from 2008 to

2019. Do you know how many other girls Jeffrey abused in that

time period? I bet the FBI knows. If they don't know, I bet

my lawyers can tell them. But the point is that Jeffrey

Epstein continued to abuse other girls in New York, in New

Mexico, around the world, and even still here in Florida

after he was released in 2009 and everyone knew it, There

were lawsuits. There were so many news articles. He was a

registered sex offender. And still--nothing was done by the

government. Not until 2019, when he was finally arrested.

None of those girls should ever have been abused. Jeffrey

Epstein should have been in jail. If he had been in jail like

any other man who did the same thing as him would have been,

then he would not have had a single victim after 2009. But he

wasn't and he did. He abused so many girls after 2009. At the

exact same time that I was asking the government why he got

that deal and why they violated my rights. That is the real

injustice here, That is the real thing that we need to

prevent from ever happening again in this country.

I was there for his bail hearing in 2019. I spoke to the

judge right in front of him about how dangerous he was. His

bail was denied. And for the first time, I thought we might

finally get justice.

But a month later, he was dead, Once again, the system

failed us. Someone let him die in a secure prison ensuring

that he would never be held accountable for what he did to me

when I was a kid. Since then, there have been prosecutions.

There have been civil cases. There have been settlements.

But none of that changes what was lost. And none of that

fixes what allowed this to happen in the first place.

Now Congress is holding hearings. This should not be about

politics. It should not be about Democrats or Republicans. It

should not be about headlines. It should be about two things:

Letting victims peacefully move on with their lives and

making sure this never happens again.

Right now, many of us cannot move on. Victims are

struggling. Victims are being investigated in their home

counties. Victims are checking into hospitals. This may make

some people feel like something is finally being done. But

you should ask yourselves:

What is the point--and when does it end?

Because there needs to be an end date to this

investigation.

If the point is to figure out who helped Jeffrey Epstein

commit his crimes--then look at the professionals that were

in his life.

If the point is to prosecute other men who abused girls--

then tell the FBI to ask the girls who abused them.

If the point is to understand how the government failed

victims--my case already proves that.

If the point is to fix legislation like the Crime Victims'

Rights Act so that it actually helps people--then let's do

that now.

Instead, what we see is a continued investigation into a

man who has been dead for six years. And the longer this goes

on, the more victims continue to suffer. We can't take much

more.

We fought for years to have Jeffrey Epstein arrested.

We fought to hold people accountable.

We did not fight so that this would turn into something

political--or so that victims would be used again.

I lost years of my life fighting this.

So did many others.

We did that so the next victim wouldn't have to.

Please don't let that work be in vain.

Let's end this the right way,

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum Act, as amended. Frankly, that is disappointing because this bill used to be a bipartisan success story.

Democrats and Republicans came together to support creating both the American Women's History Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino on The National Mall, but instead of building on that bipartisan agreement, this bill was turned into another political power grab with a last-minute partisan amendment in committee.

Republicans inserted culture war language limiting the museum to biological women. That language was not added to improve the museum. It was added to erase trans women from American history.

Whether my Republican colleagues want to acknowledge it or not, trans women are just as much a part of this country's history as anyone else. Museums are supposed to expand our understanding, preserve truth, and reflect the full complexity of this country.

They went even a step further to corrupt this bill, handing President Trump extraordinary control over museum design and planning. Congress should not hand any President unilateral power over how American history is told, especially after we have seen this administration pressure institutions and whitewash history.

This legislation also leaves behind the National Museum of the American Latino, even though Congress established both museums together under the same law. Let's be honest about why. We are watching a systematic effort by Republicans and this administration to strip out uncomfortable truths and erase marginalized communities.

``But Latino history is American history''; ``Pero la historia de los Latinos es la historia americana.''

It is not secondary. It is not optional.

For all these reasons, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee.

If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.

My amendment would have stripped out the exclusionary language targeting trans women, moved the Women's History Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino forward together, as Congress originally intended, and block this dangerous power grab that hands President Trump unilateral control.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of this amendment into the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Shanta Katipamula for her service to the people of Washington's Sixth Congressional District.

For nearly 6 years, Shanta has been a trusted public servant working on behalf of the people of her home State of Washington.

Inspired by her mother's example of service and leadership, Shanta has demonstrated a commitment to helping others and delivering results for constituents.

As my legislative director, Shanta was instrumental in building my office from the ground up, establishing processes and securing early policy wins.

In the past 2 years, she has successfully secured millions of dollars for community projects all across the district.

She established the Bipartisan Congressional Ferry Caucus, bringing attention to the importance of ferry systems across the country.

Shanta supported my office's work on the House Oversight and Natural Resources Committees by bringing partners together around issues important to the people I represent.

Beyond her policy work, Shanta has been an indispensable mentor to members of the team and to me.

Much of Shanta's work happened behind the scenes and beyond regular office hours, and her impact will continue to be felt across Washington State for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Shanta for her service to the people of Washington and wish her all the best in her next chapter where she will, in fact, continue to serve the people of our Washington.

Mr. Chair, I strongly support this bipartisan package of amendments which include 11 key priorities for military families in my district.

Our military's readiness relies on the people and facilities that keep it running every day.

My district is home to Naval Base Kitsap, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the Tacoma Narrows Reserve Center, and constituents stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

I have seen the challenges at these installations firsthand. Workers are stuck in traffic trying to get to the shipyard during shift changes. Military families, like so many others, are struggling to access affordable childcare. Aging water infrastructure continues to strain naval installations. Veterans in rural communities are driving hours across my district just to reach specialty care appointments.

My amendments take practical steps to address these problems. They will help strengthen electrical grid resilience in our public shipyards, improve industrial safety infrastructure, modernize aging water and wastewater systems, and improve transportation access around naval installations.

This package also invests in military families through expanded childcare capacity, workforce support spaces, and employment resources for military spouses.

Importantly, one of my amendments would require an assessment of transportation barriers.

Mr. Chair, importantly, one of my amendments would require an assessment of transportation barriers facing veterans in rural and highly rural communities seeking specialty care.

These are practical investments. These strengthen readiness. They support families, and they will improve the lives of people who serve this country every single day.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan package.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to remove the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Goldman) as cosponsor of H.R. 1522.

Mr. Speaker, across the Nation, out-of-control ICE agents are terrorizing our communities. They shot Renee Good in the face four times. They are tearing people out of their homes, out of the windows of their cars, and illegally detaining people who have Brown skin.

This is fascism, pure and simple, and ICE must be held accountable.

Since I was elected to Congress, I have made six oversight visits to the Northwest Detention Center in my district. Each time I have gone, the lack of medical care and serious privacy concerns have consistently been issues.

I was told by a detained individual that they were unable to receive the medications that they needed until nearly a week after they had run out. When they finally received it, it was the wrong dosage.

Another person who I met with asked the officer, who had accompanied them to a health appointment in the community, to step out of the room while he received sensitive medical information. The officer refused.

This administration's reckless dehumanization of our immigrant neighbors is horrific, and it is not just immigrants who they are terrorizing. Tribal members in my district and across the country are being instructed to carry their Tribal IDs with them in case they are stopped by ICE.

DHS is not above the law, and neither is Secretary Noem. We must hold them accountable, and we must prevent more death and violence.

That is why I voted against funding lawless, out-of-control agents who are terrorizing our communities and why I continue to call on us to impeach Secretary Noem and to hold the Trump administration accountable for the chaos and the violence that they have unleashed and to restructure a Department that is no longer holding the trust of the American people and that needs serious reform.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Scott for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 6359, a bill that claims to protect pregnant students but actually mandates that they get less, not more information about their rights.

If the sponsor of this bill and the majority party actually believed in supporting student parents, then they would take real action, not just grandstand on the House floor because the March for Life is this weekend.

The bill before us today requires the dissemination of incomplete information, but it also comes after House Republicans have worked alongside the Trump regime to dismantle and weaken the Department of Education and protections for students who file complaints around Title IX violations, among other things.

It has dismantled subsidized loan programs and financial aid. It has decimated Medicaid, the number one payer for births in this country, in order to pay for tax breaks for the ultrawealthy and fund ICE's violent reign in our communities.

If we believed in supporting student parents, we would put more money into childcare subsidies, more money into financial aid, and more money into food assistance so that the women in college, the people who are students who get pregnant, who have a tough decision to make, would have all of the resources and support they need to make the decision that is right for them.

It is not our job to tell a student what decision is right for them. It is not our job to tell any high school graduate that they need to go to college, right? I hear Republicans say that all the time. I tend to agree. I believe that students deserve all of the options and all of the support to make the choice that is right for them.

Yet mandating incomplete information while gutting the programs that would allow a pregnant student to choose to stay pregnant and to choose to complete school is a fallacy. It is political theater, and it is doing a disservice to the students who we are purporting to support.

I have had a chance to work with a lot of students who have become pregnant, both from around the time I was in junior high, when a friend of mine had a pregnancy scare, to a time when I was in college, to being a volunteer in the bay area where I was on a rapid response line in case someone needed to take a bus 3\1/2\ hours from their college campus into the city. That is because that was the only place they could access either maternity care, OB/GYN care, or access abortion care. We have not funded healthcare in rural communities across the country. We have gutted programs that provide actual support for pregnant people.

This is a joke. This let's make sure they get an email with all of the information. It is unserious.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill and to take serious action to support students, pregnant or not.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be here together on the House floor today to lead a conversation about how we fix our broken healthcare system.

Across our country, working families are feeling the pain of rising costs from every direction. Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have failed the American people. They promised to lower costs. Instead, costs keep going up. Housing is more expensive. Electricity bills are through the roof. Childcare costs keep rising.

Now, Republican leadership, who love to extend tax breaks for billionaires, are making things worse by, for months, refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act's tax credits for regular people. These tax credits, which expired on December 31, could have been continued had Republicans not skipped every opportunity to prevent it, but they chose to walk away from the negotiating table.

Let's be clear about why these tax credits exist. They were created because the U.S. has the most expensive healthcare system in the world, and without help, millions of working families are simply unable to afford coverage.

This was never a handout. It was a lifeline. Yet, because Republicans refused to act before December 31, millions of Americans have faced skyrocketing healthcare costs.

In my district, I hear from neighbors every day about how devastating it has been to lose these tax credits. Right now, families who rely on the ACA in Washington's Sixth are facing an average increase of $1,500 a month in healthcare costs. That is some people's rent, three car payments. That strips the ability to put anything away in savings.

Even if you are on private insurance, monthly costs are estimated to rise across the board by 21 percent in Washington because of the overall strain on our system. When healthy people are priced out of insurance, costs go up for everyone else. That is just math.

This Republican-created crisis will price out an estimated 80,000 Washingtonians from coverage, and that doesn't even include the millions more in Washington and across the country who are losing care because of the cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.

Mr. Speaker, who is being hit hardest when these tax credits disappear? Women who are already struggling with restrictions to reproductive care, who make less money than men do, and who are on the front lines of growing childcare crises.

Who else will be impacted? LGBTQ Americans, who are more likely to rely on the ACA because of lower incomes and employment discrimination, on top of this administration rapidly stripping away access to their lifesaving care and protections.

Families really struggling to get by, living paycheck to paycheck, are more likely to work jobs without employer-provided benefits, making the ACA their only real option for coverage.

I want to make this clear: Republican leadership let tax credits expire in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. They didn't make an abstract budget decision. They decided that their wealthy and well-connected donors deserved the very best that this country has to offer while condemning everyday Americans to lose health insurance and to have to wait until they are sick enough to end up in the emergency room.

I will say what we all know: We don't have a genuine healthcare system in this country. We have a sick care system, a system where people are forced to delay care until a problem becomes a crisis, a system where chronic conditions go unmanaged or managed with unprescribed medication, a system where cancers are caught later when treatment is more expensive and outcomes are worse, and a system where more people die.

One thing drove me to public service and has continued to drive me: Everyone deserves access to healthcare. That is why, in the State legislature, I worked every day to protect and expand access to care, passing laws to expand postpartum Medicaid so that new

parents received the care that they needed after childbirth, establishing a universal healthcare commission, removing barriers to behavioral health and dental care, and lowering prescription drug prices.

I have seen the way families thrive when access to care is expanded and the devastation that follows when it is taken away. While families are worried about whether they can afford insulin, inhalers, or mental health care, Republican leadership chose inaction. They found time to give tax breaks to corporations but not to protect healthcare for working people before tax credits expired.

That tells you everything you need to know about Republican leadership priorities.

President Trump says that he has concepts of a plan and has been making empty promises for a decade, but the American people don't need concepts. We need affordable healthcare now.

I am very glad that 17 of my Republican colleagues joined Democrats today in doing the right thing by voting to extend the ACA tax credits for 3 more years to protect access to affordable healthcare. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate follow suit by passing this bill immediately, but I also know that it is not enough.

We need a universal healthcare system, a system where you can go to the doctor, receive the care you need, and walk out without worrying about what other bills you will have to skip to afford it.

We need a system where losing a job doesn't mean losing your healthcare and where starting a business doesn't mean risking your life in addition to your livelihood.

We need a system where no one lies awake at night wondering if they will be able to afford insulin, whether they will be able to afford it if their kid breaks their arm, or whether they will be able to afford it if their spouse has a pregnancy complication or a cancer diagnosis.

It is not radical. It is not unrealistic. It is humanity.

The United States, arguably the wealthiest country in the world, doesn't have a universal healthcare system like every advanced nation in the world does. It is time for our Nation's leaders to stop making excuses. It is time for us to find real solutions that put the American people first.

The gentlewoman is right. I think all of us have been receiving stories, texts, emails, and phone calls from neighbors, friends, families, and constituents around the country who are impacted by rising healthcare costs because of the decisions that Republican leadership has made.

It is certainly not just my district. We know that in central Washington and Washington's Fourth District, a family of four earning $66,000 a year is seeing annual premium increases of $2,651.

In Louisiana's Fourth District, we are seeing a family of four that is earning $66,000 have the same increase.

In Texas, a 60-year-old couple earning $85,600 a year would see their premiums increase 333 percent, $20,466.

The numbers can sometimes feel abstract, right? What are those numbers? They are people.

Amanda in Bremerton told us that for her family, the ACA credits were the only way that she could afford healthcare. If they lose the discount with the ACA, they wouldn't be able to have healthcare, period. Her family members won't be able to afford the medications that they need to help keep them alive.

Healthcare should be affordable for all citizens in the United States. Amanda is worried that they will possibly lose their home if they get sick and have to go to a doctor.

Andrea from Tacoma works for a California-based company. The insurance that they offer would cost her $1,000 a month, which is out of her budget, but obtaining insurance through the Washington marketplace, with ACA tax credits, allowed her to purchase it for just $300 a month, less than a third of what her employer-sponsored coverage would be. She still struggles to make this payment.

If she can no longer afford healthcare, Andrea is going to feel the impact significantly. She makes just too much money to receive Apple Health, our version of Medicaid. She is pregnant. She will be swimming in medical debt. She says she is the only one who provides for her and her children.

Our neighbors deserve better, and they deserve us to keep fighting, not just for this ACA tax credit extension, which we will continue to put pressure on the Senate to pass, but also for a system that meets our needs nationwide.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Rivas.

Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, this comes down to a simple question: Who is Congress fighting for? Right now, Republican leadership is offering Americans higher healthcare costs, less coverage, and more uncertainty.

By refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits before they expired last month, they made healthcare costs more expensive for working families when people are already stretched thin.

I have heard from families across my district who are forgoing coverage this year because of the absurd premium increases.

A small business owner in Bremerton said that her new monthly premium for her family of three would be more than her mortgage, costing $35,000 a year. She is now being forced to look for a new job that includes health benefits and told us it is very likely she will have to sell her home in order to pay for insurance.

If the Senate doesn't pass the 3-year ACA extension immediately, families will be locked into these higher prices for 2026, and they will lose coverage. People will delay care, skip prescriptions, or avoid seeing a doctor, not because they don't need it, but because they can't afford it. That is not a healthcare system that works.

Healthcare is a human right, and your ability to get it shouldn't depend on how much you earn, where you live, or whether your employer offers coverage. No one should have to choose between paying rent and seeing a doctor or between putting food on the table and buying a prescription.

The ACA tax credits exist because Congress recognized a simple truth. Without them, millions of Americans would be priced out of care. These credits make coverage possible for seniors who are not yet eligible for Medicare, for small business owners, and gig workers, for families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to absorb soaring premiums. Allowing these tax credits to expire was a choice, and it was the wrong one.

Americans are being screwed by this administration. Tariffs are screwing our farmers and raising prices. Trump is killing energy projects that raise our utility bills, and Republicans screwed around with our health insurance by refusing to extend the ACA tax credits.

Congress has a real opportunity right now to take action: to lower costs, to protect coverage, and to improve the health of people across the country. Extending the ACA tax credits will keep families insured, reduce financial strain, and prevent avoidable deaths.

This is a moment for leadership, a moment to put people over politics. Republicans in the Senate must act to extend these tax credits. We must make it clear that in this country access to healthcare is not a privilege; it is a right worth protecting.

I am glad to be a partner in this fight with Representative Rivas and all of my other Democratic colleagues who spoke on the floor tonight.

Mr. Chair, because of the Trump administration's policies, families in my district and districts across the country are struggling to afford their heating and electricity bills. Yes, we need more transmission and clean energy projects, and it is true that the permitting process is making that more difficult.

But how can anyone think that this administration, the Trump administration, is a good-faith partner in permitting reform? They have fired Federal workers and illegally canceled funding Congress already approved, including over $1 billion for clean energy projects in Washington State that had strong community support: a long-anticipated hydrogen hub in the south sound, solar projects across the State and the country, and freight and drayage improvements in the trucking industry that would lower the cost of goods and decrease our environmental impact.

We could have been lowering costs, and we could have done it in partnership with environmental leaders, community leaders, and the leaders of Tribal nations. Tribes deserve to be meaningfully consulted on projects that affect their lands, water, and resources, no exceptions.

That is why I offered two amendments: one, to give Tribes sufficient time to engage in the permitting process, and then another to ensure the offshore oil and gas drilling projects, rubber-stamped by H.R. 1, July's big, ugly

law, still have to consider community feedback.

Republicans blocked my amendments, which is why I am voting ``no'' on the SPEED Act, a bill that doesn't address the challenges my neighbors are experiencing.

Mr. Speaker, I have been sitting here listening to the remarks on the floor, and I have to admit that I find myself torn between heartbroken tears and the urge to throw something, which I will not do because I am a professional human being.

I have to wonder how many actual trans people and families of trans kids anyone on the other side of the aisles knows, how many conversations anyone has had with parents who are staying up late worried about whether that night is the night that their child is going to take their life because they feel so unsupported and so unloved and are taking in the hatred from the floor of the House of Representatives.

The kids and parents in my community live their lives in terror, and they have it the best, because Washington State is a place where we have fought to protect healthcare access for LGBTQ kids and trans kids. We have fought to ensure that every young person has the ability to make healthcare decisions that are right for them, in consultation with their parents and their doctors. It is true medically directed care in consultation with a doctor.

The American people have told us over and over that they don't want politicians in the doctor's office. They don't want politicians making decisions about what kind of medical care they can access, but that is what is happening right now.

They are trying to strip away lifesaving care from children who are moving to my State at higher and higher rates. Almost every week, I hear of a family who has moved from Texas, Idaho, or Florida because the parents want their children to survive.

This effort not only to cut Medicaid coverage but to try to ban access for children--

Mr. Speaker, this behavior is appalling. It is dangerous. It is evil. It is evil to seek to deny lifesaving care for children who are more at risk than any others.

I spend a lot of time in LGBTQ clubs in high schools, talking to young people who are shocked when I come in and tell them that, as a queer woman, I am a Member of Congress. They say: Do you know any trans people your age? They don't believe that they will make it to 40. They don't believe that they will make it to 50 or 60. They don't believe that they have a future because they are watching the floor and listening to the words that come out of our mouths, and they know that half of the people in this Chamber do not care if they survive.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is very clear that I am not going to vote for this bill, and I urge all of my colleagues to join me.