Floor Statements

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.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Garcia and Congressman Golden for the opportunity to speak on Protect America's Workforce Act.

Mr. Speaker, I represent 27,000 Federal employees who have been through

an incredibly challenging year marked by reckless DOGE firings, chaotic rehirings, and unprecedented uncertainties.

They have been stripped of their ability to collectively bargain through President Trump's March executive order. They have been subjected to harassment and questioning of their political loyalties for nonpartisan positions. They live in constant fear that they may lose their jobs due to illegal reduction-in-force efforts that the administration has been trying to get away with.

As a result, we are losing talented and highly skilled workers at rates we can't afford. For Naval Base Kitsap, which includes Submarine Base Bangor and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, that is a national security issue.

I am a proud former union member and the daughter of union members, and I will always fight to protect union rights. What is true about Kitsap, where I grew up, is that we are not red or blue, but we are a union town. That is why I was proud to cosponsor this bill and a proud signer of the discharge petition.

Mr. Speaker, today, I will be a proud ``yes'' vote on passage.

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

As you heard from Chairman Westerman, H.R. 2302 will help provide the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians the ability to address their housing and infrastructure needs for their citizens.

Like Americans across the country who are struggling to afford housing in the Trump administration's economy, the Tribe is currently facing a housing shortage, with over 180 families listed on the Tribe's housing wait list. Without additional land, the Tribe is unable to build the housing needed to provide these families with homes.

The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act will address this challenge by transferring 80 acres currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management and 185 acres of tribally owned fee land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe.

This bill is an important step toward ensuring that the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians has the lands they need, their lands, to meet the current needs of their citizens and to plan for sustainable community growth.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this legislation, 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 yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in 2012, the National Park Service conveyed this 3.62- acre parcel of land in Kentucky to the city of Paducah through the Federal Lands to Parks Program.

This program allows States, counties, and local governments to acquire surplus land for public recreational purposes, an incredibly impactful alternative to the Trump administration's public lands selloff scheme.

Although the land was conveyed to the city, the National Park Service still retains a deed restriction. Today, the parcel is utilized, as you heard, by the Oscar Cross Boys & Girls Club, which provides programming for youth in the community. The club is a central part of the community but faces challenges in accepting new members and a growing wait list due to the need for renovations and expansion of facilities.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1276 would remove the National Park Service's deed restriction, allowing the city of Paducah to transfer the parcel to the club so that they can move forward with the renovations and improvements needed to increase capacity, expand programming, and better serve youth in the community.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority for working with us in the markup to add language that ensures that this property continues to serve a public purpose by the Boys & Girls Club. This is an important assurance and guarantee.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, next year our Nation will celebrate its 250th birthday. H.R. 4285, the STARS Act, would mark that milestone on September 17, 2026, by providing free entrance to National Park Service sites and waiving standard amenity recreation fees to sites managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Forest Service.

I fully support helping more Americans experience our public lands and will be honored to support this bill. However, it is hard to ignore how hollow this gesture feels when it comes alongside the ongoing Republican effort to undermine access to these very places.

While we may be hearing how treasured our public lands are from my colleagues today, some of their actions paint a different picture.

Republicans are slashing the already underfunded land management agencies' budgets. Republicans are firing hardworking Americans who keep our public lands open and safe. Republicans are trying to sell off our public lands for a quick buck.

Republicans are working to undo protections for national monuments, trying to block updates to outdated resource management plans, and pushing reckless development for extractive industries no matter the public health or environmental consequences.

Republicans are attacking bedrock environmental and historic preservation laws, attempting to erase and rewrite history in our public lands, and working to turn our public lands into prisons and detention centers.

Americans deserve better. They deserve public lands that are open, well cared for, and honest about our history, not just a few symbolic gestures and a free entrance day every now and then.

It is our responsibility to care for our public lands, to support the people who care for them, and to ensure they reflect the full and robust history of everyone who shaped this country. That is how we can honor the past and ensure our public lands remain places that future generations of Americans can learn from and enjoy.

Democrats will continue to stand up for our Federal workforce and to fight to protect Americans' public lands.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am enthusiastically in support of this policy, but I think I have to underscore, again, that our public lands belong to all Americans, as the previous sponsor mentioned, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status, or background.

The stories preserved at sites like Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial in my district serve as powerful reminders of what happens when we allow fear and prejudice to override our values of inclusion and justice. In this moment in our history as we celebrate the semiquincentennial of our Nation, we are also watching history attempt to repeat itself with the rounding up of Americans and the rounding up of folks living in this country who are being persecuted in our streets and on our public lands.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation and urge all my colleagues to support it, as well. I also urge us to learn from our history and to move forward more equitably.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 655, the Dalles Watershed Development Act, introduced by my colleague from the Pacific Northwest, Representative Bentz from Oregon.

This bill would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey approximately 150 acres of Federal land in the Mount Hood National Forest to the City of The Dalles, Oregon.

This land is vital to the City's watershed and supports roughly 80 percent of its annual water supply. Local ownership of this land will allow the City to better manage its water resources, protect water quality, and plan for future water infrastructure.

Under the bill, the land transfer would occur at no cost to the City and be subject to valid existing rights.

The City would cover the administrative expenses of the conveyance, including surveying, and the conveyance would be executed by quitclaim deed.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority for working with us to include language that guarantees the property is used by the City for the public in perpetuity. With this important update, the legislation offers a practical, bipartisan solution to address clear infrastructure need and to adapt to a changing climate in which water resources are becoming more and more scarce. I thank Representative Bentz for his leadership on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 655, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am here today to speak on H.R. 2293, the Cormorant Relief Act of 2025.

Aquaculture facilities nationwide are facing issues with predatory birds. We experience it in Washington State as well, along with the pinnipeds that we spent some time discussing last week.

Double-crested cormorants consume large quantities of fish from these operations, negatively impacting businesses that provide jobs and support their local communities.

From 2003 to 2014, the Fish and Wildlife Service implemented the 2003 proposed rule adopting the Aquaculture Depredation Order and the Public Resource Depredation Order, a Federal program that allowed aquaculture operators, States, and Tribes to manage cormorant populations in a controlled way with proper oversight. That program was found to be unlawful by the courts.

This bill would lawfully reinstate the depredation order for aquaculture facilities. Further, it would expand coverage to 12 States and allow the Secretary to add others as appropriate. The bill would also include aquaculture lake managers and pond managers who face similar challenges.

I am pleased we were able to work out a bipartisan solution that maintains environmental safeguards under bedrock environmental protections like NEPA and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This approach will provide a reasonable regulatory framework with proper oversight and require renewal every 5 years to ensure that it is working as intended and that, moving forward, the Fish and Wildlife Service conducts proper environmental assessments as it renews the program.

This bill will help U.S.-based aquaculture producers deliver healthy and affordable protein for American families.

Mr. Speaker, I think this is a workable approach we can support, 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 yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in enthusiastic support of H.R. 3857, the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Reauthorization Act, brought forward by my colleague and fellow freshman, Jeff Hurd.

This legislation, as he described, would extend the Bureau of Reclamation's Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program through 2031, ensuring that communities have accurate water supply forecasting.

This program plays a critical role in advancing new technologies, expanding snow monitoring areas, and improving the accuracy of water supply forecasts.

This work is extremely vital to supporting Western communities facing growing challenges of climate change, persistent drought, and growing demands from communities that are growing in our States.

Across the West, communities are experiencing changing precipitation patterns, diminished snowpack, earlier runoff, and changing water availability. I certainly look to the mountains, the Olympics and the Cascades, every time I drive around my district, using a very nontechnological approach to assessing the snowpack on the mountains.

Mr. Speaker, there are definitely scientists using much better tools, but this legislation authorizes even better tools to allow us to plan for our communities' safety and our access to clean water, agriculture, and a thriving economy.

Paired with the growing demand for water, these changes we have seen create uncertainty for water managers and users who rely on accurate data for planning.

By reauthorizing the Snow Water Supply Forecasting program, we ensure water managers and users have the information that they need to make informed decisions and support the continued collaboration between agencies and expanding snowpack data collection and forecasting capabilities.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1676 will improve the State-led conservation of priority fish and wildlife resources by improving the efficiency of the State Wildlife Action Plan review process.

State wildlife managers in every U.S. State are facing increasing challenges. Nationwide, more than one-third of all plant and animal species face heightened risks of extinction.

State Wildlife Action Plans are essential to proactively conserving fish and wildlife, rather than waiting for populations to decline to a point where they need Endangered Species Act protections. These plans provide a comprehensive assessment of the status of States' wildlife populations, key habitats, and strategies to keep the populations strong.

Each year, these funds provide States with upwards of $54.4 million to conserve species and critical habitats. These funds have enabled numerous success stories, including research and conservation for the rare Sierra Nevada red fox in California and the Cook Inlet beluga whales in Alaska.

States must update and resubmit their action plans every 10 years to qualify for annual State wildlife funds. This year, dozens of States are going through their annual process. They are concerned than an already thin Fish and Wildlife workforce will have a difficult time processing these plans in a timely fashion.

This bill would redirect the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the States to work together to speed up State Wildlife Action Plan review processes, and it would codify the Fish and Wildlife Service's current practice of automatic implementation, while a plan is in review, to ensure that States don't lose access to these critical conservation funds while the service reviews their plans.

At the same time, this bill would maintain the standards by which these plans are reviewed, ensuring that these Federal dollars are used responsibly and as Congress intended.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1676, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to do so, as well.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Project Lands Restoration Act.

I thank Chairman Westerman and Subcommittee Chairman Hurd for their partnership in bringing this important legislation to the floor. I am deeply honored to serve on the House Natural Resources Committee and the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs. I am proud to represent a district that is home to 12 federally recognized Tribes, Tribes that led the Nation in co-stewardship, climate resilience, and ecosystem restoration.

Each time this Congress gathers to address land restoration and treaty reserved rights, we are doing incredibly meaningful work, not only alongside the Tribes that we serve, but in service of the integrity of our Federal Government's commitments.

I also want to extend a special thank you to Chairwoman Frances Charles of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe for testifying before the committee earlier this year on this bill. Chairwoman Charles has spent her career protecting the Lower Elwha's culture, preserving their language, and ensuring that treaty reserved hunting and fishing rights remain.

It strengthens the restoration of the Elwha watershed, which is one of the most iconic examples of climate resilience and ecological recovery anywhere in the country. This bill recognizes that the Lower Elwha people have lived on and cared for this land since time immemorial.

Transferring land into trust is one of the most impactful actions the United States can take to deliver on trust and treaty obligations. It is one of the clearest ways we can demonstrate respect for Tribal sovereignty and return land to the stewardship of the people who know it best.

This bill is straightforward, and it is long overdue. It aligns our policies with our values, and it honors the community that has spent decades repairing the damage caused by a Federal infrastructure that was built without Tribal consent.

As someone who has the honor of representing the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, I am proud to lead this legislation alongside Senators Cantwell and Murray. I recognize the dedication and work of my predecessor, Representative Derek Kilmer, who championed this bill in past Congresses prior to his retirement last year.

Chairwoman Charles' leadership has been essential to one of the most ambitious restoration projects in our country's history: the removal of the two dams on the Elwha River, the largest dam removal project of our Nation's history at the time, and the healing of a river system that has been blocked for a century.

Just this year, we celebrated an anniversary of the river being free, the return of the salmon through canoe journey. This is an endeavor in which Tribal canoe families journey from around the Salish Sea and British Columbia to come to land, to celebrate, to commemorate their history, and to promise to preserve the land, water, and ecosystem for seven generations forward.

This legislation is an important piece of that puzzle, transferring approximately 1,082 acres of Federal land into trust for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. These are lands once tied to the Federal hydroelectric project, lands acquired during the dam removal process, lands that include cultural sites, historic villages, and ecological areas directly connected to the Tribe's stewardship of the Elwha River.

Placing these lands into trust is not just a procedural act. It is a promise fulfilled. It affirms the Tribe's sovereign right to protect and manage sacred sites for generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in moving this bill forward so we can take the final step in returning these lands to the Lower Elwha people, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I rise today in strong support of this bill, the Quinault Indian Nation Land Transfer Act, and I thank Chairman Westerman and Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Hurd for the opportunity to speak about another bill before us today and for their thoughtful engagement with Tribal council members, Tribal President Capoeman, when he came before the committee, and Quinault Business Committee member Tyson Johnston, who testified to the importance of this legislation earlier this year.

This bill, for me, represents the kind of tangible, bipartisan work I believe that Congress should be doing every day: delivering real solutions, repairing historic injustices, and strengthening our relationships with sovereign Tribal nations.

Earlier this year, I reintroduced the Quinault Indian Nation Land Transfer Act in partnership with Senators Cantwell and Murray. I want to recognize the leadership of my predecessor, Representative Derek Kilmer, who worked diligently on this legislation in past Congresses.

This bill would return approximately 72 acres of land, as we have heard, known as Allotment 1157, to the Quinault Indian Nation by placing it into trust with the Department of the Interior.

To understand why this matters, we have to understand the history. Allotment 1157 was once part of the original Quinault Reservation, land guaranteed to the Nation under the Treaty of Olympia.

In 1928, during the era of forced allotment and fractioning, where ownership of Tribal land was divided, the land was taken out of trust and ultimately lost

to the Tribe. It passed through private ownership to a timber company and, decades later, was acquired by the U.S. Forest Service.

Through all those years, the Quinault people were cut off from land that held deep cultural and ecological value.

Allotment 1157 includes some of the last remaining old-growth forest in the region, and it is a place where Quinault carvers once slid canoe hulls into the Salmon River, a place tied to traditional lifeways, craft, and history. It is sacred land.

Returning Allotment 1157 is not only historically justified. It is morally necessary. It restores the Quinault Nation land that was never meant to be taken. It reaffirms the United States' trust responsibility and treaty obligations. It allows the Tribe to continue stewarding an ecosystem that they have cared for since time immemorial.

The Quinault Nation plans to use this land as a place of education, a living museum where future generations can learn about their heritage, their connection to the Salmon River watershed, and their responsibility to protect the land.

This is self-determination in action. This is environmental stewardship in partnership with Tribal leadership. This is Congress fulfilling its promise.

I am proud to champion this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support its passage. Restoring Allotment 1157 is long overdue, and moving this legislation forward is a meaningful step toward justice.

I thank my partners in this work for their support, voices, and stories. They are essential as we work to uphold our commitments to Tribal nations. I thank the Natural Resources Committee members for giving this legislation the thoughtful attention that it deserves.

I respectfully ask all Members to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I rise in strong support of Representative Dingell's H.R. 2290, the World War II Women's Memorial Location Act.

This legislation, as we have heard, would ensure that the service and sacrifices of millions of American women are forever honored on The National Mall and not erased, as we have seen efforts to do over the course of this year.

During World War II, over 18 million women stepped forward to serve on the home front, raising the number of women in the workforce to nearly 40 percent between 1940 and 1945.

These women served in so many capacities: pilots, mechanics, electricians, engineers, coders, and countless other roles. Many of them served in my district at Naval Base Kitsap and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

Their contributions were the backbone of the war efforts, showing the country what women could achieve. Their work reshaped the American workforce and opened doors for future generations of women welders, scientists, and servicemembers.

By authorizing the World War II women's memorial to be placed on or near The National Mall, we are ensuring that the legacy of these brave women will never be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Dingell), the sponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague mentioned, I recently had a chance to go to a 100th birthday celebration of one of my constituents, who was an original Rosie, Ms. Jean Lillian Winther, whose story was part of the fabric of our country's history at a time when women were rarely seen in the shipbuilding trades.

Jean stepped forward with courage and determination, taking up the torch, quite literally. She showed that women could excel as welders, as builders, as defenders of our Nation's security, and, as I learned at her birthday, as excellent dancers on the decks of an aircraft carrier in between shifts.

Her work on the Essex-class carriers was vital to our Navy's success, but her example reached even further. Jean blazed a trail for women who came after her, proving that skills and determination know no boundaries. Every woman who has picked up a welding torch or entered a shipyard since has walked a little easier because of women like Jean.

Mr. Speaker, I am so honored to support this legislation to make sure that we commemorate in a place of honor the women who helped shape our country and helped shape the future of women in service and in the trades for years to come.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2306, legislation introduced by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Moolenaar).

This bill would extend the authority for the Adams Memorial Commission and authorize a prominent location for the eventual memorial to commemorate the legacy and contributions of John Adams and the entire Adams family, including Abigail and their son, John Quincy Adams.

It has been nearly a quarter-century since Congress first authorized this memorial in 2001. It is time to finish what we started.

We are speaking of a family that didn't merely participate in the American experiment but helped define it. Thomas Jefferson called John Adams the Colossus of Independence, and his thoughts on government frame the very Constitution we swear to uphold every day we report to work here in our Nation's Capitol.

Abigail Adams was an early beacon for women's rights, and John Quincy Adams fought the gag rule and slavery right here in the House. The contributions of the Adams family to the founding and development of our country are countless.

Finally, because John Adams was the first to live in the White House, it is only fitting that this memorial will be located nearby. We can only hope that the hard work, wisdom, and dedication of these American heroes rub off on the current and future residents of the White House.

I thank Representative Moolenaar and all of the members of the Adams Memorial Commission for their dedication to this project. Hopefully, we will all be able to visit the new memorial very soon.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch).

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

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2916 would finalize a longstanding land claim in New York for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe by ratifying and confirming the Agreement of Settlement and Compromise to resolve the Akwesasne Mohawk Land Claim in the State of New York.

Under this settlement, the Tribe will see 3,500 acres of land returned to reservation status and have the opportunity to acquire up to 14,000 acres of land in the land claim areas.

The settlement also provides Akwesasne Mohawk students who attend State University of New York institutions free tuition and mandatory fees.

In addition, the Tribe will have the right to nine megawatts of power at a preferred rate from the New York Power Authority and will receive $70 million from the power authority over 35 years.

This legislation will finally resolve the Akwesasne Land Claim after 43 years of litigation and 11 years of negotiation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this policy, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Representative Yakym's Studying NEPA's Impact on Projects Act. This legislation would direct agencies to

submit to the Council on Environmental Quality an annual report on NEPA lawsuits filed, the basis for the legal claim, and the outcome, if applicable.

I believe these reports will show there are far fewer NEPA lawsuits holding up projects than my colleagues across the aisle sometimes argue about, but regardless, this will be good data for decisionmakers to have.

The bill would also require reporting on the time it takes agencies to complete environmental impact statements and the number of pages of those analyses. The Council on Environmental Quality will then report annually on average lengths of time, page counts, and any directional trends.

I appreciate the majority working with us to also include requirements for disaggregating reporting to show page limits and timelines pre- and post-passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. This law placed new limits on page counts and 2-year deadlines for environmental impact statements. It will be important for us to know if these new requirements are really working.

Mr. Speaker, again, I support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

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

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