Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, as May is National Foster Care Month, we need to remember that foster care families provide a vital service for the young people whom they take in. And the need is great. In Minnesota alone, more than 7,500 kids entered out-of-home placement, usually because of parental drug abuse and neglect.

Foster parents are absolutely unsung heroes. They go to tremendous lengths in navigating a very arduous process so that they can provide a nurturing and a caring environment for a young person.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank foster families for their dedication, as well as the professionals and the workers who do go through the work of placing young people in loving families' homes so that they can make a meaningful difference in their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to support a resolution that I am introducing to raise awareness of the danger of meningitis B.

Nearly 1,000 Americans contract the meningitis disease each year, and for more than 15 percent of the victims, it is, tragically, fatal. I want to share the stories of two of those victims here today.

Emily Stillman was born on September 11, 1993. She used to joke that she had the unluckiest birthday, but her mom, Alicia, was always quick to reply: No; it was one of the luckiest days of our lives.

Emily was a 19-year-old sophomore at Kalamazoo College in Michigan when she contracted meningitis B, and on January 31, 2013, Emily called home complaining of a headache. She was hospitalized for just 36 hours, and then she passed away.

Emily had a rare strain of meningitis for which there was no approved vaccine yet in the United States. It was a shock, of course, to the Stillman family that their young daughter, who was so vibrant and full of life, was taken away at such a young age.

Then, in 2014, just a little later, the vaccine for meningitis B was finally approved by the FDA and made available here in the United States after I and several other of my colleagues had been advocating for its approval. Yet, even today, fewer than 10 percent of young people receive the meningitis B vaccine.

Emily's mother, Alicia, who is in the gallery with us today, founded The Emily Stillman Foundation to help preserve her daughter's memory and also advocate both for vaccination and organ donation.

Mr. Speaker, Patti Wukovits also lost her 17-year-old daughter Kimberly in 2012. Patti is also joining us here in the House gallery today.

Her daughter Kimberly Coffey was a high school senior on Long Island and was just 17 years old when she contracted meningitis B back in 2012. Her parents, of course, were blindsided, thinking she had been vaccinated. Within hours of being hospitalized, she went into cardiac arrest and her organs began to fail. Her mother had to make that agonizing decision to actually remove her from life support.

To honor Kimberly's memory, Patti founded The Kimberly Coffey Foundation, with the mission of also educating others about the importance of vaccination against meningitis B.

Mr. Speaker, the resolution that I am introducing today will designate April 24 as National Meningitis Awareness Day to help educate other parents and other young people about the dangers of meningitis and the important need for vaccination.

Alicia Stillman and Patti Wukovits already know that alerting families about a simple vaccine can prevent a tragedy. It is also time for us, Mr. Speaker, to broaden the awareness so that they are not just doing this on their own.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a pioneer of women's sports in Minnesota, Dorothy McIntyre, who was recently inducted in the Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

There are very few who have done more to advance Minnesota girls sports than Eden Prairie coach and teacher, Dorothy McIntyre. Dorothy arrived in Eden Prairie in 1959, with girls sports in Minnesota nearly nonexistent. But Dorothy led a courageous group of like-minded colleagues to push for change.

Progress was slow. Gymnastics was first, tennis next, and basketball not until 1976. But Dorothy kept at it, and when she was told girls must play basketball in the fall instead of the winter, her answer was a firm: No, that's not fair. She got results, and today, girls play basketball just like the boys do, and Dorothy McIntyre is a big reason why.

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Dorothy McIntyre on her well- deserved induction into the Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5437) to require the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a program for the issuance of identity protection personal identification numbers, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 5437, currently under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5437, legislation that I am coauthoring with my colleague, Congresswoman DelBene from Washington State, that will tackle identity theft.

Each year the IRS processes over 240 million tax returns and issues more than $400 billion in refunds. This makes tax season a prime target for identity thieves who steal billions of dollars from hardworking taxpayers by filing false returns. It is all too common.

More than 1.8 million people, including more than 13,000 Minnesotans were victims of tax identify theft in 2015, and in just the first 2 months of 2016, the filing season, the IRS identified more than 31,000 fraudulent returns with thousands more surely slipping through the cracks.

A Government Accountability Office report last year found that scammers attempted to claim $14.5 billion in fraudulent tax returns in the 2015 tax season alone. For a criminal, the scam is simple and straightforward. You steal a taxpayer's Social Security number; you file a fraudulent return in their name; and then you collect the refund.

While this is a tremendous theft of taxpayer dollars, it is also a nightmare for victims who then have to work to clear their name with multiple government agencies and wait longer to receive their own tax refund.

Our seniors, in particular, are very vulnerable to identity theft, as they then have to struggle to navigate a bureaucratic maze to clear their name and then file an authentic return. There is one tool available though to some taxpayers that makes this scam a lot harder to pull this off. It is called an identity protection PIN, or an IP PIN. It is a 6-digit number that is issued by the IRS to help the IRS then authenticate a tax return and validate the identity of the person who is filing it.

Today, IP PINs are available only in a couple of States and the District of Columbia, as well as to certain taxpayers who might be at high risk of identity theft.

This legislation today which we are taking up would expand this program by giving all taxpayers access and the option of signing up for an IP PIN over the course of the next 5 years as they phase this in. This will give all taxpayers peace of mind by allowing them to proactively protect their own identity from tax scammers, and it will save taxpayer dollars by preventing fraud that puts refunds into the wrong hands.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join us in supporting this bipartisan bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, as a reminder, next year, taxpayers will enjoy a very simplified and streamlined tax filing process that allows all hardworking Americans to keep more of their own hard-earned dollars. However, there is still a lot that needs to be done to help protect taxpayers by cracking down on identity theft, which is becoming more and more prevalent. This is a very commonsense, straightforward bill that will help tackle identity theft.

I want to thank not only Chairman Brady for his leadership on some of the IRS reform efforts, but also my colleague Congresswoman DelBene for partnering up on this issue as well.

It is very common sense; it is bipartisan. By giving taxpayers who are at risk of identity theft the opportunity to request that PIN number, it will allow them to make sure that their tax return is safe, secure, and authentic.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to draw attention to April as National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

We know this is a problem across the country. In Minnesota alone, more than 60,000 Minnesotans are victimized by sexual violence each year, and of this number, 80 percent were women and nearly a third were under the age of 18.

It is a time to educate the public about sexual violence and help communities more effectively prevent it.

It is also important, though, to recognize the victims' rights groups, social workers, healthcare providers, and law enforcement personnel, who are working one-on-one with the victims of sexual violence, helping them seek justice and repair their lives. Important organizations like Breaking Free are helping women escape trafficking, prostitution, and sexual exploitation. And Cornerstone, which is running domestic violence crisis hotlines, is helping victims get the assistance that they need to get back on their feet.

Mr. Speaker, these are some of the organizations we have in Minnesota that are providing invaluable services to the victims at a time when they need it most.

Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize an important new law, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or FOSTA. This landmark anti-trafficking legislation that I helped coauthor was just signed into law by the President this week, and it ushers in a new era of combating the online exploitation of trafficking victims.

Last month, half a dozen Minnesota men were rolled up in an online underage trafficking sting. They had met what they believed were young girls advertised for sex on backpage.com, one of the worst offenders when it comes to exploiting trafficking victims. But when each of them showed up to the designated meeting spot, instead of finding teenage girls, they found law enforcement waiting for them.

Sadly, there are more who are able to buy sex on websites like Backpage, but the new law will help us put a stop to

that. Now it ensures that websites that facilitate sex trafficking will be held liable and held accountable for their actions.

Backpage.com has now been taken over by Federal authorities. It isn't the only such site in existence, but it is a sign that their ability to profit from trafficking without consequence has come to an end.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I want to also thank Chairman Smith, along with his bipartisan colleagues, in joining together in authoring this legislation and bringing this bipartisan legislation forward and speaking in support of and respect of human rights in Ethiopia.

This legislation takes a very important first step for what needs to be identified and moved forward in terms of identifying what has been happening for too long, where the Ethiopian Government has been persecuting the Oromo, Ethiopia's largest minority and ethnic group.

Peaceful protests, led largely by Oromo's youth, have been met with government repression. Hundreds have been killed and thousands more have been injured. Now, most of those have also been arrested and detained by Ethiopia's security forces.

Estimates are that hundreds of thousands of Oromians have been uprooted from their homes and forced to flee the persecution and the violence. There is no doubt that Ethiopia is a very important U.S. ally, but that does not mean that we should turn a blind eye as it oppresses its people.

Now, in my State of Minnesota, we are home to the largest community of Oromians outside of Ethiopia. They are valued members of our community and we are very fortunate to have them.

I joined many Ethiopians and Oromians actually this past Sunday night when I attended a very large and moving interfaith rally with members of the African and Jewish community, and they were all together reaffirming

their commitment to religious freedom, to diversity, and to justice. Sadly, many Oromians today won't find these ideals in their home country of Ethiopia.

Mr. Speaker, today the House can speak with a solid, strong voice to support human rights and also condemn the killing of innocent protesters and the arrest and detention of journalists and students and political leaders.

We are also at the same time urging through this resolution that the protesters also refrain from violence, and also urge the Ethiopian Government to take very concrete steps to end its persecution and oppressive conduct.

Today we have an opportunity to take these important steps in showing our solidarity with the Oromians, and I hope my colleagues will join in support of this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the start of National Retirement Planning Week.

For many, retirement can seem a long way off, far away, something not to worry about, in the future. But healthcare costs are rising, people are living longer, and a shift away from employer pensions means they will likely face more uncertainty in their retirement than ever before. Far too many, Mr. Speaker, will find themselves with too little in retirement to live comfortably.

But planning early on and socking away a little now for the future will go a long way. Make a plan, start to save, and find out how your employer can help. As co-chair of the Financial Security and Life Insurance Caucus along with Richard Neal from Massachusetts, we are working together across the aisle to ensure that public policy encourages more savings, more planning, and more education to help families plan for the future in the event of disability, long-term medical care, or death.

Mr. Speaker, 4 million Americans are retiring every year. That is 10,000 people a day. National Retirement Planning Week is a chance to remind Minnesotans and all Americans that thinking about retirement should start in your twenties, not in your fifties.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Minnetonka High School boys swimming and diving team on its state championship. It's the second consecutive championship for the Skippers, who won their first state championship in 1978 and have taken home the state title nine times since. After winning two individual events and one relay, Minnetonka put up an impressive 217.5 points--beating out Shakopee who was able to tally just 181 points. It's their first back- to-back title since 1997.

I want to recognize Senior Jack Dahlgren for winning first place and setting new state records in both the 200 Free and 100 backstroke. I also want to commend John Shelstad for winning the 200 IM and Erik Gessner for his victory in the 100 butterfly. A special congratulations goes out to the 200 meter freestyle relay team of Erik Gessner, Michael Shelstad, Isaac Alberts and John Shelstad for taking first place home for the Skippers.

Mr. Speaker, swimming and diving is a sport that takes endurance, extensive training and poise. It's also important to recognize that these student athletes work hard in the classroom as well. Congratulations to Head Coach Dan Berne, the coaching staff, the parents, the fans and the entire swim and dive team on being state champs.

Mr. Speaker, time is running out. Unless the administration takes action by March 31, members of Minnesota's Liberian community who have been here for more than 20 years after fleeing a vicious civil war and making new lives here in the United States could be forced to leave.

Minnesota is home to one of the largest Liberian communities in the country. More than 16,000 Liberians, including 4,000 children, have made Minnesota their home, and for decades, they have been productive members of our society and our economy.

Since the early 1990s, Presidents of both parties have ensured that they can stay. A bipartisan group of my colleagues and I are asking and joining together to ask the President to act to do the same.

I have also coauthored bipartisan legislation to allow these families to stay because, Mr. Speaker, we are asking the President: Don't let this happen. Do the right thing. These families are fundamentally American, and they are a part of the very fabric of what we have in Minnesota as a community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and congratulate the Bloomington Jefferson High School cheerleaders for their national championship victory. This season the team looked to replicate their historic success, having won five State titles and two national championships in just the past five seasons.

The team qualified for the national championship at the Universal Cheerleaders Association Ten Thousand Lakes Regional competition back in October, and in February, they made the trip down to the 2018 UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Florida.

At the national championship, they competed against 28 other teams from across the country. They placed first in the preliminary rounds and then advanced to the final round. In the final round, they were able to best seven other teams and emerged with their third national title in 5 years.

Mr. Speaker, the consistent hard work and skills of these student athletes is impressive, and it is a credit to their dedication, their perseverance, their coaches, and all of the families that offered them support.

Congratulations again to Bloomington Jefferson on their national championship.

Go Jaguars.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Orono High School boys hockey team on winning the Minnesota State championship, their very first State championship in school history. Their win came against Alexandria under the lights in the Xcel Energy Center.

Orono took the lead early in the first, but their advantage was very short lived. Alexandria's Cardinals came back to tie it up in very little time. Despite outshooting the Cardinals 11 to 1 in the second period, Orono just couldn't connect, which made the winning shot, taken midway through the third period, all the more exciting.

Madam Speaker, the student athletes brought home more than just a statewide trophy. They set the example for their classmates because of their work in the classroom and managing other activities.

Congratulations again to the coaches, the players, the parents, and all of the fans of the Orono High School boys hockey team.

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the Edina High School girls hockey team for winning the State hockey championship, their second consecutive championship they have won in a row.

The bar was set high for the girls from Edina after last year's championship win, but they proved to be up to the challenge. Impressive wins over Brainerd/Little Falls and Eden Prairie were a prelude to a showdown in the finals with the Centennial Cougars, who, in December, defeated Edina in one of only two losses they suffered all season.

There is no doubt the game was tense, and the teams entered the third period tied at 1. It was there in the third that the Hornets snuck one past Centennial's defense. Edina never looked back, holding a 2 to 1 lead until time expired.

Mr. Speaker, the hard work and determination of these student athletes is impressive. Congratulations again to the players, the coaches, the fans, and the parents on winning the State championship. The entire community is proud of their effort.

Congratulations, Mercy Hospital

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids for being honored with the 2018 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence from Healthgrades.

Healthgrades measures hospitals across the country and awards this honor only to hospitals that achieve outstanding patient outcomes. Patients treated in these facilities achieve better clinical results than 95 percent of hospitals across the country, and that means that more of Mercy's patients make it home to their families healthy and free of complications.

In addition to the Distinguished Hospital Award, Mercy Hospital also earned recognition for its quality critical care, gastrointestinal care, and general surgery. Patients who have treatments or surgeries in these areas have a lower risk of mortality and also of experiencing a complication during their treatment.

Mr. Speaker, the many doctors and nurses and staff who support Mercy Hospital work hard to provide world-class care to their patients, and I am really pleased to see them recognized for their dedication and their diligence. Patients in our community can be confident that they are receiving the highest quality of care.

Minnetonka Hockey Champs

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the Minnetonka High School boys hockey team on winning the State championship title, their first State championship in program history.

Minnetonka claimed their title with an impressive 5 to 2 victory over Duluth East in front of 18,000 fans in the Xcel Energy Center. Duluth East was on the board first with a goal early in the first period, but the Skippers came back to tie the game, scored a second goal in short order, and never trailed for the remainder of the game.

Mr. Speaker, the road to the championship is not easy, and these student athletes also had to balance their time in the classroom with their sports and training schedule.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Coach Sean Goldsworthy for bringing the team to a State championship in his inaugural season as head coach, and to all of the players, families, and friends of the Minnetonka High School boys hockey team.

Precision Medicine

Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask my colleagues to support the Increasing Access to Precision Medicine Act, legislation that I am coauthoring with my colleague Congressman Swalwell.

Precision medicine is care that is tailored to a specific patient's genetics, environment, and lifestyle, an emerging field that is showing tremendous promise. It gives providers a better ability to diagnose and treat genetic disorders like cancer, and it helps identify individuals at risk of disease.

Precision medicine also allows providers to reduce healthcare costs and improve outcomes for their patients

through better testing and analysis, but today, many of these tests are not covered by insurance providers.

Our bill will have the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Academy of Medicine study the effects and cost savings of precision medicine and offer suggestions for ways to cover the costs of genetic and genomic tests for Medicaid beneficiaries.

Mr. Speaker, the Increasing Access to Precision Medicine Act will increase the quality of care while finding ways to lower costs for patients.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the author of the Savannah Hope Stillbirth Child Tax Credit Act, which would allow a one-time refundable tax credit after the stillbirth in a family, the same amount that is given for the existing child tax credit.

The bill is named after Savannah Schumacher, a baby that Steve and Jill Schumacher from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, lost at 33 weeks.

Mr. Speaker, families of stillborn children not only face medical expenses that aren't always covered by insurance, but they face burial, cremation, and grief counseling costs that add up to be very significant expenses.

Minnesota is among the States that have already enacted these credits at the State level. And while a tax credit can't make up for the loss of a child, it does acknowledge that child's existence, even though he or she passed away before birth, and it will hopefully help support grieving families that have gone through the unthinkable.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Jessica Melnik, a junior at Hopkins High School and the founder of a student-run nonprofit, Girls United Minnesota, for her work fighting against sex trafficking.

Jessica, along with fellow members of Girls United Minnesota, took action to spread awareness after they observed a fellow classmate who was a target of sex trafficking. They soon realized that Minnesota ranks 13th in the Nation for its prevalence of sexual exploitation and they stepped forward to do something about it.

Girls United Minnesota started by working with local law enforcement and nonprofits to organize public awareness events throughout our community. Jessica and her friends are also working with State legislators in Minnesota to expand education on sex trafficking in schools and create more resources for the victims of sexual exploitation.

Mr. Speaker, the determination and the hard work of Jessica and her classmates at Girls United Minnesota is nothing short of inspiring, and their impact is literally helping to save lives.