Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 474 & 475, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember the three children who die every day in our country as a result of drowning and to recognize organizations, like the YMCA, that are working to give America's children the necessary skills to prevent these tragic accidents from happening.

Drowning is the leading cause of death nationally for children aged one to four and is the second leading cause of death for children aged five to nine. For children between five and nine, the drowning rate for African American and American Indian children is three times the rate of white American children. At ages 11 and 12, the disparity between black and white children grows even worse. Regardless of race or ethnicity, lower income populations disproportionately bear the burden of drowning.

For my hometown and state, the numbers are very sobering. In the Houston metropolitan area, 22 children drowned last year. For the State of Texas, 82 children were victims of drowning in 2013 and 66 percent of all child-aged drowning victims in our state in 2012 were male.

The YMCA is one example of an organization that is changing statistics for children across the country. The YMCA is bringing swimming safety and drowning prevention programs to underserved communities throughout the U.S., including communities in Houston and Harris County. YMCAs partner with schools to bring kids to the Y for lessons and offer swimming lessons year around. I learned to swim at the M.D. Anderson YMCA in our congressional district.

I am proud that the YMCA of Greater Houston is one of 15 YMCAs across the country piloting a program to improve childhood swimming and drowning prevention. This commendable program is providing drowning prevention and water safety skills to underserved communities who would otherwise not have access to these lifesaving skills.

The YMCA of Greater Houston is one of 103 Y's providing additional scholarships to children in their communities that may not otherwise have access to swim lessons as part of a nationwide data collection project on effectiveness of skill instruction in all communities.

I would like to congratulate the YMCA of Greater Houston on serving the people of Houston and Harris County for over 100 years and on its great efforts to save the lives of all our children and I invite Members of this chamber to join them in educating parents and providing children the skills they need to swim safely and avoid harm.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 5230, the woefully inadequate supplemental appropriations bill that will only exacerbate the growing humanitarian crisis impacting my home state of Texas.

Since the beginning of this year, nearly 60,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the Rio Grande into south Texas. The vast majority of these children are coming from three countries--El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras--where whole communities are being terrorized by drug cartels and street gangs. Honduras, the U.N. reports, has the highest homicide in the world. El Salvador and Guatemala rank fourth and fifth.

Even before these children reach Texas, many of whom no more than seven or eight years old, they must make the long and dangerous journey through the remainder of Central America and Mexico. On the journey, these children are easy targets for robbers, drug smugglers, and sex traffickers, further traumatizing them before they reach our country.

Once reaching Brownsville, McAllen, or one of our other communities on the border, these children are not trying to evade detection from Border Patrol. In fact, there are countless stories of these children running into the arms of our border protection officials, knowing that they will be safe from the violence and trauma once in American custody.

Madam Speaker, I can speak first hand, having visited our border facilities in McAllen earlier this month, on the hard work our nation's Border Patrol Officers are doing, along with their counterparts throughout DHS and HHS during this humanitarian crisis.

Congress needs to respond to this crisis in the best traditions of our great nation--with open eyes and compassion and balance the needs of the American people with our nation's historic role as the place of last refuge for those who are persecuted and in need.

The legislation before this chamber today, shamefully, does not reflect our nation's best traditions. It is a misguided, knee-jerk reaction that will do little to improve, or worst, exacerbate, the growing crisis on the Rio Grande.

H.R. 5230 would provide only one-seventh of the funds the President requested and would only authorize those funds through the end of September. And of these funds, Madam Speaker, the vast majority are directed towards greater border security and not--as is necessary--the humanitarian aspect of this crisis.

I have always been supportive of greater border security and providing our nation's Border Patrol Agents with the resources they need to protect us. However, our country is already deporting record numbers of people--over 1.2 million in the past three years--and there is growing concern among our border communities that their towns and cities are already being negatively affected by our border surge.

What these children need--and our DHS and HHS officials on the border have requested--are not more boots on the ground, but more judges, health officials, asylum officers, and facilities to temporarily house these children while we determine if they need to return to their home country or are eligible for asylum.

This legislation would further militarize our border, without regard to the wishes of our border communities, by authorizing the deployment of the National Guard and make null and void existing Memorandums of Understanding between CBP and the Interior and Agriculture Departments on protecting federal lands under these departments oversight, like Big Bend National Park.

I urge my colleagues to demand a vote on a clean supplemental and to vote against this shameful legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 3.5 million Americans who have lost their unemployment benefits over the past seven months and the one million Dreamers whose aspirations continue to be tragically denied and in strong opposition to the Majority's endless parade of political stunts, now best highlighted by the present legislation, H. Res. 676, a resolution giving one chamber of Congress the authority to sue the President.

As the American people's elected representatives, we have a duty to debate and vote on pressing legislation, such as long-term unemployment insurance and comprehensive immigration reform.

Instead, the Majority is wasting the American people's time and precious tax dollars on this political stunt that will inevitably fail. Any first-year law student would be able to tell the Majority that our chamber would lack standing before any court under the U.S. Constitution because there's simply no injury.

Just nine days ago, Judge William Griesbach agreed, dismissing a suit brought before the Eastern District Court of Wisconsin by Senator Ron Johnson against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management over its implementation of the Affordable Care Act because the Senator lacked standing.

To quote Judge Griesbach, ``Under our constitutional design, in the absence of a concrete injury to a party that can be redressed by the courts, disputes between the executive and legislative branches over the exercise of their respective powers are to be resolved through the political process, not by decisions issued by federal judges.''

One of our nation's most noted jurists, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia agrees. He wrote last year in his opinion in United States v. Windsor, regarding the dangers of resolving a political question before a court, that the framers of the Constitution unequivocally rejected a ``system in which Congress and the Executive can pop immediately into court, in their institutional capacity, whenever the President . . . implements a law in a manner that is not to Congress's liking.''

Our Constitution provides the Executive wide discretion in the implementation of federal law. In 2006, then-President George W. Bush extended the deadline and waived penalties for certain seniors who failed to sign up in time for the new Medicare prescription drug program.

At that time, or in the following year when control of this chamber changed hands, neither Democrats nor Republicans contemplated suing President Bush over his use of executive discretion.

If the Majority is dissatisfied with current federal law, it should use its authority granted under Article I to amend it.

Otherwise, the Majority should do what every elected official under our present government has done since 1788--go before the American people and openly debate the merits of their agenda--which today includes the unashamed denial of millions of Americans essential unemployment benefits or the million young persons raise in our country the opportunity to become Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of our Kurdish allies in the Middle East.

The Kurdish people are one of America's strongest allies in the Middle East. In 2003 leading up to the Iraq war, the Kurdish people, positioned in the northern part of Iraq, opened their arms to American troops and welcomed their liberation after decades of oppression from Saddam Hussein's regime.

Recently, with the ISIS insurgency in Iraq, the Kurdish Regional Government has remained firm in protecting Iraq and have managed to maintain stability in a volatile region.

Currently, a Kurdish tanker is anchored off the coast of Texas with an estimated $100 million worth of crude oil aboard. The KRG presently maintains federal control over their region despite the objections of the Iraqi central government. Even though the ship was cleared on Sunday by the U.S. Coast Guard, a Federal judge ruled that the cargo could be seized by U.S. Marshals at the request of the Iraqi oil ministry.

The claim of misappropriation by the Iraqi oil ministry could be viewed as exclusionary. Congress and the administration need to pressure the Maliki government to be more inclusive.

The Kurdish Regional Government, at present, exports billions of dollars each year in crude oil to major allies of the United States all over the world. It should always be our mission to support our allies in the Middle East and move in the right direction in our relationship with the Kurds.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank and honor the hardworking volunteers who helped make our 20th Annual Citizenship Day a big success.

Thanks to the help of community volunteers, many legal permanent residents began the process of becoming an American citizen during our Citizenship Day workshop on June 21, 2014.

Participants discussed the privileges, rights, responsibilities and obligations of all citizens. Men and women who have lived in the U.S. for decades, but had been too intimidated to begin the process, had the opportunity to take that first step.

Over the years, we've heard so many great stories of those who have gone on to become citizens. I have had the pleasure of attending many naturalization ceremonies in Houston and Harris County. It is inspiring to see the pride and patriotism in the eyes of those who choose to become part of our great country.

None of this would be possible without the help of our volunteers, some of whom have been serving our community since the first Citizenship Day, held in 1994.

We appreciate their time, dedication, compassion and heart to serve our community.

Mr. Speaker and Members, I rise today as member of the new congressional State Medicaid Expansion Caucus, and I call on my colleagues to join us in encouraging States to close the coverage gaps by expanding Medicaid.

Texas, my home State, has the option to accept Federal Medicaid funding to provide affordable health insurance to more than 1.4 million uninsured Texans. For many of these citizens, there is no affordable option, as

long as Texas refuses the Federal funds.

Texas could extend insurance through Medicaid to residents with incomes up to 138 percent of the Federal poverty level, less than $28,000 for a family of three for whom there is no current alternative. Fifty-eight percent of the uninsured in our State would benefit, and if Texas does accept funding, the Federal Government will virtually pay for all of the costs in the expansion.

Closing the coverage gap is the right thing to do and is a sound investment for the State, by creating a healthier workforce, strengthening the State's economy, and improving our health care system.

I urge my colleagues to work with their home States and encourage Medicaid expansion.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4572, the STELA Reauthorization Act.

The Energy and Commerce Committee worked several months to put together this bipartisan legislation that will reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act through the end of this decade. It is necessary that the House and Senate reauthorize STELA, which governs our nation's retransmission regulations, before it expires at the end of this year.

Included in this bipartisan bill is language that closely resembles legislation that I introduced with my Republican colleague, Rep. Bob Latta, that will repeal the FCC's integration ban.

Once enacted, this provision will end the burdensome integration ban, which has cost

consumers and businesses over $1 billion since 2007 and has impeded innovation and energy efficiency.

Section 6 of this legislation is a surgical approach that will end this antiquated tech mandate while preserving FCC's authority in the retail set-top box market.

I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 4572 today. It balances the needs of competing stakeholders and most importantly, protecting what's in the best interest of the American people, while reauthorizing must-pass legislation and waiting for a more appropriate vehicle to address our nation's retransmission consent laws and regulations.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4411, the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act.

The bill has more than 300 co-sponsors and is truly a bipartisan effort.

I commend my colleague from North Carolina, Mr. Meadows for leading this legislation.

Hezbollah is a militant group that has been designated by the U.S. and E.U. governments as a terrorist organization.

As part of our counter-terrorism operations, the U.S. continues to fight the flow of funding to organizations that have dedicated themselves to the destabilization of democracy.

For the record, it is important to recall all the atrocities that Hezbollah has perpetrated against the U.S. and its allies, including Israel.

Hezbollah actions include:

Suicide truck bombings targeting U.S. and French forces in Beirut (in 1983 and 1984)

Targeting U.S. forces again in Saudi Arabia (in 1996),

Suicide bombing attacks targeting Jewish and Israeli interests such as those in Argentina (1992 and 1994) and in Thailand (attempted in 1994), and

Many other plots targeting American, French, German, British citizens from Europe to Southeast Asia to the Middle East.

We must continue our efforts to stem the tide against organizations like Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations but cutting off funding and targeting their key money-making industries like narco- trafficking.

I continue to support efforts like H.R. 4411 and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker and Members, I rise in support of comprehensive immigration reform and to address the growing number of unaccompanied children arriving from Central America.

It has been over a year since the Senate passed bipartisan reform legislation to strengthen the border and provide a pathway to normalization and earned citizenship for those already here. The Senate passed the bill with 68 votes. Mr. Speaker, the Senate oftentimes can't get 60 votes to turn on the lights over there. So this legislation has broad support, and I urge its immediate consideration.

Last week, I visited our immigration intake facilities in McAllen, Texas, on our southern border. I saw hundreds of recently arrived unaccompanied children, many traumatized by the violence in their home countries and the long, dangerous journey to our country.

Americans are a compassionate people and, as Americans, we know that these children we are talking about need to be treated as children.

The President has asked for emergency funds to further secure our border and give the Border Patrol the resources they need to make sure these children are treated with care and dignity while they are in our custody. If this Chamber is serious about border security, it would immediately consider the President's request and give our folks on the border what they need to do their job.

I thank my colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee and my good Texas friend.

Madam Chair, I rise in support of the amendment and will place my full statement into the Record.

The amendment I am offering with my friend Congressman Joe Barton would authorize the Energy Department to start a pilot nuclear waste program.

Congress, back in 1982, passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, directing DOE and NRC to open a permanent repository for our Nation's spent nuclear fuel. Over three decades later, America is still without a repository, leaving tens of thousands of nuclear waste vulnerable to attacks of terror and other catastrophes.

The reasons behind this failure are well-known, and it is imperative that this Congress and the administration act to open a safe and permanent storage facility. Until that day, we must find interim storage to ensure that the 70,000 tons of spent fuel sitting in our Nation's nuclear plants are safe from harm's way.

The pilot program authorized in this amendment would be paid for by funds already available in the nuclear waste fund and would direct DOE to open a pilot facility only after it was found to be safe by NRC, has gained the consent of the State's Governor, each unit of local government within the jurisdiction and affected Indian tribes, and heard from the general public.

Given the nearly $30 billion available in the nuclear waste fund, the growing inventory of spent nuclear fuel, and the inherent hazards connected with nuclear waste, I urge my colleagues to join with Congressman Barton and me to authorize this program.

Madam Chairman, I am also in agreement. I agree with withdrawing the amendment, but somewhere, this Congress needs to address our nuclear waste disposal and storage issue.

I thank my colleague for the time.

Mr. Chairman, I stand to speak in favor of the Hahn amendment. I would like to commend the Appropriations Committee's efforts to increase the Army Corps of Engineers' budget.

In Texas, we have serious water and infrastructure needs. At the Port of Houston, which I represent, our need for operation and maintenance as well as construction money is significant. I greatly appreciate the committee's efforts to fund our needs by appropriating $31 million, but this amount does not reflect the amount that is needed. The Port of Houston is the second-largest port in the country by tonnage. The Port of Houston ranks number one in foreign tonnage. In 2012, we expanded operations to include cruise ships.

For maintenance dredging operations alone, the Port of Houston requires more than $70 million annually. The Port of Houston generates significant tax revenue both for the State and Federal Government. That is why I am a strong supporter of the Hahn amendment.

To meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, the Port of Houston needs more than $31 million from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.

The Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) required that 67 percent of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund fees be spent on related activities.

Unfortunately, this bill short changes the Port of Houston and many other ports around the country.

I support the Hahn amendment.

The funding shortfall significantly impacts the ability of the Port of Houston to receive larger ships and it is our job to help them meet those demands.

I ask that my colleagues support the Hahn amendment.

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

I rise in support of H.R. 1528, the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act.

This bipartisan legislation will permit veterinarians to treat animals in the most appropriate setting. This is particularly important for veterinarians when responding to emergencies, treating livestock and wildlife, or working in rural areas.

H.R. 1528 amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow veterinarians to legally carry and administer controlled substances in States in which they are licensed so they can provide care at the location of the animal patient.

The Senate unanimously passed a companion bill, and I am pleased the House is voting on this important legislation. Veterinarians must be able to legally provide complete veterinary care in a way that best protects animal welfare and public safety.

I would like to thank the sponsors, both Representative Kurt Schrader and Ted Yoho. I would also like to acknowledge the leadership of Chairman Upton, Chairman Pitts, Ranking Member Waxman, Ranking Member Pallone, and the work of the committee's staff in advancing this bill through the Energy and Commerce Committee and bringing it to the floor today.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1528, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to my colleague from Oregon, Congressman Schrader.

Mr. Speaker, we have no other speakers, and we are prepared to close.

I urge passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania, and I thank him for working with me on H.R. 4007. I rise in support of H.R. 4007, the CFATS Authorization and Accountability Act, legislation I introduced with Congressman Meehan and my friend Chairman McCaul.

This bipartisan legislation would, for the first time, codify the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program that DHS has been operating through appropriations funding since 2007.

Last October, during the government shutdown, the American people saw that without authorization of the CFATS program there would be no

legal binding regulations in place to protect our Nation's chemical facilities from criminal and terrorist attacks once the appropriations expired.

I have the honor of representing north and east Harris County and the Houston Ship Channel, at the heart of our Nation's petrochemical industry. The expiration of the CFATS program puts the safety of my constituents who work in and live in the communities that surround these facilities in danger, and it is our obligation as the people's elected representatives to do everything we can to protect them from harm's way.

I have heard the concern of those on my side of the aisle who do not support this legislation. I agree that this is not perfect legislation. It does not solve every problem that exists in the CFATS program, but a number of Congresses since 2007 have had the opportunity to do this but we haven't.

The main purpose of this bill is to reauthorize CFATS for 3 years and give Congress the opportunity to oversee DHS' progress or lack thereof. This bill will solve the personnel surety issue by allowing workers who have TWIC or HME cards to have access to chemical facilities without having to get another Federal credential. Representing those plants, I saw what happened with the TWIC card and the concern of folks who have to pay more money for another Federal ID card. This bill, if passed, would protect the folks who work in those plants. That is important to my constituents who already have TWIC cards and work in the petrochemical plants and drive the trucks that deliver the raw materials and products they produce.

I urge my colleagues to join the Homeland Security Committee, which passed this legislation by voice vote, and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who has been vocal in support of the legislation, and vote in support of H.R. 4007.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the right of all Americans to vote without fear of discrimination, no matter their race, color, or political beliefs.

In 1965, Congress passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act. The enactment of VRA fulfilled a century of work towards guaranteeing that our most fundamental right--the right to vote--would be protected for all Americans, including in states and local jurisdictions that had historically denied or disempowered minority voters.

The protections provided in VRA ensure that historically disenfranchised communities in our country are now able to freely vote. The very chamber we stand in today is a reflection of the success of VRA, seen in the election of dozens of Members of Congress who come from these very communities.

A year ago today, however, the successes of VRA became endangered when the Supreme Court ruled in a controversial 5-4 decision that the coverage formula in Section 4(b) of the Act, which had been used to determine the states and political subdivisions subject to Section 5 preclearance, was unconstitutional.

As a result of the Court's opinion in Shelby, the right to vote for millions of Americans, including my constituents in Houston and Harris County, are now endangered. Immediately after the high court's ruling, the State of Texas announced that it would put into immediate effect a voter ID law that had been previously blocked by a federal court because the state law's restrictions target the very communities that are meant to be protected under Section 5.

Congress must act. The right to vote for all is at the very heart of our democracy.

Bipartisan legislation, the Voting Rights Amendment Act, has been introduced in this Congress that would provide a new coverage formula based on current problems in voting and directly respond to the high court's concerns.

This is not perfect legislation, but it would go a long way towards restoring the protections that my constituents had before the Court's decision.

I urge my colleagues to bring the Voting Rights Amendment Act to a floor vote and ensure that our most sacred right--the right to vote--is protected for all Americans.