Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge Congress to help the neediest and most vulnerable flood victims from our Nation's recent hurricanes.

Our district in Houston and Harris County, Texas, is familiar with hurricanes and disaster recovery. We rebuilt our communities after Allison in 2001, and again in 2008, after Hurricane Ike.

Texans are proud and independent people. We take pride in our self- reliance and can-do attitude. However, many members of our community-- low-income families, seniors, and disabled Americans--are in the greatest need and must rely on others for help.

Current rules can prevent the neediest victims from receiving assistance they need to recover and rebuild their homes, including denying individuals Federal assistance for being able to afford flood insurance premiums that can exceed over $4,000 a year. That is out of range for most of these folks.

As America's elected representatives, we have a moral responsibility to act and protect our Nation's most vulnerable disaster victims, especially our seniors and disabled, from being left with nothing.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to stand with the hundreds of thousands of Texas families victimized by Hurricane Harvey, and urge our state and federal officials to use available resources to help our fellow Americans in their time of need.

With nearly four-and-a-half feet of rain and 130 mile per hour winds, Hurricane Harvey is the largest and most expensive natural disaster to hit Texas in living memory. At least 270,000 homes and residences were damaged in our state. Most tragically, over 75 innocent people lost their lives as a result of Harvey, most of them in Harris County.

Later today the U.S. House of Representatives will be voting on a $36.5 billion disaster supplemental bill to sustain relief and recovery efforts in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This is not a perfect bill. I would have strongly preferred Congress provide dedicated funds to rebuild Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast, especially dedicated funding towards our region's flood control infrastructure and immediate housing needs for hurricane victims.

However, this supplemental will sustain the current recovery efforts till the damages caused by these devastating hurricanes can be fully assessed. Today's supplemental is on top of $15 billion in emergency funding Congress passed last month in the immediate aftermath of Harvey.

The bipartisan Texas Congressional Delegation is committed to securing the substantial federal funds Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast need to rebuild and be prepared for the next big storm before the holiday season.

Our local officials, in particular the Governor of Texas and the state legislature, have the opportunity right now to act and ramp-up rebuilding efforts through our state's Economic Stabilization Fund.

Popularly known as Texas's ``rainy day fund,'' the ESF currently has over $10 billion available for emergencies. There can be no question that the destruction caused by Harvey and the immediate needs of tens of thousands of Texans are an emergency and are the reason why our state has been investing in a rainy day fund in the first place.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner have already called on Governor Greg Abbott to use his authority to tap the rainy day fund and help Texans in need and rebuild our infrastructure.

I join Judge Emmett and Mayor Turner in calling on the governor to immediately authorize emergency funding through our rainy day fund and help rebuild Houston and Harris County.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Eastwood Academy and Lyons Elementary School in Houston, Texas, as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2017.

The U.S. Department of Education selects blue ribbon schools each year from across the country based on their overall academic excellence and progress in closing the achievement gap. Lyons Elementary and Eastwood Academy are 2 of just 342 schools selected nationwide this year.

Lyons Elementary and Eastwood Academy were selected as exemplary high-performing schools based on State and national assessments while serving the historically disadvantaged communities of Northline and Eastwood.

I thank the parents, teachers, and administrators of Eastwood Academy and Lyons Elementary for their hard work and commitment to building a brighter future for our children and our community.

Finally, I wish to recognize the students at Lyons Elementary and Eastwood Academy for their diligence and academic excellence and wish them best in their future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, Members, I also want to join my colleague from Houston in prayers for Houston police officer Nestor Garcia and his family, but I rise today in support of the 68,000 DREAMers that are in Houston, Harris County, Texas, and throughout our country, and call on congressional leaders to bring up the Dream Act for immediate vote.

DREAMers and young men and women who were raised in America know no other country and are an integral part of our schools, our colleges, our workforce, and our communities.

During the worst days of Hurricane Harvey, DREAMers helped rescue neighbors and save lives throughout Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast. DREAMers are now and will continue to be serving a key role in rebuilding our city.

President Trump's announcement this month to end the DACA program was a gut punch to DREAMers who are helping their families and communities recover from Harvey's destruction.

Congress has a moral obligation to honor the hard work and aspirations of the current and earlier generations of immigrants and DREAMers, and bring up the Dream Act for our immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, today is World Contraception Day, which provides us an opportunity to talk about the importance of access to contraceptives.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called contraception one of the greatest public health interventions of the 20th Century.

They improve overall health and well-being, reduce maternal mortality, and allow women to have greater control over their bodies and their lives.

The Affordable Care Act mandated contraception coverage with no co- pays, and the evidence of the value of this protection is clear.

We should build on this success and ensure all women--both here at home and across the globe--have access to affordable, live-changing contraception.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the millions of Americans whose health coverage is once again being threatened by efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The American people have spoken. They do not want repeal. They certainly do not want the ACA replaced by Graham-Cassidy, the latest, cruelest version of TrumpCare.

Nearly every health organization in America, from the insurance providers to doctors, to hospitals, to patient advocacy groups, oppose Graham-Cassidy because it will result in skyrocketing premiums and copays and loss of coverage for millions of Americans, particularly older Americans who need the care most.

It is time to abandon the rhetoric of repeal and replace and to work together to stabilize our healthcare markets. Senators Murray and Alexander were working together on a bipartisan bill to fix the ACA before the Republican majority abandoned their efforts for Graham- Cassidy.

Mr. Speaker, I hope we return to bipartisan efforts as soon as possible to stabilize markets and improve access to healthcare for all Americans.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 931, the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2017. Yesterday we recognized the sixteenth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. The tragic

events on that day exhibited the heroism our firefighters and other first responders display as they run toward disaster while everyone else runs away.

The long-term health consequences on September 11, including several forms of cancer and chronic respiratory conditions among first responders, also serve as a reminder of the unique health risks firefighters face. As firefighters run into burning buildings and other environments, they often do not know whether carcinogens or hazardous materials are present. Such exposures have resulted in cancer becoming the leading cause of line of duty death among firefighters. My grandfather was a captain in the Houston Fire Department and died of cancer.

We still do not fully understand the relationship between firefighters and cancer risk. That is why a more comprehensive approach is needed to understand this relationship. H.R. 931, the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act, will create a voluntary cancer registry of firefighters to collect data on their cancer risks and outcomes related to their job exposures. This registry will inform research into the health risks facing firefighters, as well as ways to mitigate such risks. That evidence will allow us to implement new practices and develop new tools to protect the health of individuals who courageously put their lives at risk to protect the public.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), a cosponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we have no more speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Harris County and all along the Texas Gulf Coast, and urge Congress to immediately pass the $15.25 billion dollar emergency aid bill before us today.

For six days, the Texas Gulf Coast was hammered by Hurricane Harvey, bringing destruction beyond anything witnessed in living memory in our state.

The storm dropped four feet of rain on Greater Houston. Over 100,000 homes and residences were flooded in Harris County alone. Authorities believe at least 70 Texans were killed due to Harvey, and that number will continue to rise.

Houstonians and Texans are a proud and independent people. We take pride in our can-do attitude, as witnessed by our brave first responders and countless volunteers who rescued neighbors during the worst of the flooding.

Full recovery from this unprecedented disaster will take years, but right now we need Congress to pass this emergency relief bill that will help the people of Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast sustain current relief efforts and onto the road to recovery.

God bless America and God bless Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Harris County and throughout Texas and call on Congress to immediately pass emergency funding to help victims with this unprecedented disaster.

Our district in east side, north side, and southeast side Houston, Harris County, is familiar with hurricanes and tropical storms. We were hit hard by Allison in 2001, again by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Harvey's destruction is beyond anything witnessed in living memory in Texas, flooding over 100,000 homes in Harris County alone, killing at least 60 people, 12 innocent victims in our own district.

Countless lives in Houston and along the Gulf Coast have been on hold: families who cannot return to their flooded homes, children whose schools are damaged, mothers and fathers who can't get back to work.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this critical emergency funding bill today that will help the people of Houston and Harris County and Texas on the road to recovery.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our ranking member not only for yielding to me, but also for her call a couple of weeks ago.

And I want to thank our colleague from Lubbock, Texas. We have a lot of water we can send to west Texas, but appreciate the support not just from Texas, but all across the country. People are coming in everywhere.

And I see me colleague, Brian Babin, who is my neighbor. We are not Democrats and Republicans; we are Americans. And that is what we are seeing. And our Speaker pro tempore of the House, also, is neighbor to both of us.

But I rise in support of the hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Harris County and throughout Texas, and I call on Congress to immediately pass emergency funding to help victims from this unprecedented disaster.

Our district is in northeast and southeast Houston and Harris County. We are familiar with hurricanes and tropical storms. We were hit by Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, hit by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Harvey's disaster and destruction is beyond anything witnessed in living memory in Texas, flooding over 100,000 homes in Harris County alone and killing at least 60 people, including 12 innocent victims in our district.

Countless lives in Houston and along the Gulf Coast have been put on hold: families who cannot return to their flooded homes, children whose schools were damaged, mothers and fathers who cannot go back to work.

I have a school district in northeast Harris County, Sheldon ISD. They have eight schools. Four of those schools are so damaged they can't be reopened.

Houstonians and Texans are proud and independent people. We take pride in our can-do attitude, as witnessed by our brave first responders and countless volunteers who rescued neighbors during the worst of the flooding.

I urge all my colleagues to vote for this critical emergency funding that will help the people of Houston and Texas on the road to recovery. But this is not the only time we will need this emergency funding.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an article in Monday's Houston Chronicle on the dedication of our doctors and public health workers at the Texas Medical Center in Houston during the worst of Harvey.

[From the Houston Chronicle]

My 60-Hour Shift in the ER During Hurricane Harvey

(By Benjamin Gold)

I was on call at St. Luke's when the major flooding began.

I decided to stay in the hospital, along with many other

residents, attendings, nurses and support staff.

It turns out that a hospital is a fantastic place to be in

a crisis--it has food, water, electricity, even Wi-Fi. I

ended up staying there until Monday, taking shifts with other

residents as we watched over our patients. We even saw some

new ones who somehow managed to make their way through

floodwaters to the emergency room.

Here are some of the things I saw during those 60 hours.

I saw nurses working for almost 20 hours straight and

managing way more patients than usual, refusing to leave

them--they didn't know when the next nurses would arrive.

I saw the cafeteria transformed into a support station with

round-the-clock free meals. The lunch tables transformed into

war rooms as the various medical departments strategized

about how to staff the hospital despite being desperately

under capacity. I got meals from the same cafeteria worker--

Anne--on Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday evening,

Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Monday morning.

I saw patients placed in impossible circumstances. One, a

young man with a son in the ICU at Texas Children's, recently

heard that his house had flooded. He was having high fevers

and coughing up yellow sputum. His chest X-ray showed he had

developed a lobar pneumonia. He was pale and clammy, with

bloodshot eyes.

``Doc, I need go,'' he told me. ``I have to see my son. I

have to call my wife and make sure she's safe. I can't stay

here.''

I was in the ICU when an impromptu meeting was held to

discuss the fact that no relief would be able to come in for

the foreseeable future. There were only two attendings, each

taking 12-hour shifts so the other could sleep. They'd

already been working for 48 hours.

Midway through one of the shifts, one of the sleeping ICU

doctors woke up and asked the active doctor if he was OK.

``I'm cruising,'' he said, smiling. He was bleary-eyed and

weary, but it didn't matter. ``I'm rolling,'' he said and

gave a thumbs-up.

``I'm good to go.''

My fiancee, who also is a doctor, told me that one of her

patients wanted to meet me after they found out that their

doctor had a significant other in the hospital.

``Sure,'' I said, and went over to the room. They were so

appreciative of her care that they invited us to go fishing

with them in Corpus Christi when this was all over. ``I'm

telling you, you've never seen a more beautiful place to fish

your entire life. You'll stay with us, of course! It won't

cost you a penny.''

The man took out his iPhone and showed us pictures of a

gorgeous coastline, Texas-sized sunsets and smiling nephews

proudly holding up fish as big as they were. ``We'll make it

down there,'' he said. ``We'll get through this.''

Finally, on Monday morning, the first wave of relief

arrived, and those whose houses hadn't flooded and had clear

streets were able to go home. Others weren't so lucky.

The Texas Medical Center is what brought me to Houston. It

has more medical schools, hospitals and nursing facilities

per square foot than any other place on earth. It was

incredible to see the resiliency, camaraderie and

selflessness of those who work there in a crisis. Learning

about what to do in a crisis is standard in medical

education. But to see it in action, to see people refusing to

leave until they knew their patients would be cared for, is

something else entirely.

It's been a grim few days, and the worst is not over. We

don't know how many more casualties there might be. Untold

billions in property damage has already been done. But

Houstonians showed their true colors over this past weekend.

I've never been prouder to be a Texan.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3440, the DREAM Act, to protect DREAMers like Jesus Contreras, who as a DACAmented paramedic worked 6 days straight after Hurricane Harvey. Jesus rescued people from flood waters and transported them to local hospitals. Jesus deserves our support.

Mr. Chair, the Drug Quality and Security Act was passed in 2013 in response to the multistate fungal meningitis outbreak that occurred due to contaminated compounded drug products from the New England Compounding Center.

Drugs from a single facility in one state were shipped nationwide, over 750 patients were affected, and 64 patients died in 20 states across the country.

DQSA (D-Q-S-A) helps ensure that if compounders are shipping drugs nationwide, they are doing so from states that exercise meaningful oversight. This is an important patient safety protection in the law.

This amendment would weaken FDA's ability to implement this important patient protection legislation by denying FDA funding to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding Congress mandated FDA develop.

Congress must not forget the tragedy that happened just 5 years ago by turning back the clock and remove the protections Congress itself put in place to prevent another outbreak.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment offered by Rep. Carter.

Mr. Speaker, the Senate Republican majority failed to pass their ACA repeal. This is a win for the people across America who wrote letters, made phone calls, and organized communities against this disastrous bill.

Mr. Speaker, millions of people rely on insurance expansion made possible under the ACA. Our job is not to harm the people we serve but to make their lives better.

Under every single Republican healthcare bill, millions of people would lose health coverage. There are many steps we can take together. Let us strengthen the risk pools, promote competition among insurers, and require States to expand their Medicaid programs.

These steps will help lower premiums, increase choice, and allow 50,000 individuals in my district and millions of low-income Americans across the country to get insurance.

My constituents are tired of the partisanship. I urge my friends on the other side of the aisle to work with us and each other instead of against each other so everyday Americans do not grow even more cynical of our governing institutions.

While the failure of TrumpCare is welcome news, now is the time to hold public hearings, bipartisan meetings, and work toward goals that reduce premiums, deductibles, and healthcare costs for American people.

I look forward to working with my Republican colleagues to build on the ACA and improve the law.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3364.

I rise in support of the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act, to strengthen sanctions against Russia, North Korea, and Iran. These sanctions have been a long time coming.

Russian aggression towards the United States and our allies is at a level not seen since the Cold War. Although you wouldn't know it from the conduct of our president, Russia is unparalleled in its willingness to use illicit ``active measures'' to try to weaken the rules-based international order that has benefited the world for decades. Although the techniques in many ways aren't new--we saw similar tactics during the Cold War--the power of social media and the Internet have only amplified Russia's capabilities.

It's thought that Russia has been behind the hacking of the attempted hacking of campaigns, infrastructure systems, and government entities in many of our European allies, including Denmark, France, Georgia, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, and Estonia. In Ukraine, Russia is thought to be behind a power blackout in 2015.

Many of Russia's attempts have failed, but in Russia's influence campaign in the 2016 presidential election, it was partially successful. Russia and its government-backed hackers have undermined the integrity of our democratic processes and our system of representative government, the foundation of our country, since its inception. It may not have succeeded in changing the outcome of the election, but it has accomplished one of its goals, to sow discord and mistrust in an already-divided country. We must not let it accomplish its other aims.

President Trump has often seemed more admiring of Vladimir Putin and Russian officials than he has of his own country. In many cases, he's been friendlier to the Russian government than to his own advisors. As president, astonishingly, he's talked about a joint cyber-security task force with our biggest cyber adversary.

This bill is a crucial step in ensuring that we make clear to Russia that we will not accept the meddling of foreign governments in our democratic processes or the endangerment or intimidation of our allies and our people. We must make sure that Russia is not emboldened by our president's apparent determination to improve relations with Russia at any cost, and that it does not continue to endanger our democracy, our infrastructure, or our allies.

Make no mistake--Russia poses a huge threat to the United States. If the U.S. government fails to respond, Ukraine's power blackout should serve as a warning of what is to come, to ignore at our peril. Russia's appetite for cyber and information warfare and its willingness to employ criminals and malicious hackers forsworn by other countries make it especially dangerous. We must protect our people and our infrastructure, and this bill makes sure that Congress has the ability to do that.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank our ranking member for yielding to me.

I rise in opposition to funding for President Trump's border wall. I have visited the border of Texas and Mexico many times. Communities all along and beyond the border in my home State of Texas are opposed to this border wall.

Texas has deep and historic ties with our neighbor to the south, Mexico. The people of Texas and Mexico share a pride. A clear majority of our communities believe that the close ties between Texas and Mexico--cultural, economic, linguistic--benefit both Texas and Mexico.

The construction of this ``big, fat, beautiful wall,'' to quote President Trump, along a 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border is not only unnecessary, but would be harmful to our border communities and wildlife and natural habitats along the border, and become a symbol of spite and division toward Mexico and its people.

Much of the border between the United States and Mexico is already separated by the Rio Grande River, a clear natural obstacle between the two countries. High traffic areas along our Southern border are further separated by over 650 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing currently on the border.

Congress has provided the Department of Homeland Security with robust funding since the Department's creation to sharply increase the number of Border Patrol officers and surveillance tools, including aerial drones along the border.

As a result of these substantial investments by the American people, the number of immigrants without authorization has steadily declined, while the number of border apprehensions are near a 40-year low.

The $1.6 billion funded by taxpayer dollars included in this legislation for the President's border wall should be directed for genuine needs, like expanding education opportunities for our children, rebuilding our Nation's aging infrastructure.

Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues, if given the opportunity, to amend the legislation before this Chamber to remove the border wall funding. Otherwise, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in opposing the minibus appropriations bill.