Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of George Dean, a pillar of our Arizona community, who passed away in September at the age of 88.

George led the Greater Phoenix Urban League for more than three decades, serving as its President and CEO. He worked tirelessly to make a real difference in people's lives, creating pathways to jobs, to education, and to homeownership. And he did it all while remaining a steadfast voice for civil rights and economic opportunity.

I had the privilege of seeing George's commitment firsthand. When I was Mayor of Phoenix, I worked with George to help low-income families get assistance with their energy bills. I saw how deeply he cared about lifting up every member of our community.

My thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the entire Greater Phoenix Urban League community.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring George Dean, whose impact will be felt across Arizona for generations. We owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for his decades of service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of George Dean, a pillar of our Arizona community, who passed away last week at the age of 88.

George led the Greater Phoenix Urban League for more than three decades, serving as its president and CEO. He worked tirelessly to make a real difference in the lives of Arizonans, creating pathways to jobs, to education, and to homeownership. He did it all while remaining a steadfast voice for civil rights and economic opportunity.

Now, I had the proud honor of working with George, seeing his great work firsthand for many years. When I served as mayor of Phoenix, I worked with George to help low-income families get assistance with their energy bills. George was passionate to make sure that Arizonans got our fair share of LIHEAP resources.

I saw his passion for affordable housing so people in need can live with dignity. No one worked harder to create summer job opportunities for local teenagers. I saw how deeply he cared about lifting up every member of our community. To his last day, George worked to support the people of our community.

George Dean's impact will be felt across Arizona for generations to come, and he is owed a tremendous debt of gratitude for his decades of selfless sacrifice and service.

My thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the entire Greater Phoenix Urban League community.

Remembering Balbir Singh Sodhi

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark 25 years since the tragic attacks of September 11 and to remember a life tragically taken in their aftermath in my own district.

Twenty-five years ago today, Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered at his Mesa gas station while planting flowers outside. He was the very first victim of a hate crime after 9/11. He was murdered because of the color of his skin and the turban he wore in keeping with his Sikh faith.

It was a senseless act of hatred, but in the years since, Arizona's Sikh community has transformed that tragedy into something greater: a call for peace, for understanding, for unity, and for forgiveness, a call for this country to live up to its founding values.

Every year, we gather at the place where Balbir's life was taken to honor his memory and to remind our community that hate has no place here. His brother, Rana, and his extended family have carried that message with remarkable grace.

To honor Balbir, we must keep building a community and a country that welcomes everyone, that reaffirms that diversity, unity, and acceptance are at the heart of our founding values.

My heart remains with his family and with Arizona's Sikh community, who have shown us that love can and must prevail.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of George Dean, a pillar of our Arizona community, who passed away last week at the age of 88.

George led the Greater Phoenix Urban League for more than three decades, serving as its president and CEO. He worked tirelessly to make a real difference in the lives of Arizonans, creating pathways to jobs, to education, and to homeownership. He did it all while remaining a steadfast voice for civil rights and economic opportunity.

Now, I had the proud honor of working with George, seeing his great work firsthand for many years. When I served as mayor of Phoenix, I worked with George to help low-income families get assistance with their energy bills. George was passionate to make sure that Arizonans got our fair share of LIHEAP resources.

I saw his passion for affordable housing so people in need can live with dignity. No one worked harder to create summer job opportunities for local teenagers. I saw how deeply he cared about lifting up every member of our community. To his last day, George worked to support the people of our community.

George Dean's impact will be felt across Arizona for generations to come, and he is owed a tremendous debt of gratitude for his decades of selfless sacrifice and service.

My thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the entire Greater Phoenix Urban League community.

Remembering Balbir Singh Sodhi

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark 25 years since the tragic attacks of September 11 and to remember a life tragically taken in their aftermath in my own district.

Twenty-five years ago today, Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered at his Mesa gas station while planting flowers outside. He was the very first victim of a hate crime after 9/11. He was murdered because of the color of his skin and the turban he wore in keeping with his Sikh faith.

It was a senseless act of hatred, but in the years since, Arizona's Sikh community has transformed that tragedy into something greater: a call for peace, for understanding, for unity, and for forgiveness, a call for this country to live up to its founding values.

Every year, we gather at the place where Balbir's life was taken to honor his memory and to remind our community that hate has no place here. His brother, Rana, and his extended family have carried that message with remarkable grace.

To honor Balbir, we must keep building a community and a country that welcomes everyone, that reaffirms that diversity, unity, and acceptance are at the heart of our founding values.

My heart remains with his family and with Arizona's Sikh community, who have shown us that love can and must prevail.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bipartisan bill, H.R. 741, the Stronger Engagement for Indian Health Needs Act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ohio (Mr. Joyce) for co- leading on this important effort.

The Federal Government has a sacred trust obligation to provide healthcare to our Native communities. For far too long, we have fallen short of that obligation.

Deep disparities exist between the health of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities and the broader American population. American Indians and Alaska Natives have lower life expectancies and some of the highest rates of poor health across racial groups. Access and quality of care are impacted by high vacancies at Indian Health Service facilities. When it comes to equality in healthcare, our Nation has a long way to go.

Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago, the late Senator John McCain first tried to pass a similar measure to raise the Director of the IHS to an Assistant Secretary role within the Department of Health and Human Services. Senator McCain, who advanced this measure through the Senate time and time again, never saw it pass the House and signed into law. Today, this bill honors his legacy.

This is a commonsense, bipartisan policy, and Congress should have gotten it done many years ago.

H.R. 741 would finally get this across the finish line. It creates the position of Assistant Secretary for Indian Health at HHS, giving Native communities a voice at the highest levels of Department leadership.

This matters. As an Assistant Secretary, the head of IHS would finally have the pay and hiring authorities needed to tackle chronic workforce shortages and disparities in access to care. It means faster hiring, better retention, and a direct line to the Secretary on every matter affecting Indian health.

Congress must ensure our health systems better honor our trust obligations to Native communities. This is a meaningful step forward, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I missed the following vote, but had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 283.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Carl Kunasek, a devoted Arizonan who passed away this week at the age of 94.

Carl, an Air Force veteran, came to Arizona in 1959. He opened a pharmacy in Mesa. When his families couldn't afford medicine for a sick child, he let them sign the book, and he would have them pay him later. To the people who lived there, he was a hero.

That same spirit carried him into public service. He served in the Arizona House, Arizona Senate, and on the Corporation Commission. He helped design AHCCCS, our State's Medicaid program, finding a made-in- Arizona solution to make sure lower income families could get the care they needed.

As Arizona Senate president, he presided over the difficult impeachment trial of a Governor of his own party. He did not want that duty, but he believed the Constitution left him no choice, and he did it with fairness. It cost him his seat, but he did it anyway.

Carl Kunasek did not see party first. He saw people. We would do well to remember his example.

My thoughts are with his wife, Karen, and his children, both of whom followed him into public service actions.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this extreme Republican budget bill, an additional $40 billion to ICE, an agency that has already received an unprecedented amount of taxpayer funds with zero reforms, zero accountability, not a single dollar in this bill to lower the cost of living, nothing for families drowning under Trump's tariffs, nothing for skyrocketing grocery bills, nothing for the gas prices that have been driven up by a failing war of choice in Iran.

This budget shows the American people where the MAGA Republicans' priorities lie. They will roll over to Trump every single time, while their own citizens struggle to make ends meet.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of James Hong ``Jim'' Shee of Phoenix, who passed away on May 13, 2026, at the age of 86. Jim was a civil rights leader, a community builder, and a deeply respected Arizona figure whose life helped tell the story of who we are as a state.

Jim was born in Tucson to Lem Hong Shee and Maria Villegas Shee. He grew up in South Tucson as the son of a Chinese father and Mexican American mother, speaking both English and Spanish and moving between communities that did not always make room for him. As a biracial child, he regularly experienced discrimination, and he faced further hardship after losing an eye in a childhood accident. Jim did not let those setbacks stop him. Jim helped people treated as outsiders.

He graduated from Pueblo High School, served in the National Guard, attended the University of Arizona, and built a career in business. Jim and his brother John co-owned El Sol Market, where Jim became known for a Chinese chorizo recipe that continues today. Later, he worked in the grocery industry in Phoenix, traveled the world as an import buyer, and entered real estate. Across every chapter, Jim was a kind and caring community leader who stayed rooted in the people and neighborhoods that shaped him.

That same commitment guided his civic work. Jim worked closely with Madeline Ong Sakata to carry forward the legacy of her father, Arizona State Senator Wing F. Ong--the first Asian American elected to a state legislature in U.S. history. Madeline and Jim created

the Arizona Asian American Association and the Arizona Asian Chamber of Commerce to strengthen civic engagement and cultural opportunities for Asian American Arizonans.

Jim also understood that the Asian American and Latino communities of Arizona are neighbors, friends, and community members who can work together to build greater civic power. He helped establish the Phoenix Asian-Hispanic Alliance to provide a space for community members to meet and organize.

On his seventieth birthday in 2010, Jim was pulled over by a Phoenix police officer. After running his information, the officer told him he was free to go. When Jim asked why he had been stopped, the officer eventually acknowledged that Jim looked suspicious. Jim was a United States citizen who had lived in Arizona his entire life. He did not let that moment pass. He joined the legal challenge to S.B. 1070 and publicly shared his story so others could understand what racial profiling looks like in practice. For years afterward, he carried his passport in his own country in case he had to prove again that he belonged here.

Jim's service earned recognition from organizations across Arizona, including the Arizona Asian Chamber of Commerce, Chicanos Por La Causa, Asia, Pacific Community in Action, the City of Phoenix, American Legion Post 41, Pueblo High School, and the American Civil Liberties Union. The City of Phoenix proclaimed June 27 ``Jim Shee Day'' in recognition of his decades of service last year. Those honors show the trust Jim built across communities and the example he set by standing up with humility and conviction.

Jim is survived by his wife, Marian; his daughter, Laurie; his daughter-in-law, Marcie; and his grandchildren, Kameron and Maya. He was preceded in death by his sons, Andrew Mark and Kevin James.

I extend my deepest condolences to Marian, the Shee family, and everyone who knew and loved Jim.

Mr. Speaker, Jim Shee broke down barriers and Arizona is better off because of him. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring his life and legacy.

Mr. Speaker, as President Trump returns from Beijing, I rise to deliver a clear message: We must fulfill America's commitments to Taiwan. Congress has approved the sale of critical defense systems to Taiwan. Taiwan has paid for them, and these weapons have not yet been delivered.

Xi Jinping's number one goal from the summit was to convince Trump not to sell these weapons, and that is exactly why we need to.

Taiwan's legislature has passed a landmark special defense budget, a show of serious commitment to its own self-defense. We need to hold up our end of the deal.

This is about national security and our own economy. TSMC has invested over $200 billion in my home State of Arizona. Phoenix has become the epicenter of the semiconductor industry. Those jobs, those fabs, that future, it all depends on a stable, secure, self-governing democratic Taiwan.

As co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Taiwan Caucus, I call on the Trump administration to immediately complete delivery of every defense system Congress has approved and Taiwan has purchased. No more delays. No more excuses.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Noah Fraher, who served as the congressional Green and Gold aide in my office for the past two years.

Noah transformed how my office engages with Arizona's veteran community. From his first days in our Mesa office, he worked to ensure veterans across the East Valley knew they had an advocate in Congress who would listen to their concerns and help connect them with the support they earned through their service. He attended countless meetings, events, and community forums with veterans and military families, always bringing compassion, professionalism, and a genuine commitment to service.

One of Noah's most lasting contributions was transforming and improving our office's Veterans Advisory Board, which has become a trusted and respected forum for local veterans to engage directly with my office. He also helped organize our first Veterans Resource Fair and Salute to Service military sendoff ceremony, creating meaningful opportunities for servicemembers, veterans, and military families to access resources and build community. Because of Noah's work, our office built stronger relationships with veterans across Arizona's 4th Congressional District and became better equipped to serve them.

Noah brought the same sense of duty to our office that he demonstrates every day in uniform. As an active member of the Arizona Army National Guard, he served both at home and abroad, including training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany as they prepared to defend their country against Russian aggression. He also supported operations in Afghanistan and helped coordinate National Guard missions across Arizona. Through every assignment, Noah demonstrated a deep commitment to others.

Even while balancing military service, weekend drills, and training responsibilities, Noah worked tirelessly for constituents and for Arizona veterans. And anyone who knows Noah knows he has never been afraid to take a big bite out of a challenge. Throughout his service, Noah's husband, Mikey, stood alongside him with constant support and encouragement.

A lifelong Arizonan, Noah represents the very best of our state. His service strengthened my office, deepened our connection to Arizona veterans, and left a lasting impact on the community we serve.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Noah Fraher for his service to our Nation, to Arizona veterans, and to the people of Arizona's 4th Congressional District.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor David Rousseau on his retirement after nearly four decades of service to the Salt River Project, the Valley, and the State of Arizona.

Since 1903, the Salt River Project has provided reliable and affordable water and power to Arizona communities while safeguarding a stable water supply for future generations. Mr. Rousseau's leadership has helped carry forward that mission at a time of rapid growth and change across our state.

A proud fourth-generation Arizonan, Mr. Rousseau reflects a legacy of stewardship and public service deeply rooted in Arizona's history. His family's connection to SRP dates back more than a century--his great- grandfather served on the original council that helped bring the Theodore Roosevelt Dam to life, and his father later served on the SRP Board. Raised on a family farm in the West Valley, Mr. Rousseau learned early the values of hard work, responsibility, and commitment to community.

Mr. Rousseau's own service to SRP began in 1990, when he was elected to the SRP Council. After years of leadership on the Council and Board, he became Vice President in 2006 and President in 2010, a role he has held for more than a decade. Throughout his tenure, he has remained focused on ensuring that SRP continues to provide reliable, affordable, and sustainable water and power to the communities it serves.

Under his leadership, SRP has advanced critical initiatives to support Arizona's future. These efforts include expanding energy storage capacity, increasing access to electric vehicle infrastructure, and strengthening grid reliability during periods of peak demand. SRP has also worked to support rural and Tribal communities, including expanding broadband access in northeastern Arizona and bringing electricity to families on the Navajo Nation who previously lacked service.

Mr. Rousseau has also championed collaboration across sectors to address Arizona's long-term water and energy challenges. His leadership has helped guide SRP's role in supporting sustainable water management and ensuring that Arizona remains prepared for future growth.

Beyond SRP, Mr. Rousseau has contributed to numerous civic and nonprofit organizations, including the Banner Health Foundation, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Nature Conservancy, and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. His service reflects a deep commitment to strengthening Arizona's economy, culture, and quality of life.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing David Rousseau for his extraordinary career of service. His leadership has strengthened Arizona communities, supported our state's continued growth, and set a lasting standard for stewardship and public service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Mike Hughes on his retirement after 53 years of service as CEO of A New Leaf, a cornerstone nonprofit serving families across Arizona.

Mike dedicated more than five decades of his life to helping Arizonans facing difficult challenges, including homelessness, domestic violence, poverty, and instability. Under his leadership, A New Leaf has grown from a small local organization into a comprehensive provider of housing and human services. Its services reach tens of thousands of individuals each year across the East Valley.

Mike's approach to leading A New Leaf has always gone beyond addressing immediate needs. He has led A New Leaf with a focus on long- term solutions. The nonprofit today provides both immediate support and the tools people need to rebuild their lives, including financial education and support for reentry to the workforce. The critical services have expanded across the Valley under his leadership. A New Leaf often steps in to support struggling nonprofits so that essential programs can continue serving those in need.

Throughout his career, Mike has never lost sight of the people behind the numbers. His efforts to support families in crisis have helped create a highly coordinated and compassionate response to homelessness at a time when housing insecurity is rising and resources are strained. Mike is a steady voice for collaboration, bringing organizations together to improve outcomes and better serve those in need.

Mike's impact extends well beyond A New Leaf. A longtime public servant, he has served on the Mesa Public Schools Board for decades and contributed to numerous community organizations across Arizona. His decades of service have not gone unnoticed. Mike has been recognized by prominent Arizona groups, news outlets, and others with prestigious awards, including the Corporate Philanthropy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Nonprofit CEO Lifetime Achievement Award from the Phoenix Business Journal for his commitment to serving those most in need.

Providing support for community members facing the most difficult circumstances requires grounded, deeply committed leadership. Mike embodies that leadership. He transformed A New Leaf while remaining focused on its core mission to serve those most in need with real impact.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mike Hughes for his extraordinary years of service. His work has strengthened communities across our state and set a standard for what true service looks like.

Mr. Speaker, we should have voted today, we should have voted yesterday, last week, last month to fund every department in Homeland Security, but not more money for ICE without changes.

That is what House Democrats are fighting for, and this morning, the Senate passed a bill unanimously to do just that, every single Senator, Democrat and Republican. Speaker Johnson called that Senate bill a joke.

Let me tell you what is not a joke: Cybersecurity experts going without pay on the same day Iran hacked the Director of the FBI, FEMA being dismantled in real time, or TSA agents launching GoFundMe accounts to pay for gas and groceries.

Instead of taking up the Senate bill, House Republicans are choosing to give even more money to Trump's mass deportation machine beyond the $75 billion slush fund they gave ICE last summer. There is no accountability, no oversight, no limits.

Let's be clear about what is happening. DHS is shut down because Republicans are refusing to listen to the vast majority of the American people who want to see changes to ICE. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, today, due to unforeseen circumstances, I missed Roll Call Vote No. 104, Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act. Had I been present, consistent with my three previous votes to oppose additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security, without the needed accountability measures for ICE, I would have voted NO.

This is in addition to my vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included $75 billion in funding for ICE, and my leadership of the PUBLIC SAFETY Act to redirect this funding away from ICE and toward local law enforcement agencies that invest in well-trained officers with strong ties to the communities they serve.

Mr. Speaker, I missed the following vote. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 104.