Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today under the ``E Pluribus Unum'' to give voice to the elderly, the children, the disabled, the most vulnerable who are once again facing your proposal, Mr. Speaker, to rip healthcare and the safety net from them.

Is this the best you can do, Mr. Speaker, to once again, over and over again, propose this legislation to cut trillions of dollars from Medicaid and Medicare to fund tax cuts for corporations and for billionaires, and to do this, to slam this through the House without transparency?

Mr. Speaker, Republicans like to call me a ``tax and spend liberal,'' but today we see this GOP fiscal plan as another ``borrow and spend to pay for billionaires tax cuts.''

Now, the Wharton School and the Goldman Sachs studies both show that, at best, this plan would produce a paltry one-tenth, maybe two-tenths of 1 percent growth, but we all know that it will increase the national debt by trillions of dollars.

This is a horrible investment, a horrible return, a negative return on investment. It is a terrible process. This is terrible legislation. It will produce terrible results for the overwhelming majority of Americans, especially the millions who rely on Medicaid and Medicare.

Now, here is the deal, Mr. Speaker, that you are trying to push: if Americans are willing to give billionaires

windfall tax cuts today and also trade their health security and safety net, then you, Mr. Speaker, will give average Americans the empty promise of wage growth tomorrow and you will be able to file your taxes on a postcard.

I say ``empty promises'' because studies and our experience have shown that this unicorn of wage growth from tax cuts will never, in fact, happen. It is reminiscent, Mr. Speaker, of the gluttonous Wimpy in the ``Popeye'' cartoon: ``I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.''

Now, this is a great plan if you are rich. It is dollars for fool's gold, but the American people are not fools, Mr. Speaker, and that is why the Republicans want to rush this through with minimum transparency.

This is madness. Trickle down has not worked, it does not work, and it will never work. We have got deficits under Reagan and under George W. Bush to prove it.

The tax cuts will not pay for themselves, Mr. Speaker. The tax cuts won't magically produce increased salaries for workers. The tax plan will not lead to these claims of economic growth.

Mr. Speaker, we have all lived long enough to know that these are all lies. It is not even wishful thinking anymore, because we know better.

Congress should not be considering tax cuts for the rich and opening up even more tax loopholes. Mr. Speaker, we cannot spin gold out of straw, and that is what we have here.

This plan will make most Americans poorer and sicker, if not dead. I urge all my colleagues to reject this bill.

Instead, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to fortify our election system from Russian further interference; build new infrastructure, that is what creates jobs; fund the Child Health Insurance Program that Republicans let expire; ensure that all 3\1/2\ million American citizens in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands can have access to water, power, and healthcare this holiday season. That is what we should be doing.

Mr. Speaker, I rise, along with the Wisconsin delegation, to honor the former Congressman, Jerry Kleczka, my predecessor, who passed away on October 8, 2017, at the age of 73.

He was a very serious, hardworking legislator who served on the Ways and Means Committee. He had a strong work ethic. He was a particularly fantastic steward of our seniors, and he was proud to serve the people of Wisconsin's Fourth Congressional District.

I am pleased to stand here with my colleagues from the Wisconsin delegation to honor his service to our Nation, to the State of Wisconsin, and to the Fourth Congressional District, and I ask our colleagues to join us in a moment of silence.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Jerry Kleczka. He was a true public servant and legislator. He passed away on October 8, 2017. He was 73 years old.

Jerry Kleczka grew up on the south side of Milwaukee. He graduated from Don Bosco High School, attended the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee for two years, worked as an accountant and served in the Wisconsin National Guard. Jerry Kleczka was elected to the Wisconsin State Legislature at age 24 where he served in both the Assembly and Senate. In 1984, he won a special election to replace Clement Zablocki in Congress and served for over two decades until his retirement in 2005. I succeeded Jerry Kleczka in the 4th Congressional District and appreciate his kindness in assisting me through the transition to Washington. He gave me a gift of African cloth from one of his trips that I cherish to this day.

While in Congress, Jerry Kleczka served on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee; he formed a warm and lasting friendship with Representative John Lewis during that tenure. He twice voted against going to war--the Gulf War in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some of his signature legislation included support for seniors and preventing ``drive-through'' baby deliveries when insurance companies forced some women to leave hospitals too soon after giving birth.

Jerry Kleczka was a serious, hard-working legislator with a strong work ethic. He took pride in being the guy from the south side of Milwaukee.

When my alma mater, Marquette University began an internship program in Washington, D.C., in 1984 for students interested in careers in government and public service, Kleczka was a strong supporter. Jerry Kleczka donated his campaign funds of $300,000 to endow what became in 2005 the Kleczka Internship Program. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of law degree in 2005 by Marquette University. Many of the interns serving in my office were members of this program; this is Jerry Kleczka's lasting legacy to the entire community.

Upon his retirement, Jerry moved to Middleton. Middleton was Bonnie's, his wife of 39 years, hometown. He lived quietly and was busy with hobbies that included gardening, woodworking and remodeling projects.

Mr. Speaker, Jerry Kleczka was a valued member of Milwaukee, the 4th Congressional District, and the entire State of Wisconsin. I applaud and value his stewardship. I urge you and my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to join me in a salute to the late Jerry Kleczka.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is a new low for this Congress to allow the critical and bipartisan Children's Health Insurance Program to expire. This program is 20 years old, and this has never happened, where we have allowed the basic safety net healthcare program for children to expire.

We hear over and over again, Mr. Speaker, you talk about the ne'er do well, lazy ones of our constituents who are poor and don't want to work. But, Mr. Speaker, these are children who are ineligible for work and unavailable to take care of themselves. We are destroying the health safety net for children.

But it is not that we haven't had time to extend CHIP. We have renamed post offices. We have renamed a highway. We have advanced the House budget reconciliation riddled with unpaid tax cuts for the wealthy, including the repeal of the estate tax, which alone would increase our deficit by $269 billion by 2025. Mr. Speaker, that is billion with a B.

Are Republicans in this body trying to solve the budget crisis and our deficit problem by cutting CHIP?

I don't think so.

Even more, Mr. Speaker, last week, we spent a considerable amount of time debating the 20-week abortion ban. We heard passionate speeches about how important it was to preserve the life of fetuses. We spent all this time and speaker after speaker making emotional demands on this body that we restrict women's body autonomy, but we spent no time reauthorizing the program for little Junior, once he crowns and is born--the basic healthcare that he needs immediately exiting the womb.

Mr. Speaker, simply put, it is hypocritical for you to say that life ends as soon as the umbilical cord is cut. And, Mr. Speaker, your actions prove it.

You know, I am of the mindset of one of our news reporters, Rachel Maddow, that we ought to just watch what you do and not what you say.

Almost 9 million children depend on CHIP for healthcare; 9 million children from low- to moderate-income families who will lose access to vaccinations, routine checkups, dental care, mental healthcare, prescriptions, and some of these children are profoundly disabled.

Mr. Speaker, what is going to happen to the 24 percent of the children enrolled in CHIP that have special

healthcare needs, including asthma and learning disabilities?

The health of our children depends on this program, yet, Mr. Speaker, all you can do to muster up a reauthorization for CHIP is to fund it by increasing Medicare premiums--Medicare, a program designed for people over 65--and cutting the Prevention and Public Health Fund.

All you can do, Mr. Speaker, is to pit old people against our babies in order to provide basic healthcare to children. This sounds really Faustian, and it is unimaginable, yet this is the reality that we are working with.

Mr. Speaker, it is now time to put these politics aside and to reauthorize CHIP now for 5 years. This is a disgrace not only in this Nation, but internationally. I, as an American, don't want to be judged by putting our kids last.

Mr. Speaker, let's talk about pain here today.

Let's talk about Leslie and her husband, who found out that they were pregnant and were thrilled. Unfortunately, the pregnancy did not go well. Tests revealed that Leslie's fetus' brain never divided into two separate hemispheres, giving her child no chance for survival. Let's talk about pain.

By the time the test exposed this tragic news, Leslie was over 20 weeks pregnant, but she lived in a State without an abortion ban. Now she lives in Wisconsin, where abortions after 20 weeks are illegal. Had she lived there during this time, she would have been forced to deliver a baby and be pregnant for 20 more weeks, compounding the emotional horror of the experience. Let's talk about pain.

In Leslie's own words: ``I still mourn my daughter every day, but I cannot begin to understand how a position that would rather see me dead and neither of my sons ever born just to prolong a tragically doomed pregnancy can be called `pro-life.'''

On behalf of Leslie, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 36. We must stop the bans and stop the pain.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise for a second time today in strident opposition to H.R. 36.

This bill is unconstitutional, and it is an overt attempt to challenge women's constitutional right to a safe and legal abortion.

It is really disturbing that funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program and community health centers has expired, but yet this majority is focusing on doubling down on their crusade against women's healthcare.

Let's talk about pain a little bit here. What is especially painful about this bill is that there is an exception in this bill for rape victims only when they report to law enforcement officials, thus resurrecting the debunked legitimate rape argument.

Many women can't report rape for a variety of reasons, probably also including the sanctimonious social stigma that their Congressman or Congresswoman would place upon them. So this bill underhandedly revictimizes vulnerable rape survivors.

Madam Speaker, I am a survivor of rape. That is painful. This bill is a cruel and ruthless attempt to undermine women and attack our rights to govern our bodies, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote against this unconstitutional bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for leading this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, in 1971, then-President Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs, which he labeled as ``public enemy number one in the United States.''

Now, at the time of this declaration, America's prisons and jails held fewer than 200,000 people. Today, that number sits at over 2 million people. In fact, the United States incarcerates 25 percent of the world's prisoners, but we have only 5 percent of the world's population.

In fact, shamefully, my State of Wisconsin has the highest incarceration rate of African-American men on the planet Earth.

Now, John Ehrlichman, then-counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Nixon, admitted, Mr. Speaker, that the war on drugs was an effort to vilify African-American leaders and to disrupt the African-American community; admitted that the war on drugs was contrived to diminish the reputation of African Americans. Indeed, they were successful because the burden of this failed war has fallen overwhelmingly on African-American communities.

In 2014, African-American adults accounted for just 14 percent of those who used drugs, but close to one-third of those who are arrested for drug possession. And although African Americans and Whites consume drugs at a similar rate, African Americans are significantly more likely to be arrested.

Now, this disproportionate enforcement of drug laws in a nation in which racial groups use drugs at the same rate points to one fact, Mr. Speaker. It can only be explained that race has played an inappropriate role in law enforcement's priorities and tactics.

It is worth noting that in the face of the 1980's crack cocaine epidemic in Black communities, the public policy response was incarceration. Here in 2017, in the face of our current opioid epidemic in predominantly White communities, public officials on both sides of the aisle have banded together to pass landmark legislation to provide drug treatment assistance to those victims.

In recent years, fortunately, leaders on both sides of the aisle have found common ground on the need to reform our broken criminal justice system. Stakeholders from the ACLU to the Koch Institute recognize the crisis of

overcriminalization in this country and the need for immediate action.

Both the House and the Senate have made strides toward the passage of bipartisan criminal justice reform in the 114th Congress, but, ultimately, a bill never made its way to the President.

Now our U.S. Attorney General of the United States, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, a most ardent opponent to bipartisan criminal justice reform, sits there and does not inspire hope that those fighting to address this obviously harmful and race-based status quo will do anything.

And although our President has dubbed himself the ``Law and Order President,'' he has not taken the initiative to end this unfair policy.

Just very briefly before I close, Mr. Speaker, I want to list three things that this bipartisan group found would be helpful:

One, we should eliminate Federal mandatory minimum sentencing requirements. We should ensure true sentencing parity among crack and cocaine offenses, and deprioritize nonviolent drug offenders and seek medical treatment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring best wishes and birthday greetings to Trudy Caldwell as she celebrates her 50th Birthday.

She is an inspirational role model for those who aspire to accomplish goals that may seem impossible. She has shown a passion for public service as demonstrated through her committed and dedicated military career of 20 years. Further, Trudy has continued service to our country as a civilian employee in the Department of the Army. Trudy is one of the few individuals to have served both as an enlisted soldier and an Officer, ultimately retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. This is quite an achievement; she has no doubt, overcome barriers to realize these accomplishments as both an African American and a woman. Trudy's academic achievements include completing both a Bachelor's and Master's Degree. Additionally, she has been awarded numerous civic honors.

Trudy Caldwell's military assignments have taken her all over the United States and the world. She has taken command on various levels including teaching newly commissioned officers at the Quartermaster Center and School, served on the Joint Staff which is the highest level staff in the Defense Department, served with a team of staff officers to work directly with members of the Joint Staff 9-11 Commission, and served on the staff of the Army's Congressional Liaison Office. I am pleased to say this is where I met Trudy Caldwell during my first term in office. Shortly, afterward while Trudy was attending graduate school at Georgetown University, I was fortunate enough to have Trudy spend a few days a week as a ``Graduate Intern'' working in my Washington, D.C. Office.

I am proud to call Trudy Caldwell my friend and I am proud that she originally comes from my district where her mother and other family members still reside. I know that this is only the beginning for Trudy; she has a prosperous life ahead of her. I know that she will continue to enrich the lives of future generations by bringing new experiences and renewed hope for those who aspire and dream of a better tomorrow through the nonprofit she has formed to assist youth.

May Trudy continue to bring joy to the countless lives she has touched throughout her life. She has been a true blessing to the 4th Congressional District and this nation. Mr. Speaker, for these reasons I rise to give tribute to Trudy Caldwell. I wish her a wonderful celebration on her birthday and many more years filled with good health and happiness. It is a privilege to have this opportunity to celebrate and congratulate her on this special day.

Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

Oh my, my, my, Mr. Chairman, and my good friend from Michigan. The fact of the matter is that section 1502 is, in fact, working. The GAO report that Mr. Huizenga referred to actually said that the civil war and conflict is, in fact, diminishing as section 1502 is being implemented. It is working better and sooner than I thought it would be.

Just a little bit of a refresher course for you, Mr. Chairman. The minerals contained in consumer electronics that we all use--TVs, cell phones--are fueling war and conflict in the Congo. And I am not talking about a little skirmish here. I am talking about, we are funding armed militias, and it is a civil war on a scale of deaths that compare with World War II, and notable for its brutality, its savagery, its mutilation, rape.

I can tell you that our good GOP friends say that it is a laudable goal to stop these civil wars, but it just doesn't belong in securities law; the logic being the transparency doesn't belong in security law.

Oh, okay. Well, I can tell you that companies find that it is material, a security term of art, whether their brand is tarnished with literally the blood of children and enslaved workers that are standing there, I would suspect, with some of these Congolese who want section 1502 to go away, who are running these armed militias for profit. So do consumers and so do investors. Hence, the rise of socially-conscious mutual funds that are regulated by the SEC.

I notice that my comrades have not introduced--there's nothing in this amendment that would provide for ending this kind of civil war on the scale of World War II in their amendment.

I want to say, because of the United States' leadership on conflict minerals, the EU and China are enacting their own versions of implementing prohibitions against the receipt of conflict minerals. This amendment puts America last in world leadership.

I do realize the gentleman had the right to close, but his time having been consumed, I will go on to report to you, Mr. Chairman, that more than 75 percent of the world's smelters for the four minerals now have passed conflict-free audits. Companies are putting this in place and they are finding that they are happy with it; that the costs of implementing it are less than they thought it would be, much less than they thought it would be; and they are receiving a premium for these metals if they can, in fact, report that they are conflict-free.

According to the United Nations, as of 2016, over three-quarters of 3T miners surveyed in eastern Congo are working in mines where there is no armed group standing over them. That is according to an independent study.

Today, 78 percent of the world's smelters for the four minerals have now passed conflict-free audits, or 253 smelters in total. The record is abundantly clear. Section 1502 is working.

Now, he talked about Congolese leaders who don't like it. These are people who are profiting from the armed conflict, but there are Congolese communities and leaders who support section 1502 because they are seeing the improvements in security and rule of law.

For example, Justine Masika Bihamba, the coordinator of Synergy of Women for Victims of Sexual Violence says: ``Ten years ago, we were under the de facto control of armed groups. Today, let's admit we are a long way from that. And if we are honest, that is in part because of Dodd-Frank.''

Bishop Nicolas Djomo came before our committee and said: ``We urge the U.S. business community to account for the gruesome social costs of the illicit mining as they calculate their cost for compliance with section 1502.''

There is a moral dimension to this that we cannot ignore. If we want to make America great again, let's not cede our moral authority on this issue.

Mr. Chairman, I would ask my colleagues to vote against this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Lauren Baker who has served as a mentor, teacher, labor leader, college instructor, consultant, and administrator. Lauren is retiring from her current position as Executive Director of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association (MTEA) comprised of educators, educational assistants', substitutes and bookkeepers who work on behalf of the students attending Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). She officially retired on August 31, 2017.

Lauren has enjoyed a distinguished career. She spent over 25 years in the printing industry working as a journeyperson lithographer and then served as Education Director for the Graphic Communications International Union Local 577M (now GCC/IBT and Director of the Milwaukee Graphic Arts Institute (MGAI). Lauren taught at MGAI and Milwaukee Area Technical College. Highlights of her work during this period of her career include: leading the successful part-time teachers organizing campaign at MATC, founding the GCIU Women's Caucus and developing and implementing sexual harassment training for union members and employers. For 10 years, Lauren served as the Coordinator Career and Technical Education (CTE) for MPS. She led the district wide efforts in trade technical and other career educational disciplines. Further, she revitalized the career programming, advocated for publically funded career education at the state and federal level and also coordinated the work for teachers in schools for the CTE programs.

Lauren has served on numerous boards; she has served on the MATC Board for 19 years. She co-chairs the statewide District Boards Association's Legislation Committee and represented the Midwest Region on the National Board of Directors for the Association of Community College Trustees. Further, Lauren served on the National Council for Skills Standards in Graphic Communications, the State Superintendent's Council of Technical and Engineering Education and Milwaukee County Advisory Committee on Apprenticeships and other committees in relation to workforce preparation and education.

Lauren Baker has been recognized for her work including Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) award for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) where she earned a Master of Science Degree in Administrative Leadership and Educational Supervision. She was honored by Business Journal as a Woman of Influence. In 2010, Lauren was invited to the White House as a part of a small group advising the Obama Administration on equity in technical education for the National Educate to Innovate Initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to call Lauren, her husband John Drew, a UAW labor leader and adult son, Nick, my friends. She has left a legacy of advocacy and compassion and is a true trailblazer. The citizens of the Fourth Congressional District, the State of Wisconsin and the nation have benefited tremendously from her dedicated service. I am honored for these reasons to pay tribute to Lauren Baker, and wish her the best as she transitions into a new phase of her life.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my friend Donald ``Don'' Sykes. He was a sociologist and civil rights champion. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family on August 13, 2017. He was 80 years old.

Don Sykes was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1936, the second of eight children born to Rose Bolden and father Chester Sykes who died when Donald was three years old. He lived in Chicago public housing while growing up, but said he never felt impoverished. Donald graduated from Wendell Phillips High School, and later taught at Phillips High School, while his younger siblings attended the school. He received a bachelor's degree at Northern Illinois University and later received a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

In 1968, Donald became the Executive Director of the Social Development Commission (SDC) in Milwaukee and joined the war on poverty. He led SDC for the next two decades and during his tenure, the agency grew into Milwaukee County's largest anti-poverty agency. I am proud to say that early in my career, I was employed by SDC in one of my first professional positions. In 1993, Donald was appointed to serve as the director of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Community Relations for President Clinton; he served in Washington, DC for the next seven years developing nationwide welfare and anti-poverty programs. In 2007, Donald returned to Milwaukee to assume leadership of the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board (MWIB), known today as Employ Milwaukee--a public/private partnership that coordinates employment and training programs for adults and youth in Milwaukee County. He announced his retirement from MWIB in 2014, concluding a career of working on behalf of low-income people and the community as a whole. Donald was a gentleman who seldom spoke ill of anyone and who was open to considering differing viewpoints.

Donald married Geraldine Kirksey in 1960 and their union produced two sons, David and Dennis. In the 1970s, Donald and Gerri sponsored Trevor Knight, who became a beloved member of their family. He is survived by his wife Gerri, Sons David (Valerie), Dennis and Trevor (Laura); Grandchildren Travis (Susan), Ashley (Graham) and Tyler; Brothers Leonard and Clifton; Sisters Alberta and Patricia; Nieces Stephanie, Sharon, Jackie, Lisa, Sonja and Shamieka; Nephews Kenneth, Chris, Carleton; and numerous aunts, cousins, grand nieces and nephews. He leaves a strong legacy of leadership for his children and grandchildren to model.

Mr. Speaker, Don was my friend, and a valued member of Milwaukee and the 4th Congressional District. I urge you and my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to join me in a salute to the late Donald Sykes.

Mr. Chairman, as the designee of Ranking Member Lowey, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, as the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional TRIO Caucus, I find this amendment, which would cut $60 million in funding from TRIO educational services that assist veterans and low-income and first-generation college students, deeply disturbing and misaligned with our national economic interests.

It sends the misguided message that only university education is unnecessary for low-income students. You know, just get a little job training and go straight to work.

I might make the observation that I don't see anybody over there who has less than a bachelor's degree, and I know my good friend has a law degree.

While career and technical education is very, very important, low- income students and our country's economic viability deserve the option of educating some of our students at a 4-year-degree level.

For us to maintain hegemony in the world, we need people like Steve Jobs, who was not a trust fund baby, who was not a legacy kid, but someone who had the talent and ability. We need to provide opportunity to the larger pool of talent in our country in order to be able to create the next iPhone.

I will give you a really good example, Mr. Chairman. There is a student who happens to live in southeastern Minnesota. As a matter of fact, he lives in the Second Congressional District. He was once a homeless student living in poverty, but he participated in a TRIO program at a university in Minnesota's Second District. Now, as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, he is the founder of a biomedical startup company with the mission of launching technology to innovate a disease diagnostic tool that has been found to be cost effective and will be utilized worldwide.

Hunter Lin could not have benefited from just a 2-year degree. TRIO has given him the chance to get not only out of homelessness, but the ability to really create economic prosperity in our country.

In Minnesota's Second Congressional District, there are 1,521 TRIO students being served at four institutions, including two community colleges.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this harmful amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the life of Mrs. Kendra Murray Adams, a loving mother, a wife, daughter, sister, and friend to many, myself included.

I first got to know Kendra when she joined my office in 2005 as an executive assistant. She was a blonde bombshell who was quick-witted, strong-willed, but just as quick to laugh with you and at you, if needed.

Effortlessly funny and graciously caring, it was a joy to get to know her and to have a front row seat to see how this marvelous young lady lived life. Even now, I struggle to find the words to convey how much of a joy and honor it was to know Kendra and to be known by Kendra.

Whether you knew her for years, or just got to meet her, you got the best

of her from minute one. Kendra may have left my office, but she never left my heart.

Sadly, at the end of July, Kendra lost her battle with cancer at the tender age of 39. And although my heart is heavy, I am recalling the final words written by Kendra before her death, where she urged those who loved her to not mourn, but to ``live life, to go to the beach, go rock climbing, skydiving, do what you want to do.'' This exemplifies her spirit, her courage, and her life which, unfortunately, ended too soon.

Kendra is survived by her beloved twins, her husband, her father, her sister, and my thoughts and prayers are with her and her family and friends. I loved her dearly, and I will miss her deeply and will always remember her.

Mr. Chair, my amendment would protect the National School Lunch Act's current prohibition against discrimination or overt identification of any pupil for their inability to pay for their school lunches, a practice called lunch shaming.

Mr. Chair, I know what it is like to be both hungry and ashamed at lunchtime, because I had no lunch money. I couldn't wait until mock chicken day because that was the day that kids didn't like it and they would let me eat their unwanted food.

I starved at school, and today, as a Member of Congress, I am speaking out against lunch shaming, which should not occur in the United States of America. Certainly lunch shaming should not occur with embarrassing tactics of school administrators, like marking a child with a lunch money stamp or serving them a cold cheese sandwich instead of the nutritious hot meal received by their peers, or, remarkably, denying them food because they have no money.

Denying children food is definitely child abuse and neglect, and the school district is doing this while children are in their custody during school hours. I couldn't do anything about this as a child, but I am proud to be standing here today as a Member of Congress saying that this practice must end.

My amendment simply reinforces current law that states: ``There shall be no physical segregation or any other discrimination against any child eligible for a free lunch or reduced-price lunch, nor shall there be any overt identification of any child by special tokens or tickets or any other means.''

I am just wanting to reinforce what is already on the books. I would urge adoption of this amendment. And if allowed, I think that this body should go further and take up H.R. 2401 sponsored by my colleague, Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, which has been the first State to ban the practice of lunch shaming.

Please vote for this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Kendra Lee Murray Adams, who passed away on July 30, 2017 at the age of 39, following a brave battle with cancer. Originally from Pennsylvania, Kendra attended Gettysburg College, where she majored in political science. Upon graduation, her passion for politics brought her to Washington, D.C. and placed her on a bright and fulfilling career path.

I am speaking today because I had the good fortune of being a stop along that path. Kendra served as my scheduler and office manager when I first came to Congress in 2005. I've had many fine and dedicated staff members during my time in public service, and Kendra stands out among them. At a time when I was learning the protocols and procedure of this great institution, this blonde bombshell immersed herself in the details, and in many ways, was the heart of the operation. She embodied the essence of grace under fire, there was no need, demand, or logistical crisis that could ruffle her feathers. She would simply execute and make the whole process look effortless.

That, in and of itself, was exemplary. But Kendra was integral to our office family beyond that. She was a den mother of sorts on one hand, and she was our comedic relief and levity on the other. She was the kind of person one comes to rely on not only professionally, but also to sooth the soul. She left my office to work for my friend and colleague, the legendary Charlie Rangel, when he served as Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means, and I know he joins me in saluting the public service, and indeed the life, of Kendra Adams, who was taken from us, far too soon.

Kendra was a privilege to know, a fantastic and dedicated worker with a terrific heart, whether serving with Horton's kids or just helping a friend through a tough time. Whether you knew her for years or just met her, you got the best of her from minute one.

In words written before her death, Kendra urged those she loved to not mourn but rather to ``live life, go to the beach, go rock climbing, and skydiving. Do the things you want to do!'' That exemplifies her spirit, her courage, and her life.

My heart, prayers, and condolences go out to Kendra's family, including her son, daughter, husband, father and sister, who were her pride and greatest joy.