Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life and service of Gabriel (Gabe) Lee Shaw, Jr., a dedicated individual, a family-oriented man, a lifelong learner, and one of my dearest friends. I fondly referred to him as my ``brother-in-love,'' it saddens me to say that Gabe passed peacefully on Thursday, December 7, 2023, with his beloved wife of 41 years, Shirley Ellis, District Director of Wisconsin's 4th Congressional District by his side. The breadth of Gabe's accomplishments far exceeds his 78 years.

Gabe was born in Osceola, Arkansas, into the loving union of Gabriel Lee Shaw and Mary Hall Shaw. Gabe's life began as the first son among eight children, including five daughters and three sons. Graduating from North Division High School in 1963, he embarked on a path of hard work and continuous learning, which led him to proudly join the United States Air Force at the age of 17 the same year.

His dedication was evident as he graduated from the U.S. Air Force Explosive Ordinance Disposal School at Eglin AFB in Florida. Gabe's military service was exceptional, marked by holding one of the highest security clearances during the Vietnam era, concluding with an honorable discharge in 1968. Gabe's work ethic and commitment to detail became a hallmark of his character. He often declared, ``you cannot talk work done,'' demonstrating his resolve to address and solve any challenge thrown his way. Following his military service, his pursuit of knowledge persisted, leading him to enroll in both UW-Platteville and UW-Milwaukee with a focus on mathematics. His passion for cars propelled him to become an Automotive Service Excellence Certified technician.

Known for his love of challenges, Gabe accomplished the remarkable feat of passing all eight comprehensive exams required for the Automotive Excellence certificate on his first attempt, maintaining this certification for an impressive 15 years. He later attended Milwaukee Area Technical College and became a certified Air Conditioning and Heating Specialist. Gabe retired from Miller Brewing Company in 2005 after 30 years of service. His illustrious 30-year tenure at Miller Brewing Company showcased his dedication and loyalty.

Gabe, son of a carpenter, had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge that extended to various subjects, including taxes, carpentry, electrical work, masonry, and heating/cooling. This extensive expertise paved the way for his successful career, culminating in becoming a licensed Real Estate Broker in 1977. With a wealth of knowledge, Gabe thrived as a property owner. His ability to repair and maintain properties enabled him to support his family and community. He bailed out countless people with home and auto repairs operating as a contractor under the telling banner of GOOD AND FAIR.

Gabe's four daughters, son and grandchildren all benefited from his talent, intelligence, love, and generosity. In the weeks before his death, Gabe shared with me a message to all our progeny. ``Don't make excuses, if you work hard, look forward and not backwards you can accomplish anything with just an average aptitude.'' Gabe shared his life with his beloved wife, business partner and best friend, Shirley A. Ellis, who for over 41 years supported each other in health and sickness, exemplifying a dynamic and supportive partnership.

Gabe's role as a great provider extended beyond his immediate family, as he generously shared his wisdom with mentees, especially young men, offering valuable insights into the trade.

Personally, Gabriel supported me during some of the most challenging times of my life. My brother-in-love was a comforting resource for me as an 18-year-old new parent, as a candidate without a dime to donate to my own campaign, as a ``handy'' friend who rescued me time and time again as a new homeowner of an old house.

Mr. Speaker, Gabriel Lee Shaw, Jr., was a cherished member of Milwaukee, the 4th Congressional District, and the entire State of Wisconsin. He is an example of how patriotism, hard work, lifelong learning, and kindness can create a fulfilling life,

I will always treasure his personal impact on me, and I rise to honor the late Gabriel L. Shaw, Jr.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment that was included in the En Bloc amendment to the FY 2024 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill.

My amendment would recognize the success of the TRIO program.

The TRIO program provides low-income, first-generation college students' with academic financial and social support.

TRIO has produced more than 6 million college graduates--including me.

When I was 18 years old and beginning college, I became pregnant with my daughter. As a single mother, it felt nearly impossible to complete my degree.

But Marquette University's TRIO program provided the support I needed to reach my potential.

TRIO championed me, and now as a Member of Congress, I can champion them.

Because without TRIO I would not be here in these halls today.

And it goes to show how high someone can climb if they are given the chance.

November 8 was First Generation College Student Day--a now annual celebration focusing on the need to help first-generation college students, faculty, staff, and alumni succeed in every possible way, a goal that TRIO is working everyday to help achieve.

I am so proud to stand here today, as a TRIO alum, as a TRIO Caucus Chair, and as a Member of Congress, to advocate for this program.

I know the Ranking Member understands very well the value of this program and greatly appreciate her support for its inclusion in this En Bloc.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment that has been included in En Bloc amendment #1 to the FY 2024 Financial Services and General Government Funding bill that would ensure the U.S. Postal Service is effectively working to protect our postal employees.

With a continually increasing delivery network of more than 163 million delivery points, the U.S. Postal Service delivered over 129 billion mail pieces on more than 233,171 routes in fiscal year (FY) 2021.

That work would not be possible without the dedication and hard work of many postal employees, including letter carriers, who interact with the public almost every day and are a cornerstone of the service that Americans expect from our Postal Service.

But that work also carries great risks for the men and women of the Postal Service, including assault, robberies, and even death. It was nearly a year ago in December 2022 that a letter carrier was killed in uniform in my district. My thoughts are with his family as they prepare to celebrate their first Thanksgiving without him.

At a 2022 congressional hearing, Frank Albergo, national president of the Postal Police Officers Association testified, ``The Postal Service, perhaps America's most beloved federal institution, is in peril. Postal workers are being attacked and mail is being stolen at unprecedented levels.''

Earlier this year, police in the Milwaukee area arrested and charged eight members of a mail theft ring, seizing six guns, a bag of opened mail (including personal checks made out to hundreds of different people), and two arrow keys. Earlier this month, at least two postal workers in Milwaukee were robbed at gunpoint while on duty. This remains an ongoing and national problem.

These assaults, threats, and other crimes against postal employees directly impact mail delivery and the ability of the Postal Service to recruit and retain workers.

That is why I have been pushing the Postal Service to proactively use all available resources and tools to better protect its employees, working closely with other federal, state, and local officials. And I know others in this body have also been pushing the Postal Service to do more.

In a response to one of my inquiries on this matter this year, the Postal Service noted a number of steps it was taking including installing more theft resistant mailboxes and heightened mail theft prevention efforts in selected cities nationwide.

My amendment is intended to help ensure that those measures actually work to effectively protect our postal employees and ensure that those preying on them are caught and held accountable. I am pleased that it was included in this En Bloc amendment. And I hope the Postal Service will take very seriously its charge and responsibility to the safety and well-being of its employees.

Our postal employees are working hard to serve communities across our nation, and they deserve to be able to go to work knowing that they can do so safely.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member and chairman for their leadership.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment is simple. It is amendment No. 26, and it would increase funds for the continuum of care grants under the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance program by $1 million to help survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking who are experiencing homelessness and provide them the resources they need to leave abusive and harmful situations.

These grants provide local organizations, faith-based organizations, and Tribal entities with the funds necessary to help combat our Nation's homelessness crisis. Domestic violence shelters funded by the continuum of care grants are the first place survivors turn to in order to provide them with the opportunity to escape dangerous and abusive situations and ultimately helps to prevent the loss of life at the hand of abusers.

In my own State we had a record number of domestic violence loss in 2022 at a rate of one death every 3.8 days.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this en bloc amendment.

I would end with a question asked by Jenna Gormal: Will we invest in prevention measures, housing, economic, and racial equity, commonsense firearms regulations, body autonomy, or will we accept the deaths of our family and community members at the hands of domestic violence?

Mr Speaker, I join my colleagues in condemning the horrific and heartbreaking terror attacks by Hamas as articulated in H. Res. 771.

I have been horrified by and strongly condemn the terrorist attack that has unleashed another cycle of violence that has millions of innocent civilians in the region under threat.

Let me be clear: Hamas is a terrorist organization that has shown time and again its disregard for innocent human life and does not represent the aspirations or speak for the Palestinians. Hamas--which has long been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. and subject to sanctions--has no regard for the lives it puts in danger, Israeli or Palestinian.

My heart continues to be heavy as I mourn the innocent Israeli lives lost and those kidnapped and taken hostage, including Americans and other foreign nationals.

I agree with many of my colleagues who have pointed out a glaring omission in this resolution: the lack of any real acknowledge of the hardships, suffering, and loss being imposed on innocent civilians in Gaza, including the children who have died, who hate Hamas as much as anyone in this chamber and simply want to live their lives in peace. We have to be clear that this body deplores the loss of all innocent lives.

I refuse the narrative that you cannot condemn Hamas while also expressing concerns for the fate of innocent Palestinians whose lives, livelihoods, and homes, are now in turmoil and under threat.

I reiterate the call from the Biden Administration, and others, that Israel's right to defend itself and its people, brings with it the responsibility to do so in accordance with international law, including the protection of civilian life. And this must include working to restore a supply of basic needs (food, water, medicines) to the civilians trapped in Gaza.

Hamas' inhumanity and acts of terrorism should not induce the rest of us to abandon our principles and international law.

You wouldn't know it from this resolution but there is an urgent humanitarian crisis that is being made worse every minute in Gaza. The longer the fighting goes, the worse I fear the impact will be for these civilians who did nothing to start this fight and have nowhere safe to go.

How does another massive humanitarian crisis help Israel's security or the ability of civilians to live in peace? I was pleased to join a number of my colleagues on a recent letter urging President Biden to make humanitarian needs of innocent civilians in Gaza a priority. This must remain a priority for U.S. diplomatic efforts in the region, including directly by President Biden himself. I hope this chamber would have joined us in sharing that sense of urgency and decency.

And lastly, even as Israeli forces are gathering for a devastating ground war in Gaza that will increase the suffering of innocent Palestinians, we all have to recognize that, at some point, the fighting will end.

I hope it is much sooner rather than later for the sake of innocent civilians.

The resolution is however conspicuously silent on what happens when the violence ends or on the two-state solution that I and others have pressed for over the years and which sadly, continues to be sidelined which is the goal of groups like Hamas.

Let's be clear--to permanently end this cycle, we don't need more nonbinding resolutions and condemnations. Tough choices, Tough decision, Tough compromises have to be made. And those decisions will not be made here on the floor of the House of Representatives.

What happens when the rocket fire stops is going to be the most important indicator of, if and when, we can break this cycle of violence or how soon we will once again have sirens going off in Israel and Palestinians in Gaza told to flee without any actual ability to flee.

The need for greater political and diplomatic engagement will not end with the fighting. In fact, its need increases exponentially if you really want to protect innocent civilians.

I can tell you there are Palestinian moms and dads huddling with their children in some awful place begging for peace right now.

I also hear cries for peace from families, relatives, and friends of Israeli's who died or were wounded or who are being held hostages. I don't need thousands more innocent Israeli's and/or Palestinians under threat to know that they are hungry for anything that brings them closer to peace and farther from fearing for their lives at every moment.

Security for Palestinians and Israelis are linked. So is prosperity and hope for a better future.

I want this fighting to come to an end as soon as possible. Military means have never brought peace to this region.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to appeal to the majority here

to not make draconian cuts to the Women, Infants, and Children program.

What is before us is a proposal to cut $800 million out of the fruit and vegetables portion of the WIC program.

Study after study has shown that WIC improves birth outcomes, reduces the likelihood of preterm births and low birth weights, and helps lactating mothers. As of May, WIC has already served an average of 6.6 million monthly participants.

Mr. Speaker, this is our future workforce, and how we treat these babies is what shows us who is right to life and who is not. You want to be a right-to-life person? Feed the babies.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the heinous attack on LGBTQ+ servicemembers and veterans, including in the fiscal year Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies appropriations bill.

While it is no surprise that Republicans continue their consistent attempts to dehumanize, discriminate, and devalue LGBTQ+ people, it is shameful that they have chosen to carry this distasteful political attack into this body's appropriations process. Why?

This is a voluntary military, Mr. Speaker. There are 1 million gay and lesbian veterans, and more than 130,000 of them identify as transgender. On top of that, 65,000 Active Duty members currently serving in our military identify as LGBTQ+.

In their bill, which we will debate later on this week, Republicans argue that we should turn our backs on these volunteers who have dedicated their lives to serving our country. Saying that they do not deserve access to lifesaving healthcare services based on their identity is ridiculous.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to stick with our LGBTQ+ veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Jackson for yielding. I am so happy to be joining him and Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick for this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour. Indeed, it is a special honor to talk about our children and what they need.

I am so proud to be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Not only am I a member of this esteemed body that is concerned about foster youth, but I am also a member of the Bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, and I serve in that caucus as one of the six bipartisan chairs.

I thank the CBC and its members who supported the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth's Shadow Day this past June 14, last week. I thank all the Members of the House who took time to allow a former foster youth to join them in their day's activities as well as to hear from and learn from their shadows.

If you didn't have a foster youth this year, be sure that Gwen Moore will be calling upon you next year to enjoy this important experience and feedback between the delegates and Members.

My fellow CBC members, in particular, demonstrated their commitment to this special community through graciously hosting a former foster youth in their office for 1 day and addressing the whole delegation and cohort of 30 former foster youth from across the country, representing 20 States, directly during the youth's townhall meeting.

I thank those CBC members who stepped up last week to host a shadow, including my Congressional Foster Youth Caucus co-chair, Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove; my Ways and Means Committee work fam subcommittee ranking member and longtime foster youth advocate, Representative Danny Davis of Illinois; and others, including Representative Emanuel Cleaver, Representative Terri Sewell, Representative Bobby Scott, Representative Barbara Lee, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Representative Summer Lee, Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, and Representative Shontel Brown.

Mr. Speaker, I will give a special shout-out to Representative Maxine Waters, who was busy with her committee and didn't actually take a shadow, but she met and spoke with one of the students that I shadowed and made his day. He was someone who was born in Los Angeles, and it made his day to meet the Honorable Maxine Waters.

We also went over to the Senate side and met with Senator Booker. My particular shadow, Theron, is someone who is a licensed therapist, and his experience in foster care is that it is easier to get in trouble and to come in contact with the juvenile justice system for doing nothing but being a foster youth. He wants to make sure that we put a focus on the juvenile justice system with regard to its nexus with foster care.

We have to stop the foster care-to-prison pipeline, Mr. Speaker. These are things that our foster youth are telling us.

I represented two outstanding foster youth, Shay Grey Woods and Theron Ogedengbe. Just like all the foster youth that I have gotten to know and had the privilege to participate with during Shadow Day, including the late Dosha ``DJay'' Joi, I have been the student. I have learned from them. They have informed me about the kinds of legislative initiatives that need to occur and what we need to do.

Mr. Speaker, just let me say, these foster youth who come here every year are leaders. These are people who have somehow overcome the many barriers that foster youth experience, and they are able to be a voice to speak for them. We should not think that because we meet these brilliant, young, educated foster youth that there aren't thousands more of them who are falling through the cracks for want of our guidance and care.

It is a reminder. I remind you that behind all these statistics, there are real people and real stories that demonstrate their incredible resilience and hope that they have.

The reason that I am really proud of Shadow Day is because it elevates the voices of the over 377,000 children in out-of-home care as of the end of 2021.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, disproportionately, Black children are overrepresented in the child welfare system. In my own home State of Wisconsin, 28 percent of the youth in out-of-home placements were Black or African American, whereas African-American youth in Wisconsin only constitute 9 percent of the population. They are overrepresented by three times.

The data from the United States as a whole is similarly disproportionate, with 22 percent of children in the United States in out-of-home care being Black and only 14 percent of youth in the general population being African American.

When you say that you want to lift up National Reunification Month, it is something we need to lift up because we have all heard the old adage that you divide and conquer. This is our future workforce. These are our future builders, doctors, teachers, people who repair our roofs, and it is just about impossible to do that when they start out with so many adverse childhood experiences, like being separated from their birth parents, sometimes unnecessarily.

In a perfect world, no children would ever be separated. Of course, we understand that sometimes that is in the best interests of the children. Far too often, it is our policies under our child welfare system and our welfare system and our unwillingness to support parents where they are that are creating these out-of-home placements.

I want to talk about some very specific reasons that children are taken out of these homes, if you will bear with me.

Child neglect is the number one reason that children are taken out of these homes. No one wants children to be neglected. Not a single person in the United States Congress would want a child to be stuck in a home where they were being abused and neglected.

That is really an overstatement of what actually happens. What actually happens is there are a lot of people who have more month than money. If you come to June 26 and the resources for that household have dried up, with some of the most onerous policies that we have around who can get SNAP, also called food stamps, and when you think about parents living in situations where 48 percent of their income has to go for housing, and not necessarily good housing--houses with lead paint in them and lead pipes and vermin, and they are still paying almost half their income for housing, we see a situation where children can easily be loved yet neglected.

One of the things that I am going to do is reintroduce, as I have done for several cycles, the Family Poverty is Not Child Neglect Act. I want to reinforce the notion that these agencies should not be snatching kids out of their homes when providing maybe some SNAP or other resources to the family could preserve that family.

It is in the best interest of children to be at home if they can be. My bill would make it so much harder for these agencies to use poverty as a rationale to pulling families apart.

I am looking for other ways to do it. I don't want to take up all the time, but I just want to mention a second reason that children are placed out of home, it is because of parental substance abuse.

Mr. Jackson, I have known you and your family for a long time, so I know that you recall how substance abuse has become a real curse in this country. Drug affliction and addiction happens in every corner of the United States. How is it treated?

In some communities where there are fentanyl addictions, which are tragic; meth addictions, which are tragic; opioid addictions, which are tragic, we are proposing government interventions to help people. But when children of foster families become addicted, they are treated often like criminals and have their children taken from them instead of them being offered treatment.

So this year's theme for National Reunification Month is ``We believe in the resiliency and strength of our families.'' If that is going to be our motto, Mr. Jackson, we ought to do something to reinforce this strength and resilience and not just talk about it.

We need policies that match this audacious goal. Policies like the new exemption from SNAP time arbitrary and

harmful time limits in the Fiscal Responsibility Act for former foster youth up to age 24.

The White House has done a marvelous job, they estimated that as many as 50,000 youth who have aged out of foster care will now be exempt from onerous timelines which say that in the 3-year period you could only be eligible for SNAP for 3 months. In 3 years you can only get SNAP if you are an adult, but we have exempted foster youth from that provision because who do we know, Representative Jackson, who is 18 or 19 on their own and can figure it out? I know I was still eating at home when I was 19.

I am so proud, again, of you and Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick for spending this time to lift this up to our community and our constituents. I am inspired by your dedication and recommitted to working with you as we move forward.

I thank you for yielding to me, Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me the time. I also thank Representative Cherfilus-McCormick and Representative Jackson for hosting this Special Order hour.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that as a member of a family whose relatives and brothers and dad and uncles have served in the service, Memorial Day weekend is very important to me.

As our Nation prepares to celebrate this Memorial Day, I am so pleased to join my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus on the floor to recall the great sacrifice of all that we ask of those who put on the uniform.

Memorial Day is a stark reminder of the cost of that service and the sacrifice that comes with taking that oath. There are few other callings in life as humble or as selfless as the sacrifice of a member of the military. We owe them so much.

Because of this sacrifice, this distinguished body is able to gather today, tomorrow, and the next day under the ``E pluribus unum'' in this Chamber. Because of their sacrifices, there are so many more who are inspired to put on the uniform and will do so in the coming days.

Mr. Speaker, while Memorial Day reminds us to celebrate those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, Memorial Day also urges us to do something active for those veterans that are serving now, that are standing up for our freedoms and liberties. I am so tremendously proud of the work that House Democrats have done to continue in this regard-- efforts like the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, the Honoring our PACT Act, that is being aggressively implemented by the administration to ensure it fulfills a promise to provide generations of veterans with the care and benefits that they have earned and deserve.

This new law creates a strong framework for expanding and extending eligibility for VA healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic substances during their time in uniform. For too long, Mr. Speaker, veterans have had to fight just to get benefits that they earned for exposure to some dangerous toxins while they were in uniform.

More than 3.3 million veterans have received the new toxic exposure screening set up by this new law, and I am grateful that while many of them have passed on, those who are alive will get some remuneration for their suffering.

On this day, I especially want to remember other veterans who did not necessarily die in combat but died even so as a result of their service--someone like my constituent Corey Adams.

Corey Adams wanted to serve his country and follow in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, so he joined the Air Force right after high school. This week, I intend to introduce a bill named after him.

Corey served 4 years on Active Duty, and then he joined the Air Force Reserve. He had overseas deployment, including 6 months in Afghanistan in 2009.

Sergeant Corey Adams was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and moved into his parents' home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a very fragile veteran.

On March 20, 2017, the Adams family was changed forever. Sergeant Corey Adams was missing, and they knew he was vulnerable. His family tried to file a missing report soon after he went missing. It took 8 days before the police determined that he met the criteria of a missing person, a crucial delay.

Mr. Speaker, 18 days after his disappearance, Sergeant Corey Adams' body was found in a pond and recovered from Dineen Park, 1 mile from his mother's home. Last month marked the sixth year since his body was found.

Mr. Speaker, no family should suffer like this. Out of this tragedy, his family took action and went to the Wisconsin Legislature. Therefore, due to their advocacy, Wisconsin became the first State to enact a green alert system to find veterans who are reported missing. That system has already worked to help successfully locate missing veterans.

Delaware, Tennessee, and Texas have since enacted laws to do the same, and other States are currently looking to do the same.

The legislation that I will be introducing this week in his honor will help establish a national program at the Department of Justice to help create a strong and robust green alert network across our country to help ensure that when a veteran goes missing, we do all we can to find them. We will leave no soldier behind.

With legislation like the Corey Adams Searchlight Act, the Honoring our PACT Act, and so many other thoughtful bills that have been introduced so far by my colleagues in this Congress, we make sure that Memorial Day is also a time to act and to make sure that we enact policies that make clear to our veterans and our servicemembers that we will always have their backs--always.

Mr. Speaker, I thank each and every one of the men and women in uniform today and all of our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, as the mother of a teacher and the daughter of a teacher, I am glad to rise today to recognize Teacher Appreciation Week which was celebrated from May 8 through May 12, 2023.

As another school year comes to a close in the coming weeks, we should take the time to applaud the men and women who are so crucial to ensuring our children have a quality education.

To say it can be a thankless job, is a gigantic understatement. But it can also be a very rewarding career, one that changes lives forever.

I think it would not be hard for any one of us to recall a teacher who had an impact and probably continues to have an impact on our lives today.

And that's why its critical that we ensure that today's students and the generations to come have access to quality teachers who help make a difference in their education outcomes.

For too long, our Nation's policies have under-valued the teaching profession. We can ill-afford to do that.

We know that there are persistent and widespread teacher shortages nationwide every year, with thousands of teaching positions going unfilled.

We can support our students by ensuring they have high quality teachers who can earn a decent wage.

Recent data from the National Education Association shows that in 17 percent of school districts, the top salary a teacher can earn (with 30 years of experience and a Ph.D.) is $60,000.

Nearly 9,000 school districts provide starting teacher salaries below $40,000.

We need to support efforts like the American Teacher Act that I have cosponsored that help school districts of all sizes adequately pay teachers.

This is not rocket science.

Two-thirds of teachers, and half of teachers of color, believe higher salaries are the best way to attract and retain a talented and diverse workforce, making it the top choice of incentives.

Other research finds that teacher salaries are the number one reason why teachers say they will leave and the number one reason former teachers say they did leave the profession.

As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, I encourage everyone to remember and

thank a teacher who has made a difference in their life.

I want to thank the teachers who shaped my life and my children's and grandchildren's lives.

And I encourage my colleagues to work with me to support policies to help train, develop, and adequately pay our teachers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life and service of Lois A. O'Keefe, a public servant, a trailblazer for working mothers, and one of my dearest friends. It saddens me to say that Lois passed peacefully in the early morning of Wednesday, December 21, 2022.

I had the pleasure of knowing Lois for close to 30 years before starting my legislative career in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Lois was involved in the Wisconsin political scene,

as a volunteer, activist, and fighter committed to giving a voice to the voiceless. Lois worked tirelessly for decades with dedication and passion, which still inspires me to this day.

As a Congressional Staffer, she served under two U.S. Senators, Senators William Proxmire, and Herb Kohl, and eventually served the American people in my office. She served nearly 10 years on my staff as a caseworker and then as District Director. Lois' contribution to the Milwaukee community as well as her legacy will continue to inspire future generations of public servants.

Lois' true passion was serving working-class Americans and underinvested youths. She served the labor movement as the Regional Representative of the Secretary of Labor for the Midwest Region in Chicago. During the Clinton Administration, she served under Secretaries Robert Reich and Alexis Herman to help provide better living conditions for Americans. Most importantly she served as a union organizer for the Service Employees Union representing workers who cared for the elderly. She ran a non-profit called REACH, a youth organization for underprivileged kids. She also worked with the Milwaukee Job Corps to start an internship program in my district office. Lois cared about the Americans that are often too forgotten about.

Lois lived the reality that so many women with careers juggling work and childcare issues face. She then returned to school with four children under the age of 14 and earned both a BA in Political Science and an MA in Industrial and Labor Relations. Lois understood the struggle of being a working-class mother and committed her life to helping others who faced similar struggles.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I am honored to pay tribute to Lois O'Keefe. She has helped transform the lives of so many people, including my constituents. The people of the 4th Congressional District, the State of Wisconsin, and the United States thank her for her commitment to service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Anna Maria Hodges who became the first woman of color and Afro-Latina to hold the position of Clerk of Circuit Court of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Ms. Hodges is a consummate professional with decades of hard-earned experience, leadership abilities, impressive work ethic, and commitment to justice and innovation.

Elected by the people of Milwaukee County on November 8, 2022, Ms. Hodges assumed office on January 2, 2023, and directs the administrative, recordkeeping, and clerical services that support the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Ms. Hodges leads a staff of nearly 300 employees, supervises the management of approximately 150,000 annual cases, and administers a budget exceeding $42 million. In addition to her statutory duties as the Clerk of Circuit Court, Ms. Hodges serves pursuant to the Milwaukee County General Ordinances as Director of the Milwaukee County Division of Court Services, supervising additional fiscal and administrative services supporting court operations, and provides direction to Milwaukee County's Jury Management Office.

As the Clerk of Circuit Court, Ms. Hodges continues upon her nearly three decades of work expanding public access to our justice system and ensuring efficient court operations. Ms. Hodges' priorities include achieving excellence in customer service, increasing professional development and training opportunities for her office's dedicated personnel, and responsibly administering the records and funding entrusted to her office. Ms. Hodges' service as Clerk of Circuit Court marks only the most recent step in a three-decade career in public service.

A public servant for nearly 30 years, Ms. Hodges previously served as Acting Clerk of Circuit Court in early 2022, Chief Deputy Clerk of Circuit Court from 2018 to 2022, and as Assistant Chief Deputy Clerk of Circuit Court and Civil Division Administrator from 2006 to 2018. She has also served as Court Coordinator and Deputy Director of Litigation Services for the First Judicial Administrative District, as Deputy Director of the Milwaukee Office of former Governor Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, and as Constituent Services Specialist in the office of former Milwaukee County Executive Francis Thomas Ament.

A resident of Brown Deer, Wisconsin, Ms. Hodges graduated magna cum laude from Cardinal Stritch University with a Bachelor of Science in Management. She is a proud mother and grandmother and is active in her community and church.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I am honored to recognize Anna Maria Hodges and her lifelong commitment to public service and Wisconsin. I look forward to seeing Ms. Hodges' contributions and accomplishments as Clerk of Circuit Court.

Mr. Speaker, as a congresswoman and a champion of health care initiatives, and as an advocate for breast cancer survivors, I rise today to commemorate Triple Negative Breast Cancer Day.

Breast cancer is a devastating disease that affects far too many of us. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in eight women will get breast cancer in her life, impacting hundreds of thousands of Americans each year.

I am particularly concerned about the disparities in breast cancer that leave women of color even more vulnerable to this deadly disease. While the many reasons are complex, it is critical that we continue to support research to get answers and to break down barriers to help save lives. For example, I have long been concerned about the impact of breast density, which can make cancers more difficult to detect on a mammogram. Additionally, dense breasts have been identified as a risk factor for developing breast cancer, according to the FDA. I applaud the FDA for its recent efforts to help ensure that patients are provided with accurate and timely information about the impact that breast density and other factors can have on the risk for developing breast cancer as part of a comprehensive breast health strategy.

Yet, we have so much more to do to help save lives especially when it comes to aggressive and deadly forms of breast cancer, like triple negative breast cancer. Women with triple-negative breast cancer often face a worse prognosis and limited treatment options.

This is why we need to increase funding for research for breast cancer, including for those who are fighting the triple negative variety. We need to find better ways to detect it early and to develop new treatments that will give women with triple-negative breast cancer better options in their fight against cancer.

But funding for more research is not enough. We also need to ensure equity and access to high quality and affordable treatments for all those with breast cancer, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. Women from marginalized communities often face barriers to accessing care such as high co-pays for additional testing beyond a basic mammogram, and we must work to break down those barriers.

No woman should have to fight breast cancer alone, and no woman should be denied the care she needs because of where she comes from or how much money she makes. We must come together as a community to ensure that all fighting breast cancer have access to the care and treatment they need.

I urge my colleagues to join me in the fight against breast cancer and to support increased investments in critical research for those battling triple-negative and other forms of breast cancer research and ensuring equity and access to care for all women with breast cancer.

Mr. Speaker, I am so delighted to be joined this evening by women members of the Democratic Women's Caucus.

The chairwoman, Lois Frankel, is here with us this evening. Vice Chairs Ayanna Pressley and Kathy Manning and other members of the Democratic Women's Caucus, Representatives Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Emilia Sykes, are with us here this evening, as well.

We are celebrating Women's History Month. What we thought we would do today is talk about many of the women who have come to Congress and made history and a big difference in this very male-oriented institution.

We call your attention to this chart. It starts here at about 1917, quite frankly, when Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress, all the way back to 1789. We finally elected a woman in 1917. She served 1 year, not even one term, because she voted against the war.

Here we are today. Within 1 hour, Mr. Speaker, we won't have a chance to talk about all of these women, but I think that the women we have chosen to speak about are women who found that they had the same profound challenges in this institution. They were highly educated and very intelligent, yet they faced tremendous hurdles. They overcame them and made a big difference in our institution.

We are going to talk about Bella Abzug from New York tonight. We are going to talk about now-Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin, who was a Member of this body. We are going to talk about Patsy Mink and now- Secretary Marcia Fudge from Ohio, who was Representative Fudge. We are going to talk about Shirley Chisholm. We may mention a thing or two about Nancy Pelosi from California, who is our Speaker Emerita.

We are going to talk about Barbara Jordan; Lucille Roybal-Allard; Stephanie Tubbs Jones; Senator Mazie Hirono, who was a Member of this body before she went over to the Senate; Pat Schroeder, who just recently passed; and Geraldine Ferraro.

We are going to talk about now-Secretary Deb Haaland, who was a former House Member, as the first Native American Cabinet Secretary but also one of the two first Native Americans to be elected to this body, along with Representative Sharice Davids.

We are going to talk about the first Muslim women to join our body, Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lois Frankel), the chairwoman of the Democratic Women's Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, that was great. I thank Representative Frankel so much for that. I must say that from afar Bella Abzug influenced me. I knew who she was. I knew about her helping to create the feminist movement, and it empowered me as a woman.

With regard to Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, let me just say, not only was she--it was pointed out, of course, she was the first Mexican woman to enter this institution, but it is not enough to just be the first. She came here and she led the way on things like the Violence Against Women Act. She fought and used her post as a cardinal to protect the interests of children, all children. We will truly miss her.

She mentioned Senator Tammy Baldwin--no, she didn't mention her. She mentioned Senator Mazie Hirono. She was a former House Member, now in the Senate. She went to the Senate and was the first Asian woman elected to the Senate. She is also the first Buddhist who entered this body.

Diversity is important so that all voices are heard in this body. I thank Lois Frankel for lifting up these women.

Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased at this time to introduce one of the people who is younger than me, but that I get so much--much younger than me. I guess people are laughing because that is really not hard to tell. She is someone who inspires, someone who has already made her mark in this body, and she is one of our vice chairwomen of the Democratic Women's Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley).

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Pressley so much, what a great tribute to a great woman.

Mr. Speaker, let me say that I am so happy to welcome to the podium another woman who is fairly new, but I tell you, she's a powerhouse and full of energy and ideas, here ready to do the work from North Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Manning), one of our vice chairs of the Democratic Women's Caucus.

I thank Representative Manning so much for that eloquent presentation, and I just want to thank the gentlewoman for sticking around and believing that someday we would get around to her.

Mr. Speaker, I am so delighted to introduce a new Member from California. She has succeeded our former colleague, Karen Bass, who is now the mayor of Los Angeles. When Karen Bass left, she told us: Don't worry, don't bother trying to miss me, because I am sending in the best and the brightest from my community, and she is going to hit the ground running.

She certainly has been a great colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove).

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove. Let me just say I knew all of those women from California, and they were California dreams, all of them. I remember when Ambassador Diane Watson became an ambassador, wherever she would take you, she would never ever, ever meet a stranger.

She could stay up all night and all day. I don't know where she got the energy from, but she was a people person. When she left, she told us: Don't worry, I am sending you someone great, and she gave us Karen Bass . Just like Karen Bass said: Don't worry, I am sending you someone great, and we got Representative Kamlager-Dove. We are very, very pleased.

I am so delighted to introduce our next speaker. I met her when she was a candidate. I knew immediately that she would win her race in Ohio because of her determination and her resolve to do it. She didn't have a lot of people at that time who were saying: Oh, yeah, come on. She didn't have a big fundraising base. But I knew that she was resolute to get here. Already she is speaking up, asking questions, and taking names.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the last time you will see Representative Emilia Sykes, so let me be the first to introduce you to her.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Sykes).

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Sykes for that very enlightening presentation of the 13 women who have been elected to Congress from the great State of Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, we have spoken about most of the women that we have on this poster board here. We named this little session ``A Dozen Women and Then Some'' because, as you have heard this evening, there are many, many, many more women that we could have talked about but we could not squeeze it all into one hour.

I would be remiss if I did not mention a couple of other women. Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin. Senator Tammy Baldwin served in this body before she was elected to the State senate. She was the first openly LGBTQ person to be elected to Congress. Being her authentic self, not shying away from who she was, and still she was elected to the United States Senate, to the U.S. Congress.

Before then, ladies and gentlemen, Tammy Baldwin served on the county board in Madison, Wisconsin, and before that she was appointed to the Common Council to fill an aldermanic vacancy because of someone's absence, and didn't have to face the voters because that is just how much they trusted Tammy Baldwin.

Tammy Baldwin has a resume that is too long to share with you this evening, but let me tell you some of the things that I rejoice about. Tammy Baldwin was the key legislator that put the provision into the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, to allow parents to keep their children on their insurance plan until they were age 26.

She did that because of her own lived experience as a person who was in the custody of her grandparents, and her grandparents were unable to put her on their insurance. They had to pay out of pocket thousands and thousands of dollars while Tammy Baldwin was in the hospital for months. It is that lived experience that gave Tammy Baldwin a passion for healthcare that she brought here to this body.

Now millions of young people who are struggling to get an education, to go to college, who perhaps don't have careers that have come together yet, can have health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act. We can thank Tammy Baldwin for that.

Tammy Baldwin was also able just recently to pass a bill that was signed into law to provide for same-sex marriage, something that has been a controversial issue in Congress for years, but Tammy Baldwin with her very soft demeanor and very understated presentation was able to bring together. I thank Tammy Baldwin for being who she is.

Another person who was not an openly gay person was Barbara Jordan, but Barbara Jordan really spoke truth to power during the Nixon administration. Unlike what we have gone through recently, her service on the Judiciary Committee at that time was one of the most powerful voices that enabled the country to realize that they needed to end this Presidency on a bipartisan basis. Mr. Speaker, I thank Barbara Jordan for speaking truth to power.

A person who just passed away recently was Pat Schroeder. I mean, she was Ms. Feminist. She was someone who kept things on boiling hot all the time in this body. She was very antiwar, and she ran on an antiwar platform. She ran on a platform of providing childcare for women, and far before it was talked about, she spoke out on the environment.

She was one of the first people to actually have very small children when she was elected, and someone asked her, ``Pat, how can you raise children and be a Congresswoman?'' She said, ``Well, you know, I have got a uterus and a brain, and I use them both.''

She spent 24 years in the House from Colorado. She was the first person to help get family and medical leave passed, and I think that that was probably her signature achievement in this body. After she left, she wrote a book, ``24 Years of House Work . . . and the Place Is Still a Mess.'' We ought to lean into Pat Schroeder and get busy cleaning up the House.

Geraldine Ferraro was another Member of this body; and, of course, she was the first woman who was a Vice Presidential nominee. She was yet another woman who dared to step into spaces where women had never tread. I thank Geraldine Ferraro for her fierce belief in women.

I would be remiss if I did not mention a few women who are still serving in this body. One is Representative Sharice Davids. Sharice Davids is one of the first Native American women, alongside Deb Haaland, elected to this body. When I met Deb Haaland when she was running for Congress, after I hugged her, I looked at her and said: Why the heck did it take you so long to get here?

The voices of native people were desperately needed in this space. Deb Haaland, who is now our Secretary of the Interior and the first native person who has been a Secretary of the Interior, is one of the people who has filled a huge void with regard to protecting the sovereignty of the first peoples of these United States, and I am grateful for their presence.

I also am very grateful for our finally electing Muslims to this body. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota are important voices, particularly since there is so much debate around the world about Muslims and their trustworthiness, reliability, and religious beliefs.

They have shown us that Muslims care very, very deeply about America. There are no two people in this body who care more about America than Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Ilhan Omar was not only an immigrant, she was a refugee to this country. She is someone who loves America because we opened the door of opportunity for her, and she has insights that none of us can see because of the space that she has occupied.

Mr. Speaker, I give honor to all of these women, and of course I adore Marcy Kaptur. I think Representative Sykes made a great tribute to Marcy Kaptur, but I would be remiss if I did not tell you how she has influenced me. I love Lake Michigan, which I represent in Wisconsin, and no one is more adamant about protecting this great resource, our Great Lakes, than Marcy Kaptur.

We have 20 percent of the world's freshwater, more valuable than oil and gas, which people spend so much time protecting, but we have got Marcy Kaptur to protect the greatest resource that this country has.

Before I close, I just want to mention one other person on here that we have not talked about today, and that is Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi. As you know, Nancy was the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives, and I would argue that history will designate her as the best Speaker ever. I was elected to Congress the term before she became Speaker.

By the time Barack Obama was elected, the first Black President of the United States, I still couldn't pick myself up off the floor, I was just so overwhelmed by what it meant to have this mother and grandmother be able to deal with all of the different factions in the Democratic Caucus and to bring them all together to accomplish our purposes here. I mean, we had the Blue Dogs, the progressives, and the New Dems, and Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi was the person who could get the vote. You don't bring bills to the floor unless you have got the vote, and Nancy was able to do it.

One of her greatest achievements was the Affordable Care Act, the so- called ObamaCare. The Affordable Care Act has provided 20 million people who were formerly uninsured with affordable, comprehensive healthcare.

I know President Barack Obama gets credit for that, but Nancy is the one that got the votes. Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi got the votes for the ACA. It was difficult.

This signature accomplishment is right up there with the passage of Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. This safety net program will be Nancy Pelosi's greatest legacy. After she accomplished her greatest legacy, she wouldn't stop. She kept going.

She shepherded the American Rescue Plan, which got many people shots in arms during a pandemic. She shepherded the American Rescue Plan that kept people from being evicted from their homes, saved small businesses, and saved our economy.

Thank you, Nancy Pelosi.

It was such a great accomplishment, but she didn't stop then. She got the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in a hugely divided Congress. This bill provided the greatest investment in clean energy that the world has ever seen. It put us on track for meeting our climate goals by 2030. Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi presided over that accomplishment.

The Inflation Reduction Act supports our environment, but not only that. It provides billions of dollars of relief by finally allowing this Congress to negotiate drug prices for Medicare. One of the biggest expenses this country has is Medicare, a signature program that supports our seniors. While everyone is complaining about how we are going to continue to fund Medicare, this Inflation Reduction Act gives the ability to do what you do in capitalist countries.

If this were IBM, Dell, Starbucks, Amazon, or any other large corporation that purchased as much healthcare for their employees as the United States of America does through Medicare, the VA, and Medicaid, they

would be able to sit down and negotiate drug prices based on the critical mass of people they are serving.

We have lost billions of dollars protecting a rich pharmaceutical industry where Americans have paid five or six times as much for the same drug as people in Canada, France, or other places pay because we were unwilling to deny the fat cats and the shareholders of that company undue remittance.

Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi, Speaker Emerita--I ran into Nancy in the bathroom right after she had given up the gavel and yielded to Hakeem Jeffries to be our new leader, and I said, ``How are you doing, Nancy?'' She said: I am free.

She didn't leave. She is still a Member of this body, still providing advice and counsel to our leadership. She didn't leave here in disgrace. She is leaving with a storied legacy of being a great leader.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you and all the staff who has been here to listen to the powerful story of women.

When women lead, America is great.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Kathryn A. Kuhn. Kathryn is retiring after more than 30 years of leadership and service in federal, state, and local government and community relations, with leadership roles in both the private and public sector.

Kathryn served as the Associate Director of Intergovernmental Relations for Milwaukee County where she led federal relations from 1993 to 2000. During this time, she worked with the U.S. Congress to transfer land ownership from the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans' Administration Medical Center Facility VA to the stadium district, making way for the construction of Miller Park. Also, she secured a change in state statutes which facilitated the sale of Doyne County Hospital to Froedtert. As Legislative Associate at Wisconsin Counties Association, Kathryn secured a waiver from the George H. W. Bush Administration for Wisconsin's juvenile justice facilities that saved taxpayers millions of dollars.

However, Kathryn's greatest achievements came from her position as Vice President of Government and Community Relations at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). Kathryn joined the MCW in 2001 as Director of Government Affairs and was subsequently appointed Associate Vice President of Government Affairs and then Vice President.

During her tenure at MCW, Kathryn's leadership has directly resulted in tens of millions of dollars in funding to support MCW's missions including the creation of MCW's regional campuses as a signature strategy for addressing the projected physician shortage. In 2013, her advocacy efforts with state legislators led to a $7.4 million State Building Commission grant for the development of MCW-Green Bay and MCW- Central Wisconsin. She also advocated for the creation of a $5 million graduate program to fund a medical education grant program within the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to assist MCW create and expand residency programs across the state. In addition, she helped secure multiple increases for the MCW family and community medicine residency appropriations to support programs in southeast Wisconsin, Green Bay, Appleton, and Eau Claire and worked with elected officials to obtain a $25 million State Building Commission grant for aiding in the construction of MCW's Translational and Biomedical Research Center. Finally, she succeeded in securing an additional $5 million federal grant to supplement these state funds.

Kathryn's legacy at MCW extends into the research mission. She has helped to provide critical infrastructure and laboratory space for MCW scientists pursuing new discoveries, as well as helped to open a new avenue of funding support through the U.S. Department of Defense that has led to considerable growth in extramural funding. Kathryn also has provided expert guidance to investigators with research strengths that match scientific priorities at the U.S. Department of Defense. This includes MCW's Center for Neurotrauma Research in the Department of Neurosurgery, which has been a key partner in the Concussion Assessment, Research and Education Consortium, the nation's largest and most comprehensive study of traumatic brain injury in U.S. military service academy cadets and collegiate athletes.

Finally, Kathryn worked to enhance access to specialty care throughout Wisconsin, including overseeing efforts to support the creation of the Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program. The program has improved access to mental and behavioral healthcare through a hotline for primary care physicians. The program greatly benefited children and adolescents with mental health challenges and educated primary care providers on how to better manage their patients' mental health needs. The program now covers the entire state of Wisconsin thanks to $2 million of ongoing, annual funding in the state budget.

Kathryn Kuhn has been recognized throughout MCW for her expertise and dedication displayed in settings from major hearings to individual meetings with elected officials in many locations throughout Wisconsin. I am pleased to say that I have had the privilege of meeting with her on many occasions over the past 25 years while I served at both the state and federal levels. She always came extremely well-prepared and knowledgeable about the topic and programs she supported. I have developed a strong relationship with Kathryn Kuhn over the years and consider her a friend. Kathryn is kind and reaches out to assist whenever possible and sees a need to assist MCW, individuals, and the community at large.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I am honored to recognize Kathryn A. Kuhn and her lifelong service in the medical field to Wisconsinites and Americans everywhere. I wish her a happy retirement.