Harley Rouda

Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of June as LGBTQ Pride Month.

As we celebrate the contributions of the LGBTQ community, we also know that the fight for full equality under the law is far from over.

I call on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to respect the clear majority of Americans who believe that equality must become the law of the land by taking up the Equality Act in the Senate.

We also must do more to ensure that we have the data necessary to enforce key provisions in the Equality Act. That is why I introduced the LGBTQ Business Equal Credit Enforcement and Investment Act, which would help facilitate fair lending to LGBTQ-owned businesses and study the issues affecting them by gathering data from financial institutions about their lending practices toward these businesses.

If we are serious about our country's commitment to civil rights, protecting minorities, and economic opportunity--and, for that matter, about growing our economy--LGBTQ-owned businesses must have access to equal capital.

Madam Speaker, I rise to highlight the case of Michael Nguyen, an American citizen and Orange County resident who has been imprisoned by the Vietnamese government for nearly a year.

Mr. Nguyen is a husband, a father, and a leader in his community. He has lived his life in the United States in accordance with our laws, and he owns a small business where he works to provide for his wife and four daughters.

For the past eleven months, Mr. Nguyen has been held at the Phan Dang Luu Detention Center in Ho Chi Minh City, where he has not been allowed to contact family or friends.

Mr. Nguyen was held without charge until recently, when the charges against him were announced and a trial was scheduled for June 24th and 25th.

As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Vietnam must uphold its commitment to the rights to due process and a fair trial.

I join my colleagues in calling upon the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to uphold their international commitment to human rights by ensuring a fair trial for Michael Nguyen so that he may be reunited with his family.

Mr. Chair, when are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle going to give up this toddler argument that we should not take action to address the number one issue facing humankind, and that is climate change?

The fact that other countries are not moving as fast as we are is no reason for us to give up the mantle of leadership and allow the United States of America to be the only country on the face of the Earth not a member of the Paris climate accord.

It is time for us to be on the right side of history, and I would implore the Members on the other side of the aisle to recognize this is their time to do the right thing, not just for us, but for our children, our grandchildren, and future generations.

Mr. Chair, the gentleman knows the Paris climate accord is voluntary, so he does not save one job by declining to follow the protocol that we previously agreed on.

I do agree that there are economic opportunities that we can embrace, new technologies. I would love to see us work across the aisle to do just that.

As a former Republican, I used to be in that party because of its environmental stewardship, because it believed that capitalism could help solve these problems. I still believe it as a Democrat on this side of the aisle, and I am hopeful that we can work together.

For example, for every $1 that we provide in economic incentives for renewable energies, we have provided $80 to the fossil fuel industry. Clearly, if we had parity, we would see a much faster adoption of clean energies and the dissemination of clean energies by the existing energy companies. I can't wait to work with my colleagues across the aisle to accomplish that outcome.

Ninety-seven percent of scientists recognize that climate change is real. The Department of Defense recognizes this is one of the top, if not the number one, national threats to our security.

Let's work together. Let's quit pointing fingers across the aisle and using rhetoric that does not move forward an important issue that all of us should be fighting hard to address.