Floor Statements

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Today I rise in strong support of the rule and of the domestic priorities the House will consider today as a part of H.R. 2642

I strongly support provisions to expand and improve the GI benefits for veterans education. Our veterans who have served our country in combat and who are looking to begin to complete their college education deserve GI benefits.

I also strongly support provisions which provide vital support for workers by extending unemployment benefits for an additional 13 weeks. In the district that I represent in California, east Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, unemployment rates are above 8 percent.

This legislation will help to keep food on the table for our families and our workers affected by the declining economy. This legislation also appropriately includes a moratorium on seven misguided Medicaid regulations. More than 170,000 people in my district alone in California rely on Medi-Cal for their health care. And although Healthy Families serves more than 19,000 children in my district, another 18,000 children remain uninsured.

If the regulations go into effect in Los Angeles County, we will also devastate our Los Angeles Unified School District and our public hospitals who serve many working class people.

I am pleased that today we are prioritizing education for our veterans, the health of low-income Medicaid

beneficiaries, and of course our families and working families. I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support the rule and provisions which address pressing domestic needs.

I strongly disagree that small business owners and wealthy millionaires are going to be heavily impacted by this resolution. That is the Republican playbook, trying to tell you that somehow we are going to harm those people that are requiring and calling out for our assistance. This bill addresses their issues.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the achievements of Grace Thorpe, an environmental justice activist who fought to protect the Native American community who passed away on April I, 2008 at the Claremore Veterans Center.

Ms. Thorpe dedicated herself to the improvement of health and the environment for the Native American community. As a result of her efforts to prevent the Sac and Fox leaders from accepting grants for storage of nuclear waste in nation territory, many Native American tribes were able to establish Nuclear Free Zones. Ms. Thorpe later served as the Director for the National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans, as well as on the advisory council for Native American affairs at Greenpeace. She authored ``Our Homes Are Not Dumps: Creating Nuclear Free Zones'' and brought awareness about the environmental injustices in the Native American community.

Ms. Thorpe was also a dedicated public servant. She served in the Women's Army Corps during World War II in New Guinea, the Philippines and Japan, and was awarded a Bronze star for her performance in the battle of New Guinea. She further served as a Tribal District Court Judge and was a Congressional Liaison to the American Indian Policy Review Commission in the U.S. House of Representatives. She earned her Bachelors degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, obtained a paralegal degree from the Antioch School of Law while in Washington, DC, and was an Urban Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

I applaud Grace Thorpe's achievements and important contributions in bringing environmental justice and awareness to the Native American community. These contributions will not be forgotten.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the achievements of Edward James Olmos, winner of the 2008 CINE Lifetime Achievement Award. The CINE Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the few pinnacle leaders in the film and video industry whose lifetime contributions have left a profound impact on our culture.

A native of East Los Angeles, Edward James Olmos has been a trailblazer in the film industry as an actor, producer, and director.

The son of Mexican parents, he made his way to the big screen at a time when very few Latino actors were cast in leading roles, thus breaking the mold and setting the stage for future Latino actors to come. In his roles in movies such as ``Zoot Suit,'' ``The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez,'' and ``Mi Familia,'' Mr. Olmos portrayed the daily realities of the Latino experience in the United States.

Mr. Olmos transcended cultural barriers, and inspired a generation of teachers and students to overcome adversities and achieve academic success through his portrayal of math teacher Jaime Escalante in ``Stand and Deliver.'' Mr. Olmos' work has won critical acclaim and garnered him prestigious awards such as an LA Drama Circle Award, an Emmy, two Golden Globe Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.

Mr. Olmos is extremely active in the community and is a spokesperson for organizations such as the Southwest Voter Registration Project and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. He is also a United States Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nation's Children's Fund, UNICEF. As the chairman of Latino Public Broadcasting, Mr. Olmos continues to advocate for diverse perspectives in public television.

I applaud Edward James Olmos for his achievements and the important contributions he has made to the Latino community. Congratulations on receiving the 2008 CINE Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 1092, a rule to suspend fast track procedures for the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). U.S. trade policy should promote democracy based on the protection of fundamental human rights. However, by sending the Colombia FTA to Congress, President Bush has disregarded the rights of workers in Colombia and the needs of working families in the U.S.

Since the 1980s, more than 2,500 workers have been assassinated in Colombia for joining, forming, or leading labor unions. More unionists are killed in Colombia each year than the rest of the world combined. We should not be engaging in free trade policies with a nation whose human rights record is so abysmal.

Our Nation's economy is struggling. The United States lost a record of 80,000 jobs in the month of March alone. The cities in the 32nd Congressional District that I represent have seen unemployment rates soar to more than 7 percent. In this time of economic turmoil, Congress must work to restore the economic security of working- and middle-class Americans.

This rule prioritizes the needs of American workers by removing the timeline for House action on this trade agreement. I strongly support this rule and urge my colleagues to vote for final passage.

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening in strong support of House Resolution 1077.

At the end of March, I traveled to India with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a congressional delegation and met with the leader of Tibet, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. We met young Tibetan children in India and saw hope in their eyes for a better future. We were greeted by many thousands and thousands of Tibetans along the road as we traveled up the mountain where they lived. Yet we heard stories of violence and torture inflicted by the Chinese Government on the Tibetan people and protesters. We learned of recent Chinese policies and laws that have limited the economic opportunities for Tibetans in China and severely endangered the Tibetan culture, religion and their language, in fact, their whole being.

Tibetans have fled to India to be able to practice their religion in peace and preserve their culture with dignity and respect. The Dalai Lama spoke to us about his desire for peace and his longing to live autonomously, not independent of, but autonomously in China so that Tibetans could practice their religion openly.

I, too, share his desire. House Resolution 1077 calls on China to end its repression inside Tibet, release prisoners who participated in nonviolent protest, and to begin a dialogue, a true dialogue with the Dalai Lama to find a solution for Tibet that respects human rights. The resolution calls for access for journalists so that the world can see, hear and view the situation in Tibet.

The Tibetan people are at a critical point in their movement to live peacefully and autonomously. We must

stand with them. We must also be a beacon of hope for them and for those thousands of children that we saw at the orphanage there. They greeted us with hearts open to us with flags both representing the U.S. Government and the Tibetan people.

I stand here, Members, strongly supportive of House Resolution 1077 and ask you to join with us and the Speaker of the House for its swift passage.

I thank the Speaker and I am very privileged this morning to pay special tribute and honor to the legacy of Cesar Estrada Chavez. Chavez dedicated his life to championing the rights of farm laborers and all working people and he did it through nonviolence. Recently I returned from a trip with the Speaker to India where I visited a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi and I recall that moment thinking about the nonviolence that was also expressed by Cesar Chavez in his movement to fight for dignity and respect for poor people, for people that were being oppressed.

Like Gandhi, Chavez believed that nonviolence is one of the most powerful tools to achieve change, including social and economic justice. Chavez was a follower also of Martin Luther King, Jr. believing in the power of prayer and spirituality. I have been inspired by the works of Cesar Chavez and also by the cofounder of the United Farm Workers, Dolores Huerta, and with that had introduced a resolution in this House to pay tribute to Dolores Huerta, one of the highest ranking members of the UFW. Yet until this day, we have not been able to bring that resolution up and I wonder why. And I ask the question-- why can't this House also pay tribute to a strong leader, a female, who represents the workers? Also with that in mind, I introduced legislation, the Cesar Estrada Chavez Study Act, H.R. 359, that did pass out of this House, that would for the first time authorize the Department of Interior to study public lands important to the life and history of Cesar Chavez through the National Park Service. Right now that bill has made its way out of the House and is over at the Senate. I would ask that the Senate Members there take action on the bill as soon as possible.

We should be grateful and never forget the accomplishments and achievements of Cesar Chavez to improve civil rights for every single American and those individuals who work and toil in the fields. Let us not forget the fruits and vegetables that we receive on our table come from those very farm workers here who may not even today have the same protections that Cesar Chavez worked so hard for.

Madam Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 120, on motion to adjourn, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Madam Speaker, President Bush and the congressional Republicans refuse to face the facts on the expiration of the President's Protect America Act, and instead continue their false and misleading scare tactics that are not productive and will do nothing to protect our Nation.

Republicans continue to claim that the expiration of the Protect America Act has reduced our ability to conduct surveillance. That is false, and Republicans know it. They know that the Protect America Act gave the intelligence community authorization for one full year, meaning that they are all still in effect until August of this year.

If Republicans really believed that the expiration of the act would jeopardize our national security, why did every single Republican Member of this body vote against a 21-day extension of the act last month?

Washington Republicans can't have it both ways. Rather than resorting to political games, congressional Republicans should have joined bicameral negotiations that were conducted for several weeks to develop a strong compromise bill. It is time that the Republicans get off the sidelines and work with our Congress. Let's see this legislation come to the floor today.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget.

As Chair of the Hispanic Task Force on Health and the Environment, this budget speaks to the growing need to create green collar jobs and reinvest in our country, and I am very proud that they were able to include that language in this proposed budget.

It also increases Federal spending for unemployment insurance and food stamps. And we know that Latinos are hard-pressed and hard hit when it comes to bad economic times in this country, and we are no different. Right now in my district in East Los Angeles, we see upwards of 7.2 percent of unemployment and foreclosures occurring almost every hour. In my district alone, 650,000 people have already lost their home. It's time for a change. It's time for a new direction.

This budget also increases Federal spending on Federal Medicaid assistance percentage payments to our States, which are sorely in need of that assistance right now, providing help, again, for foreclosures and housing assistance; reinvesting and creating jobs

in the near term repairing the Nation's schools, transportation, and infrastructure.

I also want to touch base on something that's very deeply of much concern with our community, and that is with respect to education and health care overall. And I'll tell you the temperature of the patient in terms of Latinos, African Americans, and people of color is not good. Right now what we see is 40 million people that don't have health care insurance. About 40 percent of those happen to be Latino children under the age of 6. We know there has to be a change. We need to promote a budget that will provide that kind of safety net for all Americans.

Our budget also increases veterans funding in 2009 by $3.6 billion, something that we should keep as an honorable deed when we say that we want to send our soldiers out there to defend, first and foremost, our liberties. Let's make sure that we take care of them when they come home. A high percentage tend to be those young men and women of color using the military because they have no other way of gaining access. When they come home, whether they are disabled or not, they need to have the kind of assistance that's ready made available for them where they don't have to trek 2 hours to get on a bus to go down to the nearest Veterans Administration to get help and assistance. We need to change that and this budget does that.

In terms of the environment and global warming, Latinos' low-income communities are always hard-pressed. We need to reverse that trend and make sure that EPA gets the full assistance that they need to enforce our current laws that will create a better level playing field for all Americans.

This budget addresses that issue.

Again, I would like to say that I am strongly supportive of the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget and would ask the Members of the House to support this budget in a new direction and new reform for this country.

Madam Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 107 on motion to appeal the ruling of the Chair, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Madam Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 105 on H.R. 2857-- GIVE Act, the Flake amendment, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Madam Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 106 on H.R. 2857, GIVE Act, the Inslee Amendment, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007.

As a society, we must fight for the rights of people who seek mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Vulnerable individuals with mental illnesses continue to face numerous barriers when seeking care, and we must work together to remove these barriers especially for diverse communities.

Latinos already have lower rates of employer-sponsored health insurance and lower rates of insurance with mental health coverage.

In California, 77 percent of Latinos' mental health treatment was covered by their insurance, compared to 85 percent of Whites.

The Supplement to the Report of the Surgeon General on Mental Health found that

Latinos with mental disorders underutilize mental health services.

Fewer than 1 in 11 Latinos with a mental disorder seeks help with a mental health specialist.

We must do more to help people with mental health disorders and addiction.

I hope that mental health parity will help reduce barriers to their care, such as coverage, stigma and discrimination to mental health care.

We cannot let insurers continue to discriminate against which diagnoses should be covered and which ones are not.

We should not compromise our efforts to stop the persistent discrimination in our mental health and substance abuse health care system.

This bill is a step forward for people who suffer from mental illnesses and for their families, but we in Congress must do more to enable the millions of Americans to receive the mental health care they need and deserve.

I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this landmark legislation.

Madam Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 58 on the motion to adjourn, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Madam Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 59, on the motion to adjourn, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Madam Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 60 on H. Res. 982, Contempt on Miers and Bolten, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''