Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a special young man, a brilliant one, so brilliant that he started attending college at the age of 9 and is one of the youngest college graduates in American history, and the youngest in the state of Minnesota to earn a bachelor's degree.

Elliott Tanner is the name of this brilliant young man who, at the age of 13, recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and minor in mathmatics from the University of Minnesota. Later this fall, Elliott will be pursuing his Doctorate at the University of Minnesota's PhD program for physics where he is on path to becoming their youngest PhD candidate ever.

Elliott one day hopes to teach at his alma mater but before that, he has the ambitions of becoming a high energy theoretical physicist with a main interest in neutrino physics or subatomic particles with no electric charge.

It is with great pleasure that I get to recognize Elliott for his achievement at such a young age. I would also like to recognize his mother and father, Michelle and Patrik Tanner for their hard work and sacrifices. I congratulate Elliott on graduating. I wish him the best of luck during his PhD program and look forward to the difference he will make in this world.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I join

my colleagues in thanking her for her leadership.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to speak against the cruel and unconstitutional leaked Supreme Court decision overturning settled law of the land, Roe v. Wade. To be clear, controlling decisions about our bodies is a basic human right. The government has no right to regulate what we can do with our bodies.

Overturning Roe v. Wade is about control. It is about religious supremacy. It is about harming women. It would fly in the face of decades of precedent and the overwhelming majority of public opinion if this decision is to hold.

We know this decision will fall hardest on the most vulnerable in this country: women who have been abused, women who are the victims of incest, and those who have been raped. But its consequences will be even more far-reaching than we can imagine. This will be a blow to everyone who believes in the 14th Amendment, to anyone who believes there is a limit to how much the government can control the decisions we make in our private lives.

We will be leaving our children and the next generation in a world with less freedom than we have enjoyed ourselves.

It is shocking to me that all of this is being championed by and is coming from a party that believes in small government, a party that talks about freedom, liberty. This is the party now that wants to do everything that they can to tell women what decisions they can make about their reproductive rights.

They want somebody like Senator Ted Cruz regulating your uterus.

They want Senator Chuck Grassley having authority over your body.

We have to say no. We have to stand up, and we have to fight back.

If you care about women's rights, you should be outraged by this decision.

If you care about a woman's right to choose, you should be outraged.

If you care about women having access to healthcare, you should be outraged by this decision.

If you care about economic justice, you should be outraged by this decision.

If you care about our basic freedoms, you should be outraged by this decision.

It is heartbreaking to hear some of the stories shared by my colleagues, to hear about some of the stories shared by my constituents. But it will be even more heartbreaking to hear about the stories that will be shared if we do not protect a woman's right to choose.

I think about many countries that I visited where women are locked up, serving 20 years in jail for having an abortion, where we hear about stories of women who die in back alleys because their families forced them to have that baby.

We hear about the stories where rape victims are forced to carry their babies to full term.

This is shocking, and it is shocking because those stories are about to become the stories of young women in the United States of America, a country that is supposed to be a symbol of freedom, a country that believes and exports what it means for women to be celebrated as an equal, a country that talks about how glorious its Constitution is in guaranteeing the rights of its citizens.

Now, this is about to become a country where women are crying out in pain because their freedoms are being impeded by Republicans, who only say they believe in freedom but do not want to guarantee freedoms to women in this country.

As an immigrant, I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be a woman living in this country. I am proud to be a mother of four children and to have given birth to three of them. I am proud to have been given the ability to make choices for myself that I might not have been allowed in the country that I was born in.

But it pains me today to know that those who believe in religious superiority, those who don't believe in the fundamental rights for people to choose as they please in this country, might have the last laugh, and we might not be able to do anything about it.

Not only do we have a narrow window of enshrining and codifying Roe v. Wade into law, but we also have only a couple of more months to make sure that this body and the Senate are not lost to religious extremists and that our country will be in their hands as they govern us to the gutter.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the Ukrainian people who are facing a cruel and inhumane war of aggression from a tyrant, Vladimir Putin.

I also stand in solidarity with my Ukrainian-American constituents whose friends and families are in harm's way.

We must address this war with courage, foresight, and humility. I am appalled by the extraordinary cruelty of Putin's war. I am also moved by the courage of the Ukrainians and also by the courage of the antiwar protesters in Russia, risking 15 years in prison for speaking out against Putin's aggression.

We must stand unified with the Ukrainian people. But even as we stand with the Ukrainian people, we must avoid the knee-jerk calls to make this conflict even worse.

One thing we should have learned throughout our history is that policy decisions we make simply based on fear or rage rarely end well. Increasingly, we are hearing voices calling for the United States and NATO to enter into war with Russia. For the most part, they are not saying this directly. They are using euphemisms like no-fly zone.

A no-fly zone is not simply declared. It must be militarily enforced. As the President said, a no-fly zone would mean the United States entering the war. It would mean the beginning of World War III.

We must reject this completely. The stakes are incredibly high. There has never been, on this Earth, a war between two or more nuclear powers.

There is a reason for this. Even in the madness of the Cold War, leaders around the world understood that nuclear war would mean the annihilation of humanity.

There are voices now that are shockingly casual about the risk of nuclear war. I am asking the American people to not believe them. Do not believe them when they tell you that it is going to be limited. Do not believe them when they tell you nuclear winter isn't real, or it isn't that bad. They don't know that. They can't know that.

Aside from the very real risk of nuclear escalation, we have placed the strictest sanctions in history on Russia with no clear off-ramps or criteria for lifting them.

What is clear is that broad-based sanctions will be devastating for civilians. What is less clear is that Putin or

his inner circle will be hurt or deterred by them. As Secretary Albright told me in a committee in 2019: ``We have learned that comprehensive sanctions . . . hurt the people.''

Collective punishment is a moral evil, especially when it is authorized with no end in sight. The embargo in Cuba has been in place for over 60 years. It has caused incredible human suffering. It has not produced its intended outcome.

Maximum pressure sanctions on Iran and Venezuela have made it hard for people living in those countries to buy food and medicine, but it has done nothing to weaken their governments.

We also know that there are a number of countries who depend on Russia and Ukraine for their food supplies. Russia and Ukraine produce one-third of the world's wheat. Already, there are reports their countries are refusing to export their own food supplies for fear of a shrinking supply.

There is a very real chance that this war and our sanctions could lead to famine in places like Sudan, which imports half of its wheat from Russia. The Russian people did not choose this war, and the Sudanese people certainly did not. Our policies should not punish them.

I don't support broad-based sanctions on any country, adversary, or ally. They are economic warfare, and we should all oppose them like we oppose military actions.

Madam Speaker, this war was sparked by greed, imperialism, and dehumanization. We must lead with humanity. Let us stand with not just the people of Ukraine who are giving their lives fighting off a cruel war of conquest, but also the brave Russian dissidents who are risking their own lives to stand up to Putin.

Let's stand for a world where the rule of law is respected, human rights abusers face justice, and we see each other first and foremost as fellow humans.

Madam Speaker, I pray for wisdom. I pray for justice. Above all, I pray for peace.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 42+ year career of Hennepin County Civil Servant Jeffrey Strand.

Public service is a noble and tireless pursuit aimed at improving the lives of your neighbors and community. Jeff is a testament to that pursuit.

Jeff is retiring after 42+ years of dedicated service to our shared constituents of Hennepin County. His admirable public service will leave a legacy of vast knowledge, leadership, and kindness for the County's employees and constituents alike. We can only hope that our local, county, state, and federal governments fill their ranks with such dedicated servants like Jeff.

Jeff should be proud of the service he has provided to Hennepin County and I wish him the very best for the next phase of his life. Hennepin County is a better place because of his efforts and I know his fellow Hennepin County colleagues will cherish the memories of serving with him.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing and thanking Jeffrey Strand for his hard work on behalf of Hennepin County, and to wish him well for his well-deserved retirement.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary work of U.S. Air Force Captain Saleha Jabeen. Captain Jabeen is the only woman Imam in the United States Air Force, and she has been working diligently as a cultural advisor and chaplain as part of Operation Allies Welcome at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

Brigadier General Dan Gabrielli of the Minnesota National Guard has been the commanding officer at Holloman since August of last year, and I had the enormous privilege of being briefed by General Gabrielli, his leadership team, and Captain Jabeen on the incredible effort they've been engaged in to ensure that we live up to our promise to the Afghan refugees under their care.

Madam Speaker, Captain Jabeen represents the very best of the generous spirit of the American people. Her infectious charisma, boundless energy, deep cultural understanding, and tireless dedication to helping Afghan refugees acclimate to their new home have made her indispensable to Operation Allies Welcome. We are all fortunate to have had her in this position, ensuring that we have lived up to our cherished values of hospitality and providing safe haven to those in need.

As a refugee myself, I am intensely aware of the importance of creating a sense of community during the disorienting process of resettlement. Captain Jabeen has been essential in creating that sense of community at Holloman. I want to express my deep admiration and profound gratitude for her dedication to public service, for the support she has given to the Guardsmen and women from my district who have also been dedicating themselves to this crucial mission, and, most importantly, for the many lives she has changed permanently for the better.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of a long-time civil rights activist, journalist, and my friend, Mel Reeves who passed away at the age of 64 from COVID-19 complications.

Born in Miami, Florida, he was the youngest of 13 children and was adopted at the age of one. Bullied at a young age, Reeves grew up standing up for others and being an outspoken advocate for marginalized communities. Later in life he attended Northwestern College in Iowa, then moved to Minneapolis where he devoted his life to advocating for social justice.

Mel Reeves was a journalist for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorded newspaper and never shied away from elevating the truth. He was a devoted and passionate man with a fighting spirit, always ready to support his community advocating for justice and accountability. Reeves did not just write about the many injustices happening around him, such as the horrific murders of George Floyd and Daunte Wright, he used his voice and platform to encourage the community to never stop fighting for justice.

As a community leader, he advocated for racial justice, education reform, the working class and more recently the need to protect oneself from the pandemic by wearing a mask and getting vaccinated.

Reeves is survived by his son Kellen Reeves and five grandchildren.

Rest in peace, friend. I thank him for inspiring many to speak up for justice.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise because we are in the midst of a staggering rise of anti-Muslim violence and discrimination around the world. At its worst, it is Uyghurs in concentration camps in China and genocide against the Rohingya in Burma. But those atrocities are part of a deeper fabric of violence against Muslims and impunity for violence against Muslims at a global level.

In India, Prime Minister Modi's government has moved to strip citizenship from millions of Muslims. In Sri Lanka, anti-Muslim laws and violence have imposed terror on the community. In Hungary, Belarus, and Poland, politicians have stoked fear of Muslim migrants and refugees. In New Zealand and Canada, white supremacist violence has targeted Muslims, including at their places of worship. And, of course, we in the United States are not immune to this hatred.

It is no secret that the previous President of the United States explicitly vowed ``a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.'' But Trump was simply taking advantage of a deeper culture of Islamophobia that has existed for the past two decades, from the PATRIOT Act to the CVE program to Abu Ghraib.

None of these things are happening in isolation. We must understand that these problems are interlinked. In fact, earlier this year the United Nations commissioned a report and concluded that Islamophobia has reached ``epidemic proportions,'' and urged nations around the world to take all necessary measures to combat it.

As a country that was founded on religious liberty, our leadership on international religious freedom depends on

recognizing that Islamophobia is global in scope and we must lead the global effort to address it. That is why Representative Schakowsky and I have introduced this bill, to create a special envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia at the State Department.

This bill also adds violence and incitement targeted at Muslims to the State Department's annual human rights report and international religious freedom report.

There are cynics who would rather see us divided on racial, ethnic, gender, and religious lines because it suits their political agenda. But I believe as Americans we should stand united against all forms of bigotry.

In fact, this legislation is modeled on the special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, and I was proud to cosponsor and vote last Congress on legislation to elevate that envoy to a cabinet-level position.

Because it is important, Madam Speaker, that we live in a world where everyone is free of persecution based on their religious background and beliefs. And until everyone is free to practice their religion, no one is.

I want to thank the colead of this bill, a partner in justice, Representative Jan Schakowsky, along with Chairman Meeks, Speaker Pelosi, and the leadership team for their commitment to this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I also want to thank the Council on American-Islamic Relations for their advocacy on this, and all the groups representing a cross-section of human rights, civil rights, and faith coalitions, who fight for religious rights for everyone around the world.

Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Minnesotans who are facing the highest housing affordability and childcare affordability crisis, a massive racial wealth and education gap.

I rise because Minnesotans spend an average of $16,000 a year on childcare, as much as they spend on mortgage payments, and Build Back Better would address it.

I rise because the people of my district have faced the worst housing shortage in the entire country and Build Back Better would create a housing acquisition fund to address it.

I rise because we need good union jobs and Build Back Better would invest in a civilian climate corps, AmeriCorps, and home healthcare workers being paid fair wages.

I rise because the people of my district need the Build Back Better, and they can't wait any longer.

Madam Speaker, this week we are considering critical legislation to invest in America and Minnesotans. We are investing in childcare, education, healthcare, housing, and so many other basics that my district so desperately needs.

In the Fifth District alone, we secured over $46 million in transportation and community project funding. That includes the skills training for clean energy careers, funding for updated sprinkler systems, a new healthcare clinic on Lake Street, a new park in Brooklyn Center, and so much more.

How we choose to invest our resources is a reflection of our priorities, and we, as House Democrats, are making our priorities clear: American jobs, opportunity, and working families.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for her leadership and for including my amendment in the en bloc.

Madam Speaker, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I travel around the world and hear so many of our diplomats emphasize the importance of balancing development, diplomacy, and defense. But in so many places, I don't see that balance.

My amendment is about restoring balance to our foreign policy by moving away from military assistance and arms sales and toward development and addressing the root causes of conflict.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this en bloc.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have introduced four of the amendments in this en bloc.

My first amendment would allow the Federal Government to start researching new economic metrics that would take into account the well- being of American families in a way that our current GDP measure does not.

The second amendment addresses challenges posed by COVID to remittances and how the Federal Government could better facilitate these lifelines for fragile countries.

My T-HUD amendment makes sure the Federal Government is helping manufactured housing communities cope with the pandemic.

And, lastly, my Interior amendment ensures that the NEA prioritizes grants for projects that preserve civil rights art, such as the projects within the George Floyd Memorial site in Minneapolis.

Thank you to the Appropriations Committee for including these amendments that will help my district and many more.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the following proclamation.

Whereas July 21, 2021, marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Columbia Heights, Minnesota;

Whereas in the summer of 1847, individuals came to what was then known as Manomin to farm and build homes;

Whereas Columbia Heights quickly became a prosperous trading route, where Minnesotans grew and gathered harvests that fed countless families throughout the region;

Whereas Columbia Heights was formed as a village in 1898, became a city in 1921, and

continues to be a community where all residents can feel proud to live, work, and raise their families;

Whereas Columbia Heights has successfully balanced economic growth and business development with an enduring focus on community relationships and small town charm;

Whereas, as of the date of agreement to this resolution, At only 3.5 square miles Columbia Heights boasts 15 parks, a first-rate education system, a thriving business district, accessible transportation, and the All-American City Award; and

Whereas Columbia Heights is a city with a proud history and a strong place in the heritage of the State of Minnesota and the United States: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--congratulates Columbia Heights, Minnesota on its 100th anniversary; and commends the Minnesotans who have made Columbia Heights, Minnesota the gem that it is today.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding, and I thank the distinguished author of this legislation, Congresswoman Lee, for bringing forth this legislation.

Madam Speaker, for the past 20 years, the 2002 Authorization has been used to wage war and cause destruction around the world.

While many in this Congress have participated in war, I am someone who has endured war and understands the impact it has on innocent lives. The act of war does nothing to make us safer.

Engaging in endless wars has led us to undermining our most important morals: peace, liberty, and justice.

Congress cannot sit idly by as we take more civilian lives and decrease our ability to build prosperity at home.

The more we spend on endless wars, the less we are able to invest in our own people with education, housing, and employment opportunities.

I am pleased that Congress is finally working on restoring its authority over matters of peace and war.

Madam Speaker, as our country recovers from this devastating pandemic, it is critical we prioritize our families. All working families deserve to thrive, and that starts with ensuring high- quality, affordable childcare.

This is a generational opportunity to invest in affordable, quality care for all children, and I urge my colleagues not to let it go to waste.

Right now, the average cost of childcare for children under 5 is around $10,000 a year. This amount is even higher for infants. In my home State of Minnesota, we have some of the highest childcare costs in the Nation, ranking fourth in the country.

A minimum-wage worker working full-time in my district in Minneapolis would have to work 30 weeks to cover the cost of childcare for one infant. This is unconscionable.

As a mom, I know how difficult it can be to find affordable childcare options and how a lack of childcare impacts all aspects of life, including the ability to graduate from college while taking care of young children or even the ability to find a job and thrive.

We need universal childcare and pre-K for all families, and we need to pay our childcare workers a living wage.

Ensuring affordable, quality care for every child and family would stimulate the economy and have a lasting benefit for children's development and growth.

The American Families Plan moves us closer to this goal by investing in universal preschool, ensuring childcare costs do not exceed 7 percent of income for working families, and guarantees childcare workers make a $15 minimum wage.

I urge my colleagues to ensure that women and families are not left behind in our recovery. Families across America are counting on us to do the right thing.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I extend my gratitude to Marie Newman for helping lead this important discussion, and I thank all the Members who are here and showed up in solidarity.

Mr. Speaker, as someone who has experienced war firsthand, I have a deep understanding of the suffering that comes along with it. As a child, I lived through a violent civil war that destroyed my home, ripped my family apart from each other, and killed many of my family and friends.

I can still remember, at just 8 years old, hiding under the bed, hearing bombs go off outside my window, and wondering if we were going to be hit next.

It is trauma I will live with for the rest of my life.

So, I understand, on a deeply human level, the pain and the anguish families are feeling in Palestine and Israel at the moment, and the helplessness people feel here in the United States who have family in the region, including many of my constituents. And it is for this reason that I abhor violence.

Whether rocket attacks or airstrikes, violence does nothing to make people more secure. It only furthers the interests of the powerful while costing lives, futures, and families.

But we must speak out truthfully and forcefully about the seeds of this conflict and about what is happening today. The truth is that this is not a conflict between two states. This is not a civil war. It is a conflict where one country, funded and supported by the United States Government, continues an illegal military occupation over another group of people.

This is not my description of it. This is the description of conservative Israeli leader Ariel Sharon, who, in 2003, said: ``To hold 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is, in my opinion, a very bad thing for us and for them.''

``It is occupation,'' he said. ``You might not like this word, but it is really an occupation.''

To understand what is taking place at this moment, we must understand how it began.

In 1948, 700,000 Palestinians were forcefully removed and uprooted from their homes in what has come to be known as the Nakba, or the catastrophe. Seventy-eight percent of their land was taken from them. Now, consider that: 78 percent of their land was taken from them.

Since then, 5.6 million Palestinians have been continually displaced from their homes in one of the largest and longest-lasting refugee crises in human history.

For decades, the United States, the United Nations, and many Israelis and Palestinians have pushed for a Palestinian state in which the Palestinians can enjoy the same rights afforded to their Israeli counterparts. But in the past several years, that hope has increasingly slipped away.

The Israeli Government and the far-right ethnonationalist leader Benjamin Netanyahu have legally razed Palestinians' ancestral homes, leveled entire neighborhoods, and violently suppressed any resistance.

This is all to make way for illegal Israeli settlement outposts designed to displace Palestinians from their homes and prevent a future Palestinian state.

Since 1993, when the first Oslo peace accord was signed, illegal settlements have increased by nearly 400,000. And Netanyahu has made explicit his goal to annex much of the West Bank, home to over 3 million Palestinians.

On top of that, Palestinian movement, speech, and economic activity are severely limited. Palestinians are not allowed to leave the Gaza Strip except in extreme cases.

Medical shortages are rampant. Youth unemployment was already at 40 percent before the pandemic hit. People who protest, including young children, are routinely shot by the IDF soldiers--often killed--with no consequences in Israeli courts.

As a recent report by Human Rights Watch detailed, this can only be described as an apartheid.

All of which brings us to the current crisis. This week, the Israeli authorities were planning more forced displacement in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem--home to Palestinian refugees who had already been displaced.

On Thursday, settlers began harassing and attacking Palestinians who were breaking their Ramadan fast during a protest vigil in Sheikh Jarrah.

The deputy mayor of Jerusalem joined to mock Palestinians, saying to one protestor: ``Did they take the bullet out of your ass?'' ``It is a pity it didn't go here,'' pointing to his head.

Then, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli military forces stormed al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, firing stun grenades, teargas, and rubber bullets. Over 300 people were injured; 200 of them were hospitalized.

What happened next is well known: Hamas fired rockets into Israel, which has taken the lives of six Israelis. And the Israeli military launched air strikes into Gaza, targeting civilian buildings, which have already killed 69 people, including 16 children.

Let me be clear: Every single death in this conflict is a tragedy. Every rocket and bomb that targets civilians is a war crime.

I feel the pain of every child who is forced to hide under their beds because they fear for their life, and every parent who deals with that anguish. And I wish we, as a nation, treated that pain equally; but right now we are not.

And instead of condemning blatant crimes against humanity and human rights abuses, many Members of Congress have instead fallen back on a blanketed statement defending Israel's air strikes against civilians under the guise of self-defense, without even a mention of the children getting killed, much less what happened at al-Aqsa or in Sheikh Jarrah.

When the 15-member United Nations Security Council proposed a resolution this week calling on the Israeli Government to cease settlement activities, demolitions and evictions, and urging general restraint, the United States reportedly blocked it from happening.

We are currently blocking the United Nations Security Council from calling on ceasefire. And to this day, we, as Members of Congress, have not had yet a hearing or a briefing on this conflict or gotten answers on whether our weaponry or money is being used to commit human rights abuses.

So I must ask: When we defend the Israeli citizens' right to peace and security, how can we at the same time ignore the 5 million Palestinians living under occupation?

When we say that Israel has the right to self-defense, how can we ignore the home demolitions, settlement violence, and forced annexation of Palestinian land that is happening?

And how can we say they, themselves, do not have the right to defend themselves?

How can we pay lip service to a Palestinian state, yet do absolutely nothing to make that state a reality while the Israeli Government we fund tries to make it impossible?

I will end with this: Today is Eid, the final day of Ramadan, one of the joyous days in the Muslim calendar. And while I would rather be spending it with my family, I know there are families who are mourning the death of their children because of this, and I owe it to them to speak out on their behalf.

So I am here today to stand for our common humanity, to say that every child deserves a life free of violence and oppression. Every child deserves

advocates for their humanity, for their safety, and for their security. And it should not be controversial to say the same for Palestinian children.

Eid Mubarak.