Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman, and I thank Judy Chu for their leadership.

Madam Speaker, 10 years ago on this floor, I spoke about a second- term abortion that I had. It was painful. It was hard. But I did because so many on the other side of the aisle that day knew nothing about what women endure. We are not vessels for a man to inject their sperm into and then walk away with no consequences.

This is my body, not yours. Many on the other side of the aisle whine about the freedom that they have lost by having to wear masks, yet you want to take my freedom to control my body away from me.

You have not carried a fetus in your body. You have not had a fetus die in your body. You have not had to mourn the loss. You stand there preaching birth but not life.

This is my body. This is my life. This is my freedom.

Mr. Speaker, to the members of the Rules Committee, I appreciate the hard work that you have put into getting this bill to the floor.

I am only going to speak about one issue in this particular NDAA, something that I have been working on for 10 years.

This is a helmet that was given to me by sexual assault victims in our military.

Since I started working on this issue, 200,000 soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen have been sexually assaulted in

the military, 20,000 a year. We have spent $2 billion on programs in those 10 years that have yielded us nothing but more sexual assaults.

Finally, in this very bill, we are doing what we should have done 10 years ago. We are taking these cases out of the chain of command and making the decisions by those who are professionals, who are lawyers, who are trained, along with the investigators, so that we will have a situation where sexual assault victims feel like they can come forward and file their cases.

I have had too many servicemembers say to me that they were ready to fight against the enemy that was outside the wire; they never thought the enemy was going to be a fellow soldier.

I am grateful to all my Republican and Democratic colleagues who have recognized, finally, it is time to put their safety first.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to speak in support of this bill which passed out of our committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.

This year's NDAA continues the committee's tradition of improving the lives of servicemembers and their families by supporting a 2.7 percent pay raise; increasing parental leave for new mothers and fathers, including adoptive and foster parents; expanding financial assistance for in-home child care; improving the legal representation for exceptional family members; and demanding an independent review of suicides.

Following the horrifying murder of Specialist Vanessa Guillen and a ground swell of activism from survivors of military sexual trauma, H.R. 4350 also boldly confronts sexual assault and harassment in the military, which has been one of my top priorities for a decade, by removing the commander from decisions related to prosecution of special victim crimes, improving sexual harassment investigations, and continuing to improve military criminal investigative resources.

It also establishes standalone offenses for sexual harassment and violent extremism under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

These reforms will increase trust in the military justice system and encourage survivors of sexual violence to come forward. The bill also requires an independent review of whether to transfer additional offenses such as murder that are out of the chain of command.

Where servicemembers serve, so do their families. That has been our mantra on this subcommittee, which is why this bill ensures that the military health system continues to have sufficient providers to meet beneficiaries' healthcare needs.

H.R. 4350 also improves services covered under TRICARE, including contraception, without copays.

Together, servicemembers and their families make sacrifices for our Nation, and we must continue our commitment to them.

I want to thank the ranking member, Congressman Mike Gallagher, the extraordinary staff of the committee: Ilka Regino, David Giachetti, Hannah Kaufman, Glen Diehl, and the fearless Staff Director Paul Arcangeli, and also Josh Connolly and Brian Collins from my staff.

Thanks to Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Rogers for an extraordinary NDAA.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor Wayne Freedman, one of the Bay Area's most intrepid television reporters and a fixture on ABC 7 for 30 years who is retiring after a remarkable and award-winning career.

Wayne has covered a vast variety of events here at home and abroad, from major earthquakes, fires, and hurricanes, to national and local elections, to major sports events, to the September 11th attacks, to the COVID-19 pandemic, to NASA space missions, to beached whales. In 1992, ABC 7 sent him solo to Moscow to cover Russia's Second Revolution. He traveled across the U.S. by train visiting small towns to capture the pulse of America after 9/11. No matter the content of a story, Wayne will get to the truth and he has a knack for finding the human angle that resonates with viewers. He likes to put it this way: ``My philosophy is to find, small stories within large ones, and large stories in the small ones. Those are the most telling.''

His philosophy and work have earned him over 50 Emmy Awards and several Edward R. Murrow awards. Many of his pieces were picked up by ABC's national show World News Tonight. Wayne is also the author of a book that is required reading in several college journalism programs in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, It Takes More Than Good Looks To Succeed at Television News Reporting.

Television is part of the Freedman family's DNA. Wayne's father, Mike Freedman, started working for the ABC network in 1948. He pioneered the use of live, hand-held video cameras for covering news and sports events. As soon as Wayne could walk, his dad took him into the field with him.

Wayne had his first byline in 1968 when he started writing a weekly column about life in middle school for a paper that is now the Los Angeles Daily News. That same summer he worked in San Francisco as a grip for ABC on a profile about heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Liston.

Wayne received his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from UCLA in 1977 and his Master's Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1978. In 1981 he moved to San Francisco from where he has been reporting ever since. Before he joined ABC 7 in 1991, he worked for CBS News traveling the country to produce a weekly segment called Only in America for CBS This Morning.

For those who have seen Wayne Freedman reporting out in the field, they will have noticed an ever-present still camera in his hand with which he snaps behind the scenes photographs that he posts on social media. It's an eye-opening way to see the world from Wayne's perspective.

Wayne and his wife Susan live in Marin County. They are the proud parents of daughter Lauren who lives in New York.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to rise with me to recognize Wayne Freedman for his lifelong passion for storytelling and his ability to transfer that passion to his viewers. He is an outstanding journalist who has thrived throughout decades of changes in the journalism profession.

While we will miss his booming voice and captivating presence on our TV screens and smart phones, we wish him well in his well-deserved retirement.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Rayna Lehman as she retires from her position of community service with the San Mateo County Central Labor Council. Rayna's remarkable 39-year career at the council, and her years of work in labor before joining the central labor council, were labors of love.

It is impossible to fully describe the scope of Rayna Lehman's work in our community since she first joined us in 1970, a young woman with a cat, a guitar and a big smile. In the past 51 years, she became a union painter, led the union, served on the labor council, and filled numerous civic positions including on the San Mateo County Childcare Partnership Council, the First Five Community Steering Committee, a countywide Blue Ribbon Task Force on Healthcare to expand healthcare access, a taskforce to ensure the equitable rollout of the Affordable Care Act, the county planning commission, the state Workforce Investment Board, the countywide school to career partnership committee, and dozens of other positions of leadership leading to improvements in the health, earning power and dignity of San Mateo County residents.

From 1982 to the present, Rayna Lehman served the labor council as the first Community Services Director and Labor Liaison to the United Way Bay Area. It's been a wild ride.

The community services director is an all-encompassing title. Her efforts to fight hunger and deter evictions during recessions were lifelines for thousands. During one recession in the 2000's, Rayna created a program to retool union members to work in the emerging biotechnology sector. Time and again, Rayna distributed thousands of bags of groceries to unemployed workers. During the 2020 pandemic, the total reached 22,600 families. If you estimate four persons per family, that's 12 percent of the county's population.

Rayna Lehman is about success for all. She knew that in San Mateo County, both parents need to work. She helped found Palcare, a nonprofit center offering care for children from three months to five years of age 24 hours a day. Palcare focuses on meeting the special needs of workers whose schedules require very early and nighttime work. It's an extraordinary success, affordable by design, and it allows workers to know that their children are safe and offered a quality preschool education while their parents are at work. Rayna served on the board and in other leadership positions at Palcare for many years.

Equal opportunity is the promise of America and a requirement if we are to sustain our democracy. Good jobs in labor begin with apprenticeships. In fact, Rayna was the first female apprentice in Painters District Council 33. In her job with the labor council, she noticed that San Mateo County's union halls were not recruiting enough women or young people from marginalized communities. Rayna began a pre- apprenticeship program that allowed students to improve their math and social skills, and to learn about safety on the job, among many subjects. The program is a wild success, always full, and a pathway to the middle class for hundreds.

In 1982, while I served on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, it was my honor to serve with Rayna on the first San Mateo County Advisory Council on Women, later to become the Commission on the Status of Women. The purpose of the council/commission is simple yet profound: To improve the lives of women in San Mateo County. Rayna served from 1982 to 1986 and during that time we held Feminization of Poverty hearings and made many recommendations ultimately leading to change. We also created the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame. In 1990, Rayna was inducted into the hall of fame she helped create.

San Mateo County is a beautiful place but in recent years a troubling undercurrent has emerged. The lack of affordable housing makes life increasingly difficult for tens of thousands. Rayna Lehman has been a strong advocate at city councils for affordable housing and for a livable minimum wage. She cannot help herself--she believes in the dignity of human beings and in the possibility of any honest and caring person to contribute greatly to our nation.

As I close these remarks, let me note the obvious: Rayna Lehman is a loving person. She loves her twin sons Patrick and Benjamin and their spouses Amanda and Kelly. She loves Bill, a truly fortunate husband. In addition, Rayna's expanded family is all of us in San Mateo County. She expresses her love by protecting and celebrating as many as possible.

Rayna is now retiring. The concrete reality of human beings fed, ennobled and celebrated is evidenced in ways large and enduring throughout our county. Farewell Rayna. If that guitar is still around, please strike a chord for justice. Truth be told, you wrote the song.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my amendment to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

We have taken action with the ALLIES legislation to make sure that the persons who have assisted us as drivers and interpreters find a pathway to freedom, but conditions for others are quite trying at this time.

Conditions for women, civil society, journalists, human rights defenders, and others continue to deteriorate, with vulnerable Afghans facing threats of violence and death, and heightened restrictions in Taliban-controlled areas.

Many Afghans are so terrified for their lives and their children's safety that they will not leave their homes. A recent wave of targeted slayings, more than 700 killed and 540 wounded in 2020, represents a 45 percent increase from 2019. The number of women killed doubled between 2012 and 2020.

The withdrawal of U.S. troops and the raging expansion of Taliban territorial offenses in our wake requires urgent action. Our failure to help those who help us and those who are in the crosshairs of the Taliban would, frankly, make us complicit in any further bloodshed.

That is why I have introduced this amendment, and I am introducing today the Improving Access for Afghan Refugees Act, to provide vulnerable Afghans with priority 2 refugee status to expand access to our refugee system.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill because we do have a moral obligation to do so.

Madam Speaker, I rise along with my colleague, Jared Huffman, to honor the late Phyllis Gould, one of the Bay Area Rosie the Riveters whose work was essential for the United States and its allies to win the war. Phyllis passed away on July 20, 2021, just shy of her 100th birthday on October 7. We had the honor and pleasure to work with Phyllis on legislation that recognizes the immense contributions the Rosies have made to history.

Phyllis Mickey Gould was born at Camp Lewis, now Fort Lewis, Washington. Her father served in the Army for 30 years and received a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his service in France during the World War I. Back during that time, Phyllis liked to explain, women didn't plan a career at an early age, instead they learned to cook and sew and were expected to marry young and raise a family. World War II changed that. Men were drafted to fight the war, leaving the jobs building ships, planes and munitions vacant. More than ten million women nationwide stepped in. In July 1942, Phyllis became one of the first six women welders at Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, California. Soon she was followed by her two sisters who became a draftsman and a welder and by her mother who became a painter. The Richmond shipyard built a record 747 cargo ships. Phyllis worked as a welder until the end of the war.

The Rosies were iconized by a poster by Howard Miller which ironically didn't become famous until 40 years after its creation. It's a poster of a young woman with a polka dot bandana, rolling up her denim shirt sleeve, flexing her bicep and exclaiming ``We Can Do It!'' Miller was hired by Westinghouse Company's War Production Coordinating Committee in 1942 to create a series of posters of inspirational images to boost worker morale. It was displayed only to Westinghouse employees in the Midwest for two weeks in 1943 and then disappeared. In the 1980s it was rediscovered, labeled Rosie the Riveter and became a symbol for American feminism.

For Phyllis, the Rosies never received the recognition they deserved, so she made it her life's mission to change that and this is how my colleagues and I came to know her. She was laser focused, feisty and tenacious. She emphatically stated, ``The military could not have done what it did without what we did! Every item they needed to succeed--a woman helped produce!!'' Her ultimate dream was to have a National Rosie Holiday, a plaque at veterans memorials across the country, a statue on the Washington Mall, an annual special commemorative coin, and a ticker tape parade down 5th Avenue in New York. You see, Phyllis always aimed high. For her personally, she said, she wanted to be able to say on her gravestone: Mission Accomplished!

While she didn't accomplish everything on her ambitious dream list, she accomplished a lot in her decades of advocacy for these war sheroes. In 2014, she and five other Rosies were invited to the White House and met with President Obama and then-Vice President Biden, even snatching a hug from him. Congressman Huffman carried, and I cosponsored, a bill that designated March 21 as Rosie the Riveter Day during Women's History Month. It has to be renewed each year, but we do have a national holiday, thanks in large part to Phyllis' work. I carried, and Congressman Huffman cosponsored, the Rosie the Riveter Congressional Gold Medal Act which was signed into law in December 2020. The U.S. mint is now in the process of designing the medal and Phyllis was deeply involved in sharing her design ideas with the mint.

In 2019, Phyllis and two fellow Rosies traveled to France for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. In a letter to Senator Schumer, she wrote that the people of France honored their work with parades, a banquet, gifts and a medal. In 2000, The Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park opened its doors in Richmond, due to the advocacy of Phyllis and her fellow Rosies.

Madam Speaker, Phyllis Gould never stopped fighting for the Rosies and she refused to take no for an answer. She was fiercely independent. She lived alone in her apartment and drove a stick shift truck up until a few days before she fell ill at 99. She proudly displayed photos of the herself with the President and Vice President and Members of Congress. She didn't have a computer or cell phone, but she made countless phone calls from her landline and wrote countless handwritten letters to federal and state elected officials to plead for proper recognition of these war heroes. In our book, she has permission to write Mission Accomplished on her gravestone.

Madam Speaker, I thank my dear friend, the chair of the Committee on Appropriations.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of my amendment to block funding the DeVos title IX rule.

Just imagine: You have endured the horror of campus sexual assault, and now you are asked to relive your trauma with live hearings and direct cross-

examination. You are told where you must be assaulted and how much you must suffer before you can avail yourself of your civil rights. God forbid you are assaulted while studying abroad or an off-campus frat party--title IX may be closed off to you. Or you are among the one in three survivors who drop out of college, so now your school is forbidden from investigating the complaint.

It is cruel. It is inhumane. It undermines student safety and equal access to education.

Madam Speaker, title IX should prevent sex discrimination, not enable it. That is why I appreciate this amendment being taken up.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair of the Appropriations Committee whom I deeply adore.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my amendment which highlights the Defense Department's abject failure to maintain its child development centers and its barracks and the need for a $15 billion investment.

Our associates in the department and the generals all talk about how important it is to take care of the whole servicemember. I always say that when a servicemember serves, so does his or her family.

Now, we know by their own admission that there are 135 childcare centers that are in either poor or failing condition, and we have more than 9,000 families with children on waiting lists in the military.

But having all that knowledge, Mr. Speaker, you would think that they would elevate this issue. But only one childcare center has been considered in their budget request. There are 135 that are poor or failing, and they chose to only fund one.

While the Army announced with great fanfare some time ago a $10 billion, 10-year project to replace substandard barracks, that would require $1 billion a year in which they would invest in barracks, but they have only committed and requested $262 million--they are clearly, not on track to complete this $10 billion project over 10 years.

I thank the Appropriations Committee for adding $300 million for barracks and child care centers over the Department's request, but this does not excuse the military from its responsible. Talk is cheap. Action is what we want to see.

Mr. Speaker, I call on the Department to do a better job in the next year's budget. I urge my colleagues to

include $15 billion for these quality of life matters for our military families in the forthcoming reconciliation package.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from California, the chair, for the opportunity to speak on behalf of this amendment.

This would increase the funding for the San Francisco Bay restoration from $25 million to $30 million, a small sum in the scheme of things but huge in terms of its impact.

Over the last 200 years, 90 percent of the San Francisco Bay wetlands have disappeared. If we don't act now, the damage will be irreversible by 2030.

The San Francisco Bay estuary is the largest estuary west of the Mississippi, yet it has been shortchanged in terms of resources. Between 2008 and 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency invested only $45 million in the San Francisco Bay. Conversely, Puget Sound received $260 million and Chesapeake Bay $490 million. As you can see, it has been shortchanged.

The funding wouldn't just benefit San Francisco. The bay supports 4 million jobs, supplying drinking water for 25 million people, and provides irrigation for about one-half of the Nation's fruit and vegetable production.

It is critical to all of us. We must invest now to save this ecological treasure.

Madam Speaker, my colleague Jared Huffman and I rise to honor the late Phyllis Gould, one of the Bay Area Rosie the Riveters whose work was essential for the United States and its allies to win the war. Phyllis passed away on July 20, 2021, just shy of her 100th birthday on October 7. We had the honor and pleasure to work with Phyllis on legislation that recognizes the immense contributions the Rosies have made to history.

Phyllis Mickey Gould was born at Camp Lewis, now Fort Lewis, Washington. Her father served in the Army for 30 years and received a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his service in France during World War I. Back during that time, Phyllis liked to explain, women didn't plan a career at an early age, instead they learned to cook and sew and were expected to marry young and raise a family. World War II changed that. Men were drafted to fight the war, leaving the jobs building ships, planes and munitions vacant. More than ten million women nationwide stepped in. In July 1942, Phyllis became one of the first six women welders at Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, California. Soon she was followed by her two sisters who became a draftsman and a welder and by her mother who became a painter. The Richmond shipyard built a record 747 cargo ships. Phyllis worked as a welder until the end of the war.

The Rosies were iconized by a poster by Howard Miller which ironically didn't become famous until 40 years after its creation. It's a poster of a young woman with a polka dot bandana, rolling up her denim shirt sleeve, flexing her bicep and exclaiming ``We Can Do It!'' Miller was hired by Westinghouse Company's War Production Coordinating Committee in 1942 to create a series of posters of inspirational images to boost worker morale. It was displayed only to Westinghouse employees in the Midwest for two weeks in 1943 and then disappeared. In the 1980s it was rediscovered, labeled Rosie the Riveter and became a symbol for American feminism.

For Phyllis, the Rosies never received the recognition they deserved, so she made it her life's mission to change that and this is how my colleagues and I came to know her. She was laser focused, feisty and tenacious. She emphatically stated, ``The military could not have done what it did without what we did! Every item they needed to succeed--a woman helped produce!!'' Her ultimate dream was to have a National Rosie Holiday, a plaque at veterans memorials across the country, a statue on the Washington Mall, an annual special commemorative coin, and a ticker tape parade down 5th Avenue in New York. You see, Phyllis always aimed high. For her personally, she

said, she wanted to be able to say on her gravestone: Mission Accomplished!

While she didn't accomplish everything on her ambitious dream list, she accomplished a lot in her decades of advocacy for these war sheroes. In 2014, she and five other Rosies were invited to the White House and met with President Obama and then-Vice President Biden, even snatching a hug from him. Congressman Huffman carried, and I cosponsored, a bill that designated March 21 as Rosie the Riveter Day during Women's History Month. It has to be renewed each year, but we do have a national holiday, thanks in large part to Phyllis' work. I carried, and Congressman Huffman cosponsored, the Rosie the Riveter Congressional Gold Medal Act which was signed into law in December 2020. The U.S. mint is now in the process of designing the medal and Phyllis was deeply involved in sharing her design ideas with the mint.

In 2019, Phyllis and two fellow Rosies traveled to France for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. In a letter to Senator Schumer, she wrote that the people of France honored their work with parades, a banquet, gifts and a medal. In 2000, The Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park opened its doors in Richmond, due to the advocacy of Phyllis and her fellow Rosies.

Madam Speaker, Phyllis Gould never stopped fighting for the Rosies and she refused to take no for an answer. She was fiercely independent. She lived alone in her apartment and drove a stick shift truck up until a few days before she fell ill at 99. She proudly displayed photos of herself with the President and Vice President and Members of Congress. She didn't have a computer or cell phone, but she made countless phone calls from her landline and wrote countless handwritten letters to federal and state elected officials to plead for proper recognition of these war heroes. In our book, she has permission to write Mission Accomplished on her gravestone.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

My heart is racing right now, and I am trembling, in part because I am recalling what happened to me on January 6, when I was in that gallery and had to climb around the other side and then lie there on the floor. Then, I heard a shot ring out, and it took me back over 40 years ago, lying on an airstrip in Guyana about to lose my life. I thought, at that moment: My God, I survived Guyana, but I am not going to survive this, in the house of democracy in the country in which I was born.

For the Members on the other side of the aisle to call this political, let me remind you, it was political because the President of the United States at the time thought it was fun and an act of great patriotism to come up here and try to overturn the election.

So, you may call it political; it was political. But we are going to find out why it happened, and we are going to make sure it never happens again.

Madam Speaker, the history of whistleblowing dates back to the founding of this country. The Continental Congress was committed to making sure that whistleblowers would have a voice. Last year alone, $2.2 billion was saved by the taxpayers because of whistleblowers in our government.

The April massacre of IGs was an unprecedented power play by the President, a ruthless President who somehow thought they worked for him. They don't work for him. They didn't work for him. They work for the American people, and that is why, since the founding of this country, we have been so committed to it.

Today's legislation will protect IGs from retaliation and increase their independence, ensuring they operate free from political interference. Those complaints that those IGs were looking at were brought to them by individuals. It was a political move by the President to fire them.

I am interested that my colleague on the other side of the aisle was concerned about the costs of being represented by counsel when someone who is a Federal employee is called in to testify. Maybe we can work on a bill to make sure that every Federal employee has that benefit. No one talked about that when Ambassador Yovanovitch was called in to testify or National Security Advisor Fiona Hill or Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, all of whom had to pick up the tab for the attorneys representing them.

Last month during a hearing before the Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations, the current Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General, Inspector General Allison Lerner, testified that while they offer multiple trainings for IGs, the trainings are not mandated.

I believe, without mandated training, it is impossible to ensure that IGs are operating at the highest level and are well-equipped to carry out their duties, so I am pleased that my amendment requiring minimum standards and best practices for training IGs has been included in this bill.

Madam Speaker, this bill is something I have been working on for 10 years and have introduced in every Congress since I came to Congress. It provides $25 million a year for 5 years.

Over the last 200 years, 90 percent of the bay wetlands have disappeared. They are gone. What is even worse is that in less than 9 years, sea level rise in that region will effectively drown out all of the marshes. The damage will be irreversible.

Over the last 8 years the EPA has invested only $45 million in San Francisco Bay. However, even though it is the largest estuary on the West Coast, Puget Sound received more than $260 million and the Chesapeake Bay received $490 million. That is an unbelievable difference in funding opportunities.

We can't afford to keep pushing this off. The San Francisco Bay supports 4 million jobs and provides 20 million Californians with clean drinking water.

It is the lifeblood of the region and a worthy investment of taxpayer dollars. Every dollar spent on restoration efforts generates $2.10 in economic activity. More funding for the bay is a win-win. It would, in fact, be the right thing to do, the only fair thing to do considering how much more has been spent on other estuaries.

Madam Speaker I rise today to recognize Ken White, the recently retired Executive Director of the Peninsula Humane Society. As Mr. White noted, he was retiring on his 469th birthday, as measured in dog years. He joined the Peninsula Humane Society in 2002 and his successes at this organization have been historic for this beloved organization.

Upon his arrival, Ken White and the Peninsula Humane Society guaranteed a home to every adoptable dog or cat in their care, a promise they have kept ever since. In 2003 the organization expanded its promise to include as many ill and injured and behaviorally challenged pets as possible. In 2005, the Humane Society purchased a mobile veterinary clinic and provided spay/neutering surgeries for animals in some of the most underserved communities in the county.

More than 22,000 households contribute to the work of the Peninsula Humane Society. The euthanasia rate has decreased 98 percent since 1970. 1200 volunteers allow PHS to function as an integral part of our community.

In 2006, Ken and his board bought an old Burlingame warehouse. Through a major gift and the loving care of volunteers, they were able to open this facility as the Center for Compassion to house charitably funded programs through state-of-the-art facilities. The progress is amazing. When Ken arrived in our community, the percentage of animals released live back into the community was 53 percent. Today, it is 89 percent. There are tens of thousands of peninsula animals who found their forever-home thanks to the kind heart and amazing fundraising talents of Ken White.

Not content to be an over-achieving humane organization, Ken, his board, employees and volunteers have set a reach goal. The organization now owns 260 acres of land in San Mateo County which will be turned into an animal sanctuary. It will be the first in our nation owned and operated by a humane society.

Ken has seen a tortoise survive being driven over by a vehicle, and today that tortoise thrives as Ken's pet. He watched a falcon be released into the wild after severe injuries were healed. Reptiles have been visitors to his home. He and his apparently patient wife, Carolyn Crane, have also taken in a pot-bellied pig and an Argentinian homed frog. If there was a wild party at Ken's home and the noise ever got to be too much, I'm sure there was always a pet or two that was more than willing to lay down the law to Ken.

Ken White got into the business of running animal shelters from an unusual background. He holds a Master's Degree in creative writing. After a series of jobs, he was eventually invited to create educational materials for a local shelter. As a child he was never allowed to own a pet, but then as a young man he was suddenly surrounded by animals. It was love at first sight.

As he leaves his longtime position, he goes out on a national high note. The 260 acre sanctuary in the San Mateo County mountains

will be for medically or behaviorally challenged dogs and cats with low adoption rates. This facility will be a huge step forward for those that are able to live out a full life, but without troublesome humans and their nitpicking rules as preconditions. So goes the dream of San Mateo County's Dr. Doolittle, the man who talks to our animals. I have long admired Ken White for his ingenuity and can-do spirit. The San Mateo community and I wish him well as he leaves his avid fans, of all breeds, behind. Undoubtedly there's a movie about Ken that will someday be released on Netflix: Ken White: Lifesaver, Tortoise Daddy and Snake Whisperer. Watch for it, streaming soon.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ken White, the recently retired Executive Director of the Peninsula Humane Society. As Mr. White noted, he was retiring on his 469th birthday, as measured in dog years. He joined the Peninsula Humane Society in 2002 and his successes at this organization have been historic for this beloved organization.

Upon his arrival, Ken White and the Peninsula Humane Society guaranteed a home to every adoptable dog or cat in their care, a promise they have kept ever since. In 2003, the organization expanded its promise to include as many ill and injured and behaviorally challenged pets as possible. In 2005, the Humane Society purchased a mobile veterinary clinic and provided spay/neutering surgeries for animals in some of the most underserved communities in the county.

More than 22,000 households contribute to the work of the Peninsula Humane Society. The euthanasia rate has decreased 98 percent since 1970. 1200 volunteers allow PHS to function as an integral part of our community.

In 2006, Ken and his board bought an old Burlingame warehouse. Through a major gift and the loving care of volunteers, they were able to open this facility as the Center for Compassion to house charitably funded programs through state-of-the-art facilities. The progress is amazing. When Ken arrived in our community, the percentage of animals released live back into the community was 53 percent. Today, it is 89 percent. There are tens of thousands of peninsula animals who found their forever-home thanks to the kind heart and amazing fundraising talents of Ken White.

Not content to be an over-achieving humane organization, Ken, his board, employees and volunteers have set a reach goal. The organization now owns 260 acres of land in San Mateo County which will be turned into an animal sanctuary. It will be the first in our nation owned and operated by a humane society.

Ken has seen a tortoise survive being driven over by a vehicle, and today that tortoise thrives as Ken's pet. He watched a falcon be released into the wild after severe injuries were healed. Reptiles have been visitors to his home. He and his apparently patient wife, Lisa Crane, have also taken in a pot-bellied pig and an Argentinian horned frog. If there was a wild party at Ken's home and the noise ever got to be too much, I'm sure there was always a pet or two that was more than willing to lay down the law to Ken.

Ken White got into the business of running animal shelters from an unusual background. He holds a Master's Degree in creative writing. After a series of jobs, he was eventually invited to create educational materials for a local shelter. As a child he was never allowed to own a pet, but then as a young man he was suddenly surrounded by animals. It was love at first sight.

As he leaves his longtime position, he goes out on a national high note. The 260 acre sanctuary in the San Mateo County mountains will be for medically or behaviorally challenged dogs and cats with low adoption rates. This facility will be a huge step forward for those that are able to live out a full life, but without troublesome humans and their nitpicking rules as preconditions. So goes the dream of San Mateo County's Dr. Doolittle, the man who talks to our animals. I have long admired Ken White for his ingenuity and can-do spirit. The San Mateo community and I wish him well as he leaves his avid fans, of all breeds, behind. Undoubtedly there's a movie about Ken that will someday be released on Netflix: Ken White: Lifesaver, Tortoise Daddy and Snake Whisperer. Watch for it, streaming soon.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the City of Foster City on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of its incorporation as a city on April 27, 1971. This is a young city with a long history, and it all began as a salt pond.

Leslie Salt Company sold its land, then known as Brewer's Island, to developer T. Jack Foster and a partner in 1958. The vision for the city was to develop a community that was more aesthetically pleasing, following an orderly development plan with neighborhoods that aged better over time. 218 surface acres of lagoons containing 425 million gallons of water were ultimately created within 4 square miles of land. Financing through bonds issued in the 1960's, totaling $88.5 million, drove the creation of Foster City. Adjusted for inflation, this sum would be the equivalent of $738 million in 2021 terms.

Now 33,000 residents inhabit this glistening four square mile jewel adjacent to San Francisco Bay. Residents love their parks and waterways. There are 24 parks and tennis courts, basketball fields, soccer fields, trails, picnic areas and an unlimited number of smiles from residents. Throughout America, this past year has been challenging because we must either shelter in place or stay distant from one another when outside. Foster City's architecture makes it simple to maintain your mental health.

You can walk a quiet street, go to a trail or park, ride a bike on flat ground throughout the city, and enjoy getting dunked in the bay when your kite sailing skills are overcome by Mother Nature. It's big news in Foster City when jellyfish show up in the lagoons. These marvelous creatures pose special challenges, but modern engineering and a bit of wisdom have kept them on the bay side of the levee system during most years. On occasion, one can even spot the descendants of Brewer Island's once most energetic and prolific of species: jackrabbits. There's a lot for a rabbit to love about the city, filled as it is by such greenery that it would make Peter Rabbit swap Mr. McGregor's garden for a city block in Foster City.

This wonderful community loves its children. In normal times, youth sports are the center of community life for hundreds of families. Among the city's many wonderful attributes is that its inhabitants come from the four corners of the earth. If you are raised in Foster City and join a youth soccer league, you'd better be prepared for parents who grew up with a soccer ball in every closet. Coupled with all of the foreign languages heard on the streets and what you have is a city that celebrates global diversity and brings people together through sports and cultural programs that highlight the kindness of the human spirit. Global powerhouses Gilead Sciences and Visa International, companies that need to recruit talent globally, call Foster City home in part because it is so welcoming.

Madam Speaker, I close with this other special note about Foster City. In 2003, the city redeveloped its original park and renamed it after the late Congressman Leo J. Ryan. As we know, Congressman Ryan served the people of Foster City and his district until his assassination on November 18, 1978. The people of Foster City did not have to rename a park in memory of a man who died a quarter century earlier, but they did. This tells you something about the character of civic leadership in this community. These good people realized then, and now, that public service is an honorable endeavor, and that those who seek justice and pay the heaviest price because of that most important of goals have died in service to every constituent, past, present and future. Foster City does not forget. It does not forget to enjoy life and it does not forget to honor life.

In the decades to come, on the waterways and the roads, within the council chambers and city offices, and amongst the general populace, this community will thrive. Even when jellyfish bloom in the lagoons, the optimism that sparked the creation of this town never fades. Let us all wish Foster City and its residents another 50 years of friendship and progress.