Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of our amendment, which would strike funding for the Yucca Mountain project.

Like the vast majority of Nevadans, I firmly oppose any attempt to turn my State into the Nation's nuclear waste dump. Dumping nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain wouldn't only endanger the health and safety of my constituents, who live just 90 miles away in the Las Vegas Valley, it would threaten millions of Americans in 44 States.

This ill-conceived plan would mean transporting tens of thousands of metric tons of radioactive waste across this country. Those shipments of hazardous material would travel on our highways and railways to Nevada through over 329 congressional districts on a weekly basis for more than 50 years.

Finally, reviving Yucca Mountain would jeopardize military testing and training at our defense facilities.

Our amendment would strike $190 million for the licensing for this administration's plan to turn Nevada into a dumping ground. That is the bulk of the funding for this dangerous failure of a project. We shouldn't waste another dime of taxpayer money on failed efforts to try to send nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.

It is time to move on from this reckless and costly project, so I urge my colleagues to support our amendment to remove this licensing funding and, instead, work with us on alternative solutions that repurpose Yucca Mountain into something that can create jobs and keep our families safe.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of two Nevada police officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in 2017: Detective Chad William Parque of the North Las Vegas Police Department, and Officer Charleston Vernon Hartfield of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Detective Parque was a 10-year veteran of the force. He was a loving husband and father, a selfless member of our community, and a dedicated investigator. His warmth and his passion left a mark on all who had the privilege of knowing him.

Officer Hartfield was a victim of the horrific 1 October tragedy. He was a husband and a father, an Army veteran, a first sergeant in the Nevada Army National Guard, the author of a memoir, and a youth football coach. Officer Hartfield had an unwavering dedication to his community. I attended the candlelight vigil in his memory shortly after his death, and I saw firsthand how many lives he touched.

Detective Parque and Officer Hartfield were taken from us far too soon. Their profound sense of duty and service will live on as an example for all of us. May their memories be a blessing.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding.

Mr. Chair, I rise today and stand with the overwhelming majority of Nevadans who wholeheartedly oppose our State becoming the dumping ground for the rest of the Nation's nuclear waste.

Based on the Department of Energy's own studies, Yucca Mountain is unfit as a repository site for nuclear waste because of the impact it would have on national transportation. We are talking about shipping up to three loads of radioactive waste per week to Nevada by rail or truck for over 50 years.

Here is a map of what the proposed routes would look like. Dangerous waste would go through 329 congressional districts across this country.

To the Members representing these districts: Do you consent to high- level radioactive waste barreling down your highways and your train tracks? Are you prepared to face your constituents at home and tell them that you voted to put their safety at risk?

Yucca Mountain would also jeopardize our national security and the readiness of our Air Force by compromising military activities at the Nevada Test and Training Range, the largest air and ground military training space in the contiguous United States.

Instead of spending billions more in hard-earned taxpayer dollars on this ill-conceived project, let's work on converting the site into something that will keep our families safe and still create jobs.

My bill, the Jobs, Not Waste Act, which I offered as an amendment to H.R. 3053, would prohibit DOE from moving forward with its plan until a number of other job-creating alternatives for Yucca Mountain are considered. It is an innovative and forward-thinking solution to repurpose this site for something useful.

Mr. Chair, I urge Congress to stop wasting time and taxpayer money on Yucca Mountain and finally realize just how dangerous and costly this project will be. It is past time we identified viable alternatives for this project while finding a safe, long-term repository in a State that consents to its siting.

Mr. Speaker, if today's vote on the previous question fails, we have the opportunity to vote on my amendment, the Jobs, Not Waste amendment, a proactive and innovative proposal to turn Yucca Mountain into something useful, a project that would create jobs without threatening the health and safety of Nevadans and other Americans across this country.

My amendment would prohibit the Department of Energy from moving forward with its current plan to ship nuclear waste by truck and rail through 329 congressional districts to Yucca Mountain until the Federal Government considers a number of other job-creating alternatives, including defense activities, like a command facility for unmanned aircraft systems, scientific research, the development of a secure electronic data center, or renewable energy generation.

One of the arguments I regularly hear from proponents of Yucca Mountain is that it will create jobs and that we have already invested billions in building a repository at this sight. Well, I am here to say that we can still create jobs without having to take on monumental health and safety risks that come with transporting over 100,000 metric tons of hazardous and lethal nuclear waste.

Congress should have the opportunity to vote on my amendment because it would give Members a chance to find a smart, strategic solution that repurposes this dangerous and costly project. This amendment gives us an opportunity to convert Yucca Mountain into a facility that could still provide economic opportunity, drive innovation, and create new, good-paying jobs.

Relaunching the failed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storing experiment will also cost the taxpayers an additional $80 billion to complete, minimum. Let me repeat that: $80 billion, minimum.

Instead of spending billions more of hard-earned taxpayer dollars on the project that is destined to fail, that will inevitably put Nevada families and your families in your districts at risk, let us consider these forward-thinking opportunities.

I strongly urge you to do what is smart and fiscally responsible, what is right for the health and safety of all of our constituents, by making my amendment in order. I therefore ask all Members to vote ``no'' on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 50th anniversary of the oldest and largest museum in the Las Vegas Valley.

On April 20, 2018, the Clark County Museum will celebrate 50 years of engaging visitors, and creating a deeper understanding and enjoyment of history and culture.

The first public museum in the Las Vegas Valley, in the last fifty years the Clark County Museum has moved, changed names, and become a pre-eminent location for learning about the history of Southern Nevada. It now has a collection of more than 1 million artifacts, and has become a true reflection of the story of Southern Nevadans.

I am a proud supporter of the important work museums are doing in our districts. That is why I requested robust funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services' (IMLS) Office of Museum Services (OMS) from House appropriators and was pleased to see it included in this year's spending package.

I want to congratulate the Clark County Museum on reaching this impressive milestone. Thank the museum staff and supporters for their contributions to help preserve Southern Nevada's history and culture, and I look forward to seeing all that they accomplish in the next 50 years.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a longtime member of the Las Vegas community on the occasion of his 90th birthday, which he will celebrate on April 10, 2018. I am proud to stand today and let Congress and our country know what an amazing man he is.

Gilbert Shaw is a founding member of Congregation Ner Tamid, and served in the Navy and Coast Guard for twenty-seven years. He is an officer of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA, serving as the Senior Vice Commander of Sgt. Manny Peven Post 65. To this day, Mr. Shaw still teaches photography to fellow senior citizens at a Life-Long Learning Institute.

I want to congratulate Gilbert on reaching this incredible milestone, and thank him for his years of dedicated service. He has lived a long, impressive, and successful life. Today, I join Gilbert's family, friends and the entire Southern Nevada community to wish him a very happy 90th birthday and for many more joyful memories in the years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 3397, the Building Blocks of STEM Act, which also includes my Code Like a Girl Act.

I first want to thank my Republican colleague, Steve Knight, for working with me and co-leading this important legislation and our Science, Space, and Technology Committee chairman, Lamar Smith, for helping move this bill through committee. I am proud to see both of my STEM education proposals come to the floor with wide bipartisan support.

STEM and computer science are central to our country's innovation, economic growth, and employment. Across the country, we are continuing to see a huge demand for workers in the tech industry, including software developers, engineers, and computer programmers like myself.

I built my career in STEM--a field that has long been dominated by men--so I know all too well that the demand for talent in STEM is real.

In my home State of Nevada, tech companies like Tesla, Switch, and Google are leading the way to create the jobs of the future. Even across all industries, about 15 percent of jobs in Nevada require a high level of knowledge in at least one STEM field.

Despite these increasing opportunities in STEM careers, not enough Americans possess the education and skills necessary to succeed. This disparity between computing and scientific talent and employer demand really starts as far back as elementary school.

Studies have found that children who engage in scientific activities from an early age will develop positive attitudes toward science and are more likely to pursue STEM careers later on. In fact, interviews with current graduate students and scientists found that the majority of them reported that their interest in science began before middle school.

The bill before us today, the Building Blocks of STEM Act, will ensure that we are investing in our children as early as possible by directing the National Science Foundation to equitably distribute funding across age groups. Specifically, this bill would direct funding to include early childhood education in the Discovery Research PreK-12 program, which seeks to enhance the learning and teaching of STEM and address the immediate challenges facing pre-K through 12 STEM education.

Currently, the Discovery Research PreK-12 program focuses the majority of its research on students in middle school or older. Since having access to hands-on STEM experiences as early as possible is important for continued interest, my bill will ensure that NSF focuses on engaging our Nation's children in STEM education even younger, specifically, those under the age of 11.

H.R. 3397 also includes the text of another STEM bill of mine, the Code Like a Girl Act, which I introduced with the support of my Republican colead, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. It is also cosponsored by Subcommittee on Research and Technology Chairwoman Barbara Comstock and Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson; and I would like to thank them both for their support.

This legislation is for our girls, girls like Isabel, an eighth grader from my district who loves STEM. She is on her high school robotics team. Last year, for a school project, she proposed a new monitoring system to accurately assess the fire issues at Yellowstone National Park.

This past summer, I received a letter from Isabel, and in her letter to me, she offered an idea on how to increase and improve solar energy in Nevada. I wrote back to Isabel and later had the opportunity to meet her and her family in person. I thanked her for her advocacy and let her know that we will only move forward in this country by inspiring young minds to create, innovate, and imagine the future. Isabel is one of the young girls we are fighting for today.

Young girls should know that they are more capable of succeeding in STEM and that they can grow up to be the next Grace Hopper or Katherine Johnson. This bill will help bridge that divide and close the gender gap that, for too long, has deprived young women from achieving their full potential. These young, talented minds could be working on our Nation's most challenging problems by inventing the next breakthrough technology, founding future startup companies, improving access to healthcare with computing, and even keeping our Nation safe from cyber attacks. The Code Like a Girl Act would create two NSF programs to encourage young girls to pursue computer science.

As we all know, the gender gap in the STEM workforce is widening. Women only hold about 26 percent of STEM jobs, even though they make up more than half of the U.S. workforce. This gender disparity extends down through all levels of education. In 2015, approximately 23 percent of AP computer science exam takers were girls.

And gender stereotypes begin at a very early age. Studies have shown that, at around 6 years old, girls develop the belief that brilliance is a male characteristic, and this negative stereotype is shown to have an immediate effect as girls start to lose their interest in activities they perceive as requiring brilliance.

Another study found that young children, both boys and girls, already believe that boys are better than girls at

robotics and programming. It is unclear where precisely this stereotype originates from, but implicit biases can have a negative impact on a girl's academic achievement in math and science and on their future decisions to enroll in advanced courses in these subjects.

The Code Like a Girl Act addresses this issue by creating NSF grants to increase understanding of the factors that contribute to the participation of young girls 10 and younger in STEM and computer science activities. This bill also creates a grant program to develop and evaluate interventions in pre-K and elementary school classrooms with the goal of increasing participation of young girls in computer science.

Some of these activities may include teacher training and professional development, classroom programs on gender-inclusive teaching practices, and providing mentors for girls to support their computer science aspirations. We know that young girls are interested in science, math, and computing, but we need to make sure that, as they grow older, they stay involved and engaged.

We also know that knowledge of computer science and use of technology is becoming increasingly essential for all individuals, not just those planning to work in the technology sector. STEM education cultivates students' curiosity, their creativity. It teaches them to work as a team and fosters critical thinking skills that are fundamental for success in any field.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation will help invest in our students. It will help them rise to meet the challenges of a changing economy that increasingly relies on highly skilled labor and technology. I am proud to stand for our students before this Chamber because, together, we are making smart investments that will help our children succeed, smart investments so that we can help our communities build more effective workforces and a stronger, competitive economy.

For these reasons, I am proud that my Building Blocks of STEM Act, including the text of my Code Like a Girl Act, is being considered today. With the passage of these bills, we are one step closer to bridging the current gaps in STEM education and workforce training.

Building the blocks for careers in STEM will prepare Nevadans and all Americans for better jobs and help us meet the demands of our 21st century economy. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Mr. Robert Sears, a longtime Boulder City resident, public servant, and former fire chief.

Chief Sears first became a volunteer fireman in 1951. He moved to Richfield, Ohio in 1960 where he was appointed Fire Chief, the youngest chief ever appointed in Ohio at the time, and in 1969 accepted the Fire Chief position in Boulder City, Nevada.

Among his many achievements, he reduced fire insurance rates from a class 9 city to a class 3 and was the driving force behind ``Operation Heart Start'' which increased the save-rate of cardiac emergencies to well above the national average. Additionally, under his command, BCFD developed into one of the best trained and equipped fire departments in Nevada.

Chief Sears retired after 21 years of service to the BCF, but continued to serve the public. He worked tirelessly for the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce, and he volunteered his time serving as President of the Nevada Fire Chief's Association, President of the Southern Nevada First Chiefs Association, Vice President of the Western First Chiefs Association, Chairman of Clark County Fire Prevention Council, Chairman of the Nevada Division of the American Health Association, Chairman of the Nevada Fire Training Board and a member of the Boulder City Sunrise Rotary Club. Chief Sears additionally served 35 years as a member of the Civilian Military Council at Nellis Air Force Base and on the Military Academy Selection Committee for Nevada's Third Congressional District.

Robert Sears was an inspiration to all those he worked with, and everyone he encountered. He encouraged others as a mentor and with his strong work ethic. He taught others how to be calm under pressure, shared his vast wisdom, and was an extraordinary and selfless person. He will not soon be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, on February 5th, on roll call votes 51 and 52, I was not present due to illness. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on roll call vote 51 and ``nay'' on roll call vote 52.

Mr. Speaker, I am here today not only to mourn the loss of a family friend and lifelong Las Vegas resident but to let Congress know what an amazing woman she was.

Dana Marshall-Bernstein died in December at the age of 28, following a lifelong battle with Crohn's Disease. She spent most of her life in and out of the hospital but, even while undergoing countless surgeries, she never let her disease define who she was.

Dana never stopped feeling optimistic about her future. She believed in looking forward. She believed in kindness. And she used her experience to comfort others who were also affected by Crohn's Disease.

Even though she was suffering, Dana never stopped showing empathy. She insisted that medical patients were treated as humans first and medical cases last. She was radiant in her love for others.

Dana believed in these words: ``The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.''

Dana was outspoken and strong-willed. She was firm in her beliefs and did everything she could to stand up for the voiceless. She was fiercely committed to patient advocacy and ensuring that anyone in her situation was heard and cared for.

She served as a beacon of hope to her parents, Ed and Cari, and to her entire extended family. My heart aches for them, but I know that in their fondest memories of Dana lies a strong sense of pride. She shined in more ways than one. She was a light even in the darkest of times, and I know she will continue to shine in the memory of each and every life she touched. May her memory be a blessing for those who loved her.

In her time on this Earth, Dana accomplished what we all should strive for; she touched others and made differences. And though she is gone now, her influence will remain forever in our hearts and minds.

In between the politics and the debates, Congress possesses a very real capability to do good. We can fund grants for research towards cures for the most deadly diseases out there.

We can help people if only we decide to.

I encourage all members here today to carry with them the courage and determination that Dana brought into this world; to always think and live life with positivity; and to never, ever stop believing in doing good by others.

Mr. Speaker, I am here today not only to mourn the loss of a family friend and lifelong Las Vegas resident, but to let Congress know what an amazing young woman she was.

Dana Marshall-Bernstein died in December at the age of 28 following a lifelong battle with Crohn's disease. She spent most of her life in and out of the hospital, but even while she was undergoing countless surgeries, she never let her disease define her. She never stopped feeling optimistic about her future. She believed in kindness, and she used her experience to comfort others who were also affected by Crohn's disease.

She shined in more ways than one, and I know she will continue to shine in the memory of each and every life she touched, and her memory will be a blessing to all those who knew and loved her.

I encourage all Members here today to carry with them the courage and determination that Dana brought into this world: to always think and live life with positivity and never ever stop believing in doing good by others.

Mr. Speaker, on December 18th, on roll call votes 685, 686, and 687, I was not present because I was tending to my husband, who is recovering from major spinal surgery. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on roll call vote 685, YEA on roll call vote 686, and YEA on roll call vote 687.

Mr. Speaker, this week, Republicans are continuing to work behind closed doors to put finishing touches on their disastrous tax bill that will hurt countless families in Nevada and across this country.

Let's be clear: This monstrosity of a bill would eventually slam many of Nevada's hardworking families with a tax increase, while adding more than $1 trillion to our national debt. To make matters worse, the Senate version of this bill would spike healthcare premiums and cause millions to lose their healthcare coverage. Also, billionaires and giant corporations can receive an unnecessary tax cut.

Mr. Speaker, Americans can clearly see that this is a bill that is just a giveaway to wealthy campaign donors and giant corporations at the expense of hardworking families. We need a Tax Code that is focused on putting money back in the pockets of all families, not one that creates even worse wealth and income inequality--and certainly not one that puts profits before people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to a provision in the NDAA authorizing the transfer of nearly 100,000 surplus military-grade firearms to the Civilian Marksmanship Program for sale to the public.

This multimillion-dollar government handout to a private corporation is bad policy. It places more military-grade

weapons on our streets and in our communities.

The horrific violence on October 1 in Las Vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, has forever altered the lives of hundreds of thousands of families related to those 22,000 victims that were there the day of the shooting.

It is now more urgent than ever that we take meaningful action on passing gun safety measures. That should be our priority, yet here we are taking a step backwards.

Instead of bringing legislation on the floor to ban the manufacture of bump stocks that allow semiautomatic rifles to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, instead of being on the floor to ban the sale of high-capacity magazines used to inflict widespread carnage, or instead of being on the floor to expand background checks to all commercial gun sales so that felons and the seriously mentally ill and terrorists cannot obtain access to dangerous weapons, we are here debating a provision that increases a number of military weapons on our streets.

I know we can uphold the Second Amendment while taking reasonable steps to reduce the toll of gun violence inflicted on our communities. Putting nearly 100,000 more military-grade firearms designed for Army use into our neighborhoods is not a reasonable step in the right direction.

According to its text, the provision included in this bill mandates the immediate transfer of an unlimited number of guns to the Civilian Marksmanship Program for sale to the public.

This program was originally created to instruct Americans in marksmanship, promote firearms safety, and conduct friendly shooting competitions in controlled environments.

The NDAA provision we are speaking of today would turn this program into a mass firearms retailer, with the new mission to sell as many military-grade weapons to the public as possible. It defies logic and common sense. Gun violence has become a public crisis.

So I urge my colleagues to join together and work across the aisle to decrease the scope and devastation caused by tragic mass shootings. No community across America should be forced to experience the grief and trauma that my community and others like mine have gone through in these past few years.

I ask all Members of Congress to support the Democratic motion to instruct conferees to remove this dangerous provision from the NDAA.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of my constituent, First Sergeant Charleston Hartfield of the Nevada Army National Guard. Our community lost a true-blue American hero on the 1st of October. Since the age of 18, Officer Hartfield valiantly served our country and our community, spending 16 years in the Army both on Active Duty and in the Nevada National Guard and 11 years in our local law enforcement.

First Sergeant Hartfield spent a year deployed to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division as part of the initial invasion in 2003, where they were awarded the Combat Action Badge for having bravely engaged in combat operations.

Those who knew Officer Hartfield remember him for his kindness to others and for pouring his heart into our community as a husband, a father, a friend, and a youth football coach.

Officer Charleston Hartfield was taken from us far too soon by a senseless tragedy. Our valley and this Nation will mourn his loss, and we will carry forward his spirit of courage and selflessness.

Reducing Gun Violence

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to put into words the devastation and heartbreak my community suffered on October 1, 2017. This horrific violence has forever altered the lives of countless families in Las Vegas and across this country.

My heart breaks for those who lost a parent, a child, a sibling, and a friend. And while this was the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, I know that we join a long list of communities: Sandy Hook, Aurora, Tucson, San Bernardino, and Orlando, all who have suffered way too much through similar heart-wrenching violence.

I have lived in southern Nevada for nearly 40 years, and I will tell you that I have been overwhelmed by the resilience of Las Vegas. We are not just ``Sin City'' or the glittering lights of the strip. We are also a tight-knit, compassionate community of hardworking families. The shooting on October 1 exemplified the worst of humanity, but our response represented the very best of people.

As we try to figure out how to move forward, I can tell you that we are finding strength and hope and courage in our brave first responders, in the heroic self-sacrifice of men and women who risked and gave their lives for others, and for the kindness of strangers who helped transport the wounded to the hospital, who stood in line for hours to donate blood, and who came together to support the survivors.

I implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find that same courage to come to the table and have real conversations about commonsense solutions to address gun violence. There is no single policy solution, but I know we can support the Second Amendment while taking reasonable steps to reduce the carnage inflicted on our communities by gun violence and mass shootings.

Mr. Speaker, devices designed to cause mass casualties, like bump stocks and high-capacity magazines, have no practical purpose for hunting or self-defense. They only increase the threat for potential victims trying to find safety, like those at the Mandalay Bay, and they make it more challenging for law enforcement to confront and neutralize an active shooter.

I urge all of my colleagues to please join together in a bipartisan effort. We need to take commonsense steps in Congress to decrease the scope of widespread destruction and tragic mass shootings.

No community should ever be forced to experience the grief and trauma that my constituents are now confronting. It is more urgent than ever that we take meaningful action to reduce the toll of widespread gun violence. The time is now.