Floor Statements

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1, the polluters over people act.

Besides increasing the deficit by $2.4 billion, this bill eviscerates bedrock environmental protections.

These protections are in place for a reason. My community has been stifled by decades of environmental abuses, and as a result, economic growth in many areas is a challenge and the health and safety of my constituents are at risk.

My district was once a thriving manufacturing community, but factories dumped waste in rivers, buried toxic materials, and disposed of materials with no oversight. Now my district is littered with abandoned factories, fragile ecosystems, and unusable land.

Sites once used for industrial, manufacturing, or commercial uses have been abandoned or underutilized due to known or suspected contamination of the past.

Environmental liabilities have been preventing developers and investors from restoring these properties to productive use and revitalizing impacted communities.

During my time in Congress, I have fought to bring back millions of dollars to my district for brownfield remediation in places like Waterbury, New Britain, and Torrington. Places where asthma-related illnesses are on the rise

as a direct result of environmental factors.

We are working to clean decades of pollution in the rivers of the Housatonic, Naugatuck, and Farmington valleys. These once-blighted properties have been transformed into fisheries, art spaces, and even affordable housing.

After years of hard work, we were able to secure wild and scenic designations for miles of rivers in Connecticut. My State is literally beginning to breathe again.

This legislation rolls back environmental protections and regulations and gives billions in handouts to Big Oil and Gas.

In Connecticut's Fifth, we are learning hard lessons about cleaning up environmental messes of the past.

Mr. Chair, I urge a ``no'' vote on this dangerous and harmful legislation, and for us to listen to the science and follow what we already know to be true.

Madam Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this rule and the underlying bill, H.R. 5.

I look around this Chamber, and I think that arguably I have spent more time in a classroom than anyone in this Chamber. I was a classroom teacher for 15 years. I ran before and afterschool programs and summer programs. I led programs for parent engagement. I am also the mother of four children. One of them is a public school student right now. As a teacher and a parent, I know that parent-teacher partnerships are critical to student success.

I know that when a teacher can reach out to parents and discuss challenging curriculum and come up with strategies to support their child, students thrive. I know that when parents can reach out to their child's teacher and ask questions and voice their concerns, or even more, offer their personal perspectives, students benefit.

But this bill does not do that. It does not promote parent-teacher partnerships. It just creates division in our schools at a time when both parents and teachers need all the help they can get.

I have served on curriculum committees, and it is a requirement that there be a parent representative on those committees. These are the committees that select the books that will be read in classes. Teachers don't arbitrarily do that. I have addressed my local board of education. There was always time for public comment, and parents were encouraged to join. Parents of varying opinions were asked to show up and give their input on what we were doing in our schools.

I have gone to a student's home because their parents could not attend a parent-teacher conference, but I knew that they cared deeply about their child and wanted to have conversations with me. So after school, on my own time, I reached out to connect with those parents. That is what teachers do.

All of this misguided direction is from people on the floor who have very little information about what actually happens on the ground level. During COVID it wasn't that teachers were exposed and parents got an inside look at what happens in classrooms. The best teachers are always inviting parents into the classroom.

Mr. Speaker, in our 16-hour markup, committee Democrats offered strategies for parent engagement. We offered amendments to provide videoconferences so parents could be involved, and we offered legislation to say that kids should have healthy meals in school so that they would be ready to learn. Every single one of them was rejected.

This politics over parents legislation creates unnecessary reporting requirements in our schools and diverts resources.

I am a parent, and this bill actually removes my rights as a parent at the local level and places them in the hands of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill and listen to what parents are saying. They are saying that they want diverse curriculum, diverse books, teachers who are highly qualified and prepared, and for all students, not just some, but all.

Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 5, the politics over parents act.

One of the most dangerous provisions of this bill is the banning of books. Across our Nation, books that illustrate our rich history and our diversity are being pulled from library shelves. According to PEN American's ``Index of School Book Bans,'' of the 2,500 books banned last year, 41 percent of these books explicitly address LGBTQ themes, and 40 percent contain prominent characters of color.

My colleagues across the aisle say that nothing in this legislation will ban books or censor libraries. If this is true, I invite them to support my amendment, which ensures this legislation will not go into effect until the Comptroller General of the United States can confirm that the bill will not lead to censorship or banning books for children or affect learning outcomes for students.

Throughout history, the voices of women, persons of color, and members of the LGBTQ community have been suppressed. Their voices, experiences, and stories have been labeled controversial, oversexual, and even un-American.

As a teacher, you do not get to pick the parts of history you deem worthy to teach. When I was a teacher, I told the entire story honestly, the good and the bad, and gave students the tools that they needed to participate in their communities in a conscientious and productive way.

I will tell you a personal story. My son is currently reading ``To Kill a Mockingbird,'' one of the books on this list of banned books. In his initial observation of this book, he said: ``Mom, they use the n- word a lot.'' I mean, a lot, and I don't like it, but it opened the door to broader conversations between me and my son about segregation and Jim Crow laws, and it led him to ask some very difficult questions of me.

In his final observation of Harper Lee's novel, he said: ``But yet and still, Atticus Finch defended Tom Robinson.'' Through this complex story, his takeaway was not hateful, hurtful, or angry. It was that, even then, good people existed.

That is what books do. That is how kids learn, not through censorship.

Teachers do not have the autonomy to indoctrinate students. Everything we are talking about here today is already published. Budgets are public. Curriculums are public. Parents are marching in, being a part of our classes.

When I was introduced by the ranking member, he mentioned that I was the National Teacher of the Year. That doesn't happen without parent- teacher partnerships.

This bill will not improve educational outcomes. This bill caters to a small group of individuals who seek to impose their world views on entire school districts, on my child.

Madam Chair, I strongly encourage my colleagues to oppose this bill, and I include in the Record the text of my amendment.

Mrs. Hayes of Connecticut moves to recommit the bill H.R. 5

to the Committee on Education and the Workforce with

instructions to report the same back to the House forthwith,

with the following amendment:

Add at the end the following:

Mr. Speaker, Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Rachel Davino, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Ana M.

Marquez-Greene, Dylan Hockley, Dawn Hochsprung, Madeleine F. Hsu, Catherine V. Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Anne Marie Murphy, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Victoria Soto, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison N. Wyatt.

Those are the names of the 20 children and 6 adults who were killed at Sandy Hook 10 years ago today. I want them to know we will never forget them, and we will continue to honor their memory with our action.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 26 beautiful lives that were lost on December 14, 2012.

Today marks 10 years since 20 innocent children and 6 selfless educators were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Newtown is a small community with a big heart, a community that changed forever 10 years ago. Bonded by a shared grief no one can ever truly comprehend, the lives of my constituents in this community were reshaped forever.

While this community has mourned the loss of their loved ones, they have also honored their memories through service. Every single family who lost a loved one at Sandy Hook has found a way to be of service, with everything from violence prevention programs like Sandy Hook Promise, to Embrace Hope, which is an equine therapy program. There is the Ana Grace Project and Ben's Lighthouse, Charlotte's Litter Therapy Dog Program, the Emilie Parker Art Connection, and everything from butterflies to puppies. There is the Vicki Soto Project, which is a fund to promote a love of teaching.

These are just a few, but every single family affected honored the memory of their loved ones through service. These families have all found ways to turn their grief into action.

While I recognize that we have so much work to do as legislators in this body, my only ask of you today, colleagues, is that we not let the deaths of these children be in vain and that we recommit ourselves to making our schools and our communities safe and find ways to turn solemn moments like this into action.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 5230, the Help Find the Missing Act, also known as Billy's Law. I thank Senator Murphy for his leadership on this bill, and I am honored to introduce it in the House.

This bill is named for Billy Smolinski. Billy went missing from my hometown of Waterbury, Connecticut, on August 24, 2004, nearly 20 years ago.

Unlike with missing children, Federal law does not require law enforcement to report missing adults or unidentified bodies. Without it, families are left to unravel the mystery of what happened to their loved ones without any support. The Smolinski family was left to navigate a complicated and disjointed system.

In the absence of a vigorous and sustained effort to solve the crime, the family created a personal tip line, placed billboards on highways that I drove by every day for many years, and worked closely with a private investigator.

When Bill and Janice Smolinski received tips, they would organize search parties, which worked with rescue teams and brought in highly trained cadaver dogs to sniff the woods in search of their son.

Each year, nearly half a million people go missing, and sadly, many of them will never see their loved ones again. Yet, over 40,000 sets of unidentified human remains are either held at coroners' offices or disposed of after going unclaimed.

Due to gaps in missing persons databases, missing persons and unidentified remains are rarely matched. Billy's Law will fix this critical gap by directing the Department of Justice to continually operate NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, and connect it to the FBI's National Crime Information Center. It will also provide guidelines for local law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and coroners on how to best handle missing person cases.

This bill has the support of the National Fraternal Order of Police and the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations, as well as both the Smolinski family and the family of Gabby Petito.

This bill will also help to bring home the missing, many whose names never make headlines or who are never talked about in the media, and offer closure to the families of those who will never make it home.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bipartisan, commonsense legislation to deliver justice to countless families.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1156, building on 20 years of success of the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program.

For two decades, the McGovern-Dole nutrition program has led the way in alleviating hunger and improving food security around the world. I deeply believe in the core values of this nutrition program because, as a teacher, I saw with my own eyes that hungry kids don't learn.

It is one of the greatest investments Congress can make. By providing at least one nutritious meal per day to vulnerable children in schools across the world, we are also investing in their development and their education. Beyond these children and their families, we also continue to support U.S. producers.

During my time as the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, I traveled abroad to many countries as an ambassador for education. While abroad, I learned the degree to which other countries look to us to lead the way for food security and childhood nutrition. I was greeted by numerous children on the African continent who thanked me as the American teacher for all of the American programs.

Our international food aid programs are not just an exercise of good will. They are absolutely critical to communities protecting themselves from the devastation of food insecurity. It is our moral obligation to ensure that we contribute to the food security of the global community--particularly children, pregnant women, and new mothers-- whenever possible.

I have been a proud supporter of McGovern-Dole funding during my time in Congress, and I will continue to do so. I urge my colleagues to vote for this in support of the House Resolution.

Mr. Chair, as a teacher, I rise in strong support of the Mental Health Matters Act.

This crucial legislation will help rebuild schools and address the mental health crisis plaguing our country by providing schools with resources to help students and educators heal and recover after this pandemic.

I am excited that this package includes my legislation, the Supporting Trauma-Informed Education Practices Act. My legislation specifically will help develop and improve prevention, screening, referral, treatment, and support services to students. It will implement schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and provide professional development to school personnel. This legislation will also engage with families and communities to increase awareness of child and youth trauma.

The broader impact of the pandemic on students and their families is often overlooked. We talk about the number of children who were lost as a result of being low, but I remind everyone that those children lost parents, grandparents, neighbors, and community members to the COVID-19 pandemic. That loss has taken a tremendous toll on their ability to learn and thrive in school.

The impact of trauma is greater than just one incident. No person, especially a child, should ever have to carry that weight alone.

As students continue to heal from the most traumatizing interruption to their academic journeys, they need strong, reliable, and accessible support services.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this bill to ensure students recover completely.

Madam Speaker, due to travel delays I missed roll call number 421. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 421.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the amendments en bloc 2, which includes my amendment to support the mental health and nutritional needs of servicemembers.

Servicemembers across the country and in my State who seek mental healthcare often encounter outdated resources or a lack of information on military websites. Without immediate and accurate access to mental health providers, servicemembers and their families are left to navigate a crisis on their own. Servicemembers already have insurance hurdles that can make it difficult to find acceptable and covered providers.

My amendment would help bridge this gap by requiring the military to review all installation-level web information about suicide prevention and behavioral health and ensure contact information is up to date. My amendment also requires the military to certify their review to Congress on a yearly basis.

Additionally, I urge my colleagues to support Chairman McGovern's amendment, which would require the DOD and the USDA to collect data on food insecurity among servicemembers. Representative McGovern's amendment would require the Department of Defense to train and designate a point person on all military bases to refer servicemembers seeking nutritional assistance.

Last November, as chair of the House Agriculture Nutrition Subcommittee, I hosted a hearing to address hunger among servicemembers, and our witnesses pointed out the lack of consistent data to address this issue. I support this amendment and will continue to work with Chairman McGovern to ensure that no family, especially military families, go hungry.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of the amendments en bloc 2 and the final National Defense Authorization Act.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this very important piece of legislation.

WIC recipients utilize formula at roughly double the rate of nonparticipating families, ensuring that this crisis has had a disproportionate impact on communities and families with the highest needs. That means that low-income women and children are particularly vulnerable during this nationwide formula shortage.

Today, we are taking swift action to help these families feed their babies by safely getting more baby formula onto store shelves in the face of manufacturer recalls.

I am excited to work with leadership and introduce the Access to Baby Formula Act, which helps improve access to formula products for WIC participants while also better protecting them during future product recalls.

This legislation establishes waiver authority to address emergencies during disasters and supply chain disruptions by ensuring States that contract companies with the WIC program can secure supplies from additional manufacturers, if necessary.

The bill also waives requirements that slow down the process to get formula back on the shelves, without sacrificing safety standards.

The bill promotes coordination and information sharing between the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding any supply chain disruption, including supplemental food recalls.

As a member of the Education and Labor Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations, when this crisis arose, I was concerned, like many of my colleagues. I called the chairman and spoke to Speaker Pelosi to share my concerns. We worked together to come up with a solution to get formula to families as quickly as possible.

I thank the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Steel) for joining us in this effort. I thank her so much for her help.

I know the feeling of desperation and stress that mothers, grandmothers, and family members across the country are feeling as they are searching for formula for their children.

Mothers in my district have joined Facebook groups to find where formula is available in our district. They are waiting in long lines outside of stores and buying sample packs on the street. They are even resorting to the dangerous practice of watering down their formula just to stretch the supply. They are desperate.

As many as 75 percent of American families are at least partially dependent on formula to provide nutrients to their infants. Additionally, some infants are solely reliant on specialty formulas to manage medical disorders.

In my district, I talked to Marcia from Farmington and Caitlin from Watertown, who sent messages to my office begging for help. My heart broke as these women shared their stories.

For those families who are able to find formula in local stores, the prices they are paying today have increased dramatically, in some cases up 18 percent over the past year.

It is important to recognize why we are in this situation. Families are actively seeing the consequences of a monopoly in any industry during a time of unprecedented supply chain challenges. The U.S. infant formula market is dominated by three companies: Abbott Nutrition, Enfamil, and Gerber. Abbott holds the largest share of contracts in the WIC program with States, territories, and Tribes. This means that nearly half of all infants in the program are reliant on their formula.

They also provide 43 percent of baby formula in the United States and is one of several companies that controls 89 percent of the U.S. infant formula market, making it especially vulnerable to issues like this.

When the massive companies in charge of this product fail, millions of families are thrust into the dangerous situation of not being able to feed their children.

It is unconscionable that we did not have a backup plan for a supply chain issue like we are seeing, and families are left desperate. This bill does that, ensuring that if we ever have this type of crisis in the future, we are prepared, and we can quickly shift gears.

I want to say to the moms struggling that we hear you in Congress, and you do not need to handle this on your own. We are working to find you a solution. Your words are not falling on deaf ears.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise to support the passage of this bill, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, a historic, $78 billion investment, which will provide training for 1 million workers per year by 2028. This package includes my bill, the YouthBuild for the Future Act, which would invest $1 billion into YouthBuild over 6 years.

YouthBuild is a crucial program that is specifically built to help young people who have not completed their high school degree train for a high-wage, stable career. But most importantly, it helps those young people regain their confidence and their ability to be self-sufficient and contribute to our communities.

My bill makes critical investments to the program, such as reserving grant funds for rural areas, extending the period of follow-up services to 2 years, and allowing YouthBuild to fund meals for participants. These improvements will expand opportunity for young adults and employers who are clamoring to fill skilled positions that too often remain vacant.

These are meaningful, life-changing investments for Americans searching for long-term, high-wage employment. I know that these programs work because the one in my district and my hometown has young kids building homes.

Madam Speaker, as an original cosponsor of this reauthorization, I am proud to support passage, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I rise to offer an amendment to protect communities from malicious scams surrounding the community services block grant program.

The CSBG program is absolutely critical to the empowerment of vulnerable communities. Funding from the CSBG program has helped nine community action agencies in my State serve 107,000 families and 260,000 individuals.

It has helped over 81,000 households avoid crisis with energy assistance and nearly 17,000 people avoid hunger with emergency or supplemental food and enrolled 5,600 children in early childcare services.

Additionally, these agencies have helped nearly 11,000 people file their income taxes, returning $8.5 million to my State's economy.

CSBG programs empower our communities' most vulnerable, which is why they are always offered free of charge.

However, scammers across the country falsely purport to offer CSBG services for a fee, preying on those in our community when they are most in need of help. We have seen a proliferation of fraud and scams throughout the COVID-19 pandemic when emergency Federal dollars were sent to States.

These scams are illegal and morally reprehensible. It is our responsibility to ensure our communities are properly informed to combat predatory schemes. It is our responsibility to reinforce guardrails to protect the integrity of these programs and ensure they fulfill their promises to our communities.

My amendment would require that States provide easily accessible warnings about verified scams as well as information on where to seek recourse should someone believe they are the victim of a CSBG-related scam.

Making this information available will ensure that CSBG can continue to provide lifesaving services to communities without being subject to greed and mal-intent. This is a simple, commonsense amendment that the Congressional Budget Office has certified as budget neutral.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment and the underlying legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the 2022 National Teacher of the Year, Kurt Russell.

Mr. Russell teaches at Oberlin High School in Oberlin, Ohio. He is a 25-year veteran of the classroom.

Kurt Russell was first inspired to become a teacher in middle school when he encountered his first Black male teacher.

In addition to his classroom and extracurricular duties, Kurt is the head coach for the school's varsity basketball team. He sees basketball as an extension of the classroom and a place where young people can learn about working together and how to handle both adversity and success.

He provides an inclusive and safe environment for studying diverse groups and encouraging all students' voices to be heard.

Now, as the 2022 National Teacher of the Year, he plans to advocate for classrooms to better reflect the students within them.

Mr. Russell joins his cohort of National Teachers of the Year from every State and territory this week in Washington, D.C., to celebrate their achievement, the profession, and their dedication to students.

As a fellow National Teacher of the Year, I offer my heartfelt congratulations to the entire cohort and all the teachers who are being recognized this week.