Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 446.

Mr. Speaker, too many students are being overlooked by our education system. These students are emergent bilinguals, a group that makes up 10 percent of the K-12 student population.

In the law, we refer to them as English learners, students whose native language is one other than English and who are not yet English proficient. But when we call students ELs day to day, we ignore the important fact that they are already proficient in another language, whether it is Spanish, Chinese, or Arabic.

As these students learn English, they become bilingual, and bilingualism is an incredible asset in our global society. We benefit, and we need to shift our view of emergent bilinguals and recognize their great potential. We must recognize that by investing in their success, we all benefit.

Sarah Hesson, a Rhode Island educator, introduced me to the term ``emergent bilinguals,'' and I encourage my colleagues to use it as well and to celebrate students' emerging bilingualism.

After all, it is a gift that will empower students to become more successful later in life.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise with my good friend and fellow co-chair of the Congressional Career and

Technical Education Caucus, Mr. Thompson, to introduce the Cybersecurity Education Integration Act, a bill to develop CTE programs that include cybersecurity education.

Whether in our hospitals or our power grid, systems that make up our critical infrastructure are increasingly internet-enabled. These connections undoubtedly increase efficiency and service quality but, unfortunately, they also provide pathways for cyber intruders to wreak havoc.

Mr. Speaker, we need to provide training for workers who deal with these systems on a day-to-day basis, whether it is in the transportation, energy, or health sectors, so that they can keep us safe, so they can identify these cybersecurity vulnerabilities early on and prevent them, hopefully, from happening in the first place.

Many CTE programs already have strong physical safety elements; however, cybersecurity is rarely included. We can't think of this as an afterthought. It needs to be a forethought. By funding the creation of CTE programs that fully integrate cybersecurity into their coursework, we can ensure workers have the skills to protect our Nation's infrastructure.

I thank Representative Thompson for his partnership on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support our bipartisan effort.

Madam Speaker, as cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, I rise to recognize November as National Adoption Month.

All children deserve the love and security of a forever family. Unfortunately, this is not a reality for too many children across the country.

More than 123,000 children are waiting right now to be adopted from foster care in the United States. Those who reach adulthood and exit care without a family are far more likely to experience bouts of homelessness and unemployment, among other negative outcomes.

Madam Speaker, who among us would have succeeded without the love and support of our families to be there for us, whether it was the family we were born into or the family we make.

Madam Speaker, we must ensure that every child has the family they need to thrive. Adoption provides this pathway.

On November 17, 19 Rhode Island families celebrated National Adoption Day by finalizing the adoptions of 23 children.

I would like to honor these families and others who open their hearts to children in need. There is no greater gift than the gift of a forever home.

Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the Career and Technical Education Caucus, I rise to recognize National Apprenticeship Week.

In recent years, we have heard too often about the tremendous skills gap that we have in our country, where too many jobs at companies in our districts go unfilled because workers don't have the skills to do those jobs that are available. Well, apprenticeships provide valuable on-the-job training for students of all ages. By combining practical and theoretical instruction, they allow students to earn while they learn, preparing them for high-skilled, high-paying jobs.

I have seen the promise of these programs back home. In Rhode Island, Electric Boat has partnered with the Community College of Rhode Island to offer an apprenticeship program at Quonset Point in maritime pipe and structural trades. Apprentices will finish the program with a certificate and an associate's degree, ready for rewarding careers in high-demand industries.

Apprenticeships offer affordable education for students, powerful productivity enhancements for businesses, and big economic returns for our communities. As the number of skilled job openings continues to grow and the workforce continues to age, apprenticeship programs will become even more critical.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, signed into law on October 2, 1968.

This landmark conservation bill launched a movement. It helped us recognize and protect the free-flowing rivers with ``outstandingly remarkable'' characteristics.

In Rhode Island and Connecticut, we have just such waterways, including the branches of the Wood and Pawcatuck Rivers.

Just this week, in cooperation with Senator Jack Reed, I introduced legislation to designate the 110 miles of this river system as a Wild and Scenic River. After 3 years of intense study, the National Park Service has found it to have areas of pristine beauty, recreational importance, and untouched wilderness.

I applaud the work of Denise Poyer, the study coordinator at the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association, and all of those who have volunteered their time to protect this river.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee to complete this designation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which begins October 1. As the cofounder and co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus with my good friend Chairman Mike McCaul, I firmly believe that cybersecurity is the national and economic security challenge of the 21st century. I also believe that each of us has a role to play in staying safe online.

During each of the 4 themed weeks of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Department of Homeland Security and its partners across the government and the private sector will highlight different aspects of cybersecurity, from the challenges faced by our critical infrastructure to the steps individuals can take to make their homes a safe haven for online safety.

I encourage all my colleagues to take the opportunity to bring these messages back to their home districts. From senior centers to local chambers of commerce, the cybersecurity awareness events that I hold with our State cybersecurity officer, Mike Steinmetz, and the great team at the Rhode Island Joint Cyber Task Force have helped people across the Ocean State better protect themselves online.

I look forward to another successful Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Mr. Speaker, last week, the Justice Department unveiled the latest in a string of criminal complaints against America's cyber adversaries. The extremely detailed document lays out a damning case against Park Jin Hyok, a North Korean hacker, and the regime that supports him.

From the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack to WannaCry to attempts to undermine the global financial system, the North Korean regime is a destabilizing presence in cyberspace. I commend the members of the law enforcement community who are working this case.

Mr. Speaker, cyberspace is often thought of as a domain where bad actors can act with impunity. This indictment shows that this is not the case. America is getting more and more sophisticated at being able to track down and unveil and unmask these cyber bad actors.

To those who would attempt to target our networks and systems, I have a message for you: We will find you. Malign activity in cyberspace that targets critical infrastructure or causes immense property damage is not the behavior of responsible nations, and we will not tolerate it.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I would like to begin by thanking my colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), for his leadership on this very important issue. I am very proud to have helped shape this strong bill, and I appreciate the gentleman's bipartisan collaboration.

Mr. Speaker, the international community has reached consensus on many norms of responsible state behavior in cyberspace. One key agreement reached by the joint 2015 Group of Governmental Experts is that responsible states do not use cyber means to damage or impair the operation of critical infrastructure that provides services to the public. Yet states regularly flaunt these international rules of the road.

The North Koreans spread the WannaCry pseudo-ransomware last May. The Russians have targeted the electric grid in Ukraine and were behind NotPetya, the most devastating cyber incident in history. Closest to home, Russia launched an assault on our elections with the goal of undermining citizens' faith in our democracy.

President Obama recognized that protecting the Nation's cyberspace has three components: improving our defenses to prevent hackers from getting in; increasing resilience to minimize the damage when they do get in; and imposing costs on states that act against our national interest.

His executive orders, particularly 13694 and 13757, focused on this last point, holding nations accountable through sanctions when they or their agents target our critical infrastructure. Mr. Yoho's bill codifies large portions of these executive orders, and it goes further by requiring the President to both designate critical cyber threats and to sanction them.

I strongly support the underlying policy and the enhancements made by my friend from Florida.

Mr. Speaker, I think we also need to go further. The September 2015 Obama-Xi accord on Chinese economic espionage, which remains one of the most successful examples of cyber deterrence, relied on the threat of sanctions targeting the beneficiaries of China's spying, not just PLA members. We must continue to work together in a bipartisan fashion to maximize the efficacy of sanctions, which are intended not to punish but to shape behavior.

Most importantly, though, I hope the President takes more aggressive actions to protect American interests in cyberspace. I criticized President Obama's response to Russia's election interference as too little, too late, and, unfortunately, President Trump has been reticent to act against Russia.

The norms we talk about are norms of behavior, and I remain deeply concerned that our absence of action in response to malign state activity is developing into a norm in and of itself. Actions, as they say, speak louder than words.

However, all told, Mr. Speaker, this bill is an important first step in recognizing that cyber threats are the new weapon of choice for states that seek to sow discord and engage in conflict below the level of the threshold of war.

I again thank Congressman Yoho for introducing the bill and Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for supporting it. I strongly support H.R. 5576, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, last month, President Trump stripped former CIA Director John Brennan of his security clearance. That was not done because Director Brennan posed a threat to national security. No, it was done to silence a political opponent.

Mr. Speaker, all Americans agree that the President should not be able to order the IRS to initiate an audit against a rival, and we should all be able to agree that he may not use his authority to revoke a security clearance. Yet the President has announced that he intends to invalidate the clearances of other current and former officials who disagree with his policies.

That is why I introduced H.R. 6680 with my colleagues, Mr. Lieu and Ranking Member Schiff of the Intelligence Committee, that will prevent the administration from revoking security clearances for political reasons. My bill would give agency officials the basis to push back on White House demands that more clearances be revoked outside of judicial processes and protocols.

Mr. Speaker, granting, denying, or revoking security clearances for political retribution or the stifling of political dissent is un- American, and it should never be tolerated or allowed. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to recognize and thank the gentleman from Texas for his leadership on this issue as well as for his leadership as chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection.

As the cofounder and co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, which I have co-led for a decade with my good friend Chairman McCaul, I firmly believe that cybersecurity is the national and economic security issue of the 21st century. I believe it is, therefore, incumbent upon us as Members of Congress to enable the government to take the steps needed to protect our systems and to provide some course correction when necessary.

This bill does both, authorizing the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation, or CDM, program and requiring a strategy from the Department of Homeland Security to guide its future growth. CDM represents a core component of the Department's efforts to better secure the dot-gov domain. In particular, by giving agencies a better view into their networks, systems, and data, it helps provide an understanding of cybersecurity status in real time.

It also feeds back data to DHS, so that cybersecurity specialists at the National Protection and Programs Directorate can better assist agencies in closing vulnerabilities and responding to incidents.

Conceptually, CDM makes a lot of sense, but it has not been without challenges in implementation. Originally designed with a phased model that focused on incorporating new sets of tools at each milestone, it has fallen behind schedule, and many agencies have expressed skepticism about the program's utility.

I believe in CDM, and I believe that the congressional direction provided by Mr. Ratcliffe's bill will help dispel some of these doubts. I also believe that the strategy can further help refocus the program on the present and future needs of Federal networks. So I am pleased that, during the committee

consideration, my amendment requiring a re-examination of the phasing plan was adopted.

While I appreciate the thought underlying the original phasing approach, I believe that we make more progress if the planned phase 3 and phase 4 are constructed in parallel rather than serially.

This is a good bill, and I urge my colleagues to support its passage. However, I must take this opportunity to mention this bill's major omission. It does not address the incentive structure at other agencies to actually adopt CDM offerings. During hearings and roundtables on the program, we often heard from government stakeholders that internal dynamics at DHS' sister agencies were actually the biggest obstacle to the program's success.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

This is, to be sure, outside the purview of the Committee on Homeland Security, and I believe the bill before us will materially improve the program.

One other thing, I urge my colleagues to consider the wisdom of having so many committees involved with cybersecurity jurisdiction, often to the detriment of making real progress. Right now, there are some 30 committees and subcommittees that have jurisdiction over cyber, and it is very difficult to get things done. So I also urge my colleagues to look at the Executive Cyberspace Coordination Act, which would put a Senate-confirmed director of cybersecurity at the White House to help better coordinate interagency processes. Dealing with these jurisdictional problems would substantially improve our cybersecurity posture and would allow CDM to fully live up to its potential.

With that, I would like to again thank Ranking Member Thompson and Chairmen McCaul and Ratcliffe for continuing their focus on cybersecurity. I strongly urge support for H.R. 6443. I commend Chairman Ratcliffe for introducing the bill, and I certainly hope all Members will support it and DHS' ongoing cybersecurity efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Michael Gary Ehrlich.

An accomplished orthopedic surgeon, husband, father, and grandfather, Dr. Ehrlich will be sorely missed by his loved ones and the many patients whose lives were forever improved by his skilled practice of medicine.

He paved the way to advances and innovation in skeletal health after graduating from Dartmouth College and Columbia University.

And throughout a distinguished career at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brown University, and Rhode Island and Miriam Hospitals, Dr. Ehrlich demonstrated a genuine affinity for improving the human condition through his service as a practitioner.

The people of Rhode Island have lost more than a surgeon--we have lost a friend. Yet, I know that his work ethic and positive contribution to the community will live on through the students he mentored, the research he poured countless hours into, and the thousands of patients he helped.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 366, and YEA on Roll Call No. 367.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the life of Marlene McCarthy, founder of the Rhode Island Breast Cancer Coalition, who sadly passed away after a courageous fight against breast cancer.

Throughout her life, Marlene displayed strength and resilience in the face of adversity. Her personal experience battling cancer and reaching for life beyond a diagnosis became the foundation by which she inspired others.

She received many accolades for her work in Rhode Island and across the nation, including the National Breast Cancer Coalition Advocate of the Year Award, the Rhode Island Woman of the Year award, and the Freedom Torch Award.

In addition to her inspiring advocacy, Marlene was beloved by her community for her kindness and integrity. Although she is no longer with us, her legacy lives on.

Marlene will be missed, but she will never be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking Chairman Thornberry, Ranking Member Smith, Chairman McCain, Ranking Member Reed, Senator Inhofe, and their staff for their tireless work in producing this conference report.

I am especially pleased that this conference report is named after Senator John McCain, a true American hero. Thank you for your service, Senator, and Godspeed.

It was an honor to serve as a conferee throughout this process and to be a part of this undertaking in support of our Armed Forces.

While no bill is perfect, there is much to be proud of in this conference report. We are giving our troops a much-deserved pay raise, taking critical steps to counter Russian aggression and resist Chinese coercive influence, and continuing to ensure the Department of Defense is prepared to mitigate the risks posed by climate change.

We are also increasing funding for the Virginia- and Columbia-class submarine programs, which are made in my home State of Rhode Island, and protect our Nation and our allies and create thousands of jobs back home.

As ranking member of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, it has been a pleasure to work with Chairwoman Elise Stefanik.

I am particularly glad we are making strong investments in our cyber personnel and capabilities, providing increased support for our Special Operations Forces and their families, and increasing funding for key programs to maintain our technological superiority, such as railgun development, directed energy prototyping, and unmanned vehicles.

The threats we face as a nation are diverse and challenging. There are no easy answers for how the United States will continue to promote stability and the rules-based international order.

But I believe that this bipartisan work of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, and this bill in particular, will improve our national security and help keep our country and our servicemembers safe.

Lastly, I want to thank Kathryn Mitchell on my personal staff, who serves as my MLA. She is leaving for South Korea to be with her husband, who is serving in the United States Army.

Job well done, Kathryn, and thank you.

For those reasons and more, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this conference report.