Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, it is an honor to be with you today and to tell everyone how excited I am that on July 15 checks are going to be arriving at the homes of families with children who have been struggling for a year and a half, and many have really come to the brink because of the pandemic that we are facing.

This is the child tax credit that is actually going to reduce child poverty by half in the United States of America. It was part of the American Rescue Plan, which we passed in January, and now it is going to come to help people in the form of a check. These payments provide poor, working- and middle-class families with meaningful tax relief.

In my district, over 70 percent of children will benefit from the expanded credit; over 100,000 families in total. This is the result of our work to make sure that families are no longer suffering because of the pandemic.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding and for his kind words.

I also thank the authors of this legislation, Representatives Cardenas, Davis, Castor, and Upton, a bipartisan leadership group on this legislation.

And I also thank the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. Bilirakis, for his cooperation on this and so many other issues.

Mr. Speaker, children are particularly vulnerable to risks associated with household consumer products. These risks have been magnified by the pandemic as families spend more time at home and parents juggle working from home and supervising children.

This legislation will direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to study and report injuries and deaths associated with consumer products during the pandemic. A lot of progress has been made, but the pandemic is not yet over.

Americans deserve up-to-date information about emerging threats to the safety of their children, and so this legislation is very important.

This legislation also directs the Department of Commerce to study and report to the Congress on the impact of the pandemic on the travel and tourism industries.

These industries were really hit hard by the pandemic. Over 15.7 million Americans work in travel or tourism. Many of these jobs are just now starting to come back. Industries that depend on travel or tourism like the arts, live events, hotels, and restaurants are still hurting. We must understand the full impact of the pandemic on travel and tourism so that we can help these industries to be able to build back better.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the authors of this bipartisan legislation, Representatives McNerney, Burgess, Soto, Guthrie, and Davidson.

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government should put the incredible technological innovation of the last few years to work for the American people, and that is exactly what this bill does. It promotes the use of artificial intelligence in product safety and studies how blockchain can protect consumers.

Regulators will be stronger and the American consumer safer when we consider how these technologies can help them achieve this mission.

Part of the mission of the Federal Trade Commission is to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive business practices. It is important to keep track of any such practices in the digital token ecosystem where unscrupulous businesspeople may be seeking to take advantage of the vast wealth created by digital tokens. This bill directs the Federal Trade Commission to report on its work keeping users of the digital token system safe.

Emerging technologies pose both perils and promise. That is why we must direct Federal agencies to make sure that consumers are safe.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Pallone and my ranking member because this is such an important bipartisan bill that is designed to save lives.

My colleague, Tony Cardenas, and I introduced the Safe Sleep for Babies Act after the release of several devastating reports linking inclined sleep products and crib bumpers to infant deaths. This urgently needed legislation will add these dangerous products to the list of banned hazardous products under the Consumer Product Safety Act.

The science is clear: The safest sleep environment for babies is a flat, firm, bare surface with no restraints or soft bedding. Infant inclined sleep products and crib bumpers are dangerous and should not be on the market at all.

If we do not pass this legislation, companies will continue to sell and market these products that can harm and even kill infants, and infants will continue to be harmed if we don't act now. As a mother and grandmother, I know that we must act now to ensure that no more babies die from unsafe sleep products.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Pallone for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, since 2000, more than 460 children have died from furniture tip-overs, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission has reported that tip-overs cause an average of 25,500 emergency room- treated injuries every year as children are crushed, trapped, or stuck by furniture.

These deaths and injuries should never have happened in the first place, but they continue to happen because current furniture stability standards are both inadequate and only voluntary. We can't continue to allow the furniture industry to regulate itself. It hasn't worked and it has come at a cost of children's lives.

That is why I have reintroduced the legislation, the STURDY Act, H.R. 1314, which would strengthen and make mandatory furniture stabilization standards for clothing storage units.

No parent should have to worry about their children being injured, or worse, by a piece of furniture.

I want to give a special shout-out to the organization Kids In Danger that has been advocating for this for a long time, and for the moms who came to this Congress and told the stories of their lost children because of these tip-overs. Their stories have moved everyone who has heard them.

It is time now that we act. We can do something to help prevent these furniture tip-overs that put our Nation's children in danger.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, today, I will vote, once again, to repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force because we cannot continue endless wars.

Congress passed the 2002 AUMF authorization for war again Saddam Hussein's regime. I voted against that resolution. And, now, here we are nearly 20 years later, and we have seen three successive administrations use the AUMF to wage war in ways that were never intended, that were way beyond the scope of the congressional authorization that was used.

Only Congress has the authority to declare war. And it is time for us to reclaim that authority. We can't let another day go by with this authorization in place. We cannot support endless wars.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate Congressman Bowman's organizing this on behalf of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which I am so proud to be a member of, and I really am grateful to him.

Let me just say this in no uncertain terms. Care infrastructure is infrastructure, and it is especially true for women whose opportunities are often limited because we don't really have a working care economy right now.

Every single day nearly 10,000 people turn 65 years old in the United States of America, and yet we do not have in the United States a long- term-care policy. Think about it. The United States of America does not have a real long-term-care policy.

Every family tries to figure out for itself, What are we going to do when grandma and grandpa get older? What are we going to do when I get older? What is the plan? Most people when they retire or have to retire actually don't have enough money to really make the kinds of decisions that they need to and will come up.

Of the people who turn 65, between 50 and 70 percent at that time need some sort of support or care. Where does that come from? Let me be clear; it mostly comes from women.

There is a sociologist who says many countries have a safety net; the United States has women. Paid and unpaid caregivers are women.

Let's talk about the paid caregivers first. People who work in nursing homes, people who work in home care. They make an average of about $12 an hour, with no benefits. You can't live on that. They certainly can't plan for their retirement and to pay for someone to care for them.

And so what do we do? It is pretty clear what has to be done, and actually the Biden administration has actually begun to do it, because everyone should be able to provide and care for their families at any age, for childcare, and certainly for long-term care for the elderly, which is a particular concern of mine.

I am the co-chair of the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families, and I am proud of that, coming up with proposals that are going to help our elderly. It is projected that right now we will need about 4 million additional caregivers, people who are either paid or unpaid, by 2028. That is just really around the corner. 4 million. We do not have enough.

First of all, we have to pay the workers a living wage. Now, President Biden

has come up with a plan for $400 billion for home and community-based care. That is a lot of money. It can be a game changer.

The idea is to be able to provide more money, more wages for those who suit up every day and go to work, and during the pandemic often in very dangerous situations where they don't have enough of the PPE, the personal protective equipment, to take care of them and protect them against the virus. They suit up every day and go to work and can barely take care of their own families.

And what about all the women who have had to leave the workforce because they did not have anyone to care for their children or for their parents or both? The sandwich generation has to worry about making sure that they have someone to care for their children and someone who will help them to take care of their elderly relatives. That burden has fallen on women who have ended up having to leave the workforce.

We need to act now. We need to act to fill this gap, to have a real program for long-term care, to have real help for childcare so that women can go to work to care for their families, to have the income that it really takes.

This is not rocket science. It is that we need to pay attention. We need to have the policies in place. We need to have the infrastructure in place, the plan on how we are going to deliver the care that is needed. Without it, we will not be able to move forward economically in this country, and certainly women will pay, especially pay, the price, and often it is women that are low income, women of color that suffer.

So I am happy that we are seeing the Biden administration, we are seeing the Democrats, we are seeing the progressives move forward with that plan that will actually provide the infrastructure we need.

And let me just end by saying that care infrastructure is infrastructure.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Save Your Tooth Month. This month celebrates Americans saving their natural teeth and recognizes the ``savers''--endodontists--who make this possible.

The more than 5,000 endodontists in the U.S. play an important role in providing oral health care throughout our country, spread awareness about practicing good oral hygiene, and emphasize the value of retaining one's natural teeth and smile.

Endodontists are dentists that specialize in diagnosing and treating tooth pain and performing root canal treatment. Following the dental school, endodontists have completed an additional 2 to 3 years of advanced training. This gives them enhanced precision, making them highly skilled in performing complex treatments.

Teeth are a gateway to nutrition, a sign of emotion, and a signal of overall good health. We all feel better when our teeth are clean and pain-free. And although dentures can work well and have improved significantly, they are never as good as a full set of natural teeth. Our natural teeth are worth saving, and endodontists focus their careers solely on doing just that.

Nothing looks, feels, or functions like your natural tooth. Regular brushing and flossing, along with 6-month check-ups from your dentist, can help you keep your teeth for a lifetime. It is worth the extra few minutes each day to maintain good oral hygiene.

If you do experience issues with your teeth, seek out proper dental care. In particular, if you have tooth pain, you can seek treatment from an endodontist. Endodontists use the most current and advanced technology to treat dental patients.

It should be noted that it is extremely safe to visit the endodontist during the COVID-19 pandemic, with endodontists practicing the utmost caution and disinfection protocol. Even at the height of America's spring 2020 shutdown, most endodontic practices remained open to safely treat dental emergencies.

Thank you to all the endodontists for your dedicated work in helping us maintain our natural teeth. Happy Save Your Tooth Month.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Thompson for his leadership.

While the events of January 6 were devastating and will stain our country's history forever, I have no doubt that democracy will prevail.

This Nation has fought back against hatred, authoritarianism, and fascism since the very founding.

Yes, I stand proudly today to ask for a January 6 commission so that we can develop a full public record that will let us know how we can avoid this in the future.

We should all vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, pregnant women should never have to choose between maintaining a healthy pregnancy and their paycheck.

This critical bill will ensure that pregnant women get accommodations when they need them without facing discrimination and/or retaliation at work. It will especially help low-paid women--largely women of color and immigrants--working in jobs that require prolonged standing, long hours, irregular schedules, and heavy lifting or physical activity.

Many people can work just fine without accommodations through their pregnancy. However, some in physically demanding jobs need a temporary adjustment of their job duties and perhaps some rules during pregnancy so that they can continue to work and support their families.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is long overdue, and we think that it is common sense.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Religious Action Center

of Reform Judaism,

Washington, DC, May 11, 2021.

Dear Member of Congress: I write on behalf of the Union for

Reform Judaism, whose 850 congregations across North America

encompass approximately 1.8 million Reform Jews, and the

Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership

includes more than 2,000 Reform rabbis, to express our

support for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (H.R. 1065).

Over 40 years since the passage of the Pregnancy

Discrimination Act in 1978, pregnant workers still face

unjust barriers in the workplace. No worker should have to

choose between their pregnancy and their family's financial

security, yet due to the lack of explicit protections for

pregnant workers needing onsite accommodations for medical or

safety reasons, countless workers confront the agonizing

choice between risking their health and facing forced leave,

lost benefits, or possible termination.

As the inequitable impact of the pandemic has highlighted,

People of Color are more likely to hold demanding, inflexible

jobs where they face tradeoffs between their work and their

health. Illegal pregnancy discrimination and denial of

workplace accommodations, which disproportionately affect

pregnant People of Color, contribute to the Black maternal

health crisis and other forms of racial inequity.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) would mitigate

these disparities by requiring employers to provide

reasonable, temporary accommodations to pregnant workers so

that they can remain in the workforce throughout their

pregnancies. By requiring temporary adjustments similar to

the accommodations employers already must provide through the

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), pregnant workers would

no longer be forced to choose between their pregnancies and

their paychecks.

According to the ancient rabbis, workers should not be put

in the position where they have ``to starve or afflict

themselves in order to feed their children'' (Tosefta Bava

Metzia 8:2). We are similarly taught that the fair treatment

of all workers is a matter of tzedek, or justice. These moral

imperatives guide our support for the bipartisan Pregnant

Workers Fairness Act, and we strongly urge Congress to pass

this bill to ameliorate the impact of discrimination against

pregnant people in the workplace.

Sincerely,

Barbara Weinstein,

Director of the Commission on

Social Action of Reform Judaism.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I am horrified and saddened by the ongoing escalation of violence in Gaza and in Israel.

We have now seen over 1,800 rockets being fired indiscriminately at Israel's citizens, who are now fleeing for their lives. Yes, I believe that Israel does have a right to defend herself.

Now, 103 Palestinians and seven Israelis are dead, including children. It is so painful. The cycle of violence that we see over and over again. Yes, I believe Israel does have the right to defend herself. But in the end, there are no winners.

The United States can play a role. The Biden administration has dispatched the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, his name is Hady Amr, to Israel, and his job is to deal with the situation in Israel and Palestine. I am hopeful that we will see a deescalation and a ceasefire. But a return to status quo is simply not enough.

Earlier this week, prior to the attacks, I was deeply disturbed by the intentional and the intended evacuation of Palestinian families, some of whom have been in their homes for decades. The Biden administration, through its National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, has also conveyed its consternation, its concern, about the evictions, and has called and has urged the administration to remain heavily involved, to address the root causes of this violence, including ongoing evictions, displacement, and occupation, as it works to secure a ceasefire.

The violence must end now, and we must work to enable dialogue that can lead to a just, safe, and secure future for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of ending the disenfranchisement of over 700,000 people, including most of the staff that works for us every single day.

Our Nation is the only democratic country in the world that denies full democratic rights to the citizens living in its Nation's Capital. That is more than 700,000 American citizens who pay Federal taxes, who fight and die in wars, who serve on our juries, and yet have no vote in the Senate or the House of Representatives. That is the definition of taxation without representation.

It is 219 years overdue for the citizens of the District of Columbia to have their right to vote.

Let me thank and commend my colleague, Eleanor Holmes Norton, for all of her decades of work. It is time to vote ``yes'' on statehood for the District of Columbia.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I just want to express my incredible gratitude, first of all, to Congresswoman Judy Chu for her tireless leadership on this issue, and to the Muslim community in my district for their tireless work and advocacy on this issue.

I remember the day well when President Trump issued this Muslim ban right at the beginning of his administration. And I remember running out to the airport immediately, to the international terminal. And shortly after I got there, there ended up being literally thousands of people who had gathered, at the shame on the United States of America. The people who came that day all had some documentation. They had visas. At first, even people with green cards were being held and oppressed.

Who are we? Who are we as the United States of America?

And I know that, finally, President Biden has said: No Muslim ban.

But we want to make it the law of the land so no other President can do such a thing that, based on religion, people would be banned from the United States of America.

I want to tell you, I take this personally as a Jew, myself. You know, I am a first-generation American. Neither of my parents was born in this country. They were able to emigrate to the United States.

But I also remember the story of our history as Jews, when the St. Louis, a boat that came to protect people from annihilation, was turned away from the American shores; was told to go back to where it came from; and many of those people then perished in the Holocaust.

Who are we?

This bill is about who we are, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Access to Counsel Act.

Thousands of immigrants lawfully come to our country, come through our ports of entry, daily. They come in order to reunite with families, in order to receive lifesaving medical help, in order to pursue their educational dreams. They come because they are allowed to come, and they come for really good purposes.

When they arrive, all too often they are subjected to grueling inspections and relentless questioning by our Customs and Border Patrol agents, and often they have no help to turn to.

H.R. 1573 will ensure that these individuals can communicate with a family member, an attorney, or other party who can help them navigate what is going on at the port of entry if they are held over an hour.

This is important. We are not saying that there shouldn't be any inspections whatsoever, that there shouldn't be any questioning. But sometimes people have been held up to 30 hours without any access to help. It is not right.

This is critical to ensuring that immigrants are treated fairly and with dignity.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Access to Counsel Act and to support due process for all.

Madam Speaker, workplace violence has reached epidemic levels and is the third greatest cause of job death right now.

Nurses, medical assistants, emergency responders, and social workers face some of the greatest threats, suffering more than 72 percent of all workplace assaults. Women suffer two out of every three serious workplace violence incidents.

This is unacceptable. We need to protect workers and require employers to put in place effective workplace violence prevention plans. It is simple. Make a plan.

We need to protect our healthcare and social service workers who have done so much for us during the pandemic to care for us. Now, we need to care for them.

We need H.R. 1195 now. Let's come together and get it done.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an editorial column from Bonnie Castillo and a letter from the AFL-CIO.

[From The Hill, Apr. 9, 2021]

We Can't Afford to Lose One More Nurse--Passing Workplace Violence

Prevention Bill Would Help

(By Bonnie Castillo, Opinion Contributor)

``My children were very distraught to see their mom with a

black eye,'' said Luciana Herr, a registered nurse in the

inpatient psychiatry unit at Abbott Northwest Hospital in

Minneapolis, Minn. Herr entered a hospital room in early

March to find a patient hitting and biting her co-worker.

With no security or other staff around, she tried to help and

was punched in the face twice and kicked several times. It

was the second time she had been assaulted in just a few

months.

Tragically, Herr's story is all too common. According to

the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care and social

service workers have a five times greater likelihood of

experiencing a workplace violence-related injury than workers

overall. This extremely high rate of violence is

unacceptable, a fact driven home by the pandemic. We cannot

let nurses and other health care workers go one more day

fighting for optimal COVID protections while also wondering

whether they will be assaulted at work.

That's why National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union

of registered nurses in the United States, is fighting to get

a critical bill across the finish line. The Workplace

Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service

Workers Act (H.R. 1195) would mandate that federal OSHA hold

health care and social service employers accountable for

developing and implementing a comprehensive workplace

violence prevention plan, publicly reporting incidents of

violence, and not retaliating against workers who report

violence.

The legislation passed the U.S. House in the 116th Congress

and was reintroduced this session by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney

(D-Conn.). It will come up for a floor vote soon in the

House, and nurses across the country urge congressmembers to

vote yes.

Planning to prevent violence means everything because once

violence happens, it's already too late. This truth really

hit home when our beloved NNU member Cynthia Palomata, a

registered nurse in California, was killed by her patient in

2010. Countless nurses across the country are attacked

physically and verbally each year, and the violence may be

growing. A November 2020 National Nurses United survey of

15,000 registered nurses across the country found that 20

percent of respondents reported an increase in workplace

violence during the pandemic.

It's important to remember that when nurses aren't safe,

patients, visitors, and family members are also not safe.

Violence can harm anyone in the vicinity.

According to Herr, staffing at an optimal level, adding

security, and making sure patients are assessed and placed

where they are best served are examples of actions her

employer could take to curb violence before it happens. But

there is no federal mandate for health care and social

service employers to have a comprehensive, unit-specific

prevention plan. This bill will establish one. In our profit-

driven health care system, employers will never invest in

prevention unless they are held accountable.

``All I got was an `I am sorry that happened to you,' ''

said Melanie Autrey, a general surgery registered nurse at

Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., who--along with her co-

worker--was attacked in January by a patient with dementia.

``It made me feel like I was not safe working here. It made

me feel like `What does it take?' ''

In Autrey's case, simple things may have helped, like the

hospital investing in ``sitters,'' staff who can watch over

patients in need of supervision and notice changes in

behavior before a patient grows violent. There are so many

clear actions that health care employers can take to prevent

violence from happening and to ensure nurses can focus on

caring for patients, not on wondering whether they will be

hurt or killed on the job. But if we don't hold profit-driven

employers accountable, they will never change.

As of early April, more than 3,570 registered nurses and

other health care workers have already died of COVID-19. We

can't afford to lose one more--not to the virus, not to

violence, not to preventable causes. Congress must pass the

Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social

Service Workers Act without delay.