Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this Fire Department Repayment Act introduced by my colleague from California, Representative Josh Harder.

The bill would require the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, Homeland Security, and Defense to establish standard operating procedures for fire suppression cost-share agreements under the Reciprocal Fire Protection Act.

With the increasing threat of climate change and with wildfires becoming more rampant, it is critical that our local and State fire organizations are supported and continue to receive the resources that they need to fight wildfires.

That is why this bill would enable local and State fire departments to maintain their readiness and effectiveness by establishing standard operating procedures to expedite the process for reviewing and modifying existing fire suppression cost agreements to align with cooperative fire protection agreements.

Furthermore, the bill would require the Secretaries to complete second-level reviews of a fire suppression cost-share agreement following containment of a wildfire in consultation with State and local fire suppression organizations.

The establishment of standard operating procedures is a necessary step toward ensuring quicker and more efficient reviews so that local and State fire departments receive Federal reimbursements in a more timely manner.

As fire seasons continue to increase in frequency and severity, Congress needs to do everything we can to support our local and State fire departments and their firefighters.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Harder), who is the author of this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill. The America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass covers entrance fees and day- use fees at national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, and other Federal recreational lands.

Of these, the military lifetime pass, or Gold Star pass, is a free lifetime pass available to our veterans and certain Gold Star families who have lost a family member during military service, the ultimate sacrifice, as the chairman mentioned. However, the Gold Star pass currently includes certain limitations regarding who qualifies.

This bill would expand eligibility for the lifetime Gold Star pass to include next-of-kin family members of fallen servicemembers who are not currently eligible. Specifically, this legislation would expand access to families of servicemembers who died in Inactive- or Active-Duty training or in travel to or from training or duty stations.

Mr. Speaker, this bill would ensure that all those who have lost a family member in connection to their military service have access to our national parks and lands.

Those who have sacrificed so much for our Nation deserve this access to appreciate the wonders of our parks, historic sites, and natural beauty across the country. It is imperative that we ensure this benefit is not limited based on how a servicemember died during their service.

Mr. Speaker, I support the passage of this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today along with my colleague Congressman Mike Thompson to honor Terry Lindley in celebration of his retirement after thirty years of service on the Sonoma County Junior College District Board of Trustees. We commend his outstanding service to the students and faculty of the Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC).

Raised on a family ranch in Humboldt County, Mr. Lindley developed an appreciation for farming at an early age. While attending Ferndale High School, Mr. Lindley met Steve Olson, his then agriculture teacher who went on to become a lifelong friend and mentor. His counsel and guidance steered Mr. Lindley to embark on a distinguished career focusing on community leadership and agriculture. After graduating high school in 1976, Mr. Lindley began studying agribusiness at SRJC.

After earning his degree, Mr. Lindley was hired as a loan officer and appraiser at American AgCredit. Over the course of forty years with the company, Mr. Lindley's knowledge of agribusiness helped him achieve increasingly prominent roles, including senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Mr. Lindley's aptitude for hard work, deep understanding of agriculture and business acumen made him a remarkable pioneer in the agribusiness industry. Through his leadership, American AgCredit established the first marketing department in all of the Farm Credit System.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Mr. Lindley has made many enduring and positive impacts on the community during his decades of public service. For thirty years. Mr. Lindley has been a trustee of Sonoma County Junior College District, which oversees SRJC, during which he has demonstrated his incredible commitment to providing high- quality education to generations of students throughout our community in the North Bay. While he will be greatly missed in his retirement, Mr. Lindley's enduring legacy will be remembered through the newly opened Lindley Center for STEM Education at SRJC. This new lecture and lab hall provides state-of-the-art facilities for hands-on learning in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines.

Mr. Lindley's leadership in agriculture and agribusiness education has not gone unnoticed by our community leaders. He has been awarded numerous accolades in recognition of his service including the SRJC's President's Medallion, the 4-H Foundation's Shining Star Award, the Spirit of Sonoma County Award, and Sonoma County's North Bay Rancher of the Year award.

Mr. Speaker, it is evident that Mr. Lindley has been an excellent steward of Santa Rosa Junior College and a dedicated community member of Sonoma County's agricultural community. Therefore, it is fitting and proper that we honor him here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleague Congressman Mike Thompson to honor Omar Gallardo who passed away on October 23, 2024. Omar was a lifelong community activist, organizer, and leader in outdoor education in Sonoma County.

Born in 1975 in Michoacan, Mexico, Omar's early years were spent in Sonoma County, California and Mexico. He attended Geyserville High School, where bilingual staff and educators encouraged his interest in his Chicano culture, including his participation in Ballet Folklorico.

From a young age, Omar was an active community organizer. He offered translation services with the United Farmworkers Union and led a trip to Delando, California in 1993 for a widely attended memorial march honoring leader Cesar Chavez. In 1994, hp organized student marches protesting California's Proposition 187, an initiative to prohibit undocumented immigrants from accessing important benefits. Omar also participated in high school programs offered by Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University designed to mentor Latino students. He later attended both institutions and earned a bachelor's degree in history.

Following college, Omar joined California Mini-Corps as a teacher and spent eight years working with immigrant students in outdoor education. He then spent four years working as a student counselor in Santa Cruz County before returning to Sonoma County to be a site coordinator for the Graton Day Labor Center. In 2012, he was recruited to LandPaths: a Sonoma-based environmental education and conservation organization.

Omar became an integral pillar of the LandPaths leadership team, guiding the organization's approach to community outreach and engagement. He helped predominantly Spanish-speaking youth access Sonoma open spaces and inspired the next generation of environmental stewards through outdoor programs. Omar's efforts were also critical in the development of Santa Rosa's Bayer Farm, a six acre urban farm that is the product of collaboration between LandPaths and the city. He was known for his gentle heart, treating others with dignity, and credited for expanding LandPaths' reach and impact. In 2015, Omar was aptly honored by the Sonoma County Economic Development Board with a Spirit of Sonoma Award.

Omar was also a dedicated Aztec dancer and established his own group, Danza Azteca Xantotl de Santa Rosa, which performed at local events.

Mr. Speaker, Omar Gallardo was a tireless community advocate and champion of environmental stewardship whose life ended too soon. He is survived by his wife Norma Lazaro Hernandez; his two young sons Tandee, age 13, and Erandi, age eight; his mother Maria Luisa Gallardo; and his sisters Marilu Gallardo, Olga Gallardo, Blanca Gallardo, and Merlinda Gallardo. His enduring legacy in Sonoma County and with future generations cannot be understated. We respectfully ask

that you join with us and his many friends and family in expressing our deep appreciation for his decades of leadership and community service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with Congressman Mike Thompson to recognize the enduring work of Terry Lindley on the occasion of his retirement from Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Board of Trustees after thirty years of supporting higher education.

Raised on a family ranch in Humboldt County, Terry developed an early appreciation for agriculture and respect for the community who farms it. While attending Ferndale High School, Terry met the agriculture instructor, Steve Olson, who became a trusted friend and mentor throughout his life. After graduating high school, Terry studied agricultural business at Santa Rosa Junior College while living with Steve and his wife in 1976. Steve, who eventually became Chairman of the Agriculture Department and the Dean of the College, provided counsel and guidance as Terry embarked on a distinguished career focusing on community leadership and agriculture.

After earning his degree, Terry was hired as a loan officer and appraiser at American AgCredit. Terry's excellence in agricultural business promoted him to many executive positions throughout his forty- year career, including senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Terry's aptitude for hard work, deep understanding of agriculture, and business acumen made him a remarkable pioneer in the agricultural business industry, establishing the first marketing department in the Farm Credit System.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Terry has made many enduring and positive impacts on the community during his decades of public service. For 30 years, Terry has been a trustee of Santa Rosa Junior College where he has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to providing high-quality education to the next generations of leaders in the North Bay. While he will be greatly missed in his retirement, Terry's enduring legacy will be remembered by the Lindley Center for STEM Education, a new facility to provide hands-on learning activities to support students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Terry has demonstrated a lifelong dedication to supporting agriculture and future agricultural leaders. He has been awarded numerous accolades in recognition of his service, including the SRJC's President's Medallion, 4-H Foundation's Shining Star Award, the Spirit of Sonoma County Award, and Sonoma County's North Bay Rancher of the Year award.

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that Terry Lindley has been an excellent steward of the Santa Rosa Junior College and a dedicated community member of Sonoma County. Therefore, it is fitting and proper that we honor him here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark Building Safety Month 2024 and to recognize the more than 60,000 members of the International Code Council (ICC)--including the more than 8,300 in California--who have dedicated their livelihoods to ensuring public safety throughout the built environment.

Building Safety Month is sponsored each and every May by the International Code Council and its partners, with a shared goal of reminding the public about why buildings are safe, resilient, efficient, and livable.

The Code Council--celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year-- brings together local, state, and federal government stakeholders, as well as those from the private sector every three years to develop model codes and standards that protect the occupants of the buildings in which we live, work, and play. Those codes and standards are then adopted, implemented, and enforced year-round at varying levels of government across the nation. Building safety officials, the fire service, architects, engineers, builders, and other skilled tradespeople all use these codes and standards to ensure the safe construction and maintenance of buildings.

This is particularly important in California, a state that faces numerous natural hazards: atmospheric rivers, wildfires, riverine floods, mudslides, record snowfalls, extreme heat, and earthquakes. Often, depending on the time of year, the buildings in which we spend our time are at risk from multiple natural threats.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in thanking International Code Council Board for their enduring commitment to safe construction, and in particular, ICC Board President Stuart Tom; ICC Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims; the

Code Council's elected leadership; and its more 60,000 Members and staff as they commemorate Building Safety Month 2024 and work to raise public awareness to the importance of building safety across our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York and thank my colleagues for understanding the importance of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Coastal Program and for supporting this legislation to, for the first time, authorize it in statute.

Coastal conservation is not just about protecting our environment. It is about supporting a thriving economy. However, we do face serious threats--climate change, pollution, unsustainable development, and other threats--to our coastal habitats, causing rapid deterioration of these critical resources.

I want to be very clear: This is not a local issue. Over 53 percent of the United States population lives near coastal watersheds. These areas are home to 45 percent of federally listed threatened and endangered species. Over 60 million American jobs depend on the health of our coasts.

These coastal habitats are complex, dynamic, and they don't always fit neatly within the boundaries that often guide our conservation work. The Service's Coastal Program recognizes this, and it allows for management flexibility by providing technical and financial assistance for coastal land acquisitions. This helps the Service strategically conserve coastal habitat beyond the confines of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

The Coastal Program has a great record of success. Since its inception in Chesapeake Bay in 1985, the program has expanded to 23 other priority coastal areas along the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in the Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, and the Caribbean, including wetlands, estuaries, beaches, and mangrove forests.

Within these areas, the Service facilitates a voluntary, partnership- based relationship with coastal communities to conserve and restore coastal ecosystems and benefit fish, wildlife, and people alike.

While the Coastal Program is designed to help conserve and recover priority habitat in coastal areas, it can only be effective with adequate resources. That is why the Coastal Habitat Conservation Act of 2023 provides statutory authority to the program by authorizing $16.9 million annually over the next 5 fiscal years.

I am pleased that we are here supporting efforts to bring together people and private partners to voluntarily protect and improve coastal habitats. This is an approach that helps strike a balance between working landscapes and habitat conservation in our coastal communities.

With this bipartisan bill, we can ensure that this great program will continue to drive locally led conservation projects across coastal States and territories, preserving the health and resilience of coastal habitats to benefit the wildlife communities and economies that depend on them for generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material into the Record.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this year I founded the Congressional Task Force to Stop Project 2025.

Some people might be curious as to why I did that.

I have served in Congress for almost 12 years, and throughout that period, I have seen a lot of wild and extreme antics from across the aisle.

I have seen some of my colleagues try to chip away at our civil rights and roll back decades of progress.

I have seen the chaos and the division that Donald Trump has infused into our politics, including violent rhetoric and extreme policies that are completely beyond the pale of anything that has ever tried to pass for conservatism.

However, in this entire time, I have never seen anything that compares to the threat to our democracy, to our individual rights, and to the well-being of most Americans, the threat that is posed by Trump's Project 2025.

I encourage people to look it up and to read it because anyone who familiarizes themself with Trump's Project 2025 can see for themselves what an unprecedented takeover plan this is, to gut critical checks and balances that hold our democracy together, to roll back fundamental rights, to erode church-state separation, impose draconian policies that are deeply unpopular with most Americans, all so that MAGA politicians can take unprecedented governmental control over the lives of every person who calls America home.

Most Americans want nothing to do with this dystopic authoritarian scheme, but our House Republican colleagues are so excited about it that the majority is not even waiting for a potential second Trump Presidency. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are moving ahead right now to implement many parts of his Project 2025.

Everywhere we turn in this Congress, extreme MAGA Republicans are working straight out of the Project 2025 playbook. We are seeing it in committees, in press conferences, and every single day right here on the House floor.

Climate action, protections for the middle class, social safety nets, and abortion rights, these have all been on the chopping block in this Republican majority. It is like the majority lifted their legislative agenda right out of the pages of Project 2025.

Mr. Speaker, we believe sunlight is the best disinfectant, and that is one of the most important parts of our task force's work. Our Stop Project 2025 Task Force and many other Members of the House Democratic Caucus, as well, have been focused on doing something very simple but very important: showing people what Project 2025 actually says, bringing it out of the shadows, making sure every American knows the truth about what Trump and his allies here in Congress are planning and, in many cases, already trying to do.

It is important to think about how a potential second Trump Presidency would be very different. He now has absolute immunity, thanks to his extreme radical Supreme Court. We know that he will not have adults in the room next time around. His administration would not have any institutionalists pushing back against his dangerous agenda or his authoritarian impulses.

Unlike the chaos and lack of planning that marked his first Presidency, he now has Project 2025, a detailed, strategic blueprint for not only advancing extreme policies, but for clearing away all checks and balances and guardrails that might stand in his way.

Mr. Speaker, as disturbing as all of this is, it is important to remember we have only seen the tip of the Project 2025 iceberg because, on top of the 922 pages that they have actually published, which everyone can look up on the internet, they also have an extensive personnel program, including a resume database chock full of MAGA loyalists, a training academy to indoctrinate their self-described army of political operatives.

These are the people that they hope to repopulate the Federal workforce with after they have purged tens of thousands of civil servants. These things are happening right now.

Perhaps the most concerning part is the secret fourth pillar of Project 2025 that acknowledged its existence. Members of The Heritage Foundation have described it as being too controversial to actually share it with the public, so they haven't published it. It is the unreleased playbook outlining the steps that Trump would take in his first 180 days in office.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and I have reached out to Heritage in recent weeks demanding that they come before Congress to discuss this secret part of their plan and release it so that the American people can actually read it. To no one's surprise, the architects of Project 2025 have ignored our request. We think the public deserves to know what executive orders, emergency declarations, and other Presidential directives have been secretly prepared for Trump to make good on with respect to his vow to be a dictator on day one.

Today, our Stop Project 2025 Task Force has launched a tip line to gather any and all information we can about the hidden fourth pillar of Project 2025. Given the extremism we have already seen in the published parts of this plan and the evasiveness of Heritage and its coalition, we think it is important to turn to the public to get more information on this.

Anyone who may have seen or authored or come across any part of the secret fourth pillar of Project 2025 is encouraged to share what information that they may have access to through our dedicated tip line.

We are going to keep doing everything that we can to uncover their full agenda and to stop this government takeover scheme on behalf of the majority of Americans who want nothing to do with this dystopic plan.

I yield to my colleague, the assistant Democratic leader, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse) and agree with him. Many of our Republican colleagues have been trying to disown Project 2025. Certainly their nominee, Donald Trump, has been trying to do that in ways that are quite implausible, but it seems to me that anyone who wants to show that they do not support this radical authoritarian scheme, Project 2025, we are giving them a chance to do that with this resolution. We invite them to join us.

At this point, I yield to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for her support.

As I prepare to yield to the gentlewoman from Vermont (Ms. Balint), I will just observe that my colleague's comments caused me to think about the fact that we are gathered here on what our Republican friends have dubbed Anti-Woke Week. Nothing is more Project 2025 than demagoguing and using wokeness as a pretext to try to roll back individual freedoms and civil rights and take away decades of progress.

Our Republican colleagues can't seem to figure out how to fund the government and do the basics of governing, but they sure are good at finding time to demagogue on wokeness.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Vermont (Ms. Balint).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks.

I am mindful of the fact that many are saying that the American people this year are facing a choice of going forward or backward. Nothing speaks more to that than the fact that Trump's Project 2025 would dust off the old morality codes of the 1870s and impose them against the popular will on all Americans. It just tells us everything.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from southern California (Mr. Takano), my colleague who has been a great champion for civil rights and many other core values.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is exactly right about what Project 2025 calls for with respect to the VA, but it is more than just the VA.

If you read this 922-page manifesto, this theme of privatizing and monetizing runs throughout their authoritarian scheme. It applies to our public schools, our public lands, the National Weather Service, and so many other things.

The American people don't want this exploitation, this privatization, enrichment, and monetization obsession that the architects of Project 2025 have.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California for the purpose of a colloquy.

Mr. Speaker, I now am proud to yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania, Mary Gay Scanlon.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much, and I am glad she spoke to the so-called civil service reform element of Project 2025.

They call it Schedule F. It is an innocuous-sounding thing, but again, like so many parts of Project 2025, when you understand what it actually calls for, it is far more extreme than anything we have ever seen in this country.

It calls for going through the entire Federal workforce to root out anyone who has been associated with a DEI program in our Federal Government.

Climate scientists and others are going to be purged, anyone who somewhere in their life maybe donated to a Democrat.

It is a complete scorched earth political purge that they described as involving more than 50,000 people in the Federal workforce and then to repopulate the government.

If their problem is political people in government, they are going to repopulate with even more political people from these training academies.

As the gentlewoman concludes, I just want to ask her if she thinks that this is something that the people of Pennsylvania want to see?

Mr. Speaker, food inspectors, air traffic controllers.

Mr. Speaker, maybe a nonpolitical civil service is actually a good idea, just like Teddy Roosevelt concluded that it was a century ago.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much.

I now yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson), a man who you might say has civil rights and social justice in his blood. I am sure he has some things to say about Trump's Project 2025.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for speaking to the extremism and cruelty of Trump's Project 2025 so eloquently, and he is exactly right. Healthcare is in the crosshairs.

One of the many ways in which Project 2025 would take us backward on healthcare is by mandating that the default for Medicare would be Medicare Advantage.

They like that because they can monetize it, make a lot of money on it, right, but it absolutely is expensive. It is accelerating the demise of the Medicare trust fund.

They want to repeal the prescription drug reforms that we have been able to pass, the first time we have been able to stand up to Big Pharma in decades.

We are saving Medicare billions and billions of dollars. We are saving consumers so much money already, and those savings are going to grow and grow in the years ahead.

All of that goes away under Project 2025. It is bad for the pocketbooks of the American people, bad for healthcare, and bad for the Medicare trust fund and Medicare itself. The gentleman is exactly right.

Mr. Speaker, House Democrats are going to continue to shine a bright light on this document. The American people don't need to take our word for it when we talk about the extremism and cruelty and other impacts that Trump's Project 2025 would have. They can read it themselves.

It is online. Look it up. The more people read it, the more they understand it, the more we know they are going to want nothing to do with it. The best way to stop this terrible agenda is to just make sure people know about it and understand it.

We are grateful for this opportunity to discuss it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 7 o'clock and 58 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Friday, September 20, 2024, at 9 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Albert Boro (Mayor Boro) who passed away at the age of 89 on September 1, 2024. Mayor Boro was an iconic public figure in the City of San Rafael and Marin County and a beloved family member.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Mayor Boro earned a degree in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco. He went on to work for Pacific Bell as an executive for 35 years before retiring in 1990. Mayor Boro married Patricia Boro in 1959, and they moved to Marin County after they had their first son, Albert. The family grew with the birth of Maureen, followed by Michael, and then the family moved to San Rafael in 1966, where they had their fourth child, Gena.

While working full time, Mayor Boro quickly became involved in the Marin community, serving as a member of the Marin County Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Cultural Commission from 1968 to 2005, during which he helped to secure 9,700 acres of open space. He also served as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister for Saint Raphael's Catholic Church for many years. In 1971, he joined the San Rafael Planning Commission and was subsequently elected to the San Rafael City Council in 1987. After leaving his corporate role, Mayor Boro stepped into his ``second career,'' as elected Mayor of San Rafael in 1991. After an initial four-year term, he was re-elected in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007, serving a total of 20 years as Mayor.

Revered for his ability to build consensus and for his many contributions to project and policy development, Mayor Boro's positive impacts on the community are far-reaching. He oversaw the expansion of city services to the historically underserved Canal neighborhood by renovating the community center. He also guided the preservation of the historic Rafael Theatre, and construction of the new Public Works building and Parkside Children's Center. During his tenure, Mayor Boro played an instrumental role in regional and county initiatives, simultaneously serving as Director of the

Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District and as Chair of numerous agencies including Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit, the Marin County Parks Commission, the Central Marin Sanitation Agency, the Marin County Fair Board of Directors, and the Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers, to name just a few.

Mayor Boro was known for his firm, fair, and caring leadership and faith in local governance. He embraced challenges with common sense, humor, and an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of his neighbors. Over the years, he received numerous accolades, including 2012 San Rafael Citizen of the Year and lifetime emeritus member of Mann County Cultural Commission, and he was named one of the top ten mayors in California--a regard that many held for him throughout his civic life.

Mayor Boro is survived by his wife Patritia Boro; their children and children-in-law, Al and Arlene Boro, Maureen Boro and Mike Winter, Mike Boro and John Fontana, and Gena and Keith Granucci; and their granddaughters Jessica and Madeline Granucci; his sister Barbara and her husband Bill Miles; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

It was my privilege and honor to work with Mayor Boro, and I will miss his friendship. His depth of character is surpassed only by his legacy of his good deeds in San Rafael and beyond. Mr. Speaker, Al Boro was a tireless advocate for the San Rafael community whose legacy cannot be overstated. I respectfully ask that you join me in expressing my sincere appreciation for his many decades of good work and expressing my deep condolences to his friends and family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with Congresswoman Barbara Lee to honor William Travis (Travis) who passed away at the age of 81 on April 24, 2024. Travis was a leader in environmental conservation who spent decades supporting the preservation and health of the San Francisco Bay.

Born and raised in Allentown, PA, Travis went on to study architecture at Pennsylvania State, earning an undergraduate degree in 1967 and a master's degree in regional planning in 1970. His early career included a position as bay design analyst for the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), developing the first master plan of the East Bay Regional Parks District, joining the staff of California Coastal Commission, and then returning to the Bay Conservation and Development Commission in 1985 as Deputy Director. In 1995, he assumed the role of Executive Director, a position he held for 16 years.

During his tenure with BCDC, Travis served as chair of the Shell Oil Spill Litigation Trustee Committee, disbursing over $15 million to restore natural resources, and in the late 1990s, served a critical role in the public acquisition of 10,000 private acres of salt evaporation ponds on the bay's shoreline, which are now being returned to wetlands. Lending his expertise on sea level rise adaptation, Travis lead BCDC in 2011 to become the first state agency in the United States to develop regulations to combat sea level rise.

Beyond his environmental work for the state, Travis was deeply involved in the East Bay community. He worked as a consultant for the Oakland Athletics, served as chair of Berkeley's Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, and lectured at the University of California, Berkeley. After retiring and receiving a Parkinson's disease diagnosis, Travis continued to lead the effort for a transit-oriented housing development at the North Berkeley Bay Area Rapid Transit Station. After a long campaign, the project will be breaking ground on 750 residential units in 2025.

Travis was married to his wife, Jody, for 47 years. Together they raised their daughter, Katherine. Being her parent inspired the couple to write, Katherine's Hope, a memoir on international adoptions. Travis credits his passion for environmental preservation and stewardship in large part to his daughter and a hope for her future.

Known for his serious and effective professionalism balanced by sharp wit and humor, and the breadth and depth of his environmental career, Travis was a tireless advocate for our environment and the health of future generations. His legacy in the Bay Area cannot be understated. Mr. Speaker, we respectfully ask that you join us in expressing our appreciation for his decades of good work and condolences to his family and friends.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Loyal Martin (Marty) Griffin Jr., MD, MPH who passed away on May 22, 2024, at the age of 103. Marty was a trailblazing environmental leader, renowned for his early focus on the intersectionality of healthcare and the environment. He made profound impacts on both fields.

Born in 1920 and raised in a mountain cabin along the Ogden River in Utah, Marty developed an appreciation of nature at an early age. His family moved to the West Coast during the Depression, eventually settling in Oakland, California where Marty was an Eagle Scout and the valedictorian of Oakland Technical High School. He earned a zoology degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1942 and worked night shifts in the Richmond shipyards to afford Standford Medical School. After receiving his medical degree in 1946, Marty joined the United States Army Medical Corps and served as a captain during the end of World War II.

Marty's career in the medical profession quickly expanded to include environmental work, as he recognized the convergence of these two fields and their relationship to public health. He became a distinguished physician in Marin County, establishing the Ross Valley Clinic, Ross General Hospital, Tamalpais Retirement Center, and Kentfield Psychiatric Hospital. He also served as Chief of Medicine at both Marin General and Ross Hospitals.

Marty returned to the University of California, Berkeley in 1972 where he earned a master's degree in public health and subsequently became the Public Health Director of the Sonoma Developmental Center, a position he held for 15 years. In 1980, he was appointed Chief of the Hepatitis B, and later AIDS, Task Force for 11 state hospitals. In 1989, he received the Gold Medal for Superior Medical Accomplishment from the State of California.

Marty's passion for land preservation and environmental education extended beyond his professional career. In 1961, he founded Audubon Canyon Ranch, which now includes 5,000 acres of wildlife sanctuaries throughout the Bay Area and Sonoma County and is a model of conservation education. This land created the ``gateway'' to the Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area that were later established in 1962 and 1972. Marty also cofounded the Environmental Forum of Marin, and he served as an elected official as a director of the Marin Municipal Water District. He created a model for watershed management plans through his founding of the Russian River Task Farce, Friends of the Russian River, and the Russian River Environmental Forum. Beyond California, Marty helped establish a 20,000-acre preserve in Haleakala National Park and participated in wildlife efforts in Nepal.

Marty's lifetime of work inspired many, including the documentarians Nancy Kelly and Kenji Yamamoto who, in 2013, created the film Rebels with a Cause, detailing his and other local conservationists' fight to stop development along the Marin County coastline. What would have been a large development is now public land enjoyed by thousands of visitors every year in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Known fondly as ``the nature doctor'' and ``the doctor with mud on his shoes,'' Marty is survived by his wife, Joyce Griffin; daughters Linda Henke, Anne Oliver, Carol Griffin and Joanie Griffin; stepson Brian Nielsen; and five grandchildren. He is predeceased by his granddaughter, Gina Marin Monaco, who passed in 1998 at age 15 from leukemia.

Mr. Speaker, Martin Griffin was an innovative leader who never shied from an opportunity to advocate for our environment and the health of future generations. It was my privilege to know Marty and consider him a friend. His legacy in Marin County, California, and beyond cannot be understated. I respectfully ask that you join me in expressing my appreciation for his lifetime of good work.

Mr. Speaker, I rise with Congressman Mike Thompson to honor Thomas Care Reed, who passed away at the age of 89 on February 11, 2024, and his extensive public service to the United States and local Sonoma County community. Mr. Reed served as the 11th Secretary of the United States Air Force and was a dedicated public servant to three former Presidents.

Mr. Reed was born in New York City, NY in 1934. His military career began as a member of Cornell's Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering as Cadet Colonel, the highest-ranking officer in his class. Shortly thereafter, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Air Force. Mr. Reed served until 1959, ending his active-duty career as Technical Project Manager for the Minuteman Re-Entry Vehicle System with the Air Force's Ballistic Missile Division.

While enlisted in the Air Force, Mr. Reed simultaneously attended the University of Southern California where he completed his Master's Degree in electrical engineering. He later moved to the Bay Area where he was stationed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a chief strategist working to develop new thermonuclear weapons systems. This work contributed to the end of the Cold War and launched his political career.

As one of the key scientific minds behind the invention of thermonuclear devices being tested in the Pacific Ocean during the early 1960s, Mr. Reed earned the respect of his peers including Manhattan Project member Edward Teller. In 1973, he was appointed as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Just a few years later, under President Gerald Ford's administration, Mr. Reed was named Secretary of the Air Force, a post he held until the beginning of President Carter's term in 1977.

Throughout his life, Mr. Reed held many passions including writing and winemaking. What started as a small hobby growing wine grapes in Sonoma County's Alexander Valley would eventually transform into the renowned Clos du Bois Winery, which by the late 1980s, would sell more than 200,000 cases of wine per year.

Mr. Reed is survived by his wife, Kay, his daughter, Carolyn Reed Ellis, his sons, Gordon Reed and Andrew Reed, and six grandchildren. While his patriotism and military service were instrumental in deterring the Soviet Union from deploying nuclear devices during the Cold War, Mr. Reed will also be remembered as a loving husband, father, and grandfather.

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that Thomas Reed was a dedicated public servant who will be missed and whose many contributions to the Sonoma County region and Nation are worthy of commendation. Therefore, it is fitting and proper that we honor his many contributions and express our deep condolences to his family and friends.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the honorable Judge Verna Adams as she becomes only the fourth recipient and first woman to accept the Marin County Bar Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Verna grew up in the town of South Bend, Indiana, as the youngest of five siblings. Even at an early age, she knew that a law career was in her future. After graduating as the valedictorian from her high school, Verna received her bachelor of arts from Wellesley College in 1967. She enrolled at Columbia Law School for her first year before transferring to Stanford. During her time at Stanford, she interned with the legal branch of the California Farm Workers' Union, which was led by Cesar Chavez. Upon receiving her Juris Doctorate in 1970, Verna began working at a small law firm in San Francisco.

Verna moved to Marin County in 1971 when she was offered a full-time role as an associate by a female-led firm, Diamond and Savitt. Her arrival made it the largest all-woman law firm in the nation. It was here that she would discover her passion for family law and community engagement. Verna served on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood and volunteered at Legal Aid of Marin, taking pro bono cases whenever she could. In 1986, Verna was among a small group of attorneys

who founded the Family and Children's Law Center to provide low-cost legal services to those with family law issues, including those suffering from domestic abuse.

Judge Adams was sworn in as a Judge of the Marin County Superior Court in 1999, marking the beginning of more than 24 years of service on the bench. During that time, she was elected by her fellow judges to serve as Presiding Judge and was selected by the Chief Justice of California as one of only nineteen judges to serve on the Strategic Evaluation Committee, entrusted with improving court administration across the state. Judge Adams' new role and responsibilities imbued her with the power to create meaningful change for self-represented litigants. She founded the Legal Self-Help Center of Marin, where those without attorneys could obtain assistance with filling out legal forms and gain general legal information. The center has provided for an immense need in Marin County.

Judge Adams has dedicated her illustrious career to empowering some of the most marginalized people of our community--children, women, victims of domestic abuse, and anyone else who must traverse the legal system without legal representation--to access our justice system. When Judge Adams was first appointed to the bench, Marin had only one specialty court. Almost 25 years later, Judge Adams' leadership and advocacy for undeserved populations has led to the creation of three specialty courts for mental health, domestic violence, and drug use.

Judge Adams' legacy is one of distinguished service to the County of Marin and worthy of distinction. Please join me in congratulating her as she accepts this prestigious lifetime achievement award and expressing our deep appreciation for her long and exceptional career and outstanding contributions to our legal system.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Doug Durham who passed away at the age of 94 on April 11, 2024. Doug served honorably in the United States Navy during the Korean War and continued his dedication to serving our country after leaving the service.

Born in Reed City, Michigan on July 7, 1929, Doug served on the first ship to leave the United States for Korea, the USS Endicott DMS 25. On the Endicott, Doug took part in the mission to sweep mines in Hungnam Harbor and assist in the Christmas Miracle evacuation of 105,000 servicemembers from the Chosin reservoir. He was honored as a Humboldt Hero and was selected to participate in an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. to see the memorials built to honor him and others that served.

Doug continued to serve his country in the private sector after leaving the Navy. He was instrumental in the development of a groundbreaking missile detection system during his 30-year career at Lockheed. His contributions to this field were invaluable. He was a committed patriot, but his service to this country was not purely through national defense.

Doug had a passion for volunteering. He devoted much of his time to the Humboldt Senior Resource Center, Area 1 Agency on Aging, the Ingomar Club Board, and the Historical Committee. When Alzheimer's claimed the life of Doug's spouse, Virginia, he established a caregiver support group to make sure that others had the help and training they needed to care for family members stricken by the disease.

Doug was captivated by the beauty of our natural world and found solace in nature. He

was an avid hunter and fisherman. He was a strong advocate for the protection of salmonids and worked tirelessly with CalTrout to push for the enactment of policies protecting these fish and their habitat. He was a master rosarian and taught classes on the cultivation of roses. He loved spending time with his many friends. His wit, humor, and kindness left an indelible mark on all he met.

Doug is survived by his sister, Judy, and preceded in death by Virginia, his wife of 50 years, as well as his father, Jules, mother Harriette, stepmother Eleanor, and sister Georgia. He is remembered as a loving husband and brother, a community leader, a patriot, and a dear friend to all who knew him.

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that Doug Durham was a dedicated public servant who will be missed and whose many contributions to Humboldt County and the nation are worthy of commendation. Therefore, it is fitting and proper that we honor his many contributions and express our deep condolences to his family and friends.