Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening deeply concerned about the pressures that have been brought to bear on America's supply chains and the effects that those pressures are having on inflation and on the constituencies that we represent.

Every day, I talk to members of the community from my district who are struggling in paying their bills. They are struggling because, just in the last year, they are being asked to pay over $20 more in my county to fill their gas tanks to get to work. They are being asked to pay substantially more for commodities like milk and eggs and bacon.

Madam Speaker, economists say that this inflationary pressure is greatly exacerbated by the irresponsible spending decisions that have been made right here in this Chamber in the last 18 months. That is important to talk about tonight, because we are considering the largest spending bill in the history of our country.

In fact, if you take the version of that bill that is in print and the spending it represents, combined with the extra Federal spending that has been approved over the last 18 months, added together, that exceeds the combined annual wages of every single American. I find that a stunning statistic. I am also very concerned about the possible impact that this spending will have on our national debt.

Now, the administration just this week has said that this spending package will be fully paid for and will not add a single dollar to our deficit. My response to that is: prove it.

Speaking charitably here, it strains credibility to believe that that would be the case. It is certainly not the case that the current version of the spending bill that is in print is fully paid for. But if the new version will be paid for, prove it. Wait to vote on the bill until the Congressional Budget Office has had a chance to score it and verify that that claim is accurate.

Madam Speaker, even if that is the goal, I would submit that America does not have a revenue problem. In fact, last year we collected more in tax revenue than in any year in our entire country's history. We do not have a revenue problem, Madam Speaker. We have a spending problem.

Even if you believe, as some of my colleagues do, that the problem is that we don't tax people enough and that we need to enact the largest tax increase in the history of our country, which is what this bill would do, then my question would be, why would we not use that extra revenue to shore up the social safety programs that are already in danger of failing, programs that people depend on, like Medicare and Social Security?

Why would you not use that extra revenue to pay down the $2 trillion of deficit that we currently have every year and the almost $29 trillion of national debt that we will be passing on to our children and their children?

Madam Speaker, I pray that we will get our fiscal house in order and stop this reckless Federal spending.

Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned that the continuing resolution we are debating this afternoon includes a suspension of the limit on our national debt through the end of next year.

Our national debt is already at historic levels. In fact, today our national debt represents about $85,000 for every American man, woman, and child, and it is going to get worse.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that at the rate we are going in just a few short years that debt will more than double, and just paying interest on that debt will consume 10 percent of everything our country makes.

Every other time we have considered raising this debt ceiling that conversation has been accompanied by a discussion of how we are going to pay that money back. But, unfortunately, that is not occurring today.

I have introduced a constitutional amendment that would require the Federal budget to be balanced, which would help us pay down this national debt over time. But absent discussion of getting our fiscal house in order, it is unconscionable to leave that legacy of debt to our children and kick the can down the road.

Mr. Speaker, I must urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the serious problem that is occurring in my district and across the American West with conditions of extreme drought. This is certainly not a new problem for us in the West and, certainly, not a new problem for us in California, but it is being particularly acutely felt. This is a problem that only our governmental intervention can solve.

Mr. Speaker, since 1970, the population of my home State of California has roughly doubled, and yet we have built essentially zero new water storage projects. So what we have in California is not so much a problem with inadequate water, but a problem with inadequate water storage. The blame for that can be shared across all different branches of government over the last 50 years.

In fact, since 2014, money has been appropriated in California for the construction of new water storage projects, including innovative projects like the Sites Reservoir that would add over a million acre- feet of water storage to California, but unfortunately none of those projects have been built.

Solving this problem is going to require an all-of-the-above stance towards accepting solutions from all different branches of government. That includes environmentalists, but it also includes projects like water storage. We are going to need to examine every single aspect of this problem to come up with solutions.

Madam Speaker, I am also very concerned that we have been inadequate in our provision for not just water storage, but water treatment in my home State of California.

We need to examine many more comprehensive solutions for treating the water, the wastewater that currently exists, to get that back into our water supply rather than letting it run out into the ocean or pumping it to other parts of our State, which is what happens in many parts of my home congressional district.

Only we in Congress, working in conjunction with State and local government, can solve this problem. I am hopeful that as our attention turns to infrastructure we will not forget about the need for water infrastructure in our country, and particularly in parts of the West that are so severely affected by this drought.

We need more money for water storage projects, but we also need money for water treatment. I urge this body to act on this very important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, the Federal Career Opportunities in Computer Sciences Work Act.

Mr. Speaker, I, along with most of the country, was recently horrified by the cyberattacks against critical parts of our national infrastructure, in particular, the cyberattack against Colonial Pipeline that shut down gasoline deliveries for much of the Eastern United States and the cyberattacks against JBS meat processing, which disrupted operations at one of the largest food processing facilities in our country.

It has become increasingly clear that dealing with these threats will require highly trained professionals in the computer sciences and the data sciences as part of not just our civilian workforce but also our Federal workforce.

Unfortunately, many people are surprised to learn that we do not currently have Federal career occupational series that are dedicated to the computer sciences. This bill, the Federal Career Opportunities in Computer Sciences Work Act, will establish those series in such fields as data management, artificial intelligence, and software engineering. This will enable our Federal Government to better attract and retain the highly qualified technical computer scientist talent that is needed to respond to these attacks in the future.

This is bipartisan legislation. It is an easy and commonsense solution to this problem, and I urge support for this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Mohammad Hossein Mehrmand, a constituent of mine and a former Lieutenant-General of the Imperial Iranian Air Force. Prior to 1979, Iran, was a very different country than it is today. Iran and the United States were close friends and cooperated in both trade and military affairs.

Because of this close cooperation between our two nations, Iranian military officers like Mr. Mehrmand had the opportunity to visit U.S. military installations and work closely with American servicemembers to train on U.S.-built fighter jets that were operated by the Imperial Iranian Air Force.

While the Imperial Iranian Air Force operated a number of U.S. fighter jets, they were the sole foreign operator of one aircraft, in particular, the F-14 Tomcat. As a result of this program, Khatami Air Base was constructed by the Iranian government near the city of Isfahan in the early 1970s to cater to their new fleet of F-14s with support facilities built specifically for the Grumman Corporation. In fact, the entire region around Isfahan was booming for the American defense industry with other defense contractors like Raytheon, Lockheed, Boeing and Hughes Aircraft working on lucrative projects for the Shah's government.

As a result of the massive presence of American enterprise in the region, Isfahan was home to at least 1,200 American military members and 8,000 civilian advisers at its peak in the mid-to-late 1970s. This presence could be felt quite evidently by the massive amount of new construction marketed towards the Americans working in the region.

All of this changed in 1979 as revolutionary fundamentalists began to take over Iran. At the time, there were over 5,000 Americans living in Iran with many residing around Khatami Air Base. As the situation in the country began to deteriorate, the U.S. Embassy in Iran advised all Americans to leave the country.

At the time, Lt. General Mehrmand was the tactical commander of the Imperial Iranian Air Force and he had received information that many within the Iranian military had begun to go rogue and side with the fundamentalist revolutionaries, with many of these rogue units attempting to prevent Americans from leaving Iran.

Lt. General Mehrmand took action on behalf of our citizens and met with the rogue units to successfully negotiate the American exodus from Iran. He additionally made arrangements to allow for twenty-five special American passenger planes to enter Iranian airspace to begin evacuating all Americans from Iran. As a direct result of his efforts, nearly 5,000 Americans were safely and successfully evacuated out of the collapsing country.

Within weeks of the evacuation flights, the Imperial Iranian government collapsed, and the fanatical government of Ayatollah Khomeini took over Iran. Under the new government, Lt. General Melmnand was branded a traitor for securing the exodus of the American people and had his property, assets, and retirement pension confiscated. Fortunately, Mr. Mehrmand was able to escape persecution in Iran and found refuge here in the United States.

Mr. Mehrmand, despite not being an American citizen, had the boldness and courage to stand up against fanaticism in the name of freedom for the American people. Today, Mr. Mehrmand is 92 years old, and a proud American citizen living happily in California. I am delighted to have this opportunity to recognize his patriotic actions and I want to express my profound gratitude to him for his service to our country and to our national interests.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor my constituent, Mr. Mohammad Hossein Mehrmand.

Mr. Mehrmand was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Iranian Air Force.

Prior to the revolution in 1979, Iran and the United States were close allies. U.S. fighter jets were based in Iran, and a number of U.S. military personnel were as well. When the revolution occurred, the U.S. Embassy recommended that all Americans immediately evacuate. Mr. Mehrmand was instrumental in negotiating the evacuation of American citizens from Iran, and ultimately, nearly 5,000 Americans were successfully evacuated from the country.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mehrmand paid a very high price for that loyalty. He was accused as a traitor. He lost his property. Ultimately, he was forced to flee to the United States.

Today, Mr. Mehrmand is 92. He lives in my district in California, and he is proud to be a United States citizen.

I join my colleagues in thanking Mr. Mehrmand for his service to the people of the United States and his loyalty to the people with whom he served.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Sheriff-Coroner John McMahon of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department in California's 8th Congressional District. Sheriff McMahon has served as a law enforcement officer in San Bernardino County for the past 36 years. He began his career in 1985 as a patrol deputy at the Needles station in California's 8th District and has been promoted to every rank in the department since then, serving at a total of 15 stations during his career. In 2014, John was elected as the 35th Sheriff- Coroner of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and his leadership has been an invaluable asset to our law enforcement community.

During his tenure, Sheriff McMahon successfully led the department through many challenging times and high-profile incidents, including the December 2nd terror attack in San Bernardino. Long-term solutions implemented by his department have helped to keep crime down in our communities and improve safety across the largest county in our state. Under his leadership, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department has become known as one of the premier law enforcement agencies in the nation. I wish Sheriff McMahon and his wife Shelly all the best as he begins his retirement and I thank him for his dedication to serving the people of San Bernardino County.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mayor David Caretto, a constituent of my district and Mayor of my hometown of Big Bear Lake, California. Mayor Carreto served Big Bear Lake for eleven years, but he was a public servant long before that, serving Southern California for thirty-three years as General Manager and Secretary for the South Orange County Wastewater Authority, Assistant City Manager and City Clerk for the City of Irwindale, Assistant City Manager and City Clerk for the City of Pico Rivera, City Manager and Assistant City Manager for the City of Signal Hill, and Planning Technician for the City of Lynwood. In addition to his own public service, David and his wife Cindy raised two talented children, both of whom proudly served their country in the Iraq War.

I was honored to serve alongside David on the Big Bear Lake City Council, and I can relate from firsthand experience how impactful his continuous dedication to our community has been. I wish him and Cindy all the best in his retirement as they enter the next phase of their life. Thankyou very much, Dave, for your service to the City of Big Bear Lake.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the career of an exemplary public servant in my district.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon will retire this month after 36 years of service to the people of San Bernardino.

His career started in 1985, when he was assigned to the Sheriff's station in the town of Needles. And since then, he served in 15 different stations. He has served in every rank possible to hold in the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and he served as the sheriff of my county since 2014.

In that time, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department has become known as one of the premier law enforcement agencies in the entire Nation under his exemplary leadership.

We thank him for his service to the people of our district, and we wish him and his wife, Shelly, the best of luck in retirement.

Madam Speaker, I was not present for the following roll call vote. Had I been present for it, I would have voted as follows: Roll Call No. 191--YEA.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2225, the National Science Foundation for the Future Act.

Mr. Speaker, I have been increasingly alarmed over the last few months at the foreign-based attacks on our Nation's infrastructure. Several weeks ago, the attack against Colonial Pipeline disrupted the supply of gasoline throughout the East Coast. Also several weeks ago, the computer attack against JBS meat processing threatened to disrupt our Nation's food supply.

Mr. Speaker, the reason these are particularly concerning to me as a computer scientist is the data that indicates that we have seriously underinvested in our computer science workforce over the last several decades, particularly compared with other countries.

This bill is a very meaningful step toward solving that problem. It would roughly double the NSF's investment in basic scientific research over the next few years, particularly in fields like computer science.

It includes a bill that I sponsored, H.R. 3844, the Fellowships and Traineeships for Early-Career AI Researchers Act, that would make meaningful investments in new fellowships and new traineeships to enable the next generation of Americans to become educated and skilled in the field of artificial intelligence.

Another bill that we are considering on the floor tonight, the Department of Energy Science for the Future Act, would continue those investments. It includes another piece of legislation that I authored, the Next Generation Computing Research and Development Act, that would make meaningful investments in exascale computing and next-generation computing capabilities.

Mr. Speaker, taken together, this legislation will attempt to address the problems that have plagued computer science and technical education in this country.

Mr. Speaker, no discussion of this legislation would be complete without some praise for the bipartisan path that this legislation has followed. This legislation is bipartisan. It includes meaningful contributions from both parties. It is deliberate. It has taken place over the course of more than a year.

Mr. Speaker, it is inclusive. It includes input from hundreds of different industry and academic institutions.

Mr. Speaker, this is the path that legislation in this Chamber should follow.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 2225.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to note with great alarm the recent uptick in inflation in our country.

Last month, the Consumer Price Index rose over 5 percent, which is over 2\1/2\ times the Fed's target rate for inflation in our country.

The price of lumber--although, thankfully, it has declined the last week--is still over three times what it was just a few months ago. The price of fuel is over 50 percent higher. And that mirrors the price of many commodities from corn to soybeans.

This is alarming, not just from a macroeconomic standpoint, but most importantly, from the standpoint of the constituents we represent. The Members of this Chamber might be able to afford to spend 50 percent more to fill the tank of their car, but unfortunately, many of the people we represent cannot. And that burden of inflation is an unseen tax on the least advantaged members of our society, the members of the lower class, and the working poor.

Economists tell us that this uptick in inflation is directly related to the

spending policies of our government, and we need to get our fiscal house in order to prevent this in the future.

Madam Speaker, I rise in proud recognition of the Mountain Fifes and Drums music program in my own district in Twin Peaks, California.

This program is dedicated to the patriotic mission of teaching young Americans, age 10 to 18, appreciation of and performance of 18th century military music.

They do this through instruction in classic musical instruments, such as the fife and the rope tension drum. I am extremely proud that the Mountain Fifes and Drums music program is performing today in Mt. Vernon, appropriately, the home of our first Commander in Chief, George Washington.

It warms my heart that programs like this exist to teach this patriotic art and appreciation of this unique period of American history to a new generation of Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, my colleague from Louisiana, for yielding.

I am honored to join in helping to celebrate National Police Week where we take a moment out of our lives to honor the commitment and the sacrifice of the men in blue and the men and women in uniform who help keep our communities safe.

I represent one of the largest districts in the United States, and, certainly, the largest district in California. It is very challenging to police, and my constituents rely on the abilities of the police to uphold the rule of law and to keep them safe in a very rural setting.

Our law enforcement agencies in California's Eighth District have done a tremendous job of this. Just this year, the San Bernardino County Police Department and Sheriff's Department have seized over 100 pounds of fentanyl. That is over half a million pills that they have kept off the street.

They have also helped, just this year, 19 adults and four children escape the evil scourge of human trafficking.

In Inyo County, the Inyo County Sheriff's Department recently held an event in which they reclaimed almost 200 pounds of unused prescription medication, keeping those toxic substances out of our landfill and out of our water supply.

In Mono County, the Mono County Sheriff's Department recently implemented a 911 text to 911 system that will help the residents of Inyo County reach law enforcement services when they need it. If you know that county, Mr. Speaker, then you know how rural it is and how much those community constituents depend on a responsive police force.

I know there has been a lot of discussion in this body and in legislatures across the country about police reform this year. What I wish that all of our constituents knew is that there is broad, bipartisan agreement on 90 percent of that legislation. We can solve this problem in a way that implements police reform, but at the same time, respecting the role that our law enforcement members fill in serving our community that provides them the training and the resources that they need to do their jobs, and that honors the role that they play in protecting our communities.

So happy National Police Week, and I thank our men and women in uniform.

Madam Speaker, infrastructure is a bipartisan issue. We all agree that one of the primary functions of government is to provide for the people collectively what they are unable to individually provide for themselves. I am talking about things like highways and roads and dams and harbors and airports. Things that represent long-term investments in the future of our country.

Unfortunately, the infrastructure package we are currently considering only devotes 12 percent of the over $2 trillion of spending to infrastructure projects like those.

To give you some egregious examples, the proposed infrastructure package devotes substantially more money to subsidizing the purchase of electric vehicles than it does to building the roads and the highways that those vehicles would drive on.

The proposed infrastructure package devotes over ten times as much money to expansion of Medicaid than it does to the construction of water infrastructure, of dams and of airports put together.

It is not to say that these other projects are without merit, but the problem is that almost every dollar of this spending contributes to our national debt. That means that we need to consider only the projects that represent a true, long-term investment in our country.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pare this package down to the projects that accomplish exactly that.