Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 5063, the Safe Beaches, Safe Swimmers Act.

I have the privilege of representing a district that lives on the beach and the bay. For families across coastal Virginia and the millions of Americans who visit our Federal beaches every year, water safety is incredibly important.

Last year, we saw firsthand what can happen when the Federal Government fails to adequately staff these Federal beaches.

Following a Federal hiring freeze, Assateague Island National Seashore was unable to provide its normal lifeguard coverage at the Federal beach in Chincoteague, Virginia. Families continued visiting and swimming, but the lifeguards they had come to rely on were not there.

Our local leaders stepped up. The town of Chincoteague and Accomack County took on unforeseen costs to make sure lifeguards returned to the beach and families could safely enjoy the water.

Our local governments should never be left scrambling to solve a Federal staffing problem on their own. That is why I introduced the Safe Beaches, Safe Swimmers Act.

My bill provides a commonsense solution. When the Department of the Interior determines that a Federal swimming area is facing a lifeguard staffing shortage, it can partner with local governments to provide the necessary coverage. Importantly, when a local government steps up to provide those lifeguards, the Federal Government will reimburse it for the reasonable costs it incurs.

This applies to designated swimming areas managed by the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation that are normally monitored by Federal lifeguards.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is about public safety, accountability, and giving our communities a solution when Washington falls short.

I am grateful to the local leaders on the Eastern Shore who worked with us after seeing this problem firsthand. I am proud that we have an opportunity to make sure communities across the country have another tool to keep their beaches safe.

No family visiting a Federal beach should have to wonder whether a lifeguard will be there if and when an emergency happens.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Safe Beaches, Safe Swimmers Act.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record remarks submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah. and are a reflection of his views:

The major celebration of the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh

Hashanah (The New Year 5787) and Yom Kippur (The Day of

Atonement) are enhanced by a probing and provocative volume

of the quality of To Be A Jew Today (A New Guide to God,

Israel and the Jewish People) New York: Farrar Strause and

Giroux. The recent book by Noah Feldman, the Felix

Frankfurter Professor of Law as well as chair of the Society

of Fellows at Harvard University where he is the founding

director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and

Israeli law.

Feldman raises fundamental and foundational issues that are

at the heart of contemporary Jewish identity that all

thoughtful and concerned Jews from throughout the wide

spectrum of Jewish affiliation and practice along with those

on the periphery of active Jewish life, would find both

meaningful and purposeful to wrestle with. Additionally,

Feldman's profound scholarship is not of the dry type, rather

perks intellectual curiosity while appealing in a clarion

call to a big tent approach, to pause and reassess core

Jewish themes in conversation with one who shys from being

authoritative. ``In the course of writing this book, I

intentionally have not flagged what I think is now in it. My

goal in that isn't to make what I write seem obviously true.

It's to allow you, the reader, to use your own reaction to

gauge and solidify what you think, not what I think. You can

certainly read this book by arguing with it. I read a lot of

books this way, and it often works for me. If you want,

however, you can also read this book not argumentatively but

introspectively--the way I wrote it.

Though the book is designed with a lofty and a bit

presumptive goal as ``A New Guide to God, Israel and the

Jewish people, ``It does reflect the author's own respect for

high academic standing and his heavy stake in reaching out

for a Jewish world in much disarray spiritually, socially and

politically with the shaking events he mentions of October 7

offering an urgent backdrop as a uniting Jewish factor. Thus

it is not happenstance that he refers to the ``Guide of the

Perplexed'' by the recognized giant Jewish thinker of all

times, the medieval Moses Maimonides, who reached out to his

own perplexed generation confronted and challenged by Greek,

Islamic and Pagan influences while attempting to secure and

anchor an authentic Jewish response and identity without

imposing his own perspective. Yet he aroused the ire of the

rabbinic establishment who called for banning his book but

might have resulted, surmises Feldman, in the Talmud's

burning by the Church in Paris in 1242.

The ``New Guide'' offered by the author is his own attempt

to follow on the Maimonidean model with reaching to his own

perplexed times in a way that clarifies without setting

himself up as the supreme arbiter of such an imposing agenda

of discourse. ``One initial aim of this book is to chart a

map of contemporary Jewish lives and ideas, a map the reader

can use not to identify bad Jews but to explore and

appreciate the many different ways Jews can be and think and

experience. It can be used as a field guide to Jewish people

and ideas as they exist today, and as they are being

transformed for the future.''

Feldman's embracing and inclusive approach focuses on the

notion that a ``bad Jew'' which is common, including the

author, to how Jews feel in relation to their demanding

heritage regulating Jewish conduct, is in fact alien to

Judaism. Given the trying circumstances of the historical

Jewish experience, including forced mass conversion of

Jews in the medieval era, the rabbis' impulse was not to add

misery to fellow Jews caught up in extraordinary painful

dilemmas of life and death issues but to allow them a

continued sense of belonging, though not in practice, to

their eternal Jewish covenant, with perhaps hope that their

oppressive condition might be altered. The concise and clear

Talmudic dictum. ``An Israelite though he has sinned, is an

Israelite,'' speaks volumes of paramount Jewish inclusivity

promoted by the author as a continued key principle for a

wide pluralistic system. Feldman proves for the sake of it or

plain survival, he is an iconoclast, criticizing the State of

Israel for not admitting Brother Daniel--the Polish Jew who

converted to Catholicism in the Holocaust's harrowing

circumstances--under the Law of Return. It does contradict a

hallowed rabbinic instruction though secular Israel's

decision was ironically influenced by its religious

establishment. Indeed there is a blurring of the religious

and national poles in Jewish identity.

Jewish survival as a tiny minority of some 16 million Jews

in a global population of 7.6 billion is a salient factor,

not lost on Feldman, which only strengthens his gentle yet

forceful argument for a wide framework for Jewish affiliation

and acceptance in an age characterized by global natural and

man-made threats to human survival along with radical

questioning concerning the applicability and relevancy of all

things Jewish. Surely the author's ``openness'' attempting to

overarch the denominational Jewish divide which risks

overreaching, would find fierce opposition from

traditionalists lacking his spiritual audacity and courage

for the sake of vital Jewish survival in face of assembling

mighty odds with modernity diminishing long held claims such

as heralded theme of Jewish choseness which the author fully

probes as he does with all that he skillfully analyses.

Feldman regards Jewish choseness as a major factor in

entrenched antisemitism, ``This choseness, I am suggesting,

is a provocation to anyone not so chosen, because it amounts

to the claim that the Master of the Universe has chosen me

and not you.''

As he points out, there is solid grounding as in the

universal proclamations of the prophet Amos, to tone down the

double edge sword of exclusive choseness giving rise to a

Baruch Goldstein, an American physician who committed the

infamous massacre in Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs that

houses a mosque. ``He was a Modern Orthodox Religious Zionist

who had been educated at a high school nearly identical to

mine. His actions had shaken my belief structure like no

other event in my life, before or since.'' The author

concludes his uniquely engaging book with a theme that runs

throughout, namely that characterizing any Jew as ``bad'' is

contrary to the hallmark of traditional Jewish inclusiveness,

and counterproductive to the cause of Jewish survival and

vitality. He raises as an example the complex saga of Elisha

ben Abuyah, the Other, as a case in point highlighting

multifaceted Jewish thinking which errs toward acceptance of

the Other in our own Jewish midst. He finds it kin to Jacob's

wrestling encounter with God's messenger. ``That struggle-

embrace with God lies at the heart of this book. It lies, I

have tried to show, at the heart of the Jewish past, the

Jewish present, and the hoped-for and possible Jewish future,

which we pray to be able to create. It can, I believe,

explain and engage and guide the ongoing encounter between

God, Israel, and the Jewish people.

This irresistible and indispensable treasure trove of

wisdom and guidance from a teacher par excellence who cares

deeply about the Jewish future while not mincing words, is a

most welcome new source for discourse, discussion, study and

growth. It is indeed a gift to both Jews and non-Jews for our

perplexed and perplexing times. We remember the 25th

anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with the Jewish New Year

coinciding this season.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on one of our Nation's most sacred founding principles: the idea that the Federal Government should work for the American people, not the other way around. It is an ideal that dates back to the founding of our constitutional Republic and one that I never thought would need to be reaffirmed.

However, it became a topic of debate this week, as my colleagues and I voted to advance a resolution condemning and denouncing socialism in all of its forms.

Socialism, at its core, represents the very antithesis of small government. In socialist economies, the means of production are wholly owned and controlled by the State, completely dismissing the potential for human innovation and without the accountability and opportunity that only come from free market capitalism.

Growing up during the Cold War, members of my generation witnessed the failure of the very socialist policies that some are advocating for today. We saw the poverty-stricken cities of eastern Europe, the underserved healthcare system of Cuba, and the violence committed against political dissidents that bravely spoke out against their failing governments.

Socialism is not just about bad policy, but it represents principles that are fundamentally at odds with economic freedom and individual liberty upon which our great Nation was founded.

I believe, just as the Founding Fathers believed, that government works best when it gets out of your way. We should never feel government. Unfortunately, so many rules and regulations have been put in place on local, State, and Federal Government levels that are growing the size of our government.

Limited government means knowing where the Government's responsibilities end and where people's freedoms begin. That means cutting unnecessary red tape and protecting taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse. Choosing to ignore identifiable fraud in our government isn't just wrong. It is theft at the expense of the American taxpayer.

A small government is one that supports our small businesses because it recognizes that they are the backbone of our local economies, driving job creation and opportunity across our Nation. A small government gives businesses the freedom to invest, grow, and put more men and women to work. A small government protects our environment without stifling growth and development.

A small government sets its eyes on the responsibilities that only it can fulfill, from taking care of our veterans and securing our borders to providing a strong national defense and standing by our allies. We, as elected officials, have a duty to meet the constitutionally outlined obligations entrusted upon us every election day.

These values that prioritize a small government are important to me as a commonsense Conservative, and they are the very same values that our brave men and women in uniform have gone to some of the most dangerous places around the world to defend. I have worn that uniform, my husband has worn that uniform, and my son proudly wears it today, as do so many across Virginia's Second District.

I am proud of the work that I, alongside my Republican colleagues, have been able to accomplish in pursuit of these ideals. We passed the Working Families Tax Cut Act to keep the Federal Government out of your bank accounts and out of your pocketbooks by doubling the standard deduction, expanding the child tax credit, and establishing a new deduction for seniors because we believe that you, not the government, should keep more of your hard-earned money.

We passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to cut burdensome red tape so we can incentivize developers, lower costs, and put the American Dream of homeownership back within reach for millions of Americans.

We most recently passed the Stop Insider Trading Act to increase transparency in Washington because public office should never be a pathway to personal profit.

These pieces of legislation embody the very spirit of what it means to have a limited government. They reflect the belief that you know how to spend your money better than the government does, the potential for growth and innovation when Washington gets out of the way and, most importantly, the assertion that at the end of the day, we work for you.

With much more work to be done, I couldn't be prouder of what we have achieved and what Americans will continue to achieve. Limited government isn't just a talking point. It has been proven to deliver prosperity and economic freedom for millions around the world, and it is firmly ingrained in the fabric of the American way of life.

The United States is the greatest country in the world, not because of the power and scale of our government, but because we empower the people to live their lives by embracing freedom, ingenuity, and hard work here.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

As a Navy veteran, former helicopter pilot, Navy spouse, and Navy mom, I know our military is only as strong as the men and women who serve.

This bill puts our warfighters first by supporting a pay raise of up to 7 percent and providing them with the training, equipment, and resources they need to fight, win, and return home safely.

It strengthens American airpower, rebuilds our munitions stockpiles, advances unmanned and next-generation technologies, and invests in ships the Navy needs.

It also supports American shipbuilders, ship repair professionals, aviators, and maintainers who keep our fleet at sea and our aircraft in the sky.

I am proud that my provisions will accelerate the development of American-made unmanned surface vessels, bring greater transparency to TRICARE, fight to protect pharmacy choice, expand access to childcare, and improve military nursing staff shortages.

This bill delivers peace through strength for our military, for our families, and for Virginia's Second Congressional District and Hampton Roads.

Mr. Chair, I urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record remarks submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah, and are a reflection of his views:

There they stood, God's assembled

Hosts from every corner known

In Ellis Island's Registry Room,

With eyes turned upward

Toward a majestic ceiling,

The pinnacle of a promising universe.

They brought their millennial prayers

And the crushing burden carried

To the doorstep of a new world.

If only they'd be allowed

To enter, to be free

Awaiting too is our loving

Mother Lady Liberty whose light

Saves at the sea of stormy life,

Triumphantly lifting high the torch

Of unquenched freedom--

Humanity's embedded inspiration--

That here human dignity--divinity

Would not surrender despite setbacks--

The alarming rise of appalling old

Antisemitisim included--upheld by

The indispensable Angel of Responsibility,

A guarding-guiding presence that cannot

Be shaken, with towering Lady Liberty's

Tears of joy and sorrow spread in waters

Ever restless, Will her anxious children

Huddled with heartfelt universal prayer

Soon find out that they wouldn't be abandoned.

That the God of all the troubled accompanies

Them to the long beckoning Land of Promise,

Their Promised Land as well?

Don't let the grand American dream vanish,

It has already lasted 250 years, to ever be matched

By a grand American reality blessed by Shalom's

Eternal blessings of healing, hope and harmony!

Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman is founder of Temple Lev Tikvah and Honorary Senior Rabbi Scholar at Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church, both in Virginia Beach. He is past National Interfaith Chair for JCPA (Jewish Counsel for Public Affairs). He is a member of the Holocaust's surviving remnant of European Jewry.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the more than 2 million women across the country who have answered the call to serve our Nation in uniform.

As a former Navy helicopter pilot, I had the honor and privilege of serving alongside remarkable and capable women whose professionalism and competence strengthened our Armed Forces and helped keep our country safe.

Their service and the service of countless women that came before them deserves to be recognized. That is why I am proud to introduce legislation designating June 12 as Women Veterans Appreciation Day.

This date commemorates the signing of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, landmark legislation that granted women the right to serve as permanent members of our military.

Today, women serve in every branch of our Armed Forces and continue to make invaluable contributions to our national security. This legislation honors their sacrifices, their achievements, and their enduring legacy of service.

Mr. Speaker, I thank all the women veterans who have worn our Nation's uniform for their service, their leadership, and their commitment to our great Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 7618, the American Battlefield Protection Program Amendments Act of 2026.

I thank Chairman Westerman, Chairman Tiffany, and my bipartisan colleague, Congressman Seth Magaziner, for their support of this important legislation.

America's battlefields are more than historic sites. They are outdoor classrooms, living memorials, and sacred grounds where generations of Americans fought and sacrificed for our great Nation. Yet, many of these irreplaceable landmarks remain threatened by development and the passage of time.

H.R. 7618 reauthorizes the American Battlefield Protection Program through fiscal year 2036, streamlines and improves the flexibility of existing battlefield interpretation and restoration grants, and directs the National Park Service to evaluate significant sites associated with the French and Indian War and the Mexican-American War to help inform future preservation efforts. These changes will help ensure future generations can learn from and experience the places where our Nation's history was made.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, preserving these hallowed grounds is one of the most meaningful ways we can honor the Americans who came before us and pass their stories on to those who will follow.

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to remove the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty) as cosponsor of H.R. 8659.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record remarks submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah, and are a reflection of his views:

Israel At 78

The world's only Jewish state celebrates its 78th

anniversary in the shadow of existential war with Iran and

its proxies, fighting along its great American partner with

shared values and interests. Professor David Passig's work is

of particular value. He was born in Meknes, Morocco in 1957

and moved to Israel in 1968 with his parents and four

siblings. Passig teaches at Israel's Bar-Ilan University in

the Graduate School of Education, heading the Graduate

Program in information and Communication Technologies (ICT),

along with the Virtual Reality Laboratory. His doctorate in

Future Studies is from the University of Minnesota. In his

latest book, The Fifth Fiasco (How to Escape the Traps of

Jewish History in the Twenty-First Century), he suggests

alternative scenarios to past periods with the goal of

avoiding repetitions of fateful and costly mistakes and

consequently guaranteeing a secure Jewish future in a

sovereign and democratic Israeli state. Passig's underlying

supposition is quite chilling, ``Therefore, I want to note at

the beginning that those among the readers who accept the

Biblical account as a given fact, may find it difficult to

understand the ``exercise'' of an alternative formulation

contradicting the known facts. To those I want to emphasize

that the entire purpose is to examine in a refreshed prose an

alternative Biblical text that could have prevented the great

catastrophe of the destruction of the two Temples. The

occupation of providing alternative scenarios for that

calamity is critical when fear for destruction returns to

echo in the collective Jewish consciousness of the State of

Israel in the 21st century.''

The concerned readers the author refers to are Orthodox

Jews and the fact that he is an Orthodox Jew affiliated with

the Orthodox Jewish Bar-Ilan University, well reflects on the

academic open integrity of that institution as well as

Passig's. The widespread Israeli phenomenon in recent years

of Israelis holding also foreign passports might support the

professor's assertion of, if not concrete fear, a certain

Israeli unease concerning the future; not for the state's

very survival, rather I believe, a lingering disaffection

with the deepening divisions and gaps in Israeli society

coupled with a frustrating impasse on Israeli-Palestinian

reconciliation and explosive old-new tensions

with Israeli Arabs. All that in face of a successful young

start-up nation with an incredible record of progress,

including the recent Abraham Accords. These contradictions

highlight the complex Jewish condition with some million

Israelis living abroad, mainly in North America, begging

soul-searching inquiry. Israel's small size and more

opportunities abroad are saliant factors along with the

historical Jewish wandering gene.

The author perceptively points out that the long Jewish

tradition to ponder the past on a weekly basis with the

discussed study of various interpretations of the Torah,

maintained the bond with the people's past, but lacked the

necessary alternative scenarios, and particularly arousing

ones for the future's sake, and thus former mistakes were

repeated with fatal consequences. Passig regards a certain

sickness of self-destruction to be responsible for the

misfortunes that befell the Jewish people throughout its

history, though surely other weighty factors are at play such

as Israel's geo-political strategic location which lures

empires and superpowers as well as a nation's willingness to

risk much for the sake of its ethos and ideals beyond the

drive for mere survival, and even finding divine

justification for its predicaments whether through punishment

or reward. The Talmudic teaching (Pesachim 87b) that exile

fulfills God's purpose which is beneficial for both Israel

and the world at-large is a case in point. It can be argued

also that in the nuclear age it is too dangerous to have all

Jews concentrated in one place. The current model is of a

sovereign Jewish state with a viable Diaspora, mainly

American, along its historical antecedents, supports and

nourishes each other for the entire Jewish people's sake and

survival.

Faithful to his conclusion for the need to present a

shocking future scenario serving to wake up to the

possibility that Israel's future as an independent Jewish

state is not guaranteed, Passig describes a wild scenario--

one of the offered options by Future Studies scholars--

beginning with an Israeli civil war in the 40's of the 21st

century, over unbridgeable disagreements between the

political left and right on basic issues such as the Law of

Return, the Jewish Nation State Law, the annexation of parts

of Judea and Samaria and rioting between Jews and Arabs

around the Western Wall and Temple Mount. The violent

escalation of internal conflicts accompanied by a costly

Israeli military incursion toward Syria's Damascus,

ultimately resulting at the 22nd century's end in only 20

percent fearful Jews among some 30 million mostly hostile

Arabs. Once a flourishing Israeli Jewish state faces the

tragic fate of its previous two Jewish Commonwealths.

While he praises the Reform rabbis for turning away from

their anti-Zionist stance in 1937, he shares his

disappointment with those ultra-Orthodox rabbis who remained

opposed to the Jewish state with Rabbi Shach even blaming the

Shoah (Holocaust) as divine punishment for accumulated Jewish

sins. The traditional approach holding God in charge of human

affairs, does not solve pressing dilemmas that require human

responsibility which the Zionist movement's revolution

exemplified. Passig is also critical of those rabbis who

refused to follow protective measures during the Corona

crisis in Israel and generally reject the authority of the

sovereign Jewish state. He views American Jewish disunity for

the failure to bomb the railroads leading to Auschwitz during

World War II, The long exile promoted text replacing

territory though territory was preserved in the text, while

Islam favored territory first.

The author advocates for Israel's urgent need to formulate

a briefly declared covenantal mission statement to unify the

Jewish majority along with its minorities around a common

theme, while serving to highlight its uniqueness in the

community of nations. Passig is concerned that Israel is not

yet fully accepted as a separate nation. Whereas the United

States' motto is ``Personal Freedom'' and the European

Union's, ``Unity in Diversity,'' he suggests that Israel

should be defined by, ``The Public's Freedom'' in a binding

and intricate system of its individuals' interconnectedness.

However, Passig may be overstating the impact of a shortly

stated national goal as the most critical force behind a

nation's success or collapse in history's long-run. Finding a

common theme for Jews and Arabs in Israel, indeed a desired

aspiration, faces enormous challenge given the complex

Jewish-Arab equation.

Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman is founder of Temple Lev Tikvah in Virginia Beach. He is a member of the Holocaust's surviving remnant of European Jewry.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 127, YEA on Roll Call No. 128, and YEA on Roll Call No. 129.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record remarks submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah, and are a reflection of his views:

Like lssac

In the Wetzlar D.P. Camp,

American zone, Germany, 1948,

At age two and a half,

I was placed on Issac's

Altar to be sacrificed a bit

At a brit albeit late of the

War circumstances,

By a family of Polish survivors

Who finally felt that their vulnerable

Child, a reminder of God's mercy,

Was safe to be marked as a Jew

In the land begrudging our

Covenantal bond, Though

No one asked for my consent

Just like brother Issac in pagan

Canaan who too was not consulted,

Yet we both survived.

Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman is founder of Temple Lev Tikvah and Honorary Senior Rabbi Scholar at Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church, both in Virginia Beach. He is a member of the Holocaust's surviving remnant of European Jewry.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating several remarkable Girl Scouts from Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast for demonstrating extraordinary leadership, refreshing creativity, and a commitment to making a lasting impact by earning the most prestigious award in Girl Scouting, the Gold Award.

Gold Award Girl Scouts are trailblazers who address the most pressing issues facing their communities and the world with measurable, sustainable, and far-reaching results. To earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, high school-age Girl Scouts identify and investigate an issue they care about, devise a plan, and then lead a team of experts and community members to implement a project that produces lasting change. Over the course of 1 to 2 years, Gold Award Girl Scouts demonstrate significant initiative, commitment, and leadership, distinguishing them from their peers. Through their resourcefulness and perseverance, they embody the Girl Scout Law to truly make the world a better place.

I congratulate and include in the Record following outstanding young women:

Lydia Winstead, Troop 1579

Noor Swanson, Troop 495

Marley Fenley, Troop 76

Sarah Williams, Troop 322

Nomi Reins, Troop 679

Lana Janas, Troop 25

On behalf of the 2nd Congressional District of Virginia, I congratulate them on their achievement of the highest distinction in Girl Scouts, the Gold Award. We thank them all for their leadership and for making such a positive, lasting change in our community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today alongside my colleagues in the Virginia congressional delegation with a heavy heart to honor the life and legacy of Barry Knight, a longtime member of the Virginia House of Delegates, who tragically passed away last week after a courageous battle with cancer.

As a native Virginian, devoted public servant, and proud champion for the people of the Commonwealth, Barry was a giant.

With humble beginnings as a hog farmer in Pungo, Barry Knight rose to be, in the words of former Governor George Allen: ``a hall of fame member of Virginia's government.'' Barry understood that public service wasn't about partisanship but about the people who he represented.

While he stood firm in his convictions, he embodied something too rare in public life today: a genuine willingness to work across the aisle. Whether he was leading efforts to widen I-64 or to remove abandoned vessels in our waterways, Barry led with respect and good faith for his colleagues and his constituents.

I will miss his counsel and his friendship, but most of all his deep love for our Virginia Beach community.

During this difficult time, our prayers are with his wife, Paula, and their three sons, who are mourning this tremendous loss.

Mr. Speaker, I now ask that the House pause for a moment of silence in honor of Barry Knight.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on my bill designating the United States Postal Service facility located at 1225 Kempsville Road in Virginia Beach as the Colonel Edward Shames Post Office Building.

Colonel Shames was a proud Virginian and a member of Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division, notably featured in the hit HBO documentary ``Band of Brothers.'' He parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, fought through Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge, and led under fire in some of the most consequential battles of World War II. For his courage and sacrifice, he was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

After the war, Colonel Shames continued serving our Nation, eventually retiring as a colonel, and later made Virginia Beach his home, where he became a dedicated community member and a tireless advocate for veterans.

As the last surviving officer of Easy Company, Colonel Shames represented the very best of the Greatest Generation. Naming this post office in his honor ensures his legacy of service, leadership, and patriotism will endure for generations to come.

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

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following remarks submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah, which reflect his views:

Dr. Marc Saperstein, distinguished author, rabbi, scholar

and professor, taught at Harvard University (where he earned

his doctorate), Washington University, George Washington

University, and was principal of Leo Baeck College in London,

England. Marc's late father, Rabbi Harold Saperstein, served

Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook, New York, from 1933 to 1980. He

responded to Nazism early on in 1934 with his sermon, ``Call

to Battle.'' Marc's brother Rabbi David Saperstein was the

illustrious Director of Reform Judaism's Religious Action

Center, as well as the American Ambassador at large for

International Religious Freedom. Dr. Saperstein's exhaustive

and impressive tome (Agony in the Pulpit: Jewish Preaching in

Response to Nazi Persecution and Mass Murder from 1933 to

1945) appealed to my searching and critical eye as a family

member of the Holocaust's surviving remnant of European

Jewry.

Saperstein states, ``My book is a rebuttal to the

accusation that American Jews in general, and their rabbinic

leaders, in particular, remained silent; that they failed to

speak out on behalf of the suffering Jews of Europe and were

unresponsive to their pleas. It is also a rebuttal to the

further accusation that if they had only spoken out, `the

slaughterer would not have succeeded in his task' ''.

Indeed, it does offer a measure of consolation that

American rabbis representing American Jewry as spiritual

leaders did not keep silent, raising their agonizing voices

when their European brethren were being slaughtered on mass

in ``civilized'' Christian Europe. Not to have spoken would

have constituted not only a sin of omission but also one of

commission. However, what remains disturbing and perhaps

sinful if not unpardonable, is that the well-intentioned

pulpit messages of swelling pain could not stop the vast

tragedy from unfolding into the destruction of no less than

two thirds of European Jewry and one third of world Jewry.

America, however, was silent to our bitter cry for help,

which was denied and delayed, rendering it mere words blowing

in the wind as if unspoken. We, who have elevated language to

divine heights, discovered that Hitler's hateful rhetoric

proved more persuasive. The voluminous pulpit sermons serve

to glaringly highlight the inability to translate them into

concrete action to save fellow Jews, so many, and they relied

on us. The failure of rabbinic preaching in the absence of a

corresponding successful political campaign to arouse

American leaders and particularly FDR toward redemptive

action as our people went up in smoke, cannot be eradicated

from our collective consciousness and guilty conscience, nor

from American colossal failure to stand by basic morality

when assailed by barbaric forces aimed at subverting and

uprooting the Judeo-Christian heritage of shared humane

values that Nazism declared, with good reason, adversarial to

Hitler's new ``Chosen People'' and ``Aryan Commandments.''

Rabbi Stephen S. Wise's lobbying efforts before FDR, his

trusted ``friend'', and some organized mass rallies and

appeals proved futile even as the Allies were aware of the

``Final Solution'' being actualized. While American anti-

Semitism, anti-immigration/refugees and isolationism reigned

and presented FDR with tough challenges, he failed to assert

Presidential moral leadership allowing us to undergo a

crippling genocide, threatening the future Jewish potential

and even survivability. No less than a million and a half

Jewish children perished in the Shoah. The SS St. Louis with

its human cargo of mostly 937 Jewish passengers, including

children, sailing from Hamburg, Germany, was turned away and

back from these shores in May 1939 with disastrous

consequences.

The State Department rejected an opportunity to save 1,000

children, arguing that they would become Jewish adults.

Bombing the railroads leading to Auschwitz was deemed by FDR

a diversion from fighting Nazi Germany even while the Allies,

including American planes, were bombing chemical

installations nearby. Davis S. Wyman's monumental classic,

``The Abandonment of the Jews,'' (what an apt and shaking

title) is a must-read. The New York Times, under Jewish

ownership, buried Holocaust events in its back pages. There

is a sense of a high conspiracy early on if not to deny the

Holocaust, to diminish it.

Saperstein's book corresponds with the world-wide dangerous

resurgence of anti-Semitism's alarming specter. It has opened

a much-appreciated window to revisiting the costly

shortcomings of response, Jewish verbal and American

political, in our darkest times, along with hopefully, though

not guaranteed, learning from them. The late incomparable

Elie Wiesel wrote of his profound disappointment, along with

other survivors, that the world failed to learn from the

Holocaust given the genocides that followed. The organized

American Jewish community is far more effective than it was

before WWII, though there are even now limits to its power

and influence, always begrudged and enlarged by our

detractors. Dare we remember that in 2017 in Charlottesville,

Virginia, white supremacists marched Nazi-like without

bothering to cover their heads with hoods, shouting, ``Jews

will not replace us.'' Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue

was the scene in 2018 of the worst crime against Jews

committed on American soil with 11 Jewish worshipers murdered

on Shabbat. The Gaza War following the October 7, 2023,

ghastly Hamas attack triggered antisemitism on American

campuses. The massacre at Bondi Beach, Australia, during the

Festival of Chanukah, painfully attests that no place

anywhere is safe.

The dreadful ``Auschwitz'' does not shockingly resonate to

an American public's large segment only seventy some years

following such grave historical events, despite multiple

Holocaust Museums. Holocaust education and world history are

essential tools in the never-ending struggle against

forgetfulness, ignorance, and prejudice with new genocides

rising, each unique and the same. Democracy, any democracy,

is but a fragile institution as we witnessed, and its

essential safeguards are demanding. The State of Israel, the

world's only sovereign Jewish country, built on the

Holocaust's ashes, has become a target for those attacking us

when powerless and now resenting a measure of Jewish

defensive power that we were so tragically lacking when

abandoned by the world.

Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman is founder and spiritual leader

of Temple Lev Tikvah as well as Honorary Senior Rabbi Scholar

at Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church, both in Virginia

Beach. His Polish family lost hundreds of members during the

Holocaust. He spent his early childhood among Jewish refugees

in Kazakhstan, where he was born in 1945, Poland, Austria and

Germany before moving to Israel in 1949.