Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7386, the First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act, and I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.

On 9/11, first responders faced tremendous challenges in trying to communicate with each other and coordinate their response to the terrorist attacks. There was no dedicated network for public safety communications.

In 2012, Congress fixed that problem by authorizing the creation of the First Responder Network Authority, or FirstNet. FirstNet has become a cornerstone of our Nation's public safety communications. It ensures that first responders, no matter where they serve, have access to a reliable, interoperable, and resilient broadband network that prioritizes public safety when it matters most.

Today, that mission is more critical than ever. As natural disasters, extreme weather events, and emergencies grow more frequent and more complex, our first responders need communication capabilities supported by infrastructure they can depend on without fail.

This bill takes an important step forward, on a bipartisan basis, toward that goal. It reauthorizes FirstNet for 10 years, providing certainty for the public safety community for the foreseeable future. At the same time, it strengthens oversight, transparency, and the accountability of the FirstNet Authority, ensuring that this vital network remains responsive, effective, and worthy of the trust placed in it by first responders.

The bill also provides important clarity about the relationship between the board and the FirstNet Authority, ensuring that public safety officials remain at the core of decisionmaking.

Importantly, it strikes the right balance: preserving speed and operational continuity while ensuring that governance keeps pace with the scale and importance of the network. Oversight and stability are not competing goals. They complement one another for the benefit of public safety.

I thank Ranking Members Pallone and Matsui, Chairmen Guthrie and Hudson, and my colleague Mr. Dunn of Florida for their leadership and partnership on advancing this bill.

This is a strong, bipartisan product, shaped through regular order in the Committee on Energy and Commerce with input from stakeholders. Ultimately, this legislation is grounded in a shared commitment to support those who put their lives on the line every single day.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7386, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 7386, the First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act.

Again, this not only implements the lessons learned from 9/11, but this bill strengthens the FirstNet Authority so that ultimately a network that could not have been imagined in 2001 now will be always available, dedicated, and interoperable for our first responders so that they know they can do their job and not worry about their communication system going down.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act.

Emergency alerting capabilities have come a long way in recent decades as a direct byproduct of innovation and breakthroughs in wireless technology.

Not long ago, 911 calls predominantly were made from landline phones, and emergency alerts were received primarily over broadcast television and radio channels.

Both capabilities still exist and have an important role in emergency communications, but I expect for most Americans, they make their 911 calls and receive their emergency alerts on their cell phone, a smartphone.

The creation of the Wireless Emergency Alert, or WEA, in 2012 marked a significant leap forward in our ability to disseminate warning and alert messages to the public.

Prior to 2012, Americans needed to already be tuned into broadcast programming to receive an alert being distributed for any number of important situations. In the case of a hurricane or a winter storm that was forecasted in advance, for instance, the Emergency Alert System was critical for broadly distributing public safety updates and instructions to viewers. But we know that not all emergencies announce themselves days in advance.

All across the country, natural disasters like tornadoes, wildfires, and flash floods show up with little or no advance warning. One tragedy after another has demonstrated that when a wildfire spreads or floodwaters rise rapidly without warning, being able to push emergency warning information out directly to cell phones in a danger zone is one of the most powerful tools we have to save lives.

The WEA system allows alerting authorities at nearly every level of government the ability to reach Americans where they are. Cell phones are ubiquitous today, and if we avoid falling into the traps of unclear and overalerting, it will only continue to be more effective as wireless providers and alerting authorities take steps forward to improve geotargeting and location accuracy.

H.R. 7022 directs the FCC to take steps that will open up the WEA system so that satellite communication providers can leverage direct- to-cell capabilities to deliver wireless emergency alerts to cell phones in terrestrial dead zones where mobile carriers don't have coverage.

This is incredibly important for Americans who enjoy spending time in our beautiful national parks and forests, skiing in the mountains, and exploring other natural areas where connectivity is limited but where being without emergency information can be deadly, as we saw with Mystic this summer.

I thank Representatives Fletcher and Pfluger for their leadership on this effort to not only expand the reach of lifesaving emergency alerts but to turn tragedy into a victory to ensure more families don't suffer the same tragedy.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7022, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1681, the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act, which was introduced by Representatives Craig and Evans.

When communications providers deploy broadband infrastructure, efficiency is critical to stretching their capital investments as far and to as many homes and businesses as possible. In the course of developing and comparing different ways to carry out a project, providers may determine that the most direct route to lay broadband infrastructure requires traversing lands owned and managed by the Federal Government.

At the Energy and Commerce Committee, we have heard testimony from witnesses and hearings about delays and inefficiencies handling permit applications that are pending at the various agencies overseeing Federal lands. While environmental and historic preservation protections will always be of paramount importance to me, we should always strive to ensure that our agencies operate as efficiently as possible.

With H.R. 1681, Congress can ensure agencies dispense with applications to deploy communications infrastructure more quickly, where no additional environmental or historic preservation due diligence is required.

This bill requires the administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, to establish an interagency strike force that will improve collaboration between NTIA and the agencies and departments responsible for reviewing and approving communications use applications.

Our intent is for NTIA to bring relevant parties together to identify obstacles and inefficiencies that have slowed progress in the past and collaborate on solutions to address these barriers going forward. This will ultimately expedite the deployment of

broadband infrastructure to the rural and remote areas that are still most in need.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 1681, the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1343, the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act.

It should come as no surprise that many of the communities lacking internet access are rural, remote, and in sparsely populated areas. Bringing this critical infrastructure to them will, in many cases, require crossing large geographic areas. This is especially true in many of our Western States, where significant amounts of territory are owned and managed by the Federal Government.

In recent years, the Energy and Commerce Committee has heard testimony about inefficiencies in Federal permitting. Specifically, witnesses acknowledge difficulty accessing information about the status and progress of applications to deploy communications infrastructure on publicly owned and managed lands.

To help address these issues, H.R. 1343 requires NTIA, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, to develop and implement a plan to assist communication providers in navigating the burdens of deploying communications infrastructure on public lands.

Ultimately, this bill should lead to more robust collaboration between those responsible for reviewing permit applications for Federal lands and the communication providers that are trying to bring high- speed internet to all of our constituents.

I thank Representatives Soto and Pfluger for their leadership on this issue. This bipartisan legislation is a product of regular order, and I am pleased to see it taken up by the full House today.

Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill, H.R. 1343, the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5200, the Emergency Reporting Act. This important bill would improve the way we assess communication failures that keep Americans in the dark with no access to 911 or emergency information during and after natural disasters.

When disaster strikes, the ability to dial 911 for help or to receive an emergency alert with potentially lifesaving information depends on networks being up and running during that event. The network staying up, in turn, depends on the strength and resiliency of our communications infrastructure and whether networks are being built and maintained to withstand increasingly powerful elements.

Every Member of this body represents a district that is susceptible to natural disasters. Hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, flash floods, earthquakes, and many more have destroyed whole communities and decimated infrastructure serving entire regions.

Madam Speaker, because we know they will continue to wreak havoc on the places we represent, it is critical that we put systems in place to gather the best information in the aftermath of natural disasters about what went wrong and why.

This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to more closely examine communications failures in the aftermath of disaster periods so that we, as policymakers, can use information about recurring trends to help make networks more hardened and resilient in the face of future disasters. It is essential for Congress and Federal agencies to prioritize efforts to make networks more reliable so they work for all Americans when they need them most.

I thank Ranking Member Matsui and Representative Bilirakis for their leadership on this important bill. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5200, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui).

Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to vote

in favor of H.R. 5200, the Emergency Reporting Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5201, the Kari's Law Reporting Act. This is an important bill that follows up on legislation signed into law in 2018.

The original Kari's Law was prompted by the tragic story of a young child unable to reach 911 when it mattered most. During what became a fatal domestic dispute in a hotel room, she repeatedly dialed 911 to call for help, but the call was never connected because the hotel system required guests to dial a prefix to make an external call. The young daughter of the victim did exactly as she was taught and correctly dialed 911, but that one digit ultimately stood between Kari Hunt and the help that she needed that day.

Kari's Law requires providers of multiline telephone systems, which serve entities like office buildings and hotels, to reconfigure their systems to enable callers to simply dial 911 without a prefix to reach emergency assistance.

Today, however, it is evident that providers have yet to fully comply with Kari's Law, and so this legislation will provide Congress and the FCC with the tools necessary to track down delinquent providers and ensure they comply with the law. This is critically important so that tragedies like that of Kari Hunt do not happen again.

I thank Ranking Member Matsui and Representative Bilirakis for their leadership on this important bill, and I urge my colleagues to support

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 5201, the Kari's Law Reporting Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 98, the Senate companion to H.R. 2399, or the Rural Broadband Protection Act, which passed the House in 2025.

This legislation would direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish a process to more thoroughly vet internet service providers participating in the Universal Service Fund's High Cost program.

For years, it has been clear that Congress must step in to enact reforms to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the High Cost program. Following an investigation by Energy and Commerce Democrats in 2017, the Government Accountability Office opened its own inquiry into reports of abuse of High Cost support.

In a scathing report, the GAO identified a remarkable lack of oversight by the FCC and recommended greater accountability to ensure precious USF dollars are spent on the mission of deploying high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved communities.

Since then, we have seen modest progress to curb waste, fraud, and abuse in the High Cost program, but more accountability is needed.

I commend Representatives Kelly and Houchin for their work on this legislation to bring greater oversight and accountability to the High Cost program and protect the integrity of USF funds, every dime of which must go to help unserved and underserved communities still lacking high-speed internet.

I believe this legislation will help address critical gaps in the vetting process for High Cost recipients and curb waste, fraud, and abuse in the program, so I urge my colleagues to support S. 98.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of S. 98, the Rural Broadband Protection Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to anchor this Special Order hour on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus in honor of Black Maternal Health Week.

For the 10th year in a row, the Black Mamas Matter Alliance led Black Maternal Health Week last week to address the high rates of preventable maternal mortality among Black women who are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women.

Black Maternal Health Week focuses on advocacy, community building, and policy change. This year's theme, Rooted in Justice & Joy, highlights the need for both systemic change to address racial disparities and the celebration of Black motherhood and strength.

This Special Order hour is an opportunity for the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss the ongoing crisis facing our Nation's Black mothers and to explore solutions to protecting our communities' Black women.

Tonight, I start this Special Order hour with identifying the state of Black maternal health in our Nation. In a nutshell, we are in crisis, and the Black maternal health crisis is not just statistics.

Eleven years ago next week, I nearly became one of those statistics when my daughter and I both nearly died when my placenta ruptured 9 weeks before my due date. I needed an emergency C-section. I had placenta previa, and because I had health insurance and access to pre- and postnatal care, I was one of the lucky ones, but too many Black women in America aren't so lucky. Compared to other high income countries, the U.S. still has the highest rate of maternal deaths.

In 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, the national maternal mortality rate actually declined, but Black women were still more than three times as likely as White women to experience a pregnancy-related death and 87 percent of these deaths were preventable.

In my own State of Virginia, after significant improvements from peak deaths in 2021, Virginia's maternal mortality rate got worse in 2023.

We face a complex road ahead as we seek solutions to protect Black women and families against this loss. The maternal health crisis connects healthcare with insurance policy, reproductive freedom, environmental policy, and so much more. These issues don't exist in a vacuum, and many of them are rooted in decades, I would say, centuries of inequity.

These issues require a holistic approach to bring down the mortality rate and save lives, but recent rollbacks at the Federal level risk deepening this maternal health crisis. Medicaid cuts and the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits over the Affordable Care Act have driven up the cost of maternal care for millions, making this vital care inaccessible for those unable to pay for it out of pocket.

The Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade caused one in three women of childbearing years to live in States with abortion bans or extreme restrictions, and in those States, States with bans, women are two times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes.

Again, it is not just statistics. We have seen tragic stories of women like Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, who died suffering miscarriages awaiting simple procedures that could have saved their life, but the hospitals weren't sure if they fit within the exceptions to the ban.

On top of this, the Trump administration has doubled down on making it harder to secure justice for Black families and address the maternal health crisis in Black communities with President Trump's executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, limiting the Federal Government's ability to enforce hospital accountability for treatment of Black mothers weeks after the Biden administration reached a historic settlement agreement to uphold these guidelines and provide training for hospital staff to address bias.

Under the Trump administration, funding cuts and mass layoffs have left agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services without the resources or staff needed to conduct research and implement policies that save lives. Thousands of datasets that have helped to identify the maternal mortality factors and track how we are doing with policies to address them can no longer be accessed.

Now, President Trump wants to go even further, as his proposed budget for 2027 calls for over $800 million in cuts to maternal and child health programs at HHS.

The proposal would eliminate many essential programs entirely, including the Healthy Start program, which serves mothers and infants in high-risk communities; the maternal mortality review committees; the Perinatal Quality Collaboratives; and other programs that track maternal mortality and share solutions for reducing it. This is not acceptable, and the Congressional Black Caucus will do everything within our power to oppose this proposed budget.

Mr. Speaker, in the face of these setbacks at the Federal level, we will continue to push for change. As a member of not only the Congressional Black Caucus but the Black Maternal Health Caucus, and especially as a mom who faced that crisis personally, I am fighting back as we continue to push forward because we cannot afford to wait. We certainly can't afford to sit back and do nothing.

That is why I am cosponsoring the momnibus, a package of 14 bills that aims to address the root causes of maternal health challenges, provide support to mothers, and study how we can build a better system for every American family in need of care.

The Black Maternal Health Caucus has fought for this legislation for years. We will not stop until it becomes law. It must become law now.

Our fight remains far from over, but legislators and advocates alike continue to work toward tangible change to eradicate this Black maternal health crisis. I am proud to stand and work alongside Members, like the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Representative Yvette Clarke.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Underwood).

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Sykes).

Mr. Speaker, the threat to our hospital OB/GYNs is not theoretical. Centra Southside in Farmville, Virginia, announced the closure of its labor and delivery unit, and it ended OB/GYN services at their Centra Southside Community Hospital on December 19, 2025, citing a combination of significant financial and operational challenges, including the recently enacted reductions in healthcare funding and the Medicaid cuts.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. McIver).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Menefee).

Mr. Speaker, when I began, I said that the Black maternal health crisis was not just about statistics. That is because behind every statistic is a mom who didn't make it to raise her child.

I want to tell one such story now of Kira Johnson. Kira was already a mom, a mom to Langston and Charles Jr., and wife to Charles. She was a Ph.D. student at Pepperdine. On April 12, 2016, she was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Hospital at about 12:30 p.m. for a routine C-section delivery. At 2:33 she gave birth to her son Langston. At 3 p.m. Kira was out of the operating room and was taken to a post-anesthesia care unit. Shortly before 5 p.m., blood-tinged urine was seen in Kira's Foley catheter. By 5:24 p.m. Kira's Foley catheter was draining bright, red blood.

Her doctor was made aware of Kira's situation, but it wasn't until 6:44 p.m. that a surgical emergency CT scan was ordered, but it was ultimately not performed.

At 11:42 p.m., two physicians were at Kira's bedside and one performed an ultrasound that found an expanding hematoma and now free fluid. They recommended taking Kira to surgery to identify the source of the bleeding, but her physician, Dr. Naim, who was also at the bedside at this time, wished to continue expectant management at this time.

By 12:30 a.m., as Kira's condition began to rapidly decline, her husband, Charles, pleaded for help. Kira was finally taken to surgery about 12:30 a.m. on April 13, 2016, 10 hours from the time when the family initially realized that something was wrong.

At 2:22 a.m., during surgery, Kira was found to have three liters of blood in her abdomen and did not survive the blood loss. She was pronounced dead at 2:22 a.m. on April 13, 2026. The autopsy stated that the cause of death was due to hemorrhagic shock due to acute hemoperitoneum, or massive internal bleeding, post C-section.

Now, Cedars-Sinai Hospital signed an agreement and reached a historic settlement agreement with the Biden administration's HHS Office for Civil Rights. It entered into a resolution agreement on January 6, 2025, to take significant steps toward ensuring that no other family has to go through what Kira's did.

The agreement required Cedars-Sinai to provide training on the hospital's obstetric hemorrhage management policy, create a pain management protocol for assessing and managing acute pain for birthing patients, update guidelines for trial of labor after C-section delivery and continue to track the vaginal birth after C-section success rate, administer an online bias reporting tool to document incidents of bias or suspected bias experienced by patients and the public, require staff to

complete respectful care training, and develop and implement a program to provide doula resources in patients.

A week later, President Trump signed his executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Because the settlement agreement promotes diversity and equity efforts and is grounded in healthcare nondiscrimination protections, it is under risk.

That is just one example of how the actions of the Trump administration last year is making the maternal health crisis, particularly for Black women, worse.

I spent a lot of time as a member of the senate in Virginia working on addressing Black maternal health as a member of the Joint Commission on Healthcare. Through our maternal mortality review teams, we were able to track and identify the differences between rates of death of White women, Black women, and indigenous women, and we found the reasons were different.

Using national datasets through the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, or PRAMS, which is an entire CDC team that monitors risks associated with pregnancy, we were able to determine that, at least in Virginia, Black women were more likely to die due to cardiovascular issues, an underlying health issue, before they got pregnant; whereas, White women were more likely to die from suicide or drug overdose related to mental health issues.

With those different datasets and understanding these differences, we were able to focus on policies that addressed the underlying root causes to eliminate Black maternal deaths for both Black and White women.

We began to see some progress, but, again, the very team managing PRAMS and the datasets we were using to identify the root causes and the differences is now gone. The staff that oversaw the HHS Health Resources & Services Administration, which is a national maternal mental health hotline that can help field calls from new moms seeking mental health support was cut. DOGE canceled funding for several Black maternal health projects. The Trump administration defunded research at Morehouse School of Medicine on how to improve the health of Black pregnant and postpartum women, it cut research on how stress influences racial and ethnic differences in maternal health outcomes for women with hypertensive disorders, and it cut studies on uterine fibroids which disproportionately impact Black women.

It wasn't just HHS and CDC that removed datasets. There was data from the Census Bureau and the EPA as well as the CDC that were detailing racial and ethnic data broken out by other factors that helped show some of the risk factors that led to differences in these underlying health outcomes and maternal health outcomes.

Without these datasets, how are we going to track the causes which change over time, put policies in place to address the causes, and then track to see if those policies are working?

It is very frustrating, again, as someone who nearly bled to death giving birth to my daughter, that we are not able to address this and there doesn't seem to be an urgency, as Congresswoman Moore said, to address these underlying causes.

The Medicaid cuts are going to make it worse. Medicaid finances about 65 percent of births from Black mothers, and these cuts are only going to increase the disparity in maternal mortality rates and lead to more deaths as millions of Americans lose their health insurance.

This health insurance is relied upon by pregnant women across the country for prenatal visits, ultrasounds, screenings for conditions such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and postpartum depression. It also helps them get annual physicals that will identify cardiovascular issues.

The President's DEI executive order also makes it more difficult to address bias in medicine. We have seen medical schools that taught students for decades that Black people can tolerate more pain, which led to tragic outcomes. We have heard story after story after story of women in the hospital who said, after giving birth, that something is wrong. They were ignored, and something was wrong.

This disparity also occurs in other health areas, but, again, I want to connect the correlation between heart health and maternal health.

I remember being in a conference discussing the disparity in heart health where a woman said that she had her first heart attack after she became a mother. After giving birth, she went home, and she felt odd. The more she thought about it, she said: I think I am having a heart attack.

She went to the emergency room, and the doctor said: No, you are not having a heart attack. You don't meet the risk factors. You are only 36 years old. You have never had a history of heart disease. Come back later. You are not having a heart attack.

She went home. She was having a heart attack. Fortunately, she was able to get back to the hospital before she died.

That is just one example. We have heard many, whether you are Serena Williams or Kira Johnson, where you know something's wrong, yet the hospital and the doctors don't listen. That happens more and more to Black women. We have to do something about it.

You heard today that the Black Maternal Health Caucus has put forward, under Representative Underwood and Representative Adams' leadership, the momnibus act.

What is that? It is a comprehensive package of 14 individual bills that will make critical investments in the social determinants of health that influence maternal health outcomes, like housing, transportation, nutrition, and pollution. It will extend WIC eligibility in the postpartum and breastfeeding periods. It will provide funding to community-based organizations working to improve maternal health outcomes and promote equity. It will increase funding for programs to improve maternal healthcare for veterans; to grow and diversify the prenatal workforce to ensure that every mom in America receives maternal healthcare and support from people they trust; to improve data collection processes and quality measures to better understand the causes of the maternal health crisis in the United States and to form solutions to address it; to support moms with maternal mental health conditions and substance abuse disorders; to improve maternal healthcare and support for incarcerated moms; to invest in digital tools to improve maternal health outcomes in underserved areas, particularly rural areas; to promote innovative payment models to incentivize high-quality maternal health and nonclinical support during and after pregnancy; to invest in Federal programs to address maternal and infant health risk during public health emergencies; to invest in community-based initiatives to reduce levels and exposure to climate change-related risks for moms and babies; to promote maternal vaccinations to protect the health of moms and babies; and to make critical investments in research to reduce preventable causes of maternal deaths and improve healthcare for women, before, during, and after pregnancy.

This bill has 205 House cosponsors and has been endorsed by 313 national organizations across a variety of issues.

We hope that this will be the year, that this 10th anniversary of Black Maternal Health Month will be the year we make progress. We have already regressed and can't afford to wait a moment longer.

I would be remiss if I didn't reiterate yet again the importance of reproductive freedom. When a woman is told, as I was, that if you get pregnant again, you could die, the decision from that point on--well, really, the decision at any point of when, whether, and how to get pregnant should be with her and her partner and whom she wants to have part of the decision, and not her government.

The decision of what type of contraception to get access to should be hers and her doctor's. When you reach a certain age, some contraception is more risky, yet the forms that are best for you, some politicians-- not doctors, politicians--don't think you should have access to them.

These abortion bans that have exceptions for the life of the mother, we have seen, particularly in Texas and Georgia, that has led to tragedies,

where women show up in the midst of a miscarriage, in the midst of bleeding out, and the hospital has to wonder whether they are close enough so that they can provide the care that they need, or do they have to wait until they are septic. Well, once they are septic, it is probably too late.

These are things that we had been warning about before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, our warnings have come true.

We have to think through the impact of when politicians make decisions about healthcare, and not physicians and patients. It can have tragic results.

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Black Maternal Health Caucus will continue to fight for Black moms everywhere. We will continue to fight so that we don't need Black Maternal Health Week anymore. We will continue to fight, Rooted in Justice & Joy, so that no other mother has to worry, when they get the best news, that it is going to end tragically. We are here to make sure that it doesn't.

Mr. Speaker, 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 9 o'clock and 15 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the extraordinary legacy of the Richmond Free Press, a publication that, for decades, served as a trusted voice, vigilant watchdog, and cultural cornerstone for Black communities across Central Virginia.

From its founding in 1992 by Raymond H. Boone to its final issue earlier this year, the Richmond Free Press stood as a powerful testament to the importance of independent Black journalism. At a time when too many stories impacting Black communities went underreported or unheard, this Black-owned publication filled a critical gap by elevating voices, shining a light on injustice, and celebrating the achievements, resilience, and contributions of Black Virginians.

For more than three decades, the Richmond Free Press provided in- depth coverage of issues that matter most--from education and economic opportunity to health disparities, housing, and civil rights. It chronicled both the challenges and triumphs of our communities, ensuring that the lived experiences of Black Virginians are not only acknowledged but preserved for future generations.

Importantly, the Richmond Free Press also played a vital role in strengthening civic engagement. By informing readers, holding institutions accountable, and fostering dialogue, it empowered individuals to participate more fully in our democracy. Its impact extended far beyond the pages of a newspaper as it helped shape public understanding, influence policy conversations, and build a more informed and engaged citizenry.

As the Richmond Free Press concludes its print circulation, we reflect not only on the end of an era but on the profound and lasting imprint it leaves behind. While its physical pages may cease publication, its legacy endures in the journalists it inspired, the stories it told, and the communities it uplifted.

The closing of the Richmond Free Press also serves as a sobering reminder of the challenges facing local and community-based journalism, particularly outlets that center historically underrepresented voices. It also underscores the importance of sustaining and supporting diverse media institutions that are essential to a healthy and inclusive democracy.

On behalf of Virginia's 4th Congressional District and the many readers whose lives have been touched by its work, I extend my deepest gratitude to the editors, reporters, photographers, and staff who made the Richmond Free Press a beacon of truth and accountability.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in honoring the Richmond Free Press for its remarkable service and enduring contributions to the Commonwealth of Virginia and to our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a historic milestone for the Commonwealth of Virginia and to honor the extraordinary career of Justice Cleo E. Powell, who was unanimously selected to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia by her peers. Chief Justice Powell is the first African American to serve as Chief Justice in the history of the Commonwealth.

Justice Powell's appointment represents both a historic achievement and the continuation of a career defined by excellence, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to justice. Throughout her distinguished career, she has

embodied the highest ideals of the legal profession and has served the people of Virginia with wisdom, fairness, and deep respect for the rule of law.

A proud graduate of The University of Virginia for both undergraduate and law, Justice Powell began her legal career in private practice in Richmond, Virginia. Her professionalism and legal acumen quickly established her as a respected figure in Virginia's legal community.

In 1993, Justice Powell made history by becoming the first African American woman to serve as a judge on the District Court for the County of Chesterfield. During her tenure, she earned widespread respect for her fairness, thoughtful deliberation, and commitment to ensuring that every person who appeared before her court was treated with dignity and respect.

Her exceptional judicial service led to her election to the Chesterfield Circuit Court in 2000 and to the Virginia Court of Appeals in 2008, where she continued to distinguish herself as a jurist of remarkable intellect and sound judgment. In 2011, the Virginia General Assembly elected her to the Supreme Court of Virginia, where she again made history as the first African American woman to serve on the Commonwealth's highest court.

During her tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Powell has been widely recognized for her careful legal reasoning, principled approach to the law, and deep understanding of the profound responsibilities entrusted to the judiciary. Her opinions reflect a thoughtful balance of legal scholarship, respect for precedent, and a commitment to ensuring that the law serves all Virginians fairly.

Now, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, Justice Powell assumes an even greater leadership role within the Commonwealth's judicial system. Her historic appointment reflects not only her exceptional qualifications and experience, but also the trust and respect she has earned from her colleagues and the broader legal community.

Justice Powell's journey is one of perseverance, dedication, and service. Her achievements have opened doors and expanded opportunities for future generations of attorneys and judges, particularly for young people who may now see themselves reflected in the leadership of Virginia's highest court.

Mr. Speaker, Justice Cleo E. Powell's appointment as Chief Justice marks a proud and historic moment for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Her leadership will undoubtedly continue to strengthen our judiciary and uphold the principles of justice and equality that are foundational to our democracy.

I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Chief Justice Cleo E. Powell on this historic achievement and in thanking her for her extraordinary service to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 5103, the Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Act of 2026.

For this reason, and at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee.

If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill. My amendment would stop unethical donations for Federal Government projects to alter any public property, building, or fixture at the White House, the Naval Observatory, or other public property locations primarily used by the President and the Vice President.

During the longest shutdown in our Nation's history, the Trump administration clearly showed the American people where its priorities lay and began demolishing the 123-year-old East Wing to build a gilded ballroom similar to that of his private billionaires' club at Mar-a- Lago.

Not only does the demolition undermine historical preservation without a public review process, but it also constitutes another ethical violation by the administration, as private donors fund the construction without input from the National Park Service.

This bill is just one in a series of the majority's and this administration's misguided priorities, whereby their answer to solving our immigration problems is advancing policies that would subject the District and cities across the Nation to a brutal and indiscriminate crackdown on immigrant communities.

While stating that he would go after ``the worst of the worst,'' the President has, instead, targeted families, permanent residents, refugees, students, and asylum seekers. Instead of taking actions that make us safer, the administration has opted for showy displays of force, all to jack up his detention and deportation numbers.

The Trump administration, in its relentless drive to use ICE and Customs and Border Patrol as an instrument of cruelty toward immigrant communities, has abandoned the Department of Homeland Security's core mission of keeping the homeland safe.

Hundreds of intelligence officers with DHS' intelligence office have been directed to focus on immigration enforcement, resulting in fewer intelligence briefs reaching local officials and police departments.

At a time when the President has dragged us into his war of choice with Iran, which puts our servicemembers in harm's way with no clear long-term strategy, we absolutely cannot afford to leave ourselves so vulnerable to attack.

With gas prices now on the rise and the cost of groceries, rent, and utilities skyrocketing for millions, we are left to question why this administration would rather pursue vanity projects and its campaign of terror than deliver on the promises it made to the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject matter of this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, it is Women's History Month.

For centuries, Black women have led our country through social evolutions, critical periods of growth, and eras of innovation.

From the civil rights movement to consistently serving as the foundation for our community success, Black women continue to push the needle.

Women's History Month offers us the opportunity to uplift these monumental achievements and highlight every pivotal moment in history in which Black women have tipped the scales toward progress and singlehandedly moved our country forward.

For the past year, the actions of the Trump administration have brought consequences to every vulnerable community but have specifically attacked the foundation of Black women's economic success and social impact.

Hundreds of thousands of Black women have lost their jobs under President Trump's leadership, and the administration remains committed to eliminating critical programs that build a strong foundation and a pathway to economic opportunities for Black women across the Nation.

During a time when Black women are under attack, the Congressional Black Caucus takes the floor tonight so that our Members can lift them up.

As we commemorate Women's History Month and look back on the achievements of Black women throughout the history of our Nation, I think back to the roots of our Nation, the birthplace of American democracy and American slavery, none other than my home, Virginia.

Established on July 30, 1619, Virginia boasts the oldest, continuous lawmaking body in the Western Hemisphere, the first legislative assembly in the New World, the Virginia General Assembly.

One month later, a Dutch privateer arrived on the shores of Virginia with ``20 and odd'' Africans captured by Portuguese slavers in west- central Africa that were traded for provisions. Among them, there was at least one woman that we know of.

Three months after that, Virginia took steps toward a permanent colony with the recruitment of English women to Jamestown to make wives to the inhabitants. Those women arrived with no right to vote, no right to hold public office, and no right to control their own property.

Since 1619, Black women in America have sat at the intersection of racism and sexism. Tonight, we will uplift their stories, how we did overcome, but we still have a long way to go to truly be equal under the law, to truly take part in the American Dream.

Tonight, you will hear our Members talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, the inspiring, and much, much more.

Mr. Speaker, to start that conversation, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke), our chair.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey, Representative LaMonica McIver.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman (Mrs. McIver) for her comments, and I am proud to be in this fight with her.

As a Virginian, I am keenly cognizant of the fact that Virginia was both the birthplace of American slavery and the birthplace of American democracy. That dichotomy I have always found both ironic and inspiring.

This year we celebrate 250 years of a document written by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, which wrote that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Yet Jefferson didn't include the men and women--he didn't include women at all in that decree, and he certainly didn't include the men, women, and children that he owned in bondage at Monticello, including the mother of his children. That ideal upon which our country was founded sparked the imagination of the men, women, and children in bondage across this young Nation.

When Abigail Adams' husband was on his way to the Constitutional Convention, she said: Remember the ladies and be kinder to them than our ancestors were.

The men at that convention ignored her advice. They wrote a constitution creating a government by, of, and for we the people. They didn't include women. They didn't include the men, women, and children enslaved at the home of James Madison, the architect of The Virginia Plan that led to the Constitution. In fact, those men, women, and children weren't counted as people at all. They were counted as three- fifths of a person for purposes of identifying how many Members of Congress would serve in this body.

Many of those women were viewed as broodmares. Many of them were forced to care for other people's children while theirs were stolen. They forced to nurse other people's children while they ached for their own.

Since the founding of our Nation, Black women at every opportunity have fought to be included in ``we the people.'' We have fought to expand suffrage beyond White land-owning men along with White women, even when we were the last throughout the South to benefit from that labor.

Virginia has found herself a leading lady in the story of expanding the franchise. Often, how far we went determined whether the Federal Government did its part to expand we the people beyond those original White, land-owning men.

I stand today on the shoulders of all of those who paved the way for me to be the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress, historymakers from all generations who fought for the right to fully participate in our democracy because they recognized that, in a government by, of, and for the people, government will only reflect the perspective of and, therefore, meet the needs of those who participate.

Even as Black men received expanded suffrage during Reconstruction and in the aftermath of the Civil War, the nascent women's rights movement, which stated at its first convention in the ``Declaration of Sentiments'' that all men and women were created equal--yet, with the 14th Amendment, the seeds of division were sown.

When that amendment, which guaranteed equal protection under the law, for the first time ever inserted the word ``male'' in the U.S. Constitution, a fissure began in the suffrage movement and the women's rights movement that pitted some--not all, some--White women against Black women because they would not support suffrage for Black men before White women.

Yet, Black women continued to serve in these suffragette groups, oftentimes their work being ignored.

I have often tried to research some of the Black women suffragettes from Virginia. They are hard to find. They are usually seen described as community leaders, not suffragettes. Yet, when you read between the lines of their papers and their work, you see what they were really up to.

I am wearing red today in honor of the 22 founders of my sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Founded 113 years ago in January 1913, in their first public act, the 22 founders marched in Washington in the Women's Suffrage Procession down Pennsylvania Avenue. Yet, they and every other Black woman who showed up to march that day were told that they had to march in the back because the organizers of that march did not want to offend Southern allies.

Ida B. Wells famously refused to march in the back. She said that she was going to march with her delegation. The chair of her delegation, Genevieve Stone, was the only delegation member who said that she could march with her delegation.

The 22 founders of Delta Sigma Theta marched in their caps and gowns with other university women, marking their first public act as a sorority. It is fitting that I call them out today because thousands of members of Delta Sigma Theta were on the Hill today, still fighting to preserve access to the vote as the SAVE Act is being debated down the hall, a modern-day poll tax that would require everyone to produce documents to prove their citizenship.

These are documents that cost money, documents that, if they don't show the same name as on your birth certificate, aren't good enough. One of my soror Members of Congress, Joyce Beatty, told a story yesterday to those Deltas assembled about how, when she went to get her REAL ID--this is a good example of the hurdles you would have to go through to meet the requirements of the SAVE Act--she showed up with her birth certificate and was told that it was not good enough. It is a copy. You need the original.

Not living in the State where she got her original, she had to go get another copy of the original and brought that back. That is not good enough. The

name on her birth certificate is not the name on her driver's license because she was married.

She had to go back and get another original copy of her marriage certificate. That wasn't good enough because the name on the marriage certificate still didn't match the birth certificate because she had been married before.

She had to go get a copy of that marriage certificate and the divorce decree and show the chain of custody of her name just to be able to get a REAL ID to prove that she was a U.S. citizen who could fly.

Yet, that REAL ID wouldn't be good enough for her to register to vote under the SAVE Act. She would have to go through all those same hoops all over again.

The history of suffrage in this country is the history of Black women confronting obstacles, going over them, around them, through them, for that sacred right to participate in a government by, of, and for the people.

When the 19th Amendment finally gave women the right to vote in our Constitution, my grandmothers, my mother, and my great-grandmothers didn't benefit. They all lived in the South. Through poll taxes, literacy tests, and other mechanisms, they were still denied access to the ballot.

Many Black women fought against these obstacles. Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper from Mississippi, was jailed, evicted from her home, fired from her job, and severely beaten for daring to try to register to vote. Hamer cofounded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge an all-White delegation to the Democratic National Convention.

Ella Baker, whose legacy is often overshadowed by Black male figures of the civil rights movement, played a crucial role in organizing the Montgomery bus boycott, which was inspired by another woman, Rosa Parks, who herself made waves when she refused to give up her seat on the bus for a White passenger and was arrested.

Baker later founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, and encouraged students to take charge of their activism and continue to make their perspectives heard. Another SNCC leader, Diane Nash, became one of the most well-known figures in Nashville and helped to organize sit-ins and sustained Freedom Rides throughout the Deep South.

Another Delta, Dorothy Height, whose birthday is today, was one of the Big Six of the civil rights movement. She was one of the leaders of the six organizations that planned the March on Washington. Yet, she was the only one of the six who didn't speak that day because the five male leaders excluded women from the speaking program.

Dorothy was there anyway and continued to fight for Black women to be able to vote and to overcome the intersection between racism and sexism.

These are just a few of the women who fought for the right to vote. There are other rights that women were denied, particularly Black women, solely because of the color of their skin.

Everybody knows about the great progressive movement that expanded worker rights to many, many workers. What most people don't know is that those rights explicitly excluded so-called Jim Crow jobs, domestic workers as the main example. Those jobs were jobs that once were performed by Black men and women for free during slavery, then from very low wages because they were the only jobs available to Black people, particularly in the South.

My mother's family saw this firsthand. My mother grew up in the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, a little town called DeLisle. DeLisle had no school for Black children because the State of Mississippi didn't think them worth educating.

She was the third youngest of 14 children. She was born in 1932, her oldest sibling born in 1918. There was one school that would teach those children. It was the Catholic Church, but it only went to the eighth grade. When her brothers graduated eighth grade, the only jobs available to them were as laborers. When her sisters graduated, the only jobs available to them were as domestic workers or home care workers. Her siblings, her sisters, her mother, her grandmothers, her great-grandmothers were domestics. She wanted more.

She had to leave her hometown to go to high school. She had to leave her State to get a job, but she did it. By the time I came along in the 1970s, she was running the TRIO Programs at Virginia State University, three federally-funded programs that helped first-generation and at- risk students get to, thrive in, and graduate from college.

Those three programs are now under attack by the Trump administration as it works to dismantle the Department of Education. The Department of Education which was created to fill gaps that State and local governments refused to fill, particularly to meet the educational needs and protect the civil rights of students with disabilities.

My mother is an example of the obstacles that had to be overcome because the rights that many of us take for granted, minimum wage, overtime protections, wage theft protections, antidiscrimination laws at the Federal level and in most States, guess who is excluded. Domestic workers.

As a result, thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of mostly Black and Brown women across the country struggle to take care of themselves and their own families as they take care of the needs of others.

I was proud as a member of the State senate to pass--and make Virginia the first State in the South to do it--the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, to remove these outdated, antiquated, and racist exclusions. Those exclusions still exist in Federal law.

I am proud to be among a long line of Black women in Congress who owe our very existence here to Shirley Chisholm, who in 1968 became the first Black woman elected to Congress, representing New York's 12th Congressional District.

She didn't get a warm welcome here. She decided not to abide by longstanding expectations that first-term Members fly under the radar. ``I have no intention of just sitting quietly and observing,'' she said. ``I intend to focus . . . on the Nation's problems.'' So she and 12 other Members of Congress founded the Congressional Black Caucus, the conscience of the Congress, which 55 years later stands at 66 members strong; 32 Black women, the most in history, two for the first time ever serving in the United States Senate.

Shirley Chisholm became the first woman and Black candidate to seek a major party's nomination for President the year I was born, in 1972. While she lost the primary in that race, she continued to serve in Congress for another 11 years. She served on the Committee on Agriculture, and she used that role to expand access to nutrition to millions of poor men, women, and children through the SNAP program, which last year faced the largest cuts in American history and threatened to take food out of the mouths of 42 million Americans.

Shirley Chisholm remains a symbol of strength and profound courage in the face of the intense objections her very existence in this body inspired in some people. She famously said: ``If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.'' Thanks to that folding chair, I and 31 other women stand on her shoulders.

She, alongside of Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the United States Senate in 1992, and so many others have allowed little girls everywhere to look at this Capitol and finally say: I belong there too.

We have made a lot of progress towards the ideal upon which this country was founded. Yet, every time we have made progress, there has been a backlash that has involved violence, voter suppression, and propaganda. We are living through the mother-of-all backlashes.

I think back to what my great-grandparents saw--my great-grandparents who grew up in the first generation after the Emancipation Proclamation--men who gained the right to vote, who gained the opportunity for social and economic wealth. Black women were there every step of the way in that progress. They also were among those who were lynched for it. They were also among the ones who were beaten for it, but they persevered anyway.

Today, we are facing another backlash to progress. It has pushed 300,000 Black women out of the Federal workforce by an all-out assault by the Trump administration through DOGE. We have seen millions at risk of losing

their health insurance through devastating cuts to Medicaid and the expiration of the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits under the Affordable Care Act, which turned 16 yesterday.

That was personal to me. I was pregnant. Matter of fact, I was the first member of the Virginia House of Delegates to be pregnant while in office 16 years ago when Congress passed the Affordable Care Act. I remember how excited I was that this law could move mountains in solving the maternal healthcare crisis, which was on my mind in my first trimester of pregnancy. I was so excited that for the first time prenatal visits, postnatal visits, and breastfeeding counseling and equipment would be covered by health insurance. I was excited that for the first time pregnancy would not be a preexisting condition that could lead to the denial of health insurance for a woman.

I was excited that Virginia had an opportunity to expand Medicaid and create our own State-based healthcare exchange. So you can imagine my frustration when my Republican colleagues who were in control at the time said we are not doing that. But like many Black women before me, I persisted. We fought and fought until we finally convinced enough Republicans in 2018 to expand Medicaid.

In 2020, we finally created the Virginia-based healthcare exchange, and we saw health outcomes improve, particularly for pregnant and not pregnant Black women. We saw the statistic begin to turn around where no longer would a Black woman be three times more likely to die within a year of childbirth because before she was pregnant she got connected to a medical home and could get the care she needed for underlying healthcare conditions that made the pregnancy more risky. All of that is now under attack.

On Monday, I checked to see the impact that the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits had on the Virginia marketplace now that we have had our first open enrollment since they expired. Mr. Speaker, 19,000 Virginians didn't renew because they couldn't afford the premium. About 20,000 Virginians renewed but then terminated their coverage because they couldn't afford the premiums.

Families like Lester and Yolanda Johnson and their 9-year-old daughter have seen their premiums go from roughly $600 to over $1,000. I can understand why so many of them are struggling to decide: Can I afford that health insurance premium?

As the President's war of choice in Iran has seen gas prices spike, they are wondering: Can I afford to put gas in my tank? Can I afford that plane ticket? Can I afford that energy bill?

As the tariff policies and this trade war continues to wreak havoc on grocery prices, they are wondering which of these bills is going to give, and unfortunately, they are gambling that they are not going to get sick or injured. They are still going to get sick or injured, and when they do they are going to show up at the hospital. They are going to be treated. Somebody is going to pay for that, and that is the rest of us.

Whether it is access to healthcare, access to the vote, access to worker rights, access to equal pay, access to equality under the law, we have made a lot of progress, and all of that progress is being chipped away as we speak.

But the women of the Congressional Black Caucus are persistent. Yes, we are fighting the same fights as other mothers, our grandmothers, and our great-grandmothers, and we could be angry about that. We would have every right to be. We could be despondent. We could give up, but we don't because we fight those fights from a position of more strength and power than our ancestors ever imagined. We fight those fights so that our daughters and our granddaughters and our great-granddaughters don't have to, but if they do, they will fight those fights from a position of more strength and power than we can imagine.

As for me personally--and this is why the President's assault on our history is so offensive to me personally because we are telling those stories in my family, but they weren't told in my history books. For a long time they weren't told in our public museums and our public spaces. Now, we have begun to tell the stories. Under the President's DEI executive order many of those stories are being removed.

The President seems obsessed with slavery and not wanting anybody to talk about it. He thinks we talk too much about it. But slavery is the original sin of this country. Slavery is the original wound that is still gaping in this country because it never healed. It never healed because we didn't talk about it, and we didn't address it. And just like any wound caused by a family member, if you don't talk about it and then address it, it festers. It festers until it is infected, and then comes death.

What the President misses about that history is how it inspires and how it can keep us going.

My family is coming here for spring break on Friday. My kids came last year, as well. It was a vote week. So, as we always do, we went to all of the Smithsonian museums. We went to The National Museum of African American History and Culture, and we went to the exhibit on slavery. We went to the exhibit on the middle passage. As I stood in that exhibit, I imagined what it must have been like to be stolen from your home and your family, placed on a ship, the bowels of a ship, in inhumane conditions, treated like animals. I imagined how many people chose to jump because the alternative they feared when they arrived at these shores was worse than death. How many died because they couldn't hold on?

A year ago as I stood in that exhibit, a voice came to me and said: Somebody survived that so that you can be here in this moment in this fight in this time. That is what keeps us going. We remember the pain and the joy and the fight and the progress of our ancestors. We owe it to them to build on their success and to tell their stories even when they are uncomfortable, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Black History Month and Women's History Month and every other history month allows us to focus in on stories that for too often in our history went untold. Yet, we have agencies at the Federal Government from the Department of Defense on down that don't even recognize those months or allow their employees to. We have an administration that threatens and bullies private companies if they try to.

We have to tell the story. We owe it to those that came before us who lived it to tell the stories because how many people do you think knew when they voted for the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights that the women who held those roles who were mostly Black and Brown didn't have the same rights that they took for granted? I can tell you very few did until they were told. They had no reason to.

We are going to continue to tell these stories. We are going to continue to fight for that progress. We are going to continue to be the conscience of the Congress even when the Congress doesn't want to hear from us. We are going to hold this President accountable, and we are going to make him listen to the stories even when he wants to shut us up because that is why we are here.

Shirley Chisholm told us that if they don't create a seat at the table, bring a folding chair. She didn't want us to just sit there and be quiet. She wanted us to speak truth to power. She wanted us to continue her work and the work of everyone that came before her. We are going to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank everyone for their attention tonight, 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 8 o'clock and 8 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and celebrate the 100th anniversary of WRVA, one of the most historic radio broadcasting institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia and a pillar of American radio for a full century.

WRVA first went live on the air in 1925 in Richmond, Virginia, and quickly became a trusted voice for listeners across the Greater Richmond Region and Mid-Atlantic. The station has since served as a vital source of local and state news, public affairs, emergency information and community storytelling, connecting generations of listeners through moments of triumph, hardship and everything in between.

As one of the country's oldest radio stations, WRVA helped shape the golden age of American broadcasting. From early music and variety programming to farm reports and civic discussions, the station reflected the culture and concerns of its community. Through the years, it has adapted to every era of media and continues to inform and engage audiences, while maintaining the reliability and credibility that listeners have come to expect.

WRVA has also played a critical role during times of crisis, providing essential updates and guidance during extreme weather events, public emergencies and major regional developments. In these moments, radio remains one of the most dependable forms of communication, and WRVA has consistently fulfilled that responsibility with professionalism and dedication.

The journalists, broadcasters, engineers and staff members over the years have built and sustained this institution into what it is today. Their commitment to public service, accurate reporting and meaningful dialogue ensures that WRVA remains an enduring and trusted voice in our Commonwealth.

Today, as WRVA marks 100 years on the air, we celebrate not only the station's longevity but also its continued role in strengthening civic life and local connection. In a rapidly evolving and ever-changing technological and media landscape, the station's century-long legacy stands as a testament to the enduring importance of local broadcasting, local journalism and the institutions that breathe life into our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating WRVA on its centennial anniversary, and in honoring its lasting contributions to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the broader history of American broadcasting. May the next century of WRVA continue to inform, connect and serve the people of Virginia with the same dedication that has defined its first hundred years.