Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate infrastructure week and highlight the incredible projects made possible in Virginia by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The IIJA, or bipartisan infrastructure law, is a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-generation investment to rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure, improve public safety and climate resilience, accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies, and reconnect historically marginalized and disenfranchised communities.

Since the IIJA was passed, $4.7 billion in Federal funding is headed to the Commonwealth of Virginia for 192 specific projects. That includes $3.8 billion for transportation infrastructure, like our public transit, roads, rails, ports, airports, and bridges, like the historic Mayo Bridge in my district in Richmond; and approximately $290 million for clean water initiatives in the Commonwealth.

Thanks to IIJA, more than 345,000 households across the Commonwealth are now receiving affordable high-speed internet.

This is just the beginning. As we continue to work to implement the provisions from the bipartisan infrastructure law, Virginians can expect to see billions more in Federal funding.

Thanks to the leadership of the Biden-Harris administration, we aren't just celebrating infrastructure week, but infrastructure decade.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my House Republican colleagues to end their debt ceiling brinksmanship and prioritize the needs of the American people over their party's interests.

An unprecedented debt default would jeopardize health benefits for over 315,000 people in my district who rely on Medicare, Medicaid, or Veterans Affairs health insurance and raise the cost for all Americans by raising interest rates on every loan they have.

Unfortunately, the Republican solution is no solution at all, as their default on America act would devastate American families, seniors, and, especially, our veterans.

This bill would immediately rescind $2 billion in funding to support veterans, which would mean 30 million fewer outpatient visits and 81,000 jobs lost across the Veterans Health Administration. This would exacerbate backlogs and wait times for important medical appointments, particularly at facilities like the Richmond VA Medical Center in my district.

Our brave veterans deserve better. These are not viable options.

I call on House Republicans to stop holding the American economy hostage and raise the debt ceiling cleanly, just as we did three times under the former President.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember Shawn Soares, a young public servant and former congressional staffer from my district, who was tragically killed in a traffic accident last week.

I first met Shawn during my time as a State legislator. He was a genuinely kind person who always had a smile on his face.

Shawn was a bright light everywhere, and he was well known in the Richmond community for his commitment to climate advocacy and his desire to better the Commonwealth.

He accomplished so much in his short life. He served under my predecessor, the late Donald McEachin, and in State government under former Governor Ralph Northam and Delegate Suhas Subramanyam.

He was a leadership member in the Virginia Young Democrats and most recently worked for the Virginia Conservation Network while pursuing his graduate degree at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Shawn's commitment to having a positive impact on his community was evident in his life and work, and he will be sorely missed by many.

My sincere condolences to the Soares family, his loved ones, and every community he touched.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the late Richard Stewart, a beloved and well-known figure from my hometown of Petersburg, in Virginia's Fourth Congressional District. Mr. Stewart was the honorary ``Mayor of Pocahontas Island,'' one of the oldest Black neighborhoods in our nation.

Since 1732, enslaved, escaped, and free African Americans have called Pocahontas Island home, and Mr. Stewart fought relentlessly to preserve artifacts, properties, and the stories of those who lived there. He even created the Pocahontas Island Black History Museum, the first Black history museum in Petersburg, to educate visitors and memorialized the storied history of the neighborhood. He was a veteran, a community leader, and an engaged citizen who devoted his life to preserving our history and preparing the next generation through storytelling and learning.

He leaves behind a lasting legacy and will be sorely missed by the Petersburg community and our Commonwealth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the incredible work of John Marshall High School's boys' basketball head coach, Ty White.

Coach White recently received the Naismith High School Boys Coach of the Year award after leading his team

to an undefeated season and the State title in Virginia.

The Naismith Awards are presented annually to the most outstanding men's and women's basketball players and coaches who have achieved tremendous success on and off the court.

Coach White has spent 13 years coaching the boys' basketball team and has served as an invaluable mentor and community leader in the John Marshall High School family.

I commend Coach White on his determination, leadership, and grit. He and the John Marshall boys' basketball team, the Justices, have made Richmond, our district, and their Congresswoman proud.

Go Justices.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to underscore the pressing need to protect the full faith and credit of the United States and cleanly raise the debt ceiling.

The debt default would be catastrophic for my constituents in Virginia's Fourth District and for Americans across the Nation. It would jeopardize Social Security payments for 98,000 families in my district and disrupt over $160 million a month in Social Security income, not to mention its detrimental impacts on mortgage payments, student loans, car loans, and more.

Yet, congressional Republicans are holding the American economy hostage, threatening a default unless their extreme proposals are met. Let's be clear, H.R. 2811, or the default on America act, would slash funding and limit access to crucial social safety net programs like SNAP benefits, school funding, and childcare options, which would disproportionately impact low-income communities and communities of color.

It would also immediately rescind $2 billion in funding of veteran medical care, impacting countless veterans and families in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, we need to cleanly raise the debt ceiling without strings attached that affect our national security interests.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Horsford and Representatives Cherfilus-McCormick and Jackson for convening this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with my CBC colleagues in support of the ``Tennessee Three'' and in staunch opposition to the dangerous precedent set by Tennessee Republicans.

Just 10 days after three children and three adults were brutally and tragically murdered, rather than working to prevent that tragedy from happening again, Tennessee Republicans expelled Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson in a gross abuse of power, a blatant infringement of free speech, and a disenfranchisement of the voters of the 52nd and 86th Tennessee House districts.

Attempts to compare the actions of the ``Tennessee Three'' to those of the January 6 insurrectionists to justify the expulsion trivializes the tragic events that occurred in this very building. Nobody died in the Tennessee House. A bullhorn is not a pipe bomb. Nobody called for members of the Tennessee Legislature to be hung.

Instead, Tennessee Republicans have set a dangerous precedent that threatens the very foundational principles of American democracy by attempting to silence calls for gun reform. This is something that should concern every voter. A controlling party cannot invalidate the will of the people simply because they don't agree with the position of their colleagues or the peaceful exercise of their free speech.

I stand with my CBC colleagues in denouncing this overreach. We will not stand idly by for such threats on democracy.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the incredible work of three students from my district. Evan McKinney, Ayden Greer, and David Bell from Elizabeth Davis Middle School in Chester, Virginia, were recently selected as winners of C-SPAN's 2023 national StudentCam Competition.

This year, students addressed the theme of, ``If you were a newly elected Member of Congress, which issue would be your first priority and why?''

It is a topic I am particularly interested in.

Evan, Ayden, and David created a documentary titled, ``Do the Twist: The Startling Truth About Opioid Abuse in America.''

Their work looked into some of the root causes of the opioid crisis and its devastating impacts.

I thank Evan, Ayden, and David for helping shine a light on such a pervasive issue in our district and our Nation. I congratulate them on winning the prize out of nearly 3,000 participants. They made their school, their community, our district, and their Congresswoman proud.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Jackson for convening this Special Order and Representatives Cori Bush and Ayanna Pressley for their leadership in creating the Congressional ERA Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the first Black woman to represent Virginia, the birthplace of American democracy and the birthplace of American slavery.

I rise as a former State legislator who led Virginia to become the 38th and final State necessary to ratify the equal rights amendment. It is poetic justice that Virginia was the final State necessary for ratification.

It has been a long march toward equality in Virginia's history. In 1619, when the first women were recruited to Jamestown, it was to make wives to the inhabitants, and their rights were surrendered to their husbands. They couldn't vote, they couldn't hold public office, they couldn't control their own property.

African-American women who arrived in 1619 were considered property and had fewer rights, if any at all.

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence established the principle that all men were created equal with inalienable rights. They didn't mean me.

When the Constitution was developed for we the people in order to form a more perfect Union, it didn't include me.

The Constitution purported to create a government by, of, and for the people, but not for me. Only for White men.

For the past centuries, we have made major progress to secure the blessings of liberty for every American.

We have made that progress thanks to the struggle and sacrifice of Black women who were in the fight from the beginning but were the last to benefit from our work. We were there in the fight to abolish slavery. As you heard, we were there in the fight for women's suffrage, even when we were told to march in the back.

We marched for civil rights in the 1960s, even though we weren't given a speaking role. We have fought, organized, and marched for ratification of the equal rights amendment for over a hundred years.

It is absurd that, a hundred years after the ERA's introduction, women still do not have the same constitutional rights as men.

That is why I am not only committed but honored to carry on this fight in Congress with my sisters in this fight, with Representatives Bush and Pressley in the Congressional ERA Caucus.

Women across our Nation have waited too long for equality. It is our time. Publish the ERA today so that, tomorrow, our daughters don't have to fight the same fight.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 5.

I am the mother of two young children who you saw stand with me in this very Chamber 2 weeks ago, and I have near-daily conversations with the parents in my district about their hopes and concerns. I can assure you, they have a seat at the table in the school room, and they are not concerned with banning books, censoring our curriculum, or dictating what bathrooms students use.

Parents want increased resources for mental and behavioral health services, inclusive school environments that foster critical thinking and learning, and more funding to repair outdated and crumbling school buildings and address security issues.

They want their children to learn a complete and accurate history of our country and our world, and they want the peace of mind that their children are safe.

Three days after my son stood with me on this floor and watched me take the oath of office, one of his classmates shot himself accidentally with an unsecured gun, and he died. It was a devastating loss for our community.

It was a devastating loss for our community and the community at large. These are the issues that matter to parents as they deal with the mental fallout of that incident. These are the issues they are talking about.

H.R. 5 does nothing to address these priorities. It would create unnecessary reporting requirements and divert critical resources away from meeting the real needs of our students and families.

I urge our colleagues to vote ``no'' on the politics over parents act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Scott for his introduction. I also thank the Members of the Virginia delegation, and my new colleagues.

I rise as the newest Member of Virginia's Fourth Congressional District and the first African-American woman elected to this body from the Commonwealth of Virginia. I thank the voters of the Fourth Congressional District for placing their trust in me to serve in this, the people's House.

Today, I succeed, but can never replace, A. Donald McEachin, who was a friend, mentor, and colleague whom I served with in the Virginia House of Delegates and succeeded in the Senate in Virginia. I stand on his shoulders. I stand on the shoulders of John Mercer Langston, the first African American to represent Virginia, also from the Fourth District.

Mr. Speaker, I did not make this journey alone, and I thank my friends, family, and supporters who have supported me along the way.

First and foremost, I thank my husband, David Mills. I thank my son, Jackson, who is excited to show off his dance moves, and my daughter, Samantha.

I thank my mother, Lois McClellan. She will be the first to tell you that she is half responsible for me. She and my late father, Dr. James F. McClellan, Jr.--on whose Bible I took the oath of office--are why I am here.

I grew up listening to their stories of their childhood during the Depression, coming of age during World War II and its aftermath, and raising a family through the tumult of the 1960s and 1970s. They saw the best of government in the New Deal. They saw the worst of government in Jim Crow.

Their stories and the love of history that they sparked in me taught me at a young age that at its best, government is a force for helping people and solving problems. At its worst, government is a force that oppresses some for the benefit of a few.

Their stories sparked a desire to dedicate myself to making a government by, of, and for the people actually work for the people, solving problems and making their lives and communities better.

That desire led me to serve in the Virginia General Assembly for 18 sessions where, as the daughter and granddaughter of men who paid poll taxes and the great-granddaughter of a man who took a literacy test and had to find three White men to vouch for him to be able to vote, I was able to pass over 370 pieces of legislation, including the Voting Rights Act of Virginia.

I stand on the shoulders of my parents, grandparents, and great- grandparents, recognizing that in a lot of ways I am fighting the same fights that they did, and I stand here to ensure that my children and yours don't have to fight those same fights.

I am honored, humbled, and excited to get to work with you for the people of Virginia's Fourth Congressional District and this great Nation of ours.