Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, for the last 6 weeks, I traveled around not just my district but the entire Commonwealth of Virginia to talk about the work that we are doing here in Washington as we headed back to try to avoid a government shutdown in the next 28 days.

Frankly, I didn't hear a lot about Jeffrey Epstein, although what happened is very serious and the survivors do indeed need closure. I didn't hear very much about January 6, although that was a serious stain on American history.

What I did hear about were concerns about rising costs. The costs of everything from healthcare to childcare, energy, food, and technology, everything is going up. The President's illegal tariff policy is making that worse.

I heard concerns from providers and patients about the impact that Medicaid cuts are going to have on hundreds of thousands of Virginians. I heard from State legislators and local government officials about the concerns they have about shifting costs on their budgets. That is why I oppose the energy appropriations bill here today because one way to reduce costs while meeting our energy demands is through energy efficiency programs and clean and renewable energy. However, this bill cuts in half the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office and by extension the programs for energy efficiency and clean energy.

We will never meet our exploding energy demands affordably, reliably, and quickly without energy efficiency and clean energy programs, and that is why I stand to oppose this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and commemorate the Reverend Dr. Todd Gray's 30th anniversary as the pastor of Fifth Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. For three decades. Reverend Gray has provided unwavering spiritual leadership, compassionate guidance, and steadfast service to his congregation and the greater Richmond community.

Since answering the call to lead Fifth Street Baptist Church in 1994, Reverend Gray has embodied the principles of faith, humility, and service. Under his leadership, the church has grown both spiritually and numerically, expanding its ministries and deepening its outreach to meet the evolving needs of its members and the surrounding community.

Throughout his tenure as pastor, Reverend Gray has remained committed to preaching a message of hope and justice, empowering individuals to live lives rooted in faith and purpose. His passion for education, economic empowerment, and social equity has been evident not only in the pulpit, but also in his civic engagement and community partnerships. He has mentored young leaders, supported families in crisis, and spoken out boldly for those whose voices often go unheard.

Reverend Gray's leadership has been a stabilizing force and a source of inspiration. His devotion to his congregation and community knows no bounds. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Reverend Dr. Todd Gray for his 30 years of outstanding leadership at Fifth Street Baptist Church.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and celebrate the 20th pastoral anniversary of Reverend Tyrone Nelson, a native of Richmond, Virginia, and the esteemed pastor of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church.

For two decades, Reverend Nelson has led Sixth Mount Zion with vision, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to service. Under his leadership, the church has grown not only in membership, but in its outreach and impact throughout the Richmond community. He has been a steadfast advocate for the needs of his congregation and a champion for justice, education, housing, and economic empowerment in the city and beyond.

Reverend Nelson's tenure has been marked by a spirit of innovation and inclusivity, fostering a welcoming environment for individuals and families from all walks of life. His ability to connect faith with action has helped shape the church into a community anchor, offering programs and partnerships that address food insecurity, youth mentorship, and senior care, while serving as a safe gathering place for civic dialogue and community advancement.

In addition to his responsibilities as pastor of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist, Reverend Nelson has remained active in civic life, lending his voice to advance equity, opportunity, and public service. His leadership extends far beyond the pulpit, touching the lives of countless community members through both his words and his work.

Reverend Nelson's dedication over the past 20 years is a testament to what can be achieved when faith, integrity, and community come together.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Reverend Tyrone Nelson on 20 years of extraordinary service. May his leadership continue to inspire, uplift, and strengthen the Richmond community for many years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a group of courageous Virginians who demonstrated an unwavering commitment to public service and persevered through adversity to open doors for future generations. On July 1, 1950, the City of Richmond hired ten African-American men to serve in the Richmond Bureau of Fire, making them the first Black career firefighters in both the city and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

I recognize and commend these trailblazers: Charles L. Belle, William Brown, Douglass O. Evans, Harvey Hicks, Warren W. Kersey, Bernard C. Lewis, Farra Lucas, Arthur L. Page, Arthur C. St. John, and Linwood M. Wooldridge.

Their arrival formed the first all-Black unit in Richmond's segregated fire department. Although these men met all the qualifications, the department subjected them to unequal treatment, including segregated facilities, extended training periods, and limited chances for promotion. Despite holding college degrees and completing superior training, the men of Engine Company No. 9 worked exclusively at a single station at Fifth and Duval Streets, in the heart of Richmond's Black business and residential district.

These men trained as a unit and held higher qualifications than many of their white peers, yet the department consistently denied them equal opportunities for advancement. They waited years for the department to recognize their promotional exam results. Mr. Charles L. Belle passed the lieutenant's exam in 1956 but didn't receive a promotion until 1967, after he retook the test ten more times. Several other men overcame similar barriers to advance their careers: Harvey S. Hicks earned promotions to Lieutenant in 1955 and Captain in 1961; Linwood M. Wooldridge became a Lieutenant in 1956; Oscar L. Blake advanced in 1959; and Arthur L. Page earned the rank of Lieutenant in 1961.

These brave men faced discrimination on and off duty. Many times, homeowners forced them to use back entrances or refused them entry when they responded to emergencies. Despite these challenges, they served with dignity, courage, and professionalism. Their presence uplifted Richmond's Black community, where they actively participated in faith- based, civic, fraternal, and social institutions.

In 1963, the Richmond Fire Department finally began to desegregate six of its 28 companies. Although the city demolished Engine Company No. 9 in 1968, its legacy endures. In 1992, former members of that unit founded Engine Company No. 9 and Associates Inc. to preserve and share their history. On July 1, 2000, the City of Richmond honored the 50th anniversary of its hiring by installing a Virginia State Historic Highway Marker--Marker Number SA-54--at the corner of Fifth and Duval Streets.

These men were more than firefighters. They were pioneers who paved the way for equity in public safety. I rise to honor their memory and the legacy of courage, service and perseverance that continues to inspire generations of public servants across the Commonwealth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1766, the NTIA Policy and Cybersecurity Coordination Act, which I was pleased to introduce with the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte).

Mr. Speaker, this important bipartisan legislation would cement the responsibilities of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, by codifying, renaming, and enhancing the work of its Office of Policy Analysis and Development, which plays a critical role in shaping our Nation's telecommunications and information objectives.

NTIA is already central to advancing market-driven strategies that foster innovation, expand broadband deployment, and promote a competitive digital economy. However, this legislation ensures that NTIA is equally empowered to help safeguard that digital future, particularly as the cybersecurity threats we face grow more complex and more dangerous by the day.

Last year's Salt Typhoon cyberattack was one of the most sophisticated and malicious efforts to infiltrate our telecommunications networks. It was a sobering reminder of how vulnerable our communications infrastructure remains and how deeply those vulnerabilities can impact multiple sectors from healthcare to national security.

In today's interconnected world, a breach in one wireless network can compromise critical services in transportation, healthcare, finance, and public safety. As our reliance on digital technologies increases, so too does the scale and sophistication of these threats, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence.

While AI holds tremendous potential to improve efficiency, optimize networks, and revolutionize industries, it also introduces new cybersecurity risks.

Foreign adversaries and malicious actors are already leveraging AI to enhance phishing campaigns, automate malware, and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities faster than ever before. These tools can evade traditional defenses, manipulate systems, and do so at a scale and speed that we have never encountered or imagined before.

That is why this legislation is so timely and so necessary. By reinforcing the NTIA's authority and resources in cybersecurity policy, we position the agency to not only be a leader in innovation and broadband expansion but a central player in securing the Nation's digital infrastructure against these emerging threats.

As the principal adviser to the President on telecommunications and information policy, NTIA must be equipped to identify risks early, coordinate effectively across agencies, and shape forward-looking policies that protect American consumers, businesses, and critical services.

Mr. Speaker, I applaud my colleague for introducing this bill, and I urge my fellow Members to join me in supporting it. Strengthening NTIA's cybersecurity capabilities is not just a matter of good governance but a national security imperative.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to anchor this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour marking the fifth anniversary this Thursday of when we lost a civil rights giant, Congressman John Lewis.

Congressman Lewis' parting words to us were published in The New York Times in an op-ed entitled, ``Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation.''

It was a message of hope as he passed the baton as a drum major for justice to the next generation of Americans. His words are more necessary today than ever and need to be repeated.

For the next hour, my colleagues will hear members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other members who served with Congressman Lewis or were inspired by him, using his own words to talk about his legacy.

I would like to start with the beginning of his op-ed, which is poignantly relevant today.

``While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life, you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society.

Millions of people, motivated simply by human compassion, laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and around the world, you set aside race, class, age, language, and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.''

Mr. Speaker, we need that call, that clarion call, that demand for respect for human dignity today more than ever before. We need the hope and inspiration that this drum major for justice saw in the next generation that would succeed him in the battle for the soul of our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke) and the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), who is our immediate past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), who is the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), who is the Speaker emerita and who worked with Congressman Lewis very closely for many years.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson), one of John Lewis' delegation mates.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell), who has made sure that Members of Congress follow the footsteps that John Lewis took, where he bled for our right not only to vote but to be here in this Chamber.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Adams).

Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey for her words.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to Representative Lucy McBath, one of Congressman Lewis' delegation mates from Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield to Congressman Lewis' successor, Representative Nikema Williams of Georgia's Fifth.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ivey).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California, Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Rhode Island, Gabe Amo.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), one of Congressman Lewis' delegation mates.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Figures).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Simon).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, one of my biggest regrets is that I did not get to serve with Congressman Lewis, but I did get to meet him. He came to Richmond about a year, year and a half before he passed, for the renaming of Arthur Ashe Boulevard.

I had the opportunity to sit with him at lunch and ride with him to an exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in a former Confederate chapel, on land that was once a Confederate veteran's home.

Walking into that chapel, knowing the history that occurred there and watching John Lewis sit and listen for the first time to the speech he gave during the Clinton impeachment, and he had tears streaming down his eyes. The quote that sticks with me is when he asked in his booming voice: ``Is this good for America? If it's good for the American people, it's good for the institution.'' That, Mr. Speaker, is the question I ask myself every day in this office.

John Lewis understood, just as Dr. King did, he wasn't going to reach the promised land of that more perfect Union, but he fought for it.

In his final words to us, he said: ``Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all that I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

``When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression, and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.''

John Lewis handed us the baton. Are we going to pick it up?

Are we going to carry on his work?

The Congressional Black Caucus will make sure we do.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time.

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 34 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor and pride that I rise today to anchor this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour. For the next 60 minutes, members of the CBC will have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people on an issue of great importance.

Today, we commemorate the 160th anniversary of Juneteenth. Juneteenth commemorates the date on June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger entered Galveston, Texas, and ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect over 2 years earlier on January 1, 1863.

While many people think the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery, it did not. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the States that were in rebellion during the Civil War, but slavery continued. Even in the States in rebellion, it continued for over 2 years. It would take another 6 months, with the ratification of the 13th Amendment, for slavery to be abolished in America.

Virginia has the distinction of being the birthplace of American democracy and, a month later, the birthplace of American slavery. In Virginia, we love our commemorations, and 1619 was the year that what now is the Virginia General Assembly, the longest continuing representative legislature in the Western Hemisphere, began in Jamestown. It was the first time we had representative democracy in the British colonies.

A month later, the first recorded Africans arrived on the shores of Point Comfort at what is now Fort Monroe. It was 20-and-odd Africans who had been stolen from their home in Angola and then stolen again by a pirate ship, brought to Point Comfort, and traded for supplies.

That began the forced labor and servitude that would become chattel slavery in the American slave trade.

Virginia depended heavily on the slave trade. In my hometown of Richmond, which I represent right now, we had the largest slave trade market on the East Coast. Between 1775 and 1865, it was the number one source for enslaved African labor.

Over the break, I joined a commemoration of Juneteenth at the Manchester Dock. The Manchester Dock is the port where enslaved Africans were brought into Richmond. Many spent their time in what became known as the Devil's Half Acre, the notorious Lumpkin's Slave Jail. Many then made their way west.

Ironically, for my own family, we cannot trace the McClellan line beyond my great-grandfather, who we know was born in Montevallo, Alabama. Based on DNA evidence, we have reason to believe that his ancestors were enslaved people in Virginia. We can't prove it, but the DNA suggests that is the case.

Juneteenth reminds us that emancipation was not a moment. It was a movement. It was a movement that began in 1619 with acts of self- liberation, resistance, and rebellion that continued until December 1865, when slavery was finally abolished by the 13th Amendment, but freedom and justice for all was a continuing struggle.

We made progress. After the Civil War, during Reconstruction, with the advent of the Freedmen's Bureau, we saw formerly enslaved people, mostly men, gain for the first time social, political, and economic power. The Virginia Constitutional Convention, which allowed Virginia to be readmitted into the United States, had 22 Black men who served. During Reconstruction, over 100 Black men served in the Virginia General Assembly.

I didn't know that until I was an adult. I didn't know that until Yvonne Miller, the first Black woman elected to the Virginia General Assembly, first as a member of the house of delegates and then the first Black woman elected to the State senate, as part of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus' annual tradition of telling untold stories during Black History Month, asked a researcher at legislative services who the first Black person elected to the general assembly was. We had all heard that Dr. Fergie Reid was the first elected since Reconstruction, but we didn't know who the first was.

Thanks to research done by the Library of Virginia, we discovered the over 100 Black men who served. I was proud, first as vice chair and then as chair of Virginia's Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Commission, to uncover all of their stories, to pass legislation, and to put a plaque in the former capital of the Confederacy that lists all of their names.

I was proud to help build a monument to emancipation and freedom that told the stories, often untold, of Virginians who fought for emancipation and then who fought to make ``liberty and justice for all'' true for all Virginians.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, we made progress during Reconstruction. Then, it ended, and there was a backlash.

Mr. Speaker, that backlash involved three things. It involved the propaganda, the lie of white supremacy that was intended to break up a growing coalition between formerly enslaved African Americans and poor, White individuals who came together to pass public policy in Virginia. The lie of white supremacy was designed to drive them apart.

It involved the propaganda of Confederate iconography such as statues to Robert E. Lee, even though General Lee himself said he did not believe such statues should be erected because they would pick at the wounds left from the war.

The backlash didn't end there. It included racial terror and violence. Thousands of people were lynched totally for the color of their skin. They were grabbed and accused vaguely of a crime, then they were hung, shot, or worse.

It didn't end there. Voter suppression included a wave of laws across the South that immediately responded to the 14th and 15th Amendment in an effort through literacy tests and poll taxes to keep those formerly enslaved people--men--who had gained the right to vote from exercising it.

These three things worked. For a generation the gains that were made during Reconstruction were erased. That history was not taught in school. I never learned that history in school.

Because my great-grandfather wrote a book, I knew about his literacy test that he had to take. I knew about the literacy test. When he went and took it and got all of the questions right, the registrar said he needed more questions because my great-grandfather was on a

list of community leaders who were not to be registered to vote.

He got those questions right. Then he was told he needed to find three White men to vouch for his character to be able to register to vote. It took some time because there were very few who were willing to do that. He did it. He registered to vote. He voted every chance that he got.

Despite this backlash, we continued to press forward. Despite the poll tax that my grandfather and my father had to pay, and despite the limited opportunities available to my mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother. Then through the leadership of Dr. King and John Lewis and so many others, culminating in the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, that was the second wave of progress.

There was backlash that included the assassination of our leaders, attempts at voter suppression, and even more propaganda.

We kept pressing forward. We kept pushing and pushing to eradicate the legacy of over 300 years of slavery and Jim Crow, which did not go away with the wave of a magic wand when the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were passed.

We made progress, as evidenced by the election of Barack Obama, and by more Black men and women getting social, political, and economic power. Then there was a backlash that included propaganda about stolen elections and birtherism.

There was a wave of voter suppression when the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. We saw a wave of laws across the South very reminiscent of those that passed over 100 years ago. We saw propaganda, violence, and voter suppression, but we kept pushing.

Then in Virginia, we had the backlash of the Unite the Right rally. We had the murder of George Floyd. There were people who had never learned any of this history that I have just walked through and for the first time--because they didn't have family members who experienced it and told their stories. They didn't have textbooks in school that told them this history.

When they began to have their eyes opened and we began to make progress again, there was a backlash. There was the propaganda of wokeism and how diversity, equity, and inclusion was actually discrimination. We saw violence culminate on January 6. There is voter suppression, as we see more laws trying to roll back access to voting.

Mr. Speaker, I remember how I felt as I sat at home, watching George Floyd call out for his mother. I felt the same pain that my parents felt when they saw Emmett Till's body in his coffin. In that moment I realized in a lot of ways I am fighting the same fights as my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandparents.

We have made progress, and I fight those fights as the first and only Black woman ever elected to Congress from Virginia. I fight those fights from a position of more strength and power than they ever could have dreamed of. I fight those fights so that my children and my grandchildren don't have to.

Mr. Speaker, sometimes I get tired. Sometimes I get weary when I see a Secretary of Defense who fires people solely because he assumes they only got their job because of the color of their skin. He ignores the case of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has a lifetime service record.

I get tired. When I think about everything that was used to try to overcome the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, that held a lot of people down with a weight on their ankle because their families didn't have access to education or economic opportunities, and they are trying to come out of generations of oppression, when I get tired, I go back to that history.

Earlier this year, just as the President issued an order that calls into question whether exhibits can even stay in the National Museum of African American History and Culture, I went back and took my children. I have been to that museum so many times.

In April of this year, I stood in the exhibit on the Middle Passage. Mr. Speaker, if you haven't done it, I highly recommend you do. It is the Middle Passage between Africa and probably the Manchester Dock in Richmond. It is so horrible that so many people chose to jump off the ship and chose death rather than what was waiting for them on those shores.

As I sat and looked at the exhibit, this time a voice came to me and said that somebody survived this so that I could be here as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, fighting back against this latest backlash.

This backlash looks a little different, but it is the exact same one we have been fighting. For almost 250 years, the history of this country has been: How do we reconcile the fact upon which we were founded with the birth of American democracy and the birth of American slavery less than a month apart in the same town, basically? How do we reconcile that with the ideals upon which we were founded? How do we make sure those ideals are true for everyone?

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus will fight every single day to make sure they are true.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. McBath).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining?

Mr. Speaker, ``Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story'' is a song from one of my favorite plays, ``Hamilton.'' It is very appropriate because there are a lot of stories in American history that have never been told.

Black history is American history. Our fates were inextricably linked as the founding of American democracy and the founding of American slavery happened at the same time in the same place.

I am proud to say, though, that Virginia also was the birthplace of the ideals upon which this country was founded, and there is contradiction there too. When Thomas Jefferson wrote: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,'' Mr. Speaker, he didn't mean me when he wrote those words. He didn't even mean the mother of his children when he wrote those words. He didn't mean the hundreds of people who lived in forced labor considered as property on his beloved Monticello.

For years their stories weren't told.

James Madison who came up with the Virginia Plan, which was the foundation for our Constitution, the idea of a government by, of, and for the people didn't mean me in ``We the People.'' He didn't mean the hundreds of people that lived at Montpelier that his wife considered her property.

As a matter of fact, when the Constitution was ratified, our ancestors--as members of the Congressional Black Caucus--were only considered three-fifths of a person for purposes of figuring out how many people would serve in this body. We weren't even given three- fourths or three-fifths of the rights of a person though.

The struggle of our country has been how do we reconcile that? How do we overcome the facts upon which we are founded with the ideals upon which we are founded. Again, I will acknowledge and be proud to say we have made progress. Most of that fight happened in Virginia culminating in the Civil War.

As somebody born in Petersburg, home of the longest siege during the war, I lived in and now represent Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, for most of my life, and I am 52 years old, the trauma of slavery and Jim Crow was never discussed. Like any family, if you don't acknowledge the trauma and begin to address the lingering impact of it, the family will never heal. That is exactly what has happened in this country.

Every time we begin to have an honest conversation and dialogue about what happened, it is uncomfortable and painful, but we have to have that conversation. We have to teach this history in our schools. We have to talk about it in public history spaces and museums and on public grounds because the people who lived it are passing on.

My parents lived under Jim Crow, but they are now gone. Again, I was not taught these stories in school or anywhere else. It was going mainly to my family and original sources where I learned it.

I am very concerned, Mr. Speaker, that now that we have gotten closer than ever before to actually beginning to heal as a nation, this backlash that we constantly see, which we are in again, is going to threaten any progress toward healing because people won't learn this history and deal with it.

Yet, it happened. Yes, it is uncomfortable. Yes, standing on a site where someone was lynched solely because of the color of their skin and because they had the temerity, allegedly, to whistle at a White woman is uncomfortable, but it happened.

Just like that community can't heal until they reckon with it and acknowledge that it happened and that it was wrong and move on, we as a nation can't heal if we put our heads in the sand and decide that if it is uncomfortable, it can't be taught, that if it is uncomfortable or puts the United States in a bad light, it can't be put in a museum, acknowledged on our military bases, or acknowledged in public spaces.

This is not a perfect country, just like people aren't perfect. We cannot heal if we don't come together and talk about our history.

Unfortunately, the President of the United States decided that Juneteenth wasn't worthy of celebrating. That makes me incredibly sad because I think the President has a lot to learn from Juneteenth. Juneteenth teaches us that we can't take anything for granted. We can't take freedom for granted because too many people had to fight and die to get it.

Juneteenth is a reminder of the resilience of all the American people, particularly Black Americans. When we acknowledge our past, how far we have come, and how still further we have to go, we will be that more perfect Union that we are striving toward in a government by, of, and for the people.

I will close with this. When I was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, I learned very quickly that everyone's political views are shaped by their life experiences and what they know. I learned very quickly that public policy can either exacerbate or overcome inequity that happened in the past.

What I learned as a 32-year-old Black woman from the most Democratic district in the State in a body that was mostly White Republican men over 50 was that I needed to reach out to them and meet them where they were. I needed to understand why they believed what they believed. I needed to understand their history and culture. More importantly, I had to share mine and my parents', grandparents', and great-grandparents'.

More often than not, when we did that, we found that we had more in common than not. Yet, they didn't know much about the life experiences that my ancestors faced, so they would put forward public policy that exacerbated inequity.

``Inequity'' is not a dirty word. Inequity recognizes that the legacy of over 300 years of slavery and Jim Crow did not go away with the wave of a magic wand when laws were passed and that Black neighborhoods that were destroyed to build a highway, purposely chosen because of who lived there, has an impact still today.

We have to acknowledge this history, but the first step is to talk about it and to teach it, whether it is comfortable or not, because when we do, we will heal. If we don't heal, then someone who wishes us harm will exploit the tension.

I don't think it is an accident that whenever anyone from outside the United States wants to stoke tension in the United States, the first thing they go to is race. There is a reason for that. If we come to terms with our past, no one will be able to use it to divide us.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your attention. I thank you for giving the Congressional Black Caucus the opportunity to remain the conscience of the Congress. I thank you for giving us an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of Juneteenth.

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

Mr. Speaker, on January 6, 2021, a crowd of people stormed the Capitol seeking for the second time in American history to take by force what they could not win at the ballot box.

Capitol Police were beaten as they tried to protect Members of this body and the Vice President of the United States from harm. Congressional leaders begged President Trump to send in the National Guard. He refused. However, Virginia, the birthplace of American democracy, did.

Four years later, President Trump pardoned the individuals who sought to harm Members of Congress and who did hurt Capitol Police who swear to keep us safe.

Now, as people exercise their constitutional right to protest, President Trump has deployed the National Guard and the Marines, and now an administration that ignores the Constitution it swore to preserve, protect, and defend seeks to intimidate, assault, and arrest Members of Congress exercising their oversight duties outlined in that same constitution, like Representative LaMonica McIver and Senator Alex Padilla.

Next year we have the opportunity to celebrate 250 years of a remarkable idea of power derived from the people, not from a king, but only if we take action now.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for his leadership on Men's Health Month.

Mr. Speaker, I am a nerd. I am a proud nerd. Whenever there is an awareness month, one of the first things I like to do is figure out, is there a theme. It drives my staff crazy. There is a theme, as you have heard, for 2025 for Men's Health Month, and it is very enlightening: Closing the empathy gaps in men's health.

Now, this theme aims to highlight the importance of addressing the unique challenges that face men for their health and encourage them to seek early detection and treatment because the leading causes of death for men in the United States are preventable: heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries.

While awareness and funding efforts have successfully addressed numerous health challenges over the years, men's health issues have received significantly less attention and funding despite statistics that show a clear concern. Men die 6 years earlier than women due to preventable health issues.

Prostate cancer and testicular cancer receive far less attention. Even during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, people assume that is only something that

women face. Yet, men also get and die from breast cancer.

Suicide rates among men are significantly higher than women, yet the mental health infrastructure fails to acknowledge the interventions that resonate with men. As you heard, the culture for many, many years has told men: You don't need mental health attention. Suck it up.

That is probably true for a lot of health issues, and he would not like to hear me do this, but I am going to use my husband as an example. My husband needed to have spinal fusion surgery. I sat with him in the emergency room as the doctor started ticking through different questions, trying to determine what kind of injury or what happened to lead his spine and the disks in his spine to deteriorate.

The doctor said: Did you ever experience any tingling? He said: Yes, I did. I have experienced tingling in my hand and in my fingers. The doctor asked: How long has that happened? To my shock, my husband said: 3 years.

For 3 years, he felt tingling in his fingers, and yet didn't think maybe I should get that checked out.

He tried to have a tooth extracted without any local anesthesia or novocaine until the pain got so much the doctor said: We need to knock you out. You know when you first come out of anesthesia, you are a little high, and once he came out, I asked him: Well, why did you do that? He said: Because I am a man.

Being a man does not mean you don't take care of yourself. Being a man does not mean you don't seek help when you need it. Being a man does not mean you don't get preventative screenings for early detection of cancer or heart disease, or risk factors leading to heart disease. Being a man means you love yourself enough to take care of yourself.

Now, as policymakers, we have the opportunity to put policies in place that help all people to access healthcare and stay healthy. One of those policies has been Medicaid, and ensuring that more people have health insurance, not just as a safety net when they get sick, but so that they can get the preventative care, the screenings, the regular checkups that will identify early risk factors or worse.

Mr. Speaker, when the Affordable Care Act was passed, we were able to lower the number of uninsured through both Medicaid expansion and the healthcare exchanges.

A majority of the Medicaid expansion population is men, over 50 percent. They are more likely, incidentally, to be White men, about 59 percent. That is compared to the 34 percent of the traditional Medicaid population that are women.

Who are the folks in the Medicaid expansion population? While I have seen our Speaker say in interviews that these are single 29-year-olds sitting at home on their parents' couch playing video games, actually, most of them are working but earn, for an individual, $21,597 a year.

Some of them may work for employers who intentionally schedule their hours at 29 hours rather than the 30 needed to trigger employer-covered insurance. Some of them are self-employed. Some of them are in jobs, like one of my constituents who I spoke to during a press conference after we passed the big, ugly bill, who worked as a contractor, got injured, and could not work anymore but also was trying to get workers' comp and was caught in that process.

I was a State legislator when we expanded Medicaid in Virginia. Part of why we did it was because we recognized that just because you don't have health insurance doesn't mean you don't get sick. Not having health insurance does mean, though, you are less likely to get your preventative screenings, less likely to go to your primary care doctor or even have a primary care doctor, and less likely to get your annual checkups.

What we have seen since expanding Medicaid, as I talk to healthcare providers in Virginia, is that by connecting the expansion population to a medical home, they are getting those screenings. They are getting preventative care. As a result, fewer are showing up in the emergency room sick.

Unlike the traditional Medicaid population, which has very complex medical conditions, the expansion population typically, when you connect them to a medical home, are healthier. That is why I am so concerned about the big, ugly bill that we passed 2 weeks ago. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it will strip 16 million Americans of health insurance and make the issue of disparities in men's health worse.

I will pick on one piece of that bill that hasn't gotten a lot of attention. The bill now requires States to impose copays for the expansion population only of up to $35. Sitting in the Energy and Commerce Committee, I heard the rationale for this was that everybody needs to have skin in the game, and if I pay a copay with my private insurance, then why can't the expansion population pay a copay?

Here is the difference. I have done the math, and someone in the expansion population, an individual, is making $21,597 at most a year. That is about $1,799 a month. In Richmond, the average rent on an apartment is $1,569. The average utility bills are $197. The average grocery bills are $350.

When you are faced with a $35 copay and you make $1,799 a month, over two-thirds of which, if not more, is going to rent, utilities, and grocery bills--I haven't even gotten to transportation costs to get to and from work, and that is just if you are an individual. If you are faced with a $35 copay to get your annual checkup or to get these screenings, you are going to think really carefully about if you have that $35.

What we have seen, and this is why States haven't imposed copays to date, is that you are less likely to get those preventative screenings. You are less likely to get annual checkups. Therefore, these preventative illnesses are caught oftentimes when it is too late.

There are certain illnesses that are deadly but silent killers, and I will close with this. My brother-in-law is one such example, Greg Beckwith. He was a basketball player. He was particularly healthy, but he came from a family that had a history of heart disease and diabetes. He did everything right. He lost weight. He watched his diet. Yet, about a year ago, he woke up one morning feeling nauseous.

Nausea is not usually associated with heart disease. He thought he had food poisoning, so they waited until it got so bad they were like: ``You know what? Something is wrong.'' They went to the emergency room, and he, in fact, had a heart attack.

Part of what we need to do with Men's Health Awareness Month is not just identify the unique factors impacting men's health and the policies that we can put in place to help people get and stay healthy but also ensure that we are educating people on the warning signs of diseases that you might be at risk for.

We know of the agencies that do a lot of that work in the Health and Human Services Department, the CDC is a big one. Yet, the CDC is one of the agencies that have been gutted through DOGE. The workforce was decimated. Health and Human Services has lost over a quarter of its workforce.

Many of those cuts and the funding cuts that have already happened through DOGE--not through Congress, through DOGE--are cutting the very workforce that we need to help identify the risk factors unique to men and the ways to prevent it.

We can't make America healthy again if we are ripping health insurance away from 16 million people and undermining and then gutting our public health workforce.

These are just a couple of the things that have happened. I haven't even touched on the Medicare cuts that are triggered as a result of the pay-as-you-go law.

I said I was closing, but, like a good Baptist preacher, I may have one or two more closings since we have an hour.

We also have to stop legislating and policymaking in silos. This is one of my biggest frustrations as a legislator. I spent 18 years as a State legislator and now here in Congress, and too often, we focus on healthcare policy, environmental policy, and public safety policy, but we ignore that people don't live in silos and that our environment, clean air and clean water, impact public health.

As it is also National Ocean Month, the health of our oceans impacts public

health. The stress of crime, gun violence, racism, anti-Semitism, hatred, and division impact our mental and physical health.

We need to start thinking holistically about public health. We need to start thinking holistically about healthcare policy not just being something that the Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Health looks at but that every policy interconnects so that we are looking at, studying, and funding research on how, holistically, we improve health in America.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard time and time again that we don't have a healthcare system. We have a sick care system. We need to get back to the basics of making sure that we are identifying and preventing risk factors that lead to deaths that are preventable for men and for women.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to co-anchor this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour, along with my distinguished colleague from Louisiana (Mr. Carter).

For the next 60 minutes, members of CBC have the opportunity to speak directly to the American people on Gun Violence Awareness Month. It is an issue of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, and the constituents we represent.

Mr. Speaker, on March 7, 2023, I stood in the well and took my oath of office into this body. My children stood with me. My then 13-year- old son, who was very excited, impressed some people with his dance moves.

Less than a week later, my son, Jackson, showed up at school to find out one of his classmates was dead. He had killed himself accidentally using a loaded gun as a prop to film a music video. My son was devastated.

He was devastated again when 2 months later the school year abruptly came to an end when Shawn Jackson was shot and killed minutes after receiving his high school diploma.

These are 2 of the 46,728 people who died from gun-related injuries in 2023 alone. They were among the average 13,300 Black Americans who die of gun violence every single year.

Sierra Jenkins, Jahiem Dickerson, Devon Harris, Samiyah Yellardy, Tyshawn White, Jaiden Carter, Kenneth Cooper, Markiya Dickson, and Lorenzo Smith are just some of the names of people whose lives were ended by gun violence. Some were on purpose. Some were by their own hand. Some were accidental.

Too many of our communities are disproportionately impacted by this violence. We cannot allow this violence to become normalized. We must stand together to advance commonsense gun safety legislation, invest in community violence intervention programs, and address the root causes of gun violence.

Year after year, we go back to our districts. We go to vigils. We watch the news. We see tragedies. We come back here. We stand for a moment of silence. We give our thoughts and prayers. Nothing changes. The overwhelming consensus of the American people is that we have to do something.

As a State legislator, I focused on addressing the root causes of gun violence. I thought there would be bipartisan support for that. To a certain extent, there was.

I championed investment in the creation of a Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund with Delegate Marcia Price from Newport News when I was in the State senate. This program and fund would provide a pathway to research demographics and trends and implement evidence-based solutions to address the root causes of gun violence.

That is because gun violence in Richmond, Virginia, is different from gun violence in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is different from gun violence in New York City. It is different from gun violence in Newark, New Jersey. We need to get at the root causes.

For too many of our young people, the root causes are that access to guns is very easy and that they weren't taught to regulate emotions. Things that in my age were settled on the playground with a fist are now settled with a gun. Mr. Speaker, you can call someone a name on social media, and the next thing you know, you are shot dead. We need to do something to address that gun violence.

I was proud to come to Congress to try to continue to work on that, but in April, the Trump administration terminated nearly 400 grants from the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs that support everything from victim services to substance use, from mental health treatment to juvenile justice and child protection.

These are grants that were used to address the root causes of gun violence in our communities. There have been deep cuts to the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, the largest source of Federal funding

for community violence intervention, funding authorized by Congress in 2022 that has invested $300 million in community violence programming and research. Now, about one-half of those investments have been cut.

All this does is invite tragedy back into our communities. We can't let it happen.

As far as Black people and the communities that we represent, we are only 14 percent of the U.S. population, but we represent 60 percent of all firearm homicide victims. A Black person in America is 11.5 times more likely to die from gun violence.

While gun violence became the leading cause of death of all children for the first time in 2020, it has been the leading cause of death for Black children since 2006.

We must do more. We must do more because I can't tell you, Mr. Speaker, how difficult it is when every time there is a mass shooting, every time someone is shot going to the grocery store, playing in a park, going to the movie theater, turning in the wrong driveway, showing up at school after graduation, on and on, every time it happens, my son and my daughter look at me, and they ask: Am I next?

Do you know how difficult that is, Mr. Speaker? Do you know how hard it is, Mr. Speaker, when your children who know someone who has died from gun violence have to spend their days in school in active shooter drills rather than learning?

Enough is enough, Mr. Speaker. We must do more. Thoughts and prayers are not enough.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Carter), my colleague from New Orleans.

Mr. Speaker, Claudia Quaatey, a 16-year-old who dreamed of becoming a nurse, killed by gun violence.

Cecilia Thomas, a 5-month-old, shot and killed in Chicago, a 5-month old.

I now yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Kelly).

T'Yonna Major, a 9-year-old gymnast until gun violence cut her life short.

Kingston Campbell, a 6-year-old killed when shooters were firing into his home.

They can't speak for themselves. We speak for them.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

De'Evan McFall, he dreamed of being an NFL player until gun violence took his life at 11.

Zahmire Lopez, he had dance moves and rap skills until gun violence took his life at 8.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman).

Sir'Antonio Brown, a 6-year-old killed near his Kansas City home by guns.

King, a Georgia 9-year-old killed by another child handling an unsecure gun.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Foushee).

Jakobe Fanning, a 16-year-old killed in a South Carolina shooting.

Izaiah, a 16-year-old in Maryland shot near his high school.

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

Mr. Speaker, Serabi Medina lost her mother to gun violence, and then at 9, she was killed on her way home with ice cream for her father, cut down by gun violence by a neighbor.

Mr. Speaker, how many more? How many more children on the way to school, at school, at the bus stop, at the grocery store, in the park, in front of their house, in bed? How many more? How many more children have to die before we act?

How many more women stuck in domestic violence situations who try to get out, who get protective orders against their partner only to have that partner go get a gun and kill them? How many more?

How many more people, desperate, take their own life because getting a gun is so easy, much easier than getting the mental health treatment that they need? How many more?

How many more thoughts are we going to need? How many more prayers? Mr. Speaker, enough is enough.

When I was a kid in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I think the biggest thing that my mom worried about when I went to school was whether I would eat the lunch that they served. Do you know what it is like to put your child on a bus and wonder if they are going to come home?

Do you know what it is like to go to a park to celebrate a birthday, and your child doesn't come home? Too many people do. Too many Black people do. Too many people in our communities are disproportionately impacted by this public health crisis.

Even when we find bipartisan agreement--I was able to find bipartisan agreement to get a fund created in the Virginia government, a gun violence prevention grant fund, yet the Federal funding that was available to fund the programs that are proven to address the root causes of gun violence are being cut. It makes no sense.

Every day, our children see this. They are traumatized by the mass shooter drills. They are traumatized by the friends who are there one day and gone the next.

Every single time my son sees a story of someone dying because of a gun, he asks me, ``Am I next?'' I say to him, ``Jackson, I am doing everything in my power to make sure you are not.''

I can't do it alone. The Congressional Black Caucus can't do it alone. We need 218 people in the House and 60 in the Senate who are willing to do something more than thoughts and prayers.

We need a President and an administration that says enough is enough.

If you don't want to do anything to actually take the guns off the street, then at least invest in the root causes of violence because it is too easy for someone desperate enough to take their life to get a gun and do it. It is too easy for somebody who wants to start a race war to get a gun and walk into a church where people pray with him, and he shoots them dead. Enough is enough.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your attention. I thank the Members of the Congressional Black Caucus who joined me tonight.

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

Mr. Speaker, my father-in-law was a teacher and he talked about how in the morning when he would come into work, he could tell the kids that hadn't eaten at home and for them often the first meal they would get was the free or reduced breakfast and lunch.

He would say: You can't learn if you are hungry. When you get the sugar high of eating some of what they serve in schools as your first meal and then you crash around 2 o'clock in the afternoon when it is time for the history lesson, you are not going to learn much.

The SNAP cuts in the big, billionaire bonus bill are literally going to take food off of the table for 42 million Americans, a third of them children. For the first time ever, it is going to force States to pay up to, I think it is, 25 percent of the cost.

In Virginia alone, that is going to be $450 million. That in and of itself may not sound like a lot, but Virginia is also facing a hole blown in its budget through cuts to Medicaid.

Virginia now is being forced to implement work requirements it decided not to implement because when it looked at the other States that did, the administrative costs of the work requirements cost more than the cost to provide care.

These States are facing significant cuts to rental assistance and affordable housing funding. Oh, by the way, these are the same people who are now going to get their healthcare stripped away, who get their food benefits stripped away, who are going to get their rental assistance stripped away.

I did a little math--and I lost my sheet, so I am going on memory for this math, which is dangerous for me--I found it. To qualify for SNAP, a household's gross monthly income must be below 130 percent of the Federal poverty line and their net monthly income below 100 percent. What is that?

For a household of one, that is net $1,255. For a household of four, that is net $2,600 a month. The average rent in Creighton Court in the city of Richmond, which is public housing, for a two-bedroom unit is $1,103. For Gilpin

Court, it is $1,396. The same group of people under this bill will be forced to pay a copay for the first time up to $35. In the Energy and Commerce Committee, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle said: Well, they need skin in the game, so what is the big deal? I pay a copay.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle make a little bit more than $1,255 of which they need to pay a little over a thousand in rent. Now, they have to choose between putting food on the table or paying that copay to go to the doctor to get preventive care and screenings.

What do you think they are going to do? They are not going to the doctor; I will tell you that.

Mr. Speaker, I have talked a lot today, so I am going to be a little briefer than I intended, but I am a preacher's kid, and as I listened to the debate on the billionaire bonus bill, I couldn't help but think of Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus said that when He came into His glory in Heaven and all the nations of the Earth would come and be divided and He would turn to the righteous and say: Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you visited me.

And the righteous will say: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or you needing clothes and we clothed you? When did we see you sick or in prison and take care of you or visit you?

And the King will reply: Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did for me.

And he will say to the others: Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for you. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They will say: When did we do this? I am paraphrasing a little bit. Truly, I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.

Mr. Speaker, I hear some of my friends on the other side of the aisle, including Mr. Speaker who says if you want to know my political philosophy read the Bible. I did. I did. I grew up reading it, and that is the verse that has been sticking in my mind for the last 2 weeks, particularly when we dealt with the Medicaid cuts and the SNAP cuts.

If you think the States are going to be able to make up the difference, you are wrong. We are going to have a whole lot of people who are hungry, who are sick, who are unhoused, who need help. Are we going to do something for them or not?

I ran for office to help people and solve problems. That is not what this bill does.

Mr. Speaker, this big, bad billionaire bonus extends tax cuts for the wealthiest few at the expense of the most vulnerable Americans.

It kicks millions of Americans off their health insurance and takes food out of the mouths of millions more, including children, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities.

This bill will make someone who earns up to $300 a week pay a copay of up to $35 because they need to have skin in the game, ignoring the fact they also have to pay their rent, childcare, utilities, and on and on.

This disastrous bill mandates that States implement burdensome red tape requirements and force Medicaid recipients to prove they are working, even though, when given a chance to implement such requirements, only two States did. Mr. Speaker, 18,000 working people in Arkansas were kicked off of Medicaid because they couldn't meet the State's requirements which are no longer in place. Georgia spent more on administrative costs for their work requirements than on the cost of care.

Once kicked off Medicaid, these people won't be eligible for subsidies to purchase marketplace plans, but they will get sick. They will go to the hospital. The costs will flow to the rest of us.

Mr. Speaker, this big, bad bill is a bust, and I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, I was in the Virginia State Senate when Virginia finally expanded Medicaid.

Today, as a result, over 600,000 Virginians now have health insurance who didn't before.

By giving them insurance, we were able to keep our rural hospitals open. We were able to keep costs from going up too much for everybody else because even the uninsured get sick. They don't seek care until they have to go to the emergency room.

Hundreds of thousands of Virginians now stand to lose their healthcare if this big, bad bill cuts Medicaid as it does now. Some Members of the Republican caucus want to go even further.

Gloria has struggled for a long time with her health. She was born with a heart murmur, blood pressure issues, and constant bronchitis. She was recently diagnosed with glaucoma and cataracts that are getting worse.

For years, Gloria had to rely on emergency care at the hospital because she was uninsured. Because she has Medicaid, she can have the surgery she needs and see again. Don't take Gloria's healthcare away.