Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, this has been a bipartisan effort. It has been good. We made some progress. I want to say a few things, though.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of the SELF DRIVE Act. This legislation puts us on a path towards safely deploying autonomous vehicles. I am glad to see that it has strong bipartisan support.

Autonomous vehicles offer many benefits, including tremendous lifesaving potential. Approximately 40,000 people are killed on our highways every year in deadly automobile accidents. About 3,600 of those accidents took place in my home State of California.

AVs can also transform mobility for millions of people who otherwise face difficulty driving, such as seniors and those with disabilities, including 3.8 million veterans in our country living with service- connected disabilities. That is more than 17 percent of veterans in this country.

AVs can help connect underserved communities, as well as reduce traffic congestion on our roads, and increase our Nation's productivity and competitiveness in the global economy.

While I am glad that we are taking these steps for this legislation today, our work cannot stop here. As the technology evolves, we must ensure that the benefits are being maximized for consumers. This means making sure that the vehicles are safely and appropriately tested, that strong consumer privacy and cybersecurity protections are in place, and that we are fully preparing Americans for the new employment opportunities that this industry will create.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3440, the DREAM Act, to protect DREAMers like Felipe, who works at Microsoft Bing, Skype, and at Doppler Labs, a San Francisco startup.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and work of Maryam Mirzakhani. Maryam was born and raised in Iran where she was the first female on Iran's International Mathematical Olympiad team, winning gold medals in 1994 and 1995, and was the first Iranian woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

She moved to the United States to attend graduate school at Harvard University and became a 2004 research fellow of the Clay Mathematics Institute and a professor at Princeton University. In 2008, she became a professor at Stanford University. In 2014, Maryam was the first woman ever to be bestowed with the most prestigious mathematical award, the Fields Medal, for her outstanding contributions to the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces.

The Fields Medals are awarded every 4 years to people aged 40 or younger. Maryam was an amazing mathematician, socially engaging, and involved in the local community. Maryam Mirzakhani died last week at the age of 40, a tragedy not only for her family and friends but for the additional beautiful mathematics she would have given the human race had she been blessed with a long career.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for yielding.

Mr. Chair, I stand up to oppose H.R. 2883.

Basically, what this bill does is preapproves border-crossing energy products by making it extremely difficult to put a stop to them on any grounds.

As a general matter, specifically for oil pipelines, within the United States, oil pipelines don't need Federal approval. No Federal reviews or permits on these projects are required. If the pipeline harms endangered species, the ESA will apply. If the construction destroys wetlands, a project permit may be needed from the Corps of Engineers. But generally, neither of these requirements trigger a broader evaluation of the project. Currently, the only reason to prepare an environmental assessment or impact for cross-border pipelines or transmission lines is because the existing Presidential permit requirement triggers NEPA.

Under this bill, there would be no projectwide Federal environmental assessment for all these projects. State laws don't substitute for NEPA. Many States don't have approval authority over pipelines within their States.

Even those States with some instate authority don't have the resources or expertise to develop the information provided by a Federal environmental impact statement. No State has permitting authority over the portions of a pipeline located in other States. Without NEPA, there would be no broad Federal environmental review of cross-border transmission lines.

Mr. Chair, we need these protections, and I ask my colleagues to oppose H.R. 2883.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. Chairman, this is an easy amendment to argue because it makes so much sense.

I am going to ask to strike section 6 of the bill. Let me read that section: ``No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the requirements of this Act and the amendments made by this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using amounts otherwise authorized.''

In other words, they are going to be carried out without any funds.

Mr. Chairman, I am going to move forward here and make the statement that the administration and House Republicans continue to add to the EPA's workload while cutting funding and hampering State and local agencies from providing the resources needed to protect public health.

This is surely unreasonable. In the case of H.R. 806, it will continue to obstruct the EPA's ability to advance and improve our Nation's air and water quality. My congressional district has extremely poor air quality, which has caused a variety of health issues for my constituents.

This bill does weaken the Clean Air Act. Specifically, it targets the implementation and enforcement of air pollution health standards. It also negatively impacts the budget for programs necessary to ensure that Americans can breathe clean air.

This bill is in stark opposition to the public's overwhelming support of the Clean Air Act. According to the Center for American Progress, the Trump administration's EPA budget, which cuts more than $2 billion from the Agency's budget, shifts the cost of implementing clean air standards to the States. All of these cuts would be harmful to the 649,000 children and more than 2 million adults with asthma living in California.

Every State agency that testified before the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment stated

that more, not less, money is needed and that the Clean Air Act was working to protect the public's health and safety.

I represent one of the worst air quality regions in the Nation, the San Joaquin Valley, and yet the San Joaquin Valley air district has been a leader in utilizing EPA grants and expertise to achieve emissions reductions from mobile sources, showing that this funding is beneficial. The valley continues to set emission levels to record lows and has reduced air pollution by over 80 percent. This data proves that the Clean Air Act works and creates a better standard of living for all Americans.

The American Lung Association issued a State of the Air report for 2017 in the State of California. Most of its 28 counties received an F for air quality. We should be striving for better air quality.

Grants like the EPA's Targeted Air Shed Grants and Diesel Emission Reductions Act help thousands of agriculture, trucking, and other businesses acquire low-emitting tractors, trucks, and other equipment. This funding generates jobs and manufacturing here in the United States. These Federal funds have a great track record of benefiting our region, and it is a good investment.

EPA estimates that for every dollar spent on DERA, more than $20 in health benefits are generated. That is $20 of health benefits for every dollar invested. All 50 States have these programs.

I also want to highlight how this bill, combined with other efforts by the Trump administration, will continue to negatively impact air quality and public health.

Our States have made tremendous progress and a significant investment toward addressing climate change and public health. However, the Ozone Standards Implementation Act would take a step backward, destroying much of the progress, leading to a greater harm to public health and our economy.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, how much time is remaining?

Mr. Chair, I appreciate my colleague and friend from Texas pointing out that we have counties in San Joaquin Valley that have extreme ozone problems, but to ask to do more with less is not reasonable. It is the DERA grants given to the counties from the EPA's budget that have allowed the agencies to have the 80 percent reduction in air pollution.

So taking that money away is not going to help. It is going to make matters worse. Our agencies aren't going to be able to do the things that they have been able to do, and they are not going to be able to continue those things. So I think saying that we can't put more money into air pollution reduction is not the answer. We need to be able to spend money to do this.

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

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. Chairman, H.R. 806 does have a couple of provisions that would be helpful to the air district in my region to avoid economic sanctions for failing to meet certain standards when very specific criteria are met. However, the underlying bill, as a whole, is completely unacceptable and has been called the most irresponsible attack on the Clean Air Act health standards ever introduced.

The Clean Air Act works. It saves lives. It has improved the environment. I am privileged to represent a portion of the San Joaquin Valley which, as was pointed out in the prior amendment, has extreme ozone problems.

We produce more than half of the Nation's fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Unfortunately, the valley has recently been rebounding from an economic downturn and is continually hurt by poor air quality. Action is needed.

This amendment seeks to address the serious health issues that are a direct result of the poor air quality in the San Joaquin Valley and other regions that are most at risk. The amendment provides a grant program for areas that are in nonattainment of PM 2.5, extreme nonattainment of ambient air quality standards, and those with high rates of asthma and unemployment. It requires a dollar-for-dollar matching from the districts receiving the grant.

California has 7 of the top 10 most polluted metropolitan areas and 11 of the worst 25 nationwide. There are millions of people at risk in the valley and south coast due to high levels of PM 2.5 and ozone, including children, seniors, and those with chronic illnesses. San Joaquin Valley counties received F grades for their air quality by the American Lung Association.

Our kids deserve to be healthy, attend school, and live in a clean air environment. Studies have shown that high-quality air standards would prevent thousands of premature deaths in the valley and that it would work to prevent heart attacks, emergency room visits, and missed school- and workdays.

One study estimated that in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale area, about 2.9 million people missed work or schooldays and were otherwise negatively affected from conducting normal activities due to poor air quality.

Valley children miss hundreds of thousands of days of school each year, and about one in five living in the valley has asthma. Illnesses related to poor air quality cost the valley billions, annually.

H.R. 806 will be a step backward. That is why I have offered this substitute amendment that would allow the EPA to target and work with our Nation's most affected regions, like those in the valley and the south coast. This is about addressing our environment, the air we breathe, and helping those most at risk.

At the same time, California has been cleaning the air. Its economy has continued to grow. In 2016, California's nonfarm employment increased by 2.6 percent, compared to 1.7 percent nationwide. In 2009, California's clean energy industry created $2.7 billion and employed 123,000 people. By 2020, we expect it to grow to over $140 billion with 345,000 employed. California's success is proof that H.R. 806 is unnecessary.

I urge adoption of my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, how much time is remaining?

Mr. Chair, clearly everybody wants clean air, and I don't doubt that for a second, and I appreciate the effort that is being made to streamline the implementation of clean air. But my questions are: Is this going to be a message bill? Or is this something we are actually going to get signed into law?

And my answer rhetorically is that if you want to get something signed into law, you really have to work on both sides of the aisle.

Now, there are a couple provisions in the bill that I think are completely objectionable. There may be room for compromise. The 10-year extension seems out of bounds to me. Technology moves much faster than 10 years. The idea that technical achievability can be taken into account really does lose sight of the important aspect of the Clean Air Act, which is that we want to protect people's health.

So among other things, if you want to actually get something done, if you want to actually work across the aisle and get something that we may get signed into law, work with us. Otherwise, I am going to have to put forward this amendment that replaces the ozone 805 and replaces it with something that actually works.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today regarding an issue that Congress

often decries but neglects: too many Americans are out of work because companies ship their jobs overseas without a thought for the workers and communities they leave behind. According to the group Public Citizen, the offshoring of American jobs has contributed to the loss of 4.5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs.

But we have an opportunity to change that. I am proud to introduce the Stop Outsourcing and Create American Jobs Act and the Outsourcing Accountability Act. These two bills are designed to save American jobs by curbing outsourcing. By cracking down on tax loopholes that give corporations a break on the backs of American taxpayers, we can grow our economy and increase economic opportunities for the middle class.

I hope my colleagues will join me in a serious discussion about how we can help our economy grow and help American workers. I welcome their support for these bills.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, we are here with H.R. 23 again discussing attempts to override State and Federal environmental law. The House and Senate negotiated additional pumping flexibility in last year's WIIN Act. This group has stated for years that they just want a little additional flexibility in environmental law, which actually means weakening or eliminating environmental law. They ignore the damage this would cause to California's delta region, its families, and its farmers.

We heard last year that governments are set up for the benefit of the people, but this means all of the people, not just a few people at the expense of others.

The person nominated to Deputy Secretary at the Department of the Interior worked for Westlands Water District just last December. He would make decisions to pump more water to Westlands, the Nation's largest water district--a clear conflict of interest, and a clear threat to farmers and residents in the delta.

This is also a clear example of what is wrong with H.R. 23. It will negate environmental protections; it will hurt one region to benefit another; and it allows corruption to seep into the Federal Government.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to oppose H.R. 23 for these reasons.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, we see this bill every Congress. That is, every 2 years we fight this thing out.

Let's talk about what it would do. It would weaken the Endangered Species Act--that has been a target of the Republican Party for decades. It will benefit one region while harming another. It will make a few people very wealthy. It will likely cause additional drainage problems for the Westlands and other water districts. It will cause ocean salt water to come farther inland in the California delta, poisoning farmland, destroying marinas, disrupting water supplies for cities along the delta, basically destroying the delta as we now know it. It will use precious limited water to plant evermore thirsty orchards in the desert. And it may expedite the creation of new dams with weakened environmental control.

So let's look at what it won't do. It won't create any new water.

So why do we have to go through this every 2 years?

It is good political theater for some colleagues, but it is not going to get through the Senate.

But all may not be lost. Here is a novel suggestion: work across party lines, work across northern versus southern California lines, and come to a compromise that will actually create new water and take all stakeholder interests into account.

We need to take a holistic approach.

It means actually funding recycling and above- and below-ground water storage that makes environmental sense. It means capturing stormwater, early leak detection, data collection, efficiency, and conservation. It is all of these things, all of which can be done in a cost-effective way that prepares us for the long-term.

There are countless recharge, recycling, desalinization projects, as well as other storage projects that are ready to go and could create or save enough water for thousands of families in California.

Instead of considering a bill that wastes water and that California opposes, we should be discussing how to most efficiently utilize the rain and snowpack we have, which can be done while protecting the environment.

Let's oppose this bill and start working on legislation that can be signed into law and benefit everyone.

Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to be joined by a special guest from my district, Bishop Stephen Blaire, who had the privilege of leading us in our opening prayer. Bishop Blaire oversees the Diocese of Stockton, and he was appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1999, becoming the fifth Bishop of Stockton.

Throughout his career, he has been a staunch advocate for workers' rights, commonsense legislation to reduce gun violence, and has promoted and worked towards social justice gains. As a newly appointed bishop, he followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, continuing to address the needs of Spanish-speaking parishioners by bringing more Spanish-speaking priests to the diocese and maintaining the ministry to migrant workers.

I want to leave Members with some words of wisdom from Bishop Blaire that I believe we can all take to heart as we head into the Fourth of July holiday. When he was appointed Bishop of Stockton, he said that his vision was to build a church that was strong in faith but also strong in service to the community. As we head home to celebrate the birth of our Nation, let us remember that, as Members of Congress, our job is to build a government the American people have faith in because of our commitment to serving their needs.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because the safety and future of the American people is in jeopardy.

Last week, the President made the irresponsible decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. Military and national security leaders have asserted the need to address climate change as an imminent global threat. Removal from the Paris accord abdicates America's global leadership and increases the likelihood of climate disasters.

However, where our President has failed, State and local leaders are stepping up and leading. For example, last week, California's Governor, Jerry Brown, brokered an agreement with China on reducing emissions. On the campaign trail, the President had a lot to say about China taking American jobs, but when he had the chance to pave the way to create American job growth, he failed.

We must combat climate change and continue to deploy clean energy sources across the Nation that benefit our national security and create jobs.

Mr. Speaker, the President's fiscal year 2018 budget calls for the elimination of the Minority Business Development Agency. This is shameful and counterproductive to the progress that minority- owned firms have achieved.

I led on this issue by sending two bipartisan letters to the House Appropriations Committee, joined by over 70 Members, advocating for Congress to fund the MBDA at fiscal 2017 levels, and recommending that the MBDA provide annual policy reports to Congress.

The agency has one of the highest returns on investment in the Federal Government, helping minority-owned firms secure $40 billion in contracts and capital over the last 10 years. The 8 million minority businesses in the United States contribute $1.4 trillion in economic output to the economy. My home State of California leads the Nation with 1.6 million minority-owned firms, which represents 45 percent of all businesses in my State.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to continue funding the Minority Business Development Agency so that we can continue to see this progress in our economic growth and for the communities of our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to follow up on the prior speaker. I rise in support of National Foster Care Month. This month, we renew our commitment to ensuring that the 420,000 youth who are in our Nation's foster care system have a caring family and the opportunities they deserve.

I am proud to be a member of the Foster Youth Caucus, which is devoted to highlighting the efforts of all those involved with improving our Nation's foster care system.

I also rise to celebrate Congressional Foster Youth Shadow Day. Today, more than 100 former foster youth from across the country are in D.C., paired with Members of Congress as we conduct the Nation's business.

I am privileged to host Shantell House and Jeremiah McWright from California. Shantell is currently a student at Mills College and is passionate about current and former foster youth. Jeremiah joins me from San Diego, where he is studying public policy and has the potential to become a great business leader, or even a politician.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Shantell and Jeremiah, along with all of the participants of the Congressional Youth Shadow Day, to our Nation's capital.

Mr. Speaker, today we are talking about infrastructure. I want to focus on one aspect of infrastructure that touches the lives of all Americans, especially in my home State of California, and that is water.

I know firsthand the urgent challenges facing our water infrastructure. The crippling recent drought and subsequent record rainfall has prompted more discussion on a need for a smart water management strategy to improve drinking water, water reuse, and recycled water systems for communities across the United States.

We must take meaningful steps to increase our water conservation, reduce unnecessary energy use, and cut costs for Americans. Let's commit to investing in technology and science-based solutions that will address the weaknesses in our water drinking systems from threats like climate change, crumbling pipes, and water source contamination.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to focus on legislation that will put Americans back to work building the systems we need to support the future of this great country.

Mr. Speaker, this is National Small Business Week, and I rise to celebrate the more than 27 million small businesses in the United States of America and the 31,000 that are in my congressional district. The men and women who own these firms are truly the backbone of our economy.

Small businesses create most of the new jobs in the economy, supporting their families, employees, and communities. Small businesses want to grow and create jobs, but have difficulty accessing capital.

Furthermore, too many people remain out of work through no fault of their own. We must do more to fight high unemployment rates by helping to ensure that small businesses have the tools they need to succeed and thrive.

That is why I introduced H.R. 2313, the Small Business Relief and Job Creation Act. My bill provides tax credits for small businesses to hire people who were previously unemployed, and includes additional tax credits for small businesses located in high unemployment areas.

I welcome my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 2313 to support small businesses across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I want to honor Carol Davis for her long commitment to the future of our youth and her belief in the power of education to improve our communities. Over the last 17 years, Carol Davis' leadership has been instrumental to the academic success of thousands of struggling students in my district.

Ms. Davis turned her lifelong passion for helping children into reality when she became the CEO of Give Every Child A Chance 17 years ago. At that time Give Every Child A Chance (GECAC) was tutoring 125 students within the Manteca Unified School District and had 50 volunteer tutors. In her first year as CEO, Ms. Davis expanded Give Every Child A Chance to provide tutoring assistance to 325 students in need. 17 years later, Give Every Child A Chance reaches more than 4,500 students in 49 schools with more than 400 mentors and tutors. Carol Davis' outstanding leadership and vision has helped make Give Every Child A Chance the San Joaquin region's leading non-profit afterschool program and has greatly improved the lives of thousands of children.

Carol Davis recently retired as CEO of GECAC. She is a highly respected and inspiring public servant of San Joaquin County. I wish Ms. Davis and her family well and thank her for her years of dedicated service to the students and families associated with Give Every Child a Chance.