Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize my friend Steve Sauls, Florida International University's vice president for governmental relations, who is retiring after more than 30 years of commitment to the community and the State of Florida.

During his tenure at FIU, Steve helped secure funding for the International Hurricane Center in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, fought to receive authorization for the College of Law at FIU, and played a key role in creating the College of Medicine. Through these efforts and countless others, Steve has helped develop FIU into one of the top public universities in the country. I have been honored to represent FIU in my district and work with Steve to help support this vibrant educational community.

After building a long track record of impressive accomplishments, Steve will be sorely missed. I urge you to join me in recognizing his contributions to south Florida and our country.

Mr. Speaker, I am a very fortunate man. I am the son of immigrants. My parents came here at the ages of 17 and 18, respectively. Through the great fortune that we had, they were adjusted, and they were part of this great Nation, but since then, many more have come after.

In particular, I represent a community that is almost 69 percent Hispanic, the majority of which were born in a foreign land. The reality is that our immigration system for years has worked and has worked efficiently to make what we do better than any other nation in the world: we make Americans.

In the last decade and a half, this system has ground to a halt. In the last few years, our President has moved steadily to use his executive power to try to make the system work a little bit better. I believe that is an important step.

But we had an opportunity. We had an opportunity in this House to pass the Senate version that received 68 votes, something that would have made the system function better, brought more investment into America, more dollars into Federal revenue; yet the House punted. I am appreciative of the President's action because he is well within executive power.

If the other side does not like the President's action, they can bring up the Senate bill. There are enough votes in this House to pass it. We will have an orderly process. It is not a perfect bill, but it does do the right thing, which fixes a broken immigration system.

I want to beg the other side to understand the implications that fighting on this issue has. This is a nation of laws, there is no question on that, but the

executive has plenary authority in this area. The time has come to move, since this House would not move.

Mr. Speaker, we all agree that it is up to Congress to overhaul the broken immigration system. However, despite all the talk and promises, there is one thing that is clear: this Republican Congress has done

nothing to address immigration reform and has only been an obstacle to this process.

Now is the time for the President to act. His legal standing is solid. It is time for us to act. Now is the time to do what is right, what is fair, what is just, not only for the immigrant community, but for this great country.

Madam Speaker, as someone who was born and raised in south Florida, I know Miami thrives on investment exports and economic development provided by the Export-Import Bank facilities--the Ex-Im Bank.

This organization will lose its authorization unless Congress acts. It is crucial to fueling a prosperous economy, not only in south Florida but the entire country.

In 2013 alone, the Ex-Im Bank supported an estimated $37.4 billion of U.S. exports and helped sustain more than 200,000 jobs. This is key. In my own district, 300 million exports since 2007.

As a percentage of the GDP, China and India provided roughly three times as much financing as we did. We need to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank to create jobs and keep our exporters in competitive foreign markets.

I urge my colleagues to join me in working to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank. This is an issue too important in the economy for partisan politics.

Madam Speaker, the President signaled that he would not move forward on comprehensive immigration reform, and we are deeply disappointed.

However, we should be angry--angry that this House has not had the courage to take up comprehensive immigration reform. For 1 year and 5 months, the Senate version has sat passed, and we have been unable to debate it. All during this time, we have hurt our country, our economy, and our families. The time has come to make a decision.

Now, while the President may have put this decision off, this decision will not work. It is the right thing to do. It is the American thing to do, and with God's help, it will be done before the conclusion of this year.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia and the gentleman from Nevada for their kind words.

Larcenia Bullard was a teacher, a public servant, a trailblazer for young, African American women, a mother, and a personal friend of mine. I am

honored to stand here today in recognition of her unparalleled service to the people of south Florida.

Larcenia spent 35 years living in Richmond Heights, Florida, with her son, Dwight, and husband, Edward, before passing early last year. She was a devoted first-grade teacher and an accomplished State representative in the Florida House and a legendary State senator. She is remembered for voting with her heart--no matter the politics or the party.

Her passing was crushing to the south Florida community. Although her son, Dwight, carries on her legacy through a commitment to strong leadership and challenging the status quo, Larcenia was an irreplaceable champion of the African American community, defender of education and opportunity equality, and a believer in the ability of each of us to create and instill change.

I encourage all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 2678, legislation that would designate the U.S. Post Office on 10360 Southwest 186th Street in Miami, Florida, as the Larcenia J. Bullard Post Office Building. Doing so would recognize not only Larcenia's undying dedication to the community she served, but also the heart, vibrancy, and passion she shared with the world.

Mr. Speaker, I am a fortunate man. I am a fortunate man because half a century ago, my father, at 17 years old, arrived at this country with my mother. And this country gave them refuge. Later, the rest of our family came. This country has been tremendously generous, as we were brutalized by a leftwing dictatorship, the Castro dictatorship.

And to think, Mr. Speaker, that a fellow Cuban American sits in the other House, dictating to this House that we should strip away rights, strip away rights from children, is unacceptable. It is un-American.

I am a fortunate man. And we are a rich and plentiful country, a country of laws.

We have an opportunity to do the right thing, to pass the bipartisan, comprehensive bill that the other House passed. It has now been 1 year and 1 month since that happened. The time has come. Let us pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 15, a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill to properly address the humanitarian crisis at the border.

Mr. Speaker, I enter into the Record the story of a 17- year-old Guatemalan boy who received asylum because a gang killed his father and they were threatening him.

Cesar, a 17-year old boy from Guatemala, lost his father to

gang violence at the age of 4. For 13 years, Cesar was

harassed by the same gang who killed his father. When he

refused to join the gang, he feared for his life and fled the

country, swimming across the Rio Grande to cross the border.

He was granted asylum, loves school and hopes to attend

college.

Cesar--Asylum

Cesar, from Guatemala, was four years old when his father

was killed by gangs in their community. The gang members were

never arrested and continued to live in the town. They

started harassing Cesar when he was very young and never

stopped. He was very scared but there was no way he could get

away from them.

By the time he turned 17, Cesar could not stand the gang

harassment any more. The gangs were trying very hard to get

him to join and he was very afraid he was going to be killed.

He decided to make the journey to the United States. He said

was very hard; sometimes he didn't think he would survive. He

swam across the Rio Grande to cross the border. A pro bono

attorney KIND matched him with from Kirkland & Ellis helped

him gain asylum. He loves school and wants to attend college.

I thank the gentleman from Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I could say this bill were a joke. This is far worse than a joke. Not only does the underlying bill fail to provide adequate funding to deal with the situation at hand, it flat out ignores the root cause of the problem.

By tacking on a vote on the so-called ``No New DREAMERS Act,'' House leadership is not just refusing to take action on immigration reform, it is prohibiting the President from doing things to fix a broken system. This is akin to watching a train crash or knowing that it is going to crash and stoking the furnace more, making the damage greater. They have no interest in fixing this crisis. They have no interest in fixing the problem. They are playing politics with people's lives, and they are playing politics with our Nation's economy.

This isn't a game. These are human beings. This is doing damage to our country. If we are truly committed to tackling this crisis on the southwest border and to ensuring a fair and efficient process for dealing with these kids, we need to begin with comprehensive immigration reform.

If the previous question is defeated, we will offer H.R. 15, the House bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill. Only by fixing our broken immigration system can we begin to better allocate the resources where they are needed most.

My bill provides a path forward for people already here so that their cases are no longer clogging our immigration courts and so that immigration officials can spend their time going after those who wish to do our Nation harm. It will provide green cards for thousands of Hondurans and El Salvadorans who have languished for over a decade under temporary status, and it adds the necessary due process protection for children on the border.

A speaker on the side opposite brought up the issue of what caused this. What was the straw that broke the camel's back? I will tell you what the straw is. Some of these children have waited 5 years; some of them have waited 8 years; and some of them have waited over a decade on the promises of this Congress--and there is blame to go to both sides-- to have comprehensive immigration reform. Then the Speaker who had promised earlier in the year to work with the President finally announced there would be no comprehensive immigration reform. That was the straw that broke the camel's back because 55 percent of these children are coming to be with their families.

Mr. Speaker, our country needs comprehensive immigration reform, and the American people support comprehensive immigration reform. There are enough votes in this House to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

I ask my colleagues to vote against the previous question so that we can finally consider comprehensive immigration reform.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize today guest chaplain, Reverend Alphonso Jackson, Sr., of the Second Baptist Church of Richmond Heights in my district. I hope you will all join me in thanking him for honoring us with today's opening prayer.

For over 30 years, Reverend Jackson has dedicated himself to serving God, his family, and our community in Richmond Heights, a community created for African American World War II veterans so that they could use the GI bill.

Founded 50 years ago by Reverend Ferguson, the Second Baptist Church of Richmond Heights has grown to more than 4,000 members and continues to flourish under his leadership.

Reverend Jackson also helps strengthen his community outside his church by serving as moderator for the Seaboard Baptist Missionary Association of Florida, second vice president to the Florida Baptist State Convention, and president of the Richmond Heights Community Alliance.

We can all look to his words today for guidance as we work to resolve our

country's most pressing issues, and I invite you to join me in honoring the words of his prayer.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of improving educational opportunities for a group of students that our education system has left behind, English language learners, or ELLs. Even though English language learners are the fastest-growing student population in the United States, they score far behind their English-speaking peers and, more likely than others, lack the resources needed to succeed in our schools.

That is why I am introducing the English Learning and Innovation Act, which will create two grant programs to enable schools to better provide a high-quality education to students working to learn English.

As someone who grew up in Miami, I recognize the value of students who don't yet speak English who are building a vibrant community together.

This bill has the support of a number of organizations, including the NEA, NCLR, and the National Association for Bilingual Education. I urge my colleagues to join me in taking action to strengthen English language education.

Madam Speaker, it has been 13 months, 13 months since the Senate passed a bipartisan, comprehensive bill, and yet, the Speaker has not let that bill come to the floor.

So we filed a bipartisan bill with almost 200 cosponsors, and still the Speaker will not let that bill come to the floor. And why?

Well, first they said that the Republicans were working on their own bill,

so we waited and we waited for them to put it forward--and nothing.

Then they said they needed more time, so we gave them more time, and the Republicans gave us nothing.

Then, they said it was because the majority leader lost.

And finally, finally, the fault of not having a comprehensive immigration bill is on the children, the children at the border. We are suddenly scared of children at the border.

Madam Speaker, there is one person responsible for us not having comprehensive immigration reform, and it is the Speaker of this House.

Mr. Speaker, give us a vote on comprehensive immigration reform.

Madam Speaker, today, I am proud to be one of the founding members of the State Medicaid Expansion Caucus, and I want to thank Congressman Butterfield and Congressman Johnson for their leadership.

In my home State of Florida, there are more than 750,000 people who would benefit from Medicaid expansion. These are people who fall within the coverage gap, people who make too much to receive Medicaid, but too little to receive subsidies. This makes a difference in Florida and in many States who have rejected Medicaid coverage.

Just like in many States across the country, our Governor, Governor Scott, rejected $51 billion of Federal tax dollars--our tax dollars-- money that could have provided insurance to those in need and could have created over 60,000 jobs.

This is money that will strengthen our economy and help Florida grow jobs by supporting hospitals and individuals who need help.

I urge Governor Scott and Florida's leaders in the State legislature to do what is right and take action and accept this funding.

Mr. Speaker, over the last few months, we have seen an unprecedented number of unaccompanied children coming across our border. While many of my colleagues want to rail at the lack of border enforcement, these kids are immediately being caught and turned over to the Border Patrol.

Just throwing more money at the border isn't going to fix the problem. Sending the National Guard to the border isn't going to do it either. In fact, it is pure political posturing.

What we need is comprehensive immigration reform now. Fixing our broken immigration system will clear the backlog so that we can process these children fairly and efficiently.

Instead of adding to the $18 billion we already spend on immigration enforcement a year, we need a comprehensive strategy based on reliable metrics to allocate resources where they are actually needed.

This crisis isn't going to be solved by scare tactics. These are children. We need a wide-ranging plan to ensure the fair and humane treatment of the children, and a long-term strategy to address the root causes of the crisis.

Madam Speaker, I rise to support education in the STEM

fields--science, technology, engineering, and math--especially as more than 60 percent of U.S. employers face difficulties finding qualified workers in the STEM fields, it is essential that we support education in the STEM fields to remain competitive in a 21st century global economy.

That is why I have introduced the Innovative STEM Networks Act, which will establish a grant program for school districts to create partnerships with universities, business, and local nonprofits to support learning in the STEM fields.

Schools like FIU, Miami Dade College, and the University of Miami have dedicated resources to ensuring their students have a strong foundation in STEM subjects, and my bill will replicate this success for students preparing to enter college or the workforce.

I urge my colleagues to work with me to create jobs and spur economic growth by supporting STEM education.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Florida City. Over the past century, Florida City has grown from a small stop on the road to become the official gateway to paradise.

I would like to recognize the city commission, including Mayor Otis Wallace, who has served as mayor for over 30 years, managing the redevelopment of the city after Hurricane Andrew in 1992; R.S. Shiver, the longest serving municipal elected official in Florida; Avis Brown; Sharon Butler; and Eugene Berry.

These dedicated public servants are just a few of the many lifelong citizens who have tirelessly worked to improve and grow our community.

As we look forward, I know the next 100 years will be filled with success and growth due to the commitment and service of so many over the last 100 years.