Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3648, the Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment, or the EAGLE Act of 2022.

While I, like many others here today, would prefer to see a more robust approach to fixing our broken immigration system, the bill before us today is an important step in the right direction. This bill will have a large impact on many immigrants and notably an overwhelming impact on Asian immigrant workers who have been historically barred from applying for U.S. citizenship.

Right now, there are approximately 1.4 million individuals trapped in our backlogs waiting for available employment-based visas. The vast majority, as high as 80 percent, are Asian immigrants who are currently facing waiting times as high as 90 years from India or 44 years from China.

Critically, the bill also more than doubles the per-country limit on family-sponsored visas from 7 to 15 percent, bringing relief to the nearly 4 million people who are forced to languish in limbo due to a backlogged and broken family-sponsored system. This backlog keeps families separated; causes birthdays, weddings, and funerals to be missed; and hampers the ability of immigrants to build their lives here in the United States while their families are waiting overseas.

Additionally, while not all communities are facing the same impact as ours, I want to reassure everyone that this bill does not adversely affect immigrants from other countries and those who do not benefit directly from these provisions.

Finally, I am proud that this bill does not include the racist anti- Chinese language that was added at the request of former President Trump to the previous iteration of this bill. Instead, the manager's amendment before us today simply replicates what is in current law for all green card applicants.

While I will continue to push forward for more comprehensive action that addresses many other parts of our immigration system for all immigrant communities, we must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We must pass this bill today in order to help hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are stuck in our employment visa backlogs.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to give my strongest support for the Respect for Marriage Act.

It is hard to believe that today, in 2022, we are still fighting to protect the right of all Americans to marry the person they love.

The Supreme Court's actions this summer have shown us that we cannot take our rights for granted. No one should have to live in fear that a Supreme Court decision could invalidate their marriage in the blink of an eye.

The Respect for Marriage Act enshrines the right to marry the person you love, regardless of gender, race, or identity, into Federal law.

It finally repeals the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act from our lawbooks, and it reaffirms our commitment to a promise of equality for all by ensuring critical Federal and State protections for same-sex and interracial marriages.

I have spent my career fighting for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, both at the State and Federal levels, and so I am proud to stand on the House floor today in support of the Respect for Marriage Act.

Sending this bill to the President's desk sends a powerful message that love is love, that family is family, and that this Congress stands together against hate and discrimination.

Mr. Speaker, it was such an honor to work closely with the late Representative Jackie Walorski. I was consistently struck by her dedication to her district and deep desire to find ways to make our healthcare system work for everyone.

On the Ways and Means Committee, in particular, she and I worked together to co-lead bills on breast cancer equity and on medical nutrition therapy for those in the Medicare program with eating disorders.

I also had the pleasure of co-chairing the Integrative Health and Wellness Caucus with her to help educate Members of Congress on the various ways that integrative health can help support our traditional medical system and lead to improved care for patients.

I am thrilled that we are honoring her legacy with today's bill which reauthorizes the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, or MIECHV. This bill also increases for the first time in a decade Federal investments into the program.

Home visiting for pregnant women and families with young children have a proven record of improving outcomes for children's health, well- being, and readiness for school. But currently, less than 5 percent of eligible families each year have access to the program, including in my own district in Los Angeles County. An estimated 37,000 families were served through evidence-based home visiting models in 2021 alone, but 750,000 more families were eligible for services during this same time but could not receive them.

In addition, recruitment and retention of home visitors are key challenges to adequately serving families. Low wages and poor benefits for the

field is a main driver of these challenges, and additional funding is needed to address these workforce challenges and provide competitive wages to these vital providers. That is why I am so excited about the investments in this bill which will help increase capacity to serve those in need.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of John J. Kennedy, who passed away on July 21, 2022, at the age of 61. John was a respected leader and councilmember in the Pasadena community whose legacy will be felt indefinitely.

John J. Kennedy was born and raised in Pasadena, California to his parents Thomas and Leola Kennedy as the eighth of ten siblings. John was always a natural leader, drawn to serving and representing those around him from an early age. He was student body president at Pasadena's Blair High School and went on to serve as student senator at the University of Southern California, where he received a dual bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations. After earning his juris doctor degree from Howard University School of Law, John became the youngest person to be elected president to the Pasadena National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1987. His decades-long work with the NAACP as both president and a member represented his powerful commitment to creating opportunities for everyone in Pasadena.

In 1987, John also founded John J. Kennedy & Associates, a management consulting

firm that assisted in public relations, dispute resolution, grant writing, program development, and more. And from 1995 to 1998, John even served as Deputy Chief of Police for the Richmond, Virginia Police Department. After returning to California, John worked for Southern California Edison from 2004 to 2011 as Director of Special Projects, and from 2011 to 2013, he was the Senior Vice President for the Los Angeles Urban League, where he helped to fundraise and connect all levels of government with important policy issues affecting the local area.

John was a well-regarded leader among his constituents, peers, and elected representatives from every level of government. Prior to his election to the city council, John worked for the City of Pasadena in several capacities, including in the Finance, City Attorney, Police, and Public Works Departments. With a clear and unyielding passion for giving back to the city that raised him, John was elected to the Pasadena City Council in 2013 to represent District 3, which he served tirelessly until his death. In his nearly three terms on the city council, John served as Vice Mayor, Chair of the Public Safety Committee, served on the Finance Committee, and was one of three city representatives to represent Pasadena on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

John's powerful commitment to helping those around him defined his many accomplishments as an elected official. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, John stepped up to assist those who needed it most. In fact, during the peak of the pandemic John secured 60,000 face masks for the City of Pasadena, ensuring that city staff and residents would not experience any potential shortage. He also fought hard to establish local grants that were crucial in helping many small businesses keep their doors open. And John even continued his annual tradition of providing families with thousands of Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas hams at a time of crisis and need.

Despite the immense challenges of the pandemic, John was able to spearhead the creation of the Pasadena Police Oversight Commission, one of the most important accomplishments the City of Pasadena has achieved. This was an effort John had championed for six years that started with no support. And yet despite countless objections and hurdles along the way, John persevered, advocated, built coalitions, and ultimately succeeded in gaining the votes necessary to establish the commission.

John was also a longtime advocate for increasing affordable housing throughout Pasadena. In 2020, John pushed the City of Pasadena to set an ambitious goal of building 1,000 units in 1,000 days. And because of his leadership, the city broke ground on a new housing project called Pasadena Studios, which will consist of 180 all-affordable units. Outside of affordable housing efforts, John was also an ardent supporter of several other projects to improve some of Pasadena's landmark facilities and institutions, including advocating for $20 million for Robinson Park, fighting relentlessly for $11 million towards the Playhouse Village Park, and supporting Measure J which transferred approximately $8 million a year to the Pasadena Unified School District.

John always recognized that Pasadena's success was built by the hard work and sacrifice of our predecessors, many of whom were African Americans, Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, Japanese Americans, and countless others from different backgrounds. Because he wanted to ensure that future residents of Pasadena were aware of its history, he fought hard to establish a monument that recognized this fact. And after months of hard work, along with the support of community members and organizations, the City of Pasadena erected a monument dedicated to minority residents and their incredible contributions to this city. This monument will serve to honor not only the unquantifiable contributions of these communities but will memorialize the honorable efforts of John himself.

John's love for Pasadena and Pasadenans guided his public service as he strove every day to make it better for everyone. It is certain that he did just that. It was an honor to work with him and call him a friend. I ask my colleagues to join me in commemorating the life of this extraordinary individual.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of my colleague, Representative DelBene's bill, the Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act. I have heard from countless patients in my southern California district whose care has been delayed for weeks and, in some cases, outright denied because of countless barriers and archaic approval methods. And I have heard directly from physicians who are at their wits end, unable to provide the care they know will help their patients because of endless red tape.

The Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act makes thoughtful and much-needed improvements to the Medicare system to correct these problems. The bill before us today will promote modernization of the prior authorization system to speed up approvals of routine procedures.

It moves the system of prior authorization into the 21st century, away from fax machines and toward electronic approval methods. By shortening the window by which insurance plans must respond to a prior authorization request, the bill will ensure patients get the care they need when they need it.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Inflation Reduction Act.

This historic legislation will make real, tangible differences in the lives and livelihoods of people back home in southern California and across the Nation. It is imperative we pass this once-in-a-generation bill today.

The American people are struggling to afford medications, health insurance, and their energy expenses, all while battling the impacts of climate change every day. They are desperate for Congress to take action to address the real challenges they are facing in their everyday lives.

This is exactly what this bill does. It lowers the costs of prescription drugs for seniors to no more than $2,000 yearly. It curbs the rising costs of utilities

and creates good-paying jobs nationwide in the process. It makes healthcare more affordable for millions of Americans by shoring up the Affordable Care Act.

Today, we are going to combat climate change, ensure corporations pay their fair share, and reduce prices for workers and families. In fact, we are making the largest and most ambitious investment in clean and renewable energy in our Nation's history, finally reversing years of underinvestment at the IRS and building a fairer tax system that will invest in workers without raising taxes on families and small businesses.

Today, we are delivering on a promise made to Americans by passing this critical bill. We must commit to putting people over politics. Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, we are the only country in the world where mass shootings continually happen. They happen in schools, grocery stores, malls, hospitals, parades, you name it. In America, there has not been a single week in 2022 without a mass shooting.

Weapons of war, especially, have no place in our streets or schools or our grocery stores. They have no place in nail salons or churches or shopping malls.

About their horrific impact on children like this, a trauma surgeon said the tissue destruction is almost unimaginable. Bones are exploded. Soft tissue is absolutely destroyed. It is like a bomb went off.

But we in Congress can end this. We can end this uniquely American plague of mass death caused by gun violence. I support the assault weapons ban because we cannot wait to act until the next mass shooting. We must pass this bill today.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3771, the bipartisan South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act, which will not only raise awareness about the prevalence of heart disease in the South Asian community but save lives across our country.

I thank Congresswoman Jayapal for introducing this very important bill.

Language barriers, stigma, a lack of data surrounding AANHPI health, and the rise in anti-Asian rhetoric and violence are just some of the challenges communities of color face in accessing healthcare. South Asian Americans, in particular, have four times the risk of heart disease compared to the general population.

The factors behind this epidemic of heart disease among this community are not understood, and, more importantly, preventative measures are rarely shared. This bill before us today will tackle these issues and help to reverse these frightening trends and better protect South Asian-American communities nationwide, as well as patients of all races and ethnicities.

Specifically, this bill will create heart health promotion grants at the Centers for Disease Control to develop culturally appropriate materials to promote heart health, so that no one loses out on lifesaving information just because of the language they speak. It would also establish a clearinghouse of information on heart health through the NIH and conduct research on cardiovascular disease and other heart ailments among communities disproportionately affected by heart disease, such as South Asian Americans.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation and have been proud to support its endorsement by the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus which I chair. This bill is going to save lives, and we must pass it today.

Madam Speaker, as the chair of the Contraception and Family Planning Task Force of the Pro-Choice Caucus and as a woman who lives in America, I rise today in strong support of the Right to Contraception Act, which would ensure every American has the federally protected right to access the birth control method that works for them.

Birth control is healthcare, plain and simple, and it is critical to women's health and women's equality. And no one--not the Supreme Court, not Congress, not your boss--should be able to interfere with your family decisions.

We have seen just how far this Court of unelected Justices will go to erode our constitutionally protected rights, which is why I am proud to support this very necessary bill today to create a Federal right for providers to provide and patients to receive contraceptive services.

Madam Speaker, it is of great urgency that this House pass this critical bill today and afford us the agency to make our own healthcare decisions.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Rodrigo ``Rod'' Garcia, who passed away on July 2, 2022. Rod was a respected visionary, leader, and advocate whose incredible life was defined by his dedication to empowering the Hispanic community to achieve educational excellence, economic opportunity, and social equity.

Rod Garcia was born in East Los Angeles, California in 1943. He graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with a bachelor's degree of science in engineering and also obtained an associate degree in engineering from East Los Angeles College, launching a lifelong career in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) field. Rod subsequently served as a civil engineer for the City of Los Angeles and worked for the Port of Los Angeles in Public Works, Building and Safety. Due to his expertise in the field of engineering and his leadership abilities, Rod went on to chair the City of Monterey Park's Planning Commission as well as serving on the Dean of Engineering's Advisory Board for his alma mater, California State University, Los Angeles. Rod also served as president of Century Diversified, Inc., an engineering and construction firm, for over thirty years.

Rod was one of the few Hispanic engineers amidst a tech boom in California in 1973 and despite being in the minority in the STEM field, he gathered a cohort of fellow Hispanic engineers determined to contribute and diversify the sector. That's why, in 1974, Rod founded the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) with the mission of ensuring networking and education opportunities for Hispanic students and professionals in the Southern California region. Shortly thereafter, SHPE's first collegiate chapters were established at California State University, Los Angeles, East Los Angeles College, and the University of Southern California. For five decades, Rod's high- spirited and fearless leadership propelled the SHPE to reach 13,000 memberships and 286 chapters nationwide. His unique ability to unite community partners

and leaders around the country serve as evidence that closing the STEM education gap and increasing the number of Hispanics in STEM can and will be done.

Rod will be remembered by his colleagues and thousands of current and former SHPE students and professionals for his devotion, service, mentorship, and immense contributions to expanding awareness, access, support, and development opportunities to Hispanics in STEM so that they may realize their potential and positively impact the world. His legacy of empowering the Hispanic community to achieve educational excellence, economic opportunity, and social equity will guide many members of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers for generations to come. I ask my colleagues to join me in commemorating the life of this extraordinary individual.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Secretary Norman Mineta, who passed away on May 3, 2022, at the age of 90. Norm was a pioneer of Asian American representation in politics and was an exemplary patriot.

Norm was born in San Jose, California on November 12, 1931, to Japanese immigrant parents. In 1942, when he was just ten years old, Norm and his family were forcibly relocated from California to Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming, where they were imprisoned at a Japanese internment camp during World War II. After 18 months of incarceration, Norm and his family moved to the Chicago area, where his father, an insurance agent, volunteered to teach Japanese language courses to soldiers in the U.S. Army. Only when Norm was a teenager were he and his family finally able to return to San Jose.

After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 1953 with a degree in business administration, Norm served as an intelligence officer for the Army for three years and later took over his father's Mineta Insurance Agency. After serving on the San Jose Human Relations Commission, Norm was asked by San Jose's then-mayor to fill a city council vacancy in 1967. Following four successful years as a city councilmember, Norm was elected to be San Jose's mayor, making him the first Asian American to serve as mayor of a major American city.

With a staunch belief that local officials should have more authority over how federal funding is used to improve roads and railways, Norm decided to run for Congress, promising to address these very issues. And he did just that. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974, Norm went on to serve for ten terms from 1975 to 1995.

In Congress, Norm successfully fought to strengthen civil rights for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. He spearheaded efforts to pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted reparations to Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII or their surviving family members. In 1994, he co-founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus to ensure that AAPIs have a voice in Congress and served as the Caucus' first chair. Seeing the need to increase the AAPI public service pipeline in Washington, D.C., Norm also founded the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) in 1994. Since then, APAICS has played a critical role in cultivating future AAPI leaders through internships and fellowships, and many alumni have gone on to such remarkable positions, including within the White House and Capitol Hill.

Following his Congressional tenure, Norm was appointed to serve as Secretary of Commerce for the last six months of President Bill Clinton's term, making him the first Asian American member of a Presidential Cabinet. Then, under President George W. Bush, Norm became the first Cabinet Secretary to switch directly from a Democratic to Republican administration, where he served as Secretary of Transportation. Notably, he was also the only Democrat to serve in President Bush's cabinet, displaying his talents in bipartisan efforts. As Secretary of Transportation, Norm fought for investments in roads and bridges nationwide, and secured billions of dollars in federal funding for highways.

Norm's time as Secretary of Transportation was defined by the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. When the second plane struck the World Trade Center, Norm was moved to a secret bunker under the White House alongside Vice President Dick Cheney. It was here that Norm made the historic call to ground nearly 5,000 planes in U.S. airspace, an unprecedented decision for which protocols had never been established. Following the attacks, Norm regularly worked 100-hour weeks to bolster security at seaports, airports, railways and facilities with oil and gas lines. Furthermore, he spearheaded the effort to establish a new federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), to successfully increase security at airports and avoid future attacks. In a time when Islamophobia was sharply exacerbated, Norm routinely drew parallels between his experience with Japanese American incarceration and scapegoating of Muslim Americans.

For his extraordinary accomplishments, the San Jose airport was renamed in 2001 to the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. Additionally, Norm was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, by President George W. Bush in 2006. Norm is survived by his wife, Deni, his sons David, Stuart, Robert and Mark, and 11 grandchildren. He was truly a trailblazer and defined what it means to be a public servant, paving the way for generations of Asian American elected officials, like myself, to come. I ask my colleagues to join me in commemorating this extraordinary individual.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Respect for Marriage Act to enshrine the right to marry the person you love under Federal law by repealing the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act.

In the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, the doors have been swung wide open for unelected judges to further strip protections from the American people.

This crucial bill reaffirms our commitment to a promise of equality for all, erasing further discrimination still on the books against same-sex marriage, and protecting the constitutional right to marriage equality, including interracial marriage. We will not allow the clock to be rolled back even further.

Mr. Speaker, it is imperative we pass the Respect for Marriage Act.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, the Women's Health Protection Act, or WHPA.

WHPA is the bill that will protect the right to access abortion after the tragic fall of Roe v. Wade. It ensures in Federal law the right to abortion care for every woman in every State and ensures States may not erode that right.

You will hear Republicans say our bill goes too far, but that is simply not true. Our bill preserves the protections of Roe that we have lived with for 50 years, affirmed through decades of subsequent court decisions. WHPA prohibits the bans and restrictions that violate the spirit of Roe, from outright bans to laws forcing women to undergo invasive ultrasounds, unnecessary waiting periods, or forcing doctors to give patients medically inaccurate information.

You will hear Republicans repeat over and over again that Democrats are voting for abortion up until the moment of birth. Actually, for 50 years the Court had the provision of an exception for late-term abortion in Roe to preserve the life or the health of the mother. It is because they valued the life of the mother.

Do Republicans actually believe the mother's life is expendable?

Apparently so.

What you will not hear is Republicans say that the vast majority of Americans do not want Roe to be overturned.

You will not hear an apology to the 10-year-old who was raped and had to travel to Indiana for an abortion because it was prohibited in her home State.

You will not hear an acknowledgment that women are capable of deciding for themselves whether to terminate a pregnancy.

This bill respects our right to make our own decisions about our bodies. It is time to put control of our bodies back in our hands. Now is the time to pass the Women's Health Protection Act.

Madam Speaker, I was horrified when I heard about the plight of a desperate Houston woman. She was 1 week pregnant beyond Texas' 6- week abortion ban, and with four children already, she knew she was not in a position to have another. So she packed her husband and four children in a car and drove over 22 hours and over 1,500 miles to my district in Pasadena, California, for her abortion.

Texas' law forced her into a situation no family should ever have to face, and the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe has made conditions far worse.

H.R. 8297, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022, will ensure that every American has the right to travel to seek abortion care.

Madam Speaker, we will not give up in this fight. We will not go back.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here in strong support of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

It was just 1 year ago when a young man went into the store, bought a gun, and, just hours later, went to an Asian spa in the Atlanta, Georgia area to murder Asian women. Then, he drove 27 miles away to two more Asian spas to kill more Asian women. In all, he killed eight people, including six Asian women.

They were mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and I will never forget the tears and sobs of their loved ones when we went down to Georgia to visit.

To see that again in Buffalo and Uvalde, where families had their lives ripped apart in an instant, is more heartache than our country can bear.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is an important step forward. There will be enhanced background checks for gun purchasers under 21. It provides funds for States for red flag laws. It closes the boyfriend loophole.

This bill will save lives.