Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind my colleagues and the American people just how important passing comprehensive immigration reform is to the growth of our economy.

Study after study has shown that successful implementation of comprehensive immigration reform will strengthen agriculture, cut the deficit, create manufacturing and job opportunities, and put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work. This will increase our country's GDP and pump billions of dollars into our economy.

Here in Congress we talk a lot about creating jobs and growing the economy, but now it is time to act. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting comprehensive immigration reform for our economy and for the future of our country.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize Irma J. Lopez, a community leader and activist, who is a tireless champion of women's and social justice issues in Ventura County. Irma is a remarkable role model, and a woman who never stops striving to improve and strengthen her community.

Irma was born and raised in Ventura County. As a graduate of Camarillo High School and the University of California, Santa Barbara, Irma has been a longstanding citizen of the area. Her career in public service began in the State of California Employment Development Department, where she worked for more

than 20 years. Additionally, Irma also worked for California State Senator Gary Hart.

Irma's leadership is a testament to her invigorating commitment to Ventura County. She is the founder, former chair and a current board member of Ventura County's Rebozo Festival. Every year, this festival promotes the cultural richness and diversity of the Latino community and philanthropy in Ventura County.

Irma is also a founding member of the Women's Legacy Fund and the Destino Hispanic Legacy Fund. She is a former City of Oxnard Woman of the Year and has been recognized for her humanitarian achievements on both the local and national level.

Irma's passion for public service and dedication to the community is one that I commend. Throughout her life, Irma's tireless efforts have always focused on helping those who are underrepresented and unheard. She is an exemplary model of the great achievements a devoted citizen can make.

I have personally known Irma for many years and am most pleased to join the Ventura County Women's Political Council in honoring Irma Lopez for her contributions, dedication and engagement in Ventura County.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to represent the City of Moorpark in the United States House of Representatives. Moorpark was recently named by the Kosmont-Rose Institute as one of the top ten most business friendly cities in California, which serves to attract new and innovative companies, creating high paying, high- skilled local jobs, that significantly contribute to Ventura County's diverse and vibrant economy.

From its start as a pastoral community built on hard work and rugged individualism, to a thriving community that celebrates its historical roots, Moorpark is the product of determined citizens coming together to establish a better way of life. The city's unique cultural fusion of arts, agriculture, community, family, education, and outdoor recreation make Moorpark an exceptionally desirable place to live. As the city's representative in Congress, I share Moorpark's commitment to protecting local open spaces and preserving the natural beauty of our region for future generations to cherish and enjoy.

I also share with Moorpark a steadfast dedication to education, and I will continue to work on behalf of the teachers and students of this outstanding school district. I believe that investing in our children's future is vital to perpetuating the growth and development of every community in Ventura County and across the nation. I would also like to commend Moorpark for fostering the success of Moorpark College, as I believe community colleges are critical to equipping the next generation with the skills required to excel.

Additionally, I commend the City of Moorpark for its dedication to assisting and memorializing our veterans, who have given immeasurably to our communities. The two memorials in the city are a testament to the important role that the men and women of our Armed Forces play in ensuring communities like Moorpark can thrive.

Once again, congratulations on Moorpark's 30th Anniversary! This is a fantastic accomplishment, and I could not be more proud and driven to work hard to represent the values of our community in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, today I commend the services provided to our nation's veterans through the Ventura County Veterans Fund.

In 2013, $75,000 will be awarded to various organizations that offer fundamental services to veterans and their family members through the Ventura County Veterans Fund. These organizations pay particular attention to those veterans who have returned from war and are transitioning to civilian life. This year's recipients of Ventura County Veterans Fund Grants are: California Lutheran University, California State University Channel Islands Foundation, Oxnard College, Reins of H.O.P.E., Turning Point Foundation, Ventura County Jewish Family Services and White Heart Foundation.

I am profoundly grateful for the service and sacrifices of our nation's veterans, members of the U.S. Armed Forces, and their families. As a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, I understand the struggles our heroes face when they return from war and transition to civilian life. The services that will be provided from the Ventura County Veterans Fund Grants will ease this transitional process and allow our veterans to become leaders in our communities.

I also wish to pay tribute to the hard work of the Gold Coast Veterans Foundation and the Ventura County Community Foundation. Their diligence for Ventura veterans is commendable and greatly appreciated. The grants being awarded this year through the Ventura County Veterans Fund would not be possible without the tireless work of these organizations.

I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting our nation's veterans through the valuable services that organizations like Gold Coast Veterans Foundation, Ventura County Community Foundation, and other Veteran Service Organizations provide our veterans on a daily basis.

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

Mr. Chair, I rise to offer an important

amendment that would provide a $5 million increase in funding for the Department of Energy Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup account.

My amendment is offset by reducing a small portion of funds for nuclear energy research programs. I believe this offset is appropriate because the contamination that must be cleaned up was directly caused by past Department of Energy nuclear energy research programs.

In the past, inadequate safety protocols and lax environmental standards resulted in severe soil and groundwater contamination at sites across the Nation. The DOE Office of Environmental Management is responsible for cleaning up 107 sites across the country whose areas are equal to the combined area of Rhode Island and Delaware. A few of these sites the DOE is responsible for cleaning up include: the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, of which we've spoken today; the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, which is adjacent to my district and to many of my constituents impacted by this facility; the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York; and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

The President's fiscal year 2014 budget requested $212 million for environmental remediation and site cleanup. However, this bill provides only $194 million for these environmental cleanup activities.

I understand that the Energy and Water Subcommittee was forced to make difficult choices due to an inadequate budget allocation. However, I believe that the cleanup of these sites should be a top priority. We should not continue to fund new nuclear energy research while communities across the country are told to wait for the cleanup of our past mistakes.

For instance, the Energy Technology Engineering Center, which is part of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, is highly contaminated due to a partial nuclear meltdown of a sodium reactor in 1959. This partial nuclear meltdown, which was covered up until 1989, contaminated the soil and groundwater in the entire area and has resulted in cancer clusters among nearby residents and my constituents. In fact, many of those who worked at the facility or who lived nearby died due to illnesses caused by the widespread nuclear fallout of the 1959 meltdown. Cleaning up the soil and groundwater contamination at Santa Susana and at other sites across the country is our responsibility to our constituents who suffer from the effects of these past mistakes.

My amendment simply increases this cleanup account by $5 million for a total of $199 million, which is still below the $212 million requested by the President.

I urge my colleagues to support my commonsense amendment to increase funds for the Department of Energy Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup account. As I conclude, I believe it is critically important that Congress provide funding to clean up areas contaminated by past Department of Energy activities and mistakes. I urge Members to support my amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Point of Order

Mr. Chair, I move to appeal the ruling of the Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

I am opposed in its current form.

Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to H.R. 1947. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

My amendment is a straightforward improvement that I believe both sides can agree is absolutely necessary.

First, the amendment would protect homes and businesses nationwide from devastating fires by funding wildfire suppression, personnel and firefighting equipment. Second, the amendment will help create jobs and small businesses throughout rural America and will provide safe drinking water to these communities as well.

Mr. Speaker, I proudly represent Ventura County in California. In May, we had a dangerous wildfire that burned over 24,000 acres. It threatened homes in Camarillo, surrounded Cal State University at Channel Islands, and burned parts of Naval Base Ventura County.

As the Springs Fire raged, we looked for help from the brave men and women serving as firefighters, not only from my district, but throughout California and the Western States. Due to their tireless efforts, homes and businesses were saved, and not one life was lost.

Following the Springs Fire, I had the opportunity and occasion to thank the firefighters in my county.

They showed me the real time computer equipment they used to successfully fight this fire. With this equipment, firefighters could predict the direction of the fire and the terrain they would face next in real time. They asked that Congress make this lifesaving communications equipment available to firefighters across this great Nation.

This is precisely the type of equipment my amendment would help provide along with aerial tankers and other firefighting aircraft.

So many Americans rely on the selfless help of firefighters across the Nation, most recently and courageously in fighting the recent fires in Colorado that have caused so much damage and loss of precious lives.

Our firefighters put their lives on the line, and we owe it to them and to our communities to provide adequate resources for fire suppression, personnel and state-of-the-art equipment.

My amendment would also support three critical rural development programs: water, waste disposal and wastewater facility grants; emergency and imminent water assistance grants; and rural business opportunity grants.

These grants help to provide critical water supplies to rural areas experiencing drought or other disasters. They also promote sustainable economic development, create jobs and build stronger communities.

Not only would these programs help in Ventura County, which was recently declared a rural disaster area by USDA, they would help in districts across the Nation suffering from similar and tragic hardships.

I came to Congress not to engage in partisan bickering but to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to solve the many critical challenges facing our Nation. Partnering with the States and our local communities during natural disasters and with communities that lack critical resources in difficult economic times is both a moral and economic imperative of this body.

It is with this in mind that I ask my colleagues to support this important amendment to help fight wildfires and to support our communities when they need it most.

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

Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the rule and urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and ``no'' on the rule.

I'm very disappointed my amendment was not made in order, a solution that was both simple and responsible. It would restore desperately needed SNAP funding, protect the vital programs ranchers and growers rely on, and end welfare for Big Oil and responsibly reduce the deficit.

By ending wasteful tax breaks for Big Oil, my amendment would help more than 68,000 families in Ventura County and families across the country struggling to keep food on the table without cutting programs that California ranchers and farmers depend on like agricultural research, disease and pest control, rural development, and conservation.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and ``no'' on the rule.

Madam Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

When will the House consider legislation to address the veterans' --

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of my State's most important agricultural assets--the California avocado. This June, during the peak of the avocado growing season, we celebrate California Avocado Appreciation Month.

California avocados are both an economic driver as well as a healthy sodium- and cholesterol-free food option. Throughout California, family farms produce 90 percent of the Nation's avocados, and many of these farms and avocado groves are in my home in Ventura County. Growers in Ventura County are leading the way in avocado agriculture, and they are true stewards of the land. It is this stewardship and their hard work that makes the future of the California avocado so bright and Ventura County one of the most beautiful places in the country to live and work.

I look forward to joining my colleagues to further strengthen this important economic driver for California and for our country.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman of Massachusetts for yielding.

It has already been stated--but it is worth repeating again--in 2012, 26,000 servicemembers were sexually assaulted. If only one servicemember was assaulted, that is one too many.

Sexual assault in the military is intolerable--period. It is a terrible entrenched cultural flaw of our military that allows victims to be abused without accountability or justice.

While there are a number of legislative proposals to address this issue, the consensus is clear: we need a fail-safe solution that increases transparency and accountability so that the military no longer is a place where sexual assault is tolerated.

I am pleased that H.R. 1960 takes steps to improve the military justice system. However, I do believe the bill does not go far enough. We must do a better job.

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

Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer an amendment to the fiscal year 2014 Homeland Security appropriations bill that will provide $97.5 million for the Port Security Grant Program. I offer this amendment in conjunction with my colleague and friend, the gentlewoman also from California.

I represent Port Hueneme, a critical west coast commercial port and home of Naval Base Ventura County. The presence of the naval base makes the port a potential target of those who seek to do our Nation harm. I believe we must do more to protect Port Hueneme and other ports across this great Nation from potential threats.

The Port Security Grant program is a critical component of our strategy to protect our Nation's critical infrastructure against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks.

The vast majority of critical U.S. maritime infrastructure is owned and/or operated by State, local, and private sector maritime industry partners, which is why this State and local grant program is so critical.

The funds that the program makes available to non-Federal entities are intended to improve port-wide maritime security risk management, enhance awareness, support training and exercises, and support port recovery capabilities.

Grant recipients must use funds to address vulnerabilities in port security and support the prevention of, detection of, response to and recovery from attacks involving improvised explosive devices and other nonconventional weapons.

My amendment simply ensures that the Port Security Grant program will be funded at $97.5 million, which is at the same level as the previous fiscal year.

This program is a critical Homeland Security initiative for Port Hueneme in Ventura County and ports across our great country.

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

Mr. Speaker, today I congratulate Mr. Denny Zane and Move LA, as the 2013 recipients of the John Leighton Chase Legacy Award from the Westside Urban Forum. Move LA received this award for its advocacy for transportation development in the Los Angeles region. Mr. Zane, the Executive Director of Move LA, garnered this award for his positive contributions to the Los Angeles region over a period spanning more than three decades.

This award's namesake, John Leighton Chase, passed in 2010. He had been a renowned West Hollywood urban designer, writer and advocate of civic spaces and vernacular architecture (which is focused on local needs, reflects local traditions and is constructed with local materials). The Westside Urban Forum, that bestowed this deserved award on Mr. Zane and Move LA, has for over twenty years been a prominent organization dedicated to land-use issues impacting the west side of Los Angeles.

Mr. Zane has been a persistent advocate in the Los Angeles region for ``smart growth'' in local development and for bringing best practices to local communities, with a focus on soliciting broad input from varied constituencies, protecting local jobs, generating local revenue and limiting adverse traffic impacts. In 2007, seeking to support development of a robust Los Angeles regional transit system--a goal that had been announced already by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaragosa--Mr. Zane, a former Mayor of Santa Monica, succeeded, with the help of the Annenberg Foundation, in bringing together a powerful coalition of major local stakeholders, including business, labor, environmental, and political leaders and in forming Move LA. In 2008, Mr. Zane and Move LA impressively led a successful effort to achieve the required two-thirds majority vote favoring a local tax measure that is expected to generate for regional transportation development in excess of $40 billion over 30 years.

Mr. Zane served the public in many ways as Mayor, as a City Councilmember, as the director of the local Coalition for Clean Air, as a local teacher and now in his role with Move LA. His resolute commitment to public service has strengthened our community and for that we owe him our heartfelt gratitude.

I have personally known Mr. Zane for many years and am most pleased to join the Westside Urban Forum in honoring Move LA for its contributions to regional transportation and Mr. Zane for his legacy of successful community activism.

Mr. Speaker, as Ranking Member of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health--and an original co- sponsor of the bill--I would like to express my wholehearted support for H.R. 671 and to urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this critical legislation.

I would also like to thank my colleague from Maine for introducing this important bill.

It is absolutely intolerable for any servicemember to be subjected to sexual assault while serving in our nation's armed forces.

It is also unacceptable that veterans are being denied treatment at the VA because they don't have adequate proof that the assault happened.

Under existing VA policies, a lack of military documentation and inconsistencies among VA regional offices have resulted in veterans, like Ruth Moore, being denied disability benefits.

For 23 years Ruth was told by the VA that she did not provide enough evidence proving the assault happened.

Instead of receiving the high quality VA care and benefits she had earned immediately upon separation, she had to fight and wait for over two decades for benefits.

Again, I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 671 to correct this injustice.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, this bill is one of the most important that the House will consider all year. It provides critical funds for military training facilities, improves living conditions for our troops and their families, and addresses the needs of our Nation's veterans.

As ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health, however, I wanted to bring your attention to a serious issue.

As you know, the advance appropriations process ensures that the VA health care funding is not delayed by Congress' failure to pass the appropriations bills on time. For the past 3 years, the GAO has been required to review the accuracy of the administration's projections for advance funding for veterans' health care programs. The report helps Congress evaluate VA projections for advance appropriations and ensures the VA receives the funding needed for veterans' health care.

Unfortunately, this GAO reporting requirement is scheduled to sunset on September 30. I believe this requirement should be extended, and a number of veterans service organizations have expressed concerns about this issue as well.

As the bill moves forward, I ask the committee to review this issue and continue the reporting requirement.

On another note, one of our most important obligations is to ensure adequate training and support of our troops. That is why one of my first stops as a Member of Congress was to Naval Base Ventura County. For fiscal year 2014, the Navy has requested funding for several important projects at Point Mugu and Port Hueneme, including military housing, training, and maintenance facilities. This bill provides funding for base infrastructure improvements, but it is a decrease from last year and also below the DOD request.

On behalf of my constituents serving at Naval Base Ventura County, I would like to express my hope that these reductions do not come at the expense of the much-needed infrastructure improvements at Point Mugu and Port Hueneme.

As a VA committee member, I am also pleased that H.R. 2216 funds veterans' benefits and programs. It provides $43.6 billion for VA medical services to serve about 6.5 million veterans.

It supports mental health care services, suicide prevention activities, traumatic brain injury treatment, homeless veterans' programs, and rural health initiatives. It continues work on an integrated DOD-VA electronic health record system, the paperless claims process system, digital scanning of health records, and transparent reporting on our progress with the claims backlog for VA benefits.

Finally, it funds construction and renovation of hundreds of VA health clinics, medical residences, and nursing homes. Support of our servicemembers, veterans, and their families is of the highest importance. However, we must be mindful of the entire budget picture.

Like many of my colleagues, I am concerned that we are operating under inadequate discretionary budget caps that will not allow us to provide sufficient funding later in the appropriations process for programs that are important to middle class families and seniors, such as education and health care programs.

While this bill is not perfect, it does provide critical funding for our Nation's military construction projects and for our Nation's veterans, and I intend to support the final passage of this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Last week, Ventura County endured one of the largest wildfires in our county's history. The Camarillo Springs wildfire burned over 28,000 acres, damaging some homes and buildings and threatening many neighborhoods in Ventura County.

I rise today to thank more than 1,800 firefighters and first responders who

worked around the clock to control the blaze and who, in so doing, saved every single life and prevented the potentially massive destruction of personal property. Despite high heat, dry temperatures, and very windy conditions, firefighters in Ventura County joined others from throughout the State to successfully contain the fire quickly and without any loss of life.

I am so proud of our first responders and of our brave firefighters. All of Ventura County is so very grateful for their heroic dedication to our continued safety.