Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate one of Ventura County's most distinguished school districts, Oak Park Unified School District, for winning the Sustainability Award from the U.S. Department of Education. Oak Park Unified was one of just 14 school districts in the entire Nation to receive this award, which recognizes schools and school districts for their exemplary efforts in reducing energy usage, promoting better health care, and providing better quality environmental education to their students.

Oak Park Unified Elementary School students are taking produce from their school garden and greenhouse to a local free clinic where they explain the impacts of diabetes to their patients and how to grow and enjoy healthy foods. Last year, another team of students sponsored the district-wide Week of Whales and won the Presidential Environmental Youth Award.

I am so honored to represent the Oak Park Unified School District and am proud of their dedication to sustainability and to protecting the environment.

Mr. Speaker, today, I congratulate Yvon Chouinard, the 2013 recipient of the Los Padres Forest Watch Wilderness Legacy Award.

Mr. Chouinard started out as a self-taught blacksmith, selling aluminum pitons for mountain climbing out of the trunk of his car. The only pitons available at that time were made of soft iron, placed once, and then left in the rock to rust. In Yosemite, multiday ascents requiring hundreds of placements had left these once-smooth majestic surfaces scarred and pocked. Aluminum pitons revolutionized the sport, preventing further damage and preserving awe-inspiring peaks across the United States. This past year, the company Mr. Chouinard founded, Patagonia, Inc., grossed $414 million dollars in sales.

As his business expanded to outdoor gear and clothing, Mr. Chouinard has brought these same ethical principles to bear by using recycled and organic materials and adapting energy efficient production methods. Every year, Patagonia pledges 1% of its yearly sales to further conservation work across the globe. Patagonia's tireless commitment has proven that in business the planet does not need to be sacrificed for profit.

Patagonia is an invaluable partner in the Ventura County community, working with local organizations like Los Padres Forest Watch to protect California's wild places. Shortly after Los Padres Forest Watch held its first board meeting in 2004, they received a grant from Patagonia. Since that time, Patagonia has generously given grants to support their important local forest protection work, as well as volunteering their employees, donating their products, and organizing fundraising events like the annual 5k Salmon Run. Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia have had a positive and lasting influence on the preservation of the Los Padres National Forest.

I am pleased to join Los Padres Forest Watch in honoring Mr. Chouinard for his legacy of environmental activism and ensuring Patagonia is an exemplary model of environmental corporate stewardship.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the American Cancer Fund for Children and Kids Cancer Connection on the occasion of their 20th anniversary, and to recognize them for their invaluable contributions to the cancer community.

The City of Thousand Oaks, in my Congressional district of Ventura County, has proclaimed April 13-20 as ``Childhood Cancer Awareness Week.'' I am pleased to join Mayor Claudia Bill-de-La Pena in thanking Steven Firestein, the founder of American Cancer Fund for Children and its sister organization, Kids Cancer Connection, for his dedication and compassion, which has helped thousands of children living with this terrible disease.

The American Cancer Fund for Children and the Kids Cancer Connection provide vital psychosocial services for children undergoing cancer treatment at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles County; University of Southern California Medical Center; Mattel Children's Hospital at Ronald Reagan-University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, and other hospitals across the United States.

Over the past twenty years, the American Cancer Fund for Children has given over 40,000 handmade, decorated hats and caps to

young cancer patients who have lost their hair from chemotherapy and radiation. Initiatives like the Magical Caps for Kids program help lift the spirits and boost the self-esteem of children undergoing exhaustive and painful courses of treatment. The American Cancer Fund for Children also sponsors the Courageous Kid Award, which organizes ceremonies and hospital celebrations to recognize a child's bravery and determination in fighting the battle against childhood cancer.

Kids Cancer Connection provides educational resources to the public and strives to raise public awareness about childhood cancer.

I ask my colleagues to join me in commending Steven Firestein for his remarkable efforts on behalf of the thousands of children and families affected by childhood cancer.

Mr. Speaker, today, I pay tribute to Bruria Finkel, an award winning painter, sculptor, and installation artist.

Bruria has participated in over sixty art shows in the United States and Europe.

Bruria was a pioneer of the Los Angeles feminist art movement and helped found the Los Angeles Council of Women Artists (LACWA) to protest gender discrimination at LACMA in 1968.

Bruria served as a founding member and Chair of the Santa Monica Arts Commission from 1982 until 1996. She founded the Arts Foundation in the 1980s, presided as Chair of the City's Rent Control Board from 1995 to 2002, and sat on many civic committees over the years.

Bruria has richly contributed to shaping art in Southern California, and has been a longtime leader in making California's coast a vibrant community for artists as well as the arts.

Mr. Speaker, Bruria's artistic contributions to Southern California have been an inspiration to many. She personifies how artists can shape life in a community. I am proud to have such an accomplished artist in Southern California.

As a member of the Veterans Affairs' Committee, as an American, and as the proud Representative of Ventura County--we are home to a large naval base with a very significant veteran community--I am extremely concerned about the impact the sequester will have on our women and men and their families who have courageously served, sacrificed, and defended our country.

If Congress fails to stop the across-the-board and unnecessary cuts at this moment, so many programs that help veterans--like transitioning to civilian life and finding employment--will be reduced.

More veterans with less resources is unacceptable. Our brave men and women deserve better. Now is the time to be doing more, not less. For our veterans' sake, we need to come together to stop this sequester now.

Mr. Speaker, this Friday, the U.S. budget faces a round of indiscriminate and severe cuts that will hurt the middle class, compromise national security, and set back our very fragile economic recovery.

I call on all of our colleagues to take immediate action to avert the sequester to prevent $1.5 trillion in reckless, unnecessary, across- the-board cuts. If we fail, my families and businesses in Ventura County will pay the price.

Naval Base Ventura County in my district could be forced to furlough 80 percent of its civilian workers. Our seniors and our children could be severely impacted through cuts to Medicare, Head Start programs, and teachers' jobs. We need to stop these arbitrary and reckless cuts now and pass a balanced approach with H.R. 699.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring H.R. 699 to the floor.