Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, today we vote to protect the right to obtain and use birth control, a choice that should be yours and yours alone.

As a reminder, the year is 2022, not 1922, not 1822. It is well established. Birth control is central to a person's ability to plan their future, to care for their families, get an education, have a career.

But the extremist Republican Party is determined to take us back in time and take away our freedoms. Politicians have no business in your bedroom or your doctor's office.

They are coming for birth control. They are coming for IVF. We have seen the plans. We have seen the legislation. House Democrats are taking a stand. We will defend our rights and defeat the Republicans' assault on freedom.

Madam Speaker, overturning Roe overturned our freedom. The freedom to make our own healthcare decisions is fundamental to our humanity and our dignity. It is about the right to control our own lives.

It is about the mother of three who simply can't afford to care for another child. It is about a young rape victim who shouldn't be mandated to carry her attacker's pregnancy to term. It is about the mom who desperately wants a baby but has a miscarriage and needs abortion care to prevent a potentially lethal infection.

Government-mandated pregnancy, that is our new reality.

This week, House Democrats will protect access to abortion and secure the right to reproductive care. We will fight against the Republican's scorched earth campaign against freedom for women, freedom to practice our faith, and freedom to make decisions for our families. We will fight to let every person control their bodies, their choices, and their futures.

Madam Speaker, today in our country 321 people will be shot, and 111 of them will die from those gunshots. Twenty-two of the people who are shot every day in this country are kids, just like the 19 fourth graders sitting in their classroom while they were massacred in Uvalde.

So I ask my colleagues: How many more?

How many more innocent people need to die?

How many more elders will be murdered at a grocery store or in their houses of worship?

How many more children, slaughtered in their classroom, will be enough to do something to save lives?

We are considering the most basic measures to keep people safe from gun violence and to keep families from having to I.D. their children by DNA after their bodies were destroyed by a weapon of war.

Raising the age to 21 to buy assault rifles, safe gun storage, and cracking down on gun trafficking are obvious solutions. Vote ``yes'' to protect families. Vote ``yes'' to save our children.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Massachusetts State Lottery as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Since selling its first ticket on March 22, 1972, the Mass Lottery has generated over $137 billion in revenues, returning over $29 billion in net profit to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. These funds have been distributed to all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts as unrestricted local aid, supporting a wide range of initiatives, including public safety, snow removal, road improvements, school staffing and services, programs for seniors, and parks and recreation projects.

The Mass Lottery has awarded over $96 billion in prizes to its loyal customers. Prize winners have been able to put their winnings toward the purchase of homes, sending their kids to college, opening their own businesses, covering medical expenses and making donations to charitable organizations.

The Mass Lottery has been a valuable source of additional income for thousands of businesses across the state, and collectively the Mass Lottery's retail partners have earned over $7.8 billion in commissions and bonuses over the last fifty years.

Under the guidance of the Mass Lottery, Charitable Gaming events have given non-profit organizations in Massachusetts opportunities to raise money to support their causes while providing social entertainment in their communities.

Over the last five decades, Mass Lottery employees have worked diligently to build the Mass Lottery into one of the most successful lotteries in the world. In turn, the Mass Lottery has been a valuable employer in the state, offering a wide range of career opportunities with pathways for advancement within the organization.

The Mass Lottery will be commemorating ``50 Years of Winning'' throughout 2022 by showing its appreciation for the customers, retailers, communities and employees who are a part of its amazing success story.

Madam Speaker, it is my distinct honor to recognize the Massachusetts State Lottery as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking Chairwoman Johnson for all of her leadership and her diligence in bringing the America COMPETES Act to the floor.

Once again, Democrats are answering the economic challenges we face with real solutions. What we didn't hear in the last 20 minutes or so was anything about how this act is going to strengthen our supply chain, it is going to create American jobs, and it is going to bring families lower costs and fully stocked shelves. It will improve our national security and global competitiveness by reducing our reliance on semiconductor production abroad and supporting innovation and research right here at home.

What is more, this act not only creates great jobs but invests in our STEM workforce, helping it to better represent the diversity of our Nation and create better outcomes for everyone.

With this bill, Americans will feel the benefits of our work in Washington at the gas pump, the car dealership, and the grocery store. I am proud to vote ``yes'' for this act that will turbocharge our economy and national security.

Mr. Speaker, the January 6 insurrection may have been quelled, but the assault on our democracy is alive.

Across 19 States, Republican legislatures have enacted 33 voter suppression laws. Here in Congress, we have witnessed unanimous Republican obstruction against commonsense, prodemocracy voter protections: early voting, vote by mail, election day as a Federal holiday.

When did protecting the right to vote become partisan? When it became about the powerful and not the people.

We can't sit on the sidelines while the most precious, sacred tool in our democracy is eroded. The question before us is simple and yet profound: Are you for the continuation of our democracy or are you not?

Madam Speaker, for almost 50 years, the law has recognized that the decision of whether to have or not have an abortion is protected by the Constitution. Yet, in the last decade, State lawmakers have pushed through nearly 500 restrictive laws that make abortion difficult and sometimes impossible to access. This fight has reached a breaking point.

The Mississippi law being challenged at the Supreme Court today would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, well before viability. Anti- abortion policies are about power and control, control over our bodies and control over our families. We won't stand for it. We will defend our rights and freedom to access safe and legal abortion.

Keep your bans off our bodies. Keep out of our doctors' offices and family decisions. Keep our constitutional rights in place.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Neal for his incredible work in putting together this bill and all his leadership and friendship. And today, we have the build back better agenda before us that was built on conversations that President Biden had with the American people so we can meet this time of historic challenge for them with historic progress.

The Build Back Better Act lowers costs and taxes for working families, creates jobs, and puts us on a path towards sustainability. We will provide 26 million children with access to affordable, quality childcare and universal pre-K. This will let families, and especially women in this country, get back to work and give all of our kids a great start.

We will build one million units of affordable housing, cut prescription drug costs and cap insulin costs, expand healthcare coverage, extend the historic child tax cut, and invest directly in climate resiliency and clean energy.

We declare with this bill that care is economic infrastructure and send a message to families and providers both that help is on the way. And all of this is done with a through line of equity. This is what is possible when we put families front and center here in Washington.

Mr. Speaker, so today, we build back better.

Madam Speaker, it started with a white supremacist online fringe movement, and it turned into a deadly January 6 insurrection.

Now I stand before you because a Member of this body has once again had her life threatened, but this time by a colleague who posted a video of killing her on his official account. Think about that.

It is no coincidence that the recipients of this violence are most often women and women of color because this violence is directly connected to sexism and racism.

We cannot and must not accept this behavior. Silence and excuses are condoning it. And the excuses we have heard today--this is okay because it is a highly stylized killing; it is a cartoon; it was some sort of youth outreach--are grotesque.

Enough is enough. Vote for this resolution. Vote for censure. Vote for decency.

Madam Speaker, it is the Constitution that says women have the right to make their own decisions regarding their bodies. It is the Constitution that gives people the right to make a decision about abortion with their families, their doctor, and in accordance with their faith.

But for over 50 years this right has been under attack. And today we say there is no room in that decision for politicians, there is no room for bounty hunters. This decision resides with people, with women.

Today, we will pass the Women's Health Protection Act, and we will say clearly: This right is now enshrined in law, and we are not going back.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the appropriations package we will pass this week because this document respects the dignity and humanity of women in this country and around the world.

For the first time in over 40 years, the Appropriations Committee passed a spending bill without the Hyde amendment. For decades, the Hyde amendment has prevented women of color and low-income people from receiving basic healthcare. Hyde forces one in four women under Medicaid to carry a pregnancy to term.

Twenty percent of the women in this country rely on Medicaid, including half of all American people living below the Federal poverty line, and millions of women of color. Yet, they are denied their constitutional right to healthcare, including an abortion.

This is discrimination. The legal right to an abortion is meaningless if

you are unable to afford one. Abortion is healthcare. The legal right to an abortion is based on access, and that should not be denied based on your income or insurance coverage.

Budgets are documents that represent our values, and that is why I am so proud to put forward a spending package that rejects Hyde, and also provides a directive to the VA to implement a comprehensive sexual assault and harassment policy, $1.2 billion for maternal and child health, a repeal of the restrictive Helms amendment and global and domestic gag rules, and so much more.

This is a good day for women here and around the globe. I thank Chair DeLauro and I thank the millions of activists who fought to make this moment a reality. We will continue our march for equity shoulder to shoulder with you.

Madam Speaker, 19 years ago, this body passed the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force based on lies and misinformation about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

This authorization has entangled us in a decades-long war, costing billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives.

Millions of young people in this country, including my three children, have never known an America that wasn't at war.

This repeal is long overdue and absolutely vital to protecting the integrity of our system of checks and balances and the security of our Nation and servicemembers.

Today we stand up for Congress' constitutional war powers and the right to say ``no'' to conflicts abroad and ``yes'' to peace.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a deadly public health emergency, an economic crisis, and a disturbing rise in anti-Asian hate.

Unfortunately, discrimination against the AAPI community is not new. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the internment of Japanese Americans, the U.S. has a long history of discrimination towards AAPI immigrants and their descendants. This new wave of xenophobia has led to fear, threats, and outright violence.

Madam Speaker, by passing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act today, we are standing up for our neighbors and against discrimination. We take this vote during AAPI Heritage Month, a time to acknowledge incredible contributions of this community and also the interconnection of the American story and our mutual security.

I am proud to represent a large and vibrant AAPI community in my district, and I have seen that community come together over the last year and joined to help their neighbors and demand justice for all.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to support this bill today. It is critical and long overdue.

Mr. Speaker, in December, American women lost 156,000 jobs, accounting for 100 percent of jobs lost; and since the start of this pandemic, nearly 3 million women have been pushed out of the workforce.

Women have borne the brunt of the economic crisis brought on by this pandemic, and gender pay inequality is at the root of the problem. More than five decades after the passage of the Equal Pay Act, women still only make 82 cents for every dollar earned by men, and that gap is even wider for women of color.

By passing the Paycheck Fairness Act today, we are correcting this injustice and ensuring that all people receive equal pay for equal work.

Let's be clear: this isn't a women's issue. Pay inequity hurts children, families, and our entire economy. It is fundamental to our recovery and our ability to not just rebuild to status quo, but to rebuild a just and inclusive America for all.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Sandra Fenwick's achievements as the Chief Executive Officer of Boston Children's Hospital. Ms. Fenwick, known to most as Sandi, has served as CEO of Boston Children's since 2013 and for fourteen years prior, served as the hospital's Chief Operating Officer. Sandi has led the hospital's efforts to control costs and adapt to a changing health care environment. As CEO, she leads a team of 20,000 people dedicated to improving and advancing child health through the delivery of high quality clinical care, advancing groundbreaking biomedical research, providing medical education to the next generation of pediatric providers and investments in the community. Boston Children's is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate for Harvard Medical School and the largest pediatric training program in the nation. The hospital is the largest pediatric research entity in the world. Each year, they care for children from all 50 states and more than 100 countries, seeing more pediatric patients with rare diseases and complex conditions than any other hospital in the world. Boston Children's has been ranked the No. 1 children's hospital by U.S. News and World report every single year since Sandi has been the CEO.

As a Member of Congress who represents children and families in the Boston area, and as a parent myself, I am deeply grateful to have an institution like Boston Children's in my home state. It is the leadership, provided over the years by Sandi Fenwick and the fantastic team that she has cultivated, that has led this institution to thrive and become one of the greatest resources for children in our local communities and around the world.

My work with Sandi goes back many years to my time at the Massachusetts State House and more recently, here in Congress. In the face of growing threats to our children's health and well-being, there is no better advocate for them than Sandi Fenwick. She has walked with patients and families through the State House and the halls of Congress, to help tell their stories and she has worked passionately behind the scenes to ensure investments in their care every day for years. Her voice for children reaches beyond the walls of the hospital and indeed, beyond Boston--in particular through her service as the Chair of the Public Policy Committee of the Children's Hospital Association.

Sandi had planned to announce her retirement a year ago and chose to remain at the helm of the hospital to see them through the most intense part of the COVID-19 pandemic. We all know what challenges that hospitals have faced in the past year. Under Sandi's leadership, Boston Children's has been a constant presence for our children and this month, she leaves the institution poised and ready to work on the challenges of the future. I applaud her achievements and want to wish her well in her retirement and all future endeavors.