Kim Schrier

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member McGovern for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, right now, our country is facing a public health crisis that has been created by the Trump administration. From misinformation about vaccines and lifesaving medicines to devastating cuts to critical research, along with political litmus tests, this administration is putting Americans in danger.

Specifically, the cuts to the CDC have been disastrous. Our public health workforce has been attacked, and our ability to assess and respond to outbreaks has been decimated.

We are now seeing the worst measles outbreak in decades, and the number of

Americans affected by cyclospora is rapidly growing in over 30 States, and because of inadequate surveillance, that may just be the tip of the iceberg.

Last year, the Trump administration changed the CDC's FoodNet surveillance program, narrowing the number of pathogens under active surveillance, including cyclospora. The health and lives of thousands of Americans are on the line as they contract diseases that the CDC has helped us prevent for years and has screened for, for years, all because of the actions of this administration.

If you are an American right now with measles, this CDC has failed you. As cyclospora spreads, the CDC is not meeting expectations. Communication has been sparse. Misinformation is rampant, and real information is lacking. HHS Secretary Kennedy, as a leader, has been completely absent in helping with any of it.

As a doctor and a Member of Congress, I am outraged and deeply concerned. We need the CDC to be restored to its previous capacity, because you don't really know how critical our public health service is and our CDC is until there is an outbreak and we can't manage it.

Every death from preventable illnesses should be laid at the Trump administration's feet until these changes are undone.

Mr. Speaker, as a mom, a pediatrician, and a Member of Congress, I rise today to support the advancement of the KIDS Act to take some serious steps to protect our kids and their data online and hold Big Tech accountable.

The KIDS Act includes my bill, the Kids Online Safety Act, which will ensure that social media companies provide protections and guardrails for kids online and are held accountable for the many harms they are causing to our kids, from sleeplessness, to eating disorders, to self- harm, and even harm from others.

Social media companies have gone largely unregulated for decades, all while they have become an omnipresent and bigger and bigger part of everyday life, including for kids.

In my 20 years as a pediatrician, I have seen the rise of mental and behavioral health concerns for kids and teens coincide directly with the rise of screen time and social media.

It is long past time to hold Big Tech and social media accountable.

This package includes many useful tools for parents to keep their kids safe online, but parents can't do it alone. This package isn't perfect, and I wish to see even more come out of negotiations with the Senate. That is why I am continuing to call for a duty of care and language that goes further to hold social media companies accountable for the many harms that their platforms are causing, including serious mental health issues, like anxiety, depression, addiction, eating disorders, and suicidality.

But this package represents the first time in decades that we have had a chance in the House to take a step forward, to finally passing comprehensive legislation to protect our kids. I strongly urge my colleagues to support it today so we can make it even stronger.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because people in the district I represent and across the country are being crushed by skyrocketing gas prices.

Prices have been rising since this President got into office for healthcare, for groceries, and now for gas prices because of this reckless war of choice.

Our constituents deserve better. They deserve immediate relief. They deserve better than emptying their wallet every time they fill up at the pump.

As we know from watching other crises, Big Oil and Gas will take any opportunity to pad their profits, so Congress should act now to protect consumers. That is why I am offering this bill, the Lower Prices at the Pump Act, the commonsense solution to protect the American people from price gouging.

The bill I am offering prevents Big Oil from price gouging in case they attempt to take advantage of the economic uncertainty and instability created by the war with Iran. They have done it before, and they could do it again.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to join us to bring this bill up for a vote.

Our constituents are being crushed by prices across the board as it is, and

President Trump has told us that he is too preoccupied with his ballroom to care.

We must protect consumers at the pump to protect them from big corporations who might try to pull a fast one.

Our jobs are to make lives easier, not harder, for Americans, and the time to act is exactly right now. That is why I am asking my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can bring up this important bill.