Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, as Black Music Month comes to a close, I rise in the House today for 1 minute to honor my dear friend, D'Wayne Wiggans.

D'Wayne Wiggans passed away on March 7, 2025, and my community of Oakland, California, and the world continues to grieve. We are mourning not only his significant contributions to the Black music community, but we knew D'Wayne as a legendary musician who gave as much of his voice as he gave to community.

D'Wayne made and produced music that uplifted so many. Moreover, we know him as a monumental soul of good. He mentored countless artists and young people, including Destiny's Child and Beyonce, helped to start the career of Alicia Keys, and was on the Grammy stage every year for decades.

D'Wayne opened up many spaces for young people in my community in California's District 12 to thrive. He was incredibly generous.

Moreover, we know that there is no dying when it comes to D'Wayne's voice. You cannot kill culture. Our community loves him and his family, and I am so thankful for what he has

given our community. His voice will never cease.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for yielding time.

As the Representative of California's 12th Congressional District, representing the East Bay, I rise today in opposition to H. Res. 516. This resolution is a partisan, disproportionate response to the ICE protest in Los Angeles. Republicans are intentionally misleading the public on the scale of the

violence in an attempt to justify the blatant overreach of Federal power.

I want to be clear. There was no doubt there was violence. I am from California. I was present at some of the protests. The scale was unworthy of Federal condemnation and certainly the scale was unworthy of Presidential overreach.

It was the President who overstepped his authority and escalated and instigated chaos, sending the National Guard and our Marines against the will of my Governor, the mayor of Los Angeles, and the people of California.

The Trump administration has made it clear that they do not believe in the right of Los Angeles to exist, as it has done since its founding, as a multicultural, vibrant, and working-class city. The violence was in less than three to five blocks.

Mr. Speaker, I think the resolution is an attempt to rewrite history in real time and to prescribe extreme violence onto the people of Los Angeles, California, who were exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. This resolution is in no way sufficient. It is a way to roll back free speech.

Let's be clear. We do not have a democracy if we erode the right to free speech. We will not have a democracy if the President of the United States continues to abuse his power and push authoritarian measures.

Mr. Speaker, as a new Member of Congress, I was under the understanding that our job here is to lift up the voices of those in this country that hold our Nation together with their own hands: The working parents who will absolutely go hungry and will come home to empty refrigerators when their SNAP benefits are cut under the majority's big, cruel bill. Then there are those who cannot sleep at night because their child has a rare form of cancer and are worried about Medicaid not covering their care.

The Republicans say it won't affect her. Today, if you go to the children's hospital here in Washington, D.C., and sit with the mother who is praying over her dying child, who had to quit her job and who now qualifies for Medicaid expansion, under their bill she will be cut. Tell her you will not harm her.

Unfortunately, this is the America that the majority wants to create. The majority has sent a bill to the Senate that, Mr. Speaker, is not a piece of legislation. It is a piece of forgetting.

It is forgetting who we are, and it is forgetting who we owe. The big, cruel bill breaks the basic covenant of government that the people who suffer the most should be seen first.

It is without apology that when you write legislation that cuts into the flesh of the working poor, you cannot call it policy. When you cut into the flesh of working-class Americans, you don't call it policy. You call it what it is: cruelty. When you kick 16 million people off of healthcare, you don't call it policy. You call it heartless.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues today to vote ``no'' on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose the administration's cuts to critical gun violence prevention programs, and I rise today in deep solidarity with the innovators of CeaseFire, violence interrupters, and community organizations around this country that spend every day, hour after hour, working on the ground and in our communities to stop gun violence.

I thank them for their work. It is so critical and needed at a time when the Trump administration has announced cuts of $500 million to community violence intervention organizations and funding opportunities directly from the Department of Justice and over $1 billion in gun violence prevention funding for schools from the Department of Education. Make it make sense.

Now, organizations like Youth Alive in Oakland, California, will not have the funding that they need that is so critical in this moment to do the work of violence interruption on our streets in conjunction with law enforcement and community members who have lost loved ones to violence.

June is Gun Violence Prevention Month, Mr. Speaker, and we cannot stop this work in decreasing gun violence on our streets and in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman McGarvey for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Stauber, and I am excited to work with him so closely during my time in Congress to advance the opportunities for folks with disabilities in this country. It is just a deep honor for the two of us to continue on our path of representing Americans with disabilities.

As the first congenitally blind person to serve in the United States Congress, I am honored to rise today in support of this bipartisan bill with Representative Stauber, the ThinkDIFFERENTLY About Disability Employment Act.

As a community organizer and leader for over 20 years, I focused on finding jobs and opportunities for low-income folks in the bay area in California, and I came to Congress to bring those communities with me, particularly the disability community, a community that I belong to.

The disability community is too often left out of policy conversations, and today, Democrats and Republicans are bringing our brothers and sisters to the table.

Right now, the unemployment rate for people with intellectual, physical, and developmental disabilities remains alarmingly high in this country. Ashamedly, it is at 80 percent. Yes, 80 percent. This, we know, is unacceptable.

We can close the disability employment gap, not only to advance independence, dignity, and freedom for Americans with disabilities, but to drive economic growth.

This bill, my bill, our bill, creates an essential partnership between the Small Business Administration and the National Council on Disability to help individuals with disabilities pursue self- employment, dignity, launch small businesses, and thrive in the workforce.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill and build an economy that works for all of us. Mr. Speaker, I am so honored to say we can move this forward today.

Mr. Speaker, I again thank Representative Stauber for advocating for his son and the millions of folks with disabilities in this country to have their just due and to support me in this legislation moving forward. Finally, Mr. Speaker, I thank Chair Williams and Ranking Member Velazquez for their efforts in moving this bill forward.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose our administration's attacks on our Nation's nonprofit sector.

Since January, our President has launched an all-out assault on our Nation's nonprofits, threatening to pull funding and proposing executive orders that target our groups serving the good people of the United States.

With Republicans pushing a reconciliation bill that would kick millions off from their medical care, the administration has also created an unprecedented attack with power to revoke nonprofit status.

The reconciliation bill would allow the executive branch to revoke status from nonprofits that they believe are terrorist-supporting organizations without requiring evidence, meaning no due process.

This vague provision is Trump's way of targeting organizations that he opposes or that just don't align with his agenda. Those are organizations that are doing right in our communities, and we have to say no.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the House to highlight my support of Head Start.

I most recently visited an organization in my district called the Unity Council that serves families, parents, seniors, and children, providing them with affordable housing, career opportunities, community engagement and, yes, Head Start programs.

I learned from the Unity Council that President Trump and the administration has stopped funding for the Oakland Head Start program. This means that over 600 children will not have daycare, mental health services, dental care, and basic health screenings all provided by this incredible program.

The President promised, recently said he would not touch the Head Start program. Yet here we are. Nationally, over 800,000 children receive daycare support from Head Start. Cutting Head Start funding and stopping early childhood development is not efficiency. It is not trimming the fat. Cutting programs like Head Start is breaking, literally, the bones of our Nation and of our future.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to address the House to celebrate my constituent, W. Kamau Bell, who won ``Celebrity Jeopardy!'' It is a pretty cool thing. Not only did he win ``Celebrity Jeopardy!'' but as a constituent who has lived in my district in Oakland, California, since the 1990s, he has consistently given back philanthropically to young people and underserved communities, again for almost 30 years.

After winning ``Celebrity Jeopardy!'' just recently, he gave a million dollars--the full winnings--back to the community, specifically to the school district in Oakland, California. His donation has supported over 200 projects in Oakland schools, including Castlemont High School.

Just recently, I visited Castlemont High School and met with these amazing students, who are full of potential. These students are not only the future,

they are the now. Many teachers across our school districts, in my district and throughout the country, are going in their own pockets to buy support services for students and their own supplies. Kamau's philanthropic spirit will reduce that reality for our teachers.

I am so proud to call him not only my constituent but a leading voice in the United States. I thank Kamau so much.

Madam Speaker, I missed the vote on agreeing to the resolution, H. Res. 294. Had I been present, I would have voted NO on Roll Call No. 92.

Mr Speaker, I will vote for H.J. Res. 25, a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title

5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Internal Revenue Service relating to ``Gross Proceeds Reporting by Brokers that Regularly Provide Services Effectuating Digital Asset Sales.''

My constituents in the East Bay are among the many adopters of digital assets and cryptocurrencies. And while I have consistently opposed any Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolutions advanced by the House Majority--and am concerned about the loss in critical tax revenue as a result of this CRA--I believe the digital asset space offers new pathways for economic opportunity, especially for historically marginalized communities; and I strongly believe we must craft an inclusive regulatory framework that protects consumers, holds bad actors accountable, and supports financial inclusion for those who utilize these services.

I welcome the opportunity to work with my colleagues to thoughtfully legislate oversight of and implement necessary guardrails around digital assets so that we protect consumers--especially Black and Brown entrepreneurs, small investors, and working people--and promote innovation.

Mr. Speaker, I missed the vote on ordering the previous question on H. Res. 177. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 56.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Velazquez for this opportunity to speak. I thank Chairman Williams for working with me to introduce this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this effort to prioritize small businesses in the future through funding opportunities by preventing pandemic fraudsters from accessing Federal small business funds.

Like other communities around the United States, in California's 12th District, small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. Over 29,000 small businesses in our district bolster our region. These businesses struggled throughout the pandemic.

In Oakland's downtown, for instance, many of these institutions are fighting day in and day out just to stay afloat. I thank the Small Business Administration employees who work hard to support them.

These wonderful Federal employees have been connecting with small businesses in our district with emergency assistance, access to capital, advice on how to keep the doors open in the darkest times, how to pay their workers, and how to be strong servicemembers in our community. I have heard from many of these Federal workers who say they have been under assault by this current administration.

Just last month, I visited the Small Business Administration field office. Less than 2 hours after I left, two of those employees had received layoff notices.

Mr. Speaker, firing Federal employees in this moment does not decrease the need or importance of the agency; it just makes it harder for entrepreneurs, for restaurateurs, for childcare operators, and others to keep their employees paid, to keep their doors open, and to keep our downtowns thriving.

Every dollar that Congress gives to the Small Business Administration in this moment means the difference of a small business opening and employing folks or filing for bankruptcy.

The Small Business Administration has provided $1.2 trillion, let me say that again, $1.2 trillion in Paycheck Protection Program loans and other emergency assistance during the pandemic. As the ranking member has told us, unfortunately, there have been serious bad actors who took advantage of these funds, and those folks defrauded not only the government, but they defrauded the mom-and-pop shops on Main Street and, in my case, on Broadway.

Those dollars could have been used to create jobs, revitalize communities, and to help those businesses stay open and thrive. Instead, these fraudsters took advantage of the lax application screenings, which we believe may have resulted in them receiving at least 17 percent of the total Small Business Administration assistance.

Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration has created new safeguards to reduce the potential for this fraud, but this legislation that is supported by our committee would build

on this effort, making convicted fraudsters ineligible for Federal small business assistance.

Mr. Speaker, as someone who has driven a payroll for over 30 years, I cannot express how important this legislation is at this moment. We love and support our small businesses with all that we have.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 22 brave men and women from the Oakland Fire Department. These men and women responded to the call for help and literally ran into the fire last month in southern California.

While many firefighters from the Oakland Fire Department volunteered, which sums up our department's amazing commitment to service throughout our State, 22 members of our fire department came down from Oakland,

California, to join other men and women from around the country to aid southern California in this horrendous and heartbreaking effort to quench the fire.

As we see historic wildfires across California, the intensity will continue to remain, and our fervor and our commitment to support our first responders will be swift.

As a Representative for Oakland, California, and for California's 12th District, I will continue to ensure that California's 12th Congressional District is prepared and climate resilient. I am committed to making sure that our departments in my district and throughout California have what they need to keep Californians safe.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I oppose this misleading bill that deeply will criminalize doctors who provide the most basic and emergency healthcare to women.

His name was Selah Weston. At 21 weeks, his faint heartbeat clapped right next to my daughter's. He was a twin. I was given the opportunity to go home, and perhaps Selah would expel himself from my body, but all three of us became septic.

I had to go back to the emergency room, and my OB/GYN sat with me and my then-husband, who is now, too, in Heaven, and gave us the opportunity to say either we go through this procedure, or you die, Lelah dies, and Selah dies.

I want Congress not to be in those conversations with OB/GYNs who have to mourn with women who are facing death.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose this bill. If we want to talk about children, let's talk about childcare. Let's talk about housing. Let's talk about healthcare. We can come together and create beloved communities for our children and parents. This ain't it.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Raskin for the time.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to speak in this Chamber as a survivor. Folks know back home that I have been doing this work for 30 years, day in and day out.

As a survivor, I almost lost my life in my early twenties. I am proud to stand with millions of women and girls who have been victims and who are moving toward survivorship in saying no to this piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I come with 30 years of experience. I started my career leading the Young Women's Freedom Center, and I stood shoulder to shoulder with young women and girls who had been trafficked and beaten. I have been in morgues. I have been in the tanks of our county jails, literally on my knees, pleading with law enforcement to let young women out who themselves were victims and who were incarcerated wrongly for standing up for themselves while they fought for their lives.

I have learned through this work that justice is not a principle. It is our responsibility.

Later in my career, I led the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law started by President Kennedy. We expanded access and legal representation for migrants and asylum seekers, many who came seeking peace and solidarity, in search of safety and dignity.

Today, as a Representative of California's 12th District, I remain committed to advancing real solutions and making our communities safer. I, too, was a domestic violence advocate for a prosecutor.

I know this work. I remain committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fix a severely broken immigration system, but moreover, I am here to stand up for victims.

H.R. 30, and I repeat, does nothing to advance these solutions. Instead, it broadens the definition of domestic violence in ways that punishes survivors, making them inadmissible and subject to deportation, regardless of their legal status.

I say to my colleagues: We must read this bill. Read it. Let me be clear: We know that Federal law already allows deportation, demands deportation for individuals convicted of domestic violence. H.R. 30 doesn't strengthen the protection of survivors--it weaponizes them.

I know what it means to protect victims, Mr. Speaker. It means to fight systemic inequities in our current systems that don't work for those victims or survivors. H.R. 30 doesn't do this work.

That is why I too stand with over 200 organizations, one in which I cofounded, the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, that is 10,000 strong, who are young women and girls who are surviving rape and domestic violence and trafficking. They, too, say no.