Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I am blessed that my son, Ben, a Marine war veteran, returned safely from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ben is now a small business owner, and he has even given me two beautiful grandsons. And listen, not every family is as lucky.

Our servicemen and -women put their lives on the line for our Nation, and yet for too long, countless veterans have unknowingly been exposed to environmental hazards and toxic waste, like burn pits, during their duty. And then they come back home with long-term health impacts like cancer, infertility, and breathing issues.

Mr. Speaker, they deserve better. We owe them better. And here is the thing: If we are willing to send our troops to war, we must also be willing to care for their health upon return, and this includes the 80,000 veterans in my home area of Palm Beach County.

It is time for Congress to honor this commitment and pass the Honoring our PACT Act to provide access to VA healthcare to millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances.

The best way to thank our veterans for their service is with action. I urge my colleagues to pass this important bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate my guest for the State of the Union address, Allison Boettcher.

President Joe Biden and House Democrats are building a better America. The American Rescue Plan put our economy back on track with historic job growth and the fastest recovery of any of the world's leading economies; and small business owners across the nation, like Allison, have persevered and survived with assistance from President Biden and Democrats.

Allison is the founder of Blue Mountain Coffee House, a small business in Florida's 21st Congressional District. Raised in Jamaica, Allison has been passionate about the Caribbean--the culture, the community, and the coffee. In January 2020, she committed to sharing that love with her neighbors in West Palm Beach, and her fresh roasted coffee from Jamaica's Blue Mountains has become a local staple.

Like so many small business owners across the country, Allison found herself struggling when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and was able to withstand the economic fallout from the pandemic. With the help of the Paycheck Protection Program and Restaurant Revitalization Fund, crucial provisions in The American Rescue Plan, Allison's business stayed open and kept employees safe and on payroll.

For the people of West Palm Beach, Allison's Blue Mountain Coffee House is much more than a cafe, it is a place where people feel at home. Her tenacity and desire to serve the people of West Palm Beach is truly inspiring. I am grateful for her contributions and look forward to her continued success.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Friends of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, a non-profit organization in Florida's 21st Congressional District. Since its founding in 1982, the Friends of Loxahatchee have been tirelessly committed to conserving Florida's beautiful natural ecosystems for future generations to enjoy.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Yolette Bonnet, a fierce advocate for health care in Florida's 21st Congressional District who recently announced her retirement. For 20 years, Yolette has been committed to improving access to quality health care for individuals and families across South Florida. She has gone above and beyond to meet their health care and social service needs, regardless of their ability to pay.

Under Yolette's leadership, what began as a small social service organization in 1985--then known as The Comprehensive AIDS Program--has since been transformed into a community health center that provides comprehensive and culturally competent care to all people. Known today as FoundCare, this organization plays a vital role in the Palm Beach County community.

Yolette has worked to garner millions of dollars in grants and donations for FoundCare, helping the organization to expand to a total of seven locations across the county. Yolette was instrumental in helping designate FoundCare as Florida's first Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), which receives federal funding to serve low- income members of our community. Today, FoundCare is the largest non- governmental FQHC in Palm Beach County. Yolette has also supported our community throughout the COVID-19 public health crisis, initiating Florida's first COVID-19 community testing site at FoundCare.

Yolette's dedication and service to the people of South Florida is truly inspiring. Her outstanding work has touched countless lives, and I am so thankful for her efforts to improve health equity within our community. I wish her well on her retirement and I am proud to honor her today.

Mr. Speaker, people sometimes ask me what was the greatest moment in my life. I have had a lot of great moments, but I will say three. The first was the birth of my son, Ben, and I would say the next two were the birth of my grandchildren, Ivo and Bruno.

The decision for me to bring Ben into the world, the decision to raise a child, that was a personal decision made by me and my husband, and we didn't have to call a Governor, we didn't call a State legislator, we didn't call our Member of Congress and say, hey, is it time?

Mr. Speaker, I stand here to talk about freedom, freedom of everyone to have the right to make that very, very personal decision of whether or not to bring a child into the world, because we know the raising of a child brings so many blessings but also great responsibility. None of us really know the individual circumstances of other people.

I raise that point today, Mr. Speaker, because as I stand here in the Chamber, across the street at the United States Supreme Court, the Court is hearing a case about a law in Mississippi that would effectively overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that has given women the right to access abortion for the past 50 years.

That Mississippi law is an effort by Republican legislatures, and in this case the Mississippi legislature, to ban abortion. It is about politicians controlling women's bodies. It is about politicians taking away the personal decision of people to access the healthcare that they need.

Mr. Speaker, as I stand here today and have trepidation whether or not the Supreme Court is going to uphold this right to access to abortion, it is a clarion call for the United States Senate across the hall to take up and pass the Women's Health Protection Act, which we passed here in the House. That act would forever protect a woman's right to access a safe, legal abortion. Let freedom ring.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Ted Deutch and my colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the people of Cuba who deserve the right to stand up peacefully for freedom and basic human rights without fear of repercussions.

This summer, as my colleagues have already described, thousands of Cubans took to the streets peacefully to raise their voices for basics like food, and medicine, access to the internet, for freedom and opportunity in their country. And what was the response by their Cuban Government? Violence and arrests and detention without due process of hundreds of the protesters.

Here is what I think we can all agree with: the ability to speak freely, to rise and protest our fundamental human rights that everyone deserves, no matter where they live in the world, and that is whether you are marching here in Washington, or in south Florida, or on the streets of Havana. We must continue to support and stand up for those who are standing up for fundamental freedoms. And we must condemn the acts of violence and undue repercussions against people for exercising these rights.

So today, by passing this important resolution, we take a stand and we shine a spotlight on these blatant attacks on human rights in Cuba by condemning the acts.

Mr. Speaker, I just join those in condemning the acts of repression by the Cuban regime and call for the immediate release of Cuban citizens arbitrarily detained. I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Speier for her leadership today.

Madam Speaker, I have this speech and all that, but I don't want to make a speech. I told my friend I was just going to rant. She said: ``Go to it.''

I am listening to the cable news and all that, and they say the Democrats are fighting and they are talking about the moderates and the progressives, and I just want everyone to know this: We are fighting. We are fighting for you. We are fighting for the American people. And especially we are fighting to make sure that women and children are on this train when it pulls out on build back better.

First of all, I am a very proud member of the Florida delegation, but I am not really here as a Representative. I am here as someone who was a working mother and now I say I am a working grandmother. And I remember those days of having to juggle and make sure my son was in good, nurturing care as he was growing up and I was working full time. And now I have grandchildren whose parents both have to work full time, and I think about them all the time. Who are they going to be left with? What about when they have their colds?

I had forgotten, Representative Speier, that your first year of pre-K you are constantly sick. So not only do they go to school, then they have to have someone to take care of them when they have that cold. And I think my colleague from New Jersey gave a really good summary of what it is like for the parents struggling to make ends meet.

We know that parents are really making the least amount of money usually when their kids are the youngest. And it is really a stretch for so many parents to even afford childcare, and then for the sandwich generation to have to take care of the elderly or the disabled loved one who needs home care.

But I want to talk about also, Representative Speier and Madam Speaker, about the worker, the people in whose care we are leaving the people we love the most.

Representative Speier, did you realize that the average salary for a childcare worker or a home care worker is about $27,000 a year?

Will the gentlewoman yield?

So you think about it. After you pay your rent, your car payment, your insurance, your food, you buy your clothes, it doesn't leave much, if anything.

And think about the responsibility of these workers, as I said, taking care of our precious children.

And I want to give you an example, because the average income of all workers in the United States is $68,000. I would like that to be higher, too, and I am not saying that other people don't deserve good salaries, but just to give by comparison, a truck driver, $46,000; a schoolteacher, $64,000; an accountant, $79,000; a plumber, $60,000. I can go on and on. A salesperson, $64,000.

I am not saying they don't deserve that money, but don't the people who take care of our loved ones also deserve to make money so they can have a decent life?

Well, how about parking your car in a parking lot? We pay more to have someone watch our car than we do to watch our children.

And it is not only not fair and not right, but it also mostly affects women of color because that is who predominantly are our caretakers, and as a result, Madam Speaker, of this paying so little, there is a tremendous shortage.

Would you tell us, Representative Speier, what this means today in terms of the childcare and the home care industry in terms of getting people to even work the job?

Right. Because we are going to build back better for our children, and especially our working parents, for the elderly, who we love, and the disabled, by not only making it more affordable,

but also raising the wages of our care workers. We are talking about a transformational bill with Build Back Better.

Madam Speaker, I know you appreciate this, and those here today, is that we are fighting in this bill to have universal pre-K for all 3- and 4-year-olds in this country, getting our children off to a good start.

Representative Speaker, I know you can tell us, what does it mean when a 3- and a 4-year-old gets off to a good start, and how does that equate to how they are going to do later in life?

Madam Speaker, this is a declaration in the United States of America: That getting children off to an early start at ages 3 and 4 is as important as getting them into kindergarten or 6th grade, or whatever.

Madam Speaker, I know I said one last thing, but I do have one last thing, because we are talking about taking care of our families. If anything we learned from the pandemic, is the importance of being able to take care of a loved one when they are sick or disabled, or whatever. That is why the paid family leave provision of Build Back Better is so important.

In fact, is it true that we are the only industrialized nation in the country that does not have a paid leave policy?

Madam Speaker, I am glad I got to do my little ranting and raving. I know I have colleagues who are going to add a lot to this.

The American people should know that the Democratic Women's Caucus right here, and we represent people all over the country--

There are 90 of us. We are fighting for you. We are going to build back better for our women, our children, our parents, our grandparents. We love them all. I have two grandsons; I want them to have the same rights as every little girl.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support this SFOPs bill, which, in the words of President Biden, says that the United States is back on the world stage.

The bill reflects the importance of diplomatic and development assistance and cooperation with valuable partners to advance peace and prosperity around the world. It rebuilds public health infrastructure, confronts climate change, and advances basic education in undeveloped nations.

On a subject I know that we can agree on, on both sides of the aisle, the bill is proudly pro-Israel. It fulfills our commitment to Israel, whose security in a very, very dangerous region of the world is America's security, too. We expand our development partnership between our two countries to work together and improve lives around the world in poor areas.

I say to my colleagues, let's maintain this bipartisan support to our very good friend, Israel.

Mr. Speaker, the bill also recognizes that when girls and women succeed,

the world succeeds. The bill invests in education, health and maternal care, economic opportunity, and combating barriers to success like gender-based violence and child marriage. It supports the implementation of the ``Women, Peace and Security'' strategy.

Mr. Speaker, most importantly, this bill removes the harmful Helms amendment, which restricts U.S. funding for abortion services around the world, and removes the global gag rule, which forces healthcare providers to choose between U.S. global health assistance and the ability to counsel and provide clients with accurate and a full range of safe and legal reproductive options.

The gag rule has resulted in good and honest healthcare providers turning down United States financial assistance, forcing the closure of clinics around the world, leaving more than a million women without access to healthcare, including reproductive care.

Yesterday, I heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about restricting abortion in the United States. Now, today, it is Ghana and the rest of the world. I want to say to my colleagues, let me respectfully clue you in that in poor, undeveloped countries, you are not stopping abortions. You are stopping safe abortions. Unsafe abortions are responsible for 13 percent of maternal deaths around the world.

Let me give you another clue. The best way to stop abortions is with access to family planning and contraception, which is in this very, very good bill.

I heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about polling, and I say polling, schmolling. Polls say one thing; polls say another thing. I want to ask you, has any woman or even man in the world taken a poll to decide whether or not they should become a parent? I don't think so.

I am talking about past bills that have had these terrible provisions, the gag rule, the Helms amendment, and so forth. You know that sometimes you go along not because you want to go along. This has been the case for many of us with these provisions.

Let me just say as loud as possible, women cannot live their full potential unless they get to make their own decisions about parenthood. So, removing the global gag rule and the Helms amendment makes this such a very, very good bill that I celebrate today. This is an important bill, and I support it.

Madam Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Lee for yielding and for her great work on this bill. Madam Speaker, all I can start with saying is my, my, my. It is not enough that Republicans are trying to block safe, legal abortions in every nook and cranny on Earth, now they want to defund the world's finest health agency and cut funding for family planning.

For those who don't follow it, the UNFPA is the United Nations' sexual and reproductive health agency. Here is what it does: It supports reproductive healthcare for women and youth in

more than 150 countries, home to more than 80 percent of the world's population; it supports the health of pregnant women as well as reliable access to modern contraceptives and the training of thousands of healthcare workers; it supports the prevention of gender-based violence, including the abandonment of female genital mutilation; and it supports the prevention of teen pregnancy complications and efforts to end child marriage.

I want to make it very clear, UNFPA has never supported forced abortions anywhere. Where I have heard that, it is a lie.

This en bloc also seeks to cut family planning. Are you kidding? Really?

You are trying to stop abortions, and then my friends on the other side of the aisle think you are going to stop it by stopping access to contraception and blocking the work of healthcare providers who deliver reproductive care? To me that is just crazy, Madam Speaker. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Madam Speaker, I have said this before, and I say this again, for women and their families to be safe, for communities to be prosperous, for the world to be peaceful, women must succeed. And that means they have to be healthy, free from sexual violence, and free to make their own personal decisions about whether and when to become a parent.

I oppose the amendments en bloc, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this bill that invests in the love and commitment we have for our families, from the very young to the very old.

It gets our children off to a good start with historic funding for pre-K and child care, and makes sure all children have access to high- quality public education regardless of their ZIP Code.

We want our children to have a chance to live out their dreams, so we make unprecedented investments in Pell grants for college students, including DACA recipients.

And our grandparents have given us so much. To help them age with dignity and comfort, the bill increases funding for home and community- based services and research on Alzheimer's and other conditions that impact older Americans.

And, of course, we want our families to be safe and healthy, so this bill doubles funding for research on gun violence, pluses-up mental health treatment, and makes historic investments in combatting climate change and protecting Florida's Everglades, drinking water for millions.

And this is a country that honors our veterans. I am proud to champion Centers of Excellence for Student Veteran Success programs that help veterans transition from Active Duty to civilian student life.

And today we celebrate reproductive freedom with historic investments in Title X Family Planning program, which provides health service to millions of low-income patients in our

most underserved communities, and we eliminate provisions blocking the use of Medicaid funding for abortion.

No matter how we feel about abortion, politicians should not deny someone's health coverage just because they are struggling financially. Women must have the freedom to decide when and if to become a parent. This is monumental.

This is a bill filled with love and hope and justice that lifts up our families. I am proud to support it.

Madam Speaker, I rise on the 200th day of the House Democrats delivering for the people.

Madam Speaker, over the years, I have had the opportunity to mentor young girls from hard-pressed families, and I will tell you this, they taught me more than I ever could teach them. And I learned that even with mothers working two jobs, there were weeks of just peanut butter in their pantry and having to move place to place just to find affordable rent.

That is why I celebrate the historic expansion of the child tax credit in the American Rescue package, because it has the power to lift millions of children out of poverty, give them the futures they deserve. It is going to help our families thrive and our economy to recover. We can build back better by lifting our children.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 205.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Takano and Ms. Brownley for their magnificent leadership advancing the health and safety of our women veterans.

Madam Speaker, my, my, my, this bill, which passed unanimously last session, is just mind-boggling that now some Republicans are opposing it.

Really?

I am going to say this: As a very proud mother of a son of a United States Marine Corps veteran, I know the risks and sacrifices of our brave military. So I say without hesitation, after service to our country is completed, no veteran of the United States Armed Forces should be forced to pay out-of-pocket expenses for preventative care, including contraception, that their civilian counterparts do not pay.

Small copays can be prohibitive for veterans struggling to make ends meet. In fact, studies show that costs associated with contraception, even when small, lead some people to forego it completely, to choose less effective methods, or use it inconsistently.

Here is the thing, Madam Speaker; the decision about whether or when or how to become a parent is one of the most important decisions a person can make. Our veterans were willing to stand up and take bullets for our freedom, so we need to stand up for theirs. Let's make it clear, today we are focused on access to birth control.

The Republican position conflating abortion and contraception is part of a broader extreme effort to block access to any type of reproductive healthcare. So let's eliminate the barriers and get the veterans the healthcare they need.

Madam Speaker, I call on my colleagues to demonstrate their commitment to the patriotic people who make up our military and veteran communities by passing this very good bill, Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act.

Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Waters for her leadership on this issue.

Madam Speaker, I want to highlight some language in this en bloc amendment that is very important to the working women of this country. The provision requires publicly traded companies to disclose the number and monetary amounts of settlements and judgments in connection with workplace harassment claims.

This will not only improve transparency and accountability for public companies, but it will provide incentives for them to foster respectful, safe workplaces free from harassment and to make sure that there are consequences when workplace abuses occur.

Here is the thing. Up to 80 percent of women have experienced some form of workplace harassment, and there are serious implications that often result: physical and mental health problems, career interruptions, and lower earnings. Enduring this kind of harassment at work can even discourage women from advancing their careers, which only makes the gender wage gap worse.

All persons must have safe workplaces to reach their full potential, and investors should know more about the workplaces they are putting their money behind. Transparency should add motivation to employers to keep their employees safe, and that is good for everyone.

Madam Speaker, last week, the unthinkable happened. A grandmother, Litha Verone, was innocently shopping in a local supermarket with her precious young grandson when they were both brutally murdered by a deranged man with a semi- automatic weapon.

My heart breaks for Litha's family for their unbearable loss.

But, once again, prayers and good wishes are not enough. On so many levels we must take action passing commonsense gun legislation, strengthening our mental health system, reaching out to those in trouble because in the last moments of her life, a grandmother watched in horror as her grandchild was shot and killed by a man who should never have had a gun.

Madam Speaker, last week, the unthinkable happened, and we must not stop thinking about it.