Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the chamber on Thursday, December 20, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on roll call votes 448, 455, 461, 466, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, and 482. I would have voted ``nay'' on roll call vote 467.

Specifically, for roll call vote 448, the First Step Act, I would have voted ``yea'' enthusiastically in support of this legislation. Despite my delay in making it to the House floor, I would have supported this legislation due to the reforming of decades old policies that have plagued our criminal justice system.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the chamber on Wednesday, December 19, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on roll call votes 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444 and 445.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the chamber on Monday, December 10, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on roll call votes 426 and 427.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the chamber on Friday, November 30, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on roll call vote 425.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the chamber on Thursday, November 29, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on roll call vote No. 423. I would have voted ``yea'' on roll call vote No. 424.

Mr. Speaker, when I was born, separate but equal was the law of the land. Even in a northern city like Chicago, a young Puerto Rican kid knew where he could and could not go, which beaches and pools were open to him, and which were off-limits.

Segregation and discrimination by race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation were deeply embedded in the customs and culture of our society, and upheld by the State and Federal Government.

So as I prepare to leave office after 26 years representing the people of the Fourth District of Illinois, I think it is important to reflect on how far we have come and how far we still have to go before this country lives up to its lofty ideals enshrined in our most sacred documents and origin mythology.

That a Puerto Rican born in Chicago in 1953, 65 years ago, the son of Spanish-speaking immigrants with little education who were driven by poverty from the mountains of Puerto Rico, would be able to speak into this microphone at all is perhaps a ringing endorsement for what this Nation stands for.

But let us be clear: People sacrificed and died so that I could speak here today. People I never met, like Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, and countless others, died in the struggle against discrimination and American apartheid, and opened the path for me to be here today.

The Voting Rights Act and other civil rights legislation passed in my lifetime on this floor were soaked in the blood of martyrs, old and young, who kept moving forward until everyone had the right to vote and every vote was counted.

Even as the President and his party challenge the principles of the Voting Rights Act today, I have always tried to honor those who have given their lives to make America freer and stronger.

To be blunt, were it not for the sacrifice of Black Americans, Black people in this country and their allies, who literally had their homes and churches bombed fighting to make this country live up to its own creed, I would not be here speaking to you today. That has always and will always guide me.

When the Fourth District was created to give Latinos an opportunity in Chicago to have a voice in Congress, I was the first to win that seat. While the majority of my constituents then in 1992 were 65 percent Latino, on election day, the majority of voters were White.

In 26 years and 13 elections, that has changed. Today, voters on election day in the majority Latino Fourth District, which I represent, are, in fact, Latino.

Early on, I realized the constituent services in my district were not restricted to veterans' benefits and Social Security, although we work hard on those issues. In my district, helping people navigate the complex and expensive process of citizenship was a top need and became a top priority for my office.

We helped more than 55,000 people--let me underscore that, 55,000 immigrants--become citizens, sponsoring workshops, helping people resolve issues, and setting a standard that I feel is unmatched by any congressional office.

Just last month, I spoke with a woman who told me a remarkable story. Her daughter had assembled all of her documents and was prepared to apply for citizenship, and then she left the file on a Chicago subway system train. A few days later, this woman told me, a knock came at her door. Someone had found her daughter's folder, and they didn't give it to the CTA's lost and found, but, rather, they made sure it got to my office on Fullerton Avenue in Chicago.

My office and staff were so associated with citizenship and helping the immigrant communities that this Good Samaritan felt there was only one logical place to return the documents. Indeed, we worked with her daughter to make sure all of her documents and fees were filed. Today, she is a citizen of the United States of America.

When I walk through my district and talk with moms and dads, they tell me how my office touched their lives.

Whether it was for citizenship or fighting someone's wrongful deportation, my office has done more than just help constituents. We have literally helped them preserve their families.

It is the legacy of helping families and individuals, and making this country a more welcoming place for people, people a lot like my parents from rural Puerto Rico, that is what I carry with me as I leave.

My work for America, her immigrants, and the character of our great Nation is not done. It is simply switching to private life. We who believe in freedom cannot rest. But to all of my colleagues, past and present, thank you for walking with me on this journey these many years.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the chamber on Tuesday, November 27, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on roll call votes 421 and 422.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the chamber on Tuesday, November 13, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call votes 416 and 417.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House chamber on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call votes 400 and 401.

Mr. Speaker, I am a member of the Judiciary Committee in this body, and, unfortunately, the Framers of the Constitution didn't give my committee or this Chamber a role in vetting and confirming the President's nominee to the Supreme Court.

But in the House, we pride ourselves as being the people's House because we are in constant contact with our constituents. So while I do not have a vote in the process, I do have a voice. As an elected Representative, I feel a sacred responsibility to raise my voice.

First of all, I don't care when the allegations of sexual assault came forward. I don't care about whatever schedule Senator Chuck Grassley thinks is more important. I don't care about the impending fall term of the Court or the timing of Robert Mueller's next indictments in his investigation of the Trump White House and campaign.

In the case of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, we should listen to the women. We should always listen to the women, but in this case, multiple women have come forward to risk their lives and reputations because they believe the truth about Judge Kavanaugh must come out before he is confirmed or rejected by the Senate.

Women in this country should know that if you come forward to make credible allegations against anyone, you will be respected and you will be heard.

Do you want to know why so few sexual assaults are reported in this country? Well, it is unfolding on the national stage: Why didn't she report it? Why didn't she do something more? Why didn't she say something earlier?

It is always she, she, she, when we know that sexual assault is not her fault, and fear of coming forward is not her fault either.

They didn't believe Bill Cosby's accusers until they did, or Harvey Weinstein, or Speaker Hastert's, or a hundred other people I could name here today, until we did.

When the stakes are this high, we shouldn't be imposing deadlines or ultimatums or requiring victims to conform to our timetables, as Republican Senators have done. And by high stakes, I don't mean just the lifetime appointment of a judge, but this is an important moment for young men and young women in this country. They are watching, and they are learning.

We should be leading by example and allowing victims to come forward, be respected, and be heard.

Do I want my grandson to learn a lesson that sexual assault while he is in high school could follow him for the rest of his life? You are damn right I do.

Do I want young men to learn that behavior that hurts other people, no matter how drunk or how high they are, is unacceptable? You are damn right I do.

Do I want young women to not be afraid to come forward, no matter when they are ready to? You are damn right I do.

Look, I am not saying you need to believe Judge Kavanaugh's accuser, but as a Congress and as a country, we need to listen to women.

Now, I will admit that I would not vote for Judge Kavanaugh whether or not the current allegations are true or Republicans steamroll the victims to fast track his appointment. I believe in a woman's right to control their own reproductive system, regardless of what men think. So, yeah, you can bet I would vote against him.

I believe freedom of religion should extend to all, including those of the Muslim faith, who should be able to worship and move around just like everyone else. So you can bet I would vote against Kavanaugh.

I believe people should marry whomever they want, whomever they love. I oppose a judge who thinks a sitting President is above the law right now when we need as a Nation an independent judiciary to hold politicians, even the President, accountable, which is another reason I wouldn't vote for Judge Kavanaugh.

But what is important right now is not how I feel about Judge Kavanaugh. What is important is that we lead by example. We need to be clear that the days of, ``Boys will be boys,'' or, ``It was just locker room talk,'' are over.

Mr. Speaker, the Senate should take as much time as is needed to take very seriously this situation. They should take it seriously for our daughters, for our sons, for you, and for me, too.

Mr. Speaker, this bill does not come to the floor in a vacuum. The midterms are coming, and Republicans will try to pass whatever they can before they lose and pass the gavel to the new speaker.

We know more indictments and guilty pleas are coming from Robert Mueller and his team.

And we know Republicans are having a hard time defending tax cuts where 83 percent of the cuts went to the richest 1 percent and the rest of America got the leftovers.

Don't forget the Republican agenda to systematically strip away healthcare coverage from American families who are struggling to make ends meet.

No, the Republicans don't want to talk about tax breaks, billionaires, or foreign Russian alliances of this President, Trump. They want to talk about San Francisco and immigrants.

Republicans will do anything to beat up on immigrants so that voters forget to beat up on Republicans who hold all the power. It is the oldest political hokey-doke trick in the book: Hey, look over there. Blame them, not us.

It started with immigrants are rapists and murderers. Then it was immigrants are cheats and frauds. Then they said immigrants and their children deserve to be locked up. Then the President started pushing the biggest lie of all, that immigrants are a drain on the economy.

The Attorney General, despite being humiliated--I mean humiliated--on a daily basis by this President is adopting a scorched earth, anti- immigrant agenda to ensure as many deportations as he can before he gets the axe.

The American people are smart enough to see through this smoke screen. They see how Republicans deal with a woman's claim of sexual assault. They understand their taxes are going up at the same time taxes on the Republicans' favorite people, that is to say, corporations, are going down.

They get the message that the President opposes immigrant families, except when it comes to his wife and her ability to make her own family citizens of the United States of America. They understand Republicans are opposed to legal immigration, refugees, Dreamers, and TPS holders.

Republicans are not interested in the kinds of immigrants or the kinds of average American families, for that matter, who wake up early every day and have to go to work. Nope. Not the people who work at Mar- a-Lago, not the people who tend to the greens at Trump golf courses, not the people who clean rooms at Trump Tower.

No, Republicans are not interested in people who work at Trump Tower, only the people who can afford to live there.

Well, your time is up. The American people will make that real clear in a few weeks, regardless of how many of these resolutions you pass.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House Chamber on Wednesday, September 12, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Yea'' on roll call votes 394, 395, and 396.

Madam Speaker, before I respond to President Trump's claim that the rescue and recovery effort in Puerto Rico a year ago after Hurricane Maria was ``one of the best jobs that's ever been done,'' I want to make a few things clear.

First of all, everyone is praying for our friends and neighbors along the eastern seaboard who will be facing the wind and rain of Hurricane Florence today. I support them and the first responders who are helping and the people running shelters and delivering medicine to the sick and the injured; and I fully support FEMA, Homeland Security, and State and local governments for what they are doing, especially the brave men and women on the front line in harm's way today.

Secondly, in the last few weeks, the official death toll of Hurricane Maria was raised to 3,000 based on a meticulous study by George Washington's Milken Institute of Public Health, and the number is based on facts and the truth. More people died in Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico than died in Hurricane Katrina and that died in the attacks on September 11.

That is not fake news, Mr. President.

The temptation is to fault FEMA and the job they did in Puerto Rico. I want to make clear, individuals at FEMA and FEMA as an agency did heroic work in Puerto Rico, and FEMA continues to do that work.

I flew with FEMA pilots 10 days after the storm hit, and I saw their work up close. It is clear that they saved lives.

But let me also be very, very clear. With 3,000 people dead, for the President to say that Puerto Rico was a success, a triumph of his Presidency, is simply delusional.

Only in the President's mind could he give himself an A-plus. Only in the President's mind could we go a year without an apology to the American people for his incompetence in managing a crisis where 3,000 people died, Mr. President. And now he denies that they are even dead.

It takes a man of humility, honor, and compassion to admit when he has made a tremendous and deadly mistake in caring for the American people; and we know we do not have a man in the White House who is capable of such emotions of empathy, of basic human decency.

This Congress has failed to provide any meaningful oversight for fear they might embarrass the President with the facts.

Thursday will mark 1 year since the storm hit, and think back a year ago. The popular and charismatic mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz, called for help on national TV, saying people are dying. The President had a meltdown because he doesn't like being criticized by women, so the mayor's words were more than the President could take.

Most of us knew at the time, and all of us know now a year after the storm, the mayor was right and the President was wrong. People died. He was dead wrong.

Disasters require preparedness and rapid response, but FEMA was not fully prepared, and they were not fully supported in the rapid response by the Trump administration, which was then and is now a disorganized mess. And we don't need Bob Woodward to tell us that.

Yes, the massive power of the storm was compounded by decades of neglect from Washington, which contributed to the debt crisis and infrastructure collapse. And to be clear, Puerto Rico's problems didn't happen overnight and didn't happen on President Trump's watch. But let us also be clear, it is his watch now.

As President of the United States, he is responsible for Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that belongs to, is a possession, property of the United States of America.

Yes, islands are surrounded by water, Mr. President--in the case of Puerto Rico, deep water--but FEMA and Homeland Security never called the most powerful military in the world, the U.S. military, which has capabilities and capacities well beyond those of FEMA.

From the beginning, the President's focus was on damage control from a political standpoint, not damage control

from a human life standpoint. The sad truth is that, in trying so hard to make sure that the hurricane didn't become ``Trump's Katrina,'' we lost far more lives. This was a disaster mismanagement, and that lies at the feet of the President and his administration.

What is offensive to many of us is that, even though the President dropped the ball, he is now doing a victory dance in the end zone--or should we call it the dead zone.

I pray that his response to the current disaster unfolding along the East Coast will be better and more empathetic. He has a golf club in North Carolina and a winery in Virginia, so maybe the American people in those States will get more of the President's help than my fellow Puerto Ricans did. And I pray the response is more successful.

Mr. Speaker, I have been thinking about all the criminal investigations pointing directly at the President and his associates and the fact that, for many Americans, this has become a he- said/he-said debate.

On the one hand, you have the President saying that this is all a witch hunt: Yes, I fired Comey and ordered to derail the investigation; yes, I knew about and helped conceal the Russia meeting; and, yes, I knew about the payments to keep people quiet.

Then there is Robert Mueller, the former FBI Director, who really hasn't said a word this whole time, but his efficient, productive, and successful investigations keep rolling right along. I guess he lets his indictments do his talking.

So in this battle of he-said/he-said, who would the oddsmakers pick? If you were a betting man or woman, a Vegas oddsmaker, or just an armchair quarterback, who would you go with?

On the one hand, we have a conservative Republican who was the second longest serving FBI Director. Only Hoover served longer. On the other hand, we have the host of a reality TV show with no political or government or military or law enforcement experience whatsoever.

Hmm, let's continue.

On the one hand, we have a Vietnam veteran with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Director Mueller joined the Marines as a volunteer at the height of the Vietnam war after his high school teammate was killed in action. Mueller enlisted to honor his friend and out of a sense of duty, honor, and obligation to put oneself behind one's country as a matter of honor.

On the other hand, we have the President, who avoided military service by claiming he had bone spurs in his foot, despite ample evidence that was a lie, a complete fiction made up to serve what? His own personal interests above those of the Nation at time of war.

According to what I have read, Director Mueller was a good student at Princeton, and after earning his bachelor's and master's and after serving in Vietnam with distinction, he studied law at the University of Virginia, where he served on the Law Review, a prestigious accomplishment at any law school, let alone one of the best.

The President went to business school and inherited millions of dollars and started a real estate business because his dad gave him the money.

Director Mueller is a courtroom expert and veteran law enforcement leader. Think about this: He was a private litigator, a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office, and started serving at the Justice Department under Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, who was Ronald Reagan's and George H.W. Bush's Attorney General.

To be sure, the President has a great deal of courtroom experience, too, but that is mostly related to depositions, civil lawsuits, and criminal cases when he sues people or threatens to sue them.

On a more personal note, Director Mueller's service as FBI Director, as you may remember, was delayed at one point because he was fighting prostate cancer, which he beat.

He is a man of integrity who married his high school sweetheart in 1966, and to the best of everyone's knowledge, it is the only marriage of either one of them.

The President, well, I am running out of time, so I won't be able to discuss his long list of marriages and affairs, which have all become quite public.

Finally, while the President characterizes the Mueller investigation as the most expensive witch hunt in history, I bet the oddsmakers would give a lot of weight to the following facts: The President's campaign chairman has been convicted; his National Security Advisor resigned and pleaded guilty; his personal attorney and long-time fixer in New York pleaded guilty on multiple counts; and people from inside The Trump Organization and inside the campaign and the White House are cooperating with prosecutors as we speak. And this was all despite the President's efforts and with the full cooperation of Republicans in Congress to prevent the truth from coming out.

There are a lot of people in this body who are staking their careers on the

President and his influence over their voters in their States or their congressional districts. Okay. You are betting on a guy who is up tweeting at 3 a.m. in the morning.

Look, I am going to bet--when I look at the main protagonist in this legal drama, I will put my money on the law enforcement veteran who, at 3 a.m. in the morning, is working on who he is going to indict next.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House chamber on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Nay'' on roll call votes 380 and 381.