Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on January 1, Republicans in Congress allowed the Affordable Care Act credits to expire.

Instead of celebrating a new year, millions of Americans confronted healthcare premiums skyrocketing overnight. Many had to make an impossible choice. Just look at my home State of Pennsylvania, where 85,000 people who receive their health insurance through Pennie, our health insurance marketplace, were forced to drop coverage.

That is one in five Pennsylvanians, and it is not surprising who is bearing the brunt of this crisis: older Pennsylvanians and rural communities, some of the most vulnerable among us; 85,000 people who can't access preventative screenings for cancer or visit a pediatrician when their child is sick; and people who may or will delay lifesaving care because they simply cannot afford it.

These tax credits save lives. That is why the House voted last month to extend them for 3 years. It was overwhelmingly supported. It was bipartisan. It is humane.

My message to my Senate colleagues is this: Bring this bill to the floor today. We cannot waste another moment.

Mr. Speaker, ``Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.''

I read these words today, the very first of the Articles of our Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, because 250 years later, our President does not seem to recognize them.

We were born from assembly. We live by free speech and a free press. These are the core tenets of our United States. Yet, the President floods American cities with lawless, thuggish ICE agents.

Their grotesque operations have killed two Americans in Minneapolis. It is hard to articulate the sheer brutality and the bone-chilling horror of the Renee Good and Alex Pretti murders, citizens shot dead while exercising their First Amendment rights.

Two journalists have been arrested. Children have been taken from their homes. U.S. citizens have been unjustly detained. At this point, more than 35 people have died in ICE custody, and 15 have been shot.

If we allow this to continue, then what does that say about our Nation?

Mr. Chair, I thank Ranking Member DeLauro and Chairman Cole, and my sincere sympathies to Chair Womack and his family on the passing of his beautiful wife.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of the negotiated fiscal year 2026 appropriations package for Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, for Defense, and for Transportation-Housing and Urban Development.

As a new member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, I am pleased to have contributed to the development of this legislation. I thank my colleagues on the Committee on Appropriations and the dedicated staff for their tireless work.

Despite serving in the minority, Democrats on the Committee on Appropriations have spent months fighting back against the Trump administration's proposed cuts to critical programs that support our healthcare systems and save lives. These efforts have made a difference.

We secured $7.4 billion for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, despite the administration's callous attempt just 1 week ago to eliminate almost all discretionary grant funding for the agency. I am pleased to say that Congress exercised its constitutional power of the purse and rejected cuts to an agency that serves as the backbone of our Nation's response to the mental health and addiction crises, which continue to take too many lives in America.

We restored funding for homeless prevention programs, peer support services, and mental health workforce training, and we secured funding increases for State opioid response grants and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

In addition, we successfully removed more than 20 partisan policy riders from the L-HHS bill, riders that would have defunded Planned Parenthood, blocked gun violence prevention research, and threatened the safety and dignity of immigrant and LGBTQ communities.

These bills are far from perfect, but they send a strong message to this administration: Make America Healthy Again cannot coexist with attempts to cut public health programs, and Congress will continue to assert our power of the purse and impose necessary checks on the administration.

The Defense and T-HUD portions of this bill also make important investments toward our public health.

The Defense bill restores funding for Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs of $1.3 billion following massive cuts in fiscal year 2025. Further, it includes over $100 million for PFAS remediation efforts at military installations.

The T-HUD bill includes $295 million for Lead Hazard Reduction and Healthy Homes grants.

More generally, we know housing is healthcare. This bill provides $74 billion in discretionary spending for housing programs.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this package, and I thank the chairman and the ranking member.

Mr. Speaker, the core of NATO is Article 5: An attack on one is an attack on all.

Since the end of World War II, the U.S. and our allies have honored and operated on this mutual trust. President Truman called it a neighborly act.

There is no article for if a NATO member attacks another because for 80 years, we have led a peaceful partnership for our shared democratic ideals. Truman considered the treaty a means to establish freedom from aggression and from the use of force in the North Atlantic community. If one ally invaded another, the center would not hold.

Now, President Trump seeks to threaten our historic alliance by his flippant, poisonous quip that we will have Greenland one way or another. As a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, I have met with the Prime Minister of Denmark and other key allies. They believe in America's global leadership. They have fought and died alongside us in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, they fear our words. They plan for a future in which the United States is no longer the indispensable nation, a core global ally.

This cannot be the path we forge. It is good to have friends, and in order to have friends, we must be one.

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the greatest casualty of the Donald Trump administration is the truth.

The President and the courtiers who encircle him traffic, intentionally and carelessly, in falsehoods, misinformation, and lies.

Consider just the last 7 days.

On Venezuela, they lied when they said it was about drugs. It never was. It was about oil. Witness the January and December Presidential pardons of the two biggest narcotraffickers. Whether it was the repeated murder of unidentified people in small boats or last Saturday's extraordinary capture of Maduro, they lied, saying they would not attack Venezuela before going to Congress.

On this week's fifth anniversary of January 6, the President continues his dangerous lies, supported by the Speaker of the House. The White House is going so far as an attempt to whitewash history on the official website of the White House, even blaming Capitol Police for the President's deadly insurrection.

Now, on the deadly ICE shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis, they are grotesquely lying and misidentifying a woman they did not know, even before her family could identify her body.

Mr. Speaker, we are better than this. America is better than this craven crowd.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the negotiated FY26 Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act.

As a new member of the CJS Committee, I am pleased to have been part of crafting this legislation. I thank my fellow Appropriations Committee members and staff for their extraordinary hard work making this bill happen.

Despite being in the minority, Democrats on the Appropriations Committee have fought for months to reject the Trump administration's proposed cuts to crucial programs, programs that make our communities safer and support our law enforcement. Our fight was fruitful.

For example, we secured $50 million for community violence intervention and prevention initiative grants, despite the President and the House Republicans' attempts to eliminate this funding that so many of our local law enforcement rely upon. These programs have immeasurably reduced crime and gun violence.

We successfully removed 76 partisan policy riders that would have eliminated firearms trafficking regulations, climate change, and so much more.

Further, this bill provides $938 million for STEM education so that we can invest in the next generation of innovators, despite the House Republicans' attempt to eliminate this funding.

Overall, this is a strong repudiation of the Trump administration's antiscience agenda. The Interior and Environment bill appropriates $8.8 billion for the EPA and includes provisions to protect staffing levels at EPA so that the agency can perform its mission to protect human health and the environment.

The Energy and Water bill includes strong funding for energy research and innovation programs including energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

This isn't just good for the environment. It is good for business. Amid rising energy demands and higher prices, an increase of $3 million to the Weatherization Assistance Program will help low-income households reduce their home energy use.

Mr. Speaker, these bills, while not perfect, reflect months of hard work by the Democrats to fight against the administration's cuts to vital programs and services so many Americans rely upon.

They reassert Congress' power of the purse, impose checks on the administration, and provide stability to our country and economy by avoiding another stopgap measure.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Cole. I thank the ranking member. It has been a privilege to serve on this committee, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the package.

Madam Speaker, I try to slow down at this time of the year, a season of giving thanks, coming together, and counting blessings. It is a season, regardless of one's faith--maybe really because of all of our faith traditions--to celebrate light, light over darkness.

For 75 years, my community of Abington, Pennsylvania, has hosted an interfaith Thanksgiving service. This year, hundreds gathered at Temple-Beth Am, warmly welcomed by Rabbi Robert Leib.

Pastors and priests, rabbis and imams, we were young and old, faith leaders and civic leaders, and what was clear from the readings and beautiful song is our different faiths have so much more in common. It is a common call to lift one another, welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, mourn with those who mourn, to love one another, price peache over conflict, and recognize our common humanity. It is ``Tikkun olam''; ``repair the world.''

This season, as we have come by a way we did not know to the end of another year, I am counting blessings and focusing on the light.

Madam Speaker, this month, my community, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, lost a giant, Jean E. Corrigan.

Whenever I hear the term ``grassroots'' or ``boots on the ground,'' I think of Jean. She believed wholeheartedly and full-throatily in Democratic values and devoted her life to them. It didn't matter if it was for the school board or the American President; Jean gave herself entirely to candidates who she believed in.

She led by example, always willing to knock doors, make calls, and volunteer at polling places. She served on countless committees and was vice chair of her local party, the Abington-Rockledge Democratic Committee.

Her front porch was an election season hub of lawn signs, literature, lists, and listening sessions on the latest intel. All the while, Jean was a devoted wife and mother.

Her husband, Pete; children, Joe, Dave, and Pauline; and her beautiful granddaughters were lucky to have them in her corner. I was lucky to have Jean in my corner, too, and we were all lucky that the Corrigans shared Jean and her many talents with us.

May God bless Jean Corrigan. She taught us well.

Mr. Speaker, I began this week in my district at Penn State Abington's new Collegiate Recovery Program with students in recovery for drug or alcohol addiction or who have been affected by others with addiction.

It is a place for students to be in community with each other and with professors and experts in addiction and recovery. How I wish every school and every family would have such an opportunity.

What are we doing here in D.C.? The President and Republicans in Congress are ripping the hope of recovery away for so many, slashing and shuttering SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Their big, beautiful bill gutted nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid. In my State, 100,000 people through Medicaid have access to treatment and to recovery. That is in jeopardy.

In 19 days, ACA tax credits will expire, spiking premiums overnight. Mr. Speaker, 30,000 Pennsylvanians have already dropped coverage. By the end of January, it is estimated by my Governor that 150,000 will be without insurance.

The students I met with are so young. They have people and resources on their side. I have such hope for them. We should want the same for everyone.

Mr. Speaker, commanding our Armed Forces and safeguarding our national security requires exemplary honor, experience, and loyalty to the Constitution.

Yet time and time again, the President and his Defense Secretary have proven themselves unfit. They have ordered dozens of illegal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean without congressional approval. This week, we have learned they likely committed war crimes by ordering a second strike targeting and killing survivors.

At the same time, President Trump is pardoning criminals like Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former President of Honduras who was convicted in a U.S. court for smuggling more than 500 tons of cocaine into our country and was sentenced to 45 years.

The President is also threatening violence against our very Members of Congress who simply reminded our military of their constitutional duty not to follow illegal orders. Most troubling, the President doesn't know how to lead, and he doesn't care.

Mr. Speaker, I implore my Republican colleagues, ask yourself: Is the President serious about stopping the flow of fentanyl?

No. He is deathly unserious.

Mr. Speaker, for more than 40 days, families across our country suffered through the longest government shutdown in history.

How did our President and Congressional Republicans respond?

They responded by amputating the East Wing of the White House to make way for a $300 million gilded ballroom.

They responded by throwing a lavish Gatsby-themed party at Mar-a-Lago where the President's wealthy friends toasted with champagne mere moments before 42 million Americans lost their monthly food assistance.

They responded by inserting a disgusting, corrupt provision into a so-called clean spending bill that allows for a slush fund for eight Republican Senators at the last hour to each collect as much as a million dollars or more--one million taxpayer dollars each--because their phone records were lawfully seized in connection with the January 6 insurrection.

The President and Congressional Republicans aren't looking for ways to feed people or lower costs. They are thieves lining their pockets.

I believe F. Scott Fitzgerald would have called them ``careless people.''

Mr. Speaker, when I came

Mr. Speaker, in my suburban Philadelphia district, more than 75,000 people struggle with not enough food. They struggle with hunger every single day.

That is why I voted against the cuts to SNAP, our Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. These cuts are going into effect now, and my constituents will do with less. These nutrition cuts hurt seniors, children, families, and veterans. The Gospel of Matthew teaches us to do better.

For I was naked and you clothed me; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me; a prisoner and you visited me; hungry and you offered me food.

May we use the privilege of our voices and our votes not to inflame but to inspire.

Mr. Speaker, there are places on this Earth with unbearable suffering. Right now Gaza is starving. Children are starving.

These photographs are very difficult to look at, but I ask you to look because this is a man-made famine. We are 698 days into the Hamas- Israel war, which we all understand, but it has been nearly 200 days since Prime Minister Netanyahu barbarously blocked all food, water, and medicine into Gaza.

There are Palestinians in a cage with very little resources. There are emaciated children too weak to walk or speak. Doctors, aid workers, and journalists struggling with hunger and malnutrition, or being killed as they fight to save the sick and wounded.

Instead of responding with mercy and moral clarity, the world watches and

the Trump administration responds with its usual weakness and cruelty, denying injured Palestinian children passage to the United States for care.

This massive suffering is man made, thus it must be stopped by man.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Netanyahu must cease-fire now, bring all hostages home now living and dead, and surge humanitarian aid now. ``We must repair the world''; ``Tikkun Olam.''

Mr. Speaker, for nearly 2 years, I had the privilege of working alongside Walt Hartnett, a man who was a decorated soldier, a compassionate advocate for veterans, and a loving father and husband.

Walt worked in my district office as our veterans affairs representative, connecting his fellow vets to healthcare, locating service records, and leading our veterans advisory panel. When vets came through our door, they knew Walt heard them.

Walt embodied service, and his time with our team was just one of those many roles. Walt was a 13-year Army veteran, serving 9 years Active Duty and 4 years in the Reserves. He earned the rank of sergeant and many military honors.

After his time in the military, Walt built a career in human resources, where he guided veterans into meaningful civilian careers.

As commander of our local Conshohocken VFW Post 1074 and commander of the Pennsylvania VFW District 16, Walt created a home for those who needed community the most.

When Walt joined our staff, I asked him why he would take a job so different, and perhaps of less pay, than the career he had planned. He said he was clear-eyed in his mission. He wanted to turn his passion for helping veterans into a career, and he did just that.

Walt was proud to work with and for the House of Representatives, an institution by and for the people. He was one of us, and he was a voice for a community that deserves our utmost respect and attention.

During our time together, Walt treated his role with the care and seriousness it demanded. He also handled it with joy and good humor. Walt's presence was all-encompassing. His laughter boomed through our offices, and his storytelling captivated every audience. He put his entire self into his work, and he was a friend to us, his coworkers.

Above all, he was a devoted husband and father. To know Walt was to know his family. He beamed with love and pride for his wife, Ashley, and his four children: Eric, Walt, Gianna, and Hailey.

It is with this beautiful family in mind and with their blessing that I share the next part of his story.

On June 9 of this year, Walt took his own life. It is a painful, sad, and difficult truth to share, and I share it because it is not the manner of Walt's death that is his true story. It is how he lived, with humor, compassion, and love of others. It is also, we know, a crisis in this country. Every day, many veterans die in this country from suicide.

Walt spent his entire life saving servicemen and -women, his brothers and sisters, from this very fate. Yet, we now eulogize him.

It is difficult for me to comprehend, for our team to comprehend, for his family.

In the days that followed Walt's death, the outpouring of grief and love, and disbelief, was beyond anything I have witnessed. His death reverberated in my district, through Conshohocken, Montgomery County, and, frankly, across the entire Commonwealth and Nation, because that is how many lives Walt touched. That is how people cared about him because he was a reflection of care.

His is an extraordinary loss for our Conshohocken community, for veterans, and for my office personally.

As we recognize September as Suicide Prevention Month, today, September 3, would have been Walt's 48th birthday.

As we mourn and grapple with his death, yet we celebrate his life, I share Walt's story as a way to please help others, to say you are not alone, and to say people love you and are available to help you; just reach out your hand, and we must reach out our hands, as well; and to say that veterans have endured so much, far beyond anything we can imagine. It is up to us to ensure that they get the aid they deserve.

We must do better by veterans. Walt sure did.

God bless Walt Hartnett, and God bless the Hartnett family. May his memory forever be a blessing.