Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I may hereafter be considered to be the first sponsor of H.R. 1510, the Due Process Continuity of Care Act, a bill originally introduced by Representative Sylvester Turner of Texas, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Colorado for his advocacy against this Congressional Review Act resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to these dangerous and unprecedented resolutions. A resource management plan is not some obscure rule. It is the playbook for how we manage America's public lands: balancing energy, grazing, and recreation with protecting clean water, wildlife, and the long-term health of the land.

The three plans under attack today took years to develop. They reflect extensive Tribal consultation, public input, and the expertise of career scientists.

As the gentleman just said, these resolutions don't just undo those protections. Under the Congressional Review Act, once a plan is overturned, the Bureau of Land Management is banned from writing a new one that is even remotely similar. In other words, the agency's hands are tied and not just today but for years to come. That is unprecedented.

If we go down this road, we will politicize the very foundation of how we steward America's public lands. We will silence communities, ignore science, and block future administrations from protecting our climate and our health.

Mr. Speaker, public lands belong to all of us. They are a shared inheritance and our shared responsibility. I urge my colleagues to stand up for our public lands and vote ``no.''

Mr. Chair, I thank the ranking member for her time.

Mr. Chair, data centers are sucking up our most precious resource: water.

Larger data centers can each drink up to 5 million gallons per day or about 1.8 billion gallons annually, usage equivalent to a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.

At a time when the climate crisis is driving water scarcity even in places not used to shortages, we cannot afford to ignore this grave threat. As the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, I am not ignoring this threat.

Today, I am grateful for the inclusion of my amendment in the en bloc that gives the Federal Government the tools it needs to understand and address how new technological demands are straining our communities' water. It is a simple, commonsense step, and in the face of an otherwise catastrophic bill that slashes clean energy incentives and raises prices, I am grateful to find consensus around safeguarding water for our communities.

This amendment is one small step in the right direction. I will not stop fighting to protect water, to protect our children's future, and to protect our planet.

Mr. Chair, I urge the adoption of this amendment en bloc.

Mr. Speaker, back-to-school season should be a time of excitement, a time when families pick out backpacks, meet teachers, and look ahead to a year of learning and growth.

However, for the Merlos family, a Portland family, homeowners, businessowners, and vital members of our community, this school year begins in fear and heartbreak.

Jackie Merlos and her four U.S. citizen children were detained by Customs and Border Protection and held for 2 weeks in a windowless cell without access to legal counsel.

After public outcry and a temporary restraining order from a judge, these U.S. citizen children were released from detention, but now they have been separated from their parents who remain in ICE custody.

Let's be clear. This cruelty is not accidental. It is family separation by another name, and it is doing nothing to make our communities safer.

As a mother, a physician, and a lawmaker, I will not stay silent. We need an immigration system rooted in dignity and justice, not fear.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Diane Lund-Muzikant--a fearless journalist, a tenacious truth-teller, and the founder of The Lund Report, Oregon's pioneering nonprofit dedicated to health care reporting. Diane passed away on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at the age of 86, leaving behind an indelible mark on Oregon's media and public health landscape.

Before I was elected to serve in this body, I spent more than two decades as a physician. I saw firsthand how opaque, inequitable, and profit-driven our health care system can be, and I also saw the vital role of journalists who were willing to peel back the curtain. Diane was one of those few. She understood that behind every headline about health care policy are real people--patients, families, and communities--impacted by decisions made in boardrooms and back rooms. She made it her mission to hold those in power accountable.

Diane began her reporting career covering local government and community issues before turning her focus to health care in the 1980's. Her work with the Medical Society of Metropolitan Portland helped illuminate the growing dysfunction in our health care system, a story too often ignored or misunderstood by the broader media.

She went on to found the Oregon Health Forum to convene critical dialogue around health policy, and then, at age 70, launched The Lund Report, a nonprofit news outlet that quickly became the gold standard for health care journalism in Oregon and across the Pacific Northwest. Relentless in her pursuit of truth, Diane asked hard questions, chased hard facts, and never shied away from hard truths. She built a legacy that will long outlive her.

Diane Lund-Muzikant embodied the best of what journalism can be: independent, courageous, and grounded in service to the public good. Her work strengthened Oregon's health care system and made our communities more informed, more compassionate, and more just.

As we continue to witness the erosion of local news and independent media, Diane's example reminds us why supporting journalists--and especially those committed to covering complex systems like health care--is essential to our democracy.

We owe her our gratitude. May her memory be a blessing, and may her legacy continue to inspire the next generation of truth-tellers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a mother, a physician, and a Member of Congress horrified by the ongoing massacre in Gaza.

This is not a humanitarian crisis in abstract. It is the result of choices, choices leading to preventable famine.

While bombs are leveling entire cities, the only so-called aid group allowed in, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is annihilating the very principles of neutrality and humanitarian relief.

Now, we are hearing reports that aid will be contingent on a cease- fire.

Let me be clear: That is morally bankrupt.

You do not negotiate over food. You do not bargain with medicine. You do not turn aid sites into deathtraps.

Palestinians in Gaza deserve safety, dignity, and the right to self- determination, not starvation.

Oregonians have been clear: The United States has a moral obligation to use its power to end this tragedy. A critical step is demanding the U.N. Relief and Works Agency is immediately reinstated in Gaza for large-scale aid delivery.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to declare that climate crisis is a public health emergency, and the Federal Government must treat it as such.

In the last decade, more than half of the 120 public health emergency declarations issued by the Department of Health and Human Services were a result of climate-related events: extreme heat, wildfire smoke, hurricanes, floods, and the spread of disease.

Last week, I introduced the Climate Health Emergency Act to address this reality head-on. It directs the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to declare the climate crisis a public health emergency.

This declaration will unlock emergency powers and coordination to allow an effective response to the rapidly escalating public health threat posed by climate change. Enabling interagency coordination, this bill will break down silos, maximizing our ability to effectively and efficiently respond.

As a lung and critical care physician, I have seen the direct harm climate change has on our patients: organs shutting down from heat exposure and lungs failing from smoke inhalation. I will not stand by silently as our government continues to fail to meet this crisis with the urgency it so demands.

Madam Speaker, I urge your support. Our children deserve a healthy future. Our job is to fight for it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as someone who cherishes both the breathtaking beauty of our national parks and the fundamental right to clean air.

When one asks what sets the United States apart, our national parks top the list, yet, increasingly, so does our

dirty and polluted air. That should alarm us all.

The Washington Post recently reported on what too many of us already know: Air pollution and climate change are choking even the most treasured corners of our country.

Wildfire smoke now blankets our parks each summer. Haze clouds once- clear views. The places we go to breathe deep and reconnect with nature are being smothered by our inaction.

At Look Rock in the Great Smoky Mountains, I saw how long-term air quality monitoring helps us track these threats, but data alone isn't enough. We must have the courage to act.

As a physician and mother, I know what is at stake. Every child deserves to explore our parks without wheezing from smoke or smog.

Clean air and healthy parks go hand in hand, and they are worth fighting for.

Mr. Speaker, my flight was delayed in getting to D.C. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 191, H.R. 1709; YEA on Roll Call No. 192, H.R. 1770; and YEA on Roll Call No. 193, S. 1596.

personal explanation

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

Mr. Speaker, this week, my office received our 100,000th message from the people of Oregon's Third District.

This is incredible. On an average day, I receive more than 650 messages, and that is just since being sworn in. We have got a lot to go.

Here is what I am hearing:

People in Portland are fearful. They fear for their children and their neighbors.

People in Rhododendron want to see courageous leadership that understands the needs of working families.

People in Gresham are working hard and are barely making ends meet. They want to know their families will be able to thrive.

People throughout Oregon's Third District want immigrant neighbors to feel safe, housing to be affordable, the climate to be protected, schools to be funded, and to have universal healthcare that they can access.

These messages aren't just correspondence. They are marching orders.

I thank every Oregonian who has written. Keep the emails coming.

Mr. Speaker, this year, I received a letter from Rachel, a mother in my district with stage IV lung cancer who is living on borrowed time. She is depending on future innovation driven by NIH research to see her son grow up.

Her words are more powerful than mine, so I will read them directly. ``I could write endless words about how many will be devastated by these funding cuts, but this is not that kind of letter. Despite my generous nature, cancer has taught me to be selfish.

``Every single day, I think about my mortality. How long do I have left? Is that shoulder pain or something else? Will I be alive to see my son graduate from high school? He turned 11 [in February], and I made him a lemon cake.

``NIH funding cuts will no doubt shorten my life. There is no truth about which I have ever been more certain.''

Mr. Speaker, our constituents are literally begging for their lives. As a physician and mother, I cannot speak enough about the harm that this bill, this cut to NIH funding, will do. I understand the importance of NIH funding because that is the driver of innovation and scientific discovery.

To my Republican colleagues, now is the time to show courage. Stop these cuts to the NIH. Do not undermine scientific innovation.

To Rachel, I will fight for you with everything I have. You deserve to see your son graduate.

Mr. Speaker, Oregon's Crater Lake National Park is a national treasure. As a lifelong hiker and camper, I have a deep affection for it among other national parks.

During my high school and college years, road trips to national parks like Crater Lake were all I could afford, but what they offered was priceless: awe, adventure, and connection.

For families across this Nation, these parks provide an affordable way to explore, learn, and build lifelong memories.

Just as Oregonians are gearing up for a summer of enjoying our most treasured places, Trump is driving out the public servants who protect them. Kevin Heatley, Crater Lake National Park's superintendent, has resigned.

Trump cut off one-half of his permanent staff, leading to unsustainable workloads and the deterioration of the care that Crater Lake demands.

Experienced professionals are being driven out under this administration's corrosive leadership. Our public lands deserve better, and Americans deserve better.

I will not stand by while Trump attacks our public lands. We must protect our national parks and the public servants who protect them.

Hands off Crater Lake, and hands off our national parks.

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Nunn of Iowa.) I would like to welcome all of the students to your Congress. Thank you for joining us here today.

Mr. Chair, I rise today not just as a Member of this body but as a physician who has spent nearly two decades caring for patients in the intensive care unit, many of them fighting for their lives because of a system that has failed to support them before a crisis hit.

In Oregon's Third District, we see every day how critical prevention, treatment, and recovery programs are. We need those programs that my colleague from New Jersey just referred to as being cut. This bill does nothing to repair those cuts.

These aren't abstract policy ideas. They are the difference between life and death for many of my constituents. They are critical for the health and safety of Oregonians and Americans across this country.

That is why efforts to sustain and strengthen these programs matter deeply to the communities I represent. They are essential for the parents working two jobs while navigating recovery, for the young people trying to build a future after surviving an overdose, and for families trying to heal.

Let's not kid ourselves. While Republicans bring this reauthorization bill to the floor, they stand by as the Trump administration dismantles the very agency responsible for implementing these programs. They have fired experts, erased offices, and rescinded over a billion dollars already allocated to State and local response. Just 2 weeks ago, they passed the largest Medicaid cut in history out of this Chamber despite the fact that Medicaid covers 40 percent of Americans addicted to opioids.

This wasn't fiscal accountability. It was a decision to directly undermine the access of care for millions of people who need it most. These are people who desperately need our compassion and care.

Do not be fooled by this game of smoke and mirrors. This kind of hypocrisy cannot go unchallenged. Claiming to support recovery while simultaneously gutting the programs that make it possible is politics at its worst.

My Republican colleagues cannot honestly stand for people's need to access treatment while kneecapping the agency that is accountable for providing it.

Lives are at stake, and the American people are watching. They do know what it means when elected leaders say one thing and do another, and they deserve honesty and real action.

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague from New Jersey for this debate.

Mr. Speaker, I echo my colleague's thanks to our colleague from Maryland for anchoring this incredibly important hour.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to defend food assistance, not just in my district, but for millions of Americans across this country.

Republicans passed a bill out of this Chamber enacting the largest ever cut to food assistance in our Nation's history. This ploy will put extreme pressure on our food banks, leave millions of Americans hungry, and force families to make impossible choices.

Let me be clear: Hunger is not inevitable. Letting people be hungry is a policy choice. Republicans are choosing to rip the food out of hungry people, hungry families' mouths. For what? To give tax breaks to billionaires.

I want to share a story from Rita, a woman in Portland who wrote to my office claiming if Federal food assistance was cut, she will have to choose between buying groceries and paying rent, buying groceries or paying the electric bill.

This is not an unfamiliar story for me as a physician, who heard my patients struggling with similar choices. The cruelty of this bill is not just unconscionable, it is heartless. We are talking about real people battling hunger. In the wealthiest country in the world, Americans shouldn't have to struggle so much just to get by. People deserve to thrive.

Republicans are choosing, again, to give tax breaks for the wealthiest on the backs of working Americans.

One in six community members in my district rely on SNAP. Seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities will go hungry. Food stamps aren't a handout. SNAP helps veterans who served our country and neighbors with disabilities. It feeds seniors on fixed incomes and families with young children. Most of these people have faced unimaginable odds and have nowhere else to turn.

We cannot turn our backs on those who need us most. This is a moment for moral clarity. Not one person in this country should go hungry, not one person should be left behind, and certainly not just so billionaires can line their pockets even further.

We have time to stop it, but only if we speak up. Stay loud.