Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Democratic Caucus, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

On Monday, the House will meet at 12 p.m. for morning-hour debate and 2 p.m. for legislative business, with votes expected no earlier than 6:30 p.m.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning- hour debate and 12 p.m. for legislative business.

On Thursday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business, with last votes no later than 3 p.m.

We will consider several bills under suspension of the rules. A complete list of the suspension bills will be announced by the close of business today.

In addition, we will consider bills rejecting hate toward the Asian- American and Pacific Islander community, including S. 937, the Senate- passed COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which addresses the dramatic increase in hate crimes targeting the AAPI community since the start of the pandemic.

H. Res. 275, a resolution condemning the horrific shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 2021, and reaffirming the House of Representatives' commitment to combatting hate, bigotry, and violence against the AAPI community.

We will also consider H.R. 1629, the Fairness in Orphan Drug Exclusivity Act, which closes the loophole that blocks pharmaceutical competition and prevents innovative treatments for opioid use disorder from coming to market, and would help millions of Americans suffering from opioid addiction.

Next week, the House will also consider the Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, 2021, which addresses enhanced security needs for the Capitol complex; and House Resolution 3233, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act, which establishes a commission to investigate the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6.

This is bipartisan legislation. I want to thank Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Katko for their leadership in announcing this bill, and I hope that it will have broad bipartisan support next week.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for the question and for acknowledging the extraordinary success of the Biden- Harris administration in putting millions of shots in arms at a historic pace.

Will the gentleman yield?

Madam Speaker, that success that the gentleman talked about was fueled by this Congress last year and this year and by a science-based investment approach that the American Rescue Plan offered. As evidenced by this guidance, we are building back.

But I want to call particular attention to the ``Dear Colleague'' letter that Dr. Monahan sent out to everyone on the Capitol complex campus. It says: ``The present mask requirement and other guidelines remain unchanged until all Members and floor staff are fully vaccinated.''

Will the gentleman yield?

The centerpiece of this strategy that the gentleman just acknowledged is vaccinations.

It is important that we continue to get as many Members as we can vaccinated. That is the strategy that Dr. Monahan, Rear Admiral Monahan, a distinguished physician, the strategy that he has laid out.

Will the gentleman yield?

Madam Speaker, the cornerstone of the strategy is vaccinations. What the gentleman is asking is an important question. What the majority is saying is, let's follow the guidance of the Office of the Attending Physician.

We have no interest in knowing individually what Members and what staff members are vaccinated. Our interest is in governing this House and the operations of this body, and we trust that Dr. Monahan will work with both parties and both sides of the aisle and will give us a report when this House is fully vaccinated. That becomes our guidance.

Will the gentleman yield? We will talk about the Constitution.

I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia yielding once again. I will try to be as clear as I possibly can.

We will follow the guidance of the Office of the Attending Physician, a decorated rear admiral, who is hoping, with the Sergeant at Arms, to govern the Capitol complex.

As the CDC guidelines mention--and I am sure my colleague has read the full CDC guidance, which specifically says government buildings and local governments and State governments may make separate----

The gentleman knows I am happy to talk about HIPAA and your role with it.

What I would say is, the CDC guidelines, as my colleague from Georgia understands, specifically mentions workplaces can set their own guidelines. We are following workplace guidance given by the Office of the Attending Physician and the Sergeant at Arms. Those are the processes that govern this body, whether Democrats are in control or Republicans are in control. We should be guided by public health guidance. That is exactly what we are doing here.

And I appreciate the question. Because as the gentleman knows, we are a co-equal branch of government here in the Capitol. So I appreciate his love of the executive branch of government; I really do. However, we are governed by different rules. As a co-equal branch of government, we should be.

Will the gentleman yield?

I appreciate the question, and this is such a timely and important topic that the country needs to address. I am incredibly pleased with the bipartisan success that the negotiations have led to, to date.

As the gentleman knows, those conversations continue to be ongoing, but the majority believes that those conversations are progressing in a way that is hopeful toward addressing this issue.

I think both sides realize, and I hope the minority realizes, the importance of making changes to protect our communities. I know the gentleman is a former mayor, as I am as well. So we have dealt with a lot of these issues at the local level.

So what I would say is, Senator Scott, Congressman Stauber, and Congresswoman Karen Bass have been engaged in this discussion. We want to give them the latitude and the flexibility to continue those discussions. I wouldn't agree with the characterization that the gentleman from Georgia made about where the negotiations are, but I can tell you that we are committed to seeing this done. We are committing to getting this done and putting a bill on the floor that will have strong bipartisan support.

As the gentleman knows, there was a lengthy Special Order hour led by our colleague from Florida, former police chief herself, talking about the importance of these issues, the importance of honoring heroes, the importance of honoring people who put themselves in harm's way each and every day and are behaving well.

What I would ask the gentleman from Georgia is, in that similar vein, honoring police week, honoring those folks who helped us, who looked out for us January 6, I hope the gentleman will encourage the minority leader to meet with Officer Fanone from the Metropolitan Police Department, who has requested a meeting with the minority leader to talk about the events of January 6 and to talk about his experiences, which were so impactful as he shared them on national television and as he talked about the role that he played and the role that his colleagues played in protecting this temple of democracy.

I hope that the minority leader has the time to meet with Officer Fanone. I signed a letter to the minority leader from my colleagues encouraging him to do so, and I hope that the gentleman from Georgia reiterates the importance to meet with law enforcement heroes.

Will the gentleman yield?

Madam Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, earlier this week, we marked the 100th day of the 117th Congress, and I rise today to reflect on some of the progress we have made in the House.

In our first 100 days, we passed the Equality Act to ensure full equality under the law for our LGBT community.

We removed the ratification deadline from the ERA to extend that same equality to all American women.

We passed the Dream and Promise Act, giving young immigrants who call this country home a chance to build their lives here.

We passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to reform our broken system of policing.

We took meaningful, lifesaving action to prevent gun violence and stop further tragedies.

The recent tragedies our country has endured have further highlighted the need for the Senate to take action quickly on these bills.

We passed the American Rescue Plan, the most important and ambitious investment in the American people into nearly a century. This bold legislation gives us a roadmap to help us build back better and to emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever. It has helped 50 percent of Americans receive a lifesaving vaccine and put money in the pockets of people.

I am so proud of all we have achieved, and I know our work is just getting started.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Democratic Caucus, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Inland Empire of Southern California, the region that my family has called home for generations.

In my community and around this country people are hurting.

Businesses are struggling to keep their doors open. Families are wondering where their kids' next meal is going to come from, and our healthcare system is being pushed to the brink of failure.

Our communities are hurting, and they are wondering if people they sent to Washington to represent them are going to do anything about it. We need relief, and it can't come soon enough.

The American Rescue Plan represents real, tangible relief for our communities.

This bill will bring more than $600 million into my community of San Bernardino County to help protect first responders, teachers, and other essential workers.

It will give small businesses the access to funding they need to stay open and to put money in people's pockets to help them make ends meet.

It will help crush the virus by expanding vaccine distribution and access.

And it will give our schools the resources they need to safely reopen and put kids in the classroom.

This is a unique moment in American history, and this legislation provides bold solutions that this moment calls for.

Madam Speaker, on January 3, we stood here on this floor and swore an oath to defend our Constitution against enemies, foreign and domestic. Three days later, that oath was put to the test when a violent mob tried to break down those doors to stop us from performing our constitutional duty. This mob was not without a leader.

On that day, the President told them to walk to this Capitol, 16 blocks from where he stood. They were radicalized by his lies and conspiracy theories he spent months fueling, many of which I have heard on this floor the last week. He needed to say only two words to end the violence: ``I concede.'' Because that is what leaders do in a democracy. Because that is what we do in the United States. They put politics aside and put country first.

Madam Speaker, as I look to our colleagues over on the other side, I wonder how many of them will demonstrate that leadership and join us in holding President Trump accountable for inciting this deadly attack, and I wonder how many will uphold our oath and put our country first to defend this Constitution from the threat in the White House. To do anything less, is to turn your back on the oath altogether.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

In our democracy, we should actively be seeking ways to involve more people rather than shutting them out of the process. Some States have done this by making voting accessible for homebound voters and others who have trouble physically getting to the polls and allowing an absentee voter to designate anyone of their choosing to drop off a marked ballot. This policy allows for greater participation in elections because some homebound voters have no family or individuals to delegate that role to. They should not be disenfranchised by our laws.

Ballot drop-off laws are, in and of themselves, perfectly appropriate election administration laws. If your aunt or uncle is a physician of an H1B visa holder, if you are working a double shift and you hand your ballot to someone who is a Dreamer, if you are married to an individual with TPS status, this would require you to report that individual to the Federal Government.

The House Administration Committee is already reviewing the foreign influence on American elections as the chairwoman mentioned, and we welcome the minority working with us in this regard. We know, from a Washington Post story published earlier this year, in which Members here in this Chamber are quoted as developing a strategy to engage in that practice themselves.

In fact, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle were quoted as being laser focused on ballot collection in the 2020 elections. So they will have to forgive me if I don't buy into the argument they are making today that their favorite examples of potential problems with the system are actions of a political operative on behalf of a Republican candidate who illegally changed and threw away ballots.

This is a suppression tactic. It is the height of hypocrisy that our Republican colleagues would be creating a new Federal standard after this entire debate they had been railing against the same. They will forgive us if we feel that that is a little disingenuous.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to defeat this motion.

Mr. Speaker, the House Appropriations Committee has the distinction of being the only congressional committee enumerated in Article I of the Constitution.

It is our job to allocate funding across the Federal Government to best serve the American people. To put it more simply, it is our job to solve problems.

That is why I wanted to take an opportunity to call attention to some of the problems that the committee has worked to solve over the past few weeks.

The gun violence epidemic has devastated communities across our country, including my own. And that is why I am proud that the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for the upcoming fiscal year has set aside funding for the first time for $25 million for the CDC to study and develop solutions for this epidemic.

The bill also makes meaningful investments in combating the opioid crisis that has torn far too many families apart, increasing funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

It also ramps up funding to protect title X family planning, helping low-income families access the healthcare that they need.

These are only a few of the ways that the House Appropriations Committee has worked to provide real, tangible results to lead to better health outcomes for the American people.

I am proud of the work the committee has done, and I look forward to our continued work.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion.

With the approach of the 2020 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau needs a strong infusion of resources to ensure a thorough and accurate count.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, my colleague knows that the funding level provided for the Census Bureau in this bill is more in line with recent revised budget costs and estimates. This bill also supports critical funding of the Bureau as it embarks on the most technologically advanced Census in its history, including $1 billion in infrastructure that includes IT funding to enhance the Bureau's cybersecurity efforts and protect respondents' personal data and information submitted to the Bureau. Every dollar can be tied to an original plan, a cost estimate, or a recommendation submitted by the department.

There appears to be a growing attack on the Census out of fear of a demographically changing country and a concerning effort by the other side to skew the results in their favor.

We need every dollar in this Census because the administration is fear-mongering, because they are trying to force an undercount with the inclusion of the citizenship question, and, in reality, we are recommending a funding level consistent with what they indicated they need for a fair and accurate count.

Any proposal to decrease this amount increases the risk of undercounts of minority and hard-to-count communities, including rural parts of this country that lack broadband services.

Such an undercount would cause these areas to lose out on political representation and Federal funding.

Reduced funding for the Census also increases the risk of cyber intrusions and the release of protected personal data.

This bill already provides a strong increase for immigration judges, as the gentleman mentioned, consistent with the administration's request, an increase of over $110 million over the fiscal year 2019 level that provides for an additional 100 judge teams, which my colleague acknowledged in his remarks.

I am not aware of a Census slush fund, but I am aware that these are vital resources that will help count our communities, help ensure that this is done fairly, and help ensure that hard-to-count communities are counted.

The Justice Department is not able to hire any faster than that, as the gentleman acknowledged.

Mr. Speaker, I urge rejection of this motion. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Vargas) for his advocacy for decades on behalf of immigrants and his community.

It has been nearly 2 years since the Trump administration arbitrarily ended the DACA program, throwing the lives of these thousands of young people into turmoil. Despite bipartisan efforts to provide Dreamers with a path

to citizenship and the certainty that they deserve, the Trump administration has done all it can to block progress on this issue.

Earlier this year, we learned about Republicans' latest efforts to deny these young immigrants access to the American Dream. For years, FHA-backed loans have made it possible for borrowers with little savings and a low downpayment to become homeowners, giving young families a chance at building generational wealth.

This critical resource helps to build our middle class, invigorates local economies, and gives families security to control their own future. Under the Trump administration, HUD has instructed lenders to deny this opportunity to DACA recipients by declaring them ineligible for FHA-backed home loans.

Let me be clear: This new and cruel policy shift takes away a key tool to help Dreamers succeed in this country, allowing the President's anti-immigrant agenda to seep into our Nation's housing policy.

DACA recipients are every bit as American as anyone in this Chamber today. They grew up in this country. They have started businesses and careers in this country. They are raising families in this country. If our government will not take the necessary steps to allow them to live freely as citizens in this country, the least we can do is to make sure that they will be successful here.

That is why I am proud to support the amendment by Mr. Vargas, which would give Dreamers the opportunity to use FHA-backed loans to become homeowners and to build their futures in the only country that they have ever known.

Mr. Chair, again, I thank Mr. Vargas for this amendment.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the TELACU Education Foundation, a non-profit organization that has empowered talented Latino students and professionals in my district and throughout the country to achieve success for more than 36 years.

TELACU is one of the largest and oldest Community Development Corporation in the U.S., celebrating 50 years of service just last year. As part of its commitment to service, advancement, empowerment and self-sufficiency among its constituency, and in response to crisis- level dropout rates for Latino students, in 1983 TELACU created the TELACU Education Foundation.

This year marks the Foundation's 36th anniversary of shattering barriers to academic and professional success for thousands of first- generation Latinos from underserved communities. In addition to providing critical educational services and resources for veterans, TELACU's Continuum of Education--comprised of the College Readiness and College Success Programs--annually propels approximately 2,000 TELACU Scholars from high school through graduate studies, equipping them with the academic credentials and professional tools needed to successfully enter the increasingly technical 21st Century workforce.

Historically, approximately 98 percent of high school TELACU Scholars graduate and nearly all pursue higher education; more than 99 percent of college Scholars earn a Bachelor's degree, with an increasing number going on to seek advanced degrees. Since TELACU Scholars are predominantly Latinos from some of the most economically- depressed communities in Southern California, their attainment of high school diplomas and college degrees directly benefits disenfranchised communities. Program graduates become self-sufficient, well-educated professionals and role models who inspire and invest in the next generation of Latino leaders. Their attainment of higher education, increased earning power and dedication to service leads to the socioeconomic empowerment of their local communities, and betters our country as a whole.

Madam Speaker, in recognition of the thousands of students, families and communities they have served and empowered, I ask my colleagues to please join me in congratulating the TELACU Education Foundation on the occasion of its 36th Annual Building the Dream Gala, and in celebrating their inspiring TELACU Scholars.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairwoman for her leadership throughout this process.

It has been 3 weeks, colleagues, since the end of the longest shutdown in American history--35 days--where we saw friends and neighbors who hurt, where this body didn't do enough to push back against a shutdown that hurt our communities and hurt individuals throughout this country.

This is a compromise bill, and we are here today to reflect that good will and that good faith effort of Democrats and Republicans negotiating together to find compromise.

But let's talk a little bit about what this bill would do.

This bill protects our national security. This bill works to improve the only true crisis that we have at our southern border, which is the humanitarian crisis. This bill invests in technology and in ports of entry. This bill ensures that we have the resources to protect this country.

This bill also unlocks the other appropriations bills that will fund the Environmental Protection Agency, make investments in the Census, and make investments in transportation.

What this bill will not do is this bill will not fund the President's wall from sea to shining sea, a wall that he said Mexico would pay for.

So we tried another path. We tried a bipartisan path of working together to iron out our differences and to come to an agreement, to keep government open, to protect our national security. That was the focus of the conferees, and that is what we sought to accomplish.

But we also did two important things in this document. We ensured that the congressional intent was there when it comes to topics that we don't always agree on; and we will ensure, this body will ensure, that we will hold the administration accountable, that we will provide oversight that hasn't been provided, and that we will ensure that national security is protected.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Member Granger for their leadership throughout this process, for Chairwoman Roybal-Allard and for Ranking Member Fleischmann. And I would like to thank all of our staff members on both sides of the aisle who worked day and night to make sure that this document was in front of us in a timely manner and that ensured that we didn't have another shutdown.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this joint resolution.

Madam Speaker, we are now in day 34 of the longest shutdown in American history.

Over the course of this shutdown, I have heard from hundreds of people in my community who are being hurt by this reckless shutdown. Today, I would like to share the story of Graciela, who wrote to me from my hometown of Redlands.

Graciela has worked for the IRS for over 40 years, and her Federal job allows her to care for her daughter, who is suffering from thyroid cancer. Graciela wrote to me and said: ``Each missed paycheck is another 2 weeks that my daughter will go without medication and treatment.''

It is outrageous that, in the face of this type of suffering, real human suffering, our President can remain so callous.

We have voted 11 times to reopen this government, but instead of working with us to end this shutdown, the President and Leader McConnell continue to move the goalpost and insist on funding for their ineffective and wasteful border wall and cuts to legal immigration.

Our country deserves better than leaders who are willing to hold their people hostage.

Graciela concluded her message to me by saying this: ``The President's misconceived notion that this country needs a wall more than its own citizens need to go back to work or to be paid for the work they are doing is mind-boggling.''

Madam Speaker, Americans are suffering and deserve better.

Mr. Chair, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 346.