Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the 12th Congressional District and the State of Michigan to say to Norfolk Southern: Don't dump your toxic waste in our State.

Late last Friday, we learned that shipments of solid and liquid toxic waste from the East Palestine train derailment in Ohio were being transported to Michigan for disposal.

Norfolk Southern chose to dispose truckloads of hazardous materials at multiple sites, including one operated by U.S. Ecology, one of our region's most negligent and notorious corporate polluters. These companies treat poisoning our communities as the cost of doing business, and we are done with it.

I am so proud of our residents who spoke up and who helped halt further shipments into our State. I want to thank every single one of them from the bottom of my heart for speaking the truth and demanding better from all of our officials from the State and the Federal EPA.

We will never give permission for corporate polluters to continue sacrificing the health and well-being of our communities and our families.

Our environmental regulators State and Federal must aggressively protect all of us from this threat and hold these polluters accountable.

DTE Energy

Madam Speaker, I rise today to say that DTE Energy, an investor-owned utility monopoly in my district, charges some of the highest rates in our Nation while providing some of the most unreliable service and performs hundreds of thousands of utility shutoffs per year.

Right now many of my residents are in the seventh day of no power: no gas, heat, or electricity.

This past week has been yet another nightmare for more than close to 1 million DTE customers as well as 200,000 consumer energy customers in our State who have endured days on end without power and heat after a completely foreseeable winter storm.

Why?

Because DTE doesn't invest in reliability. It invests in profits and pays for shareholders and executives. The company made $1.1 billion in profits last year alone.

Investor-owned utilities like DTE will always put profits over the people whom we serve in this Chamber.

During the worst of the pandemic in 2020, Madam Speaker, DTE shut off power to customers more than 80,000 times despite being subsidized by our Federal Government to the tune of $268 million in CARES Act funding.

The reason?

They paid out $807 million to shareholders instead of keeping the power on for our residents who were struggling through the pandemic.

Since 2015, DTE has received over $775 million in rate hikes, the second highest rate of increase in our Nation, and they just announced their intention to seek another massive rate hike.

DTE has failed to invest in the infrastructure upgrades necessary to prevent outages, instead choosing to maximize profits for its shareholders and spending millions on campaign contributions to avoid real accountability.

I am sick and tired of wealthy corporate executives lining their pockets while our communities suffer and continue to be exploited.

That is why, last year, I introduced the Resolution Recognizing the Human Rights to Utilities with Representatives Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman.

Madam Speaker, access to utilities is not a privilege; it is a fundamental human right. People depend on it for medical and for safety, again, in their

own homes. In the richest country on Earth, every single family should have access to electricity, heat, and water. We need public power for all.

Honoring the Life of Eva Alvarez

Madam Speaker, I rise today in memory of Eva Alvarez, a community activist who worked to improve the lives of countless immigrant families across southeast Michigan. Her life was suddenly cut short this past weekend in a tragic accident.

Eva worked on public policy advocacy for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, one of the State's strongest immigrant empowerment agencies, where she championed policies to improve the lives of immigrants, Dreamers, farmworkers, and TSP holders.

She was an incredible leader. Eva will be missed. She is known for her spirit of hope and optimism, which helped her persevere and remain steadfast in her work. She could always be counted on to offer a kind word to uplift others.

Eva's sudden passing will be felt deeply throughout our communities. Please join me in honoring the life of Ms. Eva Alvarez, and please extend our condolences to her family as we mourn her loss. May she rest in power.

Mr. Speaker, today I want to recognize the many contributions of Anthony Ramos, a long-time community leader and resident of Dearborn in Michigan's 12th District, as we mourn his loss.

Anthony was a beloved community youth basketball coach and co-founder of the Dearborn Basketball Association, where he also served as vice president. He saw the community's need for affordable sports programming for young people and was moved to act. Anthony's love for the game inspired enthusiasm in the young people he coached. He instilled the values of good sportsmanship and importance of teamwork while teaching the fundamentals.

Please join me in honoring the life of Mr. Anthony Ramos and extending condolences to the Ramos family as the 12th Congressional District honors his life and legacy.

Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate Black History month, I want to honor Lieutenant Colonel Harry T. Stewart, Jr., one of our Nation's most decorated Tuskegee Airmen who flew with the storied Red Tails, the 332nd Fighter Group made up of African American pilots in the then- segregated U.S. military.

Stewart's lifelong passion for flight began at a young age. At the age of 17, he passed a military exam identifying potential pilots and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet. Following flight training at Tuskegee Airfield in Alabama, Stewart was awarded his pilot wings and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Stewart then completed combat fighter training in both the P-40 Warhawk and the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft, and in 1944 was sent to Italy for combat operations. As a member of the all-black 332d Fighter Group, Stewart flew 43 combat missions in the P-51 Mustang, escorting heavy bombers to their targets, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.

In addition to his heroic actions during World War II, Stewart represented the 332nd Composite Group in the inaugural ten-day ``William Tell'' National Gunnery meet in Nevada. This meet would later become the equivalent of the U.S. Navy's ``Top Gun'' competition. His team's skills shined through in the competition, and the 332nd won first place in the conventional fighter class.

Stewart received an honorable discharge in 1950 and stayed in the Reserves, eventually retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He went on to earn his bachelor's degree and worked in the private sector until his retirement, and now resides in Michigan.

Please join me in recognition of Lieutenant Colonel Harry T. Stewart, Jr. as we celebrate his courageous service to our country.

Mr. Speaker, today I want to recognize Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence for her more than 30 years of service to the people of Michigan.

A true servant of the people, Congresswoman Lawrence has inspired countless women to pursue better for their communities in public service. As an Eastsider of Detroit, her experience helped to shape her impact. Her career in politics began when as an active member in the PTA at her children's school, she ran for and won a seat on the Southfield Public Schools Board. She went on to serve on Southfield's City Council and broke barriers by being elected as the city of Southfield's first Black Mayor. She served four terms as mayor before she was elected to serve as a member of U.S. Congress in 2014.

Over the course of her career, Brenda Lawrence never wavered in her service to the people she represented. She has been an advocate, leader, and partner in the U.S. House of Representatives. The 12th Congressional District will forever remember her impact on our communities. We thank her for uplifting the voices of everyday people.

In honor of her remarkable career, please join me in celebrating Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence and her legacy of public service.

Mr. Speaker, Black history is American history. As Black History Month begins, all across the country we see radical, rightwing elected officials attempting to whitewash American history and ban Black history from being taught in our classrooms.

This is, Mr. Speaker, unmasked white supremacy at its core. You cannot teach the truth about American history without Black history.

This should be alarming to many of us in this Chamber, especially as we fight for a more inclusive multiracial democracy.

I am reminded of the need for Congress to pass critical legislation like Congressman Bowman's African American History Act.

It is now more important than ever and very timely that, again, we make sure that we teach our history accurately. The truth must always be taught and should inspire all of us to continue to march for freedom, equity, and justice for all in the spirit of our civil rights leaders and our social justice seekers who came before us.

We cannot, Mr. Speaker, rob our children of learning the role of systemic racism in our American history and how it continues to impact the lives of many of our neighbors across the country.

This is how we support our communities to gain unity, to embrace diversity. It is critical that we tell the truth about our Nation's past, and that includes reckoning with our history of racism, enslavement, segregation, and redlining in our communities, and even now with the Black Lives Matter movement in our country.

This painting, Mr. Speaker, is called Critical Race Theory by Jonathan Harris, a local artist in Detroit. It is a powerful reminder of the importance of teaching and preserving Black history. We cannot allow anyone to erase Black history and the powerful legacies of our civil rights warriors, many of which inspire me today.

We cannot learn from our past if our past is no longer being taught in our education system.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the survivors of gun violence during National Gun Violence Survivors Week.

Sandy Hook, Parkland, Buffalo, and, yes, even Detroit, and Chicago. So many now are impacted--various names and memories of loved ones seared into our memories--in places where gun violence has traumatized our communities and taken far too many of our loved ones.

Every day in our country, more than 110 people are shot and killed and more than 200 people survive gunshot wounds. We are 33 days into the new year, Mr. Speaker, and there have already been 54 mass shootings. To every survivor of gun violence, from classmates who have witnessed their friends die to families who have dinner at the table with an empty seat there, we honor you always with action.

So I call on my colleagues to stand up to the corporate gun lobby and send the assault weapons ban to President Biden's desk. There is no reason to have weapons of war in our communities. There is no reason that anyone needs a weapon of war that can fire up to 60 shots per minute.

Desperation--so desperate to distract the American people from their total inability to govern, the GOP is now doing what it is best at: weaponizing hate against a Black, beautiful, Muslim woman.

Congresswoman Omar's lived experience as a refugee and a childhood survivor of war should be welcomed on this committee. It is needed.

Madam Speaker, when you can't pass any bills that actually improve the people's lives, then they turn Congress into a place of fearmongering hate.

It is so painful to watch. How ironic that the so-called lovers of personal freedom are now moving to censor Congresswoman Omar in the same week they introduced a bill to ban Federal employees from engaging in censorship.

Where are the free speech warriors today? The hypocrisy is obvious to the American people. The majority is showing who they are.

I know Congresswoman Omar will not be silenced.

I say to Congresswoman Omar: I am so sorry that our country is failing you today through this Chamber.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in memory of Tracie Alexander Golden, a mother, wife, tireless community advocate, healthcare provider, and fearless SEIU Union leader from Michigan's 12th District Strong as our community mourns her recent passing.

Tracie was a respiratory therapist who dedicated her life to helping people with severe health issues. As she spent countless hours at the hospital, working long shifts and saving lives, Tracie never once complained about the toll it took on her own health. She truly believed that her calling was to serve others, and she did so with a heart full of love and empathy. She was a selfless and compassionate woman who always put the needs of her patients and her family before her own.

Tracie's advocacy, impact and care for others was profound not only amongst her family and loved ones but also towards her patients and community. Tracie's acts of service were boundless, and she never shied away from showing up for others. Her passionate and caring spirit will no doubt live on through her family and those that she served and those that she cared for at Sinai Grace Hospital.

Tracie's sudden and tragic passing is truly a loss to our district and community. Her memory will forever be preserved in the work she led for others and the commitment she showed in service.

Please join me in honoring the life of Ms. Tracie Alexander Golden and extending our deepest condolences to the Golden family on her tragic loss. The 12th Congressional District honors her life and legacy.

Mr. Speaker, today, I want to recognize Reverend Dr. Richard White of Detroit's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on the occasion of his installation as president of the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity.

Reverend Dr. White was inspired by the call to the ministry at a young age. At the age of 17, he was licensed to preach at Beth Eden Missionary Baptist Church under the late Pastor Ocie Tabb, Jr. At the age of 20, he became an associate minister at Midway Baptist Church under the leadership of his father. Soon after Pastor White was called to pastor Greater Marion Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, where he remained in leadership until 2015 when he accepted the role of senior pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

Since becoming spiritual leader, Pastor White has worked hard to strengthen Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, ministering to the spiritual needs of his flock and the surrounding community. A lifelong Detroiter, Pastor White's strong connection to the community has driven his tireless work to set a vision for the future and make strides to bring it to fruition. He has undertaken projects to beautify the area and devoted himself to growing his ministry through community outreach.

Pastor White has been elected as one of the youngest presidents of the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit & Vicinity. He also serves as the 3rd vice moderator for the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist District Association. Previously, Pastor White has served in multiple organizational capacities, including president of the Fellowship District Congress of Christian Education, second vice president of the Metropolitan District Congress of Christian Education, general secretary for the Baptist, Missionary and Educational State Convention of Michigan, treasurer and financial secretary for the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity, and the financial secretary for Kingdom Building Pastors and People International.

Please join me in recognizing Reverend Dr. Richard White's numerous contributions as we celebrate his new role at the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity.

Mr. Speaker, in the State of Michigan, there have been over 16,000 COVID-19 cases just this month. Nearly 200 people have died. Death and illness and viruses should not be politicized.

In both Wayne and Oakland Counties, we are still seeing nearly 3,000 cases per week, so the pandemic is far from over. We have residents being hospitalized and families having to say good-bye to their loved ones because of this deadly virus.

This pandemic is not over. The pandemic is still preventing people from going to work and school, disrupting everyday lives.

By ending resources and policies that have surely saved lives, we are leaving our residents and communities to fend for themselves. They cannot do this alone.

We must continue to provide resources to combat COVID-19 and the impacts of long COVID, from testing to treatment and care.

We can continue to save lives together. Continuing to provide resources is not only the right and sensible thing to do, but it is the moral thing to do.

Please, again, we must vote ``no'' on H.R. 382.

Mr. Speaker, today I want to recognize Henry Lykes, a resident of Inkster in Michigan's 12th District Strong, for his hard work on behalf of retirees across southeast Michigan.

For more than 30 years, Mr. Lykes was an employee of Wayne County, from which he retired in 2001. Moved to action by attacks on retiree benefits, Mr. Lykes kept busy in retirement. Henry founded and acted as President of AFSCME Wayne County Retirees Sub-Chapter #38 in October of 2004. He was formative in making Sub-Chapter #38 one of the largest and most active AFSCME Retirees sub-chapters. He led that group until October of 2017. He was part of a legal action that resulted in healthcare retirees receiving a deserved monthly stipend.

In 2017, Mr. Lykes was elected as the founding President of AFSCME Retirees Michigan Chapter 255. He served in that capacity through November of 2022. He also served as the Executive Vice President of the Michigan Alliance for Retired Americans. Mr. Lykes fought for worker and retiree benefits to ensure a good quality of life for families across Michigan. In each of these organizations he was active as a delegate on the County, State and International levels. As a founding officer in these organizations he worked on bylaws, rules and regulations. He was an integral part of each organization and helped to build their memberships.

Mr. Lykes is proud of his service as a precinct delegate in Inkster. He has attended many state conventions as a delegate and has been a Michigan delegate to the Presidential conventions. Mr. Lykes enjoys spending time with his family, including Barbara, his wife of more than 40 years, their children, 8 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren.

Please join me in recognizing the numerous and remarkable contributions of Mr. Henry Lykes to southeast Michigan, and Michigan's 12th Congressional District.

Madam Speaker, I rise in recognition of Mother Willa Cash, a resident of Detroit and community mother in Michigan's 12th Congressional District, as we mourn her recent passing. She was lovingly called Willie by those who knew her well.

Ms. Cash's work touched the lives of so many. She worked for the State of Michigan's Department of Unemployment Services and later the Michigan Department of Human Services before retiring in 1999 after 26 years of service.

Ms. Cash was a caring, compassionate leader in our community. She volunteered her time and energy to the Unity Temple Church of Detroit and Greenwich Park Association block club. She was a proud, lifelong, engaged voter and a member-retiree of the United Auto Workers Region 1-

Madam Speaker, just over 3 weeks ago, the city of Detroit's water shutoff moratorium ended, terminating vital protection for Detroit's most vulnerable residents.

We only got the lifesaving moratorium in the first place thanks to years of determined organizing and advocacy from our community's water warriors. Many are the mothers of our neighborhoods.

In response to that organizing and advocacy, the city has now created an affordability plan, but many of the mothers in our community and advocates continue to highlight shortcomings and a lack of awareness amongst struggling Detroiters of the resources available, which leaves thousands still in jeopardy of shutoffs.

For many Americans, water shutoffs are only the beginning. Even after they pay off outstanding debt or arrange for payment plans, reconnection fees further penalize them.

We need to move beyond treating missed payments as a moral failing and acknowledge the reality of families struggling as they try to make ends meet. The cost of water in our country has gone up 400 percent.

In the wealthiest Nation on Earth, there should not be a single family without water. We have had enough of punishing people for being poor. It is time to take our public health seriously and guarantee water as a human right. We all know water is life. It is time we start treating it as such.

In Solidarity with Iranian Protesters

Madam Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the protesters in Iran. In the streets, they are demanding human rights and women's equality.

The courageous protesters are risking their lives to stop the massive policing and security operations hurting women.

No one protesting for human rights in Iran or anywhere in the United States or anywhere in the world should be met with government violence. No one should be persecuted or executed for fighting for freedom for their sisters, their daughters, or their mothers from oppressive and harmful actions.

Mahsa Amini should be alive today. Countless protesters should be alive today. I stand, and I know we all do, with all the brave and courageous Iranians, especially the young women at the forefront of this movement, who are fighting for liberation and bodily autonomy.

Mr. Chair, I rise to offer Tlaib Amendment No. 10 to H.R. 21.

Mr. Chair, this is a simple amendment that requires the Secretary of the Interior to complete a standard environmental review of each individual oil and gas lease before it can be issued.

Environmental reviews are standard practices that protect every single one of our communities. It is transparency. Frankly, these types of reviews don't even go far enough to protect the health of our resident but at the very least, we must ensure environmental reviews are conducted to the highest level.

I urge all my colleagues to stand up for these critical environmental reviews and support this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Point of Order

Mr. Chair, I do respectfully disagree with the gentleman. I do feel like this is very much germane, but I will respect the decision by the Parliamentarian or the Chair.

Mr. Chair, I rise to offer Tlaib Amendment No. 11 to H.R. 21

Mr. Chair, so let's get this straight. When developing H.R. 21's gross drill baby drill plans, the Secretary of Energy is required to consult with the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, and Defense, but not with the Administrator of the EPA or the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.

These plans are rigged against frontline communities that I represent and, really, around our Nation. The message is clear: When making plans to destroy our environment, don't consult the environmental regulators because those plans can't be justified.

So my amendment is a commonsense fix amendment. Include the EPA and CEQ in the process in regard to the impacts on our environment.

I urge my colleagues to, again, please support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk, No. 13.

Mr. Chair, our residents elect each of us to represent them in this body, not special interest groups or well-funded lobbies.

Yet, each year, the oil and gas lobby spends millions of dollars buying meetings with Members, influencing and writing bills, and defeating even the smallest efforts to help address our reliance on oil.

I believe the American people deserve to know just how much their Member is receiving from the oil and gas lobby to support their favorite policies, and that is what this amendment would do.

Transparency, Mr. Chair, is paramount to building public trust, and this amendment would go a long way in restoring the public's faith in this body.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Point of Order

Mr. Chair, although I respectfully disagree with the gentleman, I also acknowledge the importance of the Parliamentarian ruling, and whatever rule or decision by the Parliamentarian is made, I will respect that decision. Again, I respectfully disagree and believe very much that this is applicable to this bill.

Mr. Chair, I rise to offer my amendment No. 14.

Mr. Chair, Big Oil is sitting on 9,000 approved, unused drilling permits on Federal lands. Folks are lying to you when they say we need more permits and more drilling.

My amendment is simple. It lowers the permissible increase in Federal lands available for drilling from 10 percent to 0.1 percent.

What we really need, Mr. Chair, are windfall profit taxes on Big Oil so that they stop price gouging our constituents at the pump.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to please support me on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Tracie Alexander Golden, who tragically died in the neighborhood that I live in.

Tracie was somebody that was incredibly loved by her community and by her SEIU family. She was a respiratory therapist at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit.

Tracie's mother was known to all of us. She was the chief of staff to Senator Carl Levin for over 30 years.

Tracie cared deeply about the community and wanted justice for those who were disadvantaged and impacted by systemic racism.

Her daughter, Bianca Alexander, said: I am the daughter of Tracie, the victim of a senseless murder just a few days before the new year of 2023. My mother was a loving, hardworking woman who did everything in her power to provide for our family, and in no way, shape, or form deserved a death like this one.

On behalf of the 12th Congressional District, I will take a moment to acknowledge and mourn the loss of Mrs. Tracie Alexander Golden.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Ms. Edith ``Mima'' Morisseau, a long-time resident of Detroit, as we mourn her passing.

Whether you knew her as Edith, Edie, or Mima, her warm-hearted nature shined through in all that she did. She was an active member of Detroit's Haitian Network Group, where she served as treasurer. She was an awe-inspiring woman and an advocate for the immigrant community.

Edith emigrated to the U.S. in 1951 and to Detroit in 1956 from Port- au-Prince, Haiti. She and her husband, the Reverend E. Dumont Morisseau, came to Detroit with their 3 young children so that the Reverend could perform his work at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church. Alongside her husband, she was deeply committed to the church and the community, but she also had career goals of her own. Edith enrolled in classes at Mercy College and earned her bachelor's degree in nursing, and much later went on to earn a master's from Wayne State University in psychiatry. Edith was employed by the State of Michigan for numerous years as Head of Psychiatric Nursing, retiring in 1984. She then transitioned to work as a marriage therapist for several years.

Always one to remember those who are less fortunate, she served for more than 20 years as a volunteer with Haiti Outreach Mission, assisting the people of Haiti with various medical needs. She served as warden at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church and has provided counseling and nursing to numerous residents of Detroit.

Please join me in recognizing Ms. Edith Morisseau's outstanding contributions to the communities of southeast Michigan as we honor her memory.