Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Secretary Wade Crowfoot, a true partner to our communities and a friend to my office, on receiving the Minerva Hoyt California Desert Conservation Award from the Joshua Tree National Park Association.

Since 2019, Secretary Crowfoot has served as California's Natural Resources Secretary and as a member of Governor Newsom's cabinet. He leads an agency of more than 25,000 employees dedicated to protecting our forests, rivers, coast, and wildlife, and to advancing a clean energy future. He is driving California's commitment to conserve 30 percent of its land and coastal waters by 2030, and he has opened a new era of partnership with California Native American Tribes.

His commitment to the environment spans a career. He served in Governor Jerry Brown's administration, led the Water Foundation to build water resilience across the West, and helped shape California's landmark climate policies at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Secretary Crowfoot was a key partner in establishing the Chuckwalla National Monument. His leadership, alongside Tribal leaders and community organizations, helped protect lands of deep cultural and environmental value for generations to come.

He also worked with me as a state and federal partner on Salton Sea restoration. From the Species Conservation Habitat Project to its expansion, we joined together at the October 2024 groundbreaking to highlight new investment in restoration.

Secretary Crowfoot has supported a balanced approach to our desert: protecting culturally and environmentally significant lands while preserving room for renewable energy and transmission. That vision shaped the Chuckwalla effort and the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.

He visited our communities many times, listened, and showed up. Our Tribal leaders and community partners consider him a friend, and so do

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Debbie Espinosa, president and CEO of FIND Food Bank, and her 8 years of extraordinary leadership.

Debbie and I have stood together through disaster response, through the darkest days of the pandemic, and in the fight to protect the Federal nutrition programs that many children and farmworker families depend on.

When I served as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, I invited Debbie to Washington to brief my colleagues on the unique food security challenges facing farmworkers in our valley, because their story deserved to be heard on the national stage.

She has also been a trusted partner to my office, helping provide food assistance to Federal employees and families during shutdowns and supporting community conversations on food insecurity.

Debbie never just simply distributed food. She built bridges, connecting Federal resources to local solutions, and ensuring no family in our district went without in moments of emergency or everyday hardship.

As she moves on to lead Harvesters, serving 27 counties across Missouri and Kansas, our valley's loss becomes the Nation's gain.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Debbie for her partnership, her compassion, and her unwavering commitment to the people in the Coachella Valley region and for her friendship. I am forever grateful.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with an important message for the Trump administration: The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not for sale.

For the third time, they have tried to sell off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Big Oil, and for the third time, it has flopped.

Last Friday's lease sale brought in less than 1 percent of projected revenue. Not one major oil company even showed up, and for good reason.

Last summer, I traveled to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I fished its rivers, walked its Coastal Plain, and watched musk ox roam one of the last truly wild places on Earth.

Mr. Speaker, I can speak with firsthand experience when I say that this place is simply too special to drill, too important for the animal ecosystem and global bird migrations, and too critical for indigenous cultural preservation.

Our public lands belong to the American people, not to the highest bidder. When the highest bidder doesn't even show up, maybe it is time this administration got the message.

Mr. Speaker, I rise during National Police Week to honor the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep our community safe.

In 2016, Palm Springs Police Officers Lesley Zerebny and Gil Vega were killed in the line of duty. Because of their tragedy, I introduced the Heroes Lesley Zerebny and Gilbert Vega First Responders Survivors Support Act to strengthen the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program and make sure the families of fallen officers receive the support they deserve. With today's cost of living, they are struggling to make ends meet.

This bill will increase death benefits, so surviving families can pay off most of their debt, if not all of it. It will increase education benefits to cover the rising cost of an education. It will help officers' widows and children get on a stable footing.

Mr. Speaker, we can honor the sacrifice that families of fallen officers have made by passing this legislation, and we must.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to represent and speak up for the people in California's 25th Congressional District, home to farmworkers, laborers, and families in the Coachella, Imperial, and San Jacinto Valleys who wake up each morning breathing some of the most polluted air in the United States.

These are communities where childhood asthma rates range from 20 to 35 percent. We have the highest asthma hospitalization rate in the whole State of California.

These are communities where particulate matter concentrations regularly reach 10 times the Federal limit.

These are communities where Medicaid is not a talking point. It is what stands between a sick child and the treatment that they need.

Today, we are voting on H. Res. 1182, and I want to be direct with my colleagues about what this resolution actually is because the title alone does not tell the story.

This resolution is titled: ``Expressing support for rural communities. . . . '' But when you read the actual text, when you look at the specific provision it celebrates, you find something very, very different, very heartbreaking.

You see, this resolution is a political message. That is all it is, a self-congratulatory shield built to cover up the harm Republicans have created in rural America.

Let me go through what this resolution actually says. The resolution celebrates ``legislation to reform processes under the Clean Air Act for establishing and implementing air quality standards . . . so that rural areas that experience wildfires or foreign sources of pollution are not disadvantaged. . . . ''

What they are actually celebrating is weakening the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the science-based thresholds that determine how much pollution is safe to breathe.

The FENCES Act, which Republicans passed just last week and this resolution applauds, would strip EPA of its authority to sanction States that fail to reduce air pollution and hand a free pass to the worst polluters with no accountability, no incentive to clean up, and no recourse for rural communities living downwind.

In my district, which is also rural America, dust from unpaved roads, farms, off-road vehicles, the expanding exposed lake bed of the Salton Sea, diesel emissions, ozone, agricultural smoke, and contaminants like hydrogen sulfide combine into a toxic mix that threatens the health of more than half a million people living in rural America. This resolution wants us to applaud making it easier for that to get worse.

The resolution celebrates ``legislation to provide rural Americans with choice in the vehicles they purchase and drive by eliminating costly and impracticable electric vehicle mandates.'' What they are celebrating is the termination of the clean vehicle tax credit, the $7,500 credit that made electric vehicles accessible to working families.

Families in my district where temperatures routinely exceed 110 degrees are now priced out of cleaner vehicles, locked into higher fuel costs and breathing dirtier tailpipe emissions.

That is not choice. That is a trap.

The resolution celebrates legislation to ``remove restrictions on exporting U.S. liquefied natural gas, which will increase economic and employment opportunities for rural communities.''

What they are celebrating is prioritizing LNG exports over the energy costs and needs of the American families they claim to support in rural America. That is because when we export more gas, then there is less domestically. When there is less domestically, then domestic prices rise, making it more expensive for rural America. Rural families pay more to heat and cool their homes. This is not energy independence. This is energy exportation at the rural America's expense.

The resolution celebrates legislation to ``reduce the costs of home and commercial appliances by rolling back burdensome Biden-Harris regulations.''

What they are actually celebrating is rolling back energy efficiency standards, meaning families will pay more on their utility bills month after month and year after year, as if costs aren't up in rural America already. In a desert region back home where air conditioning is not a luxury but a survival necessity, that is a direct hit to household budgets that are already stretched.

Through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, better known as the big, ugly law, the centerpiece of everything this resolution is celebrating, Republicans cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and $120 billion from SNAP, the most in history. This will disproportionately hurt rural Americans.

That bill put over 300 rural hospitals at risk to close. It will leave 15 million people uninsured, many of them in rural America. It will raise average household energy bills by up to $192 annually, and even in California $670. It gutted the National Environmental Policy Act's community review process so that local, rural community members' voices are shut down.

It phased out clean energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, raising energy costs for families in rural America, added an estimated $3 trillion to the national debt, and accelerated the projected insolvency of Social Security and Medicare by 1 year.

Mr. Speaker, I am a physician. I have taken care of patients in my district. I know what it means when a family cannot get to a hospital because the closest one has closed. I know what it means when a child's asthma goes untreated because their family lost Medicaid.

Mr. Speaker, I know what it means when a farm worker spends the day in the field breathing air that exceeds Federal safety limits and then goes home to a house where they cannot afford the utility bill because their appliances are less efficient, their gas costs more, and their child suffers from asthma.

This resolution does not reopen a single closed rural hospital. It does not put food on a single rural kitchen table. It does not clean the air a child breathes in rural America. It does not restore the Medicaid coverage it took from millions of Americans. It does not undo the harm of nearly $1 trillion in cuts to programs that rural families, who are the very people this resolution so-called claims to champion, depend on to survive.

What this resolution does is ask this Chamber to applaud the way things are going to hurt rural America, to put a bow on it, and to call it support.

Mr. Speaker, this is not support. This is a cover-up.

For the families I represent who are already carrying more than their fair

share of pollution, poverty, and neglect, this resolution is an insult dressed up as a tribute.

If my colleagues truly support rural communities, they will repeal those cuts. If they truly support clean air, they will stop celebrating legislation that weakens the standards that protect it. If they truly support working families, they will stop handing corporations exemptions while families pay the price.

Mr. Speaker, vote ``no'' on this do-nothing messaging resolution, H. Res. 1182.

Mr. Speaker, as a Member of Congress and a physician, I am outraged and sad about the killings of U.S. citizen and mother, Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent; and U.S. citizen and VA ICU nurse, Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent during the same enforcement surge in Minneapolis, sparking widespread protests and intensifying scrutiny of Federal tactics.

Last year was the deadliest year in over 20 years, with over 56 people dying under ICE and CBP custody in detention centers. Reports of detainees like Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, who died in a hospital in my district after complaining for days of chest pain without receiving the appropriate urgent care, are concerning and smell of neglect.

The violence and brutality against noncriminal immigrants and U.S. citizens are not public safety. It is cruelty. That is why Secretary Noem must be impeached and removed, and there must be transparency and accountability.

That is why I introduced the Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in ICE and CBP Custody Act to prevent death and to protect human dignity.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 343.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans just passed their big, ugly law that rips Medicaid by nearly a trillion dollars, adds 15 million people uninsured, and raises costs for everybody. Now, to add insult to injury, they refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act.

This bill that they want to replace it with is a bamboozle. It is a hoodwink. It is a scam for the American people. It promotes junk plans that rip off the American people. It does not cover essential health benefits. It allows them to discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, increases out-of-pocket costs, and will lead to millions more uninsured.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the profound courage and sacrifice of a woman whose story embodies the enduring struggle for freedom and human dignity in Iran, a woman known simply and lovingly as Aziz, meaning ``dear'' or ``beloved.'' Her full name is Aziz Rezaee, and she is a mother of resistance.

Aziz was born Zahra Norowzi in 1929 in Tehran. Like many mothers around the world, she married young, raised a large family, and worked to give her children a better future.

The tides of Iranian history pulled her family into the heart of political repression and terror. Aziz endured a heartbreak that no parent should ever face, which is the loss of nine members of her family: three sons, two daughters, and two sons-in-law. They were all killed across two successive dictatorships that feared the voices of those seeking democracy and basic rights. This happened first under the Shah and later under the clerical regime that replaced him.

Her children's only so-called crime was their involvement in Iran's democratic opposition movement, a movement that dared to say that the people of Iran deserved liberty, justice, and respect for human rights.

During the rule of the Shah, three of Aziz' children were imprisoned and tortured. One was killed in the street by secret police.

Aziz herself was arrested in 1975 and spent more than 3 years in prison. She was tortured. She was flogged. She was hung upside down. She was forced into solitary confinement. Yet, she never broke. The scars on the soles of her feet remain today, living proof of the cruelty she endured for simply wanting freedom for her people.

Her son, Mehdi, only 19 years old when arrested, refused to bow to the torture inflicted on him. In a rare public trial before foreign journalists, he exposed the brutal acts of the regime and pledged his life to the poor and oppressed in Iran. That defiance cost him his life, but his voice continues to echo.

After the 1979 revolution, the Iranian people hoped for democracy. Instead, a new tyranny rose, one just as ruthless as the one before. The new regime once again targeted Aziz' family.

In 1982, her daughter, Azar, 6 months pregnant, and her husband were killed in a raid by the Revolutionary Guard. Aziz fled the country, forced into exile, where she continued her fight from abroad. Years later, more of her family members were executed.

Madam Speaker, how much can one mother bear? How many sacrifices must one family make for freedom? Despite the unimaginable loss, despite being denied the right to return home, Aziz has never surrendered her hope for a democratic and free Iran.

Today, in her nineties, living in a modest apartment on the outskirts of Paris, she remains steadfast. She continues to speak out. She continues to believe. She says: ``The movement to liberate Iran hasn't died. It is strong. It is alive. We are marching forward.''

Aziz Rezaee's story is not only about suffering. It is about endurance. It is about resilience and resistance. It is a testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Iranian people who continue to demand basic human rights and who risked everything, including their lives, to achieve them.

Madam Speaker, we stand here in the United States Congress, a place that symbolizes freedom and democratic voices. We must never take those values for granted. We must never turn our eyes away from those who fight for them around the world.

Today, I honor Aziz, a mother of resistance, and all Iranians who stand bravely against oppression. I stand with the Iranian people in their pursuit of democracy, equality, and human dignity. I reaffirm that the United States will always support the fundamental rights of people seeking freedom.

Madam Speaker, may Aziz' courage continue to inspire us like it has inspired me. May her sacrifices never be forgotten. May the day come soon when the people of Iran can live free in peace, justice, and democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the residents of California's 25th Congressional District against H.R. 1949, which would increase their energy bills.

The desert communities I serve are already bearing the brunt of high energy bills and underinvestment in infrastructure. They simply cannot afford this bill.

Under Trump, in the last 9 months, electricity prices have gone up by 11 percent across the Nation. Trump's one big, beautiful bill, better known as the big, ugly law, will simply make matters much, much worse by delivering higher energy costs. It will raise energy costs by over $600 a year in California.

In my district, families are already struggling with some of the highest energy costs in the Nation. Families in the desert are paying hundreds more per year, not because they are using luxury power, but because extreme heat makes air-conditioning a necessity.

For many families, the rising costs of energy are not abstract numbers. High costs force impossible choices between cooling their homes or risking heat-related illnesses.

These bills being debated here today directly affect their health, safety, and financial stability because they raise costs.

More specifically, H.R. 1949, the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act, is a direct threat to working people and middle-class families in my district and across the country.

This bill removes the requirement that the Department of Energy determine whether LNG exports are in the public interest, like lowering costs, before approving shipments to countries without free trade agreements.

In other words, this bill assumes automatically and without review that every LNG export is good for America. That assumption is not only irresponsible, but it is also dangerous and absolutely false.

Analyses have shown that increasing LNG exports drives up natural gas

prices here at home. DOE's own review last year could not have been clearer: Unconstrained LNG exports will raise costs for American families and harm our economy.

DOE found that the kind of unlimited exports authorized under this bill would increase household energy costs by more than $100 per year on top of the cost increases already burdening families under the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act, i.e., the big, ugly law.

Let's be clear. H.R. 1949 is a substantial giveaway to major oil and gas corporations, billionaires, and executives at the expense of working people once again.

It strengthens foreign adversaries, including China, while forcing American families, especially those in extreme heat regions like mine, to pay the price through higher monthly bills.

For the hardworking people of San Jacinto, Coachella, and Imperial Valley, the pass area, where triple-digit heat is a life-threatening reality, these rising energy costs are devastating. They represent choices no family should ever be forced to make between cooling their homes during extreme heat or keeping their loved ones safe.

This is not hypothetical. This is unacceptable.

The people I represent are resilient and hardworking. Right now, they are facing higher energy bills while already dealing with extreme heat and limited resources.

This bill will make matters worse. This bill will raise their costs even more. We need to lower costs, not raise them. That is why I urge a ``no'' vote on H.R. 1949. Let's lower costs.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to pay tribute to Harold Matzner--known to so many as ``Mr. Palm Springs''--who passed away on September 4, 2025, at the age of 88.

Harold was larger than life, a man of vision, conviction, generosity, and deep love for the Coachella Valley.

As Chairman of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, McCallum Theatre, Palm Springs Art Museum, and Palm Springs Tennis Club, Harold helped shape the cultural and civic heart of our region. As a philanthropist he gave from his heart. For over nearly four decades, he donated more than $70 million to local nonprofits, strengthening our hospitals, food banks, children's services, and LGBTQ+ organizations.

Under his leadership, the McCallum Theatre flourished, hosting world- class performances, community events, and educational programs that have touched countless lives. It is a place where students discover the arts for the first time, families share in the joy of music and dance, and audiences of all ages have their spirits lifted.

As a Board Member of Eisenhower Medical Center, Harold helped strengthen one of the

most vital health care institutions in the desert. Having worked there myself as an emergency physician, I saw firsthand the incredible care Eisenhower provides, mending broken bones, treating heart attacks, saving lives, and serving as a beacon of healing for our communities. Harold's steadfast support helped Eisenhower grow into one of the finest hospitals in the region.

He revitalized the Palm Springs Tennis Club, turning it into a welcoming gathering place for friends and neighbors. And at his beloved restaurant, Spencer's, named after his Siberian husky, he built a space where community and generosity were always on the menu.

Harold was also pivotal in revamping the Palm Springs International Film Festival, serving as its chairman for more than 20 years, donating over $12 million of his own funds, and transforming it into a global beacon that draws Hollywood and international attention every year. His efforts turned the festival into a vital economic and cultural engine for the Coachella Valley.

Harold believed in the power of the arts to uplift and unite people. He believed in health care access as a foundation for dignity. And he believed in giving back more than you take, a principle that guided every chapter of his life.

He leaves behind his life partner, Shellie Reade; his children, Devin and Laura; and his grandchildren, Elizabeth and Emily.

My thoughts are with his family, friends, and all who were touched by his generosity. He worked with everyone and poured his heart into the people and causes he believed in. I will miss him as so many who called him friend.

May we honor his memory by carrying forward his passion for service, his generosity of spirit, and his unwavering belief in the potential of our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the marriage of Alexandra Heller and Joshua Narciso. It is with profound joy and admiration that I extend my heartfelt congratulations to them on this special occasion. Their wedding day is not only a celebration of their love but also the beginning of a journey built on partnership, resilience, and shared purpose--their own love story, written in real time.

I have had the privilege of watching Alexandra grow both personally and professionally during her time in my office. I have seen firsthand the determination and resilience she brings to every challenge and the compassion and thoughtfulness with which she approaches each task. She has consistently shown an unwavering commitment to serving others, and I could not be prouder of the leader and the person she has become. Truly, she has shown us all what it means to be fearless.

I will always remember the pivotal moments she helped us achieve together. Her dedication and persistence were instrumental in advancing the designation of the Chuckwalla National Monument, ensuring the protection of our desert lands for future generations. She also contributed greatly to the passage of the PACT Act, landmark legislation that delivers long-overdue health care and justice to our Nation's veterans. These accomplishments are historic--proof that she has always had the courage to speak now and fight for what matters.

What has impressed me most, however, is not only her professional success, but also her strength of character. She lifts others up, she brings people together, and she embodies a spirit of service and compassion that is rare and deeply inspiring. These are the same qualities that will sustain her in marriage--the kind of love that makes every day feel like daylight.

I also want to share a bit about how Alexandra and Joshua's story began. On their first three dates, Joshua playfully ``swept Alexandra off her feet'' with what sounded like a whirlwind world tour to Barcelona, France, and Italy. In reality, the story is just as charming: they first met at a restaurant called Barcelona, then attended a wine event at the French Embassy, followed by a holiday party at the Italian Embassy. When the world shut down, Joshua showed up at Alexandra's apartment with a suitcase . . . and never left. It seems they knew then that they were enchanted to meet each other.

Marriage, like public service, is rooted in trust, resilience, and love. It is about showing up for one another through both triumphs and challenges, through sunshine and midnights, and walking forward together. The compassion, joy, and strength she brings will help build a solid foundation for her and Joshua.

I am excited to see the life they will create together, grounded in respect, laughter, and shared vision. May their marriage continue to inspire, bringing joy to themselves and those around them.

As they start this new chapter, may they cherish the small moments as much as the milestones. May they celebrate laughter, lean on compassion in tough times, and nurture a love that grows deeper with each year. Just as her service has touched many lives, her partnership will be a reminder to us all that ``You Belong With Me'' isn't just a lyric, it is a promise.

It is a true honor to witness this day and to celebrate their union. Please know that they carry with them not only my warmest congratulations but also my deepest admiration and pride. May their marriage be blessed with health, happiness, and a love that truly never goes out of style.

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, I rise today to honor Steven ``Chaos'' Camou, a vibrant soul from Blythe, California, whose life reminds us of the urgent need for compassion in mental health care.

Steven was a talented hairdresser with a bright personality and deep love for his mother, Angela Colangeli. He faced incredible challenges: addiction, stigma around his queer identity, and schizophrenia, yet he fought to find peace, often without the professional help he needed.

On October 27, 2021, Steven tragically took his own life, but even in his darkest moments, he dreamed of helping others not to feel alone in their struggles.

In his memory, his mother and his father, George, founded Peace from Chaos, a nonprofit supporting those living with mental illness, addiction, and social rejection.

As Men's Mental Health Awareness Month comes to an end, let's honor Steven by fighting for a world where no one suffers in silence, and everyone has access to care, support, and dignity.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with pride to recognize the Coachella Football Club, an awesome soccer organization from California's 25th District that is lifting up young athletes and inspiring our entire community.

This past year, the Coachella Football Club's Premier team, our semi- pro squad, dominated the field. They were SoCal East season champions and went undefeated in the divisional playoffs. Coached by Aldo Caro and Octavio Bustillos, this team played one of their best seasons yet, and we are so proud of them.

They are not alone. The Coachella Football Club's Academy's 17-and- under boys' team also had a phenomenal run, winning the fall 2024 and spring 2025 SoCal East championships without a single loss. Thanks to Coaches Manuel Montano and Carlos Bustillos, they have set the bar for excellence, teamwork, and sportsmanship.

A special congratulations to Coachella Football Club owner Luis Bustillos, who founded the team with a vision to help players turn their dreams into reality. He calls the club a dream factory and continues to inspire his players to dream big.

I thank every Coachella Football Club player and coach for representing our district with grit, heart, and pride. Their success reminds us all what is possible when talent meets dedication.