Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today, I am calling to ban data centers in residential communities and to ban Federal funding for Flock cameras.

We can't have a surveillance state in America. We didn't fight a revolution to be ruled by tech billionaires.

Americans are for innovation but not for the extraction of natural resources. Americans are for safety but not for the abuse of their privacy. We need guardrails on this technology.

Communities should have the right to say ``no'' to a data center being shoved down their throats, and we should have the right for women not to be surveilled by Flock cameras by rogue police officers.

As a Representative of Silicon Valley, I am calling for democratic accountability of this technology revolution. We the people should call the shots.

Mr. Speaker, the progressive movement is winning across the country, from the heart of New York to Michigan to Maine.

The people are saying no to foreign wars, and they are saying no to genocide in Gaza. They are saying no to the unfair and lopsided economy that has allowed a few people to hoard extreme wealth and power, and they are saying yes to Medicare for All, to unions for all, to childcare for all, to making sure that we have a housing guarantee for kids by the time they are 35 if they work hard.

Now, some of the oligarchs don't like it. Elon Musk has been threatening to sue me or jail me, but I will tell you what: They should judge us by those who are attacking us.

We will not be intimidated. We stand for transforming this country for the working class over the billionaire class.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the House taking up the Government Audit and Accountability of Federally Funded State-Administered Programs Act. It is a long way of saying that this is a bill to go after fraud.

I thank Congressman Tim Burchett for his partnership on this bipartisan legislation. I also thank Chairman Comer; Ranking Member Garcia; Congressman Gill; Congressman Subramanyam; my staff lead, Selene Ceja; and Kevin Fox, my legislative director, for their help in advancing this effort.

The bill is straightforward. It directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct an independent review of Federal programs that States administer on behalf of working families.

Congress has a responsibility to ensure that every tax dollar reaches the people and communities these programs are intended to serve. To do that, we need facts, data, and evidence.

The legislation helps us better understand how these programs operate across States where vulnerabilities may exist, what practices are working, and what improvements Congress should consider to stop fraud.

At its core, the bill is about prevention, accountability, and good governance. By directing the GAO to identify effective tools, technical assistance, and proven practices, we can help States strengthen program administration before problems occur, and it applies to all 50 States, so there is no politics in it.

The families who rely on these programs deserve services that are efficient, reliable, accessible, and protected.

Tackling fraud is not a partisan issue. Congress needs to continue bipartisan, evidence-based efforts to better understand how Federal funds flow through State-administered programs and how we can strengthen those systems.

I recognize Congressman Tim Burchett for his extraordinary leadership and partnership here. This bill gives us the information we need to make informed decisions and strengthen the public trust.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Jackson for his leadership and vision on this 250th anniversary year of our country. He spoke out when there was silence in this body, when our leadership was distracted, and when the country was consumed by Donald Trump's diversions.

The gentleman spoke out and said that there was a case in the Supreme Court that is gutting the Voting Rights Act and that will take away from Black Americans the right to freely choose their Representatives. We were all complacent while the gentleman was sounding the alarm.

My friend knew, as the son of the great Reverend Jackson and as someone who has spent his entire life fighting for civil rights, he knew the dangers when powerful people try to strip away civil rights and freedoms from Black Americans.

Unfortunately, Congressman Jackson was right. A Supreme Court decision has been the fastest rollback of Black freedom and Black political rights since Rutherford Hayes ended Reconstruction.

Now I read that they want to go after districts with representation of majority Black Americans, majority Asian Americans, I don't believe they should go after my district just because it happens to be a majority Asian-American district with people of all backgrounds having a community of interest. I don't think they should be splitting up Congressman Jackson's district just to give the Democrats a little bit more of a partisan advantage, to take away a community that has struggled for freedom and civil rights for decades and split that up and not allow them to freely choose who their Representative is. That is what is going on in this country, and it is wrong.

Tonight, as someone who is the grandson of a freedom fighter who spent 4 years in jail with Gandhi and as someone whose parents sacrificed everything they had so that I could have a chance, I stand in solidarity with my friend to say that we have come too far to roll back.

I stand both for my friend's voting rights amendment and affirmative amendment next week which he will be introducing and for his standing up for voting rights in majority-minority districts.

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court is engaged in an ugly recidivism to deny Black political representation in the South.

Not since 1877, when Rutherford Hayes ended Reconstruction, have we seen as fast a rollback of political rights for Black Americans.

The moral light has been extinguished from the Supreme Court. That is why we need term limits for Supreme Court Justices. Eighteen years, and you are out. That is why we need to expand the Court from 9 Justices to 13 Justices, like we have 13 circuits.

The next time the Democrats have power, we need to actually take action, not just appoint commissions.

Mr. Speaker, as we approach the 250th anniversary of our Nation, we need a modern Supreme Court to uphold our Nation's principles.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Secretary Hegseth couldn't answer my question about how much the war in Iran is costing the American people, so I am going to answer it for him.

The answer is $631 billion, $5,000 per American household. That is how much it is costing because of the increase in the price of food, gas, and electricity. We need to end this war now and help the American people reduce costs.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are angry at the corruption in our politics while food and gas prices go up and the American Dream seems dead. People feel they have no say while the rich and powerful call the shots.

We need an administration to actually stand up to this corrupt power structure.

First, appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the Epstein class that abused and raped young girls.

Second, call a Constitutional Convention to overturn Citizens United. This Congress isn't going to take on tech billionaires or private health insurance. Go to the American people and have two-thirds of the States pass an amendment to overturn Citizens United, ban super-PACs and money in politics.

Third, ban the insider trading on Polymarket, Kalshi, and the stock market, where people have made millions because of this illegal, immoral war in Iran.

Our Founders would be rolling over in their graves. We need to restore power to the people.

Mr. Speaker, this body needs to vote on Thomas Massie's and my resolution to end the war in Iran.

The President has sent 2,000 more soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to Iran. This is on top of the 4,500 marines we already have there.

We cannot afford to put ground troops in Iran. This body needs to say no to the $200 billion request and vote to end a war that is causing gas to skyrocket. Gas is up to nearly $4 a gallon, up 34 percent, and we have already lost 13 American servicemembers.

Let's end the war. Let's bring the troops home. Let's make sure we are putting Americans first.

Mr. Speaker, the war in Iran is crushing the economy here at home. Working-class and middle-class Americans are struggling.

Today, I read that the price of gas has gone up 27 percent in just 2 weeks. Every day, we are spending $2 billion of American money in Iran.

To put that in perspective, for 20 days in Iran, we could have free public college for every American. We could have a thousand new trade schools. We could have childcare at $10 a day for working-class Americans.

Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and I are introducing the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act for oil companies. They need to be paying a tax, and that money needs to go back in the pockets of ordinary Americans who are struggling at the pump.

Instead of putting more money into Iran, we need a Marshall Plan for the United States of America. The Democrats stand for America's economy first, building jobs here, childcare here, and healthcare here.

Let's focus on our people and our communities instead of draining more money to the war in the Middle East.

Mr. Speaker, the world needs a new moral vision. America needs a new vision.

We are seeing militarism erode the soul of our Nation, leading to a regime change war in Iran and utter human devastation in Gaza.

Simply put, we have lost our way. We are back to the law of the jungle, where might makes right and where the Middle East descends into a Hobbesian war of all against all.

President Eisenhower warned that every warship built, every bomb deployed, every missile launched is a hospital and school forgone. A world in arms, he said, is stealing the hopes of our children.

Today, this vote on Iran is not a procedural vote. It is a profoundly moral vote. It is a vote to direct our resources toward healing our own people, toward healthcare that saves lives, jobs that restore dignity, and housing that shelters families instead of raining destruction on other nations.

It is a vote to renew an America that leads once more through diplomacy, statesmanship, and principle, an America that strives to end cycles of violence rather than ignite them, an America that cooperates with other nations rather than bullying them into submission, an America committed to confronting child poverty, the climate

crisis, and illiteracy, to advance our shared humanity, an America that is respected in the world again.

The world needs an America that finds its moral center, Mr. Speaker. Let us rise to this historic challenge. In this body, let us declare with courage and clarity that we reject this illegal and unjust war in Iran. Let us choose moral renewal over further moral decay.

Mr. Speaker, another war in the Middle East is not America First. That is why Congressman Massie and I will introduce a bipartisan Iran war powers resolution.

America First means Congress first on matters of war and peace. Every Member in this body must go on the record about whether we should have another endless war in the Middle East.

The American people are sick of billions of dollars going for overseas wars. They want that money for manufacturing jobs here, for healthcare here, for childcare here, and for education here.

There is no doubt the Iranian regime is brutal in killing protestors and murdering their own people, but an American war will only inflame nationalism and will not prevent them from getting the bomb.

We need a better approach. We need to focus on our country's economic development.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Congressman Massie and I went to the Department of Justice to read the unredacted Epstein files. We spent about 2 hours there, and we learned that 70 to 80 percent of the files are still redacted.

In fact, there were six wealthy, powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason. When Congressman Massie and I pointed this out to the Department of Justice, they acknowledged their mistake. They have now revealed the identity of these six powerful men. These men are: Salvatore Nuara; Zurab Mikeladze; Leonic Leonov; Nicola Caputo; Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of Dubai Ports World; and Leslie Wexner, who was labeled as a co-conspirator by the FBI.

My question is: Why did it take myself and Thomas Massie going to the Justice Department to get these six men's identities to become public? If we found six men that they were hiding in 2 hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files. The story gets worse.

The reality is that Donald Trump's FBI scrubbed these files in March, long before Thomas Massie and I passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. My bill is clear. The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires them to unredact those FBI files. Yet, the Justice Department said to me and to Congressman Massie: We just uploaded whatever the FBI sent us.

Guess what. The FBI sent scrubbed files. That means the survivors' statements to the FBI, naming rich and powerful men who went to Epstein's island, who went to his ranch, who went to his home and raped and abused underage girls or saw underage girls being paraded, are all hidden. They are all redacted.

It is a little bit of a farce. They are inviting all the Members of Congress to go see the Department of Justice's ``unredacted files,'' but they have got all redacted files from the FBI.

It is not the fault of the Justice Department attorneys. They were just told to upload things that Donald Trump's FBI had already scrubbed.

It is a blatant violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but it also asks a fundamental question: Who are they protecting? Why are they protecting these rich and powerful men, people I call part of the Epstein class? Why are we in a country where there is no elite accountability for people who do the most heinous things?

We have in England the king now calling for an investigation and possible prosecution of his own brother. We have in Norway the princess who no longer has support to be the queen. Yet in the United States of America, we have someone in the Cabinet, Howard Lutnick, who is all over these Epstein files and who allegedly had business with Epstein after he was convicted of pedophilia, but is still in the Cabinet.

We need to ask ourselves: Are we in America going to have the lead accountability? Are we going to call to account the rich and powerful people who broke the law or cavorted with a pedophile, a convicted pedophile?

Are we going to have prosecutions for billionaires who went to this island and either raped underage girls or saw underage girls being raped and didn't say anything? Are we going to have investigations?

I will tell you what this is about. It is not just about the 1,200 survivors. It is about two tiers of justice in America. It is about people who can accumulate wealth and power and don't have to care about the rest of America.

They have destroyed so much of this country. Income inequality is at a 60-year high. Workers' salaries are less than they have been for 75 years as a part of GDP. Somehow, this country seems to be working for the rich and powerful; but it is not working for ordinary working-class Americans.

I say enough. It is time to begin with accountability for the Epstein class. Hold in front of Congress those people who visited the island or did business with Epstein after he was a convicted pedophile. Let's investigate them, and let's prosecute them.

Let's return to democratic accountability in the United States of America. Let's return to one system of justice in the United States of America. Let's return to a place where every American has a stake in this country.

Mr. Speaker, Thomas Massie and my Epstein Files Transparency Act led to millions of files being released that have shocked the conscience of the Nation.

Today, I call for Congress to hold in front of the Oversight Committee every single person who emailed about going to Epstein's island. They need to answer some basic questions. Who raped these underage girls from working-class families? What did they see? What did they know? What did they participate in?

The American people are frustrated with the rich and powerful getting a different set of justice. There cannot be two tiers of justice in America, and I will not rest until the people who committed these heinous crimes and this heinous behavior are held accountable.

Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump's threats to invade Greenland have destroyed the world order. Prime Minister Carney, quoting Thucydides, has said that America is acting as if might makes right. He is invoking Vaclav Havel's call for resistance not against authoritarian communism but against the arrogance of America.

Mr. Speaker, I am ashamed for my country. I want Prime Minister Carney to know that there is a new generation of America that believes in a multiracial democracy that raises the sovereignty and self- determination of all nations. I want him to know that there is a new generation that believes in statesmanship, not subjugation. I want him to know that there is a new generation that believes in Kant's vision of perpetual peace with free nations bounded by international law.

Prime Minister Carney and leaders of the world, I ask for your patience and faith that this new generation prevails in the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, no one in America is safe from ICE today. Joe Rogan said that ICE agents are acting as ``villains,'' stripping away freedoms from Americans. This agency has gone rogue. It is lawless, and it needs to be reined in.

The ICE agents who pepper sprayed an elderly couple in Minnesota need to be arrested and prosecuted. The ICE agents who dragged out a disabled woman from her car who was going to a doctor's appointment need to be arrested and prosecuted. The ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good needs to be arrested and prosecuted.

When you have people in the MAGA base, when you have people like Joe Rogan talking about the lawlessness of a private police force--ICE acting as the President's private police force--then we know we have a crisis of freedom in this country. It is time to rein in this lawless agency.