Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan Gun Violence Restraining Order Act.

After the Parkland, Florida shooting tragically took the lives of 17 students and educators, students across the country have stood up and said: Enough is enough. They have demanded that Congress act to prevent these horrific acts of violence.

Since Parkland, NRA officials, Republican lawmakers, and even the President have repeatedly said that we need to disarm individuals who pose a threat to themselves or their community--those posting on social media or telling friends and family that they plan to take lives with a gun.

GVRO laws do just that. That is why California passed these protections after the shooting at UCSB's Isla Vista. And now Florida is considering similar legislation in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

Only a handful of States currently have legal processes to temporarily remove those firearms. The GVRO Act encourages other States to follow their lead to empower family members or law enforcement officials to petition a judge to temporarily remove firearms from an individual in crisis. No one law will be a panacea, but that is not an excuse for inaction.

Since its introduction, the GVRO Act has gained significant support from my colleagues in the majority. Madam Speaker, we are calling on Speaker Ryan to bring the bipartisan GVRO Act to the floor for a vote. Our children's lives depend on it.

Mr. Speaker, last December, the Thomas fire raged through Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, eventually becoming the largest wildfire in California's history. Our heroic firefighters left their families behind during the holiday season to fight tirelessly on the front lines, saving homes, businesses, and lives.

A few short weeks later, our first responders were called back into action when heavy rains brought debris flows that tragically claimed the lives of 23 people in Montecito. As residents were evacuating, these brave firefighters ran towards the disaster without a second thought, pulling people out of the mud and debris for days afterward.

I would like to thank all our first responders who so bravely answered the call of duty in these difficult conditions.

Mr. Speaker, with us here today are firefighters from IAFF Local 2046, CAL FIRE Local 2881, and the Ventura County Professional Firefighters Association, and the California Professional Firefighters.

I thank them all for their unparalleled level of service to keep our loved ones on the central coast safe.

Thank you for your service.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Shimkus for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced its

decision not to relicense the two nuclear reactors at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. The plant has been a key economic engine in my district, employing around 1,500 people and powering more than 1.7 million homes in central and northern California.

As our community works together to mitigate the economic impacts of this closure, I am committed to helping secure the central coast's dominance as a hub for renewable energy development. That is why I am introducing legislation later this month that creates renewable energy incentives to offset the loss of jobs and revenue resulting from the Diablo Canyon closure.

In addition to economic stability, our community also needs certainty of responsible management and safe storage of nuclear waste after the plant's closure. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant was built against a seaside cliff near Avila Beach, where it was discovered that its reactors are in proximity to earthquake fault lines. Without a long- term solution, Diablo Canyon would become a de facto storage facility for radioactive nuclear waste and would hinder our ability to repurpose any of the scenic coastline where the power plant currently sits.

Currently, spent nuclear fuel sits across 39 States in 121 communities, including San Luis Obispo County.

We need a permanent geologic repository to store waste that will last far beyond our lifetimes. Congress must establish responsible interim storage solutions, while continuing to work towards establishing a safe and secure national repository for spent fuel.

H.R. 3053 is a good bipartisan solution to establish a process and outline next steps for interim and permanent storage solutions. With the impending decommissioning of Diablo Canyon, it is vital that we act to find a storage solution. I will continue to work to grow business in our area, remove spent fuel safely, and keep our communities safe and thriving as the Diablo Canyon decommissioning moves forward.

Madam Speaker, I rise with a heavy heart, imagining the pain felt in Parkland, Florida. No parent should have to send their children to school each day wondering if they will return home.

While details of the shooting in Florida are still emerging, it is clear this horrific act of violence was perpetrated by an individual in crisis.

I lost my older sister to suicide with a firearm at a young age. What I have learned since is that helping to prevent people in crisis from temporarily having a gun saves lives.

Today, I urge my colleagues to support the Gun Violence Restraining Order Act, allowing family members or law enforcement officials to petition a judge to temporarily remove firearms from an individual in crisis.

For those who keep repeating after each mass shooting that it is too soon to discuss gun violence reform, please consider that for many families, including my own, it is far too late.

We owe these families more than just our thoughts and prayers. We owe them sensible gun laws that protect our children from needless gun violence.

Mr. Speaker, deadly mudslides have destroyed homes and claimed at least seventeen lives in my district. These mudslides have devastated the communities in my district--many of which are still recovering from the horrific Thomas Fire. In order to be with my constituents and assist the community in recovery efforts, I decided to return to Santa Barbara, California. As a result, I missed votes on January 10, 2018 and January 11, 2018.

Had I been present, I would have voted:

Aye on Roll Call No. 17--the Counter Terrorist Network Act;

Aye on Roll Call No. 12--the DHS Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of 2017;

Nay on Roll Call No. 10--H. Res. 681, a rule providing for consideration of S. 140;

Nay on Roll Call No. 9--Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on the Rule, and

Nay on Roll Call No. 8--H. Res. 682, a rule providing for consideration of S. 139.

Mr. Speaker, deadly mudslides have destroyed homes and claimed at least seventeen lives to date in my district. These mudslides have devastated the communities in my district--many of which are still recovering from the horrific Thomas Fire. In order to be with my constituents and assist in recovery efforts, I decided to return to Santa Barbara, California. As a result, I was unable to vote during Roll Call No. 9, which was S. 140, a bill to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify the use of amounts in the WMAT Settlement Fund on January 10, 2018.

While I support tribal sovereignty, this was a misguided bill that would strip hundreds of thousands of workers at tribal-owned and -operated enterprises of their protections for the right to bargain collectively.

If I had the opportunity to vote on S. 140, I would have voted NO on Roll Call No. 9.

Mr. Speaker, deadly mudslides have destroyed homes and claimed at least seventeen lives in my district. These mudslides have devastated the communities in my district--many of which are still recovering from the horrific Thomas Fire. In order to be with my constituents and assist the community in recovery efforts, I decided to return to Santa Barbara, California.

As a result, I was unable to vote during Roll Call No. 16, which was S. 139, the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017 on January 11, 2018. If I had the opportunity to vote on S. 139, I would have voted No.

I was also a co-sponsor of the Amash amendment to S. 139 and would have voted Aye on Roll Call No. 14, in support of the amendment. Additionally, I would have voted Aye on Roll Call No. 15, on the Motion to Recommit on S. 139.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to celebrate the life of Staff Sergeant Peter Ewanick. He was born May 23, 1919 to Ukrainian immigrants in Forestville, Pennsylvania. They were fleeing oppression and seeking a better life in America.

Peter grew up in Evanston, Illinois, playing football and baseball in high school. In September of 1941 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, three months before the United States would enter World War II. He was part of an USMC special weapons platoon in two of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific, Tarawa and Okinawa. He was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant in December 1945.

Peter Ewanick got a job in Los Angeles as a lineman for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, helping to build the microwave infrastructure across California's deserts and to install overhead and underground cables for the postwar population boom in LA. He married wife Joyce in 1958, and together they raised her children and their son together, Joel, in both Huntington Park and the San Fernando Valley.

Peter Ewanick retired in 1981 as a splicing and construction foreman, having been responsible for the Wilshire District of Los Angeles. The couple moved to Santa Barbara in 2008. Peter was a lifetime member of the Elks Lodge and the Telephone Pioneers, and generally regarded as a good husband, a great role model, and a proud American veteran.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join with the nation and the Ewanick family in celebrating this special life, which ended peacefully on July 25, 2017.

Mr. Speaker, as the Member of Congress representing the ``Camp 4'' property addressed in H.R. 1491, which would reaffirm the action of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians, I would like to take this opportunity to express my support for the amended version of the bill under consideration today which incorporates the recently completed local agreement between Santa Barbara County and the Chumash Tribe.

I have a unique perspective on this issue, having previously served as a Santa Barbara County Supervisor for twelve years. During my tenure, the issue of Camp 4 was deliberated before the Board of Supervisors on several occasions. During those discussions, I was one of the first elected officials to consistently call for direct government-to-government discussions between the Chumash Tribe and the County. I am pleased to see that those ensuing negotiations have now resulted in an agreement that addresses the Tribe's well documented need for tribal housing while providing for important mitigations to address potential impacts on public views, traffic, local tax revenues, and the natural environment.

I believe that the locally negotiated agreement concerning Camp 4 between the Tribe and the County, which is incorporated in today's amended version of H.R. 1491, is in the best interest of my constituents and is an important step toward establishing a long-term collaborative relationship between all parties involved.

Mr. Speaker, the tax bill put forth today by congressional Republicans is a gift to the wealthiest 1 percent and multinational corporations at the expense of our students, homeowners, and seniors.

It eliminates critical deductions that help central coast families, including deductions for State and local taxes, mortgage interest, student loans, and medical expenses.

With wildfire season in California growing longer each year, this bill callously eliminates tax relief for personal casualty losses resulting from wildfires as well as earthquakes. In fact, this bill would raise taxes on 36 million working and middle class taxpayers by an average of $1,130 a year.

With a national debt that has now surpassed $20 trillion, the American people cannot afford this tax bill that adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit and leaves our children stuck with the bill. Americans deserve bipartisan tax reform that simplifies our Tax Code and puts the middle class first.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Ranking Member Smith, Chairman Thornberry, and the committee staff for working with me to include language that brings attention to the threat of nuclear proliferation.

Currently, nine countries possess over 15,000 nuclear weapons, and the United States plans to spend $1.2 trillion over the next 30 years to upgrade and expand its nuclear stockpile. As we build up our nuclear arsenal, we are increasing the risk of these destructive weapons ending up in the hands of terrorists.

The language I included in this bill stresses the importance of addressing this danger and requires the Secretary of Defense to explain how the Department of Defense is responding to this threat. When Secretary Mattis testified before our committee, I asked him about this ongoing threat and he told me that nuclear proliferation has not received enough attention over quite a few years.

This amendment is a welcome first step in the development of a robust strategy against nuclear proliferation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Lipinski for yielding to me.

Mr. Speaker, we are out of time to debate the reality of climate change. Its effects are already here. Recently, each year has brought with it record-breaking droughts, hurricanes, and natural disasters.

My home State of California just experienced our deadliest wildfire season yet. This year alone, natural disasters will cost more than $22 billion in recovery efforts. That is why I am proud to work with my colleague and cofounder of the Climate Solutions Caucus, Mr. Curbelo, to introduce the bipartisan Coastal State Climate Preparedness Act, H.R. 3533, which will help coastal States better plan for extreme weather events and implement climate change adaptation strategies.

We can save lives, homes, and billions of tax dollars by encouraging these vulnerable communities to prepare their infrastructure for the impacts of climate change.

After severe weather events like Hurricanes Maria and Harvey, it is imperative that we invest in readying our infrastructure for the next extreme weather event. Moreover, we also need to invest in developing renewable energy sources.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the House to join me and Mr. Curbelo in this effort.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Yarmuth for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, snake oil is all that this Republican budget will give to the American middle class and working families.

This Republican budget before Congress is squarely aimed at ramming through a tax plan without bipartisan consensus or input. This proposed tax plan will increase our deficit, adding $1.5 trillion over the next decade, and it leaves the middle class stuck footing the bill, with an increase in their annual Federal taxes.

In fact, 80 percent of the tax cuts in this plan benefits only the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. That means those benefits are geared towards those earning $900,000 a year or more.

One in three middle class families making between $50,000 and $150,000 will see their taxes go up.

One proposal that Republicans have put forth to pay for their plan is eliminating the State and local tax deduction. This will cost central coast homeowners and families in my district over $15,000 a year on average.

As a member of the Budget Committee, I encourage my colleagues to reject this plan and to get to work on bipartisan negotiations for lasting tax reform that benefits middle class families.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak against provisions in the House and the Senate National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the transfer of all surplus pistols to the Civilian Marksmanship Program--or CMP--for sale to the public.

Allowing the transfer of this large volume of guns for sale to the public moves the CMP into the retail gun market and away from its statutorily mandated functions. This is a program meant to instruct citizens in marksmanship and promote safety in the use of firearms, not to deal firearms.

The Army has opposed such provisions in the past, and I am here to oppose any NDAA provisions that would allow the transfer of any surplus Army firearms to the CMP.

I join my colleague, Mr. Langevin, in calling for all surplus firearms to be melted down and not distributed to the public.

There are over 300 million guns in America, nearly one for every citizen. We have lost way too many lives to gun violence.

The Department of Defense should not participate in freely distributing their guns onto our streets.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in disbelief that this Congress has shamefully allowed the Children's Health Insurance Program, CHIP, to expire earlier this week. CHIP provides healthcare to 8.9 million low-income children in our country and to over 2 million children in my home State of California.

My Republican colleagues have spent all their time and energy this year fighting to repeal healthcare for millions of Americans covered by the Affordable Care Act, and now they have failed to protect healthcare for our country's children.

If we do not act quickly, it could soon lead to States not enrolling children and potentially even denying them coverage altogether due to the lack of funding.

It is critical that we fund the CHIP program without delay and provide certainty to these families that they will not lose their health coverage because of this irresponsible and derelict congressional inaction.