Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, this past year exposed deep inequities in our society, but it did not create them.

In San Diego County, 60 percent of families couldn't access the childcare they needed before the pandemic. We know it has only gotten worse.

It isn't enough to just get back to normal. For too many families, ``normal'' wasn't working.

That is why I am so proud that, this week, we will pass appropriations legislation that increases funding for education, healthcare, childcare, and more. I am proud that the package includes $3 million in local project funding for my district, including funding to boost early learning and multimedia education in Linda Vista and City Heights and to make Balboa Park more accessible.

I am also grateful that the package includes my request for $1 million for San Diego County's Child Care Expansion Fund to help providers increase available spots for care.

There is so much work to be done to build the future we deserve, and I am grateful to be here doing it on behalf of the community that I love.

Madam Speaker, today marks 200 days of this Congress; 200 days of House Democrats working to build back better.

Madam Speaker, our constituents want us to meet this moment.

That is why we have passed historic legislation to strengthen our democracy, ensure equal pay, guarantee the rights of LGBTQ-plus Americans, advance racial justice, prioritize gun safety and more.

We started this Congress by passing the American Rescue Plan, a historic investment in workers and families that included the expanded and improved child tax credit, one of the most important antipoverty measures of this generation.

Last week, I met with parents in Chula Vista who had tears in their eyes talking about what a difference the new child tax credit would make for their families.

They talked about not only being able to pay for rent and childcare and school supplies, but also for the first time being able to start saving for their kids to go to college.

Madam Speaker, that is worth celebrating, and it is worth protecting.

Let's build on the progress we have made, make permanent the expanded child tax credit, and make sure American families truly can build back better.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of H.R. 2471, the Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act. I thank Congressman Jeffries for his leadership in offering this important piece of legislation that will ensure that we take stock of U.S. policy in Haiti and measure our progress in addressing corruption, improving governance, and advancing the rule of law.

Haiti is facing one of its worst outbreaks of violence since 1986. This has had a devastating impact on the Haitian people and threatened any long-term progress we have made. We have seen this movie before. Instead of continuing the same approach and hoping for a different outcome, it is critical that as we are conducting our long-overdue review of policy, we are analyzing the drivers and risks of conflict, instability, and violence in Haiti.

This bill sets out to do just that and more. The amendment I offered in committee requires the State Department and USAID to conduct an assessment of conflict, instability, and violence in Haiti, analyzing the systemic patterns and causes of violence and the role of actors and beneficiaries who play a part.

This bill also makes sure that State and USAID are consulting with NGOs and civil society groups in Haiti, a critical step that is often overlooked.

As someone who has worked in conflict stabilization at the State Department, I know how important it is that we understand the root causes of violence in order to craft sound policy and make decisions on where to focus our foreign assistance. This bill would ensure our review of U.S. policy in Haiti takes this important step.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Cicilline for yielding to me.

I am honored to join my colleagues tonight to mark Pride Month. I should know note, San Diego actually officially celebrates Pride in July. So I am happy I get an extra month to celebrate with all of you.

Madam Speaker, I stand here today as the proud sister to a trans brother and a gender nonconforming sibling; a proud member of the LGBTQ Equality Caucus; and the proud representative of Hillcrest, the heart and soul of San Diego's diverse and vibrant LGBTQ-plus community.

This year has been difficult for so many of us, but especially for the LGBTQ-plus community. COVID-19 took friends, family members, and beloved community leaders from us. It forced so many into isolation; closed our communal spaces; and added to the economic, mental health, physical health, and childcare burdens.

And to all of the young people stuck at home, away from their friends, and may be with family who doesn't accept you, know this: You are perfect just the way you are and we need you.

But during this pandemic, San Diego's LGBTQ-plus community also rallied together to support one another and to support our community at large. The San Diego LGBTQ Community Center hosted food banks and made home deliveries for folks who were homebound. San Diego Pride hosted vaccine events for LGBTQ-plus people of color, trans, and non-binary people, and those living with HIV.

And next month, at long last, we will finally be able to celebrate Pride together again in person. And as we celebrate, we are also focused on the future. I am proud to work alongside all our LGBTQ-plus siblings to fight for an end to discrimination in all its forms based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Earlier this year, I was honored to join every one of my Democratic colleagues as an original cosponsor of the Equality Act, legislation that will be life-changing for so many of my constituents.

The first version of this bill was filed 15 years before I was even born. It had one cosponsor and never got a vote. It is humbling to think about the progress that has happened in my lifetime, progress that was made possible by all those who marched and protested and raised their voices. I am proud to work alongside all of you to continue that work. We will keep up the fight until everyone has equal rights under the law.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support this critical legislation to repeal the 2002 Authorization For Use of Military Force.

I want to thank Congresswoman Barbara Lee and the chair of this committee for their enduring leadership on this issue.

I was in middle school when Congress passed this authorization to use force against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Today, as a Member of this body, I am voting to repeal it.

I make this point to remind my colleagues that the decisions around war and peace are some of the most consequential ones we make here. My generation has spent our entire adult lives in the shadow of two long and protracted wars.

I am proud to represent San Diego, a military community that has made incredible sacrifices because of that vote in 2002. Now it is time to take it off the books.

Repealing this authorization would not impact any of our current military operations, but repealing it will prevent a future President from abusing it and reclaim Congress' rightful role in authorizing war, ensuring our servicemembers know that they are not being sent to harm's way without a full debate of this representative body. There is nothing rushed about something that has taken 20 years.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this repeal.

Mr. Speaker, even before COVID-19 hit, the care economy was at the heart of our communities.

Care workers keep our kids safe, our families healthy, and our businesses open.

Last week, I met with a group of childcare providers in San Diego, extraordinary women who do this work because they have a passion for helping kids. They love their jobs and they love the kids they care for, but that doesn't mean they should have to accept low wages and job insecurity.

When the pandemic hit, thousands of childcare centers across the country closed, including more than 500 in San Diego County, leading to devastating job loss in an industry that is 95 percent women.

The American Rescue Plan included $39 billion in grants to help parents afford childcare, and funding to help providers stay open and pay workers.

Now we need to go further.

The American Families Plan will create universal pre-K, make childcare affordable to all, and pay care workers a living wage.

Mr. Speaker, let's make sure that we care for the amazing workers who care for our future.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor my staff member, Jessica Mier, who left my office on June 4, 2021.

Jessica Mier has served as my Deputy Chief of Staff in San Diego for the better part of 2021, helping me set up my office and leading my district staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After graduating from California State University, Sacramento in 2006, Jessica began her long career in public service--first in higher education, then through an internship in a Member of Congress's legislative office.

Her summer internship made an extraordinary impact on her, and led her to pursue her next phase of service as a staff member for elected officials. Over the last 15 years, Jessica has worked for a U.S. Senator, four House Members, and a City Mayor in many different capacities. For the past four years, Jessica has led the district office of the 53rd Congressional District.

We have been so fortunate to rely on Jessica's breadth of knowledge and connection to the communities she loves and has represented for so long. Her focus has always been on the constituents she serves and making sure their needs are met or exceeded. Though she has managed to do so much for her communities over the years, her humility will never let her take credit.

Jessica's biggest accomplishment comes not in the form of professional achievements or awards--though she has many--but in the indelible impact that she has had on anyone lucky enough to work with her and under her supervision. While Jessica may be leaving our office, her work will live on through the public

servants and leaders she has mentored and molded.

Through her new position with the House, she will train many more public servants throughout the United States.

I am proud to rise today to recognize Jessica Mier, and to thank her for her outstanding contributions to the lives of our fellow San Diegans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the expanded child tax credit and in support of making it permanent.

I was so proud to fight for the expanded tax credit to be included in the American Rescue Plan and to have made so much progress on ending childhood poverty in my first 4 months in Congress.

Across the country we will lift 5 million kids out of poverty this year. In my district alone, that is 12,000 kids who will no longer live in poverty, and it is more than 44,000 families and more than 148,000 kids who will be helped.

But our work isn't done. It is unacceptable that we would let the child tax credit expire and allow even a single kid to fall back into poverty. We have the opportunity to make investments now that will impact a generation of Americans. So let's expand the child tax credit permanently. Let's invest in parents and families, and let's build a better future for all of our kids.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to call for a Green New Deal for America.

As one of the youngest members of this body, I am proud to represent a generation that is taking on climate change with the urgency that it deserves.

The Green New Deal is a call to action and a blueprint for positive change. It is about choosing justice and progress over scarcity and inequality. It is about choosing to have a plan instead of waiting for a miracle.

San Diegans are all too familiar with how devastating unchecked climate change has been for our community, and those who can least afford it have paid the highest price.

This plan is to mobilize and rebuild our economy around clean energy, empowered workers, and good jobs.

Madam Speaker, my generation knows that we can't take small steps to solve big problems. We have to think differently and reimagine a better future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for ending U.S. involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

Mr. Speaker, wars are supposed to end. In the time that we have been in Afghanistan, I have graduated from middle school, I have graduated from high school, I have graduated from college and grad school, worked at the U.N. and the State Department, started two organizations, and was elected to Congress.

I represent San Diego, a proud military community, and one that knows better than most the human cost of war. Ending this war does not invalidate those sacrifices. It recognizes them. We are indebted to the thousands of servicemembers who answered the call to serve, and we remember those who never came home. It is in their honor that we look to the next challenge.

Now it is time to prioritize diplomatic and humanitarian work in Afghanistan, to reassert Congress' authority on war powers, and to focus our efforts on the security needs of the future, not the past.

Madam Speaker, before COVID-19 more than 40 percent of San Diego kids were already living in families experiencing poverty.

Childhood poverty was a problem before COVID-19, and we know it has only worsened through this pandemic. America's kids deserve better.

That is why I was so proud to fight for them through the American Rescue Plan and so proud to see the bill signed into law last week.

The American Rescue Plan makes historic investments to increase the child tax credit and support our childcare infrastructure to help working families and our care workers. These investments will be transformational, cutting childhood poverty in half and lifting a heavy burden off the shoulders of so many parents.

Today, I celebrate this progress. And, today, I commit myself to working to support the 5 million American children who will still experience poverty. Let's make the child tax credit increases permanent. Let's revitalize our childcare infrastructure, and let's do right by America's kids.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the equal rights amendment.

From the beginning, gender equality was left out of the Constitution. Generations of women and LGBTQ-plus Americans lived and died without ever having the equal rights and dignity that they deserve under the law.

We know that the ERA is necessary by the words of its opponents, including the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who argued that the Constitution does not prohibit discrimination based on sex. We can change that.

Madam Speaker, 38 States have ratified the ERA. The only hurdle that remains is the arbitrary deadline set by Congress, a deadline that passed before I was born, but a deadline that never stopped the pursuit of justice. With every vote we take in this Chamber, we have the chance to correct past mistakes and repeal past wrongs. That is what we will do again today.

Madam Speaker, our march for equal rights is not done. It will not stop, and it does not expire.

Madam Speaker, today, the House passed H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446, two bills to enhance background checks and promote gun violence prevention.

As a millennial, I am a member of what is known as the Columbine generation, a generation that grew up in the shadow of gun violence and school shootings.

When violence came to our Capitol on January 6, congressional staffers barricaded themselves into a conference room and hid under furniture because it is what they learned to do in years of active- shooter drills.

It is time for that to change, and this is the start. Today, I rise to honor the young people who called us here to act.

From Steele Canyon to Bonita Vista, students in San Diego have organized, protested, and marched for their lives. I have been so inspired by them and young Americans across the country who have fundamentally changed the conversation on gun violence.

Because of their activism, we finally passed commonsense legislation that will save so many lives.

I was proud to support these bills.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1, the For the People Act.

Mr. Speaker, I was in this very Chamber on January 6 when our democracy was attacked.

In the days following, I received texts and calls from friends and former colleagues around the world, who were working on improving democracy in places like Burma and Hungary, who were devastated about what they were seeing and how it would impact their ability to make progress around the world.

Passing H.R. 1, rebuilding trust in our democracy, is imperative for our national security.

Since January 6, countries have questioned whether they need to listen to America's calls to defend human rights or abide by the results of free and fair elections.

Our allies and partners have questioned if they should continue following our lead when it seems like other countries' autocratic systems are more capable of addressing crises.

We need to rebuild our credibility on the world stage.

Countries needn't be defined by their darkest days, but rather by how they overcome them.

The world was watching on January 6, and it is watching again today.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Equality Act.

As the proud sister of a trans brother and a gender-nonconforming sibling and the proud representative of Hillcrest, the heart of San Diego's LGBTQ-plus community, this bill is deeply personal.

The protections in the Equality Act will be life-changing for so many of my constituents.

Mr. Speaker, the first version of this bill was filed in 1974, 15 years before I was even born. It had one cosponsor and never got a vote. But this week, I am proud to say we are going to pass the Equality Act, cosponsored by the entire Democratic Caucus.

This was made possible by all those who marched and protested and raised their voices, like San Diego's own Larry Baza. Last week, we lost Larry to COVID, and today would have been his 77th birthday. Larry demanded justice and equality and dignity for all. I urge my colleagues to support the Equality Act.