Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 164, I inserted card and voted--light turned green but did not register. On this vote, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Military Mental Health Awareness Day. Mental health issues continue to carry a significant stigma in our country, but it is time that we recognize the challenges that many current servicemembers and veterans are facing, and we work to address their needs.

Post-traumatic stress is all too prevalent in our servicemembers and veterans. As a country, beyond partisanship, we must come together to tackle this issue. Our men and women in uniform deserve our dedication, just as we ask them to dedicate their lives to our Nation's service.

In San Diego, nearly 5,000 veterans were treated for post-traumatic stress in 2011 according to the VA. We are fortunate in San Diego to have medical institutions that provide innovative models of care to our servicemembers and veterans; and it is my hope that with further attention to this issue, we can bring some of those standards of care to the rest of the country.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to help me bring attention to this issue by working with service providers, counselors, and military groups in their communities as we continue to honor the sacrifices these servicemembers make for us.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring further attention to the fact that unless Congress takes definitive action, student loan interest rates will double on July 1. With that in mind, I proudly support H.R. 1595, introduced by Congressman Joe Courtney, and other bills that would keep student interest rates frozen at their reasonable rates for the next 2 years.

Right now, college tuition is spiraling beyond what many students and their families can afford. In many instances, students are being forced to leave school because they are accruing so much debt. At UC-San Diego or the University of San Diego or Point Loma Nazarene, all of which are in my district, students are relying on us to keep loan rates low.

My own education was made possible by student loans and work-study, and we must ensure that today's generation of students has the same opportunity to attend college that I and so many of us had. I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 1595.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the extraordinary contributions of Mr. Arturo Alberto Diaz, a public servant of the highest caliber who dedicated his entire life to the service of our nation. Over a career that exceeded three decades, Mr. Diaz selflessly served the United States Navy shipbuilding and maritime industry, contributing directly to the delivery of over 40 ships to the nation's maritime forces. Mr. Diaz passed away on December 24, 2012, but he has left behind a long and lasting legacy to our nation--both through his unparalleled technical contributions to the strength and flexibility of our Navy's surface fleet and through the generation of professionals that he has mentored throughout his time in federal service. Today, it is my great honor to recognize his achievements and thank his wife and family for his service.

Mr. Diaz's pursuit of a life of public service began in 1972 at the Admiral Farragut Academy in New Jersey, where he spent three years and ultimately achieved the Battalion Executive Officer position his senior year. Upon graduation, he entered the United States

Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Engineering in 1979 and a Third Assistant Engineer License from the U.S. Coast Guard. While attending the United States Merchant Marine Academy, he further achieved the rank and position of Regimental Executive Officer his senior year. He served with distinction as a U.S. Coast Guard officer from 1979 to 1984 before joining the federal civil service, where he went to work for the Navy as a civilian Construction Representative for the Military Sealift Command (MSC). Mr. Diaz rose through the chain of command to become the MSC Senior Owner's Representative for New Construction. During his tenure, he became widely known as an unparalleled expert in his field, working tirelessly to ensure that the operator's needs were integrated throughout the ship design and construction process.

Mr. Diaz had a long and distinguished career of innovative thinking and aggressive execution of shipbuilding programs across the entire spectrum of military sealift new construction and conversion. A man of uncommon character and boundless passion, he was highly respected throughout the naval shipbuilding and ship operations community as a visionary leader, team builder, and technical problem solver. Since joining federal service in 1984, he held a variety of technical and key leadership roles throughout his professional career. He also provided strong technical consultation to groups such as the National Shipbuilding Research Program and the Marine Engineering and Shipyard Management Program, where he worked tirelessly with his peers throughout government and industry across the globe to promote the open interchange of ideas and information and constantly improve shipbuilding and conversion processes and technology. When technical assistance was required on both U.S. Navy and Military Sealift Command ships, the Navy often called upon Mr. Diaz for his support. The expert technical leadership and ship design, construction, and ship operational knowledge that he shared throughout his career contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayers' savings in ship acquisition and annual operation costs over the life of the forty ships that he was responsible for delivering to the Navy's Military Sealift Command. Beyond the shipbuilding programs with which he was actively involved and which serve as tangible evidence of his commitment and technical acumen, perhaps his most lasting and profound legacy will be the development he fostered and advocated in emerging leaders in naval shipbuilding. He left a lasting impression on countless young professionals who will exemplify his leadership principles throughout their promising careers. Simply put, he brought out the best in them and cultivated a love of the trade. Throughout his distinguished federal service career, he has been honored with numerous awards for his exceptional service, including Superior and Meritorious Civilian Service Medals, Navy Unit Commendation, and other prominent citations.

Mr. Diaz's contributions to our nation extend far beyond his material achievements and specific accomplishments. He was an inspiration to all who served with him, government and industry alike, ensuring that all members of his team were keenly aware of their importance to the Navy and the true appreciation that he held for their efforts. His unique ability to recognize talent and to foster respect and camaraderie throughout the workforce has had an enormous influence on everyone he met and will continue to steer the course of our Navy well into the future. One of his most memorable quotes is ``Friends build ships.'' Mr. Diaz recognized both the arm's length nature of government and industry negotiations as well as the necessity for teamwork. During a challenging time in the completion of the lead ship of the Navy's new Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), Mr. Diaz provided a compilation of ``22 Attributes of a Good Team'' to help bring the team together. The soundness of his observations regarding teams is clearly reflected in the teamwork that exists in the shipbuilding community today, as well as through the scores of young engineers who are now carrying forth his legacy into the next generation of ships for the Navy.

Mr. Diaz's tireless leadership and lifelong commitment to Navy shipbuilding new construction and conversion have earned him the deep respect of his peers and shipmates throughout the Military Sealift Command, Navy acquisition, and commercial shipbuilding community. His was a life of courage and consequence--a life devoted to the security of our nation. Mr. Diaz touched the lives of all who knew him, and it is my great honor to recognize him posthumously for his service. I know my colleagues join me in thanking his wife, Lisa, for sharing him with us these many years and wish her fair winds and following seas.

Mr. Speaker, today, along with my colleague, Susan Davis, I rise in recognition of the High Tech High robotics team, nicknamed the Holy Cows, who recently won a world championship robotics competition. High Tech High is located in the Point Loma neighborhood of San Diego in the 52nd District.

The team beat out more than 10,000 other students to win the prized Chairman's Award at the For Inspiration Recognition of Science and Technology event.

This group of talented young students has used their expertise to develop a smart phone app for robotics, and they even took time to help other San Diego robotics teams along the way.

I'm proud that High Tech High and local high-tech companies in San Diego, including Qualcomm, SAIC, and Nordson Asymtek, have supported these scholars as they won multiple regional championships on the road to their world title. The success of these students demonstrates what can be done in a school culture that celebrates STEM education. Investments in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math education must continue to be at the forefront of our national school priorities.

With that in mind, I congratulate the High Tech High team, and look forward to their future successes.

Mr. Speaker, today is Equal Pay Day, and June will mark the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy signing the Equal Pay Act. Despite these markers of recognition and achievement, discrimination through the form of a staggering wage gap still exists.

In San Diego, a woman is paid 84 cents for every dollar a man is paid for the same job with the same experience. That means, together, San Diego women earn nearly $3.2 billion less each year than their male counterparts for performing the same work. For a woman working in San Diego, the wage gap represents 60 weeks of food, 4 weeks of mortgage and utility payments, 7 months of rent, or 2,035 gallons of gasoline.

To me, it's remarkable that this is still an issue, so in my first month in Congress I cosponsored Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro's Paycheck Fairness Act. It addresses the continuing discrepancy in pay and strengthens the Equal Pay Act by providing for greater enforcement of and remedies to gender discrimination in the payment of wages.

For my daughter and her daughters, for the women of San Diego, and for women across the Nation, I encourage every Member in this body to stand up for women and help pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 60 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

I am opposed to the bill in its current form.

Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill. It will not delay or kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will proceed immediately to final passage, as amended.

This past November, San Diegans and people across the country sent a strong message to Congress. They are tired of Washington putting politics before people, and I was honored to take my oath of office in January with a mission to be part of the solution. Like probably every member of this freshman class, Republican and Democrat, I ran for office because I was tired of the gridlock, and I believed I could make a difference. I still do.

When I was president of the San Diego City Council, it would never have occurred to me not to allow my colleagues to vote on a measure because I disagreed with it. I docketed items for votes because that's how we worked through issues and moved ahead. But the reality of Congress is that leadership has the ability to kill legislation before Members are even allowed to vote on it.

This Congress has been in session for 61 days. During that time, the majority has not offered or allowed even one vote on any proposal to repeal, amend, or replace the sequester, a measure that was designed to be so nonsensical that it was supposed never to have taken effect. That means that this Congress, 20 percent of whom are new Members, has not had even one chance to vote to avoid the loss of at least 750,000 jobs.

Until we're allowed to vote on the sequester, those of us who think it's bad policy--who prefer a regular budget process--can at least start by striking the sequestration language in this bill.

Since coming to Congress, I have used my time at home and here to emphasize how these budget decisions--and nondecisions--affect our constituents, large and small businesses, and our national defense. People in San Diego and across the country are counting on us to find a solution to the sequester so that we can continue our recovery, our economic growth, and we can continue to stay safe.

I've explained that two of the main drivers of San Diego's economy are our scientific research community and our military. In fiscal year 2012, San Diego firms received more than $130 million from the National Science Foundation and $850 million from the National Institutes of Health. It's these types of investments that have created hundreds of thousands of jobs, boosted our economy, and allowed San Diego to become the second largest life science cluster in the United States.

A student pursuing a degree in the sciences recently wrote to me to express the hope that we will find a way to fund an NIH project that would map the active human brain. That project would do for neuroscience what the Human Genome Project did for genetics. But he worries that if the United States is unable to fund projects like these that we will lose our place as a leader in scientific discovery to countries like China, England, or Israel, who are making those investments today.

The immediate cuts to NIH from sequestration are 8.2 percent, which is equivalent to a cut of $2.5 billion. This could result in the loss of 33,000 research-related jobs in 2013 and a $4.5 billion decrease in economic activity.

I've also explained how devastating the sequester is to our military. Just yesterday, an admiral testified at the House Armed Services Committee about how our best and brightest, whom we need for cyberdefense and who are interested in cyberdefense, are worried about pursuing their careers here because they don't know if they can count on Congress to provide the support.

And in San Diego, where almost one in four jobs are defense-related and nearly 25 percent of defense contractors are small businesses, 10 shipbuilding and maintenance contracts have been canceled. Nationwide, manufacturing companies that rely on defense funding could lose 223,000 jobs. And as we have heard in Armed Services, neglecting ship repairs and other maintenance and not making these investments not only leads to job losses, but threatens our very readiness as a nation.

I know protecting these areas of investment and ensuring economic recovery and growth are ideas that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. Now is the time to ignore party pressures and to do what is right for the American people. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' to remove this language from the bill because we need to find solutions other than the sequester.

Let's turn the indiscriminate cuts of the sequester into targeted cuts that are part of a larger deficit reduction strategy, a strategy that cuts wasteful spending but doesn't cut critical infrastructure investments, stifle scientific innovation, or compromise our national defense.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, the sequester is scheduled to go into effect in less than 24 hours, and I stand today to call out a particularly objectionable concept that this is not taking effect today, that this is going to somehow not affect people today, it's going to roll out over time; and that's just not the case. Because if you're a family who is facing layoffs or furloughs; or if you're an admiral or a general who is trying to figure out how to defend the country and you've got to be spending your time worrying about what jobs you're going to stop and who you're going to lay off; or if you're that scientist, that budding scientist, who is thinking about where are you going to do your science, whether it's here in a country that invests in science or abroad, someplace where it looks like you will get better opportunity, those impacts are happening today.

And that's why, today, we should not adjourn. We should be staying here, working on the sequester, avoiding these cuts. Let's stay at work and get this problem solved.

Tomorrow is the last day we have to avoid sequester. I've spoken on the House floor about how San Diego will be disproportionately affected. Today, I want to address our national security.

Almost one in four jobs in San Diego County are defense related. Nearly 25 percent of defense contractors are small businesses. Already, shipbuilding and maintenance contracts have been canceled, including 10 ship repairs in San Diego. Manufacturing companies that rely on defense funding could lose 223,000 jobs. Neglecting ship repairs will not only lead to job loss and threaten morale--it undermines our national security and our readiness.

Mr. Speaker, let's prove to San Diego and the America people that Congress is not broken. Let's work together to find a solution that doesn't compromise our national security and that balances fiscal responsibility with economic growth.

Mr. Speaker, last week I visited the Salk Institute, a cutting-edge biological research facility whose work has contributed to San Diego's status as the number two life science cluster in the United States. At Salk, I met Dr. Geoff Wahl, a professor who leads a groundbreaking cancer research lab, and Bianca Kennedy, a breast cancer advocate and survivor.

Mr. Speaker, many will be hurt by the sequester, but San Diego will be hurt in particular. Today, I'm here to urge Congress to work together to find a bipartisan solution to sequestration.

The Port of San Diego is our window to national and international commerce, as well as a main driver of our economy. The Port of San Diego is the fourth largest port in California, and one of 17 commercial strategic ports in America, overseeing two maritime cargo terminals, two cruise ship terminals, and hundreds of maritime leases to small businesses.

Since 2001, the port has received almost $22 million in Federal funding for critical infrastructure projects, which has allowed the port to hire more San Diegans and boost San Diego's economy. The American Society of Engineers found that with an additional investment of $15.8 billion between now and 2020, our national system of ports could provide $270 billion in U.S. exports and $697 billion in GDP.

Now is not the time to be cutting critical investments in our infrastructure. Let's work together to find a solution.

Mr. Speaker, San Diego is the largest metropolitan area for military personnel and base operations. My district is home to seven military installations, and sequestration will have a broad and devastating effect on our military families and economy.

In total, defense spending is responsible for 25 percent of San Diego's GDP. That means 1 out of every $4 generated in San Diego is achieved as a result of defense spending. The proposed cuts to the defense budget will cost San Diego more than 30,000 defense-related jobs, and the Navy will be forced to put a freeze on hiring civilians, many of whom are veterans.

With 11.5 percent of our community's veterans unemployed and a shocking 25 percent of veterans between 18 and 24 struggling to find employment, any further reduction in job opportunities for our Nation's heroes is unacceptable. We can neither threaten our military readiness with indiscriminate cuts nor can we fail the brave men and women of our Armed Forces and their families who have already sacrificed so much.

Please join with me in bringing an end to the partisan gridlock and finding solutions that do not put undue burdens on those who risk their lives in defense of our freedom.

The impacts of sequester will be felt in every district and State. San Diego is home to major research universities and technology firms. Last year, firms working on everything from improving cancer diagnostics to protecting our computer security received more than $130 million from the National Science Foundation and $850 million from the National Institutes of Health. In all, San Diego received more than 1,760 grants to support America's innovators.

I recently received a letter from Arisan Therapeutics, a small biomedical group in my district. This small team of dedicated researchers has been working on vaccines against the flu and dengue fever. If the sequester goes into effect, they will have to lay off their researchers and close. The sequester will not only hurt people, jobs, and families, but it will stop critical research in the biomedical sciences and stifle innovation in our labs and universities.

Congress must act now so America and San Diego do not fall behind our international competitors and so that we continue to be on the cutting edge of technology. We must keep investing in our future.