Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Sarah Dully, Rhode Island's 2026 Teacher of the Year.

Ms. Dully began her work as an educator in 2012. She joined Narragansett High School as an English language arts teacher in 2020, where she is admired and respected by her fellow teachers, students, and administrators alike. At Narragansett, she also serves as the National Honor Society adviser and the Class of 2025's adviser.

When asked about Ms. Dully, one of her students said: ``My favorite thing about [her] is just how active and excited she is every class.''

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Ms. Dully on this honor. I have no doubt that she will represent our State well in the National Teacher of the Year award program.

Recognizing Dave Chenevert

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Dave Chenevert, who is retiring after 14 years as executive director of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association and 41 years in the manufacturing industry.

Dave built RIMA into a powerful advocacy organization for the manufacturing industry, championing workforce development and education, and working with State leaders to bring more people into the profession. In his role, Dave built on Rhode Island's manufacturing legacy so that it will endure for future generations.

On his retirement, Dave said: ``When I first joined RIMA, my goal was to strengthen our voice, expand our reach, and build a solid foundation for the future.'' He has certainly done that, stabilizing the industry after years of decline, with more than 1,500 manufacturing companies in Rhode Island now employing over 41,000 people.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Dave for his many years of service to Rhode Island. His impact will long endure, and I wish him a very happy retirement.

Concerns Over High Cost of Healthcare

Mr. Speaker, while Donald Trump and congressional Republicans spend time building a billion-dollar ballroom, bailing out Argentina, and lavishing tax cuts on billionaires, Rhode Islanders and Americans continue to struggle with the high cost of healthcare.

I wish that our colleagues would spend as much time worrying about how they are going to lower healthcare costs as they seem to spend building up Donald Trump's ballroom, sending billions of dollars to Argentina, and sucking up to their billionaire donors.

All across the country, people are getting letters like this from their insurance companies telling them how much more they are going to have to pay next year because of Republican inaction in extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits, letters like this one received by Susan from South Kingstown. She, her husband, and her college-aged son are going to see an increase of $1,700 a month, $20,000 a year more that they are going to pay for their health insurance for three people if Republicans don't do the right thing and extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Kim, from East Greenwich, runs a small business with her husband, an appraisal company. She has a family of four with two teenage daughters. The

letter she received from her health insurance company told her that she is going to be paying $1,300 more a month next year, $16,000 a year for a family of four.

People cannot afford this. We have heard all the excuses from those on the other side of the aisle who are determined to stop funding the Affordable Care Act. They say it is just a subsidy for the health insurance companies. Really?

Are you going to tell Kim that she is a health insurance company because she is going to be paying thousands of dollars more a year for her health insurance? Is she a health insurance company? Is Susan from South Kingstown a health insurance company?

No. These are real people who are going to be impacted by the lack of Republican action to lower the cost of healthcare.

We have a plan: Extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits and reverse the cuts to Medicaid so that people do not have to pay thousands of dollars more for their health insurance.

What have we heard from the other side? Nothing. They have no plan. The best they can come up with is they will give everybody a few thousand dollars. We will cut them a check.

Do they have any idea how much it costs to go to the emergency room? Does President Trump have any idea how much an emergency room bill costs? I don't think so.

It is time for our Republican colleagues to do the right thing. It is time to come together in a bipartisan way and listen to the American people. Let's extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, reverse the Medicaid cuts, and lower costs for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, stop wasting time with ballrooms and bailouts, and instead deliver for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, with deep admiration for the memory of our departed colleague, Sylvester Turner, I ask unanimous consent that I may hereafter be considered to be the first sponsor of H.R. 1034, the DHS Cybersecuirty On-the-Job Training Program Act, a bill originally introduced by Representative Turner of Texas, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.

Mr. Speaker, while Donald Trump gives billions of dollars to Argentina and gets rich selling cryptocurrency to criminals and foreign agents, millions of Americans are facing financial ruin from rising health insurance costs.

All across the country, Americans are getting letters like this from their insurance companies telling them how much their premiums are going up because of the failure of Republicans to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Susan, from Foster, Rhode Island, a marketing consultant, is seeing her insurance go up from $600 a month to $2,100, a 250 percent increase.

Sarah, a small business owner from Cranston, is seeing her premiums go up more than $5,000 a year. Hillary, from Providence, her family of four is going to be paying $10,600 more next year for the same insurance.

It is time for President Trump and House Republicans to wake up to what the American people are experiencing and extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits now. Stop playing games. Let's save the healthcare of the American people.

Mr. Speaker, after 9 months of delay, I rise today to recognize an important victory for the United States and for thousands of children around the world who have a new chance at life.

Finally, after months of advocacy and struggle, funding has been restored for global emergency food aid for children. You see, malnutrition is the number one cause of death for children under 5 globally, and when children are on the brink of starvation, their organs break down, and they cannot even digest food if it is given to them.

There is a proven treatment: ready-to-use therapeutic food, also known as Plumpy'Nut, a shelf-stable peanut paste. It does not need to be refrigerated. You don't need to add water. It has the nutrients that children need to survive and grow back from the brink of starvation.

Edesia Nutrition in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, is one of the two organizations that manufacture Plumpy'Nut. Since their founding, they have saved over 25 million lives.

Earlier this year, in January, funding for Plumpy'Nut was cut off by President Trump's DOGE initiative. New Federal orders were halted. Production ground to a halt. Boxes of lifesaving food aid sat in warehouses while children starved to death.

This was not just cruel. It was short-sighted.

America's reputation as a global leader suffers when we fail to deliver international aid. Our adversaries--China, Russia, terrorist organizations--fill the abyss when the United States pulls out.

A broad coalition of Americans fought back. In April, I made a commitment that I would speak on this floor every legislative day until funding was restored. I ended up speaking here 42 times in total to demand that emergency food aid for children be restored.

I wasn't alone. My colleague from Rhode Island, Representative Amo, made his voice heard on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Representative Austin Scott from Georgia, whose district hosts the other organization that manufactures Plumpy'Nut, was a vital partner. Of course, Navyn Salem, the CEO of Edesia, never gave up her mission to help starving kids in need.

Last month, the administration finally listened, and the program was restored. A few weeks ago, Edesia was able to resume regular shipments. I was there at the loading dock in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, when the first new shipments went outbound for children whose small bodies were struggling on the edge of starvation and who now have a chance to survive and grow. I will never forget that moment.

This is proof that, even in these challenging times, it is possible to get good things done. This victory wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the advocacy of people at all levels, all across the country, making their voices heard. It is a monumental step toward

restoring the moral standing of the United States abroad and saving countless lives.

While I am very glad that this program is restored, that Edesia is up and running again, and that funding for food aid is back, none of this should have ever happened.

Make no mistake, children died needlessly because President Trump and an unelected tech billionaire cut off their supply of food before eventually reversing course. This is a lesson in the devastating consequences of the chaotic slash-and-burn style of government that we have seen too much of over the last year.

Nevertheless, today is a day for celebration, as Americans came together to do the right thing, to advocate for those who couldn't advocate for themselves, and to deliver a victory for countless children around the world who now have a chance to grow and thrive.

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans are back from their 54- day taxpayer-funded vacation. But don't get me wrong, they do know how to work hard. When billionaires wanted tax breaks, they moved mountains to make it happen. When Argentina needed a $40 billion bailout to help Trump's buddy, they moved quickly to make it happen at the White House.

When working people need help, when millions of Americans are seeing their health insurance costs double and triple and Americans all across this country are feeling like they are going to have to go without health insurance for the first time in their lives because they can't afford it anymore and have to make that terrible decision about which of their family members they are going to cut off of their insurance, House Republicans are nowhere to be found.

When Donald Trump's stupid tariffs are raising the price of groceries and the cost of coffee is up 40 percent over the last year, House Republicans are silent. When working people need help, they are absent. Shameful.

They will work when billionaires need tax cuts, when Argentina needs a bailout, but when working people need relief, they go on a taxpayer- funded vacation. Shameful, Mr. Speaker.

Vote ``no'' on this budget. Do not cut the healthcare of the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise for the 43rd time today to call on the Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for starving children around the world.

Edesia Nutrition, an organization in my district, in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, manufactures Plumpy'Nut, a nutritional supplement that is needed to get starving children back to health. When kids are starving, their organs break down, and they cannot digest conventional food.

Millions of lives have been saved by this product, and now there are thousands of boxes sitting in a warehouse in Rhode Island because the Trump administration has stopped this program.

They continue to promise that they are going to bring it back online. Over and over again, they have said that this program will continue. They have even named the organization in my district. They have said that it will continue, but it has been 9 months, and we are still waiting.

We are about to debate and vote on a budget. What is the purpose of passing a budget if the administration will just ignore it?

I have spoken on this floor about the humanitarian necessity to restore this program, the national security necessity to restore this program, but it is a constitutional necessity as well because the legislative branch has the authority to pass budgets and the executive must execute on them.

I will continue to speak on this floor every day until this program is restored.

Mr. Speaker, I rise for the 42nd time to call on the Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for starving children. Edesia Nutrition, an organization in my district, manufactures Plumpy'Nut, a nutritional supplement that helps starving children get back to health.

Their production has been largely shut down since the Trump administration froze the program in January. I have been speaking out on this floor for months, calling on that program to be restored.

We have had an interesting challenge that we have been trying to figure out which is: When do we declare victory? I think that every day I come up here might be my last. Time after time, the Trump administration has said they will restore the program. They put in purchase orders. They put out RFPs. They have tweeted. They have posted. They have testified this program will be restarted. Yet, thousands of boxes remain stuck in a warehouse in Rhode Island, instead of getting to the children who need it.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to speak on this floor every day until those boxes move because promises and intentions are not enough to save the lives of starving children.

Mr. Speaker, it was just announced this week that health insurance costs in Rhode Island are going to go up by as much as 22 percent next year, costing working people thousands of dollars more per year to pay for their health insurance. This is money that people don't have. Most people in my State, most people in this country are just barely getting by. They can't afford to pay thousands of dollars more for their health insurance.

It is not just in Rhode Island that it is happening. It is all across the country. State after State is announcing next year's insurance rates with double digit increases. We know why this is happening. It is happening because Republicans and the Trump administration just cut a trillion dollars from Medicaid, and now they are also trying to let the Affordable Care Act tax premiums expire.

When you do that, when you take trillions of dollars out of the healthcare system, you are not just taking away health insurance coverage from millions of Americans, you are also taking revenue away from hospitals, community health centers, and doctors' practices. The only way that those healthcare providers can stay in business is to raise prices on everybody else, and that is exactly what is happening.

We told our Republican colleagues that this is what would happen when they passed that trillion dollar cut to Medicaid. We told them that health insurance costs were going to go up for everybody else in the country, but they didn't want to hear it. They were so desperate to give away tax cuts to the rich, and now those people watching at home are going to be paying the bill in the form of higher healthcare costs.

However, it is not too late. We can still restore funding for healthcare so that everyone back home isn't hit by double-digit cost increases on their insurance.

Congress is about to pass a budget for next year, and we can pass a budget that restores funding for healthcare, that extends the Affordable Care Act tax premiums, that restores funding for Medicaid so that working people aren't stuck with higher costs for their health insurance. Not only can we do this, we must.

I want to vote for a bipartisan budget that funds the government and protects healthcare for the American people, but if, as has been advertised, the Republican majority tries to rush a vote on a budget that does not fix the healthcare crisis, the healthcare crisis that they created, then I will be a ``no.'' All of my colleagues should be, as well.

Republicans control the House, Senate, and the White House. If they refuse to pass a budget that protects healthcare, they own the consequences. If they choose to shut the government down instead of fixing the healthcare crisis that they created, the American people will not forgive them.

Restoring Lifesaving Food Aid

Mr. Speaker, I rise for the 41st time to call on the Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for children starving around the world. Edesia Nutrition in my district is about to send 15,000 boxes of this lifesaving food aid to children who are starving in Gaza.

Now, in the past, this would have been done with support from America, from the U.S. taxpayers, and the boxes shipped to Gaza would have said ``from the American people.'' However, because the Trump administration has cut off lifesaving food aid for children, instead this shipment is being funded by the Israelis and nonprofit organizations working with Edesia Nutrition.

This is a missed opportunity for America to be building goodwill in a very unstable part of the world, one of many missed opportunities because when we act to save the lives of starving children around the world, we are not just doing the right thing morally, we are helping make America stronger by building goodwill around the world.

The Trump administration has promised repeatedly that they are going to restore this program, but promises do not save the lives of starving kids. Only nutrition can do that.

I will continue to speak on this floor every day until the Trump administration honors its word and restores this program.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise for the 40th time to call on the Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for malnourished children.

When kids are starving to death, their organs break down. Even if we are able to feed them conventional food, they cannot digest it. It takes specialized nutrition to bring them back to health, including the nutrition manufactured by Edesia Nutrition in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, in my district, where thousands of boxes of emergency food aid have been sitting in a warehouse since Donald Trump and Elon Musk froze the program back in January.

They continue to promise that the program is going to come back online any day now and that those boxes will be shipped, but it has been 9 months.

Starving children cannot survive on promises. They cannot survive on words. They cannot survive on tweets, purchase orders, or RFPs. They need this food aid to move.

The administration needs to keep its word and act with urgency, and I will speak on this floor every day until they do.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to welcome His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the United States to accept the distinguished Templeton Prize. As the Representative for Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District, I welcome Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on behalf of the vibrant Greek Orthodox constituency in my district, including at the Church of the Annunciation in Cranston, Rhode Island.

The Church of the Annunciation was the first Orthodox Parish established in Rhode Island, and it now consists of over 600 families throughout the state. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's dedication to his faith, raising concern for the environment, and promoting peaceful coexistence is a blessing to us all that spreads optimism for a brighter future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, for the 39th time, to call on the Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for children around the world.

We are grieving today. We are grieving the lives lost on September 11, 2001. We are grieving the lives of Charlie Kirk and others who have been victims of political violence and mass shootings.

We don't always have the power in this Chamber to save every life, but we do have the power to save many lives, including the lives of children suffering from starvation, lives that are valuable and that deserve a chance.

The Trump administration cut off this program in January, and they have been promising to restore it, going so far as to issue RFPs and to make promises that the program will be restored, but they have not yet done it.

All it takes is for them to take the simple action of restoring the Food for Peace program so that kids like this can have a chance.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, for the 38th time, to call on the Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for starving children around the world.

It has been 8 months since the Trump administration put a stop-work order in place. As a result, there are thousands of boxes of lifesaving aid meant to save the lives of starving children sitting in warehouses in Rhode Island and Georgia instead of getting to the kids who need them.

Mr. Speaker, this week, we are voting on the annual Defense bill. I just want to point out that this is a national security issue because when starvation and famine are permitted to progress unimpeded around the world, it yields terrorism, increased violence, and extremism that is a risk to our own Nation's defense.

When we step back, our adversaries, like China, step in to save the day in the developing world. That is bad for the United States and for democracies all across the globe.

Mr. Speaker, I call on the Trump administration, once again: Restore lifesaving food aid for children.

Mr. Chair, the gentleman from New Jersey is asking for a review that has already been done. The Department of Defense in no uncertain terms stated in this December 2024 letter, just 10 months ago, that the Revolution Wind project would not have adverse impacts on DOD missions in the area. The Air Force, NORAD, and the Navy all participated in the review of Revolution Wind.

In fact, if you read the BOEM record of decision, if you actually read the record of decision, there is a whole section on radar where it talks about how that has been addressed, the situation has been taken care of, and the Department of Defense has signed off on it.

What this is really about is the larger war on clean energy that this side of the aisle is waging that has led to hundreds of people in my district being put off the jobsite, and a project that is 80 percent complete is dormant right now while my constituents are desperate for lower energy prices.

Do you want to talk about national defense? This amendment would hurt our national defense. Why? If we want to achieve American energy independence and not be dependent on other parts of the world, we should be opening the door to affordable, clean energy, not fighting with one hand behind our back.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today for the 37th time to demand that the Trump administration restore lifesaving food aid for malnourished children.

This is Plumpy'Nut. It is manufactured in my district to treat kids who are starving to death.

Mr. Speaker, when children are starving, their organs stop working. They cannot digest regular food. This is their only chance at getting back to health.

It took the Trump administration 10 days to put a stop to USAID's shipments of Plumpy'Nut to starving children around the world. Since then, they have promised over and over again that the program will restart.

They have issued RFPs. They have said that they are going to start shipping again, but it has been 9 months. It took them 10 days to shut down this program and 9 months and counting to get it going again.

Every day that they delay and drag their feet is a day that children are starving. Stop the excuses. Stop the delay. Restore this program. I will speak out on this floor every day until the program is restored.

Mr. Speaker, I rise for the 36th time to call on the Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for starving children around the world.

Mr. Speaker, when we pull back from doing the right thing and helping meet humanitarian catastrophes, who steps in to fill the void? It is our adversaries, particularly China.

Make no mistake that last week's summit in China where Putin and Modi and the North Koreans were celebrating the demise of America's leadership in the world and the rise of authoritarianism, this was one of the issues that drove that meeting.

It wasn't just those big powers who were there. It was dozens of smaller countries from the developing world who are alarmed at the retreat of U.S. leadership and looking for help elsewhere. This hurts our national security.

The Trump administration needs to do what they said they were going to do and restore lifesaving food aid around the world. I will keep speaking out every day until they do.