Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5721 the ``VA Infrastructure Powers Exceptional Research Act of 2021'' or ``VIPER Act.''

As a senior member of the House Committees on Judiciary and Homeland Security, I care deeply about our veterans.

I offer my deepest gratitude to our nation's troops and reservists, their families, and the 21.6 million veterans, including 29,126 in the 18th Congressional District of Texas that I proudly represent.

In Congress, I have sponsored many legislative proposals and co- sponsored well over 50 pieces of legislation that will positively benefit our veterans and their families.

Of all veterans, 50 percent use at least one VA benefit or service. Majority of those using health care benefits.

H.R. 5721 addresses the misguided legal reinterpretation that eliminated a 75-year long allowance of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accept grant money through private universities.

Over the past 75 years, the VA has developed the most sophisticated and powerful research enterprises in the United States.

It is extremely important that we pass this bill because it would give critical resources and tools to better serve our nation's veterans by further improving its groundbreaking research program.

The VIPER Act would:

Ensure program continuity by authorizing the VA's Office of Research and Development;

Eliminate burdensome paperwork requirements for VA scientists and administrators;

Allow VA to recruit and retain data scientists and researchers on loan from other federal agencies more efficiently;

Create opportunities for researcher at smaller universities to expand the STEM pipeline serving veterans;

Grant VA transactional authority in line with 11 other federal agencies; and

Mandate a Government Accountability Office study on the retention of VA clinician-scientists and the productivity of their research.

H.R. 5721 would benefit our veterans and the global community as VA- funded research has led to medical breakthroughs such as the first pacemaker, the first successful liver transplant, effective treatments for PTSD, and prosthetics that enhance mobility for amputees.

VA research is key to the world-class care it delivers to its nine million patients.

I hope you will join me in passing this legislation, to ensure VA researchers can be on the forefront of health research and novel discoveries.

Without H.R. 5721, thousands of veterans and civilians will be impacted.

The great state of Texas is home to over 1.4 million veterans, the most out of any state.

The debt we owe our veterans is immeasurable. Their sacrifices and those of their families are freedom's foundation.

Without the brave efforts of all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and Coast Guardsmen and their families, our country would not live so freely.

Madam Speaker, I rise this morning to engage in a limited, but hopefully important, discussion about America's history and to encourage my colleagues for collaboration. It is in reference to H.R. 40, the Commission to Study Slavery and Develop Reparation Proposals.

I stand on the perspective of how important it is for us to engage in dialogue. We are hearing across America that Americans are frightened about the discussion of our differences.

This land was first held by the indigenous people, Native Americans. Every other group came to America, whether or not you are of European heritage, Hispanic heritage, Asian-Pacific, Southeast Asian, or whether you are African heritage. As a descendant of enslaved Africans, we are the only group that came as slaves to this country and held in bondage for over 200 years.

You have not seen African Americans refuse their patriotism, refuse to serve. We have served in every war since the Revolutionary War.

You have never seen African Americans refuse to shed blood for the freedom of this country or to wear the uniform.

You have not seen us shy away from serving as firefighters and law enforcement, teachers, businesspersons, social justice leaders, such as Dr. King, John Lewis, and, yes, Malcolm X.

You have not seen us, as women--Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Coretta Scott King--stand away from the fight. We have embraced freedom, justice, and equality.

You did not see us attack this most solid and somber institution, sacred, on January 6, 2021. We were not the masses that were trying to undermine democracy. In fact, in this last election, I stood on the premise of defending democracy, and I take no back seat to my love of this Nation.

And so I ask my colleagues, why do you in any way doubt the value and importance of H.R. 40? The purpose is to acknowledge the fundamental injustice and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and to establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery.

It was based on the premise of racism. There was, in fact, no compensation, no life insurance, no salaries. Slaves were born, lived, and died in slavery, never seeing freedom. They worked from sunup and beyond, and they worked until they fell dead in the fields.

They built this Nation. They built the United States Capitol. They built the White House. They, in fact, created an economic engine by making cotton king, and they created an economic engine by this transatlantic slave trade.

The traders decided to stop trading spices and gold and to use the human beings that they marched for 300 miles to weaken the slaves so they would not have a fight before getting on those ships. Many dropped into the watery grave before they got on. Many died in the dark passage.

But yet, here we are today.

And so this is not pointing the finger. This is not accusatory. This is, in fact, a reconciliation. I insist that we establish this commission, and we must establish it by a vote or establish it by executive order.

Reverend Mark Thompson, a political activist for social justice, said: If we were granted H.R. 40 by executive order, it would be America once and for all saying Black lives actually do matter and this Nation must be repaired. It is restoration and repair, but it stands on the basis of facts. There is no doubt that we have been impacted, that DNA in the trajectory of slavery to today.

For example, COVID, Black African Americans got COVID at a rate nearly 1\1/2\ times higher than that of White people, were hospitalized at a rate nearly 4 times higher, and 3 times more likely to die. COVID hit us very desperately.

Interestingly, a recent peer-reviewed study from Harvard Medical School suggests that reparations for African Americans could have cut COVID-19 transmission and infection rates both among Blacks and the population at large. Reparations are curative, they are not punishment. The analysis continued to look at data throughout the Nation.

And so as we move in this lame duck session, it is important that we come together for reconciliation, restoration, and provide the Commission to Study Slavery and to Develop Reparation Proposals.

I thank my colleagues for their support, and I believe together we make America strong, America free, America just, and America equal.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to have authored H.R. 40, legislation that establishes a commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans. Congress must pass this bill to begin the process toward reconciliation with the Black community. I have also called upon President Biden to create the H.R. 40 Commission by Executive Order.

The purpose of H.R. 40 is to acknowledge the fundamental injustice and inhumanity of slavery in the U.S. and to establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery, its subsequent racial and economic discrimination against African Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African Americans. The Commission is also charged to make recommendations to Congress on appropriate remedies.

Now--more than ever--the timing is ripe for the enactment of H.R. 40. We have a President in the White House who has expressed his undeniable support and we urge President Biden to institute this executive order.

My Democratic colleagues in the 117th Congress and I have made historic strides in advancing H.R. 40 since it was first introduced in 1989 by the late Michigan Congressman Rep John Conyers. H.R. 40 garnered more support over the past 33 years; it has approximately 200 co-sponsors, including 25 U.S. senators. Also, it is supported by over 300 organizations and allies, including the National Conference of Mayors.

One of my top priorities for this lame duck session of Congress in November and December, regardless of who controls Congress, is to have H.R. 40 pass the House of Representatives because. This will send a message of broad support to President Biden and strengthen our hand in urging him to create the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals through Executive Order.

Reparations are overdue. Our entire country needs reparations, to allow us to move forward as an untied society.

The concept of reparations is a well-established principle of international law, defined as the act or process of repairing or restoring.

It is payment for an injury; redress for a wrong done. In the context of Black people in

North America, the concept of reparations essentially constitutes four elements:

1) the formal acknowledgment of an historical wrong;

2) the recognition that there is a continuing injury;

3) the commitment to redress by the federal government which sanctioned the enslavement and subsequent discrimination; and

4) the actual compensation in whatever form or forms that are agreed upon.

The reparations movement does not focus on payments to individuals. The harms under discussion from the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination are seen in well-documented racial disparities in access to education, health care, housing, insurance, employment and other social goods.

Reparations settlements can be created in as many forms as necessary to equitably address the many forms of injury sustained from chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges.

Now--more than ever--the facts and circumstances facing our nation demonstrate the importance of H.R. 40 and the necessity of placing our nation on the path to reparative justice.

Reverend Mark Thompson, a political activist for social justice remarked ``If we were granted H.R. 40 by executive order, it would be America once and for all saying Black lives actually do matter, and this nation must be repaired.'' I along with many others share in the same sentiment.

The impact of the pandemic changed the nature of the conversation. COVID has devastated the African American community.

According to the latest estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Black people get COVID-19 at a rate nearly one and a half times higher than that of white people, are hospitalized at a rate nearly four times higher, and are three times as likely to die from the disease.

Interestingly, a recent peer-reviewed study from Harvard Medical School suggests that reparations for African Americans could have cut COVID-19 transmission and infection rates both among Blacks and the population at large.

Their analysis, based on Louisiana data, determined that if reparations payments had been made before the COVID-19 pandemic, narrowing the wealth gap, COVID transmission rates in the state's overall population could have been reduced by anywhere from 31 percent to 68 percent.

In 2019, we have also seen hundreds of thousands peacefully take to the streets in support of Black Lives and accountability for law enforcement. Many of those protesters carried signs in support of H.R. 40 and made the important link between policing and the movement for reparative justice.

Tragically, we have also witnessed insurrectionist attack this institution, brandishing symbols of division and intolerance, that echo back to the darkest periods of our nation's history. Clearly, we require a reckoning to restore national balance and unity.

Four hundred years ago, ships set sail from the west coast of Africa and in the process, began one of mankind's most inhumane practices: human bondage and slavery.

For two centuries, human beings--full of hopes and fears, dreams and concerns, ambition and anguish--were transported onto ships like chattel, and the lives of many forever changed.

The reverberations from this horrific series of acts--a transatlantic slave trade that touched the shores of a colony that came to be known as America, and later a democratic republic known as the United States of America--are unknown and worthy of exploration.

Approximately 4,000,000 Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and colonies that became the United States from 1619 to 1865.

The institution of slavery was constitutionally and statutorily sanctioned by the Government of the United States from 1789 through 1865.

American Slavery is our country's original sin and its existence at the birth of our nation is a permanent scar on our country's founding documents, and on the venerated authors of those documents, and it is a legacy that continued well into the last century.

The framework for our country and the document to which we all take an oath describes African Americans as three-fifths a person.

The infamous Dred Scott decision of the United States Supreme Court, issued just a few decades later, described slaves as private property, unworthy of citizenship.

And, a civil war that produced the largest death toll of American fighters in any conflict in our history could not prevent the indignities of Jim Crow, the fire hose at lunch counters and the systemic and institutional discrimination that would follow for a century after the end of the Civil War.

The mythology built around the Civil War has obscured our discussions of the impact of chattel slavery and made it difficult to have a national dialogue on how to fully account for its place in American history and public policy.

While it is nearly impossible to determine how the lives touched by slavery could have flourished in the absence of bondage, we have certain datum that permits us to examine how a subset of Americans-- African Americans--have been affected by the callousness of involuntary servitude.

We know that in almost every segment of society--education, healthcare, jobs and wealth--the inequities that persist in America are more acutely and disproportionately felt in Black America.

This historic discrimination continues: African-Americans continue to suffer debilitating economic, educational, and health hardships including but not limited to having nearly 1,000,000 black people incarcerated; an unemployment rate more than twice the current white unemployment rate; and an average of less than 1/16 of the wealth of white families, a disparity which has worsened, not improved over time.

H.R. 40 follows the successful model of the reparations campaign for Japanese-Americans interned during WWII. The campaign began with a 1980 congressional bill establishing a commission to investigate the internment, evaluate and consider the amount and form reparations would take, and make recommendations to the Congress for remedy. Based on the Commission's findings, President Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

In short, H.R. 40 is not about direct payments to individuals. The legislation creates the framework for a national discussion on the enduring legacy of slavery, and the complex web of discriminatory conduct sanctioned by the Federal government well into the 20th century, to begin the necessary process of atonement and recovery.

Assessing the quantifiable amount owed to Black citizens due to generational racism and injustice should be left in a commission's hands.

H.R. 40 seeks to establish a national commission to examine the lasting economic effects of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and racially discriminatory federal policies on income, wealth, educational, health, and employment outcomes; to pursue truth and promote racial healing; and to study reparations.

The committee should comprise of appointed members (seen in section 4) and pioneers in the field of reparatory justice.

I also support President Eiden in creating a reparations committee through executive action.

Given the political limitations of moving legislation in the Senate, an executive order is the only practical method for establishing an H.R. 40 commission.

Black household wealth is less than one fifth of the national average.

The median black household had a net worth of just $17,600 in 2016. Yet in that same year, the median white household held $171,000 in wealth while the national household median was $97,300.

The black unemployment rate is 6.6 percent more than double the national unemployment rate.

Approximately 31 percent of black children live in poverty, compared to 11 percent of white children. The national average is 18 percent, which suggests that the percentage of black children living in poverty is more than 150 percent of the national average.

In the healthcare domain, the disparities suffered by African Americans is also troubling.

Over 20 percent of African Americans do not have health insurance, compared to a national average between 8.8 percent and 9.1 percent.

One in four African American women are uninsured.

Compared to the national average, African American adults are 20 percent more likely to suffer from asthma and three times more likely to die from it.

Black adults are 72 percent more likely to suffer from diabetes than average.

Black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes, such as embolisms, and pregnancy-related hypertension, than any other racial group.

In our nation, among children aged 19-35 months, black children were vaccinated at rates lower than white children: 68 percent versus 78 percent, respectively.

Education has often been called the key to unlocking social mobility.

African American students are less likely than white students to have access to college-ready courses.

In fact, in 2011-12, only 57 percent of black students have access to a full range of math and science courses necessary for college readiness, compared to 81 percent of Asian American students and 71 percent of white students.

Black students spend less time in the classroom due to discipline, which further hinders their access to a quality education.

Black students are nearly two times as likely to be suspended without educational services as white students.

Black students are also 3.8 times as likely to receive one or more out-of-school suspensions as white students.

In addition, black children represent 19 percent of the nation's preschool population, yet 47 percent of those receiving more than one out-of-school suspension.

In comparison, white students represent 41 percent of pre-school enrollment but only 28 percent of those receiving more than one out-of- school suspension.

Even more troubling, black students are 2.3 times as likely to receive a referral to law enforcement or be subject to a school-related arrest as white students.

School districts with the most students of color, on average, receive 15 percent less per student in state and local funding than the whitest districts.

And, of course, we cannot consider the disparities between black and white in America without considering the intersection of African Americans and the Criminal Justice system.

There are more Black men in bondage today who are incarcerated or under correctional control, than there were black men who were enslaved in the 1800s.

The United States locks up African American males at a rate 5.8 times higher than the most openly racist country in the world ever did:

South Africa under apartheid (1993), African American males: 851 per 100,000.

United States (2006), African American males: 4,789 per 100,000.

Incarceration is not an equal opportunity punishment. For example, incarceration rates in the United States by race were:

African Americans: 2,468 per 100,000.

Latinos: 1,038 per 100,000.

Whites: 409 per 100,000.

African American offenders receive sentences that are 10 percent longer than white offenders for the same crimes and are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Looking at males aged 25-29 and by race, you can see what is going on even clearer:

For White males ages 25-29: 1,685 per 100,000.

For Latino males ages 25-29: 3,912 per 100,000.

For African American males ages 25-29: 11,695 per 100,000. (That's 11 percent of Black men in their late 20s.)

Looking at males aged 25-29 and by race, you can see what is going on even clearer:

For White males ages 25-29: 1,685 per 100,000.

For Latino males ages 25-29: 3,912 per 100,000.

For African American males ages 25-29: 11,695 per 100,000. (That's 11 percent of Black men in their late 20s.)

And African Americans are more likely to be victims of crimes.

Black children die from firearm homicides at a rate 10 times higher than their white counterparts.

Overall, one in 50 murders is ruled justified--but when the killer is white and the victim is a black man, the figure climbs to one in six.

A handgun homicide is nine times more likely to be found justified when the killer is white and the victim is a black man.

Handgun killings with a white shooter and a black male victim exhibit an even more dramatic bias: one in four is found justified.

But then again, we knew these inequities existed because for many Black Americans, these disparities are just a part of daily life.

Examined in the aggregate, they represent a stunning chasm between the destinies of White America and that of Black America.

This is why, in 1989, my predecessor as the most senior African American on this august Judiciary Committee, the honorable John Conyers, a past Chairman of this Committee introduced H.R. 40, legislation that would establish a commission to study and develop proposals attendant to reparations.

Though many thought it a lost cause, John Conyers believed that a day would come when our nation would need to account for the brutal mistreatment of African-Americans during chattel slavery, Jim Crow segregation and the enduring structural racism endemic to our society.

I would like to take this moment to personally thank the estimable John Conyers for his work on this legislation for the last thirty years.

With the rise and normalization of white supremacist expression during the Trump administration, the discussion of H.R. 40 and the concept of restorative justice have gained more urgency, garnering the attention of mainstream commentator, and illustrating the need for a national reckoning.

H.R. 40 is intended to create the framework for a national discussion on the enduring impact of slavery and its complex legacy to begin that necessary process of atonement.

The designation of this legislation as H.R. 40 is intended to memorialize the promise made by General William T. Sherman, in his 1865 Special Field Order No. 15, to redistribute 400,000 acres of formerly Confederate owned coastal land in South Carolina and Florida, subdivided into 40 acre plots.

In addition to the more well-known land redistribution, the Order also established autonomous governance for the region and provided for protection by military authorities of the settlements.

Though Southern sympathizer and former slaveholder President Andrew Johnson would later overturn the Order, this plan represented the first systematic form of Freedmen reparations.

Since its introduction, H.R. 40 has acted to spur some governmental acknowledgement of the sin of slavery, but most often the response has taken the form of an apology.

However, even the well intentioned commitments to examine the historical and modern day implications of slavery by the Clinton administration fell short of the mark and failed to inspire substantive pubic discourse.

For many, it was not until The Atlantic published Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Case for Reparations that the mainstream public began to reckon with, or even consider, the concept of reparations.

Though the Federal government has been slow to engage the issue of reparations, individuals, corporations and other public institutions have engaged the discussion out of both necessity and conscience.

In 1994, a group of California plaintiffs brought suit against the Federal government and by 2002, nine lawsuits were filed around the country by the Restitution Study Group.

Though litigation has yielded only mixed success in court, a serious foundation was laid for alternative forms of restitution.

For example, in 2005, J.P. Morgan & Company tried to make amends for its role in the slave trade with an apology and a $5 million, five-year scholarship fund for Black undergraduates in Louisiana.

In 2008, the Episcopal Church apologized for perpetuating American slavery through its interpretation of the Bible and certain diocese have implemented restitution programs.

In 2003, Brown University created the Committee on Slavery and Justice to assess the University's role in slavery and determine a response.

Similarly, in 2016, Georgetown University apologized for its historical links to slavery and said it would give an admissions edge to descendants of slaves whose sale in the roth century helped pay off the U.S. school's debts.

In 2017, my alma mater Yale University announced that it would rename Calhoun College--named for John C. Calhoun--would be changed to honor Grace Murray Hopper, a trailblazing computer scientist who also served as rear admiral in the United States Navy.

The University's president, Peter Salovey, indicated that removing Calhoun's name was consistent with its values because Calhoun had a legacy of a white supremacist and a national leader who passionately promoted slavery as a positive good.

And, in April of this year, students at Georgetown University voted in favor of paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved people who were sold by the university in order to satisfy its debts.

In 1838, in a practice likely far wider spread than is likely accounted for, Georgetown Jesuits sold 272 slaves who worked on plantations.

When the results of the Georgetown poll were announced, the numbers were overwhelming: 2/3 of students indicated that payments should be funded to descendants of these slaves and would be paid for by a fee that would apply to all undergraduate students.

While the vote was nonbinding, it nonetheless represents the first time the student body of a university has voted to implement a mandatory fee to account for reparations.

These are only a few examples of how private institution have begun reckoning with their past records.

I expect that a growing number of institutions will be forced to examine their histories of discrimination, if for no other reason than increasing public scrutiny will force their history to light.

Since my reintroduction of H.R. 40 at the beginning of this Congress; both the legislation and concept of reparations have become the focus of national debate.

For many, it is apparent that the success of the Obama administration has unleashed a backlash of racism and intolerance that is an echo of America's dark past which has yet to be exorcised from the national consciousness.

Commentators have turned to H.R. 40 as a response to formally begin the process of analyzing, confronting and atoning for these dark chapters of American history.

Even conservative voices, like that of New York Times columnist David Brooks, are starting to give the reparations cause the hearing it deserves, observing that ``Reparations are a drastic policy and hard to execute, but the very act of talking and designing them heals a wound and opens a new story.''

Similarly, a majority of the Democratic presidential contenders have turned to H.R.40 as a tool for reconciliation, with 17 cosponsoring or claiming they would sign the bill into law if elected.

Though critics have argued that the idea of reparations is unworkable politically or financially, their focus on money misses the point of the H.R. 40 commission's mandate.

The goal of these historical investigations is to bring American society to a new reckoning with how our past affects the current conditions of African Americans and to make America a better place by helping the truly disadvantaged.

Consequently, the reparations movement does not focus on payments to individuals, but to remedies that can be created in as many forms necessary to equitably address the many kinds of injuries sustained from chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges.

To merely focus on finance is an empty gesture and betrays a lack of understanding of the depth of the unaddressed moral issues that continue to haunt this nation.

While it might be convenient to assume that we can address the current divisive racial and political climate in our nation through race neutral means, experience shows that we have not escaped our history.

Though the Civil Rights Movement challenged many of the most racist practices and structures that subjugated the African American community, it was not followed by a commitment to truth and reconciliation.

For that reason, the legacy of racial inequality has persisted, and left the nation vulnerable to a range of problems that continue to yield division, racial disparities and injustice.

Reparations are ultimately about respect and reconciliation--and the hope that one day, all Americans can walk together toward a more just future.

We owe it to those who were ripped from their homes those many years ago an ocean away; we owe it to the millions of Americans- yes they were Americans--who were born into bondage, knew a life of servitude, and died anonymous deaths, as prisoners of this system.

We owe it to the millions of descendants of these slaves, for they are the heirs to a society of inequities and indignities that naturally filled the vacuum after slavery was formally abolished 154 years ago.

Let us also do with the spirit of reconciliation and understanding that this bill represents.

Finally, if we truly want to build better, brighter future, we can't do it on a rotten foundation. Therefore, for the house that is America, we must repair the damage caused by the original crime that separates us. A house divided against itself cannot stand.

The H.R. 40 Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans must be created by executive order. Today we call on President Biden to right this historical wrong and take a monumental step towards reparative justice.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the House amendment to S. 3092, the Federal Emergency Management Agency Improvement, Reform and Efficiency Act of 2021.

This legislation addresses the federal government's approach to wildfires by setting a standard for implementing proactive plans of action for responding to wildfires, and by requiring reports on the effectiveness of FEMA programs.

These plans must include studies on providing housing assistance to survivors of major disasters to resolve challenges, such as the lack of proof of ownership, and to contract the National Academy of Sciences to study potential solutions to address the availability and affordability of insurance for disasters.

As the consequences of climate change become our new reality, it is our responsibility to be prepared in accordance with those changes.

Climate change exacerbates wildfires and vice versa, like a vicious cycle that can't be extinguished.

According to a report from the United Nations Environment Prgramme, the number of wildfires worldwide is projected to grow 50 percent by the year 2100.

The UN Environment Programme experts also reported that governments are not prepared for this shift.

This is no longer a matter of prevention, but rather a matter of preparation for what is ahead of us and for generations to come.

Across the nation, wildfires have disproportionately affected low- income families and people of color.

Disaster insurance for those in rural areas, low-income neighborhoods, and immigrant communities are often inaccessible, even though they are most at risk.

Native Americans are six times more vulnerable to the impacts of wildfires than their white counterparts due in part to the fact that they were forced to settle in fire-prone areas.

The FIRE Act would assess the need for the federal government to produce maps that identify wildfire zones.

This bill would also allow Indigenous tribal governments to apply for grants to better equip emergency operations centers.

Disaster prevention insurance has increasingly become inaccessible, especially to low-income families.

Disaster insurance is often beyond the reach of family budgets that are burdened with the skyrocketing prices of rent and food.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, tens of thousands of families were displaced after their homes were destroyed.

According to community advocates, about 50 percent of those households impacted by Harvey were low-income households and many of those damaged homes were in Black and Latino neighborhoods.

I worked tirelessly alongside the Houston Housing authority to reverse a FEMA decision

to not provide any fundings for the 428 Program, which would repair public low-income housing damaged by the Hurricane.

In cases of disaster, S. 3092 would require initiation of a process to determine the possible benefits or disadvantages of providing relocation assistance, addressing the growing housing issue for victims of disasters.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria that wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, 92 percent of homes were damaged and 98 percent of those homes applied for FEMA's housing assistance.

According to the American Bar Association, 40 percent of those in need of housing assistance were denied due to a lack of ownership documentation stemming from generational inheritance of homes without government recordkeeping.

The FIRE Act would also develop a plan to address housing assistance for those who may lack ownership documentation in case of a disaster.

The effects of climate change are no longer a ``what if,'' but our new reality.

Since these large-scale disasters will be inflicting damage with increasing frequency, we must be prepared for them.

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, I rise in support of H.R. 8416, the ``Disasters of Survivors Fairness Act of 2022.''

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's mission is to help Americans prepare for, respond, and recover from disasters.

From day one, FEMA has been committed to protecting and serving Americans who have been impacted by disasters.

Unfortunately, though, the toll of disasters is much greater on most Americans than it is on those who are wealthier.

A 2020 FEMA National Advisory Committee report stated that disaster relief programs ``provide an additional boost to wealthy homeowners and others with less need, while lower-income individuals and others sink further into poverty after disasters.''

It is unfair that any survivor of disasters must suffer because of disparities in FEMA disaster response that have gone unchallenged for far too long.

For example, FEMA records show that low-income homeowners were denied 30 percent of the time compared to higher-income owners, who were denied 13 percent of the time, a 17-point difference.

Unfortunately, these disparities reveal the experience of African American and Hispanic Americans.

Threats posed by natural disasters intensify existing social and racial and ethnic inequities. After a natural disaster, people in disadvantaged communities have worse outcomes due to stresses or exposures to other risks associated with a disaster.

Low-income people and people of color are more likely to live in disaster-prone areas, live in lower-quality housing that is less safe when disasters occur, and have chronic illnesses that make them more vulnerable.

As climate change accelerates and intensifies, the natural disasters that it causes take a steeper toll each year.

Since climate change affects health in a variety of ways, disaster mitigation and response planning must be scoped in advance to ameliorate the consequences, hardships, and inequities.

To ensure that FEMA will lead equitable health interventions during disaster response, we must enable it to provide evidence-based policy, programming, and service delivery designed to protect health and promote health equity during disaster response and recovery.

Our nation is ill-prepared to deal with successive extreme weather events occurring nearly simultaneously, just as in 2017, when Hurricanes Harvey, Jose and Maria hit within days of each other, while wildfires burned in California.

One thing is certain after speaking with the people of Houston who, unfortunately, are all too familiar with these problems: We require a disaster recovery system that is designed to help the people who truly need it.

H.R. 8416 would:

develop a universal application for federal disaster assistance;

remove the requirement that households must be rendered uninhabitable;

authorize the president to provide direct assistance to individuals and households;

remove the requirement that a household must be rendered uninhabitable;

allow FEMA to enter agreements with state agencies to provide funding for a website that will have information related to post disaster recovery funding and resources; and save taxpayer dollars by ensuring that FEMA resources are going to those who need the most help.

I have seen the dedication and hard work of FEMA professionals who provide relief to victims of disasters. But the unending string of disasters is stretching the fabric of emergency response systems across the nation. The pain and financial hardship that they cost the American people can be seen in headlines across the country.

We in Congress must do our part to enable FEMA to do more without diminishing the support of communities before, during, and after disasters.

No one was prepared for five days of subfreezing temperatures, ice- and snow-covered roads, and a failed energy grid throughout the state of Texas.

Texas power providers, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Entergy Corporation, did not provide the needed weatherization of power generating and delivery equipment after being warned in 2011 after a cold snap that the system would fail if these steps were not taken.

The number of additional deaths uses mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compare the number of deaths from all causes that were reported in Texas during and after the storm with the number of fatalities that are normally reported during ordinary conditions.

That method is known as ``excess fatalities'' and has been employed during other disasters, like the COVID-19 pandemic, to estimate related death tolls.

In the aftermath of the storm millions of Texans struggled with the effects of the deadly winter storm, people of color and low-income communities who were disproportionately affected by blackouts and burst pipes could now face the hardest journey to recovery, experts said.

Hurricane Harvey hit a thousand square mile of Texas, just as in the past when Ike struck, but the telling sign of Blue Tarp Roofs are only in low-income, black, and brown communities' years after the storms have passed.

In the past the tools and resources available to FEMA to support disaster reponse and recovery have been limited to meals, water, trap.

Local, tribal, territorial, and state governments had to make request for aid to be provided.

For more substantial assistance, government contracting, and awards must be put into place, which can take months and in some cases years to get resources to victims.

This is too much time for survivors to have to wait for help.

The historic winter weather exacerbated pre-existing disparities like poor infrastructure and lack of resources in marginalized communities. Black and Latino communities who were disproportionately hit by COVID- 19 now must struggle to recover from one of the worst weather events to ever hit Texas.

The nine-county Houston metro area impacted by Hurricane Harvey covers 9,444 square miles, an area larger than five states. Including New Hampshire, New Jersy, and Connecticut.

Hurricane Harvey dropped 21 trillion gallons of rainfall on Texas and Louisiana, most of it on the Houston Metroplex.

At its peak on September 1, 2017, one-third of Houston was underwater.

Hurricane Harvey is the largest housing disaster to strike the U.S. in our nation's history.

Hurricane Harvey damaged 203,000 homes, of which 12,700 were destroyed.

These are not simply numbers, these are families. Son and daughters, mothers and fathers, friends, mentors, and caretakers, all who are deserving of ample disaster response and recover efforts.

There was no way to pre-prepare for Hurricanes Harvey, Katrina, Ian, or any of the other major disaster event.

What we can do is learn as much as possible and apply those lessons to future disaster response and recovery efforts.

When there is a catastrophic event, like Hurricane Harvey, there are important and valuable lessons that can help us to meet future challenges.

My constituents in Houston understand that our capacity to deal with hurricanes directly reflects our ability to respond to a terrorist attack in Texas or New York, an earthquake in California, or a nationwide pandemic.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that COVID- 19 was a pandemic, which had by that date reached at least 114 countries, sickening over 100,000 people, and killing more than 4,000.

It is the duty of Congress to make sure that FEMA is prepared to meet any challenge while bringing equity to the response made during disasters.

The work of the FEMA Office of Disaster Recovery and the Office of Disaster Recovery are critical when disaster strikes and for this reason, they should be a permanent part of the agency.

This is one of the reasons, I introduced the FEMA Modernization Act (H.R. 3060) in the 116th Congress.

Madam Speaker, I thank Lois Frankel, Cheri Bustos, the chairman, and chairmen of our subcommittees, from David Cicilline to Chairman Cohen, for the work that they have done.

Let me agree with the gentleman from Kentucky in saying that it doesn't cost much. In fact, it doesn't cost much of anything as compared to the abuse that women have suffered for decades.

Let me also agree with the gentleman that there are and is something called States' rights under the Tenth Amendment, but let me be very clear that women don't have to suffer life-or-death circumstances under the Constitution.

I hold this book up for everybody to understand that this book does not require silence. This is not the Constitution of silence. This is not the Constitution of the 14th Amendment with equal protection of the law, yet as a woman you are silenced. It does not require due process, but you are silenced.

Let me give you a fact. More than half of all employed women report experiencing sexual harassment or sexual assault while at work. As a result, there is a significant concern that NDAs are, in fact, abusive, to the extent that it breaks a woman to not be able to tell of her harassment, abuse, or her rape.

Today, widespread sexual misconduct can be covered up by NDAs that are hiding the fine print that says, take it or leave it. When you have that, what you have is a circumstance where you are, in fact, promoting abuse and eliminating the power that women have and promoting the power that perpetrators have.

I would like to be able to stand on the Constitution that says to create a more perfect Union. This legislation does not allow the fine print, doesn't allow or make you sign an NDA before there is even an issue or a case that has arisen, and more importantly, I think it saves lives and future women from sexual assault and rape.

We know that Harvey Weinstein had this tool that was used over and over again. Employment contracts at his company included strict NDAs, which prevented survivors from coming forward with their stories.

I know that that is not the workplace that you want your daughters to go into, as our young women leave and begin to work from colleges, but also the women who work as factory workers, secretaries, and waitresses.

Those used to be the jobs that people would look down on and say: Oh, we know why they are in those jobs. No, they were in those jobs so they could support their family, being a single parent, raising up their children. I know those women every day. Busdrivers, schoolbus drivers getting minimum wage, but they encountered those conditions just as you would encounter them in the major corporations.

I am rising to support S. 4524, the Speak Out Act, and ask whether or not if you are a believer of the Constitution, where in it it says that you must be silenced, your due process is silenced, the 14th Amendment equal protection of the law is silenced.

Madam Speaker, all of this is silenced. The threat of legal retaliation is daunting to these women, enough to keep workers from coming forward with their stories of abuse. The Harvard Business Review has indicated over one-third of the U.S. workforce is bound by NDAs.

Madam Speaker, I close my remarks by saying, I walk away from here and saying that when we cast this vote, we will cast a vote for creating a more perfect Union, and that women will not be second class, second rate without the same equal protection of the law as anyone else.

I applaud the secretaries, the busdrivers, the factory workers, the cafeteria workers who happen to be women, as well as I applaud the corporate women who are rising up the corporate ladder.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 4524, The Speak Out Act, that would limit the judicial enforceability of predispute nondisclosure and nondisparagement contract clauses relating to disputes involving sexual assault and sexual harassment.

This bill is critical to ending the culture of silence that quiets the voices of survivors of sexual harassment and abuse.

We must protect women from harassment, abuse, and violence of all types, at every opportunity, and in every facet of life.

As chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, I've led the fight against domestic violence for many years, and sponsored the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act, which led to VAWA's reauthorization in March.

Just as VAWA is vital to protect women in their personal lives, the Speak Out Act is vital to protect women in their work lives, empowering women against workplace harassment and abuse that can impair their careers and life paths.

Ending the cycle of abuse starts with eliminating the power that perpetrators have over their victims.

Currently, companies can sue workers for breaking a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

The threat of legal retaliation is daunting enough to keep workers from coming forward with stories of abuse.

These NDAs have become commonplace in many industries.

Harvard Business Review has estimated that over one third of the U.S. workforce is bound by NDAs.

These NDAs not only appear in settlements after a victim of sexual harassment has raised their voice, but also have become routinely included in standard employment contracts that are used at the time of hiring.

NDAs are being signed at the start of employment, prior to any abuse that occurs.

NDAs are intended to provide confidentiality and protection, especially with regard to corporate trade secrets.

But they have increasingly been misused to protect power dynamics that enable abusers to continue their dangerous and disgusting behavior.

One in 3 women has faced sexual harassment in the workplace during her career.

An estimated 87 to 94 percent of women who experience sexual harassment never file a formal complaint.

The reality is that many of these women have no voice because the system rewards male manipulators and penalizes women who challenge the status quo.

This amounts to institutionalized abuse.

The Speak Out Act can change this reality.

The Speak Out Act would prevent employers from enforcing nondisclosure or non-disparagement agreements (NDAs) in instances when employees and workers report sexual misconduct.

In the wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, our country has become acutely aware that men in power frequently leverage that power abusively to exploit women.

Sexual abuse and harassment can destroy a victim's financial security, mental health, and career path.

By standing up for their rights, the women who have been subjected to abuse often become mired in a lengthy and costly lawsuit that drains their finances, imposes a heavy psychic toll, and impairs their future job prospects by creating a misimpression that they are disruptive workers.

Women face a disturbing choice when sexually assaulted in the workplace: report the abuse publicly and face litigation, leave the company and abandon their income, or the choice that many are forced to make, put their heads down and pretend it did not happen.

Passing The Speak Out Act would provide victims with a third option to pursue justice.

It is time to amend the NDA system to strip the power from abusive employers and give it back to the employee.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1464, the rule providing for consideration of S. 4524, The Speak Out Act.

I commend you and Rules Committee Chairman McGovern for providing this rule to allow The Speak Out Act to be brought before us for debate and a vote, as it reflects our priorities for the American people.

Our Democratic Party Caucus deeply believes in women's rights, from reproductive rights to workplace rights, including the right to engage in one's career without being subjected to sexual harassment or abuse that impairs lives and livelihoods.

By bringing this rule to the House, and allowing consideration of The Speak Out Act, our leadership emphatically asserts that women's rights are American rights; that the right to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace is a priority of Democrats, and that those rights must not be deterred.

The Speak Out Act would limit the judicial enforceability of predispute nondisclosure and nondisparagement contract clauses relating to disputes involving sexual assault and sexual harassment.

This bill is critical to ending the culture of silence that quiets the voices of survivors of sexual harassment. Ending the cycle of abuse starts with eliminating the power that perpetrators have over their victims.

Currently, companies can sue workers for breaking an NDA. The threat of legal retaliation is daunting enough to keep workers from coming forward with stories of abuse.

These NDAs have become commonplace in many industries. Harvard Business Review has estimated that over one third of the U.S. workforce is bound by NDAs.

These NDAs not only appear in settlements after a victim of sexual harassment has raised their voice, but also have become routinely included in standard employment contracts that are used at the time of hiring.

Typically, NDAs work to provide confidentiality and protection, but they have increasingly been used to protect power dynamics that enable abusers to continue their dangerous and disgusting behavior.

One in 3 women has faced sexual harassment in the workplace during her career, and an estimated 87 to 94 percent of those who experience sexual harassment never file a formal complaint.

The reality is that many of these women have no voice because the system rewards male manipulators and penalizes women who challenge the status quo. This is institutionalized abuse.

The Speak Out Act can change this reality by preventing employers from enforcing nondisclosure or non-disparagement agreements (NDAs) in instance's when employees and workers report sexual misconduct.

In the wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, our country has become acutely aware that men in power frequently leverage that power abusively to exploit women.

Sexual abuse and harassment can destroy a victim's financial security, mental health, and career path.

By standing up for their rights, the women who have been subjected to abuse often become mired in a lengthy and costly lawsuit that drains their finances, imposes a heavy psychic toll, and impairs their future job prospects by creating a misimpression that they are disruptive workers.

Women face a disturbing choice when sexually assaulted in the workplace: report the abuse publicly and face litigation, leave the company and abandon their income, or the choice that many are forced to make, put their heads down and pretend it did not happen.

Passing this rule to allow consideration of The Speak Out Act aims to provide victims with a third option to pursue justice.

It is time to amend the NDA system to strip the power from abusive employers and give it back to the employee.

Madam Speaker, I rise for a series of issues that I think are important.

First of all, two simple words, thank you, to all of the election officials in all 50 States, the bulk of whom worked unceasingly to ensure that the votes of the American people would be answered, counted, and respected.

Let me also say how important it is in this moment that we recognize the responsibilities of the Federal Government to raise the debt ceiling, not for itself, but to ensure the stability and security and protection of the American people. Medicare, Social Security, defense, all of these issues fall under the debt ceiling. Not recklessly, but rightly, we should do that.

I say to the Federal Reserve, stop raising the interest rates. You are negatively impacting the consumer who is trying to stand up on their feet. That is important.

Finally, I say, we should pass H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act.

What is it about? Reconciliation, restoration, recognizing the history of enslaved Africans, and recognizes the unequal distribution of wealth to ensure that there is a recognition of dealing with the disparities in education, disparities in housing, disparities in social issues.

I believe we can work together. Let us come together on these issues that I have mentioned. That is what America is all about.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the life of Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays.

I wear white today, having just come from Houston and celebrating her life as the International 18th president of Alpha Kappa Alpha and a major leader in The Links organization; what a remarkable woman, a woman of her era, 91 years old; graduated from Dillard, the University of Michigan, and Pacific University with a doctorate degree, a strong and vivacious woman, elegant but, as well, determined to teach children a better way.

A pioneering civil rights leader who, in fact, provided Alpha Kappa Alpha chartered groups on schools that were majority not integrated but majority Anglo, if you will, institutions that were not historically Black colleges. But she was strong and wanted to present a wonderful opportunity for young women, wanted them to have the same kind of leadership that she did.

She was the daughter of a preacher and a wonderful mother that invested in her the love of faith in God; and she was a person who benefited so many young people in her era and in her time.

Yes, this fierce lover of life, strong, determined leader, has now taken her wings, and I was pleased to be at her homegoing service to be able to honor her daughter Karen, her brother, Cornel, and Joan, her sister, grandson, Kristopher, his wife, and their children, and all her other relatives.

I was delighted that the mayor of the city of Houston named this day, November 14, 2022, as Dr. Mattelia Grays Day. I am here to honor her on the floor of the House. May she rest in peace. May her spirit continue to lift us up as we celebrate our 18th international president, Dr. Grays, as she rests in peace and goes home to join her honey-do, her husband.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor and praise Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays for a life well lived--where she was dedicated to public service through education and was a member of the renowned Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority Incorporated.

Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays was a remarkable woman, a mother, a community leader, and a woman of God who passed away this month at the age of 91.

Dr. Bennett Grays was the 18th International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority Incorporated serving from 1970 to 1974.

Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays was born on July 26, 1931, in Houston, Texas, to the Reverend Abel B. Bennett and Mrs. Delcia McNeal Bennett.

During her formative years, Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays and her family attended Pleasant Hill Baptist Church until her father built from the ground up a small church, St. John Missionary Baptist Church, in Chappell Hill, Texas.

Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays attended schools in the Houston Independent School District and graduated in 1948 as salutatorian of her graduating class at Booker T. Washington High School. She was blessed to have earned and received a full-ride scholarship to attend Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she thrived and excelled in her studies.

Dr, Mattelia Bennett Grays pledged and was initiated into Beta Upsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She received her B.A. degree from Dillard University in 1952 and was married to Horace Wesley Grays, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated that same year. A beautiful daughter, Karen Grays-Gray was born to this wonderful couple.

Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays received her M.A. degree with honors in special education from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She later received her Doctorate in educational administration from Pacific University in Sacramento, California, in 1985. She returned to Houston to teach in the Houston Independent School District. After several years with HISD, she began working summers with the University of Houston as a supervisor for laboratory experiences for teachers of culturally deprived children.

Upon graduation from the University of Michigan, Dr. Grays transferred her sorority membership to Alpha Kappa Omega Chapter in Houston, where she served as chapter president and South Central Regional Director. She was the youngest person ever elected as International President of the sorority in 1968 and was installed at the sorority's biennial national convention in 1970.

A little-known fact is Dr. Grays, during the Civil Rights era, was instrumental and the driving force in chartering 14 undergraduate chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated on predominantly white universities. During her term as Supreme Basileus, she chartered a total of 56 undergraduate chapters at predominantly white universities.

Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Horace Grays, sisters, Barbara Jefferson, Willie Mae Sanford, and brother Randolph McBride.

Dr. Mattelia Bennett Grays leaves to honor her legacy her loving daughter, Karen Grays-Gray (Benjamin Gray, son-in-law), her siblings, Cornel Joseph Jefferson, Sr., Joan Bennett McBride, a grandson, Kristopher John Howard (Jennifer Howard, granddaughter-in-law), and great-grandchildren, Karolina Austen Howard, and Kristopher John Howard, Jr., and a host of cousins, nephews, and niece and friends.

Her work and deeds are most deserving of the respect, admiration, and commendation of the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, this morning, a resident of the State of Florida was interviewed, and he said that with Ian, his whole house was gone. Everything in his house was gone.

The people of South Carolina are facing Ian now. The people of the areas of Alaska and the people in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have all faced an enormous surge and impact of hurricanes--lives lost, people still being rescued.

That is why the leadership of this Congress and the Members will join together, I hope in a unified manner, to recognize what our job is. Our job is to be the umbrella on a rainy day.

In this, those who will suffer in the coldness of the winter, I am reminded of the freeze in Texas. Of course, we had no electricity, but thank God for $1 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Some people are saying how grateful they are. Helping FEMA to be able to be on the ground, $2 billion for helping people recover their housing and infrastructure. They are obliterated in Florida, 1 million people without lights. Of course, we know about Jackson, Mississippi, and Flint, Michigan, $20 million for water and wastewater and other crises that we have had.

I want this Congress to stand up for not shutting the government down but taking its rightful responsibility and dealing with the crises of America.

We have done it with the Inflation Reduction Act. We want to take people over politics. We want to make sure that we have jobs, good healthcare, low cost. We want to do something.

My friend on the Committee on the Judiciary, I am always eager to work with you. We all are facing the crises that come about after the pandemic.

But thank God we have legislation that deals with safer communities and restricting gun trafficking. We have one that provides us with the opportunity for those cases that have been backlogged.

We have done the work as Democrats. We ask you to join us in this effort. The CR must pass. Ukraine is fighting for democracy. We are helping them. We must make a difference by keeping the government open.

Madam Speaker, I ask for support for the underlying rule.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership.

I am very glad to say that there is something that responsibility calls you to do: save lives. This CR indicates that we will not shut the government down in the face of disasters around the world. We will not freeze out low-income families by not providing them with the home energy assistance program. And, yes, we will ensure that agencies like housing and health and public safety, to reduce the crime across America, to respond to the needs of our police officers and victims of crime, will not shut down.

But, yes, we will also recognize that we are good neighbors. In Pakistan, 33 million people have been dislocated because of catastrophic floods of Biblical proportions. Mothers are about to deliver babies, 70,000 of them, and we can help them as USAID goes and does its work internationally.

I am glad that we are putting a stop sign on closing the government down. I wish our friends on the other side would join us.

Finally, I want us to give more money to the hostage section of the Department of State because people like Brittney Griner are in cages in Russia, and we have to get our hostages out. Americans are looking for America to stand by their side.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman very much and again applaud her persistence in helping the American people.

As I finish, on the issue of Brittney Griner, introducing this to many of our colleagues that don't know, she is a hostage in Putin's Russia. Playing basketball there was her only crime, if you will. There she is, in a cage in Russia, a hostage since February.

We have a department that works on this issue inside the Department of State. I want to implore them and make sure they have the resources for the many Americans who are innocently held by countries around the world. It is a tragedy and a shame that we have a circumstance where Americans cannot travel. I am grateful for that support.

I am also grateful to acknowledge, if you will, the Disaster Relief Fund for our domestic crises. As I said earlier, a man was interviewed in Florida and said: I have lost everything, my house and everything in it.

There are a million people with no access to power, so this is a crucial and important CR. Puerto Rico is in need. It is a crucial and important CR. We always stand to hand out to our friends around the Nation and around the world. That is the United States of America. That is why we are passing the CR.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Senate amendment to H.R. 6833: the Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government through December 16, 2022.

I commend our colleagues in the Senate and the House for crafting this bipartisan, bicameral agreement that keeps the federal government fully operational without any interruption.

The agreement that led to this Continuing Resolution reflects our commitment to the policies on which Americans rely.

It reassures the American people that our government will continue to deliver all services while negotiations continue on funding federal agencies, programs, activities, and services for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2023.

Passing this continuing resolution might appear to be a basic ministerial act; but it is actually much more than that and highly consequential.

Throughout my 27 years of service in Congress, I have never lost sight of my principal responsibilities to my constituents and to the American people.

Paramount among them are two priorities: to do everything we can to keep our country and our people safe, and to provide the vitally necessary services and activities that preserve and enhance quality-of- life standards for all Americans.

Keeping our country safe includes protecting Americans from:

domestic terrorism and violent extremism,

public health pandemics,

aggression from adversarial countries and non-country actors,

environmental hazards to our air and water,

food and drug contamination,

racially based hate crimes, and

gun violence, which we advanced this summer by enacting the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Maintaining vital services includes providing:

health care and public health programs,

food stamps and SNAP funding,

clean air and water standards,

weather forecasting to enable resilience against natural disasters and FEMA funding to help rebuild lives and communities after they strike,

child nutrition and immunizations,

education programs and funding,

economic and business support programs that help create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities,

workplace safety protections and safeguards for employee rights,

prosecution of crimes and protections of civil rights,

housing assistance and homelessness prevention assistance,

broadband and other communication services,

medical research and healthcare innovation,

American leadership in the world community, and

myriad other services and programs that are synonymous with service to all Americans, especially those who are most in need of a helping hand to uplift themselves and thrive.

Both of these goals--keeping Americans safe and providing vital services--require that the federal government and all of its programs remain fully operational at all times without any interruption, especially a disruption due to political discord.

It is incumbent upon Congress to pass appropriations bills that enable the federal government to fulfill its diverse mandates.

With 535 members of the House and Senate, is essential that we negotiate, compromise, and reach agreements to ensure that the government will deliver for the American people on all activities that we are entrusted to perform.

Failure is not an option because the consequences on peoples' lives and livelihoods would be far too great to bear.

Failure would debilitate our economy, eliminate jobs, and devastate family finances.

Failure would mean that:

the health of Americans would suffer,

more people would become homeless,

production of food would be limited and its safety put at risk,

public safety would be impaired,

rebuilding from natural disasters would grind to a halt,

veterans and Social Security recipients would not receive their checks, and

the global stature of the United States would be diminished, among many other unacceptable outcomes.

These are just some of the reasons why I support passage of this Continuing Resolution.

It is imperative that we keep the federal government open and fully functional over the next few months as we continue to craft appropriations legislation that will fuel the federal government for the remainder of this fiscal year.

During this time, we will be able to craft language to improve government operations, address urgent needs, and accelerate forward- looking initiatives that will strengthen our country, ensure equity, and enhance opportunity for all Americans.

Yet, some needs are already well recognized. That is why I am particularly pleased that this bill not only continues funding for government programs and services at their current rate, but also includes funding for critically necessary activities, and extends programs that would have expired.

Some of the many provisions in the bill that would achieve these aims and which I fully support are the:

$1 billion in aid to Jackson Mississippi to help them resolve their water crisis,

$1 billion in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program support to help low income families afford heat during the upcoming cold weather months,

funding for victims of natural disasters that is needed to help them restore their homes and rebuild their lives,

maintenance of social security customer service systems,

$2 billion for the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program,

extension of child and family services programs,

extension of veterans' health care and housing supports,

fortification of cybersecurity by funding the newly created Office of the National Cyber Director,

enhancement of the Judiciary's court security program,

extension of the national flood insurance program,

funding of the FDA to continue its activities, and

$12.35 billion in aid to Ukraine that will enable them to combat Russia's hegemony.

Mr. Speaker, this continuing resolution is crucial for the sustenance and resilience of the American people.

I urge all my colleagues to support the Continuing Resolution so that we can keep the government operating while we negotiate a comprehensive bill to maintain programs, services, and activities through the remainder of this fiscal year.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) for work that is long overdue, and the Senators in the other body, as well.

I lived through 9/11, as many of us who have served in this Congress did. I lived through the terror, the horror, the horrific scenes that were unspeakable and unbelievable. I lived through them with the same sense of this could not be America.

I was in this building as the planes hit the Pentagon. We did not get the direct information about the World Trade Center, but as we were screamed at to get out and flee, as we ran without knowledge, I could see the billowing smoke, as the plane had already hit the Pentagon.

Never in our lives since World War II and Pearl Harbor had I seen or heard about, if you will, such atrocities and

violence. Imagine those families, never being able to bury their loved ones.

I went to Ground Zero by train because at that time planes were not in the air. I was insistent, as a member of the beginning of the Homeland Security Committee, to go there with a former Senator. We went to the very site.

No, there was no rescuing at that time; it was recovering.

We saw those fire department personnel, firemen, and law enforcement guarding this sacred place. Those firepersons would get a whistle blown when someone who had been digging found the remnants of a body, pieces of bones, and because they wanted to honor those families, they would blow the whistle and a gurney would come, and they would put what they found on the gurney.

That is what this bill is all about. It is to be able to say that families have suffered unconscionably, and that due to their own government withholding payments due to them and only incrementally dribbling them out in small amounts over the years, the families have faced financial hardship.

Mr. Speaker, this would provide financial relief for the families of those murdered by the terrorists by helping to put more dollars in this victims' fund, more so than the Victim Compensation Fund, to provide them with catch-up payments that they did not get. That is important to do.

Mr. Speaker, might I say that I visited with the Uvalde families this past Monday. Their pain is deep, and it is the same. They don't have a handle on these compensation funds. They are suffering. And as this has evidenced, that you must always ease the suffering of those who you cannot replace their loved ones, I look forward to working with the chairman on helping these Uvalde families in their suffering.

I support this legislation. I thank the chairman, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 8987.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to wholeheartedly and enthusiastically support H.R. 8987, the ``Fairness for 9/11 Families Act''.

I commend my colleague and friend, Chairman Jerry Nadler, for introducing this bill and bringing it before the House today.

This legislation provides us the opportunity to ``do right'' for the families who suffered directly from the heinous acts and carnage perpetrated on our nation on September 11th, 2001.

H.R. 8987 would provide financial relief to the families of those murdered by terrorists on September 11th by providing lump sum catch-up payments to them of the funds to which they are entitled from the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

When the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund was created, it did not allow for payments to families who already received some payments from the Victims Compensation Fund, even though they were clearly within the scope of the new fund.

This error was corrected later, but the families still have not received the catch-up payments to which they were entitled to provide them the financial assistance that they would have received if the initial error had not been made.

This legislation would provide them with lump-sum payments to immediately correct that injustice.

Needless to say, these families have suffered enough, and it unconscionable that they should be subjected to further suffering due to their own government withholding payments due to them, and only incrementally dribbling them out in small amounts over many years.

The families have faced financial hardship since that day, partly due to the loss of their loved one's income, and just as directly, by the inability to focus on employment while coping with their loss of a loved one through that unspeakable national tragedy.

The events of September 11th were among the most horrifying, frightening, and shocking that I have ever endured. That day, I was at the Capitol and experienced the frantic panic of being rushed off of the Capitol grounds when we feared that Flight 93 was aiming toward us.

And yet, my experience that day was incidental and transitory compared to the life-altering devastation that was felt that day and every day since then by the families of those who were killed in the airplanes and in the buildings that were struck.

Any time a loved one is abruptly and unforeseeably killed by violence or an accident, their surviving family members are devastated and debilitated, with a lengthy adjustment period that sometimes is never resolved.

In the case of the 9/11 victims and families, the aftermath of grief, mourning, and incapacity was protracted and compounded.

This was initially due to the uniquely heinous and horrible circumstances of 9/11, and thereafter due to the annual national memorials and the ubiquitous reminders of the tragedy that is embedded in the national consciousness.

These families are forever intertwined with the grief, sadness, and despondency associated with those acts of warfare against the United States. Thus, it is our responsibility, as the Congress of their United States, to prioritize their needs, revitalization, and compensation since, in effect, their loved ones were lost in an act of war by enemy combatants.

Although we can never sufficiently compensate the families for the loss of their loved ones, we must do all we can to support them and help them reclaim their productive lives.

It is not too much to ask--indeed, it is the least we can do--to ensure that the funds allocated to them be transmitted to them immediately to ease their financial burdens and support their pursuit of fulfilling lives.

The catch-up payments that were allocated to the families must be distributed to them promptly in lump sum payments for the dual sakes of fairness and solidarity with those whose sacrifice is enshrined in our national fabric.

Mr. Speaker, as we begin to take our work recess and engage with constituents, families, young people--in Texas sports are sort of the heart of our State, we love our Friday night football--I want us to think of a young woman who did everything right.

Brittney Griner, her father was a Vietnam vet, grew up in Houston, Texas, went to high school in my district, was quiet but an outstanding athlete. Athletes are holistic persons with many talents. She even did better than that, graduating from Baylor University and becoming a two- time Olympian.

I guess the Russians realized how important a person she is. She is now in a cage in Russia, as many of our hostages are in Iran and Russia. Putin, I believe, thinks that this is his own special pawn, a 6-foot-9-inch young woman in a cage.

I ask my colleagues as they go home to their families to remember to tweet out to bring Brittney Griner home and direct it to Putin to stop the cruelty.

Bring Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan and all of our hostages home.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for giving me the opportunity to be able to speak this afternoon from the heart.

Democrats have done great things. We have certainly appreciated the Members of the other side of the aisle who have joined us on some of those. Those things include passing a very effective CHIPS bill that I hope to bring thousands of jobs to my congressional district through the production and manufacturing, using precious metals, in particular, coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We now have families who suffer from diabetes who, shockingly, for the first time in their lives, can have insulin capped at $35. I am glad to have been a part of that.

I seek, as I did before, that Medicaid recipients can also have their insulin capped.

I am glad that working families, in this storm of inflation, can, through the Biden administration and Congress, have subsidies for healthcare and get cheaper healthcare.

I am glad that the flooding that is so intensive in places like Houston, can, in fact, now have the bipartisan infrastructure bill; and isolated communities without transportation or transit can, in fact, now have the potential of billions of dollars coming to those rural and urban centers, inner-city centers that need an infrastructure rebuild.

We need clean water, and Flint and Jackson, Mississippi, should not be the norm in the United States of America; and lead in pipes that helped destroy the cognitive genius of our children should not exist.

We have done great things. And as we go to work in our districts, listen to our constituents even more than we do when we have a moment over the weekends that we go home, we go home to hold in our hands the destiny of democracy when we fight for re-election for the purpose of ensuring the value of this Nation, as I look, In God We Trust.

We have done great things. Families of America should know that this leadership, under Nancy Pelosi, and Steny Hoyer, and Jim Clyburn, and the chair, Mr. Jeffries, and the vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, we should all know that there have been good things that were done.

So, when I go home, I have no hesitancy to be able to go and to champion the lives we have saved; the veterans who will get answers to their questions and their health conditions; the people who suffered under the burn pit, now relief, they celebrated because of this Congress, this Democratic Congress, with our friends who wanted to do what is right.

We have given hope to those burn pit victims. They can't breathe, and we have finally given relief.

This body has determined that the electoral count should be accurate, with no false electors showing up, giving false representation that they represent the States. No Vice President can do anything but ministerial.

There will be no doubt that if you vote in a Presidential election fairly and electors are selected to cast their vote for you--something, of course, that I think is a figment of our past and should not be in place, but let's make it perfect--you can now trust that the electors will do right, as they did in 2020; and they provided the final vote under the Vice Presidency of Mr. Pence that elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

We pray to God that we will never see January 6 again; never again; never the violence and brutality, the bloodshed of our police officers, the deaths that occurred, the innocent lives lost. We hope never again.

We have done some good things. There is such a litany of them, I cannot list them all.

I am delighted to have passed the Stop Human Trafficking in School Zones, the legislation that I authored; that we have fixed the Terry fix, to ensure justice for those who were not able to come appropriately under the reduction of sentencing dealing with crack and cocaine.

I am glad to have been able to push the Victims of Crime Act to ensure better handling of victims of crime.

At the same time, I believe that it is important to assure that the American people know that we are, in fact, working hard for them. So the many amendments to help HBCUs that I have offered; the many important elements of the appropriations, including more dollars for post-traumatic stress under the NDAA and some aspects of the appropriations, as I do every year; the helping of those suffering from triple negative breast cancer; and working to ensure that the lives of our children are better by helping to create resources for safer schools; work still unfinished to get our storage laws in place; to ban assault weapons.

But we have done a great thing in passing legislation to break the cycle of violence led by Mr. Horsford; and to utilize the tools that have been given through this Congress, under the Democratic leadership, to make lives better for all Americans.

We have done some good things. As we have done some good things, there is more work to be done. I want to make sure that we see the passage of the voting rights, so that oppression of voting can cease and desist.

It is appalling that we go into this election, but we fought, as Democrats, to make it happen. I am so sorry the noes came from the other side of the aisle.

I thank my colleagues, 217-plus, who have, in fact, supported the idea of a commission to study slavery and to look seriously and thoroughly at the question of reparation proposals. I know that we will work together going forward. It is the heart of America to cure both racism and to heal and to bring people together. I have confidence. I feel well about our opportunities.

I thank the Speaker that is in the chair, to have joined me in the midst of the crisis of reproductive freedom being taken away, to support medical personnel who, right now, under the laws of the Dobbs case in America, are being arrested, could be, nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors, who are simply trying to help a desperate woman that has been raped, or a child that has been raped. I hope to pass that Protecting the Medical Personnel of America bill.

I hope to pass the legislation that I introduced to stop the stalkers who would get a bounty on women by watching what they do, calling up and saying, I think she is getting an abortion. She is over at this address; and receiving $10,000.

Can you believe it? The law of the land in the State of Texas.

We have done some good things and we are doing good things. But if this Special Order is about one issue or item, this is what I want it to be about. I want it to be about something that our psyche is just not used to.

I don't know how many times we have thought of the tens upon tens of Americans that are held hostage around the world. We learned a little bit about MIAs, people missing in action, soldiers missing in action, really, through the Vietnam War. I know they were missing in action in World War II and other wars, but in this recent generation, we learned about it because the late heroic John McCain would always remind us of the MIAs.

I joined with my colleague, Ben Reyes, and put a flag out in front of the City Hall in Houston, Texas, when I was a member of the City Council; the first MIA flag, I believe, maybe, in city councils across America.

I came here to the United States Congress, and outside my door is the flag of MIAs. We understand that.

But do we understand about Americans who have done little, have been plucked off the streets of places that are despotic, and joined the thousands of their own citizens thrown in jail with no real justice system?

So if I come to you today, I want the title of this Special Order to focus us on where we need to go.

The Plight of Brittney Griner

Mr. Speaker, when I mention Brittney Griner, I want everybody to know I am thinking of Paul Whelan, and I am thinking of the journalist in Iran, and hostages around the world, U.S. citizens.

Does anybody know that we work hard on this? When I say we, the administration works hard on this every day. On the floor today, I asked for more resources for the hostage finding team--I will just call them that.

But I want to take a moment to just show you Brittney Griner's life. She is a Houstonian; went to the schools, the public schools in the area; went to Nimitz High School in my congressional district. I met some of her classmates. Even the students there today want to do something to show their care and outrage about where she is today.

Brittney Griner, no, she was not in the United States military. I honor them. But she wore the uniform. She was an Olympian; brought a gold medal home to the United States, I believe, two Olympics, back to back. That is USA Number 42 and Number 15, numbers worn in the Olympics.

That is Brittney Griner sharing some good news, a good dunk maybe, with her teammates, and Brittney Griner, an Olympian, wearing that good-looking Gold Medal. We like that because everybody watches the Olympics.

What an unbelievable basketball player--that is a shot; I could only dream about that shot--Brittney Griner, an American, African-American young woman.

I know the Baylorites love the championships and the hard playing that she did for them at Baylor University. That is Brittney Griner. She had a life in front of her.

Because of the very poor compensation, of sorts, compared to the NBA, many women WNBA players go off to foreign countries to play. She got drafted by Phoenix and played stupendously, so many world records in basketball as a professional.

Big heart, Brittney Griner, her teammates loved her.

I visited the Phoenix arena where her team plays. Of course, Brittney Griner's locker was there waiting for her to come back.

This looks like an exciting time, some good-looking pictures of our fellow American.

Paul Whelan, a marine, had some good days serving his country.

It is just an innocent civilian, who the infractions of what she is charged with wind up suggesting and threatening and charging her as a drug trafficker, a big-time drug trafficker--no sense but nonsense.

She could have been released and directed back to the United States. But no, this is what Mr. Putin wanted to do. He felt, after the Olympics of 2022, the Winter Olympics, where his teams were embarrassed because of drugs, that he would show the United States.

Here she is. They put her in a cage, 6 feet 9 inches in a cage. The beauty of her size was to recognize such a talented person playing the sport, doing well, giving joy to the fans and getting Americans to cheer her on during the Olympics.

This is what they wanted to show Americans: We got you now. In your eye.

A young woman longs to be home, deserves to be home, with other hostages who have been brutally treated.

President Biden has indicated, as Commander in Chief, that he wants all the hostages home, and he is ready to speak to Mr. Putin if he would only have a heart, if he would only recognize that there is no justice in his injustice.

Ninety-nine percent of those who go to trial in Russia are convicted. They are, in fact, held hostage. This is a direct result of Putin's interest in saying to the United States, I guess: We got you.

Not respecting she has family, not respecting that she has done nothing wrong.

Brittney is an extension of us in Houston. She represents the quintessential American stories and qualities. She is suffering after going through a trial, the process of appeal, doing everything, offering doctors' statements as to why certain items were with her, indicating a mistake, doing everything told by her lawyers. Nothing. Denial of basic rights to Brittney Griner, because they are the

rights to which we believe all people are entitled, a trial by jury of your peers and the right to be able to be proven innocent.

We do not accept the dehumanization that is commonplace in Russia, and our values compel us to seek justice for Brittney's immediate release and return to her family and friends.

She spoke eloquently by saying: I am sorry. It was a mistake.

It seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Can it be nothing more than an attempt to humiliate her, her family, her loved ones, who cry out for the potential of what may happen?

She cried out to the President of the United States: I fear that I may be here for the rest of my life.

She is a young woman who gives away shoes and items to children without.

Her basic rights--we as Americans cannot just go quietly. We have a lot on our plate, but the only lifeline they have is the United States of America.

As a mother who has watched my children grow up, proud to see them excel, I can only imagine the gut-wrenching pain of her mother and father and her wife, and how hopeless they feel. There is no worse feeling than when someone in your family is in imminent danger and beyond your reach to help.

As a Black woman, I can say there is no greater fear through the history of our time, through slavery, through discrimination, through unequal treatment that we face in a justice system, even here, to think that there is nothing we can grab at to be able to give the defense, the explanation.

I want Americans to think of the pain of losing their children to something that is so foreign to us. They are alive, but they are held hostage.

There is much pain in this country. I have seen it through gun violence, so I don't speak to the pain of those mothers and fathers. What I speak to is that we need to do something about it.

I have gone to the Russian consulate in Houston. I have gone to the Russian Embassy. I have looked the Ambassador in the eye, at a huge, gigantic complex, and I said: Send this message to Mr. Putin. Let Brittney go. Let Paul Whelan go. Let the people of Russia, the good people who are out fighting against this vile and vicious war against Ukraine, let them go, too.

But I can't leave silently to go back to Houston without coming to this floor and saying, since February, about 2 weeks after the Olympics, she has been held.

She is not a soldier. She had nothing to do with any government activities. The only reason I say that is because her training does not lend her to these dastardly conditions, a cage, inhumane cage, ultimately to go to a labor camp where Trevor Reed suffered and Paul Whelan suffered.

She has been denied access to consular officials, and she was dependent upon Russian lawyers who mean well but simply go into the court and watch their client be convicted.

As they faked elections just the last couple of days, Brittney Griner is suffering from Putin's demonstration of power and control that stems from centuries of bigotry and hatred embodied in an autocratic leader who is the very antithesis of everything Ms. Griner represents.

If you want to know why she is incarcerated and not released, it is based upon her country of origin, something she cannot help.

Americans who are blessed to be born under this flag cannot help the values upon which we stand. We cannot help our Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. We cannot help our national anthem that calls for victory, ``The Star-Spangled Banner.''

We cannot help that we are called by nations to defend them. We cannot help that we have the freedom to travel and that we welcome people to this country, Russian students, Russian players, even on the space station. That is America.

But now we find the dastardly acts of stealing land, calling it an election, fighting people who want to be free, Ukrainians. In the midst of this turmoil is a young woman who graduated in my district from Nimitz High School, a Baylor University graduate, a two-time Olympian, and, of course, with all her friends in Phoenix, and just a basic human being.

I hope I made it clear. There are two teams in Phoenix. She is with the Phoenix Mercury, the WNBA team.

I couldn't leave this day without reminding America that if in God we trust, give some hope to these people, lonely, all over the world, shocked that they were snatched off the streets or snatched from an airport, gave every explanation. They created no outrageous, vile, terroristic act. They did nothing with guns, drugs of any amount. They were no detriment to anybody in that land, and here they are.

My colleagues, Congressmen Stanton and Allred, supported H. Res. 1132, led by Congressman Stanton out of Phoenix, calling for the immediate release of Brittney Griner.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an article from Sports Illustrated: ``Brittney Griner's Wife Has Troubling Update On How She's Doing.''

[From the Spun, by Sports Illustrated, Sept. 17, 2022]

Brittney Griner's Wife Has Troubling Update On How She's Doing

(By Andrew McCarty)

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden met with Cherelle

Griner, the wife of imprisoned WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Griner has been in a Russian prison since February, when

she was arrested for having cannabis oil in her bag at a

Russian airport. Ever since then, the United States has been

trying to get her home.

A meeting between Biden and Cherelle is a big step towards

that, but it also came with some troubling news. According to

Cherelle, Brittney's letters to her have taken an

increasingly dark tone.

Cherelle offered a larger statement following her meeting

with Biden.

``I've felt every minute of the grueling seven months

without her,'' she said. ``I look forward to the day my wife

is back home. As my family and I continue on this journey,

I'd like to thank the broad coalition of friends, leaders and

supporters who continue to stand with us and advocate for

Brittney's swift and safe return. Let's share a unified

commitment to bringing all Americans home to their families

and loved ones. Together We Are BG.''

Hopefully the United States and Russia can work together to

bring Griner home in the near future.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record two articles from CNN, one titled ``Biden set to meet with families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan at the White House'' and an article written most recently about Brittney Griner's conditions that she is facing and what she thinks is going to happen to her life.

[From CNN, Sept. 16, 2022]

Biden Set To Meet With Families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan at

the White House

President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with the families

of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan at the White House on

Friday, marking his first time personally meeting with them

since their loved ones were detained in Russia.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said

Thursday that Biden will meet with Griner's wife, Cherelle

Griner, and Whelan's sister, Elizabeth Whelan, to assure them

his administration is committed to securing the release of

their loved ones and that they remain ``front of mind.''

Biden will meet with them separately, an official said.

``One of the things that the President wanted to make clear

is, and one of the reasons he's meeting with the families, is

that he wanted to let them know that they remain front of

mind and that his team is working on this every day, on

making sure that Brittney and Paul return home safely,''

Jean-Pierre said.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said that working

to secure Griner and Whelan's release, as well as that of

Americans wrongfully detained abroad, is a top priority. In

late July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced

that the US had put forward a ``substantial proposal'' to try

to secure the release of Griner and Whelan. Sources told CNN

that proposal included a swap for convicted arms dealer

Viktor Bout.

Griner was detained in February for carrying vape

cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The two-

time US Olympic basketball gold medalist pleaded guilty to

drug charges and said she accidentally packed the drugs while

in a hurry. She has been sentenced to nine years, along with

a fine of about $16,400. Her legal team in Russia has

appealed the sentence.

Whelan has been imprisoned in Russia for more than three

years after being convicted on espionage charges that he

vehemently denies. He was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years

in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.

A senior administration official told CNN Thursday that

there has been ``movement but not breakthrough'' on the

efforts to secure the releases of Griner and Whelan. The

official said that the US has urged Russia to put forward ``a

serious counteroffer'' to the proposal on the table to secure

the release of the two, but ``we've not gotten a serious

response back.''

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday that

``there have been discussions with the Russian government,''

but acknowledged the negotiations process ``certainly hasn't

moved with the speed we would like.'' He said he wouldn't

call the process ``stalled.''

The White House meetings come after CNN first reported

earlier this week that former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson

and his team were in Moscow and held meetings with Russian

leadership.

The details around those meetings were not immediately

clear. Richardson and his namesake center privately work on

behalf of families of hostages and detainees.

Biden administration officials have repeatedly expressed

concerns that private citizens' attempts to broker deals to

repatriate wrongfully detained Americans may end up hindering

ongoing efforts by the US government to bring them home.

Since taking office, Biden has met with the families of

other Americans who have been detained abroad.

The President in May met with the family of Austin Tice, an

American journalist detained at a checkpoint near Damascus in

August 2012. The Biden administration relayed in August that

it has engaged directly with the Syrian government to try and

bring Tice home.

Biden also met with the family of Trevor Reed in March.

Reed, an American citizen and former Marine who had been

detained in Russia since 2019, was freed and repatriated to

the US in April as part of a prisoner swap.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a press statement from my office.

[Press Statement from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Aug. 4, 2022]

Washington, DC.--Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee condemns

the Russian Court System for their egregious sentencing of

Brittney Griner. Today Griner was sentenced to nine years in

prison by a Russian Court. This decision comes after the

House passage of H. Res. 1132 ``Calling for the immediate

release of Brittney Griner, a citizen of the United States,

who was wrongfully detained by the Government of the Russian

Federation in February 2022.''

``If I have to beg for mercy for the release of Brittney

Griner and Paul Whelan myself, I am prepared to do so,''

explained Rep. Jackson Lee. Brittney Griner grew up in

Houston, Texas, was a collegiate All American star basketball

player at Baylor University where she won a national

championship, won two Olympic gold medals as the leader of

the U.S. national basketball team, and is a WNBA superstar

playing for the Phoenix Mercury based in Arizona. Prior to

being held captive by the Russian government for several

months before having charges brought against her Griner

played in the Russian leagues in the United States' WNBA off

season.

On May 3, 2022, the United States Government declared

Brittney Griner unlawfully detained and immediately moved her

case to the Department of State under hostage negotiation.

The U.S. Department of state is a leading Government agency

which serves an

integral role in foreign policy and the advancement of the

American people. ``We thought there might be a glimmer of

hope, but we were obviously wrong,'' Congresswoman Jackson

Lee explained.

While on trial Alexander Boikov, a member of Griner's legal

team, requested Griner's acquittal stating that the

prosecution failed to prove criminal intent. Charges brought

against Griner are drug smuggling and cannabis possession,

which the prosecution has categorized as a significant

amount. Griner was in possession of less than one ounce of

cannabis oil, which demonstrates how corrupt Russia's court

system is. By padding smuggling charges, Russian courts were

able to lengthen Griner's sentence when evidence only

substantiated drug possession charges.

While playing for the Phoenix Mercury in Arizona, Griner

legally obtained and frequently used cannabis to treat

chronic pain from an injury. Griner took her career in the

Russian basketball league seriously and decided to travel to

Russia, even amidst the political unrest, so she would not

let her teammates or Russian fanbase down.

The Biden administration has offered the trade of Russian

illegal arms dealer Viktor Bout for the trade of both Griner

and Whelan. Congresswoman Jackson Lee urges Russia to act on

this deal and reassures the American people ``We are not

violating our integrity as Viktor Bout has served majority of

his sentence.'' Bout, nicknamed ``the merchant of death,''

was convicted on November 2, 2011, and sentenced, to twenty-

five years in prison on charges of conspiracy to kill U.S.

citizens and officials, and conspiring to provide aid to a

terrorist organization. Inversely, Griner is currently

imprisoned on charges for 0.702 ounces of cannabis oil and

serving a nine-year sentence. ``The American people must come

together, and ensure our citizens are brought home,''

explained Rep. Jackson Lee.

And so, Mr. Speaker, let me express my appreciation to my colleagues. I hope they see the pain that her family is feeling. None of us can stand in their shoes.

Because none of us can stand in their shoes, we have to plead to Vladimir Putin. Let our important and crucial leaders listen to this plea. Listen to our anguish. Listen and see this picture versus the ones that I have shown, this picture. Just look at them. From Olympian to a cage. The Olympian to a cage.

I am going to do everything I can.

I have asked the Embassy, and I want to know what kind of shame they are experiencing, not giving Americans visas for us to go to our embassy in Moscow?

What are they thinking that they can live in a world like this, locking people up so they can play gotcha and be inhumane and stick it in the eye of the American people?

Well, I will tell you, as I stand here today, let me take this fist, this fist, to make the promise that all of our hostages should be free. I hope the State Department's team of hostage negotiators gets the additional funding to grow the team.

But to the families of hostages who are in pain, some who don't know whether their loved one is alive, and they live with the pain every day that they have not been able to honor them if they are not.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that I have said something to ignite the conscience of the American people and to ignite the conscience, if you will, of all of my colleagues.

Free Brittney Griner now.

Free Paul Whelan.

Free Brittney Griner now.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule by which the House has passed H. Res. 1132, ``Calling for the immediate release of Brittney Griner''.

A very important component of the rule currently before the House is that it: ``Provides that House Resolution 1132 is hereby adopted.''

I fought hard for passage of H. Res. 1132, introduced by Congressman Stanton, myself, and Congressman Allred, because, by raising our voices for Brittney Griner, we raise our voices for bedrock American values and priorities that are intrinsic to our national character.

H. Res. 1132 calls for the release of Brittney Griner and, in so doing, puts Congress on record emphatically defending true American values such as our devotion to human rights, respect and dignity for each person, the right to due process, and justice based on truth.

Each of these have been offended by Russia unjustifiably holding Griner, and by the Russian distortion of a judicial system that extends her detention, preventing her release to return home, without a factual or legal basis for doing so.

Brittney Griner, who grew up in Houston, Texas, is an extension of all of us. She represents quintessential American stories and qualities. The injustices inflicted upon her by Putin and his acolytes in Russia could have been imposed on any Americans within their reach.

The denial of basic rights from Brittney offends all Americans because they are rights to which we believe all people are entitled. We do not accept the dehumanization that is commonplace in Russia, and our values compel us to seek justice for Brittney, her immediate release, and her return home to her family and friends.

As a mother who has raised a family, I can only imagine the gut- wrenching pain that her parents, family, and friends must be feeling right now. There is no worse feeling than when someone in your family is in imminent danger and they are beyond your reach to help them.

As a Black woman, I can say there's no greater fear than having a loved one being wrongfully placed in a situation or environment over which there is no control.

For any of us, if we had a loved one placed in this situation, we would be doing everything in our power to ensure their prompt and safe return.

We would be calling and seeking the help of everyone possible-- including the media, the US State Department, and even allies in Russia.

We would press every politician and public figure to fight against the corrupt government of Russia to ensure that our family member is guaranteed their natural born rights to due process, a fair trial, and a prompt release from detention.

No American citizen should be detained in a foreign country for months, denied access to American consular officials, and, dependent upon the performance of a Russian lawyer, especially in absence of substantial evidence of a crime.

Ms. Griner is suffering from Russia's heinous demonstration of power and control that stems from centuries of bigotry and hatred embodied in an autocratic leader who is the very antithesis of everything Ms. Griner represents.

Ms. Griner's detention is primarily based on the country of her citizenship, in a game of political leverage. Since she was targeted because of being an American, every American should take this personally. Her detention is an offense against our country, and against our people.

Griner was detained on February 17, 2022, her initial release date was set to be May 19th, it was then shifted to June 19th, and when that date approached, it was delayed to July 2nd.

That is not justice--it's oppression. We call on Putin and the Russian government to comply with their international treaty obligations.

By passing the rule and adopting H. Res. 1132, the House insists, alongside the Griner family, that Brittney Griner must be immediately and safely released and returned home to the US.

We are unified in demanding respectful treatment and justice for her, in accordance with American values.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 4900, the ``Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Extension Act of 2022'' that reauthorizes the SBIR, STTR, and six pilot programs for three years to provide stability and certainty for small businesses that rely on their technology.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 3969, the ``Protection and Advocacy for Voting Access Program Inclusion Act'' which would remedy a specific situation to ensure that citizens who have the right to vote can do so without having to worry about barriers.

Voting is a fundamental right that belongs to ALL citizens of the United States. In 2002, former President Bush signed into law the Help America Vote Act of 2002, also known as HAVA, to upgrade aspects of states' election procedures. It amended state plans and reporting, accessibility, and voting system standards.

While the Help America Vote Act of 2002 intended to accomplish voter accessibility and encouraging voting across the nation by addressing the accessibility issues most United States citizens face, it failed to cover the entire population adequately.

Specifically, HAVA did not address the needs of certain nonmainland territories, ultimately resulting in certain communities being unable to participate in the foundational right that our democracy is built on.

The Northern Mariana Islands and American Indian Consortium have limited accessibility in voting, as they are not currently protected by the HAVA.

The Protection and Advocacy for Voting Access Program Inclusion Act, also known as PAVA Inclusion Act, aims to amend the Help

America Vote Act of 2002 by introducing the State Definition initialized in the Development Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 which allows the Help America Vote of 2002 to cover Northern Mariana Islands citizens.

Additionally, this bill seeks to establish a system to serve the American Indian Consortium, granting them protection under the HAVA act in a similar manner to a State as mentioned prior.

With these two communities protected by PAVA, they will now receive the much-requested grants that will enable them to meet the voting needs of their citizens. With these grants, systems will be able to overcome voter obstacles such as any language barriers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my fellow Congressmembers to vote in support of the PAVA Inclusion Act. Without the PAVA Inclusion Act, eligible voters residing on the Northern Mariana Islands and in the American Indian Consortium are faced with unsurmountable challenges in exercising their rights to vote.