Floor Statements

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership, and the ranking member, as well.

Let me say that America is going to get not a payday but an investment.

Unlike how my colleagues like to characterize the hard work of the appropriators and our chairwoman, this is about good-paying jobs, $90 billion in transportation.

This is about tackling hunger and agriculture, some $27 million.

This is about helping Houston with its horrible and yearly confrontation with flooding.

Yes, this is about the issues of Energy. As well, with Financial Services, this is about helping our consumers. Of course, in Interior, I want to say that this is about helping the work that I am doing on the Emancipation Trail.

I am delighted that I also rise to support all the en blocs. I have amendments in all of them. Particularly, I want to emphasize the work that is being done through my amendments on oversight over the General Land Office that has tackled Houston, Harris County, and the region after Hurricane Harvey like they are at odds. Our Federal money, $4 billion, was supposed to go to Harris County and Houston. Houston ultimately got zero amount at a certain stage, and they only gave Harris County $800,000 when we are suffering with loss of housing and with major flooding.

My amendment will talk about major oversight over the GLO and their treatment of local jurisdictions. This plays across America when States get money, and they don't believe that it should go to the local communities.

Let me also indicate I am glad that my human trafficking victims bill is in. That provides for SNAP resources and to clarify that if you are educating a human trafficking victim that is not documented, you can clarify for them without looking like you are recruiting or selling SNAP to let them know that they are eligible for it, which is extremely important.

Also, I-45, the President of the United States issued an equity policy that whenever you do major infrastructure projects, you should look at how it impacts historic neighborhoods and how it impacts the minority neighborhoods and urban neighborhoods. I-45, a major Federal project, has not even perceived that to be important. My amendment indicates that that should be the case.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman for her graciousness.

That is an ongoing issue that we have in our community, where the communities are not taken into consideration when the houses are leveled and when the flooding is increased by an infrastructure project that we now have a title VI proceeding under that is funded by Federal dollars.

Let me also express my appreciation for amendments dealing with the Federal Railroad Administration. Everyone that knows it has trains. We know that it provides part of the supply chain. But in our communities, there are the crossings, there are the sounds, and there are the horns. All we want to do is work harmoniously in the oversight over the Federal Railroad Administration to deal with safety and operations in our communities. That is particularly important.

I also want to express appreciation for the work my amendments will do and that they have been accepted dealing with the issue of historic preservation, which will include places like Freedmen's Town, Independence Heights, and, of course, the historic Third Ward where Emancipation Park is.

Again, the underlying bill is a bill that will invest in America. I support this legislation and the good work of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Chair, I ask everyone to support that and the amendments included in the en bloc.

Mr. Chair, I rise to speak in a strong support of H.R. 8294, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Rural Development, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act.

H.R. 8294 makes key investments in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, expanding research innovation, combating climate change, and honoring the sacrifice and commitment of our nation's veterans.

The diligent work that produced this comprehensive legislation will make a very positive impact on so many sectors and activities throughout American society.

Mr. Chair, I also want to voice my strong support for En Bloc Amendments No. 2, 3, 6, and 7, which incorporates Jackson Lee Amendments.

I thank the Rules Committee and Chairman McGovern for making these amendments in order and the Appropriations Committee and Chairwoman DeLauro for including it in this En Bloc Amendment.

The Jackson Lee amendments are in the following Divisions of the bill:

Division A--Transportation, Housing and Urban Development

Division B--Agriculture

Division E--Interior and the Environment

en bloc #2

Jackson Lee Amendment #46 supports the work of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) by making a $2,000,000 increase in funding to that office for the purpose of supporting agriculture research programs particularly at 1890s Institutions, which are land grant colleges at 28 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as well as Hispanic-serving institutions, and other educational institutions that benefit underrepresented communities.

This amendment promotes NIFA's work with agricultural experiment stations, cooperative forestry, and other innovations to improve our nation's food production through agricultural

research, economic analysis, extension, and higher education.

The NIFA was created at the time of the industrial revolution to ensure that the nation would have a sufficient number of working farms to provide a reliable supply of domestically produced food.

One of ways NIFA achieves its mission is by providing research grants to education institutions, which include 1890s institutions created by the Morrill Act of 1890.

Today, land-grant colleges and universities can be found in 18 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The list includes:

Alabama A&M University

Alcorn State University

Delaware State University

Florida A&M University

Fort Valley State University

Kentucky State University

Langston University

Lincoln University

North Carolina A&T State University

Prairie View A&M University in Texas

South Carolina State University

Southern University System

Tennessee State University

Tuskegee University

University of Arkansas Pine Bluff

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

University of the District of Columbia*

University of the Virgin Islands

Virginia State University

West Virginia State University

HBCUs annually enroll 40% of all African American students in 4-year colleges and universities. HBCUs are prominent among research institutions in fields such as:

animal sciences

sustainable agriculture and agriculture economics

toxicology and waste management

conservation and environmental management

business and industrial development

biomedical science

In particular, Jackson Lee Amendment #68 is necessary to make clear that providing victims of trafficking access to information about their eligibility to receive SNAP benefits does not constitute the type of SNAP recruitment activities or ``advertising'' of the SNAP program prohibited by the bill and by Section 4018 of the Agriculture Act of 2014 (Public Law No: 113-079).

Trafficking in humans, and especially domestic child trafficking, has no place in a civilized society. Those who engage in this illicit trade should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This House made that clear again in 2021 when it passed H.R. 3530, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which contained my Sense of the Congress amendment added during the Judiciary Committee markup.

That means we need to ensure that state and local law enforcement agencies have the tools, resources, and training necessary to identify, apprehend, and prosecute criminals who ruthless traffic in children and young persons.

And one of the most effective resources in bringing criminals to justice is the cooperation and assistance of their victims.

Perpetrators of crime know that they are more likely to evade detection and punishment when their victims refuse to assist or cooperate with law enforcement. That is why they make it a point to instill fear in their victims--for their own safety or that of family and loved ones.

en bloc #3

Jackson Lee Amendment #19 increases and decreases HUD's Office of Inspector General account by $1,000,000 with the intent to support the OIG's oversight of the Texas General Land Office to track the accounting of Emergency Supplemental Disaster Appropriations for Hurricane Harvey Mitigation and Recovery that Congress approved for the 2017 disaster.

food and nutrition

plant and social sciences

international development

Agricultural research programs at HCBUs assist people living in densely populated areas to learn ways to eliminate food deserts, increase public education about farming, bolster appreciation for our nation's farmers, and provide new avenues to careers for those graduating with degrees in agriculture who seek to enter cutting-edge agricultural research.

This amendment promotes NIFA's work with agricultural experiment stations, cooperative forestry, and other innovations to improve our nation's food production through agricultural research, economic analysis, extension, and higher education.

The funds provided by the Jackson Lee amendment would support research and education for helping urban and suburban communities maximize their green space by turning it into productive farming resources to support access to affordable foods.

Jackson Lee Amendment #47 provides a straightforward, important contribution to the bill for a goal shared by every Member of this body: ending the scourge of human trafficking. This amendment provides that:

None of the funds made available by this Act for ``DOMESTIC FOOD PROGRAMS--Food & Nutrition Service--Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program'' may be used in contravention of section 107(b) of Division A of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7105(b)).

The effect of this amendment will be to make clear that nothing in this bill restricts the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture or any federal agency head from providing assistance and benefits to victims of trafficking under current law as authorized by 22 U.S.C. Sec. 7105(b) of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (114 Stat. 1464, Pub. Law 106-386).

Jackson Lee Amendment #20 provides an increase of $1,000,000 in assistance to address challenges faced by historically disadvantaged communities and areas impacted by persistent poverty not included in decision making when major highway construction threatens their homes, businesses, and culturally significant structures.

Jackson Lee Amendment #21 increases and decreases by $1,000,000 the Community Development Fund and the Community Development Block Grant program to address the fairness in the use of Community Development Block Grant Disaster funding to repair or replace single family homes damaged during Hurricane Harvey to ensure that multi-generational homes can house families at documented pre-disaster capacity.

Jackson Lee Amendment #22 increases and decreases by $1,000,000 the Federal Rail Administration Safety and Operation's account to emphasize the need to provide dedicated funding to address community engagement on safety issues related to railroad crossings in urban areas.

Jackson Lee Amendment #23 prohibits the Department of Transportation from using funds for Section 106 Transportation construction projects in urban areas that have not been determined to meet the statutory and fiduciary obligations of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 USC 306108).

en bloc #6

Jackson Lee Amendment #57 increases and decreases funding for Environmental Programs and Management by $5 million to highlight the need to support culturally competent federal, state, and local public health and environmental protection efforts to address cancer clusters impacting overburdened communities in the gulf coast region.

en bloc #7

Jackson Lee Amendment #56 increases and decreases funds for the Historic Preservation Fund by $3,000,000 with the intent of enhancing activities for the preservation, restoration, and maintenance of nationally significant sites, artifacts, and structures through competitive grants at the local, state, and federal levels focusing on projects involving HBCUs, sites and stories linked to the Civil Rights movement, landmarks associated with communities that are historically underrepresented, and sites related to the histories of Indigenous peoples.

The Historic Preservation Fund is vital in working to preserve nationally significant sites, structures, and artifacts. We want the environment to be safe, but we want the historic environment to be preserved for those who are a valuable part of the historical story of America.

It is crucial to the Freedmen's Town community in Houston, but it is also crucial to the Tulsa story in Oklahoma, the story of Chicago, Savannah, New York, and many other States where we have systematically ignored the historic preservation of our Nation. Who will tell our children the story? I am fighting in Houston. Others are fighting elsewhere. This amendment is to create the historical record, the legislative record that we are committed to.

I urge all Members to vote in support of En Bloc #2, 3, 6, and 7, and the Jackson Lee Amendments.

Madam Speaker, I hold in my hand the interim report 2022 Investigative Committee on the Robb Elementary School Shooting. Tragically, I was there within days of the shooting in May. Tragically, I got to listen to parents whose children bled out. All of us know the story of a little girl who smeared blood on herself just to have them think she was dead.

Part of what this report says is at Robb Elementary School, law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving the innocent victims over their own safety. There was no command post, as this report says, and there was no point of command.

But really I think what is important is that we are due for Federal involvement, as I have called. It is time now to give answers to our community. And let me simply say the words that struck me in this executive summary: We recognize that the impact of this tragedy is felt more profoundly by the people of Uvalde in ways we cannot fully comprehend. Their children are dead, and we have no answers, and there are people who failed to save the children's lives.

I call for a congressional investigation and hearings so that we can give them solutions and not just concerns. They need it, because their children's lives are lost.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman, Mr. Blumenauer, for his leadership and his cosponsor from Nebraska for his leadership.

Ninety percent of the stores in Houston are without baby formula. Texas was one of the hardest hit States. One of the most potent, powerful, and sad days was when I was able to find baby formula from a disaster organization, and in my district, in those early days, had a baby formula giveaway. Volunteers were looking to make sure that we were not giving out expired-date formula. All I can say is the lines of cars and the women who stopped to get out of the car to simply hug us, the strollers that came up--baby formula is a lifeline.

Baby formula is a lifeline. This legislation breaks the crisis of the supply chain and provides a regulatory scheme that ensures we can have production.

The disappointing aspect of all of this is the shutdown of the center point of manufacturing, if you will, and many were not notified. This legislation says that we are committed as Members of the United States Congress to modify safety requirements to the extent that no formula is jeopardized but that the lifeline for babies is our first priority.

I am grateful for this legislation because the shelves in Houston, Texas, are gradually coming back. They are not there yet. Just a few weeks ago, we had one of the largest cargo planes land at Bush Intercontinental Airport. The gratification of families was unspeakable, could not be mentioned.

This cannot ever happen again. It is important for Congress to be advanced and prepared to ensure that babies, who are innocent and without the ability to speak, are taken care of.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Blumenauer for this kind of leadership. Thank God relief is on the way.

Madam Speaker, I thank all of the leaders who recognize that reproductive freedom is a constitutional right.

I rise today, and I stand in the name of a 10-year-old rape victim who was denied an abortion and had to run to another State.

I stand in the name of the young woman who induced an abortion and became criminalized.

I stand in the name of rape victims.

I stand in the name of incest victims.

I stand for reproductive freedom.

And I stand in the name of the Constitution and the Ninth Amendment and the right of women with their faith leaders, their families, their extended knowledge, to be able to make their own decision about reproductive freedom.

I stand for the Women's Health Protection Act because it prohibits a State, local, or Tribal Government from telling abortion providers that they should perform medically unnecessary procedures like ultrasounds and provide patients with medically inaccurate information. This would be prohibited by this particular legislation and, as well, to ensure that they would comply with credentialing or other conditions that do not apply to providers who offer medically comparable services.

I stand in order for the Women's Health Protection Act to cover this United States and to ensure that the Constitution and Ninth Amendment prevails.

I stand because the Supreme Court Justices who swore that they believe in precedent for 50 years of Roe v. Wade did, under oath, misrepresent to those who they were speaking to that they would adhere to stare decisis and the precedent.

I stand because in Texas, the bounty hunters are seeking to criminalize and arrest persons. I stand for H.R. 5710 that will criminalize that activity.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in strong support of H.R. 8296, the Women's Health Protection Act of 2022.

H.R. 8296, the ``Women's Health Protection Act of 2022'' of which I have been a long-time supporter, would prohibit certain government restrictions on access to abortion.

The bill would ensure physicians' ability to prescribe certain drugs, offer abortion services via telemedicine, and provide immediate abortion services when the mother's health is at risk.

Furthermore, the ``Women's Health Protection Act of 2022'' would put an end to the hurdles some states have placed in the way of women accessing abortion care.

This bill would prohibit state, local, or tribal governments from requiring abortion providers to:

Perform medically unnecessary procedures like ultrasounds;

Provide patients with medically inaccurate information or;

Comply with credentialing or other conditions that do not apply to providers who offer medically comparable services.

It would also safeguard all abortions before fetal viability, and after fetal viability when a physician determines the continuation of pregnancy puts the mother's life at risk.

Under this bill, patients would not be required to disclose the reasoning behind their decision to receive an abortion, nor would they be forced to attend medically unnecessary health visits before their procedure appointment.

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to revoke the reproductive rights that women have enjoyed for half a century, Congress must act now to enshrine what is left of women's liberties into law.

I stand in proud support of both H.R. 8296, the ``Women's Health Protection Act of 2022.''

I urge my colleagues to stand up for women and girls and the providers who meet their medical needs every day.

We cannot let those who wish to relegate women to second-class citizens turn back the clock any further.

Madam Speaker, I thank my good friends, Lizzie Fletcher and Marilyn Strickland and Jamie Raskin, for understanding the Constitution.

Patricia Hughes and Jeremy Donahue threw a Molotov cocktail in a clinic, an abortion clinic, in Shreveport, Louisiana. David McMenemy of Rochester crashed his car into the Edgerton Women's Care Center. A package left at a woman's health center in Austin, Texas, contained an explosive device. It goes on and on and on.

A Texas woman has been charged with murder after a so-called, self- induced abortion. It is clear that our friends are trying to criminalize the right to reproductive freedom.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an article from NPR and a document entitled ``Violence Against Abortion Providers.''

Violence Against Abortion Providers, Clinics, and Activists

December 12, 2005: Patricia Hughes and Jeremy Dunahoe threw

a Molotov cocktail at a clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana. The

device missed the building and no damage was caused. In

August 2006, Hughes was sentenced to six years in prison, and

Dunahoe to one year. Hughes claimed the bomb was a ``memorial

lamp'' for an abortion she had had there.

September 11, 2006: David McMenemy of Rochester Hills,

Michigan, crashed his car into the Edgerton Women's Care

Center in Davenport, Iowa. He then doused the lobby in

gasoline and started a fire. McMenemy committed these acts in

the belief that the center was performing abortions; however,

Edgerton is not an abortion clinic. Time magazine listed the

incident in a ``Top 10 Inept Terrorist Plots'' list.

April 25, 2007: A package left at a women's health clinic

in Austin, Texas, contained an explosive device capable of

inflicting serious injury or death. A bomb squad detonated

the device after evacuating the building. Paul Ross Evans

(who had a criminal record for armed robbery and theft) was

found guilty of the crime.

May 9, 2007: An unidentified person deliberately set fire

to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

December 6, 2007: Chad Altman and Sergio Baca were arrested

for the arson of Curtis Boyd's clinic in Albuquerque. Baca's

girlfriend had scheduled an appointment for an abortion at

the clinic.

January 22, 2009: Matthew L. Derosia, 32, who was reported

to have had a history of mental illness, rammed an SUV into

the front entrance of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Saint

Paul, Minnesota, causing between $2,500 and $5,000 in damage.

Derosia, who told police that Jesus told him to ``stop the

murderers,'' was ruled competent to stand trial. He pleaded

guilty in March 2009 to one count of criminal damage to

property.

August 29, 2009: Two days after a nearby anti-abortion

protest, an unknown arsonist threw a molotov cocktail at a

Planned Parenthood in Lincoln, Nebraska. The bomb fell short

of the building, leaving no property damage or casualties.

January 1, 2012: Bobby Joe Rogers, 41, firebombed the

American Family Planning Clinic in Pensacola, Florida, with a

Molotov cocktail; the fire gutted the building. Rogers told

investigators that he was motivated to commit the crime by

his opposition to abortion, and that what more directly

prompted the act was seeing a patient enter the clinic during

one of the frequent antiabortion protests there. The clinic

had previously been bombed at Christmas in 1984 and was the

site of the murder of John Britton and James Barrett in 1994.

April 1, 2012: A bomb exploded on the windowsill of a

Planned Parenthood clinic in Grand Chute, Wisconsin,

resulting in a fire that caused minimal damage.

April 11, 2013: Benjamin David Curell, 27, caused extensive

damage to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bloomington,

Indiana, vandalizing it with an axe: Curell was convicted in

state court of felony burglary, and pleaded guilty in federal

court to one count of violating the Freedom of Access to

Clinic Entrances Act. In the federal case, he was sentenced

to three years of probation and ordered to pay restitution.

October 3-4, 2013: 32-year-old Jebediah Stout attempted to

set a Planned Parenthood clinic in Joplin, Missouri on fire

two days in a row. Stout previously set a fire at a Joplin

mosque.

September 4, 2015: A Planned Parenthood clinic in Pullman,

Washington was intentionally set on fire. No injuries were

reported due to the time of day, but the FBI was involved

because of a history of domestic terrorism against the

clinic. The crime was never solved. The clinic reopened six

months later.

October 22, 2015: A Planned Parenthood clinic in Claremont,

New Hampshire was vandalized by a juvenile intruder. Damaged

in the attack were computers, furniture, plumbing fixtures,

office equipment, medical equipment, phone lines, windows,

and walls. The flooding that resulted from the vandalism also

damaged an adjacent business)

February 24-25, 2016: Travis Reynolds, 21, vandalized a

Baltimore-area women's health care clinic with antiabortion

graffiti. After being arrested, Reynolds ``admitted to police

that he defaced the clinic's doors, walls and windows because

he thought that it would deter women from using the clinic.''

Reynolds pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of

violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in

October 2016.

March 7, 2016: Rachel Ann Jackson, 71, vandalized a Planned

Parenthood clinic in Columbus, Ohio, with the message ``Satan

den of baby killers . . .'' She pleaded guilty to felony

counts of breaking and entering and vandalism and a

misdemeanor count of aggravated trespass. Jackson was

sentenced to probation, with the judge citing her struggle

with serious mental illness as a mitigating factor.

February 10, 2019: Wesley Brian Kaster, 43, threw a Molotov

cocktail at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia,

Missouri. Kaster admitted to setting the fire because Planned

Parenthood provided abortions, although Planned Parenthood

stated that the clinic was not providing abortions at the

time due to a state law. Kaster was sentenced to five years

in prison.

January 3, 2020: A high school student, Samuel Gulick,

spray-painted ``Deus Vult'' on a clinic in Newark, Delaware

before throwing a Molotov Cocktail at the front window.

Gulick was sentenced to 26 months in prison by a federal

judge.

October 10, 2020: A man threw multiple Molotovs at a

Planned Parenthood clinic in Fort Myers, Florida.

January 23, 2021: An unknown individual fired a shotgun at

a Tennessee Planned Parenthood clinic; no one was injured.

News outlets noted that the attack took place on the

anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and at a time when

Tennessee's governor, Bill Lee, was involved in a heated

online debate regarding abortion and health care.

December 31, 2021: On New Year's Eve, a fire destroyed a

Planned Parenthood in Knoxville, Tennessee. The building was

closed at the time for renovations. The Knoxville Fire

Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and

Explosives ruled the fire arson. The clinic had previously

been shot at in January of the same year.

May 25, 2022: A masked woman set a fire at a planned

abortion clinic in Casper, Wyoming. The ATF offered a $5,000

reward for information leading to her arrest.

Madam Speaker, I stand, as I said earlier, with a 10-year-old victim who had to run to be able to secure an abortion after being raped.

I stand on the Constitution where the Fifth Amendment says that we are due life and liberty. I stand in front of ``In God We Trust,'' and I tell my friend from Louisiana that the Constitution says that we have a right to freedom of religion.

We speak what we believe. That is what this legislation does, and that is what reproductive freedom is. It is to ensure that the GOP does not criminalize abortion in all 50 States.

It is to ensure that Republicans are not plotting a nationwide ban to criminalize. This Constitutional expose, and explanation, indicates that we have the right to travel and the right to be constitutionally secure in that.

Further, we need to go a step further and criminalize anyone who is a bounty hunter and hold them accountable and put them in jail.

Specifically, this bill provides and makes sure that we prohibit any person or healthcare providers who provide legal abortion or services, that we don't stop that, that we don't stop any person or any entity for helping healthcare providers. Let me thank you and ask support of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in strong support of H.R. 8297, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022.

H.R. 8297, the ``Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022'' will protect women and girls from others preventing or interfering with a person's ability to access abortion care across state lines.

H.R. 8297 prohibits anyone acting under state law from interfering with a person's ability to access abortifacient drugs, abortion counseling, or abortion services out-of-state.

When I cosponsored this bill, I was specifically thinking of the women in my hometown of Houston, who now must travel 12 hours to reach the nearest abortion clinic in New Mexico.

I fear that Texas women and girls will because of the state's antiabortion laws will be living behind a new ``Iron Curtain.''

The harrowing stories of people escaping across the Berlin Wall to freedom will be replaced by women escaping Texas to save their own or a loved one's life.

I am concerned that there will be a new Underground Railroad with conductors ferrying women to New Mexico where they well have the freedom to make their own medical decisions.

It is the landmass of the state of Texas that makes this bill desperately needed.

Texas is the second-largest state in the US with an area of 268,597 square miles or 171,902,080 acres which is more than 7.4 percent of the United States total land mass.

In comparison, Texas is about 1.65 times larger than California, at 163,696 square miles.

Texas is not the largest state, however. Alaska, the largest state in the US is nearly 2.5 times larger than Texas at 663,300 square miles.

Texas has 29 million residents and the 13th highest GDP in the world at 1.78 trillion as of 2019.

If Texas were its own country, it would be the 40th largest out of 193 countries in the world, bigger than every country in Europe.

It is the quantitative, logistical, and legal challenge of driving to gain abortion services.

To the South is the country of Mexico with passport requirements which costs hundreds and often many weeks to obtain.

Those women living in regions of the state that border other states with prohibitions on reproduction options for women will make travel to New Mexico the only option.

To give some perspective on the size of Texas.

Austin is closer to New Orleans than it is to El Paso.

San Diego is closer to El Paso than it is to Houston.

The distance from Washington, D.C. to New York City is about 228 miles, or four hours driving.

The distance from Dallas to Houston, which is roughly 230 miles, or a little over four hours in a car.

To the north and northeast are Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma all of which have and made add to the hurdles of reaching a service provider by car.

It takes around 13 hours to drive the 805 miles from the northernmost point to southernmost Texas. You would start in Texhoma, a small town that sits on the border of Texas and Oklahoma then drive south through Lubbock, San Antonio, and all the way down to Brownsville, the southernmost city on the tip of Texas.

It takes 11 hours to drive 773 miles from easternmost to westernmost points across Texas.

Any drive of just a few hours may place women in the jurisdiction of unincorporated areas, rural towns, and counties where aggressive enforcement of a state law may be a priority.

Republican Texas lawmakers have already passed SB 8, one of the most barbaric and archaic anti-abortion laws in the country, that denies women the right to bodily autonomy after carrying a fetus for more than 6 weeks.

If left to their own devices, those lawmakers hope to prevent Texan women from seeking abortions not only in Texas, but elsewhere as well.

That is why I wholeheartedly support H.R. 8297, the ``Ensure Access to Abortion Act of 2022.''

This bill would prohibit any person acting under state law from preventing, restricting, impeding, or retaliating against:

health care providers who provide legal abortion services to out-of- state residents;

any person or entity who helps health care providers provide such services;

any person who travels to another state to obtain such services;

any person or entity who helps another person travel to another state to obtain such services; or

the movement in interstate commerce of drugs that are approved to terminate pregnancies.

Women in Texas and in other states with anti-abortion laws are already in crisis. They are already forced to flee their communities, incur undue financial costs, and combat social stigma to seek abortion care beyond their state boundaries.

We cannot allow these women to then be additionally prosecuted for exercising their right to abortion care in states where that right is still upheld.

The ``Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022'' would protect women in need of abortions from litigation.

But it goes admirably beyond that by protecting those who support women in exercising their reproductive rights.

Many organizations and community networks have rallied around women since the Supreme Courts Dobbs decision.

Churches, non-profits, and private companies have all stepped up to the plate to support women carrying unwanted pregnancies whether it be through financial contributions, transportation assistance, housing options, or access to abortion drugs.

The ``Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022'' would shield them from those who wish to make personal gains off the private medical decisions of women.

Just last week, a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio was denied an abortion in her home state because she was six weeks and three days pregnant.

I will say it again: A 10-year-old girl. Six weeks and three days pregnant.

The anti-abortion trigger laws in her state forced this little girl to travel 175 miles to Indianapolis in order to have her rapists' fetus removed from her young body.

This little girl had to leave the comfort of her community, leave her state, and drive for hours in order to get the necessary medical care she undeniably needed.

Many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would have preferred it if she could not have done even this.

Many conservative lawmakers would have preferred to see lawsuits filed against the family member who made her abortion appointment, the nurse who greeted her at the clinic, the parent who drove her home.

Maybe they would have even preferred to see lawsuits against the owner of the gas station where the family refueled their car, or the search engine that helped them locate the abortion clinic that saved their child from becoming a 10-year-old mother.

Imagine if lawmakers had decided that this little girl had to see a physician 24 hours in advance of her appointment. Imagine if they had mandated that she see an ultrasound of her fetus. Imagine if they had required the physician who cared for her to counsel this child on the benefits of adoption.

That is the reality many Republican lawmakers would like to see.

That is why these two bills are so important.

I stand in proud support of both H.R. 8296, the ``Women's Health Protection Act of 2022,'' and H.R. 8297, the ``Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022.''

I urge my colleagues to stand up for women and girls and the providers who meet their medical needs every day.

We cannot let those who wish to relegate women to second-class citizens turn back the clock any further.

Mr. Speaker, this week, I had the privilege of taking some of our young high school students and visitors throughout the Capitol.

What a sense of pride I had in the beauty of this Capitol, the beauty of this building, but what it symbolizes is democracy.

As I walked through the Halls, I was reminded of the important hearings that are going on in the January 6th Committee. The most recent hearing made it very clear that the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys came specifically at the calling of President Trump. The terrorism that occurred was driven by his lack of accepting the peaceful transfer of government. It was the big lie.

What we saw on that day, January 6, was domestic terrorism on steroids, destined to commit mayhem, bloodshed, and death. It was an attack on democracy, and it is being evidenced every day that the hearings proceed methodically, block by block, evidence by evidence. It is clear in the injury of law enforcement officers and loss of life that we have to say to those of this Nation: You have to take ownership of protecting the values and the sanctity of democracy.

Yes, someone must be held accountable. The President must be held accountable because what happened was not only an attack on democracy and the peaceful transfer of government, but loss of life and death, and that cannot go unanswered.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank the chair very much for yielding.

Let me acknowledge both my good friend, Mr. Cicilline, and my good friend, Mr. Upton, for their thoughtfulness.

Let me provide a response and relief to my good friend from Florida. First of all, I champion the heroes who run into burning buildings, law enforcement that save persons who are under attack, and the outstanding heroes of natural disasters and manmade disasters. They are valuable.

But I do want to answer the question that we have seen, i.e., Uvalde a lot of good guys with guns and nothing happened. And so this active shooter legislation is common sense. Let me dispel your fears. There is modern-day technology that experts run by FEMA under the DOJ will, in fact, be able in this active shooter legislation pinpoint where the active shooter may be.

I have here a list of shootings that have gone on in Uvalde; Buffalo; Boulder, Colorado; Atlanta; Dayton; El Paso; Virginia Beach; Thousand Oaks; Pittsburgh; Parkland; Sutherland; Las Vegas; Orlando; Oregon; Rosenberg; and Oak Creek.

I can assure you that the active shooter legislation would have been effective.

Individuals had gotten the guns legally, allegedly, but no one gave notice to those people that a shooting was going on.

In recent weeks and months and years, we have mourned the loss of life resulting from an ever-increasing number of active shooters. Communities in every corner of this country are suffering.

For instance, eight people were killed roughly 30 miles apart in three spas. No active shooter alert. If that had been done, someone could have been prepared that an active shooter that had a propensity to go into spas was killing people. He ran around creating havoc.

We know what happened in Uvalde, Texas--no notice that there was havoc going on in Robb Elementary School. Tell that to the parents.

Highland Park, Illinois, a Fourth of July parade ended abruptly as the shooting came. If we had had that, there might have been relief.

Please realize that we are here trying to save lives. In saving lives, yes, we want a ban on the assault weapons, but we would hope that you would join us on a bipartisan bill that will simply notify people what is happening, not deny them their due process rights.

H.R. 6538 is an important bill that would authorize the Department of Justice to coordinate an active shooter alert network. We will be listening to law enforcement and those with technology to ensure that the system works.

AMBER Alerts, for those of us in disaster territory and storm territory, work.

Mr. Speaker, I will not leave the floor without trying my best to give the names from Uvalde: Makenna, Layla, Maranda, Nevaeh, Jose, Xavier, Tess, Rojelio, Eliahna, Eliahna, Annabell, Jackie, Uziyah, Jayce, Maite, Jailah, Irma, Eva, Amerie, Alexandria, and Alithia; and those of this great community of Buffalo: Roberta, Margus, Andre, Aaron, Geraldine, Celestine, Heyward, Katherine, Pearl, and Ruth. These are people who have died. Highland will have their list of names added to this.

Support the AMBER Alert that makes the difference in an active shooting so that even though there are good guys out there, you can tell the people to save their lives. For the little 2-year-old that we will hear about soon, support the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6538, the ``Active Shooter Alert Act of 2022.''

In recent weeks, months, and years, we have mourned the loss of life resulting from an ever-increasing number of active shooter incidents where perpetrators committed mass shootings in multiple locations.

Communities in every corner of this country have been subjected to the fear and uncertainty created by active shooters in their midst.

Last year, there were 61 active shooter incidents in the United States. Approximately 27 of those incidents involved an active shooter moving from one location to another.

For instance, 8 people were killed roughly 30 miles apart at three spas in the metro Atlanta area last year. The gunman was later apprehended some 150 miles south of Atlanta.

In May this year, as we all know, 19 fourth graders and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas were slaughtered in a mass shooting that began when the perpetrator shot his grandmother in the home they shared, drove away, and crashed his vehicle outside Robb Elementary, where he entered and committed unspeakable acts.

And just a week ago in Highland Park, Illinois, a Fourth of July parade ended abruptly when a shooter opened fire on spectators, then fled the scene, prompting a citywide search.

While the actions of these individuals and other active shooters are unacceptable and require Congress to enact measures to put an end to such evil acts, we must also be prepared if these situations occur, and do all we can to help law enforcement save more lives.

Law enforcement's response to an active shooter is a dynamic situation--oftentimes chaotic--that involves many variables, requires swift, consequential decision-making, and places great strain on law enforcement command staff and their officers on the ground.

Their goal is to save the lives of victims and prevent others from unknowingly entering the area or walking into the line of fire--at all times focusing on containing, neutralizing, and apprehending the shooter.

We all saw the video of the band members in Highland Park who continued to march along the parade route as shots rang out above their heads. We saw the confused looks on the faces of the spectators as they tried to determine if the loud bangs were gunshots or fireworks.

An Active Shooter Alert could have helped those people fully ascertain the danger they were in and get to safety faster. An Alert might have saved the life of the woman who unknowingly walked directly into the line of fire of the Buffalo Shooter in the Tops parking lot.

Centers of higher learning and primary education, businesses, local jurisdictions, and law enforcement agencies have already implemented some systems to alert students, employees, patrons, and community members of the presence of an active shooter, and to help manage the response, and provide updates about the ongoing crisis via text message and/or social media.

Many of these systems face low enrollment and messaging delays that sometimes contribute to confusion around the incident. In the case of social media--insufficient account visibility means fewer people are made aware of an existing threat to their safety.

Law enforcement needs a reliable method of communication to rapidly notify as many people as possible within the vicinity of an ongoing active shooter incident; provide instructions to avoid the area or shelter in place; and announce when the area has been restored to safety.

H.R. 6538, the Active Shooter Alert Act of 2022, would authorize the Department of Justice to coordinate the creation of an Active Shooter Alert Network, enabling law enforcement to send active shooter alerts to mobile devices within their communities using the same system that issues AMBER Alerts, severe storm and extreme weather events warnings, and other emergency situations.

This legislation would ensure that an advisory panel--comprised of law enforcement officers, public safety experts, and emergency response officials experienced in responding to active shooter situations--has input in the development of best practices for issuing alerts effectively.

DOJ would oversee establishment of the advisory panel; establish and promote adoption of the best practices; and coordinate with FEMA, the Department of Transportation, and the FCC to issue alerts for the network and to provide a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the network.

Although this system would be available to law enforcement agencies to use on a voluntary basis, I expect many agencies will elect to participate based on the many endorsements received from law enforcement agencies.

I thank ACAL Subcommittee Chairman Cicilline for his leadership on this lifesaving, bipartisan legislation that I am proud to cosponsor along with Representatives Deutch, Spartz, Upton, Thompson, Meijer, and Mace.

Uvalde Shooting Victims

Makenna Lee Elrod, 10

Layla Salazar, 11

Maranda Mathis, 11

Nevaeh Bravo, 10

Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10

Xavier Lopez, 10

Tess Marie Mata, 10

Rojelio Torres, 10

Eliahna ``Ellie'' Amyah Garcia, 9; who was just days from turning 10 years old

Eliahna A. Torres, 10

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10; cousin and best friend to Jackie Cazares, 9, another victim

Uziyah Garcia

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10

Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10

Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10

Irma Garcia, 48; a teacher of over two decades

Eva Mireles, 44

Amerie Jo Garza, 10

Alexandria ``Lexi'' Aniyah Rubio, 10

Alithia Ramirez, 10

Buffalo Shooting Victims

Roberta A. Drury of Buffalo, N.Y.--age 32

Margus D. Morrison of Buffalo, N.Y.--age 52

Andre Mackneil of Auburn, N.Y.--age 53

Aaron Salter of Lockport, N.Y.--age 55

Geraldine Talley of Buffalo, N.Y.--age 62

Celestine Chaney of Buffalo, N.Y.--age 65

Heyward Patterson of Buffalo, N.Y.--age 67

Katherine Massey of Buffalo, N.Y.--age 72

Pearl Young of Buffalo, N.Y.--age 77

Ruth Whitfield of Buffalo, N.Y.--age 86

Madam Speaker, I rise to support amendments en bloc 2 and thank the chairman and ranking member for the combination of amendments that we have worked on over the years that I believe are crucial and important to the Nation's safety but also to the men and women of the United States military.

The amendment I want to highlight, among others, is the amendment that calls for the Secretary of Defense to evaluate and report to Congress the extent of threat to national security posed by domestic terrorist groups and organizations motivated by a belief system of white supremacy, such as the Proud Boys and Boogaloo.

We know that those organizations certainly found themselves roving around during January 6 and were actually called and motivated to come to Washington by the former President of the United States.

We also know that Director Wray has indicated that domestic terrorism is one of greatest threats to the United States. As reported in the media and government intelligence reports, coupled with recent arrests and successful violent attacks carried out by the Boogaloo Bois and militia extremists, these representations are very troubling.

My concern is that as the Nation moves toward a historic national election, the activity of violent influences, like the Boogaloo Bois and Proud Boys, will increase and lead to attacks becoming more frequent. I ask my colleagues to continue to support the amendments en bloc 2 for that amendment.

I also want to highlight my amendment that asks for $10 million to increase funding for increased collaboration between the DOD Office of Health and the National Institutes of Health

for research to combat triple-negative breast cancer.

As a breast cancer survivor myself, I can tell you the enormous impact that triple-negative breast cancer has. It is a particular form of breast cancer that metastasizes very quickly. It accounts for between 13 to 25 percent of all breast cancer in the United States, the onset is at a younger age, and it is more aggressive and more likely to metastasize. This work will help young women in the United States military and young men, who also are sometimes diagnosed with breast cancer.

Let me also ask for support for post-traumatic stress disorder. I have worked on this for many, many years, even developed a center in my district off campus from the veterans' hospital.

PTSD was first brought to public attention in relation to war veterans, but it can result from a variety of traumatic incidents. The increase, I believe, reaffirms the importance of helping those with PTSD and restoring their lives.

I want to make sure as well that my amendment dealing with requiring the chief of the National Guard, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, to submit to Congress and other entities a report identifying personnel training and equipment required by the non-federalized National Guard to prevent, mitigate, respond, and recover from natural and manmade disasters.

Houston is hurricane prone. I cannot tell you the kind of work and leadership that the Texas National Guard has done on behalf of my constituents and the entire State when we have been in trouble. The huge trucks that have come in with MREs and the help during the flooding has been enormous.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support all of my amendments and to highlight those that I have just highlighted.

Madam Speaker, I will just emphasize that the National Guard has been enormously effective in helping us during disaster.

But let me finish quickly with the amendment dealing with young people in the academy, in particular a young cadet that had a stuttering issue. My amendment says that cadets should be diagnosed with whatever disability they may have, be assessed, do their 4 years, and when it comes time for a command, don't push them out like this young cadet was, but to ensure that they have the ability, with their talents, to be able to accept a command. They want to serve their Nation.

Madam Speaker, I ask support for the amendments en bloc 2 and all of my amendments.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for this opportunity to express my support for H.R. 7900, the ``National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2023.''

Congress has the solemn duty to ensure that those who wear the uniform of the United States--and those civilians who provide logistical and operational support--have the equipment, training, and resources needed to carry out and complete their mission.

And we must never forget that a grateful nation has a sacred obligation, in the words of President Lincoln, ``to care for him who has borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.''

Many of my amendments were made in order by the Rules Committee. I would like to summarize them, two of which were included in En Bloc 1:

First, amendment 59 recognizes that Black men and women have played an integral role in our nation's defense from the bravery of Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave, during the Boston Massacre, to the present day. The amendment would address the historical and current barriers to Black Americans' participation and equal treatment in the Armed Services.

I would like to elaborate on the importance of Amendment 59, about the lessons that can be learned about the social, cultural, legal, and logistical impacts, as well as the advances made, by the integration of African Americans into the warfighting capacity of our nation.

The racial inequality and mistreatment of Black men and women that has historically permeated our military continues to this day, with more than 750 complaints of racial or ethnic discrimination from service members in fiscal year 2020 alone.

But discrimination doesn't exist just within the military rank-and- file, as in that same fiscal year, civilians working in the financial, technical and support sectors of the Army, Air Force and Navy also filed 900 complaints of racial discrimination and over 350 complaints of discrimination by skin color, data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shows.

According to a report by the Defense Department's Diversity and Inclusion Board, while the enlisted ranks of the active and reserve military were ``slightly more racially and ethnically diverse than its U.S. civilian counterparts,'' the opposite was true for the officer corps.

We owe it to those brave men and women who have proven time and time again to be an integral part of our military to examine the Armed Services' history of discrimination and to determine the necessary steps to repair the harm caused by these inequities.

Second, my amendment 28 directs the Secretary of Defense to evaluate, and report to Congress, about the extent of the threat to national security posed by domestic terrorist groups and organizations motivated by a belief system of white supremacy, such as the Proud Boys and Boogaloo.

In the past and with greater intensity, I have raised concerns over the role that Boogaloo and Proud Boys have played in bringing an element of violence into the otherwise peaceful protests following the death of George Floyd.

The violence seen during the recent national movement to end the deaths of unarmed black men while in police custody is not the start of these violent activities associated with Boogaloo movement or Proud Boys activity.

The threat posed by accelerationists and militia extremists--a range of violent anti-government actors, movements, and organizations, some of which branch out of decades-old ideologies and others which are relatively new has led to violent engagement of law enforcement.

These varied threats range from decentralized and leaderless accelerationist networks using social media platforms, such as the Boogaloo movement, to more structured, far-right militia extremist groups.

The ideologies undergirding these movements or groups have some similarities to other anti-government and white supremacist beliefs but are often not tied to a single, monolithic ideology.

In addition, in many cases, their adherents' decentralized and coded use of digital tools poses unique challenges for law enforcement and government officials to identify and track their activity.

These developments in domestic terrorism, as reported in the media and government intelligence reports--coupled with recent arrests and successful violent attacks carried out by ``Boogaloo boys'' and militia extremists--are troubling.

My concern is that as the nation moves toward a historic national election, the activity of violence influencers like Boogaloo Boys or Proud Boys will increase and lead to attacks becoming more frequent.

In 2018, we saw too many instances of violent extremist searching for opportunities to sow violence and disrupt democratic processes.

Boogaloo and Proud Boys are targeting constitutionally protected activity for cooption or to provide cover for attacks.

This amendment will result in a report that will provide valuable insight into activities associated with Boogaloo and Proud Boys.

Under the guidance that produced this report, there should not be any activity directed at groups that are not known for violent activity or have a history of engaging in violence directed at the United States government.

My next amendments were adopted in En Bloc 2:

Amendment 194--Provides authorization for a $10 million increase in funding for increased collaboration between the DoD Office of Health and the National Institutes of Health to research and combat Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

As a Member of Congress, a mother, a sister and a spouse, and a breast cancer survivor, I feel a special responsibility to do all I can to ensure every American can win in the fight against all types of breast cancer but especially triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).

About 10-20 percent of breast cancers test negative for both hormone receptors and HER2 in the lab, which means they are triple-negative.

What is Triple Negative Breast Cancer? The term triple negative breast cancer refers to the fact that this form of breast cancer will test negative, which means that each of the test will return negative results for the presence of breast cancer for three types of breast cancer tests:

Estrogen receptor;

Progesterone receptor; and

human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 or the HER2 test will be negative.

To understand triple-negative breast cancer, it's important to understand receptors, which are proteins found inside and on the surface

of cells. These receptor proteins are the ``eyes'' and ``ears'' of the cells, receiving messages from substances in the bloodstream and then telling the cells what to do.

Hormone receptors inside and on the surface of healthy breast cells receive messages from the hormones estrogen and progesterone. The hormones attach to the receptors and provide instructions that help the cells continue to grow and function well.

Most, but not all, breast cancer cells also have these hormone receptors.

Roughly 2 out of 3 women have breast cancer that tests positive for hormone receptors.

In 2013, the American Cancer Society Surveillance and Health Services Institute estimated that 27,060 black women would be diagnosed with the illness.

The rate of breast cancer is 10 percent lower in African American women than white women--it is the type of breast cancer (Triple Negative) that African American women contract that is alarming.

Because African American women are diagnosed in greater numbers with Triple Negative Breast Cancer we have a five year survival rate of 78 percent after diagnosis as compared to 90 percent for white women.

The incidence rate of breast cancer among women under 45 is higher for African American women compared to white women.

Triple Negative Breast Cancer:

Accounts for between 13 percent and 25 percent of all breast cancer in the US;

Onset is at a younger age;

Is more aggressive; and

Is more likely to metastasize.

Currently, 70 percent of women with metastatic triple negative breast cancer do not live more than five years after being diagnosed.

African American women are 3 times more likely to develop triple- negative breast cancer than White women. African-American women have prevalence TNBC of 26 percent vs. 16 percent in non-African-Americans women.

The key to beating this cancer is not just early detection--but detection period.

A 2007 study of more than 50,000 women with all stages of breast cancer found that 77 percent of women with triple-negative breast cancer survived at least 5 years, versus 93 percent of women with other types of breast cancer.

Another study of more than 1,600 women published in 2007 found that women with triple-negative breast cancer had a higher risk of death within 5 years of diagnosis, but not after that time period.

The recurrence and survival figures in these and other studies are averages for all women with triple-negative breast cancer.

The DoD needs to be prioritizing this very real and lethal condition to ensure women are being protected.

Amendment 195 directs the Secretary of Defense to audit current practices regarding administration of sexual harassment claims and submit a report no later 180 days after passage detailing efforts to prevent sexual harassment and protect service-members, and compiling data and research on sexual harassment prevalence in the military, cases reported, legal proceedings, and convictions.

Sexual assault is endemic in our military, especially for female armed service members.

Streamlining and auditing the process of reporting sexual assault protects victims and is a necessary step in weeding out abusers.

Amendment 191 provides authorization for $2.5 million increase in funding to combat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to the NIH, an estimated 3.6 percent of U.S. adults had PTSD in the past year.

PTSD was first brought to public attention in relation to war veterans, but it can result from a variety of traumatic incidents, such as torture, being kidnapped or held captive, bombings, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.

People with PTSD may startle easily, become emotionally numb (especially in relation to people with whom they used to be close), lose interest in things they used to enjoy, have trouble feeling affectionate, be irritable, become more aggressive, or even become violent.

They avoid situations that remind them of the original incident, and anniversaries of the incident are often very difficult.

Most people with PTSD repeatedly relive the trauma in their thoughts during the day and in nightmares when they sleep. These are called flashbacks. A person having a flashback may lose touch with reality and believe that the traumatic incident is happening all over again.

My amendment recognizes that these soldiers are first and foremost, human. They carry their experiences with them.

Ask a veteran of Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan about the frequency of nightmares they experience, and one will realize that serving in the Armed Forces leaves a lasting impression, whether good or bad.

My amendment will help ensure that ``no soldier is left behind'' by addressing the urgent need for more outreach toward hard to reach veterans suffering from PTSD, especially those who are homeless or reside in underserved urban and rural areas of our country.

Amendment 199 directs the Secretary of Defense to promulgate regulations to ensure that candidates granted admission to attend a military academy undergo screening for speech disorders and be provided the results of the screening test and a list of warfare unrestricted line (URL) Officer positions and occupation specialists that require successful performance on the speech test.

Academy students should have the option of undergoing speech therapy to reduce speech disorders or impediments.

Amendment 188 directs the Secretary to submit to Congress within 180 days a report on the recognition of African Americans who have served in the Armed Forces and opportunities for their inclusion in DOD naming practices and conventions for military installations, infrastructure, vessels, and weapon systems.

In every war waged from the Battle of Lexington to the Battle for Fallujah, African Americans have honorably answered the call to duty, and served with valor and distinction in America's armed forces.

At decisive moments in our nation's history, the United States military and its citizen warriors, were there and made the difference.

Our thanks to the military for being always ready to answer the call of duty--whether that call comes in the dead of night or the light of day--we know that we can count on you.

The fact that military bases have been named after Confederate military leaders or soldiers is hard to imagine given that they were fighting to end the United States. The Confederacy was not something that should be held up for honor by the United States or our nation's military.

There is no shortage of honorable replacement candidates to receive the honor of having a military base, installation or facility named in their honor.

Amendment 198 requires the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, to submit to Congress and other entities in 2023, 2024, and 2025 a report identifying the personnel, training, and equipment required by the non-federalized National Guard to prevent, mitigate, respond to, and recover from natural and man-made disasters.

Hurricane Harvey's impact in Texas is still being felt more than 30 months later. The storm's footprint covered over 9,000 square miles, including the city of Houston. Hurricane Harvey dropped over 52 inches of rain in the Houston area and over 60 inches were recorded elsewhere in the state.

At its peak on September 1, 2017, one-third of Houston, our nation's fourth largest city, was underwater leaving 34,575 evacuees in shelters across Texas. Before the flood waters had receded in Houston two other monster Hurricanes were bearing down on citizens living in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

The scope and magnitude of these dueling disasters tested the National Guard and Reservists in ways that were new.

This amendment requires a readiness report by the National Guard and Reservists to make sure they have what they need to assist communities in need of disaster assistance during future Hurricane Seasons.

Many Texans are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey, and the same is true of residents of many other areas hit hard by disasters.

My amendment will help the National Guard help communities prepare for disasters, respond to them, and rebuild from them.

It will improve the ability to support the important mission of the National Guard and Reservists to engage in disaster response.

Amendment 197 requires the Secretary of the Navy, not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act, to submit to Congress a report on desalinization technology's application for defense and national security purposes to provide drought relief to areas impacted by sharp declines in water resources.

In 2010, the United States consumed about 355,000 million gallons of water per day.

Worldwide, some 700 million people do not have access to enough clean water.

In 10 years the number is expected to more than double to 1.8 billion.

Two-thirds of the Earth's surface is water, but in fact less than 1 percent it is available for human use.

The rest of the water on our planet is either salt water found in oceans, fresh water frozen in the polar ice caps, or too inaccessible for practical usage.

While population and demand on freshwater resources are increasing, supply will always remain constant.

And although the water cycle continuously returns water to Earth, it is not always returned to the same place, or in the same quantity and quality.

I offered this amendment because we must plan for the future water needs of our nation and our defense facilities and operations worldwide.

There are serious water shortages in some regions of the country and the prospects that sustained water shortages due to regional growth and climate factors may make it necessary to develop alternative sources for water intended for human and agricultural uses.

If we can harness the technology to convert ocean water into fresh water the future of cities and rural communities that depend on water can be much brighter.

Amendment 190 requires a report to be submitted to Congress within 240 days following enactment on the risks posed by debris in low earth orbit and to make recommendations on remediation of risks and outline plans to reduce the incident of space debris.

Man-made objects in Earth's orbit that may no longer serve a useful function can include nonfunctional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris and fragmentation debris.

Space debris travels at speeds up to 17,500 miles per hour is fast enough for a small piece of man-made debris to damage to a satellite or a spacecraft.

There are 500,000 pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger.

There are many millions of pieces of debris that are so small they can't be tracked.

The Jackson Lee Amendment seeks a report from the Secretary of Defense on the risks posed by man-made space debris, solutions for reducing risks and strategies for reducing the incidence of more man- made space debris being introduced into space.

Amendment 193 condemns the actions of Boko Haram and directs that the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General, submit a report on efforts to combat Boko Haram.

Amendment 189 requires a report to be submitted within 220 days following enactment on Capacity to Provide Disaster Survivors with Emergency Short Term Housing.

Amendment 196 directs the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress in not less than 180 days the actions taken to protect U.S. armed service personnel from armed attacks conducted by militants and terrorists in pursuit of bounties and inducements the agencies, organizations, or entities aligned with the Russian Federation.

Finally, amendment 192 requires the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress programs and procedures employed to ensure students studying abroad through Department of Defense National Security Education Programs are trained to recognize, resist, and report against recruitment efforts by agents of foreign governments.

Madam Speaker, our children are hungry, and I rise to support hungry children and to end their hunger.

I rise to support the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022. One in every seven households with children struggle to get enough food on the table.

Just weeks into our pandemic, which still continues, one in every three households with children, nearly half of all mothers, struggle to feed our children.

It is crucial that we take emergency action to immediately stop the hunger in this Nation, and certainly, we should look around the world, as well.

Congress must extend key flexibilities, and so this legislation provides nationwide waiver authority, allows waivers related to the summer food program.

In my district, all of the school districts have children that are in need of food: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Stop hungry children from suffering and pass this legislation and end hunger for children as we know it.

The work must continue. Hungry children cannot be what America is defined as, and they must be safe. I ask my colleagues to join me in stopping hunger in America in our children and families.

Madam Speaker, let my thank the chairman very much for yielding, and for the expeditious way in which the Committee on Rules realized that we are in crisis.

Let me just start by saying to stop the carnage and the bloodshed, I rise in support of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. And since I know that this Congress has vision and it has passion to move, as well, the Protect Our Kids Act as we go forward in the future.

I realize that this bipartisan effort is historic, particularly in light of the Supreme Court decision which took history and literally shredded the constitutional privileges of life and liberty by suggesting that laws that under Heller were legal, could not be in place. Legislation that is going to come before us will, in fact, emphasize that we want to save lives.

Madam Speaker, I support this effort going forward because I want to say to the grieving families of Buffalo, the grieving families of Mother Emanuel, the grieving families in Uvalde, the parent who spoke to me just two nights ago whose daughter bled out, that we are listening.

I also rise today to support H. Res. 1132, which says to the world that the United States Congress calls on the Government of Russia, the Russian Federation, to immediately release Brittney Griner.

This bill was introduced by myself, Congressman Stanton and Congressman Allred, because we realize this young woman who grew up and was born in Houston, Texas, who, was a two-time Olympian, who is a renowned WNBA player, is now wrongfully detained in Russia. She has had a prolific collegiate career and went to Nimitz High School and Baylor University.

She is someone who has been known to be generous in her community by providing an outstanding program that helps young people. She has the Heart and Soul Shoe Drive. She is an American's American.

We ask that you support this H. Res. 1132 to release Brittney Griner now.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the rule which brings to the floor S. 2938, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and H. Res. 1132, ``Calling for the immediate release of Brittney Griner''.

Both the bill and the resolution addressed by this rule advance bedrock American values and priorities that are intrinsic to our national character.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provides reasonable, common- sense measures to enhance safety and reduce gun violence that is increasingly inflicting unspeakable pain and suffering on American families.

I have never met an American who does not want to keep their children safe, and especially protect them from gun violence. The bipartisan nature of the bill emphasizes the universal desire to protect our children and families.

When modest, reasonable measures can be taken to protect lives and avert tragedy, it is our responsibility to embrace that opportunity.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will surely save lives. Even if it prevents just one mass shooting--or even if it only saves one life-- its worth will be proven.

Consider what America would think if, without enactment of this bill, children were murdered in a mass shooting, and it were determined that the killer would have been prevented from their heinous acts if only this bill had become law. For those families in mourning, Congress's failure to act would be unforgiveable.

Instead, by advancing this legislation, we will be averting the most painful tragedy that a family could experience, and many families will be spared that devastation.

The bill's reasonable steps will have a positive impact on public safety and family security for years to come.

H. Res. 1132, which is also addressed by this rule, 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 U.S. 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 bringing H. Res. 1132 before us, Congress insists, alongside the Griner family, that Brittney Griner must be immediately and safely released and returned home to the U.S. We are unified in demanding respectful treatment and justice for her, in accordance with American values.

I also 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 U.S. 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 U.S.

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

Mr. Speaker, I stand here in the name of Mr. Garza, whose daughter in Uvalde bled out, Buffalo, Tulsa, Parkland, Santa Fe, and Sandy Hook. I stand here with the recognition of my chairman, Mr. Nadler, and the years and decades--mine, over two decades--of fighting for gun laws.

As I hold up the number of gun laws that I introduced over 27 years-- pages and pages--I can say to the Senate that in this bill, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, they have built on our legislation.

My bill, the Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention Act, which will increase access to mental health treatment, is in this bill. The Violence Against Women Act, the boyfriend loophole, is in this bill. The Protecting Our Kids Act and the issues dealing with raising the age, bump stocks, and ghost guns are yet to be done, but we can stand on this because it was bipartisan.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a list of gun violence prevention legislation.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas Gun Violence Prevention

Legislation

117th Congress

H.R. 127--Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration

Act

H.R. 2585, ``Juvenile Accountability Block Grant

Reauthorization and the Bullying Prevention and Intervention

Act''

H.R. 121--Grin Violence Reduction Resources Act of 2021

H.R. 125, Gun Safety: Not Sorry Act of 2021

H.R. 130, Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act

H.R. 135, Accidental Firearms Transfers Reporting Act of

2021

H.R. 137, Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention

Act of 2021

H.R. 133, David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2021

116th Congress

H.R. 49, Santa Fe High School Victims Act

H.R. 4080, Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act

H.R. 4081, Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration

Act

H.R. 4082, Accidental Firearms Transfers Reporting Act of

2019

115th Congress

H.R. 57, Accidental Firearms Transfers Reporting Act of

2017

H.R. 62, Gun Violence Reduction Resources Act of 2017

H.R. 1982, Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention

Act of 2017

H.R. 1983, David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2017

H.R. 4268, Gun Safety: Not Sorry Act of 2017

H.R. 5088, No More Atrocities with Guns Act or the No MAGA

Act

H.R. 7016, Protect Lives and Stop the Imminent Chaos Act of

2019--the PLASTIC Act

114th Congress

H.R. 4315--Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention

Act

H.R. 4316--Gun Violence Reduction Resources Act

H.R. 47--Gun Storage and Safety Devices for All Firearms

Act

H.R. 3125--Accidental Firearms Transfers Reporting Act

H.R. 5470--Stopping Mass Killings by Violent Terrorists Act

H. Amdt. 48 to H.R. 5 Student Success Act

H.R. 68--Tiffany Joslyn Juvenile Accountability Block Grant

Program Reauthorization Act of 2016

113th Congress

H.R. 65, Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of

2013

H.R. 2665, To ensure secure gun storage and gun safety

devices

H.R. 2585--Juvenile Accountability Block Grant

Reauthorization and the Bullying Prevention and Intervention

Act of 2013

112th Congress

H.R. 4315, Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention

Act of 2016

H.R. 4316, Gun Violence Reduction Resources Act of 2016

H.R. 65, Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of

2013

H.R. 2665, To ensure secure gun storage and gun safety

devices.

H.R. 227--Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of

2011

H.R. 83--Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act of 2011

H.R. 5770--Juvenile Accountability Block Grant

Reauthorization and the Bullying Prevention and Intervention

Act

H.R. 6019--Juvenile Accountability Block Grant

Reauthorization and the Bullying Prevention and Intervention

Act of 2012

111th Congress

H.R. 257--Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of

2009

H.R. 6542--Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act of 2010

110th Congress

H.R. 256--Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of

2007

109th Congress

H.R. 246--Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of

2005

108th Congress

H.R. 76--Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of

2003

107th Congress

H.R 70--Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of

2001

H. Amdt. 187--107th Congress

106th Congress

H.R. 3987--Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act

of 2000

Mr. Speaker, people are dying every day, and it is obvious that through the legislation--The New York Times said here are the shootings, pages and pages, that could have been stopped by stricter gun laws.

Mr. Speaker, this article has the mass shootings where stricter gun laws might have made a difference.

We understand that this legislation is only the concrete beginning. My friends are going to attack that, but the American people are 70 percent for banning various weapons that are assault weapons. They are 70 percent and more for extreme risk protection. They are 70 percent and more for understanding that we need an extended time for purchase of these guns. And, yes, they are supporters of the Kimberly Vaughn Safe Storage Act, which is a storage bill that says that we need to get people to prevent suicide and to store their guns.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2938, the ``Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.''

America is experiencing a crisis of gun violence.

In America, gun violence threatens our sense of safety and security everywhere we go: where we shop for groceries; where we worship with our families; and where we enjoy movies, dancing, outdoor festivals, and concerts with friends.

I and many other members of Congress have introduced commonsense gun safety legislation to make communities safer--over and over, year after year, Congress after Congress. Until now, we have been unable to pass any meaningful legislation.

After more than twenty years of drafting and repeatedly introducing gun safety legislation, like my bill, the Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention Act to increase access to mental health treatment and promote reporting of mental health information to the background check system, I am encouraged by the steps we are taking today but wish we did not have to lose so many lives to reach this point.

For years, I fought to close the boyfriend loophole--most recently in the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization of 2021, which passed the House last year.

Finally, through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, we will ensure abusive dating partners convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses are prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms for at least five years.

Two weeks ago, this body proved to the American people that a compromise could be reached on sensible gun safety measures when we passed the ``Protecting Our Kids Act.'' That legislation, which I introduced along with Chairman Jerry Nadler and Representative Mike Thompson, encompassed decades of our hard work and proved to be the catalyst for the bill we are considering today.

Like the Protecting Our Kids Act, this bill would establish new federal offenses that specifically prohibit gun trafficking and straw purchasing to thwart guns moving through the iron pipeline, keeping them off the street and out of the hands of criminals.

While our bill would have raised the age at which a person could purchase a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21--a concept I proposed in my No More Atrocities with Guns Act of 2018--this bill would enhance the background check process and investigative period for purchases of rifles by anyone under the age of 21 and further strengthen the background check process by clarifying who is engaged in the business of selling firearms and, as a result, is required to run background checks.

We also passed the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2021 recently that would give loved ones the ability to seek an extreme risk protection order before our federal court when an individual presents a serious threat to themselves or others by use of a firearm and provide funding to enhance, promote, and implement similar laws at the state- level, which Safer Communities will do.

With the passage of this bill, we make a significant step forward in the fight to end gun violence. But we must keep working to find reasonable solutions to other problems that contribute to gun violence in this country that are not addressed in this bill.

We must ban deadly bump stocks, ghost guns, and high-capacity magazines as we endeavored to do in the Protecting Our Kids Act. We must ban assault weapons.

We must institute a seven-day waiting period for purchases of the deadliest of instrumentalities such as silencers and body armor, which I have pressed for in my own bill, the Gun Safety: Not Sorry Act of 2017 and 2021, and assault weapons if we do not ban them.

We must pass legislation that encourages safe firearm storage practices, like my bill the Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act that was included in the Protecting Our Kids Act to expand the requirement that safe storage devices be made available at the point of sale, which will train new gun owners on the value of safe storage and remind seasoned gun owners that safe storage goes hand-in-hand with responsible gun ownership.

23 years after Columbine when I first began introducing gun safety legislation, and hundreds of thousands of gun deaths later, we continue to mourn the unnecessary loss of life. Enough is enough.

While this bill may not solve all the problems that contribute to the epidemic of gun violence, we must pass it without delay. Far too many lives have been lost for us to wait any longer.

I support this meaningful, bipartisan legislation and urge my colleagues to do the same. Let us save lives and protect the children of America--together.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act would inject $4.5 billion in critical funding into various state agencies and programs through the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Education to:

Expand community mental health services for children and families, and fund school-based mental health services and supports;

Implement evidence-based school violence prevention efforts; and

Encourage and support evidence-based, community violence intervention programs and crisis intervention services, including the implementation of vital Red Flag Laws--which have been proven to reduce the firearm suicide rates in states that have already enacted such laws.

In America, gun violence is the leading cause of death among children. In America, an average of 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner every month. In America, mass shootings occur increasingly each year--and every day, 316 people on average are shot. In America, 45,979 deaths were by suicide in 2020--more than half of those deaths were by firearm.

Each day parents send their children off to school, from elementary age to college, praying now more than ever that they will return to them safe and sound.

19 elementary school-aged children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas; 10 people going about their daily lives at a market in Buffalo, New York, all killed by 18-year-olds wielding AR-15-style weapons of war. And 4 people murdered at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma with another assault weapon purchased only hours earlier.

In my home state of Texas, the El Paso Walmart shooting--22 dead; Sutherland Springs--26 dead; Santa Fe High School--10 dead; Fort Hood in 2009--13 dead; and the Dallas shooting of police--5 officers dead and nine others injured.

Mr. Speaker, I love this Nation, and I stand on the premise of the Declaration of Independence. Even though my ancestors did not benefit at the origins of this Nation, I am a patriot.

I remind my fellow colleagues of the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and

women are created equal, that they are endowed by their

creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Our Founding Fathers understood that this Nation would grow and would breathe life into these words and breathe life into democracy. The Constitution began with:

We the people of United States, in order to form a more

perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic

tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the

general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.

This is a living document that ensures that we safeguard America and, particularly, that we safeguard its citizens and our children.

This Pride Month, I wish all of those who are in our wonderful community of LGBTQ a wonderful existence and recognition of their individual liberty. I am so grateful that this Nation allows everyone to have a seat at the table.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their vigorous celebration of Juneteenth, which is legislation that I introduced and fought for, for over a decade. I am so amazed at the celebrations from east to west and north to south, understanding the ancestors of African descendants didn't get free in Texas until June 1865.

All of us, no matter our backgrounds, were having celebrations. Members, Republicans and Democrats, were joining in on the liberty of Juneteenth. That gives me hope as we move to discuss the response to H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, and find ways for repair and restoration. It gives me hope.

As I mentioned, this Pride Month is about liberty and empowerment for all people. I stand here on the floor of the House with such excitement and exhilaration that I have standing on the foundation of this very book that covers the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. That is why it is so important to fight for democracy and to recognize the sovereignty of this Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my fellow colleagues to join me in fighting for the release of Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan, and many others who are held as hostages, and those who went to volunteer to fight for democracy in Ukraine who are now held.

I raise my voice for Brittney Griner today, a young woman born and raised in Houston, Texas, a graduate of Nimitz High School whose family in Houston is in desperate need for us to pay attention to the very vile way that she now is being held as a hostage in Russia.

I ask the Russian people and Mr. Putin to release these people, release them from this inappropriate detention, incarceration, and holding. Release them now.

Let us pray with the family. Release them now. Release Brittney Griner. Free Brittney Griner, a renowned WNBA player and Olympian, but just a plain human being, an American who has shown herself to love this country and to be such a wonderful, generous person who gives to others, as many have said.

Mr. Speaker, my colleague Congressman Stanton of Arizona, my colleague Congressman Allred, and I will be presenting a resolution that says: Free Brittney Griner now.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about how we honor our dear friend, who passed away in 2020, John Lewis.

I am reminded of his nonviolent tendencies, and he taught us well. In teaching us, we were here on the floor of the House to demand gun safety legislation some years ago. At one point, we just couldn't manage it and take it anymore. We sat on the House floor. I

have pictures that I will cherish because it was nonviolent resistance.

Now, we have an opportunity to stand in the gap for the families in Uvalde, families in Buffalo and Tulsa, and pass real gun safety legislation. Join us and be what America is all about, taking care, creating a more perfect Union, Mr. Speaker, and passing gun safety legislation that I and the Judiciary Committee, Chairman Nadler, and other Members have really stood up for.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in strong support of the House Amendment to S. 2089, the ``Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022.''

Today's bill is a matter of urgency.

If Congress does not act now to pass this emergency legislation, millions of children will spend their summer hungry. Millions of children may be forced to spend their school days not learning and growing but feeling the pangs of empty stomachs.

Hungry children cannot focus their attention on their studies and learning. They simply cannot thrive while trying to survive.

Free and reduced breakfast and lunch waivers are lifelines for families across the nation.

I think of the struggling families in my district who have battled against the COVID-19 pandemic for the past two years.

Families who now face record high inflation rates, skyrocketing gas prices, and the rising cost of food.

Families who are stretching dollars to pay for rent, to get to the doctor, to keep the lights on.

Families for whom every penny counts.

I think of how these families must have felt when they learned that the aid on which they had relied to feed their children was suddenly going to be taken away.

I imagine they felt helpless.

It is in our power to feed these children.

The ``Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022'' would allow schools to feed children throughout the upcoming school year. This bill would extend free meals and snacks for children during the summer months, and it would provide enhanced supports to Child and Adult Care programs--all without disrupting the budget.

In the summer of 2020, hungry children were provided with more than 10 million meals via the federally supported Summer Meal Program.

195,000 children were fed.

195,000 children were given apples, sandwiches, yogurts, juice boxes.

They were given the opportunity to enjoy a summer free of hunger.

That is reason enough to act.

The ``Keep Kids Fed Act'' would also increase reimbursements to school nutrition programs for both breakfast and lunch meals.

American families are not the only ones struggling to put food on the table amidst the current economic crisis.

School nutrition professionals have expressed deep concern over the impacts that supply-chain issues and inflation have had on their ability to provide quality meals to their students.

With the end of pandemic-relief nutritional aid fast approaching, and the cost of labor rising, some schools could see their yearly budgets decrease by 40 percent this year.

School cafeterias cannot produce meals out of thin air.

They need our help.

The House Amendment to S. 2089 would increase the reimbursement rates for the 2022-2023 school year by an additional 15 cents per breakfast and 40 cents per lunch--money that our nation's schools desperately need.

This bill would not fix the inflation problem, lower the cost of gas, or unclog the supply chain. But it would put food on the plates of hungry children across America.

That is why I rise in support of the House Amendment to S. 2089, the ``Keep Kids Fed Act'' and urge my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5407--to amend the ``Higher Education Act of 1965'' to promote comprehensive campus mental health and suicide prevention plans within the Higher Education Act of 1965.

The mental health crisis plaguing our Nation is astounding. Particularly in our Nation's institutions of higher education, we see higher reported rates of anxiety and depression, which have unfortunately led some students to suicide.

According to studies done in the year 2020, suicide was the 12th leading cause of death within the Unites States. Within this year, 45,979 Americans died by suicide, and an estimated 1.2 million Americans attempted suicide.

Within the reported suicide rates of 2020, people ranging from ages 15-34 made up 32.59 percent of the total.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the mental health crisis showing a 25 percent increase in the number of depression and anxiety cases recorded globally.

In my home state of Texas 34.2 percent of adults reported symptoms of anxiety and depression between September 29, 2021, and October 11, 2021.

The transition period into institutions of higher education can be difficult for numerous reasons. Some of the leading triggers for anxiety and depression are the constant pressure for success, homesickness, adjustment to workload, or even the social aspects of the collegiate environment.

No matter the cause, it is our job as elected officials of the United States to ensure that we are putting our time and resources into ensuring that we are providing outlets for those struggling with mental health issues to seek refuge.

I want to be very clear when I say that providing these resources alone will not ensure that zero lives are taken at the hands of mental health struggles.

However, taking the steps to ensure that there are proper resources and parameters in place on the campuses of our college campuses will aid in helping our young adults receive the assistance they need to lead healthy lives.

We cannot sit idly as our Nation stares down the barrel of an all- time low for mental health.

By invoking comprehensive mental health and suicide prevention plans across higher education institutions, we are pouring into our next generations.

H.R. 5407 allows for collegiate institutions to draw on the expertise and resources provided by the Suicide Prevention Centers nine strategy model, while also working with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create a comprehensive approach to mental health concerns and suicide prevention.

This mental health assistance model will allow for all institutions throughout the Nation to collectively pool together and ensure each campus is administering the highest level of care for students with mental health struggles.

I urge for each of my colleagues to vote in support of H.R. 5407 to help us get our college students across the stage.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6493--to amend the ``Campus Prevention and Recovery Services for Students Act of 2022'' to promote substance misuse treatment rehabilitation and re-entry within institutions of higher education.

Today substance misuse targets our nation at a volatile rate. Specifically, when looking at our institutions of higher education our students are much more susceptible to being victims of substance misuse.

Common triggers for substance misuse include peer pressure, stress, social organization, and mental health issues.

Currently the ``Campus Prevention and Recovery Services for Students Act of 2022'', seeks to ensure that our public institutions are using funding given to them to provide the necessary outlets for recovery and re-entry into campus life.

Solutions the original bill provides include models for ``prevention of the use of illicit drugs and the abuse of alcohol'' by students and staff through connecting them with campus intervention, and rehabilitation resources.

As it stands the bill targets many of the necessary areas it needs to promote rehabilitation of substance abuse, but what it fails to do is provide the necessary funding allocations in ongoing to ensure the longevity of keeping our students safe.

Students who are struggling with substance misuse issues deserve to know that they are receiving the best possible care that they can, and we can foster that by making sure that our institutions of higher education have the resources they desperately need to be able continue to serve their student populations.

Through H.R. 6493 it will further push campuses to ensure that they are working with organizations both on and off campus.

Campuses will now be required to work with the Secretary of Education in conjunction with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure that each campus is using their funding for the highest quality of rehabilitation and re-entry services.

H.R. 6493 will grant $15 million to institutions annually from to 2021-2028 to aid in funding public institutions' recovery, rehabilitation, and re-entry programs.

I ask that my colleagues join me in support of H.R. 6493--the Campus Prevention and Recovery Services for Students Act of 2022.