Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 10 o'clock and 3 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, June 26, 2019, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support to En Bloc No. 7, which includes Jackson Lee Amendment No. 242.

I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairman Price and Ranking Member Diaz-Balart for their hard work in bringing Division E, the Transportation Housing and Urban Development portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

I include in the Record letters of endorsement for this Jackson Lee Amendment provided by Bike Houston and the League of American Bicyclists.

I thank them all for this opportunity to explain the Jackson Lee Amendment, which makes a good bill even better by providing $10 million to support urban bicycle and pedestrian safety programs.

In June the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published its traffic fatality report which showed a one percent decrease in traffic fatalities and a four percent increase in pedestrian fatalities but a whopping 10 percent increase in bicyclist fatalities.

On March 30, 2019, in the city of Houston, at the intersection of North Shepherd Drive and West 10th Street located in the 18th Congressional District of Texas, Lesha White, 54, was driving with her daughters when she saw Jesus ``Jesse'' Perez struggling to cross the intersection in a wheelchair.

Ms. White pulled over and got out of her car to help Mr. Perez cross the street when another vehicle struck them, and they were both killed.

On March 7, 2019, 23 year-old David Leon Loya was killed in a collision with a school bus while riding his bicycle in The Heights area of Houston.

Police report that Mr. Loya was in the bike lane and tried to avoid the accident by sliding under the bus, but unfortunately he was run over by the back axle.

This young man was greatly loved by his family, the lives of the people he touched in his volunteer work, and the bicyclist community.

This amendment was offered in remembrance of Lesha White, Jesus ``Jesse'' Perez, David Leon Loya, and all of the other pedestrians and bicyclists who have lost their lives in accidents with motor vehicles in urban areas.

In the past sixteen years, the Houston area has seen 2,000 deaths of bicyclists and pedestrians, at an average of 100 a year, with the last three years seeing the rate increase to 150 a year, according to federal statistics.

In 2017, the most recent year for which comprehensive statistics are available, according to the Texas Department of Transportation (``TDOT''), the numbers were no more encouraging.

According to TDOT, 1,409 Houston-area pedestrians were injured in roadways crashes:

275 of them were injured seriously; 146 pedestrians were killed in roadways crashes; 639 bicyclists were injured in roadways crashes; and 82 bicyclists were injured seriously.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has called the number of deaths a `public health crisis.'

The problem is no more encouraging on the national level as Texas ranks third nationwide in bicycle deaths, behind California and Florida.

Nationwide, the number of fatal bicyclist accidents is rising and are also amounting to a greater percentage of total traffic fatalities.

Cities are uniquely susceptible to this problem, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 70 of bicycle fatalities occur in cities.

City of Houston Mayor Turner has launched a Vision Zero Policy initiative to address the issue of bicycle and pedestrian fatalities.

In May 2019, Mayor Turner invited bike advocacy groups like Bike Houston to partner with LINK Houston to identify the 10 highest priority intersections for improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

LINK Houston analyzed motor vehicle crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017, to identify priority intersections across Houston.

This work identified seven priority intersections that if addressed could reduce pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and injuries:

Fanning & Pierce; Rochester & Bellaire; Westheimer & South Dairy Ashford; Long Point & Gessner; Westpark Dr. & U.S. 59 South; Old Spanish Trail & U.S. 288 South, Fondren & West Belfort; Bissonnet & Wilcrest; West & Airline; Bellair & Gessner.

Mayor Turner prioritized twelve intersections for the Safer Streets initiative by selecting seven intersections selected by LINK Houston and five intersections proposed by BikeHouston.

The city then reached out to the Federal Highway Administration to request their assistance in performing a multi-disciplinary Road Safety Audit for six of the twelve locations.

The city of Houston could fund six of the areas that are listed as high priorities and needs funding to perform assessments on the remaining six.

Additionally, funding is needed to make the needed changes to the intersections to improve pedestrian and bicyclists safety.

We must come together to tackle this problem and work to ensure that we stem the tide in these fatalities.

The rising death and injury toll of pedestrian and bicyclists is alarming and merits serious attention but as we know too tragically, behind the statistics are stories about people who are treasured and sorely missed by family, friends, and coworkers.

I ask my colleagues to join me in support of En Bloc No. 7, which includes Jackson Lee Amendment No. 242 to help reduce the number of pedestrian and bicycle fatalities in urban areas.

BikeHouston,

Houston, TX.

Lillie Coney, Policy Director,

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Washington, DC.

Dear Ms. Coney: BikeHouston is writing to endorse Jackson

Lee Amendment 103 to the Transportation. Housing and Urban

Development Appropriations section of HR 3055. Cities

throughout the country are experiencing major changes to

urban mobility, including an increasing number of trips taken

by biking, walking, and riding scooters and other micro-

mobility options. At the same time, fatalities are on the

rise for people who walk and ride a bike.

This month, June 2019, the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration released preliminary traffic fatality data for

2018 that shows while overall traffic fatalities dropped by

one percent, pedestrian fatalities rose by 4 percent, and

bicyclist fatalities rose by 10 percent! Nationally,

bicycling and walking account for 12 percent of

transportation trips, but 18 percent of overall traffic

fatalities, and yet states report spending less than one

percent of their highway safety funds to address the too

common deaths of vulnerable road users. By setting aside

funds to specifically address bicyclist and pedestrian

fatalities in cities, this amendment will help address this

unacceptable increase in fatalities of our most vulnerable

road users.

Thank you again introducing this amendment to set aside

national infrastructure investment funds to address bicyclist

and pedestrian safety in cities. We look forward to

continuing our work with you to address this serious issue.

Respectfully,

Clark Martinson,

Executive Director, BikeHouston.

Mr. Chair, let me thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) and let me thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) for their kindness. I wish to enter into a colloquy with the distinguished gentleman.

Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Price for the assistance and resources he has helped direct to my home State of Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and for his commitment to revitalizing the Nation's infrastructure in a way that preserves our Nation's cultural heritage.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the landmark National Historic Preservation Act, which, among other things, established the National Register of Historic Places.

Independence Heights is just one of the dozens of communities throughout the United States that can trace its beginning to freed slaves. Since its beginning in 1915, it has survived economic hardship and natural disasters in the period of 1919 to 1921 called the burnings.

Because of its historical significance, Independence Heights is included in legislation I have introduced, H.R. 434, that will create the Emancipation National Historic Trail, which begins at the location in Galveston, Texas, where General Gordon Granger announced President Lincoln's emancipation of slaves on June 19, 1865.

Mr. Chair, I would inquire of the chairman if he agrees with me that the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act and NEPA regarding the environment apply with respect to USDOT approval of the I-45 Highway project that may adversely impact historic buildings and neighborhoods in Independence Heights, Texas, which, in 1915, became the first African American municipality incorporated in Texas?

Would it be appropriate for USDOT officials to consider the views and input of civic and community leaders of Independence Heights and others in

assessing whether Federal support of the I-45 transportation project complies with the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act and NEPA?

Mr. Chair, will the gentleman work with me to ensure that the approval process for this I-45 transportation project in my congressional district is conducted in a manner that complies with the law and preserves to the maximum extent feasible historic sites in Independence Heights, in compliance with NEPA, that have national, State, and local historic significance for the Nation?

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman very much

Mr. Chair, thank you, Chairman Price, for the assistance and resources you helped direct to my home state of Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and for your commitment to revitalizing the nation's infrastructure in a way that preserves our nation's cultural heritage.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the landmark National Historic Preservation Act, which, among other things, established the National Register of Historic Places.

Independence Heights is just one of dozens of communities throughout the United States that can trace its beginning to freed slaves and since its beginning in 1915 it has survived economic hardship, natural disasters, and the period of 1919-1921 called the ``Burnings.''

Because of its historical significance, Independence Heights is included in legislation I have introduced (H.R. 434) that will create the Emancipation National Historic Trail which begins at the location in Galveston, Texas, where General Gordon Granger announced President Lincoln's Emancipation of slaves on June 19, 1865.

Mr. Chair, may I ask how much time is remaining.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman very much. If I might, I would like to thank the chairman again for an amendment that increases and decreases by $10 million funds for the National Infrastructure Investment Account to provide funding for urban bicycle and pedestrian safety programs.

Let me say that, tragically, we lost a brilliant young man on May 30, 2019, at the intersection of North Shepherd Drive and West 10th Street in the 18th Congressional District. When Lesha White was driving, it was Jesus ``Jesse'' Perez who was struggling to cross the intersection, and this caused him to lose his life.

Let me also indicate that we know that, in Houston, there are 2,000 deaths of bicyclists and pedestrians. We would like to make sure that we increase opportunities for safety.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman and the Rules Committee for this amendment being made in order.

According to TxDOT, 1,400 Houston area pedestrians are injured, and 275 of them are injured seriously.

We hope that this will work for both pedestrians and bicyclists. Bicycling in Houston has taken off in the State of Texas and everywhere, and we certainly want to make sure that they are safe.

Mr. Chair, let me also thank the gentleman for an amendment that gives $2 million for the Office of Inspector General account to investigate the Department of HUD's delay in releasing $4 billion in Hurricane Harvey disaster community block grant dollars.

We are still desperate. Every day, people ask me when their homes are going to be able to be fixed. We do know that we are working to move that along, but we know what is important is to make sure that those dollars get to those individuals and that we can restore our communities.

We are going into hurricane season again, and I thought it was very important that we work strongly to ensure that these citizens are made whole.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for including them in the en bloc and for allowing Houston to stand up again after a devastating hurricane, Hurricane Harvey.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk; it is listed in the Rule as Jackson Lee #243.

I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairwoman Price and Ranking Member Diaz-Balart for their hard work in bringing Division E, the Transportation Housing and Urban Development portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

I thank them all for this opportunity to explain the Jackson Lee Amendment, which makes a good bill even better by providing $2 million to an effort to explain why the Department of Housing and Urban Development has not released the funds appropriated almost two years ago to the State of Texas, the City of Houston and Harris County to rebuild following Hurricane Harvey.

In August of 2017, Hurricane Harvey paralyzed the Houston region dumping nearly 60 inches of rain, claiming 88 lives and causing $113 billion of damage.

In February of 2018, Congress appropriated $4.383 billion to Texas through CDBG-DR funds. In June of 2018, HUD approved the State Action Plan Texas submitted by The General Land Office (GLO), which outlined how the CD BG-DR grants would be distributed throughout the state.

This money still has not made it to Texas to help those in need.

While the waters receded nearly two years ago, many Texans are still struggling to put their lives back together and rebuild.

Homes and neighborhoods remain with visible damage from the flood waters.

I, along with members of the Texas House and Senate Delegations have made numerous requests to HUD Officials to move the process of releasing funding forward, but without success.

The last resort left is to seek the assistance of the Inspector General of HUD to determine the cause of the delay in distributing funds and to determine what needs to be done to release the funds.

The mission of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse in the programs and operations of HUD by conducting independent audits, evaluations, and investigations.

The OIG can get answers on why the process of releasing funds is taking so long and whether there is any waste, fraud or abuse associated with the delay.

Hurricane Harvey was the most economically destructive hurricane to hit Texas in its history and the second-most expensive hurricane in American history.

Hurricane Harvey and the resulting flood impacted over 1,000 square miles along the mid-to-upper Texas Gulf Coast, and into the state's interior.

Congress immediately recognized the vast extent of the damage throughout the state and that federal action would be needed to help Texas start to rebuild and recover.

Finally, it would be beneficial to Congress to know if there are other factors within the agency that may be hindering effective administration of the duty to distribute the Harvey Disaster Block Grant Development funds such as agency vacancies, skills and competence of personnel, or administration policy that may be contributing factors.

As the lead state agency for administering CDBG-DR funds, GLO entered into an agreement with HUD and has worked closely with the agency to define the meaning of mitigation and to identify projects that would best help those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

Despite the collaboration between the GLO and HUD, the rules have not yet been published in the Federal Register.

As a result, the GLO has been significantly delayed in implementing a State Action Plan for the funds, the critical next step needed before the grants can get to those who need them.

I ask my colleagues to support this Jackson Lee Amendment that may pave the way for the funding appropriated in 2017 to reach those still in need of disaster recovery assistance.

Additionally, funding is needed to make the needed changes to the intersections to improve pedestrian and bicyclists safety.

We must come together to tackle this problem and work to ensure that we stem the tide in these fatalities.

The rising death and injury toll of pedestrian and bicyclists is alarming and merits serious attention but as we know too tragically, behind the statistics are stories about people who are treasured and sorely missed by family, friends, and coworkers.

I ask my colleagues to join me in support of this Jackson Lee Amendment to help reduce the number of pedestrian and bicycle fatalities in urban areas.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding.

Mr. Chair, this is Maleah Davis. We mourn her loss in Houston, Texas. She was 4 years old.

My amendment provides funding to support and engage adult men and young persons to reduce and prevent domestic violence against children. In recent reports, 1,600 children died because of abuse or neglect.

This amendment will help ensure the safety of vulnerable children in at-risk households who are powerless to get the help and attention they need from our government.

To illustrate this, this is the case of Maleah Davis, a 4-year-old girl who lived in Houston. In the past, Texas Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her two brothers from their home over reports of abuse but returned them again in February. They took them away from their relatives and, along with a court judge, returned them to this family.

Maleah's mother dated her boyfriend for years, and they had a son. Maleah's mother had gone to a funeral out of town.

When the boyfriend initially reported that his girlfriend's daughter was missing, he told detectives that he had been attacked, but surveillance video shows him carrying a black bag out of the home.

The last time that Maleah was seen was going into that home.

The real question is whether or not the Child Protective Services is really doing its job, whether or not it is dealing with educating these families or intervening in these families to make sure a loving little girl like Maleah Davis does not lose her life.

In addition to this funding to intervene in men and boys' lives to prevent this kind of abuse and loss of life, and the tragedy of finding the remains of little Maleah in a plastic bag along the highway in Arkansas, I look forward to working with my colleagues on an overhaul of children's protective services throughout the Nation, because, in particular in Texas, 1,600 children die of abuse and neglect, many of them in children's protective services.

I am delighted that my amendment passed.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of Chairwoman Lowey's En Bloc Amendment No. 2, which includes Jackson Lee Amendment No. 19.

I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairman Serrano and Ranking Member Aderhold for their hard work in bringing Division A, the Commerce-Justice-Science portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to explain my amendment, which is simple and straightforward and ensures that our government works to protect our children.

Jackson Lee Amendment No. 19, reprograms $2 million in the Office of Justice Programs grant funding to support programs to engage adult men and young persons to reduce and prevent domestic violence against children.

This amendment will help ensure the safety of vulnerable children in at-risk households, who are powerless to getting the help and attention they need from our government.

To illustrate the need for this amendment, let me share with you the tragic case of Maleah Davis, a 4-year old little girl who lived in Houston.

In the past, Texas Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her two brothers from their home over reports of abuse, but returned them to the home in February.

Maleah's mother dated her boyfriend for years and they shared a toddler son together.

Maleah's mother had gone out of town when she left her daughter under her boyfriend's care.

When the boyfriend initially reported that his girlfriend's daughter was missing, he told detectives he had been attacked by unknown men a day earlier and that they kidnapped Maleah.

However, surveillance video outside of the home shows Maleah never left their apartment after she followed him in, and shows him carrying a laundry basket with a trash bag out of the building a day before he reported her missing.

Maleah's remains were later discovered in a bag along Interstate 30 in Arkansas.

Although the case has not been completed yet, there are valuable lessons that we can learn from Maleah's and similar cases.

There have been similar cases to Maleah where the caretaker initially reports a missing child but we later learn that the caretaker is actually the suspect and perpetrator of the crime.

Similar cases include 5-year old AJ Freund from Illinois, whose father confessed to hiding his body in the basement, and 7-week old Shaylie Madden from North Carolina, whose mother has been charged with first-degree attempted murder.

The nation has learned from Maleah and other similar stories that we must do everything in our power to protect at risk children.

Maleah Davis should be alive today.

Horrible cases such as this should not be happening in America; we need to make sure our checks and balances are keeping our children safe.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her leadership, and I want to thank the Appropriations Committee, and this one in particular, for the great work that the committee is doing.

I have had the privilege of doing amendments under the CJS, Agriculture, Interior, and let me express my appreciation for the added $2 million for research in Historically Black Colleges, and particularly the opportunity for my amendment to enable NIFA to increase funding by $2 million to the 1890 institutions, which are 19 HBCU land grants to support educational research.

It is so very important as it relates to food and agriculture, in particular, to make an increase so that the 1890 institutions can again be at the forefront of research. One of the schools in my area, Prairie View A&M, and Texas Southern University prepare the leaders for the agriculture industry of the future. So this legislation provides support for the many schools, such as Alabama A&M, Alcorn State University, Prairie View A&M, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University; and, of course, they enroll 40 percent of all African American students.

So I am grateful for this amendment, and I ask my colleagues to support the underlying bill.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the Chair's En Bloc Amendment, which includes Jackson Lee Amendment No. 91.

I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairman Bishop and Ranking Member Fortenberry for their hard work in bringing Division B, the Agriculture and Related Agencies portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

Thank you for this opportunity to briefly explain my amendment.

The Jackson Lee amendment supports the work of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) by making a modest increase in funding to that office for the purpose of supporting agriculture research programs at 1890s Institutions, which are land grant colleges at 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

NIFA works 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 percent 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

food and nutrition

plant and social sciences

international development

The demand for fresh fruits and vegetables as well as concerns for the distance food travels before they reach the tables in urban areas has led to the rise of urban farming.

HBCU agriculture research institutions are playing a significant role in bringing urban farming to communities of color.

HCBU's agricultural research programs also assist people living in densely populated areas to learn ways to eliminate food deserts, increase public education regarding farming, develop a greater appreciation for our nation's farmers, and provide new avenues for careers for those graduating with agriculture degrees seeking to inter into cutting edge agricultural research.

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

The funding can also help to develop new research efforts directed at farming techniques for non-traditional farming space, such as those we are now seeing being developed for urban centers.

Adoption of the Jackson Lee Amendment will benefit rural, suburban and urban areas by maximizing the potential for farming activity in areas where green space is limited, or land is underused.

I urge support of the Jackson Lee Amendment and thank Chairman Bishop and his colleagues on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee for their work on this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, for a very long time, the entire community, including his neighborhood, the Near Northside, mourned the loss of a wonderful little boy by the name of Josue Flores.

We mourn with his family members and his neighborhood. What a loving neighborhood.

We stood by the tree in the area in which he was murdered, stabbed many times. There were investigations and arrests, and then there were no arrests, and the community still mourned.

I want to applaud the Near Northside for continuing to remember Josue Flores, as well the Safe Work Coalition, ensuring that no child would ever walk home to be victimized in that neighborhood again.

Many law enforcement officers and civil rights groups and others work together, civic neighborhood groups--the Near Northside Super Neighborhood--but now there is finally an arrest. We hope that justice is rendered for that family and justice is rendered for this whole act that we hope never happens again.

We mourn him. We want it to be fair and just. But we want Josue Flores to rest in peace and want this proceeding to move forward so that this family can have peace and this neighborhood can be assured that their children can be safe again.

I will work with them continuously, as we did, to ensure that law enforcement is there for them and the community is there for them.

Madam Chair, I rise in support of Chairwoman Lowey's En Bloc Amendment No. 2, which includes Jackson Lee Amendment No. 19.

I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairman Serrano and Ranking Member Aderhold for their hard work in bringing Division A, the Commerce-Justice-Science portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to explain my amendment, which is simple and straightforward and ensures that our government works to protect our children.

Jackson Lee Amendment No. 19, reprograms $2 million in the Office of Justice Programs grant funding to support programs to engage adult men and young persons to reduce and prevent domestic violence against children.

This amendment will help ensure the safety of vulnerable children in at-risk households, who are powerless to getting the help and attention they need from our government.

To illustrate the need for this amendment, let me share with you the tragic case of Maleah Davis, a 4-year-old little girl who lived in Houston.

In the past, Texas Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her two brothers from their home over reports of abuse, but returned them to the home in February.

Maleah's mother dated her boyfriend for years and they shared a toddler son together.

Maleah's mother had gone out of town when she left her daughter under her boyfriend's care.

When the boyfriend initially reported that his girlfriend's daughter was missing, he told detectives he had been attacked by unknown men a day earlier and that they kidnapped Maleah.

However, surveillance video outside of the home shows Maleah never left their apartment after she followed him in, and shows him carrying a laundry basket with a trash bag out of the building a day before he reported her missing.

Maleah's remains were later discovered in a bag along Interstate 30 in Arkansas.

Although the case has not been completed yet, there are valuable lessons that we can learn from Maleah's and similar cases.

There have been similar cases to Maleah where the caretaker initially reports a missing child but we later learn that the caretaker is actually the suspect and perpetrator of the crime.

Similar cases include 5-year-old AJ Freund from Illinois, whose father confessed to hiding his body in the basement, and 7-week-old Shaylie Madden from North Carolina, whose mother has been charged with first-degree attempted murder.

The nation has learned from Maleah and other similar stories that we must do everything in our power to protect at risk children.

Maleah Davis should be alive today.

Horrible cases such as this should not be happening in America; we need to make sure our checks and balances are keeping our children safe.

The Jackson Lee Amendment will help to prevent such horrible and tragic deaths of children.

Because with the flexibility provided under this amendment, the Congress expects the Department of Justice to prioritize the safety of children when distributing Office of Justice Programs grants to Child Protective Services agencies and other local government units.

We must honor the legacy of children like Maleah and show our commitment to ensuring the freedom and safety of our American children.

For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support Jackson Lee Amendment No. 19 by voting for the Chairman's En Bloc Amendment No. 2 to Division A of RCP 116-18.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to enthusiastically support H.R. 3253 and to particularly congratulate, for their leadership, Congresswoman Dingell and Congressman Guthrie and indicate that the underlying reason for my enthusiastic support is what I believe every Member knows, and that is the frail among us are the most vulnerable. Those individuals may be our seniors, as I am dealing with a person who is seeking to get outpatient rehabilitation, and they need extra support in getting that care.

In this instance, the extension of 4\1/2\ years to be able to have the protection of the legislation that deals with abuse in Medicaid home and community-based services is vital because the person receiving the services is least able to speak about the abuse.

I believe the extension will help in determining the level of abuse and also remedies for such abuse.

It is clear that if someone is in Medicaid home-based programs, they are as equally in need as those who are in institutionalized programs.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the Congresswoman. I would say that in impoverished communities and communities of color, the Medicaid-based program is the basis of their healthcare, and they are the most vulnerable.

Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 3253, the Empowering Beneficiaries, Ensuring Access, and Strengthening Accountability Act of 2019, for its very vital and important element of extending this review for 4.5 years.

We have to get it right. We have to protect these people. We have to give them the quality of life that they deserve. ``Abuse'' should not be in their vocabulary.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation.

Madam Chair, let me thank the chair of the Defense Subcommittee and ranking member of the subcommittee as well.

I am delighted that my amendment No. 12 has been made in order and that we will have an opportunity to save and improve the lives of many women around the world.

My amendment provides flexibility for the Secretary of Defense to allocate resources needed to provide technical assistance by U.S. military women to military women in other countries combating violence as a weapon of war, terrorism, human trafficking, and narcotics trafficking to ameliorate their impact on women and girls around the globe.

Madam Chair, the most vulnerable people in vulnerable nation-states are women and girls and women and children. That is both in terms of sexual violence and domestic violence, and also in terms of the denial of access to education.

As the co-chair of the Congressional Afghanistan Caucus, I am reminded of the aftermath of the Afghan war. As we began to write the constitution, we thought we had made progress. But the Taliban, after a period of time, began to burn the schools that were designated for girls only.

This amendment allows women in the military of these respective countries that are prone to hostilities, violence, and disparate treatment of women and girls to be able to work with our women in the United States military and be able to be trained on the issues of fighting terrorism, human trafficking, and narcotics trafficking.

According to a UNICEF report, rape, torture, and human trafficking by terrorist and militant groups have been employed as a weapon of war affecting over 20,000 women and girls, and those numbers are going up.

My amendment will curb terrorism abroad by making available American technical and military expertise to militaries in other countries, like Nigeria, who are combating violent jihadists. Boko Haram, of course, was at the center of taking the Chibok girls, and it is important to be able to utilize these activities.

Madam Chair, I include in the Record ``U.S. Special Operations Command's HEROs Combat Human Trafficking'' and ``The Role of the Military in Combating Human Trafficking: A South African Perspective.''

[From DoD News, Jan. 4, 2018]

U.S. Special Operations Command's Heros Combat Human Trafficking

(By Shannon Collins)

Washington.--January is National Slavery and Human

Trafficking Prevention Month, and the Defense Department has

teams who work year-round to combat these crimes worldwide.

The Human Exploitation Rescue Operative, or HERO, Child-

Rescue Corps is a program developed by U.S. Special

Operations Command, Warrior Care Program-Career Transition,

the National Association to Protect Children and U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Army Col. Kimberly

Moros, chief of SOCOM's career transition initiatives.

``The HERO Child-Rescue Corps Program is designed for

wounded, injured and ill transitioning service members and

veterans who receive training in high-tech computer forensics

and law enforcement skills to assist federal agents in the

fight against online child sexual exploitation,'' she said.

``Upon successful completion of the program, HERO interns

will have the knowledge, skills and experience to apply for

careers with federal, state and local police agencies and

other organizations in the field of computer forensics.''

Since 2013, more than 130 veterans and transitioning

service members have entered the HERO program. Of the

successful graduates, 74 have been offered careers in federal

law enforcement and another 31 are in internships, Moros

said.

``HEROs and HERO interns now make up over 25 percent of the

Homeland Security computer forensics workforce,'' said Robert

Kurtz, unit chief for HERO at Homeland Security

Investigations.

Human Trafficking

``Human trafficking includes using force, fraud or coercion

to compel a person to provide labor, services or sex. It's a

violation of basic human rights,'' said Linda Dixon, DOD

Combating Trafficking in Persons Office Program Manager.

``Combating trafficking in persons is a duty that DOD takes

seriously as we do in other situations that bring harm to our

nation. It is a global concern, and our goal is to educate

every member of DOD on how to recognize and report human

trafficking in the U.S. as well as around the world.''

The three most common forms of trafficking, according to

DOD's Combating Trafficking in Persons office, are forced

labor, sex trafficking, and child soldiering.

Moros said the idea behind the HERO Corps is a simple one.

``When it comes to hunting those who prey on the innocent,

who better than our nation's most highly trained military

veterans?'' she said. ``Much of today's human trafficking and

child sexual exploitation is technology facilitated.

Offenders utilize the internet and digital technologies to

coordinate their activity, advertise, share information and

hide evidence. HEROs receive training in counter-child

exploitation as well as digital forensics and victim

identification. And they are then embedded with federal law

enforcement.''

She said the HERO Child-Rescue Corps saves children in

several ways. ``As law enforcement first responders, they are

at every crime scene, searching for critical clues that might

provide evidence for an arrest or to find a victim,'' Moros

said.

Back at the forensic lab, the HERO is the lead digital

investigator, searching out clues that can lead to organized

criminal rings, evidence of sexual assault or production of

child abuse imagery, she said.

``In many cases, it has been the relentless focus and

military mindset that has allowed HEROs to go beyond the

digging that might be done in traditional law enforcement to

find a victim,'' she added.

Kurtz said federal law enforcement is just beginning to

track rescues. In 2016, Homeland Security Investigations

identified and rescued 820 known child victims from sexual

exploitation.

``But the real number is undoubtedly many times greater,''

Moros said. ``As a major segment of the digital forensic

workforce, and one especially dedicated to combating child

sexual exploitation and trafficking, they [HEROs] have been

instrumental in working hundreds of those cases.''

Madam Chair, I ask my colleagues to support this amendment.

Madam Chair, I rise in support of Chairman Visclosky's En Bloc Amendment, which includes Jackson Lee #12.

I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairwoman Visclosky and Ranking Member Calvert for their hard work in bringing Division C, the Defense portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor and for their devotion to the men and women of the Armed Forces who risk their lives to keep our nation safe and their work in ensuring that they have resources needed to keep our Armed Forces the greatest fighting force for peace on earth.

Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to explain my amendment, which is simple and straightforward and affirms an example of the national goodness that makes America the most exceptional nation on earth.

The purpose of Jackson Lee Amendment #12, which is identical to the amendment adopted twice in the last Congress, is to provide the Secretary of Defense flexibility to allocate resources needed to provide technical assistance by U.S. military women to military women in other countries combating violence as a weapon of war, terrorism, human trafficking, narcotics trafficking.

Madam Chair, the United States is committed to combating violent extremism, protecting our borders and the globe from the scourge of terrorism.

The United States Armed Forces possess an unparalleled expertise and technological capability that will aid not only in combating and defeating terrorists who hate our country and prey upon innocent persons, especially women, girls, and the elderly.

But we must recognize that notwithstanding our extraordinary technical military capabilities, we face adversaries who adapt very quickly because they are not constrained by geographic limitations or norms of morality and decency.

Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, ISIS/ISIL and other militant terrorists, including the Sinai's Ansar Beit al-Maqdis in the Sinai Peninsula which poses a threat to Egypt.

Jackson Lee Amendment #12 help provide the Department of Defense with the resources needed to provide technical assistance to countries on innovative strategies to provide defense technologies and resources that promote the security of the American people and allied nation states.

Terrorism, human trafficking, narcotics trafficking and their impact on women and girls across the globe has had a great adverse impact on us all.

According to a UNICEF report, rape, torture and human trafficking by terrorist and militant groups have been employed as weapons of war, affecting over twenty thousand women and girls.

Looking at the history of terrorism highlights the importance of providing technical assistance through our military might, as this enables us to combat terrorism which now can plague us here in the United States.

Jackson Lee Amendment #12 will help curb terrorism abroad by making available American technical military expertise to military in other countries, like Nigeria, who are combating violent jihadists in their country and to keep those terrorists out of our country.

Time and again American lives have been lost at the hands of terrorists.

These victims include Christians, Muslims, journalists, health care providers, relief workers, schoolchildren, and members of the diplomatic corps and the Armed Services.

This is why the technical assistance offered by our military personnel is integral to promoting security operation of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft for missions to empower local forces to combat terrorism.

Terrorists across the globe have wreaked havoc on our society and cannot not be tolerated or ignored, for their actions pose a threat to our national security and the security of the world.

Madam Chair, from the United States to Africa to Europe to Asia and the Middle East, it is clear that combating terrorism remains one of highest national priorities.

Collectively, helping our neighbors and their military build capacity to combat terrorism, eradicate human trafficking, stop narcotics trafficking and negate their impact on women and girls across the globe serves our national interest.

For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support Jackson Lee Amendment #12 by voting for the Chairman's En Bloc Amendment to Division C of RCP 116-17.

Madam Chair, I ask my colleagues to support the underlying amendment.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, let me thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) and the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers) for their great leadership. But let me thank the gentlewoman from New York again for her overall leadership as chair of the Appropriations Committee, and her ranking member as well.

These are the tools of female genital mutilation. Around the world, there are young girls and women who are facing this kind of brutal attack. My amendment, which makes a good bill even better, provides $1 million more to help combat the draconian practice of female genital mutilation, cutting, FGM/C, abroad.

Female genital mutilation comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical purposes.

This practice is rooted in gender inequality and is often linked to other elements of gender-based violence and discrimination, such as child marriage, recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of women and girls.

Unfortunately, this means an estimated 200 million girls and women alive today have been victims already of FGM/C, female genital mutilation, with girls 14 and younger representing 44 million of those who have been cut.

For example, around the world, at least five girls are mutilated, cut. More than 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk.

The impacts of this on the physical health of women and girls can include bleeding, infection, obstetric fistula, complications during childbirth, and death.

I ask my colleagues to think about their children, their girls.

According to UNICEF, FGM/C is reported to occur in all parts of the world, but is most prevalent in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

So I ask my colleagues to support this legislation.

I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Member Rogers for their hard work in bringing Division D, the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

I thank them all for this opportunity to explain the Jackson Lee Amendment, which makes a good bill even better by providing $1 million more to help combat the draconian practice of Female Genital Mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) abroad.

I have been a dedicated champion against this practice for a long while, even working with former Congressman Joe Crowley of New York to introduce legislation targeted at supporting the elimination of this ludicrous practice of mutilating young women.

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

This practice is rooted in gender inequality and is often linked to other elements of gender-based violence and discrimination, such as child marriage and recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of women and girls.

Unfortunately, this means an estimated 200 million girls and women alive today have been victims of FGM/C, with girls 14 and younger representing 44 million of those who have been cut.

For example, consider that:

1. Around the world, at least five girls are mutilated/cut every hour.

2. More than 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of FGM/C annually.

3. The impacts of FGM/C on the physical health of women and girls can include bleeding, infection, obstetric fistula, complications during childbirth and death.

Other significant barriers to combatting the practice of FGM/C include the high concentration in specific regions associated with several cultural traditions, that is not tied to any one religion.

According to UNICEF, FGM/C is reported to occur in all parts of the world, but is most prevalent in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Due to the commonality of this practice many migrants to the U.S. bring the practice of FGM/C with them, increasing the importance of combatting FGM/C abroad.

The United Nations adopted a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 that includes a target to eliminate FGM/C and recognizing the abandonment of this harmful practice can be achieved because of a comprehensive movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society.

With these provisions in place and my amendment increasing the funding for foreign assistance we can ensure Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting (FGM/C), an internationally recognized violation of the human rights of girls and women comes to an end.

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published a report in 2016 estimating that 513,000 women and girls in the United States were at risk or may have been subjected to FGM/C.

The presence of FGM/C in the United States brings a sobering truth to light, that we still have much work to do here at home to stop our young women and girls from suffering at the hands of this archaic and utterly unnecessary practice.

I am reminded of the story of Hadiatu Jalloh, a 7-year-old from Sierra Leone, who with her mother fled to Houston to seek a life saving operation to rectify complications from the practice of FGM/C from which she suffered for more than a year.

Due to complications from the FGM procedure, little Hadiatu could not stop bleeding, she then underwent two additional non-medical procedures to repair the damage she suffered.

However, the bleeding continued and after the second procedure to stop the bleeding, Hadiatu could not properly urinate and suffered terrible pain.

In her desperate quest for help, Hadiatu's mother Umu took her daughter across the border to Sierra Leone, but still could not find a doctor to treat Hadiatu.

Dr. Hardwick-Smith a world-renowned board certified OBGYN--along with a team led by Houston pediatric urologist Dr. Eric Jones--solved Hadiatu's problem by removing scar tissue during the successful surgery.

Stories such like this remind me of the importance of this work, and how can we cannot afford to ignore any instance of FGM/C.

And that is why earlier we celebrated the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, a multinational effort to bring this practice to an end.

That is why my amendment reprograms funding that will be used by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for elimination of

Mr. Chair, I am reminded of the story of Hadiatu Jalloh, a 7-year-old from Sierra Leone who, with her mother, fled to Houston to seek a lifesaving operation to rectify complications from the practice of female genital mutilation, from which she suffered for more than a year.

This story reads: ``The Woman's Hospital of Texas Saves an African Girl's Life. Dr. Susan Hardwick-Smith and Dr. Eric Jones Provide Lifesaving Care to 7-year-old Affected by Female Genital Mutilation,'' only one of 200 million girls.

This amendment will focus and provide an extra focus and extra resources to have us be reminded to help these young women, girls, across and around the world. Let us give them a lifesaving hand up.

I ask my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee amendment, lifesaving, so that more girls do not have to get this singular help from a singular hospital, but they can be helped at home because this dastardly act will be stopped.

Mr. Chair, I include a statement in the Record from USAID, and I ask for support of my amendment.

[From the Department of State and USAID]

The U.S. Government Working Together for the Abandonment of Female

Genital Mutilation/Cutting

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a traditional

practice that ranges from nicking to total removal of the

external female genitalia. UNICEF estimates that at least 120

million girls and women have experienced FGM/C in the 29

countries in Africa and the Middle East where the practice is

concentrated. Given present trends, as many as 30 million

girls under the age of 15 may still be at risk. However, the

data show that FGM/C is becoming less prevalent overall, and

the younger generation is less vulnerable to the practice.

Though no religion mandates the procedure, FGM/C is practiced

across cultures, religions and continents. It is practiced in

sub-Saharan Africa, northern Iraq, Malaysia and Indonesia,

and new evidence is showing prevalence in other Middle

Eastern countries, including Yemen, Iran, Syria, Oman and

Saudi Arabia, and parts of South Asia. The practice also can

be found in Europe, the United States, Australia and other

countries in the West where immigrants bring their cultural

traditions with them.

The reasons given for conducting FGM/C, which is generally

carried out between infancy and the teen years, encompass

beliefs about health, hygiene, women's sexuality, rites of

passage to adulthood and community initiation rites. Research

has shown that all forms of the practice harm women's health,

causing serious pain, trauma and frequently severe physical

complications, such as bleeding, infections or even death.

Long-term complications may include recurrent infections,

infertility, (1) and difficult or dangerous childbirth that

can result in the death of the mother and infant. (2)

The U.S. Government has supported FGM/C abandonment efforts

since the early 1990s, considering the practice not only a

public health concern but also a human rights issue that

violates a woman's right to bodily integrity. In September

2000, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

officially incorporated elimination of FGM/C into its

development agenda, issuing an official policy and strategy

that underscored FGM/C was a serious health and human rights

issue. The U.S. Department of State emphasizes the need to

raise awareness among communities at the grassroots level,

through diplomatic and multilateral engagement and within

humanitarian settings to address the practice of FGM/C.

In August 2012, the United States released its first-ever

Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence

Globally, along with an accompanying Presidential Executive

Order directing its implementation. The strategy marshals the

United States' capacity and expertise to establish a

coordinated, government-wide approach to preventing and

responding to gender-based violence (GBV) and includes

harmful traditional practices such as FGM/C.

The United States also pursues regional, national and local

coordination among international donors, governments and

community leaders. U.S. Government agencies are actively

engaged with internationally based working groups to address

FGM/C, including the Donors Working Group (DWG) on FGM/C,(3)

which is composed of key international governmental and

intergovernmental organizations and foundations committed to

supporting the abandonment of the practice. USAID was a co-

founder of the DWG and is

dedicated to expanding and strengthening partnerships and

increasing resources for abandonment of this harmful

traditional practice. The group has collaboratively issued a

Platform for Action that summarizes the collective

programmatic approach that focuses on the community approach

to social change.

U.S. Government Efforts

The State Department's Secretary's Office of Global Women's

Issues (S/GWI) funded community-based approaches involving

men, boys and all members of society in public awareness and

education campaigns. The campaigns emphasized the detrimental

consequences of FGM/C on the physical and mental health of

girls, their families and the overall community in order to

promote long-lasting solutions. S/GWI also worked with the

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) to

strengthen the reporting of this issue in the Annual Country

Reports on Human Rights Practices. In addition to describing

whether FGM/C occurred and the type and category of FGM/C

most common, we are seeking information on international and

governmental efforts being taken to prevent and address FGM/C

(especially through educational programs, but also by means

of shelters, hotlines and police training).

The Office of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM)

largely supports efforts in humanitarian settings and among

refugees with programs designed to prevent and respond to

GBV, which includes FGM/C. These organizations rely on U.S.

Government assistance to provide humanitarian assistance to

refugees, survivors of conflict, internally displaced persons

and stateless persons worldwide. This encompasses a wide

variety of assistance, including the provision of protection,

shelter, health care, water and sanitation, as well as the

prevention of and assistance to survivors of GBV and FGM/C.

PRM also supports targeted activities to prevent FGM/C in

Somali and Sudanese refugee populations.

USAID supports implementing partners, both from Washington

and at the country level, to provide communitybased programs

in key countries where the practice is prevalent. The

Agency's projects have supported targeted programs in Burkina

Faso, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali and

Nigeria, among others that consider cultural sensitivities

and are integrated with health, economic, social or democracy

and governance programs. USAID programs are community based,

involving community and religious leaders as well as women's

groups, men and youth to advance the quality and

effectiveness of abandonment efforts and to improve

conditions that will lead to FGM/C abandonment.

Projects In-Country

Egypt--S/GWI supported a project working in the community

of Al Darb Al Ahmar in Cairo called Creating Attitudes

Favorable to the Elimination of the Practice of FGM/C.

Through the dissemination of appropriate and relevant

information, coupled with education initiatives and public

awareness campaigns, S/GWI supported the Aga Khan Foundation

to address and prevent violence against women and girls,

including FGM/C, in select Cairo communities. Additionally,

the project provided training and capacity building in victim

advocacy and mental health for health care providers,

community leaders and volunteers.

In 2008, the USAID mission in Egypt incorporated FGM/C into

an existing community-level health program, reinforced by

select national-level messaging and educational messaging.

The program furthered Egypt's ongoing efforts to bring about

abandonment of FGM/C, as it involved training staff at both

the Ministry of Health and nongovernmental organizations

(NGOs) to broaden the reach and coordinate with the

government's National Council of Childhood and Motherhood to

create a coherent national strategy.

Sudan--The Office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and

South Sudan is funding a program in West Nile State to

strengthen the capacity of community leaders and local

organizations to effectively and sustainably address FGM/C.

The project mobilizes children, women and men in the

community to support collective declarations of abandonment

of FGM/C. Through intensive trainings, community leaders draw

upon preexisting social structures to engage with the wider

community and build community ownership to end FGM/C

sustainably.

Iraq--In coordination with the DRL, S/GWI is funding a

multidimensional program in northern Iraq composed of

integrated victim services and a successful educational

campaign for village residents and political and religious

leaders, leading to the first-of-its-kind declarations of

villages being ``Female Genital Mutilation Free.''

Kenya--PRM provides resources to NGO partners to promote

awareness and prevention of FGM/C through community-based

institutions and civil society, including men's groups, youth

groups, women's groups and religious leaders. Other projects

promote social and economic empowerment of women and girls to

reduce the risk of exposure to GBV, including FGM/C, while

educating participants on the impact of harmful traditional

practices, including FGM/C.

USAID conducted studies to better understand the practice

of FGM/C among the Somalis in northeastern Kenya to inform

the design and implementation of interventions and to clarify

the correct Islamic understanding of FGM/C. The research

provided crucial evidence that FGM/C is neither a religious

practice nor one sanctioned by Islam, which clearly

stipulates provisions for the protection of basic human

rights, upholds the sanctity of the human body and prohibits

any practice that violates these rights or causes harm to the

body without justification. The conclusions called on

religious scholars to collaborate with medical doctors to

make verdicts based on scientific facts and to work with

their communities to help delink FGM/C from Islam.

USAID is supporting the launch of the Kenya Centre of

Excellence for FGM/C, which will be based at Nairobi

University, to create a pan-African center for learning and

developing innovative research approaches. The center will

also train leaders and champions for working toward the

abandonment of FGM/C and welcomes support from the

international community and others to join in this effort.

Ethiopia--In northern Ethiopia, the U.S. Government

supports an FGM/C awareness-raising program for women and

girls living in Shimelba and My'Ayni refugee camps. Specific

efforts include coffee discussions with girls, women, boys

and men on GBV-related topics and services and a Girls'

Wellness Week, which promotes adolescent girls' health

through a coming-of-age ceremony without FGM/C.

USAID supported collaboration with the Ministry of Health

and the National Committee on Traditional Practices to

educate communities on the harmful effects of FGM/C. The

program helped women and community leaders to understand the

motives of ``FGM/C demanders,'' respond to their concerns and

provide them with information on the negative impact of the

practice. More than 2,250 people participated in FGM/C

abandonment activities; a national Anti-FGM/C Women's Leaders

Team was established, and a member of that team drafted a law

against FGM/C that the Ethiopian parliament passed in July

2004.

Mali--USAID helped the Ministry of Health develop and pilot

a national training curriculum for primary medical providers

to increase their capacity to identify, treat or refer FGM/C

complications and educate and counsel clients and community

members on the negative aspects of the practice. A network of

trained providers was created consisting of extension workers

from NGOs and community and religious leaders. As a result of

their work, the percentage of men and women who said they

were in favor of abandoning FGM/C increased from 15 to 62

percent, and the percentage who intended to have FGM/C

performed on their daughters decreased from 81 to 33 percent.

Senegal--USAID has supported The Grandmother's Project

(GMP), which incorporates FGM/C into a broader girls' and

women's health and family planning program to bring about

positive changes in community traditions. The approach

involves grandmothers and elderly women, a once marginalized

group, in social change. The project encourages learning and

communal decision-making through open discussions about

problems confronting the community. The aim for GMP is to

have community members identify their problems and reach

consensus on possible solutions that best suit their needs,

leading to long-term and lasting change.

West Africa--USAID has supported Tostan, a participatory

education program that works village by village to

incorporate democracy, problem solving, basic mathematics,

literacy and essential health education, including

information about FGM/C, into the learning experiences that

ultimately empower the entire community. As a result of this

multidimensional approach, thousands of villages in West

Africa have publicly abandoned FGM/C and other harmful

traditional practices upon completion of the Tostan program.

n the United States, in 2012, at the first-ever Zero

Tolerance Day event that was held at the U.S. Department of

State, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke

passionately about creating conditions for ending FGM/C, so

all girls can realize their full potential. At that event,

organized by USAID and the State Department, a spark was lit

among the communities that have worked tirelessly for years

toward the abandonment of FGM/C. The event became a catalyst

for raising government and donor awareness and was repeated

in 2013 when it was hosted by former Ambassador-at-Large for

Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer. Ambassador Verveer led

a panel discussion that included Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador

of the African Union to the United States; Dr. Nawal Nour, a

Sudanese-American from Brigham and Women's Hospital in

Boston; Bacary Tamba from Tostan, an NGO in Senegal; and

Jessie Hexpoor from Hivos, an NGO based in the Netherlands.

They each have made, and are continuing to make,

extraordinary contributions toward putting an end to FGM/C,

and the Ambassador noted, ``are a testament to why community-

driven, holistic approach is essential to achieving

sustainable progress.'' The event brought together activists

from the NGO community, diplomatic corps and policymakers in

the U.S. Government to address ways various stakeholders can

work together toward zero tolerance for FGM/C. The event also

attracted 1,648 online participants from 30 countries in an

interactive virtual discussion.

USAID has commissioned a desk review of interventions,

evaluations and reports published since 2000 on ending FGM/C.

Based on

this review, as well as key informant interviews with

experts, USAID is drafting a report called Ending Female

Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Lessons from Ten Years of

Progress. The report will review lessons learned, promising

approaches and recommendations for the future. By looking

back, policymakers and advocates will be better able to move

forward decisively to create societies that allow women and

girls around the world to achieve their full potential.

Our vision of the way forward has been sharpened by all the

work that went on before this decade.

First, the centrality of ``social norms''--what communities

believe and how they act and expect the members of that

community to act--must be addressed.

Second, a wide range of actors play pivotal roles in the

abandonment of FGM/C: men; women; grandmothers; boys; girls;

and community, health, religious and political leaders.

Third, and perhaps most important, the focus must be on

holistic, integrated, multisectoral approaches that bring

together the advocacy, policy-level work and community-level

transformation of social norms.

Ms. JACKSON Lee. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, this is a very important amendment in the cycle of life, protecting endangered species, which give the joy of life and understanding to the world, to the coexistence of humans and these wonderful species that have given us so much knowledge.

My amendment makes a good bill better by providing a $1 million focus to combat the transportation of the remains of endangered species, to bring down the desire to go after these endangered species.

So many of us remember, a few years ago, the brutal killing of Cecil the lion. At that time, I introduced and sought the support of my colleagues as original cosponsors of my legislation, Cecil the Lion Endangered and Threatened Species Act of 2015. This bill sought to strengthen partner countries' capacity in countering wildlife trafficking and designating major wildlife countries for protection.

The amendment now is offered in the same spirit: to prohibit the taking and transportation of any endangered and threatened species as a trophy to the United States.

Currently, the Endangered Species Act does not protect the majority of wildlife animals killed. At this point, we can choose to make wise decisions that will sustain the global population, or we can ignore the warning signs.

Climate change is not the only threat facing our world. There is also massive extinction of microscopic organisms to more complex insects and animals. More than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct.

So I ask my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee amendment.

Mr. Chair, I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Member Rogers for their hard work in bringing Division D, the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

I thank them all for this opportunity to explain the Jackson Lee Amendment, which makes a good bill even better by providing $1 million combat the transportation of the remains of endangered species.

A few years ago, in light of the brutal killing of Cecil the Lion, I introduced and sought the support of my colleagues as original co- sponsors of my legislation entitled, Cecil the Lion Endangered and Threatened Species Act of 2015.

That bill sought to strengthen partner countries' capacity in countering wildlife trafficking and designating major wildlife countries for protection.

This Jackson Lee Amendment is offered in the same spirit--to prohibit the taking and transportation of any endangered or threatened species as a trophy into the United States.

This amendment provides $1 million to focus efforts on poaching of endangered species on protected preserves.

Hunting endangered species that are on protected preserves should come with an element of greater risk to those who engage in this practice.

The amendment provides additional resources to ensure better coordination and monitoring of incidents like the killing of Cecil the Lion, with a goal of holding people accountable.

Currently, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) does not protect the clear majority of wild animals killed and imported.

Because of this loophole, tens of thousands of wild animals are killed every year by trophy hunters and transported into the United States.

The conservation of endangered and threatened species is critically important to the sustainability of our biodiversity, ecosystem and the beauty of wildlife as we know it.

Biodiversity and ecosystem balance are essential to sustaining life as we know it on planet earth.

The rate that species are disappearing globally can easily be compared to other mass extension events in our earth's history.

Human life requires a health global biodiversity and ecosystem.

At this point we can choose to make wise decisions that will sustain the global population or we can ignore the warning signs.

Climate change is not the only threat facing our world--it is also massive extinction from microscopic organisms to more complex insects and animals.

More than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct.

As new species evolve to fit ever changing ecological niches, older species fade away.

But the rate of extinction is far from constant or natural.

At least a handful of times in the last 500 million years, 50 to more than 90 percent of all species on Earth have disappeared in a geological blink of the eye.

Another threat to endangered species are terrorist organizations that pose a threat to our environment and natural wildlife, utilizing the funds from their illicit activity of wildlife poaching to fund their terroristic activities.

Vulnerable species are at the mercy of transnational terrorists groups whose actions place these natural inhabitants of the earth in danger of extinction.

For example, the population of African elephants has decreased from 1.3 million to 400,000, with 22,000 poached in 2012.

Only 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, and these tigers remain in danger of being poached for their skins, bones and body parts.

This supports the efforts of the State Department under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program to dismantle the wildlife trafficking syndicates in the global south from Africa to Asia.

I ask that my colleagues join me in supporting this amendment that in a significant way makes a difference for the safety and security of endangered species.

The food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe relies upon biodiversity and balance in ecosystems.

Scientist warn that our planet is now during its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals.

Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural ``background'' rate of about one to five species per year.

Scientists estimate we're now losing species at up to 1,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day.

It could be a scary future indeed, with as many as 30 to 50 percent of all species possibly heading toward extinction by the year 2050.

I ask my colleagues to support this Jackson Lee Amendment.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman for her support of my original amendment on female genital mutilation, and I thank her for her support of this amendment.

I just offer to my colleagues a list of the vulnerable endangered species: Giant panda, giant tortoise, giant white shark, greater one- horned rhino, hippopotamus, leatherback turtle, loggerhead turtle, marine iguana, olive ridley turtle, polar bear, savanna elephant, snow leopard, sea turtle--all of these, among many others. The jaguar is now threatened. The white rhino is threatened.

I include in the Record the endangered species list I mentioned:

Species Directory

Common name, Scientific name, Conservation status:

Dugong, Dugong dugon, Vulnerable.

Forest Elephant, Vulnerable.

Giant Panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, Vulnerable.

Giant Tortoise, Vulnerable.

Great White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, Vulnerable.

Greater One-Horned Rhino, Rhinoceros unicornis, Vulnerable.

Hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius, Vulnerable.

Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, Vulnerable.

Loggerhead Turtle, Caretta caretta, Vulnerable.

Marine Iguana, Amblyrhynchus cristatus, Vulnerable.

Olive Ridley Turtle, Lepidochelys olivacea, Vulnerable.

Polar Bear, Ursus maritimus, Vulnerable.

Savanna Elephant, Loxodonta africana africana, Vulnerable.

Sea Turtle, Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae families,

Vulnerable.

Snow Leopard, Panthera uncia, Vulnerable.

Southern rockhopper penguin, Eudyptes chrysocome,

Vulnerable.

Albacore Tuna, Thunnus alalunga, Near Threatened.

Beluga, Delphinapeterus leucas, Near Threatened.

Greater Sage-Grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus, Near

Threatened.

Jaguar, Panthera onca, Near Threatened.

Mountain Plover, Charadrius montanus, Near Threatened.

Narwhal, Monodon monoceros, Near Threatened.

Plains Bison, Bison bison bison, Near Threatened.

White Rhino, Ceratotherium simum, Near Threatened.

Yellowfin Tuna, Thunnus albacares, Near Threatened.

Arctic Fox, Vulpes lagopus, Least Concern.

Arctic Wolf, Canis lupus arctos, Least Concern.

Bowhead Whale, Balaena mysticetus, Least Concern.

Brown Bear, ursus arctos, Least Concern.

Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncates, Least

Concern.

Gray Whale, Eschrichtius robustus, Least Concern.

Macaw, Ara ararauna, Least Concern.

Amur Leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis, Critically

Endangered.

Black Rhino, Diceros bicornis, Critically Endangered.

Bornean Orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, Critically Endangered.

Cross River Gorilla, Gorilla gorilla diehli, Critically

Endangered.

Eastern Lowland Gorilla, Gorilla beringei graueri,

Critically Endangered.

Hawksbill Turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, Critically

Endangered.

Javan Rhino, Rhinoceros sondaicus, Critically Endangered.

Malayan Tiger, Panthera tigris jacksoni, Critically

Endangered.

Orangutan, Pongo abelii, Pongo pygmaeus, Critically

Endangered.

Saola, Pseudoryx nghetinhensis, Critically Endangered.

South China Tiger, Panthera tigris amoyensis, Critically

Endangered.

Sumatran Elephant, Elephas maximus sumatranus, Critically

Endangered.

Sumatran Orangutan, Pongo abelii, Critically Endangered.

Sumatran Rhino, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, Critically

Endangered.

Sumatran Tiger, Panthera tigris sumatrae, Critically

Endangered.

Vaquita, Phocoena sinus, Critically Endangered.

Western Lowland Gorilla, Gorilla gorilla gorilla,

Critically Endangered.

Yangtze Finless Porpoise, Neophocaena asiaeorientalis ssp.

asiaeorientalis, Critically Endangered.

African Wild Dog, Lycaon pictus, Endangered.

Amur Tiger, Panthera tigris tigris, Endangered.

Asian Elephant, Elephas maximus indicus, Endangered.

Bengal Tiger, Panthera tigris tigris, Endangered.

Black-footed Ferret, Mustela nigripes, Endangered.

Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus, Endangered.

Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus Thynnus, Endangered.

Bonobo, Pan paniscus, Endangered.

Borneo Pygmy Elephant, Elephas maximus borneensis,

Endangered.

Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, Endangered.

Fin Whale, Balaenoptera physalus, Endangered.

Galapagos Penguin, Spheniscus mendiculus, Endangered.

Ganges River Dolphin, Platanista gangetica gangetica,

Endangered.

Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, Endangered.

Hector's Dolphin, Cephalorhynchus hectori, Endangered.

Humphead Wrasse, Cheilinus undulatus, Endangered.

Indian Elephant, Elephas maximus indicus, Endangered.

Indochinese Tiger, Panthera tigris corbetti, Endangered.

Indus River Dolphin, Platanista minor, Endangered.

Irrawaddy Dolphin, Orcaella brevirostris, Endangered.

Mountain Gorilla, Gorilla beringei beringei, Endangered.

North Atlantic Right Whale, Eubalaena glacialis,

Endangered.

Red Panda, Ailurus fulgens, Endangered.

Sea Lions, Zalophus wollebaeki, Endangered.

Sei Whale, Balaenoptera borealis, Endangered.

Sri Lankan Elephant, Elephas maximus maximus, Endangered.

Tiger, Panthera tigris, Endangered.

Whale, Balaenoptera, Balaena, Eschricthtius, and Eubalaen,

Endangered.

Whale Shark, Rhincodon typus, Endangered.

African Elephant, Loxodonta africana, Vulnerable.

Bigeye Tuna, Thunnus obesus, Vulnerable.

Black Spider Monkey, Ateles paniscus, Vulnerable.

I believe we can do better, and I would ask my colleagues to do better by supporting the Jackson Lee amendment.

For example, the population of African elephants has decreased from 1.3 million to 400,000, with 22,000 poached in 2012. Working with my amendment, working with this legislation, we can have a greater focus on ensuring the protection of endangered species.

Mr. Chair, I ask support for the Jackson Lee amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on June 12, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed into law the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women to serve as regular members of the military.

On May 5, 2017, State Representative Victoria Neave filed House Bill 2698, establishing Women Veterans Day.

HB2698 was later incorporated into Texas Senate Bill 805 and on June 9, 2017 was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott designating June 12th as Women Veterans Day.

I am honored to represent over 170,000 distinguished women veterans in the state of Texas.

Moreover, I am proud to work alongside the four women veterans serving in the 116th Congress. On this day, it is imperative that we highlight women's role in the military and commemorate their valor and sacrifice.

It should be no secret that women play an integral role in our nation's armed forces.

They volunteer for the same reasons as men, but their service can come at a steep personal price.

4.3 percent of women in the military reported being sexually assaulted in 2016.

Female veterans are three to four times more likely than their civilian counterparts to become homeless and 2.5 times more likely to commit suicide.

Today's events, in part, were designed to help women veterans find resources.

I am in awe of the invaluable contributions and unwavering commitment that women veterans have given this country and my home state.

I vow to continue my support of women and men veterans alike in the House of Representatives, as we owe all veterans our gratitude and respect.

But on this Women Veterans Day in Texas, I urge you to join me celebrate and work to understand the sacrifices of women veterans among us.

Mr. Speaker, on June 12, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed into law the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women to serve as regular members of the military.

In the State of Texas, a bill was sent in to establish Women's Veterans Day,

and that bill, in the Senate, was signed into law by the Governor of the State of Texas.

I am honored to represent over 170,000 distinguished women veterans in the State of Texas. Moreover, I am proud to work alongside the four women veterans serving in the 116th Congress, and many more.

On this day, it is imperative that we highlight women's role in the United States military. There should be no secret that women play an integral part.

They volunteer for the same reasons as men, but 4.3 percent of women in the military reported being sexually assaulted. Female veterans are three to four times more likely than their civilian counterparts to become homeless and 2.5 times more likely to commit suicide.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Dr. LaShondra Jones for bringing to our attention honoring women veterans today, and they will be taking part in many different activities. I am in awe of their invaluable service.

I want to salute them today on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. This is a wonderful day that we are celebrating Women's Veterans Day in Texas, but we should celebrate it and honor it in the United States of America.

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

This is an enormous and important step as it relates to healthcare in America. So many of us have been fighting to ensure that the preexisting conditions of Americans are protected. I am grateful that work has been done to provide $190 billion that covers labor, health and human services, and particularly $99 billion that deals with the question of Alzheimer's disease, HIV/AIDS, and, certainly, work on cancer research. I do want to take note of the fact that TRIO dollars have been allowed, as well.

There is also an important point that is probably prospectively going to be covered, but I do want to raise it now, and that is working with countries that are our partners or that we would hope that they would be partners in the war against terror.

As the co-chair of the Pakistan Caucus, I want to ensure--and I know State, Foreign Ops, Defense is prospectively coming--that I believe there has been much work accomplished by the new government and members of the expanded Government of Pakistan to work against terror.

I know that they have lost treasure in the war against terror, and that is the Pakistani military. So I would hope that we would find a way to ensure that Pakistan receives its foreign aid, as I believe it should, and that we provide measuring sticks or standards by which they can meet steps of accomplishment, because it is important that we create alliances that are strong in the region because of the difficulty of the conditions in Afghanistan, the recent loss of life.

We know that Afghanistan is not at the level of security that we would like, and I would hope that we would work with countries in the region to ensure the peace and security of the region and the peace and security in Afghanistan.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, just a few weeks ago, I had a roundtable discussion with health professionals and those who are suffering from diabetes. I heard the stories of how much insulin costs and how difficult it was to be able to access healthcare, in many instances. This discussion was held at the University of Houston medical school.

The Jackson Lee amendment makes a good bill even better by providing $10 million more to help ensure that the national goals of finding and bringing

more and better treatments for diabetes is aided by an expanded pool of diverse and talented medical researchers and clinical trial participants.

Many racial health disparities, including diabetes, stem from a lack of access to quality healthcare and proper health awareness. Unfortunately, this means that the incidence of kidney disease has not always matched trial populations. African Americans represent 12 percent of the U.S. population but only 5 percent of clinical trial participants.

Hispanics make up 16 percent, but only 1 percent of clinical trial participants.

Sex distribution in cardiovascular device trials is 67 percent male.

Other significant barriers to diversified clinical trials, which are key to sound medical research and the foundation for medical cures and breakthroughs, as reported by investigators and coordinators, are insurance status, patient inconvenience, cost, availability of transportation, distance to the study site, and patient and family concerns about risk.

My amendment, in particular, focuses on ensuring the outreach for researchers and, as well, those who would be participants in clinical trials. Physicians are the gateway to the patient as well, and the lack of access to physicians also diminishes the rights or the ability for people to be in trials.

My amendment is intended to aid in the necessary effort to diversify the pool of doctors and medical researchers conducting clinical trials and, thereby, helping to diversify the participants in the clinical trials.

I would ask my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, it is important to take note of this particular chart; proportion of volunteers in clinical research by race and ethnicity. And you will see, as it relates to minorities, at every step of the way, dealing with total U.S. population, only 33 percent participate. NIH-funded clinical research only 36 percent participate; and industry- funded clinical trials, a paltry 16.7 percent.

It indicates as well, and I include in the Record ``Clinical Trials Shed Light on Minority Health.''

[From FDA Consumer Health Information]

Clinical Trials Shed Light on Minority Health

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working to

increase the participation of people in racial, ethnic and

other minority groups in the clinical trials that test new

medical products.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working to

increase the participation of people in racial, ethnic and

other minority groups in the clinical trials that test new

medical products.

Why is this important?

Ensuring meaningful representation of minorities in

clinical trials for regulated medical products is fundamental

to FDA's regulatory mission and public health, says Jonca

Bull, M.D., director of the agency's Office of Minority

Health (OMH). Racial and ethnic minorities include African

American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian American,

Hispanic American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander

communities.

OMH project manager Christine Merenda, M.P.H., R.N.

explains that clinical trials are the proving ground for new

drugs, vaccines and devices. They provide the data that will

determine whether FDA approves a manufacturer's application

for marketing approval.

``Potential racial, ethnic and other differences in

response to drugs are important to FDA's efforts to help

ensure that the safety and effectiveness of drugs are studied

in all people who will use the products once they are

approved,'' she says.

Considering Genetic Differences

Bull explains that there are biological differences in how

people process drugs. For example, variations in genetic

coding can make a cancer treatment more toxic in one ethnic

group than it would be in another. These variations can make

also make drugs like antidepressants and blood-pressure

medications less effective in one group than another.

Getting more data on these differences is essential for FDA

to truly know that a medical product will truly work and be

safe for all patients, Bull says.

Members of minority groups may be more vulnerable to

certain diseases. ``We know, for example, that African-

Americans and Hispanics have higher rates of diabetes, HIV/

AIDS, obesity and cardiovascular disease,'' says Bull. Native

Americans and Asians have been shown to have higher rates of

hepatitis, while Hispanics are disproportionately affected by

diabetes.

But historically, both women and minorities have been

under-represented in clinical trails. For example, according

to a 2011 report from the conference ``Dialogues on

Diversifying Clinical Trails,'' sponsored by FDA's Office of

Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research

and supported by OMH:

African Americans represent 12% of the U.S.

population but only 5% of clinical trial participants;

Hispanics make up 16% of the population but only

1% of clinical trial participants; and

``Men make up more than two-thirds of the

participants in clinical tests of cardiovascular (heart and

blood vessel) devices?''

At the conference, more than 200 representatives from

government and industry came together with patient advocates

and the scientific community to discuss strategies for

increasing the participation of women and minorities in

clinical trials.

Why the Disparity?

Bull says there are different reasons why minorities have

been under-represented in clinical trials.

One reason may be a lack of trust because of past abuses,

Bull says. One notorious example was the Tuskegee Syphilis

Study, experiments conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the

U.S. Public Health Service. Health officials recruited poor

black share-croppers in Alabama to study the natural progress

of syphilis. However, while the study was in progress,

penicillin was discovered to treat syphilis. The study was

not stopped and the men were not treated with penicillin that

could have cured them.

According to a recent university study, however, this

attitude seems to be changing. The study was designed to

learn the health concerns and research perceptions among

under-represented groups. When asked about their over-all

interest in medical research, 91 percent of African-Americans

expressed interest in participating.

Nonetheless, recruiting people to participate in clinical

trials--no matter what race or ethnicity--is difficult in

general, Bull notes. FDA works to protect participants in

clinical trials and to ensure that people have reliable

information as they decide whether to join a clinical trial.

There are many benefits to minority participation for

researchers that extend, in larger sense, to society.

Minority participation helps researchers find better

treatments and better ways to fight such diseases as cancer,

diabetes, heart disease and HIV/ AIDS. In addition, it

uncovers differences by gender, race, and ethnicity that may

be important for safe and effective use of therapies.

Safeguards and Resources

Safeguards for clinical trial participants include

oversight by institutional review boards (IRBs), composed of

at least five members, including scientists, doctors, and lay

people. IRBs ensure that appropriate steps are taken to

protect the rights and welfare of participants as subjects of

research.

Though it's too soon to tell, Bull says that the FDA Safety

and Innovation Act (FDASIA) signed into law by President

Obama in July 2012 could have a helpful effect in supporting

efforts to enhance minority participation in clinical trials.

FDASIA requires that FDA report to Congress by July 9, 2013

on the diversity of participants in clinical trials and the

extent to which safety and effectiveness data based on such

factors as sex, age, race and ethnicity are included in

applications submitted to FDA.

Based on these findings, FDA and others involved in

clinical research will be able to identify needs and

opportunties to increase minority representation, says Bull.

In the meantime, Bull encourages consumers to take a more

proactive approach. If you're undergoing treatment and your

condition is not improving, she says, you may want to talk to

your health care professional about the availability of

clinical trials that address our condition.

FDA also has information at fda.gov (http://www.fda.gov)

with information about participating in clinical trials

(http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ByAudience/ ForPatientAdvocates/ParticipatinginClinicalTrials/ default.htm) and links to an array of resources. And

clinicaltrails.gov (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov) is another

resource from the National Insitiutes of Health.

Mr. Chairman, the Food and Drug Administration is working to increase the participation of people in racial, ethnic, and other minority groups in the clinical trials that test new medical products.

So I would indicate that this particular amendment is to give greater focus to ensure that we have access to these individuals. Again, diabetes in minority communities is surging. The difficulty of getting access to insulin is also a conspicuous medical concern. But certain medical illnesses have been known to have a higher prevalence in certain demographic groups, including Type 2 diabetes, lupus, sickle cell anemia, and triple-negative breast cancer.

This particular amendment is, of course, helping to end, or to work on improving the access at this time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. Chairman, I urge support of this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairwoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Cole for their hard work in bringing Division A, the Labor-HHS portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

I thank them all for this opportunity to explain the Jackson Lee Amendment, which makes a good bill even better by providing $10 million more to help ensure that the national goals of finding and bringing more and better treatments for diabetes is aided by an expanding pool of diverse and talented medical researchers and clinical trial participants.

Many racial health disparities, including diabetes, stem from lack of access to quality healthcare and proper health awareness.

Unfortunately, this means that incidence of kidney disease does not always match trial populations.

For example, consider that:

1. African-Americans represent 12 percent of the U.S. population but only 5 percent of clinical trial participants.

2. Hispanics make up 16 percent of the population but only 1 percent of clinical trial participants.

3. Sex distribution in cardiovascular device trials is 67 percent male.

Other significant barriers to diversified clinical trials, which are the key to sound medical research and the foundation for medical cures and breakthroughs, as reported by investigators and coordinators are insurance status, patient inconvenience costs, availability of transportation, distance to the study site, and patient and family concerns about risk.

But the most significant barriers limiting clinical participation are race, age, and sex of participants:

1. Women and minority patients are more difficult to recruit.

2. Women and minority physicians have less experience and are relatively costlier to engage.

3. Minority patients with limited English proficiency can require costly translation services.

The first step in engaging women and minorities in clinical trials is finding them.

Research has shown that minority patients seek physicians of their own race, so bringing these doctors into trials is critical.

Physicians are the gateway to the patient.

There are disturbing statistics on the number of African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans pursuing academic qualification and participating in scientific research.

Many barriers exist that account for the low rate of participation among diverse communities, including patient fear of experimentation and lack of understanding or education with regard to the importance of clinical trials in creating new treatments and cures.

The Jackson Lee Amendment is intended to aid in the necessary effort to diversify the pool of doctors and medical researchers conducting clinical trials, and thereby helping to diversify the participants in the clinical trials.

In short, the Jackson Lee Amendment seeks to open the ``physician gateway'' to the patient.

The Journal on STEM Education reported in 2011 that only 8.34 percent of the STEM doctorates awarded in 2006 were given to underrepresented minorities (URMs), despite making up approximately 28 percent of the U.S. population.

Additionally, GAO found that while the percentage of underrepresented minorities nationwide increased from 13 percent to 19 percent from 1994 to 2003, the total number of STEM doctorates awarded to the same group dropped during this period from 8,335 to 7,310.

In response, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) created the Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) Division and similar academic intervention programs.

The MORE programs are comprised of four primary components: research experience, mentoring and advisement, supplemental instruction and workshops, and financial support.

This includes the Minority Biomedical Research Support-Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS-RISE) program, the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC), Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP), and the Bridges to the Baccalaureate and Bridges to the Ph.D. programs.

The amount of funds dedicated to these programs reflects the commitment by the science and research community to the goals of the MORE Division in addressing this problem.

Certain medical illnesses have been known to have higher prevalence in certain demographic groups, including type II diabetes, lupus, sickle cell anemia, and Triple Negative Breast Cancer for which African Americans are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed on average.

Race and ethnicity have also been shown to affect the effectiveness of and response to certain drugs, such as antihypertensive therapies in the treatment of hypertension in African Americans and anti-depressants in Hispanics.

Increased diversity in research trials could help researchers find better, more precise ways to fight diseases that disproportionately impact certain populations and may be important for the safe and effective use of new therapies.

But before we can engage more women and minorities to participate in clinical trials, we must be able to find them.

And the key to finding minority patients is find more physicians from their racial and ethnic groups because research has shown that physicians are the gateway to the patient.

The Jackson Lee Amendment opens that gateway.

I urge support for the Jackson Lee Amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, let me take this opportunity to thank Congresswoman DeLauro and her leadership as the chairwoman of this subcommittee, and her ranking member, Mr. Cole. I had the privilege of appearing before them in making my request, and so I want to thank them for many of the requests. I don't want to be too celebratory and say all of my requests, but I am very pleased that the investment in healthcare, education, many of the issues that I was concerned about, are well-invested, and it will be the kind of announcements that I will be able to make in my district for the great needs that are needed.

My amendment is to emphasize the importance of a program that, when I went to graduations, I saw students wearing banners, if you will, that said the word ``TRIO;'' that they were graduating with the help of TRIO. They were going on to college with the help of TRIO. And I was very excited about

the opportunity of seeing, in living proof, the proud symbols of those who had had a greater opportunity.

My amendment makes, again, a good bill even better by providing $10 million more to help ensure that TRIO students at the greatest risk of not completing their degree program get additional assistance to finish their education. I was excited when these students walked across the stage going on to college with TRIO support.

TRIO is a set of seven federally-funded education opportunity outreach programs that help low-income, first-generation students, and students with disabilities, to pursue higher education.

There are many opportunities for individuals to go into the trades and other disciplines, but many want to go to college.

The Upward Bound Program, the first Federal TRIO Program, was created in 1964. Later, Talent Search was created. The TRIO name itself was born four years later, when the Higher Education Act of 1965 was amended to include Special Services for Disadvantaged Students.

So today, there are nine TRIO programs that I am excited about; and my emphasis is to ensure that these programs are well-funded.

Even in my own community, I can tell you that TRIO is well-needed and well-utilized.

Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee amendment.

Mr. Chairman, could you tell me how much time is remaining?

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. Chairman, I am excited that, in 1986, we added the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program--we all remember him as a great astronaut who died in a horrific astronaut calamity--to foster doctoral degree attainment by students from underrepresented segments of society.

But, Mr. Chair, a young man went to the Upward Bound program at the historically Black Texas Southern University. He graduated from Sterling High School, but he grew up in extreme poverty, stricken with food insecurities and difficult living conditions.

Poverty is not only a state of being, but a state of mind.

However, with the help of TRIO, he went on to acquire life skills, strategies, and the support he needed to follow the dream of attending the University of Texas at San Antonio, majoring in Construction Science Management.

Not only did he graduate from UTSA, but he graduated with honors, and he plans to attend graduate school in the fall. He is one of many students that are impacted; and the more we focus on the at-risk students, the more America continues to ascend to her greatest level.

We helped Terrance, who is a 40-year-old student that began working on his GED at Houston Community College in 2005. He ultimately achieved it 5 years later.

My amendment, again, is to emphasize the doors of opportunity, from Ronald E. McNair, Student Support Services, Talent Search, the Training Program for Federal TRIO Programs, Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math and Science, and Veterans Upward Bound. It is encompassing of many aspects of young people and those returning to school.

I ask my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee amendment, which focuses on those at risk, and turns that at risk into success.

Mr. Chair, I wish to thank Chairman McGovern and Ranking Member Cole of the Rules Committee for making this Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

I thank Chairwoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Cole for their hard work in bringing Division A, the Labor-HHS portion of this omnibus appropriations legislative package, to the floor.

I thank them all for this opportunity to explain the Jackson Lee Amendment, which makes a good bill even better by providing $10 million more to help ensure that TRIO students at the greatest risk of not completing their degree program get additional assistance to finish their education.

TRIO is a set of seven federally-funded educational opportunity outreach programs that help low-income, first-generation students and students with disabilities to pursue higher education.

The Upward Bound Program, the first Federal TRIO Program, was created under the authority of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, as amended.

A year later, Talent Search was created as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to assist students applying for newly authorized federal financial aid for postsecondary education.

The TRIO name itself was born four years later when the Higher Education Act of 1965 was amended in 1968 to include the Special Services for Disadvantaged Students program--what is now called Student Support Services (SSS).

Since 1968, TRIO programs have been expanded to provide a wider range of services.

Today, nine TRIO programs are included under the TRIO umbrella, seven of which provide direct services to students.

The 1972 amendments to the Higher Education Act created Educational Opportunity Centers (EOCs) to help adults select a postsecondary education program and obtain financial aid.

Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) was also initiated in the 1972 as part of the Upward Bound program to serve returning Vietnam veterans.

Amendments in 1986 added the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program (McNair) to foster doctoral degree attainment by students from underrepresented segments of society.

In 1990 the Upward Bound Math and Science (UBMS) program was initiated as part of the Upward Bound program to address the need for specific instruction in the fields of mathematics and science.

TRIO also includes a training program for project directors and other staff of TRIO projects (Training Program for Federal TRIO Programs, which was authorized in 1976).

The TRIO programs are administered by the Student Service area of the Department's Office of Postsecondary Education.

TRIO includes: Educational Opportunity Centers; Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement; Student Support Services; Talent Search; Training Program for Federal TRIO Programs Staff; Upward Bound; Upward Bound Math-Science; and Veterans Upward Bound.

Currently serving nearly 790,000 students across America, TRIO provides academic tutoring, personal counseling, mentoring, financial guidance, and other supports necessary for educational access and retention.

TRIO programs serve students from middle school and high school (Talent Search, Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math-Science) to college and postgraduate study (Student Support Services, Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement).

TRIO also provides services to adult learners (Educational Opportunity Centers, Veterans Upward Bound).

Jackson Lee Amendment No. 15, adds $10 million in funding to assist students at the greatest risk of not completing their degree program.

TRIO students can include teens to older adults trying make a career move or complete a life goal of a GED or college degree.

I ask my colleagues to support this Jackson Lee Amendment.

LiTroy

TRIO/Upward Bound program at Texas Southern University

Story: Litroy Lambert graduated from Sterling High School in Houston Texas in 2014.

He grew up in extreme poverty stricken with food insecurities and difficult living conditions.

Poverty is not only a state of being it can too often become a state of mind where dreams fester and die.

However, with the help of the TRIO/Upward Bound program at Texas Southern University LiTroy was able to acquire the life skills, strategies and the support he needed to follow his dreams of attending the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) majoring in Construction Science Management.

Not only did LiTroy attend UTSA, but he also graduated with honors and plans to attend graduate school in the fall.

LiTroy is one of many students whose lives have been dramatically changed by the efforts of TRIO/Upward Bound programming and staff.

Stories from Houston Community College's (HCC) TRIO Educational Opportunity Center:

Terrance, age 40

Terrance is a 40-year-old student that began working on his GED at Houston Community College in 2005.

Upon meeting Terrance in his GED class, he explained that he had been working on his GED off and on and was unsuccessful at completing his GED because of the cost of the exam and his inability to pass certain portions of the exam.

He is a father and has also worked odd jobs while attempting to complete his GED.

TRIO offered Terrance an alternative to the GED exam, the HiSet, which is an approved high school equivalency certification recognized by the Texas Education Agency.

In addition to offering him an alternative exam, HCC provided him with vouchers to cover the cost of the exam and within his first attempt of taking the HiSet exam, he successfully earned his high school equivalent certificate.

We assisted Terrance with applying for college and financial aid and he is currently enrolled at and set to begin college classes this fall to earn a Communications degree.

Stories from Houston Community College's TRIO Educational Opportunity Center.

Eric, age 44

Eric is a 44-year-old student that began working on his GED in 1995, stopped attending and then returned to complete his GED in 2017 when he was unable to receive a promotion on his job because he did not have a high school diploma.

After several attempts at the GED, Eric was unable to pass portions of the GED exam because of his work schedule that prevented him from attending class regularly.

Eric struggled with portions of the exam and TRIO offered him tutorial services and the alternative HiSet exam.

Eric successfully passed the HiSet exam and earned his High School Equivalent certificate.

TRIO also assisted Eric with applying for financial aid and college admissions.

Eric will begin working on his pre-nursing courses in the fall so that he can eventually apply to nursing school and receive a promotion at his job.

Christina, age 65

Christina is a 65-year-old disabled student that contacted TRIO because she had problems finding a program that would lead to a job.

She wants to get off disability and work in an office job so that she can take care of herself without the limited income that disability provides.

TRIO was able to advocate for Christina to get financial aid reinstated because she was on probation when she attended previously, due to the demands on her time because of having to care of her sick husband, who died when she was in school.

The TRIO Educational Opportunity Center was also able to connect her with free tuition that is offered by Houston Community College so that she can maximize her financial aid.

We assisted Christina with finding a program that will give her the technology/computer skills she needs that will lead to a job.

Christina is currently enrolled in summer classes and pursuing a degree in Business Technology.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2539, ``Strengthening Local Transportation Security Capabilities Act of 2019.''

H.R. 2539 requires DHS to prioritize the assignment of officers and intelligence analysts from TSA and DHS I&A to locations with participating State, local, and regional fusion centers in jurisdictions with a high-risk surface transportation asset.

The tragic events of 9/11 thrust the issue of physical security into public domain as never before and set in motion responses that have re- shaped transportation in unforeseen ways.

H.R. 2539 authorizes DHS to develop, through the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, a training program to enhance the protection, preparedness, and response capabilities of law enforcement agencies with respect to terrorism and other serious incidents at surface transportation assets.

In addition, threats to health, such as the spread of pandemics, present significant challenges to transport planning and operations.

Railway stations and airports are some of the most densely populated sites anywhere.

From 2009, all the flights originating, bound to or flying over the United States had their list of passengers cross-referenced by a central no-fly list managed by the TSA.

Security involves many steps, from restricting access to airport facilities, fortifying cockpits, the setting of no-fly lists, to the more extensive security screening of passengers.

Screening now involves more rigorous inspections of passengers and their baggage at airports, including restrictions on what can be personally carried in airplanes such as gels and liquids.

Considering the emergence of global supply chains, the emphasis in freight transport security is gradually shifting into a more comprehensive but complex approach.

The large number of ports, the vast fleet of global shipping and the range of products carried in vessels, and the difficulty of detection has made the issue of security in shipping an extremely difficult one to address.

The less regulated and greater international dimensions of the shipping industry have made it vulnerable to security breaches.

We need appropriate security measures to protect the susceptibility of American lives against possible acts of violence and terrorism.

The growth in the use of information technologies and their associated networks have opened new forms of vulnerability as control and management systems can be remotely accessed.

This has resulted in complex interconnected corporate information networks that can be hacked and disrupted.

Trained officials and security experts work arduously to assess and mitigate the safety of passenger flow at transportation hubs.

Taken together, the bill's provisions enhance the capabilities of local transportation security stakeholders to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks and other serious incidents.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2539 to strengthen our nations' ports of transportation to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 951, the ``United States-Mexico Tourism Improvement Act of 2019.''

H.R. 951 addresses the decline in tourist activity between the United States and Mexico.

The bill aims to strengthen the bilateral relationship between the United States and Mexican tourism industries by advocating for increased cooperation through both government and non-governmental channels.

Specifically, the legislation seeks to--

improve third-party tourism to both countries through joint international promotional efforts;

prioritize exchange programs in various economic sectors; and

promote cross-border medical partnerships.

Mexico is the biggest source of international visitors to the United States after Canada.

In 2016, Mexican tourism to the United States peaked at 18,990,585 visitors, constituting 1 in 4 (24.9 percent) of all tourists that year.

Additionally, in 2016, spending by Mexican tourists in the United States totaled $20.3 billion, which represented a 3 percent growth from 2015.

In 2017, international tourist arrivals totaled 76,900,000, up 0.7 percent from 76,400,000 in 2016.

The same year, 77,000,000 international visitors spent a record $251.4 billion on hotels, travel, food, and souvenirs, a 2-percent increase over 2016.

However, also in 2017, there was a 6.1-percent decline in visitors to the United States from Mexico, comprising a loss of 1,166,585 Mexican tourists from 2016.

The Department of Commerce has not yet released 2017 spending totals by Mexican tourists in the United States, but a corresponding monetary decline would be approximately $1.24 billion in lost revenue.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 951 to promote bilateral tourism through the United States and Mexico.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2140, the ``Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2019.''

H.R. 2140 calls for an adoption by the United Nations of a definition of ``child marriage'' and develop a comprehensive strategy through the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to address child marriage in refugee settlements administered by the United Nations.

Child marriage occurs when a formal marriage or informal union takes place in which at least one person is younger than age 18.

Illegal child marriage arises when a formal marriage or informal union involving at least one person younger than age 18 that is illegal under the laws of the country in which the child marriage occurs.

It is critical that we better understand the presence of child marriages within refugee settlements in order to assess how they intersect with the rates of violence against girls including young children and infants.

This bill calls upon the United Nations to adopt a comprehensive strategy including:

Collecting and reporting data related to the number of known or suspected child marriages taking place inside each such settlement;

Protocols for United Nations personnel regarding prevention and monitoring of child marriages inside each such settlement;

A description of programs administered at such settlements that provide--

(A) physical, mental, and emotional rehabilitation and support to children who have extricated themselves from child marriage; and

(B) alternatives to child marriage, such as education initiatives; and

Protocols regarding how United Nations personnel should--

(A) report adults participating in illegal child marriages in each such settlement;

(B) monitor the prosecution of such adults by the authorities of the country in which the 2 settlement at issue is located.

When enacted, H.R. 2140 will develop a framework in gaining data on child marriages globally as well as create effective strategies to combat them in refugee settlements.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2140 to confront child marriages which pose a strong threat to young children especially girls living within these settlements.