Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Dr. Harold Jordan, a pioneering medical doctor and psychiatrist in my state of Tennessee who passed in December at the age of 87. Dr. Jordan became the first Black resident physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 1964 and Tennessee's first Black Commissioner of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. My father, Dr. Morris Cohen, was the Superintendent of the Western State Psychiatric Hospital (now the Western Mental Health Institute) in Bolivar, Tennessee, in the mid- 1970s, and worked with Dr. Jordan. After ensuring that every mental health facility in the state was accredited, Tennessee named a building in his honor: the Harold W. Jordan Habilitation Center in Nashville in 1979. Dr. Jordan also served for 18 years as the Chairman of the Psychiatry Department at Meharry Medical College, from which he graduated in 1962. He also served as its acting dean. He won the college's President's Award and its Humanism in Clinical Medicine Award. Vanderbilt established the Harold Jordan Lecture celebrating Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice in his honor. Born in 1937 in Newnan, Georgia, he knew by the age of seven that he would follow in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather into medicine. He graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in biology in 1958. After medical school, he married a nursing student named Geraldine, who survives him after 62 years of marriage. Family lore says they met while hiding after a bomb threat as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was preparing to speak at nearby Fisk College. Dr. Jordan and his wife raised four children in Nashville and belonged to the Clark Memorial United Methodist Church where he sang in the choir. He served as an officer in both the Tennessee National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve. Dr. Jordan and his wife retired to Los Angeles to be nearer to their children. I extend my condolences to Dr. Jordan's family, friends and many admirers. He made a profound difference in our state and his compassion, patient care and mentoring of future doctors will be long remembered.

Madam Speaker, I just find it unbelievable that we have called up a bill today to require the President to have congressional approval to stop fracking when we don't ask the President to not impound funds that have been appropriated through Article I by Congress, which is how they are supposed to be appropriated, and when we don't ask the President to not fire the IGs when legislation requires him to give 30 days' notice to Congress before he does so and to give good reason for it when the IGs are there to find fraud, abuse, and waste of government moneys.

That is more important and adds up to more and more dollars that the IGs find, and there are other areas where our authority has been stepped on and violated.

This is just insane that we are doing this today.

Madam Speaker, I saw where one of Mr. Musk's followers resigned because he made statements that he was racist before racism was cool and that he would never marry anybody that didn't look like him and of his own race. It sounds like somebody who was inspired by pre-apartheid South Africa.

Mr. Speaker, in this House, Democrats and Republicans came together, as they appropriately should, to remember the victims of the plane crash last week.

We should also come together and remind our President that we don't know what the cause of it was, and it certainly wasn't DEI. DEI has never caused deaths in this country's history. Never. We need to come together and remember we were all on this floor when it was invaded on January 6 by insurrectionists.

I don't think one of my colleagues on the other side has questioned the pardons given to all the January 6 insurrectionists who tried to take over this government, nor have they stood up to a President and his aide, private citizen Elon Musk, who are doing unconstitutional duties to take over government branches, which they don't have the right to do, that only Congress can pass bills to change. Only Congress can cut out spending under Article I. They can try to change the Constitution on birthright citizenships, but only Congress can begin a constitutional amendment.

We need to stand up for America. America is under attack as much as it was on January 6.

God bless America, and I hope we continue to exist as a democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the ``Black January'' killings, one of the most tragic events in Azerbaijan's history.

On the night of January 20, 1990, approximately 26,000 Soviet troops stormed Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku in tanks and armored vehicles. The Soviet military bulldozed innocent Azerbaijanis and opened fire indiscriminately on peaceful demonstrators, including women and children. As a result of these merciless acts, 147 people were killed, about 800 were injured, 841 were arrested, and five went missing.

The Human Rights Watch report ``Black January in Azerbaijan'' states that ``among the most heinous violations of human rights during the Baku incursion were the numerous attacks on medical personnel, ambulances, and even hospitals.'' I offer my thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims and to those who gave their lives to help their fellow citizens.

The United States was one of the first countries to recognize independence and fully established diplomatic relations on February 28, 1992. Today, the United States and Azerbaijan are still strategic allies and share common interests in the region and globally.

As the co-chairman of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, I urge my colleagues to recognize the sacrifices of the Azerbaijani people in their steps towards independence and encourage a recommitment to the democratic values for which many Azerbaijanis sacrificed their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chairman's remarks, and the gentleman is certainly an embodiment of the virtue of waivers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 144, bipartisan legislation to promote additional transparency over the salary structure of the Tennessee Valley Authority, otherwise known as the

Mr. Speaker, I am still here.

Mr. Speaker, I will say that the bill has been well explained. It is an important and a good bill. All that Representative Burchett said about his father, Dean Burchett, a rich Tennessean, and Mrs. Burchett is true. They were wonderful people.

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

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of things in here that were taken out of the compromised bill that were good for the American people and one of the things was DSH payments. We give money to hospitals to treat the least among us, the poorest people that need healthcare, and that was taken out of the bill.

That is cruel, inhuman, and anti-Judeo-Christian. That is one of the main reasons why I opposed this bill because the hospitals that take care of those people are doing God's work and they need to be given the moneys they have been given in the past, a 1-year extension, and Republicans took that out. That is wrong.

Mr. Speaker, I oppose the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the recognition and the cosponsorship and support.

Mr. Speaker, this bill came from a meeting I had in Memphis with nurses at the University of Tennessee. They were discussing human trafficking and ways that victims could be identified, and the idea came to fruition through the work of the University of Tennessee Nursing School.

Human traffickers exploit tens of thousands of people in the United States. When we talk about human trafficking here, we are basically talking about sexual trafficking. I mean, the trafficking of workers, the trafficking in a variety of occupations, but these are women who are trafficked for sex.

The actual number is difficult to determine, but it is one of the reasons we introduced the SOAR Act several years ago. I am pleased it passed, and it has done much good.

It has shown that, when nurses are trained, they can identify victims of sexual trafficking. Oftentimes they end up in health facilities because they get beaten by the people who put them into this position. They have wounds, and they have to come to emergency rooms. The nurses are there to observe. If they are trained, they are the initial source. They can then get these women out of the human trafficking and prevent this scourge on human society.

This bill expanded the training program under the Department of Health and Human Services to train these workers, health and social service providers, to identify potential human-trafficking victims, work with law enforcement to report and facilitate the communication with such victims, refer victims to social or victim service agencies and organizations, and provide victims with coordinated care tailored to their circumstances.

The program has been successful. In September 2017 and September 2023, the Office of Trafficking in Persons hosted 222 events through which they trained over 263,000 healthcare professionals. After receiving the training, 91.4 percent of the participants indicated they had high or very high confidence in their ability to identify and respond to human trafficking.

The SOAR to Health and Wellness Program has made tremendous strides to train healthcare professionals on the signs of human trafficking and the appropriate steps to be taken once they identify the victim.

As Members of Congress, we should continue to support this program so that more people could be trained to properly identify and assist victims of human trafficking. Pass the reauthorization bill here, and let our constituents know that, if they are being trafficked or are suspicious that someone they know is being trafficked, help is available.

The Homeland Security Investigations Tip Line is 866-347-2423, and the National Human Trafficking Hotline is 888-373-7888.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill to reauthorize the SOAR Act, and I thank the committee ranking member and the committee chair for bringing the bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to hope that about nine Republicans leave and don't vote, and I rise to a question of the privileges of the House and offer the resolution that was previously noticed.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, today I filed a bill to require the Ethics Committee to release the ethics report on former Representative Matt Gaetz, and I will give notice shortly.

I don't do this to give the salacious parts of the report to the public for any purposes, such as they might have for people, and there certainly are alleged parts in there concerning sex with a minor and drug use. I do it because it is important because Mr. Gaetz said that the report was a witch hunt, and it put the House on the defensive, and it should have, by saying it was a witch hunt.

The House Ethics Committee members spent a lot of time and the staff spent a lot of time, and it cost a lot of money.

The House needs to defend itself, and the best way to do that is to release the report and show that it was not a witch hunt but that it was important.

It also said that they would determine that he misused his office, that he converted campaign funds for personal use, and that he engaged in bribery, improper gratuities, or impermissible gifts.

There are other matters in here that I don't really understand, but I think the public should know.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intention to raise a question of privileges of the House.

The form of the resolution is as follows:

Directing the Committee on Ethics to preserve and release the records of the Committee's review of the alleged misconduct of Matthew Louis Gaetz II of Florida while serving as a Member of this honorable body of the House of Representatives.

Whereas, Matthew Louis Gaetz II of Florida served in the House of Representatives from January 3, 2017, through November 13, 2024;

Whereas, Clause 2 of Section 5 of Article I of the Constitution of the United States establishes that ``each House may determine the rules of its proceedings'' and ``punish its Members for disorderly behavior'';

Whereas, clause 3(a)(2) of rule XI of the rules of the House of Representatives provides the Committee on Ethics the authority to investigate alleged violations by a Member, Delegate, or a Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House of the Code of Official Conduct or rule of law rule or rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee in the performance of the duties or the discharge of responsibilities of such individual;

Whereas, on April 9, 2021, the Committee on Ethics initiated a review of allegations that Representative Gaetz may have ``engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused State identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improperly gratuity, or impermissible gift in violation of the House rules, laws, or other standards of conduct'' in violation of the Federal law and the rules of the House;

Whereas, on June 18, 2024, the Committee on Ethics released a statement acknowledging the committee's continued review of allegations that Representative Gaetz may have ``engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct'';

Whereas, if Representative Gaetz engaged in the alleged violations while serving as a Member of the House, such conduct would affect the rights of the House of Representatives and the integrity of the legislative process:

Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the Committee on Ethics shall--

(1) preserve all documents and investigative materials related to any review of Matthew Louis Gaetz II's conduct while serving as a Member of the House of Representatives;

(2) publicly release the committee's report, including any associated findings, recommendations, and proposed disciplinary actions, as discussed by the committee on November 20, 2024, regarding the alleged violations of the Code of Official Conduct of the House or of a law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct by Matthew Louis Gaetz II while serving as a Member of the House of Representatives; and

(3) in accordance with the committee's practice for releasing public documents, they should hide witnesses' identities and redact any personally identifiable information of minors and victims from any House documents associated with this matter before publicly releasing them.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intention to raise a question of the privileges of the House.

The form of the resolution as is follows:

Directing the Committee on Ethics to preserve and publicly release records of the Committee's review of the alleged violations of the House Code of Conduct and Federal law by Representative Matthew Louis Gaetz II of Florida.

Whereas, Matthew Louis Gaetz II of Florida served in the House of Representatives from January 3, 2017, through November 13, 2024;

Whereas, Clause 2 of Section 5 of Article I of the Constitution of the United States establishes that: ``Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings [and] punish its Members for disorderly behavior'';

Whereas, clause 3(a)(2) of rule XI of the House of Representatives provides the Committee on Ethics the authority to investigate alleged violations by a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House of the Code of Official Conduct or of a law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee in the performance of the duties or the discharge of the responsibilities of such individual;

Whereas, on April 9, 2021, the Committee on Ethics initiated review of allegations that Representative Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused State identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House rules, laws, or other standards of conduct in violation of Federal law and the rules of the House;

Whereas, on June 18, 2024, the Committee on Ethics released a statement acknowledging the Committee's continued review of allegations that Representative Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct;

Whereas, if Representative Gaetz engaged in the alleged violations while serving as a Member of this body, such conduct would affect the rights of the House of Representatives and the integrity of the legislative process:

Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the Committee on Ethics shall--

(1) preserve all documents and investigative materials related to any review of Matthew Louis Gaetz II's conduct while serving as a Member of the House of Representatives; and

(2) make public the Committee's report regarding the alleged violations of the House Code of Official Conduct or of a law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct by Matthew Louis Gaetz II while serving as a Member of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay a respectful tribute to Dorothy Truitt Walk whose 1960 sit-in at Memphis' Cossitt Library began a transformation of my hometown for the better. Ms. Walk passed in October at the age of 88. Typical of her public-mindedness and humor, she donated her body to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the medical school in Memphis, telling her family it would make her a Tennessee Volunteer. Ms. Walk was a civic dynamo, raising the money to build the Orange Mound Community Center and riding in the parade on the day it opened. She also helped preserve and protect our city's monuments and landmarks. But it was the sit-in at the downtown library and her arrest that began her storied career in public life. Memphis had a segregated library for African Americans and a lawsuit to end segregation was pending when she, then a 24 year-old student at LeMoyne College, and 34 others, grew impatient and staged the March 16, 1960 sit-in. Months later, the city integrated its libraires, but her arrest meant she could not work in the city schools, and she got a job teaching across the river in Arkansas. Ms. Walk often wrote to me with ideas, and I was fortunate to receive her thoughts and support. She also wrote thoughtful letters to the editor and to city officials, raising important issues. In response to her suggestions, then-Mayor Dick Hackett asked her to serve on a city board or commission, and she chose the Memphis-Shelby County Landmarks Commission and served there for 10 years. She also worked at International Harvester, the farm- equipment company, and retired when the Memphis plant was moth-balled. Ms. Walk was a lifelong member of the Beulah Baptist Church in Orange Mound. In addition to her civic work, she read the daily newspapers for 14 years on the public radio station WYPL, the Memphis Public Libraries' non-commercial station. St. Mary's Episcopal School named her a Memphis Woman Who Made a Difference in 2001. I extend my condolences to her son Calvin and his wife Christy Walk; her sister Janiece Williamson; stepsister Claudette Flowers; brother Jeff Harrison; and her extended family, friends and many admirers. Ms. Walk truly made a difference and made Memphis a better place. Hers was a life well-lived.

Mr. Speaker, this week, I came back to Washington with the idea of trying to give President Trump a chance, an open mind, hold my tongue a bit. It has been difficult, and it will get more difficult, it appears.

I first got inspired to get into government because of John Kennedy. I knew every single one of John Kennedy's Cabinet members. They are referred to in a book as the best and the brightest. That is what we used to have in our Cabinet of the United States of America was the best and the brightest.

What we have seen with the nominations that have come forth and the request for changes in the Senate's confirmation policy really is scary and should be of concern to the American people. It is a red light on the possibility of loss of democracy and the implementation and institution of autocracy.

Mr. Trump asked the Senate leadership to give him a 2-week period where he could make Senate recess appointments, something that is permitted in the Constitution but was permitted because of the idea that back when they wrote the Constitution, if the Senate took a recess, it could take weeks or months before they could all get back to Washington by trains or horses, or however they traveled back in those days, in the late 1700s, to conduct business.

That is not the case anymore. The Supreme Court has ruled in a case about 10, 15 years ago that--I think it was Justice Scalia who was the lead on the Court--this should only take place in intersession, between the times the Senate ends a term and begins a new term, and that is simply whenever they decide to take off.

President Trump has asked. Senate leaders, candidates, and the Senate leader who was chosen, Mr. Thune, all said they would do it when Mr. Trump asked them to do it, to have a period where he could have his appointments for Cabinet to come forward and be approved because of lack of action by the Senate in what is called a recess appointment. That is a dereliction of the Constitution, and anybody that goes along with it should be questioned.

The Senate is to act as a check and balance on the President and his nominations and appointments of Cabinet members. The Senate meets, has hearings, and votes to confirm or not to confirm nominees.

To not have hearings, to not have votes because at least some of his Cabinet recommendations are so abhorrent that they would scare the American people, and have a spectacle of bringing forth the facts about their backgrounds, lack of experience, and the lack of character that they have shown in their times in government and life here on this planet--to not have hearings and to not have votes is a dereliction and an offense to the Constitution that has the Senate as a check and balance before nominees are approved.

The worst was yesterday when Matt Gaetz was recommended for Attorney General. After his recommendation, and he flew back and forth to Washington with President-elect Trump, he announced his resignation from this body. By so doing, he thwarted an ethics investigation that has been going on in the House Ethics Committee concerning alleged conduct that he had had with a 17-year-old girl, sexual conduct, his involvement in activities using illegal drugs, use of his congressional powers for the benefit of people illegally, use of campaign funds for personal activities, and other offenses that would call for the expulsion of a person from this House.

By his resigning from the House, that investigation ends because the Committee no longer has jurisdiction over him. He will become a nominee for Attorney General to go through the recess process where all of these facts won't come forth.

I would hope that our Ethics Committee and the chair of the Ethics Committee, who has done a great job on other occasions, and I have great respect for, would release the results of that study to the American public because they should see it. They should see the work that has been done, and they should see the type of person who is going to be brought up for Attorney General of the United States, even if the Senate doesn't want to bring it forth with hearings.

As I understand it, the report would be eye-opening and extremely damaging and should be released to the American public. They have a right to see it.

The recommendation of Tulsi Gabbard to be the head of intelligence, when she has mostly been known for controversial statements supporting our foes around the world, from Syria to Russia to Iran, is disturbing and challenging.

The suggestion that the Department of Defense should be led by the host of Fox & Friends on weekends, as his main contribution to society, is scary to our soldiers, who need the best and brightest at the helm.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support the millions of Americans who live with disabilities and who want to stay in their homes. That seems like a pretty simple idea and something that, unfortunately, millions and millions of people are denied.

In 1999, the Supreme Court issued the Olmstead decision, finding that individuals with disabilities have a right under the Americans with Disabilities Act to receive State-funded supports and services while living independently in their community.

This landmark decision promised to ensure people would have access to home and community-based care as an alternative to institutionalization.

However, 25 years later, people are still being forced into institutions, including nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals.

One person who wanted to live in their home with the benefit of these services, which were court affirmed, was Latonya Reeves.

She lived in my hometown of Memphis but couldn't get the services in her home that she needed, so she moved to Colorado in 1991 where she could live without being institutionalized.

While there, she contributed to the community by working as a transition counselor and community activist.

This session, I introduced the Latonya Reeves Freedom Act, which would codify the Olmstead decision and strengthen the rights of Americans with disabilities to receive long-term services and supports in the settings of their choice.

This bill has been around in several forms for several years. In the last two terms, it has gained the support of a majority of the House of Representatives, and in this Congress it has had as many as 222 cosponsors. I filed a discharge petition to bring the bill to the floor just a few minutes ago.

In the remaining days of the 118th Congress, I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will sign the discharge petition to support the millions of Americans with disabilities.

Let's keep the American Dream alive for people with disabilities to stay in their homes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay a profound tribute to William ``Bill'' Lucy, a giant of the civil rights and labor movements, who passed on Tuesday, September 24, at the age of 90. Mr. Lucy, a native of Memphis, was a 34-year-old working for the Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) when he was sent to Memphis to work with the striking sanitation workers in February of 1968. He is credited with the iconic ``I AM A MAN'' placard messages and with encouraging Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to come to Memphis to support the cause. Those efforts led to the creation of AFSCME Local 1733 which is still proudly representing local public employees. Lucy was born on November 26, 1933, and attended schools in Memphis until his father was recruited to work as a welder in the California shipyards during World War II. Lucy graduated from high school in 1951 and studied civil engineering at the University of California-Berkeley. He then worked in the shipyards before being hired by the Contra Costa County government as an engineering aide. In that position, he strengthened an employee association into a real union, AFSCME's Local 1675, before heading east to Washington in 1966 to work at AFSCME's national headquarters as executive assistant to its International President Jerry Wurf. He was working at the headquarters office in Detroit when he was called to Memphis to monitor a dispute between the city and striking sanitation workers, who were not officially affiliated with AFSCME. He joined the negotiations on their behalf with a city that deemed their strike an illegal walkout and refused to acknowledge the workers or their demands for improved working conditions, union recognition, and respect. He and the Reverend Malcolm Blackburn helped devise the iconic I AM A MAN placards that galvanized not just local workers but world opinion. After Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, and cities across the country burned, President Johnson urged an end to the strike largely on the workers' terms.

On a personal note, I considered Mr. Lucy a good friend and have valued his advice and guidance throughout my time in public office. I particularly cherish the 2007 William Lucy Award I received from the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists of Tennessee and Kentucky that he founded. Mr. Lucy was a tall and commanding figure whose presence was striking and justly demanded respect and attention.

Mr. Lucy became the international secretary-treasurer of AFSCME and served there for 38 years. During that time, he helped found the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists to counter the neutral stand the AFL-CIO took in the 1972 presidential race, contending that re-electing Richard Nixon threatened civil rights and labor progress. Mr. Lucy was later a central figure in the boycotts and campaigns for divestments from state employee pension funds aimed at the white South African apartheid system. In the mid 1980s, he helped

launch the Free South Africa Movement which held protests outside the South African Embassy in Washington and called for the release of Nelson Mandela, who was ultimately freed in 1990 after 27 years in prison to become the country's first Black president. In 1994, Mr. Lucy led an AFL-CIO delegation to South Africa to monitor the election in which Mandela was elected president. Mr. Lucy served as the first Black president of the Public Services International, the world's largest labor federation, and was on the boards of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Africa-America Institute, and other organizations and was regularly recognized as one of the most influential Black Americans by Ebony magazine. In 1995, he was elected to the AFL-CIO's executive council. Before and during his retirement, Mr. Lucy remained active in a variety of civil rights activities and was an advisor to Washington, D.C., Mayors Walter Washington and Marion Berry. Dorotheria, his wife of 47 years, passed in 2000, and his son William Jr., in 1977. I extend my sincere condolences to his daughters Benita and Phyllis, his extended family and his many friends and countless admirers. Mr. Lucy was a major force for good in this country and around the world, and he will be missed.