Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, particularly as it pertains to the struggles young people face in our Nation today.

Mental health is an issue close to my heart, and ensuring that everyone has access to the mental health care they need is one of my top priorities in Congress.

In a recent national survey, 71 percent of college students reported experiencing mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression.

That is why I will soon be reintroducing my bill, Enhancing Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Through Campus Planning Act, which promotes positive mental health among college students and encourages more comprehensive planning on college campuses to prevent suicide and other mental health crises.

Schools and college campuses do not have the counselors or services needed to ensure that every one of our young people has a bright future, and it is our job to make sure they do.

Mr. Speaker, as we stare down a completely manufactured economic crisis, I sure hope we can come together to avoid a default, but the proposal from the far-right wing of the GOP, one that holds our economy hostage to enact extreme budget cuts, would hurt veterans most of all--veterans in my district, across Pennsylvania, and across the United States.

Pennsylvania has the fourth highest veteran population, so I am not talking hypotheticals when it comes to how VHA cuts would impact our veterans.

If they get their way, more than 272,000 Pennsylvania veterans' medical care and outpatient visits would be at risk due to slashed Veterans Health Administration funding. The 29 percent of Pennsylvania veterans who live with disabilities will face more red tape and longer wait times, undermining their much-needed medical care.

This is not what keeping our promises to those who served us, who protected us, looks like. Our veterans and the American people deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Nicholas Balabkins of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Balabkins was born in 1926 in Latvia and immigrated to the United States after World War II where he received his master's and doctorate degrees in economics.

For decades, Dr. Balabkins was a staple of the Lehigh University community, known for his ready smile and colorful bow ties and recognized by awards for his teaching excellence.

He wrote a dozen books and published over 40 professional economics articles, earning worldwide recognition for his work.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Dr. Balabkins received the highest civilian honor from his home country of Latvia: Order of the Three Stars.

Dr. Balabkins will be remembered as an extraordinary professor, neighbor, colleague, and friend. We honor his lifelong dedication to shaping the lives of the students who were lucky enough to pass through his classroom.

Mr. Speaker, this week, National Police Week, is a special time to recognize the courage and sacrifice of police officers in my district and across the country.

Police chiefs have shared their challenges with me, from difficulties with recruitment and retention to the high costs of modernizing their equipment and technology.

That is why I am cosponsoring the Invest to Protect Act that funds small police departments, like many in Pennsylvania-07, to help with retention and training, small departments like this one in Weatherly, Carbon County, Pennsylvania.

It is why I voted to institute stricter consequences for assault of law enforcement officers and voted to memorialize fallen officers killed in the line of duty.

It is why I am opposing the extreme GOP budget proposal to cut by 23 percent the number of local law enforcement agencies receiving Federal funding. That is why I am proposing that we increase funding for public safety programs.

Police officers put their lives on the line to keep us safe every single day. They deserve our thanks and our support, but they also deserve the Federal resources that they need to modernize and retain their officers. I will keep working to ensure they have those resources.

Madam Speaker, I am proud today to recognize the outstanding Anna Liable from Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Anna will graduate this year from Lehighton Area High School, in addition to receiving an associate degree in communications from Lehigh Carbon Community College. Although she is only graduating this year, Anna has been an avid reporter since 2019.

Anna reports for Sports Illustrated Kids, covering press conferences, conducting interviews, and reporting on assignment like any other reporter with press credentials.

She writes for MLB.com where she is the only young person asking questions of Major League Baseball players during interviews. She created her own podcast, ``Speak Up Sports,'' where she

covered the MLB Hall of Fame induction ceremony and interviewed an Olympic medalist, an NFL official, MLB general managers, and more--and where she highlighted the importance of Title IX and the contributions of women in sports.

For these achievements and more, Anna received the Congressional Gold Medal. She is well deserving of this highest national honor. I am so optimistic for what the future of journalism looks like, thanks to young people like Anna. She has a bright, bright future.

On behalf of all of Pennsylvania's Seventh District, we congratulate Anna.

Mr. Speaker, as Teacher Appreciation Week draws to a close, I am thrilled to recognize one of the many educators who has made an incredible impact on the lives of kids in my community: Mr. Mark Lavine from the Panther Valley School District.

A sixth grade math teacher, Mr. Lavine has been a Panther Valley educator for 21 years. His love for teaching and mentoring extends beyond the classroom as the high school football coach, adviser for the academic quiz challenge, and organizer of school spirit day.

Hardworking and compassionate, Mr. Lavine doubled the size of his math class to cover for a colleague on a leave of absence--twice.

He is known as the big brother on staff as a mentor to new teachers, and his energy inspires a loving curiosity for math in his students.

Mr. Lavine epitomizes the dedication of so many educators across Pennsylvania-07 who foster a lifelong love for learning in our kids.

This week and every week, thank a teacher who made a difference in your life, your child's life, or a loved one's life, someone like Panther Valley's Mr. Lavine.

Mr. Speaker, I am a mother myself. My children are now 27 and 30 years old, but I distinctly remember how challenging it was to have children in a two-parent working family.

I was a lawyer before I came to Congress, and I distinctly remember the panic when I had to bring my very active toddler son to court with me because his preschool was suddenly closed.

I really feel for people who have ongoing issues finding affordable, reliable childcare.

More than 38,000 children in Pennsylvania are waitlisted; 1,600 classrooms have closed; and hundreds of childcare positions remain unfilled. In my district in the Lehigh Valley, more than 1,500 children are waitlisted, and Carbon County is classified as a childcare desert.

The childcare crisis isn't just hard on parents. It is hard on childcare providers, too. Early childcare workers in my district make just $28,000 to $32,000 compared with their elementary school peers making $52,000.

The Childcare for Working Families Act introduced yesterday on a bicameral basis would help open more care providers and lower costs for parties, capping costs at 7 percent of a family's income.

Putting money back in parents' pockets, raising wages for hardworking care providers, and giving kids more quality early childhood education--that is working for people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1149, the Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act. I first thank my colleague from the other side of the aisle, Representative Radewagen, for co- leading this legislation.

This bill is proof and evidence that when it comes to national and economic security challenges, we can find common ground.

The purpose of the bill is simple: To investigate and respond to vulnerabilities caused by Chinese telecommunications companies in United States embassies overseas and among our close allies.

For far too long, the world has stood by as Chinese telecoms giants have operated as vehicles for the Chinese Communist Party to commit horrific human rights violations against the Uyghur people, to conduct mass surveillance and espionage, and to supply

technology to other repressive regimes around the world.

This bill takes critical steps to ensure that our telecommunications infrastructure requires the State Department to report on the United States collective defense allies that use untrusted telecommunication equipment or services in their 5G networks. Further, it mandates a report on telecommunication vulnerabilities in United States embassies overseas. Finally, it directs the Secretary of State to identify key telecommunications infrastructure projects designed to promote United States national security.

Securing these networks is imperative when it comes to national security and human rights, as well as for our economic security.

This legislation will help us ensure that the telecoms infrastructure of our country and our allies is secure and effective.

The Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support in the 117th Congress and passed the House by a resounding margin last September.

I urge my colleagues to reaffirm our commitment to securing our telecommunications network by again voting ``yes'' on H.R. 1149.

Madam Speaker, on March 1 of this year, drug manufacturer Eli Lilly announced its plan to institute a $35 cap on out-of-pocket insulin costs. Two weeks later, Novo Nordisk announced plans to cut its insulin prices by up to 75 percent. Just 2 days after that, Sanofi announced their decision to cut the U.S. price of its most prescribed insulin by 78 percent and cap costs at $35 for those with private insurance.

Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi make up roughly 90 percent of the insulin market in the United States, a market that for decades has been characterized by skyrocketing costs and unbelievable price gouging.

Some might say that these price-capping announcements are examples of corporate responsibility.

Let me correct the record: I say it is about damn time. I say this action is a hollow, decades-too-late example of big pharmaceutical companies attempting to shirk regulation as they face the most realistic possibility ever of being held accountable for price gouging Americans. I say it is not enough because for a century, pharmaceutical companies have been exploiting and profiting off Americans who depend on insulin and other lifesaving medications to survive.

In 1923, the inventors of insulin sold the patent for just $1. They felt it was unethical to profit from a discovery that would save so many lives. How ironic. Since then, insulin costs have skyrocketed, jumping 500 percent in just the past decade or so, with a vial costing as much as thousands of dollars per month.

Americans represent 15 percent of the global insulin market, yet we generate almost 50 percent of the pharmaceutical industry's insulin revenue. That is not an accident. Big Pharma has for decades taken advantage of the nonexistent regulation on drug pricing in the United States to make billions in profit off insulin.

It is corporate greed, pure and simple, fueled by hundreds of millions in dark-money lobbying to intimidate Congress from reining in the industry. In 2022 alone, pharma and health product companies spent a record $372 million lobbying against pricing regulations and Medicare negotiations. Big Pharma is well organized, well funded, and well connected. That is why last year's Inflation Reduction Act was so historic. It was the first successful attempt in decades to curtail this price gouging.

The work to lower drug prices is why I ran for office in the first place. It has been one of my very top priorities since day one in Congress, so much so that I have been called a dog with a bone when it comes to the fight to get drug prices down.

I cosponsored and voted to pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act. I voted to pass the Affordable Insulin Now Act to cap the cost of insulin at $35 per month for everyone. I introduced the bipartisan Fair Drug Prices for Kids Act to lower costs for families by allowing States to purchase medication at the lowest price offered by drug manufacturers. I called on House and Senate leadership time and again to take swift legislative action to lower drug costs. I stood with my constituents affected by high insulin prices to call attention to the crisis they face. I called for Build Back Better to include a measure enabling Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and I helped pass into law the Inflation Reduction Act that finally, finally realizes so many of these priorities.

The Inflation Reduction Act capped the price of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. Now, Big Pharma sees the writing on the wall. Their decision to lower insulin costs for everyone does not come out of so-called corporate responsibility. This decision comes because corporations are afraid that Congress, now having momentum, will continue to take action to rein in their corporate greed. Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi could have, at any point in the last century, capped the price of insulin and saved many lives. They are only doing it now as part of a transparent PR campaign to stave off further congressional action regulating drug prices. They can lower costs at will, but they can also raise costs at will. That means we must act because your ability to afford lifesaving medications should not be dependent on the whims of Big Pharma's pricing decisions.

For the countless people across my district and across the country who depend on lifesaving insulin, I am telling you that I will never back down.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, March 29, to commemorate Vietnam War Veterans Day and honor those who served in this conflict.

We acknowledge and deeply appreciate the sacrifices made by our brave soldiers, their families, and the communities that supported them.

We also need to make sure that we honor our POW-MIA Gold Star families who lost their loved ones or still endure the uncertainty of their fate during the war.

In addition to representing a large community of Vietnam vets, I have the distinct honor of having a Gold Star daughter, Maureen Hickman Caporaso, serve in my office. Her father, United States Air Force Captain Vincent J. Hickman, is one of the 1,553 servicemembers still unaccounted for to this day.

We must never forget the sacrifices of these families, and we must do everything in our power to continue searching and bring closure to those who still wait for their loved ones to return.

Why keep searching after all these years? Because you never leave a fallen American behind.

To the veterans of the Vietnam war, we offer a long-overdue welcome home. We honor your courage and your commitment to our country, and we thank you for your unwavering dedication to defending our freedom.

Today, let us recognize the immense sacrifices made by our servicemembers, their families, and the entire Nation during the Vietnam war.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in support of H.R. 1154.

This is a measure authored by Representative Chris Smith, who is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations of which I am the ranking member. He has been a long-time leader in this body on human rights challenges, and I am glad to be supporting this measure today. I look forward to continuing to work with Representative Smith to address many important global human rights challenges in the coming months on our subcommittee.

I also thank Representative Keating, the Democratic co-lead of this measure, for working across the aisle to refine this bill and make it bipartisan.

According to the State Department's 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, there have been troubling reports regarding the PRC ``forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, including religious and spiritual adherents.''

This is beyond the pale and absolutely unacceptable. It is important, therefore, that the State Department look more deeply into this issue.

H.R. 1154 shines a light on this horrible practice and calls on the State Department to make its annual reporting on the issue more robust and in depth. Not only does it call for more regular assessments of the problem, it also imposes sanctions on individuals that are involved in forced organ harvesting and trafficking.

This legislation will make sure that the United States is carefully gathering all of the facts to make an informed assessment regarding the magnitude and prevalence of this problem.

We should never look away from injustice and repression wherever it takes place. In that spirit, I support this legislation, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume for the purpose of closing.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1154 is an important, bipartisan measure. We know that organ harvesting has been a problem in China. We also know that PRC officials in Xinjiang have collected biometric data from Uyghur and other ethnic minority detainees. Given the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang, we simply cannot take Beijing at its word

about what it is and is not doing. We need to investigate, and we need to verify.

H.R. 1154 does just that. It calls on the State Department to provide important information to Congress, to the American public, as well as to the world about the scope of organ harvesting and trafficking around the world so that we may respond appropriately.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in support of H.R. 1107.

Mr. Speaker, the People's Republic of China, PRC, is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the entire world. Yet, for too long, it has shirked its responsibility to do more to combat climate change on the world stage. The PRC does this by seeking and securing the status of a ``developing country'' in international treaties and organizations, despite being the world's second-largest economy.

This kind of special treatment needs to stop. China needs to pay its fair share to fight global challenges.

That is why I stand here today to support the bipartisan measure by my colleagues Representative Young Kim and Representative Gerry Connolly.

H.R. 1107 calls on the State Department to work diplomatically within all relevant international organizations and treaties where China is treated as a developing nation to change its status. It is time that the PRC should be ascribed the responsibilities commensurate with its global impact and power.

The bill also ensures that U.S. diplomats will work to create mechanisms to consider such a change if they do not already exist. Most importantly, it will authorize our diplomats to work to ensure that the PRC is not getting special treatment regardless of the status it has.

Right now, China gets to have its cake and eat it, too. It is bolstering its influence and presence in international organizations and treaties, all the while avoiding having to contribute its appropriate share to solving global problems.

The PRC claims it is a responsible global power. This bill aims to hold it accountable by asking it to accept greater burden-sharing for global problems. This is an important measure.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1107 is an important bipartisan measure that calls out the People's Republic of China for failing to do its part in international organizations and treaties and calls on it to do more.

At the same time, the diplomatic actions that this measure calls for highlight just how critical it is that the United States remain engaged and present in international and multilateral forums and treaties.

We can only shape global decisions for the benefit of U.S. interests and can only counter the PRC if we are in the room. We have to negotiate and engage in diplomacy to advance our interests. Otherwise, as we have seen repeatedly, when the United States is absent or silent, China immediately swoops in to drive the international policy conversation and agenda in the direction it wants.

I support this bipartisan measure because it deepens both U.S. engagement

in international treaties and organizations while trying to effectively counter the PRC's own self-interested actions in these forums.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me and support this important bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in support of H.R. 1189.

The United States faces a strategic competitor in China that, as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has stated, ``is determined to overtake U.S. technological leadership and willing to devote nearly limitless resources to that goal.'' This technological competition will have a tremendous impact on our national security and economic interests.

Beijing is trying to take the lead in building the world's digital infrastructure as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. Increasingly, this push includes a focus on undersea cables, which carry over 95 percent of all international internet traffic, according to a recent Reuters report.

These cables transmit mundane things like emails and Facebook postings, but they also transmit more sensitive things such as financial transactions, as well as proprietary information or government secrets.

It is in our interest and in the interest of our partners and allies that these crucial data pathways are not vulnerable to attacks and espionage, which is harder to do if they are built and operated by PRC entities.

We got an example of that last month when two communications cables that connected Taiwan to two of its islands were cut by civilian PRC vessels, disconnecting 14,000 residents from the internet.

This bipartisan measure by Representative Brian Mast and Representative Andy Kim aims to put the United States in a position to reduce such risks and win the competition over who gets to develop the physical infrastructure that will drive the digital commerce of the coming decades.

H.R. 1189 requires the development of a strategy to eliminate the availability to foreign adversaries of goods and technologies capable of supporting undersea cables. It also calls on the Bureau of Industry and Security to apply export controls on the goods identified in the strategy and work with our partners to ensure those goods and technologies are not being exported to China.

The United States needs to be proactive in the competition with the PRC. This important bipartisan measure is an example of how we can secure American and global interests by using U.S. policy tools in an effective and timely fashion.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill. H.R. 1189 is a timely and forward-thinking bill. The United States is already engaged in a commercial competition with the PRC to win contracts to build undersea cables and create the technologies that power this vital infrastructure. It is important that the United States Government have a proactive strategy to win this critical area of competition with the PRC.

Some PRC companies involved in undersea cable development are actively engaged in helping to modernize the People's Liberation Army as part of China's civil-military fusion strategy. This raises clear national security concerns that warrant the use of export controls to ensure that American goods and technologies are not contributing to that effort. This bill will result in coordination with our partners and our allies to ensure that Beijing is not able to compromise our national security through the development of PRC-sponsored undersea cables.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me and support this important bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the recent 1-year anniversary of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act becoming law.

Dr. Lorna Breen was an emergency physician who tragically died by suicide after enduring the trauma and burnout of the COVID-19 front lines in New York City. She was, to put it simply, a hero. She is one of the countless healthcare heroes who face mental health crises and a suicide rate twice that of the public due to their demanding, all- consuming work.

The Dr. Lorna Breen law carries on her legacy, investing in support for healthcare workers' mental health needs.

I pushed hard to pass this bill, and now I am pushing for its grant programs to receive full funding through fiscal year 2024 because the heroes who take care of us deserve to be taken care of, too.

Our work to bring mental health out of the shadows is far from over. That work means meeting the mental health crisis among health professionals with the resources it demands. It means fully funding the programs within the Dr. Lorna Breen law.

Thank you to the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation for your continued leadership in shedding light on this crisis. I remain by your side in honor of Dr. Breen and all healthcare heroes whose mental health devastatingly went unmet.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a fellow Pennsylvanian, Gary Wasserson, of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

A little over a year ago following the beginning of Russia's full- scale invasion of Ukraine, Gary found out that he had distant cousins in Lviv. That realization prompted him to act, and soon he was on the Poland-Ukraine border assembling a team to cross the border and bring his relatives to safety.

Gary didn't stop there.

He has helped build an entire support network coming to the aid of Ukrainians in need: assisting in the successful extraction of thousands of Ukrainians to safe havens in Poland, Slovakia, Moldova, and across Western Europe; and sending hundreds of thousands of pounds of needed aid into Ukraine. Gary recently brought a gravely injured Ukrainian soldier to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City where he was able to receive the complex medical procedures that he urgently needed.

These are just a few examples of the profound difference that Gary, a private citizen, is making.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Gary for his compassion, for his willingness to act, and his dedication to standing with the Ukrainian people as they continue to resist this horrific war of aggression.