Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my amendment to H.R. 4502, the consolidated appropriations legislation that will fund, among other Federal agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services, including the National Institutes of Health.

This bill represents a strong investment in our national health care infrastructure, workforce, and research and development enterprise--and I thank Chairwoman DeLauro for her strong leadership in ensuring that Congress invests in the health of the American people as we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the health care challenges are more diverse than COVID-19 alone and warrant our careful attention and consideration. The historic investments in the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, and other health agencies are critical to addressing many of these health conditions and social issues.

I offered my amendment to this bill to address a critical gap in our fight to improve care for and save the lives of America's most vulnerable children--pediatric brain cancer patients. We have invested in intensive clinical and biological research for years, including through the National Cancer Institute, to investigate the origins of and therapeutic options for pediatric cancers, but the mortality of children with brain cancer remains high and is the leading cause of pediatric cancer deaths.

While brain tumors are rare in number among pediatric patients, the vulnerability of the patient population, combined with the array of tumor subtypes, makes investigating and treating this terrible condition a unique challenge for researchers. The National Cancer lnstitute's Childhood Cancer Data Initiative is one effort to undertake the difficult work of collecting phenotypic and genotypic data for pediatric cancer patients to inform the biologic and molecular underpinnings of these rare cancers.

I fully support this initiative--and my amendment would strengthen its current work by directing the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative to incorporate a key tool for researchers into its workflow--molecular tumor board data. Molecular tumor boards use information from each patient's tumor, including derived genotype and RNA and DNA profiling, and links research to the clinical characteristics of the child, to inform treatment decisions. These data sets are a rich source of real- world information that clinical scientists, treating physicians, and families will be able to use in real time to make critical decisions on care. Over time, they will improve our understanding of pediatric cancers' origins and functions and also assist in the development of new drugs, treatments, and potential cures.

Specifically, my amendment provides $2 million in further resources for the National Cancer Institute's Childhood Cancer Data Initiative, which should be sufficient resources to incorporate data from the 2000 most highly malignant brain tumor cases that occur in American children each year. The Initiative is well positioned to incorporate molecular tumor board data from diverse patients across the country, to work with academic centers that have the expertise to review the data and suggest treatment options, provide tumor board report information to patients and families, and to follow cases for clinical endpoints on a longitudinal basis.

Mr. Speaker, America's scientific and medical communities lead the world in groundbreaking, lifesaving research, and this bill rightly invests in furthering that national interest and strength. My amendment builds on this goal by centering research on some of the most vulnerable patients and some of the most unique and deadly health conditions that affect America's children. These tumors and cancers need innovative strategies to improve

care, quality of life, and survival. This research addresses the needs of pediatric brain cancer patients and their families to access precision-based therapeutics and medical experts. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment and the underlying bill to invest in the health of America's kids.

Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot of talk about the soaring costs of prescription drugs, but we seldom hear about the sad fact that Medicare is not allowed to negotiate prescription drug prices.

Earlier this month, drug companies announced yet another painful price hike on critical medications. The soaring price of prescription drugs is crushing Americans at the pharmacy counter, driving up health insurance premiums and creating unaffordable costs for taxpayers, who finance Medicare. That is right. We, the people, fund Medicare. Yet, due to an antiquated law, Medicare has to pay drug prices without the right to negotiate.

That is why, last week, I led a group of my colleagues in sending a letter to leadership, demanding that Medicare negotiation of drug prices be included in the upcoming reconciliation bill.

This is common sense, and it is long overdue.

According to the CBO, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices would save American taxpayers $456 billion in just the first 10 years alone, with those savings heading right back into the pockets of American families. And it would bring down drug prices for all Americans, not just Medicare recipients. Together, we can get this done.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about the INVEST in America Act, an important moment in the fight to upgrade our national infrastructure.

I am so glad to see the House take a critical step toward fulfilling many of the key priorities laid out in the American Jobs Plan by passing this bill.

I want to be really frank. There is no time to waste on this. We urgently need to fix the roads, bridges, tunnels, and drainage systems that we see crumbling around the country.

Not only does the INVEST Act address some of the key infrastructure needs of our country, but it also creates good-paying, middle-class jobs that will turbocharge economic growth.

The INVEST Act also includes $20 million in key infrastructure investments for my district, Pennsylvania's Seventh, that will support our economy and make roads safer for both motorists and pedestrians. I am proud to have secured this funding for my community.

We have more work to do to get an infrastructure package finalized, sent to the President's desk, and signed into law. Our country simply cannot wait any longer, but I am proud to support the INVEST Act and to get us one step closer to that goal.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the child tax credit, which will start reaching families next month.

It is hard to overstate the tremendous good that the American Rescue Plan is doing for people all across Pennsylvania and, indeed, all across this country. Soon, we will see even more direct relief heading to families in Monroe, Northampton, and Lehigh Counties in my district.

Starting in July, nearly all families with children in my district will receive monthly payments of up to $300 per child through the end of the year as part of the expanded and improved child tax credit. The expanded and improved child tax credit will be a lifeline for many struggling families, helping more than 133,000 children in my district.

I cannot overstate how meaningful this assistance is to families who have been hit so hard this past year. These are payments that will help families pay for the cost of childcare, healthcare, diapers, and clothing. For many, these payments will be the difference between food on the table or hunger.

I am proud to have fought for and passed the American Rescue Plan, and I am glad we were able to get important help like the child tax credit into the hands of families across Pennsylvania 7.

Madam Speaker, I arrived a moment too late to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 138.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Ramon Ramirez of Allentown, Pennsylvania, who tragically lost his life to a senseless rampage of gun violence on April 21 while he was filling up his work truck at a gas station in the wee hours of the morning.

He was 31 years old. He was a husband of 12 years and a father of three children. People remember him as a loving family man and a hard worker. He was someone who--as one of his neighbors put it--was always looking to make things better for those around him. That same neighbor remarked that lately she often heard Ramon and his son play basketball in front of their house.

The horrific toll of gun violence across our country is puncturing the American Dream. It has stolen the hopes and lives of so many families.

Mr. Speaker, I am not up here to advocate for any particular bill. I am up here to ask, beg, and plead that somebody on the other side of the aisle come to me with their suggestions of what we can do to stop these random acts of gun violence.

I want to work with my colleagues. We have to end this. I ask that all of my colleagues join me in paying tribute to Ramon Ramirez and standing in solidarity with his family.

Mr. Speaker, so many of the leaders we hear about are public figures, elected officials, people with loud voices in the community, but there are so many other kinds of leaders. In particular, in connection with this month's Women's History Month, I rise to pay tribute to some who are not often noticed, the extraordinary women who have battled the COVID pandemic on its front lines in my community and across our Nation.

This historic crisis has devastated my community and communities in every corner of our country. More than 530,000 of our fellow Americans have died. Millions have lost their jobs. Unprecedented numbers of children and families have faced hunger.

Women have experienced a disproportionate share of these converging crises. As a larger share of frontline workers, they have risen to the occasion, putting the health and safety of their neighbors ahead of their own.

One woman in my community, the Greater Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, has done everything she can to make sure these heroes and our most vulnerable neighbors are not forgotten. Dr. Rajika Reed has served the people of our community for more than 20 years as a counselor, children's therapist, teacher, public health researcher, and epidemiologist. Most recently, Dr. Reed has served in one of the hospital systems in my community, St. Luke's University Health Network, first as senior director of epidemiology and strategy and now as vice president of community health.

Dr. Reed has been instrumental in keeping our community informed throughout the pandemic. Dr. Reed has been particularly incisive when speaking about the disproportionate impact of COVID on various communities throughout the Seventh District, helping all of us recognize and understand how rapidly and drastically the stakes can change depending on a person's life circumstances.

By grounding every conversation in easy-to-understand data, Dr. Reed has made sure that officials at all levels have a shared understanding of constituents' lived reality and the challenges they face, particularly the stark racial and economic disparities that have only grown during the pandemic.

Still, throughout it all, Dr. Reed's warm and calm delivery has helped soften the blow of what was at times devastating news. Her work has helped mobilize my entire community around the shared mission of taking care of our own and putting the most vulnerable among us first.

To Dr. Reed and women frontline workers in every corner of my community, including many low-wage workers who still don't have the support or pay they need, I stand with you. All of us stand with you today and every day.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the most important pro- labor legislation in several generations, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, otherwise known as the PRO Act.

For far too long, the deck has been stacked against the right to freely organize and collectively bargain. We have seen the result. Despite massive gains in productivity and economic growth, working- and middle-class American workers' purchasing power and real wages have barely moved from where they were 40 years ago. Meanwhile, the gains that were created by those workers have flowed overwhelmingly to the super wealthy at the very top.

Let's level the playing field and give America's workers a seat at the table. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the PRO Act, and I urge the Senate to pass it and get it to the President's desk for signature.

Mr. Speaker, I know that no one in this Chamber needs to be reminded that we are here to represent people. In my community and nationwide, many people have been facing unprecedented financial hardship and personal struggles for a year now. Despite that fact, some people in this town will grow louder and louder in saying that the American Rescue Plan is too large and that after passing tax cuts for the super-rich, we can't afford to come to the aid of everyday working people and small business owners.

The truth is that we are in danger of doing too little, not too much. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz wrote: ``Congress must pass this legislation or risk an anemic and devastatingly incomplete recovery.''

After the 2008 financial crash, Washington bailed out the largest financial institutions without passing a large enough relief package. The resulting recovery was weighted heavily against working people. We cannot make that same mistake today.

Passing the American Rescue Plan means saving as many as 4 million jobs and returning to full employment as quickly as possible. It means setting up more vaccination sites in our communities.

Let's pass this bill this week and get it to the President's desk for signature.

Madam Speaker, I represent a Congressional district with nearly equal numbers of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. But when it comes to the question of whether everyday Americans' interests are reflected in their government, I hear the same message from my constituents, almost unanimously.

Regardless of political affiliation, my constituents seem to agree that dark money is drowning out the voices of working families. And they are outraged that lobbyists for the most powerful interests have a degree of access to our political system that is unheard of for an everyday citizen.

H.R. 1, the For the People Act, would begin the work of returning power to the American people. Among many important provisions, it would implement landmark anti-corruption reforms, including: requiring super PACS and dark money groups to disclose their donors, strengthening ``conflict of interest'' requirements for federal officials, and preventing members of Congress from serving on corporate boards. I'm also proud to have introduced the Lobbyist Loophole Closure Act as part of H.R. 1, which will enact more robust regulations around what constitutes lobbying and ensure no one can skirt federal lobbying rules.

Together, let's restore the trust of the American people in their government.

Madam Speaker, if the Equality Act is signed into law, millions of our fellow Americans will, for the first time, no longer be subject to discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Barriers across our society--in essential areas like housing, employment, credit, and education--will finally come down.

In reflecting on this legislation, I can't help thinking about my uncle Wes, who grew up during the Depression. As a young man, he was never able to come out to his family because he didn't think they'd accept him for it. Later in life, he did come out--living as a proud, gay man in Alabama. He passed away last year, and when I cast my vote for this legislation, I'll be thinking of him.

I'll also be thinking of the many messages I've gotten since I was first sworn in from young LGBTQ people in my community. They've shared their stories with me, and I've been inspired by their courage. I want them to know that this country belongs every bit as much to them--and that they have the right to a life of dignity and respect. That is what's at stake in this vote.

Mr. Speaker, in November of last year, I stood in this Chamber to support this legislation, the bipartisan National Apprenticeship Act. The House passed it, but the Senate failed to put it up for a vote. We need to seize this opportunity.

Revitalizing our apprenticeship system is not a Democratic or Republican priority. It is a national priority for workers across our country. It is essential to our task of building an economy that provides a wider, sturdier bridge to the middle class.

For every dollar invested in our registered apprenticeship system, we see a return of $28 in benefits. But the U.S. invests only $195 of public money per apprentice, while our Canadian neighbors spend $1,300 per apprentice. We are leaving too many communities behind and at risk of getting outpaced in the world economy.

Now is the time to invest in the American worker. This bill makes long-term investments and provides grants for employers to incentivize the hiring of apprentices, and it provides workers with the opportunity to earn while they learn and obtain portable credentials without incurring significant debt.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition.

Madam Speaker, as terrifying as today was here in the people's House, it was, thankfully, fairly short in duration. In contrast, the pain and fear that so many Americans are experiencing this year has been long and continuous to this very moment.

Rather than pitting Americans against Americans, as we are here, we should be working to ensure rapid distribution of vaccines and adequate relief to Americans who are struggling economically because of this horrific pandemic. But we are not doing that. Instead, we have witnessed a stunning assault on our democracy itself.

This challenge is not an act of patriotism. The position of the objectors is completely incompatible with patriotism.

Our country is defined by her great people, and our democracy is defined above all else by our Constitution, a Constitution that these individuals want to ignore because they have decided that their judgment, the judgment of a small minority of partisan elites, should somehow override that of the more than 155 million Americans who participated in this election. That, my friends, is not democracy.

We should all remember this country's founding was a rejection of monarchy, a rejection of the notion that any one person could be all- powerful. Our commitment to self-determination is what gave rise to our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. It is why our Founders made the choice to build a country anchored in respect for the rule of law rather than one tied to the whims of men. It is why we have free and fair elections that allow us to vote out those who hold office.

I am proud to join the vast majority of my colleagues in both Chambers, Republicans and Democrats alike, in making it clear that our democracy is bigger than any of us.

Let's be clear: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won a victory of 306 electoral votes in the electoral college, the same margin that President Trump won by in 2016 when he called it a landslide.

Nearly 7 million of my fellow Pennsylvanians braved this devastating pandemic and economic crisis to cast their ballots, culminating in a total turnout of more than 70 percent, the highest in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And nationwide, we saw record- breaking turnout.

Both in Pennsylvania and nationally, the President's efforts to overturn the election results in the courts failed resoundingly, with many of the strongest rebukes coming from judges the President himself appointed.

In fact, contrary to the assertion of my colleague from Georgia across the aisle, not a single lawsuit in Pennsylvania alleged fraud. The gentlewoman may not be aware of this, but allegations of fraud require specificity and detail, and no lawyer could risk his or her license to make such false claims.

I am heartened that several of the country's leading Republicans, including Senate Republican Majority Leader McConnell, Senator Mitt Romney, and former Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, have spoken out against this political stunt.

Senator Romney said: ``The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our democratic Republic.''

And as former Republican Representative Charlie Dent from my district said, the claim by the President of voter fraud in our State ``was simply reprehensible; the truth is that he suppressed his own vote by discouraging mail-in voting.''

And as Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw, also a Republican, has said: ``My question is, if the mail-in voting of Act 77 was so bad, why did The Trump Organization send out a mail-in ballot application to every registered Republican in the State?''

Today, I am thinking of all of the people who took the time to do their civic duty and vote, many standing in long lines or painstakingly researching how to vote by mail correctly.

We reject these disgraceful attacks on the voters of Pennsylvania and this attempt to throw out their votes.

To those in this Chamber who may cynically believe that stoking the forces of disinformation and division may be worth a short-term benefit to their political careers, I would urge serious self-reflection.

Our democracy is one of the most precious resources of the American people, protected against enormous odds and at great sacrifice by each generation of servicemembers and everyday citizens who put their lives on the line to build a freer and more equitable nation. They deserve better than what is happening in this Chamber today.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote yes on a bipartisan amendment to address the opioid crisis that affects our servicemembers so severely. And I thank my fellow Pennsylvanian and friend, Brian Fitzpatrick, for joining me in tackling this issue.

This amendment would establish a partnership between the Department of Defense and academic health centers to work on three key areas:

One, focused research on reducing our servicemembers' dependency on opioids;

Two, the development of new methods of pain management and mental health strategies; and

Three, partnerships with industry that would advance technologies for wounded servicemembers that will improve their day-to-day lives.

The opioid epidemic is not and cannot be a bipartisan issue. It hits communities all across the country, regardless of ethnicity, race, or socioeconomic status. But the epidemic is spreading to our servicemembers at an alarming rate.

Our servicemembers have unique challenges. Studies show that 15 percent of servicemembers use opioids following injuries while deployed, which is almost four times the civilian average of 4 percent. As a result, addiction is higher among servicemembers than in the civilian population and is rising. Over a 3-year period, the percentage of misuse nearly tripled. That is why this amendment is so critical.

Our servicemembers protect all of us and we can protect them by passing this amendment and curtailing the devastating addictions of our American heroes.

Mr. Chairman, I urge passage of this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, as some are aware, today marks the 1-month anniversary of the death of my beloved life partner, Kerry Acker. What most people don't know is that Kerry's death was a suicide.

Kerry was 63 years old. He shouldn't have had a care in the world. He was financially secure and had a warm, loving family and dozens of friends. He loved them all. And yet, incomprehensibly, he seemingly did not grasp the toll his absence would have on those who loved him.

Why am I sharing this very personal story? Because we all need to recognize that mental health issues know no boundaries. I do not want anyone else to suffer as he suffered, nor for any family to suffer as mine has over the past month.

This is a national emergency. In 2017, there were more than 47,000 suicides in this country and more than 1.4 million suicide attempts. Across our country, suicides rose by 30 percent between 1999 and 2018.

Behind these numbers are grieving partners and spouses, parents and children, siblings, friends, and relatives. Every community in our country has been touched in some way by major mental health challenges.

Removing the stigma cannot just be a slogan. We need to make it real through our actions. That means building a future where people truly understand that they should feel no more shame over seeking treatment for this disease than they would seeking treatment for any other disease or medical condition.

To anyone out there who is struggling, I am urging you to reach out. There are people who love you and who will suffer more than you know if they lose you. Help is available 24/7 through 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK.

To anyone who is concerned about someone in their life, please pick up the phone or take that drive to go see them. Don't wait.