Suzanne Bonamici

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the future of American education.

For decades, public schools have been asked to do more with less. Add to that, the fact that we have seen many new and complicated challenges over the past 10 years.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning and placed enormous strain on students, educators, and families. Importantly and alarmingly, screen time, cell phones, devices, and social media changed the way young people interact with each other and the world around them. Generative AI is transforming how students learn and how educators teach with serious consequences like cognitive shrinking and, as we have seen in international scores recently, decline at least partly attributed to digital distractions.

Now, the Trump administration is trying to dismantle the Department of Education and slash the Federal support that closes opportunity gaps for millions of students in schools. At the same time, too many students are struggling. Students from low-income families, students of color, students with disabilities, and students in different parts of the country from urban to rural continue to experience significant gaps in achievement.

We must change course. We need to move forward with a vision of public education that recognizes the challenges of today, a vision based on research and best practices. We need a vision that recognizes that today's children are tomorrow's leaders and are worthy of policies that create a better future.

That is why I am introducing the Transforming Education for the Future Act. This legislation recognizes that a good education is about more than a test score. Every student deserves a well-rounded education that prepares them to be creative, critical thinkers who will be successful regardless of their background or the path they take in life.

That means more hands-on, project-based learning. It means access to the arts, career and technical education, and civics education. It means career counseling to help students see a path to their future. It means instilling a love of learning, reading, and studying, not cutting the humanities.

Students deserve a fair measure of how they are doing, but standardized test scores alone do not define a child's potential. This bill would encourage the use of multiple, high-quality measures to give families and educators a more complete picture of student learning.

We also need to invest in the people who make learning possible. Teachers and school staff are the foundation of our public schools, yet educators continue to face low pay, difficult working conditions, and a shortage of resources. We must strengthen the educator pipeline, improve compensation and working conditions, and give educators the resources they need to succeed.

We need to invest in what works. My bill would strengthen education research and promote evidence-based practices that improve student success and well-being. We must also address the barriers that make learning harder.

Kids can't focus in school when they are hungry or if they are homeless. Lack of affordable, high-quality childcare is creating gaps at an early age. The Transforming Education for the Future Act would triple funding for title I to better serve students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the schools that educate them.

It would establish free universal preschool for 3-and 4-year-olds through a Federal-State partnership. It would make school breakfast and lunch free and provide summer meals. These are not extras. They are investments that determine whether a child can learn, whether a teacher can teach, and whether a community can thrive.

We need to keep the Federal Government focused on its responsibility, not to set curriculum, but to support the civil rights of students. The Federal Government has an important role to play in giving every child access to high-quality education regardless of their ZIP Code, income, or ability.

That means protecting the Department of Education so it can carry out

the responsibilities given to it by Congress. It means fully funding IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, so we finally fulfill the promise Congress made to students with disabilities and their families nearly 50 years ago.

It means strengthening civil rights protections and addressing segregation in schools. It means investing in public schools, not diverting Federal dollars into voucher programs that funnel money to private schools, including religious schools.

Circumstances have changed, but the American system of public education has not yet adapted. We need a public education system that meets the moment for today's students and tomorrow's. We need an education system that prepares students not to pass a test but to think critically and build a future. We need to support educators who make that possible, and we need to remove those barriers that stand between children and opportunity.

The Transforming Education for the Future Act is a blueprint for doing just that. It strengthens public education, and it reclaims the promise that every child in America deserves the opportunity to grow, learn, and succeed.

Mr. Speaker, that is the future our students deserve. That is the future we should build together.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Elfreth for yielding. I rise today in strong support of my bipartisan bill, H.R. 2406, the NOAA Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention Improvements Act.

No matter the job or the position, everyone deserves to work in a safe and welcoming workplace. Many employees at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, work in remote locations, aboard research and survey vessels, to conduct cutting-edge scientific research and to support U.S. fisheries.

This bill has some history. Several years ago, a fisheries biologist came to me with a serious issue. She had experienced sexual harassment while conducting research on a ship owned by NOAA, and she wasn't the only one. After reporting the harassment, she was effectively grounded, and so were the others who spoke up. Her research was derailed, and she was advised against going to sea for her own safety.

Her colleagues and harasser knew she had reported her experience, and there seemed to be little investigation into her case and the others. After hearing her story, I started to work with NOAA to find a resolution.

After several months, I met and worked directly with then-NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, who truly took this issue seriously. With Dr. Sullivan's leadership, NOAA implemented new training requirements, made it easier to report sexual harassment, and changed NOAA's investigation protocol. NOAA then completed its investigations into the cases that were brought to my attention, and the employees were able to return to sea and resume their important research.

I will note that every acting or confirmed NOAA Administrator since then, including Dr. Neil Jacobs when he was Acting Administrator and now again in his position as Administrator, have all expressed a commitment to the policies that keep their employees safe and free from abuse and harassment.

Although NOAA has taken steps to update their policies, threats to researchers are still alarmingly persistent. Last year, a multiyear study of harassment in the North Pacific Groundfish and Halibut Observer Program, the largest fisheries monitoring program in the U.S., found that nearly one-third of the 400 North Pacific observers experienced harassment or assault annually. Of these, only 45 percent of the observers who experienced

that harm disclosed it. Female observers were at least twice as likely to become targets as men.

As a member of both the Science Committee and the Education Committee, for years I have heard consistent support for getting more women into scientific careers. That is important, but it is also important to keep them safe while they are at work.

We must do more to prevent harassment and assault, help survivors seek justice, and hold harassers accountable for their actions. This bipartisan bill builds on NOAA's progress by expanding the agency's sexual harassment prevention and response policy to include employees of contractors, who were originally not covered.

My bill also directs NOAA to provide a clear, secure structure to anonymously report sexual harassment or assault. This would allow survivors to more easily identify safe reporting services without triggering an investigative process, if that is what the survivor prefers.

This bill would also add provisions so new covered employees and change of station or work location requests are included in the report to Congress. Importantly, this bill empowers NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement to enforce prohibitions on assault, intimidation, and interference with fisheries observers by removing restrictive stipulations that the acts be forcible in nature and occur on a vessel for NOAA to investigate.

NOAA has taken meaningful steps to protect its researchers, contractors, and ocean-dependent communities. That work should be recognized. This bill, as the chairman recognized, will strengthen those efforts and make needed improvements to prevent harassment, modernize reporting, and hold harassers accountable to bring justice to survivors.

We must do everything we can to create a work environment where scientists can achieve the next breakthrough discoveries, and everyone can feel safe at sea without fear of harassment, assault, or retaliation.

I am very grateful to Representatives Salazar and Fitzpatrick for cosponsoring this important legislation. I thank Chair Westerman and Ranking Member Huffman for advancing it through the Natural Resources Committee to the floor.

I urge all of my colleagues to support the NOAA Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention Improvements Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a landmark occasion in Oregon's 1st Congressional District, the centennial rededication of the Astoria Column.

This July, Oregonians from across the coast will gather to celebrate the 100th birthday of a monument that has been a beacon in Astoria since 1926. The centennial has spurred a remarkable effort to restore this observatory so the column will stand tall on Coxcomb Hill for another century and beyond.

Wrapped around the towering sides of the magnificent Column is a sweeping pictorial history of our region. These scenes, brought to life by architect Electus Litchfield and the masterful sgraffito painting technique of Attilio Pusterla, form a historical tapestry that is truly one of a kind.

Yet, the significance of this site extends beyond the Column itself. Just behind it rests a small granite marker that commemorates an invention born here on the Oregon coast: cable television. It is a quiet reminder that Astoria has always been a place where innovation meets history.

I recall visiting this very spot, at a time with gusty winds and torrential sideways rain, with Senator Merkley just before a town hall meeting. A little Oregon rain didn't stop us from climbing the spiral steps and gazing out at the City of Astoria and the Pacific Ocean.

This monument is a symbol of the Astorian spirit and the rededication a demonstration of the determination to protect the exceptional art and heritage for generations yet to come.

This day is possible because several decades ago Friends of the Astoria Column was created to preserve the column. Through decades, Friends of the Astoria Column have cared for this important structure, raising funds to complete cleaning and restoration, and even projecting a light show onto the column. In 1989 they actually scrubbed the column with toothbrushes to clean the facade.

It is truly an honor to represent Oregon's 1st Congressional District, and I am proud to stand with Astorians as they celebrate this beacon of our shared past.