Floor Statements

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.

Mr. Speaker, I call for the House to impeach Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, whose mission is to close down the Department of Education, which is something that she does not have the authority to do.

Secretary McMahon has betrayed students, families, and educators by dismantling and destroying the Department of Education without coming to Congress for approval. She violated Federal law and her oath of office, lied to Congress, and created chaos and disruption in education funding for the students who need it the most.

Secretary McMahon transferred more than 100 core programs and services, including the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office for Civil Rights, to other Federal agencies without congressional approval, creating more bureaucracy and chaos and putting the administration of the IDEA in jeopardy.

Secretary McMahon cut the Department's workforce in half so that they don't have the necessary staff to disburse congressionally authorized funding on time or to investigate civil rights violations.

Educators and parents, especially parents of students with disabilities, are distraught, and they are asking us to take action to stop these illegal transfers.

I hear them.

Mr. Speaker, I invite all of my colleagues to join me in support of this resolution impeaching Secretary McMahon for her illegal attempt to destroy the Department of Education.

Mr. Speaker, this week, hundreds of scientists, conservationists, explorers, students, and advocates from across the country are gathered here for the 25th anniversary of America's premier ocean policy event: Capitol Hill Ocean Week, or CHOW. This week marks 25 years of translating science into policy and cultivating partnerships to protect the coasts, fisheries, and habitats that sustain our economy and our world.

As our Nation marks its own 250th anniversary, this week challenges us to reckon with both the threats and opportunities we face as stewards of the ocean: to chart a course for the next 250 years by protecting the ocean because of its importance to our shared prosperity and to the planet.

Mr. Speaker, 250 miles above us, the International Space Station crosses the horizon every 90 minutes. From that vantage point, there are no borders, but there is a lot of blue. More than 70 percent of the Earth is ocean, providing habitat for thousands of known species, driving economies for coasts and nations, and regulating the climate effects on every harvest, port, and storm.

Down here at sea level, we are testing the limits of our blue world. The same waters that feed and connect us are warming, becoming more acidic, and rising faster than at any point in human history.

This Nation was built by the sea. Our maritime heritage runs through every port, fishing village, and coastal community. The science and tools we have built to help us steward our waters have saved countless lives, properties, and habitats. They are among this country's greatest achievements.

We jeopardize that resilience if we fail to manage ocean resources wisely. As climate change accelerates, shifting currents and migrating species are redrawing economic maps and straining international cooperation. These risks undermine trade, safety, and stewardship.

Nearly one-third of the seafood consumed in the United States is now tied to illegal or unreported fishing, a black-market industry worth up to $36 billion a year, often entangled with drug smuggling and forced labor. These networks plague ecosystems, weaken supply chains, undercut U.S. workers and businesses, and erode the rule of law.

The Trump administration is choosing to compound the risks and undermine the country's lead agency, NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, by shedding thousands of its workers and threatening to eliminate its research office. Belittling science in the name of modernization will erode our Nation's talent and further strain our oceans' resources.

Here is the good news. When we choose stewardship, it pays dividends. Every dollar invested in NOAA yields $112 in benefits--in jobs, in stability, and resilience. Ninety percent of the U.S. fisheries are now sustainably managed. American ocean science has stimulated an $827 billion blue economy that supports 3.3 million jobs. That didn't happen by accident. It happened because leaders worked together and kept focus through the countless partnerships that keep our coasts working and our ecosystems thriving.

I represent a significant part of the magnificent Oregon coast. When I visit, I see future ocean leadership, and I see what it can look like: fishers using real-time data to avoid depleted stocks, students mapping kelp forests that store more carbon per acre than any forest on land, and scientists working to research marine energy that can harness the power of the tides to keep the lights on.

Capitol Hill Ocean Week reflects these ambitions and calls us to realize them. That is the vision for future demands: science in service of security and cooperation in service of resilience.

That partnership means embracing the truth that conservation and competitiveness are not opposites. They are inseparable. The same science that restores coral reefs also protects coastal infrastructure. The same satellite technology that tracks illegal fishing also improves disaster response. The same diplomacy that defends marine ecosystems also deters instability and preserves human rights.

After 25 years of organized ocean advocacy, we know the challenges and are equipped with the solutions. What we need now is the shared resolve to turn that knowledge into action.

The ocean won't wait for our politics to calm. Its currents are eroding coastlines and economies. If we delay, we will cede precious resources and influence to those who would exploit both. If we act, we can turn climate risk into resilience by decarbonizing commerce, restoring blue carbon ecosystems, and expanding the industries that will define a sustainable century.

That is the challenge we face to make the ocean once again a source of unity rather than division, abundance rather than scarcity, and cooperation rather than conflict.

As co-chair of the bipartisan House Oceans Caucus, I have seen what is possible when we keep that focus. We have bridged party lines, brought agencies and industries to the same table, and shown that ocean health does not need to be partisan.

The scientists, fishers, explorers, and advocates here at Capitol Hill Ocean Week know that leadership, like the tide, is never still. The future of American prosperity and the blue planet depend on it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 7726, which will have detrimental effects on child care in the United States. Fraud at any level is unacceptable, especially if it takes valuable child care away from families. But the Child Care and Development Fund already includes strong safeguards to help the program fulfill its core mission of caring for the Nation's youngest learners while supporting working families. Although this bill may be aimed at ``addressing fraud,'' in reality it will leave many families without the child care assistance they need. The Child Care and Development Fund supports 1.4 million children each month. This bill, which adds onerous oversight requirements and is overly punitive for states that fail to meet requirements, will undermine the ability for the program to do what it is supposed to do--help low-income families afford child care. Any disruptions in the system--including freezing payments across all states--have real and immediate consequences. Child care is essential infrastructure that millions of American families need, and we should treat it as such. I strongly urge my colleagues, to oppose this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 2616, which does not protect kids. This bill is yet another attempt to micro- manage educators, harm LGBTQI+ students, and weaponize the federal government to discriminate against a small handful of already vulnerable students. There are real problems in our schools, yet at every turn, my Republican colleagues are choosing to scapegoat the trans community to divert attention from the fact that they are partners with the administration in undermining our public school system and actively dismantling the Department of Education. Schools should be places where all children feel safe to live and learn as their authentic selves.

Instead, this bill prevents the use of federal funds to ``teach or advance concepts'' related to gender ideology and forces schools to ``out'' students--even if it would cause harm or trauma. This bill is damaging and discriminatory to transgender students, who have constantly seen themselves attacked and erased by my colleagues' harmful rhetoric. Research shows that discriminatory policies like H.R. 2616, are associated with higher suicide risk among LGBTQI+ youth. Adults in Congress shouldn't be actively harming the mental health of our Nation's youth. I urge my colleagues to please stop picking on trans kids and oppose this harmful legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the bill we are debating today, 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, is a meaningful investment in addressing the Nation's housing crisis. It appears to be a comprehensive legislation, but manufactured housing is left out.

For no good reason the House removed a bipartisan provision from this legislation that would revitalize manufactured housing communities. 22 million Americans, including many veterans, seniors, and working families, live in manufactured homes, and manufactured housing communities provide a critical source of attainable homeownership.

The Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement--or PRICE Act--helps to preserve existing low-cost homes at a fraction of the cost of new construction. Although this housing package makes major investments, rural communities and people living in manufactured houses are being left behind.

Both the President and Senate support keeping the PRICE program in the bill, so I urge my colleagues to add PRICE back in and recognize the needs of the millions of low-income Americans who live in manufactured housing communities.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a group of impressive students from Oregon's 1st Congressional District--Lincoln High School's Constitution Team. Earlier this month, the Lincoln High School Constitution Team placed sixth at the annual We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution national finals.

This annual competition allows hundreds of students from around the Nation to demonstrate their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, government, and Supreme Court decisions by arguing historical and contemporary constitutional issues. The knowledge, critical thinking, and civic engagement demonstrated through this competition underscores the importance of programs that prepare students to understand and participate in democracy. These students consider and debate contemporary issues through a constitutional lens.

They have learned from their teachers, coaches, and importantly, from each other. Their accomplishment is a testament to their hard work and analytical skills and exemplifies the importance of civics education.

The constitution team at Lincoln High School has consistently placed among the top teams in the Nation. Over the years they have established a tradition of excellence that has been nurtured by dedicated educators and volunteer coaches, administrators, students, and their families.

As a senior member of the Education and Workforce Committee in the House of Representatives. I am committed to a system of public education that provides every student with the opportunity to thrive academically and engage deeply in the study of government and constitutional principles.

The Lincoln High School Constitution Team's commitment to civic engagement gives me hope for the future of our country. I am proud to recognize their ongoing success and to celebrate their strong finish in the 2026 competition.

Mr. Speaker, I regret to inform you that I was unable to attend today's legislative session. Had I been present, I would have voted: NAY on Roll Call No. 79, NO on Roll Call No. 80, YEA on Roll Call No. 81, YEA on Roll Call No. 82, and YEA on Roll Call No. 83.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the importance of the Older Americans Act nutrition programs.

Providing nutrition assistance to seniors is one of the most fiscally responsible actions Congress can take, and it is also the right thing to do. An entire year of meals costs about the same as a single day in the hospital.

Unfortunately, one in four Meals on Wheels programs around the country have wait lists. Many older Americans wait months or even years to access program benefits. It is not just about the food. Nutrition programs also promote socialization, wellness, and safety checks. Food delivery or community meals might be the only social contact older Americans have during the day.

I have joined Meals on Wheels for deliveries in Oregon, and it is very meaningful. I have introduced a bipartisan House resolution recognizing the value of these Older Americans Act programs in addressing hunger, malnutrition, and isolation among seniors.

I invite my colleagues to show their support for the Older Americans Act nutrition programs by visiting their delivery and community meal programs and by signing on to our House resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Scott for his leadership and for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I oppose this bill because, among other reasons, the information that is required is incomplete and biased.

As written, the Pregnant Students' Rights Act is unfairly limited regarding the information it requires colleges to provide to students and the students it chooses to support. It does not include information about comprehensive family planning resources, and it only supports pregnant students who carry a baby to term.

Simply put, the bill fails to support any student with a different pregnancy-related outcome.

I, like my colleague from Georgia, had a wanted pregnancy. I was past the first trimester when I had an ultrasound, and the doctor said this was not viable, not a viable pregnancy, so they sent me to the hospital to have a procedure.

My colleagues might think that is terrible, but had I been in a post- Dobbs world or a State where that wasn't possible, I could have just been made to wait and risk my reproductive health. I went on to have two healthy children because I had that procedure.

The intent of this bill is clear, Mr. Speaker. It is clear from the text. It is clear from the debate. It is certainly clear from the timing. It is another attempt to have politicians interfere in the intensely personal decision of when and whether to have a child, a decision that should be made only by the pregnant student, not by Members of Congress.

In the wake of Dobbs, many States have prohibited or tried to prohibit healthcare providers and health plans from offering or covering certain reproductive healthcare services. These anti-abortion efforts have disproportionately harmed some students whose access to services and information is affected by their geographical barriers, depending on where they are in college.

Pregnant and parenting students deserve access to a full range of family planning resources and reproductive healthcare options that keep them healthy and on track for academic success, regardless of where they go to college.

For this reason, Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to the committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.

My amendment would make clear that institutions of higher education will also provide medically accurate and comprehensive information and resources about all reproductive healthcare services, including contraception and abortion rights.

The biased, anti-choice effort underpinning this bill will make it harder for students to make informed decisions about what is best for them. Promoting partisan legislation that fails to address the full healthcare needs of students does not promote academic success.

Again, Mr. Speaker, this is a decision that belongs to the pregnant student, not to Members of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the Record the text of this amendment immediately prior to the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I thought maybe I was in the wrong place when I heard the debate when I walked in today. I do want to add that I agree it is not pro-life to cut services to families and to make childcare more expensive. These bills are anti-choice.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to these two deceptively titled bills: H.R. 6945, the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act, which allows Health and Human Services funds to be sent to crisis pregnancy centers, and H.R. 6359, the Pregnant Students' Rights Act, which unfairly limits the information it requires colleges to provide to students and the students it chooses to support.

Most crisis pregnancy centers are sham organizations. They have the sole purpose of advancing an anti-choice

agenda. They routinely engage in deceptive advertising to get people in the doors, hold themselves out as medical clinics, and then use blatant misinformation about the services they provide.

For example, a pregnancy resource center in Pennsylvania told a pregnant woman that she had a miscarriage, so she left. Then, later, she was still experiencing pregnancy symptoms, so she went to a real doctor who told her she still had a viable pregnancy.

This deception is wrong on so many levels, and these centers should be held accountable, not receive government funds.

I introduced the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act to prohibit unfair or deceptive advertising about abortion services and services that crisis pregnancy centers do and do not offer.

Also, pregnant students deserve access to medically accurate, comprehensive planning resources and a full range of reproductive healthcare options. Yet, the Pregnant Students' Rights Act only requires colleges to provide information about carrying a child to term.

I offered an amendment to this bill that would have colleges also provide comprehensive, medically accurate information to students, but my Republican colleagues rejected it.

Deciding whether and when to have a child is a deeply personal--

Deciding whether and when to have a child is a deeply personal decision. It should not be made by politicians, and it certainly should not be made by anti-choice extremists.

The biased, anti-choice efforts underpinning these two bills will make it harder for students to make informed decisions about what is best for them. They are the ones who should be making these decisions. Promoting partisan legislation that fails to address the full healthcare needs of students does not lead to academic success.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing these bills, reject H.R. 6359 and H.R. 6945, and instead stand up for those who are making that personal decision themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud the House passage of full funding for the Federal Defender Services. This is an issue I have worked on for years. It affects the overall operation of the Federal criminal justice system, and it continues to be nonpartisan.

Defendants have a constitutional right to counsel in criminal cases, and for indigent defendants, counsel is appointed from the Federal Defender Service. If there aren't enough Federal defenders, justice could be delayed. Panel attorneys can be hired, but from the panel they could be more expensive.

In fiscal year 2024, there was an inadvertent budgeting error that resulted in initial funding levels that were at least $100 million less than what the program needed. As a result of underfunding, Federal Defender Services began fiscal year 2026 significantly in the red. We just fixed that.

I thank Chair Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, Chair Joyce, and Ranking Member Hoyer for leading this issue in the House. I urge my Senate colleagues to quickly advance this legislation because it is in everyone's interests to have an efficient, reliable, and fair criminal justice system.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Hayes for leading this important conversation and bringing her expertise as National Teacher of the Year to the Congress and to the Education Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I have been an education advocate for decades, and I speak with students, parents, and educators in Congress and at home in Oregon, and I can't count the number of times where parents have said to me: Please, please fully fund IDEA.

According to the Department of Education, Secretary McMahon is now exploring additional partnerships to move the administration of special education programs under IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, to other Federal agencies. The most likely choice for this unconstitutional and illegal transfer? It is to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Mr. Speaker, this means that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., would be in charge of administering IDEA. This is the man who disregarded established science to advance policies based on conspiracy theories, including claiming that Tylenol and vaccines cause autism and that autism destroys families.

This agency should not be administering funding or providing guidance to schools on educating students with disabilities, especially with its current Secretary.

IDEA is an education program, not a medical program. It is designed to provide students with disabilities access to a free and appropriate public education, often through individualized education programs, or IEPs.

Those with the expertise and data to best administer the program are already at the Department of Education, or at least they were until Secretary McMahon fired them.

A special education teacher in Beaverton, Oregon, recently wrote to my office. She is extremely concerned, as are so many, about the Trump administration's plans for special education, and this is what she said: ``When I tell you that schools are in dire straits already, I mean it--and yet I know it can get worse.

I am terrified for my students. The mass layoffs and restructuring within the Department of Education's Office of Special Education have left only a fraction of the staff to manage billions in IDEA funds and ensure States follow the law.''

She continued: ``Without Federal oversight, States will have less accountability, fewer resources, and more leeway to deny or reduce services. Families will be left without recourse, and the promise of a free and appropriate public education will be broken.''

These are challenging enough times for students, families, and schools. In Portland, the public school district recently redirected an additional $25 million from their general fund to fill the gap to help provide students with disabilities the resources that they need that State and Federal funding aren't covering, and it is still not enough.

The Trump administration's proposals to disrupt the administration on such an important program risks further harming the people we represent. A mother in Portland wrote to me and said that she is a full-time caregiver, has two sons with disabilities, and that she has only been able to work 2 of the last 8 years because of the lack of reliable care.

Unfortunately, she was just laid off again from her most recent job.

She told me: ``We are exhausted and doing everything we can, but the system leaves too much on families.''

She begged us to protect access to services for students with disabilities and to continue advocating for these children and their caregivers. In her words: ``We need policies that recognize the reality we're living, not ones that make it harder.''

These are the families, teachers, and the people who will be affected by decisions we make about IDEA. What we should be doing is fully funding IDEA, not disrupting the support that already exists by forcing schools and families to work with multiple Federal agencies instead of one.

HHS is not equipped to manage this critical program. I will keep fighting. I will keep fighting the Trump administration's efforts to abandon and dismantle the Department of Education and its core responsibility, especially its core responsibility to students with disabilities.

I thank Representative Hayes for her leadership.