Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Tribes, Pueblos, and Nations in New Mexico, the 574 federally recognized Tribes across the country, and the Native Hawaiian community to highlight the American Rescue Plan's life-saving support for Tribal Nations, including through the Tribal Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund. This monumental bill will, among other support, provide $20 billion of desperately needed assistance to Tribal governments throughout the United States, and uphold the federal government's longstanding trust responsibility.

Many of these communities suffered disproportionately during the pandemic. American Indian and Alaskan Native people were twice as likely to die from COVID-19 compared to white Americans. Long-standing failures in public funding, infrastructure, housing, and access to health care in Indian Country contributed to this crisis of equity.

I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for securing dedicated Coronavirus Relief Funds for Tribes under the CARES Act last Congress. However, the lack of Tribal consultation and narrow rulemaking during the previous administration severely delayed and prevented many Tribal nations from receiving the help that they needed, when they needed it. This was most apparent by the roadblocks that prevented Tribes from effectively utilizing their economic recovery funds under the CARES Act to make up for the devastating loss of critical governmental revenues given that they lack traditional tax bases enjoyed by state and local governments.

As the Chair of the Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the United States, I'm proud that we secured the largest one-time investment in Native communities in our nation's history in the American Rescue Plan. Importantly, Congress intended to distribute this aid flexibly, allowing Tribes to help their struggling small businesses, address health and economic issues, and preserve their language and culture.

That is why it is so important that the Biden Administration is committed to engage in robust Tribal consultation so that they can distribute these funds in a timely, flexible, and

equitable manner. I applaud this commitment. It is our responsibility to not only pass legislation that provides life-saving funds for these communities, but also follow through so aid gets to those who need it as quickly as possible. I look forward to working closely with Secretary-designate Deb Haaland and other administration officials to make this happen.

Mr. Speaker, I have spoken with New Mexicans all across my district. I have

talked to mayors, local officials, Tribal leaders. I have asked them the same question: What do you need?

What they have all said, Republicans and Democrats alike, is that they need this rescue plan. Our small businesses are ready to put this lifeline to use. Our frontline workers, families, and farmers are ready. New Mexico is ready to start climbing out of this crisis.

Americans have told us what they need. We have listened, and now we are delivering.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to add my voice to the passionate voices born of grief that we heard from today, to join my heart with their hearts.

Gun violence robs our communities and our families of innocent lives, innocent worshippers, innocent shoppers mowed down just because they are Latinos.

I rise for the children in too many schools who have lost their classmates, for the families who mourn their young, for the students who organized and petitioned us to act against gun violence with sensible laws. I am glad we passed the gun safety legislation to stem the epidemic of gun violence.

Mr. Speaker, New Mexico has the fourth-highest gun death rate in the country. Today, we took a commonsense, critical step to keep our New Mexican, our American, children, families, and communities safe, to drive us toward a more equitable, thriving future for all.

Madam Speaker, increased voter participation should be the goal of every legislator, Republican or Democrat. Anything less is a betrayal of our democratic ideal.

Madam Speaker, 4 million more Latino voters cast a ballot in 2020 than in 2016. Native Americans defied the devastation of COVID to come out and vote in higher numbers. And now, States across our country are trying to turn away these citizens.

H.R. 1 is necessary, now more than ever, to protect the rights of every citizen to register, to vote absentee, or by mail if you live on a reservation or just work on Tuesdays.

We brought New Mexico's experience to this bill to improve voting access for Native Americans, respect Tribal land boundaries during redistricting, and reduce wait times at the polls.

Our democracy is the very foundation on which we rest every American ideal. We love it, and we must protect it for the people.

Madam Speaker, this pandemic's tentacles have infiltrated every facet of our communities' lives. The brilliance of this rescue package is that it understands those complexities and addresses those many needs.

For example, since the pandemic began, we have seen increased reports of abuse of women and children, so this bill helps fund shelters and refuge.

The country has also seen the heartbreaking devastation in Tribal communities. Native Americans are four times more likely to be hospitalized and twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than White Americans. So, this bill includes over $20 billion to assist Native people, including their Tribal governments, health facilities, and education.

We need this package to end the Nation's suffering. Let's pass this bill, save lives, save livelihoods, save communities.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, for years, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has fought to give working families the dignity they deserve for the work they perform for our communities and our economy. The increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour is an important step to accomplish this goal.

Our caucus is pleased that 14 years after Congress last increased the minimum wage, we are finally close to seeing an increase become law. The American Rescue Plan is intended to help those most impacted by the pandemic's financial hardships. The increase in the minimum wage will help those most vulnerable essential workers. It will put money into the economy and into our local businesses. It will help jump-start our recovery.

This is also about the dignity of work. This is a bill that will grant people the dignity of work with a living wage. When we don't provide a living minimum wage to American workers, they have to work several jobs or rely on food stamps or other government subsidies to put a roof over their head or food on the table.

Rather than subsidizing corporations who pay their workers poverty wage, let's invest in families. Our workers put value and love into the work they do day in and day out. But Congress hasn't raised the minimum wage in over a decade. It is set so low, it is unsustainable for anyone. It was unsustainable before the pandemic, and now it is impossible for anyone to survive off the minimum wage alone.

If we don't raise the wage, we will be turning our backs on the essential workers, on the same workers who have been keeping our country running for the last year. We will be turning our backs on working families.

Everybody--we hear it all the time--is thanking our essential workers. Thank you, essential workers. We recognize now that those who work in our grocery stores, who care for our elderly, who pick our foods, who keep our schools and hospitals clean are maintaining our country through this pandemic.

So while we are thanking them, we are thanking them for putting their lives at stake every time they go to work. You know what? That thank you is hollow if we don't back it up with action. That thank you is meaningless unless we say we are willing to not only thank you, but to actually pay you a wage that will allow you to live and pay your rent and buy your food and take care of your children.

Finally, we are going to put that thank you into action. We are going to do that tomorrow because tomorrow we are going to fulfill our commitment to workers and we are going to include the minimum wage in the American Rescue Plan.

So let's not lose sight either of the fact that this minimum wage is about our values, but it is also about family values because this is a bill, the American Rescue Act, that includes the minimum wage, that values families.

And why? Because we have all heard the stories of those families, those parents--whether they are a single parent or two parents, or two parents and their kids--are working. We have all heard those stories, that the minimum wage we have now set at $7 in many places, that that is not enough to pay the rent.

And so what do people need to do? They need to take a second job. They need to work longer hours. They need to do overtime.

And what happens when you are working two jobs or overtime? Do you then have time to coach Little League, to coach your daughter's soccer team, to spend that extra time reading to your kids? The reality is you don't.

So if we value families, we will pay the parents enough so that they have enough time to spend with their families.

Mr. Speaker, this is about taking families out of poverty. This is about taking children out of poverty. And this is about allowing them to come out of poverty through their employment.

Now, there are criticisms out there that raising the wage will close businesses and that people will lose their jobs. I am here to tell you from experience that that won't happen. We have had many economists who have talked about the fact that that won't happen.

But let me tell you, I have got experience. Because in 2002, Santa Fe increased the minimum wage. We called it back then--and that is why I will sometimes fall into saying, ``a living wage.'' We increased the minimum wage, and we did it because we wanted to help people. We wanted to take the first step to bring people out of poverty.

So the living-wage effort that we did in Santa Fe was a broad coalition that included businesses, it included grassroots activists, it included governments, it also included the faith community and the Catholic Church.

This faith community and the Catholic Church, they saw it as a Christian value, that people deserve to earn a living wage for their hard work. And the first 5 years after passage, not only were businesses not harmed, but the number of establishments, the number of small businesses in Santa Fe grew.

From 2012 to 2017, both the number of small businesses and the number of people employed by small businesses in Santa Fe increased, all while seeing higher wages every single year. Because what we did in Santa Fe was, we said we need to make this decision now, and then do what we are doing in our bill, which is index it so that we don't have to have this fight all the time, and so that we don't set a minimum wage, which is then a poverty wage, if we don't act.

So in Santa Fe, we did that. And it didn't kill job growth. It didn't harm businesses, but it did help families. It helped stimulate our economy. It made our communities stronger. It was so successful that the county then adopted a similar living wage. And it was so successful in the city and the county that the State of New Mexico raised the minimum wage as well.

Here in the House, we will do what we did in Santa Fe and New Mexico. We will do our job to provide workers across the Nation with a wage that reflects the hard work that they do for us. We will thank them with our legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to also urge the Senate to lead with the kind of empathy and compassion that our citizens and our constituents and our communities expect of us. And if you lead with empathy and compassion, you will also pass an American Rescue Plan that includes the minimum wage.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be on the floor today with my Progressive Caucus colleagues this evening.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin).

Congressman Levin, I think you raised exactly the points that we have been talking about.

This minimum wage, it should be a floor. And it is something that everybody supports. Everybody supports it, whether you are a Republican, whether you are a Democrat, and it is time to get it done.

Congressman Levin, I love the way you describe this as a ``floor of decency.'' And it is our moral compass that tells us that we must vote for this and we must vote for families now. And so we have heard what is happening in your State.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Adams), so she can explain why this is supported in her district and her State.

Congresswoman Adams, that was such a forceful description of why it is so necessary for us to act, to act on this moral imperative, which we are facing in this moment.

We have to remember this is a historic moment, so this is our time to take historic action. When we say thank you to those essential workers, we must express our gratitude in things like the minimum wage because without that, then they are just words.

Working hard enough is not enough if you can't make ends meet. Those are wonderful words.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to my colleague from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib).

Mr. Speaker, Congresswoman Tlaib talked about the fact that now is the time. There is a call and an urgency for us to do this because it is the time of the pandemic. It is the time of such great suffering.

My father had a saying that when it was time to get important stuff done, he would say, ``Ahora es cuando,'' it is time now. His saying is ringing through your words, and it is calling upon us to say what we need to say so that we do what we need to do and raise the wage. So, ahora es cuando. It is, indeed, time now.

Thank you for explaining the urgency of what it is like to have to boil your water because you can't afford the utility bill. That should break all of our hearts, and it should urge us each to act and to act now with the power that we have been given by our constituents.

I would now like to turn to one of my colleagues, one of our freshman class from New York City, Congressman Torres.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Torres).

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Torres.

What he has told us today is about the fact that there are districts in the country, including mine, including so many that we have heard about, where the minimum wage is too low. What we can't do is we can't have a United States of America where what you earn depends on where you live. That is what we are trying to do today, is say that where you live does not impact what you earn or where you work.

Today, at a Senate hearing, Costco announced that it would begin paying their workers a $16-an-hour minimum wage. They have already recognized that that $15 level is too low, and they want to keep their workers.

The reality is, we know that when people are paid well, then the turnover is less. The commitment is better, and paying a minimum wage, paying something where somebody can go home to their children, can put that food on the table without relying on SNAP benefits, that they can then say: I have done it. I can go work. I can come home.

And it doesn't matter whether I live in your district, whether I live in Seattle, or whether I live in Coronado. It doesn't matter because there is a floor that is the same across the country, and it is not a poverty wage.

What we have now is a poverty wage. That is very clear. If you cannot use the minimum wage that we have now to pay your rent, to buy your food, and to pay your utilities, then that is the equivalent of a poverty wage. We know that. We know that because of the wages we have across our country.

We have all worked. Congressman Torres, you have worked and looked to see: When does the Community Development Block Grant come in? Does it look like we are a distressed community or not? They look at what that median income is, and if you are earning the median wage, you are in poverty, right?

Mr. Speaker, earlier we spoke about the fact that to say thank you to these essential workers regularly and over and over again but to refuse to pay a living wage, a minimum wage of at least what we are asking for in this bill, is really not saying thank you at all, is it? It rings hollow.

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

Mr. Speaker, my district is home to breathtaking mountains, incredible diversity, and rich history. To understand my district, you must know not only its beauty but also its poverty and promise.

We must create opportunities in places like my district with tremendous challenges but also endless potential: create opportunities for countless New Mexicans who lost their jobs, create opportunities for essential workers who risk their lives to keep our country running, and recognize that education is the key to realize the promise of our communities.

That is why the first bill I co-led, the Learning Recovery Act, will create opportunities for the most educationally disadvantaged students, who are falling further behind because of the pandemic. This bill will address the disparities we know too well in New Mexico.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask us to always work to empower our communities; protect my State's beauty, diversity, and people; and unleash the potential we know we have.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for the budget rule and resolution because Americans cannot wait any longer for us to rescue our economy and our health.

We are the Congress of the United States. Our job is to solve problems. We can't neglect our duty. This pandemic has devastated everything we love--everything each of us loves. If we don't do this, millions of Americans--especially people of color, in my State, Tribal communities, the Navajo, the Pueblos, the Apaches, and women--will continue to suffer and die.

New Mexicans are waiting for our help so they can afford to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, so they can go to eat at the restaurants, and have their kids in school where they feel safe. They are waiting for more COVID vaccines.

New Mexico is one of the best States in getting the vaccine out, but we don't have enough, and this will help us get enough vaccines. They are waiting for certainty that this year will be better than the last. Lives are on the line and all Americans' voices are loud and clear. They need us to act and to act boldly.

I am listening to American voices from the rural areas, from suburban areas, from conservative areas. I represent an incredibly diverse district, and they are all asking us to act. So let's listen. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, let's listen to their voices, to their pleas. Let's take action. Let's stop the pain.