Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, this isn't about politics. This is about a friend, a good man, a husband, a father, a superhero, whose not-so- secret power was that he just happened to be one hell of a public servant, not to mention his sport coat game which was unmatched.

I don't have to talk about my personal experience with him as a mentor, as a leader, and partner on countless initiatives that always were about making things better for the people of Dellwood and of St. Louis County.

When unrest ensued in 2014, Mayor Reggie Jones refused to let Dellwood be forgotten in the shadow of its nationally known neighbor. If that wasn't enough, he had another super, also not-so-secret, power, his service to our kids.

Reggie poured countless hours into our young people long before he held public office. For more than 30 years, Reggie served as the Herbert Hoover Club director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.

The entire community mourns with his lovely wife, Rukiya; his children; family; and loved ones and is here for them.

I will continue to honor Reggie by doing exactly what he would be doing if he were with us now, through work, the work for Dellwood, for St. Louis County, for our youth and anyone who needs a helping hand.

Cool Reggie Jones, may his memory be a blessing and may his example be our charge. My friend will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the proud Representative of the largest Bosniak population outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to stand in solidarity with them.

Over the weekend, we marked 31 years since more than 8,300 Bosniaks were murdered at Srebrenica. Today, we remember the victims and stand with the families and survivors.

Srebrenica should never have happened, and yet it did--not because the world didn't know but because in too many places, the world chose to look away.

As co-chair of the Bosnia Caucus and as a St. Louisan, I will do everything I can to ensure we are reaffirming our commitment to truth and remembrance. We have an obligation to honor that history and to support those who live with its legacy and trauma every day.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the LGBTQ community as we close out a truly special month of celebration and joy.

This past weekend, I had an amazing time walking in the St. Louis Pride Parade. It was hot outside, but the energy and the feeling of community was palpable.

To me, that is what this administration fails to see: A community--a community rooted in love, understanding, and acceptance. Instead of supporting our fellow LGBTQ Americans, this administration has chosen to turn them into targets--targets of hate, targets of bigotry, targets of cruel and deliberate policies to erase them and their history.

I have a promise for my LGBTQ friends and family: I will always stand with you. I will always stand for you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the St. Louis region, my constituents, and all the families across the country who have been impacted by the gun violence epidemic, an epidemic forgotten by some, intentionally ignored by others, that still ravages my home and our Nation.

As a former prosecutor, sadly, I have had a firsthand view of what families go through after losing a loved one to gun violence. I truly have no words for the heartbreak and devastation I have witnessed these families shoulder.

What is worse is that this isn't a complex equation. Gun violence is the leading cause of death of children in America. Despite this, my colleagues across the aisle have repeatedly failed to act to keep our children safe.

Mr. Speaker, we must continue championing legislation and programs that address the root cause of this disease plaguing our country. There is simply too much at stake.

Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of all of those impacted by last year's devastating tornado. People deserve a recovery process that is prompt, transparent, and responsive to their community's actual needs.

However, time and time again, President Trump and his administration have failed to meet those needs. Sadly, those impacted by last year's tornado have joined a long line of communities around the country pleading with this administration to do its fair share in their recovery process.

This is unacceptable, which is why yesterday I introduced my CDBG-DR AAA legislation, the first in a series of bills to reform and overhaul the disaster relief system in this country.

This bill helps ensure recovery gaps are identified early and continuously assessed after a major disaster declaration is declared by the President. This will help communities access the resources needed to rebuild stronger and faster.

We can and we must do better for those who need us most, and I remain committed to fighting on their behalf in Congress.

Madam Speaker, no one in this Chamber disputes that improper and fraudulent payments are a serious problem. The question before us is not whether to fight fraud; it is how we fight fraud.

If this bill actually does that--and I will give you a hint: It does not. The Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act allows agency officials to block payments whenever they have sufficient reason to believe there is an elevated risk of fraud.

This bill sets the standard so low that any administration can use it to cut off legitimate recipients before a single fact is even proven.

As a former prosecutor and public defender in St. Louis, I know firsthand what fraud accountability looks like. It starts with evidence, not suspicion.

This bill would allow any administration to stop payments for programs it opposes or in States it disfavors, using fraud as a pretext, allowing Trump to target States that disagree with him.

The people who would bear the brunt of payment pauses are the ones who cannot absorb it. These are patients on Medicaid, our seniors on Social Security, working families relying on SNAP, some of the most marginalized of our American brothers and sisters.

We can fight fraud without handing this administration a blank check to weaponize Federal payments.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent for a recorded vote today due to travel delays. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows: On Roll Call No. 208, H.R. 8466, Taxpayer Resources Used in Emergencies (TRUE) Accountability Act, as amended, VOTE YEA.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate another St. Louis star and in honor of Pride Month. I would like to recognize Jordan Braxton, an incredible champion of our community.

After identifying internally as female her entire life, Jordan made the decision to socially transition in her fifties. Her story is an inspiration to members of the LGBTQ+ community in the St. Louis region.

Jordan has found a lifelong passion for advocacy work. Over the past four decades, she has educated and mobilized people to join the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Now, as the community empowerment manager for Vivent Health, she hosts educational programs and community engagement events for the St. Louis region and beyond.

Mr. Speaker, I commend Jordan for her advocacy and thank her for all the love she pours into her work.

I will keep fighting in Congress to protect the rights and freedoms of everyone, no matter how they identify.

Mr. Speaker, on May 12, 2026, Oversight Committee Democrats convened the first-ever hearing to solicit testimony from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes. The hearing, ``Survivors Fight for Justice: Exposing Epstein's Crimes in Palm Beach and Across the World,'' marked a critical step forward in the fight for justice and accountability.

On behalf of all the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes, I rise to include in the Record the testimony offered by Roza, whose last name has been withheld for her safety:

It took a great deal of courage for me to return to West

Palm Beach today, so I ask for your understanding if I become

emotional.

In 2008, I had just turned 18 in Uzbekistan when I met the

owner of MC2 Model Management, Jean-Luc Brunel. Coming from a

financially unstable background, I was the perfect target for

coercion. I was promised a modeling career beyond my dreams.

In less than six months, MC2 obtained an O-1 visa for me--a

feat nearly impossible for a teenager with almost no

experience. I did not have the documentation to earn that

visa; that was the ``Epstein magic.''

The Cage of Debt and Control

By May 2009, I was in New York City, isolated and

controlled in a manner I had never experienced. Within three

months, the agency claimed I owed them over $10,000. I had no

family, no friends, and no money. MC2 controlled every aspect

of my life: where I went, how I dressed, and how I looked.

They provided just enough of an allowance to keep me afloat,

but never enough to be independent.

The Abuse and Manipulation

Less than a month after I arrived in the U.S., my agency

sent me to the home of a registered sex offender while he was

supposedly in jail. I was introduced to his girlfriend under

the guise that she was a photographer helping me build my

pollfolio. Jeffrey Epstein was supposed to be in a jail cell

in June 2008, yet I met him in his home right here in West

Palm Beach. Jean-Luc Brunel brought me to West Palm Beach to

have dinner with Epstein in July, furthering the grooming and

manipulation. Epstein used the names of powerful politicians

to demonstrate his influence, telling me he was the investor

at the very agency that promised me a career. He spoke of his

arrest as if it were a game, bragging about girls visiting

his cell and his friendships with authorities.

Jeffrey offered me a position at the Florida Science

Foundation to handle phone calls to help with my financial

``troubles.'' One day, his masseuse called me into a room

where I was molested by Epstein. For the following three

years I was subject to ongoing rape and stripped of my

dignity. Jeffrey Epstein was under house arrest for the

molestation of underage girls at the exact time he was

abusing me. The fact that he could commit these acts made

justice feel impossible and stole my ability to seek help.

He raped me repeatedly. For months, I was summoned to his

residences right here in West Palm Beach. My agency even

relocated me to Miami to keep me closer to him, and only

after he was released from house arrest was I allowed to

return to New York, where my nightmares continued. Seeing a

man supposedly under arrest living so comfortably stole my

ability to seek help. I was scared for my life and the lives

of my family. Those years of abuse turned into a decade of

fear that I still carry today.

The Breach of Trust

I eventually found the courage to reach out for help. I

stepped forward alongside other survivors, hoping those who

allowed this to happen would be held accountable. I kept my

identity protected as a ``Jane Doe.''

To wake up one day and see my real name mentioned over 500

times in unsealed documents was a stab in the heart. While

the rich and powerful remain protected by redactions, my name

was exposed to the world. Now, reporters from across the

globe contact me. I cannot live without looking over my

shoulder. I can only imagine the long-term impact this

``mistake'' will have on my life.

The Demand for Justice

I wanted to be a doctor growing up, so I want to leave you

with this story. In the mid-1800s, a doctor named Ignaz

Semmelweis discovered something life-saving. He realized that

doctors were performing autopsies and then immediately

delivering babies without washing their hands. He identified

that ``cadaverous particles'' were being transferred to

mothers, causing them to die in agony.

He had the evidence. He had the solution. He begged the

medical establishment to simply wash their hands to save

lives. But the doctors were offended. They found it easier to

protect their own reputations and maintain the status quo

than to admit they were the ones causing the harm. They chose

their pride over the lives of women, and Dr. Semmelweis was

ignored, ridiculed, and eventually cast out.

I see this same pattern today with the handling of these

files. Releasing my name while redacting the names of the

powerful is not a ``mistake''--it is a choice. It is a choice

to prioritize the comfort of the institution over the safety

of the survivor. The evidence is right in front of us, yet

those in power would rather watch us suffer the consequences

of their exposure than do the right thing and hold the true

perpetrators accountable. They would rather we keep dying--

socially, emotionally, and physically--than admit their own

complicity.

I am no longer a ``Jane Doe'' hidden in a file. I am a

woman, a fighter, and a witness. And I am telling you: it is

time to wash your hands and finally give us justice.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor this week's St. Louis All-Stars, the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who have served or are currently serving our Nation around the world.

While I still have very serious concerns about President Trump's decision to launch this unauthorized war, one thing remains clear: Our servicemembers have made extraordinary sacrifices in the name of duty to the United States.

We must do everything in our power to honor their service, protect their rights, and ensure they receive the care they have earned when they return home. That includes restoring and strengthening Veterans' Affairs services, which have been cut by the Trump administration.

To all the servicemembers deployed around the world, especially those from the St. Louis region, I thank them for their courage and their commitment. We are praying for their safe return.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today during Second Chance Month to raise awareness of the challenges faced by millions of individuals with criminal records transitioning back into society.

Every day, individuals with criminal records are held back from the opportunity to rejoin society and contribute. Instead of letting their past define them, we must create pathways that allow these folks to rewrite their histories.

As a former prosecutor, I am passionate about diversion programs that help low-level, nonviolent offenders, especially, avoid incarceration by connecting them with the treatment, support, and life-skills training to break the cycle of recidivism.

That is why I introduced the BRIDGE Act last month, which expands pathways to employment and economic freedom for justice-impacted adults and youth.

One bad situation should not define a person's entire story. Let's give people a second chance to make a better life for themselves. When we do so, it has the added benefit of also making our communities safer.

Mr. Speaker, tonight, I will begin by talking about what it meant to be Black in America before Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr.

The message this country sent to Black children, whether they grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, or in St. Louis was simple: You are not enough. Not enough to lead. Not enough to run. Certainly not enough to win.

Jesse Jackson spent his entire life dismantling that lie.

That message didn't start with any one person. It was written into the founding documents of this country. It survived the Civil War. It survived Reconstruction. By the time the civil rights movement had finally forced America to live up to its own words on paper--the right to vote, the right to sit anywhere in this country, the right to walk through the front door--there was still something left untouched. It was something deeper, the belief, planted in generation after generation of Black children, that the rooms behind those doors weren't really meant for them.

Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., walked into that breach, and he didn't just march. He ran.

In 1984, kids across this country--I was one of them--were watching a Black man on television, not appealing to anyone's conscience, not asking for inclusion, but running for President of the United States, winning delegates, walking into that convention floor, and demanding to be taken seriously.

Jesse Jackson, Sr., understood something that a lot of people still haven't caught up to: The vote and the dollar have to move together. You cannot march your way to dignity if the political system keeps finding new ways to lock you out. He didn't wait for the party to make room. He built the room for himself, ran twice for the highest office in the land, and forced a reckoning with whom this democracy was actually supposed to serve.

You cannot draw a straight line to Barack Obama, to Kamala Harris, or even to me without acknowledging the impact and legacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson.

We are standing in this Chamber today because of that work, every single one of us.

The question he leaves us with isn't: How do we remember him? It is whether we are still building what he started. Because the work, as any of us in this room can plainly see, is not finished.

Mr. Speaker, I will conclude with this: ``But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a woman who changed St. Louis and, in doing so, changed America. Her name is Frankie Muse Freeman.

In 1954, segregation was still the law of the land. Despite that, Frankie Muse Freeman walked into a St. Louis courtroom with her law degree. The result: the end of legal racial discrimination in public housing in Missouri. She was the lead attorney. She was a Black woman. She won.

She didn't wait for permission anywhere in her life. When law firms wouldn't write her back, she opened her own practice.

Mr. Speaker, during Women's History Month, when I think about what this administration is doing--gutting programs that Black women built careers and communities around, eliminating the pathways to economic stability--I think about what Frankie Muse Freeman would say.

I think she would say: Get back to work and, most importantly, win.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the Washington University women's track and field team who just captured the 2026 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championship. This team found a way to turn individual effort into a collective title. You don't do that without character, and you don't do that without each other.

With the WashU women's soccer team winning back-to-back national titles a few months ago and now their women's track and field team, these ladies are making St. Louis title town.

Especially during Women's History Month, St. Louis is so proud of these young women. They define student-athlete and do both at the highest level.

When we talk about what makes St. Louis a great city, this is a big part of that answer. Champions live here. Champions are developed here.

I congratulate the athletes, the coaching staff, and the entire WashU family on this remarkable achievement.