Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which would reauthorize the Nutria Eradication and Control Act through fiscal year 2030, to ensure that Maryland, Louisiana, and California can manage and eradicate this destructive, invasive species.

Nutria are an invasive species of large, semiaquatic rodents found in coastal wetlands along the Gulf of Mexico, the East Coast, California, and other wetland areas within the United States.

Nutria were initially introduced into the United States in the 1930s for fur production. However, their rapid breeding and destructive tendencies toward native wetland vegetation have led to extensive erosion, displacement of native species, breached levees, and the

introduction of diseases and parasites that threaten humans, livestock, and pets.

These actions pose severe threats to our national wetlands, which are essential habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife and act as buffers for extreme weather events.

According to estimates, if measures had not been adopted to control and eradicate nutria in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, nutria could have destroyed 17 percent of the bay's marshes in just a few years.

In 2003, the Nutria Eradication and Control Act authorized the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to Maryland and Louisiana for a program to eradicate or control nutria and restore marshland damaged by nutria.

In 2020, Congress passed Representative Harder's bill to amend the Nutria Eradication and Control Act to include California, which faced a rapidly expanding breeding population of nutria in the San Joaquin Valley and adjacent areas. That bill also gave the Secretary of the Interior discretion to provide funding to States adversely affected by growing nutria populations through fiscal year 2025. This bill before us today would extend that authority to fiscal year 2030.

The Nutria Eradication and Control Act has significantly reduced nutria populations in all three States. In Maryland, nutria were entirely eradicated from Chesapeake Bay in 2022. In California, captures peaked in 2020 and have been steadily declining, but they are not yet fully eradicated.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill so this important work can continue, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Harder), the sponsor of the bill.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the story of Milagros Heredia, a Dreamer, who calls my district home. Milagros was a baby when her mother carried her across the border for a better life. At 8 months old, Milagros was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Specialists gave her a 15 percent chance of survival, and she defied the odds.

Now 22, she is a student at Grand Canyon University, studying to become an oncologist. Like many Dreamers, she lives in constant fear of losing everything. Because of executive orders proposed by President Trump and the Laken Riley Act, Milagros and more than 20,000 Dreamers in Arizona live in fearful uncertainty.

Arizona is their home. This country is their home. They are American in every way that matters. It is past time for Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and for Democrats to stand up to Trump's un-American policies.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the remarkable legacy of Pastor Warren Stewart, Sr., of Phoenix, Arizona.

At First Institutional Baptist Church, Pastor Stewart has been a beacon of hope, faith, and justice in our district for decades. His tireless work has gone beyond his pastoral role. He has always been a leader for social change in our community.

In fact, his efforts were key to securing Arizona's recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day long after many other States had added the holiday to their calendars.

As he steps into retirement, we are deeply grateful for his leadership. I thank Pastor Stewart for his decades of service to our community. His legacy is one of love, inclusivity, and hope.

I wish Pastor Stewart the very best in this next chapter.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose the GOP child predator empowerment act. This bill is an egregious attack on young women and girls.

Everyone in this room knows that this legislation has the power to threaten the physical and mental safety of minors. Schools and athletic institutions already have rules around fairness and safety in children's sports. This is literally why we have the NCAA. This bill is textbook government overreach meant to fuel division.

Further, this bill provides no enforcement guidelines, insinuating that Republicans are just fine with subjecting

young women and girls to invasive, humiliating medical examinations and physical inspections.

This is an attack on the mental and sexual safety of all girls in this country as young as kindergarten. Everyone deserves to have the opportunity to learn the camaraderie and life lessons that come with playing sports.

I urge a strong ``no'' on this legislation because I believe we should make our children safer, not empower adult strangers to investigate their most private physicality.

Congress needs to get back to our jobs, lowering costs for everyday families and working on issues that address the vast majority of us.