Donald Beyer

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which incorporates my bill with you, Madam Speaker--Ms. Chu, Representatives Upton and Buchanan--the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act. This is a bill my team started back in 2015 to respond to hate crimes in Northern Virginia, but it breaks my heart to hear about the abuse our African-American friends in this body--Democrat and Republican-- have experienced in the last few years. But we are very proud of our bipartisan, bicameral creation of a bill to address the underreporting of hate crimes. I want to thank the families of Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer for allowing us to use their names and highlight why we are here today. I thank now-retired Representative Pete Olson and his team for being true partners on this bill, along with Representatives Upton and Buchanan. I thank Senators Blumenthal and Moran for leading the fight in the Senate and getting this packaged bill to the House. Most importantly, I thank Judy Chu, Grace Meng, and Raja Krishnamoorthi. Without their voices, and without the leadership of Chairman Nadler, we would not be here today addressing anti-Asian hate, and we would not be moving this legislation forward today.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 51 and D.C. statehood. My mother and father met at D.C.'s Western High School in the 1940s before my father went off to West Point and Korea. I was raised in the Potomac Palisades of Washington and went to high school a few blocks from the Capitol. My grandchildren are fifth-generation Washingtonians. Through the generations, we have been confounded and confused that the United States citizens who live in the District of Columbia have been denied self-rule. The right to self-determination is the defining principle on which this Nation was founded. Yet, this very right is denied to those who reside in our Nation's Capital. Taxation without representation sparked our own war of independence from Great Britain. Today, the same cry for democracy, impressed on every D.C. license plate, calls out for the peaceful passage of H.R. 51. The American citizens of the District of Columbia overwhelmingly support statehood, passing a statehood referendum with 85 percent support in 2016. My Republican statehood opponents argue that statehood should be denied D.C. because it is too small; because it is not rural enough; because it has insufficient logging, manufacturing, agriculture, and mining; because it is not well-rounded; and because its residents are not real Americans. D.C. does, by the way, have a Tesla car dealership. The real reason my Republican friends oppose statehood is that they disagree with the political views of today's Washingtonians. This is terrible short-term thinking. Texas voted Democratic for generations, while California and New York have elected many Republican Governors and Senators. Political pendulums swing both ways. This view betrays our democratic principles upon which our Nation was founded.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I would like to begin just by correcting the understanding, I think, from the gentleman from Kentucky, who tried to align President Obama's temporary suspension of the Visa Waiver Program in foreign and southern countries with Donald Trump's complete suspension of visas. As one of the two U.S. Ambassadors to serve in this Chamber at the moment, I presided over 4 years of consular affairs. And the Visa Waiver Program is when you are allowed to get into a country without the deep background checks, without going through Homeland Security. This is not what Donald Trump did. He suspended visas completely. By the way, this is not about the southern border. I don't believe there is a single Muslim country south of the Rio Grande in the Western Hemisphere. Six years ago, then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump argued for a complete and total Muslim ban. Remember, he didn't specify specific countries; he said no Muslims. I quickly produced a bill, the Freedom of Religion Act, to prohibit discrimination in our immigration system on the basis of religious belief, and I rushed to Dulles Airport after the inauguration as the ban was implemented, and many were stuck in limbo. I never expected that such an openly bigoted policy would be so intentionally executed, especially knowing the economic and reputational effects. Billions of people around the world were stunned by this destruction of the American ideal as a beacon of freedom. My bill then became part of Judy Chu's very thoughtful NO BAN Act, and I am proud to champion it. As reckless and thoughtless and cruel as the Muslim ban is, this bill is the opposite. It is a thoughtful way to ensure that a future President cannot simply use racism or religions discrimination as a basis for keeping individuals from entering the United States. We cannot erase the dark stain on our country's history left by Donald Trump's Muslim ban, but we can prevent it from happening again.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in memory of Joseph McCoy. On the morning of April 23, 1897, an African American named Joseph McCoy, just a teenager, was lynched in Alexandria, Virginia. On April 22, Joseph McCoy was arrested without a warrant. That evening and into the early morning of April 23 a white mob made two attempts to break into the police station where he was being held. In the second attempt the mob forcibly took him from his jail cell, shot him, bludgeoned him, and hanged him from the lamppost on the southeast corner of Cameron and Lee Streets. McCoy was buried in a pauper's grave at Penny Hill Cemetery. Joseph McCoy was the first documented lynching victim in Alexandria. The lynching of Joseph McCoy is only one of 86 documented lynchings committed in Virginia between 1880 and 1930. These acts of premeditated violence were deliberate attempts by whites to terrorize and control black populations across the state. On April 23, the City of Alexandria's Equal Justice Initiative Community Remembrance Project will hold a remembrance event for Joseph McCoy. It will feature the unveiling of a small in-person marker and a wider commemoration via an In Memoriam web page. It is incumbent on all of us, particularly those born into privilege, to remember this shameful episode of our history and others like it. In doing so, we are better able to see the continuous chain of racially motivated violence against black Americans that spans our Nation's history. We can truly honor the memory of Joseph McCoy along with the countless number of named and unnamed victims of racial violence by seeking justice for all Americans and working to build a more inclusive society.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support my amendment to H.R. 7. I was privileged to serve on the Science Committee and study physics as an undergraduate, and I have always been impressed with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It says you can't measure something without changing it. As a longtime businessman, we always wanted to be driven by data because you can't manage what you don't measure. Receiving equal pay should not have to depend on an anonymous note writer letting you know that you are being underpaid. Guaranteeing that women and men receive equal pay for equal work is a principle rooted in our Nation's commitment to equality and fairness. My amendment would require employers to report pay data by race, national origin, and gender to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and for that data to be shared with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. It would lengthen the timeframe for inception of the pay data collection from 18 to 24 months, providing the EEOC with more time to develop and execute an effective pay data collection. I believe it is plausible, Madam Speaker, to say that more than 90 percent of paychecks are prepared by software, either internal or external. I remember preparing paychecks by hand, but it is a very small business that does that anymore. That software will evolve overnight, probably through the course of this debate, and the burden is likely to be small. The amendment also permits, but doesn't require, the use of pay bands or hours-worked data and provides the EEOC with flexibility in what type of compensation data to use. Importantly, it also gives the EEOC the discretion to collect additional employment-related data but also to consider employer burden, data format, and confidentiality. Pay data reporting by employers promises to shine light on race and gender pay disparities, increase the likelihood of employer self- analysis and self-correction, and identify the areas of concern for further investigation by enforcement agencies. Reporting this data will also allow the EEOC to see which employers have racial or gender pay gaps that differ significantly from the pay patterns from other employers in their industry and region. I can also say, after almost 50 years of adapting to Federal regulations, almost every business can find a way to profit from it.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of the statue unveiling of Earl Francis Lloyd, the first African American to play in a National Basketball Association game. The City of Alexandria hosted a virtual unveiling for Mr. Lloyd's statue on Saturday, April 3, 2021. Despite the challenges he faced in his personal and professional life, Mr. Lloyd was able to succeed while displaying compassion, leadership, and determination. On October 31, 1950, Mr. Lloyd became the first African American to play in an NBA game and played in seven games before being drafted into the Army. He returned in 1952 and played for the Syracuse Nationals. Mr. Lloyd further established African American players by becoming an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons in 1968 before taking over as head coach in 1971. Please join me in commemorating the statue of Mr. Lloyd, a native Alexandrian who exemplified excellence throughout his life.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1085, awarding three Congressional Gold Medals to the law enforcement agencies and officers who protected the Capitol during the armed assault on January 6, 2021. The bravery displayed by the U.S. Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police Department, and other responding agencies helped save countless lives that day. Two heroes who were there that day were my constituents, and ultimately they lost their lives as a result of the attack. United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick died from the physical injuries he sustained while engaging with the attackers on January 6. His face was drenched at close range by bear spray. Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, who responded to the attack at the Capitol from Georgetown, who was dragged into the mob and beaten, died by suicide just a few days later. His death reminds us that not all wounds sustained that day were visible. The invisible damage to those who engaged with the insurrectionists is very real and may last a lifetime. I mourn both of their losses deeply. We must ensure that we honor the sacrifices they and others made. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill to award the gold medals to the U.S. Capitol and Metropolitan Police Departments and to honor the courage shown by those who protected us on January 6.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, my vote today for the American Rescue Plan will be the most consequential vote I have ever cast. Today, we show that democracy works. Today, we make available all the resources needed to end a pandemic that has killed 527,000 Americans. Today, we lift millions of American children out of poverty. Today, we make the investment to get our children back to school safely. Today, we authorize economic income payments to millions of our citizens behind on their rents and car payments and unable to buy groceries. Today, we extend unemployment insurance for the 10 percent of Americans still out of work because of the virus. Today, we send national help to those State and local governments who employed the heroes who provide our quality of life: police, firefighters, teachers, child protective service workers, sanitation workers, and many others. And, today, we reject the social Darwinism of our Republican friends. We reject the ethic of every man, woman, and child for themselves. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to vote for this bill today.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I recognize Ida Shanoski Covucci and her upcoming 100th birthday. As a daughter of Polish immigrants, Mrs. Shanoski Covucci was born and raised in Scranton, PA. She was married to her husband George for more than 50 years and has three sons, 10 grandchildren, and 9 great- grandchildren. During her life, she served honorably in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. Though this past year she contracted COVID-19, being the strong woman she is, she recovered quickly. Mrs. Shanoski Covucci, a remarkable woman, will be celebrating her 100th birthday on March 15th. Please join me in honoring Ida Shanoski Covucci, may we learn from her experiences.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, we have a choice tonight. Our American children are hungry, the recovery is stalling, and a million new people file for unemployment every week. We can do our jobs, pass a national vaccination plan, safely reopen our schools, send relief checks to those in need, support the unemployed, and protect American jobs. Or we can let them fend for themselves and slowly scratch their way back to health at great human cost. I choose relief, recovery, and progress. Madam Speaker, my first job: In 1966, $1.25 an hour, minimum wage. Sixteen times this Congress has chosen to increase the minimum wage, and every time there was a CBO score or a chamber of commerce or a conservative economist who talked about the shrinkage of low-wage jobs. But if we were persuaded by this job-loss mirage, we would never raise the minimum wage. And I refuse to believe that this is American exceptionalism.

Mr. BEYER

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to begin by recognizing Chairman Yarmuth, whose leadership of the Budget Committee is so routinely remarkable that we take it for granted. The budget resolution we are voting on today will set us on a path to defeating the virus and providing urgent relief for millions of Americans. It is a big moment for this country, and this Chamber and Chairman Yarmuth have handled it with characteristic skill and grace. I also want to thank Speaker Pelosi for her extraordinary leadership, guiding the House through all the challenges since this pandemic began and now bringing up legislation that is urgently needed and will ultimately sustain millions of Americans during this crisis. President Biden has called for a package that meets the moment, and Speaker Pelosi has laid out a path that gets us there. The Speaker has guided this Chamber brilliantly as we passed the Cares Act; provided additional support to families and businesses in the spring and fall; and now, as we begin the expeditious process to beat the virus, get the American people the relief they need and deserve. I am honored that she has asked me to lead the Joint Economic Committee this Congress as our country recovers and rebuilds. I look forward to partnering with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on the full range of economic challenges and opportunities before us. There is so much work to do. This legislation will save American lives and give tens of millions of Americans the help they need. Mr. Speaker, I am a businessman. One of my favorite ideas is: Don't show me your values; don't tell me your values; just show me your calendar. Well, budgets are a statement of values. If you want to know what a person or a party really believes, look at how they allocate their resources. Show me your budget. Four years ago, the Republicans held the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Their signature legislation was a $1.9 trillion tax cut bill, which overwhelmingly favored the wealthy, the top 10 percent. That was a statement of their values. Today, Democrats have the responsibility of governing, with Joe Biden in the White House and majorities in the House and Senate. We declare different values. The most important value is to save American lives. The second most important value is to restore American prosperity. The budget resolution we consider today is a critical first step to achieving both overarching goals. We have to act quickly because those aren't the only overwhelming goals that we are facing. Climate change. Secretary Yellen, in her confirmation hearing, called climate change an existential threat facing the globe. She is right, and we can't waste any more time. Temperatures are rising. Glaciers are melting. The frequency of forest fires is increasing, as is the frequency of once-in-a-hundred-year storms. Carbon emissions are out of control. Soon, scientists say, we will reach a point of no return. Many believe we may already be there, and it doesn't help that the previous administration spent 4 years pretending that climate change didn't exist. And infrastructure: Despite years of ``infrastructure weeks,'' we haven't moved the ball on infrastructure at all. This harms our country in countless ways, not the least of which it makes the United States less competitive around the world. Bad for business, bad for consumers, harmful to the next generation. Our roads are filled with potholes. Our bridges are falling down. Broadband doesn't reach millions of Americans and is priced out of reach for millions more. And on and on. We have the opportunity to build back better a more equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and green economy. But we need policies that are aligned with the priorities and the needs of middle-class families, not geared toward the wealthy and the well connected. This budget resolution reflects deeply held American values, preserving lives and health, and creating prosperity for every American. It reflects who we are, all Americans, and it deserves our complete support. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth), the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I have a quick response to my dear friend from Arizona. While we acknowledge that many of the States actually had increased revenues last year, virtually no locality did. I represent Northern Virginia, a fairly wealthy part, yet every one of our local governments is getting creamed. We had 1.3 million job losses in State and local government in 2020. That is not nothing. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan), the immediate past chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the most distinguished magician in the U.S. House.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, let me just point out that we are not throwing away our chance to work with Republicans. We would love to have a bipartisan bill, but if it's not possible, we have to have this reconciliation process in place because it takes weeks to unfold. Mr. Speaker, we are in a deep hole. To build back better, we have to crush the virus, as Speaker Pelosi so beautifully captured. But make no mistake, the COVID-19 pandemic has plunged us into a very, very big hole. Last week, we got the advance--or first--report on 2020 GDP, and it was ugly. The economy shrank by 3.5 percent last year, the worst economic performance since 1946. Very few of us were even born the last time our economy declined by this much. Let me say it again, the U.S. economy is the weakest it has been since the end of World War II. It could have been worse. It could have been much worse but for the actions we took in a bipartisan way in this Congress. We passed the CARES Act in May, and instead of the 5.6 percent decline the CBO had forecast, we only got 3\1/2\ percent. Just imagine if the Senate had taken up the Heroes Act that we passed. Unemployment insurance alone, which was strengthened with the $600 supplemental payment and the creation of pandemic unemployment assistance, accounted for more than $550 billion in personal income in 2020. These payments were a lifeline to individuals, and they bolstered the economy. We lost huge amounts of ground in the spring when second quarter GDP declined at a record 31.4 percent rate. That 4 percent in the fourth quarter helped, but not nearly enough to get us out of the hole. As Fed chair Powell and others have made clear, the risk isn't doing too much. The risk is doing too little. This budget resolution before us recognizes that reality and uses it as a starting point. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), the distinguished chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, a member of the Joint Economic Committee, and my dear friend.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would agree with all of those economists who say go target, go big, and go targeted. In fact, that is what Joe Biden has said again and again. I think his speech on the American Recovery Act was extraordinarily targeted, and while this budget reconciliation bill is the big picture, we all know that by the time we pass those individual budgets, they will be targeted at the most granular level. And to my friend, Mr. Estes, with whom I serve on Ways and Means, I am glad that Kansas is doing well. I don't know the answer to this, but I would go back and see how it is going in Wichita and some of those local governments. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline), one of the leaders in so many different ways of the U.S. House of Representatives, the former mayor of Providence.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would first like to welcome our new colleague from Texas to the floor. An excellent speech. I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Peters), a member of the Joint Economic Committee and a distinguished businessperson in his own right.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, can I ask how much time is remaining on our side.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, to my new friend from Texas, I would point out that Texas and California and New York--two of the bluest States around--are all net exporters of Federal dollars mostly to red States. Now, it tends to be the blue States who are helping out the red States in terms of our Federal allocations. I would also like to compliment the ranking member on the Joint Economic Committee for his optimism in having a 5-year-old daughter. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib), the distinguished Member who spent her life lifting people out of poverty.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, last summer, when Donald Trump was pressuring governors to ignore the advice of health experts and reopen their economies, he was predicting we would lead to a ``V-shaped'' recovery, in which the recovery would be as steep as the catastrophic decline. Others predicted a ``U-shaped'' recovery, a more drawn-out version of the ``V.'' And even others predicted a ``W-shaped'' recovery, an uptick, followed by another drop due to a probable second wave of the coronavirus, and then hopeful improvement. Even Ian Bremmer talked about a scalloped recovery. Mr. Speaker, there has been recovery, but with two big caveats. It has been a ``K-shaped'' recovery. It has come at the cost of over 440,000 American lives. As the Trump administration pressured States to relax measures needed to control the coronavirus, the virus exploded. And this does have incredibly long-term cost on families, on generations in the economy. But this ``K-shaped'' recovery, which has really come into vogue right now, is some are doing quite well and some are doing pretty poorly. High-income workers have been able to work from home and save record amounts of cash--I think a 33 percent savings rate in the second quarter. The savings rate has gone through the roof because the paychecks, the stock gains, have kept coming in for those folks; but they can't spend it on restaurants or movies or travel, flights, entertainment. American billionaires picked up $1.9 trillion in net worth in 2020. Just the increase in billionaires' net worth alone would pay for this package. The personal savings rate more than doubled in 2020. Housing prices climbed 10 percent in the last year. Stock market went up about 15 percent in the midst of the crisis. But, remember, the wealthiest 10 percent own 84 percent of the stocks. So they walked away with a vast majority of the stock gains last year, as they do every year. These factors probably explained why households of more than $75,000 in income saved their $600 payments from December rather than spent them, as revealed in recent Opportunity Insights' data. On the other side of the coin, low-wage workers have seen unemployment drop by 20 to 25 percent, and the unemployment rates for Black and Hispanic workers exceeds 9 percent. The rich have gotten richer. The poor have gotten poorer. And the American Dream has become ever-less attainable for too many Americans. A ``K-shaped'' recovery is unacceptable. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly), my friend of almost 40 years, my godfather.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, to add to my friend's charts, let me point out that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated, without additional resources, investment into the economy, it will take until 2024--3 more years--just to get back to where we were at the prepandemic level 1 year ago. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green), and not the singer.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I had the great honor of attending the Arlington funeral service for Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. It was moving and very sad, eloquent. I only bring this up because I was transported with my friend, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, to the cemetery and back with two Capitol Police Officers who were talking about how much they love their job but how exhausted they were at ages 40 and late 20s. I asked them, ``What is your job?'' They said, ``We are security for the Speaker.'' And she is indefatigable, tireless, works around the clock, and, to my mind, is the best Speaker America has ever had. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time we have remaining.

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), the distinguished chairman of the Trade Subcommittee on Ways and Means and, in my opinion, the most thoughtful Member of the House. {time} (1645)

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia).

Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close.