Brendan Boyle

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on March 2, 2017, I missed roll call votes Nos. 122 through 123 on the floor of the House of Representatives. Had I been present, I would have voted yea and nay, respectively.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on March 10, 2017, I missed rollcall votes Nos. 153 through 158 on the floor of the House of Representatives. Had I been present, I would have voted yea, yea, yea, yea, yea and nay, respectively.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, with exactly zero hearings on the topic, our Republican friends have now revealed their TrumpCare plan. Just to remind everyone what President Trump said during the campaign and promised, he said that his Republican plan would ``have insurance for everybody,'' and that it would be ``far less expensive and far better'' than what we have today. Well, now we actually have the plan out. What does it do? It kicks 20 million Americans off their health insurance. It sharply increases out-of-pocket costs for millions of American families. It rations care for millions of Americans on Medicaid. It includes massive cuts to Medicaid. It would make maternity care much more expensive. But don't worry, there is good news. If you are a CEO of a healthcare company and you make, on average, as they do, somewhere between $13 million and $14 million, the tax increases that were leveled on you 6 years ago will now be repealed. So, congratulations. Those folks benefit, but 20 million Americans lose their health insurance. Please join me in saying ``no'' to TrumpCare.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. We are planning, actually, to talk about someone who was, quite frankly, the worst Labor Secretary nominee in our Nation's history; literally putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. You can tell I am from the city because I botched that metaphor, but maybe Marc will be able to help me with that. To put someone in charge of the Labor Department who had a complete history of ripping off fast food workers, paying in some places, in some Hardy's, below minimum wage because they were falsely classifying workers, I can't think of really someone who, in many ways, epitomized the kind of greed that we see in our economy today than the former Labor Secretary nominee. That actually works to a point that I wanted to raise. I think it is a big part of what has been happening in our American economy today. In the post-World War II era, for roughly three decades we had large gains in productivity and large gains in wage growth. That is from roughly the mid-1940s to about the late 1970s. You saw workers becoming more productive, working harder and smarter and better than ever, and you saw wages growing to almost exactly the same percentage: 97 percent increase in productivity, 91 percent increase in wage growth. But then, over the last 30 years, something quite different has happened. The productivity growth has continued. The American worker is more productive than at any point in our Nation's history and is the most productive workforce in the world. That is not boasting; that is an economic fact. Yet, since the 1970s, wages have barely gone up at all. Those are the averages. That doesn't account for the fact that when you are talking about the blue-collar economy, when you are talking about those who don't have a higher education, when you control for just that group, wages are actually lower today than they were 30, 40 years ago. Now you might wonder: Well, how are CEOs doing? Have they shared in the pain? Well, 50 years ago, CEOs made 20 times what typical workers make. As of 2013, they make just under 300 times a typical worker's pay--from making 20 times more than your average worker to more than 300 times your average worker. I believe in capitalism and I believe in the market, but clearly something is deeply wrong in our economy, the structure of it, when we have that sort of situation, when workers are not being rewarded for their hard work. I recall my colleague, Mr. Veasey, talking a little bit about his family experience and the similarities to my own and the fact that blue-collar workers like our parents actually have fewer opportunities in America today than they did when we were growing up: fewer job opportunities for lower wages and not as rich benefits. I say not as rich benefits, but, actually, very insecure benefits in terms of health care and a lack of a defined pension. If Mr. Veasey would possibly talk more about that and other parts of the heart and soul of our Blue Collar Caucus.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. I am very excited to be joined in this effort with the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, this comes out of a number of conversations that my colleague, Marc Veasey, and I have had just in the back of this Chamber about both of our experiences growing up, which are very similar, coming from working class or blue-collar parents who worked very hard to make sure that their children had opportunities that they may not have had. In many ways, that is the American experience: people who work hard, play by the rules, pay taxes, raise their kids, and hope that their kids will have opportunities that they didn't have. That is what built the American middle class. What is so difficult about the time in which we are living is that it is not just about an economic growth that is 2 percent; it is not just about the statistics that we often cite on this House floor. It is about a loss of hope in the power of the American Dream. There was a statistic that came out--having just said it is not about statistics, let me cite one--that I think is, in fact, very telling and really shocking. Ninety-two percent of the World War II generation went on to earn more than their parents did. For the generation of which I am a part and Marc is a part, taken at exactly the same point in life, that figure is exactly one-half--46 percent. Consider another statistic. Compared to the year 2000, in inflation- adjusted figures, the middle class has less wealth today than at that point 16, 17 years ago. That is the only decade-and-a-half that you can look at in American history in which the middle class is worse off than the decade-and-a-half that preceded it. So while these are presented as just ``economic issues,'' really, they are much more than that. They strike at the very heart of who we are as Americans and what we stand for. So we are going to be talking, as part of this caucus and over the next close to an hour or so and for many weeks and months to come, about what we can do specifically for the blue-collar economy, for those who work with their hands and for those who have been, in many ways, held back because of transitions that our economy has faced. I have many things that I want to talk about as part of that, but I don't want to go on too long because we have been joined by someone who doesn't just talk the talk, but has walked the walk, a union worker himself, an ironworker, I believe, a good friend of mine from Massachusetts, and someone who works hard himself both in his previous occupation and now standing up and fighting for working people.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. We have been joined by Donald Norcross, our colleague within the Democratic Caucus and here in the House, and my neighbor from just the other side of the Delaware River. Marc brought up football a couple times. Yes, he is a diehard Cowboys fan. Well, as a Philadelphia Eagles fan, I am glad to have been joined by another Eagles fan, someone much like Stephen Lynch, someone who doesn't just talk the talk but has walked the walk, who has worked with his hands and is someone who brings great credibility to these issues, as someone who himself was out as a blue-collar worker every day and now gets the chance to fight for them here on the House floor where that fight is badly needed.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Marc is exactly right. I was so glad that he brought up unions and the important role that they play because when I talked earlier about the fact that for 30, 40 years we had an economy that was working well, that saw productivity gains but also wage gains in roughly equal proportion. And then suddenly in the last 30 years you have seen that change. You have seen the productivity gains continue, but you have seen wage growth at practically zero. Well, it is not a coincidence that for three, four decades you had strong unions, from the mid-1940s until about the late 1970s or so. They were there fighting for workers, fighting for increased wages, fighting for a secure retirement, fighting for real health benefits. Then you saw an economy beginning in the early 1980s where the power of unions declined. The number of workers involved in the workforce who were unionized declined. I don't think it is a coincidence that just as you saw the number of workers in unions decline and the number of unions decline and the power of unions decline, you also saw real wages decline. Certainly no coincidence. For 70 years, worker wages and the strength of unions have moved in tandem, going up together or going down together. Critical to the strength of the American workforce are provisions like Davis-Bacon that have existed since the late 1940s that guarantee a prevailing wage on Federal projects. It helps not just those workers who are unionized. It lifts all workers because when you have a union that is out there fighting for higher wages and fighting for better benefits for its members, it helps all workers. It helps all of those in the workforce. I talked earlier, and I was thinking about this when Marc was talking about his family's experience in those towns in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I remember from my own family's experience, we were very lucky that my dad, without a college education, with the equivalent of a high school education, after many years of trying, was able to break in to Teamsters Local 169 as a warehouseman. It simply means he worked in a warehouse for Acme Markets. He did that for 25 years. There were a couple thousand such workers who were employed in the city of Philadelphia. Then in the late 1990s, around the year 2000, they closed all those warehouses. They laid off close to 2,000 workers. They decided that they would set up shop, instead, in a place where they could pay the workers half the wages, reduced benefits, and not as many workers. Fortunately, things worked okay for my dad. He ended up on his feet. He spent the last 16 years as a worker, as a janitor for SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Many of the guys who got laid off in their 50s and 60s weren't as lucky. Many of them never found, again, a job as well paying or as secure. Some of them turned to alcohol. Some of them turned to drugs. A couple even committed suicide. Again, I want to show that these are not just economic issues. Sometimes the elites--and I mean elites not just on the Republican side; elites of all political ideologies--sometimes look at these as just economic issues. They are real-life issues. When we see the diseases of hopelessness that are happening right now in places like western Pennsylvania or Texas or Kentucky or, really, all parts of our country--and, by the way, White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, what we are talking about touches all races, all ethnicities, all backgrounds--these diseases of hopelessness that have been on the dramatic rise are a real problem for our society, but to look at them as just a drug problem or just an alcohol problem or just a mental health problem and not see the economic link is very naive and incomplete and will never solve the real problem, go to the heart of solving the real problem. Mr. Speaker, Marc and I both look forward--he had mentioned it to me--to periodically coming to this House floor and talking about this new President's record when it comes to addressing these issues. He talked a lot during the campaign, made a lot of promises. He is great at making promises. In fact, you would probably say he is the best ever at making promises. Well, we are going to be showing his record, to see if he is keeping those promises to the American people. On some issues, he sounded like a Democrat. On some issues, when it came to infrastructure or trade, he said things that I can agree with and do agree with. Now that he is President, let's see if the record matches the rhetoric. We are going to be here to hold him accountable, to hold both sides accountable because, you know, the fact is this town, for many decades, has not looked out for the blue-collar worker. We are quick to indict the other side where they are wrong, and I think appropriately so. This Blue Collar Caucus is for all those who really want to make a difference in the blue-collar economy, for those who want to put the American worker first and foremost. I can say President Trump is not off to a great start with some of his Cabinet picks, who look more like the board at Goldman Sachs than any union hall. I hope that this first month will not be a sign of more to come, but whether he is getting an A or an F, we are going to be here to grade his performance on these real-life, meat-and-potato issues that matter to the vast majority of American families. Mr. Speaker, Marc and I represent two different regions of the country, two different areas, yet, in many ways, exactly the same kind of folks. I wanted to know what Marc is hearing as he goes out into his community in Fort Worth about how things are going for American workers and what they want from this administration.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, it is literally every day now that something new and even more shocking comes out about the Trump administration and its connections with the Russian Government. Just last night, it was reported that, according to American intelligence officials, at least four members of the Trump campaign, senior members, were in constant contact with Russian intelligence officials for a year. Mr. Speaker, this is not so much about Republican or Democrat as it is about democracy, our democracy. I want to thank those few Republicans in the Senate who have had the courage to put country before party and come forward and demand an independent, bipartisan investigation. Sadly, that has been met with silence on the Republican side of the aisle in this House. We must have a 9/11-like commission to investigate to what extent Russian intelligence infiltrated our election.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, recently, Deborah Lipstadt, American historian and author of influential books such as Denying the Holocaust, wrote an important article in The Atlantic. In this article, entitled ``The Trump Administration's Flirtation with Holocaust Denial,'' Lipstadt specifies an important distinction in types of Holocaust denial. Most people are familiar with what Lipstadt identifies as ``hardcore Holocaust denial.'' In this type of rhetoric, anti-Semites argue that the Holocaust simply did not occur; that there was no systematic plan to destroy the Jewish people based solely on their religion. This type of hate speech has unfortunately been espoused by those who seek to delegitimize the suffering of the Jewish people since the Holocaust began. It is not acceptable and we must do all we can to teach our children the tragic events of the Holocaust and how to counter such hateful rhetoric. Yet, perhaps a more insidious form of denial rhetoric has begun to creep into our national discussion. This is what Lipstadt terms ``softcore Holocaust denial.'' This form of denial, argues Lipstadt, ``uses different tactics but has the same end-goal . . . It does not deny the facts, but it minimizes them, arguing that Jews use the Holocaust to draw attention away from criticism of Israel . . . . ``Softcore denial also includes Holocaust minimization, as when someone suggests it was not so bad.'' Softcore denial, then, is potentially more insidious than our traditional form of denial, by minimizing the suffering of the Jewish people and suggesting that while the Holocaust may have occurred, it was not about the Jews per se. By minimizing the suffering of the target of the Holocaust and the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis, we are denying the truth and setting ourselves up to forget the worst genocidal massacre in human history. What is more disgusting and unacceptable, though, is that the President of the United States is now espousing these dangerous and hateful ideas. By refusing time and again to acknowledge that Jews were the targets and victims of the Holocaust, our President is denying the truth of the Holocaust and is aiding and abetting the Holocaust deniers and White Nationalists in their goals of once again persecuting individuals based on their ethnicity, religion, race, etc. We must do better. I call on the President to recall his statement and make clear that the Holocaust was a systematic persecution of the Jewish people. Anything less than this outright admission is Holocaust denial.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I missed roll call vote No. 86 and 87 on the floor of the House of Representatives. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on both bills.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I strongly condemn the escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists and call for an immediate withdrawal of heavy weapons. I am deeply concerned about the loss of life and deteriorating humanitarian conditions that exist there. There has been an ``uncountable'' amount of violations of the Minsk agreement according to the OSCE. Russian separatist forces must immediately honor the ceasefire to allow for humanitarian assistance. I call on this administration to step up and see this through. Thousands have already died in this conflict, including at least eight in just the last 5 days. Seventeen thousand civilians, including 2,500 children, do not have access to water, electricity, or heat during the height of winter. I urge Secretary Tillerson to provide Ukraine with defensive weapons--as Congress has already approved--and to provide meaningful support to our Ukranian allies against Putin's aggression. When it comes to Russia, we must see this administration's true colors.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I, like millions of Americans, have been watching over the last 10 or 11 days, and especially this past weekend, shaking my head and wondering just what is happening in our country? This is not who we are. I can't tell you the number of people that I spoke to this weekend from all walks of life, all backgrounds, who have said this phrase: ``I can't believe I am really seeing this in America.'' Mr. Speaker, I can understand why, in light of Brussels, Paris, San Bernardino, I can understand why many of my fellow Americans are scared. I share their concern. But let's be clear: this illegal, un- American executive order signed on Friday does absolutely nothing to protect us. It makes us less safe. It was a wonderful gift to ISIS, and it must be repealed.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, you probably won't be surprised to learn that I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 724, which would rescind President Trump's appalling refugee ban on individuals like the young scientist in Iran who was awarded a fellowship to study cardiovascular medicine at Harvard, but whose visa has now been indefinitely suspended.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, today, in the House Budget Committee, we heard testimony that, if the repeal mission that our Republican colleagues have been on now for the past 7 years is successful, 29.8 million Americans would lose their health insurance. Now, Mr. Speaker, keep in mind that, for all of the rhetoric, here are the facts: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we have more people with health insurance today in our country than at any time in our Nation's history. What was once a 16 percent uninsured rate has been cut in half. It is now 8 percent. Why in the world would we want to throw away that progress? Now, we hear from the other side repeal and replace, repeal and replace. Well, we have now had 65 votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and how many votes have we had on their replace plan? Zero. Not one. It would be criminal to throw away the progress that has been made through the Affordable Care Act. It is not perfect. No law is. No piece of legislation is. Let's work together to improve it, not end it.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, it is interesting that after 6 years of the mantra of repeal and replace, here we are. And we have repeal and maybe replace at some point when we get around to it; although, that shouldn't be very surprising, considering. What is ObamaCare? More than 20 years ago, Senator Bob Dole, then the Republican leader of the Senate, and a group of his colleagues introduced the Republican alternative to the then-Democratic plan to expand health insurance to some 40 million Americans who didn't have it. The Republican plan hatched at the Heritage Foundation was, instead of expanding Medicare for all, let's instead create a system of taxes and tax credits where we pool all the uninsured together and we enable them to buy private health insurance on a marketplace. Fast-forward about two decades. Barack Obama comes to the White House wanting to compromise, wanting to create a system that would disrupt the existing healthcare system as little as possible, and decides to go in this direction. Then suddenly, all of those on the other side who supported that idea for two decades decided it was socialism and could not possibly be the healthcare law. So the reason why they don't have an alternative to ObamaCare is because this is the market solution. This was the more moderate approach. This actually isn't a Big Government-run plan. So I am extending a hand to the other side. If they really want to come up with a way to improve the Affordable Care Act, there are many of us on this side who genuinely want to work on that. I have already voted, as a Member only here 2 years, on ways we can improve the Affordable Care Act and make some modifications, the same way we have made modifications to Medicare and Medicaid many times since 1965. Mr. Chairman, if the real intent of the other side is just to strip away health insurance to 22 million Americans, we will say ``no'' and continue to fight it.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, today, we have more questions than answers about profoundly disturbing ties between the President-elect and shadowy Russian influences. The American people deserve full disclosure about any financial or personal interests held over this incoming administration by foreign entities and potential collusion to undermine our democracy. Why has Mr. Trump failed to oppose Russia's forceful annexation of Crimea? Why did he pressure his party to officially withdraw a plank calling for assistance to Ukraine? Why did Mr. Trump reflexively attack our own intelligence officials when they warned of Russian interference in the election? Why is he avoiding regular intelligence briefings? Now that our intelligence community has concretely confirmed that Russia meddled in our democracy, we must demand to know if there has been any undue influence on Mr. Trump since he began his campaign. These new allegations finally shed light on his potential motives. Mr. Speaker, Congress, as a coequal branch of government, must conduct a bipartisan investigation and do it immediately.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I missed roll call vote numbers 24 through 25 on the floor of the House of Representatives. Had I been present, I would have voted yea to both bills.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately I missed a vote during a vote series on September 28, 2016. Had my vote been recorded for Roll Call 572, final passage on H.R. 5303, the Water Resources Development Act of 2016, I would have voted Yes.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately I missed a vote during a vote series on September 28, 2016. Had my vote been recorded for Roll Call 572, final passage on H.R. 5303, the Water Resources Development Act of 2016, I would have voted YES.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, the last few months have been a rather frustrating time for many of us in Congress as well as the American people. We first broke for some 7 weeks--the longest break from Congress in the modern era. We left without doing anything on Zika, without addressing our opioid epidemic in this country, and without doing anything for the families of Flint who have been suffering with their water for many years now. Probably one of the most striking moments I have had as a Member here for the last year and a half was when the families from Flint came in front of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee--the committee on which I serve--and talked about how they have been affected by this water crisis. What response have they gotten so far from Congress, from the people's House? Nothing. Zero. Instead, we went off for 7 weeks. Now here we are about to break again without addressing Flint, without doing anything about the Zika crisis and the other challenges we are facing, not to mention our gun violence problem that many of us gathered right here on the House floor to address. It is time that we act now, and we should not break until we have addressed these problems.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Ms. Gabbard, for her very eloquent words yesterday. All the speakers did a remarkable job in a ceremony that was sad and poignant that really captured the spirit of who Mark was. In the Hawaiian Islands, there is a word for family. Forgive my pronunciation--being from Pennsylvania--if I botch this, but I believe it is pronounced ohana. Ask anyone who lived or grew up there and they will tell you it is more than a word. It refers to not only your immediate family, but to extended family and beyond, even to strangers that you may not know. It is a very unique and strong bond amongst the Hawaiian people who live there. I experienced that ohana firsthand when I met Mark and his family during our congressional orientation. Sami and my wife, Jenny, immediately bonded, as did Mark and I, and the way Matthew and Kaila played with our daughter, Abby. I have many memories of that orientation and I actually was looking at a number of the pictures last night reflecting on Mark, reflecting on the ceremony yesterday, and preparing for today. As Leader Pelosi pointed out, this picture of Mark really captures his warmth, his spirit, and the way he approached life. It inspires me, and I think all of us, to approach each and every day with a smile on our face no matter the difficulties of the moment or the seeming difficulties that in the larger scheme of things might not quite be as difficult or as important as we take them to be. In this political crucible that we call Congress, Mark brought his personal sense of ohana to our body politic: his sense of understanding and willingness to find compromise where there often seemed to be none, his sense of seeing you as a friend with differences to work out and not as an adversary or an enemy, and his commitment to making sure we all found the common ground that so often eludes us. He was here a brief period of time, but he left his mark. Any of us may serve 2 years or 20 years or beyond. I don't think each of us, though, will be able to say that we have actually left our mark. I hope we will be able to. It can be said about Mark Takai in his short period here that he touched every single person who knew him. I love you, Mark, and I miss you. I love his beautiful family.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 1076, the bipartisan no fly, no buy legislation, to honor the memory of Jordan Ebner, a victim of gun violence who never received a moment of action on the House floor.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Philadelphia Blue Sox, a thirteen-and-under little league baseball team from my district who have earned national recognition and have won five tournaments just this year with a sterling record of 40 wins and only 6 losses. The team is made up of 14 handpicked players from Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. The boys are committed and train year round, often early in the morning and late into the night, when school and their parents allow. Thanks to the dedicated leadership of their head coach Michael ``Zoom'' Zolk, Tom Ditro, and Michael ``Big Zoom'' Zolk, as well some help from the Philadelphia Police Department, the hard work and dedication of the Blue Sox has translated into an impressive string of victories. We in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District are proud of this exceptional group of young men, and we are eager to see them continue to succeed. Go Blue Sox.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 1217, the bipartisan expanded background checks legislation, to honor the memory of Jerome Wright, a victim of gun violence who never received a moment of silence on the House floor.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4875, the United States Semiquincentennial Commission Act of 2016. The bill, as we just heard, was introduced in the House by my colleague and friend, Representative Patrick Meehan, and I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this legislation. Yesterday in my district, in Philadelphia, like all of the districts around the country, we were proudly celebrating the 240th birthday of the United States. On July 4, 2026, we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of our country. H.R. 4875 would establish a commission to plan, develop, and coordinate the commemoration of this important anniversary across the country. The commission's events would highlight locations of historical significance, including key cities such as Boston, Charleston, New York, and of course the Nation's birthplace of Philadelphia, my hometown. The commission would also emphasize the roles of individuals who have made significant impacts on American history. Under this legislation, the Department of the Interior would be required to study and report on actions to further the preservation of historic sites and develop fitting commemoration exhibits. Other Federal agencies would coordinate the development of scholarly works on, and artistic expressions of, American history, culture, and political thought; and the Secretary of State would facilitate the participation of foreign countries in the celebration. Mr. Speaker, we should pass this bill to begin the planning of this special event only a decade away. I urge Members to support this resolution. I yield back the balance of my time.