Ed Case

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 559) to amend section 6 of the Joint Resolution entitled ``A Joint Resolution to approve the Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, and for other purposes'', as amended.

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 559 would provide relief to a small group of long- term Northern Mariana Islands legal residents who will otherwise be forced to leave the Commonwealth by June 29 of this year if this legislation is not passed. This legislation is similar to legislation introduced back in 2011, which was ultimately included in bipartisan, comprehensive immigration legislation which passed the Senate in 2012 and to legislation which has extended their status previously. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands (Mr. Sablan), the sponsor of the bill.

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I commend my colleague from the Northern Mariana Islands for so ably representing his people. As the Representative proudly representing Hawaii, I recognize him and his constituents as members of our Pacific Islands ohana, and I commend him also for working very closely with the administration to get this bill right from both sides' perspectives. It is a truly bipartisan bill. It is a necessary bill, and I urge my colleagues to support the legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, today, with my colleague, Mr. Young of Alaska, I rise to introduce the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act. I also welcome the companion version of this bill introduced today in the U.S. Senate by Senator Hirono of Hawai'i and Senator Murkowski of Alaska. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would exempt immigrant visa applications of children of Filipino World War II veterans from existing caps and allow them to gain green cards on processing and approval of their applications, which are still carefully vetted in line with existing immigration standards. This bill will not only assist these veterans in their senior years but also provide a fitting recognition of their critical service in the War. In 1941, more than 250,000 Filipino soldiers responded to President Roosevelt's call-to-arms in the Philippines and elsewhere and fought for the U.S. during World War II. Many of these brave individuals returned from the War only to be denied many of the benefits promised for their service, and they have spent decades fighting recognition of their service. Many such veterans became proud U.S. citizens, though today there are only a few thousand Filipino veterans still alive and living in the U.S. In October 2017, Congress finally awarded the Filipino veterans of World War II the Congressional Gold Medal to honor their service to our country, but we must do more as we promised. These Filipino American veterans long sought to gain entry and citizenship for their children, yet our immigrant visa backlog has forced family members to wait up to decades and thus effectively prevented these aging veterans from reuniting with their families. In 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services created the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program, a temporary administrative fix that allows these veterans to request parole for their children or siblings. Under this policy, they can live in the U.S. pending processing of their permanent resident applications, which may still take years if not decades. However, as these veterans near the end of their lives, they deserve the certainty of a non-revocable permanent solution. This bill would grant them that. In this Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and in further recognition of the selfless service and contributions of Filipino veterans of World War II to our country, I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting and passing this bill.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CASE. Madam Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to H.R. 1500 which would ensure at least one member of the Consumer Advisory Board be an expert in privacy. Over a decade ago, predatory lending and lax regulation led to one of the most devastating financial crises in our lifetime or any lifetime. The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, or CFPB, was established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in response to this crisis. The CFPB is tasked with implementing and enforcing federal consumer financial laws while ensuring consumer access to fair, transparent, and competitive financial products and services. Under former Director Richard Cordray, the CFPB returned roughly $12 billion to over 30 million consumers who fell victim to deceptive financial practices, handled over 1.2 million consumer complaints about financial firms, reined in payday lenders, examined mortgage and student loan servicers, combated discrimination in lending, and held a number of bad actors accountable. Under this administration, the CFPB's leadership ordered a number of changes that weakened its ability to protect consumers. This included firing members of the Consumer Advisory Board and reducing the size of the board. This hurt the CFPB's ability to help and protect consumers. The board's experts help inform the CFPB about emerging practices and trends in the consumer finance industry and share analysis and recommendations. It helps ensure the government fully leverages expertise of those from outside of government. H.R. 1500, the Consumers First Act, would reverse anticonsumer changes taken by the administration and strengthen the Consumer Advisory Board. The bill would require the CFPB director to appoint at least 25 members, at least two-thirds of which would have to represent consumers, including fair lending and civil rights experts and representatives of communities affected by high-priced mortgages. My amendment would require at least one member of that board to be a demonstrated expert in privacy. My amendment is needed because the interplay of privacy and technology in the financial landscape has changed dramatically since 2008. As internet connectivity increases, Americans now transmit more of their personal and financial information on the internet at exponentially higher rates than in the past, and their data is at risk. Since 2013 there have been at least 10 major data breaches compromising billions of consumers. A number of these breaches exposed consumers' financial information. For example, Marriott International's 2018 breach compromised the personal information of some 500 million customers, including credit card numbers of more than 100 million. In 2017 Equifax was breached, exposing the personal information of 143 million consumers, including Social Security numbers. In 2014 the Nation's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, was breached, compromising 76 million, or two in three U.S. households. The list, unfortunately, goes on and on. In the wake of these high-profile data breaches and privacy violations, consumers are increasingly concerned about their online personal and financial privacy. A recent Pew Research Center public opinion study found that over half feel that their personal information is less secure than it was just 5 years ago, and 68 percent of internet users believe current laws are not good enough in protecting people's privacy online. Our consumers are demanding action on the issue of privacy, and our privacy laws and enforcement significantly lag much of the rest of the world. Obviously, the current system is not working to ensure that personal privacy is protected. My amendment responds to these concerns by ensuring that an expert in consumer privacy is part of the membership of the CFPB's Consumer Advisory Board. It will make sure that these concerns are front and center at the table as the board provides its advice to the CFPB. My amendment is a small, yet important, nonpartisan amendment in response to the growing movement in Congress and across the Nation and world to protect consumers' personal data and basic right of privacy. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CASE. Madam Chair, I appreciate the comments o my colleague very much and the support. This clearly demonstrates that when it comes to consumer privacy, there is no party involved. We are all concerned about it regardless of our party. So I appreciate those comments. I would only add that certainly this member of the board should deal not only with data breaches, but also with the basic rules and regulations that govern privacy. We need a large, massive, and increased broad government debate over our own rules on privacy in this country where, in fact, we do lag the rest of the world. Madam Chair, I appreciate, again, my colleague's support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce my bill, which would ensure all federal employees are treated fairly and are reimbursed in a timely manner for travel expenses during a shutdown. Good government includes ensuring that during shutdowns, essential services are still performed. Thus, during the last government shutdown, federal employees, including TSA personnel in Hawai`i, continued to make official trips in support of their important security-related duties. Unfortunately, these employees did not receive formal guidance on how or if they would be reimbursed for the official travel expenses they paid for using their own credit cards. This could have resulted in late payments and penalties, impacted their credit scores, and increased interest rates for both their personal and government cards. No government employee should be held liable for the government's expenses during the shutdown. They should not have to pay for government travel on their personal travel cards without knowing when, or if, they will be reimbursed. My legislation would improve government functions by ensuring federal employees do not have to personally take on these liabilities.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CASE. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to H.R. 9, which would recognize the importance of the oceans to our global climate system and the international efforts under way to include our oceans in nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, under the Paris Agreement. When we talk about the impacts of manmade climate change, we focus on the worlds of our lands and air, but we tend to forget the largest world of all, our oceans. Yet, some of the foremost negative consequences of climate change, as well as the positive vital processes that have kept our climate on an even keel until recently and can continue to do so, lie in the ocean. We cannot forget the oceans. No climate change solutions can work if our oceans are not in the room. The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the Earth and directly affects weather around the globe. The temperature and currents of the ocean determine storm patterns and strength. We have seen increases in measures of intensity, frequency, and duration, as well as the number of the strongest--category 4 and 5-- storms since the 1980s. The ocean also absorbs many of the most immediate consequences of carbon pollution, buffering us from some of its most damaging impacts. The ocean has absorbed 93 percent of the total excess heat energy taken up by greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Additionally, the ocean is the largest sink for anthropogenic carbon dioxide, or CO2, absorbing roughly one-third of CO2 emissions. The increase in temperature and carbon in the atmosphere and oceans are directly impacting communities throughout the world. According to the 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment, or NCA, released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, made up of 13 Federal agencies: ``Human-caused carbon emissions influence ocean ecosystems through three main processes: ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation.'' Additionally, the NCA states: ``The social, economic, and environmental systems along the coasts are being affected by climate change. Threats from sea level rise are exacerbated by dynamic processes such as high tide and storm surge flooding, erosion, waves and their effects, saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers and elevated groundwater tables, local rainfall, river runoff, increasing water and surface air temperatures, and ocean acidification.'' In just one compelling instance of many from around the world, my State of Hawaii's oceans and coastlines are on the front lines of dealing with the impacts of climate change in our oceans and coasts. For example, the Honolulu tide gauge, a constant for over a century now, has measured a sea level rise of nearly half a foot since 1905. Over 70 percent of our beaches in Hawaii are in a state of chronic erosion, likely caused by a combination of shoreline hardening and ongoing sea level rise. The frequency of high tide flooding in Honolulu since the 1960s increased from 6 days per year to 11 per year. We have also seen in Hawaii sea level rise impact traditional and customary practices, including fishpond maintenance, cultivation of salt, and gathering from the nearshore fisheries. About 550 cultural sites, 38 miles of major roads, and more than $19 billion in assets will be vulnerable to chronic flooding resulting from a 3.2-foot increase in sea level. Such widespread flooding will change the character of the islands by affecting cultural heritage and daily commerce and lifestyle, and this is chronic throughout the entire Pacific. We also, in Hawaii, face just one example of the impacts of ocean warming, acidification, on our reefs. We have seen globally averaged sea surface temperature increase by 1.8 percent Farenheit over the past 100 years. We have seen over nearly 30 years of oceanic pH measurements, based on data collected from Station ALOHA, Hawaii, show a roughly 8.7 percent increase in ocean acidity over this time. We have seen increased ocean acidification reduce the ability of marine organisms to build shells and other hard structures, adversely impacting coral reefs and threatening marine ecosystems. We have seen extended periods of coral bleaching, which did not even occur first until 2014 but now are becoming much longer. This is, again, true throughout the entire Pacific Ocean. And we are not alone, because the ocean is interconnected throughout our world, and we are a clear example of what the world is facing. These impacts are happening all over the world and our country. Madam Chair, 39 countries--conspicuously, not including the U.S.-- have embraced the challenges and promise of our oceans in facing climate change by signing the Because the Ocean initiative, which has encouraged progress on the incorporation of the ocean in climate change policy debate, with a special focus on the inclusion of ocean action into nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. The efforts of these countries and their partners will be invaluable as we face the crisis of climate change.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, today, with my colleagues Mr. Young of Alaska and Mr. Huffman of California, I am proud to introduce the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Amendments Act of 2019. The women and men of the NOAA Corps proudly and professionally operate NOAA's highly specialized fleet of research and survey ships and aircraft, including the famed Hurricane Hunter aviators. Several of those ships are based in my State of Hawaii and conduct surveys used to manage our fisheries and protected species and study and map the ocean floor. Like the other uniformed services, the NOAA Corps officers spend most of their careers away from home at sea, in the air, and in remote locations such as Antarctica conducting this important work but are often overlooked in the legislative and administrative process, resulting in a patchwork of statutory authorities, benefits, and obligations of service. Our bill will help the NOAA Corps improve recruitment, retention, and diversity to attract the best and the brightest commissioned officers and better align this great Corps with the other uniformed services as they continue their great service to NOAA and to our Nation. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this bill and support the efforts of the NOAA Corps.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the groundbreaking contributions of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and Submillimeter Array, located on the 13,803-foot summit of Mauna Kea on my home island in Hawaii, and to celebrate their contributions to a truly international effort producing the first-ever image of a black hole. Part of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, the JCMT and SMA joined six other telescopes around the globe to form an Earth-sized telescope of unprecedented power and resolution able to photograph the supermassive black hole in the M87 galaxy. Hawaii's key contribution was to place world-class telescopes in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Astronomers partnered with renowned Hawaiian language and cultural practitioner Dr. Larry Kimura to suggest the Hawaiian name ``Powehi,'' meaning embellished dark source of unending creation. These Hawaii observatories pioneered the study of black holes, and thanks to powerful new capabilities, perfect conditions atop Mauna Kea, and dedicated personnel, we can all look forward to more of JCMT and SMA's cutting-edge discoveries in the future, in addition to the continued growth and reputation of Hawaii as a world leader in exploring our heavens.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, most of our fellow Americans just want us to assure them that the necessities of life are available and affordable: food, shelter, education, safety. Are they available and affordable? Most of our fellow Americans would add to that available and affordable to all Americans, because the promise, opportunities and responsibilities of citizenship are shared, and are best shared by all of us. Nowhere is this more evident than in healthcare. The question before us all now is how to ensure that quality healthcare is available and affordable for all Americans. We can, should, and must continue the great debate over how best to do so, for healthcare remains unavailable to tens of millions of Americans, unaffordable even when available, and widely inconsistent on quality. What we can't, shouldn't, and must not do is take a giant step backward to strip tens of millions of Americans of any semblance of available, affordable, quality healthcare. That is exactly what we would do if the Affordable Care Act were repealed by this Congress or our courts. To those few who don't agree with our basic promise to start with, please get out of the way. To those who do, but don't agree that this is the best way forward, let's hear your concrete proposal.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CASE. Mr. Chair, I rise today to speak in favor of my proposed amendment. This amendment will empower small dollar donors to participate in our elections process and focus the attention of candidates and political parties on earning financial support from a broader base of voters. All across our political spectrum, we decry the historically low esteem in which Congress is now held, as well as the utter absence of many, if not most, of our fellow citizens from their government, as if the two were unrelated. For, of course, low esteem breeds absence, and absence breeds low esteem. Most Americans simply feel left out, without a voice, unvested, unwanted, and, thus, the downward cycle. Nor is this just about low esteem and absence. For the vast majority of Americans are not vested in our government, and if our government is only supported and is only representative of the very few, mostly moneyed and influential, interests of our country, then that does not lead to representative decisions and erodes the consent of the governed, the political and social consensus on which our democracy is based. As just one manifestation of this dangerous and worsening syndrome, the Center for Responsive Politics reviewed 2018 election-cycle contributions and found that, still again: ``Only a tiny fraction of Americans actually give campaign contributions to political candidates, parties, or PACs. The ones who give contributions large enough to be itemized, over $200, is even smaller. The impact of these donations, however, is huge.'' In fact, according to the center, while less than a half percent of the population contributed $200 or more, their contributions totaled 71 percent of all individual contributions in 2018 to candidates, PACs, parties, and outside groups. The clear corollary is that the vast majority of Americans do not participate in our elections with their financial support and that, of those who do contribute, their voices are drowned out in a sea of larger contributions from a precariously narrow interest base. This is why leading reform groups such as Issue One and its ReFormers Caucus, a fully bipartisan group of now over 200 former Members of Congress, Governors, and Cabinet members committed to nonpartisan solutions to fixing our broken system, cites increased and broadened voter participation in the election process through means such as amplifying the voices of small donors as key to returning our government to the people. My amendment would take one small but meaningful step in that direction by authorizing national political party committees of any party to contribute up to $10,000 to a candidate, twice the amount currently authorized, if the amount consists solely of individual contributions of less than $200, and by making corresponding changes in the limit on coordinated expenses. By permitting such committees to provide enhanced support to their candidates through use of separate, small dollar amounts, this change would incentivize greater attention by committees of all parties to small dollar donors, greater participation by such donors in the political process, and representation of a broader and more representative America by those elected. I urge support for my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CASE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the comments of my colleague, but I did not detect in his comments any objection to the amendment, and I hope that that means that he would agree that a much broader and more representative group of Americans should, in fact, be incentivized to participate in the political process. I hope he would agree that one of the basic problems we have in this country today is the disincentivizement and the disenfranchizement of too many people who just simply don't feel a heart and zone of participation. I hope he would agree that this amendment, at least, is one way to accomplish that. Speaking also to the broader purpose, he made reference to the fact that this was a partisan bill, and I would refer him to Issue One, which I referenced in my comments, and to the ReFormers Caucus, which is about 100 each, Republicans and Democrats, Members that he would recognize, leaders of both parties, now retired, who have looked back on their service in this Congress and have concluded that many of the provisions in this bill are the right way to go, not just this amendment, but many, many of those provisions, and I hope he would reference those leaders of the party for guidance going forward with respect to the intent of this bill. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CASE. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CASE. No, that is not correct. It provides that if contributions are received from donors of $200 or less, those may effectively be pooled into a segregated account by either political party and then contributed to candidates in an amount over and above the amount allowed for contributions of over $200. So, therefore, you will see that that would incentivize both parties to start to think a little more seriously about getting contributions from donors at less than $200.

Mr. CASE. Mr. Chairman, first of all, to my colleague, I accept the gentleman's offer to work in a bipartisan way to fix some of these major problems. I look forward to it, number one. Number two, the gentleman referenced that special interest groups had drafted this amendment. If there is a special interest group, it is the ReFormers Caucus, on a bipartisan basis.

Mr. CASE. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. CASE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Chair, I rise today to speak in favor of H.R. 268, the Emergency Disaster Appropriations bill. This bill would appropriate funds for programs supporting communities rebuilding after suffering through numerous natural disasters throughout 2018. My home State of Hawai'i is in particular need of assistance. It was hit hard by multiple devasting storms over the islands and by the sustained eruption of Kilauea Volcano. Among the impacts on Hawai'i Island by the volcanic eruption were: 716 dwellings destroyed by lava; Roughly 30 miles of roads covered by lava; and About 60,000 earthquakes striking the area from April through August, with the largest a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. Additionally, Hurricane Lane wreaked havoc across Hawai'i in late August. Up to 50 inches of rain fell in parts of Hawaii Island and 35 inches on the island of Kaua'i. This caused massive unprecedented flooding that these communities in Hawaii continue to deal with. The natural disasters of the past year affected all parts of our Hawai'i, from major damage throughout O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands to disruption of our tourism and agriculture industries and beyond. These sorely needed funds will assist those affected to recover and carry on with their lives. The programs and funding in H.R. 268 is a step in the right direction of how government should be working and responding to the needs of our constituents. I urge my colleagues to support this bill to help residents across the country rebuild and move forward after these devastating natural disasters.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1, the For the People Act, of which I am a very proud cosponsor. H.R. 1 is a critical step toward reversing the accelerating deterioration in our Nation's most cherished democratic foundation--the consent of the governed--and taking back our government for all citizens. It would fight voter suppression; simplify voting; promote election security; curb special interests and dark money in politics; incentivize smaller, broader donations; and fortify ethics laws. I wish especially to recognize contributions of Issue One and its ReFormers Caucus. These over 200 now-former Members of Congress, Cabinet members, and Governors have dedicated themselves on a nonpartisan basis to ``Fix Democracy First.'' My own motivation to return to Congress arose from my membership in this caucus, and my pledge to my constituents in Hawaii and throughout the country was and is to fight to fully return our government to the governed again. H.R. 1 is first and foremost for the people, and I urge its prompt passage. Everything else depends on that.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the proposed Ka`u Coast Preservation Act, a bill directing the National Park Service to assess the feasibility of designating coastal lands on the Ka`u Coast of the island of Hawai`i between Kapaoo Point and Kahuku Point as a unit of the National Park System. In March 2005, I wrote to the National Park Service to ask that it conduct a reconnaissance survey of the Ka`u coast to make a preliminary evaluation of the unique natural resources of the area to determine its suitability for inclusion as a unit within our National Park Service. The draft reconnaissance report providing an overview of the natural and cultural resources of the study area is currently in the final stages of review, but the draft I have reviewed concludes that ``Based upon the significance of the resources in the study area, and the current integrity and intact condition of these resources, a preliminary finding of national significance and suitability can be concluded.'' The draft report goes on to recommend that Congress proceed with a full resource study of the area. At present, the beautiful coastline of Ka`u is largely pristine: unspoiled, undeveloped, and uninhabited. It contains significant natural, geological, and archeological features. The northern part of the study area abuts Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and contains a number of notable geological features, including a huge ancient lava tube known as the Great Crack, which the NPS expressed interest in acquiring in the past. The study area includes both black and green (olivine) sand beaches as well as a number of endangered and threatened species, most notably the endangered hawksbill turtle (half of the Hawaiian population of this rare sea turtle nests within the study area), the threatened green sea turtle, the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, the endangered Hawaiian hawk, native bees, the endangered and very rare Hawaiian orange-black damselfly (the largest population in the state), and a number of native endemic birds. Humpback whales and spinner dolphins frequent the area. The area also boasts some of the best remaining examples of native coastal vegetation in Hawai`i. Although the NPS was unable to conduct a full survey of marine resources, it is expected that the varied and undeveloped habitats in the study area support high levels of biodiversity. Archeological resources reflecting ancient Hawaiian settlement in the study area includes the Puhi`ula cave, dwelling complexes, heiau (religious shrines), walls, fishing and canoe houses or sheds, burial sites, petroglyphs water and salt collection sites, caves, and trails. The Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail runs through this area. The area is also remarkable for its magnificent viewsheds. Ka`u is one the last unspoiled areas left in Hawai`i. It is, however, under tremendous development pressure, despite the fact that these coastal lands are subject to volcanic eruptions, seismic activity, tsunami, and other hazards. More earthquakes occur in the Ka`u area than anywhere in the State and the hazard risk level in the study area ranges from the highest (category 1) to between 3 and 6 for the balance of the study area. The outstanding resources of Ka`u deserve protection; development along the coast poses risks to these resources and potentially to human life. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and invite you to come to the island of Hawai`i to visit this special area. I know that if you do so, you will be convinced as I am of the vital importance of protecting these lands.