Katherine Clark

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, last month, I joined my colleague Jared Moskowitz on a tour of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The school is frozen in time. It is just as it was 6 years ago today when a gunman stole the lives of 17 people. There was a box of chocolates left in a classroom on a stack of textbooks, a stuffed animal with a Valentine's Day balloon sitting on a chair, writing assignments left unfinished, whiteboards covered in lesson plans. It was so ordinary, so hauntingly familiar. It is what you would see today if you walked into any high school on Valentine's Day. And then there was the horror--the broken glass, the bullet holes, the blood stains, the outlines left by children's murdered bodies, two of them right next to the teacher's desk where their classmates and teacher were hiding inches away. Three dads joined us that day. One by one, each of them led us to a spot where his child had been shot to death. One told us of how his daughter had run for safety in a stairwell, how she had missed safety by a split second, and how a single bullet ended her life before it had even begun. Her blood and the blood of her classmates mark the floors of that hallway, and they mark the soul of a country that could have saved them but chose not to. The collective failures to prevent this tragedy permeates every corner of that building and every corner of this building: the failure of the good guys with guns to respond quickly and without hesitation; the sheriff's failure to act on a warning of a school shooter in the making; the FBI's failure to investigate a tip about an angry, unstable teenager who wanted to kill people; and Congress' failure to keep an AR-15 rifle out of his hands. The men and women in this building could have prevented him from acquiring a weapon designed to kill and kill fast, but no. Nothing. There were no red flag laws, no universal background checks, no crackdown on high-capacity magazines, no assault weapons ban, no safe storage requirements. All of it was rejected by those, Madam Speaker, who perversely define freedom as unfettered access to weapons of war. Madam Speaker, there was no freedom for the students and staff gunned down that day. There is no freedom in violence, in terror, and death. There is no freedom in being forced to wonder if your child will come home from school. Will they live to see graduation? And there is no freedom from the grief of those parents whose worst fears had been realized. Along one of those hallways there is a quote painted on the wall: ``Never live in the past but always learn from it.'' Madam Speaker, that building is just as it was 6 years ago, and so is this country. Our gun laws are frozen in the past as if nothing has happened. In refusing to act, Republicans not only ignore the past, they condemn the children to future violent death. Madam Speaker, let us honor our past by changing our future. Let us honor the murdered by honoring the right of the living to be free from fear.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, we all agree that something needs to be done to fix our broken immigration system, but when it comes to doing the work, finding the solutions, House Democrats have come to the table, President Biden has come to the table, and the Senate has come to the table. Then there is the House GOP. The MAGA extremists hold up our national security priorities, our commitment to our allies, and to our own readiness, supposedly to strike a deal on immigration. The President says let's get it done and then he did. Instead of pursuing a bipartisan compromise, instead of strengthening the security of our border, advancing humane solutions, and doing their jobs, they are now impeaching the Secretary of Homeland Security without a single allegation of any impeachable crime, not one. Impeaching a cabinet member without any evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors, that is the breach of public trust here. The plan is to impeach the Secretary. Then what? Will the majority invest in Border Patrol? No. Their dream budget fires 2,000 Border Patrol agents. Just yesterday, Speaker Johnson ridiculed the men and women of Border Patrol for supporting the Senate bill saying it is probably because it would give them a fair wage. This majority's contempt for working people, even those whose mission is to carry out border security, has no bounds. This extreme MAGA majority has repeatedly rejected funding for technology that is needed to stop the flow of fentanyl. Here we are. The extreme MAGA majority, what are they going to do about the border? Only this sham impeachment. They have told us what the future holds. As one Member across the aisle put it, they oppose action on immigration, because it would boost Biden against Trump. That is all they care about. That is what this sham is about, choosing extremism over country, stunts over solutions, and politics over people. That is a breach of trust we all must reject.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding citizen of Waltham, Massaclrusetts--a devoted husband, father, grandfather; a dedicated serviceman; and distinguished World War II Navy Veteran, Mr. Edward R. Desmond. Mr. Desmond was honored by the History Department at Marshfield High School on January 25, 2023. Edward Desmond, known to most as Eddie, served as a Petty Officer 2nd Class on USS LCS (L) (3) 128 and served at the Battle of Okinawa. In his service he was regarded highly by peers as a good cook and earned the Navy's Combat Action Ribbon for his time under fire in the Battle of Okinawa. Edward also received the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and was involved in the Liberation of the Philippines. During his time in the Navy he spent time away from family in service to his country in some of the longest and hardest battles in the history of naval warfare. Perhaps even more notable than the long list of accolades and awards is Edward's 40-year career devoted as a Central Office Technician for the New England Bell Telephone Company. Mr. Desmond has accomplished so much in his life, but none of it would have been possible without the support of family. Mr. and Mrs. Desmond raised five children. They are the proud grandparents of six grandchildren. It is a great honor to represent Edward Desmond and his lifetime commitment to advancing our Nation's understanding of World War II, what happened, and what can be done to avoid another war.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Oregon for yielding time and for all her incredible work. Madam Speaker, I have to hand it to the majority. With this bill, the MAGA majority has reached new heights or lows, as you want to define it, that are new and creative. They have named this bill, the Pregnant Students' Rights Act and didn't bother to include any rights or resources. Not a single new resource or protection for pregnant students. This bill does nothing to support student parents. It is another vehicle for promoting anti-abortion propaganda and deceiving Americans about their healthcare options. All of this from the same majority that eliminated funding for childcare on college campuses--funding that helps students have their children in childcare so they can go to class. It was defunded by the majority. It was zeroed out. They pull that one day, and then the next day they want students to believe they care about them? Give me a break. One in five undergrads are parents. Has anyone on the other side of the aisle talked to those parents about what they need? If they did, they would find out those students need the same thing as any parent: reproductive freedom, access to childcare, access to maternity care, access to contraception, and access to abortion care. Madam Speaker, let's fund childcare, not propaganda. Let's restore the reproductive freedom of every single American. That is how you help students, by empowering them, not playing a cynical game with their lives.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, the MAGA majority is putting forward an impeachment inquiry even as their own leaders admit there is no evidence of wrongdoing. They have already reviewed tens of thousands of documents, interviewed dozens of witnesses, and nothing. Why? This has never been about the truth. This is about avenging Donald Trump. This is about undermining our democracy and influencing the 2024 election. President Ford once said, ``Truth is the glue that holds government together.'' Mr. Speaker, it is truth that allows this Chamber to function. Abandoning truth in favor of political gamesmanship creates nothing but chaos. That dysfunction isn't a byproduct of the majority's behavior, it is the point. They don't want the government to function. They have sought nothing in service of the American people, nothing to lower costs, nothing to create good-paying jobs, to grow the middle class, to make everyday people feel more secure. What has the majority delivered? The kind of extremism that chooses rich tax cheats over working people, that obstructs the ballot box and hikes the cost of healthcare, that protects guns over kids, that bans abortion and criminalizes doctors, that rewards polluters and corporate greed and tells everyday Americans, you foot the bill. This sham impeachment is below the dignity of the people's House. It is an affront to the people who sent us here to work for them. What a disgrace.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. As we speak here today, conflicts are raging around the globe, and the American people have told us exactly what they want us to do. Democracy is under siege. Putin is salivating at the prospect that Republicans might abandon Ukraine. Seventy thousand childcare centers are on the verge of shutting down because the GOP let vital funding expire. We don't even have a budget, despite the fact that we voted for those top-line numbers back in June. This ridiculous censure is how the Republicans are spending the time of this Chamber and the time of the American people. The MAGA majority should be embarrassed if they are still capable of shame. Republicans filed this censure the same day they decided to shield the identities of January 6 rioters. I do have to hand it to the majority. They have managed to both push an extreme agenda and be a do-nothing majority. They have done nothing to make families freer, safer, or more confident in their future. Instead, they have voted against lowering the cost of insulin, affordable housing, and gun safety. They have done nothing to promote freedom, but they do not miss an opportunity to vote for abortion bans, book bans, and tax cheats. Just last week, the majority's leadership said no to holding George Santos accountable after a motion to expel was made by the Republican chairman of the Ethics Committee, but today they bring this to the floor? A censure isn't a substitute for a policy agenda. It isn't filler when you have nothing to offer the American people. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this sham resolution.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut, The Nutmeg State, The Constitution State, for all her work and for yielding this time. Mr. Chair, a budget is a reflection of our values, and what a low value the majority places on women and children in these bills. In the 2 minutes allotted to me, 40 Americans will be physically abused by a partner, but instead of standing with those survivors, MAGA Republicans are defunding the Violence Against Women Act and they are taking away survivors' access to legal counsel. Those are the GOP's values. MAGA ideology is about controlling people--their health, their lives, their bodies, and in these bills, they are continuing their march toward a national abortion ban, defunding family planning programs, banning providers from talking to patients about abortion care, and banning medical students from even learning how to provide safe abortions. Those are their values. Millions of parents sent their kids to school today not knowing if they will come home safe. The Republicans' response? Unleash more guns onto the streets, including untraceable ghost guns. Those are their values. In these bills, they are gutting public education and childcare. They are even defunding programs for missing and exploited children. We see the extreme values of the GOP in these bills. These values are not shared by the American people. We are here to serve people. These bills work against them. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question on the motion. The previous question was ordered.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Madam Chair, we are 10 days from a GOP shutdown, and instead of finding a bipartisan way forward, instead of working with us to lower costs for families at home, instead of honoring the budget deal that we already agreed to, Republicans have turned around and become a pro-lead poisoning caucus. Really. Read the bill. They have written a housing and transportation budget that defunds lead removal in low-income housing, lead removal in the homes of 46,000 children. That is not all. This bill cuts affordable housing construction by two-thirds. It guts transit funding, leaving parents with longer, more dangerous, less reliable commutes. News flash. Nobody's gas prices were ever lowered by banning Pride flags, but the open discrimination against the LGBTQ+ Americans in this bill will hurt communities in every single one of our districts. This bill is more of the same from the MAGA Republican majority: Unserious, heartless extremism. Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to put children over politics and vote ``no'' on this bill.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, 212, it is a New York area code, and it is our call for a Speaker of integrity, intelligence, and inclusion; 212 is our call for a Speaker who will protect our children, our veterans, our planet; 212 is our call for a Speaker who will grow the middle class, lower costs, create good-paying jobs, and make healthcare affordable; 212 is our call for a Speaker who will secure liberty, justice, and opportunity for everyone. Well, the unanimous call of 212 House Democrats has been answered by our nominee for Speaker, the gentleman from Brooklyn, the leader of our House Democratic Caucus, the Honorable Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries has answered our call, but the majority's nominee is disconnected. He is disconnected from the American people and their values. MAGA extremism is designed to divide, and it has broken the Republican Party. Their nominee's vision is a direct attack on the freedom and the rights of the American people, and he has got the record to prove it. The Republican nominee has voted against healthcare for children, for veterans, even for 9/11 survivors. He has opposed lowering the cost of insulin repeatedly. He wants to cut Social Security and Medicare. Don't take it from me, it was raised on the other side of the aisle just this week as a selling point to make him Speaker. Over his 16 years in the House, the Republican nominee has never supported a farm bill. What does that mean? It means he has turned his back on farmers, on rural communities, and the 11 million children who go to bed hungry in this country. The Republican nominee wants a national abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of a mother. We want to make our own healthcare decisions in consultation with our families, our doctors, and our faith--not with Jim Jordan. The Republican nominee plotted to overturn the 2020 election, traffics in misinformation, and is a true threat to our democracy and our Constitution. I have had the privilege of working here in the people's House for almost 10 years. I have gotten to know many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and I know that they hear the same thing that I do, which is that the American people expect us to work together on their behalf. Well, it is not too late for the majority to choose a bipartisan path forward to reopen the House. Take ``yes'' for an answer. Every day the majority chooses to engage in a Republican civil war that is threatening their own members instead of engaging with us in the work of the American people, is a day that weakens this institution and the standing of our country. We need a Speaker who will govern through consensus, not conflict. We need a Speaker worthy of wielding that gavel. We need a leader who will defend democracy, not degrade it. More than ever, we need proven, patriotic, people-first leadership. Mr. Speaker pro tempore, I am proud to nominate Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, we have just received a 71- page bill that is about keeping open our Federal Government, something that Democrats have been pushing for months. We are asking for 90 minutes to be able to read this bill and come to the floor with an informed vote. That has been denied. We have serious trust issues.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, a handful of issues have always transcended politics. Our troops, the guardians of our freedom, have always been one of them, but in the MAGA Republican Party, nothing is off the table. Nothing takes priority over their goal of a nationwide abortion ban. Military promotions, troops' paychecks, our national defense bill: all held hostage because extremists want to tear away the reproductive freedom of the very people fighting for our freedom. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues: Put our country first and instruct the conferees to deliver a defense bill that puts freedom over fascism.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, we are going to continue to stand in this country for some basic principles that we are sent here for the American people, that we are sent here to defend their freedom, and that we are sent here to work an economy that isn't just for the wealthy and well connected but that is for the American family. That is the work we are doing. That is the basis of the great economic news coming out, and we are going to continue that fight. We hope that Republicans will say no to extremism, to hatred, and to bigotry that is put into these appropriation bills and say yes to solutions and fairness for the American people and to build an economy where they can see themselves. Funding our government is our basic job. The comments from the GOP Conference about how we could go into a MAGA shutdown and it wouldn't matter are outrageous. The last time we had a shutdown, it was $11 billion out of this economy. Don't talk to us about standing for our veterans when the GOP was the one that has cut veterans housing, has cut their healthcare, and has said to our women, our Active-Duty military women, that it is okay to fight for freedom for our country, but we are going to take your freedom away. That is not okay.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the leader for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I think we have very different definitions of success for the American people. As Democrats, we have been focused and have been successful in growing our economy by growing the middle class, lowering healthcare costs, making sure that we are addressing climate change, and having safer communities. Now the Republican Conference is saying they are sending us home for 6 weeks without funding the government? We have 1 bill out of 12 completed because extremists are holding your Conference hostage. That is not the full story. The extremists are holding the American people hostage. We will have 12 days when we return to fund the government and to live up to the job the American people sent us here to do. This is a reckless march to a MAGA shutdown, and for what? In pursuit of a national abortion ban? Is that what we are doing here? The American people see through this. They know who is fighting for them and fighting for solutions. Your time is coming, Mr. Speaker. The American people are watching, and they are going to demand accountability. We should be staying here, completing these appropriation bills, stripping out the toxic, divisive, and bigoted riders that have been put on these bills and getting back to work for freedom, for our economy, and the American family.

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chair, ever since the minutemen gathered in Lexington, America's Armed Forces have been guardians of freedom. Generations of heroes have signed up for a singular cause: preserving liberty for all. Regardless of party or politics, the House has come together every year to put our national security and our military families first--until now. This year, the MAGA majority is using our national defense bill to get one step closer to the only thing they really care about, a nationwide abortion ban. Mr. Chair, Americans are already paying the price for Republicans' extremism; Americans like Amanda Zarowski who rushed to the hospital last year after suffering a miscarriage. Amanda needed an abortion procedure to prevent a deadly infection, but her doctor sent her home, banned under Texas law from providing the care she needed. So she waited, mourning her daughter that she had lost, until she went into septic shock, ended up in the ICU for 3 days, and almost lost her life. Now MAGA Republicans are aiming the same dangerous extremism at our troops. They want the same control over the health, body, and lives of America's servicemembers and their families. That is not freedom. That is not patriotism. That is not national security. That is tyranny.