Sean Casten

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, I think there is a refreshing change coming in our energy structure primarily because all of those old power plants--that some of the utilities in Florida that we are fighting because they still have all that capital they wanted to amortize--those plants are getting old, and they are making the decisions that intelligent businesses always make: I am going to invest in the stuff that is clean and that generates a high return. Florida Power & Light Company is a utility that, frankly, has been one of the leaders in deploying wind energy. It took them a little while to do it in their own district, but they certainly did it all over the country, because they knew that was a good place to put their investors' money to work. And we have seen that leadership, I think, throughout the business sector in this country. There is a reason why we are creating so many more solar jobs, and so many more wind jobs. Jobs in the energy efficiency sector I think is the largest supplier of new labor. But I don't think that absolves us as regulators. I am remembering when you and I formed what I think we thought was going to be a vary small delegation to Madrid a little over a year ago; and we had our pins that said ``We're Still In,'' because we knew, of course, that the prior administration had pulled out of the Paris accord. And I still have a picture that I carry around and show to people of the two empty seats in front of the United States delegation sign when every other country in the world was there. But I remember there was a--and I wish I could remember the name-- European parliamentarian that came up to me and said: You know, we know from experience that when the United States doesn't lead, bad things happen. And I said that we thought we were alone out there. But you remember when we got there, there were a lot of businesses that were there and there were lot of cities that were there. We spent a long time at a lot of university booths. And we were still in because we were still in, not just because it was a slogan on a pin; because all those companies that made zero carbon commitments and are committing to it because their shareholders are demanding it. One-third of all of the assets under management in global equity markets right now are in ESG funds. People care. They don't--whether they care for moral reasons, whether they care because they are greedy, it doesn't matter. They care. We have had over 1,200 State and local officials call on Congress to pass the American Jobs Plan because they care. Environmental and labor organizations across the country have pushed for us to act now because they care. I am reading in the Tampa Bay Times. Recently, Dr. Rich Templin says: ``Everyone who stands for fair, union jobs and climate action can come together. In this plan, pro-workers and pro-environment voices can sing in unison.'' We know that is true. Now, the challenge--you started by asking about the energy sector. If we are really honest, what we all know in this line of work that we are in is that losers always cry louder than winners cheer. People who have got a loss of investment in this space know exactly what they have to lose. Future generations aren't here yet. Our job here today is to look around the room and see who is not in the room and make sure we advocate for them. The rest of them are doing a pretty good job on their own, I think.

Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, when we deregulated our power industry in 1992, with the energy policy act, that was never presented as being an environmental bill, as far as I can remember. It was designed to encourage people to build cheaper power. And what did they build? The nuclear industry went from running 60 percent of the time to running 90 percent of the time. We started building a whole lot of wind and solar. We basically stopped building inefficient gas plants, and the only new gas plants were combined cycle plants that are almost twice as efficient. Since that bill was passed, the CO2 emissions in our power sector have fallen from 1,300 pounds a megawatt hour to 900, and the price of power has fallen by 6 percent. Now, there are those who say that is because of the fracking revolution. And there are people who say a lot of things, I guess. It happened because economics drives clean energy. You know what people didn't build since 1992? Coal. It is a really lousy investment. In just those 10 years, after 1992, we built 200,000 megawatts of new gas turbine capacity. Twenty percent of the entire U.S. power grid, which was twice as efficient as what it displaced, was built in response to economic signals and drove down the CO2 emissions of the grid. That is a start. For us to do what we have to do from this point going forward, we have to electrify everything. We have to figure out how to electrify our transportation fleet; electrify the way our factories make goods and services, how our homes keep us warm. In order to do that, we need to build at least 1,000 gigawatts; 1,000 megawatts; 1,000 kilowatts--whatever unit you would like--of new generation. That is about as much as generation as we already have in this country. We are then going to need to build the wires to connect that up to all the new loads. And I think as we heard at a climate hearing, they said that is going to take at least $350 billion of investment. And those investments are going to make money because people are now connecting up a cheaper energy source that is giving people what they really want, which isn't electricity. What people really want is a hot shower and a cold beer, and it is going to give them that cheaper. It is going to help us build out electric vehicle charging stations. We are talking about massive amounts of public--and private-sector investments that are not only going to put people to work; is not only going to give us a more sustainable economy; it is going to leave more money in people's wallets. The single best thing we can do to disadvantaged communities is cut their energy bill. That is what we are going to do. All we need is the ambition. And I am so glad that we are in this moment and with this President and this Congress that is rising to that challenge.

Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to close, as I often do, by observing that there are really only three things we have to do as a country. The first thing we have to do is cut the energy--double the efficiency with which we convert energy into economic activity. If we were to cut our energy use per dollar of GDP in half, we would almost be at the level that Switzerland has already achieved. I think we are better than Switzerland, personally, but let's at least aspire to be as good as Switzerland; double our efficiency. The second thing we have to do is do the research and development to figure out how to decarbonize industries like steel- and cement-making because we don't know how to make silicone; we don't know how to make steel; we don't know how to make cement; we don't know how to make fertilizer without fossil fuels today. That is an R&D challenge we have to figure out. Then we have to get to zero CO2 emissions; not by 2050, not by 2030, by 1990. We have to get back to 350 parts per million in the atmosphere because that is the point that we can say to our children: We are leaving you a better planet than the one we inherited, where wildfires are not the norm, where droughts are not the norm. And is it going to be easy? No. But we know how to do it. The first thing we ought to do is take our hand off the emergency brake. Stop subsidizing yesterday's technology. Embrace markets. Embrace innovation. Embrace all that makes us American. Stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry by $650 billion a year. Unleash the power of our innovators. Unleash the power of our entrepreneurs. Unleash the power and the innovation of all our great universities and national labs who will figure out how to do these hard things. And then, yes, even after we do all that, make significant Federal investments in the things that the private sector is not very good at, like transmission, like coast-to-coast broadband, like EV stations. We have done it before. That is how we built the railroads. It is how we electrified the country. It is not going to be easy, but it will be necessary. It will be inspiring, and it will be a story that we will tell our grandchildren about because we will be able to tell them that we were there, in this moment; we saw what was necessary, and we made it possible. I think that is something worth doing. It is our opportunity. It is our moment. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Pleasantdale Middle School in Burr Ridge, Illinois, and, specifically, Jennifer Lauermann's fifth grade science class. Mrs. Lauermann is an educator, but more importantly, she is a rock star. Her students spent this semester studying rocks, interviewing geologists and other scientists across Illinois. They learned a lot, but something troubling emerged: Illinois does not have a State rock. Iowa has the geode, Wisconsin has red granite, but Illinois has got nothing. So as good citizens do, the class held an election. Sandstone, limestone, and dolostone emerged from a heated primary, and 1,200 Illinoisans then voted in the general election, including me. I voted for limestone. My candidate didn't win, but it was a free and fair election, and it is now my privilege to introduce the winner of the Pleasantdale Middle School 2021 State rock election. Mr. Speaker, dolostone. I hope my colleagues in the Illinois delegation will join me in supporting the effort to make dolostone Illinois' State rock, but, more importantly, I couldn't be prouder to represent such great teachers and students committed to science and to democracy.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, wildfires, flooding, and superstorms are the most tangible signs of a warming planet, but the climate crisis is not just about weather. It is about wealth. A recent study by Swiss Re found that if we remain on our current trajectory, global GDP will fall by 18 percent by 2050. Investors understand this. They care about climate change because it is in their economic self-interest. As BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said, ``Climate risk is investment risk.'' Main Street investors have put $37 trillion, roughly one-third of all assets under management, into climate-focused ESG investments. Unfortunately, our regulation has not kept up with that demand. There is no consistent definition of how to quantify a firm's contribution to, or protection from, a warming globe. Left to choose from a menu of methodologies, companies often just pick what is most favorable to them. We don't allow companies to pick their own financial accounting standards. Investors are asking us to provide the same consistency for their climate accounting. That is why I introduced the Climate Risk Disclosure Act, which directs the SEC to create consistent mandatory climate reporting standards for all public companies. This will allow companies to compete for capital on a level playing field, providing investors with the certainty they need to hedge their financial risk. Yesterday my bill passed committee and will now come to the floor. The right time to safeguard our financial system against climate change was decades ago, but our last chance is now.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, the time for action is now. No longer can we substitute slogans for solutions. The protection of the environment offers America its best hope. Achieving the goal of a clean and healthy environment must be done by every American. We can reach this goal in this decade. And in reaching it, we can trigger a chain reaction of confidence and hope. Those are the words of Bill Ruckelshaus on this day 50 years ago; a Republican; the first Administrator of the EPA under Richard Nixon, and then again under Ronald Reagan; the man who implemented the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990. His successor under George H.W. Bush was Bill Reilly, who implemented the Acid Rain Program and the Montreal Protocol, a global, market-based cap and trade program. These men knew that science and our obligations to future generations are not negotiable. They tolerated no conflict between conservatism and conservation. Sixty percent of all the greenhouse gas emissions we have ever emitted as a species have been released since that speech Bill Ruckelshaus gave 50 years ago today. Madam Speaker, the time for action is now.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, earlier this month I visited Teen Parent Connection in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. It is an organization that serves young mothers, offering everything from diapers and formula, to doulas, counseling, and domestic abuse support services. They were extremely grateful for the recent $1,400 economic impact payments that, in many cases, helped these new moms cover critical expenses like housing, food, and healthcare. But as we talked, it became apparent that they were not taking advantage and didn't even know about the larger $3,600 per child Child Tax Credit. And why would they? These are new moms that have never filed taxes before. They don't follow the tax policy changes nearly as closely as we do here in the Capitol, but here is this fantastic need. Our office is now working to connect them with free tax filing services, but to the rest of American parents--young and old--please make sure to take advantage of this program. Even if you don't have any taxes due, the credit is fully refundable, and once you file, we will start sending checks to 70 million American families on July 1. This tax credit will cut child poverty in half, help close the racial wealth gap, and help ensure more kids can live up to their full potential. In Illinois alone, it will lift 153,000 children out of poverty. It is, in short, a really big deal.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute and express my gratitude to Anne Wick and Gail Kalinich. Anne and Gail were instrumental in convincing me to first run for office, helping to build a campaign team, and then served as my co- district directors for the last 2 and one-half years. For that, I owe them my eternal personal gratitude. But I am ultimately a side story. Anne and Gail share my belief that the office is bigger and more important than the officeholder, and never shied away from reminding me of my relative insignificance. They did not seek public office, nor even to become district directors. But they were called to it. Anne is a 27- year Navy Veteran. She's also a mother and a community leader. We met her when my own wife joined the local PTA, came home and said ``you've got to meet Anne. She gets stuff done.'' Gail is a retired law partner, volunteers as an organ courier and has been active for years with the local League of Women Voters. These are necessarily incomplete resumes, highlighted here only to illustrate that they did not need to become politically involved. But the times found them. They wanted a government that worked. Not just for them, but for all Americans. Not just in times of crisis, but before crises to avert them. And so, after the 2016 election, they heeded the words of our own speaker. They did not agonize, they organized. In their capacity as my co-district directors, their commitment to good government has never waned. First when they set up a district office. Then when they helped senior citizens get their social security checks. When they helped a World War II ``Atomic Veteran'' secure long- overdue veterans benefits. When they organized events to draw attention to unsung women in our district who provide full women's health services in a church basement in the pre-Roe era. When they helped young high school students to learn about, and ultimately secure admission to our Nation's great service academies. In these examples, and so many more, public service came first. Anne and Gail are emblematic of the millions of under-appreciated, unsung women who got engaged and stepped up to protect our democracy in 2017. They are a part of that crucial slice of the American electorate who have proven William Seward's observation that there has always been ``just enough virtue in this nation to save it--sometimes none to spare, but still enough.'' They are, in short, two remarkable women who deserve more recognition than they seek, and certainly more than I can provide in these few words. To loosely paraphrase former Saturday Night Live actor Harry Shearer ``Give me a Wick and a Kalinich, and there is nothing I cannot do.'' I am grateful to them both for their friendship, for their service to the people of Illinois' 6th Congressional district, for their patriotism. Our office, this body, and our nation will forever be in their debt.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, during my first month in Congress, I visited Family Shelter Service, an organization that provides lifesaving counseling, victim protection, and a 24/7 hotline to women and children in northern Illinois. They provide nearly 11,000 nights of shelter for abused women and children every year. To their staff, to their clients, and to the one in three women in the United States who experience domestic violence and the one in five women who are raped, the Violence Against Women Act has been a lifeline since 1994. But it needs to be updated and renewed, and that is what we have done today. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021 makes crucial updates to this landmark bill to address its gaps, expand protections, and meet increased needs. We have expanded protections to make the law more inclusive of our LGBT communities. We have closed loopholes to better protect victims from gun violence, improved victim services to help survivors heal and access justice, and increased funding for programs to help children who are exposed to domestic violence in the home. We have made vital new investments in prevention and victim services, including an amendment that I introduced to train healthcare providers on college campuses so they can better meet the needs of the one in four undergraduate women who are victims of sexual assault. This is for our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, and our friends. But it is also for Americans, regardless of their gender, who aspire to live in a country that truly provides equal protection and equal opportunities for all. We have done our work here today. It is now crucial that the Senate do theirs and send this bill to the President's desk.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, for the one in eight Americans who will go to bed hungry tonight; for the 60 million Americans out of work and the 40 million who fear they might be evicted tomorrow; for the 2.3 million women, a million mothers, who have left the workforce, the American Rescue Plan is for you. It will put money directly in your pockets; expand access to affordable healthcare and childcare; extend unemployment insurance and housing and nutrition assistance; and support 27 million children with an expanded child tax credit. Mr. Speaker, for the 1.4 million public-sector employees who are out of work--our firefighters, our teachers, our frontline public health workers, our first responders--we are going to provide $350 billion for States and localities, including $13.7 billion for my State of Illinois, to get you back to work, too. We can't fix everything. 524,000 American lives lost to COVID are never coming back. But tomorrow, when we vote to pass the American Rescue Plan, we will honor their memory. We will make things a little easier for their loved ones. We will get their kids back in school safely, their family businesses back in the black, cut child poverty in half, create 4 million new jobs. Most importantly, we will emerge from this crisis with an economy that is stronger, more equitable, and poised for growth for years to come. Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues in the House and Senate who made this possible. Let's get this done.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, for months I had calls coming into my office about delays in the U.S. mail. Some of these delays had to do with cold weather, some are because of COVID, but most are the direct result of the failures and slowdowns deliberately imposed by Postmaster DeJoy. His efforts to eliminate overtime, close mail processing facilities, and remove mail sorting machines have taken all of the cushion out of the system. Our postal workers are demoralized, they are seeing mail pile up as they are blamed for the delays. Seniors have gone for days waiting for medications. Constituents and local mayors are sounding the alarm. The truth is that our Postal Service has survived this assault from its own leadership, only because those letter carriers and mail handlers have doubled down in spite of the challenges through rain, through sleet, and snow. And, yet, DeJoy has failed them. He has failed the American people. He has not failed by accident. He has a mission to weaken and ultimately privatize the post office to make people who depend on the Postal Service angry enough to finish the destruction that he has started. He hasn't succeeded yet. But every day he stays in office is another day closer to him realizing that goal. The Postal Service needs a leader who is committed to public service. DeJoy must go.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, climate change is an existential treat to our species. Atmospheric CO2 levels are now higher than at any point in the last 3 million years. Half of all those emissions were released since 1985. We are in trouble, and that trouble is accelerating, but addressing that trouble is a massive economic opportunity. Rather than being paralyzed by fear, let's inspire Americans toward that opportunity, because virtually anything we do to reduce CO2 emissions makes us wealthier. Making heat and power without burning fossil fuel means you don't have to pay for fossil fuel. Clean energy is cheap energy. For those who still like pollution, all that future generations ask you is to love being rich a little bit more. And that is why I was so heartened to see President Biden's recent executive orders procuring clean energy for the Federal Government, phasing out market-distorting fossil fuel subsidies, incorporating the social cost of carbon into our decisionmaking, to name just a few, and that is just the start. Madam Speaker, let us all in this body now build on that leadership. Let us build back better and build back greener. Let us leave our children a better planet than the one we inherited. Let us embrace science. But most of all, let us lead.

Mr. CASTEN

Mr. CASTEN. What happens if we get this wrong is written in Lincoln's second inaugural, when one party would ``make war rather than let the Nation survive.'' On September 11, we came together against an enemy without. On January 6, we were attacked by an enemy from within, the President who would make war with malice for all and charity for none. We must come together in unity today against that domestic threat to our Constitution. The alternative is too unbearable to contemplate. We must impeach bipartisanly, unanimously if you have the soul.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and mourn the untimely passing of Michael Cetina of Wheaton, Illinois. Mike passed away unexpectedly on Thanksgiving Day. Mike's full and productive life touched so many and he will be deeply missed. His family lost their beloved husband, father, and brother, many lost a great friend, and Wheaton lost a pillar of the community. As a lawyer, Mike's work ethic and commitment to upholding the law and advocating for the vulnerable was an inspiration. Early in his legal career, Mike represented the people of DuPage County as an Assistant State's Attorney, and for the last 30 years he has advocated on behalf of those who were needlessly injured or killed through negligence or neglect. He was very active in the legal community, where he led, mentored, and taught other lawyers. Throughout his legal career, Mike demonstrated diligent, passionate and ethical professionalism. Also an outstanding athlete, Mike gave his time and effort generously to the community through coaching youth sports, including more than a decade coaching and helping lead Wheaton youth football. Mike leaves a beautiful legacy of hundreds of young athletes who learned from his mentorship, colleagues in the law who were inspired by his professionalism, clients well-served by his advocacy, and an entire community who was enriched by his friendship. Madam Speaker, Mike Cetina was an outstanding man, and I ask that the House join me in expressing our profound gratitude for his life and service, and our deepest sympathy to his wife of 33 years, Tammy, to their children, Danny, Tori, Allie, and Tommy, and to the people of Wheaton, for this tremendous loss.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Madam Speaker, imagine that you are a banker reviewing a corporate loan application. Over the last decade, competition has eroded this company's market share. They slashed prices in response; they burned through their cash. 250 similar companies have gone bankrupt since 2014. Would you make that loan? This is today's U.S. fossil fuel industry. Since 2010, coal demand is down 45 percent. Natural gas prices are down 40 percent. Oil prices are down 45 percent. Shale producers have chewed through $342 billion of free cash flow. Exxon just wrote off $20 billion in value. Wells Fargo booked $121 million in sector losses. And yet, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has recently proposed a rule to mandate that banks provide ``fair access to capital'' to this sector. They would force you to use your balance sheet to take on excessive risk without commensurate return. They would reduce our financial stability and raise our energy costs. I look forward to a full-throated and bipartisan condemnation of the OCC's attempt to use, dare I say, socialist tools to prop up an industry that is unable to succeed in the rough-and-tumble world of free-market capitalism.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to all of our Federal employees. Thank you for the dignity you have shown during the last 4 years. For every Alexander Vindman who was forced into the public spotlight, there are thousands more quiet patriots behind him, and we are grateful. But we also need your help. Congress is still waiting to receive thousands of documents from the Trump administration. Multiple White House officials have been communicating through undocumented, nonofficial channels. Many more are still blocking the release of information that directly pertains to their work for the United States Government, and that is illegal. Why this administration is afraid of transparency is tomorrow's question. But today, every Federal agency must preserve those documents. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 and the Federal Records Act of 1950 exist to ensure that no President enters office with our adversaries knowing more about the prior 4 years than they do. We need your vigilance over the next 61 days to ensure those laws are honored. When elected officials failed us, we could still count on you. Now, once more into the breach, dear friends, once more.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, John Lewis was a legend. He was also just a man. I knew the legend, but I was only just getting to know the man. And I guess I just hope we remember both, because somehow the legend feels unattainable. On our best days, none of us are half the man that John Lewis was every day. And the real inspiration, I think, is the man, because it was that proof of his life that showed us our potential: if only we can summon his decency and his courage and his conviction. The legend was the guy whom I could never muster the courage to call anything but Mr. Lewis. And the man was the guy who always said, ``Just call me John.'' The legend was the orator at this podium, or that one, or the one down there. And the man was the guy who would sit there and pull me aside and say, ``How are you doing?'' But somehow, the legend and the man are one in the same, because it was a man who stood on that bridge, and it was a man who made all that ``good trouble,'' and it was a man who showed us that the amount of love we can spread into this world isn't constrained by our mortality, but by our ambition. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. And while I never quite mustered up the courage to say this while you were alive, thank you, John.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, in 1896 Svante Arrhenius hypothesized that carbon dioxide pollution would trigger a greenhouse effect. Since then, we have emitted 1.4 trillion tons of carbon dioxide, and it has gotten hotter. In 1987, the Reagan administration crafted the Montreal Protocol to close the ozone hole. It used market tools to solve environmental problems, and it worked. The Kyoto Protocol was supposed to apply that logic to carbon dioxide. But as many of you know, we then decided to just go collectively crazy. Scientific truths got politicized. Crackpot theories got weaponized. Meanwhile, it got hotter. Today, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will release a comprehensive report with a roadmap to turn this ship around. It provides policy recommendations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by almost 90 percent, save our country $9 trillion, and save 62,000 lives per year by 2050. It goes further than that. It identifies negative emission tools to take us back to the sustainable carbon dioxide levels we had in 1985. 1985 by the way, is that point in history where prior to that point we had emitted 50 percent of all the CO2 emissions as a species we have emitted up to this point. Back to the future indeed. I urge my colleagues to seize this opportunity. This is an opportunity to grow the economy and to protect the environment, but more importantly, it is an opportunity to tell your children that when the times called on you to act, you rose to that challenge. Please. Seize this opportunity.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from Virginia. I greatly appreciate his service on the committee and his expertise in all matters of data integrity, and normally I defer to you on everything, but this one is kind of silly. Look, we all know you can't open a bank account, you can't buy a car, you can't get a mortgage, you can't get a credit card without giving somebody your Social Security number. We also know, and you know well, that when the hackers want to try to get that data, they don't limit themselves to public websites, they go in to find where the servers are. The Equifax breach wasn't because it was sitting in a public-facing consumer website, it was because they knew where the data was. All that data is still out there. We are not protecting anything by saying, let's not link this to a Social Security number. We have a legit data issue. How are you going to uniquely identify every American? The way we do that now is through our Social Security number, we have to protect that. We have to make sure that every company that maintains personal records of Americans bends over backwards to protect that data. For the most part they do, sometimes they don't. But you have absolutely no greater protection by saying that in this one specific instance on this one specific public-facing website you can't use a Social Security number. Now, we know this. We all know this. That is why when we debated the bill in committee, we included the provision to put a yearlong study for the GAO to figure this out, to determine if maybe there is maybe some better unique identifier they could develop for this bill. And, quite frankly, maybe we should apply that to a whole host of other issues. Maybe the Social Security number should not be the unique identifier. That is a long conversation. I trust the GAO, for a year, to figure that out. And I have complete trust that in the next 5 minutes we are not going to come up with a wiser, more complete solution than the GAO will come up with over the next year, which it will take to roll this bill out. So all that would happen if we accept this MTR is to make a hasty decision. It is not particularly well thought out, it doesn't solve an actual problem. For what? To stop people from actually making sure that they can protect themselves from faulty credit. Because this problem is going on right now. We have an economy that is in meltdown, and if people have bad credit because of some error and they can't buy a car and they can't open a bank account, they can't take out a mortgage, that slows down our economy. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues, oppose this MTR and vote ``yes'' on the final package. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5332, the Protecting Your Credit Score Act. I support this bill because, like so many Americans, I personally know the frustration of dealing with erroneous marks on your credit report and thought I would share a recent story. About a month ago, I got a letter from a bank where I don't have an account, Bank of America. They were thanking me for something that I didn't recognize. So, I did what all good Americans do: I threw it in the recycle bin and moved on with my day. The next day, I got a similar letter from Navy Federal Credit Union, where I also do not have an account. This one had a summary of my credit score and was shortly followed with another note saying that my account was overdrawn by $3,250. I am going to be honest. The only reason that the Navy Federal Credit Union letters got my attention and didn't end up in the recycling bin is because they were addressed to Lieutenant Commander Sean Casten. I have been called a lot of things in this job, but that is a rank that I have never earned. A few phone calls and a similar overdraft notification from Bank of America later, and I had fraud alerts placed on both accounts. On the advice of the banks, I called TransUnion to ensure this wouldn't show up on my credit report. The agent was helpful. At the end of the call, she said: ``Is there anything else I should know?'' And I just couldn't resist telling her: ``Only that I am a member of the House Financial Services Committee with oversight of you, and I appreciate how helpful you have been.'' Now, I tell that story because I was able to correct this. But I can imagine a ton of other scenarios where I don't check the recycling, where I am not alleged to be a commissioned naval officer, where I hadn't been in enough committee hearings on this subject to recognize fraud early on. And in all those scenarios, this story has a much less happy ending. But those incidents happen every day to an awful lot of Americans. We know 21 percent of consumers had verified errors in their credit reports. Thirteen percent had errors that affected their credit scores. Five percent had errors serious enough to cause them to be denied or pay more for credit. But those are only the accounts we know about. Many don't know where to turn or have the resources or the time to correct them. Fraudulent or accidental marks on a credit report can have a life-altering consequence, so it is important that those reports are correct. But credit scores and reports are a critical gatekeeper for Americans' financial well-being and access to the most basic building block of the American Dream. It is determinative in setting premiums for auto and homeowner's insurance. It informs landlords on which renters they want to rent their apartments to. Your score determines if you must make a bigger deposit to get your utilities. That is why this bill is so important. It creates an online consumer portal where consumers will have free and unlimited access to their consumer reports and credit scores. Allowing consumers the ability to initiate disputes about credit report accuracy--rather than all the rigmarole I had to go through--and to place or remove a security freeze, is a critical tool that allows Americans the control and the ability to remedy those errors. It is 2020. It is long past time to modernize the way that consumers address errors on their credit scores. I thank Representative Gottheimer for introducing this bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. In the weeks since Mr. Floyd's murder, over 25 million Americans have marched to defend our founding promise of equality for all. Mr. Speaker, I thank all those who marched. Their demands for equality have made today possible. I am proud to be a citizen of a country where so many of my fellow citizens are forcing that arc of history to bend a little faster towards justice. Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank them all for reminding us of how far we still have to go. No justice, no peace; because a country founded on the rule of law cannot guarantee peace if that law does not apply equally to all. Black lives matter; because we still live in a country where the health, wealth, and social disparities between the races make equality anything but a self-evident truth. Say their names; because the victims, they are not just Black bodies. They were human beings with families and dreams, talents, and flaws. In a truly colorblind world, the only thing that all these victims would have in common, really in common, is that they shouldn't be dead. We are not going to end systemic racism today, but we do have the opportunity to correct just a few of our sins, the opportunity to end chokeholds, the opportunity to end no-knock warrants, to make lynching a Federal crime--can you believe we haven't done that yet?--the opportunity to hold police departments to the same standards of equality and fair play that all other employers do. Mr. Speaker, I implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, please, please, please vote ``yes'' on this bill, not because it means our work is done, not because it means that we are going to end systemic racism, not because what needs to be done is synonymous with a bill that can pass this body in the Senate and get the President's signature. Vote ``yes'' on this bill so that you can tell your children that George and Breonna and Tamir--Tamir Rice, who would have turned 18 today--and Trayvon, and Amadou, and Ahmaud, and Emmett, and so many others, vote ``yes'' so that you can tell your children that they did not die in vain.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to remember the life of Aaron Shepley. The State of Illinois has lost one of its most capable and dedicated public servants with the tragic death of Crystal Lake's longtime Mayor. In his long service to the community, as both mayor and city council member, a founding member of the drumline group the Crystal Lake Strikers, and dedicated husband and father, Aaron led with quiet humility, approachability, and selflessness. A resident of Crystal Lake since 1972, Aaron was passionate and unwavering in his advocacy for the city, and eager to work in a unifying and positive manner to assist its residents. In a time when politics more often divides us, Aaron was most professionally proud of the congenial relationships among his fellow council members and the work of the Crystal Lake city staff. He leaves a beautiful legacy of highly competent and unselfish public service that should inspire us all. In addition to his civic work, Aaron was also a drummer dedicated to supporting aspiring musicians. After learning to play drums for his 40th birthday, Aaron and two friends started Strikers, a drum line for adult percussionists. In the decade since their founding, the Strikers have gained local and national notoriety, and created several educational programs to support the performing arts in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Aaron was the driving force behind the Strikers' Evening of Percussion fundraising event, and in the 11 years of awarding scholarships, the Strikers have provided over $50,000 to local students. Aaron Shepley was a class act, and I am grateful to have known and learned from him. I extend my deepest sympathy to Aaron's wife Regan and their daughters Chase and Madison, and the people of Crystal Lake, for this tremendous loss.

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Madam Speaker, 1 year ago Saturday, five people lost their lives and many more were injured when a gunman entered an Aurora, Illinois, warehouse and started shooting. At the vigil for those victims, I made it clear that, if we want to stop people from getting shot, we have to politicize this and we have to take legislative action. Now, Illinois has some of the strongest gun laws in the country, but our neighbors don't. In Chicago, 60 percent of the guns recovered from crime scenes were trafficked in from out of State. And, worse, we have never had the courage to regulate guns the same way we regulate cars. If my daughter took my car out and crashed into my neighbor's garage, I would be liable. That is common sense. That is why, yesterday, I introduced the Gun Trafficker Detention Act. This bill requires gun owners to report if their gun is lost or stolen within 48 hours and imposes criminal penalties if they fail to do so and their gun turns up at a crime scene. It would also allow the victims of gun violence to hold traffickers legally liable for death or injury caused by their guns, regardless of who pulled the trigger. Are there people who won't like this bill? Yes--gun traffickers. Every other American will be safer, and I encourage my colleagues to join me and support this bill.