Raúl Grijalva

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time remains?

Mr. GRIJALVA

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

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Chairman, today I rise to offer an amendment to support and facilitate innovation in cutting-edge American enterprises. My amendment will expand the eligibility for experimental permits for reusable rockets to include reusable launch vehicles. Experimental permits currently have three uses: the research and development of new test designs, concepts, equipment, or operating techniques; to show compliance with requirements as part of the process for obtaining a license; or to train crews before they receive a license for launch or reentry. However, the FAA currently does not have the ability to grant experimental permits for launch vehicles. Under current law, they are restricted to granting permits for reusable suborbital rockets. This can require industry and the Federal Government to go to extraordinary lengths to find ways to conduct tests. In some cases, there is no alternative for testing. Expanding access to these permits will help innovators develop new and important technologies right here in America. These permits will create new opportunities for American businesses and will help harness the tremendous potential of our space exploration industry. I want to thank Chairman Lamar Smith, Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson, and their staffs for their assistance with this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of national Senior Corps week. Older Americans bring a lifetime of skills and experience as parents, workers, and citizens that can be tapped to meet challenges in our communities. For more than four decades Senior Corps, and its three programs-- RSVP, Senior Companions, and Foster Grandparents--have proven to be a highly effective way to engage Americans ages 55 and over in meeting national and community needs. Each year Senior Corps provides opportunities for nearly 330,000 older Americans across the nation, including approximately 450 in Southern Arizona, to serve their communities. Foster Grandparents serve one-on-one as tutors and mentors to young Arizonans who have special needs. Senior Companions help homebound Arizona seniors and other adults maintain independence in their own homes. RSVP volunteers conduct safety patrols for local police departments, protect the environment, tutor and mentor youth, respond to natural disasters, and provide other services through more than 130 groups across Arizona. Senior Corps volunteers last year provided more than 96.2 million hours of service, helping to improve the lives of our most vulnerable citizens, strengthen our educational system, protect our environment, provide independent living services, and contribute to our public safety. Senior Corps volunteers build a capacity of organizations and communities by serving through more than 65,000 nonprofit, community, educational, and faith-based community groups nationwide. At a time of mounting social needs and growing interest in service by older Americans, there is an unprecedented opportunity to harness the talents of 55-plus volunteers to address community challenges. Service by older Americans helps volunteers by keeping them active, healthy, and engaged; helps our communities by solving local problems, and helps our nation by saving taxpayer dollars, reducing healthcare costs, and strengthening our democracy. The sixth annual Senior Corps Week, taking place May 18-22, 2015, is a time to thank Senior Corps volunteers for their service and recognize their positive impact and value to our communities and nation.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and honor my dear friend Marian Lupu; a visionary and warrior in the fight for fairness and social justice. Marian has never ignored the plight and needs of others. We celebrate her 90th birthday and relish in her work. I want to submit a profile of Ms. Marian Lupu that appeared in the Arizona Jewish Post, written by Shelia Wilenskey; this, better than I, describes a life worth honor. Marian Lupu, now 89, founded the Pima Council on Aging in 1965. She didn't retire as executive director until 2006, when she was 82. ``If you love what you're doing, why not?'' Lupu asked the AJP. A pioneer in her field, Lupu took one of the first courses ever taught on aging when she was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. ``I soon decided,'' she says, ``that all the research in the world wasn't going to help the aging population unless it provided services and advocacy.'' In her elder years, Lupu practices what she preached. ``The biggest thing I've learned is to use the supports I have,'' she says. ``I take all the support I can get, use a walker or a cane, without having the resistance of many older people who drive and get into accidents or who fall down because they want to be independent.'' Lupu started her career as a student working at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and later supervised the first study on aging Spanish- American War veterans. Her 1948 marriage to Charles Lupu, Ph.D., eventually brought the couple to Tucson in 1965, when he landed a job at the Tucson Medical Center. She started the Tucson Council on Aging as a volunteer. The agency later became the Pima Council on Aging. ``I recognized there were no services for the aging population here, whether they were Jewish or not. I learned a great deal,'' says Lupu, from Betty Brook, who was instrumental, with her husband, in helping to build Tucson's Jewish community, including Jewish Family & Children's Services and Dr. Ted Koff, the first director of Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. ``Family counseling is very much a concern to the Jewish community,'' says Lupu, who grew up in ``a very Orthodox family, and in a very kosher environment in Elmwood Park, Ill, a suburb of Chicago. Our Shabbos goy was our next-door neighbor. It was a very Italian neighborhood. In order to have services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we brought in a rabbinical student and rented a storefront.'' Back in 1929, she recalls, ``there was no telephone in the shul so a messenger would come get the Jewish doctor for an emergency. We had to wait till he returned for a minyan.'' Years later, says Lupu, as an adult living in Tucson with her husband and three children, ``our family always went to Seders at Handmaker when Ted Koff was the director. We watched as more and more synagogues came to Tucson. I remember when the Jewish Community Center [came about] through the great skills of Ben Brook. When we first came here there was discrimination against Jews. There was only one country club and Jews weren't allowed.'' That's changed, notes Lupu. ``Mayor Jonathan Rothschild is so involved with the Jewish community and is now our mayor. There's much more acceptance now of a Jewish mayor than when George Miller was mayor'' during the 1990s. Still, ``we discriminate against current immigrants,'' she says. ``My own mother came from England through Canada and when she married an American citizen, at that time she didn't automatically become an American citizen,'' which happened later. ``How do we know how legal our ancestors were?'' ``It concerns me that [discrimination toward immigrants] could lead to discrimination against Jews. I also fear that discrimination could resurface in Tucson as it has in Europe over the conflict in Israel and the [negative] media coverage.'' Lupu, whose husband died in 2002, still lives in the same home where they raised their family. ``I love Tucson,'' says Lupu. In the city's future, ``I would like to see more concern for others through increased assistance at all human levels and less segregation of different populations.'' Since her 2006 retirement, Lupu has become president of the board of Dancing in the Streets, Arizona, which is a diverse performing arts organization, primarily for at-risk youth. The dance school, based in South Tucson, is run by Lupu's daughter, Soleste Lupu, and her husband, Joseph Rodgers, both of whom are professional dancers. Seventy-five percent of the dance school's participants are on partial or full scholarships due to poverty in the region. Lupu attributes the poverty to both ``our prejudice and the lack of jobs.'' ``I thought I saw poverty in the '60s and '70s when I was involved in bringing the needs of the elderly to the community,'' she says. ``But you very rarely heard of the homeless elderly. For kids today it's different. I've never seen poverty among children the way you see it now.'' As a lifelong social activist, it seems natural for Lupu to be taking on the plight of children. ``Staying involved with what excites me challenges me to give meaning to my life beyond my own existence,'' she says. ``That's why I'm so happy to be working with children.'' In closing, I just want to thank Marian for her kindness, friendship, and guidance she has graciously given me. I remain humbled and privileged to know and call Marian Lupu my friend and ally.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers. Let me thank my colleague, Mr. Gallego, for his support and his eloquent statements. And to Mr. Ryan, thank you again for expediting and having this vote today. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin and the leadership on the other side of the aisle for expediting this particular request-- I am very appreciative--and to all the members of the Arizona delegation for their concurrence with this designation. I am proud to offer this bill today to recognize a man that not only led a tremendous life of public service, but served as a personal hero to many of us in Arizona, as well as the Nation. His story is one worth sharing. By designating the Douglas Port of Entry as the Raul Hector Castro Port of Entry, we will ensure the story continues to be memorialized and told; and in the future, when a revitalized port is designated for Douglas, Arizona, it will continue to bear his name. Mr. Castro was the embodiment of the American Dream and, despite all the odds, he proved that, with perseverance and courage, all dreams can be achieved. Mr. Castro's story, like many Americans today, begins south of the border. Born June 12, 1916, in Cananea, Mexico, Mr. Castro grew up in Arizona and graduated from Douglas High School. He was the second youngest in a family of 12 children. His father was a union leader forced out of Mexico for organizing the mine in Cananea. His father died when Castro was only 12 years old, and his mother became a midwife to feed the family. Growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border near Douglas, Arizona, Castro learned many life lessons, especially when it came to the issues of prejudice and injustice. He often spoke of walking 5 miles to a segregated school while White children rode a bus to another school. He was keenly aware of the difference in the quality of jobs available to men and women that looked like him. This early prejudice and discrimination ultimately became his enduring motivation. A moment engraved in his memory is when, despite not being able to properly pronounce his name, Castro realized his grammar school teacher truly cared for him and wanted him to be a good student. Castro embraced this encouragement and became an even more determined student than he was. A stellar student, an athlete, his enthusiasm continued through college. After graduation, after being denied a teaching job because of his race, he went on to work in the field picking sugar beets and at the Douglas mining smelter, where he was paid half the wages of his White counterparts. Still undeterred, he landed a job with the U.S. Consulate in the border city of Agua Prieta, Mexico. Then, despite being told it was impossible, he fought to enter law school and eventually graduated with a J.D. from the University of Arizona. He excelled and went on to be the first elected Mexican American county attorney and, later, the first Mexican American judge in the Pima County Superior Court. This was just the beginning of Castro's improbable journey. He went on to serve as U.S. Ambassador to three Latin American countries. Lyndon Johnson sent him to El Salvador and Bolivia, where he stayed for a short time under President Nixon before returning to Arizona and making the first of two bids for Governor. After two of the closest gubernatorial elections in State history, Castro once again trumped all odds and became the State's first Latino elected to serve as Governor. He defeated his opponent by less than 1 percentage point and recalls being 4,000 votes behind until the Navajo voters' ballots were counted, and that turned out to be the margin of his victory. Castro served 2\1/2\ years as Governor before resigning, when President Carter asked him to be Ambassador to Argentina. Let me quote directly from Raul Castro's memoir published in 2009, appropriately entitled, ``Adversity Is My Angel.'' The introduction starts: Raul H. Castro's unlikely but distinguished professional career suggests that the adversity inherent in his humble beginnings only hardened his resolve and strengthened his determination. He was born into grinding poverty and minority status on the U.S.-Mexico border, but eventually overcame these obstacles to become, among other titles, Arizona's first Hispanic Governor. Castro's story, which suggests much about the human spirit and the hope of the American Dream, is one that ought to be told. In that introduction, it continues: Yet, in spite of such a disadvantaged beginning, Castro found a way to get an education and embark on his path to the prominent positions that he held in his lifetime, beginning as a teacher, then a lawyer, then a Pima County Attorney, Superior Court Judge, the Governor of Arizona, an American Ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia, and Argentina. Though Castro suffered innumerable instances of social and racial discrimination, he overcame institutional and personal prejudice to attain the life he deserved. Raul Castro's career and service serve as dual role models, not only for Mexican Americans, but for all Americans. He said: At the time I moved to Tucson, just after the cessation of hostilities in World War II, the public school system was instrumental in the subordination, rather than the advancement, of Mexican students. They were put in vocational classes and discouraged from attending college. I decided, what a terrible waste of brain power. In Governor Castro's own words, he said at the time: ``I intended to take a different track and buck that trend.'' Indeed, he did buck that trend and opened a new path in public service for many of us, including myself. Castro credits the challenges faced to shaping his character and understood that education was the ultimate path to a better life. To him, the far most important part of the legacy was to inspire Mexican American children and all children to aspire to do great things, even in the face of adversity. Even in his nineties, Castro continued to work with underrepresented and poor students to encourage them to pursue higher education, to get their education, and to use the obstacles as motivation to make their life better for others. This bill recognizes an extraordinary pioneer that dedicated his life to public service and to the fight for equality. I appreciate the support of the entire Arizona House delegation for honoring this American legend. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Colonel Bill Badger, who passed away on March 11, 2015 at the age of seventy-eight. Originally from South Dakota, Colonel Badger joined the National Guard as a high school junior and went on to enjoy a long, distinguished career as a United States Army pilot for thirty-seven years. A true patriot who served his country with honor and dignity, he served as Chief of the National Guard Bureau's Aviation Division at the Pentagon. Among his many professional accomplishments, he established the only two United States-based attack helicopter training sites: the Eastern Army Aviation Training Site in Pennsylvania and the Western Army Aviation Training Site in Marana, Arizona. Colonel Badger and his wife, Sallie, moved to Arizona in 1985 when Colonel Badger established the Marana site. On the morning of January 8, 2011, Colonel Badger attended a Congress on your Corner event at a shopping center north of Tucson to meet then- Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. That fateful morning a gunman opened fire on the innocent attendees, brutally murdering six and seriously wounding thirteen, including Colonel Badger and Congresswoman Giffords. As the gunman was reloading his weapon, Colonel Badger, who was injured and bleeding from the head, ran toward the gunman and put him into a chokehold until the authorities arrived, thus stopping the deadly rampage. But for the valiant actions of Colonel Badger, the toll of those killed and wounded would have been much higher. ``I don't consider myself a hero,'' he would later say, ``I did what anybody would do.'' Colonel Badger was a beloved friend to the January 8, 2011 survivors. After this devastating event, this humble hero focused his efforts on keeping guns out of the hands of people like the January 8, 2011 gunman so as to prevent future similar tragedies. Colonel Badger and his wife embarked on a three-year journey across the country to promote his mission. Colonel Badger was a hero to many long before he became one in the eyes of our nation on January 8, 2011. He was a caring and devoted husband to his wife, Sallie, a nurturing and loving father to his son, Christian, the beloved Scout master of Troop 007, a guide and counselor to numerous young people, many of whom attribute their current success to Colonel Badger's mentoring, and a friend to countless others, including the members of the Southern Arizona Jaguar Car Club, which he served as President for a time. On March 11, 2015, the citizens of Arizona lost a friend who placed the safety and well-being of others above his own and who truly represented the best traits of humanity, heroism and sacrifice and the spirit of service to others. The citizens of Arizona owe Colonel Badger an extraordinary debt of gratitude for his tremendous service to our country and state. Dedicated to his family, Colonel Badger will be greatly missed by his beloved wife, Sallie Badger, and his son, Christian Badger.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. I thank Mr. Ellison for yielding me the time. Madam Chair, in support of the people's budget, let me simply say, this budget places this Nation's greatest resource, its people, as the priority. It places value on the needs and hopes of regular working people in this country and the middle class, those aspiring to the middle class who are wanting to leave poverty and low-wage jobs behind. You are going to hear from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle what a terrible scourge our people's budget is on raising taxes and spending, but our budget provides to the American people some very distinct and necessary support: jobs, it creates jobs; security in retirement and in difficult times for the American people; fair wages for a fair day's work; investments in our collective future: education, environment, children, and job training for the future; income stability and ending income inequality. Those are the priorities within the budget that reflect the needs of the American people. We offer opportunity to Americans who strive for a better life in this budget. Republicans are clearly angry that we are ending the special treatment of Wall Street buddies. Meanwhile, they have no problem at ending tax credits for low- and middle-income families. Among the few specific tax proposals in the House Republican budget is a promise to spend hundreds of billions on high-income and corporate tax cuts. The trickle down has not trickled, and we continue that process. Republicans are saying they are seeking to balance the budget. They are balancing this budget on the backs of the middle class, while cutting taxes for the wealthy and well connected, and getting to balance through irresponsible budget gimmicks. We close corporate loopholes. Offshore tax havens on profits are eliminated. We have a progressive tax rate for income above $1 million. Our budget is about the American people.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey for having this opportunity for us to come and talk about the root issue, as she explained, the root issue that caused almost the potential of DHS and that Department having to be shut down because of the amendments added by this House of Representatives to an appropriations bill, a bill that should have been clean. It was a bipartisan piece of legislation, but amendments were added to it, amendments that were against the President's executive order, amendments that were aimed at undoing any progress that had been made with DREAMers, the DACA, the amendments that were punitive in its entirety, and did not seek any solution to deal with our broken immigration system. Thankfully, the adults in the House took control. A clean bill was passed with overwhelming and unanimous support from Democrats and with significant support from our Republican colleagues. That being done, that example should be a harbinger that on ``must- pass'' legislation critical to the future of this Nation, critical to its tranquility, that we stop playing games with that legislation, and that the track to deal with immigration reform should be a track that we all pursue. To try to put mean-spirited, divisive, ``got you,'' grandstanding amendments on a piece of ``must-pass'' legislation, whether it is Homeland Security the other day, Transportation in the future, that is not governing; that is merely pandering to a political ideology that has nothing to do with the underlying bill, as it did with national security. Let me talk a little bit about how we got to that situation, as the gentlelady said. In the time that I have been here, immigration reform and the broken system has been an acknowledged fact by all sides. There was an attempt that the Senate, a year ago, passed, a bipartisan bill, overwhelming support, that took us in a direction, a very critical first step to reforming this broken immigration system. For a year, we waited for the leadership of this House, the Republican leadership, to bring that bill up and let the people's House work its will. That never happened. Time and time again, we admonished the leadership in saying: If nothing is done by this House to allow an up-or-down vote on that piece of legislation that the Senate passed, the President will have no option but to relieve the anxiety, to relieve the painful family divisions that were going on in this country and to prevent additional community trauma that many of our communities were facing with the high level of detentions and deportations, the splitting of families, even when there was U.S. citizen children or a spouse involved. The President waited; he waited a considerable amount of time. I was one of those that criticized that waiting period, that should be done immediately. At the end, the President put the executive orders together, the expansion and enhancement of DACA for DREAMers, for young people, and DAPA, for those parents who have citizen children, that they, too, would get the 2-year umbrella of protection, could work and could come out of the shadows. This was not automatic, as it has been exaggerated by the opponents of his actions. This was a process that requires documentation and that requires qualifications in order to be eligible for the programs. As the President said, Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and Border Patrol can now concentrate on the smuggling and organized crime that occurs along our border that is the root cause of much of the violence and heartache that we see on our border. In Arizona, there has been over close to 5,000 individuals that have lost their lives in the desert trying to cross to the United States, countless acts of violence--all generated by human traffickers, drug smugglers, and organized crime on both sides of the border. It is time to concentrate on that very obvious threat to American security. The other is to go after the people that we don't want here. It is another exaggeration to say that this is blanket amnesty. It is not blanket amnesty, far from it. We, like everyone else--the people that don't belong here because of felonious behavior, violence, drug smuggling, and breaking the laws of this Nation, those are the people that ICE should put its emphasis on and get rid of felons, as the President said, and not families. The President did that order, much to the outcry of some colleagues of mine on the other side of the aisle--not all. I would never paint the whole Republican Conference with one brush, but there is a significant number that see the issue of immigration in a very different and clouded way. That clouded way has to do more with ideology. It has more to do with the sense that it is us versus them and an insecurity about the changing demography of this country and what it means to the Nation. That insecurity is just sad, an insecurity not founded in fact and not founded on the immigrant history of this Nation. As a first-generation American, I can tell you the pride and the values that I have were grown in this country, were nurtured in this country, and serving in this body could be the highest honor I could ever have. That story is repeated, day in and day out, for the history of this Nation, that the immigrant community has come to give and to contribute, not to take. The President has wide latitude, as President, with executive orders. The court case, an injunction to hold the implementation of his executive orders in Texas, where a selection process chose this judge for his previous legal opinions and his previous public comments regarding the issue of immigration, that sided very much with the opponents. I am totally confident--totally confident--that as we move up the chain of the Federal court system, that the constitutional authority that the President has for these executive orders, as previous Presidents had for executive orders, will be redeemed; and that lower injunction will be overturned. In the interim, we continue to tell people in the undocumented community, immigrant community: Come forward, bring your documentation, begin to prepare yourself for an opportunity to be one of the people and families that qualify for this program. What the President did with those executive orders is significant in many ways. Those executive orders began mending the social fabric of this Nation. One of the most divisive issues has been immigration, and maybe it is a good election ploy to continue to beat that horse dead in order to get elected. In the long term, in the generational term of this Nation, it does nothing but divide us along very superficial issues. It divides us along the issue of race and divides us along the issue of language and country of origin. Those are not divisions for the social well-being of this Nation that we can tolerate. Immigration reform is also about the domestic tranquility of this Nation and to heal that social fabric that has been ripped. I also want to say that the Progressive Caucus, from the onset, has been a tireless advocate for comprehensive immigration reform, humane policies, family-centered reforms, and reforms that deal with the reality of what is around us and doesn't ignore it. I am proud to be a member of that caucus and for its steadfast and unwavering support not only of comprehensive immigration reform, but of the President and his executive orders. Five amendments were presented as part of the DHS bill, which were at the center of the controversy, and the ones that were eliminated so we could finally vote on a key piece of legislation. One amendment, the Aderholt amendment, this amendment prohibits any funds or fees to be used to carry out the majority of the President's executive order, including DAPA and DACA. Reality, fact, the prohibition is irrelevant and moot. All the cost of this program comes from the individual making an application. It is a fee-driven process. There is no specific allocation that this body has made to it or that the Department is making to it. The Blackburn amendment, which I thought was of particular anguish to everyone, this amendment would end the DACA program, the DREAMer program for DREAMer children susceptible to deportation. Let's say those almost 300,000, if not more, young people that are qualified under DACA, suddenly, with that amendment, would have that protection taken away and their status would now be back in the deportable status. That amendment, in and of itself, does nothing for national security, does nothing to address the issue of a broken immigration system; but, indeed, adds a level of cruelty to the whole process of trying to solve this problem. Preventing the President from being able to have new enforcement priorities, going after criminals and felons, as opposed to trying to break up families and deport families, one of the amendments was meant to stop that. The Salmon amendment really made no sense. Undocumented people are not able and cannot receive and participate in the Affordable Care Act. Employers cannot register and have them employed, period, by Federal law. It was just to state the obvious and try to create an issue in which there wasn't one. And there is no prioritization, where people under this executive order will be ahead of other people. There are two different processes: one is for a legal reprieve of protection that lasts up to the tenure of this President, and the other one, naturalization and getting legal permanent status, continues to be a process. One process doesn't get in front of the line of the other. I want to go back to one point. At some point, we are going to have to deal with the issue of immigration reform in a constructive, proactive way. And it is going to have to be dealt with because I think the economic security of this country is at stake; the domestic well- being and quality of life for this country is at stake; the economy is at stake; and the security is at stake; and if for no other reason, to look at the benefits of those areas in the discussion of comprehensive immigration reform. We could continue on the path of making immigration reform and immigrants the cannon fodder in the 2016 election. We could continue to make immigration reform the collateral damage in any piece of legislation that is brought before this Congress, with the assumption that the individuals affected by these laws are not real human beings. We can continue to deny the obvious and the reality of this Nation, that when you have 11 million undocumented living, working amongst us, that the prudent, smart, and pragmatic thing to do is to deal with that issue and not exploit it or ignore it. We have heard so much pandering to this issue. We have heard of disease being brought to this country, which was proven untrue. The young children that were in detention that came in that surge across the border 6, 7 months ago, their rate of infection was no higher than the rate of infection for children throughout this Nation. We have heard the pandering about terrorism coming over the border. Not one incident has been qualified as fact--that, indeed, that has become a pathway for terrorism. The issue that somehow it is tearing at what America is, I think that is the most important point that we should take into consideration. ``From many, there is one'' is the motto that this Nation holds dear to itself, that all of us come here, and that by being here, we began to form this Union of ours, integrating the values, the aspirations, the rule of law, and the history of that Nation in making it one. To continue to pretend that we can have a two-tiered society without consequences to the economy and the social well-being of this Nation is wrong. It is wrong for very humane and just reasons, but it is profoundly wrong on what this Nation is and what I learned and all of us have learned this Nation is and will continue to be: a nation founded on the rule of law, a nation founded by immigrants. I also want to say--and I will say it as delicately and as carefully as I can--that the issue of immigration reform to many people who are citizens--maybe second and third generation whose original folks were immigrants who happened to be of color, who happened to come from a country of origin where the language and the culture were different from the mainstream of this Nation, whom it integrated fully and who have contributed to the defense and the well-being of this Nation--they feel that the constant drumbeat of accusation, of ``it is us versus them,'' of division, that this issue not only is an issue of immigration reform for the people who need it and for the Nation that needs it, but it is also an issue of civil rights, that no one should be profiled into a situation where they are less than someone else because of where their parents came from, because of the language that they spoke or the country that they came from or the color of their skin. That is not America. And we continue to pander to those emotions, fear, as a means to score political points and possibly win an election here and there. That we do it at our own peril. So for many generations of Americans that have served this country, the issue of immigration strikes us as an issue about our rights, our presence, our history, and our ability to proudly stand with anyone else and be as American as the next person. With that, I thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey for organizing this, and I thank her for the opportunity that she has granted me to be able to state some things that sometimes the confines of our debates here don't allow us to.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize the Tucson Peace Center's Peace Fair and Music Festival on its 33rd Anniversary next Saturday, February 28, 2015. The Tucson Peace Center is an umbrella organization for 150 of Tucson's local peace, social justice, environmental, and labor groups. Regular Peace Fair participants include the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF, celebrating their 100th anniversary this year), Move to Amend, Veterans for Peace, the American Civil Liberties Union, AZ4NORML, Jobs With Justice, Nuclear Resister, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Watershed Management Group among many others. Newly formed organizations like $15 Now, Arizonans for Gun Safety, Tucson United for Climate Action (TUCAN), and Friends of Rosa will also be on hand. The Peace Fair and Music Festival is an opportunity for residents to learn what is happening in their community while you catch up with old friends and make new ones. There are free activities for the kids like a labyrinth, face-painting, and a whimsy parade. The Culture of Peace Alliance will offer hands-on activities to entertain young fair-goers. This year's theme is challenging poverty. Growing income inequality and stagnating working-class wages place many friends and neighbors in precarious financial positions. As a community, we seek answers to the structural problems that exacerbate poverty. We also offer an opportunity to enrich our lives through meaningful engagement and re- envisioning what constitutes true wealth on a planet undergoing massive ecological changes. I want to acknowledge all of the dedicated workers from the 150 local peace, social justice, environmental and labor groups who volunteer their time to make the Peace Fair and Music Festival happen every year. Congratulations and best wishes to the Tucson Peace Center's Peace Fair and Music Festival as we join to celebrate its 33rd year of expanding peace in the Tucson community.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize the Pueblo Gardens Neighborhood Association's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast on the occasion of its 25th Anniversary this Saturday, January 17, 2015. This breakfast tradition was established in Tucson in 1990 by community activists John McNair and Edwina Gomez along with others to honor the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They are working to keep his dream of fair and equitable treatment alive by fundraising for at-risk neighborhood youth to help them achieve their own dreams. In turn, youth are asked to perform community service projects that benefit the city of Tucson. In 1997, long-time community activist, James E. Christopher became Chairman of the program. As Chairman for the past eighteen years, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast has increased in attendance from thirteen people in its first breakfast to an average of one hundred and seventy-five in current years. Pueblo Gardens' Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast has the distinguished honor of being the sole neighborhood in Tucson to attract city, county, state, and federal dignitaries, along with radio, television and newspaper coverage for an event of its kind. Dr. King's dream has started to come to light with the election of an African-American president, Latina woman sworn into the Supreme Court, the acknowledgement of gay members in the military, and so forth. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast funding has enabled many youth to graduate from high school and continue on to receive post-secondary education certificates and degrees. Many of these youth have become part of the Tucson workforce and are valuable assets to the community. Finally, I must acknowledge the cast of dedicated volunteer board members who work diligently to fundraise and continue the breakfast tradition while working through the Pueblo Garden Neighborhood Association, a designated 501(c)(3) organization. Congratulations and best wishes to the Pueblo Gardens Neighborhood Association in Tucson as we join them to celebrate on January 17, 2015, for its 25th Anniversary of their Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast. I thank the Pueblo Gardens MLK Breakfast Committee for their steadfast determination to keep Dr. King's dream alive while helping youth achieve their goals.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. This is not about making government more efficient. It is about making it impossible for many government agencies to do their jobs on behalf of the American people. In the name of regulatory reform, Republicans are intentionally cutting off the people who oversee our lands and waters at their knees. Those who claim that this bill is a good idea ignore China's example at their own peril. Federal agencies trying to keep us safe cannot do more with less. Instead of placing more burdens on Federal agencies, we should provide them with the resources they need to do their jobs better and faster and protect the American people. For all these reasons, I urge opposition to H.R. 185.

Mr. GRIJALVA. I thank the ranking member for yielding the time. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 185, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015, a bill that puts us all in danger by making it harder for Federal regulators to do their job. This bill would delay regulations that prevent big banks from gambling with our economy. Just as seriously, it would weaken the implementation of laws such as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act that protect our environment, natural resources, and the public health of the American people. Supporters of this bill tell us that regulations impose huge costs and prevent economic growth. As other speakers have noted, these claims are not just untrue, they are fabrications. Choosing not to regulate polluting industries doesn't save taxpayers money. When we fail to prevent pollution, we impose more costs on the public. Allowing unchecked emissions from coal-fired power plants, for example, would mean more mercury and smog polluting our air and water, causing respiratory ailments and premature death. To see what happens when a government chooses to allow polluters to have their way, one need only to look at China. By burning coal without adequate air quality regulations, China caused an additional 670,000 deaths in 2012 alone, this according to a recent study by the National Resources Defense Council. The failure to regulate is causing a massive drag at this time on the Chinese economy. This bill leads us down the same path. The Chinese model of economic growth at the expense of public health and the environment is not sustainable and does not represent American values. We have laws on the books today mandating environmental conservation and natural resource management through regulation. This bill does not repeal those laws, which have been a major benefit to the Nation, to the American people since they were enacted. Today's bill just makes their implementation less efficient, more costly, more time-consuming to the very industries it is allegedly trying to help. If this bill were to become law, annual regulations needed to open a fishery or establish fishing industry catch levels would be endlessly delayed. If this bill were to pass, it would delay the Forest Service regulations needed to allow thinning projects and increase the potential for costly and deadly wildfires throughout the West. Each year, new fire seasons seem to break the record for financial costs and acres burned. This bill, if enacted, would make that cycle worse. The bill fails to appropriate any new money to the agencies facing these unnecessary, burdensome requirements. Instead, agencies like NOAA and the Department of the Interior will be forced to divert existing resources to develop and implement the regulations needed to fulfill this new congressional mandate. The results? For example, permits for energy development on Federal lands, currently at an all-time high, will be delayed, as will be permits for other activities.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. I thank the gentleman from Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to what can only be described as an earmark for a Canadian corporation. It speaks volumes about the Republican agenda, as this new Congress convenes, that the first order of business in the House and Senate is to rubberstamp the Keystone XL pipeline. We have not dealt with unemployment benefits that the American people need that have lapsed for more than a year. Millions of Americans are suffering from a low minimum wage and income disparity, but we are not helping them. Women in this country still only earn 77 cents to every dollar their male counterparts earn, but we are not trying to end that disparity. Instead, they are forcing Keystone through without the proper approval process. Building a pipeline clear across the United States so that TransCanada can sell its dirty tar sands oil to the highest bidder--namely China--is not in the American people's best interests. We take on the risk to our lands, the American people face threats to their health, and TransCanada gets to reap the rewards. That is not a winning formula for our country or the economy. In fact, it is a sham. And yet the Keystone XL pipeline continues to be sold to the American people on blatantly false pretenses. We are told by proponents that this is about job creation, yet not a single independent analysis supports these claims. The burden of proof is on the GOP. They pull fantastic claims out of thin air, and yet they refuse to back them up. Instead, we are told to take their assertions at face value. Here is what we actually know. These are the facts that can actually be substantiated: The State Department found in its supplemental environmental impact study of the Keystone pipeline that it will generate less than 2,000 jobs a year for 2 years and only during the period of construction. Once the pipeline is built, these jobs will disappear, leaving a mere 35 permanent jobs that will result from this project--35. To put that in context, under President Obama, 353,000 jobs were generated in November and a total of 2.9 million in 2014. There is also the claim that it is going to lower gas prices for the American people. Please. Gas prices have been dropping for more than 100 straight days and are at the lowest level in more than 5\1/2\ years. They won't go any lower by allowing oil to be piped across our country just to be sold abroad. In contrast to fantasy impacts on gas prices, the potential impacts on our environment are very real. Not only will burning these tar sands add to global climate change, but any leak, failure, or, God forbid, explosion will have disastrous impacts on our environment. And because tar sands importers are exempt from paying into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the American taxpayers will have to bear the cost of cleaning up any spills. The public needs to know these facts, and that is why allowing 1 hour of debate with not a single, solitary amendment today robs the American people of a full debate and discussion. On top of all that, this bill is being pushed through despite the fact that it violates not one but two treaties with American Indian nations. What does this say about the GOP's respect for the rule of law? If the Republicans truly want to generate jobs for the American people, they should fully fund the highway trust fund and support the GROW AMERICA Act to invest in the crumbling infrastructure all across this country, not help Canadians build a superhighway for their dirty tar sands oil. We would be supporting not just 2,000 jobs per year for 2 years but millions of jobs for American families, across every congressional district. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues have a chance to take an important stand today early in this Congress on behalf of taxpayers, the environment, Native American communities, and the rule of law by supporting President Obama's veto and rejecting this toxic giveaway to foreign corporate oil interests.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 5162 removes the use restriction on a 3-acre parcel of Federal land granted in 1990 to Rockingham County, Virginia. The county no longer needs the parcel for child care and seeks to develop it for other purposes. The 3-acre parcel was given to Rockingham County through the National Park Service's Federal Lands to Parks Program. The Federal Lands to Parks Program provides Federal land to counties and to other State and local entities to develop community parks and public spaces. If land granted through this program is no longer needed for its original purpose, the National Park Service has the administrative authority to sell the land at fair market value. This involves what could be a very lengthy valuation process, but it is important to remember that these assets are owned by the American taxpayers, held in trust by the Federal Government, and they deserve a fair return. In this case, to the best of my knowledge, Rockingham County did not approach the National Park Service to discuss purchasing the land at fair market value. Instead, the county went straight to Congress for this legislative fix. Revisionary clauses and land use restrictions exist to ensure the fair use of Federal land and a fair return to the American taxpayer. Of course, it is important to look at these on a case-by-case basis, recognizing when Congress should chime in and when it is more appropriate for administrative action. Congress should only get involved when all other options are exhausted. While there may have been an alternative method to achieving the objective of this legislation, we support the adoption of H.R. 5162. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, if I may inquire of the gentleman from Louisiana if he has any more speakers.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5069 would authorize an increase in the price of the Federal duck stamp from $15 to $25. Duck stamp revenue funds the purchase and conservation of wetland habitats critical to maintaining waterfowl populations and other wildlife prized by hunters. This increase will restore the purchasing power of the duck stamp dollars to nearly 1991 levels, the last time Congress increased the price of the duck stamp. The current price of the stamp is $15, which equates to less than $9 in 1991. The increase is expected to generate $5 million in revenue for securing conservation easements on land in the United States. While I take issue with some of the requirements and restrictions this bill would place on the Fish and Wildlife Service, the opportunity to generate these additional funds for wetland conservation with the support of hunters and other nature lovers is one that we must take advantage of. I support the passage of the bill and congratulate the author of the legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5167 directs the Administrator of General Services, on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior, to convey 1,518 acres of Federal land in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to the Olgoonik Corporation. The parcel in question was previously used by the U.S. Air Force and is no longer needed by the Department of Defense. It contains a pipeline to the Chukchi Sea and would likely be used to support offshore energy extraction. It is surrounded by land already owned by the Olgoonik Corporation that was conveyed under the Alaska Native Settlement Claims Act. Transferring the isolated parcel would help simplify BLM management of the preserve and provide needed economic development for the Alaska Native Corporations. While I have some concerns with this legislation, including an unrealistic 180-day timeframe for survey and conveyance of the parcel, the waiver of requirements to provide an environmental review according to NEPA, and the use of a non-Federal appraisal agent, we support the passage of H.R. 5167. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to commend my colleague, Representative Ruiz of California, for sponsoring this legislation, for working so hard to bring all of the diverse interests to the table, and for coming up with a noncontroversial, bipartisan solution. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ruiz) to speak on his legislation.

Mr. GRIJALVA

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Colorado, Representative Jared Polis, the sponsor of the legislation. I thank him for his hard work on this boundary adjustment, which reflects current management and authorizes the acquisition and protection of this pristine land.