Tulsi Gabbard

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues strongly to adopt this amendment. Attorney General Sessions' recent announcement to expand civil action forfeiture really allows local law enforcement to bypass State laws and seize property from people with the lowest possible burden of evidence and without concern whether the person is eventually charged or convicted. While some will tell you this is necessary to go after big drug cartels, the reality is the median value of the adoptive forfeiture seizures has been around $9,000--not exactly the sign of any major drug trafficking operation. These adoptive forfeiture efforts tend to target poor neighborhoods. Between 2012 and 2017, the median value of assets seized by Cook County police was just over $1,000. In Philadelphia, in 2015, the median value was $192. This policy does not discriminate between the innocent and the guilty. With the responsibility on private citizens to prove their innocence, rather than law enforcement to prove guilt, innocent people without legal representation often never see their money or property again, and even those who are proven innocent have no promise that their property will be returned.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3440, the DREAM Act, to protect DREAMers like Shingai, who came to the U.S. when he was 13, graduated with a political science degree from Hawaii Pacific University, and is putting that degree into practice today.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago today, we lost a brother, a friend, and a colleague, someone who made a great impact on my home State of Hawaii and this country. My friend, Congressman Mark Takai, was someone who lived his entire life with a full heart committed to serving the people of Hawaii and his country. Always ready with a helping hand with creative new ideas and a hearty laugh, Mark was someone who was always on the move. I had the honor of serving with Mark all the way back in the Hawaii State Legislature, through our time serving together in the Hawaii Army National Guard and then, again, here in Congress where we both served on the Armed Services Committee. Mark, time and time again, made his decisions based on how best he could serve the people of Hawaii, and he took a lot of pictures along the way. Mark led by example with respect and with aloha understanding and passion building partnerships focused on seeing how he could get the job done. So on this day commemorating Mark, my heart is with his family: his wife, Sami; his kids, Matthew and Kaila; his parents, Naomi and Erik; our entire National Guard ``family,'' ``ohana,'' and the people of Hawaii as we remember Mark and honor his entire life and legacy of service.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize Chief Master Sergeant Josephine Yenke's retirement, after 28 years of honorable service to our Nation in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserves, and Air National Guard, to her home in Hawaii. Chief Yenke began her service in Hawaii with Headquarters Pacific Air Forces in 1998 and has contributed significantly, making a long-lasting impact on our troops, servicemembers, and country, including mobilizing support for deploying troops through our country's long period in conflict. Chief Yenke recently retired as the headquarters individual reservist readiness and integration organization detachment two superintendent at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, where she served as the key senior enlisted adviser, assisting the commander with managing and directing personnel resource activities for over 400 reservists. Chief Yenke has given many years of her life in the service of our country and embodies the skills and expertise that our Reserve component servicemembers bring to our total force. Our grateful Nation thanks Josephine for her and her family's service and sacrifice, and we wish her the very best as she begins this new chapter in her life.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, in my home State of Hawaii, hospitalizations and emergency room visits from opioid-related conditions have more than doubled in the last decade. More people are now dying from overdoses than motor vehicle accidents. This opioid epidemic is killing 91 Americans all across this country every single day. For years, companies like Purdue Pharma, the maker of the commonly known drug OxyContin, have profited off of the suffering of millions of Americans who are dealing and struggling with opioid addiction. Now Purdue and others are going overseas, targeting foreign populations, using the very same shady marketing tactics, lies, and false advertising that helped them get rich at the expense of the American people. This is absolutely unacceptable. We can't just keep wringing our hands about the opioid crisis without actually tackling the cause of it. Purdue and those responsible should be prosecuted for the deaths and lives that have been ruined as a result of their lies.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, too often we hear about human trafficking and sex slavery. It is often dismissed as a crime that only happens ``over there''--overseas or in a foreign country. The Global Slavery Index estimated that nearly 46 million people across 167 countries were victims of human trafficking in 2016. This problem is very real. But here at home, it is also a problem, where we have children and young people who are forced or coerced into sex work and hard labor in our communities all across the country. As America's gateway to Asia, my home State of Hawaii sees an unprecedented number of people taken from their homes to be exploited here on our shores. In 2010, the FBI freed 400 Thai nationals from a Hawaii farm, the largest human trafficking case in our modern history. In Hawaii, I know personally of girls as young as 11 and 13 years old who were recruited from schools, malls, beaches, and other places, and exploited by traffickers. While every State, including Hawaii, has passed legislation to ban trafficking and classify it as a felony, clearly stronger, further action is needed to combat this modern, international slave trade. This bill, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act, will do many things, including expanding programs to help educators recognize and respond to signs of human trafficking in minors to try to prevent this abuse and support local law enforcement as they identify prosecutors who will focus on cases involving sex and slave trafficking. I strongly support this legislation and urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' to give these innocent men, women, and children a chance for safe, proactive, and healthy lives in our communities.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, net neutrality is something that is fundamental to our country. It is rooted in our First Amendment rights. It allows for an open marketplace, exchange of ideas, center for innovation, hub for communication, and so much more. In today's digital age, especially, ensuring an open, free, and equal internet for all--not just for those who can afford to pay to play--is crucial to level the playing field for everyone. The FCC's current proposal rolls back these freedoms for the benefit and profit of big internet service providers on the backs of students, entrepreneurs and innovators, small businesses, and all of us. Millions across the country have already sent in comments to the FCC expressing their strong opposition. On today's net neutrality day of action, I encourage everyone to make their voices heard. In just 5 days, the FCC public comment period closes. Now is the time for us to raise our voices to protect net neutrality, fairness, and equality for all.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from Florida for complimenting my State, but for, most importantly, again, putting a face and names to those who are suffering as a result of our broken immigration policy. You know, for us here, we can stand here and talk about policies and debate them and talk about legislation that needs to be passed. But it is really those folks at home who make it all very real. It is not just a bill number, it is their own family that is being torn apart, it is their own children who are being affected. Now, you know, I talked about Mr. Ortiz in Hawaii. He and his family are going through this, as we speak, where, in just a few days, he faces being deported. He and his family have exhausted all the options available to them, given the time that they have. Our delegation from Hawaii, both my colleague, Congresswoman Hanabusa, as well as our Senators, Senator Hirono and Senator Schatz, we have all sent a letter to Secretary Kelly, Department of Homeland Security, urging him to reconsider this order and to halt Mr. Ortiz's deportation, taking a consideration to him and his circumstance and his longstanding commitment and leadership in our community. I have introduced legislation, H.R. 2794, which is what is called a private bill, specifically for the relief of Andres Magana Ortiz. And the purpose of this bill is to help Mr. Ortiz with his extremely challenging situation and to help him on his own path to citizenship. I urge Chairman Goodlatte to give positive consideration to this bill that has been referred to his committee. I urge Secretary Kelly, the Department of Homeland Security, to revisit their policy and their decision and to put a halt on Mr. Ortiz's deportation. He is not just a number. He is not just a statistic. He and his family are facing this reality today. It is always the right time to do the right thing, and I urge these leaders to do that right thing. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for his leadership and his commitment to not only the families and the people in his district, but to the challenges that many families are facing all across the country, and I look forward to continuing to work with him on these issues. Some of these challenges that face families across the country touch my constituents in Hawaii as well. I would like to share a few of their stories and their challenges here today in the hopes that Congress and this administration take action and do the right thing for them and for our country. We are a nation of immigrants. Andres Magana Ortiz's story is not a new one. It is not one that will surprise anyone. In fact, it will be quite recognizable to most of us. No tradition is as American as telling the stories of our relatives and ancestors who, against all odds and great difficulties, found and made a home here on our shores. But while our family histories remind us of how far we have come, Andres' story demonstrates the progress that we have yet to make and who is hurt and affected by the lack of that progress today. Andres Ortiz came to Hawaii seeking the American Dream. With hard work, perseverance, and a little luck, Andres demonstrated what we, as Americans, know to be true and that we strive for: if you work hard, you can succeed and get ahead. Andres started a new life in 1996 picking coffee--backbreaking, tough work, for anyone who has done it before--in the Kona region on the island of Hawaii. He proved himself smart and capable, and he was soon promoted to supervisor. By 2010, he saved enough to buy his own coffee farm. Today, he owns 20 acres of coffee trees, and manages another 150 acres for his neighbors. Andres quickly earned a reputation as a knowledgeable and skillful farmer. When an invasive beetle, called the coffee berry borer, began to ravish our Kona coffee farms and trees, Andres began a pioneering system to help his community track and eradicate this infestation, even before our U.S. Department of Agriculture took action. Now, this infestation was not just a small matter. It was something that cost our farmers millions of dollars. Our country offered Andres the means to become an entrepreneur, and he paid us back in full: he started a business, he creates jobs, he takes care of his workers, and he is a leader in our community. Andres is not a legal resident of Hawaii, but Hawaii owes him a debt for his contributions. Managing the coffee farm is a family affair for Andres. He is a proud husband and father of three children. His wife and kids are all American citizens, and his kids only know Hawaii as home. Andres embodies the spirit of the American Dream, and serves as an example of why we should welcome courageous, hardworking immigrants into our community. The reality that Andres faces now, sadly, is far different. If Andres is deported to Mexico, as is supposed to happen in just a few days, his family, their farm, and Kona coffee growers are going to face an uncertain future. Without Andres to run the business, his family could lose their farm and lose their home. Their neighbors will lose a friend and a business partner. Brenda, his wife, will be without her husband, and their three children will be without their father. If Andres is forced to leave, the law will keep him from his family for 10 years. Should the family move to Mexico with Andres, they will have to learn a new language and a new culture. His daughter will have to drop out of college at the University of Hawaii and begin a new life in another country. Relocating to Mexico would deprive them of the benefits afforded to the citizens of this country. Now, unfortunately, Andres's story is not a singular one. Unfortunately, there are more. Just last week, Graham Ellis of Waimea, a 67-year-old British national and leukemia patient, heard a knock on his door. It was two Department of Homeland Security agents who have come to begin the deportation process back to the U.K. after Graham had made Hawaii his home for over 36 years. After a few short minutes of conversation in front of his wife, Dena, who is an American citizen, Graham agreed to turn himself in at a field office in Honolulu the following day. Now, like Mr. Ortiz, Graham is a pillar within our community in Hawaii. But unlike Mr. Ortiz, Graham had already made the decision to return to the U.K. because he feared that deportation was inevitable under the heightened threats faced under our current immigration policies. Graham had made the decision to leave by the end of summer, thinking that these remaining months would give him time to get his affairs in order, and say good-bye to the community and the home that he grew to love for so long. A circus performer by training, Graham spent much of his life in Hawaii teaching children from low-income and at-risk communities circus arts, bringing smiles and laughter to their faces and their lives. He served on the Puna Community Council, and was the founding president of the Kalapana Seaview Estates Community Association. In his remaining final months, he had planned to make a trip to Kauai, where he would instruct his last group of young, passionate students at a 2-week superhero-themed circus camp before shutting it down for good. Our immigration system is broken. We need a pathway to citizenship for immigrants to ensure people who deserve to be here can find a way to be a part of our great country. We need real immigration reform that keeps families together and integrates hardworking, tax-paying immigrants into our community. We need to preserve, protect, and restore the values that underlie the greatness of our country. I stand with Andres and Graham and the millions of hardworking immigrants who built our great Nation; and I stand with these immigrants who live in my community, who live in my district, and who have a proven record of upstanding contributions to our community. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Soto), my colleague.

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, our current immigration policies are hurting families, tearing them apart, and deporting people who are part of the very fabric of our communities. I have a few people in particular I plan to talk about and whose stories I will be sharing, but first I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke ), my colleague and friend.

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, rolling back financial regulations that are in place to protect the American people will put them and our country's economic security at risk. However, the Financial CHOICE Act that is being considered by Congress today does just that: it erodes protections against dishonest big bank practices that rob people of their hard-earned salaries. This bill repeals the Volcker rule. It dismantles the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, strips regulations in place to protect the American people's savings, and actually lets the big banks maintain even less capital that they need to absorb catastrophic losses, making it so that they are relying once again on the American taxpayer to bail them out. We don't need to remind the families who have suffered so much about the pain caused by the Great Recession. In my own home State of Hawaii, from 2008 to 2010, our unemployment rate more than doubled, and 11 million people in America lost their homes. The big banks of 2008 are even bigger and more powerful today. I urge my colleagues to reject this dangerous bill and, instead, pass H.R. 790, the Return to Prudent Banking Act, which would reinstate a 21st century Glass-Steagall Act.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague for his leadership on this and many other issues, really taking up this cause and being a champion for the voiceless. Last month I was in my district in Hawaii, and we traveled all across the State, on every island, holding townhall meetings on a variety of issues, but one of the meetings and forums that I participated in was at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, and it was specifically around this issue of human trafficking, of sex trafficking. In this small community in Hawaii, many people had gathered--it was a full room--trying to increase their own awareness and share more information about the prevalence of this issue, not just in places in other parts of the world, but in our communities right here at home. I think that is something that surprises a lot of folks that I talk to, is you can read about these human trafficking problems in cities in Asia or other parts of the world, but very rarely do people think that it is happening in their own backyard, in their own hometown, when the reality is that this is a very real issue that exists in far too many of our hometowns and our communities all across the country. In my own home State of Hawaii, girls as young as 11 years old have been recruited from schools, from beaches, from malls through an intricate network of sex traffickers. In 2016, last year, 30 cases of human trafficking were reported to the human trafficking hotline in Hawaii. Almost all of them had to do with the exploitation of women for sex and labor, and in 10 of these cases the individuals targeted were minors. Now, what we know and what is terribly disturbing is how underreported this actually is, that these numbers are not at all representative of the reality that exists in our community because trafficking is more common than the number of cases reported. Now, too often those who are victims of and those who are forced into trafficking are charged as criminals and are forced to live with this criminal record for the rest of their lives, never being able to escape the shackles of nonviolent crimes committed in the course of their being victims of human trafficking. This often inhibits them from getting the care and assistance that they really need, to be free, to be able to move on with their lives. Our current criminal justice system is broken in so many ways, and in so many ways perpetuates a cycle of crime, exploitation, and poverty, stripping the most exploited and vulnerable individuals in our society of a fair chance for a new life and healing from unimaginable abuses perpetuated by truly evil criminals. Now, at the local level in States like Hawaii, we have passed legislation that bans sex trafficking and classifies it as a class A felony, but that is not enough. That is why I am so proud to be a cosponsor of the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, because it creates this promise of freedom for those survivors from the shackles of their past. It establishes a process to vacate convictions and expunge arrests for those charged with criminal offenses related to human trafficking, finally putting survivors on a path to rehabilitation and healing rather than a life of continued exploitation and abuse. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to get this legislation passed and actually enact this change so it helps those in our communities who need it the most.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, today the President put forward his budget proposal. It will be damaging to the people in our communities and the places that we call home. It cuts Medicaid by over $600 billion and cuts the food stamp program by over 25 percent, affecting the most needy within our communities. It slashes infrastructure programs, eliminates TIGER grants, cuts student loan and financial aid programs, and includes catastrophic cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency. For my home State of Hawaii, this budget zeroes out Federal funding for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grants, the Native Hawaiian Loan Guarantee program, and cuts Native Hawaiian education programs by nearly $33 million, crippling the progress that has been made for over 30 years to strengthen Native Hawaiian early education, literacy, gifted and talented education programs, higher education, vocational programs, and more. I strongly oppose this budget, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to pass a budget that actually serves the people and our planet.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, for years now the NSA has been collecting phone and online communications from everyday Americans from all across the country, defying the rights and liberties granted to us under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. The 2008 FISA amendments, specifically section 702, has led to massive government-led exploitation of personal privacy through the collection of American citizens' emails. We need serious reforms that balance the protections of our civil liberties and rights through our Constitution and also keep the American people safe. The NSA recently announced that they would stop collecting our emails and electronic communications under section 702, but what is to say it wouldn't start up again? That is why I am introducing legislation today to keep our country from backtracking on this progress. My bill will permanently codify this policy change and ban this privacy-evading collection from taking place again. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation and defending our civil liberties.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I recently wrapped up a townhall tour across my district in Hawaii, visiting every single island. A common theme that I heard from folks was one of concern and questions about this Republican healthcare bill that we may be voting on later this week. They are worried about their aging parents not being able to pay for their premiums and prescriptions and that newly added provisions that threaten those with preexisting conditions with skyrocketing costs will have such a devastating impact. Every time we hear about the new versions and new changes to this bill, it gets worse than the one before. Among a host of new problems, the latest version strips away protections on healthcare benefits like maternity care, substance abuse, mental health services, while also expanding an already-crippling age tax against our seniors, against our kupuna. No matter how you package it, this bill is a handout to insurance and pharmaceutical corporations while breaking the bank for those most in need of care. I urge my colleagues to stand in strong opposition to this bill and, instead, pass a healthcare bill that works for the American people.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the new Trump-appointed FCC Chairman announced his mission to undermine the net neutrality rules that we fought so hard to put in place. In 2015, over 4 million people submitted comments calling on the FCC to keep the internet open and fair. However, the FCC's new Chairman, who used to work as counsel for Verizon, wants to turn the internet into a system of pay-to-play fast lanes for Big Money and people who can afford it, leaving everyone else behind in the slow lane. This hands the levers of access over to big ISPs at the expense of students, small businesses, entrepreneurs, independent content creators, and millions more. In today's digital age, maintaining open and equal internet access is essential to breaking down barriers in education, media, expanding access to jobs and employment, driving innovation in health care, and so much more. We must stand strong in opposition to the FCC's attack on fairness, equality, and net neutrality.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend a warm mahalo to Hawaii's public safety dispatchers and radio technicians who provide an essential service to our community. These hardworking men and women process more than 1.4 million 911 calls each year in Hawaii and are literally the first line of response in an emergency situation. Their ability to relay accurate and up-to- date information is essential to the success of our police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and to the safety of those in desperate need of help. Last year, Hawaii's public safety telecommunicators helped our State become one of the very first in the Nation to implement a text-to-911 program that is helping to close the gap in emergency response. This program addresses a very real need for situations where you may have a home invasion or domestic violence scenario where making a phone call to 911 safely is simply not possible. Mahalo to our telecommunicators for leading the way on this initiative and for your work every single day on behalf of Hawaii's people.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, people in my home State of Hawaii and all across the country are in desperate need of serious healthcare reform to bring down costs and increase access to quality care. The legislation before us, though, is not the answer. It perpetuates the problems. It is a handout to insurance and pharmaceutical companies that literally pulls the rug out from those who are most needy and most vulnerable in our communities. While corporations rake in over $600 billion in tax breaks, many low- income Americans will see their coverage drop completely. Medicaid, a program that one in five Americans depend on for basic care, would be slashed by hundreds of billions of dollars, shifting costs to already-strained State and local governments. Our kupuna, our seniors, could see their premiums increase up to five times more than young, healthy people under these new age rating rules in this bill. Simply put, we need a healthcare system that puts people before profits. I urge my colleagues strongly to vote ``no'' against this legislation.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, today let's honor the life and service of our dear colleague, my friend, the late Congressman Eni Fa'aua'a Hunkin Faleomavaega, Jr. My memories with Congressman Faleomavaega extend back to small-kid time, in Hawaii--he was elected to Congress as American Samoa's delegate when I was just 8 years old. On his way to and from American Samoa, he would often stop in Hawaii, pay visits to his alma mater Kahuku High School, watch a Red Raider game or two, and visit with friends and family in Hawaii's vibrant Samoan and Polynesian community. I grew up understanding and appreciating Fa'a Samoa--The Samoan Way-- which like the aloha spirit, refers to how we should respect and honor one another, no matter where you're from or your stature in life. He shared this Fa'a Samoa every day with his colleagues and others in Washington, seven thousand miles from his homeland. It was a very special thing to serve alongside him as a Member of Congress when I was elected in 2012. We served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and he often pulled me aside to talk story about his experiences on this committee, the places he'd been, and the people he'd met. Eni was a warrior, a public servant, a devoted Christian, and a family man. He was born in Vailoatai Village in American Samoa. It's a beautiful and culturally rich island with that small-town feel where everybody knows everybody. Eni's father served in the military, so growing up, he moved around a bit. He lived in Guam and later moved to Hawaii and attended Kahuku High School and Brigham Young University on Oahu's northeast shore, eventually graduating from the main BYU campus in Utah. Eni was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alongside his wife Hinanui and their family. Eni was a soldier in the United States Army. He served honorably in Vietnam, earned the rank of Captain, joined the Reserves decades later, and unfortunately suffered from complications associated with his exposure to Agent Orange. Throughout his four decades of service in Congress (1989-2015), he worked hard for the people of American Samoa and for our veterans, caring for them deeply and fighting for them relentlessly. As a delegate, Congressman Faleomavaega was passionate about representing his people and ensuring the communities at home had the resources they needed, especially health care and other essential services. He stanchly opposed free trade deals so that the few but impactful industries of American Samoa would not be devastated. He always put the people first, and he served with all of his heart. So as we honor the life and service of this great man, Eni Fa'aua'a Hunkin Faleomavaega, Jr., we send our deepest gratitude to his `aiga (family) for their support and sacrifice over the years. Traditionally, at a Samoan memorial service, guests give the grieving family hand-woven mats in a ceremonial exchange of gifts called fa'alavelave. We don't have one here today, but offer these words in their absence: Fa'afetai Tele Lava (thank you), Fa'amanuia le Atua (God bless), and Fa Soifua.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I am rising today to urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1227, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, which I have introduced with my Republican colleague, a fellow Army veteran and former prosecutor from the State of Virginia, Congressman Tom Garrett, where we are seeking to address our outdated and widely problematic marijuana laws by federally decriminalizing marijuana. FBI reports have shown that, in 2011 alone, an individual in the United States was arrested for marijuana use, sale, or possession every 42 seconds--every 42 seconds--mostly in poor and minority communities. Our current laws are turning everyday Americans into criminals, sending them to jail, ruining their lives, tearing apart families, and wasting huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate people for marijuana use, a drug that has been proven time and time again to be far less dangerous than alcohol both for individual consumers as well as for the people around them. Dr. Donald Abrams, who is chief of oncology at San Francisco General Hospital, has talked about how, in the 37 years that he has worked and served as a physician, the number of patients that he has admitted to his hospital with marijuana complications is zero. The number of patients that he has admitted due to alcohol use is ``profound.'' So, rather than actually helping people, our current laws are turning them into criminals, forever impacting their future and the future of their families. Over the years, we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars locking people up for nonviolent marijuana offenses, creating strain within our criminal justice system, and clogging court calendars, resulting in further overcrowding of our prisons. Now, just a few weeks ago, I had the chance to go and visit a number of our prisons and jails in Hawaii, where I saw firsthand the crumbling infrastructure, the extreme overcrowding and facilities in dire need of upgrades, as well as the shortage of services that are actually needed to help rehabilitate people and reduce our recidivism rates. So whether you personally think that marijuana use is good or bad, whether you would choose to use marijuana or not, the question is: Should we really be sending people to jail and turning them into criminals for it? The answer is no. The fiscal impacts and the social impacts of our current policy are having devastating ripple effects on individuals and our communities and are only continuing to perpetuate the problem. For example, the contradiction that we see currently between State and Federal laws on marijuana has created a serious problem for many of our local businesses. I have talked with local bankers in my home State of Hawaii who expressed great frustration, and even confusion, about the contradiction between our laws with the fact that even though our State of Hawaii has legalized and authorized marijuana dispensaries to grow, process, and dispense medical marijuana, Federal law prohibits banks and credit unions from offering any type of financial services to both businesses and individuals whose financial transactions have anything to do with marijuana. So what this means in practical terms is that our State-recognized and licensed medical marijuana dispensary owners as well as their employees can't open a bank account. They can't get a loan from our local bank. The businesses, literally, have to hold thousands, or even millions, of dollars from their transactions and have to conduct their transactions in cash. Businesses that provide services to these medical marijuana dispensaries are also unable to access financial services due to the gaps between Federal and State law. So as we look at ways that we need to update our outdated drug policies and the need for us to reform a very broken criminal justice system, we need to take into account the growing body of evidence that suggests the medicinal benefits of marijuana, including, preventing epileptic seizures, reducing anxiety, and even halting the growth of cancer cells. However, the FDA still currently classifies marijuana as a schedule I drug, basically saying that marijuana is just like heroin, LSD, and MDMA, ignoring the fact that at least 28 States, including my home State of Hawaii, have already accepted the medical use of marijuana under State law. In addition to passing H.R. 1227, we need to require the FDA to remove marijuana from schedule I based on State-accepted medical use. These reforms that we are calling for in this bipartisan bill are common sense and they are long overdue, long overdue changes that will help to reduce the strain on our criminal justice system, create certainty and reduce contradictions and confusion between State and Federal law, and update those Federal laws to actually meet the needs and progress that States are making across the country.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, today let us honor and recognize a young Maui boy whose life touched hearts around the world and whose legacy will live on through the millions that he inspired. Trucker Dukes was not quite 4 years old when he took his last breath this past Friday after a painful battle with stage IV neuroblastoma and 2 years of intense treatment. Trucker's dad is a firefighter, and like father, like son, Trucker loved fire trucks. When Trucker went to New York for treatment, the New York Fire Department coordinated a very special third birthday party celebration and swore him in as an honorary firefighter. After Trucker passed away, his parents, Shauna and Joshua, shared this message: ``If there's one thing I hope, it is that you love a little harder . . . a little better. Go home, stop the craziness in your life, and just kiss your loved ones more, tell them you love them more. None of us are promised tomorrow.''

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, as we kick off Women's History Month, I want to recognize Women Helping Women, celebrating 40 years of service to the people in my district of Maui County. Since its founding in 1977, Women Helping Women has been an indispensable source of strength and support for survivors of domestic violence in Maui County, many of whom have fled courageously away from life-threatening situations with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, a few dollars in their pockets, and the desire to live without fear. Many of these women flee with young children and have no one to turn to and nowhere to go. Each year, this organization serves more than 1,500 women, men, and children on the Islands of Maui and Lanai through a variety of programs, projects, and activities focused on direct intervention, shelter, advocacy, education, empowerment, and prevention. Mahalo to Women Helping Women, and congratulations on reaching this 40th anniversary year.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I stand in strong support of H.R. 244, the HIRE Vets Act, which I am so proud and honored to have worked on with my colleague and fellow veteran, Colonel Paul Cook from California. This is personal for us. This is about our brothers and sisters in uniform--from different generations--who have been honored and thanked for their service in uniform but who, unfortunately, are often forgotten about when they lay that uniform down. Most people aren't aware that every single day roughly 500 veterans are transitioning from military life to civilian life, joining more than 2.9 million veterans who have returned home since 9/11 alone. Through their service and training, these are men and women who are highly trained, who have experience in leading, in making decisions under pressure, in acting and working well as members of a team, and in accomplishing the mission. Data show that veterans are civic assets in our communities. They have higher rates of voting, of engaging with local governments and community organizations, of participating actively in community service, and more. Together, these qualities make our veterans especially valuable to employers, whether it be in the private sector, in the public sector, or in the nonprofit sector. Unfortunately, for them, returning to a civilian job market is not as easy as it should be. They often face an unfriendly job market or even an unfriendly culture that doesn't fully understand them and what they bring to the table. Many people don't understand that our veterans are not seeking pity or a handout but are simply looking for an opportunity to continue to serve--to continue to contribute to our communities and to our country. This legislation is focused on encouraging employers to hire more veterans. We have seen different programs and initiatives in my home State of Hawaii and in States across the country that focus on recruiting and retaining veterans, but the fact is that there are still more than 400,000 unemployed veterans across the country. We need to do more. This legislation, the HIRE Vets Act, gets directly at this need by setting up an incentive system to encourage employers to hire and retain veterans. It creates a standard of recognition for employers who go the extra mile to recruit and retain veterans and provide services that support our veteran community. We came together at the end of last year and passed this legislation unanimously. I am hopeful that my colleagues will once again stand and pass this important legislation and move it along through the Senate and to the President's desk for his signature.

Ms. GABBARD

Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, one of the things I appreciate most about the job that I have to represent Hawaii's Second District is to be able to respond to and provide assistance to the hundreds of veterans from across my State that contact our office every single year. They call to ask for help with things like compensation and pension issues, health care, mileage reimbursement, especially for our veterans who live on the neighboring islands where they don't have a VA clinic on an island, education, home loan benefits, and more. This is a responsibility as a Member of Congress and as a fellow veteran that I take very seriously. Right now, if a veteran contacts my office for assistance, we are required to go directly through the congressional liaison at the VA. We act as the veterans advocate to try to get answers for them on things that they haven't been able to get answers on, things that they haven't heard back on. Too often, we are faced with the bureaucratic layers within the VA and a slow turnaround that leave congressional staff, like mine and my colleagues here, jumping through hoops to access basic, but critical, information on behalf of our veterans and their families. At times, we have waited for months to get answers from the VA on behalf of a Hawaii veteran for something that should be a quick turnaround, like a status update. This is unacceptable. I am proud to cosponsor the WINGMAN Act, legislation introduced by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), my friend and colleague, which allows us to cut through the red tape and ensure that our certified caseworkers within our offices can provide quicker, more efficient, and effective service to our veterans. It would help streamline the veterans claims process by allowing congressional offices on behalf of our veteran constituents to directly access the status of pending claims, rating decisions, statement of the case, and so on. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation so that all of us working here in the people's House can better serve our veterans who have sacrificed so much for our communities and our country.