Marie Gluesenkamp Perez

Ms. PEREZ

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in grief for the 11 men who lost their lives and in hope for those still recovering from injuries suffered at the Nippon Dynawave Paper Mill in Longview, Washington, in the worst industrial tragedy in Washington State history. As we confront the loss of lives and horrific injuries, God forbid that we shirk from accountability for the current state of affairs or the responsibility You placed on us to improve them. Let us honor the skill and humanity of these men who were each created in Your image. Forgive our willful ignorance to the hardship and danger that greed, self-interest, and neglect have brought on our brothers and sisters across the Nation. Forgive us for demanding others zealously preserve Your creation while we ourselves abuse it. Guide the hands caring for the wounded. Grant discernment and wisdom to the investigators and all those seeking answers. Be a comfort and strength to the grieving and lost and those working to rebuild. Instill in us a fearless spirit in serving our people. Amen. I ask everyone in the Chamber to join me in a moment of silence.

Ms. PEREZ

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, today I rise in support of my amendment to direct the Secretary of Agriculture, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to develop a low-risk classification for healthy fresh fruits and vegetables and other fruits that are typically consumed raw. I would like to tell the body a little bit about how this came to be. I have a 4-year-old. I was touring a daycare, like many in our State, and a daycare worker came up to me. She asked me: Hey, Congress lady, why can I legally open a bag of chips for the toddlers, but I can't peel a banana? This was perplexing and annoying to me. I dug into this, and I kept asking questions. What I heard from regulators and licensers over and over and over was that this woman was stupid, that her boss had lied to her, and that she just didn't understand the rules. When I dug and I dug and I dug, what I found was that, yes, buried deep in the bowels of the 1,200 pages of documents a licensed daycare provider has to follow in my State is the number of sinks they would need per exterior linear wall foot. I am not kidding. This daycare would have needed six more sinks before they could legally peel a banana, because peeling a banana apparently is considered food preparation, but opening a bag of chips is not. I doubt anyone on God's green Earth would have chosen to advantage Cheetos over a banana. That is what has happened through a lack of respect and regard for people who actually work in childcare, through, candidly, an establishment that is so old that they don't have kids in daycare or so rich that they had nannies instead of ordinary daycare. I am so proud of this body for listening to this issue, for hearing me, and for helping me to find a way to legitimize fresh fruits and vegetables in daycare centers again. What this does is it directs the Secretary of Ag to develop a list of food. It says that handling a raw chicken cutlet is not the same thing as peeling a banana. Let's have a different classification. Let's post these on a website somewhere, and let's say that States who are taking money for childcare will not negatively impact the licenses of daycare centers based on their provision of these foods to children given a handwashing sink is available. It is a very simple, commonsense rightsizing of legislation, and one that I have heard from people across the country. This is not an issue just in my State. This is across the country where legislation has not paid attention or genuflection to people actually doing the work of taking care of children who have mistaken following a checklist with care for children. Those are not the same things. We need to empower the people who are actually doing the work. We need to bring down the cost of childcare, and that is what this legislation does. I am so grateful to the body for working with me to find a way to do this. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Chairman, I think we all agree that childcare is underfunded. What we don't agree about here is the question of whether and how to appropriately fund it and who is the one who decides where those dollars should go. I would say that in my case, in the case of the daycare worker I was speaking with, they would have had to install six more sinks to comply with the regulations as written. How much money do you think that takes? Do you think that is going to make daycare stretch further and provide daycare to more families? No, these rules were not written--they were not perfect. We should not treat legislation as if it is manifest from God in a perfect form on our notebooks. The reality is that legislation is more similar to doing the dishes where you do the dishes to do the dishes, to do the dishes. It is never done, and you have to keep going back to the people who are actually doing the implementation of it to understand if it is being implemented and if it is the point of the legislation. Nobody wanted us to spend these limited dollars installing a myriad of sinks. Maybe the plumbing industry did, but I doubt that. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson).

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Chairman, States that choose to negatively impact the licenses of daycare providers based on their provision of a peeled banana to a child, I think we ought to consider whether or not that is the best place for us to be spending our limited Federal resources. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, on Roll Call No. 130, I unfortunately missed a vote due to Appropriations Committee activity. I intended to vote Nay.

Ms. PEREZ

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to call on the family of the German Prinz zu Salm-Salm about their land holdings in my district. In Wahkiakum County, Washington, our local hunters and fishermen are being squeezed out of the lands that they have hunted and fished on for generations, but not by wildfire or even by Federal and State regulations this time, but by German royalty who is buying up land and prohibiting public access to places that we have hunted and fished on for generations. It was reported last month that the German royals now control 7.3 percent of Wahkiakum County. Now, our local economies and way of life are at risk. I have been told by some in my community that frustrations are so high that without resolution there can only be a violent boiling point. The Pacific Northwest is no stranger to this kind of interference, but at the hands of a management company whose investors are halfway around the world, this shows that something has gone deeply wrong with how we think about and regulate land and local ownership. This cultural fabric of our community is ours--to live off the land, to invest back into it. Loyalty to place is grounding, a necessary practice in this fractured and polarized world. I call on the German royal family to engage with my constituents and revise their hunting access regulations.

Ms. PEREZ

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, on Roll Call No. 94, I mistakenly recorded by vote as a NAY when I intended to vote YEA.

Ms. PEREZ

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor someone who helped shape the city of Washougal for the better, former Mayor Molly Coston. Most folks in Washougal didn't call her Mayor Coston. They called her Mayor Molly because she exuded grace, tenacity, and friendliness. Molly served her community for nearly a decade on the city council and then as mayor from 2018 to 2021. Molly didn't sit on the sidelines. She rolled up her sleeves. She was involved in every effort, from revitalizing downtown Washougal to her service to local community groups, including 25 years in her local Rotary Club. If there was work to be done, Molly showed up. Molly lived a big life outside of city hall, too. She was even a master scuba diver. She brought that same sense of curiosity and courage to her public service. Mayor Molly Coston passed away this November at the age of 77. Washougal is better because Molly made it her home, and her impact will last for generations. Celebrating Chris Guenther

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate a talented songwriter and Mossyrock native, Chris Guenther. Southwest Washington is a place that is built on hard work, mills, farms, welding, logging, and small businesses. With that comes a certain kind of music. It is honest and real. Chris Guenther has been carrying that sound for decades. This year, he was nominated by the International Western Music Association for both Songwriter of the Year and Western Album of the Year for his record ``Singing to Cows.'' I will admit that I have sung to cows. I have never thought about telling people I do that or writing a song about it. I have to ask Chris how his cows feel about Roy Rogers' lyrics: Beef, sweet beef, next week you will boil and fry. That is exactly why people connect with him. He is genuine. He tells the truth. He plays the kind of music that comes from living the life he sings about. Mr. Speaker, Chris Guenther has a lot more ahead of him, and I am proud to recognize him today as one of the artists keeping the spirit of our district alive and well. Recognizing Kelso High School and Kelso Police Department

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight a powerful example in my district that shows how investing in career and technical education strengthens both our community and public safety. In October of this year, students from Kelso High School's advanced welding class teamed up with the Kelso Police Department to fabricate, install, and reinforce pit bars on two decommissioned patrol vehicles, converting them to safe, durable training cars for officers to practice the precision immobilization technique. I have to say, I am kind of jealous of the kids. Having kids be able to get real, tangible experience is something that cannot be duplicated in a textbook. That is what is so amazing about CTE programs. They are making resources and skills available that they cannot get elsewhere. They cannot get that online. This is an asset for them whenever they are ready to hit the workforce. When I visited Kelso High School in April, I saw firsthand how welding, automotive, culinary, and other CTE courses give young people a pathway to good careers. I am proud to represent a district that leads the hard way, the real way, with respect for how things used to be done and creativity in bringing those practices to bear today. Happy 100th Birthday to Harry Humason

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a remarkable American hero, Mr. Harry Humason, who turns the vibrant age of 100 this December. Harry volunteered to join the Army in December 1943. He valiantly fought in World War II, with Patton's 3rd Army, 5th Infantry Division, 2nd Infantry Regiment, helping to liberate Frankfurt, Germany, and towns in Czechoslovakia. This year, his daughter raised funds to bring him to Europe and visit places that he had not seen since he was there in combat, and he was greeted as a hero. People remembered him and remembered what he had done for their country and the world. After the war, Harry used the GI Bill to earn a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and went on to build missiles and rockets at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, a true example of American ingenuity and service after service. I have had the honor of spending time with Harry, and I know him not just as a veteran but as a thoughtful, engaged public servant. Harry is an example of doing unto others as you would like to be done to you. Mr. Speaker, I wish Harry a happy birthday. May all of his courage and integrity continue to inspire us all. Honoring Humaira Falkenberg

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the career and service of Humaira Falkenberg as she retires from Pacific County PUD after nearly 15 years devoted to public service. Humaira has stood for reliable energy, economic self-determination for rural communities, and the belief that the small things attended to with joy and diligence are the building blocks of a more beautiful world. Beyond her work at the PUD, Humaira has brought her full self to her community as a leader for JEDI Outdoors, a ski instructor, an alpinist, a ski mountaineer, and a kite surfer. Her life reminds us that public service and personal passion can go hand in hand. I have worked with Humaira on issues like grid capacity, support for existing power generation, and the well-being of rural communities. I have seen her integrity, vision, and dedication. She helped shape our community not just through power lines but through joy, service, and candor. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking her for her service and to wish her a retirement filled with continued purpose, community, and adventure.

Ms. PEREZ

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a public servant who has given nearly four decades to the people of Lewis County, Sheriff Rob Snaza. He is a man with a gentle spirit and a decisive character. He is eager to help others, not to be helped. He is quick to apologize and forgive and find goodness in others, though he has spent his career seeing some of the ugliest things this world has to offer. He is persistent in his trust in the Lord and a diligent encourager of those around him. He has been a source of strength to all of us, and I am confident that the eternal story of his work will go on long after he is retired. We are profoundly grateful for the sheriff's service. I sincerely thank him for the example he has set for us all.

Ms. PEREZ

Ms. PEREZ. Madam Speaker, I rise to raise a question of the privileges of the House and offer the resolution that was previously noticed.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with humility, fear, and conviction, conviction that American citizens have a right to choose their elected Representatives, fear that my convictions will be dismissed as naive, and humility that I am as liable to deceive myself about my first duties, where my strength comes from, and to whom I owe my loyalty as anyone else on this floor today. It is clear to me that my responsibility as an elected Representative to my community is to say loudly, consistently, humbly, and with love that no one has the right to subvert the right of the people to choose their elected Representatives. I like Chuy Garcia. I think his reasons for retiring are noble. We are not here to adjudicate the character of Chuy Garcia. I am asking the body to consider a set of facts laid before us tonight about how he chose his successor and deprived Americans the right to choose their elected Representative. Moral accusations and bitterness are not going to move this country in a stronger direction, but we can't keep bringing these same broken tools to the urgent struggle of preserving our inheritance as a nation. With humility, I lay out the facts. One week before the filing deadline, Congressman Chuy Garcia filed for reelection and submitted the necessary signatures for that petition, but 3 days before the filing deadline, he also began collecting signatures for his chief of staff, who shares his last name. Just hours before the filing deadline, Representative Garcia's chief of staff submitted the paperwork to run with at least 2,500 signatures attached to it, and Chuy Garcia's signature was the very first one listed in the petition. He had at least 3 days of work that he has publicly acknowledged where he knew that his chief was going to be running against him, and he did not communicate his intention to retire. He did not communicate his intention to retire. You don't get to have your cake and eat it, too. If you are not going to run, you don't get to choose your successor no matter how noble the work you have done beforehand. The day after the filing deadline, once it was clear that there would be no Democratic alternative to his chief in a D+17 seat, he announced his retirement. It is easy to get caught up in the culture of D.C., of political complacency, or believing that your opponents are so broken that the ends justify the means, but you cannot win the right to represent people through subversion. All you do is engender distrust in the government and apathy in the citizens of this great country. We don't have to say that a thing is perfect to say that it is worth fighting for. In fact, we can't truly fight for a thing if we don't acknowledge its shortcomings. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we are not here to adjudicate the character or quality of work of what has gone before in the career of Representative Garcia. That is not the question at hand. No good work means that you are able to end your career with impunity in choosing your successor. This is not who we are as a country. People bled and died for the right to elect their own Representative. To say that you can, at the last moment, submit at least 2,500 signatures, when your name is at the top of the list--and to the question of legality, this is not a question of whether or not what he did was legal. This body does not adjudicate State election law. That is not what we are trying to do here. We do not choose the rules in Illinois' elections. We cannot imagine every illegal thing, every amoral thing, and make it illegal. Legality is smaller than morality, and the question at hand is: Do we condone a subversion of an election because it is playing by the rules? That is not what we are here to do. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, true love persists in a confidence, not in your supremacy in making a choice for your voters, but in your service and humility that they have the right to choose. When we start making choices for people without their consent, we have walked away from the fundamentals of democracy. I feel deeply for the sacrifice that it has taken him to serve his community. That does not legitimatize the way in which he left his seat and choosing a successor and refusing to be forthright with his constituents. Mr. Speaker, to the question of primary challenges, in both the 2020 and the 2022 election, as I have seen in reporting, Chuy Garcia carried 100 percent of the primary. That does not sound like a whole lot of a primary challenge when you are carrying 100 percent of the votes in the primary. That doesn't mean that he was not chosen in that, but you can't walk away from a commitment to allowing voters a choice and a clarity on what you are going to be doing. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this is certainly not a game. This is certainly not a short strategy. It is long work to remain committed to the primacy of Americans' right to choose their elected representatives. Nothing validates the choice to subvert an election, not the trespasses of an administration, not the long and noble work of a public servant, not the valid and unknowable bitterness of a family's suffering, not fidelity to identity politics. Nothing validates subverting an election. We are not here to adjudicate, as I have said, the measure of Chuy Garcia's work or his character. The question is: Do you have the right to choose your successor? Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, there is a famous saying in Baptist circles: ``If you don't kill your sin, your sin will kill you.'' Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt, but there are natural consequences, and the consequences of subverting an election and choosing your successor are a slide toward a very ugly future for our country. There is an argument that has been made that they don't know about it so it is not wrong. That is not true. That is not true. We know about it. We know about it, and that can place on us an accountability, not just when it is politically convenient to condemn someone but when it is in your own family. That is the point. That is the point, that when there is a spade, you call it a spade, whether it hurts or not. You have to have confidence that Americans will make the choice for themselves. That is the whole point of this experiment in democracy. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The point is well made that Americans are suffering. A nonpayment of utility bills, people having their cars repossessed, people losing their businesses, people going without meals, that is in my community, and that is real. We do not dutifully serve the long work of building a self-determining country by turning our constituents into petitioners who would only demand free things from us, a relief from this pressure of the consolidation of corporate power. No, we also have to stand before them with honor, confidence, and respect in their ability to choose their elected representatives for themselves. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, there are claims that this is not the work that we were sent here to do. Then what gives us the right to be here if not being sent here? There is a premise here. We have to be endowed with trust, and that has to be reciprocal with our voters. I would argue that there is a very loud demand, a fervent, clear call by Americans right now for accountability and transparency, and it is not just about the Epstein files. It is all of it. They want us to stop this fight and be honest, deliberate, and respectful, to humbly serve. That is what real leadership is. It is humility and service, not choosing for them what would be best for them. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PEREZ. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.