Ro Khanna

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Delegate Norton for her leadership, and I thank Ranking Member Comer for his leadership on the bill and, of course, Representative Mace, who has been a colleague and helped craft this. Everyone recognizes that our country faces cyberattacks. In the private sector, we don't silo cybersecurity officials. You don't say, ``You just work in one department.'' They rotate through a company. We shouldn't have separate silos in the Federal Government. This bill is just common sense. It says that we need to have a rotational system in the Federal Government so that you can have expertise from all the different agencies, and we can have a comprehensive response. It helps us get talent. And it is bipartisan. We should give credit to the previous administration for having, as was pointed out, the executive order. I worked with Matt Lira at the previous White House. There is nothing that is partisan about making sure that America isn't attacked with cybercrimes and cyberattacks. That is a bipartisan initiative, and this does build on the work they did. It makes it stronger, and we put, ultimately, resources toward it. But I am proud of the work. I am proud of working with Representative Mace on it. Frankly, I think we ought to be doing more things in this body in a bipartisan way that strengthen American security.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 409) to provide for the availability of amounts for customer education initiatives and non-awards expenses of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program, and for other purposes.

Mr. KHANNA. 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 bill under consideration.

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 409. S. 409 provides a bipartisan, short-term legislative solution to address a funding shortage in CFTC's Customer Protection Fund. The Consumer Protection Fund is used to pay whistleblower awards that fund the salaries and expenses of the Whistleblower Office and the Office of Customer Education and Outreach. Without this critical funding, CFTC would have to suspend some operations and furlough employees in the Whistleblower Office and the Office of Customer Education and Outreach. This short-term solution is by no means a replacement for the much- needed comprehensive CFTC reauthorization. It will still, though, be a positive step to ensure that the CFTC can accomplish the important mission to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets. The Committee on Agriculture passed a committee print equivalent of this measure unanimously by voice vote last Wednesday. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about President Biden's tax plan with some basic facts. President Biden proposes no tax increases on 99 percent of Americans. This chart illustrates that, with 154 million Americans, not a single American in the 99 percent is going to pay a dime more. In fact, they are getting a tax cut. We are giving them a tax cut with the child tax credit. We are giving them a tax cut with the earned income tax credit. So the obfuscation on the other side to convince 99 percent of Americans that somehow their taxes are going to go up when President Biden is delivering a tax cut for them is just factually false. What does this mean? If you work in manufacturing, if you are a nurse, if you are a teacher, if you are a doctor, if you are a lawyer, most likely, your taxes aren't going up. For the 99 percent--not just in the working class, but in the middle class, in the upper middle class--your taxes are not going up. They are going down. In fact, the President has extended Trump's tax cut for those who are making under $75,000. It is important we get those facts, and I want the American people to look at this chart. If you really fall in that sliver of the top 1 percent, your taxes are going up. If you are everyone else in the 99 percent, your taxes aren't going up. They are going down, in most cases. So, people wonder how, in a democracy, we wouldn't want this. How wouldn't we want those who are going to make the most in the tiny 1 percent, why wouldn't the 99 percent want them to pay a little bit more? It turns out that the top 1 percent--and let's just be clear, if you make over $538,000, you are in that top 1 percent. I personally don't know a lot of doctors or lawyers or others who are making more than $538,000 a year. But if you are in that 1 percent, you have made $4.8 trillion over this pandemic--$4.8 trillion. And the over 600 billionaires, they have made $1.6 trillion over the pandemic. I know that because a lot of them are in my district. We have had the digitization of the economy. They are making a lot of money. Some of them are brilliant. Guess what they told me? They can afford to pay a little more. Do you know what the market cap of companies in my district is? It is $10 trillion in Silicon Valley. That is more than the GDP of Russia. It is more than the GDP of most countries. I laugh when people say this tag of socialism. My district is producing the most wealth in the world. The people there who say we want to pay a little bit more aren't socialists. They are wealth generators. But here is what they know: They fall into this 1 percent, and they are saying we have made trillions of dollars. We have made billions of dollars. We would like to pay a little bit more so everyone can have healthcare, education, and nutrition in this country, and we are fine with other people in the working and middle class getting a tax cut. That is the President's policy. It is a policy of helping working- class Americans, middle-class Americans, upper-middle-class Americans, and asking those who have done well to do a little bit more for our country. It is a policy against inherited wealth because we are Americans. We don't believe in feudal estates. We don't believe what the law is right now, that if you buy $1 million of Facebook stock and that becomes $10 million and if you want to give it to your kids, that your kids don't have to pay tax on the appreciation of $9 million. We don't think that is right. We don't think you should be able to transfer wealth without paying any tax. That is not the American way. That is what they used to do in old Europe's feudal estates, passing wealth generation to generation. That is the party of aristocracy, and that is what the Republicans would have you believe. We are the party of free markets, free enterprise, and new entrepreneurs. We are the party of economic growth for everyone. We are not the party of dynastic wealth. If you believe that everyone should have a shot in the free market economy, that you should have economic growth for everyone and opportunity for everyone, if you are against dynastic wealth, if you believe those who have made $4.8 trillion can pay a little bit more and you can have tax cuts for the working class and middle class, you should support President Biden's tax plan.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, this bill is historic because it buries the myth that the cause of childhood poverty is a lack of character, or a lack of hard work, or a lack of love. The bill affirms the simple truth that the cause of poverty is a lack of income to cover basic necessities. No child in America should be deprived of food, of medicine, of clothing, or of education because of the accident of birth. That is what this bill stands for. It represents and marks an ideological revolution on behalf of justice.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership. Mr. Speaker, in history, there are many generals who are celebrated for logistical feats to win a war. Rare is a general who is celebrated for logistical feats to end a war. General Austin presided over the most significant withdrawal of troops and equipment, over 150,000 troops from Iraq, successfully. He helped bring that conflict to an end. General Austin helped us prevent getting into a catastrophic conflict in Syria. Now, I don't think the American people are concerned about process arguments, about whether someone wore a uniform or didn't wear a uniform. What they want to know is the outcome. Is the leader going to help start new wars or end wars? General Austin, with Secretary Blinken and Jake Sullivan, is going to help end the war in Yemen. They want to know: Is a leader going to turn a blind eye to White supremacy, or are they going to stand up for equality? General Austin will stand up for equality in our military. Most importantly, they want to know: Is a leader going to circumvent the President of the United States, as certain civilian leaders have, or is the leader going to defer to the duly elected President of the United States? General Austin deferred to President Obama, and he will absolutely defer to President Biden. The last point I hear my colleagues say is, well, he doesn't have expertise in China or India. Well, first of all, no one has expertise in every region of the world. No one is going to have a Ph.D. thesis about every country. The important thing is that we do not need another leader who is going to saber rattle and get us into another cold war with China. We need someone who is going to be tough but who is going to have the wisdom and the judgment to defer to the national security team and the President and help create a constructive relationship. General Austin will do that. Mr. Speaker, I proudly support his nomination for Secretary of Defense.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I am voting to impeach because, as Lincoln said, no grievance is a fit object of redress by mob law. But we must recognize that our hard work begins when we address the real grievances and despair in left-behind communities. To be worthy of this Capitol that we hold sacred, to fix our broken windows and broken communities, let's finally commit to investing trillions in creating good jobs in healthcare, in education, and in infrastructure for communities and places that are hurting.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3989) to amend the United States Semiquincentennial Commission Act of 2016 to modify certain membership and other requirements of the United States Semiquincentennial Commission, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, nearly 250 years ago, a group of visionaries met in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. Out of this unusual meeting of daring patriots, a declaration was produced stating to the world that, for the first time in the modern world, 13 Colonies would join together to become one independent nation--the United States of America, the greatest experiment in democracy that the world has ever seen. Madam Speaker, these leaders boldly declared that no more would Americans live under the tyranny of a nation 3,000 miles away. They acted with unity and decided that our Nation will not be built upon privilege inherited by birth, but natural rights that belonged to each and every person. In 2026, the United States will celebrate 250 years of independence. While we have not always lived up to these lofty ideals, we have continued to work to make progress and right the wrongs. To commemorate and celebrate the founding of our Republic in 2016, Congress established the United States Semiquincentennial Commission. The Commission's goal is to encourage Americans to remember our past, celebrate our present, and look forward to a promising future. The Commission works with public and private entities across the country to make celebrations of our 250th year of independence a time to remember for years to come. Madam Speaker, while the Commission has done incredible work thus far, the Commission Amendments Act will make needed updates to ensure that the Commission has the resources and talent it needs to fulfill its mission of national importance. This bill will expand the membership to include cultural and historical perspectives from individuals such as the chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition, the bill will provide necessary intellectual property protections for the materials created by the Commission. This commonsense legislation will serve to further enable the Commission to carry on its important work. It has never been more important for us to come together or remember our past, acknowledge our present, and look forward to our future as one nation devoted to the ideals of liberty and justice for all. As someone who was born in 1976, in Philadelphia, the year of our bicentenary, this has a particular meaning to me. Madam Speaker, I thank Senator Toomey and others on the committee for advancing this. Our Nation will be the first multiracial, multiethnic democracy in the history of the world, and it is a credit to our founding vision. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I reiterate my support for this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support it. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Connolly for his leadership on this, on FITARA, and on so many efforts to bring technology to our government. I thank the gentlewoman from West Virginia and the bipartisan committee that has helped bring this legislation to the floor, including the majority and minority staffs. Mr. Speaker, we worked with the White House Office of Innovation and Matt Lira on this. The idea was very simple. We in the Federal Government should have cutting-edge technology in our Federal agencies. As a representative of Silicon Valley, it has always perplexed me why the world's greatest institution, the strongest institution, the United States Government, can't adopt the latest technology. What this bill does is says that we need to have digital expertise in the General Service Administration, about 50 to 150 individuals who will help all of our Federal agencies adopt cloud computing, adopt artificial intelligence, adopt the latest technology modernization and infrastructure, adopt the best digital practices for customer service. We want our Federal Government to be user friendly. We want our Federal Government to use all the tools of technology to be competitive, to be the leader in the world. That is what this bill does. I want to applaud the bipartisan spirit in which this bill came to the floor. It was originally the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who was the cosponsor of the legislation. I thank him, as well as the cosponsor, now the ranking member, Representative Rice. On the Senate side, we have bipartisan commitment from the leadership of Senator Portman and Senator Maggie Hassan. So I am hopeful that this will actually become law and allow us to continue to compete. I just want to end by thanking Geo Saba, a staff member who was extraordinarily helpful on this; as well as, again, the committee staff that has been excellent to work with; and, of course, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, who helped bring this to the floor.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Engel for his moral leadership in preventing a war in Iran and his moral leadership in stopping the war in Yemen. This amendment is very simple. It would stop another regime change war in the Middle East. The gentleman from Texas says that it is dangerous, that it is reckless, that it emboldens our enemies. Does he really believe that 27 Republicans, including Representative Gaetz, Representative Meadows, and Representative Jordan are emboldening our enemies? Does he really believe that they are divisive against the President? I mean, they are some of the President's staunchest supporters. It is time, in this body, that we get past the rhetoric, past the sloganeering, and consider why 27 Republicans actually voted for this. Perhaps it has to do with our national security. Perhaps it has to do with reversing blunder after blunder that has cost this country trillions of dollars and lives. Let's consider the facts. The President says we want to have a pivot to Asia because China is our leading competitor in the 21st century. I agree. China's GDP, 15 percent of global GDP; the United States, at 21 percent. They are putting their money into building rail, building universities. You know how much Iran's GDP is of global GDP? .44 percent. Future historians will wonder what were we thinking? What were we thinking? They say, well, we have got to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Well, the Strait of Hormuz has been open since 1981. And by the way, China, Japan, South Korea, they need 65 percent of that oil. You think they would allow the Strait of Hormuz to close? Why is America bearing the cost for these wars when China hasn't been in a war since 1979? This amendment does nothing, nothing, to restrict the Commander in Chief to protect American interests or protect American allies. It gives him all of the powers of the War Powers Resolution. If we are hit, he has every authority to act and not come to Congress for authorization. All the amendment says is, before we get into another Middle East war, before we waste trillions of dollars again, that we need to come to Congress to authorize that. I hope that this body will vote for this in a bipartisan way. I hope this time even more than 27 Republicans will join. And I believe actually voting for this amendment is vindicating what President Trump ran on in 2016, which was a promise to the American people to get out of these endless wars in the Middle East.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the PFAS Action Act. The facts are that the industry, the Pentagon, and the EPA knew that PFAS are hazardous to health, yet we did not do anything as a Congress until Representative Dingell had the courage to lead this act to get a bipartisan group together. I salute Representative Dingell for her leadership. I am proud to have sponsored the PFAS waste incineration act. The marked-up bill is included in the package. The provision requires the EPA to ensure all incineration of PFAS waste is done properly. I thank Chairman Tonko and Chairman Pallone for their leadership on this issue and also the ranking members for at least their work on the incineration part of PFAS and making sure that the waste is marked ``hazardous.''

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Engel for yielding and for his leadership. I rise today not as a partisan but as someone concerned about America's future. We have worked across the aisle with people like Representative Meadows and others to stop our country from getting into endless wars. There is not one party that wants to stop these wars; this is in our national interest. Now, let's be very clear. Soleimani had blood on his hands. Soleimani was a bad actor. Soleimani killed Americans. That is not the debate. The debate is whether America should get into another war in the Middle East or whether we should be focused on our real competition, which is China. We are 21 percent of the world's GDP. China, our competition for the 21st century, is 15 percent. Iran is 0.44 percent of GDP. China hasn't been in a war since 1979. We are in 40 conflicts. Future historians will ask why we were so obsessed with a region, the Middle East, with 3.5 percent of GDP, when we should have been focused on investing in our country to build the future, to win the 21st century. I don't think staying out of bad wars that cost this country trillions of dollars is a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. Frankly, the President ran on this. I know Leader McCarthy says this is a formality. Under the War Powers Act, you are supposed to have a concurrent resolution. My hope is the President will agree with this and not get us into a war with Iran.

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. I will make my final point. This shouldn't be partisan. Here is what I would love to see, that the President says, in the future action, he is not going to get into a war and that he agrees with the concurrent resolution that this body passes.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, today, the House is voting to affirm a conservative principle. What makes America the strongest and most prosperous nation in the world is our reverence for the rule of law. It is our love of the law that protects our freedoms, our private property, and our families from the exercise of arbitrary power. The real threat to American leadership in the 21st century is internal decline. We choose not to stand idly by while we see the corrupting of our body politic with an attitude that might makes right, that winners don't have to follow the rules. In voting to impeach, we remember Lincoln's Lyceum Address: ``Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country and never to tolerate their violation by others. . . . Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in the courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the Nation.''

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this defense authorization. There are many things that you can call the bill, but it is Orwellian to call it progressive. Let's speak in facts. When President Obama left, the defense budget was $618 billion. This defense budget is $120 billion more than what President Obama left us with. That could fund free public college for every American. It could fund access to high-speed, affordable internet for every American. But it is worse: the bipartisan provision to stop the war in Yemen, stripped by the White House; the bipartisan amendment to stop the war in Iran, stripped by the White House; the bipartisan provision to repeal the 2002 George W. Bush authorization for the war in Iraq which is sending our troops overseas, stripped by the White House. At some time, we can't just rhetorically give standing ovations when the President says that we are going to end endless wars and continue to vote to fund them. It wasn't just President George W. Bush who committed the biggest blunder of foreign policy in the 21st century by sending us to Iraq. It was the abdication of this body, with many Members of Congress who voted right with him. My question is: When are we going to listen to the American people? When are we going to do our Article I duty and stop funding these endless wars and start funding our domestic priorities?

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, today I honor the life of George Vanecek, a key leader in the development of the internet and Silicon Valley. He passed away this September at the age of 61. Born in Prague, Czech Republic, George escaped his home country as a boy with his family during the Prague Spring of 1968 after refusing to join the Czech Communist Party. They settled in the Oregon mountains. He was proud of his adoptive home and believed deeply in its promise of opportunity. It was this appreciation that drove George's career, but it was his brilliant mind that steered it. George was not only an award-winning programmer at a young age; he was also a talented painter. He applied this artistry to the field of computing. After completing his PhD in computer science, George helped pioneer the first http servers at the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) before bringing the world wide web to Purdue University, where he was a professor of computer science and won the Excellence in Teaching Award early in his academic tenure. Then, at AT&T Labs Internet Platforms Division in San Jose, he oversaw the development of a vast platform for internet commerce. George co-founded several companies, working in areas like telecommunications and the early internet of things (IoT). George did this work with pride in the opportunity he had been given when he came to America. He cared deeply about giving back by developing systems in which computers enhanced human capacity. With an eye to the future, George's creativity and vision allowed him to become a leader in his field. In his final position as Vice President and Chief Architect of Technical Architecture at FICO, he worked on solutions to today's big problems, like fraud detection and algorithmic bias, designing and overseeing the construction of a data streaming platform that could derive intelligent decisions from large amounts of data in real time. Perhaps more strikingly, George was known among his peers for showing up in the office wearing full leather, having just parked the Aprilia Tuono motorcycle he rode between lanes of traffic into the Santa Clara office each morning, not far from my district office. George was not only a scientist but was also a friend and mentor to many throughout his career and life. He volunteered his time helping small business owners get started in his community. He was a scuba diver, a glider pilot, and a world traveler. He and his family foraged for mushrooms along California's many hiking trails and explored its wineries and local breweries. Madam Speaker, George was a Bay Area man through and through, and I'm proud to recognize him today for his contributions to our community.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from Connecticut for his tireless, bipartisan leadership in shepherding this bill to this historic point. It was my honor to work on the healthcare worker portions of this bill, and I am proud that it will pass today. Madam Chair, I rise today in support of the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act. For far too long, the workers who serve on the front lines of our communities have had to work in dangerous conditions without adequate protection. Every day, our nurses and social service workers face high levels of dangers, levels that most of us would find unacceptable in our own occupation. Their courage to keep working, despite these risks of violence, exemplifies the selfless nature of healthcare. This bill follows what California has done in creating a nationwide workplace violence prevention standard, so people no longer have to work in fear. Since the implementation of California's own standard, healthcare workers have experienced marked improvements in workplace violence prevention measures. The California Nurses Association reports that hospitals in California are seeing increased security staffing, increased training, and comprehensive reporting. These commonsense protections did not exist prior to California's standard. It is time to expand these protections to healthcare and social service workers nationwide. This affects real people. We have heard stories of people who have been injured, killed, whose families have been harmed because of this kind of violence. Madam Chair, I include in the Record a letter from National Nurses United in support of this legislation. National Nurses United has boldly led on this issue for many years, including getting the standards across the finish line in California. National Nurses United, Washington, DC, November 18, 2019. Dear Representative: This week, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on H.R. 1309, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, sponsored by Congressman Joe Courtney. National Nurses United, representing more than 155,000 registered nurses (RNs) across the country, is firmly in support of this bill and strongly urges you to vote in favor of it. Our members work at the bedside in every state in the nation, and we know that when nurses are unsafe, our patients are also at risk. Violence on the job has become endemic for RNs and other workers in healthcare and social assistance settings. Nurses report being punched, kicked, bitten, beaten, and threatened with violence as they provide care to others--and far too many have experienced stabbings and shootings. But there are practical steps that healthcare and social service employers can take to fulfill their obligations to protect their employees from this serious occupational hazard. We know that violence can be prevented through the development and implementation of plans that are tailored to specific patient care units and facilities. These plans must assess and address the range of risks for violence--from the sufficiency of staffing and security systems to patient-specific risk factors. H.R. 1309 mandates that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration promulgate a workplace violence prevention standard that would require healthcare and social service employers to develop and enforce plans to protect their employees from violence on the job. To ensure that workplace violence prevention plans are effective, workers (including nurses, other direct care employees, security personnel and ancillary staff) must be involved throughout all stages of plan development, implementation, and review, which go hand- in-hand with the standard's comprehensive training requirements. The enforceable occupational health and safety standard established in this legislation is necessary to create and maintain protections against workplace violence that our members, other workers in healthcare and social settings, and, importantly, our patients deserve. This bi-partisan legislation is of high priority for RNs across the country, and we hope you will join with us in supporting it and voting yes on H.R. 1309 on the floor of the House of Representatives. Sincerely, Bonnie Castillo, RN, Executive Director. Zenei Cortez, RN, President. Deborah Burger, RN, President. Jean Ross, RN, President.

Mr. KHANNA. I want to thank, again, the gentleman from Connecticut for his leadership.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I was moved by the stories of loss, displacement, and suffering of the Kashmiri Pandits at a briefing hosted by my dear friend and mentor, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. I appreciated the Pandits coming to Capitol Hill to tell their stories. I want to recognize and thank Jeevan Zutshi, my constituent, for his leadership in organizing this forum. I was encouraged to see other key leaders of Congress attend like Zoe Lofgren, Eliot Engel, and Mike Thompson. As we consider the complexities of South Asia, we need to make sure that all Kashmiri stories of loss are heard and recognized, and be sure to stand up for human rights of all faiths. India was founded on the promise of a pluralistic society, and Madam Speaker, it's now more important than ever to stand up for those ideals.

Mr. KHANNA

Mr. KHANNA. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.