Teresa Leger Fernandez

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I completely agree as well that we do have an issue that we must address in terms of improving our education system, investing in our students, investing in our schools, but does this bill do this? Absolutely not. Last night in Rules, we actually had the debate about the fact that in the Education Committee, what has come out so far is nothing that addresses reading, math, STEM. What has come out so far is the kitchen sink of culture wars, and our families do not want culture wars in our schools. They want us to focus on learning, on making sure that our students cannot just survive but thrive. So here we are, standing on this floor once again to debate a bill that would defund our schools and dehumanize asylum seekers and immigrants. I remind my colleagues that one of the first asylum seekers that we know about was when a mother put her young baby into a raft, into a basket, and sent that baby down the river, and he was saved. His name was Moses. Asylum seekers today are doing the same. They are trying to flee incredible violence and get refuge here in the United States. Republicans stated last night that the academic success and safety of our students must always be placed first. No exceptions. If it is no exception, then why are we not addressing gun violence which is the biggest cause of death and injury for children in school, and, sadly, also in their neighborhoods? This bill does nothing to address gun violence even though more than 344,000 children directly experience gun violence; even though in just 6 months this year, we have already had 188 school shooting incidents with 143 victims in our schools. When will you take up saving our children in our schools by addressing gun violence? So rather than making sure our students can thrive and stay alive in schools, this bill would defund our schools with an empty gym. That is all we are talking about; an occasionally empty gym used on the coldest winter night or hottest summer day to shelter asylum seekers who have already been processed through the system. At this point in time, they are actually around. They have a legal pathway that they are seeking. Republicans have decided to politicize the border and immigration. They ignore the fact that apprehensions at the southern border are down by 70 percent. They are down by 70 percent because of Biden's policies.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Yes, we have a broken immigration system, but whose fault is that? Last Congress, we passed several bipartisan immigration bills, including the American Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. Did any of the Republicans pushing this bill vote for those, vote for the problem solvers? No. I will end with this: Matthew 25:35 reminds us: ``For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.'' I ask my Republican colleagues to show the same humanity in this bill and vote against it.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Speaker, in June, I went home to where Democrats announced $670 million of investments in broadband that will grow our middle class in New Mexico. Then, I came back to a Congress controlled by the most extreme Members of the Republican Party who want to strip women of their ability to receive reproductive healthcare. If these extreme Republicans succeed, it will be unreasonably difficult for servicewomen assigned to bases in States that ban abortion to travel and receive reproductive healthcare. I came back to an extreme Republican Party that wants to take the culture wars to our military instead of preparing our servicemembers to protect Americans from war. A travel ban for pregnant servicewomen, how un-American is that? This rule and the extreme amendments in it are simply unpatriotic. They are un-American. The Republicans are waging culture wars against patriotic women, patriotic Latinos, Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, gays, lesbians, and trans Americans who serve in our military. These patriotic men and women are willing to fight and die for our country. I call upon my colleagues to honor the sacrifice of these diverse Americans and vote against this rule and these horrible amendments. I call upon my colleagues to reject the culture wars and instead to celebrate. Let's celebrate the diversity that is America. Let's honor all servicemembers, all servicewomen, and their sacrifice. Democrats are supporting our troops, and Democrats are investing in our country and investing in our military while Republicans are dividing our country with these extreme amendments. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this extremism.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize former Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, who passed away on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, leaving his wife Mrs. Martha Shelly, five adult children, 12 grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. The President and Mrs. Shelly were married for 57 years. President Shelly's public service spanned numerous decades and positions. During his 16 years on the Navajo Nation Council, he rose to the esteemed position of Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee. From 2007 to 2011, he served as Vice President of the Navajo Nation. On January 11, 2011, Shelly became the eighth President of the Navajo Nation, a position he held for four years. In fact, he was the first elected Vice President to ascend to President as well. President Shelly's service extended beyond Navajo Nation as a McKinley County Commissioner. As President, Shelly was a steadfast supporter of self-determination and self-sufficiency for Indian Country. He and the Navajo Nation worked with Congress to secure approval of the Navajo Nation General Leasing Act to provide the Nation with leasing authority over tribal land. President Shelly also fostered economic development to bring prosperity to Navajo communities. In President Shelly's final testimony to Congress, he advocated for Gallup Indian Medical Center to become a ``trauma one'' level facility status. This would provide the highest level of care to our many tribal communities. President Shelly was born on the Arizona-New Mexico border of Tsetah Si'ani, Lupton, Arizona. He lived most of his life in Thoreau, New Mexico, in the third congressional district. He never stopped working to support the people of the Navajo Nation. His accomplishments and legacy will live on for generations to come. May we all honor President Ben Shelly's incredible life and his deep commitment to serving the beloved communities of the Navajo Nation.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I too rise in opposition to the rule and the underlying bills. As our ranking member pointed out, these bills do nothing to solve the problems that Americans are asking us to face. For example, these bills will hurt the middle class. Let's take healthcare. Americans want quality healthcare that doesn't discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions and that does not discriminate against women. That is why we passed the Affordable Care Act. Today, we can proudly say that only 8 percent of Americans are uninsured. The lowest level in history. Republicans keep trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In fact, H.R. 3799 is yet another strike at that good bill. This bill that they are proposing, Republicans would expand association health plans that are not required to cover maternity or prenatal care. Republicans rejected an amendment to require this essential care for women and their babies in all health insurance plans. How can you go back to our districts and look women in the eye and say, we have passed legislation that would not cover you when you are pregnant, waiting to give birth to the children of the future. Republicans would also pass H.R. 3564, which would increase mortgage fees for middle-income borrowers and decrease fees for the wealthy. Americans want to buy a home of their own so that they can start saving and build their own wealth. They want to be part of that middle class, and homeownership is a key part of that. You know what? They called this bill the exact opposite of what it is. It does not protect middle-income workers. It increases fees for the middle class. Lastly, H.R. 461. It is an opinion that contradicts Americans' basic sense of decency and humanity. Undocumented immigrants toil in the hot sun to pick the food we place on our table. They take the most dangerous jobs in our slaughterhouses and on our construction sites. Extreme Republicans will take their labor, but they would refuse education or shelter to immigrants and their children. Is this how we honor National Immigrant Heritage Month in this Chamber? Scripture steers us in a more noble direction. In Matthew 25:35-40, it says: ``I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.'' We should be more welcoming to those asylum seekers and refugees that are bringing so much pain, but also contributions to the American landscape. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this rule.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate a true artist, community leader, and mentor of young people throughout the beautiful Espanola Valley in northern New Mexico--Salvador Ruiz Esquivel. Growing up in his native Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, he never dreamed he would become an American citizen, a leader in the arts and in the greater community, nor least of all to be mentioned in the halls of Congress. Salvador gave up his early years in dance when he came to the U.S. where he became a successful entrepreneur in the field of furniture and design. He returned to his true calling, though, when he and his life partner, former State Legislator Roger Montoya, joined together to found Moving Arts Espanola. Salvador had returned to dance when Roger asked him to teach Folklorico Dance and Visual Art in the public schools. Seeing that there were no after-school programs for the children, they co-founded Moving Arts Espanola to fill the void and serve children and families. Moving Arts Espanola has served thousands of community members through its regular classes, after school programs, and teaching of all the arts. Numerous young graduates return to be teachers themselves-- not as volunteers, but as paid staff. They relate to the students who see the possibilities for themselves in their young mentors. Also, all attendees receive a free hot meal. The Espanola Valley is a different place because of Moving Arts Espanola and Salvador's work. This is an area where many live below the poverty line and too many have experienced the tragedies of addiction. It's a place where grandparents often help care for extended family members. Moving Arts Espanola has helped students become more engaged in their education. School dropout rates, drug usage, and crime involvement for these young artists are measurably lower than in the broader community. Salvador's work has changed a generation of lives, and continues to do so. In 2019, Roger was nominated as a CNN Hero, and in 2022 Salvador received the Univisionario Award for his work. Salvador's role as both executive director and shepherd of the Moving Arts Espanola vision as well as his place in the community has made him one of my Congressional District's most outstanding citizens. When Salvador was a young boy in Mexico he learned a strong work ethic from his father. Never in search of glory or fame, Salvador has worked hard and brought others along with him through his journey. A gifted dancer in his youth, Salvador gave up his art when the obstacles seemed too great. Now he and Roger work to make sure young people do not face the same obstacles that Salvador encountered in his youth. Salvador always mentions that the best reward is, ``Seeing the smiles on the children's faces.'' Today, we offer our gratitude to Salvador himself who is the reason for so many of those smiles and who continues to make the community a vibrant place.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, last month, there were two mass shootings in my district, one in Farmington and another in Red River. On Friday, I met with police officers, victims, and neighbors who were terrified and wounded. An 18-year-old used an assault rifle and several other guns to kill three beautiful souls and injure six, including two police officers. I sat with the victims and listened to their stories of horror and pain. There were 144 bullets fired before the shooter even left his front yard. One neighbor held my shoulders as he shared, from a place of unbearable pain, what it sounds like when a powerful weapon discharges and you see your neighbor bleeding to death on the street. We know that the trauma of gun violence extends beyond those killed or injured. That is why my constituents and Americans are pleading with Congress to do what we can to prevent gun violence. What happens, though? What do we come back to? Instead of addressing gun violence, Republicans stand with the gun lobby to make it easier to evade gun safety laws. When it became obvious that gun manufacturers were selling powerful pistols and then selling shoulder braces to turn them into rifles, the Trump administration began work on a regulation to treat these constructed rifles as the powerful weapons they are. The Biden administration finished the job. Gun manufacturers and sellers are using a loophole to avoid public safety protections. This is how gun salesmen are describing the loophole: ``It might look and function like a rifle, but thanks to the fact that AR-15 pistols don't come built with a stock, they're legally classified as pistols, giving them a full pardon from inconvenient NFA restrictions.'' Listen, if it looks like a rifle, shoots like a rifle, and kills like a rifle, we should treat it like a rifle. That is common sense, but sometimes common sense isn't that common in the House these days. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with the victims, to stand with the people, and put people over the profits of the gun lobby.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, while my colleague speaks loudly about stopping fentanyl at the border, I will remind him that this bill doesn't do anything about fentanyl at the border. Indeed, the Republicans in the Rules Committee last night rejected amendments which would have placed more money on law enforcement and on the ability to stop fentanyl at the border. Madam Speaker, I remind them that the Cato report points out that fentanyl is brought in at our ports of entry more than 90 percent of the time. Madam Speaker, I point out that if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of a resolution, which states that it is the House's responsibility to protect and preserve Social Security and Medicare for future generations and reject any cuts to these essential programs. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with any extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I agree that we need to address the fentanyl crisis, but what we are saying is we need to do more. The bill we are looking at today does not increase any funding for law enforcement. It does not address the need that we have to increase our funding to assist law enforcement in interdicting this horrible drug. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Burgess for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, today while we stand here debating this rule, the Republicans' default on America's plan is holding Americans hostage. Across my district and this country, Americans are wondering what will happen to their food security. How about their Medicare? What about veterans' healthcare? Republicans are holding us hostage so they can protect the tax cuts that they gave to the wealthiest corporations and millionaires. We need to remember that the debt we are looking at today was incurred by Republicans during the Trump administration, $7 trillion of that. Do you know what? If they crash the economy, it is not the millionaires who would be hurt. It is working families. The Republican default on America would impact the very bills we will be talking about today. It would cut funding to fight the fentanyl crisis, treat addiction, reduce pollution, and help Americans pay their bills when a pandemic hits. The rule we are considering today will make in order three bills. The first bill is H.R. 467, the HALT Fentanyl Act. We all agree that there is a scourge of fentanyl in our communities, and we all agree it needs to be stopped. There is no district in our country, no family, and no community that hasn't seen and experienced the horrors of fentanyl. The problem is that this bill isn't going to do what needs to be done to address the fentanyl crisis. To fight the fentanyl crisis, we need more law enforcement funding, and we need to treat addiction. Right now, as noted, fentanyl-related substances are listed on schedule I. That listing goes to the end of 2024. The main thrust of this bill is to make that listing permanent, but our communities are pleading with us to do more than the status quo. For decades, we tried to incarcerate our way out of addiction, but addiction is a disease, not a crime. Madam Speaker, I am speaking from the heart. I know most of my colleagues on this floor have heard that I lost two brothers to addiction, two beautiful souls that were taken from this world far too soon. It was partially because there was no treatment available. This country has failed to treat addiction as the health crisis that it is, so I know personally the pain that fentanyl brings to our families and our communities because I felt that pain when my brothers passed away. Treatment for addiction can save precious lives, but we lack the capacity to provide those services. Instead, the default on America plan that their crisis is creating would cut funding for mental health and addiction treatment services. H.R. 467 would also expand mandatory minimums, which takes away discretion from judges to look at each case on its own, which disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities more than others. Last night in the Rules Committee, Republicans rejected 37 Democratic amendments that would have added more law enforcement funding to interdict fentanyl at border crossings. They would have provided more evidence-based approaches to fentanyl use. They would have made sure that we had the tools we needed to treat addiction. Instead of creating and finding solutions, Republicans are creating more problems. The Republicans' default on America act will cut funding for Customs and Border Protection, potentially leading to an increase in the amount of fentanyl hitting our streets. Is this their way of addressing the fentanyl crisis? We need to do better. We need to make sure we give real solutions to these very serious problems. Madam Speaker, I am tired of hearing that Democrats are to blame for the fentanyl crisis. We all recognize the need to do more. Let me remind my colleagues that in the last 2 years, the Biden administration has seized record amounts of illicit fentanyl at the border. DHS has seized more than 35,000 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal year 2022. The Department of Justice disrupted or dismantled 130 fentanyl networks. The administration is expanding access to treatments for those suffering from addictions. Democrats in Congress filed a funding bill last year that beefed up resources for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, the National Guard counter-drug program, and the Drug Communities Program. Contrast that with the Trump administration. A GAO report blasted the previous administration for failing to come up with a coherent national opioid strategy, and the crisis spiked. In the first 2 years of the Trump administration, we saw significant spikes in the fentanyl crisis, and more people died. According to the CDC, the annual number of overdose deaths from synthetic opioids increased by 192 percent between 2016 and 2020. In contrast, since day one of this administration, President Biden has provided solutions to the overdose crisis. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record the December 2019 GAO report: ``The Office of National Drug Control Policy Should Develop Key Planning Elements to Meet Statutory Requirements.''

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Frost), who will discuss the need to reassure the American people.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record an October 2020 NPR article titled: ``Opioid Crisis: Critics Say Trump Fumbled Response To Another Deadly Pandemic.''

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record a Newsweek article titled: ``Fentanyl Surge Started and Peaked Under Trump Despite GOP Blaming Biden.''

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I think that we need to bring back to focus what we are doing here. This bill does something that we have no objection to, which is to permanently classify fentanyl as schedule I. What we keep hearing on the other side, though, is about what more needs to be done, but their bill doesn't do it. Democrats have bills that would indeed increase law enforcement, that would indeed increase treatment for addiction, that would indeed increase the ability for us to research into these drugs and determine if there are possibilities in this ground where we could actually find antagonistic drugs that would help counter the overdose that happens from them, but this bill doesn't do that. Now, when they get up there and they start talking about the open border, this is not what this bill is. This is not what this bill is. This bill simply, as was pointed out last night, sort of codifies the status quo. Our communities want more. Democrats were willing to provide more. We have introduced bills that do more, but they were rejected by the Republicans. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, yes, indeed, I agree that we need to make sure that we address fentanyl for every community whether it be New York or New Mexico, because the fentanyl crisis is a public health crisis, and families are losing loved ones every day. Indeed, in New Mexico in 2020, the New Mexico Department of Health found that 65 percent of people with substance use disorders were not getting the treatment they needed. The same problem we find nationwide. Over 86 percent of people suffering from opioid abuse were not getting the treatment they needed in 2020. Even once treatment began, people are at their most vulnerable when they suffer from a relapse. Their bodies cannot handle the sudden return of high levels of opioids, and the result is often fatal. I do hope that we can continue to agree that we must address this and that we must provide an addition to this bill, the kind of funding that is needed and that is urgent to treat addiction. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), my distinguished colleague.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I think what we heard on the House floor today was agreement, agreement on the need to address the scourge of fentanyl and what it is doing to our communities. I think we heard individuals talk about the individual pain they feel, whether it be in Texas, in New York, in New Mexico. I think we want to hold that sense of agreement on this topic together because we don't always agree on things, but I think in this instance, we agree that we need to put our families first. We need to put the people who unwittingly end up dying from fentanyl with no idea that they were even taking that drug, and we need to remember that pain and that fear that those families must have. As we talk about this issue, we must also remember that we have to do more. Making sure that fentanyl is classified and is not available with the fentanyl substances is important. We don't disagree on that. The issue that we are raising is the need to do more, and especially given the moment we are living in today. This week, we are days away from a potential default because Republicans have refused to raise the debt limit. We are in a crisis, and it is a crisis that the Republicans have manufactured. We need to remember what that crisis does. That crisis actually hinders our ability to do the work that is so urgent to combat fentanyl. Fentanyl comes in through our ports of entry. The Cato Institute, which is not a liberal or progressive institute, notes that 90 percent of fentanyl enters into the country through our ports of entry, smuggled in by, what I would call, despicable Americans who profit off addiction and death. But let's go back and say what would happen if their default that they have engineered would actually come to be. The Department of Homeland Security has said that if the default in America act goes into effect, it would lead to 2,400 fewer frontline CBP law enforcement officers. That is 2,400 fewer Border Patrol officers. That means that there are going to be fewer officers to help prevent illegal drugs from entering into our country. That would lead to over 150,000 pounds of cocaine and over 350,000 grams of fentanyl avoiding seizure. The cuts that they have proposed would lead to more fentanyl coming in because there would be fewer officers on the ground to combat it. That is shameful that they would raise and talk about this bill in the angry and loud ways that they have done without acknowledging that the work that they did several weeks ago would actually make this crisis worse. In New Mexico, as I noted, we know the pain of addiction and overdose all too well. We have lost too many beautiful lives to addiction and fentanyl. We need to think about what those solutions are that we would want to do. We would want to increase the funding for substance abuse prevention and treatment block grants. That was one of the amendments that was suggested to this rule by Representative Balint. We want to use Representative Blunt Rochester's amendment, which would have increased education, so stakeholders would know about research and treatment and how to make sure that we make the public aware of these issues. These are things that Republicans have refused to address in the bills we are looking at today. I urge my colleagues, I urge those on the other side of the aisle, to really look at what we are doing today. We are doing something that we all agree on, which is addressing a teeny-tiny piece of the fentanyl problem, but we aren't doing what needs to be done in terms of increasing law enforcement, in terms of increasing funding at our borders and for those who are actually doing the work of seizing fentanyl as it comes in, of the law enforcement that must be done. We need to increase that funding, not cut it. With regard to truck emissions, we cannot tie the EPA's hands. We must keep our air clean. The number of deaths from asthma in children who would survive and not be hurt if this rule goes into effect, would be horrible. I need to tell you that each child who would not be able to breathe because of polluted air is the child that I will think about when I vote on this bill later today. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, this GAO report highlights the failures of the last administration in addressing this crisis we are talking about today. The rule also makes in order two Congressional Review Act disapproval resolutions. H.J. Res. 45 would roll back the student loan payment pause to last October. It would create chaos and instability for millions who are living check to check. Let's remember why student loans were paused in the first place. Let's remember how dark and horrible it was when the pandemic first hit. Remember how scary it was when COVID-19 started and the economy was in free fall? People lost their jobs. They were struggling to pay rent. We didn't know what the future held. A pause to student loan payments was the right response to a public health emergency that was also a financial emergency. The payment pause was a lifeline for 37 million borrowers and their families, giving them much-needed breathing room to pay their bills, to pay their rent without worrying about sabotaging their credit. H.J. Res. 45 could send surprise bills for interest to tens of millions of Americans. This could lead to unprecedented delinquencies and defaults for the most vulnerable borrowers. The third bill, S.J. Res. 11, would reverse an EPA rule that reduces air pollution from the trucking industry. Many parts of America were once cloaked in air pollution that would sit at street level, sting your eyes, fill your lungs. Choking air, they called it. In response, we enacted the Clean Air Act and tasked the EPA with cleaning up our air. Still, one in three Americans live in counties with unhealthy air pollution. Heavy-duty vehicles make up about 6 percent of vehicles on the road but generate 59 percent of these dangerous pollutants that we are talking about. This contributes to respiratory illness, cardiovascular problems, and even death. The Clean Air Act gives the EPA both the authority and obligation to protect Americans from air pollution that could endanger public health or welfare. That is exactly what EPA's heavy-duty engine and vehicle rule would do. Republicans want to block the EPA rule from going into effect. Even worse, if this passes, Republicans would block EPA from regulating this pollution in the future. Why would we want to keep this agency from doing its job of keeping us healthy? So instead of putting polluters first, Republicans should be spending this week paying America's bills. It is the patriotic thing to do. Clearly, that is not their priority. Remember, a default hurts working- class Americans. It hurts seniors on Medicare, food assistance recipients, and teachers' and students' access to care. If you are still waiting for your tax refund, it might not come. Democrats have signed a petition to bring to the floor for a vote a bill that would raise the debt ceiling without any harmful cuts to the programs Americans rely on. All we need is five moderate Republicans to join the petition and the default crisis would be over. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my deep concern and outrage that extreme Republicans are moving to cut education through McCarthy's default on America act at the same time that extreme Republicans are banning books in our libraries and classrooms across our country. Sadly, last semester alone, there were 1,477 instances of book banning. Sadly, these efforts chill speech. They are part of a national education scare, a campaign to foment anxiety and anger with the goal of suppressing free expression in public education. America is not Communist China or authoritarian Russia that ban books or Nazi Germany that burns books. Indeed, Anne Frank's ``The Diary of a Young Girl'' is now a banned book. Over 70 percent of Americans oppose book bans. Americans know education is about learning. It is not about censorship. A country that does not know its history is bound to repeat it.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, an 18-year-old carrying an assault-type weapon shattered the peace in a quiet residential neighborhood in Farmington, New Mexico. Three beautiful souls lost their lives. Many more were wounded and numerous others traumatized. I praise the heroes who drove to danger to stop the violence. I am ever grateful for the coordination between local, State, county, and Federal law enforcement. I pray for the quick recovery of the wounded and for the families of those we lost. I imagine a world where mothers and fathers drop off their children at school without fear, a world where families can gather to worship or simply be at peace in their neighborhood. Sadly, that peace is shattered by gun violence somewhere in America every single day. Every day, we are reminded that we don't yet live in a peaceful country, and yesterday was no exception. Many of us standing and listening and praying today are committed to banning assault weapons, especially for an 18-year-old. We are committed to bringing peace to our communities. Now, I invite all Members of the United States House of Representatives to join me in a moment of silence, a moment of gratitude to our law enforcement, and a moment of prayer to honor the lives of those we tragically lost yesterday.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I have been at the border. I have seen the sadness and faint hope in the faces of the children seeking asylum. Imagine the desperation a mother must feel sending a child across a treacherous path to seek asylum in the United States. It reminds me of another refugee, a mother who knew that if she did not send her child away, he would surely be killed. She placed her baby in a raft and sent him across the river. It was the Nile River. The baby was Moses. Mr. Speaker, the bill we are taking up today would take away important asylum paths for children. I call upon my colleagues to remember the story of Moses, to remember the humanity that must be a guiding principle for the United States in our asylum laws. Our immigration system is surely broken. H.R. 2, though, does not fix it. Republicans, instead, are creating more chaos. Republicans are creating more chaos at the border. Chaos, not humanity, appears to be their guiding principle. This bill destroys the asylum seekers, wrecks our agricultural economy, and fails to address the flow of fentanyl into our communities. H.R. 2 even punishes those heroic nonprofits who work to serve the vulnerable asylum seekers. Mr. Speaker, in the Rules Committee early this morning, I presented amendments from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that would increase security, keep fentanyl and other deadly drugs off our streets, and protect military families. Republicans voted against funding our fight against fentanyl. They refused any amendments to be heard on the floor today that we would have discussed last night. Mr. Speaker, we do not have enough farmworkers to harvest our crops or in New Mexico to grow our world-renowned green chile. The provisions in this bill are bad for farmers, ranchers, and for our agricultural economy. Instead of destroying our agricultural economy, let's pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. Instead of denying our students what they need, let's pass the American Dream and Promise Act. These bipartisan bills would grow our economy. Let's work together to fix our immigration system.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I left the Capitol at 3 a.m. this morning, after fighting Republicans' plans to default on America unless we impose drastic spending cuts, cuts that are so severe they will hurt farmers and ranchers, kids and families, and this beautiful place we call home. Nobody in any State will be protected from their draconian cuts. When I asked how to explain the bill's drastic cuts to rural communities in my district, the Republicans' response was, ``You should tell them that we have to prioritize.'' The Rules Committee Republicans then blocked my amendment to protect rural water, housing, and business development programs. In essence, they said to rural America, you are not a priority. The Republicans blocked my amendment to protect veterans' healthcare, the Indian Health Service, and clean energy investments. Veterans are clearly not their priority. Healthcare is clearly not their priority. Addressing the climate crisis that is fueling disasters across America, across the United States, and across this planet is clearly not their priority. Do you like knowing your food is safe? The Republicans' bill could cut 1,800 USDA food inspectors and cost our farmers, ranchers, and restaurants $89 billion in lost production and $2.2 billion in lost wages. The majority blocked my amendment to protect the Food Safety and Inspection Service from cuts. When Republicans now demand we cut spending on healthcare, safety, and housing, what is it for? To pay for the tax cuts for the rich that they pushed through in 2017. Protecting the rich and the wealthy tax cheats clearly must be their priority. Through backroom dealings, the Republican majority has now settled on a bill that backstabs working families. Their bill delivers poison, not prosperity. Congress must not default on America. America pays its bills. America knows how to prioritize what is essential for our prosperity.