Rick Larsen

Mr. LARSEN of Washington

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I want to close by first going back to a point someone made by starting their comment with saying, ``since the Biden administration has come in.'' I want to quickly make some points on that. Since the Biden administration has come in, unemployment has dropped precipitously. We have seen continued economic growth in the United States. Manufacturing jobs have increased. We have passed legislation to bring $35 copays for Medicare enrollees and have seen the private sector now adopt $35 copays for their enrollees for diabetes medications. Since the Biden administration has come in, we have passed the PACT Act to support veterans needing healthcare. Since the Biden administration has come in, although there is still work to do, I recognize inflation has dropped 65 percent. There are a lot of things that have happened during the Biden administration, including the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law, which today is putting women and men to work around the country building next-generation infrastructure, next-generation bridges, roads, and highways and next-generation transit systems, spreading broadband around the country and closing the digital divide in so many communities, as well as supporting the adoption of electric vehicle use around the country. It was noted that 14 percent of vehicles sold last year were electric vehicles. I didn't know it was that high. I thought it was a little lower than that. I am glad it is that high. It shows an increasing adoption of electric vehicles in the United States. To support that, the administration, through the BIL, is now beginning to implement the distribution and deployment of federally funded electric vehicles to complement what is already being done in many States around the country supporting electric vehicle deployment, including in my district.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. The city of Mount Vernon has received a grant to put in electric vehicle charging stations at their new Library Commons project, a project I supported and will continue to support, so we need to break the EV bond that the United States has with China and start by rejecting this resolution, because, when we buy America, we are going to say good-bye to our bond with China. I would ask my colleagues, all Members, to reject S.J. Res. 38, to support this waiver, to give our private sector the time to develop what it needs to do to support the broader economy in the United States and the broader future of American transportation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of Chief Master Sergeant Chloe Rainey-Fluellen, United States Air Force, and her work as the Department of Defense (DoD) legislative fellow detailed to my office for 2023. In 2022, Chief Master Sergeant Rainey-Fluellen was selected to represent the Air Force as a DoD legislative fellow. The DoD legislative fellowship program provides superior servicemembers with valuable legislative experience and an understanding of how congressional actions affect DoD's budget, roles and missions, force structure, military projects, and quality of life. Over the past year, Chief Master Sergeant Rainey-Fluellen has been essential to my office and the defense portfolio. She has crafted and coordinated National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendments in line with my priorities and the needs of Northwest Washington communities.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. I rise today to acknowledge that November is Native American Heritage Month. My district includes sovereign tribes whose people and culture contribute greatly to our region and nation: the Tulalip Tribes, Lummi Nation, Nooksack Indian Tribe, Samish Indian Nation, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Nooksack Indian Tribe and the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians. November is also a time to honor the women and men for their service in the United States Armed Forces. This Veterans Day, I honor the women and men from Native communities in northwest Washington who have fought for freedom, their homeland and their culture. More than 140,000 American Indian and Alaska Native veterans live in the United States today, including approximately 5,000 American Indian and Alaska Native veterans in Washington. Historically. Native peoples have answered the call to serve at the highest per capita rate of any population, embodying the values of bravely and sacrifice. The Tulalip Tribes' proud history in the U.S. Armed Forces exemplifies the tradition of Tribal service. During the Vietnam War, approximately 42,000 American Indians--one out of every four eligible Native people--served in the U.S. Armed Forces, including 39 members of the Tulalip Tribes. My friend, Mel Sheldon, Jr., was one of these servicemembers. In August 1969, soon after graduating high school. Mel enlisted in the U.S. Army. Thanks to his high aptitude, Mel advanced to Warrant Officer Flight School where he learned to fly helicopters. Arriving in Vietnam in October 1970. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sheldon volunteered to fly dangerous scouting missions as a member of Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division. CWO2 Sheldon routinely exhibited bravery in combat alongside his fellow soldiers, accruing more than 900 hours of fjyjng time, including 600 hours flyjng scouting missions, before returning home in fall 1971. Not yet 21 years old and after more than two years in the Army, Mel had a difflcult time transitioning home. As he put it, ``I wanted to feel proud of serving our country,'' but, like many Vietnam veterans, he did not feel welcomed or acknowledged upon returning home from an unpopular war. To Mel and the many veterans who felt this way-- including Tribal veterans, let me say how proud we are of their service and how grateful we are they returned home to serve their community for all these years. After his Army service, Mel put his G.I. Bill benefits to use and furthered his education, attending Skagit College and then the University of Washington, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science. His military service and education prepared him for a career as a commercial fisherman and, later, as a member of the Tulalip Tribes Board of Directors. Mel served for six years as Board Chairman, during which time he focused on protecting Tribal sovereignty and diversifying the Tribes' economy. Today, the examples of Mel Sheldon, Jr. and proud Tribal veterans from my district and our country are an inspiration to current and future generations. Mr. Speaker, I raise my hands to Mel Sheldon, Jr., to the Tulalip veterans and to all Native women and men who served in the United States Armed Forces and who continue to serve their communities.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Jim Weber who recently retired after a 47-year career at the Port of Everett. A native of Marysville, Washington, Jim began working at the Port's marina as a seasonal employee while attending Marysville- Pilchuck High School. Jim did whatever needed to be done--pushing a broom, checking moorings and taking meter readings. Four years later, he landed a full-time job with the maintenance team. Over the next 43 years, Jim worked his way up at the marina--from maintenance journeyman to maintenance foreman to operations director. His hard work and dedication earned him great respect among his colleagues and everyone he encountered at the Port. Jim's storied career paralleled the growth of the Port of Everett. When Jim first started working at the marina in the 1970s, the Port hosted fishermen, mill workers and log tug crews; its central marina was home to fewer than 1,000 slips. Over the next 50 years, Jim played a central role in the transformation of the Port from an industrial waterfront into the largest public marina on the West Coast, helping to design, build, maintain and upgrade many of the marina's facilities, as well as the Jetty Landing boat launch, Jetty Island docks and Boxcar Park. Today, the new and improved Port is the ``jewel of Snohomish County,'' a place where people can work, shop, go out to eat and enjoy the outdoors, thanks to the hard work of people like Jim Weber. Jim was involved in and had time to enjoy many of the great events the Port offers throughout the year, including Wheels on the Waterfront, Sail-In Cinema, Holiday on the Bay, waterfront concerts, Opening Day of Boating and fishing derby events. Mr. Speaker, Jim Weber's accomplishments are many, and his commitment to the Port of Everett is remarkable. As Jim told the Everett Herald in a recent article, he plans to dig his toes in the sand a bit and buy a few more classic cars in retirement. Congratulations to Jim on a well- earned retirement. We hope to see him showing off his newest classic car at Wheels on the Waterfront.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this en bloc. It includes a number of provisions that will improve the bill, including: A proposal from Representative Manning to advance the recommendations of the Youth Access to the American Jobs in Aviation Task Force, particularly on increasing access to information and enhancing collaboration; A proposal led by Representative Rouzer with bipartisan support to prohibit the Department of Transportation from purchasing drones from foreign adversaries, including Russia and China; A proposal led by Representative David Scott to increase the FAA's community outreach to aviation-impacted communities; A proposal by Representative Sherrill with bipartisan support for the FAA to study national security implications of unmanned free balloons and the technical feasibility of having an electronic emitter on board; A proposal from Representatives Thompson and Vasquez requiring the DOT to study the loss of commercial air service in small communities and providing recommendations for restoring that service; and A critically important proposal from Representatives Yakym and Titus to ensure maximum air traffic controller hiring for the next 5 years. Mr. Chair, I urge all Members to support this en bloc amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I recommend that folks vote for this en bloc, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves), the chairman of the full committee.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I don't know that I could add much to Chairman Graves' comments. He clearly is a leader--if not the leader--on aviation in this Congress. He has more expertise on the vagaries of the general aviation airplane market, and I stand behind his comments. Mr. Chair, I will address a comment made earlier by the proponent of the amendment, and that was the implication that this bill seems to be only about this issue when we should be dealing with air traffic controller staffing, pilot staffing, or manufacturing. I have said that this bill is not about issue A, issue B, or issue C. This bill is a whole alphabet of issues that we have to deal with with the FAA. In fact, this bill does address air traffic controller staffing by requiring the FAA to staff up to the maximum number, according to the staffing model that the FAA has. It makes investments in the aviation workforce with aviation workforce development programs to increase the amount of talent in the pipeline for pilots, maintenance workers, and manufacturing workers in aviation. It makes critical changes and improvements to accessibility for people who are wheelchair-bound or need to use mobility aids when they travel. To imply this bill is only about one issue, and this particular issue, is not an accurate description at all of this legislation nor of the work of the full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to bring this bill to the floor to get the FAA reauthorized. Mr. Chair, I wanted to make sure that goes on record as part of this debate, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves).

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by Representative Perry.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. As Representative Perry knows, he is showing great leadership on the T&I subcommittee that oversees public building use, economic development, and emergency management. In fact, we had a hearing last week with a couple of witnesses to discuss the very issue of office use space with the General Services Administration. There is quite a bit of agreement on the committee right now about the fact that we have a problem of empty office space and there is not a good alignment between the use of the space and telework policies. We are trying to get the GSA, the General Services Administration, to take a look at that hard and come up with a better balance. Representative Perry is leading that effort, and I congratulate him for that. It is because of his leadership on that that we have some bipartisan agreement approaching that issue. That said, the FAA telework policies that are under fire from this amendment existed prior to COVID-19, and they exist today. The FAA itself--as many agencies are--is trying to find that new balance post- COVID. I continue to support the agency's ability to establish and revise, as needed, their commonsense telework policies. We have achieved a bipartisan, commonsense approach to dealing with and overseeing FAA telework coming out of this pandemic, and I urge Members to reject this amendment, which will take us backward. Section 802 of the underlying bill addresses the core concern that Representative Perry has presented in this amendment, that the FAA should review the agency's telework policies. The underlying bill ensures FAA considers in its review aviation safety, employee training, the global leadership of U.S. aviation and performing oversight responsibilities. Creating additional burdensome requirements on the FAA, as contemplated in the amendment, to get OMB approval for any telework policy changes will hinder FAA's ability to adapt to changing conditions. This bill has already given the FAA a lot of things to do, and it doesn't seem to make sense to give them more to do when they are already, essentially, trying to get done what the spirit of the underlying bill is asking it to do. This amendment would also undercut the FAA's existing collective bargaining agreements and force it to take up valuable time renegotiating these agreements when it should be focusing on its critical safety work. Additionally, this amendment upgrades the FAA's ability to create a competitive workplace so we can attract people into the FAA and attract new talent. For these reasons, Mr. Chair, I am opposing the amendment, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. I retain my commitment to working with Representative Perry in his role as the chair of the subcommittee to continue looking at how we can get the GSA to best balance the use of federally owned office space and leased space with the Federal employee workforce. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, first off, I want to be clear. I think government unions should be legal. They are legal in the United States, and I am very pleased they are legal so those unions can represent the women and men who go to work every day on behalf of the taxpaying public to do their job in service. In that vein, too, there is no indication that FAA employees are en bloc not showing up to go to work. They may not be going to the workplace because we have telework policies in place. That does not equate--it does not equate to people not doing the work that we ask of them. In fact, this bill, the FAA reauthorization bill, the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in the American Aviation Act, asks the FAA to do even more to improve the already gold standard that we have in U.S. aviation in the United States. We are giving the FAA employees plenty to do, and our committee will commit to ensuring that the FAA does just that through our oversight responsibilities. Mr. Chair, with my remaining time I do want to thank the chair of the full committee, Sam Graves, for his leadership to get us to this point. We are on the verge of passing a comprehensive, bipartisan, negotiated- in-good-faith, important, policy-based bill, I presume in a bipartisan manner, which may not make the news because it wasn't exciting enough for the news. We pride ourselves on being a boring committee and a workhorse committee, just trying to get our work done, and Sam Graves, in my view, deserves all the credit for that work and the great work of his team to make that happen. I thank the team standing behind me on the committee staff, as well for their work to help make this happen. They are a critical part of ensuring that we got to this point today. Should we pass this bill, we have some work to do with the other body and White House, but I expect that we will do that. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. LARSEN of Washington

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim time in opposition to the amendment. The Acting Chair. The gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes.