Jerrold Nadler

Mr. NADLER

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, today, I voted against the Republican motion to table the article of impeachment offered by Congressman Al Green of Texas. To be clear, President Trump has consistently invoked nativist and racist tropes that have a long and shameful history in this country. His recent vile and hateful comments were not just an attack on our colleagues, they were an attack on all immigrants and minorities, and on our fundamental values as a nation. I opposed this procedural motion because this article of impeachment should have been referred to the House Judiciary Committee. One resolution related to impeachment has already been referred to the Committee. The subject matter of Congressman Green's resolution was separate and distinct and did not go directly to the issues of obstruction, corruption, and abuse of power at the core of our investigation--but it, too, should have been referred to us. My hope is that future impeachment resolutions be referred here as well, so that they can also be considered as part of the Committee's overall response to clear allegations of presidential misconduct. Today's vote has no effect on that important work. Our investigation will continue. We will hear directly from Special Counsel Mueller one week from today. I very much doubt that today will be the last action we must consider to hold President Trump accountable.

Mr. NADLER

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Malinowski), the sponsor of the resolution.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I move that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) be permitted to proceed in order.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker, the comments described in this resolution were not just offensive to our colleagues; they were inconsistent with the principles and values upon which this Nation was founded. In urging four female Members of Congress of color to ``go back'' where they came from, these comments were not only factually incorrect, but they were also deeply hurtful and divisive. These were shocking comments, even from an administration that rips children from the arms of their parents and warehouses asylum seekers in facilities under inhumane conditions. We cannot let this moment pass without a forceful condemnation. Need I remind the Speaker that this is the same President who defended the ``very fine people'' at the neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, who denounced the ``s-hole countries'' in Africa and the Caribbean, who claimed that Haitian immigrants ``all have AIDS,'' and who declared that a Mexican American judge who was born in the United States had an ``inherent conflict of interest'' against him. At every turn, Democrats have denounced offensive comments that emanate from the White House, but the silence coming from the other side of the aisle has been deafening. I hope that will finally change today. This Congress must speak--loudly and with one voice--to condemn the President's words and, more importantly, to condemn the sentiments behind them. The United States should be a beacon of hope and a refuge to those who need its protection, and it should welcome with open arms those who embody our values and ideals. From our earliest days as a nation, we have welcomed people fleeing persecution and violence and those who seek economic opportunity and freedom in a land whose diversity is one of its greatest strengths. But the President has, instead, pursued a relentless campaign to build both a literal and a figurative wall around this Nation. We must not turn our backs on our historic commitment to immigration and to refuge, and we must not fall prey to racial stereotypes and nativist fear-mongering that thinks that some immigrants who came here years ago are okay but those who come here today, because they are from so-called s-hole countries, are not okay. It was Martin Luther King who told us: ``I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.'' The offensive words by the President undermine that dream. They contradict that dream. Mr. Chair, I hope that all of my colleagues will join me in denouncing racism and in supporting this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 489.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished majority leader of the House.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 491, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 489) condemning President Trump's racist comments directed at Members of Congress, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the House.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib).

Mr. NADLER

Mr. NADLER. She will be greatly missed. Madam Speaker, I now urge all my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1327) to extend authorization for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 through fiscal year 2090, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, today, this body will, for what I hope is the final time, meet its moral obligation to provide for survivors and responders suffering from 9/11-related illnesses. This obligation is two-fold. First, on September 11, 2001, it was not just the city of New York and the Pentagon that were attacked, it was the entire country. A national attack has always required a national response. That is why responders from around the country rushed to New York to aid in the rescue and recovery effort in the immediate aftermath. Today, sick responders and survivors live in all 50 States. This is a national problem, and Congress must provide a national solution. Second, tens of thousands of responders and survivors are sick because the Federal Government, in its rush to get Wall Street reopened, ignored the evidence and the expert opinions of scientists. The then-head of the Environmental Protection Agency repeatedly assured us that the air around the World Trade Center was ``safe to breath.'' We knew it wasn't, but the Federal Government kept insisting it was. And, compounding the Federal Government's culpability was its failure to conduct a comprehensive cleanup of the environmental disaster created when the World Trade Center towers collapsed. For example, the EPA administrator told the public that asbestos could be cleaned from apartments with a damp cloth and a wet mop. Based on these false assurances, students were sent back to schools that had been contaminated with the toxic dust cloud without ventilation systems being cleaned first. People kept working to clear the pile for months with no protective equipment. Quite simply, the Federal Government lied, and now tens of thousands of people are sick with 9/11-related illnesses. It now falls to us--in the words of Abraham Lincoln--``to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and for his orphan.'' Three times, Congress has come together to provide a health program and compensation for the victims of 9/11 through a victim compensation fund, or VCF. Most recently, in 2015, we made the World Trade Center Health Program effectively permanent, extended to 2090, but reauthorized the VCF, the victim compensation fund, for only 5 years. As we heard in a Judiciary Committee hearing last month, a 5-year authorization was not nearly long enough. People are still getting sick as diseases, such as cancer, often emerge only after long latency periods. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that, in the coming years, cancer claims will represent 63 percent of all claims before the VCF, up from 44 percent today. Further, as the number of sick responders and survivors continues to rise, the limited resources Congress provided to the VCF have proven inadequate and now thousands of families are facing up to 70 percent cuts in compensation. I refuse to accept that. Every sick responder and survivor should be treated with the same dignity and compassion, regardless of when they became sick, and no one should be forced to spend their last days walking the Halls of Congress begging us to reauthorize this program. That is why we are here today, to pass what I hope will be the last authorization we ever need for the VCF. This bipartisan legislation, with over 330 cosponsors, will reverse all of the cuts in compensation and make those families whole. It will extend the authorization for the VCF through 2092, substantially the same timeline as the World Trade Center Health Program, and make technical improvements to the program. We have asked so much of our responders and survivors. It is time for us to give them the peace of mind they deserve and pass this bill once and for all. Finally, I want to take a moment to recognize the three men after whom we named this bill. James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez passed away after battling 9/11-related illnesses. A month ago, Detective Alvarez testified before the Judiciary Committee, just 24 hours before what was supposed to be his 69th chemotherapy treatment, a treatment he, ultimately, was too sick to receive. Two weeks ago, he passed away. Like every responder and survivor of 9/11, these three men kept fighting for this program, even when they knew it was too late for them. That is the spirit of 9/11. This bill is now their namesake, and we vote today in their name. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), one of the chief sponsors of the bill.

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House, someone who has done more for this than anyone else. Without the gentlewoman's strong support, this bill never would have passed back in 2010.

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), who is the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), who is the chairman of the Democratic Caucus.

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, how much time is remaining?

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell).

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Demings).

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Dean).

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from New Jersey an additional 30 seconds.