Nancy Pelosi

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember a great American patriot, Pete Peterson, who passed away at the age of 91 last month. Born to Greek immigrant parents in America's heartland of Nebraska, Pete rose from humble beginnings to contribute to our Nation as a public servant, statesman, business leader, and especially through his philanthropic and policy work. Pete was a clarion voice for fiscal responsibility and a strong moral conscience in Washington, working tirelessly and always reaching across party lines. For Pete, building a bright economic future for the next generation was his patriotic duty. He understood that he was so fortunate to have lived the American Dream, and he wanted that same opportunity available for every man, woman, and child in our Nation. Economic policy leadership was a defining thread running through his life, including in his roles as Secretary of Commerce, the head of major American corporations, and the founder of respected policy organizations, including the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Peterson Foundation. Pete's prophetic voice on the importance of fiscal sustainability brought together generations of policymakers, no matter their political background, to find common ground and effective solutions. His strong moral leadership to ensure our children and our grandchildren inherit a healthy fiscal future leaves a remarkable legacy. Mr. Speaker, anyone who knew Pete will attest to his wit, generous spirit, and personal warmth that made him a pleasure to be around. Pete signed The Giving Pledge and committed the bulk of his personal fortune to philanthropic causes. His legacy will endure in many ways, but especially through the work of the Peterson Foundation, which continues to focus on solutions to America's fiscal and economic challenges, now under the leadership of his son Michael. The loss of Pete will be deeply felt in Washington, in the Nation, and around the world. May it bring some measure of comfort to his wife, Joan Ganz Cooney; his children, John, Jim, David, Holly, and Michael; and all his loved ones that so many grieve with them during this difficult time. I knew and loved Pete Peterson, and I know he loved his family above all. He was a great American, who loved our country as well.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, last night was a sad day for America. Today, our Nation mourns the passing of a beloved American; a bold advocate for family, for literacy; and a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother, First Lady Barbara Bush. Mrs. Bush has brought dignity, civility, and spirit to everything she did. Her strength--of character, of her principles, of her faith--are a great gift to our Nation. Barbara Bush was a woman of exceptional grace, with an unmatched spirit--again, that spirit--and talent and skill for bringing people together. She was not only respected, but adored by so many across our Nation. Barbara Bush leaves a living legacy in the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the deep spirit of volunteerism she championed on behalf of children and families. All who knew Mrs. Bush saw her immense love and pride in her family. She was a beloved matriarch for her family and a matriarch for America, and she always put family first. We hope that it is a comfort to President Bush--73 years of marriage, wow--former President George Herbert Walker Bush, that our thoughts and prayers are with you and your children, including President George W. Bush. She was the only woman in America, apart from Abigail Adams, who was the wife and mother of a President. Our prayers are with her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, whom she loved, and the entire Bush family. We want them to know that so many share in their grief, pray for them at this sad time, and are grateful to them for sharing Barbara Bush with the Nation.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I think this may have happened to me at the funeral as well when I followed John Lewis at the podium. What a task. I thank the gentleman for being such an inspiration and thank him for loving Louise so much as we know she loved Brother John as well. Aren't we proud of Paul Tonko and his relationship with Louise, a friendship that goes back to the State legislature many years ago in New York. Louise came 31 years ago to the Congress. He came more recently, but his friendship goes back longer. So dear was he to her. So here we have Louise--and I don't have a magic minute, so this is not an 8-hour proposition in high heels, although I would love to do that for Louise any time--but let me just make some wishes. I wish you could have all been in Rochester for Louise's memorial service to hear her grandchildren talk about her. As a grandmother myself, and any time I go to a service now, I think: What do the grandchildren think? What do they know about their grandmother? Do they know how much their grandmother loved them? Louise's grandchildren do and did. Hopefully we will be hearing more from them. They spoke magnificently about her personally--not so great about her cooking, not that day anyway. But, anyway, they just loved her so much. She was about the future, but she had a tremendous respect for the past as well. So when many of us, Brother John, visited her in Rochester, we would go to Susan B. Anthony's home to see where so much of women's rights began. She would take us across the borderline of the district to see where it all began at Seneca Falls. She took such ownership of our suffragettes and her responsibility to carry forth their courage and their possibilities for the future. She was a Southern belle with a Southern charm and a Northern timetable. So you never wanted to waste too much time not giving in to Louise because eventually she would have her way. Save yourself some time: Whatever you say, Louise. She was a beautiful person to serve with. Many of our colleagues want to speak about her. I will have another opportunity tomorrow, but I did want to add my voice, once again, to our colleagues', as we speak about her with great respect, admiration, and affection that is about Louise Slaughter.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to note that Mr. Cohen is a member of the Judiciary Committee. This is a balanced budget amendment, and what is interesting is it is not coming by way of the Budget Committee, as you might suspect; it is coming by way of the Judiciary Committee because it intends to amend the Constitution of the United States. How sad. Mr. Speaker, as you know, Members of Congress take an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Yet this proposed amendment we are debating does great harm to our sacred founding document. This legislation is a brazen assault on seniors, children, and working families--the American people we were elected to protect. Make no mistake, this GOP con job has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility. It is not balanced in terms of money because of their GOP tax scam that has placed us in a bad spot fiscally, and it is not balanced in terms of values. To the Republicans, fiscal responsibility just means ransacking Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and breaking our Nation's sacred promise of dignity and security for seniors and families. Republicans like to pat themselves on the back and pay lip service to the principle of fiscal responsibility. In fact, the deficit hawks have either become an endangered species or extinct. They don't seem to exist in this Republican House of Representatives. It may be counterintuitive to the public, but Democrats have always been the ones who have fought to put our fiscal house in order. In the 1990s, President Clinton put us on a trajectory of job growth and smaller deficits despite inheriting the massive Reagan/Bush deficits. The last four--some would even say five, but, conservatively speaking, the last four Clinton budgets were either in balance or in surplus. President Clinton handed President George W. Bush a projected $5.6 trillion, 10- year budget surplus, but Republicans squandered that surplus with massive tax cuts for the wealthy and two unpaid-for wars. Their spending sprees exploded a vast, new $5 trillion-plus debt that was an $11 trillion turnaround from the Democrats' path to surplus. Under President Obama, then, Democrats restored responsible spending rules. We had pay-as-you-go: Do you want to invest in something? You must cover it. You must offset it or pay for it. That held true for investments as well as for tax cuts. Republicans didn't mind paying for food stamps, but they did mind paying for tax cuts for the rich; that they wanted to have exempted from pay-as-you-go. But despite President Obama's restoring responsible spending rules and slashing the Bush deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars, this Republican Congress has raced back toward fiscal ruin, recklessly erasing that progress and exploding the debt with their contempt for fiscal responsibility. Republicans exploded deficits by another $2 trillion with their GOP tax scam and its massive handouts to corporations and the wealthiest 1 percent. Just this week, the CBO exposed the staggering cost of the Republican special interest agenda, forecasting deficits of nearly $1 trillion or more every year President Trump remains in office. Understand this: the Trump trillion-dollar deficit is here for the life of his Presidency. May that be short. Yet Republicans have the nerve to demand that seniors and little children sacrifice to pay for their tax cuts for the rich and corporate America, for their fiscal recklessness. GOPs have nothing but contempt for the health and security of America's families. The Trump budget slashed half a trillion dollars from Medicare, $1.4 trillion from Medicaid, and $72 billion from Social Security disability benefits. Why? So they could give a tax cut of $1.5 trillion to corporate America. With the interest that it incurred, it would be over a $2 trillion deficit, paid for by cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Their legislation priorities add to a mountain of utter, utter derision, disregard, and disdain for hardworking families, from slashing SNAP, food stamps, to gutting consumer protections for seniors and servicemembers, our men and women in uniform, to sabotaging America's affordable, quality healthcare. And now, with this constitutional amendment, the Republicans found another cynical tool to gut the bedrock guarantees of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The so-called balanced budget amendment, which is going nowhere--it won't even win the vote on the floor today-- this is engineering, budgetary engineering, designed to slash Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. As the AARP warns, the GOP balanced budget amendment, so-called, would subject Social Security and Medicare to deep cuts that would be, in their words, devastating for millions of Americans. The American people cannot afford Republicans' fiscal hypocrisy and their relentless efforts to gut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security--I can't say it enough--just to enrich the special interests. Democrats know that investments in the health and strength of the American people are the best ways to reduce the deficit and grow the economy. In fact, nothing brings more money to the treasury than investing in the education of the American people: early childhood, K- 12, higher education, post-grad, lifetime learning for our workers. Democrats will continue to cut the deficit, create good-paying jobs, protect American families with a better deal, better jobs, better pay, a better future for all Americans.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank our distinguished ranking member of the Appropriations Committee for yielding this time, but, more importantly, for exceptional leadership. To her and to the other members of the committee, Mr. Frelinghuysen, I thank them for their leadership as well. And to the chairs and ranking members of the subcommittee, all the members of the Appropriations Committee, Mr. Hoyer and I and Mr. Clyburn are from the culture of the Appropriations Committee, and we know that, left to your own devices, the appropriators can get the job done. It is not until the leadership rains its poison pills on the process that the delay sets in. And I want to thank Congresswoman Ranking Member Lowey for ridding this bill of so many of those poison pills. Mr. Hoyer very eloquently presented the situation as we see it now that the Republicans have this bill. They didn't even have three days. It was last night to today, and here we are on the floor with a yard--a yard--of bill. And he said they are rushing because people have codels, trips, fundraisers, and this and that. I contend there may be another reason why they are rushing it through. First of all, they don't want anybody to know what is in the bill, because this is a tremendous victory for the American people in terms of what Mrs. Lowey was able to negotiate, in a bipartisan way, on the domestic side. We all take an oath to protect and defend our country, so the defense investments are important to our Nation; but one-third of the domestic budget is security: homeland security, veterans affairs, State Department, antiterrorism activities of the Justice Department, and the list goes on. But it is also a fact that we can measure the strength of our country not only in the important military might and security measures but also in the health, education, and well-being of the American people; and this bill goes to a place for that. So yes, a yard of bill, certainly not read or read to the Members. But I contend, in addition to Mr. Hoyer's list of why they are rushing this to the end instead of having this negotiation take place much earlier, it is because they really don't want the Members to see what is in this bill, A; and, B, because they really want to get out of town before the March for Our Lives, before the young people come from all over the country to ask Congress to give us responsible, commonsense gun violence prevention legislation. That is what I heard about the Republicans: they just don't want to be around when these young people come to town. So here we are. We could have had this happen weeks ago and had a much more transparent way to deal with it. But having said that, we are here, and I think it is very important to set the record straight on some of the contentions that the Republicans are making about this bill. Let me start with the President of the United States. He has said, in one of his tweets this morning, how happy he was because he got the $1.6 billion to start the wall and more to come. That is not completely true, Mr. President. There are some resources for fencing and repairs and the rest there, but some of that money is for technology and other ways to protect our borders. We all have a responsibility to protect our borders, north and south. But if you want to think that you are getting a wall, you just think it and sign the bill. In addition, he said he is so pleased that he got this big increase in defense. We did not oppose that. We want to have our men and women in uniform have everything they need to keep our country safe and themselves safe. But the President went on to say it is too bad he had to waste money on the Democratic giveaways. On the Democratic giveaways. ``Democratic giveaway'' is the way the President characterizes funding for our heroic veterans facing a dire shortfall at the VA. We say on the battlefield, no soldier is left behind. When they come home, no veteran is left behind. And that was part of the fight that we had in the caps fight, that we wanted additional money for our veterans. What about fighting the opioid epidemic? Is that wasteful, a giveaway, fighting the opioid epidemic, in your districts? There isn't a person who serves in this Congress who doesn't have need in their districts for this opioid funding. And that was a major part of our fight on the caps, to get the funding to fight opioids; but the President calls that a waste, a Democratic giveaway. Is that what he would call--he probably would call protecting the integrity of American elections from Russian meddling and attack Democratic giveaways, protecting our democracy, our electoral system, our Constitution that we take an oath of office to protect and defend. And how about for hardworking parents who struggle to succeed and afford quality childcare, a very important part of this legislation. Democratic giveaway? No. Family values. Supporting our families. The list goes on and on. And by the way, by the foot. By the foot. Mr. Hoyer referenced a statement made by the Speaker on the floor of the House when we had the caps fight, which, by the way, was a glorious victory for our values as a country, that we could say, yes, we want to increase funding for our national security, and, in doing that, we need to have a commensurate increase in funding for our domestic agenda, as I said, which contains many security measures. But when that bill was brought to the floor, the Speaker came to the floor, and he made a statement, right here in the well. Well, Steny quoted what he said in the well, but in another venue he said: In order to shift our focus and get on to the next big priority, which is a DACA solution, we have got to get this budget agreement done. That was the caps bill. And I will say it once, Mr. Speaker said, and I will say it again, we will bring a DACA solution to the floor. Yes. And when will that be? Now, you will hear rumors of them saying: Oh, we offered this and we offered that. They did not offer anything that added to the protection of our Dreamers and our DACA-qualified children. So I want the Record to show the facts are these: We proposed, over and over again, a real fix that we should have in this bill because it is timely. And if you are dealing with a yard of issues and provisions, you certainly can have room for protecting our Dreamers. And that is just an indication. Now, to lead is to take risks. The Speaker does not seem willing to take a risk with his caucus to bring a bill to the floor, any bill you want, in terms of including some bipartisan bills. Mr. Hurd and Mr. Aguilar, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen and Ms. Roybal-Allard, any other bill you want. Make it clean at the Hill. Let everyone have his or her say. Let Congress work its will. Why? Why not? And why, in light of this statement, ``And I'll say it once, and I'll say it again, we will bring a DACA solution to the floor''? When might that be? When might that be? So again, while we address so many provisions in this bill, wasn't there room in the hearts and minds of our Republican colleagues to insist? Because I know many of you care about our Dreamers, have publicly offered your support. Why can't you convince the Speaker to bring what he said, ``We will bring a DACA solution to the floor''? So again, I go back to the caps agreement. It was a great victory for us in the appropriations world as to what priorities need to be addressed. As we always say, the budget should be a statement of our national values; what is important to us as a nation should be reflected in how we allocate our resources to invest in the security of our country, the well-being of our people, the future of our children, and to do so in a way that commands respect, that is bipartisan, that is done in an open and transparent way, and brings unity. Our Founders, who were so brilliant in so many ways, were taking 8 hours to even start to talk about how brilliant they were. But they did give us instruction. They gave us a signal: E Pluribus Unum--from many, one; from many, one. They couldn't possibly have imagined how many we would be or how different we would be, but they knew we had to be one. And these children, and everyone in our country, these Dreamers are part of that one, and they are part of that many, and let us treat our country by honoring the vows of our Founders. So I leave it up to Members as to whether they want to vote, weigh the equities in this bill and take the vote and respect whatever decision they make. But I am so glad that we had such an overwhelming vote on our side against a rule that undermines the regular order of the House, undermines the Speaker's own statements about that regular order. Why? In an attempt to keep from all of you how much investment in the future is in this bill and also to get you out of town before the March for Our Lives begins. That is why I think we are doing this so rushed. I don't know why it has been pushed to the end except for dysfunction on the part of the Republican leadership, whatever, if it's called communication with the White House. But I will say this: This is five CRs. Are you proud of that? Five CRs. Take us to the floor with a yard-high bill, no transparency. But it does have some bipartisanship, and for that I salute Mr. Frelinghuysen and Mrs. Lowey and respect whatever decisions our Members make on this. This is a missed opportunity to show the American people that, even when we are on the right course, we can't seem to get there in a transparent way. I say, Mr. President, when you sign this bill, you will be signing something--in spite of what you say about spending on wasteful Democratic funding, I don't really think you mean that about opioids and the rest. Set the record straight for yourself and out of respect for the people who are pinning their hopes on what this legislation will do for them.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, today, thousands of students across the Nation are walking out of their schools to demand real action to end the tragedy of gun violence. Young men and women across the country-- children, really--from coast to coast and in the heartland of America are standing up and speaking out for change. Members of Congress will meet some of them on the west front lawn to join them in saying this: Enough is enough. Mr. Speaker, I thank our distinguished colleague from Florida (Mr. Deutch) for his extraordinary leadership, whether it is with the students, with legislation on the floor, or in the community at large to help make the difference. Here we are, community after community, reeling from the horror of gun violence, perpetrated against our children, our families. Our hearts ache for those in Orlando, San Bernardino, Mother Emanuel Church, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, Newtown. The list is a very long one, and it is, in addition, on the streets and in the homes across our country. There has been too much violence and too much pain. This should not be a political issue. The American people overwhelmingly want action. A full 97 percent of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun buys, including 97 percent of gun owners. There is a commonsense, bipartisan path forward in the Congress. We can take action today on comprehensive background checks without the dangerous Concealed Carry Reciprocity bill, allowing the CDC to study gun violence, and gun violence restraining orders that empower law enforcement to intervene when someone is a threat to themselves or others. We should all be listening to the American people on both sides of the aisle, and we should allow the House to vote on bipartisan gun violence solutions. The families and students suffering from the heartbreak of gun violence deserve real leadership in this body, not a Republican White House and Congress that are saying one thing and doing another. It is deeply disappointing that, just days after embracing the need for commonsense, bipartisan gun violence prevention, still we have nothing coming forward. House Democrats have filed discharge petitions to force votes on the Thompson-King bipartisan background check bill with 200 cosponsors. Two hundred cosponsors for a background check bill. That is a start. That is remarkable. And also the Background Check Completion Act. Democrats will continue to press for bipartisan progress to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in our Nation. Let me say, as we go out in a little bit to join the students who are doing their walkout across the country, an enormous thank-you to them. An enormous thank-you to them. While we have sympathy for everyone who has loss of life because of gun violence across the country--they are always in our prayers, in our thoughts, and in our determination to make a difference--the eloquence, the courage, the determination of these young people in Florida to come forward in such an eloquent and articulate way. They have been on the other side of a gun. That shouldn't happen to our children. So while we all respect the Second Amendment and what that means for our country, and while we all want to do something very important, we must listen. And what the kids are doing is on top of a lot of positive action taken by the Bradys, taken by every town, taken by our former colleague Gabby Giffords and her initiative, The Promise of Newtown, and all over the country. So much activity has happened, and now it has hopefully culminated at a place where the children, with how savvy they are about social media and the rest, identifying with each other across the country, will be the tipping point that will make the difference to make our country safer. We thank them for what they are doing, for their leadership. We also thank them for taking their grief and turning it into action to save lives. And to remember how important, in all of this, the vote is. And so I say to my colleagues, there isn't one of us in here whose political survival compares in the slightest bit to the survival of our children. These kids have the courage to come forward. We have to have the courage to vote and take action to save lives. Ninety-five percent of the American people support us supporting legislation to do just that. As we pray and have our moments of silence, let's act upon those sentiments with real action, again, to make a difference. Again, I salute the kids, the young people. I look forward to seeing them on the steps outside on the west lawn. We will gather in the rotunda. All Members are invited to gather in the rotunda, to go outside and associate ourselves and sing the praises of these young people for their courage.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, today, we in Congress have the honor of recognizing an outstanding leader and an esteemed colleague, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. We have the esteemed honor of recognizing Marcy Kaptur as she becomes the longest serving woman in the history of the House of Representatives. And it is not just about the longevity of her service, but the quality of her leadership in the House of Representatives in so many ways. It is fitting that we should recognize her outstanding leadership during Women's History Month. Thank you for giving us the privilege of doing that. I know that the people of Ohio and our colleagues from Ohio here take great pride in their association with Marcy Kaptur, as with the rest of us, and are honored to call her ``colleague.'' She has left her mark in so many ways. She is the first woman ever to be assigned to serve on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. In addition to protecting the American people, honoring our first responsibility to protect and defend, she is the champion for the World War II Memorial and a determined defender of all who served there and their legacy. Thank you, Marcy Kaptur, for that. Marcy Kaptur has taken great pride, serving as a constant, unwavering voice for the American heartland in the U.S. Congress. Her faith is important to her: her faith in God, her faith in her community, and her faith in our country. As a leader on the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans, for example, she is a strong champion for retirees and their endangered pensions. The list goes on and on. From childhood to pensions, Marcy has been there in the lead on the Appropriations Committee. By the way, she is the longest serving woman on the Appropriations Committee, as well. Later today, at a reception to which you are all invited in the Rayburn Room, I will read a letter of congratulations from Barbara Mikulski, the longest serving woman in the Congress and Marcy in the House. It is really important to know the impact that Marcy has had on all of us. She is a person of the greatest integrity and sincerity. She knows her purpose. She knows her subjects. Her judgment is respected, and she always has a plan. Therefore, as I have said so many times, if you want to save yourself some time, just do what Marcy asks you to do the first time around. As a granddaughter of Polish immigrants, she takes great pride in her heritage, and as with most families taking pride in their heritage, she is fiercely patriotic and loves America and works every day for all families pursuing economic opportunity and the American Dream. Marcy, thank you for your outstanding leadership on behalf of Ohioans for sure, for all Americans, and on behalf of women, girls, and families across the country and across the world. It is an honor to serve with you, a privilege to call you ``colleague,'' and a joy to call you ``friend.'' Thank you, Marcy Kaptur.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I also thank her for her outstanding statement of values and what our country is about. I thank her for her extraordinary leadership. I thank all of our colleagues for the unity that we have had over the months when we were having this debate about what this bill would look like. I want to, again, read a letter that Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Clyburn, and I sent to the Speaker last night--I guess this night, because I think it is very important for people to understand the simplicity of our request, the fairness of our request to the Speaker. It says: ``In the spirit of bipartisanship, we write to again reiterate our sincere desire to ensure that the government remains open and that the priorities of the American people are properly addressed. As you know, Democrats have been clear that we support a budget agreement that ensures that our men and women in uniform have the resources they need to protect our country and that America's middle class and working families have the tools they need to succeed. As part of this agreement, we have always expected that the House and the Senate would address the issue of DACA and our DREAMers. ``Most of our Members believe that the budget agreement is a reasonable compromise to address America's military strength and critical domestic priorities, like fighting the opioid crisis, boosting NIH, moving forward to resolve the pension crisis, caring for our veterans, making college more affordable, and investing in childcare for working families.'' Indeed, that is what the fight has been about all along. We have had to fight the resistance on the Republican side to invest in the domestic agenda. So I was pleased to hear some of our Republican colleagues talk about some of the things in this bill that we, on the Democratic side, insisted upon being there. So, Mr. Speaker, we are writing again to request that you make a public statement regarding the scheduling of a vote on the DACA bill. That is our request. That is the request of the House Democrats that Mr. Hoyer and Mr. Clyburn sent this letter last night: ``Our request is that you publicly state that you will schedule a vote to consider the bipartisan Hurd-Aguilar bill and any other DACA bills that you wish to consider under a Queen of the Hill rule. ``We strongly believe that Members of the House and their constituents deserve the same dignity that Leader McConnell has extended to Members of the Senate'' by stating that he will allow a vote on this issue. We asked him for his immediate attention to this issue, but we did not receive that back. I said earlier that America is the greatest country that ever existed in the history of the world. Aren't we proud to be Americans? And what is America? America is a country of great people of beautiful diversity that have changed over time from the days of our Founders. ``E pluribus unum,'' they said. They could never imagine how pluribus it could be, how many, how many different people. Yet they established a Constitution that enabled everyone the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is a beautiful thing. Our country has become a more diverse country over time, but still, e pluribus unum. In this vote today, we are just saying to pay respect to the fact that we are a nation of immigrants, constantly reinvigorated by newcomers coming with their hopes, dreams, aspirations, courage to make the future better for their families. That is what America is about. That is what the optimism of our Founders was based on, that every generation would take responsibility. So these newcomers have made America more American. Then who is America? America is our great Constitution of the United States, a great Constitution, which we take an oath to support. And what else is America? America is a great patrimony, this beautiful land that God has given us to be stewards of. It is important to know that our country is our 50 States, the District of Columbia, and our territories. In respect for that, I am very pleased that, in this bill, we were successful in the negotiations to get more funding for the territories, especially Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, an increase over what was in the original disaster bill. But there are other things that are important to note that are in this bill. Again, opioids, mental health, National Institutes of Health, these are Democratic priorities that we fought for. That is why this took so long to come to fruition, because there was a resistance on the Republican side to invest on the domestic side. So they have been increasing the defense number, which we go along with, but wanted commensurate increase on the domestic side, recognizing the domestic side for us and our budget--appropriators know this better than anyone--includes security functions, Homeland Security, the State Department, Veterans Affairs, antiterrorism activities of the Justice Department. So there is much security on the domestic side. That is why we insisted on increasing the number, and that did happen. That did happen. That is why I am able to say in this letter that there are many good things in this legislation. But for some reason, sometimes I think the Speaker thinks he is Speaker of the White House, not the Speaker of the House of Representatives. We should have the opportunity--I touched a nerve there, I hear--to have this House, the people's House, work its will, not be the recipients of something that might--as he said: Well, if it passes with 60 votes in the Senate and the President approves, then maybe I will bring it to the floor. That is not a commitment. Just let me say again what an honor it is for any of us to associate ourselves with the aspirations of the DREAMers in our country. They are so magnificent. They are a model of patriotism to our country, and all they wanted was the recognition of the Speaker of the House that they are worthy of that. In any event, I thank the various speakers who were presiding the other day. I thank the speakers for their courtesies extended. I thank the Chair, too, Mr. Speaker. But here it is: Yes, I was one of the four principals with the White House negotiating on this legislation. A lot of it came our way. Do you know why? Because nobody wants a shutdown. This is a good bill. It doesn't do everything, but it is a compromise. But the one thing and the one message to allay fear, to build confidence, to honor the vows of our Founders that we could have done is to say: We, the United States of America, in this people's House, want to assure you that we will allow the House of Representatives to work its will. Let the chips fall where they may, but give us a chance to allay the fear that is in the hearts of these DREAMers and their families and to remove the tears from the eyes of the Statue of Liberty observing what is happening here.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me. I thank the members of the Rules Committee, all of them, for the great service they provide to the House of Representatives, this great House of the people. I wish that the Speaker would treat the House of the people with the dignity that it deserves by giving us an opportunity, just an opportunity, for him to say that he would bring legislation to the floor, the Hurd-Aguilar bill for one, and then the other pieces of legislation regarding DACA so that the House could work its will under the queen-of-the-hill rule. Last night, Mr. Clyburn, the assistant leader; Mr. Hoyer, the Democratic whip; and I sent a letter to the Speaker. It said: ``Dear Mr. Speaker: In the spirit of bipartisanship, we write again to reiterate our sincere desire to ensure that the government remains open and that the priorities of the American people are properly addressed. As you know, Democrats have been clear that we support a budget agreement that ensures our men and women in uniform have the resources they need to protect our country and that America's middle class and working families have the tools they need to succeed. As part of this agreement, we have always expected that the House and the Senate would address the issue of DACA and the DREAMers. ``Most of our Members believe that this budget agreement is a reasonable compromise to address America's military strength and critical domestic priorities, like fighting the opioid crisis, boosting the National Institutes of Health, moving forward to resolve the pension crisis, caring for our veterans, making college more affordable, and investing in childcare for working families.'' The agenda that I read was what we fought for and obtained in the budget agreement. We did not object to the large amount of money that was in the bill for defense, although some had asked: What is the purpose? What is the mission? We said: Let's go forward with that. But to keep faith with the budget agreement, we insisted that the increases in defense would be met by increases on the domestic side. So we have fought this fight. This is a success for us to get, as I said, the opioid crisis, boosting the NIH, the pension crisis, caring for our veterans, making college more affordable, and investing in childcare for our working families. This was the fight we had with the Republicans because they have a reluctancy to support domestic spending. So the fact that this came to agreement after months of going back and forth on the caps, I think, is very important to recognize. But, again, writing to the Speaker: ``We are writing to again reiterate our request that you make a public statement regarding the scheduling of a vote on a DACA bill. Our request is that you publicly state that you will schedule a vote to consider the bipartisan Hurd- Aguilar bill and any other DACA bills that you wish to consider under a Queen of the Hill rule,'' as I mentioned earlier. ``We strongly believe that Members of the House and their constituents deserve the same dignity that Leader McConnell has extended to Members of the Senate by allowing for a vote on this issue. ``Thank you for your immediate attention to this letter.'' So we haven't heard back from the Speaker on this, but I do support defeating the previous question. One of the gentlemen on the other asked: Why would anybody vote against this bill? Why would anybody vote against this rule? Well, because we have an opportunity right here to take matters into our own hands. Defeat the previous question so that we can take up the Dream Act. That would be the House working its will, because we do know that the Dream Act has support on both sides of the aisle. We thank our Republican colleagues, those who have spoken out publicly, for their courage in supporting this protection. If another country said that they were going to deport 800,000 people or place in jeopardy their protections under the law, we would be appalled. We would criticize them. So how can we, the United States of America--give me your poor--you know Emma Lazarus. I don't have to go into it right now. But I do. We all carry it in our hearts. So I urge a ``no'' on the previous question because a ``yes'' would have allowed us to bring up the Dream Act. I really want to disabuse anyone in this body of any idea that we are not there to support our men and women in uniform and to give them the resources they need to keep themselves and our Nation safe. But I do recognize also that what our military are protecting is the greatest country that ever existed in the history of the world, the United States of America. What is the United States of America? It is a country governed by a constitution that has been a beacon to the world. It is a country populated by the beautiful diversity of America. It is a country that has a beautiful patrimony given to us by God, our natural beauty. Fighting for those values is what we try to do in this bill. Why can't we extend the hand of friendship and protection to our DREAMers? Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Are we going to be able to have Special Orders for our colleagues at the end of the session?

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I congratulate her on her extraordinary leadership as the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. She has been a champion for America's working families, protecting consumers, protecting the taxpayer, and doing so in a very balanced way, sensitive to the needs of all parties concerned. I am so proud of her leadership and her service. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the bad bill for hardworking Americans that is on the floor today. The cynically named Mortgage Choice Act provides anything but choice. Instead, it raises costs on consumers who have few alternatives. This is yet another attempt to stack the deck even further against working families. Mr. Speaker, this debate is another waste of time. Every day, courageous, patriotic DREAMers lose their status, and, every day, the American dream slips further out of reach. As Members of Congress, we have a moral responsibility to act now to protect DREAMers, who are the pride of our Nation and are American in every way but on paper. I use this occasion as opposing this bill to speak further about social justice in America. The American people want Congress to pass a Dream Act: Eighty-four percent of Americans support a path to citizenship for DREAMers or permanent status; 88 percent of Independents back the path of citizenship or permanent status; and 70 percent of Republicans back either citizenship or permanent status. The three Bs--business; badges, our law enforcement community; and Bibles--are imploring Congress to pass a Dream Act. Earlier this month, I stood with evangelical leaders to call on the Speaker to bring the Dream Act to a vote for the sake of family fairness and respect for the spark of divinity within every person. There is nothing partisan or political about protecting DREAMers. If a Dream Act were brought to the floor, it would pass immediately with strong, bipartisan support. I commend my Republican colleagues for their courage in speaking out on this, yet our DREAMers hang in limbo with a cruel cloud of fear and uncertainty above them. The Republican moral cowardice must end. Members of Congress are trustees of the people and of our Nation. Why are we here if not to protect the patriotic young people who are determined to contribute and to strengthen America? So I am going to go on as long as my leadership minute allows. I would like to speak to the Bible in Luke 10:25-37, the parable of the Good Samaritan. On one occasion, an expert of the law stood up to test Jesus. ``Teacher,'' he asked, ``what must I do to inherit eternal life?'' ``What is written in the law,'' Jesus replied, ``How do you read it?'' The lawyer answered: ``Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.'' Jesus responded: ``You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.'' But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus: ``And who is my neighbor?'' In reply, Jesus said: ``A man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. When he was attacked by robbers, they stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed on to the other side of the road. So, too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed on to the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine. And then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he took out two Denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. Look after him, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have. Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?'' The expert of the law replied: ``The man who had mercy on him.'' Jesus told him: ``Go and do likewise.'' The parable of the Good Samaritan is one that has been used over and over again to welcome strangers. Samaritans were not friends to the person that the Samaritan saved, but he was a man of justice. We all know how proud we are of America, as a land of opportunity and the land of the American Dream, which, for decades and centuries, really, has attracted people to our shores, to make the future better for their families. In doing so, they subscribe to the vows of our Founders. ``A new order of the ages,'' it says, on the great seal of the United States, a new order, ``Novus Ordo Seclorum.'' That meant that it was predicated on the idea that every generation would take responsibility to make the future better for the next. It became known as the American Dream and people flocked to our shores, bringing their determination, their optimism, their hope, and their courage, to make the future better for their families. In doing so, as I said, they subscribed to the values of our Founders to make the future better. That is why our country would be a new order for the ages. How proud we are to have the Statue of Liberty welcoming people to our shores. In the words of Emma Lazarus inscribed on the statue, it says: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows worldwide welcome; her mild eyes command. . . . Words that are music to the ears of everyone who loves freedom. ``Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!'' cries she With silent lips. ``Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'' With those words, America has been a beacon to the world, and how proud it has made us. America is great, some say, because America is good; and this manifestation of our goodness is one that is historic. In responding to the call of our Statue of Liberty--who must, by now, have tears in her eyes, having heard some of the debate on immigration--I want to read about some of the DREAMers, who came to our shores, maybe through land or by sea. I want to talk about Luis Galvan. Luis came to the United States when he was 5 years old and grew up in poverty. Today, he is an agriculture ambassador at College of the Sequoias and is working to help students improve their grades. Following the repeal of DACA, Luis constantly worries about his ability to continue working in order to afford his education. He is one of four siblings also attending college, who are also DACA recipients. Jacqueline Romo's DACA expires this month. Jacqueline was raised in the city of Chicago. She is an undocumented American aspiring to earn a bachelor's degree in graphic design. Her education is her priority ever since she was in elementary school. Throughout high school, she had serious doubts about her future, due to her status, but it never stopped her from pursuing higher education. Jacqueline went on to community college, working a part-time job and earning a few scholarships that eventually added up to affordable tuition. Her mother, a single mother, would not be able to contribute to Jacqueline's education after high school, so it was Jacqueline's choice and responsibility to work her way financially through college. Thanks to scholarships like the Illinois Dream Fund, TheDream.US, and other community scholarships, Jacqueline was lucky to follow through higher education, something that most of her undocumented peers would not have the chance to do. Jacqueline's dreams are the same dreams of other undocumented Americans to persevere in this great country. Hector Rivera Suarez is a DACA recipient from Greensboro, North Carolina. He has been a DACA recipient for the past 6 years. This came to an end on January 21. He is currently on track to graduate in May, with a degree in philosophy and education. As a student body president and honor scholar at Guilford College, it is part of his curriculum to serve in the local community. He has served as an afterschool tutor at a local community center that services predominantly the Latino community, as well as assisting in classrooms at a newcomer school. His plan after graduation is to enroll in Teach for America, since it is his only opportunity to be a teacher while being a DACA recipient. Once DACA was rescinded in September, these plans had to be delayed. Without DACA, he will not have the opportunity to keep serving the community in greater ways. Hector's DACA expires 5 days before the Teach For America January deadline; this is why he needs there to be a resolution as soon as possible so he can move forward with his plans of mentoring the future leaders of America. Mr. Speaker, I bring this up because, as you know, the discussions and negotiations on the caps bill, the budget bill, are making progress and, perhaps, soon to be coming to an end. And on that score, I would say so far as what I know of it, the budget caps agreement, which will be announced today, includes many Democratic priorities, actually bipartisan priorities. But with the disaster recovery package and dollar-for-dollar increases in the defense and nondefense budget, Democrats have secured hundreds of billions of dollars to invest in communities across America. There will be billions in funding to fight opioids, to strengthen our veterans and the NIH, to build job-creating rural infrastructure and broadband, and to fund access to child care and quality higher education. That is something that has been negotiated with our input between Leader Mitch McConnell and Leader Chuck Schumer. But Mitch McConnell also made a commitment to his Members that he would bring up a dream bill to the floor of the Senate in an appointed time. So why can't we have some kind of a commitment on this side of the aisle that enabled the discussion to take place on a values-based place? Here, we asked the Speaker would he bring up the Hurd-Aguilar bill, which is bipartisan, would win if brought to the House, has a sufficient number of Republican cosponsors, thank them for their courage to be public, but others who have said they would vote for it, and we would like a commitment from the Speaker to bring it and any other bills that he believes should be considered on the floor as well. We could do it under a ``Queen of the Hill'' where the bill with the most votes becomes the most prevailing bill to either support what the Senate has done or to reconcile what the Senate has done. That is a simple request. That is a simple request that the House Democrats and, in a bipartisan way, others have joined in asking the Speaker to bring a bill to the floor to give us that commitment. Why should we, in the House, be treated in such a humiliating way, when the Republican Senate leader has given that opportunity, in a bipartisan way, to his membership? What is wrong? There is something wrong with this picture. That is why, this morning, when we took a measure of our caucus on support for the package--well, we have to see all the particulars of it yet, but there are good things in it--that it does nothing to even advance, even with a commitment, without having passed the legislation first, to advance bipartisan legislation to protect DREAMers in this House. Without that commitment from Speaker Ryan, comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support, nor does it have the support of a large number of members of our caucus. So then I go on to some other--I always am reminded in all of these debates about our commitment to faith. In God We Trust, it says there right over the Speaker's chair. The Gospel of Matthew has been an inspiration to many of us on both sides of the aisle in terms of what our values are and how we make choices. And when, in the Gospel of Matthew, he writes: ``When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.'' Then Christ goes on to say: ``For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. ``Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?' '' And the Lord says, when you see us--what did you see, a stranger and invite him in or need clothing and clothing you, he's asking the Lord. And when did you see sick and in prison, and did I visit you? ``The King will reply, `Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' '' That is always important. Everybody knows that, the least of my brethren speech. However, the King does go on: ``Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' ``They also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' ``He will reply, `Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' '' It is not only positive of what you did, you did for me; it is what you did not do. When I was a stranger, you did not help. Then it will go into eternal punishment. The righteous will go into eternal life. So anyway, more stories about our DREAMers and why they honor the vows of our Founders, why they deserve our support. We are just talking about this discrete group of people, how they command the support of the American people. Itzel Verduzco Rojas is from Ponca City, Oklahoma. Itzel is working as a medical assistant for a pediatric dermatologist and in school full time trying to pursue a career in nursing. In addition to her job and school, Itzel volunteers with CASA, City Rescue Mission, and Rebuilding Together Oklahoma City to address issues of poverty and homelessness in her city. With DACA, Itzel was able to apply for a driver's license and work legally. However, because her renewal application was caught up in postal delays, Itzel has not yet received her renewal, and her current DACA expired on January 20. Because of this, she will now have to take a semester off from school, and she is facing severe disruption in her life and the ability to support herself. This is really important to note because the people--some of the people in the White House have been saying nobody is being deported. Well, we will see about that. But they are saying these people are protected. They are not protected. And you heard the characterization that the President's Chief of Staff made about some of these people, about being lazy or whatever it was. I think, in our discussions on the economy, in a separate context, we have seen how few Americans would be able to rise to the occasion immediately if they had a $500 unsuspected bill that had come their way; whether the water heater broke or whatever it is, it would be challenging, it would be disruptive to their lives. It would be hard for them to have an expendable, immediately expendable, $500. But that is what it takes to sign up to what the President--the sign up that was required by the President after his September announcement. So it is not about being lazy. Or yes, it is probably about fear, too. Mr. Kelly, General Kelly, mentions that. But it is about not understanding the situation of fear and of contribution, the beautiful contribution that people make, that the DREAMers make to our country. Itzel came to the U.S. legally at age 7. She came legally and attempted to adjust her status along with family. She aged out of eligibility when she turned 21. She was able to apply for DACA during her senior year of high school, which opened the doors for her. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dalia Medina immigrated to the United States at age 11 from Mexico. She is a licensed mental health therapist providing much-needed service to at-risk youth and families in New Mexico. Dalia is working toward an independent license to open her private practice to continue aiding families in her State. She recently obtained a master's degree in clinical social work and previously earned a bachelor's degree in criminology and psychology. All of these people are making such a wonderful contribution to our society because they have courage, they have values, and they have purpose in their life. These stories were given to me by our colleagues as they have taken up the cause of many of these DREAMers. But it is not enough. We have no right to talk about DREAMers and to tell their stories and take pride in their actions unless we are willing to take action to support them, and we have that opportunity today by asking the Speaker of the House to give us a vote. What are you afraid of? Give us a vote. Let the House work its will. Senator McConnell, Mitch McConnell, is enabling the Senate to work its will. Why should the House of Representatives be constrained, especially on such a values-based issue as who we are as a nation and recognizing our biblical responsibility to each other? Nicole Robles from Houston, Texas, she was born in Mexico. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was 6 months old, and she faces deportation. In less than 100 days, her DACA will expire. I am anxious--Well, this is now much less than 100 days. She says: ``I'm anxious because I am graduating high school in a few months and I want to start college in August of next year. How will I do that without my DACA?'' She says: ``There are so many barriers to higher education when you're undocumented. With a Dream Act, undocumented students will have a sense''--the Dream Act gives them a documented sense--``of security and opportunity''--to go to school--``to get a job, to care for their families, to continue their studies in college or university.'' ``I want that security and opportunity. We deserve that.'' She deserves that. ``And we need Congress by the end of the year so that we, more people, don't reach their expiration dates.'' Now, let me say that we have talked mostly about education, people working in education and social activities to help other people do their best. But many of our DREAMers have served in our military with great courage and great patriotism to the only country that they know. Again, using my leader's minute, I want to make sure that the Record is clear about what this debate is about. It is about honoring our own commitment to the Statue of Liberty, to the Founding Fathers, in terms of making this a land where one generation would take responsibility to make the future better for the next. And that brings to mind another person from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Yuridia Loera. She said: ``Growing up, I was reminded of my immigration status every day by my mother. Twenty years later, I realized she did this to prepare our family for the imminent day that our family would face a deportation. And that day could be today because my DACA has expired. ``DACA is what allowed me to pass through immigration checkpoints safely. I am also a survivor of sexual assault--with DACA, I was able to approach the police to report the person who assaulted me. Trump's cruel decision to terminate DACA has put border residents and survivors of assault in jeopardy. This is not how a country should treat immigrant youth and our families.'' I just want you to know why we are making this plea. This is a human plea to the Speaker, a prayerful human plea to the Speaker. It is almost 40 hours. This morning, when I first met with my colleagues in our meeting at 8, it was exactly 40 hours until midnight tomorrow. Forty is a number fraught with meaning in our religious lives. Forty years, in the Old Testament, 40 years of Moses and the Jews and Aaron in the desert; 40 days that Christ was in the desert himself; 40 days is the length of time of Lent; and, therefore, 40 hours is a Catholic devotion that many of us grew up with. We have that same 40 hours, from 8 this morning until tomorrow night at midnight, to be prayerful--to be prayerful--to show our purpose, and to show why we are asking the Speaker for this vote. I have great admiration for the work that is done in a bipartisan way, on the budget, the bill; of course, it is not everything we want, but there are many good things in it, and I just can't explain to the DREAMers or to my colleagues why we should be second-class Members of Congress in this House without a commitment from the Speaker that Mitch McConnell gave to the Senators, that there would be a vote on the floor to let Congress work its will. Are you afraid that the DREAMer bill will pass, the work of Mr. Hurd and Mr. Aguilar working with other Members to shape a bill that would recognize concerns that the President has and others have to put a bipartisan bill there that should attract the support of the President? Instead, we are hearing words that are hard to process from the White House but, nonetheless, recognizing that we have to go down this path together. We all believe that, as the Bible tells us, there is a spark of divinity in every person and that we must respect that spark of divinity. Tomorrow will be the prayer breakfast, and that is a solemn occasion in Washington, D.C., and we are always thinking in terms of Christ. When Christ became man, his assuming humanity brought his divinity to us so that we participate in his divinity, every one of us. We have to remember that not only does it exist in every person that we encounter, but it exists in us. It exists in the President of the United States and his staff and all of the people who elected him. That is a beautiful thing about it all. But that spark of divinity in each of us has to relate to other people and treat them with respect. How would we judge other countries if they said: ``We have several hundred thousand people who came here as children, and now we are sending them back where they came from?'' We would make a judgment about those countries that that was outside the circle of civilized human behavior. And yet--and yet--we have something to do about that right now. I want to talk to you about Juan Carlos Navarro from Oregon. He said: ``I immigrated to the United States when I was 3 years old with my parents because I needed medical treatment for my cerebral palsy. I went through six surgeries and 12 years of physical therapy and walked for the first time when I was 15 years old. ``Growing up, I did well in school, but I felt stuck because I didn't know how to go to college. With the help of my counselor, I was able to apply for private scholarships and attend a community college in Salem. I'm now at Western Oregon University, where I was inspired to start my own group for undocumented young people like me. I'm now getting my master's there, and I'm part of the college Student Services Administration Program, with the dream of one day making higher education accessible to low-income and undocumented students. ``Without DACA, I no longer have access to health insurance through an employer. I suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts. This is why I have visited my Members of Congress to urge them to pass the Dream Act, because my life and my health is on the line.'' Patricia Ulloa was born in El Salvador. Patricia said: ``I have a mixed status family--my parents have TPS, I have one U.S. citizen brother, and my two sisters and I have DACA. We need the Dream Act now because one of my sister's DACA expires on March 6, 2018, and pretty soon the rest of my sisters and I could lose our protections too. Our parents are already losing their TPS protections because Trump terminated the program. ``I want the government to recognize us as part of society and know that this is our home and we contribute to our communities even without papers. My family wants to be able to stay together and feel safe to drive, work, and travel.'' Here she says--I want to repeat this--``we contribute to our communities even without papers.'' As an Italian American who grew up at a time when I did not feel any prejudice or bias--or if I did, I thought it was the other person's problem. We Italian Americans always think there are only two kinds of people: those who are Italian American and those who want to be. But in my father's generation and my grandfather's generation and my great-grandmother's generation, it was a different story, and there was a term. It was called ``wop,'' and people used that as a derogatory term to Italian Americans. Do you know what wop means, Mr. Speaker? Wop means without papers. Without papers. That is what these people were called, without papers. And that is all that these kids are, without papers. In every other way, strong participants in our society, in our community, and in our country. And so again, just give us a chance to have a vote, Mr. Speaker. Another day will come when we can talk about comprehensive immigration reform. We can talk about this, that, and the other thing, but right now, the Hurd-Aguilar bill, whatever is being put together in the Senate, recognizes our responsibility to protect our borders, recognizes the value of immigration to our country: hopes, dreams, aspirations, making America more American every newcomer who comes. I truly believe that, the constant reinvigoration of America. Saba Nefes from Texas was born in Mexico, and Saba writes: ``We still don't know a lot about cancer. We still don't know about genetic diseases. My research at Texas Tech goes right into the heart of that. It uses pure mathematics to look at why all these genetic diseases exist and how they exist so someday we can come up with cures for them. We're far from that point, but this is the challenge I work on. ``In addition to conducting research at Texas Tech, I've taught undergraduate students as a teaching assistant. This past semester, I got to teach anatomy, and one of my students was blind and had a service dog. It was a blessing, a great experience to teach her anatomy, something that she got to touch and feel to learn. It taught me a lot of patience. It taught me what it's like to work alongside my American students and peers. I'm just as much a part of their lives as they are of mine. ``If DACA is repealed, I would be out of a job immediately, and I won't be able to teach my students. I won't be able to continue conducting the research that I am conducting right now. This research could help scientists understand diseases like cancer and lead down a path toward a cure. Without DACA, I can't continue this critical work.'' Now, I want to just say this. I think there is a lack of understanding, and we should have made it clear on the other side of the aisle and with the White House about what the President's action in September did. The President, maybe in good spirit, thought that by giving us a March 5 deadline, he was giving a 6-month reprieve to DREAMers; but what, in fact, he was doing was making matters worse for them. It was most unfortunate. Most unfortunate because, again, while they may have maintained the status of DREAMer, they did not have the protections of the DACA executive order that President Obama put forth. Perhaps it would have been better if President Trump had said: ``I am giving Congress 6 months to pass a bill, but I am not changing the status quo that protects the DREAMers.'' Just on that point, President Obama, when he protected the DREAMers and their parents, what he did was significant, but it was not as significant as what President Reagan did in the 1980s. President Obama acted because Congress would not act. He took action. President Reagan acted after Congress did act, the Immigration Act of 1986. President Reagan said, interesting: But you did not go far enough. So he instituted, by executive order, Family Fairness. And then Family Fairness was continued under President George Herbert Walker Bush, two great Presidents for immigration in our country. What they did with their executive orders, which stood the test of court cases, protected a higher percentage of people than what President Obama did--two Republican Presidents, two great champions on immigration. Even after Congress acted, they said: You didn't go far enough. President Obama had to act because Congress would not act. Then we come forward with President Clinton following in that tradition. President George W. Bush, great President on immigration, he couldn't convince his own party to pass comprehensive immigration reform. But his statements, his values-based policy on immigrants is something, to this day--and his current statements are so beautiful and inspirational about treating people with dignity and valuing their worth as we talk about immigration. And then, of course, President Obama, doing what he did in terms of executive orders, protecting people in the tradition of Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, with the common values of George W. Bush and President Clinton. So now we have the first Republican President in modern times--the first President, really--who is anti-immigrant, and that is just such a change from his own party, and it makes it hard to see where we can have shared values. Certainly one piece of that debate which would require a fuller stipulation of fact, hearings, et cetera, to see what the best path forward is is important for us to do. But for now, because of the action that the President took, it necessitates us taking action here, as the President anticipated by putting a March 5 deadline on it. We would like to do it sooner. This is a vehicle leaving the station. And if the Republicans need our support for this legislation, which has many good features--and I commend the negotiators on it and was a part of that--unless we can get the same commitment that Mitch McConnell gave the bipartisan group of legislators who asked for it in the Senate, we would like that same response to our bipartisan group. I want to talk about Jaime Rangel: ``To me, Georgia is my home. I am proud to be from the South, and I love to give back to my community. ``I tell everybody I'm a Latino that grew up eating tortillas and grits at the same time, and north Georgia is home. And for somebody to say, `Hey, you can't get some instate tuition' in a place that I consider my State was really--it was really heartbreaking. I felt out of place. ``Right now, I feel optimistic because I believe the greater part of the country understands that you can't deport 750,000 individuals. These are individuals who give back to their community, who are involved in their churches, who have Ph.D.'s, who have been creating jobs and who just want to make this country a better place. ``When President Obama announced DACA, to me, it was a life-changing experience. I felt that I finally was given a decent chance to be somebody in this country, to contribute to my State, to contribute to my community, to get a job, and just give back and be somebody in the greatest country on Earth.'' That is the patriotism of our DREAMers. ``So when DACA was introduced, it opened the doors to many things, even doors I didn't think were imaginable to open. ``My name is Jaime Rangel. I was born in Mexico, but I came to this country when I was only 3 months old.'' As the President said, he loves the DREAMers. He loves the DREAMers. He loves to call it DACA. Subscribe to that. He loves the DREAMers. And these people came to this country not of their own volition, through no fault of their own. I, myself, thank their parents for bringing them here because they are a blessing to America, but, from their standpoint, through no fault of their own. Why can't we be fair and give them a break? Javier Noris in New York City came from Mexico: ``I invest in the next generation of biomedical tech solutions. ``When I was working at a convenience store, I always had big aspirations, even though I wasn't sure how they would come to fruition. But the moment DACA was passed, it really put everything in perspective, and I really made a conscious effort to focus on my career. So I ended up pursuing a career as a software engineer. ``I went to school at Cal State University, Northridge. I studied economics and biotechnology. After working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley, I ended up moving to Brooklyn, New York. I now work in venture capital, running a small venture fund that invests in early- stage life science and frontier technology startups. ``As a CEO of an investment fund, DACA being repealed does not only affect me. A DACA repeal could affect the startups with which I work and my ability to invest in them and their ability to continue to grow and employ hundreds of workers across the country. ``My name is Javier. I'm a DACA recipient and I'm from Mexico City. I came to the United States when I was 5 years old.'' He did not come alone. He did not. He was brought here by his parents. So many of our DREAMers here are called DREAMers because they have big dreams. And they are entrepreneurs; they are teachers; they are researchers in science; they are in our military. They are making such a fabulous contribution to the future of our country. It is not just about them. This DACA repeal that we are making is about us: Who are we as a country? How do we honor the vows of our founders, the Statue of Liberty and her appeal to the world that has made America such a beacon of hope? The list goes on and on about many, many DACA recipients, and I intend to read them all. But in addition to that, I want to go back to the Bible because I could have brought the Bible here and just read the Bible and said: If we are people of faith, in God we trust, as we contend to be, we must act upon our faith, and act upon our values. People always ask me: Where is hope? Where should we find hope? Hope is sitting there where it always has been, right between faith and charity. People have hope because they believe. They believe in God. They have faith in our country and themselves and their families; and they have faith in the goodness, the charity of others that people, when given the chance, will do the right thing, and then, hopefully, that will be returned to them when they need hope and can have faith in the goodness of others. I want to tell you about Maria Praeli. She is from Connecticut. She said: ``I didn't let anything keep me from advancing academically. Unfortunately, when high school ended, I couldn't attend the university of my dreams. I was getting all these acceptance letters, but I couldn't go to any of these schools because I didn't have a Social Security number''--this is my point; you can't get a Social Security number--``and, therefore, I wasn't eligible for financial aid. I couldn't pursue the dreams that I had been hoping to. But I did not let my undocumented status hold me back from continuing to advance academically. ``I enrolled at Gateway Community College, where I worked very hard as a student government association president and graduated with 3.8 GPA to then be able to attend Quinnipiac University. I graduated magna cum laude and earned my bachelor's degree in May of 2016. ``It's surreal to wake up every day and be reminded that even though I have been living in America for the past 18 years, in a few months, all my honors and education might end up not mattering anymore because I won't be able to contribute to the country which I have called home for so long. ``My name is Maria. I was born in Ica, Peru, and moved to the United States when I was 5 years old.'' There is documentation after documentation of how young these children were when they came to the United States all because their parents wanted to make the future better for them. Andrea Seabra writes: ``My dad was a fighter pilot in the Peruvian Air Force, so I grew up with a lot of military influence. When I was in high school, I joined New Jersey ROTC, which was the junior ROTC, and I was there for 3\1/2\ years. ``It gave me that taste of maybe what my dad might have lived when he was in the military. I lost him when I was only 6 years old, so I never really got to know that part of him. I always thought in the back of my head, when I graduate, I want to join the military. When I was in my junior year, I realized that I couldn't enroll in the military because I was undocumented. ``I was sitting with a recruiter at my school, an Air Force recruiter, and he asked me about it. He's like, `What's your social?' So when I told him, `Well, I don't have one--' '' meaning Social Security number--``he is like, `What about your passport?' I'm like, `Well, I have a Peruvian passport.' And he's like, `No, you have to either be a U.S. resident or a U.S. citizen to be able to join.' ``That's the first time I ever experienced that big wall of being undocumented, like a big stop sign saying, no, you can't pursue this passion of yours. ``I didn't live a normal life until I got DACA. Thanks to DACA, I was able to pursue my career after graduating cum laude from Saint Leo University, in marketing. With DACA, I was able to build my professional network, help people, influence people, and do all these things for myself and my family and my community. If that's going to be taken away, everything that I've accomplished, that I've worked on, that I've helped people with will just fall apart. It will shake the foundation of who I am today as a person, as a professional, even as a friend, as a daughter, everything. ``My name is Andrea. I was born in Lima, Peru. I was brought here by my mom when I was 11 years old.'' She had lost her dad when she was 6. But this idea of military service, many, when they got the DACA status protection, have served honorably in the military. We are very proud of them, as we are proud of all of our men and women in the military. And I emphasize the story of hard work that these DREAMers have because they are very consistent with American workers. American people are so resourceful. They are so wonderful. They so care about their families and their communities. So this is not to say that DACA recipients are different. It is to say they are just like us. We are very proud of the American people, the productivity of our workforce, the faith of our families, the civic mindedness and the generosity of spirit, and, really, of resources of the American people. My telling these stories is not to separate the DACA recipients from them, but to show how similar they are and how assimilated they are into our community. It is mutually beneficial. Jose Manuel Santoyo, from Texas, said: ``My education was so that I could contribute to society. ``My last year at Southern Methodist University, I began working on an engaged learning fellowship. Because of that, I was selected to be the commencement speaker for my graduation and represent almost 600 other students who would be graduating that day. In my speech, I thanked the faculty and staff at my university. I had teachers who I've looked up to my whole life, who provided amazing educational opportunities regardless of the papers I had or didn't have. ``I want to be able to work and I want to work in public service. In order to do that, I would need to have DACA. I would need to have work authorization in this country. I feel like that's what my education was for. My education wasn't for me. My education was so I could contribute to society. My education was so that I could give back to the community that has given me so much, to the country that has given me so much. ``This year I hope that our Congress and our President work to fund a permanent solution to provide us DACA recipients a pathway to citizenship, to give us an opportunity to use our education, to use everything that we've learned in order to give back, in order to contribute, in order to provide for ourselves and our families and our communities.'' What Manuel said is that he looked up to his teachers. He learned from others in our country. That also demonstrates the beautiful commitment of the American people to teach, to shed light to younger people, newcomers to our country, to make a valuable contribution. So in saluting, as I say, the DREAMers, we are saluting the opportunity they were given by the American people to make their contribution. Hopefully, Congress will live up to the values of the American people who overwhelmingly support the DREAMers, and see this as a separate issue not just about the DREAMers, but about who we are as a country. Cesar Vargas was born in Mexico. He holds a law degree and wants to became a military lawyer. Aside from advocating for legislation to allow DREAMers to serve in the military, he has been advocating for immigration reform through a political group he launched last year called Dream Action Coalition. The group is known for challenging lawmakers on their stance on immigration and highlighting the political power of voters. In his case, Latino voters. Kelly--just Kelly--is from Dover, New Jersey. Kelly is a student working toward becoming a medical assistant. She will be done with courses in January. However, without a DACA work permit, she won't be able to complete an internship required to complete her training and get certified. Her driver's license also expires in February. Understand this: you can't have a Social Security card, a passport, a driver's license. You cannot function as a person in our society without having your status protected by the Dream Act. So when people tell you it is all protected, it isn't. Listen to the stories. So I was talking about Kelly. Kelly is a student working to becoming a medical assistant. She will be done in January. However, without DACA, she won't be able to complete her training or get her driver's license, as I mentioned. Kelly--just Kelly--has lived in New Jersey since she was 5 years old. She says DACA has ``given me the chance to drive, have a work permit, buy a car, get car insurance--things that obviously benefit the country as well. It's helped me to not be stuck, not to have to depend on others. . . .'' Kelly's DACA renewal application was rejected because she forgot to fill in a date of expiration. When she received notice of the error, she fixed it and sent the application back immediately, but, by then, the arbitrary October deadline had passed. This is another reason why we need to clear this up. Crystal--just Crystal--is a single, working mom of 5 U.S. citizen children. She was born in the Bahamas and arrived in the U.S. at 6 years old. Crystal had her fifth child only 3 weeks ago, and while recovering, she had been on unpaid leave from a retail job, where she has worked for nearly 6 years. Now that her work authorization has expired, she will not be able to return to work, and her ability to provide for her kids will be impeded. What? Carlos from the Bronx. Carlos lives in the Bronx and is the only undocumented member of his family. The whole family pulls together to care for Carlos' younger sister who has severe cerebral palsy and cannot walk. Carlos' employer, a fabrication company, desperately wants to keep Carlos as an employee. His DACA and work authorization expired February 18, 2017. It expired already. So the list goes on and on. Carlos sent his DACA renewal application on September 18, 2017, 2 weeks after the President's announcement. But it was not received until December 11--he sent it on September 18. It was received on October 11. In the rejection letter, he was notified that he failed to fill in his DACA expiration date on one of the forms. The relevant information was included in the cover letter and in other parts of the packet. Carlos arrived in the U.S. when he was 2 years old. New York is the only place he can call home. The expiration date was in the package, but in one of the forms it was not added. So he lost his protections. I have to mention Kelly, who is a constituent of Rodney Frelinghuysen. Crystal, who was here from the Bahamas, is a constituent of Ted Deutch. Carlos is from the Bronx and is a constituent of Joe Crowley. Saul is from San Francisco and is a constituent of Jackie Speier. Saul aspires to be a teacher, Mr. Speaker. DACA has allowed him to work in the field he is passionate about: education. He was able to get a driver's license. Saul submitted a DACA renewal application September 30, well in time, via USPS express delivery. He received notification of an error, which he fixed and resubmitted. However, his application was rejected as untimely. Agustin is from Brooklyn. Agustin's DACA will expire in January-- already--within days of his 21st birthday. DACA allowed Agustin to go to college to study criminal justice. He works and goes to school. When his DACA expires--which it has--he won't have the means to pay his bills and the cost of school. What are we doing? It is like without papers, WOP. And now people who are striving to have their papers are outlawed on a technicality. Really? Aren't we supposed to be enabling people to make their contribution instead of hurting them with the process? It is, again, important to note, and for our viewers to note that what people are asking for is nothing special. It is asking them to honor what was there. When DACA recipients were told to sign up, they submitted considerable information about their lives. They effectively outed their parents with the commitment that there would be protection for them. We have heard many good bipartisan proposals to protect the DREAMers, to give consideration to parents so that they would not be deported because they brought a child into the country. Some of these parents have citizen children now who are also making a contribution to our society. So it is because people understand that that September 5 announcement by the President was very disruptive. Let's hope that it was not intentional. I don't think that it was. I have no reason to think that it was. But it did cause problems that perhaps were unforeseen. The system did not even allow for a correction in a form in a timely fashion because of dependence on when it was received to be judged a protection for those students. So, in fact, over 110 DREAMers a day lose their protection. It is over--approaching 20,000 already who are losing their protections. And it will be more by the time of March 5, which is the deadline. And if we are going to reach a March 5 deadline, or any deadline, we have to get on a timetable to do so. One timetable we have is the opportunity today to have a commitment from the Speaker not to be afraid of DREAMers. Thank God for them. They contribute. We are a nation of DREAMers. That is why they fit so comfortably in our society and contribute to it so beautifully. I will tell you about Mayron, Rick Larsen's constituent from Washington State. Mayron, originally from Honduras, has lived in the U.S. since he was 11 years old and knows no other country as home. He has overcome lots of obstacles to be who he is today, a successful entrepreneur who owns three businesses. He submitted his DACA renewal application before the deadline. It arrived on October 2, 2017. He accidentally submitted the processing fee for $465 instead of $495. That is what it takes. $495 is a lot of money. His entire case was sent back for that reason. With his rejection, he received a green document stating: You are invited to resubmit your application package after you have corrected the reasons for rejection. Place this letter on top of your application package. Mayron affixed the processing fee and resubmitted his application with the green document on top of his application package. On October 31, he received the entire package in the mail with a rejection notice dated October 24 that stated that USCIS is no longer accepting DACA applications. Mayron has been a DACA applicant for the last 3 years and is heartbroken by the DHS' actions in rejecting the renewal of his DACA. Gregory Meeks' constituent, Brittany, writes that she was born in Trinidad and Tobago and arrived in the U.S. at 3 years old and grew up in New York. She has no close family in Trinidad and Tobago, and all of her immediate and most of her extended family who are citizens and residents live near her in New York. Brittany is a full-time caretaker for a family in Brooklyn with two 14-month-old sons, one of whom has special needs and requires physical therapy. Although the child's special needs were not known when she was hired, Brittany has risen to the occasion with grace, calm, and competence according to the family. We are devastated by the thought she may not be able to continue to work in this country, and, no, we won't find another caregiver who is as reliable, nurturing, and unshakeable as Brittany. Brittany submitted her renewal application September 21, but it was sent back to her on October 5 because she forgot to sign her name in one place. She sent it back immediately but was rejected as untimely. Hugo in Houston, Texas. Hugo is a 34-year-old father who lives in Houston, Texas. He came to the United States from Mexico when he was 6 years old and has lived in Houston ever since. He completed K-12 in Houston and now works at a photo framing shop near downtown. After Trump was elected, Hugo worried about reapplying, so he waited. Hugo found out from one text message from a friend on September 6 that he needed to reapply before October 5 or risk losing his DACA. He decided to quickly put together his application as his DACA was set to expire September 9, 2017. Hurricane Harvey had just hit the Houston area. While Hugo's home was not destroyed, the entire city of Houston was shut down, including many businesses. Hugo's work was one of them. He didn't have the time or money to pay an attorney. He had to borrow half the money for the application fee because he couldn't get $495 together in such a short period of time. Hugo was unable to get his DACA renewal application mailed until October 4, which is still before the deadline. USCIS received Hugo's application on October 6. On November 1, Hugo received a letter from USCIS denying his renewal. Now, you know if they got his application on October 6, they knew it was mailed before October 5, or in time on October 5, but they turned him down. The point I want to make here is these are technicalities that people have been turned down on. Could we all live up to the standard that has been set to sign in every place with the date and the this and the that even though the information is contained in the package, even though hurricanes intervened in the mail service or the opportunity to put the package together, no mitigation, no consideration for that? That is really unfortunate because the American people are the losers in all of that. Fernanda writes that she arrived in the U.S. at age 2 wearing a pink parka and matching pants, clutching on to her mom. She carried a single bag and abandoned her family in search of a better life beside her father in the U.S. Her dad was already in Alabama, and they were wanting to be by his side. In the year before his decision to leave Mexico, he had been assaulted five times and already had his wedding band stolen twice. Since arriving to the States, they have been able to start four businesses and create jobs. They purchased two cars and put Fernanda through college. They also have helped their U.S.-born son reach his goals of being a professional soccer player and is on the Olympic Development Program team for the southeast region. Sheila Jackson Lee is with us in the Chamber. Sheila's story is that one of these young people living with uncertainty is Cesar Espinoza, a DREAMer from Houston who came to America from Mexico at the age of 6. Cesar adapted quickly to his Texas home and became a standout student excelling in programs for the gifted and talented throughout his primary and secondary education. Faced daily with the constant threat of deportation, Cesar and his family were forced to have an emergency plan in place in the event one of his family members were detained by the immigration services. Espinoza graduated from DeBakey High School near the top of his class and was accepted at some of America's most prestigious universities, including Yale. But his undocumented status prevented him from obtaining financial assistance, nearly shattering his college ambitions. He could have given up on his pursuit of a degree, but instead he chose to make a difference. I know there are other young people who are just like me, said Cesar. They need someone to fight for them and try to make a way. That is when he founded FIEL, an immigrants' rights organization based in Houston. Congresswoman Barbara Lee writes about her constituent, Emily. Emily is a resident of Alameda, California. She came to the U.S. when she was 9 years old with her family from South Korea in the year 2000. She currently works in community health work in a federally qualified health center in Oakland, California, serving the underserved API community. Emily graduated from UC Berkeley in 2014 and has been working as a community health worker ever since. She is also taking a class after work to prepare to apply to graduate school. Emily says DACA has changed her life and the lives of her family members. She was able to finally contribute to her family's living expenses upon graduation and will continue to pursue her dreams. Emily is grateful for the protection she received under DACA. But she is also deeply concerned about her mother and friends who don't have the same opportunity to come out of the shadows. Emily said, ``When my rights as a `deserving American' are justified by the idea that it was `no fault of my own,' it automatically criminalizes my mother, whose love, sacrifice, and resilience made it possible for me and my siblings to be where we are today. I am forever thankful for her courage and the sacrifice she made to give us a better life.'' Emily's story is a reminder that we must protect DREAMers, but we must never give up the fight for comprehensive immigration reform. It is past time for Congress to pass the clean Dream Act. Jose Castillo wrote: ``My name is Jose Castillo, and I am 22 years old. When I was 4 years old''--can you imagine how precious--``my parents took my little sister and me and packed up everything they owned. We got on a plane and headed to the United States to escape a country in its early stages of turmoil. My parents gave up everything they had to provide us with a sliver of a chance, one they knew we wouldn't have in Venezuela. ``They made it a point to raise us well while shielding us from racism and their fears of deportation. ``Eventually, we came to understand just how many doors were closed to us. Disheartened and frightened for our future, we prayed for something, anything. DACA was that something. DACA has given me hope and a real chance, but, more importantly, it has given me a voice. I can proudly tell my story to anyone who is willing to listen, a story about a family who is determined and persistent in their pursuit of an American life. ``DACA's removal would rip that away from us. Ending DACA will hurt more than 800,000 people, people not just with dreams and aspirations, but people that want to be seen, understood, and welcomed. They are your friends and your neighbors, your schoolteachers. . . .'' Now, this is so important: ``They are your friends and your neighbors, your schoolteachers and your doctors, and they need you to come to their side and help. Call Congress, have an open conversation, relay facts and fight for my family and the hundreds of thousands like us.'' This goes on and on. It just seems like it is such an easy solution. There are plenty of challenges that we have that are complex, comprehensive immigration reform, issues that relate to how we prepare our country for jobs for the 21st century, how we prepare our workers and our education system and the rest. But in all of that, we have to be strong as a country. To be strong as a country, we have to be true to our values. To be true to our values is to respect the aspirations of people who are our future. Our young people are our future, and these DREAMers are part of that. They have enriched our community, and they have been enriched by our community, by the goodness of the American people, and by the greatness of our country. So our plea to the Speaker is not one just for the DREAMers. Our plea to the Speaker is for us, for ourselves, again, to honor the vows of our Founders, our patriarch, George Washington, and others who followed him to make our country great, but also to make it a beacon of hope to the rest of the world. Claudia came to the United States when she was 5. She said: `` . . . my family brought me to a country I would call home. I had to learn a new language, new culture, a new way of life. I was brought here by hardworking, loving parents who only wanted what was best for my future, running away from poverty and leaving family behind in the hope of a better life. ``DACA allowed me to have a chance at a better tomorrow. I am now a medical assistant and a third-year student at the University of Utah. Taking away DACA would remove the privileges that I hold dearly. I am not an `illegal alien,' nor am I a criminal or a rapist. I am a human; I am 1 of the 800,000 DREAMers who thrive for a better future. America is my home. I didn't choose to be undocumented, but I do decide to keep fighting for what is right and keep moving forward, undocumented and unafraid. I am a DREAMer, and I am here to stay.'' Did I tell you about Juan Escalante? ``With much foresight to the oncoming political evidence, my parents fled Venezuela in 2000, with my two brothers and me in tow, for the United States. In 2006, we learned that an immigration attorney had mishandled our immigration case, which meant that, after 6 years of legal fees and paying taxes, we were no longer on the path towards U.S. citizenship. ``By the time President Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, program in 2012, I had graduated from Florida State University with a political science degree. I fought and lost two legislative fights in support of the Dream Act, helped enact a law in Florida that would provide in-state tuition for undocumented students across the State, and helped organize thousands of DREAMers from all across the country. ``Since 2013, DACA has protected my brothers and me from deportation. With DACA, I was able to return to FSU for a master's degree in public administration and get a job in immigration advocacy, as the digital campaigns manager for America's Voice. I am a Tallahassee resident.'' Mayra came to the United States at age 6. She said: ``I have now lived in the United States for 21 years. Currently, I work full time as a special education paraprofessional. I am also a college student. I'm working on my third college degree.'' How many of us can make that claim? ``In May of 2018, I will be graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and special education. A challenge I have had to overcome is accepting situations that are out of my control and knowing that having strength and fortitude will lead me to prevail in the end. ``I first went to college to become a nurse. In 2011, my junior year of college, I graduated with honors with an associate's degree in nursing. Unfortunately, I was unable to get licensed due to my immigration status. It was upsetting and embarrassing. I was embarrassed because I would see former peers working as actual nurses, and I wasn't. And not because I was incapable, but merely because I was never even given the opportunity to take the NCLEX and get licensed. ``In 2012, I finished my senior year in college and graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in general studies. Over the years, the State I reside in has changed State legislation to allow DACA recipients to receive driver's licenses, professional licenses, and certifications.'' That is a beautiful thing, but we want that for the whole country. There are just certain things, the contributions of DREAMers to our society, the work they do every day with the American people of which they consider themselves to be a part, the benefits they have received from working and knowing people in our country, themselves benefiting from the greatness of the American people, the reciprocity they have given back and honoring the American Dream, working hard with a work ethic, an ethic of faith, family, and community, and a work ethic, usually typical of an immigration community as many of us who are families from the immigration community, which are all of us unless we happen to be very blessed to be born a Native American in our country. How beautiful some of the Native American families in our country have been to our newcomers to our country. Our country should all be that welcoming, and I think our country is. That is why the numbers are in the eighties and nineties, in terms of support for DREAMers, and even in the seventies among Republicans for a path to citizenship. Carlos Emilio Diaz writes: ``I am 19 years old, and I was born in Guerrero, Mexico. I moved to Houston when I was a year old''--a year old--``and was raised there my entire life. I am currently a student at UT Austin. My biggest dream is to provide my parents with everything they need without them having to work. They have sacrificed so much and continue to do so. I feel that's the least I could do. DACA gives me that opportunity, and without it, my dream has become uncertain.'' One of the things that I think many families in transition, that is to say, the upward mobility of education in our country and the length of time that families have been here, is the story of their respect for their parents, to see opportunities that they have, that DREAMers in this case have, but just take any people in our country. That one generation has tremendous opportunity because of the sacrifice of their parents and grandparents. One of the attitudes that I have heard from people is, while they are enjoying and are grateful for everything that they have and the opportunity they have to give back to society, they have a certain sadness that their parents didn't have that same opportunity for education, to reach their personal aspirations. Their aspiration was to make the future better for their children. They certainly were successful at that. But, still, among some young people, you hear: ``I wish my parents could have had this opportunity.'' How many people have ever said: ``If only my mother would have had this opportunity''? That is in every generation, practically, because opportunities for women have changed so much. But, in any case, I have a neighbor in East Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley, Rocio, who writes: ``I grew up in East Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley before and after the dot-com bubble. Despite living in a tough neighborhood of violence''--you maybe don't know that, but East Palo Alto is, in the heart of all this wealth, success, and entrepreneurship, a place that needs more of our attention. ``Despite living in a tough neighborhood of violence, I watched ``Star Trek Voyager,'' ``Friends,'' read Dr. Seuss, and memorized musicals from ``Funny Girl'' to ``The Wizard of Oz.'' On the weekends, I helped my dad clean office buildings. He hid me in the trash cart to sneak me into work. I picked up the trash and refilled the trash can with bags at every room. Today, I am in one of those conference rooms whiteboarding with engineers and product managers to solve the toughest problems in Big Data.'' Imagine being sneaked in in a trash barrel, helping to clean those offices, and now being the leader in the room, whiteboarding with engineers and product managers, solving the toughest problems in Big Data. ``Anyone who thinks East Palo Alto is a precious community doesn't live there anymore. During the worst days of gang violence, I had to become street smart and know that, as an immigrant and only child in a house of 17 people, I wasn't in a position to fight back. My strategy was always to keep a low profile and be on the lookout for trouble. ``The community of EPA put me in touch with amazing people through Eastside. Eastside is a private''--when I say ``EPA,'' in this case, it is East Palo Alto. ``The community of East Palo Alto put me in touch with amazing people through Eastside. Eastside is a private school in EPA that helps underrepresented and first-generation students get into college. A couple sponsored me from 6th through 12th grade. ``Every day, I met volunteers and teachers from the surrounding towns and Stanford University. Through a reading program, I met Christina, or Chris, as I like to call her, who, for the past 15 years has been a mentor and a friend. She helped me become a better reader and eventually edit a manuscript for a book. The education and support that I received at Eastside allowed me to be successful and stay safe. ``It sounds crazy, but I couldn't get a cell phone. If something happened to me while my parents worked the night shift as janitors, I couldn't call 911. I didn't have a credit history, which requires a Social Security number. That's when I started becoming aware of my status as an undocumented student. A Stanford med school student, Julie, helped me out. Although the phone was under her name, I paid her in cash for part of my bill every month.'' So, again, you see, without it--no status, no credit, no Social Security number, no driver's license--it is debilitating and doubly worrisome because so many of these people are making such a valuable contribution to our society, learning from the American people, and giving back. Maneri: ``I'm 18 years old and from Los Angeles. I just graduated high school and will be attending UCLA to study political science in the fall. Being an undocumented student has been tough. Coming to this country at 6 years old completely changed my life. Learning English and doing well in school was a battle since everyone in my family only spoke Spanish and had no more than an elementary school education. ``However, being a DREAMer has also shaped who I am, what I stand for, and has inspired me to dream big. After graduation, I hope to go to law school and become an immigration lawyer to help others in my situation and give back to my community. I dream that one day your immigration status doesn't define your path in life or hold you back from reaching your goals but, instead, encourages and embraces diversity.'' Again, so many stories of so many DREAMers. I just want to see if we have some more from our colleagues in terms of the ones that they have submitted. We have received all of these from our colleagues. Some of them identified as being from them or not, but all of them, again, proud, proud of these young people who not only are DREAMers, but inspire the rest of us to dream. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your courtesy. I am not finished yet. I thank you for your courtesy in the interim and just want to say I am taking this time because I think we have an opportunity now that is almost matchless. We are at a moment when we can all come together to do something really good for the country, take an action that has bipartisan support. We have no right, as I said earlier, any of us, to associate ourselves with the aspirations of the DREAMers unless we are able to and willing and courageous enough to take action on their behalf. So, while some of us have been, more or less, receptive to receiving DREAMers, learning from them, being inspired by them, some have not been as exposed to these DREAMers and their stories as others. I think, if you had been--and I am not saying you reject it; I am just saying maybe it is geography or whatever--you would be as insistent as many of us are that we live up to who we are as a country, and this people's House listens to the voices of the American people who overwhelmingly support our DREAMers. Again, I don't know when we would have another opportunity that matches today for us to just get a simple commitment from the Speaker of the House that he will give us a vote. There is no guarantee. We will have the debate. People will weigh in. They will make their voices heard. Congress, again, will work its will. But do not diminish this House of Representatives, this people's House, to a place where we don't have the right to express our views on a subject so important to our country that has such general support in the public and, yet, the Speaker of the House is saying we don't matter here, we, Members of the House, don't count in this consideration because maybe we just don't have the courage to do what we need to do. I believe we do. I believe many people on the Republican side of the aisle have demonstrated even greater courage than some of us on this side. It is easy for me. But it is also hard for me because we really, again, are in a position to do something, and we feel helpless--that is what the hard part is--helpless if our Speaker will not, Speaker of the whole House, give this dignity to this House of Representatives to be able to take the vote on a subject of broad debate in the country, but we can't debate a bill on the floor of the House. The Senate has received that dignity, has received that commitment from Mitch McConnell, from Leader McConnell on the Republican side, but, nonetheless, the Senate side, responding to bipartisan support, bringing a bill to the floor with, again, no guarantee, the debate, we will see what path that legislation takes. But why a gag rule in the House of Representatives? Why a gag rule? And that is why I am voicing some of the concerns today, largely through the voices and the stories of our DREAMers. We want to be sure that the public record of the Congress of the United States forevermore will reflect the stories of their great contribution to America in the hopes that those stories will move the Speaker of the House to give us a vote, to elevate this House of Representatives to its rightful place instead of diminishing us by saying the Senate may talk about these subjects that the American people care so much about, not so fast in the House of Representatives. So that is why I am using my leadership minute to make sure that the Record will show the magnificent contributions of the DREAMers in our country, the courage it took for their parents to bring them here. And again, Members are sending in their stories from Dallas, Texas, from Arizona State. Let me read this one: Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Stretching out my hand to greet her. She reiterated my name, Mr. Luis Roberto Usera, class salutatorian. Isn't that great? Making the salutary address. Clear as the day, breaking wind upon my face, silencing my voice as I spoke out in a crowd of thousands. This is our day, ladies and gentlemen, the class of 2012. The last 18 years of our lives, everything we have accomplished, everything we have been through has led us to today. Reading these words aloud encouraged that I had made a difference, that my work ethic finally paid off. This is meant to be an honor. Here I was, 4.8 grade point average, 4.8 grade point average, all honors classes. Ran student government and some of the most successful blood drives my school ever has seen and no way to do anything with it. I looked, watching people's reaction, their faces toward mine, waiting for me to continue. And so I did. An echo was heard around the amphitheater rapidly dispersing my voice to everyone in the back, to myself. I spoke into the enchanted crowd, amused at my priestlike voice. And here, 4 years later, we have to face that same feeling, the bittersweet combination of nostalgia and excitement that comes when you turn off one road in your life and onto another. The speech would have been great if I had believed a word I was saying. The speech might have rung true to someone else, but the advice that was inadvertently coming out of my mouth meant nothing to myself. I could no longer follow my own advice. Governing laws did not allow undocumented immigrants to go to college right out of high school. My too thin of a boy who ignorantly thought he would go to college transformed to that of a cashier tending lines in the local supermarket. In retrospect, those feelings were before DACA was announced. I still remember the many chills that went through my body when President Obama announced the initiative. Then, still worried that it might be too good to be true, I stuck with it and applied, making a huge difference in my life. I could continue my education, work legally, and live peacefully in a world surrounded by fear. Through DACA, I could achieve the by then impossible college education. DACA allowed me to come out of the shadows and show the true potential I have without fear. DACA demonstrated to me that people cared, that people wanted to help and understand the situation. I recently received TheDream.US scholarship that bestowed upon me the gift of education, for which I will be ever grateful. I am currently an undergraduate student studying biochemistry at Arizona State University. A great school, by the way. I arrived in the United States when I was 5. I grew up American. I grew up speaking English. I grew up to call the United States home. This is my home. This is my country. I am here to stay. Luis Roberto Usera Brisano. Sofia de la Varga, an EMT student: I was 5 years old when my mother told me where we were going to on vacation. At the time, I was excited for this vacation because our dog had passed away and was buried right outside my bedroom window. I wasn't too happy about that when it came to getting a night's rest. I went ahead and I gathered my teddy bear and book bag, which pretty much summed up all my belongings as a child. When I was 15, I realized our vacation was more than a permanent move from a dangerous country. My mother gave up her entire family for us. She left her brothers and her mother to risk her life for us. Today, I feel worthless. Since I came to America, I have felt nothing but useless and not belonging. I grew up here. I work, study, breathe, and want to live forever here. Yet never in my life have I been given a chance to become a citizen, because I was not born here. For the longest, I have been sick and tired of living in a place that I am not wanted. For so long, this place I call home refuses to call me theirs. When people ask me where I am from, I say ``America.'' America. My soul and heart are from here. If I were to move back, I know for a fact I would not like it. I wouldn't have a car, internet, friends, security. And getting killed is a possibility every day. However, if the choice were mine and no one in my family existed, I would leave in a heartbeat because at least I would belong. I wanted to leave many times. My mom, the most wonderful soul on the planet, convinced me otherwise. She fled because, since the day I was born, they said they were trying to rob, kidnap, and even kill her. When I first heard President Obama's speech on DACA years ago, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. DACA granted me everything to live a normal life and, for once, belong. It was temporary, but I felt real. I graduated high school at the top percent in my class. I was first in my family, and I was blessed to start college and earned a scholarship that paid for my first 2 years. This December I will be finishing up my EMT school. In the future, I hope to complete 2 more years of paramedic and attain an associate in emergency services. I have a brother that drowned when I was younger. In my home country, you can forget that police and an ambulance will arrive or even bother to come if you call. My only hope is to save as many lives as I can or die risking my life for another person. I know DACA can be taken away. I won't be able to drive to my college or work to pay off my college tuition. My scholarship will be terminated, I will be deported and eventually left with nothing to live for. I pray for an opportunity to stop feeling like that. There isn't room for me here. You see, it is amazing the effect on public policy and people's lives. That is why I want the Record to show, again, that everyone, forevermore in the history of the United States of America, will know that these DREAMers are part of that history and that their stories will be there to make judgments about us as to how we have responded to their greatness. Nayelli Valdemar says: ``I am an AP scholar. I am a distinguished high school graduate. I am a cum laude student. I am a leader. I am a recipient of scholarships in merit and circumstance. I am also an illegal immigrant. ``Well, allow me to rephrase. I am an illegal immigrant until the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an executive action where President Obama gave me the opportunity to live as a resident here in the United States. DACA has opened many doors for DREAMers such as myself. Honestly, it has made the path to success miles more tangible. Inspiring me to be the best I can, even when the odds plotted against me, DACA was, and is, there to give a helping hand. Regarding my academic record, neither am I writing to boast about my accomplishment nor to ask for pity in the right situation, I am here to thank anyone and everyone who made DACA not only possible, but DREAMers' dreams come true. I'm writing to give thanks for the faith the creators of DACA gave me when the compassion of the world seemed to turn a blind eye my way. With this letter, I only hope to help the new Presidential administration understand why DACA is a vital part of every DREAMer's life. ``As a poverty-stricken female immigrant, I have moved mountains to get to where I am today, but this never would have been possible without the assistance of DACA. Playing an important role in my life, DACA is a pinnacle to the rights I cherish every day. Because of DACA, I have been able to get a job to assist my family. It was not easy working 30-plus-hour shifts, only to be welcomed by house chores and schoolwork, especially since I graduated from a magnet school, the Science Academy of South Texas, a school notorious for its workload. . . . ``My hopes lie in that the generosity of this Nation continues to allow all DREAMers a fighting chance for our future, our hopes, and our aspirations to become more than just DREAMers. ``Please, please, let it be known that all DREAMers appreciate the assistance this Nation has given us through DACA. Futures have been opened for DREAMers who were once on uncertain roads, thanks to the help of DACA. I hope this Nation does not give up on us. I hope this Nation continues to believe in its DREAMers. I hope this Nation continues to see why DACA is necessary. After all, this Nation is all that most DREAMers have. Our lives are under the weight of this country's mercy. Although, as much as we work, as much as we learn, as much as we pray, all we can truly do is hope and dream for a hopeful tomorrow, a brighter road ahead, a chance to dream again. Nayelli Valdemar.'' Nayelli, in this statement, talks about praying. That is why I am so glad I mentioned at the beginning the three Bs: the Bibles, the badges, and the business community. They are so supportive of giving relief to the DREAMers. Let's talk about the Bibles. I talked about the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the Good Samaritan, the dignity and worth of every person's spark of divinity, that God, Christ coming down, bringing his divinity to humanity enabled us, our humanity, to participate in his divinity, and that is that spark that we all have, every single one of us. So we have to respect it in others but be responsible for it in ourselves, and that is the challenge that we have. ``Hope,'' sitting there between ``faith'' and ``charity,'' the goodness of others--we all have hope that when we have needs, we believe, we have faith that others will be there for us, and that is what America is about. America is great because America is good. I say it over and over again. This fabulous, greatest country in the history of the world, think about it, our Founders, how courageous they were. They decided to declare war on the greatest naval power, then, in the world, the British Navy, the British military. They declared, in the Declaration of Independence, their grievances against the king, but they also stated their aspirations about people being created equal. No country had been founded on that principle before, and our inalienable rights under God, just remarkable, bestowed on them by Our Creator. This is a remarkable people. And then they fought the war, they won the war, they established our founding documents. My daughter wrote a movie on it--well, she didn't write because it was written by our Founders, but she produced a movie on words that made America--our Declaration, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights. And thank God they had the brilliance to make our Constitution amendable. And it being amendable, it became this incredible document with the Bill of Rights, and then others that we take an oath to protect and defend. At the same time as they did that, they created the great seal of the United States of America. I referenced it earlier. It is on the dollar bill. You see that triangle with the eye? It used to scare me when I was little. What is that? A pyramid with an eye? But under it, it says: ``Novus Ordo Seclorum.'' Catholics know that ``seclorum, seclorum, seclorum'' means ``forever and ever and ever.'' But in this, it is ``new order for the ages.'' They had so much confidence in what they had established and what they were doing that was so new and fresh to the world. They became a beacon to the world. But in doing this new order for the ages, they had confidence and optimism that this would last forever because it was predicated on the idea that every generation would take responsibility and make the future better for the next. I said it earlier: The American Dream. People flocked to our shores bringing their aspirations, hopes, determination, and courage to make the future better for their families. And in adopting them, their traits were like American traits, characteristics of optimism, hope, courage, and making the future better. And all these newcomers to our shores, they made America more American with their commitment to a better future for their families, and that continues to this day. And these young people now are called DREAMers. Their parents had a dream for them to bring them to our country, but they completely adapted to our way of always being dreamers about a better future in our country. They learned from the American people. They taught the American people. It is a beautiful relationship. And now we have an opportunity to show our greatness as a country, to honor the values of our Founders, the courage they had to find a path, a solution, a result, so that we can put this aside and address other issues that relate to immigration, which are a bigger picture, more complicated, take more time, require more public debate. Why can't we just do this? This is discrete. Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham, the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, said this so beautifully when we testified before the Rules Committee on immigration, on the Dream Act. She said: Think of this bill like CHIP. CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program, is about the children. It is not a bill that talks about universal healthcare, the whole healthcare system of our country. It is about the children. We have the immigration issue similar to being a big comprehensive issue, but then we have this little piece that is for the children. I think it was the perfect analogy. CHIP is healthcare for the children. It doesn't address the whole healthcare system, changes that people may want to make or improve or change. It is about the children. It is an easy path for us to go down, recognizing that it is not a substitute for what we need to do to address immigration reform in our country, but a first step, not a step instead of. And it is a confidence-building step that we can find common ground in, in a bipartisan way, and we must, if it is going to be sustainable, just as the bill was in 1986 that President Reagan improved upon with his family fairness initiatives. So that is why let's just think of it as about the children. We should always be thinking about the children. They are the future. They own the future. They are it. And when children come to Washington, D.C., and they visit and see how we honor our Founders, George Washington, Lincoln--later to save the Union, Lincoln--but earlier, Thomas Jefferson, et cetera, and walk these Halls and see tributes to people who went before, we say: In most cases, this is about respecting contributions these people made to our country, especially our big monuments on The Mall, and most recently, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., there. We honor them, we learn from them, we value them. But what we do here is values-based on how they taught us. But it is about the future, and this is about how we can go into the future making distinctions, discerning. Discerning, having the ability to say there is some things we can get done, let's do them; other things take more time. Let's build confidence, build bridges in what we do, again, always trying to do it with bipartisanship, with transparency so people know what the debate is and what is in the bill, and that brings unity to our country. I think that is very possible. I am very proud to read these statements into the Record, and I will continue to do so. But during the night, when I was thinking and praying so hard about our DREAMers, I thought maybe we should just pray all day on the floor of Congress. Maybe I should bring my rosary blessed by the Pope, blessed by His Holiness Pope Francis, or the one before that, Benedict. I had the honor and privilege of receiving rosaries blessed by several Popes in my lifetime, but I always remember Pope Benedict. When he came, he spoke so beautifully. He spoke so beautifully. His first encyclical is called, ``God is love.'' In it, he quotes St. Augustine, who, 17 centuries ago, said: ``Any government that is not formed to promote justice is just a bunch of thieves.'' That is what St. Augustine said 17 centuries ago. He, Benedict, His Holiness, goes on to say: Sometimes it is hard to define what justice is, but in doing so, we must beware of the dazzling blindness of power and special interest. That is what he said. But this doesn't have any of that. This has social justice, it has camaraderie, it has good spirit. It is based on faith, hope, and charity. Pope Francis, when he came, spoke so beautifully, as he always does, about respecting immigrants. He is living in a much more complicated world of immigrants coming into Europe, but, again, respecting the dignity and worth of every person. And he came here in this Chamber and spoke about a few subjects. As you recall, one of them was poverty and how we respect the dignity and worth of people that Christ mentioned so many times in the Bible. As we know, poor people are mentioned in the Bible hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times because of how important our responsibility is to them. But he also talked about immigration. He talked about immigration in a very important way. And as I get his statement, I will instead read from Gloria Rinconi, a medical assistant from Dallas, Texas. She said: ``I am a girl who you graduated next to, the girl who you talked to daily, the girl who has finally decided to step away from the shadows and into the light for you to see her. ``See me as for who I am, not for someone who told you I would be. ``I immigrated to the United States when I was a year old with my parents. My parents had taken the decision to immigrate to USA due to being in a country that offered no future for their family. Even though both my parents ran a successful business and my mom had a college education, the violence and underemployment was no future for us. The first place we called home was a small apartment in Dallas, Texas, who we shared with another family. We lived in Texas for a year and moved to Statesville, North Carolina. We then moved to the outskirts of the little town in some rundown trailer homes. ``We had nothing. My parents slept on the floor while I made a makeshift bed out of a piece of cardboard and a blanket. After months of saving up money, my dad finally had enough to rent an apartment near downtown Statesville. After 9 years, we moved again to Texas. Growing up, my parents never hid the fact that I was undocumented from me. They always told me, `Just because you were not born here, does not mean you are any less. You are loved by many, regardless of what you might hear on TV.' '' ``Those words became my rock when I was in high school. When I was a freshman, my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. For months she struggled trying to find treatment at an affordable rate. Doctors would turn her down simply because of her illegal status, even though she offered to negotiate a payment plan. She was dying, and no one seemed to care. Her only sin was to be an undocumented woman with stage 4 cancer. She eventually found treatment, but I had seen firsthand how dehumanizing people can be towards the undocumented. During this time, DACA was put into place and it officially opened the door for me. . . . ``DACA gave me wings, the wings I hoped for all my life when I was in school. I participated in national pageants placing as a national achievement finalist. I graduated high school with a medical assistant certification and became a recipient of TheDream.US scholarship, which helped me pursue my higher education. DACA has also given me a chance to give back to other DREAMers by being an intern at My Undocumented Life blog.'' ``U.S. DACA recipients are not here to harm the U.S. The U.S. is our home and will always be our home. We are part of the fabric that makes the American flag. For that, I am willing to come out of the shadows so you can see me.'' Again, this American Dream of making the future better is recurring in all of these stories, and in all of these stories there has been success. Again, though, it is not just about the DREAMers. It is about who we are. Luis Roberto. I talked about Luis already. I gave his speech. We had his speech from his graduating class. Luz Divina writes: ``I came to the U.S. from . . . Mexico when I was 2 months old. I didn't know I was undocumented until sophomore year of high school when I realized I couldn't get a driver's permit, apply for jobs, or go to college programs like all my friends were doing. I felt depressed and oppressed for years until I finally applied for DACA when Obama implemented his executive order. I finally had a chance at the real world. I started a collective in high school named `The Luzdivina Collective' that helped DREAMers in my high school and victims of social injustice in my community. I am currently trying to get into education--either ethnic studies or art, maybe both. The announcement of DACA ending has put me back into a state of depression, but I'm trying my hardest to overcome this with the help of my friends and family. My dream is to be an educator, activist, and writer, to inspire DREAMers like myself who are currently or have been in a state of depression due to their legal status.'' We have to remember how strong the DREAMers are but how fragile some of their existence is when they have no certainty as to what the next steps will be for them. Again, this is all about family, about parents who had the courage to bring their children at an early age to America. This happened 100 years ago. Do you think all of the people who came here all came documented? Maybe we should all look up our ancestry and just find out what the facts are about that. We assume so, but do we really know? And there are many people--as I said earlier, Italians were called wops, without papers. That was a derogatory term. It is disgusting for me to say it, being an Italian American and so proud of my heritage. As I said earlier, we grew up thinking that the world was divided among two people in America: those who were Italian American and those who wanted to be Italian American. Certainly, it feels that way in Little Italy in Baltimore, where I grew up, and in San Francisco, whom I have the honor to represent. But, in any event, we all take pride in our heritage, and that is the best--best--qualification for recognizing the pride that other people take in their heritage. I say this to the Italian Americans all the time: Because I am so proud to be an Italian American, I understand full well why people from Mexico or Puerto Rico or Africa or wherever they are from take pride in who they are, their dignity, the authenticity of their heritage, and who they are. And in America, that beauty, the beauty is in the mix. It certainly is in my district. But in some communities, the contributions of immigrants are not as recent as in others. But in every community, it has made a difference, constantly reinvigorating America. And so when His Holiness Pope Francis came to speak here in the Congress, as a Catholic Italian American--that is the essence of my being--it was really a thrilling day. It was for all of us, regardless of our background or our faith. I was particularly thrilled to hear what he said about immigration. But you recall, he talked about Martin Luther King and the march from Selma to Montgomery. He talked about people living in poverty, and he talked about a number of subjects, but I will just speak to what he said about immigration. The Pope solemnly said: ``In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom. We, the people of this continent''--because, as you know, His Holiness is the first Pope from the Western Hemisphere. ``We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners because most of us were once foreigners. I say this to you as the son of immigrants''--Italian, by the way. ``I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants. Tragically, the rights of those who were here long before us were not always respected. For those people and their nations, from the heart of American democracy, I wish to reaffirm my highest esteem and appreciation. Those first contacts were often turbulent and violent, but it is difficult to judge the past by the criteria of the present. Nonetheless, when the stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must not repeat the sins and errors of the past. We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible, as we educate new generations not to turn their back on our `neighbors' and everything around us. Building a nation calls us to recognize that we must constantly relate to others, rejecting a mindset of hostility in order to adopt one of reciprocal subsidiarity, in a constant effort to do our best. I am confident we can do this.'' How beautiful. And then he goes on to talk about immigration in the rest of the world. And then he says: ``We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to disregard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'' I will submit his whole statement for the Record because it goes on in such a beautiful, beautiful way. It also talks about climate in there, Laudato Si, which is his first encyclical about God's creation, this planet, and our responsibilities to be good stewards of it. I am talking about His Holiness. Getting to the Bible is part of it. We talked about the Bible earlier. I thought maybe we could say a Rosary on the floor of the House, not just five decades, the full Rosary, all of the mysteries of the Rosary, that is 15 decades of the Rosary. But, nonetheless, I think these people telling their stories are very prayerful, and so I will use the time to put their stories on the Record. But let me just say how proud I am of the statements made by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, their courage in fighting for immigrants across our country, from our cardinals, our bishops, et cetera, from their esteemed platforms, whether it is the DREAMers or TPS or comprehensive immigration reform. But right now, today, we are talking about the DREAMers. The evangelicals in our country, Reverend Sam Rodriguez' statements, have been so spectacular about, again, the spark of divinity that exists in every person that must be respected, strong supporters of President Trump also believing that it is possible for all of us to have enough goodness in our hearts to get this job done, go past any obstacles that may be there. Again, the Southern Baptist Convention, their leadership, all across the spectrum, of course, the Jewish community, across the full spectrum of faith-based organizations, all speaking out and rallying as people rallied when we first saw the Muslim ban. The people of faith are people of faith. They believe, and they believe that we have obligations to each other. They have spoken out in a very courageous way. In terms of the badges, I told you some stories about DREAMers who have come forth to help with law enforcement. By and large, we have had strong support from the law enforcement community about support for the DREAMers. And the business community, oh, my, they have been spectacular in terms of raising the profile, treating their employees who are DREAMers with respect, advocating for them. And this Congress of the United States, they seem to have a strong voice on some issues. I wish they would be listened to as attentively on issues of social justice here. But they do have access. And one of the things I want to praise them for is I think that the 90 percent, 80 percent, 70 percent ratings, depending on if it is citizenship or what, but the high numbers across the board for DREAMers would not have been possible without people hearing from the bishops, from law enforcement, and from the business community making this a very high-profile issue about how their companies have benefited from the DREAMers and how they truly believe. This is not an issue that is going to go away. It is a value. It is not an issue. It may be a subject for legislation, but this is an American value that is deeply felt across the board. And I am determined that the stories of at least some of these DREAMers--I can't do 800,000, although I am willing to take the time. That might lose impact after awhile, after some of these great stories. Listen to Maneri: ``I'm 18 years old and from Los Angeles. I just graduated high school and will be attending UCLA to study political science in the fall. Being an undocumented student has been tough. Coming to this country at 6 years old completely changed my life. Learning English and doing well in school was a battle since everyone in my finally only spoke Spanish. . . . Being a DREAMer also shaped who I am, what I stand for. . . . After graduation, I hope to go to law school. . . . '' I already told you this story, but it bears repeating. ``I dream that one day, your immigration status doesn't define your path. . . . '' Alonso: ``Growing up undocumented in Utah truly shaped me into the person I am today. My experiences growing up in the margins of society inform the work I do and the work I seek to continue doing in this life. I am passionate about working with undocumented students and families and strive to share all of my knowledge and experiences with the undocumented community as well the community as a whole. ``I was born in Peru and emigrated to the United States when I was 11. I arrived in Utah with my brother to unite with our mother, who had come to the U.S. a year before our arrival. Six months after arriving in the U.S. with a tourist visa, my visa expired. . . . '' So he came into the country with legal status. And this is something I think that is really important. Not everybody who is undocumented came here in an undocumented fashion. Some of the documentation is expired and, in the case of DACA, just a question of when the mail hit and what day it was received by the government. ``I was 12 and a hardworking student, earning good grades working toward a future that would allow me to repay my mom for all of her sacrifices. As a high school student, I enrolled in honors and AP courses, which challenged me and furthered my plans of earning a higher education. ``I graduated from high school with a diploma of merit and went to the University of Utah, where I would major in sociology and be mentored by incredible individuals. Most pointedly, Matt Bradley Ph.D., rest in peace 2012; Caitlyn Cahill, Ph.D.; and David Quijada Cerecer, Ph.D. My mentors showed me that my work, insight, and contributions as an undocumented student are important. . . . '' Now, imagine, this child came in documented but became undocumented when the visa expired. ``. . . and I truly owe them for showing me that I matter for being who I am. ``In 2013, I graduated from the University of Utah with an honors bachelor of science in sociology, and in 2016 with a master's in education . . . with an emphasis on higher education administration. I am currently the Dreamer Program Coordinator for the University of Utah, which is the first center for DREAMers in the State of Utah.'' God bless you, Utah. ``In the future, I would like to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology with a focus on immigration and labor studies.'' This is important because, once again, as has been consistent in these themes, the DREAMers are grateful for the mentoring they have received from people in our country, some of whom shared their heritage, most of whom did not. That is the beautiful thing about the DREAMers: they know that they have a dream, but somebody else had a plan for their own dream that inspired the DREAMers to have their plan. When Yuri Hernandez was only 3 years old, her family brought her to the United States from Mexico. Yuri grew up in the town of Coos Bay in Oregon. In high school, she was an honor roll student who was very active in her community. Yuri went on to attend the University of Portland, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work. Yuri is now a graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. She is planning to graduate with a master's in social work in the fall of 2017. In her spare time, she tutors and mentors high school students. Yuri dreams of becoming a social worker and giving back to her community. Rey Pineda was brought to America when he was 2 years old. The first in his family to attend college and a devout Catholic, Rey is now a priest in the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, Georgia. If DACA is eliminated, Father Rey will lose his legal status and could be deported back to Mexico, a tragedy for Father Rey and his congregation. After the most divisive election in recent memory, Father Rey and other DACA recipients have a key role to play in healing the differences that divide us. Oscar Cornejo, Jr., was brought to Park City, Utah, when he was 5 years old. He was an excellent student throughout his childhood and now attends Dartmouth. If DACA is eliminated, Oscar will lose his legal status and could be deported back to Mexico, a country he hasn't lived in since he was 5 years old. Will America be stronger if we deport Oscar? Will America be stronger if we deport Oscar, or if he stays here and achieves his dream of becoming an educator? The answer is clear. DACA works. Lisette Diaz was just 6 years old when her family brought her to the U.S. from Chile. Growing up in Long Island, Lisette excelled in school and was involved in her community. She went on to attend Harvard, where she received numerous awards and participated in a variety of extracurricular activities. Lisette recently graduated Harvard with honors. Lisette and other DREAMers have so much to contribute to our country, but Donald Trump and other Republicans have made their agenda clear. They want to shut down DACA and DAPA and deport hundreds of thousands of DREAMers and American children. That is Lisette's view. I hope that we have a better understanding of where the President may be on this. We don't want Lisette to be deported back to Chile, a country where she hasn't lived since she was 6 years old. When Cynthia Sanchez was just 7 years old, her family came to the United States from Mexico. Cynthia grew up in Denver, Colorado, and was an excellent student. She went on to attend the University of Denver, where she received numerous awards and scholarships and was an active volunteer. In 2010, Cynthia graduated from college with a degree in cognitive neuroscience, which is a double major in psychology and biology, as well as a minor in chemistry. In 2013, she applied for DACA and was approved that summer. By September, Cynthia was working at Northwestern University in Chicago doing clinical research in the Department of Medicine's Division of Cardiology. Her research focuses on improving treatment for patients who suffer from heart disease. Cynthia said: ``DACA has meant a new realm of opportunities for me, it has opened new doors for me, and it has allowed me to once again see my dream as a reality. I truly believe that if those opposed to DACA or the Dream Act had a chance to sit and chat with undocumented students, their opinions might change. They would see capable, smart, hardworking individuals who are Americans in every sense of the word, love this country, and want to contribute to its prosperity. After all, this is our home.'' That is really very beautiful. I do believe that the more our colleagues know the DREAMers, the better it will be for our country. Vasthy Lamadrid came to the United States from Mexico when she was only 5 years old. Despite her family's modest means, Vasthy felt safe and excelled in school. Math was her best subject, and she had nearly perfect scores on standardized tests. In middle school, Vasthy discovered the love of engineering. She excelled academically and was active in her community. Vasthy has gone on to attend Arizona State University, again, I mention, a great school. Because of her immigration status, she does not qualify for any government assistance and has to pay out-of-state tuition, despite having lived in Arizona for most of her life. To help pay for her education, Vasthy decided to crowdfund her college education. Vasthy shared her story online, and this brought in enough contributions to pay for her tuition. She is currently in her second year of college. In her first semester, she made the dean's list with a 3.79 GPA in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Thanks to DACA, Vasthy is able to work to support herself and volunteer in her community. As a result of her volunteer work, Vasthy has decided that she wants to become a science teacher. Okay. So I have been going through some of these rather quickly in order to get as many of them in the Record as possible. But I do want to change my pace a little bit because some of these stories are so emotion-filled, and I can place the statement in the Record, but I want to deliver the stories. I am trying to be respectful of other people's time, but I am also trying to be respectful of the challenge that we face and the need for us to find a solution which is clear in sight for our DREAMers. Fernando's family came to the United States when he was 9 years old. In high school, Fernando was an AP Scholar and received the International Baccalaureate Diploma and the achievement award in foreign language for French. Fernando continued to excel academically at Santa Clara University, where he graduated cum laude with a double major in biology and french. Now a third-year doctoral student at UC San Francisco--the ultimate, fabulous place, right--Fernando--it is very hard to get in--works at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he is working hard to provide new insights into many diseases and disorders. Again, giving back. Denisse Rojas--in 1990, Denisse tells her story that when she was an infant, her parents carried her across the Southwest border with the hope of giving her and her siblings a better life. Just think of this family, so courageous. Denisse's family settled in Fremont, California. Denisse said, in her words: ``In grade school, I recall feeling different from my peers; my skin color was darker, my English was stilted, I was poor, and I was undocumented.'' In 2012, when President Obama established DACA, Denisse's life changed. As a DACA recipient, Denisse's dreams finally seemed within reach. She was able to apply to medical schools that before would have turned her away because of her immigration status. This meant that she could focus on pursuing a career in medicine and no longer fear the possibility of losing the only home she had ever known. Denisse said: ``I have pledged allegiance to this Nation's values since my first day of school; I consider the United States my home. Furthermore, serving others has instilled in me the notion that everyone deserves the opportunity for prosperity. I thus aim to dedicate my life to serving others as a physician and continuing to be a voice for immigrants.'' Reading Denisse's story about her being concerned in grade school, ``I recall feeling different from my peers; my skin color was darker, my English was stilted,'' I am reminded of my own grandson. He is Irish, English, whatever, whatever, and Italian American. He is a mix, but he looks more like the other side of the family, shall we say. When he had his sixth birthday, he had a very close friend whose name is Antonio. He is from Guatemala, and he has beautiful tan skin, beautiful brown eyes, and the rest. This was such a proud day for me because when my grandson blew out the candles on his cake, I said: ``Did you make a wish? And he said: ``Yes, I made a wish.'' We said: ``What is your wish.'' He said: ``I wish I had brown skin and brown eyes like Antonio.'' It was so beautiful, so beautiful. The beauty is in the mix. The face of the future for our country is all-American, and that has many versions. Kok-Leong Seow: ``None of my friends from my hometown know. My parents raised me to be gritty, never to complain or take handouts. I didn't want to have a victim mentality or be known for being undocumented. But I realized that sharing my story would be therapeutic, raise awareness, and help other underprivileged people. ``I came to America when I was 6 years old. My parents grew up poor and risked so much to move us here with hopes of giving us a better life. My dad is a waiter at a small restaurant, which is enough to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. We pay taxes, abide by all laws, and don't live on welfare. ``As for me, I can't legally work, drive, fly, or have health insurance. I've missed out on numerous opportunities because of my situation. Fortunately, I was able to pursue college. ``Fast forward 4 years, I have graduated magna cum laude in computer engineering from Wichita State University. I was at the top of my class, number one in my major, wrote two first-author papers, won research awards, and have a patent pending. ``Consequently, I was accepted into graduate school at Columbia University. However, due to my status, I'm unable to obtain a stipend to continue my education. Receiving DACA would grant me the opportunity to acquire the funding I need, provide for my family, and master my craft to realize my full potential. But due to election results, applying for DACA is simply not a favorable option anymore. ``Without DACA, many live in daily fear of deportation. I've had friends whose families were torn apart.'' This is Kok-Leong Seow. ``These are genuine, everyday struggles, and it's easy to dismiss it because it's not happening to your family. To truly empathize, you need to dig deep and allow yourself to feel our pain and our anxiety.'' This is a very important message, for us to dig deep and experience their pain and anxiety. ``Many non-Native Americans seem to forget that they, too, have immigration in their blood. Just like everyone else, we simply want an opportunity to contribute to the only home that we know. Ironically, I've enjoyed the adversity. I feel alive under pressure. I am unfazed and undocumented. I'm not going anywhere.'' He is not leaving. Gladys Klamka, Phillispburg, New Jersey. ``Patience and heartache is how I would describe my past. I was 2 when my family made the most important decision for us. Moving to the U.S. meant a second chance for me. If we had stayed in Mexico, my folks would have made a decision to give me up for adoption. We settled in NJ for economic relief. ``Unfortunately, at the age of 4, my innocence was stolen from me. I was sexually molested by a 16-year-old boy, but my parents didn't report it, they didn't understand the law, for fear of deportation. Both of my parents worked full time to keep a roof over our heads. I wasn't able to go off to college financially or drive or travel. I got used to doors slamming in my face,'' Gladys writes. ``I was about 14 when my parents explained to me about our status. Confused about my future, I decided to push harder. I finished school, worked full time, and contributed back to the community. ``I received a taxpayer ID issued by the IRS in 1997. I always thought it was funny that the government will take our money but not let us work legally in this country. ``I applied for DACA in 2012. I still remember the day I opened my approval letter. My father said: `Now I don't have to worry about you.' ``I now own my own home, car, and I work in the healthcare system. After election day, I wondered if this dream would soon end. It's been a hard reality check that privileges could be taken away. I only hope for other young DREAMers and undocumented children like myself to make the leap to push that shut door open, to know a dream of wanting more is not impossible.'' This is one of the DREAMers I met at the State of the Union. Perhaps you remember, America is her name. She was the guest of David Price from North Carolina, and she spoke at our press event with the DREAMers. America immigrated to the U.S. when she was 2 years old and has lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, for 22 years. Thanks to DACA, she was able to earn bachelor's and master's degrees. She now teaches English as a second language at Sanderson High School in Raleigh. She was just so lovely. We thank David Price for introducing her to us. Another guest at that same press conference, as some of you may recall, was the guest of Senator Kamala Harris. Denea Joseph is her name. Denea is a DACA recipient who came to America from Belize when she was 7 years old without her mother, father, or siblings. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she advocated for the creation of an immigration attorney position and worked to increase financial aid for undocumented youth across the UC system. I wish you could have heard her personally tell her story with such intellect and such passion. She goes on here to say: As a Young People For fellow, Denea addressed undocumented youths' educational access and retention. Her story was featured in the LA Magazine's historic immigration issue, and is currently on display as part of the Undocumented Stories Exhibit at downtown UCLA Labor Center. She is a communications coordinator for UndocuBlack Network--UndocuBlack is a resource to us. Many of the DREAMers are Black--where she advocates for the representation of UndocuBlack immigrants within the mainstream immigrant narrative. She aspires to be a human rights attorney, advocating for the rights of the most marginalized around the globe. I mentioned here that her story is featured in LA Magazine's historic immigration issue and is on display at the downtown UCLA Labor Center, and now it will be part of the Congressional Record. Miriam Ochoa-Garibay said: ``I'm 18 years old and I'm a DACA student currently enrolled at the University of California, Riverside. I came here from a Mexican background. I was born in the Mexican state of Michoacan, but I've been living in the United States since I was 2. I went to preschool, kinder, elementary, intermediate school, and high school in the State of California. I always loved school. I remember being a little girl and getting home from school, and the first thing I did was start my homework. I remember that, as early as elementary school, there was this test called GATE. It was supposed to be the smart kids' test, and every year I passed it. I remember being an honors student. My parents were very persistent on me getting good grades because that meant a better future. It wasn't until I was in high school where I realized that maybe it was going to take more than just good grades to go to college. I became really aware that I was undocumented. I became fearful that I was not going to have a `better future' because I was undocumented. I knew that, financially, my parents weren't going to be able to pay for college. So when DACA came into place, it was a huge relief. There was finally a program that accepted me, an undocumented student. DACA means everything to me. Not only do I have financial aid for my college tuition, but I was granted the opportunity to work legally''--to work legally. How lovely--``to find a job and be able to make money for my needs. DACA became a reassuring force to many students like myself, whose only desire is to be given an education in order to become a successful factor of this society. I am proud to be Mexican, but I'm also proud to be part of America's great educational system. DACA has given me the opportunity to dream of my own white picket fence one day.'' This is interesting to me because, as an Italian American myself, I always reference, which is so obvious when people are proud of their heritage, especially newer immigrants, to see the pride that they take in their heritage and the fierce patriotism they have for America. That was what we saw in our community when I was growing up: fiercely patriotic Americans, while very proud of their heritage. And that is who people are. That is their authentic self: patriotic Americans proud of their heritage. We want to make this, as was said in this, to be legal. Ana Sanchez is from Elgin, Texas. I don't know if they say Elgin in Texas. Ana says: ``Like any other beneficiary of DACA, I, for once, have been given the opportunity to pursue my dreams by attaining higher education and a job. I am Ana Sanchez, an 18-year-old undocumented student who was brought to this country when I was only 2 years old. Due to living conditions in my home country, my parents decided to immigrate to the United States to offer me and my sister a much better education and a better future. Growing up, I was aware that I had been born in Mexico, however, I did not know the effects of being undocumented until high school came about. Now that I am older, I realize who I am in the eyes of the government, and it saddens me to know that people believe these misconceptions of us. I mean, ever since we arrived to Texas, my dad has risked his health and life by working under dangerous conditions just to earn enough money to provide food and shelter for my family. When it was announced that DACA would be available for people like me, my family did not think twice. We all knew it was an advantage and a precious opportunity the country had given us. Finally, we were given the chance to prove that we are part of this country's future and success. ``Because of DACA, I am able to say that I am a part-time student and part-time staff for an afterschool program. I am two steps closer to becoming a businesswoman and a teacher, and that gives me hope. Sadly, however, the new administration has posed threats that will make my hope and my dreams unreachable. If the permit is taken away, our hard work will become worthless. I want to give back to this country, so I yearn Congress to give me that chance.'' Many of the stories that I have been reading so far have been, but not all, about people in our own hemisphere. But it is important to note that many undocumenteds are from the Asian-Pacific region. Many are from Africa or from the Caribbean. That is our hemisphere, but not in terms of Latin America, but in terms of the Caribbean. So some are even from other places that are not necessarily ethnically diverse. Here is one story about Ha Eun Lee. Today I want to tell you about Ha Eun Lee. When Ha Eun was 6 years old, her family came to the United States from South Korea. She grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Here is what Ha Eun says about her childhood in the United States of America: ``I was fortunate enough to grow up learning that diversity is encouraged and differences are not just tolerated but welcomed.'' Ha Eun was a good student and committed to public service. In high school, she was a member of the National Honor Society, received the Principal's Academic Achievement Award, and was an Oakland Activities Association Scholar Athlete. She was a member of the track and field team for all 4 years of high school. Ha Eun is now a senior at the University of Michigan, majoring in English. She volunteers with the Red Cross and is the co-president of an organization called The Supply. The Supply raises money to help students in Nairobi, Kenya, to attain an education. She is from South Korea, an all-American girl, now a co-president of an organization that raises money to help students in Nairobi, Kenya, to attain an education. As co-president, Ha Eun has expanded the organization's efforts to include volunteering locally with Detroit charities. Ha Eun was also a policy and programs intern for the Asian Americans Advancing Justice Center. As Ha Eun completes her last year of college, she dreams of becoming a lawyer to defend civil rights. Ha Eun wrote me a letter, and she said: ``Although I'm legally labeled as an `alien' in this country I call home, I believe I am American. And I believe this not solely because I live, study, work, and contribute in this country, but because I believe in the core values all Americans shares as a nation: liberty, justice, and prosperity.'' Ha Eun and other DREAMers have so much to contribute to our country. But without DACA or the Dream Act, they will be deported back to countries where they haven't lived in since they were children. Will America be a stronger country if we deport people like Ha Eun? The answer is clear. That is a question that has arisen throughout. We asked it earlier. Will America be a stronger country if we deport--fill in the blank with the name? But I love what Ha Eun has said: ``And I believe this not solely because I live, study, work, and contribute in this country, but because I believe in the core values all Americans share as a nation: liberty, justice, and prosperity.'' Tomas Evangelista is a DACA recipient from Auburn, California. At the age of 2, he came to the United States from Mexico with his mother in search of a better life. Unfortunately, after a year of being together in the United States, his mother passed away from cancer. Can you imagine? His grandparents took him in and he grew up in northern California, where he ran cross country and track at Pacer High School. These all-American kids, it is just a beautiful story. Following his high school career, Tomas received an associate of arts in social science, and, in 2014, he completed his bachelor's of arts degree. Today, he works for the nonprofit organization Latino Leadership Council. He also intends to attend Lincoln Law School in Sacramento, California, in spring of 2018. Tomas cofounded California Dreamers with fellow DACA recipient Doris Romero. They seek to change the negative narratives surrounding immigration with facts. They want to change the narrative with facts, the truth, through sharing personal stories. The ultimate goal is to encourage immigration reform and to establish a pathway to citizenship. Vanessa Rodriguez story: ``My name is Vanessa Rodriguez, and they all call me Undocumented Dreamer. Undocumented because I was born south of the United States border, and Dreamer because that was the inherent last name that my parents gave me when they risked their souls to give me a better future.'' They called her Dreamer--called her Dreamer as her last name. Vanessa continues to say: ``I have lived in Texas for 12 years, and for 12 years I have known no other home. My father works in construction and my mother works as a housemaid. Their hard work and humble occupations have given my family a chance to do more and dream higher; a chance that made me the salutatorian of my class and a recipient of the State of Texas Student Hero Award. However, their work only granted me a chance to dream, not a chance to accomplish. Only the government could grant me that. So, for years, I lived under the notion of fear and uncertainty. DREAMers like me kept their dreams and secured them in a box called `limitations.' It was until the arrival of DACA that things changed for us. DACA enabled us to pursue and achieve more. For me, it meant an opportunity at pursuing hiring education, obtaining a job, and acquiring something called temporary security. One year of this security from deportation was what made the beginning of my dream a success. I was free from fear of deportation that enabled me to gain competence in my abilities.'' People sharing their stories in such a clear way, and, in many cases, a very well-written way. Vanessa continues to say: ``A few weeks ago I finished my first semester at the University of Texas at Austin''--which is a very hard school to get into, by the way--``and although I was a full-time student with two part-time jobs, I still managed to obtain an outstanding GPA. DACA has made all these accomplishments possible and it has been the difference between simply existing and living a dream. ``As the time approaches for the new administration to come in, the fear is starting to become more evident. The uncertainty and anxiety is real. ``My question to Congress is: When will you unchain my dreams? When my only hope is taken away alongside DACA? Or will you fight to protect students like me from deportation?'' It is not even a fight. It is a simple decision. It is a simple decision. It has been made easy by separating it from the more complicated and controversial aspects of comprehensive immigration reform, which we must address. It is about the children. It is about the children. Alonso R. Reyna Rivarola's story goes like this. ``I will always remember the day DACA was announced. It was June 15, 2012, and I was camping for a retreat with students, friends, and colleagues from the Mestizo Arts & Activism Collective, a youth participatory action research collective in Salt Lake City, Utah. At approximately 10 a.m., the group took a break from the agenda, which I used to go back to the tent to check on my phone. When I turned my phone back on, I was taken aback by the number of text messages, missed calls, and voicemails I was receiving. Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz. `` `The Dream Act has passed!' shouted a close friend of mine, a fellow DREAMer, in a voicemail. I was excited, yet confused by her words, knowing at the time no Dream Act bill was being debated in the U.S. Congress or Senate. However, as confused as I was, I was too adrenalized at the possibility that a quiet Dream Act boxcar bill had made its way into becoming a law. ``After returning her call, we shared our feelings of excitement and confusion regarding the matter at hand. Then she informed me President Barack Obama would be making an announcement at any moment. As soon as I hung up, I read through a few more text messages, called my mom, and ran outside the tent to inform the MAA family about the news.'' Can you just imagine the excitement? They were out camping. Alonso continues to say: ``Within a few minutes, all MAA participants crammed ourselves into two cars in Little Cottonwood Canyon, where we tuned into the radio eager to listen to President Obama announce the program which we all have come to know as consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA.'' ``My story is one of hundreds of thousands of DACA stories across the United States. We all have different backgrounds, first and last names, interests, journeys, and goals; however, we all have at least one thing in common: we are all American DREAMers. Since DACA, I have earned an honors B.S. in sociology and M.Ed. in educational leadership and policy from the University of Utah. I am an active community member and have most recently been honored to serve as the Dream Program Coordinator at the University of Utah, where I seek to support undocumented students, with and without DACA, to access, persist, and achieve a higher education in the country we all call home.'' The way they write these stories and the excitement and the anxiety that they convey is really something that the printed word may not convey. But I hope at least the Record will show the cumulative effect of all of these stories. I wish you could see them. A person who has seen more of them than anyone honors us with his presence in the Chamber. We all get emotional on this subject, but no one has put more brainpower and passion into this subject than the distinguished Senator from Illinois. He has served in this body for a long time, so we know of his leadership and his values. But for all the years he has served in public life before Congress and since, and in the House and now as a leader in the Senate, the DREAMers have been a priority for half of his service in public life. He first introduced the DREAM Act in 2001 into the Senate. It was introduced over on our side by Lucille Roybal-Allard around the same time. She is the mother, the godmother of the DREAM Act that has been advanced. In 2010, we were able to pass the DREAM Act in the House under the leadership of Mr. Durbin, Senator Durbin. It received a majority of the votes in the United States Senate but did not reach the 60 threshold, and so the discussion goes on. As you know, shortly thereafter, a couple of years later, President Obama issued the DACA executive order. None of this success would have been possible without the leadership, persistence, optimism, and the courage of Senator Durbin. He has heard all of these stories, so many of these stories firsthand for nearly two decades. I congratulate him. And as I have said earlier, our call today is for our Speaker to give the same opportunity to House Members to vote on a DREAMers bill, just as they were able to achieve in the Senate. Senator McConnell, the Senate leader, has been working with a bipartisan group of which he has always been a part--it has always been about bipartisanship--pledged to bring to the Senate floor a vehicle that the Senate will act upon, no guarantees. The Senate will work its will. What dignity that brings to the United States Senate, what commitment to the purpose of America that is there. We feel like second-class Members of Congress over here when it is not within our realm to discuss something that is being discussed across the country, in the Senate of the United States, at the White House. But here, we can't have the opportunity to officially discuss legislation that is on the floor. That is why I am taking this time, my congressional leadership 1- minute, to read into the Record these inspiring stories. Again, it brings tears to my eyes. Excuse me for being emotional about it, but when I think of the contribution that Senator Durbin has made to this, the stories he has heard, the stories he has told--I have seen him receive with great respect and honor across the country getting so many awards from people who see him as a person who understands their anxiety and concern but, as important as that, their possibilities and their contribution to America. That is why, as I said earlier, Senator Durbin should think of this as the CHIP versus healthcare; as the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham, has described in front of the Rules Committee, think of this as CHIP versus healthcare, children versus comprehensive immigration reform. This is one clear opportunity where we can come together not as a substitute for comprehensive, but as a step, confidence building, trust building, in a bipartisan way, with transparency and in a unifying way for our country. So I thank the gentleman, Senator Durbin. Because of the leader minute, I am not able to yield; otherwise, I would have nearly 200 people seeking recognition on the floor to tell the stories of their DREAMers. I have told some of them, but our colleagues are so committed and unified on this subject, and their constituents are. But even if a colleague on the other side of the aisle would say, ``Will the gentlewoman yield?'' the rules do not allow me to yield, so I am keeping the time. As said earlier before the gentleman came, I thought about saying the Rosary on the floor to pray for our leadership to act with a heart full of love, both here and at the White House, on this subject. I said not just 5 decades, all 15 decades, including the Glorious Mysteries. They were the sad ones in the middle: the Agony in the Garden, the Crowning with Thorns, Scourging at the Pillar, the Crucifixion. Then it takes us to the Glorious Mysteries. But all of it is prayerful. I believe in prayer. And so many of our, as I call it, Bible constituency--not the National Catholic Conference of Bishops but the evangelical community-- has been so spectacular in supporting immigrants to our country and, especially in this case, of DACA. This is the statement of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops: ``The president and vice president, along with the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops''--in this case, meaning the president of the organization--``along with the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have issued a statement denouncing the administration's termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program after 6 months. ``The following statement from the USCCB''--that is, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops--``President Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, along with USCCB Vice President Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles; Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, chairman, Committee on Migration; and Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of Yakima, chairman of the Subcommittee on Pastoral Care, Migrants, Refugees, and Travelers says the `cancellation of the DACA program is reprehensible.' ``Over 780,000 youth received protection from the DACA program since its inception by the Department of Homeland Security in 2012. DACA provided no legal status or government benefits but did provide recipients with temporary employment authorization to work in the United States and a reprieve from deportation.'' A quote by the Bishops: `` `The cancellation of the DACA program is reprehensible. It causes unnecessary fear for DACA youth and their families. These youth entered the United States as minors and often know America as their only home. The Catholic Church has long watched with pride and admiration as DACA youth live out their daily lives with hope and a determination to flourish and contribute to society: continuing to work and provide for their families, continuing to serve in the military, and continuing to receive an education. Now, after months of anxiety and fear about their futures, these brave young people face deportation. This decision is unacceptable and does not reflect who we are as Americans.' '' The bishops go on to say: `` `The Church has recognized and proclaimed the need to welcome young people: ``Whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the One who sent me''--Mark 9:37.' '' That is so beautiful because what they are saying is, when you reject these newcomers, you are rejecting who sent them, and who sent them but our Lord. Today, our Nation has done the opposite of how Scripture calls us to respond. It has stepped back from the progress that we need to make as a country. ``Today's actions represent a heartbreaking moment in our history that shows the absence of mercy and goodwill and a shortsighted vision of the future. DACA youth are woven into the fabric of our society and our Church, and are, by every social and human measure, American youth. ``We strongly urge Congress to act and immediately resume work toward a legislative solution. We pledge our support to work on finding an expeditious means of protection for DACA youth.'' The bishops go on to say: ``As people of faith, we say to DACA youth, regardless of your immigration status, you are children of God and welcome in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church supports you and will advocate for you.'' That is such a beautiful statement. As I noted earlier, tomorrow is the National Prayer Breakfast, and many people who will be gathered there are among those who have been so supportive of our DREAMers. We thank them for their leadership and their courage. I mentioned some earlier. I don't know if these people will be there tomorrow, but certainly members of their church. As I mentioned, Dr. Sam Rodriguez, Reverend Sam Rodriguez has spoken out as a leader in the evangelical community. So, hopefully, tomorrow, as they pray and come together, they will be speaking about what we see from the pulpit, from the bishops, from the evangelical community. If you believe that we are all God's creation, as I do, as people of faith do--and I do believe faith is a gift that everyone doesn't have. So you may not have that same perspective, but if you do believe--and I believe that everyone gathered there tomorrow will believe--and many people across our country subscribe to ``In God We Trust,'' then you must subscribe to what the Bible tells us. To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship; to ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us, dishonor the God who made us, reflected in the Gospel of Matthew that I referenced earlier. So when we are thinking about this subject, we also have to recognize the diversity in our DREAMer population. In 2002, Luke was 11 years old. His family brought him to the United States from South Korea. The Senator has left us, but Senator Durbin inspires us. He is such a great leader on this subject because it is from the heart and the right thing to do, but with great intellect, to have a vision and a dream, but an intellect with a plan to get the job done. There is a clear path. It exists in the Senate. We don't know why that door is shut to us in the House. We call upon the Speaker to open the same door in the House, through discussion, that is in the Senate. I want to commend, once again, Senator Durbin for his extraordinary leadership. DREAMers know him. In 2002, when Luke was 11 years old, his family brought him to New York State from South Korea. Luke grew up in Palisades Park, New Jersey. Here is what Luke said about growing up in Palisades Park: ``It didn't take long for me to adjust and assimilate because my elementary school offered bilingual classes in Korean and English. This is the kind of America I have known and experienced--not just mundanely accepting diversity, but going above and beyond to serve the unique needs of a diverse community.'' From an early age, Luke had a passion for science. He was accepted into a math and sciences magnet high school called Bergen County Academies, which was ranked by Newsweek as one of the top five public high schools in the country. At Bergen County Academies, Luke won several awards at regional science fairs. He also volunteered as an emergency medical technician in the local ambulance corps. In 2013, Luke graduated--are you ready?--summa cum laude with a bachelor's of science in chemistry and received an award for the highest grade point average of any chemistry major. This brilliant young man is currently a Ph.D. graduate in chemistry at the University of Chicago. He also works as a researcher at the university. In his spare time--in his spare time, how does he have spare time--but in his spare time, he also works as a researcher. He volunteers for the Chicago Korean American Resource and Cultural Center, an organization that provides services to disadvantaged members of the community. Good for you, Luke. Consider this: without legal status, Luke's talents would have been squandered. But now, thanks to DACA, when we had DACA, Luke was on the road toward making his childhood passion into a promising career as a scientist. Luke has written: ``DACA did much more than shielding me from deportation and changing my immediate circumstances; it gave me a new faith and brought out a new me to reject fear and continue worthwhile pursuits. DACA has been tremendously empowering. Wherever I find myself in the future, I hope to mentor, encourage, and ultimately empower others.'' Luke and other DREAMers have so much to contribute to our country. Do we need more talented scientists like Luke Hwang in America? Of course we do. Will America be stronger if we deport Luke Hwang or if he stays here to contribute his talents to America's future? The answer should be obvious. I thank Luke. Her parents brought her to the United States from the Philippines when she was 5 years old. Mithi grew up in California. She was an excellent student who dreamed of becoming a doctor. In high school, Mithi was on the principal's honor roll and was an AP scholar. She received the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma and is a Governor's Scholar Award recipient. Mithi was admitted to the University of California, Los Angeles, one of the Nation's top universities. Congresswoman Waters would attest to that. UCLA is one of the Nation's top universities. We all are proud of the UC system. At UCLA, Mithi volunteers as a research assistant in lab studies of infants at high risk of developing autism. That was her field. She also volunteers as a crisis counselor for UCLA Peer Helpline advising students who are victims of rape, child abuse, and substance abuse. Mithi eventually became a trainer for new counselors. Mithi also volunteers as a mentor and tutor for at-risk middle school children in Los Angeles. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in psychology. But her options were limited, Mr. Speaker, because of her immigration status. She was unable to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. Then, in 2012, President Obama established the DACA program, and Mithi's world changed. Mithi began working as a research assistant at the UCLA School of Medicine, and she applied to attend medical school. During her spare time, Mithi continues to volunteer with the Autism Research Lab where she started her research career 7 years ago. She also serves as a peer mentor to 10 undergraduate students at UCLA. Mithi wrote to Congress these words: ``Please, please listen to our stories. This is my home, and the only country I know. DACA gives us greater opportunities to give back to the country we love.'' Listen to that sentence again, Mr. Speaker. Mithi wrote: ``DACA gives us greater opportunities to give back to the country we love.'' That is what the DREAMers are about. Their dream is to give back to America. They have benefited from our country. They want to give back; and the courage, optimism, and fortitude that they have is really a blessing. Mithi and other DREAMers like her have so much to contribute. Will America be stronger if we deport Mithi and others like her? Will we be a better country if we tear apart American families? Of course not. This is going to be a hard name for me to pronounce. It is Jirayut New Latthivongskorn. His parents brought Jirayut to the United States from Thailand when he was 9 years old. New--we will call him New. New grew up in San Francisco. New said: ``I forced myself to read mystery novels, dictionary in hand, in order to expand my vocabulary, one word at a time. I mispronounced words, even in the face of ridicule, until I mastered the English language.'' New became an excellent student and dreamed about becoming a doctor. Throughout high school, New worked 30 hours a week at his family's Thai restaurant. Here is what he said about the experience: ``I spent most of my time at the restaurant working as a waiter, cashier, and chef, scrubbing toilets, washing dishes, and mopping floors. It taught me to have faith, work hard, and persevere.'' New's hard work paid off. He graduated as a salutatorian of his high school class with a 4.3 grade point average. New was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley, one of the top schools in California--in the Nation. He won a scholarship that would have covered most of his tuition, but he was unable to accept it because of his immigration status. Despite the setback, New persevered. In May, 2012, he graduated with honors with a 3.7 grade point average with a major in molecular and cellular biology. Just 1 month after he graduated, President Obama established the DACA program. As a result of DACA, New was able to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. That fall, New began medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, a very difficult school to get into. During his spare time, he volunteers at the homeless clinic that is run by the students of the University of California, San Francisco. In his spare time. New has cofounded Pre-Health Dreamers, a national network of more than 400 DREAMers who are pursuing careers in healthcare. New and other DREAMers like him have so much to contribute to our country. Will America be a stronger country if we deport New and others like him? Will we be a better country if we tear apart American families? Of course not. We all agree on that. Aaima Sayed was brought to the United States from Pakistan when she was only 3 years old. She grew up in Chicago like a typical American kid. Aaima says: ``I have no memories but those of living in the United States. I am an American in every way, except on paper.'' Aaima was an outstanding student. She graduated in the top 10 percent of her high school class where she was secretary of the Spanish club-- mind you, she is from Pakistan. She was secretary of the Spanish club, secretary of the math team, and a member of the National Honor Society of High School Scholars. Aaima's dream was to become a physician. Here is how she explains it: ``It completely breaks my heart to see thousands of children die of treatable diseases due to inadequate basic healthcare facilities, and I want to have the skills and ability to change that.'' In January 2012, Aaima graduated from Rutgers University magna cum laude, Mr. Speaker, with a major in psychology. She was on the dean's list six times and has a grade point average of 3.75 out of 4. She was a research assistant at Rutgers Department of Psychology and an intern with the local cardiology practice. Aaima took the medical college admission test, the MCAT, and scored in the 90th percentile--better than 90 percent of those who took the test. Shortly after she graduated, President Obama announced the DACA program. Because of DACA, Aaima is now a medical student at Loyola University pursuing her dream of becoming a physician. After she graduates, she will work in a medically underserved area of Illinois. Here is what Aaima said about the DACA impact on her: ``I went from feeling hopeless and full of uncertainty regarding my future to feeling confident and optimistic that I will one day get the opportunity to help my community and people in other poverty-stricken areas.'' But if the House Republicans have their way, Aaima won't be able to attend medical school and become a doctor. Instead, she will be deported back to Pakistan, a country she hasn't lived in since she was a toddler. I wouldn't attribute it to the Republicans. I think that plenty of Republicans are on board to help our DREAMers. That is what I am hopeful about, just that we need to be given the chance to have a respectful vote on all sides of the issue which we have bipartisan Democrats' strong support, but strong Republican support as well. Give us a vote, Mr. Speaker. Give us a chance. Treat this House with the dignity it deserves so that we can represent the people and the wishes of our country. Will America be stronger if we deport Aaima? Of course not. Today, I want to tell you about our Al Okere. Al was born in Nigeria. In 1990, Al's father was killed by the Nigerian police after he wrote a newspaper column criticizing the Nigerian Government. The killing of Al's father was documented in the State Department's annual Human Rights Reports. In 1995, Al's mother fled Nigeria and brought him to the United States. He was only 5 years old at the time. Al's mother applied for asylum, but her application was denied, and she was deported in 2005, when Al was 15. Now, mind you, her husband had been assassinated for articles that he had written criticizing the Nigerian Government, a well-founded fear of persecution or danger in Nigeria, yet her application was denied in 2005. Al was 15. Al graduated from Rogers High School near Tacoma, Washington. He attended Central Washington University where he was an honors student with a 3.5 grade point average. He was an active volunteer in his community. Here is what Al said about his goals for the future, and I quote Al very proudly: ``I have been in accelerated academic programs most of my educational life and hope to be a medical doctor some day to contribute to the well-being of my fellow humans. I hope to continue to emulate and walk in the great academic shoes of my late father, who earned a Ph.D. degree from a university in Paris, France. My family and community support has been enormous, and it gives me the zeal to work hard in my studies, to be able to lend a hand to others in need, and to realize a bright future!'' Al grew up in this country. We have already invested in Al, who has received his entire education from kindergarten to college in the United States. He has great potential to contribute to our society. He does not remember anything about Nigeria and cannot speak any of Nigeria's native languages. Here is what Al said about the possibility of being deported: ``I do not remember anything about my mother's country of Nigeria. I cannot even speak the language. Every experience I have had in life that I can remember have been in the United States of America. Everyone I know and care about are all here, except for my mother, who was sadly removed and remains in hiding in fear of her life.'' Would America be stronger if Al Okere were deported? Of course not. Al is not an isolated example. There are literally thousands of others, hundreds of thousands of others like him around the country. I thank Al for being so generous in sharing his story. I want to tell you about Novi Roy. Novi Roy grew up in the State of Illinois. Novi was brought to the United States from India as a child. He attended Evanston Township High School. This is a story that Senator Durbin provided. He attended Evanston Township High School where he graduated with a 3.9 grade point average. During high school, Novi began volunteering at a soup kitchen in Rogers Park in Chicago, which he continues to do today. Novi went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics. Novi graduated from the University of Illinois with two master's degrees, one in business and one in human resources. Novi's dream is to be able to provide affordable healthcare to the less fortunate. Here is what he said in the letter he wrote to Dick Durbin: ``I love America for all its opportunities, and, like any other aspiring student, I want a chance to realize the American Dream. I owe the State of Illinois, its taxpayers, and America a huge debt of gratitude for the level of education I have attained thus far. I'm confident that my education will serve me well enough to make a difference in people's lives. There is nothing I would like more than to give back to the community that has been so good to me.'' Novi grew up in this country. We have already invested in Novi, and he has obtained a first-class education in Illinois. He has great potential to contribute to our society. Will America be a stronger nation if Novi is deported? Of course not. He has overcome the odds to achieve great success. He would make America a strong country. Again, Novi's story comes to us when he came from India as a child. There is a large number of Asian-Pacific American Dreamers. Yaniv Steltzer was brought to the United States by his parents from Israel when he was just 3 years old, a DREAMer from Israel. He grew up in this country like any other American child. In 2010, he graduated from Richard Stockton College in New Jersey with a bachelor's degree in hospitality and tourism management. In college, he was the chair of the Jewish Student Union/Hillel Club and was an active volunteer with several other student groups. Yaniv's dream is to open a restaurant. He wrote a letter, which said: I fell in love with cooking in high school when I took a home-economics class, and I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I would love to give back to America by opening my own restaurant, creating jobs, contributing to the economy, and becoming a citizen in the country I love. Unfortunately, under our immigration laws, Yaniv cannot become a citizen. His father was born in the United States. But Yaniv was born in Israel, so he is not an American citizen. Yaniv's father applied for Yaniv to become a citizen, but because the process took so long, Yaniv is no longer eligible. Under our immigration laws, once Yaniv turned 21, his father could not petition for Yaniv to become a citizen. So, Yaniv, who has lived his whole life in this country since he was 3, since his father is an American citizen, he is an undocumented immigrant. The only solution for him is the Dream Act. Here is what Yaniv said about his situation: America is the only country I know. I grew up here, all my family and friends are here, and everything I know is America. The Dream Act is important to me and also to many others like me who are in the same situation. We have the resources to help this country greatly, but don't have that piece of paper that allows us to do this. I have high hope and optimism that Congress will do the right and humane thing, put all political issues aside, and pass the Dream Act. Yaniv is right. I ask my colleagues: Would America be better off if we deported Yaniv? The answer is very obvious. Eighteen years go, in 1992, Minhaz Khan's parents brought him to the United States from Bangladesh. Minhaz was only 4 years old at the time, and has overcome great obstacles to complete his education. In 2009, he graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a bachelor's degree in neuroscience. Here is what he said about his dreams for the future: ``My dream is to make several contributions to science, and become a physician's assistant as a career, and eventually a teacher as well. I have great aspirations, but I do not dream of big houses or tons of cars. I want normality, stability, and liberty.'' Today, Minhaz lives in Palo Alto, California, with his wife, who is an American citizen. Minhaz spoke about what it would mean for him if the Dream Act were to become law. Here is what he said: ``Imagine the countless numbers of individuals ready to contribute to our society as law-abiding, successful individuals who live life with a sense of strength and morality. Abraham Lincoln once said, `I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice,' and this is more true now than ever. I have a great amount of hope, optimism, and belief in this country and that one day we will see the Dream Act enacted into law.'' This is his statement, Minhaz Khan, from Bangladesh. Another child brought here from India, as was an earlier DREAMer, Mandeep Chahal. Mandeep was brought to the United States from India 14 years ago, when she was only 6 years old. A beautiful little child. Mandeep has been an academic all-star. She was an honors pre-med student at the University of California, Davis, where she majored in neurology, physiology, and behavior. Mandeep is also dedicated to public service. In high school, she helped to found One Dollar for Life, a national poverty relief organization. She was voted the member of her class ``Most likely to Save the World. Imagine, most likely to save the world. At her college, Mandeep is the co-president of STAND, an anti-genocide group. Mandeep has so much to offer to our country. She wrote: ``I . . . consider the United States my only home. My family, friends, and future are in the United States, which is where I belong. My dream is to become a pediatrician so I can treat the most helpless and innocent among us. I hope to serve families in low-income communities who otherwise are unable to afford medical care. I wish to remain in the United States so that I can continue to make a positive difference and give back to the community that has given me so much.'' How beautiful. You see the recurring theme of the DREAMers: wanting to give back to America, appreciative of the opportunities they have received here--the mentoring, the friendship, the love; wanting to give back. Dominique Nkata and Tapiwa Nkata. There are two. Tapiwa's and Dominique's parents, John and Joan Nkata, brought their family to the United States from the African county of Malawi in 1990. At the time, Tapiwa was 4 and Dominique was only 11 months old. The Nkatas came here legally. They had work permits. John, an ordained Christian minister, worked as a hospice counselor. Joan, his wife--their mother--worked as an accountant. The Nkatas filed papers to stay here permanently. For years, their case was stuck in immigration court. Finally, in 2009, John and Joan Nkata were granted legal permanent residence. But by that time, Tapiwa and Dominique were adults and unable to obtain legal status through their parents. That happens at 21. Here is what Dominique said about being deported to Malawi: ``The looming fear of having everything I know, including part of my family, here in the United States, while I am removed to the other side of the world, is crippling.'' Tapiwa said: ``I can't imagine my life in Africa. I am an American. I know this culture and speak this language. I pledge allegiance to this flag.'' It would be wrong to send these women back to Malawi, a country they don't even remember. Remember, one of them was 11 months old when she came. In 2007, Tapiwa graduated summa cum laude from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in finance. She then worked at an accounting firm. She dreams of becoming a certified public accountant. Tapiwa explained what America means to her: ``Quite simply, when you say `The American Dream' all around the world, they know what you are talking about. People who have never been to our shores, eaten our food, or even spoken our language have heard of a prosperous nation that, above all else, grants freedom and rights to all people.'' Dominique graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in chemistry and pre-medicine. Remember, her sister graduated summa cum laude with a degree in finance. Dominique graduated with a degree in chemistry and pre-medicine and began working at University Hospital and the Jewish Hospital in the research department as a clinical studies assistant. Dominique planned to apply to medical school. She said: ``I dream of being a doctor and of giving back to a country that has given so much to me.'' Would America be better off if we deported Tapiwa and Dominique back to Malawi? Of course not. The Dream Act gives them a chance. Let me introduce you to another DREAMer, Monji Dolon. Monji's parents brought him to the United States from Bangladesh in 1991. He was 5 years old. As he grew up in his new home, he immersed himself in the study of computers and technology. Monji wrote: ``For as long as I can remember, I have had an intense passion for technology. In middle school, that passion led to spending many nights constructing remote-controlled model airplanes and Van de Graaff generators. In high school, I fell in love with computers and the internet, spending my senior year creating an online newspaper for my school.'' Monji did not know about his immigration status until he was applying for college. He asked his parents what to say about his status on his college applications. That is when Monji learned that he was undocumented. In 2008, Monji graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an outstanding school. Very soon, Monji began to be courted by the technology industry. He was even offered a job as the lead engineer for a startup in Silicon Valley. Monji's prospects would be limited because of his immigration status. The Dream Act would give Monji a chance to pursue his dream and contribute his talent to the country he calls home. Here is what he has to say: ``I've turned down several great jobs from reputable companies because of my status. The Dream Act would let me take my passion for technology to the next level by allowing me to move to Silicon Valley and pursue my dream as an internet entrepreneur.'' So, we have someone like Monji, with his talents, his entrepreneurship, his passion, and his intellect. What a resource to our country. I keep asking the question: Would America be better off if we deported Monji back to Bangladesh, a country he left when he was 5 years old? Of course not. Herta Llusho was brought to the United States from Albania when she was 11. She and her mother settled in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Herta and her mother came to the United States legally. Shortly before arriving in America, Herta's mother filed an application to stay in the United States. Herta quickly learned English and became an academic star. She graduated from Grosse Pointe High School with a 4.05 grade point average. In high school, she was a member of the varsity track team, won an Advanced Placement Scholar Award, and was a member of the National Honor Society. Herta then attended the University of Detroit Mercy, where she was an honor student and studied to be an electrical engineer. She had a grade point average of 3.98 and completed two internships at engineering companies. She is from Albania, I remind you. Herta has been very involved with her community, volunteering at homeless shelters, tutoring programs, and her church. Listen to what one of her friends said about her: ``I am humbled by Herta's willingness and desire to serve. I have had the privilege of going to the same church at which she faithfully serves. She spends hours tutoring kids and volunteering with the junior high Sunday school class. It is a joy to watch so many children run up to her at church because of the love they receive when they are with her.'' Would it be a good use of taxpayer dollars to deport Herta? Of course not. Again, there is so much discussion in the United States about the need for more young people to study what is known as STEM--science, technology, engineering, and math. Of course, we add the arts in there: STEAM. Every year, we issue tens of thousands of H-1B visas to bring foreign students here to work in the STEM fields. Herta is a straight-A student in electrical engineering, a STEM field. She doesn't need an H-1B visa. She is a homegrown talent. Herta came to Capitol Hill to speak at a briefing on the Dream Act. Here is what she said: ``I'm a typical story. There's thousands of stories out there just like mine. Please support the Dream Act so students like me don't have to leave. We are worth it. This is the country we have come to love.'' Herta is right. She and hundreds of thousands of others are worth it. Eliphaz Omote is 25 years old, and he is from Keith Ellison's district in Minnesota. Eliphaz was born in Kenya and came to Minnesota at age 11. He didn't know he was undocumented until he graduated from high school. Imagine the maturity of these kids. They are teenagers, they are babies, they are 11 years old, and all the rest, and carrying this weight. Growing up is hard enough, right, but carrying this weight? He writes: ``I wanted to go to college and pursue education, but I couldn't. It was a grueling experience, especially for me being a highly driven and ambitious person.'' After DACA, Eliphaz graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in psychology and management. He is about to start classes for a master's degree in divinity at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Eliphaz wants to be a chaplain in the United States Senate one day, but he can only do that if the Dream Act passes. The Senate. Maybe the House, if he were given a chance to, might rise to the level. The Congressional Black Caucus--I mentioned earlier that the chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus--has been very much involved in this issue and they gave me these statistics. There are 5,302 DACA recipients from Jamaica, 4,077 recipients from Trinidad and Tobago, and 2,095 DACA recipients from Nigeria, just to name a few. There are more, as I mentioned, from Africa, but this just named the Nigerian ones here. I thank them for their work and the effort on activities that have gone with this. We have another visitor from Albania. Things were tough in Albania a while back. Our distinguished colleague, Mr. Eliot Engel, has been Albania's best friend from Congress, but he can attest that there was cause to leave at an earlier day. Ola Kaso was brought to the United States by her mother from Albania in 1998, when she was 5 years old. Ola went to high school in Warren, Michigan. She was a valedictorian of her class. She took every advanced placement class offered by her school. Are you ready for this? She had a 4.4 grade point average. Ola was on the varsity cross country and tennis teams. She was treasurer of the student council and treasurer of the National Honor Society at her school. She tutors children who are learning English. Ola was also a member of the homecoming court. I don't have her picture here, but she was lovely. Ola was then accepted into the honors program at the University of Michigan, where she would study premed. Here is what she said about her dreams for the future: ``I aspire to ultimately become a surgical oncologist, but more importantly, I intend to work for patients that cannot afford the astronomical fees accompanying lifesaving surgeries, patients that are denied the medical treatment they deserve. My goal is not to increase my bank account; my goal is to decrease preventible deaths. I wish to remain in this country to make a difference.'' How beautiful. Thank you, Ola, for sharing your story. This takes a great deal of courage for these young people to share their stories and the intimacy of the personal challenges they face, so we thank them for their generosity of spirit as well as their courage. Steve Li's parents brought him to the United States when he was 11. He studied at City College of San Francisco, where he majored in nursing and was a leader in student government. Here is what Steve said: ``My dream is to become a registered nurse at San Francisco General and to be a public health advocate. I want to be able to give back to my community by raising awareness about preventive care and other healthcare issues. I'm well on my way to achieving my dream. By passing the Dream Act, I will be able to achieve these goals and contribute to the growing healthcare industry.'' Could we use more nurses in this country? We sure could. In fact, the United States imports thousands of foreign nurses every year because we have such a large nursing shortage. So why would we consider sending Steve Li back? Tolu Olumni: Tolu was brought to the United States from Nigeria when she was a child. As a child, Tolu dreamed of becoming an engineer. Tolu graduated from high school at the top of her class. She won a full scholarship to a prestigious university in Virginia. In 2002, she graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. Back in 2011, at a press conference announcing the reintroduction of the Dream Act, here is what Tolu said: ``The dreams of my youth have stalled, yes, but my country still needs me. So I volunteer full-time to ensure a better future for thousands of others. Passing the Dream Act is critically important to me and to so many others. I don't believe that I am entitled to anything more than what this great Nation has taught me: that we all have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'' Imagine. Tolu is right. Thousands of immigrant students in the United States were brought to the United States as children. It was not their decision to come to this country, but they grew up here, and this is their home. The fundamental premise of the Dream Act is that we should not punish children for their parents' actions. This is not the American way. Instead, the Dream Act says to these students: America will always give you a chance. And I--me--say to their parents: Thank you for bringing these DREAMers to America. We are in your debt for the courage it took for you to take the risk physically, politically, and in every way to do so. David Cho was brought to the United States from South Korea when he was 9. Since then, David has been a model American. He had a 3.9 GPA in high school. He attended UCLA, where he obtained a bachelor of arts in international finance, with a 3.6 GPA. As you can see, David is also the leader of the UCLA marching band. There is a picture of him, but the Record will not reflect that, the leader of the UCLA marching band. David then obtained a master's degree in public policy, with a GPA of 3.9, and was the UCLA commencement speaker. He worked as a business technology analyst at Deloitte Consulting, where he earned the highest possible performance rating, representing performance in the top 5 percent of all analysts. Today, David works in business and technology, consulting as a sales force scrum master and project manager. Thank you, David, for your contribution to our country. Minchul Suk: Minchul was brought to the United States from South Korea by his parents in 1991 when he was 9. I just want to make this point, Mr. Speaker. When I mentioned about Senator Durbin, he introduced the Dream Act in 2001, it is 17 years later, so some of these children have grown up. But some of them whom we are addressing came to the United States in the nineties, and so 17 years later we still haven't been able to take care of the children? They were very little children when they came, and some of them are still young. But they came, some of them, as I said, 11 months, 6 months, babies. Minchul came when he was 9. He graduated from high school with a 4.2 GPA. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics. With the support from the Korean-American community, Minchul was able to graduate from dental school. He passed the national boards and license exam and became a dentist. Here is what he wrote: ``After spending the majority of my life here, with all my friends and family here, I could not simply pack my things and go to a country I barely remember. I am willing to accept whatever punishment is deemed fitting for that crime; let me just stay and pay for it. . . . I am begging for a chance to prove to everyone that I am not a waste of a human being, that I am not a criminal set on leaching off taxpayers' money. Please give me a chance to serve my community as a dentist, to be a giver rather than a receiver.'' Thank you, Minchul. Senator Durbin has sent over some stories, and I am going to read some of them. Jean-Yannick Diouf: When Yannick was 8, his father, a diplomat from the African country of Senegal, brought his family to the United States. Unfortunately, Yannick's parents separated and Yannick's father returned to Senegal, leaving Yannick and the rest of the family behind. Yannick did not realize it at the time, but when his father left the United States, Yannick lost his legal status to live in this country. Yannick grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland, nearby. In high school, Yannick was a member of the National Honor Society. He also volunteered weekly at a homeless shelter and organized soccer tournaments for 3 years to raise money for the Red Cross for earthquake relief in Haiti. Mind you, he is from Senegal, and he is raising money for earthquake relief in Haiti. God bless him. After high school, he continued his education. He earned an associate degree in business from Montgomery College, where he was on the dean's list. He then transferred to University of Maryland, College Park, where he is working on a bachelor's degree in business management. Yannick runs the Achievers Mentoring Program, an after-school program that advises middle school and high school students on how to get into college and be successful--very valuable, mentoring. He is also a volunteer for United We Dream, the largest organization of undocumented students in the country. May I pause for a moment to commend United We Dream. They have been so spectacular, so dignified, so prestigious in how they have protected the DREAMers' case and enabled DREAMers to present their own case. Yannick was a leader in the campaign to pass the Maryland Dream Act, which allows Maryland residents who are undocumented to pay instate tuition. Keep in mind, Yannick is undocumented, so he does not qualify for any official aid from the Federal Government. Here is what he wrote: ``DACA means dignity. More than making money, having a job gives us dignity and self-respect. I want to work for what I have. I don't look to anyone for pity. People should judge me based on what I do and what I stand for, not based on status. I want to be given a chance to prove that not only am I a functioning member of society, I am here to serve and share my talents with those in my community.'' Yannick was one of six DREAMers who met President Obama in the Oval Office. Here is what President Obama said after that meeting: ``I don't think there's anybody in America who's had a chance to talk to these six young people . . . who wouldn't find it in their heart to say these kids are Americans just like us, and they belong here, and we want to do right by them.'' President Obama is right. Yannick and other DREAMers have so much to contribute to our country. The question again: Would America be a stronger country if we deport Yannick and others like him? Of course not. Another DREAMer from India, this is Harminder Saini. When Harminder was 6 years old, his family moved to the United States from India. He grew up in Queens in New York City. He was a typical American kid, playing sports and going to the park every day. Harminder's dream was to serve his country as a soldier in the United States Army. In his words, he simply wanted to give back. Harminder was a born leader, and in high school he was active in student government and ultimately was elected class president. He first learned that he did not have legal immigration status when he was in high school and was unable to apply for a driver's license, Mr. Speaker. Harminder is now a student at Hunter College at the City University of New York, working toward his bachelor's degree in history. And thanks to DACA, he is on his way to fulfilling his dream. Last year, he enlisted in the Army through the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, known as MAVNI. The MAVNI program allows immigrants with critical skills vital to the national interest to enlist in the Armed Forces. More than 800 DACA recipients with these critical skills have joined the military through MAVNI. Some Trump administration officials have claimed that DACA recipients are taking jobs away from Americans, but Harminder and hundreds of other DREAMers have skills that our military couldn't find anywhere else. Harminder, along with many other DREAMers, is now waiting to ship to basic training. He continues his undergraduate studies and is working full-time waiting for his chance to serve the country he loves. Harminder wrote: ``All I want to do is serve. I want to do my part to give back to this country because it allowed me to serve.'' Without DACA, Harminder and hundreds of other immigrants with skills that are vital to the national interest would be kicked out of the Army. They want nothing more than to serve, and they are willing to die for the country they call home. Thank you, Harminder. Representative Esty of Connecticut sent us this story about Daisy Rivera. Her story is in Daisy's own words: ``I came to the United States when I was 2 months old.'' How precious. ``The day I entered high school, my parents broke the sad news to me that I was undocumented. Yes, I did grow up not knowing my true status, and at that very moment I felt I didn't know who exactly I was anymore. It made it very difficult to try and understand when all my siblings were born here in the U.S. and were given opportunities that I wasn't able to have. When I graduated high school in 2012, I found out that President Obama took action to grant undocumented people like me the DACA. ``Ever since then, I have been able to feel free, support my daughter, my parents, and younger siblings still working on their dreams. I now have a beautiful job with a Head Start program for youth development and healthy living. This is a job that not only I enjoy, but my 3-year-old daughter attends as well. DACA has been more than a blessing and a relief for me and my friends and family. ``But now that it has been put in jeopardy, I can't even go to sleep at night. I look at my daughter thinking: What can I do so I don't end up like other families that have been separated and destroyed? What can I do to support my child? How do I explain to my friends and family that my future has been taken away, that I am not like them? ``This might be another challenge for me as an undocumented, but I know that this is just the start of my new beginning that will label me a warrior because I will not sit here and have my future taken. I will not stand by the corners of the streets to ask for anything. I will fight and raise my voice alone or with the other 800,000 DREAMers, and we will obtain what we deserve, and we won't give up.'' That story comes from Representative Esty. I think it is important to note here that some of these people are, again, working; they are giving back to the community. DACA made a big difference in their existence. For some of them, they found out that they were undocumented at a critical point in their own development, and it foisted uncertainty upon them, which DACA relieved. So I think there is just a misunderstanding here about what President Trump did in September. It was very harsh. As the National Catholic Conference of Bishops said, it was reprehensible. I don't think that the administration understood the impact it had on people's lives. I think they thought they were giving a 6-month reprieve, but what they were doing was giving 6 months of uncertainty and removal of protections for these people. And you have heard some of the statements that have been made in the last day or so about mischaracterizing why some people have lost protections. I will reiterate that this all came fast. Many of the people who needed to sign up right away found it difficult to access the $495 immediately. Most people in our country could not have access to $495 in the spur of the moment, especially young people. So, anyway, we have always treated this with respect. I would like to talk now about Julia Verzbickis: ``When I was 9, my family and I moved to the United States to find some stability that wasn't present in our home country. We always had plans to make the move permanent, and the seemingly endless paperwork process began nearly immediately. However, we didn't know what we were in for. The lawyer we had turned out to be fraudulent, and, as a result, my parents, my sisters, and I lost our status in the country. It was the summer before my first year of high school. ``The future remained unclear, but I made some choices. I chose to keep my grades up in school. I chose to give myself the opportunity at a future. I worked hard. I graduated 28th in a class of 620. I had a 3.6'' GPA. ``I got into Rutgers early admission. ``The week after my 21st birthday, I got notice that my DACA application had been approved. Within 12 hours, I had applied for a Social Security card, and, within a week, I'd filled out dozens of job applications. I got a license for the first time ever. ``In November 2014, I got into Teach For America. I was placed in San Antonio, 1,800 miles away from New Jersey.'' ``I graduated college the following May, cum laude, with a double major in English and journalism. ``In August 2015, I started teaching. I also met the man that would become the love of my life. I had a new life in a new State, and I was all by myself for the first time ever, and I couldn't be more excited. ``I've been teaching middle school since then, and I love it. My kids are amazing. They drive me nuts on any given day, but I love them. ``DACA gave me my independence back. It's the single reason I am able to teach, and live on my own, and pay for my car, and feel like I belong in the country I have lived in for 15 years. ``Knowing that I could lose all the freedom I've gained is a paralyzing fear. I've worked so hard, and my life was just coming together, and now it might fall apart again. I hope that doesn't happen, but if I've learned anything these last 15 years, it's to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.'' That is Julia's story. This is from Zuleyma Garcia. ``Hi, my story started 22 years ago when I was only 3 years old. My parents, both from Mexico, had crossed over, summer of 1994, through the hot and unforgiving desert. I have always admired my parents' drive and courage to go after a better life. I couldn't imagine leaving my country, U.S., for one I know nothing about. Which is why I'm so thankful for DACA. ``My mom always showed me anything is possible by working hard for it. I never really noticed or felt like I wasn't American. So my freshman year, after passing my driver's ed, I was very quickly disillusioned by my mother, who explained we were here illegally and could not get a driver's permit. I broke down crying because I felt like my world crumbled. So many thoughts went through my mind, mainly fear at the moment, but I eventually gripped myself together. With the passing years, frustration added to the list of emotions, when I couldn't attend class trips to other States, apply for scholarships, or even just special programs at colleges, while I was still in high school, because of the lack of a Social Security number and an ID. ``Once I graduated and it was time to face the real world, things hit the fan. I felt like the doors closed in on me. I had nice internships lined up. I had managed to get into a special program at my college, which I wasn't able to do because of my status. A year into working a minimum wage job and attending college for a preschool teacher, I now felt like I had been torn apart, felt like no matter how hard I worked, I would never accomplish my goals because of this barrier. So I dropped out of college and just focused on working, got a second job, and moved out of my mom's home. Soon after, I met my husband of 5 years now, which is an American citizen; we have a 5-year-old child. ``DACA allowed me to feel like a human again and to live without fear. I'm not a bad person. I have a clean criminal record and am a good member of society, and, like me, there's so many. This is why I call for an extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.'' Again, the uncertainty, the anxiety, that is injected into people's lives. I thank them for sharing these deep concerns. We are now hearing from Isabelle Muhlbauer. ``By junior year of high school, I spoke English fluently and attended all honors classes, but, unlike most 15 year olds, my future was uncertain due to my immigration status. It was this uncertainty that led to my interest in American politics. I wanted to understand why I was not eligible to apply for certain schools, scholarships, and financial aid despite being a top student at my high school. ``There seemed to be something fundamentally unfair about a system that excluded students like me. However frustrating my situation was, I was fortunate to live in New York, where residency laws made the possibility of attending college a reality. ``At Baruch College, I studied political science. I attended school full time and, by sophomore year, had the opportunity to intern at Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's office at the Veterans' Affairs casework department. I knew then that I wanted to pursue public service, but was well aware of the legal hurdles ahead of me due to my undocumented status. ``I was unsure what life after graduation would be like without authorization to work. Thankfully, the DACA program was announced a few semesters before my graduation. Although it was still difficult to find the right job, my persistence eventually led me to the New York Legal Assistance Group. I now work as a paralegal in the Veterans Assistance Project at NYLAG. I have the opportunity to work with a team that is committed to helping the low-income veteran population in NYC get access to the benefits they earned through their service.'' A DACA--a DREAMer--helping our veterans. ``I had hoped to attend law school to further advance my career in public interest law, but given the current uncertainty of what will happen with DACA, it's become increasingly difficult to plan for the future. While DACA is not the solution to the current state of immigration affairs, it has given me and over 700,000 other DREAMers the path to achieving the American Dream.'' We thank Isabelle for sharing her story. This is from Bruna. ``There are a few minutes left of President Obama's Presidency and a feeling of dread fills me. Not only because I'm saying goodbye to a President that has meant so much to me and thousands of DREAMers, but because within a few minutes the new President may choose to remove DACA--taking away a sense of security we've had these past years. ``In 2012, President Obama presented DACA, giving me and my sister another chance at life. Before then, we did truly feel like we were going to lose everything: friends and family we made in this country, the home we built, and the future we envisioned. ``Born in Brazil, but raised in Tampa, Florida, my parents always pushed us to excel in school, in leadership positions, and in sports. We planned to go to college, travel the world, volunteer, and to make a difference in a country that had generously welcomed us. ``After a third failed attempt at securing a green card, we had given up. My parents had done everything they could. They paid the expensive lawyer fees, opened a small business, and had secured and renewed work visas throughout our time here. There was no explanation as to why U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would deny legal immigrants with a business, a home, savings accounts, and a decade in the country, a chance at becoming permanent residents. ``With the threat of being deported looming over my head, I did everything I could to help reelect President Obama. I joined OFA in Gainesville, Florida, and spent countless nights with volunteers and staffers.'' ``So although I am scared of what comes next, if we lose DACA, if we're no longer able to continue working in the U.S., I am empowered by an important lesson President Obama taught us: We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. In this time of uncertainty, we must carry that lesson and fight so that all people, including DREAMers, can continue working towards the American Dream.'' I know that Representative Jayapal is on the floor, and I wish that she could deliver it herself, but the rules do not allow. Parliamentary Inquiry

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.

Ms. PELOSI. Okay. I didn't know if a decision had been made about that yet. Then I will continue to read. Amy Kele. This is from Representative Jayapal, a leader on the immigration issues, as you probably all know, an immigrant herself to our country, and now a Member of Congress. I am so proud of her. Amy Kele and her family moved from Fiji to settle in Everett, Washington, staying on their father's student visa. Things change when Amy's parents left the U.S. to attend a wedding in Fiji. ``They were only planning to stay for 2 weeks, but then my mom's visa got denied,'' said Amy, the oldest of four children. Amy is now 19, but the last time she saw her parents was when she was just 11 years old. How sad. When Amy's parents left for Fiji, Amy's grandmother came from California to babysit. When they weren't able to reenter the country, she picked up her life and moved to Everett to care for her grandchildren. ``She's the heart of this whole family. She's kept us together this whole time. I don't know where we'd be right now, maybe back in Fiji or in a foster home. I'm really thankful for her in our lives,'' said Kele. Though Amy's grandmother has been living in the U.S. for almost 20 years, she is also undocumented. ``Because she's also undocumented, she can't get benefits like Social Security and things like that. It kind of breaks my heart whenever I think about it.'' With the exception of Amy's younger sister, who was born in the United States, the Kele children have all enrolled in

Ms. PELOSI. Well, that is what we asked earlier, and we had made that overture but never did get an answer back. We have been joined by Congresswoman Judy Chu who, as I mentioned earlier, is the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, a leader fighting for family fairness and the issue of family unification in any of our immigration discussions; Congresswoman Nita Lowey, our ranking member on appropriations and really central to all the discussion this is about, about the appropriations bill that will come back from the Senate. It will come back from the Senate with a promise from their leader, Mitch McConnell, that we would--that they, in the Senate, would have a vote on a DREAMers bill to be debated, and the chips will fall where they may. We are simply asking the Speaker for the same opportunity. So I thank Mrs. Lowey for her leadership. Congresswoman Roybal- Allard, as I mentioned earlier, was the original--I called her the godmother--of the DREAM Act. She had the original bill, and then she joined with Senator Durbin in advancing it in 2001. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, part of our communications group on this and other subjects, I thank Hakeem Jeffries from New York. Congressman Gonzalez from Texas who knows firsthand the border, the challenges that we face; Congressman Joe Kennedy from Massachusetts, again, a strong supporter, mentioned again in his response to the President. I mentioned Adam Schiff earlier about his being involved in our discussions and our earlier meetings today on the subject; and Congresswoman Hanabusa from Hawaii, of course, very involved in this issue, as you would suspect. So I thank so many of our colleagues for joining here on the floor. I don't know if they have--I have so many more, but I didn't know if they had any. These are from my colleagues. This is my stack, but these are from my colleagues; so I will go to those. From Congresswoman Lowey, this is a letter from a DREAMer to Congresswoman Nita Lowey. ``I want to thank you for your support of DACA. I know you are doing all you can to fight heartless legislation and initiatives that would deport a potential 800,000 young people. I am 28 years old, and I am one of the DREAMers, having come to America from El Salvador when I was 15 years old. ``I attended school in Ramapo, New York, and now make my home with my wife in Pearl River. Life in El Salvador, where I was born, was dangerous and brutal, which is why my father moved us to America in 2005.'' And this is a story we have heard over and over. ``I am grateful every day for all the opportunities presented to me here. I currently work as a technology specialist at Apple and feel it is so important to continue achieving, setting goals, and giving back to my community.'' ``It would break my heart to lose my home and life here in New York. ``The prognosis on DACA seems to be changing daily, adding to growing uncertainty. My status expires in November. ``What will my future be? ``I am reaching out to you to ask if I could meet with you at one of your local offices to discuss DACA. ``My employer has offered support and legal assistance. . . .'' That is from Hugo Alexander Acosta Mazariego. And as I said earlier, our business community has been superlative in all of this. Representative Torres sent a story from Leydy Rangel: ``My name is Leydy Rangel, and I have lived in the United States since I was 8. I am now 22. In June, I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona, where I earned a degree in journalism. I have always known I am undocumented because I remember the first day of elementary school and how kids pointed out my brown skin so much.'' I told you my story about that before. Leydy says: ``I know that my parents moving to the States was extremely horrifying and leaving everything behind was difficult, but it makes me feel better knowing that my future here was brighter than the one I could've ever had in Mexico. ``Regardless of not having enough food on the table, not having help on my homework, not having any resources to help me apply to college, I managed and got accepted to college and moved hours away from home with the purpose of bettering myself and my family.'' This is really the American Dream story over and over again. She references when DACA was created, she had stability, if only temporarily, in America, the only country she knows. By repealing DACA, her hopes and aspirations were forced into another place. Leydy says: ``I do not have any clear memories of Mexico, and I do not know anyone in Mexico. My entire life is in the United States. Here is where I have made my life for myself, and taking that away from me is inhumane. This Nation is the only one that I aspire to contribute to and the only one I belong to.'' Graciela Nunez is a 22-year-old student, a Washington graduate, who works at a humanitarian law firm. She is a driven person with a desire to give back, and she has big ambitions for the future. She is also a DREAMer and DACA recipient who was born in Venezuela. When Graciela was 7 years old, her parents moved. They told her that her family was going to the U.S. to visit Disney World on a short vacation. Only as she got off the plane did she realize that she was not going back to Venezuela. They were fleeing the Chavez regime, and they were in the United States to stay. This is the only country Graciela knows. She, like 1.8 million other DREAMers in this country, has built her life here. She is as American as it gets. A piece of paper could not negate her participation in all of the things that make this country great. Graciela feels little connection to Venezuela. She doesn't know how many Presidents that country has had. She is unfamiliar with the geography, but she has got a 5 in AP U.S. history and she can talk about the documents that built this Nation with more detail than any of us. In Graciela's words, she has been living under constant heightened stress because of the fate of DACA. And we know what that program is about. Graciela says DACA has let people know that undocumented youth have potential. It gives them upward social mobility and a way out. It allows DREAMers to do exactly what their name implies: to dream for a better life and to not let paper limit potential. Jimmy Panetta has sent us a story from Katherine from Salinas. I mentioned Jimmy earlier and his work in trying to find a bipartisan solution. Katherine says: ``I'm very grateful for all the things this country has done for me, but I think it's not their turn to see what I have done for them, to see everything that I've accomplished: the awards, the high GPAs, and all the amazing people that are DACA recipients. The process you have to go through and the strictness to obtain DACA is so hard. If you have just a little detail on your record, that's it, you're out. ``We're some of America's best. And I want to know why they are taking this away from us. ``Why don't you want us here? Don't you want people with degrees? Don't you want people with cool internships and cool jobs? Why don't you want me here? ``Our parents are original DREAMers, and we're here trying to accomplish their dreams. Please be able to see that for yourselves.'' So this is that same thing about parents. Mr. Hoyer has a story from Ivy Teng Lei, a Chinese American DACA recipient raised in Manhattan's Chinatown. She is the youngest of three and became the second to graduate college in her family from Baruch College. Today, she continues to devote her free time to empowering underserved communities. She chairs the Professional Leadership Council on Asian American Federation, hosts seminars and workshops on professional and cultural engagement activities. She is now an independent consultant for small business, nonprofits, and immigrant organizations. She just devotes so much of her free time to empowering underserved communities. Ivy Teng Lei's story is just what this country needs. I thank Mr. Hoyer for referring her to us. She is a Chinese American. Jung Bin Cho's family emigrated to the United States in 2001 from South Korea. They decided to leave to attain the American Dream for their children. He enrolled in first grade in Virginia, and, in 2016, proudly graduated from Virginia Tech. Jung Cho says: ``The U.S. is the only home I know. Because of DACA, I worked and could save money to help pay for college. Where I live in Northern Virginia, you need a car to get anywhere. Because of DACA, I can drive, giving my family rides or to study.'' Anyway, these are all just very personal stories about the struggles, the obstacles, but the optimism, the determination, and the hope that all of these people have. Isn't that what America is about? America is about optimism and hope. This one is from Representative Esty about Carolina Bortolleto. She had other testimony earlier. Elizabeth Esty from Connecticut has been a champion on this issue, and she sends this other testimony. Carolina says: ``I was born in Brazil and moved to the U.S. with my family and my twin sister when I was 9 years old. I came to Connecticut. I knew I was undocumented, and so I'd face a tougher path to college, but I made the decision to keep fighting. ``I was able to graduate in top 5 percent of my class and got a scholarship to Western Connecticut State University, where I graduated in 2010 with a degree in biology. In 2010, I cofounded a local organization working for the rights of undocumented students in Connecticut. ``I was able to buy my first car and obtain a driver's license. At the end of 2014, I suffered a severe medical emergency and spent 8 months in the hospital. But due to DACA, I was able to get a job that offered health insurance with the national organization United We Dream.'' Here we are again with United We Dream. Carolina says: ``Now my DACA expires on March 2019, and, with it, I will lose my health insurance that I need to live.'' Again, these stories go on and on. I think, really, the point is that these young people have accomplished things that I think many of us would not have been able to accomplish. Perhaps some. I give everyone credit for obstacles they have overcome. But if you have all of the obstacles of economic disadvantage, plus being undocumented, uncertainty in your family, and all the emotional unrest that that causes, and to see them in the National Honor Society, the top 1 percent, the top 10 percent, the top 5 percent of their classes, giving back, volunteering over and over again in their communities, these are the best of the best. They are so fabulous. Again, their parents were so courageous. They had a dream for their children, and some of these children are now reflecting that they are living their parents' dream for them. And that is what America has always been about. Mr. Speaker, I have plenty more stories to tell. Some of them submitted by our colleagues, but I know that there is supposed to be a vote sometime soon. Is that correct? Or can we just go on? Mr. Speaker, may I ask what the order of things is here? Do I have just time to go on and on? Or is there a vote being called? Or what?

Ms. PELOSI. Aldo Solano was at the State of the Union address. He was the guest of Congressman Earl Blumenauer. Aldo moved from Mexico when he was 6. He grew up in one of the Farmworker Housing Development Corporation's affordable housing communities in Woodburn, Oregon. At 15, he started volunteering at FHDC's afterschool program and later interned for its Funds Development Department, creating his pathway to a career in community development and a passion for social equity. After graduating from Woodburn High School, Aldo became a DACA recipient. He has extensive experience with electoral and community- based organizing in areas of farmworkers' rights, immigrants' rights, youth employment, and education. Aldo currently serves as the policy director for the Oregon Latino Health Coalition, where he is part of a team that helped pass State legislation that extends health coverage to undocumented children in Oregon. God bless you for that, Aldo. We have been joined by Congressman Eric Swalwell from California, and we thank him for his leadership on this very important issue working with the Future Forum, visiting with DREAMers all over the country. Also, Keith Ellison joined us, who I referenced earlier his testimony from his constituent in Minnesota as well. Mr. Hoyer has another testimony from Chirayu Patel, an Indian American who arrived here when he was 11 years old. For 23 years he has lived here. He was from Gujarat. Isn't that where the Prime Minister is from in India? Chirayu has spent years and thousands of dollars to resolve our status. He says: ``However, due to incorrect filing by a notary that took advantage of my father's lack of knowledge about U.S. immigration process, our current lawyer has said that there is simply no way for us to get right with the law unless there is a change in law by the Congress.'' Again, I won't read the whole statement, but Chirayu says: ``Over the years, our family has built a life here and given back to the only country we know as home. My parents have paid income taxes, property taxes, and even business taxes. I was also the first person in my family to graduate from college. The introduction of DACA in 2012 was a consequential day for me. ``The President's decision to rescind the DACA program was a punch in the gut, and I felt the floor disappear under my feet.'' Chirayu says: After 23 years, my life may be destroyed overnight. I continue to raise awareness on this issue by sharing our stories and asking our families, friends, and neighbors to continue pushing Congress. In return, we hope that Congress can deliver. I thank Mr. Hoyer for submitting that. Mr. Swalwell's testimony is from Jose from Hayward, California. He came to the United States as a child from Mexico. He has only pledged allegiance to the United States of America. He is headed to college soon and wants to be a police officer in the only country he has called home. Thank you, Mr. Swalwell, for bringing that to our attention. Valentina Garcia Gonzalez was only 6 years old when her family brought her to the United States from Uruguay. She grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. She was a bright child and learned English after a few months of college. Valentina says: ``After that, I became my parents' right hand. Everything and anything that involved speaking to the outside world meant I was in the front translating and representing my parents. It was a lot of responsibility for a young undocumented kid.'' In addition to this responsibility, Valentina was an excellent student. She received the President's Education Award twice, once from President Bush and once from President Obama. In high school, she was an honors graduate in advanced placement, a leader in student government, a member of the Beta Club. Somehow Valentina found time to be the president of the school's environmental group and manager of the varsity basketball team. They have so many hours in a day, these DREAMers. She was a very accomplished student, but Georgia State law bans undocumenteds from attending the State's top public universities. As a result, Valentina applied and was accepted to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Congratulations, Valentina. She is now a sophomore there. To help pay her tuition, she works as a projectionist at a theater, as an undocumented student. She still finds time to volunteer and mentor children. In her letter, she wrote: ``I am beyond grateful because, by receiving DACA, the U.S. has given me an opportunity to give back to this country that has given me so much. This is my country. I have worked hard to prove myself worthy in the eyes of my American counterparts, and knowing that I am in a weird limbo in regards to my legal status doesn't make me sleep any easier. My name is registered with the government, so I might be deported if they decide to end DACA.'' It would be so sad if she were deported back to Uruguay, a country where she hasn't lived since she was 6 years old. I don't think our country would be stronger without that. Oscar Cornejo, Jr., was 5 years old when his family came to the United States from Mexico. He grew up in Park City, a small northern suburb of Chicago. He became an excellent student in high school. He was a member of, again, the National Honor Society, and he was an Illinois State Scholar. He received several advanced placement awards. He graduated magna cum laude. What he says is: ``My parents always instilled in me the value of an education, which is one of the main reasons they decided to leave everything in Mexico and come to the United States. I dedicate myself to my education to honor the sacrifices my parents made.'' Because of his outstanding academic achievements, he was admitted to Dartmouth. He is the first member of his family to attend college. He excelled at Dartmouth. During freshman year, he received the William S. Churchill prize for outstanding academic achievement. Just absolutely fabulous. Thank you. Thank you for submitting Oscar's story. He says: ``When I received my DACA, the threat of deportation had been lifted and I felt I could actually achieve my dreams. DACA has allowed me to work for the first time, and the money I earn goes to support my education and my family.'' Again, a valuable asset. Let me just recap a little bit of this, Mr. Speaker. So many of our DREAMers are interested in becoming doctors and healthcare professionals, whether it be researchers, nurses, or other healthcare professionals. I just want to read once again this statement from the Association of American Medical Colleges: The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the Nation's doctor shortage will rise to between 40,000 and 105,000 by the year 2030. Both the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges warn that ending DACA will exacerbate this physician shortage in the United States, and they have urged Congress to pass legislation to protect DREAMers. Listen to what the AMA says: ``Estimates have shown that the DACA initiative could help introduce 5,400 previously ineligible physicians into the U.S. healthcare system in the coming decades to address these shortages and ensure patient access to care. ``Removing those with DACA status will particularly create care shortages for rural and other underserved areas. . . . Without these physicians, the AMA is concerned that the quality of care provided in these communities would be negatively impacted and that patient access to care will suffer.'' That is a quote. They are saying there could be as many as 40,000 to over double that number by 2030, and 5,400 previously ineligible physicians come to us by making DACA, by passing protection for our DREAMers, 5,400 previously ineligible physicians. That is quite remarkable. So when you see the need and you see the ambition and the vocation and the dedication, especially to help in underserved areas, it is quite remarkable. This is another of Senator Durbin's. He wanted to introduce to the Senate a DREAMer from Speaker Ryan's home State of Wisconsin. Her name is Maricela Aguilar. In 1995, when Maricela was 3 years old, her mother brought her to the United States with the hope of giving her a chance for a better life. Maricela's family settled in Milwaukee. Maricela worked hard, and she excelled in school. During high school, she was on the honor roll and was a member of the National Honor Society--we keep hearing that over and over--and captain of the cross country team. At the same time, Maricela was active in her community, volunteering at a local homeless shelter. When it came time to apply for colleges, Maricela knew she wanted to stay close to her family in the only home she'd ever known, Wisconsin. She applied to many local schools and was offered a full-tuition scholarship to Marquette University in Milwaukee. At Marquette, Maricela was on the dean's list and was a double major in political science and English literature. She also worked part-time as a waitress to support herself and her family. Maricela became involved in advocating for immigration reform. In December 2010, Maricela was here in the Senate gallery, along with hundreds of other DREAMers, when the Senate failed to pass the DREAM Act due to a Republican filibuster. I remind that, just shortly before that, we passed it in the House. It got over 50 votes in the Senate, but it did not get to the 60th vote. She came to raise concerns about the DREAMers again and again. She graduated with honors in her graduating class. She is now in graduate school at Brandeis University in Boston. She plans to return to Milwaukee when she graduates. She wants to become a public schoolteacher. Maricela and other DREAMers have so much to contribute to our country. Could we use more public schoolteachers like Maricela? I think so. Would we be a stronger country if we deported her? I don't think so. So we have another one from Mr. Durbin. Her name is Naomi Florentino. Her parents brought her to the United States from Mexico when she was 10 years old. Naomi grew up in the town of Smyrna, Tennessee. Naomi was an excellent student and active in her community. In high school, she was a member of the National Honor Society, and she received Student of the Year awards for algebra and art. She served on the student council and played on the varsity soccer team and the varsity track and field team. She was also a shot put and discus thrower. These people are so accomplished, I just don't know how many hours they have in the day. Naomi's dream was to become a robotics engineer. She participated in the NASA Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Aerospace Academy and performed so well that she won the Next Generation Pioneer Award. She graduated high school with honors, but her immigration status limited her. She didn't give up. She took mechanical engineering courses at Lipscomb University in Nashville. She then went to community college. In the spring, she is graduating with an associate's degree in mechatronics technology, a field that combines mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications engineering, control engineering, and computer engineering. Could you do that? Could any of us do that? Naomi is now working on her bachelor's degree at Middle Tennessee State University. In her spare time, she is also involved in her community doing all kinds of wonderful things. She says: ``DACA has meant the opportunity of a lifetime for my academic and professional career. As a student at Smyrna High School, driving past the Nissan plant motivated me to be a better student with hopes of, one day, being part of a company that is highly regarded in my community. However, without proper work authorization, that goal seemed far-fetched. Today, it is a reality for me.'' So, hopefully, we can continue to make that a reality for Naomi Florentino, and I submit her statement for the Record. I wish I could excuse my colleagues, but they have all been such champions on this issue, and their dedication to it is obviously demonstrated here, as it is with some of those who can't be with us right now. This is another story that is about a DREAMer, and I want to tell the story of how DACA has given one DREAMer the chance to contribute to the country she loves. This is Maria Ibarra-Frayre. Maria's parents brought her to the United States from Mexico at 9 years old. She grew up in Detroit, Michigan, the heartland. She was an excellent student who was dedicated to community service. In high school, she was a member of the National Honor Society--you keep hearing that, Mr. Speaker. I have been here all day, but all day you have been hearing members of the National Honor Society--Key Club, and the school newspaper. She volunteered twice a week tutoring middle school students and performed over 300 hours of community service. She graduated with a 3.97 GPA and was admitted to the University of Michigan, but was unable to enroll at Michigan because of her immigration status. She entered the University of Detroit Mercy, a private Catholic school. She was elected vice president of the student senate. She helped found Campus Kitchen to take leftover meals to the homeless--not to the homeless, but other people who have a hard time leaving home and needed meals to be brought to them. She participated in helping elderly couples, homeless people, et cetera, and graduated valedictorian of her class. Her options were limited because of her immigration status. When she got DACA, she wrote: ``DACA means showing the rest of the country, society, and my community what I can do. I have always known what I'm capable of, but DACA has allowed me to show others that the investment and opportunity that DACA provides is worth it.'' Maria and other DREAMers like her have so much to contribute to our country. Will America be a stronger country if we send Maria away? No, I don't think so, and I think you would agree. Juan Vargas from California. I acknowledged him earlier. He is here. Congressman Juan Vargas, 51st Congressional District, would like me to read a statement from a constituent, former intern, and a DREAMer: My name is name Jacqueline Olivares. I was brought to the United States at age 2. Now, you know, age 2. I was raised in San Diego and never felt different from anyone else. I speak the language and know the culture. I knew I had no papers, but I never really knew what that meant. I didn't realize the importance of those documents until I wanted to go to college. I always knew I wanted to move forward with my education. I was an avid student in high school and was always encouraged to apply to universities because I had the grades to compete. Then my parents told me that it wasn't a possibility. I realized I was different. I would always ask myself: Why me? But when DACA was announced in 2012, it gave me relief. I am proud to call myself a DREAMer. Jacqueline says: I am proud to call myself a DREAMer. DACA gave me hope, opportunity, and motivation, and that won't be taken away. My name is Jacqueline Olivares, and DREAMers are American, too. I thank Mr. Vargas for that. Another one, from Keith Ellison from Minnesota: Itzel came to the United States when she was only 15 years old. Despite initial language difficulties, she worked hard and graduated from high school with honors. She completed one semester of college after high school, but economic difficulties forced her to focus on work instead. However, when she was granted DACA in 2012, she got a better-paying job, was able to go back to college, and graduated with honors. The last 2 years, Itzel has been working for the State of Minnesota as a senior court clerk. She bought a house and supports her family. The week before DACA was terminated Itzel applied for a job as a probation officer, her dream job, a probation officer. But the elimination of DACA now makes that goal appear impossible. Itzel was also planning to start a master's degree in criminal justice next semester. That, too, now seems impossible. Itzel told me, ``I don't want to go back to dreaming of a better future. I want to be part of a better future for me, for my family, and for my country.'' Again and again, for our country. I thank Mr. Ellison and Itzel. From Congresswoman Matsui of California, acknowledged earlier, an unnamed DREAMer from her district says: ``September 1990 my life would change forever.'' This is her story: ``My family and I had migrated to the United States. ``The first six years of my life pales in comparison to what I have been introduced to within a few months of living in the U.S. All I do know is that my clear, joyful memories started when we moved to America. I was living in the best country in the world, a place I would call my home, and yet I didn't even know it. ``Fast-forward 27 years later, and today my family sit here in deportation proceedings, given 45 days to pack up their lives and leave. The past few weeks have been the most painful, fearful, helpless, and hopeless days of my life.'' ``My parents and sisters are being deported, and I most likely have a few months left before I will be deported as well. I am considered a DREAMer, probably one of the oldest DREAMers in the United States; had my oldest sister been eligible, she would have been the oldest of us DREAMers. ``However, I was the only one of the three to be granted protection with DACA, and now my family has been ordered to leave the United States with a 10-year ban on reentry.'' The 10-year ban on reentry--you are probably familiar with this, Mr. Speaker--this 10-year ban is just deadly. ``I can't separate from my family and have them do this on their own. My family and I are one cohesive unit--family always stick together, it's what we believe in, so there is no choice but to go with my family, to help each other reconstruct what we built here over the last 27 years. At this point, I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do? We have exhausted all of our options and met failure at each end. All I can do is leave it in God's hands, pray for strength and guidance, and hope my prayers are heard with a miracle. ``I understand that there are those who commit horrible crimes and shouldn't be given the opportunity to stay. However, for us as a family, we didn't do anything to harm our country. We went to school, educated ourselves, had good jobs, pushed our limits, helped others, are great Samaritans''--there we are with great Samaritan again--``pay and paid our taxes, and strive to better ourselves and our country and the community we live in. ``As for my family and I, no matter the distance, no matter the 10- year ban, no matter what . . . our heart and spirit will always be here in the United States.'' `` . . . the place I call home. I have spent the majority of my life here, and it has shaped me into the woman I am now.'' These people are being deported, and that is why we need to have comprehensive immigration reform to address the bigger issue. But we can do something today to at least make whole the children. This is another one, a Sacramento State graduate that Congresswoman Matsui submitted to us. She said that DACA gave him peace of mind. He currently holds a master's degree and plans to pursue a doctoral degree. He wants to work in the field of education and is worried that the President's decision to rescind DACA will lead to less people becoming teachers. He said that he believes ``there is something good in all of us.'' Oswaldo deserves to continue to fulfill his dreams in his community. Gustavo, also from Sac State, came to the United States at the age of 7 with his brothers and parents. He said: ``I am happy to say that my parents' courage and willingness to risk it all for their children's future was worth it.'' Gustavo recently graduated from Sacramento State with a bachelor's in psychology and a minor in counseling and would like to pursue a master's degree. Gustavo said: ``We as DREAMers are here to build a better society, to change the cycle of our family's struggles, to better ourselves, to help build bridges amongst society and to be educated individuals with the hunger of striving for a better tomorrow.'' Another from Congresswoman Matsui. Jesus is a DREAMer and DACA recipient from Sacramento who was brought to this country by his mother at the age of 8. He is also a full-time English professor at Sacramento City College and part-time lecturer at Sacramento State University. He has devoted himself to the classroom, oftentimes working with young DREAMers. He said: ``I am honored to have the opportunity to teach the youth of my community, to empower the reentry students, and to help improve the culture of both local campuses who gave me an education.'' Juana from Congresswoman Matsui's district: ``DACA has allowed me to feel protected from being deported, to feel accepted and acknowledged in this country we grew up in and love. My DACA status has provided me the opportunity to pursue my dreams like many other people. ``Thanks to DACA, I was able to work and go to school. I just recently graduated from Sacramento State, this spring 2017, with my B.A. in sociology. I graduated from high school in 2006 and had to put my dreams aside because I was not able to continue my education; but once I got DACA status, I was able to go to a university. Now that I just graduated and would like to start my career, it would be horrible if my status was rescinded. ``I've been in the U.S. for 27 years. I have never left America. I was born in Mexico but have no clue what it is like. The only place I know is California. This is my home and all I know.'' From Representative Lofgren, whom I mentioned earlier, who has been such a champion on the Judiciary Committee on this, a former chair of the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee. She has taught immigration law. She has been an immigration lawyer. She knows it all. She has just been a tremendous leader and very dedicated advocate and champion. She submits this from Ms. Mandy Lau: ``I wanted to take a moment to express my frustration with the repeal of DACA. As an educator, I have seen how DACA has improved the lives of the students and families in our community here in San Jose. DACA has been a resounding success, and this administration should not end this crucial program. Nearly 800,000 young men and women have been able to contribute to their communities, to work, go to school, and to live their lives without fear of being ripped away from their families and from a country they consider home. Ms. Lau, Mandy that is, went on to say: ``Recently, I held a crying student who was disheartened that although she worked hard to maintain her 4.0 GPA throughout high school, fought stereotypes of gang affiliation, and resisted negative influences to create better opportunities for herself and her family, there would also be a possibility that her dream of attending college would no longer be an option. She asked me how this was possible in the land of the free, how quickly an opportunity could be stripped from a person with ambition, hopes, and dreams. DACA has given these young adults a lifeline and hope for the future. Ending the program would be devastating for DREAMers and their families. Without DACA, these 800,000 DREAMers would be subject to deportation to countries they may not even remember and no longer able to work legally to support themselves and their families''--in the place they call home, Mandy says. ``I have spent the majority of my life here. It shaped me into the woman I am.'' So I thank the lady very much. These are beautiful, beautiful statements from some of these DACA recipients, from our DREAMers, but it is even beyond those who are recipients. Two brothers, Jhon Magdaleno and Nelson, his brother. Let me tell you about Nelson and Jhon. These brothers came to the United States from Venezuela when Nelson was 11 and Jhon was 9. They are both honor students at Lakeside High School in Atlanta, Georgia. Here is a picture of Nelson. Jhon served with distinction in the Air Force Junior Officer Reserve Corps. He was the fourth highest ranking in a 175-cadet unit and commander of the Air Honor Society in his unit. Here is a picture of Jhon in his ROTC uniform. They went on to both become honor students at Georgia Tech University--Nelson in computer engineering, Jhon in biomedical engineering with a 4.0. In 2012, he graduated from Georgia Tech with honors. Do you understand being graduated with honors from Georgia Tech in computer engineering, and Jhon in a biomedical engineering major from Georgia Tech, and they have 3.6 GPA and 4.0 GPA? Thanks to DACA, they have been working as computer engineers for a Fortune 500 semiconductor company. Jhon received DACA in 2012, while he was still a student at Georgia Tech. He then worked for 2 years as a researcher in a biomedical engineering lab at Georgia Tech researching glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness. In 2014, Jhon graduated from Georgia Tech with a major in chemical and biological engineering with highest honors--highest honors in chemical and biological engineering from Georgia Tech. He is now working as a process engineer with a Fortune 500 company, too. Both have written letters. Nelson wrote: ``To me, DACA means an opportunity to be able to live my dreams and contribute to society in ways that I could not have imagined. DACA means that one of my life goals, owning my own company, could be a possibility in the future. DACA means a chance. DACA means the American Dream.'' Jhon wrote: ``I consider an American to be someone who loves and wholeheartedly dedicates themselves to the development of this country. From age 9, I have made the United States my home, and it has made me the man I am today. I proudly call myself an American.'' As I read some of these stories, you hear a recurring theme. Again, it is a theme about honoring the vows of our Founders for a new order for the ages that every generation would take the responsibility to make the future better for future generations. That is exactly what the families of these DREAMers did. Family members took risks, had courage, hope, optimism, and determination to make the future better for their families. Doing that for their families, they were doing that for America, too. You see such a similarity to previous generations. I see it as an Italian American--education, education, education, the key to upward mobility. Talent, talent, talent, but not underutilized; educated to reach its full potential to reach the aspirations of these young people to do so in a way that is about giving back. What you see here is what our families were all about that had come before, that idealism and hope springs in optimism and aspirations of immigrants coming to our country. That is why I always say that we are a great country because we are constantly reinvigorated by immigrants coming to our country. Their courage and commitment to the American Dream which drew them here in the first place strengthens the American Dream. These newcomers with all of that hope and aspiration make America more American when they come here. That is why our country will not stagnate. That is why our country will continue to blossom, to respect our traditions, our past, and our sense of community. In every one of these letters there is gratitude back to the United States for what it has done for these people. There is no sense of entitlement. It is all about working hard and paying back. That is why if we can just do this piece which has urgency to it because it has a timetable that the President has put forth, just doing this piece would be the smart thing to do, to find a solution that then builds trust in a bipartisan way with transparency and openness as to what it actually is about. That is why we want people to know this is who these people are. That is why they are called DREAMers. That is why the name has persisted. We have been the country of the American Dream forever. Yes, I agree with the President. We are all DREAMers in America. This is part of the future. Of course, I think of my grandchildren as the future. They didn't have to face the struggles that these young people are facing. God bless them for their courage to make the struggle, but it is, again, faith, family, faith in the future, faith in America, faith in themselves, faith which gives people hope, hope because they have faith in the kindness of others. Faith, hope, charity, and hope is right there in the middle. I think that people who have hope, much of it springs from their faith, and these clearly are people of great faith. That is why the Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomes them. That is why the evangelical community speaks so clearly and passionately about the need to protect them. These are precious gems. They are absolutely outstanding, and they write their stories so eloquently that nothing any of us can say about the subject is to even compare to the power of their stories. For example, Johana was brought to the United States from Venezuela when she was a child. She grew up in Boulder, Colorado. She played in her high school softball team, played viola in the orchestra, and dreamed of becoming a doctor. Here is what Johana said about her childhood: ``I've become a Boulderite in all aspects of that word. That town, with those beautiful mountains, is truly my home.'' In 2011, Johana graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a double major in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology and psychology neuroscience. They are so talented. But after graduating from college, Johana was unable to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor because she was undocumented. Then in 2012, with DACA, she heard that Loyola University in Chicago would accept students who had received DACA into its medical schools. I thank Loyola University and the University of Chicago. Like many States across the country, Illinois faces a shortage of physicians in some communities. The Loyola University DACA program sees this as an opportunity to address the problem. The State of Illinois has created a DACA loan program. Under this program, Loyola DACA med students can receive loans to help cover the cost of their medical education. For every year of loans, the DACA student must work a year in a medically underserved area in Illinois--again giving back. Last fall, Johana went to med school at Loyola. After graduating, she will stay in Illinois and help serve parts of Illinois that have a shortage of doctors. This is, of course, one of Senator Durbin's constituents. Here is what Johana had to say: ``When the year 2012 came along, my life changed. My dreams of becoming a doctor became a possibility again because of DACA. I am now able to apply to medical internship programs, take the medical school entrance exam, and apply to medical school, all because of my DACA status. DACA has defined my path. DACA has relit a fire within to succeed and to continue to pursue my dreams.'' Will America be a stronger country if we deport Johana? I don't think so. This is Everardo Arias. Everardo was brought to the United States from Mexico in 1997 when he was 7 years old. Just imagine these adorable children. He grew up in Costa Mesa, California, and was an excellent student. He dreamed of becoming a doctor. A doctor, again. It was not until he applied to college that Everardo learned that he was undocumented. He was accepted at the University of California, Riverside, but because of his immigration status, however, Everardo didn't qualify for any Federal assistance. When Everardo was a sophomore, he met with a counselor, who told him he had no chance of becoming a doctor because he was undocumented. But Everardo didn't give up on his dream. In 2012, he graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a chemistry major and research honors. Shortly after he graduated, DACA was established. He received DACA. He worked for a year as a mentor for at-risk students in his hometown of Costa Mesa. The following year, through AmeriCorps, he worked as a health educator with several local clinics. He gave classes to hundreds of people in both English and Spanish on topics ranging from diabetes to family nutrition to depression. During his year as a health educator, he applied and was accepted in medical school. He is currently in his first year at the Loyola University Chicago School of Medicine. In his free time, he volunteers at a local clinic. He takes time to teach medical Spanish to some of his classmates. Here is what he had to say about DACA: ``DACA changed my life. It opened the door to the future ahead of me. If it weren't for DACA, I would not be here and I probably would not have pursued medicine. I'm blessed to have the opportunity to do what I love to do and to give back to the country that has given me so much.'' Will America be a stronger country if we deport Everardo Arias and others like him? Of course not. This is from Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who is with us. This is her story from Colorado: Marco Dorado was born in Mexico and moved to Denver's Globeville neighborhood at the age of 3. After attending Thornton High School as a student in the International Baccalaureate program, Marco attended the University of Colorado Boulder and graduated as student body president with a degree in finance. During his time at University of Colorado, Marco received DACA, which has allowed him to begin his professional career while contributing back to his community. Currently, Marco is the program coordinator for the Latino Leadership Institute at the University of Denver. It is a beautiful story, once again demonstrating not only a commitment to education, but a commitment to give back, become doctors, whatever, but leadership. Every one of these has leadership, whether it is leadership in the student government, leadership in community activity, leadership on the sports field, leadership in every possible way in extracurricular activities and the rest. Certainly, Marco has demonstrated that trait typical of our DREAMers. We have been joined by Ted Lieu from California and Ms. Bordallo from Guam. I think we have acknowledged so many Members who have come and gone. I thank them all for their ongoing support of our DREAMers. This is from an unknown DREAMer to Brad Sherman. It says: ``I am writing this letter to you because I am fearful of what might happen next. I am a Canadian who was brought here when I was 11 years old. I am 28 now and DACA has allowed me to come out of the shadows.'' You hear that expression, ``come out of the shadows.'' ``I have worked hard my whole life. I am a senior at UCLA majoring in civil engineering. I am an engineering intern at the City of Stanton, and I also work at an animal emergency hospital on weekends. I often time go weeks where I do not have a day off.'' I love this recurring animal assistance, too, that we hear. ``All I ask for is a fair shake, and with this new administration, I fear I won't be given that. I am not a criminal. I am not a danger to my community, nor am I someone trying to take advantage of public benefits. I am a victim to a situation I had no say over. I want to do my share: pay taxes, inspire others, and any other help I can provide. ``Congressman, thank you for your time and for listening.'' I thank Brad for submitting this enthusiastic statement from an unknown DREAMer from his district, a Canadian. This is from Ted Lieu. I thank him for being here. To Ted Lieu, a testimonial from Representative Lieu's district: My name is Nicole, and I am a student at UCLA. My parents brought me to the United States when I was 3 years old. For the 16 years that I have lived in the United States, I grew up like any other U.S. citizen. I finished my K-12 schooling, and I volunteered around my community. For my first year of college, I was fortunate enough to receive a substantial amount of financial aid from both UCLA and the California Dream Act. This aid alleviated my parents from the fiscal burden of paying for college. Although my tuition was covered, my parents still had to pay out of pocket to cover the expense of living on campus. The scholarship money I received for my sophomore year was steadily decreased, which means there was more pressure on my parents to keep up with the growing cost. To lighten this load, I acquired a full-time summer job. I have become dependent on my job and my paycheck to pay off my school, but how do I remain debt free if DACA is rescinded? Terminating DACA would turn my world upside down, it will undo the progress I have made at UCLA and challenge my access to higher education. Nicole goes on to say: Although I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given under DACA, like a Social Security number and relief from deportation, I cannot reconcile that the very government I one day hope to work for continues to exclude me from living the American Dream. The President and U.S. legislators need to look beyond their biases and stand up for the children who have continuously pledged allegiance to the only country they have ever called home. I thank Ted Lieu for Nicole's beautiful story. Mr. Lieu also submitted testimony from Martin. Martin says, Mr. Speaker: My name is Martin and I grew up in an undocumented household. When I was in grade school, I loved listening to the news with my father. It became a daily routine to tune in to Univision or television after both of our days of work. It was extremely difficult for me to comprehend many issues discussed on mainstream news, mainly because I generally didn't understand the content. However, one particular word was mentioned almost every day, ``deportation.'' I had asked my father what it meant, but he refused to answer, and so did my mother. After hearing the cold, hard truth from my teacher in grade school, I felt vulnerable for the first time in my life. As I grew older, I became more and more concerned. I walked to school every day worried that my parents might unexpectedly be taken away from me. How many times have we heard that story? Two hardworking parents that had lived and contributed to this country for more than 30 years might be forcibly removed from the United States. Now, I have never felt more fearful for the future of my family. That word ``fear'' is terrifying, tears in the eyes of the Statue of Liberty, fear in the hearts of people who should be able to just make their contribution to our country. Hakeem Jeffries submits this testimony from Ashelle. Let me just once again thank my colleagues for being here. I wish you could be reading these stories. I feel very privileged to be reading so many of them, but the rules are that I cannot yield on the special 1 minute. This is Ashelle King's story: ``I came to the United States from St. Lucia in the Caribbean at the age of 7, and I've been living in Brooklyn for 16 years. I currently attend Baruch College, where I pay tuition out of my pocket by working because I am not eligible for certain types of aid for school. ``I am studying computer information systems and political science, and I want to apply my studies to help people. I try to be involved in the community, which is why I interned in Mr. Jeffries' office.'' I again thank Mr. Jeffries for this testimony. ``I felt like Mr. Jeffries had a real connection with the people, and I wanted to learn how I can assist and give back in that regard. Hopefully, I will be graduating in the spring. I don't want to be fearful of not graduating or of leaving school because DACA ends. ``Fixing DACA is important to me because I would not have been able to work if it weren't for DACA. Because I have a working permit, I am able to pay for school and be exposed to more things in the U.S. You know, I've been here since a very young age, so I don't know much about St. Lucia. I grew up in Brooklyn. I know more about Brooklyn, and I want to stay here.'' I know that is music to the ears of Hakeem Jeffries, who is always bragging about Brooklyn. And, by the way, so is the Democratic leader in the Senate. Mr. Schumer is always singing the praises of Brooklyn. This is from Mr. Durbin. This is Pablo da Silva. Pablo was brought to the United States from Brazil in 2001, when he was 13 years old. He grew up in New Jersey. Here is what Pablo has to say about his childhood: ``The same as every other kid growing up in the U.S., I attended middle school, pledged allegiance to the American flag, and sang the national anthem. As I grew older, I came to understand that one thing about me differed from my classmates. I was undocumented. However, my parents always taught me to see barriers as a measure of perseverance and an opportunity to thrive.'' Pablo was an excellent student. He dreamed of becoming a doctor. During high school and college, Pablo volunteered at a nursing home every week. He also was a member of a group called Doctor Red Nose. Pablo and other members of the group would dress up as clowns and visit hospitals and nursing homes to cheer up patients and healthcare providers. Pablo was accepted at Rutgers University, but because he was undocumented, he didn't qualify financially. You have heard that sentence over and over. And although he grew up in New Jersey, he would have been required to pay out-of-state tuition. As a result, Pablo couldn't afford to attend Rutgers and instead enrolled in community college. Because he had taken college courses when he was in high school, Pablo was able to complete a 2-year associate's degree in only 1 year. With his associate's degree, Pablo was able to transfer to Kean University in New Jersey. In 2011, Pablo graduated at the top of his class with a major in biology, summa cum laude. He received an award for the highest grade point average in the biology department. He was on the dean's list every semester of college and was a member of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi. After graduating from college, he was unable to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. Instead, he worked in a variety of manual labor jobs. Then, in 2012, President Obama established DACA. Pablo heard that Loyola University of Chicago accepts students that receive DACA. Like many States across the country, Illinois faces a shortage of physicians in some communities. Loyola University's DACA program is an opportunity to address this problem. I have described this problem again and again, but let me say the State of Illinois has created a DACA loan program. Under this program, Loyola's DACA med students can receive loans to cover the costs of their medical education. For every year of loan, the students must work for a year in a medically underserved area in Illinois. I said that earlier, but I just want people to know how creative people have become in not only helping educate, alleviate the cost, but serve the community. As a result, some of the best and brightest students in the country have come to Loyola to get a medical education. They will stay in Illinois to help serve parts of the State that have a shortage of doctors. And then more on Pablo. Last fall, Pablo da Silva began med school at Loyola. He is pursuing his dream to become a cardiothoracic surgeon. This is what he had to say: ``DACA has allowed me to fulfill my long- lasting aspiration to pursue a career in medicine. It has truly changed my future, and for that, I'm truly grateful. I'm eager to contribute my share to the country I call my own.'' Thank you, Pablo. This is Karen Villagomez. Karen was brought to the United States when she was only 2 years old. She grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She is an outstanding student and interested in public service. In May 2012, Karen graduated from the University of Rochester in New York with a major in political science. She is the first person in her family to graduate from a 4-year college. Just 1 month after she graduated, President Obama announced the DACA program. After she received DACA, Karen found a job as a paralegal in a law firm in Chicago, where she has been working for the last 2 years. This fall, she will begin law school. How about that? But if the House of Representatives have--if we could pass this bill, she would be able to attend law school and become an attorney. Instead, she could be deported back to Mexico, a country she hasn't lived in since she was a toddler. Here is what Karen had to say: ``DACA represents the values and heritage of this country of immigrants; it was the right thing to do, and it has changed my life by replacing fear with hope. This executive action gave me an overwhelming sense of relief and hope. It lifted me from the shadows.'' I just want to repeat her first sentence: ``DACA represents the values and heritage of this country of immigrants; it was the right thing to do, and it has changed my life by replacing fear with hope.'' Now, will America be strong if Karen is deported? No, I don't think so. This one is from Representative Foster. Mr. Foster is also from Illinois, and this was his State of the Union guest, Ana Campa Castillo. She is a student at Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois. Ana is a graduate of Bolingbrook High School and is currently pursuing an associate's degree in psychology at Joliet Junior College. She serves as the vice president of Latinos Unidos, one of the largest student organizations. I had the occasion to meet her when Representative Foster brought her to the State of the Union. I wish more Members of Congress could meet more of these DREAMers. Aren't you impressed by the cumulative effect that they are making on our country, each of them with their individual contribution to the greatness of America? So exciting. I am so proud of them. Representative Polis' State of the Union guest was Anarely, a student at the Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She was a guest of Jared Polis. Anarely was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and came to the United States when she was a young child. Her family stayed in Colorado to care for her grandmother, who suffered from breast cancer. Anarely has flourished in Colorado, graduating high school with a 4.3 GPA, where she participated in Reserve Officers' Training Corps. She went on to thrive at Colorado State University, triple majoring in political science, ethnic studies, and international relations. I thank Representative Polis and Representative Foster for their very distinguished guests at the State of the Union address. I did mention to the President, when I welcomed him to the Capitol, that we had many DREAMers and supporters of DREAMers in the audience here, also supporters of fairness for Mexico. So I hope we are doing better as far as our negotiations go in terms of Puerto Rico. I see we have been joined by Congressman Mark DeSaulnier from California. Thank you for being here, Mark, as well. Arisaid Gonzalez Porras was a guest of Raul Grijalva. Arisaid came to the United States in 2000 from Mexico and currently resides in Arizona. That is the State that Raul Grijalva represents in Congress. Arisaid is a freshman at Georgetown University. As a first-generation student, she relied on the help of counselors and teachers to help apply to college. Growing up undocumented, she lived in fear of what would happen to her and her family. In her first semester in college, Arisaid has become more outspoken about her status as a DACA recipient and became an advocate for the rights of the undocumented youth. As a student with the privilege to go to school right in the center of politics, she plans to continue her advocacy until Congress passes DREAMers legislation. Hopefully, Arisaid, that will be very soon. Here are some testimonies from other Members of Congress. Leticia Herrera-Mendez is a student at California State University, San Bernardino she was a guest of Congressman Pete Aguilar from California at the State of the Union address. Congressman Aguilar is a cosponsor with Congressman Hurd from Texas of the legislation that has strong bipartisan support in the Congress and one bill that we would hope that the Speaker would give us an opportunity to vote on the floor of the House. I thank Congressman Aguilar. Leticia Herrera-Mendez was born in Mexico and arrived in the United States at the age of 8. She is a DREAMer and a student at California State University, San Bernardino. In June 2019, she will obtain a bachelor's degree in sociology and two certificates, one in Spanish public services and another in social services. She is committed to helping and spreading awareness about the Latino community. She is an immigrant activist and is the vice president of the student organization, Undocumented Advocates at Cal State University, San Bernardino, where she advocates for the rights of undocumented immigrants. Her work and dedication to her community has granted her the opportunity to serve as the California delegat for Fuerza Migrante National Political Group and student assistant of the Undocumented Student Success Center at CSUSB. Again, leadership, leadership, leadership. Education, leadership, how beautiful. Leslie Martinez is a student at UC Irvine, and she was a guest of Congressman Lou Correa at the State of the Union. Leslie Martinez is a freshman in college who is passionate about her studies. She was brought to the United States at the age of 2. Growing up, she was alone most of the time due to her parents always working, but this allowed her to become independent at a very young age. She found out she was undocumented during middle school, when she was trying to apply for a scholarship but needed a Social Security number. Luckily, DACA came around during her high school years, opening several opportunities for her, such as an internship at UCI Medical Center, where she--that would be University of California, Irvine--where she was able to shadow medical professionals, and it opened up her love for the medical field. DACA also made her college application a smooth process. Now she is a freshman in college and is passionate about, again, her studies. She attends the University of California, Irvine, and is majoring in chemistry. Leslie hopes to attend medical school after college in hopes of becoming a general surgeon or a pediatrician. Again, doctors, doctors, doctors. Maybe she could find out about Loyola University School of Medicine. Maybe she will have many more options by then, hopefully, when we pass this legislation. Karen Bahena was a State of the Union guest of Congressman Scott Peters. Karen lived in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, for 8 years, until 2001, when her family migrated to San Diego. Thanks to DACA, Karen has been able to graduate college with a degree in public health and nutrition at San Diego State University, find work as a research coordinator at the University of California, San Diego, and pursue her dreams in the field of medicine. She hopes to one day help underprivileged communities with healthcare needs. God bless you, Karen. Again, another example, universally, giving back, giving back, giving back. State of the Union guest of Judy Chu, Jung Bin Cho and his family immigrated to the United States when he was 7 years old from South Korea. Thanks to DACA, Jung Bin Cho was able to work and save money that allowed him to graduate from Virginia Tech with a bachelor's degree in business information technology. Currently, he is an Immigrant Rights Fellow at the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium--this is quite an acronym, NAKASEC, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium--organizing and advocating for economic, social, and racial justice for all, with a focus on Asian American and Pacific Coast Islander communities. His dream is to attend law school in order to help his community in Virginia. Thank you, Jung. The guest of Gerry Connolly, Nicolle Uria, she spoke at our press conference that we had before the State of the Union. I made a joke with Gerry Connolly because somebody there referenced him as Congressman Cannoli. So I welcomed him with great pride of being an Italian American, but he is Connolly. Nicolle moved to the United States from La Paz, Bolivia, at the age of 1 with both of her parents and her sisters. For her entire life, she has lived here. The United States is her home. Nicolle grew up living the American Dream just like any other American citizen. She celebrated the same traditions, ate the same food, enjoyed from the same activities as any of my other friends. Throughout her education, she has always been a good student and always very active with not just school activities, but also with the community. She has been a Girl Scout since the age of 4, she has played both soccer and volleyball for many years, and now as a high school student. Nicolle spent many hours volunteering in the community and getting involved with organizations such as the DREAM Project, LULAC, UnidosUS, and many more. After finding out that she was undocumented, she thought all her hard work and effort was for nothing. But then, thanks to President Obama, she was able to apply for DACA. And she told her story very brilliantly at our press conference before the State of the Union. Really, if you could hear them tell their own stories, there is a great humility about conveying their stories to you. Because when you see them and they tell their stories and the passion and the pride and just the patriotism--passion, pride, patriotism--that they demonstrate, you will see why anyone, who has had the wonderful experience of being in conversation or observing our DREAMers, understands why they have had such a high reputation among the American people: some of them who have met them, some of them who have heard about them, some of them who have just caught the spark, recognize, again, the hard work ethic, the commitment to education, to community service, to faith, to family, to the United States of America. It is a beautiful thing. It just isn't, let's take a small number of people and try to do something with it. This is something very, very special, and it says a lot about our country to be able to give protection in a way that has some certainty to our DREAMers. Itayu Torres is a student at Pasadena City College. She was a guest at the State of the Union of Congressman Jimmy Gomez. Itayu Torres came to the United States from Mexico as a 6-month-old baby. She was completely carried into this country. She learned she was undocumented when she was 14 years old and, in 2014, became eligible to apply for DACA. Earning DACA protections has allowed Itayu to access a government-issued ID card, work authorization, healthcare and protection from deportation. With DACA, Itayu had the opportunity to travel across the country. She is currently studying political science and business at Pasadena City College and plans to continue her education at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. A wonderful school. Itayu was part of the California Dream Network Steering Committee and one day hopes to run for a seat in the United States Senate. You go, girl. United States Senate. Why not President? Well, she wasn't born here, so she can't be President of the United States. Again, Gabriela Hernandez was a State of the Union guest of our great Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer. Gabriela, 19, is a college student at Prince George's Community College. She came here with her mother from El Salvador at the age of 4. Her goal is to transfer to a four-year university in the fall, study to be a social worker, and just have an opportunity to thrive. She has lived her entire life in this country, having attended schools in Prince George's County since kindergarten. Because many family members already live here, she doesn't have a lot of family left in her home country. The country she came from is El Salvador. And the situation probably has only gotten worse there since she came. In any event, I thank Mr. Hoyer for giving us her story. Mr. Frank Pallone, who spent a lot of time with us, it seems like 6 or 7 hours ago, in the beginning of this, he was with us early in the presentation, and his guest at the State of the Union was Esder Chong, a student at Rutgers University-Newark. When Esder was 6 years old, she and her family immigrated to the States from South Korea. Unfortunately, after the 2008 economic recession, her mom lost her position working at a hospital and they lost their legal status. Esder first realized the implications of having an undocumented status when her mom got into a bike accident. It was an emergency situation and she needed treatment. However, because they were uninsured, she treated herself through home remedies and prayer. Fast forward one decade, Esder is now a sophomore at Rutgers University-Newark on a full ride thanks to private, external scholarships and donors, including thedream.us and twenty others. She currently serves as the founder/president of RU Dreamers, a Rutgers University-Newark student organization that advocates for undocumented students' rights to higher education. Esder is also a student-athlete competing for the Rutgers University-Newark cross country/track and field team and the news editor for Rutgers University-Newark Newark newspaper, the Observer. How many hours does Esder have in a day? I would like to know. I want to talk about my own guest at the State of the Union. I am so proud of her. Melody Klingenfuss. She is a statewide organizer for CHIRLA's California Dream Network. I am so proud of them. And Angelica Salas heads up the organization. They have done so much to protect our DREAMers to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. Melody was at our press conference. I am proud of her. Melody was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. After growing up without pardons, she was reunited with her mother in the heart of Los Angeles when she was 9 years old. Can you just imagine. She earned her bachelor's degree in communications and political science at California State University, Los Angeles. She graduated with a master of nonprofit leadership and management from the University of Southern California. She has conducted a research thesis focused on the representation of undocumented students in mass communication. Melody works as CHIRLA's California Dream Network statewide youth organizer as a devoted advocate for human and immigration rights. She is a DACA recipient since 2015. Her life goal is to continue bending the arc of the moral universe towards justice. I just got word that the House Historian confirmed: ``You have now set the record for the longest continuous speech in the House since at least 1909.'' I wonder what that was. This is Congresswoman Watson Coleman, who spent so much time with us here today. I want to read from her testimony. Parthiv Patel from Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Parthiv is a DREAMer who has been in the DACA program since 2012 and graduated from Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law in May 2016. Parthiv was brought to the United States when he was 5 years old and has lived in the United States continuously since then. He was admitted to the New Jersey State Bar on January 24, 2018. Congratulations, Parthiv. He was previously admitted to the Pennsylvania State Bar on December 18, 2017. He is the first DREAMer admitted to the New Jersey and Pennsylvania bars. When Parthiv's DACA status expires on August 9, 2018, he could be deported from the only country he knows and ripped away from his family. Even if he is not picked up for deportation, without work authorization or legal status, his employment options and his ability to put his law degree to use serving the community will also be substantially limited. Parthiv wants to make sure White House Chief of Staff Kelly knows that he is far from lazy--he should just look at his college and law school records. Thank you, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman. This is from Congresswoman Susan Davis from California. This is the story of her constituent, Itso. Itso says: I just graduated from high school 3 days before Deferred Action on DACA arrivals was announced, and already been accepted to San Diego State University. I wasn't sure if I would be able to afford going to college. But there is some uncertainty in applying for DACA, but it was a risk worth taking. After DACA, I was very enthusiastic to be able to work, serve my community, and attend San Diego State University. I graduated this year with a political science degree. As a border resident, I have seen the toll that harsh immigration enforcement has taken in my community. Many times, in the midst of the rhetoric, we lose sight of the real impact that harsh enforcement has on the lives of hardworking families. My work with the community is deeply rewarding. I have been part of helping thousands of San Diegans, and I have also seen the suffering that many families have to go through because there are failed and inhumane immigration policies. I remain fully committed to continuing to serve my community and ensure that we continue to build a movement that affords immigrants, refugees, and citizens alike the right to live with dignity in the United States. How beautiful. These statements themselves are so beautiful. I don't know who made that speech in 1909, or other speeches competed for the longest in the meantime, that was not my goal today. But we have so many testimonies, real testimony in the words of the DREAMers, as I say, the most eloquent of all. I did ask my staff to say that when I came to the floor earlier, I wanted to make sure that we were filling our 40 hours between 8 this morning and tomorrow night with the words to convince or the prayers to inspire. So I thought when I came to the floor, I would be like reading the Bible, because the Bible is so fraught with so many passages that take us to a higher place to have a conversation about human beings, all of God's children, at a higher place. Again, referencing the 40 days in the Old Testament, the 40 years in the desert in the New Testament, the 40 days, the Gospel of Matthew, which is so, so beautiful in terms of its inspiration. But I know that many people quote the Gospel of Matthew many times. But they always just quote the first part where they talk about when I was hungry. In the Gospel of Matthew, most people know when a person comes before the Lord, he says: We have a place for you in Heaven, for when I was hungry, you fed me, when I was thirsty, you gave me a drink, when I was naked, you clothed me, when I was in prison, you visited me. That whole list of corporal works of mercy. And then the person says: When did I do this, Lord, I didn't see you? And then the Lord says: When you did this for the least of my brethren, you did it for me. Okay, I am just going to read it right from the Bible here. So that was the first part. But the very first part of it is: ``But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right, the goats on His left. ``Then the King will say to those on His right''--the King being the Lord, the Son of Man--`` `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, `Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'' This is the part that I really find challenging and we should all pay attention to. ``Then He will say to those on His left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They will also answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you?' He will reply, `Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.'' So it is not just what we do to take the opportunity to help and feed and clothe, it is what we do not do that the judgment was made about. Opportunities missed. As I said earlier, to minister to the needs of God's creation--and we are all God's creation--is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us. Very clear in the Gospel of Matthew. As people of faith, as we all profess to be, and we believe--I mean, a faith is a gift, but we do believe that we are all God's children-- whatever we are, we are all, whatever it is. We are all God's children, we are all created in the image and likeness of God, we all carry a spark of divinity. When Christ came down from Heaven to participate in our humanity, He enabled us to participate in His divinity, that spark. So we respect it in people, but we have to also recognize it in ourselves and the responsibility it carries with us. So I choose to go back to a place where we had a much better reception all over Washington, D.C., for loving the DREAMers and wanting to get the job done for them. Because in addressing their needs, we are talking about who we are as a nation. I have another statement from Bonnie Watson Coleman. It was her birthday yesterday, so she will have about two or three statements today. She talks about the Velez sisters from Burlington, New Jersey. The Velez sisters came to the United States at 4 and 9 years old, respectively, with their father fleeing the Chavez regime in Venezuela. Daniela has earned two associates' degrees in engineering and business administration from Rowan College in New Jersey. She is now pursuing an undergraduate degree in business administration at Rutgers Business School while she works full time for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. Daniela also cofounded a business that sells take-home kits for physics labs in Rowan College. How many of us could do that? The kits allow students who can't attend college lab courses to take an online version at home. Alex is awaiting word this spring on college acceptance at Camden County College, with her dreams to be a vet-tech. But without valid DACA status, Alex won't be able to legally drive, attend the vet-tech program, or work. Alex said in an article with CNN: ``In all honesty, it is scary to think about leaving,'' she said. ``My mom cried for the first time since we talked about our situation. She's a positive person and is hoping that something good will happen for us.'' Unfortunately, if the President doesn't extend DACA protections, they said they will be forced to leave. Daniela recently told CNN: ``If DACA ends, I will leave with Alex. I will close my business, leave work and school.'' That is why we have to pass a bill, and that is why I would hope that the Speaker of the House would honor the House he is Speaker of by giving us a chance to vote on a DREAMer bill, a bipartisan DREAMer bill on the floor of the House. Carolyn Maloney is with us. I thank her for this testimony. It is about Diego de la Vega. Diego is a DREAMer who is an intern in Congresswoman Maloney's office and was the Congresswoman's guest at the State of the Union. Here is his story. ``Our family history traces generations of Ecuadorians since the early decades of the republic. Immigration was not common for us, and my parents and grandparents endured great periods of political instability and bleak futures. In 1999, at the age of 6, following an economic crash, hyperinflation, and a coup d'etat, my mother began making plans to move to the United States. ``By August 2001, I arrived in New York City, and we settled in Queens. I was quickly enrolled in public school. I learned English within a year, and I blended in with the rest of the children. But I was always aware of my status, and I quickly learned how long and how extremely difficult any real immigration reform in Congress would be. By 2011, at 17 and after another fresh defeat of the DREAM Act, I faced the devastating feeling of being denied the opportunity of accepting scholarships and student loans that effectively denied my shot at the colleges of my choice. Yet I continued, attended Hunter College where all I wanted to do was study government and politics. ``Shortly afterwards, President Obama's announcement of DACA was almost miraculous. I thought I could finally step out of the shadows, no longer with fear but with excitement. I then entered the workforce immediately and found myself employment in one of the leader wine retailers in the country, where I still work today. I also entered an internship with the district office of Congresswoman Maloney, which further cemented my belief that good government is one that helps people. The high cost of living in New York and the strains of paying tuition out-of-pocket still brought great challenges, but with DACA I felt that anything was possible. ``Now that DACA is on its last breaths, I have no doubt that the courage and hope it has given us will carry us on until we all take our oath of allegiance.'' So beautiful. Thank you, Diego de la Vega. From Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, another proud Brooklyn Representative. She was here before, but I thank Congresswoman Clarke. Joel Perez Hernandez is a New York public school graduate and proud New Yorker whose parents brought him to Brooklyn as a young child. In September 2015, his Deferred Action was expiring. He set an appointment to renew his status and was beginning to save his money to pay for the associated fees. Around this time, a small family emergency arose among his mother and her family in Mexico. With a fatal misunderstanding of the protections afforded by DACA, he and his family decided he was in the best position to travel to Mexico and still be allowed to return to the United States. Unfortunately, he and his family did not have a strong understanding of how our immigration system currently works. As a result, 2 years after the Senate voted to protect DREAMers, Joel is now stuck in Mexico, a country that he does not know, with his girlfriend and life partner, Ambien, an American citizen. Joel had no intention to break our immigration laws and would never have been in this position if this body had simply done its job back in 2013. Joel's story illustrates the cost of our decisions and reminds us why we must take action now to protect DREAMers. This is not an unusual thing where there are family emergencies or a death in the family across the border or something and people don't fully understand that just going for that just destroys--under current law, makes it very hard for them to come back. This is from Representative Cardenas, who was with us earlier. I thank him for being with us earlier. This is a letter to him from a graduate student: ``I am a current graduate student at the University of Southern California School of Social Work. As part of my curriculum, I am taking a class on policy and advocacy where I am doing a project on a piece of legislation. My focus for this project is on immigration, particularly on the newly introduced bill known as the BRIDGE Act, which will expand DACA for 3 years. ``As an undocumented student, I am worried about my future here in the United States. I came to the United States at age 9, in 2001. I graduated with a B.A.''--bachelor of arts--``in sociology, with a minor in Women's Studies from Cal State Northridge in 2015. Thanks to DACA, I have been able to achieve my dreams of obtaining higher education as well as to be able to work here legally.'' That is so important, to get an education, to work legally to serve in the military. ``Having lived and attended public school all my life here, I don't know any other country I can call home. ``I had a very supportive system during my high school years. I graduated from San Fernando High School with honors. I volunteered. I served in the community, student body, and to this day, I am working for the betterment of my community working for the Los Angeles Family Housing. ``Now that Donald Trump is President, I am concerned about my future and that of my community. I want for others to have the same opportunities that I have had so far. ``I hope that you can allocate some of your time for me to talk to you about the importance of this bill and why it matters, not only to me, but to the entire community. ``Alejandro Castro, Master's of Social Work Candidate.'' And this is from Grace Napolitano. Are you still with us? Thank you, Grace. I see we have been joined by Albio Sires from New Jersey. We have had many DREAMers from New Jersey's testimony. And Donald Payne, I read your testimony earlier, Donald. Thank you for being with us. Congresswoman, I have been referring to you as the godmother of all of this all day. Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard. I acknowledged Congressman Garamendi who was here before and came back again, thank you. Mr. Green, I acknowledged him before when he was here, thank you. They are coming and going. Congresswoman Napolitano of California's constituents have said this: Diego Garcia Ramirez, 31-year old man from El Monte, provider for his wife and three kids. He just had DACA approved at the end of July and considers the opportunity of DACA a blessing from God. He has been able to provide a stable living for his family. He was brought to the U.S. at age 3. A real statement of it can work. Cynthia Lopez Lopez, 26-year-old woman from El Monte also, waiting for her work authorization document to renew and fears she would lose her job at Wells Fargo. She is the caregiver for her mom, who is awaiting a lung transplant. She is the only source of income and pays for rent, medical bills, and essentials. Imagine that, to have all of that challenged. But it is, again, it is the strength, the commitment to family that all of these people have that strengthens America, and that is what argues for family unification in our immigration policy. That is a subject for another day. For today, we are talking about the DREAMers. Again, from Mike Thompson, whom I acknowledged earlier, he has another testimony, Mike Thompson of California. Denia Candela was born in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. Today she lives in Sonoma Valley, California, and is his constituent. Denia is a 2011 alumni of 10,000 Degrees, an organization that serves low-income and first-generation students. 10,000 Degrees, that means degrees from college, not temperature. She graduated from Sonoma State University in 2016 with a B.A. in applied statistics and a concentration in the actuarial field. She is currently involved in several different organizations and serves as a board member of the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District. She is also involved as a commissioner for Sonoma County Regional Parks. Her current position as the enrollment and outreach manager for a nonprofit has allowed her to serve families who need early education services through State-funded preschools. Denia is now in her second year as a board member for Los Cien Sonoma County. Above everything else, she is a mother to a wonderful 7-year-old. She received DACA in 2012. DACA opened doors for her, allowing her to provide for her son and give back to the community that has seen her grow. Denia is a DREAMer. Thank you for dreaming, and thank you for inspiring us to dream as well. Ted Lieu, testimony from Ted Lieu's district, who was with us until a few minutes ago. Josefina is an undocumented Californian who is originally from Colima, Mexico. Her testimony has been presented by Representative Ted Lieu from California. Josefina migrated to the United States when she was 3 years old. Well, her family immigrated to the United States when she was 3 years old, and she was with them. Although she became aware of her immigration at an early age, her status had never defined her. She had transformed uncertainty into determination. When she graduated high school, she became hyperaware of the financial constraints faced by immigrant youth. Josefina was able to afford her undergraduate education at UCLA by working multiple jobs and by applying to many scholarships. She would commute 2 hours every day, each way, to UCLA on a daily basis because she could not afford to dorm. Her main motivation is her mother, who is also an immigrant. Her persistent determination to provide for her family convinces Josefina of her ability to surmount the barriers she faces as an undocumented student. Today, she is earning her Ph.D. at UCLA. Her Ph.D. at UCLA. Her research interests include the health and aging of the undocumented population. Her scholarly work has been supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute for Humane Studies. She believes research is a way to rewrite the narratives of the undocumented community in the United States: Undocumented people are the backbone of U.S. society, she writes, yet we are dehumanized, tokenized, and invisibalized. That is a good word. This prompts the need for a solution to immigration, which is long overdue. You are so right, Josefina. Mark DeSaulnier, whom I acknowledged earlier, is here with us. Mark is there. I thank Mark. This is from Marco of Contra Costa County, represented by Congressman Mark DeSaulnier. He is with us and has been with us for a long time today. It is from Marco, who says: ``Thanks to DACA, I have been able to give back to the community in more profound ways. Because I was granted employment authorization, I was able to work for 2 years as a case manager in reentry services. I helped members of my community find their way back into society after being in prison. I assisted them in managing their sobriety and finding stable employment and housing.'' God bless you, Marco. ``Currently, I am working in a nonprofit that provides free psychosocial services to cancer patients. My only dream in life is to be able to give back to my community, to help make them safer. I am also working on my master's in counseling and am on a licensure track as a marriage and family therapist. ``I plan to use my license to continue working with the chemically dependent and criminal populations. I want to help make our communities safer. DACA allows me to continue working on my dream.'' That is beautiful, Marco. Remember what the Lord said in the Gospel of Matthew: When I was in prison, you visited me. Thank you for doing that. Elias Rosenfeld, Boston, Massachusetts. I met Elias at the Faith Leaders Event. I had the privilege to meet Elias this month, when he came to the Capitol with DREAMers and faith leaders so he could share his story. Born in Venezuela, Elias came to the United States as a young child. Shortly after his mother passed away, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services filed a letter notifying him that he was now an undocumented individual, unable to receive healthcare, work and provide for his family, or obtain a driver's license to commute to and from school. Elias, however, fought to find a solution. He founded United Student Immigrants, USI, a student-led community-based organization that helped over 300 undocumented students be able to afford a college education. Elias has also partnered with the Florida High School Young Democrats and The Children's Trust, and lobbied over 200 State legislators in support of State-sponsored immigrant child healthcare, which resulted in the passing of the Senate and House bills protecting healthcare for over 22,000 children in Florida. Elias has spearheaded student demonstrations at over 20 State and Federal congressional offices in support of the Dream Act. He received a 6-year full-merit scholarship to Brandeis University under the TYP social justice scholarship program. Recently, Elias worked in campaigns in Florida and New Hampshire as a campaign fellow and intern for the immigration department for Senator Elizabeth Warren. He also shared with us his religious beliefs that day. He made a very, very impressive presentation. Thank you, Elias. I had the privilege to meet Andrea Ortiz this month, when she came to the Capitol to share her story with Members, faith leaders, and the American people. Andrea Carolina Ortiz Duran is a God-driven, passionate, creative leader. Born in Leon, Mexico, Andrea migrated to the United States at the age of 6 with her parents and four siblings. She was able to successfully apply for the DACA program. Having successfully navigated the education system as a first- generation undocumented student, she became a role model for her siblings and community members. She graduated with honors in business administration from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with a focus in management, human resources, and entrepreneurship. Andrea seeks to use her experience, education, and skills to support in uplifting Latino/ Hispanic communities and underrepresented students. Faith and family, together, is what drives Andrea to keep pushing forward in life. Again, from some other Members, from Alma Adams, who was with us earlier, from North Carolina. She tells the story of Brenda Montanez. Brenda Montanez was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and came to Charlotte, North Carolina, as a child with her parents. Brenda always knew she wanted to attend college, and because of DACA, she was able to. At 18, Brenda enrolled at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, where she is a student leader. She is a founding member of the Latinos Aiming for Achievement, LAFA, a group founded to give Latino students on campus a voice in the community and a place to meet and discuss issues impacting them. To date, there are 32 members of the organization. Brenda is one of many students nationwide who has been able to achieve her goals of earning a secondary degree thanks to DACA. Thank you, Alma Adams, for submitting Brenda's story. This is from Representative Jared Huffman from California: Alex DeLeon is a talented young woman who interned in Representative Huffman's office. He recently invited her to speak at a townhall on the future of DACA, and here is what she said: ``I'm smart. I'm resilient. I'm hardworking. I'm a DREAMer. I'm going to make something out of myself one day, but only if programs like DACA live on. And I'm not the only one: your classmate is a DREAMer, your lawyer is a DREAMer, and your boss is a DREAMer. We're worth protecting and we're here to stay. That's why I'm getting out there and urging Congress to save the DACA program to allow nearly 800,000 young Americans, like me, to keep working towards their aspirations and contributing to the only country that they call home.'' I have had the occasion to have a conversation with Alex DeLeon. She is a remarkable young woman in doing so much in the community to give back. I am so glad that Jared Huffman has called her testimony to our attention. Peter Welch from Vermont and Rick Larsen from the State of Washington are here. Congressman Welch calls to our attention the story about a DREAMer that he knows, and it is a letter from Juan Conde. I will preface this by saying Juan Conde, bachelor's of science, master's of science, Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology, current medical student at the University of Vermont, all of that. I am telling you, this rug is killing me. Standing up is nothing, being hungry is nothing, being thirsty is nothing. It is the rug that is getting to me. Juan Conde writes: ``Dear Congressman Welch, I am writing to tell you my story about DACA in the hope that you and your colleagues will come up with a legislative solution to this issue. I am one of the `DREAMer kids.' I have lived most of my life in the U.S. and consider it my home. ``Throughout my life, I have been driven to understand cancer and have dedicated my studies to obtain the training needed to help cancer patients. My mother passed away from cancer, and this tragedy made me realize that I wanted to dedicate my life to fighting this disease. This is why I spent a decade of my life in research, first in apoptosis during my M.S., and then DNA repair of tobacco and smoke carcinogenesis for my doctorate studies. ``I chose science because, at the time, it was impossible for undocumented students to attend medical school, and I wanted to have an impact on a disease that had affected my family. It was difficult to obtain my degree as an undocumented student, but I persisted because I believed in the promise of the American Dream. ``When DACA was announced, it transformed my life. Suddenly I could be paid for the research I was doing. I could drive, I could be free from the fear of deportation, knowing that all my hard work and dedication would not be meaningless, and that the idea of America and her promise were alive and strong. It also meant that medical schools, including my current school, UVM's Larner College of Medicine, changed their policies and gave DACA students a chance to enroll. ``I understand that legislation takes time, but if there is anything you can do to help DACA students, including a discharge petition, please do so. If you do, you will have the gratitude of a group of dedicated individuals who wish nothing more than to give back to the only country they have ever known.'' Okay. So now this one says: Today, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus wrote to Speaker Paul Ryan to request a ``Queen of the Hill'' rule to govern debate on competing DACA and border security proposals to establish the official position of the U.S. House of Representatives. Last week, the 48-member Problem Solvers Caucus announced a bipartisan set of principles that lay the groundwork for a deal on DACA and border security. The letter was led in the Problem Solvers Caucus by Fred Upton, Republican from Michigan; and Peter Welch. The text of the letter can be found below and here: ``Dear Mr. Speaker, the President challenged us last fall to legislate the DACA program rather than relying on executive orders to determine its fate. The President has also asked us to address border security. ``DACA is an important issue in all of our States. And, as we know, the program's original intent was to protect from deportation eligible children and young adults who were brought to this country through no fault of their own. We have learned through multiple reports that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has moved to deport many who have been here for years, including some who are now married with children. Many have paid their taxes and have no serious criminal record. Many know no other way of life. ``There are a number of worthy Member proposals that should be properly debated and voted on by the House. Some are bipartisan and would end the uncertainty and distress that some 800,000 DACA recipients are enduring. Others would also address the issue of border security and broader immigration reform issues. ``Mr. Speaker, we seek your commitment that the House will address the uncertainty of the DACA-eligible population in a timely fashion, either separately or as part of a broader package, using an open and inclusive process that allows the House to work its will. ``Specifically, we seek your commitment that the House will debate and vote on all serious and substantive proposals, particularly those offered on a bipartisan basis, as well as any bill approved by the full Senate. A `Queen of the Hill' rule should be employed that establishes the proposal receiving the most votes as the position of the House. ``We accept the responsibility to reach consensus on a legislative solution to DACA and are determined to resolve this issue. We believe immigration reform should be bipartisan and that only an open process allowing for the best ideas from both sides will demonstrate to the American people that we can find common ground.'' That was a letter from the Problem Solvers Caucus, led by Representative Fred Upton, Republican from Michigan; and Peter Welch, Democrat from Vermont. This is very important because we are talking about Queen of the Hill. As you know, my colleagues, there are several options to come to the floor. One is Queen of the Hill; one is King of the Hill. Queen of the Hill means the bill that gets the most votes is the bill that prevails. It would go to conference with the Senate; or if it is the Senate bill, would go to the President's desk. King of the Hill, which we are not advocating, is the one that wins last. We want the one that gets the most votes, the one that wins the most votes. This time, the queen should prevail. I appreciate the letter from Fred Upton and Peter Welch because it talks about some very important things: a bipartisan, open process. That brings people together: bipartisanship, transparency, unity. I thank the caucus for this. Okay. We have another story from Houston, from Sheila Jackson Lee. Andrea Ramos Fernandez is a local San Antonio DREAMer, who adores San Antonio, as any true San Antonian would. In 2005, Andrea was 8 years old when she moved to the United States. She was too young to realize the spring break vacation her mother had planned was a permanent move--that that vacation was a permanent move. This move was influenced by economic instability, paired with her father's stabbing in a taxi cab in Mexico City. Once Andrea and her mother made it to the U.S., Andrea's grandparents, who are U.S. citizens, began the process to legalize Andrea's mother. What Andrea's grandparents didn't realize was that the broken immigration system made it difficult to grant Andrea's mother a green card, that immigration process being over 23 years, leaving Andrea out of the possibility to adjust her status. ``Chain migration''--we call it family unification--has been a broken issue within the government, and in this case, Andrea's grandparents could do nothing to change her status. That is why we want to improve it. So Andrea grew up undocumented. She grew up pledging allegiance to the American flag, watching American cartoons on Saturday mornings, and getting good grades. Andrea's academic performance was so great that her first academic award was the President's Award, which was signed by then-President Obama. Andrea continued her education with academic excellence, achieving high marks, eventually graduating Churchill High School with honors. Her grades then led her to get a full ride at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, where she pursued a career in healthcare for 2 years. Eventually, Andrea decided to transfer to the University of Texas in San Antonio, where she is now currently studying public policy while being a student leader on her campus. Andrea has been involved in various projects around the city of San Antonio, working as the lead immigration fellow for MOVE San Antonio. She has also pushed for educational initiatives on her campus, leading to the creation of the first onsite DREAMer Center on a college campus in Texas. Because of her leadership, Andrea has been given the opportunity to visit D.C. to lobby for the Dream Act and is now asking the Congress and Senate to act on bipartisan legislation. Andrea graduates in December of 2018, 4 months after her DACA expires. While Andrea is worried about what that may mean to her, she worries more about her community, whom she sees as a community full of promise. Andrea is an American who adores and believes in the American promise. Andrea cheered when the Spurs won their fourth championship in 2007, and once more in 2014. Okay. That was then. This is now. Okay. She also mourned with our country in some of our worst tragedies, as this country's pain was also her own. Therefore, she asks to be given the opportunity to prove she is already an American. How lovely. How lovely, Andrea. A little bit of my Golden State Warriors coming in there when she was talking about the Spurs, but anyway. From Congresswoman Roybal-Allard, who is with us, the godmother of it all, we have this testimony from one of her student DREAMers: ``I am a student of East Los Angeles College and part of your congressional district. I am very concerned about the initiative President Donald Trump took towards the DACA program. He gave Congress 6 months to find a solution. As of today, there has been no progress and many are losing the protection they had with DACA. I am asking to fight for a clean Dream Act for all. The immigrant community is a hardworking group of individuals that are in this country for a better life, meaning that they want to work, educate themselves, be in the Army, and have all the benefits this country provides to make it an even better place to live in. ``Sincerely, Luvia Navarrete, DACA recipient.'' To Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, this letter begins: ``Hi, Mrs. Lucille. I am Ana Garay from District 40. I am a DACA student from East Los Angeles College and I wanted to tell you my concerns about the DACA problem that is going on right now. I wanted to tell you I am really scared of what could happen in the next months, because, as other students, I want to accomplish my dreams and be a proud Latina, as you are. I hope that we fight together for what we want for our future as a community, because we are known as the one that fights together.'' Signed, Ms. Ana Garay. In the previous letter that I was reading from, the one from San Antonio, she talks about how many years it would take for the grandparents to help the daughter to become legal and to get a green card. The other day, there was an article in the paper, a big, long article, about how backed up the green card applications are; years, years. So even the people who want to be doing things on schedule, many people are here not because they came illegally, but because the process took so long that their opportunity expired. This is from Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, who has joined us. Thank you, Congresswoman DeLauro. ``Dear Representative DeLauro: I was honored to intern in your Washington office and learn more about the government of the United States and, more specifically, responding to constituents' concerns. ``Walking through the long tunnels that connect the congressional buildings to the Capitol, I began to envision myself working in the District of Columbia upon graduation. But like for many people, the election results have forced me to take a different path. ``After the Presidential election, all the stability that had allowed my family and me to become part of the American life was turned into fear and doubt about our future. ``Not only has the President-elect vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, but he also promised to remove the DACA program. For this reason, I had to return to New Haven and assist my family as we figure out which decisions are best to take moving forward. Thus, I am sorry to inform you I will no longer be able to continue my internship in your Washington, D.C., office. ``I want to express that, while I am in constant fear questioning whether I'll be able to complete my undergraduate degree, or if my U.S.-citizen sister will be separated from us, I am not giving in. ``My best memory working in your office was running into an old employer who came to the office for a Capitol tour. Reflecting on the aspirations I had working as a busser to get myself through high school, I remember your persona always providing me with hope. ``That hope has grown exponentially as I reminisce on the times you walked into the office and greeted all your interns with such gratitude and enthusiasm. ``With infinite gratitude.'' Thank you, Congresswoman DeLauro, for submitting this testimony to us and recognizing the difficult decisions that families have to make in the interest of families staying together. Thank you. Niki Tsongas of Massachusetts has joined us. Thank you. Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Wisconsin has joined us as well. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson of Florida has joined us as well. Thank you, Congresswoman Wilson, for joining us. Again, this is from Representative Watson Coleman: Another constituent, Diana Diaz, who is 22 years old. She came to the United States from Mexico with her mother and two older siblings in 2002 when Diana was 7 years old. They settled in Somerset, New Jersey, where her mother worked long hours to ensure that her children could focus all their attention on school. Diana graduated from high school in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While still in high school, Diana herself worked a full-time job to help support her family. After high school, she attended Middlesex County Community College, where she got her associate's degree in education. She then continued her higher education and transferred to Rutgers- Newark in the fall of 2016. There she majors in public administration and minors in Spanish. Diana has aspirations to continue her education and enroll in a master's program to become a certified legal interpreter. Wow. That is hard. She hopes to head back to New Brunswick and work in the public school system as an administrator to help students just like her. She also wants to create a nonprofit organization to assist various ethnic groups with gaining access to higher education. Diana truly believes that the education she received in New Jersey was so valuable to her overall success, and she wants to give back so that others can follow suit. I just want to dwell on this for a moment because she is talking about education being invaluable to her success, and she wants to give back so that others can follow suit. I hope that the Italian-American, Irish-American, German-American, Dutch-American, all of the ethnic groups that are here in our country take full pride in the example they have set for how the American Dream works in America, because what you see with these DREAMers just follows so closely with what our families did, our ancestors did coming here. The idea that education was key to upward mobility and to reaching personal aspirations, that faith and family and a work ethic were an important part of how you were regarded in America--and this may be what is in their DNA as they come to the United States, but it is clear they had masterful, great examples to show how to achieve the American Dream in all of the waves of immigration that came before. Family, faith, community, education, patriotism, love of America. So beautiful. And Diana spells it out so clearly here. Another one from Representative Jayapal of Washington State. We heard from her earlier. She was with us earlier, Representative Jayapal. She is on the Judiciary Committee, a leader on immigration. She is an immigrant herself. Twenty-two-year-old Esther was a hardworking and valued intern in Representative Jayapal's office last year. She is also a DREAMer who came to the United States with her parents and younger sister when she was just 3 years old from South Korea. When they arrived on a visa, Esther's parents sought help from an immigration lawyer to obtain more permanent legal status in the United States. They filled out applications, paid their dues, and gave the lawyer most of the money they had. And he ran away with all of it. He scammed them and left them with nothing. Esther's parents' visas expired. They had little money. They pushed their kids around in shopping carts because a stroller was too expensive. Then they started over. They built their lives in the United States. They raised a smart, passionate daughter who is now a senior at Harvard. The DACA status Esther obtained in 2013 helped to give her the freedom to pursue her own American Dream. Even when Esther's DACA status was secure, she said that typical safe spaces like hospitals, police stations, and doctor's offices filled her with fear because DACA doesn't afford protections to her family. She also hides her status and worries what would happen if someone she trusted outed them to immigration authorities. Unless we take immediate action to help DREAMers, Esther's future is even more uncertain. Thank you, Esther, for sharing your story with us. Thank you, Congresswoman Jayapal, for sharing it. We have been joined by Cedric Richmond, the distinguished chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Earlier I read statistics from the caucus about how many people were DREAMers from the Caribbean, from Nigeria, et cetera. We read some testimony that was from our press conference by the DREAMer sent by Kamala Harris from Belize and coming from the African-American community now. Thank you for coming, Congressman Richmond. Now we have one from David Vasquez, a DREAMer I have met. David was born in Germany and moved to the United States at age 13. He grew up in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, and graduated at the top of his high school class. He earned a full-ride scholarship to Bowdoin College through QuestBridge, an organization that links low-income students with top colleges in the U.S. David graduated from Bowdoin with a double major in economics and German and was able to spend two summers interning at Goldman Sachs. He later joined AlphaSights, a high-growth startup. At AlphaSights, David established the firm's San Francisco office and grew it from 8 to 25 employees. That is an important point because many of these DREAMers have started businesses, created jobs; by creating small businesses and being entrepreneurs, small and larger jobs. That is really an important part of our economy. Jesper Kim from Fotorama: Jesper is a South Korean-born immigrant brought to the United States when he was 2 years old. He received his associate's degree and is pursuing a degree in computer science while working at his high school's photography studio. He continues to volunteer at his church and in his high school's Key Club. Evelyn Valdez-Ward from Irvine, California: Graduate student, University of California, Irvine. A first-generation, female, Hispanic, undocumented scientist, Evelyn constantly seeks to dismantle economic, racial, and cultural barriers. She is part of the 1 percent of 800,000 DACA students pursuing postgraduate education. In addition to studying climate change's impact on planet productivity and drought tolerance, she is a strong and loud advocate for her undocumented community. I would say ``vocal.'' Evelyn received her B.S. in biology from the University of Houston- Downtown in 2016. As an undergraduate, she spent 3 years on a variety of research projects that sparked her passion for ecology. In 2013, she helped to create a planet-water transport model using chaparral shrubs to test drought tolerance in collaboration with Drs. Michael Tobin, Brandon Pratt, and Anna Jacobson of California State University, Bakersfield. This is very important research. In 2014 and 2015, she worked under the direction of Drs. Scott Mangan, Michael Tobin, and Claudia Stein at Washington University in St. Louis, Tyson Research Center, where she studied phylogenetic relationships and the effects of drought in prairie grasslands. As a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine and Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, she is currently studying the effects of climate change on the interaction between plants and their soil microbes. She is dedicated to combining her scientific training with mentoring of underrepresented minorities in STEM, especially within the community of undocumented students. Evelyn aims to inspire the next generation of scientists by pushing forward the mission to diversify STEM. Thank you for that, Evelyn. Again, many of the great discoveries in America came from immigrants coming here. Many of the great academic minds in our country came from another country. But then, at the same time, America produced our own, and that is a pretty exciting combination. Ana Cueva: Ana Cueva was a young Mexican immigrant who has called Utah and the United States home since 1998 when she was 5 years old. We have a number of DREAMers from Utah, so we thank them for speaking up. From this young age, she was always taught the importance of education, hard work, and family. Beyond the values her parents instilled in her, her future was also shaped when a year after arriving to this country her mom became very ill. This experience gave her a desire to help others, and she began to forge a path on her journey to find her calling in nursing. In fact, nursing was solidified as her American Dream when she was just 9 years old. To achieve this dream, she understood how important it was to honor her parents' decisions and dedicated herself to education and community. As a teenager, she quickly became a volunteer at her local hospital and later was elected president of the National Honor Society for her high school chapter. She attended an accelerated high school, earned her associate's degree in science at 17, and graduated in the top 10 percent of her senior class. She continued her studies a year later with the help of DACA. Now she prides herself in being able to say she achieved her professional dream of being a registered nurse, BSN, currently working in the shock therapy ICU at a Level I trauma center in Utah. She graduated with high honors from Utah Valley University in December 2016. Thank you, Ana Cueva, for sharing your story with us. Keyla Garcia Espino of Wyoming: Kayla Garcia Espino came to the United States when she was 5 years old from Mexico. In 2016 she earned her bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from Ferris State University. Keyla is the deputy treasurer for the city of East Grand Rapids and has been working for the city for almost 3 years. Her DACA expires in October of 2018. May I correct the Record. She is not from Wyoming--she is from Wyoming, Michigan. Is that a city in Michigan? Wyoming? This is from Colleen Hanabusa, who has been with us for a large part of the day, this testimony. Am I not lucky to be able to become so familiar with so many of these beautiful DREAMers? We want to send these people back? This talent, this rich talent? This achievement, this determination, this faith in the future, this patriotism for America? I don't think so. We have to make it happen. I have confidence. Hi, my name is Sisilia Kaufusi. I am a DACA recipient. My parents came to the United States of America seeking the American Dream. I and my siblings came here when we were young. I was 4 when my mother and I came to the USofA. It was not until I was a senior in high school that I found out I had no legal status in this country of opportunities. Today, I humbly ask that you issue legal resident status to those who have benefited from President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). President John F. Kennedy said: ``Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.'' Over 700,000 people have benefited from this program. This program had opened the doors for not only myself, but other undocumented children. Thanks to DACA, they have obtained education, employment, and other leadership roles with their community. Within their community so that they can do something for our country. President-elect Trump said he will end this program or allow this program to expire. By doing so, he is slamming the door on the face of DACA recipients, which will undoubtedly damage communities and the economy across the country, and perhaps even across the world. DACA recipients feel a sense of danger, which is why I write this letter today. People that have benefited from DACA have no other objective in mind than to become positive members of the U.S. community. Those with severe criminal backgrounds did not and do not qualify for DACA. And this is a letter from Sisilia to Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa: With this in mind, I respectfully ask that you forgive DACA recipients and urge you to pass legislation which allows DACA recipients to become U.S. residents and protect the information they have turned to the Department of Homeland Security, in order to return peace of mind to these families immediately. It is only with your help that we continue working for a better America. It is interesting, as we read these letters--I am sure my colleagues would agree--to see how many families hesitated to tell their children about their status. I can understand why they would not want to frighten them, but nonetheless, when they do find out, they are very shocked by it. We shouldn't have that kind of fear and shock in our country, especially for our children. So while these parents took great risk, had great courage and determination to protect their children, unfortunately, we didn't have comprehensive immigration reform soon enough to have avoided some of those sad situations. Congresswoman Velazquez has another testimonial from a DREAMer. Yatziri Tovar is a young New Yorker and, yes, an American, who faces an uncertain future. Yatziri Tovar came to the United States from Mexico at age 2. She is American in every way--except on paper. Last year, after a lot of hard work, Yatziri graduated from City College in New York. She achieved this goal while holding down a job at the same time she completed her studies. Because she is undocumented, Yatziri was not able to secure financial aid. Now Yatziri is giving back by working with a community group that stands up for and empowers some of her most vulnerable neighbors, like other immigrants and low-income workers. Yatziri is exactly the type of person we want contributing to our Nation. Yet, Congress is now contemplating turning its back on young DREAMers like Yatziri. This is shameful. For young, patriotic people like Yatziri and for hundreds of thousands of young Americans--yes, Americans--we need to pass a Dream Act now. I appreciate this statement from Yatziri Tovar, but I hope that we can be more optimistic about the prospect of not turning our back, but on embracing our DREAMers by having a discussion, a debate on the floor of the House and passing legislation. I hope the Speaker will give us in this House of Representatives the dignity that we deserve to be able to discuss matters of concern to our constituents on the floor of this House and have the House of Representatives work its will in order to address this issue. The Senate has gotten that privilege--not privilege--it is really a given, by the leader in the Senate, Mr. McConnell, in consultation with a bipartisan group of Members, we have bipartisan legislation, as has been said over and over. What we do should be bipartisan, should be done openly, and should unify people. That should be a rule of thumb for everything we do. It is especially necessary to do this soon. Why? We ask the question: Why is the House cut out of this discussion? Why? We need that answer from the Speaker of the House. Why are we not given our constitutional opportunity to discuss this important issue? Just a few more from Members. Actually, I could stay here for the full 40 hours and do this, but I know that we have a vote to take, and the rest. So let us just conclude with Carlos Aguilar, same last name as our cosponsors of the Hurd- Aguilar bill--no relation. Carlos migrated to the United States from Irapuato, Mexico, at the age of 14 and currently lives in Kerrville, Texas. After graduating from high school, he received his B.A. in psychology from Schreiner University. Carlos has also earned an M.S. in sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Currently, he is attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education where he is pursuing a doctoral degree. Aware of the obstacles along undocumented students' road, Carlos has devoted his academic and professional endeavors to issues relating to unauthorized migration as well as providing support and guidance for this vulnerable population. In addition to academic attention to these issues, Carlos has remained active in the immigrant community as the Immigrant Youth Leadership coordinator at UTSA--that is University of Texas at San Antonio--as an associate legal assistant in an immigrant law firm. He has many accomplishments. Moreover, together with other undocumented and DACA students, Carlos coordinated students' efforts at UTSA--University of Texas at San Antonio--in mobilizing to defend their rights as undocumented and DACA students. Through the creation of Immigrant Youth Leadership, they advocated and worked to improve the educational experience of this population. I am just going to one more from California. I have to end on California. Kimberly came to the United States from Mexico and currently resides in Los Angeles. She is the only person in her family without papers and, in spite of the challenge, has risen to the occasion as an advocate for DREAMers. She implemented a resolution supporting DREAMers at her local community college. She is involved in the advocacy community in Victorville and spent time as an intern in Congressman Cook's office--bipartisan. She hopes to become a lawyer one day. We have been joined by Congresswoman Schakowsky. I thank the gentlewoman for being with us; Congresswoman Kathy Castor. I acknowledged the gentlewoman earlier. She was here before. And in back is Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter; Congresswoman Robin Kelly; Congressman Steve Cohen is with us; Congressman John Delaney. I am trying to recognize just the ones I hadn't acknowledged before: Congresswoman Katherine Clark, Congresswoman Julia Brownley, Congresswoman Jackie Speier. I acknowledged Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, Congressman Bobby Scott, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Congressman Brad Sherman--I read your testimony earlier as I did yours, Alma--Congressman David Cicilline, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke--I read your testimony earlier as well. All the others I think I have acknowledged. Yes, Hank Johnson from Georgia, Congressman Hank Johnson. I think we have acknowledged all of the Members who are here. Congresswoman Gwen Moore, I acknowledged earlier when she was sitting over here. I will tell the gentlewoman who she was sitting next to. She was sitting next to Congresswoman Niki Tsongas at that time, but anyway, I acknowledge the gentlewoman again and thank her. Mr. Speaker, for the last 8 hours, I have had the privilege of reading the testimony of so many DREAMers. I still have more, but I thank all of you. It is a privilege to read the eloquent statements of the DREAMers as they express their love of America, their commitment to a better future for our country and their own families' better future. It was a double honor to do so with the recommendations of the testimony that you all extended, presented, and to have so many of you here in the course of the day, a real tribute to the respect that we have for our DREAMers. So I accept your applause on behalf of them because it was their story, in their words--by and large--that I told, in addition to the Bible and the Catholic Conference of Bishops and Pope Francis and Pope Benedict and so many other religious groups that we have. But I thank all of you. Our basic request is: honor the House of Representatives. Give us a chance to have a vote on the floor. The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has gone forward with the budget proposal with the promise that he will give that opportunity to the floor of the Senate. The Senate will work its will. We will see what they produce. We will work our will here and see what we produce, but it must be bipartisan, transparent, and unifying. We think that there has been a lot of groundwork. In our case, the Hurd-Aguilar bill is one option. The Senate bill may be another option. There may be other options that are proposed. I am just telling you about the bipartisan ones. Mr. Speaker, I thank the staff of the House of Representatives and the various speakers at the House who have been up there with such courtesy--you smiled. You smiled. But most of all, let us thank and acknowledge the DREAMers for their courage, their optimism, and their inspiration to make America more American. I thank my colleagues.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I do.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to rule IX, I rise to a question of the privileges of the House, and I send to the desk a privileged resolution.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I wish to explain why the House should consider this privileged resolution. Mr. Speaker, Members of Congress take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and protect the American people. The House majority and its leadership have abandoned that duty. It is imperative that the House vote to release the Democratic memo to set the record straight on Republicans' attempts to undermine the Russian investigation. It is also important to note that who knows what they have next. The majority's decision to release highly classified and distorted intelligence is profoundly dangerous and gives a bouquet to Putin. As the Department of Justice warned, the public release of the memo is an unprecedented action and extraordinarily reckless. The FBI also expressed grave concerns about the material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy. The memo prepared by the House Intelligence Committee's Democrats must be expeditiously released after review and appropriate redaction of sources and methods by law enforcement officials: the Justice Department, the intelligence community. The President must declassify the memo without any redactions based on any political considerations. This is an urgent matter of national security and intelligence.

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I was hoping to hear the gentleman's parliamentary inquiry, but if the Chair is not going to allow that to be heard, I appeal the ruling of the Chair.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I also thank him and Mr. Harper for their leadership in bringing this legislation to the floor. Congratulations to the Committee on House Administration. I commend Congresswoman Brooks and Congressman Deutch for their work on the Ethics Committee in this regard. I thank Mr. Raskin as well for his work. Of course I want to thank Congresswoman Jackie Speier from California, who has made this part of her life's work in officialdom in her public service in the California Legislature and here. Today, the fruit of your labor, Madam Congresswoman, comes to fruition. Your strong leadership will ensure that no survivor of discrimination or harassment will face the injustice of having his or her voice silenced. The ME TOO Congress Act is our promise, in a bipartisan way, to hold every person accountable to the rule of absolutely zero tolerance. No matter someone's contribution to our country, harassment and discrimination are always unacceptable. With this bill, we are shining a blazing light on the scourge of workplace abuse, which has been allowed to fester in the shadows for too long. We are securing protections for all employees by streamlining and strengthening the resolution and reporting process. We are holding Members personally responsible for settlements, and we are guaranteeing taxpayer money will never again be used to create a culture of complicity and silence around workplace harassment. This bill is bipartisan because the fight against workplace harassment and discrimination transcends party or politics. This legislation is about protecting the personal safety of every person who comes to Congress to serve either as a Member or in the workforce. This is about upholding human dignity and the inalienable right to live free from abuse. Our Nation is at a watershed moment in the fight against sexual harassment and discrimination. Brave men and women from Hollywood to Washington, from Sacramento--I might add, where my daughter has been involved in this campaign--from the boardroom to the newsroom, in the hotels, restaurants, and workplaces, in every corner of the country, people are standing up to say: Time is up. But the Me Too movement has really made quite a difference. Their voices are correcting the culture around harassment and abuse. But more needs to be done. The Congress must continue to work with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and others to forge a path forward to improve protection for all American workplaces. That is why I am so pleased to bring this bill to the floor. Over recent times, Members of Congress listened to survivors and advocates, learned from public and private sector experts, and received constructive recommendations from many Members. We will not rest until every person in every workplace has full safeguards against harassment and abuse and discrimination. This is a time for shaking up the status quo, not for bowing to inaction and incrementalism. Members of Congress are trustees of the people. We have a solemn responsibility to do well by the people, both the people who sent us to Washington, and those who serve by our sides here. Our values and our humanity compel us to take action and to finish this fight so that every woman, man, and child can live free from the fear of abuse. Again, I thank Mr. Brady and Mr. Harper for their leadership on this issue.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me, and I commend her for her extraordinary leadership on the Appropriations Committee, where important decisions are made about how to allocate the resources of our country to invest in the aspirations of the American people, to respect the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, and to honor the vows of our Founders for a country that is making the future better for every generation to come. The distinguished chairman of the committee, Mr. Frelinghuysen, opened his remarks by saying he came to the floor to introduce the fifth continuing resolution. And the gentleman who followed him talked about this being the fifth continuing resolution. The more is not the merrier. It is like golf: the lower the score, the better. To have five continuing resolutions is a statement of incompetence and ineptitude. The Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House; yet they are pressing forward on their fifth stopgap, short-term spending bill, demonstrating their failure to govern. Since President Reagan was mentioned, I will mention our very first President, our patriarch, George Washington. President Washington, when he was leaving office, cautioned against political parties who were at war with their own government. Does that sound familiar to you? Here we are again, 2 days from another shutdown, careening toward another manufactured Republican crisis, demonstrating the Republican failure to govern. We don't want to go to that place. As Members of Congress, we take a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and to protect the American people. Democrats support a strong national defense. We, too, want our men and women in uniform to have the resources they need to keep them safe and to keep the American people safe as they accomplish their mission. But we will not allow Republicans to use this continuing resolution, the fifth time they had to come to the floor because they could not govern, to hollow out our Nation's commitment to the health, education, and economic security of America's working families. We all know that our military might is part of our Nation's strength, but the health, education, security, and well-being of the American people is also a source of that strength. Instead of working constructively with Democrats to meet the needs of the American people, Republicans are trying to starve the domestic budget. I just want to remind our colleagues: One-third, 34 percent-- one-third--of the nondefense domestic budget goes to national security. When you starve the domestic budget, you are not making us stronger. One-third of the domestic budget is about security; Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, the State Department, and antiterrorism activities of the Justice Department. But Republicans refuse to give our patriots funded on the domestic side of the budget the resources they need to do their job, just the chaos and uncertainty of yet another stopgap extension. As Defense Secretary Mattis said, stopgap CRs ``just create unpredictability. It makes us rigid. We cannot deal with new and revealing threats. We know our enemies are not standing still, so it is about as unwise as it can be.'' And here are, as unwise as can be for the fifth time. And while their continuing resolution seeks to ransack every other commitment to the health of the American people, Republicans hide behind a fig leaf of a 2-year extension of community health centers. We all support community health centers. It was a very important part of the Affordable Care Act. A very important part. Our colleague, assistant leader Mr. Clyburn from South Carolina, was one of the great champions of all time of Congress on expanding funding for programs for care and for bricks and mortar for our community health centers. This is a very important piece for us. We should be extending it in a fuller bill to 5 years, except it is used here to hide from the fact of so much other domestic investment that we are not making. Republicans are eliminating the Home Visiting initiative that is vital for maternal and child care, and cutting off workforce training for low-income Americans seeking good-paying jobs in healthcare. The sole purpose of this Republican bill is to destroy our leverage to achieve parity in the caps, to eliminate any need for bipartisan compromise, to eliminate any need to invest in working families. Why? Because if they get their defense number, then they don't have to negotiate about the domestic number. And as I said, we support our men and women in uniform having what they need to be safe and to keep us safe. But the strength of our country is measured in other ways as well. They don't believe that and they can't pass that, so they have to put the defense bill there. But we cannot support that because, again, it comes at the expense instead of as a source of strength to our country. Democrats simply want action on the critical overdue and bipartisan priorities of the American people so beautifully spelled out by our ranking member, Congresswoman Lowey. Again, we need funding for the opioid epidemic. The President talked about that. Show us the money. The opioid epidemic claims the lives of 115 Americans every day, and it is getting worse every year in every district in the country. Bipartisan support is there to fight the opioid epidemic. Let's do it. We need more funding for veterans, to meet our responsibility and ensure that no veteran is denied the care they deserve upon returning from the battlefield. We need emergency disaster funding for all communities ravaged by hurricanes and wildfires. We need to save millions of hardworking Americans' endangered pensions. We need to pass the bipartisan Dream Act immediately. This is a moral priority for us. This is about the character of our Nation, who we are as a country. A nation, over time, constantly invigorated by people coming to our country to seek the American Dream; a dream that is predicated on every generation working to make the future better for the next; a dream that takes determination, optimism, hope, and courage. And when these newcomers come to America with that determination, that courage, that optimism, that hope, they associate themselves with the values of our Founders to make the future better for the next generation. These newcomers to America make America more American. So we asked to bring the Hurd-Aguilar bill to the floor. It is bipartisan. It has bipartisan support on the floor. It would pass. Have the courage to bring a bill that protects the DREAMers to the floor of the House. These priorities that I mentioned are all bipartisan. They would pass if brought to the floor for an up-or-down vote. The GOP squandered all their time, energy, votes, and enthusiasm on tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest, with 83 percent of the tax bill going to the top 1 percent. And now Republicans need to get serious and get to work on a budget that funds both the military and the domestic investments that keep our Nation strong. I just want to make one point about that tax bill again. Did you see that the Speaker of the House sang the glory of the tax bill because a woman was getting $1.50 a week more in her paycheck? Did you see that? Do you believe that that is a good thing when the top 1 percent were probably getting $1,500 a week compared to her $1.50 a week in their paycheck? Thank God, after millions of people objected, the Speaker withdrew that tweet. But I don't think he withdrew that sentiment, because it is the same sentiment that haunts all of these negotiations about investing in the American people. Republicans must stop governing from manufactured crisis to crisis, and work with Democrats to pass many urgent, long-overdue priorities of the American people. As our distinguished ranking member, Mrs. Lowey, said earlier in her remarks, ``We must abandon these short-term bills.'' She spelled out very clearly why. I associate myself with her remarks.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Here we are, Mr. Speaker, another day to take a deep breath. As you know, our responsibility is to pass a budget that meets the needs of the American people. Since September 30, which was the end of the fiscal year, we have not done that. Today, we are gathered to do our fifth continuing resolution. You know all the statements that have been made by Secretary Mattis and others about how destructive that is to our national security. I want to make a few points. First of all, I want to say that a dark cloud is lying over the Capitol, and that is the Trump GOP tax scam. Under that legislation, nearly $2 trillion will be added to the national debt. That is bad enough in itself, but it also has cast a shadow over the ability of this House to honor its responsibilities to the American people. We take an oath of office to protect and defend the American people and our Constitution. We know that is our first responsibility, and we stand ready to join in funding our military to do that. So for the Republicans to say that we are shutting down the government because we didn't want--we weren't shutting down the government. You shut down the government. But let's put that aside for now as we go forward. One, let us stipulate to the fact that we will all agree that we need to support our troops in the manner that the mission that is established calls for. Two, the other part of that debate is about the domestic agenda. The domestic agenda includes opioids and veterans, issues like that, that are part of our national security, homeland security, Veterans' Affairs, State Department, and antiterrorism activities at the Justice Department--the list goes on--of things that are part of the security function that are on the domestic side. Our colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle have been reluctant to support domestic agendas. That is just the way it is, and I think that is one of the reasons the Speaker has increased the defense spending so that he can get their votes even though they didn't want to vote for the domestic spending. But if we are going to honor the commitment, not the dollar figure that is in the authorization of the Department of Defense bill, and honor the budget agreement, we will be adding $300 billion to the deficit maintaining parity. I just want our Republican colleagues to know that when they are voting for a CR that takes us to the next step, that next step, if it honors the commitments that have been made, it will be $300 billion over and above the $2 trillion. I just say that because I have heard you say: Well, we have a big deficit, so we have to look at Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and all of those initiatives. If we are not going to honor that, and we are not going to honor other commitments because of this tax scam and this Trump shutdown, then we have a problem going forward. So, yes, we are here about values. It is not about one set of children versus another. It is about our values. The Republicans have put forth what they did with CHIP--which the Senate has never shown much of an interest in--and all of a sudden, CHIP was their chit. CHIP was their chit. They put that on the table, and they said: America is a country of ``Sophie's Choice.'' You either choose the DREAMers, or you choose the CHIP kids. We all support all of that. America can take care of all of its children--their safety, their health, and their well-being. The dark cloud of the tax bill is a real problem as we go forward in the decisions we have to make to meet the needs of the American people. As Mr. Hoyer said, this is a budget debate. The DREAMers part of it is a part that has come into it, but if there never was a DREAMer on the face of the Earth--thank God, there are DREAMers--but if there never were, we still have this challenge: the lack of interest on the part of Republicans in the House to vote for a domestic budget that meets the needs of the American people, using the excuse of the budget deficit, which didn't seem to bother them when they gave away the store to the richest people in the country, the top 1 percent and corporate America. As we face this decision today, it is a no-drama event, as far as I am concerned. The Senate Democrats' movement, in terms of getting a commitment on how we go forward on the budget and how we go forward on DREAMers, good for them. Our Members will make their decision about how they wish to vote. But understand this: this isn't just about the DREAMers. This is about who we are as a nation, in terms of honoring what we care about most in our country and how we put that into a budget in terms of fighting the opioid epidemic; meeting the needs of our veterans, especially in terms of infrastructure; issues that relate to the National Institutes of Health and their investments there; CHIP, really, with the community health centers; medical education for primary care doctors; and the list goes on and on. This will be a lively debate about a number of subjects, as we go forward. But understand this: it is going to increase the national debt. It didn't have to have such an impact if we didn't have the GOP tax scam, which led to the Trump shutdown.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and I associate myself fully with his remarks. I thank the gentleman, Mr. Hoyer, for his great leadership. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Republican's latest stopgap funding bill. I take great pride in House Democrats overwhelmingly supporting the first continuing resolution in September to give the majority a chance to get the job done. But after months of Republicans' excuses and extensions, I refuse to be an enabler to the Republicans' failures any longer. This past week once again exposed the utter incompetence of the Republican-controlled government. Here we are ending the Trump shutdown with Republicans' fourth stopgap short-term bill. The Republicans have failed to get their act together for the fourth time to fund the government for a full year. In August, Defense Secretary Mattis was asked: What would be the effect of another stopgap short-term spending bill on the military? You all know he replied: ``It just creates unpredictability. It makes us rigid. We cannot deal with new and revealing threats. We know our enemies are not standing still.'' ``So it's about as unwise as can be.'' Mr. Speaker, there are also other statements for the Record to that effect from the Navy Secretary, et cetera. Now, the Trump shutdown will end, but Republicans' wasteful incompetence continues. There is a dark cloud over the Capitol, Mr. Speaker: the deficit-exposing GOP tax scam, which has added nearly $2 trillion to the national debt. The Republicans have made their choice: tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest are more important than certainty for our military. Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. They control what bills we vote on in Congress. We could have brought up a long-term bill long before now. We have placed our suggestions on the table as to what would be on the domestic side of that: resources for the opioid epidemic that kills 94 people every day in our country, for funding for veteran infrastructure and services, for saving millions of Americans' pensions in crisis today, for funding community health centers and lifesaving research at the NIH, for childcare for hardworking parents, for protecting patriotic young DREAMers, and, as our distinguished whip said earlier, for making sure we have the resources for those affected by hurricanes, fires, and especially our folks in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Because of the Republican majority's weakness, we still do not have a long-term spending bill that funds the military and the domestic investments that keep America strong. We take an oath of office to protect and defend. Now we have to fund that. We have not delivered strong disaster recovery funding to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other victims of hurricanes. Congressional Democrats continue to propose bipartisan solutions, but Republicans refuse to take yes for an answer. We have not protected our courageous young DREAMers. Not only should we protect them, we should embrace them and value them. We should be grateful for the inspiration they are to America. This is about meeting the needs of the American people. It is also about honoring the values that have made our Nation a beacon to the world. Today we end the Trump shutdown, but it does not diminish our leverage or our determination on the Democratic side to meet the needs of the American people. Democrats are united in our determination to get the job done. We are unified for a better deal, better jobs, better pay, and a better future. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to Republicans' latest stop-gap funding bill. I take great pride in House Democrats overwhelming support for the first continuing resolution in September. But after months of Republican excuses and extensions, I refuse to enable Republicans' failure any longer. The past week has once again exposed the utter incompetence of Republican-controlled government. Here we are, ending the Trump shutdown with Republicans' 4th stop- gap, short-term bill; the 4th time Republicans have failed to get their act together to fund the government for a full year. In August, Defense Secretary Mattis was asked: what would be the effect of another stop-gap, short term spending bill on the military? ``It just creates unpredictability,'' he said. `` It makes us rigid. We cannot deal with new and revealing threats. We know our enemies are not standing still . . . So it's about as unwise as can be.'' Navy Secretary Richard Spencer has said: ``We have put $4 billion in a trash can, poured lighter fluid on it, and burned it . . . Four billion is enough to buy a squadron of F-35s, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, 3,000 Harpoon missiles. It's enough money to buy us additional capacity that we need. Instead, it's lost, because of inefficacy in the ways of the continuing resolution.'' Now, the Trump shutdown will end, but Republicans' wasteful incompetence continues. There's a dark cloud over the Capitol: the deficit-exploding GOP tax scam--which has added nearly 2 trillion to the debt. Republicans made their choice: tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest were more important than certainty for our military. Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House--they control what bills we vote on in the Congress. So, my colleagues, why haven't we voted: For resources for the opioid epidemic that kills 94 people every day? For funding our veterans' infrastructure and services? For saving the millions of American pensions in crisis today? For funding community health centers & lifesaving research at NIH? For child care for hard-working parents? For protecting patriotic young DREAMers? Why were tax breaks for billionaires and corporations so urgent? 120 days after allowing CHIP to expire, Republicans suddenly claim to care about children on CHIP--but only as part of a cruel Sophie's choice to pit sick children against DREAMers fearful for their future. Because of the Republican Majority's weakness, we still do not have a long-term spending bill that funds the military and the domestic investments that keep our nation strong. We have not delivered strong disaster recovery funding for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other victims of hurricanes and wildfires. Congressional Democrats continue to propose bipartisan solutions. But Republicans refuse to take yes for an answer! We have not yet protected our courageous young DREAMers. Not only should we protect them, we should embrace them--value them. We should be grateful for the inspiration they are to America. This is about meeting the needs of the American people. This is about honor the values that make our nation a beacon to the world. Today, we end the Trump shutdown, but it does not diminish our leverage or our determination to meet the needs of the American people. Democrats are unified in our determination to get the job done. We are unified for our Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future. And our fight continues.

Ms. PELOSI

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, last night, on the eve of the first anniversary of President Trump's inauguration, President Trump earned an F for leadership. President Trump and congressional Republicans' obsession with passing a tax scam to benefit the wealthiest in our country and corporations has blinded them to their responsibilities to the American people. Despite controlling the House, the Senate, and the White House, the Republicans were so incompetent, so negligent, that they couldn't get it together to keep the government open. They could get it together to pass a tax credit, 83 percent of which benefits the top 1 percent, but they couldn't get it together to pass CHIP and its fuller complement to meet the needs of America's children and families and seniors. President Trump said about President Obama at the time of the 2013 GOP government shutdown: ``I mean, problems start from the top, and they have to get solved from the top. And the President is the leader. And he's got to get everybody in a room, and he's got to lead.'' President Trump then. President Trump now, as President, President Trump tweets: ``Our country needs a good `shutdown.''' Your wish has come true for your 1-year anniversary because of all- around incompetence, inefficiency, and prioritizing with all your heart and soul that 1 percent at the expense of the rest of the country. Now, there is no such thing, as we know, as a good shutdown of the government. Republicans' total inability to govern is once again threatening our economy, weakening our communities, and dangerously depriving the military of the certainty they need to keep our Nation safe. I say the economy because a shutdown hurts the economy. The facts are there from their previous shutdown. I am proud the House and Senate Democrats' unity is insisting on a budget that supports our military and the domestic investments that keep our Nation strong and honors our values by protecting our DREAMers. I hope that we can now conduct bipartisan negotiations--bipartisan negotiations--in a transparent way that unifies the country, where we can find common ground to honor our responsibility to meet the needs of the American people. It is important to note that this is the fifth Republican shutdown. They don't believe in governance, so shutting down the government is sort of a means to an end for them. I just want to note that in 2013, when the Republicans last shut down the government--it is really important--that 231 Republicans voted to shut down the government to zero on their side--231--and that included Speaker Ryan, Leader McCarthy, Whip Scalise, and Chairwoman McMorris Rodgers. Later, on October 16, when it was time to open up the government, it was just a kind of a remarkable thing. I said 231. It was 229. Let me be fair, 229. When it was time to open up the government, it was remarkable because the Republicans still did not want to do that. On October 16, 144 Republicans voted to keep the government shut down--144. 198 Democrats voted to open up the government to zero. Nobody voted to keep the government shut down. So what is this? What are they taking about? Do people not think that people have a record to see what their votes have been? This is their fifth shutdown since the nineties. This is their fourth CR since September. Get it together. Wipe the tears of joy from your eye about passing a tax cut that benefits the wealthiest in our country. Get down to business for everyday people in America and stop using children as a shield to cover up what you are not doing for the American people. When we had the majority and President Obama was President, one of the first bills we sent to his desk was CHIP. That has always been our priority. But it must be accompanied by legislation to support community health centers, which serve 27 million Americans, including those CHIP kids, medical education for primary care doctors who serve the needs of those children, Medicare extenders. The list goes on and on of what that package is but what the Republicans did not want to pay for in their ill-founded CR that they put forth. A CR weakens the government. A CR weakens our national defense. Secretary Mattis has said that over and over. This action shuts down the government. The CRs debilitate government. Let's get serious. Get it together. Stop romancing yourselves about that tax bill and start getting serious about meeting the needs of the American people.