Donald Payne

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to praise the Democratic Party for putting people over politics. Every day House Democrats fight to better the lives of working Americans. We are ready to support commonsense legislation to keep the government open and to provide vital services to the American people. We continue to bring down inflation and lower costs for food, medicine, and other necessities. We invest in American families with bills to help them with childcare and home energy costs. We support our friends overseas with bills to provide aid to innocent Palestinian civilians, Ukraine, and Israel, and we work daily to make our country work for all Americans. We are committed to voting rights for all Americans. We are committed to reproductive rights for all women, and we want an America with equality for all and prejudice toward none. That is why I am proud to be a Democrat.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to question the Republicans' commitment to the American people. We are 9 days away from the end of government funding for critical programs nationwide. Republicans should be working with Democrats to continue funding in the best interests of the American people. Instead, they are holding the government funding hostage to demand cuts to programs Americans need every day. They want to cut Social Security and Medicare and deny food and medicine to seniors and lower income American families. They want to cut funding to efforts to provide clean air and water nationwide and allow polluters to threaten the lives of Americans, especially American children. They want to cut IRS funding that will force the wealthy, tax- cheating Americans and corporations to pay their fair share and rob our country of $3 trillion in new revenue. These are not the actions of a party dedicated to the best interests of Americans.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank President Biden for his continued commitment to the American people. Recently, the Biden administration announced billions of dollars in Federal funding for bridges, subways, and road projects in the Northeast Corridor. The funding included $3.8 billion for a new Hudson River tunnel between New Jersey and New York. The current tunnel is 113 years old, and any service delays could cost the country $100 million in lost economic activity and disrupt service for 200,000 travelers a day. President Biden understands the importance of the project, and his administration has provided almost $11 billion in Federal funding for it in the last 4 months. This funding will help millions of future travelers get to their destinations faster and safer, and it is another example of his great work as President.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for the opportunity to discuss this very important issue. I rise today to oppose the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2024. Today is a monumental day for transportation in America. It is the day the Biden administration announced billions of dollars in funding for much-needed transportation projects and the day that the Republicans brought this bill to the floor to cut funding designated to make transportation in this country safer. The differences are severe. The Biden administration is building and repairing bridges and subway tunnels to make American transportation more efficient. Republicans seem to want to make it more dangerous. Here are a few of the drastic cuts Republicans want to enact: They want to cut $7 billion in funding from the Department of Transportation. They want to eliminate the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail program. This program funds projects to improve rail performance and expand it into underserved communities. They want to cut Amtrak funding by 65 percent and cut it by 92 percent in the most populous Northeast corridor. In addition, they want to cut funding for Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program grants in half. This program funds rail safety technology, eliminates deadly railroad crossings, and installs safety fencing around the Nation's rail network. It will save lives across the country, but Republicans want to cut it anyway. In the process, they are showing the American people they do not care about their safety nor their transportation system.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriation Act and how Republicans continue to put politics over people. Financial support for Israel after a terrorist attack should be an easy bipartisan bill to pass. Instead, Republicans are hijacking it to prevent the richest 1 percent of Americans from paying their fair share of taxes and preventing lifesaving aid for families caught in the crossfire. So Republicans would rather protect their billionaire tax cheating supporters than protect children. No one should be surprised about it. If the richest 1 percent paid their fair share, America could gain $3 trillion in the next 10 years according to economists. Even a portion of that funding would allow us to support Israel, help Palestinian families, and aid Ukraine, and it would even reduce the national debt significantly. Nevertheless, Republicans want to rob the poor to pay the rich, and I hope American voters are paying attention.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great trailblazer in my district, Goldie Burbage. Ms. Burbage made history in East Orange, New Jersey. She was the first African-American woman to serve as the executive assistant to an East Orange mayor. She served under Mayor James Kelly and the city's first African-American mayor, William Hart. During her time in Mayor Hart's office, Ms. Burbage created the Offices of Employment and Training, Drug Abuse, and Personnel. Her work earned her a promotion to become the city's first chief personnel officer. Outside of her career, Ms. Burbage was a well-known and respected social justice advocate. She founded the Historical Society of East Orange and served as vice president of the East Orange Chamber of Commerce. Her community support earned her induction into the East Orange Hall of Fame. Many residents referred to her as the matriarch of their community, and I am proud to honor her on this day.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the new House Speaker, Representative Mike Johnson. In doing some research, not knowing the gentleman very well, I have come to find out that he is not the moderate unifier that we need right now. Speaker Johnson was a key player in Trump's plot to overthrow our democracy. He worked to justify the tragic January 6 insurrection, an attack that threatened the lives of my House colleagues, Republican and Democrat alike. Speaker Johnson wants the government to control a woman's right to her healthcare decisions. He wants the government to control who Americans can marry. He wants the government to ban interracial marriage. He also wants to slash funding for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and deny critical healthcare to vulnerable seniors. Americans reject these extreme agenda items, yet Republicans voted for him to lead the people's House. Once again, they are putting politics over the American people.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to cast my vote for rollcall 528--had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on the motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 771.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the presumptive Republican nominee for President. Today, that presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, was in a New York courtroom to face fraud charges for lying about his wealth. The $250 million lawsuit accuses the Republican leader of inflating the value of his assets. He did it to get better deals on at least $300 million in loans and insurance policies. Loans, I might add, that he refused to pay back. Trump even claims that his $18 million Mar-a-Lago estate is worth $1.5 billion. The trial could force the Republican leader to pay millions of dollars in fines. I remember when the Republican Party used to fight for fiscal responsibility. Now, they bow to a man who cheats on his taxes, steals from banks, fails to pay subcontractors, and defrauds investors. That does not sound responsible to me, and it is disgraceful behavior from a Presidential candidate.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the late U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. As a Senator, she served the people of California for 31 years, and she was the longest-serving female Senator in American history. Senator Feinstein was a true trailblazer. She was the first woman elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She was the first woman elected to serve as San Francisco's mayor. As a Senator, she was the first woman to chair the powerful Senate Rules and Senate Intelligence Committees. Senator Feinstein leaves a legacy of incredible accomplishment. She wrote the popular assault weapons ban in 1994, a ban that we need to reintroduce today. She helped create the nationwide AMBER Alert system to help communities find abducted children. She helped reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. She was a strong advocate for women and the betterment of all Americans, and she will truly be missed in the Senate and California.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the impending government shutdown. Since 1980, there have been at least 14 times when the government was shut down. All of them were initiated by the Republicans. The last major one in 2018 cost our country $3 billion in lost economic activity. Now, Speaker McCarthy has the country on a collision course with another one. Even the Senate Republicans have a bipartisan bill to help prevent a shutdown, but Speaker McCarthy will not even consider it. This shutdown will stop paychecks for millions of Americans. It will stop law enforcement from preventing fentanyl from entering our communities, and it will make our borders weaker. I do not know what the Republicans think that they will win with a government shutdown, but I do know that it is American people who will lose, and voters will remember this action in the future.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to cast my vote for rollcall No. 402 due to an unforeseen circumstance. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay''.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the dangerous Republican budget cuts and how they will hurt American families, damage education, and threaten our communities. They will force Border Patrol agencies to fire 800 agents and make our country less secure. They will remove 40,000 teachers from classrooms and affect the education of 33.5 million students. They will deny 55,000 American workers the money they earned on the job. They will take 4,000 law enforcement officers off our streets and make our neighborhoods less safe. In addition, these cuts will take food out of the mouths of millions of American children and seniors. If they do not get their way, Republicans will shut down the government and hurt more Americans, including our veterans. Clearly, this behavior does not represent a party working for the American people.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss the need for the Freight Rail Workforce Health and Safety Act. I introduced this bill to give our critical railroad workers 7 days of paid sick leave. It would allow them to care for their health and the health of family members without using their vacation time. It is a benefit enjoyed by millions of American workers every single day. Yet, for some reason, railroad companies have refused to provide it to railroad workers, but they do provide it to railroad management. Our railroad workers should have the right to paid sick leave. They risked their health and safety to keep food and medicine on store shelves during the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill would allow them to take care of their health without worrying about their income, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it. We have it here in the Congress, our staff has it here in the Congress. The railroad workers need it as well.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss how the extreme MAGA Republicans are plotting a government shutdown and forcing a partisan impeachment inquiry. While my Democratic colleagues and I are putting people over politics to help working Americans, the extreme MAGA Republicans are doing nothing to make life better for average Americans. They are pushing an unpopular agenda of cuts to healthcare, childcare, education, and public safety. They want to allow dangerous people to own guns, and they want to limit voting so only their supporters can vote. They want to take away rights for women and minorities that are protected in the Constitution. Even Senate and moderate Republicans oppose their plans. These extreme Republicans make our country weaker and hurt American families. They need to serve the American people and stop this reckless pursuit of a radical agenda.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Jeremias Castillo, this year's $25,000 National Honor Society Scholarship winner. Castillo, a senior at Technology High School in Newark, was chosen from a pool of 13,000 applicants. He won because his commitment to enacting positive change in the country's healthcare system is what he is all about. When his father passed away, Jeremias witnessed the health disparities that affect underrepresented groups, so he decided to do something about it. He volunteered weekly at a local medical center, he collected medical supplies from the Newark Department of Health and Welfare, and he spoke about his passion to improve healthcare at a symposium that reached more than 3.6 million people. Jeremias will use this scholarship to study neuroscience and political science at Harvard University, and he will continue to help create more equitable healthcare systems in America. Again, I congratulate Jeremias for his dedication to his family, his community, and his country.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss how my fellow Democrats and I are putting people over politics. We are lowering the cost of lifesaving prescription medication such as insulin to $35 for all Americans, and we have capped that for seniors, as well. We are increasing the American middle class with more than 13.5 million jobs created since President Biden took office and supporting policies that help American families. We are providing clean drinking water and high-speed internet to more American homes every single day, and we are fighting to protect a woman's right to make her own health choices. In addition, we are working to make communities safer and defend our freedoms across the world. For example, my Safer Neighborhoods Gun Buyback Act would use Federal grants to buy guns back from gun owners and get them off the streets. I am proud to belong to the Democratic Party because it supports the American people.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the lack of leadership from the House Republicans. Today, we should be discussing how to fund our government and prevent devastating service shutdowns for millions of Americans. Instead, Republicans want to waste taxpayer dollars on a pointless impeachment inquiry. Even House Republicans say there is no evidence for it. Instead, they should look to President Biden as an example of true leadership. His policies brought the economy back after the COVID-19 shutdown. They are repairing and rebuilding roads and bridges nationwide. They are making America more energy independent, and they are protecting American technology around the world. Let us get back to doing the work of the American people and stop using taxpayer dollars for revenge politics and unpopular political agendas.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank President Biden for helping me provide $7 billion for the Hudson River tunnel project. The Hudson River tunnel project is the most important infrastructure project in the country. Every day, more than 200,000 people travel through the Hudson River tunnel between New Jersey and New York. If it were to suffer a safety shutdown, it could cost America $100 million in lost economic activity. The current tunnel is 113 years old, and it needs to be upgraded to avoid future shutdowns. The Hudson River tunnel project will repair the current tunnel, and it would build a new tunnel next to it to improve travel throughout the Northeast corridor. I worked diligently to get the funds for the Hudson River tunnel and the entire Gateway Program. The $7 billion grant is the largest Federal transportation grant in American history. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to work with a President that understands the importance of the Hudson River tunnel project and what it will do for American prosperity.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of a great American, and I want to say at this point in time: Well done, thy good and faithful servant. I rise to recognize the Keeper of the Mace for the United States House of Representatives on this day, Joyce Hamlett, who has been a caretaker, a defender, a person who has kept this House in order, a person who knows the rules better than most Members and has also been a friend. She has helped me with doctors, talked to me when I have been in bad shape, and kept me warm out in the hall. She is a consummate servant for this House. For 35 years, she has given her life to the United States House of Representatives. I am deeply moved on this day, which is why I did my 1 minute from here, so I could address her and look her way and say: Well done, thy good and faithful servant. There is no one who is more serious about the business of this House than Joyce Hamlett. She will be missed. I know it is bittersweet for her, as well. I know she can't wait till she leaves, but as she thinks about it, it is not a happy day. Let me wish her continued success. She has earned this retirement. She has earned this retirement, working with the Members that she has probably had come through this House. God bless her. I thank her, and may the Lord keep her.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, or CFATS, program is a vital national security program whereby DHS works with the Nation's highest risk chemical facilities to make sure they are secure against an attack by a terrorist or other bad actor. Since 2007, CFATS has helped thousands of facilities strengthen their security posture and reduce on-site risks, sometimes lowering their risk profile so much that they are no longer subject to regulation. This program has been so effective that in the 15 years since it was established, the number of high-risk facilities has dropped by half, from more than 7,000 to fewer than 3,500. Once more, CFATS-regulated facilities are some of the program's most avid supporters. That is because the regulations are flexible, nonprescriptive, and focused on outcomes rather than micromanaging security decisions or imposing one-size-fits-all requirements. Still, the CFATS statutory authority will lapse a few days from now if Congress does not act. We cannot let that happen. CFATS is far from perfect. The program suffers from longstanding, well-documented issues that need to be fixed in legislation. However, H.R. 4470 makes no effort to address them. In committee, I joined with my Democratic colleagues to offer 10 modest, targeted amendments that sought to improve information sharing with first responders, training for inspectors, and our understanding of potential weaknesses in the program. We had hoped that our Republican colleagues might have adopted at least a few of these modest measures. Unfortunately, they did not, but not because they disagreed with the substance. They did so, they said, out of fear that any change might complicate reauthorization in the Senate. It is a shame that it took so long for the committee to act on a reauthorization, especially since it is just a date-change bill. When Democrats took the gavel in 2019, CFATS was just a few weeks away from sunsetting. We had a short-term extension bill on the floor within a few days and immediately got to work on legislation to improve the program, not just extend it. I was, however, heartened to hear many of my Republican colleagues acknowledge the longstanding issues with the program and express support for many of the amendments that we offered. We also appreciate that at the markup the chairman committed to standing up a bipartisan working group within the committee to get these changes enacted into law. I hope that once we get this date-change bill done, our committee will get to work on making the program better in short order. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, while H.R. 4470 is not the CFATS reauthorization bill I had hoped for, it is absolutely necessary that we pass it for one simple reason: It will prevent CFATS' statutory authority from lapsing and will allow the program to keep working to protect chemical facilities from terrorist attacks. I am pleased that, in the course of debate in committee, the chairman has committed to work with the committee Democrats on a more fulsome reauthorization bill. I look forward to starting that work in short order. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, to help carry out its many missions, the Department of Homeland Security has increasingly come to rely on unmanned aircraft systems, or drones. DHS utilizes these eyes in the sky to make timely assessments about the extent of damage caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters in instances where the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot easily deploy personnel to affected areas. The Coast Guard uses drones to enhance its ability to collect and disseminate information on maritime hazards and threats. In remote parts of the land border, DHS uses them to detect and prevent illicit smuggling activities. Many unmanned aircraft systems in the marketplace today are manufactured in nations considered foreign adversaries. As such, there are legitimate security concerns about the integrity of the data drones collect. Recent reports suggest that Chinese-manufactured drones might be compromised and used to send sensitive information to the Chinese Government. In response to security concerns, the Departments of the Interior and Defense have taken steps to limit their use of foreign-made drones. H.R. 1501, the Unmanned Aerial Security Act, would direct the Department of Homeland Security to take similar protective measures. It would prohibit DHS from purchasing or using drone systems manufactured in a foreign country that is deemed to be an adversary by either the intelligence community's annual threat assessment or the Secretary of Homeland Security. Importantly, H.R. 1501 allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive the prohibition in certain circumstances, such as the national interest of the United States or for research or intelligence purposes. Finally, the bill requires DHS to report to Congress on information related to drones, including the results of any threat assessments conducted. H.R. 1501 has bipartisan support and was reported out of the Homeland Security Committee by voice vote. Madam Speaker, I commend my colleague from Mississippi (Mr. Guest) for introducing this bill that seeks to ensure the integrity and security of the drone systems that the Department of Homeland Security operates. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.