Donald Payne

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me as I rise to pay tribute to the Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant program at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center for performing its 1,000th heart transplant. Founded in 1901, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center is a regional care, teaching hospital that provides comprehensive health care services to local communities. Beth Israel is an important referral and treatment center for patients throughout northern New Jersey, and it is one of only two hospitals certified to perform heart transplants in the state. Staffed with more than 800 physicians, 3,200 employees, and 150 volunteers, the hospital serves over 3 million patients each year. Newark Beth Israel Medical Center has long been a leader in cardiac care. It performed the first heart transplant in New Jersey in 1986. It was the first New Jersey hospital to use extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for babies awaiting transplants, and it pioneered the use of Left Ventricular Assist Devices for heart-transplant patients. In August, Beth Israel's Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant Program performed its 1,000th heart transplant. Only eleven other centers in the United States have reached this milestone. Newark Beth Israel Medical Center deserves to be recognized for its achievement. I am proud and honored to have this medical center investing in the health care of my constituents and the citizens of the State of New Jersey.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me as I pay tribute to the recipient of the 2017 New Jersey Principal of the Year Award, Mr. John T. Farinella of Rahway High School. Mr. Farinella is a lifelong South Plainfield resident and a graduate of South Plainfield High School. After high school, he went on to earn a dual bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from Pennsylvania State University. He later received his Master's in Education Administration and Supervision from Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey, followed by his Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University's School of Law. Mr. Farinella has worked in the New Jersey public school system for more than 20 years, and he has served the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association (NJPSA) as a member of its Council, Legislative Committee, and Constitution Review Committee. During his time as Principal of Rahway High School, Mr. Farinella has coordinated two key programs that have dramatically helped the students of Rahway High School: the Freshman Transition Program and the Rutgers Future Scholars Program. The Freshman Transition Program provides a support system for Rahway High School's incoming freshmen as they acclimate to the differences between middle school and high school. It helps them begin to plan their lives beyond high school. The Rutgers Future Scholars program recognizes and mentors eighth grade students whose parents have not graduated from college. Fifteen students who perform to the satisfaction of Rahway High School and the Rutgers Future Scholars Program are invited each year, free of charge, to attend Rutgers University. Mr. Farinella and his staff have dedicated much of their time and effort over the past six years to creating a more comprehensive and complete learning environment for the children of Rahway High School. Through his work at Rahway High School, Mr. Farinella has shown students the value of a college degree and created a college-going mentality throughout his school. Mr. Farinella has shown passion through his leadership and vision for Rahway High School. The Tenth District of New Jersey is proud and honored to have Mr. John T. Farinella investing in the futures of the students of Rahway High School.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I would first like to start by thanking my colleague, Congressman Garamendi from the great State of California, for hosting this afternoon's Special Order hour on the Republicans' massive tax giveaway to the rich. Mr. Speaker, the American people want a tax plan that creates jobs, builds infrastructure, helps out the poorest among us, strengthens the middle class, and requires billionaires to pay their fair share. Unfortunately, the Trump-Ryan-McConnell tax plan puts billionaires first and working class people last. The Republicans' tax plan will cut taxes for the wealthiest 1 percent, and it will raise taxes for more than a quarter of New Jersey's households. That is 1.2 million families in the State that I represent. Across the country, the average tax increase for families under the Trump-Ryan-McConnell tax plan is $794 a year, another $794 a year on families struggling now to make ends meet. In New Jersey, that is money a family could use to pay for a month of childcare or 7 months of an electric bill. The President spends a lot of time golfing at his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. He knows many working class people in New Jersey. He employs some of them. His proposal to eliminate the Federal deduction for State and local taxes will hurt them dramatically. Eliminating the Federal deduction for State and local taxes will take money out of people's pockets and out of New Jersey to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. That is just not going to work for the American people. Eliminating the Federal deduction for State and local taxes doesn't work for New Jersey, and it doesn't work for the American people. Nearly 2 million people in New Jersey take the deduction. That is more than a third of the State's taxpayers. Most of them are from New Jersey's lower and middle-income families. Getting rid of that deduction means higher taxes for regular people. So let's be clear. The Republican tax plan claims to be cutting taxes, but in reality, it raises taxes on millions of New Jersey's families and millions of other families nationwide. The Federal deduction for State and local taxes is good for families. It keeps them from paying twice on the same income. If you pay State and local taxes on your hard-earned money, the Federal Government should respect that. After all, State and local taxes pay for our roads, our schools, our police, and all essential services we rely on each and every day. New Jersey already pays more to the Federal Government in taxes than it receives in return. In fact, according to the Tax Policy Center, for every dollar New Jersey pays to the Federal Government in taxes, we get back only 77 cents. That is 77 cents on every dollar. The Trump-Ryan- McConnell tax plan is asking people from my State to send more to Washington so the wealthiest 1 percent can get a tax cut. That is just wrong. When he unveiled his tax plan, President Trump claimed taxes are something he is very good at. Yeah, protecting billionaires is all this tax plan is good at. Elected officials from both parties must continue to stand against the Trump-Ryan-McConnell proposal and prevent billionaires' first tax overhaul from crushing hardworking families.

Mr. PAYNE. And to your point, I appreciate you bringing this map out to show these States that are subsidizing, and you are being very generous in that statement, other States. To have Members, over the past several weeks, come to the floor and admonish New Jersey and say that we really don't need the deduction, when--if I can tell, North Carolina is one of those States being subsidized. It is disingenuous to come to the floor and critique this plan when it is one of the only ways that people, citizens from New Jersey have as a way to balance things out to some degree. We all have to pay our fair share, but at some point in time New Jerseyans would like to see a return on their investment as well.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, as Americans, we mourn with Gold Star families, but we cannot feel their pain. There is nothing anyone can say or do to really comfort families suffering the loss of a loved one. But there is a lot people can say or do to cause grieving families additional pain, as we have seen over this past week. As Members of Congress, we are there for our constituents. They are our families. It is our obligation to speak up when they are hurt. The loss of American servicemembers should not be politicized. Our fallen heroes should be honored. Sergeant La David Johnson is an American hero. Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson is an American hero. Staff Sergeant Bryan Black is an American hero. Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright is an American hero. The 28 men and women who lost their lives in service to their country this year are all American heroes. Let us honor their sacrifices and comfort their families, as has been the tradition in this country until last week.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, countries like Russia have used social media to fuel racial tensions in America's communities, and White supremacists have used social media to organize their hate. We must not be afraid to ask: What role has Facebook played in fueling negrophobia in America? Facebook was born in an age of diversity, but it was not born with a commitment to diversity. Only 3 in every 100 Facebook employees are African American. The company has no Black executives, and it has no Black board members. The company's global director of diversity has said that hiring women and people of color is complicated. Its chief executive officer, Sheryl Sandberg, has promised that Facebook would hire a Black board member sometime soon. Why has it taken so long? Why have minority voices been left out of the essential media development? Has Facebook's failure to value minority voices inside the company made Facebook an online megaphone for racist voices outside the company? Facebook's algorithms have the power to affect the way Americans think about Black people, for better or worse. When Facebook accepts money from foreign actors who want to exploit racial tensions in the United States, Facebook perpetuates negrophobia. By the same token, Facebook's algorithms could weaken negrophobia by enhancing positive messages that challenge people to reexamine and resist discriminatory responses, but that will require Facebook to fully commit to diversity right now, not sometime in the future. Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus met with Facebook a week ago in terms of these negative ads that were found out to be bought by Russian actors and spending $100,000 in doing so, and buying fake ``Black Lives Matter'' responses and ads and ``anti-Black Lives Matter'' ads to continue to fuel this division in our country. If countries are able to see a weakness in our fabric in this Nation, then they will exploit it. We have to come together as Americans and understand that our issues are something that we have to deal with and look each other in the face and have an honest discussion about. No one is perfect. No one is saying that one side is worse than the other, but we need to come together as a unit, as this great experiment called the United States was meant to be, that all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights--all Americans, not just some--and we continue to strive towards that goal, towards that utopia in this country. This is the greatest country in the world, and we all know it here because we benefit from it, but we have a long way to go in terms of reaching the ultimate goal.

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the Lone Star State, my classmate, Congressman Veasey, for hosting tonight's Special Order hour. Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that we find ourselves in this position where the lines are being so blurred that Gold Star families have come into this political discussion and are being dragged into this, unwillingly, over the past several days. I have great respect for General Kelly and was very delighted to see him get the job as Chief of Staff so that he could maybe bring some semblance of calm and normalcy to the White House, but it seems like he has been infected by the disease that is the scourge in the White House. There is no reason for him to fabricate what one of our colleagues said. The videotape is there. She never did one thing that General Kelly said she did on that fateful day in the dedication to that FBI building. I don't understand what is going on with people these days, but these are the times we find ourselves in. Mr. Speaker, as much as we would like to live in a colorblind society, in an America where people should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, we aren't there yet. Race, unfortunately, still matters. Juries devalue Black lives by punishing offenders more harshly when their victims are White than when their victims are Black. Police are more likely to use force when interacting with Black people than when interacting with White people. Emergency room doctors are less likely to prescribe pain medication to Black patients than to Whites. Results from psychological studies of racial bias have shown that nearly 90 percent of the White people in the United States who have taken the implicit-association test have an inherent racial preference for White people over Black people. Oh, yes, race matters in America, and we have got to talk about it. It should not take a crisis for the United States to discuss race and the effects of stereotypes that are baked into our national cultural. We should not have to wait for a police officer to shoot an unarmed Black man before we discuss how negative stereotypes about Black people affect snap judgments. It should not take mass murder in a Bible study to get us talking about how negative stereotypes of Black people in social media help White supremacists rationalize their racism. Back in 1997, Professor Jody David Armour warned us that bad actors would try to make racism seem reasonable. Professor Armour wrote a book called ``Negrophobia.'' In it, he predicted that ``perhaps the gravest threat today to progress toward racial justice comes from the right- wing ideologues bent on convincing White people of good faith that negative stereotypes about Blacks are justified.'' Professor Armour told us to look out for people trying ``to prove that Blacks are inherently less intelligent and more violent than Whites.'' And he explained that these people would try to make racism seem rational by using discredited studies, unscientific experiments, and cooked statistics. What have we seen on our social media over the past few years? We have seen that negrophobia is alive and well in the United States, and social media is its enabler. People like the President have used social media to spread cooked statistics and outright lies to rationalize the racist stereotypes that Black people are inherently violent.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, in New Jersey, nearly 231,000 children rely on the Children's Health Insurance Program. CHIP gets them to the doctor. CHIP gets them to the hospital. CHIP saves their lives. But last month, Republican Members of Congress made a choice to put on another repeal-and-replace dog and pony show and let CHIP expire. Mr. Speaker, what do my Republican colleagues have against needy children? Who thought it would be a good idea to put 9 million children's health at risk for political gains? So much for compassionate conservatism. Mr. Speaker, CHIP is vital to the Nation's future. Along with Medicaid, CHIP has cut the rate of low-income, uninsured children nationally by half--from 14 percent to 7 percent. But if Congress doesn't immediately reauthorize long-term CHIP funding, children will not get to see their doctors. They won't have access to hospitals, and some may die

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Jaheir Moore, a seventh grade student from Jersey City, New Jersey, for his service to people in need. This young man from my district takes the time nearly every day to crochet hats, scarves, blankets, and other items for people in homeless shelters and newborn babies in intensive care units. Over the past couple of years, he has donated dozens of bags full of his creations to make life a little better for others. Jaheir is a straight A student who wants to become a fashion designer. In February, he was a guest on the ``Rachael Ray Show.'' A week later, Jaheir had his first runway show in Jersey City. In April, I presented him with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for his charity work. Mr. Speaker, Jaheir Moore's unselfish acts of kindness for people in need shows that our country's future is a bright one.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, $15 billion for a wall. I thought Mexico was going to pay for it. Mr. Speaker, President Trump is playing a dangerous game with North Korea. He is playing a dangerous game with American lives. The President probably thinks he is being clever when he taunts Kim Jong-un and calls him ``little rocket man.'' The President probably thinks he is a tough guy when he threatens to rain down fire and fury on North Korea. But the President is not clever, and he is not tough. A clever President would know that peace is preferable to war. A tough President would understand that threatening war with a highly armed, petty dictator makes the United States look weak and risks American lives. President Trump's saber-rattling could draw the country into nuclear war that no one wants. If the United States is drawn into a war for the President's ego, people will die, Americans will die, and thousands, if not millions, of North Koreans will die.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Let me just say in terms of your guilt. It is not a guilt. It should not be guilt. It is an obligation for you to be here in the people's House to represent your constituents here, to be their voice. That is why they sent you here to Washington. So do not be guilty about doing the job you have been sent to do.

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands, Congresswoman Plaskett, for hosting tonight's Special Order hour on the Federal Government's response to natural disasters. I believe that Ms. Plaskett and the experience that she has had in her homeland can open our eyes to the devastation that has taken place in the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico as well. It is unthinkable what these American citizens have been through over the last several weeks and will continue to suffer for months into the future. Before I begin, I have a message for the families and the friends of the 58 innocent people whose lives were taken and the more than 500 who were injured in Las Vegas overnight: The country's compassion and thoughts go out to you. Our hearts break with yours. For those injured, know that the American people are praying for your recovery. To the first responders who put their lives on the line daily: Thank you. What went down in Las Vegas last night was an act of terrorism. There is no other name for it. A deranged man with a small arsenal of firearms in a hotel room shot into a crowd of people at a concert. For an hour and 12 minutes, people watched the chaos unfold. All the moments of silence in the world won't change what happened last night in Las Vegas, last year in Orlando, the year before in Charleston, and the list goes on. Moments of silence used to be for showing honor or respect. There is nothing honorable about keeping silent and doing nothing to prevent gun violence. There is nothing respectful about rejecting every single reasonable gun bill proposed in the past decade. What kind of Nation are we when we sacrifice human lives on the altar of the gun lobby? The time to act was yesterday. The Federal Government has a moral duty to protect the welfare of American citizens before tragedy strikes. Yet, when the news moves from one disaster to another, we often suffer a sort of amnesia. We don't seem to remember or learn from our mistakes. We forget to fix the problems our citizens call us about every single day, and the problems inevitably repeat themselves. One issue we seem to have repeated amnesia about is the high cost our constituents face when evacuating disaster areas, particularly after hurricanes. We read reports that, due to reduced capacity and high demand, flights are full or tickets are prohibitively expensive. Even if the airlines capped flight prices, like they did last week, Federal taxes and fees can increase the price of an evacuation by 20 percent. Recently, this hit home for me. One of my district staffers had family stuck in Puerto Rico. Because Hurricane Maria knocked out power and the telephone lines, my staffer had no way of knowing whether her loved ones were alive or dead. Many constituents have contacted our offices to let us know the difficulty they were having in trying to find out whether their loved ones were safe or not and how we could help. She tried to get in touch with her family for 8 long days before hearing that they were okay. Then, when my staffer tried to book a flight for her family to get out of Puerto Rico, the only tickets available were for first class. First class. That is over $700 on a flight full of disaster evacuees. My D.C. staff did a little digging. Here is what they learned. The American people rely on the goodwill of the airlines to cap the prices of flights from disaster areas. The airlines decide when to start the cap and when to end it. The airlines decide whether to keep selling first class tickets, and the Federal Government never stops charging taxes on flights from disaster areas. American citizens deserve better, Mr. Speaker. That is why, starting this week, I will be introducing a series of bills to ease the financial burden Americans face when escaping natural disasters. The humanitarian flight fairness package will do four things. First, it will allow the Secretary of Transportation to declare an aviation humanitarian crisis at specific airports covered by a Presidential declaration of emergency. Second, it will allow the Secretary of Transportation to mandate that airlines charge no more than the median fair price of all seats sold on that route in the prior calendar year. Third, the package would require the FAA to waive the $5.60 passenger facility charge during an aviation humanitarian crisis. And fourth, the package would require the FAA to waive the U.S. international transportation tax, which is $18 on a flight from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. American citizens, Mr. Speaker. Too often Congress reacts to crisis. It is time for us to be proactive. It is time for us to legislate before another disaster strikes. The humanitarian flight fairness package is a commonsense solution to a problem that directly affects our constituents. Mr. Speaker, I always try to deal in common sense. As a matter of fact, I have a constituent back at home who constantly reminds me of how shallow I am, so I can do nothing but rely on common sense based on this constituent's feelings about me. I want to thank the congresswoman again for hosting this Special Order hour, and I look forward to continue working with her as she addresses the issues faced by Americans affected by natural disasters, whether it is on the mainland or in the territories. They all are American citizens. When it benefits this Nation to have Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands be a part of the United States, it does not hesitate. But when these American citizens are in trouble, they deserve the same rights that every American citizen benefits from in this great Nation--and it is great, and we want to continue to make sure that it remains great. I continue to make the point, Mr. Speaker, that these are American citizens we are talking about. This is not foreign aid. This is not mutual aid. This is aiding American citizens in trouble, in disaster, in peril, no insulin for diabetics, no dialysis for kidney patients in two or three weeks. That is a death sentence, Mr. Speaker, and we cannot allow it to continue.

Mr. PAYNE. Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I am glad President Trump listened to Secretary Clinton and deployed the U.S. Naval Ship Comfort to Puerto Rico, even though it was 7 days after Hurricane Maria destroyed the island. But President Trump must do more and do it now. Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States has a moral and legal duty to protect the well-being of our citizens. That is why today, right now, the President must order the Department of Defense to deploy all available assets to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to prevent this catastrophe from getting worse. The thousands of Puerto Ricans and all of the Virgin Islanders I represent deserve to know that our Nation's priority is their well- being, their families', their friends', and their fellow citizens' as well--American citizens.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I first want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Congressman Evans, for hosting tonight's Special Order Hour on rooting out racism in the United States. He has a long history of legislative accomplishments back in the Keystone State and has brought his understanding and talents here to the House of Representatives, and we appreciate him being a Member of this body. Before I begin, I also want to let the Americans in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands know that we stand with them as they rebuild. Madam Speaker, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees to all people in this country the freedom to speak out against injustice. When Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem last year, he joined a long list of patriotic athletes who used their fame to do just that. Muhammad Ali was convicted of draft dodging because he refused to drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while the so-called Negro people in Louisville, Kentucky, were treated like dogs. Jackie Robinson, the great Baseball Hall of Famer who integrated baseball, admitted in 1972 that he no longer could stand and sing the National Anthem. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution endows all of us with the freedom of speech, the freedom to speak out our own truths. Muhammad Ali would not fight an unjust war; Jackie Robinson would not salute a flag that he believed symbolized his oppression; and Colin Kaepernick took a knee to bring America's attention to the fact that Black Americans are twice as likely as White Americans to be killed by police officers, to bring attention to the fact that 1 in every 10 Black men in his thirties is in prison or in jail on any given day, to bring attention to the statistic that tells us Black people are twice as likely as White people to be in poverty in the wealthiest country on Earth. It is easy to keep quiet, to do nothing in the face of injustice. But just like the muscles in our bodies, our Constitution will wither if we do not exercise our rights. To speak out against injustice is to exercise the constitutional right of free speech. What is more patriotic than exercising the rights our Nation stands for? When the President uses his right of free speech in an attempt to silence athletes, he is undermining the freedom for which patriotic Americans have fought during our 241-year history. When the President calls for men and women to be fired from their jobs because they dare use their public platform to combat injustice, he fuels the viciousness he claims that he wants to despise. As Langston Hughes put it: ``Let America be America again--The land that has never been yet--And yet must be--the land where every man is free.'' Madam Speaker, I talk about the Constitution because it talks about all people. There are times where I have been disappointed and let down by this Nation not holding up its creed because, you see, I believe in America, but I am waiting for that day when all men are created equal. I am still waiting for that day. We are here tonight to bring attention to this matter. We are exercising our right to free speech, the right that has been given every American in this country, supposedly. But if the President of the United States can stand up somewhere in this country and call a section of this country, a certain people in this country, SOBs, then what does that say about where we are? This is the leader of the United States of America, the land of the free, the home of the brave. But is it that for everyone? We have a ways to go in this country. Yes, we have come a long way, and some people will say: Well, you know, why are you still talking about those old issues? And, you know, things are different now and better for you. And, look, come on, get over it. And then we see what we have seen over the last several years with African Americans constantly getting shot and there being no ramifications. It tears at your heart, Madam Speaker, to understand why, why, in the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, we still have these situations of such inequity. So we will continue to raise the issue until one day this country can live up to its creed that all men and women are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights. With that, Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding to me.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chair, as the designee of Ranking Member Lowey, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the proposed amendment. To coin it an earmark is unfortunate. The amendment would strike the language passed out of the Appropriations Committee that supports transportation projects of national significance. The committee voted to appropriate $900 million to rail programs already authorized by Congress in the FAST Act. For the last 8 weeks, millions of commuters in the New York metropolitan area suffered through a summer of hell after Amtrak announced emergency track work at Penn Station, the busiest in North America, because of three derailments in the span of a few weeks. This was just an inkling of the turmoil that would be wrought if the Federal Government does not live up to its promise to fund much-needed repairs on the Northeast corridor. I must emphasize, moneys approved by the Appropriations Committee are for programs already authorized by the FAST Act, which was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. I urge all of my colleagues to vote against the Budd amendment. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, President Trump's decision to end the DACA program is wrong. Today's announcement impacts over 22,000 New Jerseyans and over 800,000 people across the country. The primary beneficiaries of DACA are young people who were brought here to this country by no decision of their own. In New Jersey, most DACA recipients are in the group of 18 to 21 years of age. At that age, they should be focused on college, developing trades, and overall sharpening their skills that will ultimately benefit our Nation. Unfortunately, their future is now at the mercy of Congress. This issue transcends party, Mr. Speaker. Our decisions in the next 6 months will determine the future of hundreds of thousands of young people. We must make the right decision to protect DREAMers.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney).

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2182, the Plum Island Preservation Act. Mr. Speaker, since 1954, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York's Long Island has served as the Nation's principal laboratory responsible for research on foreign animal diseases of livestock, such as foot-and-mouth disease and other animal diseases. At Plum Island, the Department of Homeland Security works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research and develop new vaccines and diagnostic tests for animal disease outbreaks and to defend against international or accidental introduction of animal diseases into the United States. On September 11, 2005, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to develop the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF, as a state-of-the-art biocontainment laboratory for the study of diseases that threaten both America's animal agricultural industry and public health. As envisioned by DHS, the 580,000-square-foot facility would replace the Plum Island laboratory. Following an extensive selection process, DHS selected a site in Manhattan, Kansas, for the new lab, and the site is slated to be fully operational by December of 2022. What H.R. 2182 aims to answer is what will happen to Plum Island when DHS vacates the facility. DHS is currently studying the range of options for disposition of the property, including transferring it to another Federal agency, a State or local government, or a nonprofit organization for the purposes of education, research, or conservation. In doing so, DHS is expected to assess the full implications of each option, including cost, cleanup, and hazard mitigation. H.R. 2182 requires the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, to assess whether the forthcoming study is satisfactory to support a decision. In the event that the study is lacking in a key area, GAO would be required to conduct its own study. Importantly, H.R. 2182 ensures that Plum Island cannot be sold by the Federal Government to the highest bidder. Under this bill, the sale of Plum Island is prohibited until at least 180 days after the required reports in the bill have been submitted to Congress. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PAYNE. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2182 has broad support on both sides of the aisle, as we can see. Plum Island has a history dating back to the 1700s and has been owned by the Federal Government since 1899. This bill takes steps to ensure that this culturally and historically important site is not sold until all relevant questions are answered regarding the final disposition of Plum Island and that a satisfactory comprehensive plan has been developed. I urge my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PAYNE

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, to the gentlewoman's point, I believe there was a document that was created to give to the President on those issues, and we are still waiting to hear back from the administration in reference to anything that was in that document. We don't need photo ops. We don't need to go to the White House and be trucked up there and lollygag and use us for whatever they deem proper for them. We need help for the American people. We need an administration that is going to look at these issues, be serious about them, and continue to move this country forward, as it was in the previous 8 years.