Stacey Plaskett

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Frelinghuysen and Ranking Member Lowey for bringing more disaster relief legislation to the floor today. I am pleased to see much-needed support for ongoing disaster response efforts in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and other hurricane- affected areas, including direct assistance to families, debris removal operations, and emergency protective measures carried out by FEMA, and additional activities of numerous other Federal agencies that are on the ground working around the clock to help us to recover and rebuild. I cannot thank enough all of our Federal and local personnel helping us through this. I have been on the ground after Irma, after Maria, and just recently, and I tell you, their support is invaluable. I am particularly pleased to see the subdivision of $5 billion for Disaster Direct Loan Program to assist local governments and with measures taking into account the unique aid and flexibility needed for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Multiple loans will be available based on different types of losses and unanticipated spending needs, and waivers of amount limits are also helpful. Additional loans to pay for local matching requirements is an important support. However, I am deeply concerned about the important relief that was left out of this bill and the administration's disaster relief request last week. This does not incorporate the medium and long-term assistance that played a clear critical role in the recovery following previous disasters like Katrina and Sandy, and the Virgin Islands cannot afford to wait for this to be a higher priority of the Federal Government. The package does not include community development and social service block grant funding, Economic Development Administration funds, supplemental housing assistance, nor additional funds for repair of our water infrastructure, ports, community facilities, airports, roads, parks, wetlands, and fisheries. Damage sustained in all of these areas has been catastrophic, and waiting around until another end of the year for auxiliary funding for these pressing needs is not acceptable. Perhaps most concerning is the lack of Medicaid program assistance to the territory. Even before two consecutive Category 5 hurricanes that decimated our hospitals and medical infrastructure, the Virgin Islands was forced to operate a Medicaid program that is capped in an amount that has no relationship to local needs, and our rate of Federal matching funds, our FMAP, is limited to an arbitrarily low 55 percent Federal to 45 percent local contribution. Thousands of our citizens go without adequate care due to this treatment every year, in addition to the impacts on our providers and hospitals due to uncompensated care, but after these back-to-back storms, there is no revenue being generated in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico at this time. Our tourism-related economy is gone. We will miss this entire year, at the very least. With our public health and social welfare needs, we are in dire need of supplemental Medicaid support, including a temporary 100 percent Federal contribution, just like what was provided to Americans living in Louisiana and Texas following Katrina. I was pleased to see Ranking Member Pallone's proposal to provide this 100 percent temporary Federal share with a substantial plus-up to our allotment so that the American citizens--yes, American citizens--in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico can have the benefit of Medicaid in this time of greatest need. This has not been a part of this package. Virgin Islanders cannot wait until Christmas for a Medicaid program. We need it now.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, Hurricanes Irma and Maria have wreaked havoc on the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and numerous Caribbean nations. Although the full extent of the two hurricanes' impact has yet to be assessed, it is clear that the damage from these storms is unparalleled. The people of the Virgin Islands have lost their homes and possessions. Business has been lost, along with hospitals, schools, and utility systems. In the coming months, I ask that all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle approve the full amount of funding and support needed for short- and long-term relief. For example, tomorrow, the Energy and Commerce Committee will consider legislation to extend the Children's Health Insurance Program for 5 years. I ask my colleagues to remember the people and children of the Virgin Islands. Just over one-third of the children of the Virgin Islands lived below the poverty level even prior to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. After the hurricanes, our antipoverty needs will grow exponentially. We need Medicaid and CHIP provisions to provide the Virgin Islands with additional funding and higher rates of Federal matching funds so that poor Americans and children in the Virgin Islands can remain covered. This, in addition to further changes to Federal program requirements, will help the Virgin Islands with the resources it needs to build. So I urge my colleagues to please remember that Virgin Islanders are Americans too, just the same as constituents elsewhere across the country.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, it is my great honor to rise today to anchor this CBC Special Order hour. Today, Monday, October 2, members of the Congressional Black Caucus will be speaking on the floor about the devastating impact of natural disasters, particularly hurricanes, and the critical role of the Federal Government's response. In the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and now Maria, the Federal Government has already deployed assets to affected regions, from HHS public health resources, the Coast Guard, the Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, to Corps of Engineers flood-fighting projects. In the coming weeks and months, additional resources will help shelter displaced Americans and get businesses back on their feet. Congress must also ensure that the Federal response to these disasters is just and equitable, and that communities of color are not directly or indirectly harmed by recovery efforts. During this time, we will hear from other members of the Congressional Black Caucus and its friends to discuss this issue. For the next 60 minutes, we have a chance to speak directly to the American people on issues of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, the constituents we represent, and all Americans. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), from the city of Newark.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Payne, my colleague, for those sentiments and that support to the people of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and to all the people of the Caribbean region. I am grateful for his empathy, for his support, the support of his constituents, as well as all the Members who have reached out to the Virgin Islands in these last several weeks. The islands have been struck by something that is nothing less than cataclysmic in many respects, particularly in a time of year when we are preparing for what is right now our only viable and large industry, the tourism industry. We have lost that for this year. We have lost that on all of the islands, all of the regions at this time. I know that so many of you have seen and expressed--so many Members on both sides of the aisle have come up to me and said, or texted or called and said, that they are there for me, and I am going to hold them to that. I am going to hold them to that because what we are facing in the Virgin Islands, I feel guilty right now--and I told my staff--being here, having air conditioning, sitting in a room. I feel guilty because I know what the children of the Virgin Islands are going through right now. There is no air conditioning. There is no light on the islands right now. Many of the people, many of the communities are in utter darkness, and as the heat rises with the amount of moisture that is in the air, we know that there will be health hazards that are about to happen in terms of mosquitoes, with dengue, chikungunya, and all other kinds of diseases that are going to be occurring.

Ms. PLASKETT. I know that that is why I am here because I need to be their voice, because they are voiceless right now. If you look on national media, you hear about what is happening in Puerto Rico, and, Lord knows, I feel for our fellow islanders, our brothers and sisters over there, but very rarely do you hear about what is happening in the Virgin Islands. On September 6, Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms this century, destroyed the islands of St. John and St. Thomas, the islands that are part of the district that I represent. Three weeks later, the island of St. Croix was devastated by Maria, a second Category 5 hurricane ripping through the U.S. Virgin Islands in less than a month. Both Hurricanes Irma and Maria have wreaked havoc in the U.S. territories of the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean nations. We forget that there are other places in the Caribbean that have also been struck, St. Martin and Sint Maarten, Barbuda, Anguilla, our very close neighbors, the British Virgin Islands, Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, places that Americans love to go to, to vacation, to enjoy themselves, not thinking about the lives of the people that are there or not there anymore. We know that right now the island of Barbuda is without an inhabitant, without an inhabitant in centuries. There is no one on Barbuda after the hurricane. Turks and Caicos, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, one that also strikes me is Dominica. Dominica was not hit by the first Hurricane Irma, and that little island nation reached out to the U.S. Virgin Islands, reached out to Puerto Rico and said: We don't have much, but we are going to give you the money that we have. We, as a government, will give you 200,000. We will bring relief. We will bring whatever we can. And 2 weeks later, Hurricane Maria struck them and has devastated that island. Their Prime Minister went to the United Nations a week ago and begged, begged the support of the free world, begged the support of the members of the United Nations to support them. Although the full extent of the two hurricanes' impact has yet to be assessed, it is clear that, in the Caribbean, the damage from these storms appears to be unparalleled. President Trump issued major disaster declaration for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries have been reported alongside widespread infrastructure damage all throughout the Caribbean. I received a text just this morning from members of my family who are still looking for loved ones on the island of St. Croix. That is why, in the days and months ahead, we must continue to work together to ensure that the individuals and families impacted by these devastating storms receive all the aid they need. The catastrophic destruction caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria demands massive amounts of aid to address the overwhelming needs of the countless victims who now face the daunting task of rebuilding their lives. FEMA has been on the ground in the Virgin Islands even before Irma hit the islands of St. John and St. Thomas. There are now more than 12,600 Federal staff engaged in response and recovery operations from Hurricanes Maria and Irma in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, representing nearly three dozen departments and agencies. Storms of this magnitude require the full attention and support of the entire Nation. The people of the Virgin Islands have lost their homes and possessions. Businesses have been lost alongside hospitals, schools, utility systems, and other vital infrastructure. To give you an example, after Irma, Roy Schneider Medical Center, the only hospital on the island of St. Thomas, was partially destroyed, its roof ripped off, its walls caved in, windows blown out. Patients needed to be evacuated to the island of St. Croix and to San Juan to be at Juan Luis Hospital on St. Croix and additional hospitals on San Juan, as well as the veterans facility there. Of course, people were thinking that St. Croix, after Irma, would be the base. As people on St. Thomas and St. John were reeling from the devastation of Irma, post offices were gone, schools annihilated, mud slides began after additional rains, people in Coral Bay on St. John felt lost, isolated, trapped. Many people had days, almost weeks before they could get out and be in the rest of the public population. When Maria came, Maria struck what we thought would be our base camp, the island of St. Croix, and as luck would have it, the only functional hospital left in the Virgin Islands, the hospital of Juan Luis was breached by Hurricane Maria and has now been condemned by the Army Corps of Engineers. What facility will Virgin Islanders use? Will we continue to be in tents manned by the brave men and women of our military who have come down to support us? Will we operate from an operating room, an emergency room in a box, what they have given us thus far? That can't be. We have one functioning operating room that is being held together by the good graces and MacGyvering of the men and women of Juan Luis Hospital right now. Should that be for American citizens? I went on distribution lines. I went to grocery stores where people were waiting for hours. I am telling you hours--3 hours to get gas; 3, 4 hours, the entire time of a curfew, to go on a distribution line to get a couple of packs of water and some MREs for a family, standing out in the hot Caribbean sun. People were sharing umbrellas, sharing water, singing with each other trying to keep their spirits up. I met a man who had his veteran's cap on, Vietnam vet, people who are members of The American Legion and asking me: ``I fought for this country; I am an American citizen; do they think about us? I have not seen us on the news. My family tells me that we are not on the news,'' because, of course, his TV is not working, because almost all of the Virgin Islands is in darkness. We have been able, through the valiant effort of our water and power authority and the linemen and others who are out there, to bring power to critical structures; to our government house; to the main blocks in Christiansted; to parts of Charlotte Amalie, the capital of the Virgin Islands; to the airport so that relief planes can come in and out. That is who is in light right now. But for so many others and children right now, it is darkness for them. The couple of hours that they have outside of the curfew are to be making the rounds to get ice, to keep insulin refrigerated in their homes, to keep milk for children and formula for babies cold before it goes bad. That is the daily struggle now of Virgin Islanders, American citizens, veterans, people who pledge their allegiance to this flag, people who are proud to say that they are American citizens. As we saw on the mainland in the United States following Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, and, most recently, Harvey, Americans need to come together again with compassion and care. I have heard commitment from the President and my colleagues in Congress to the U.S. territories receiving the support they need. Moving forward, I am hopeful, but vigilant, and I will make sure that they keep to their promise and their commitment that President Trump and this Congress delivers on the promises to support their fellow Americans in the Caribbean region. This is a plea by me on behalf of my people to keep us in your thoughts, prayers, and support in the coming months and years. May our collective attention span endure enough through the constant new cycle so that we can come together to move beyond relief to healing and prosperity. This is an opportunity. I keep trying to tell our young people on the islands who are in despair, who have low morale, that this is an opportunity for us to leapfrog technology, to create the kind of Virgin Islands, for the Virgin Islands to be the beacon in the Caribbean region, the beacon of what American might can do when it does what it is supposed to do. It is this Congress' constitutional responsibility to the territories. The benign neglect that this Congress has gotten away with for the last 100 years needs to stop right now. They need to stop wagging their finger and telling Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands that they have not done what they are supposed to do when this Congress knows that they are not doing the right thing by those territories. Our formulas are different. The money that we receive is different. We get the short shrift on every bill that comes on this floor. Yet, still, you expect us to stretch that out like the poor stepchild that you think we are to make do and keep quiet. But it is going to stop right now. We cannot be quiet anymore, because not only are we hungry, 30 percent of the children of the Virgin Islands live in poverty, but now we are blind as well. There is no cell reception in most of the areas of the Virgin Islands. While I was down there last week, my staff and I roamed the islands with our cell phones, sitting in bypasses, sitting in areas with others, trying to get a signal to plead with the National Security Council, plead with FEMA, and others to do the right thing by the Virgin Islands. Given the enormity of the challenges ahead, the Virgin Islands will require the coordinated and sustained financial commitment of the United States. For this reason, I ask that Members of Congress fully support inclusion of funding in forthcoming disaster supplemental packages that will aid in short-term as well as long-term relief, recovery, and reconstruction of the Virgin Islands. The international community, including the United States, has an obligation to work with affected governments to restore infrastructure, provide critical relief, and help recovery and build back our islands. We must act quickly to save lives, ensure that those in the Virgin Islands are back on the road to swift recovery. Listen, I know we are hearing that FEMA is on the ground, that supplies are there, and that things are moving along. I must admit, FEMA is on the ground. I see the supplies in the cartons, in the containers on our ports, and I hear the discussions at daily briefings that go on at our local emergency management system to how they are working hand in hand with FEMA. I believe that the Army Corps and the Department of Defense and FEMA are there and they want to lend a hand. But something is not working, whether it is in the local government, a dysfunction there, or dysfunction in communications, or dysfunction at the highest levels of the Federal Government. Because when I go to neighborhoods like Whim, when I go to Tutu High Rise, when I go to Coral Bay, when I go to Hannah's Rest, when I go to Frederiksted and talk with people and they tell me they haven't had water in a week, something is wrong, and something needs to be done by this Congress that has the responsibility for the Virgin Islands. How can a child in the United States say that they don't have water? How can a child in the United States say that water is streaming over them because many of the roofs in many of these areas are completely gone? So what I wanted to do was to walk the Members of Congress and you, Mr. Speaker, through the destruction that I have seen with my eyes in the Virgin Islands. What you see right here is a home. This is a private homeowner's home completely gone. It looks like a construction site. It looks as if they are trying to start building when, in fact, this was someone's home before. Additionally, this is another home that now looks like a construction site that people are living in. People can no longer be here. They have abandoned--they have had to leave this home. I have additional things that I would like to show you. This is a line right now of people to fill up some containers with gas so that they can keep generators going for a couple of hours a day so that their children can read, so that they can wash themselves, so they can find out what is going on in the outside world. People can listen to a radio to find out what is not being said about them by others. Here is another home in the Virgin Islands. This is the kind of destruction that took place on the islands that I represent, the islands that are my home. This is all of St. John. Our transportation system between the islands has been completely obliterated. This is a ferry that was used between St. Thomas and St. John to bring goods, to bring people between those islands. The islands of St. John, Cruz Bay, Chocolate Hole, and Coral Bay now feel cut off, left out, because the ferry system has been down for many weeks. Look at this. This is what is happening in the Virgin Islands right now. This is the main street in Christiansted. If you look over here, this is the government house, and this is what our roads look like after the hurricane. You can see that this roof is actually a part of the roof over here that has completely been sheared off by Hurricane Maria and strewn across the street. Lines are down and poles are down. This is a commercial business on the island of St. Croix, a business that will take months, if not a year, at least, to recover if FEMA moves quickly on supporting a small business loan so that they can have the support that they need to be able to do that. These are the things that you don't see on the news that the people of the Virgin Islands are dealing with right now. What is our greatest asset--and has been for some years after our oil refinery was closed, after this Congress in 2004 changed the rules for the American JOBS Act that took away many of our knowledge-based businesses, our financial services sector--is we have had to rely on tourism. And this is a hotel room in one of our major hotels. This is what the destruction of the hurricanes look like in the Virgin Islands right now. This is a hotel room that will not be available for the coming months for the people of the Virgin Islands to be able to sustain themselves with employment. What I am showing you now was, at one point, two homes, two homeowners' families. You can see the two houses look literally as if a hurricane just came across them and smashed them with a fist from the top. You can barely make out what was once in these homes. These homes no longer exist. These people have no homes. There is no temporary shelter designation right now. People are living in shelters in some of the few schools that are still intact, which means: Where are our children going to go to school? Many of our schools have also been destroyed. What will happen to the children of the Virgin Islands? What will happen to us all? Here is what some of the roads look like when we talk about the utility system and the need--or why we are in the dark in the Virgin Islands right now. This is a major road. Can you imagine having this next to your house? Can you imagine this amount of transponders, transformers, in front of your home? This is why most of the Virgin Islands are in the dark right now. This is what is happening on these islands. This is someone's home. This is our industry. This is tourism right now in the Virgin Islands. This is a hotel room in one of our major resorts. Places known over the world--Caneel Bay on St. John--are gone, are obliterated, will be no more for 2 or 3 years. What are the people of the Virgin Islands supposed to do? Are we asking for much? We are asking for support. We fight in your wars. We begged when we became part of the United States to be part of the draft because we want to take on the responsibility of American citizenship. But under the Constitution, it is this Congress, Mr. Speaker, which has responsibility for the territories: Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas. And I have to tell you that it has been a poor job that you have been doing of that responsibility thus far. We get the short shrift in Federal funding in formulas. Let's not talk about the Affordable Care Act. We don't even have an exchange to have been upset that we lost an exchange. That was never given to us. The Virgin Islands, with 30 percent of the children living in poverty, still don't get the disproportionate share for hospitals that the rest of the United States get. Why? I can't get a straight answer about why we shouldn't have it, but we don't. Neither do the smaller island territories. This is what we are left with. And we are asking you for your support. I am asking you for their support. I am begging for support for the people that I represent, because many Virgin Islanders are not going to beg you for support. That is not in them, that is not who they are. The biggest phrase that people have right now when I go around the islands after Irma and after Maria--both Category 5 when they struck the U.S. Virgin Islands--and I ask people, ``How did you make out?''-- that is now our new greeting for one another: ``So good to see you. How did you make out?'' And people's response is continually: ``Thank God I have life. I am blessed I have life.'' And when you have to press them to ask them, ``What happened to your home,'' then they will just shake their head, ``It is no more. My home is no more. But thank God I have life. I am good. We are good.'' That is the kind of people who are the people of the Virgin Islands. So they are not going to beg this Congress for support. I am going to beg for them, because you haven't been doing it out of your own volition or what you know is right to do. You haven't done it thus far. What is happening in Puerto Rico is happening in the Virgin Islands right now. As the sole representative here in Congress representing the Virgin Islands, I will continue the work that I have been doing in support of the islands' overall recovery efforts, including facilitating generators and security for local grocery stores, businesses so Virgin Islanders can get fresh food and goods, working with local shipping companies to clear the ports and bring commerce and relief packages to the islands, coordinating with housing support for the Red Cross and local shelters, as well as rebuilding efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Additionally, I will continue to update my residents and businesses around the ongoing efforts to make sure that the U.S. Virgin Islands continue to receive the attention and support they need during these difficult times. While the devastation of this hurricane season has been felt in many parts of our country, it is imperative that we make sure our Virgin Islands continue to be remembered and supported as we begin the long and arduous process of our recovery. We are hopeful. Virgin Islands' motto is ``United in Pride and Hope.'' That is who we are. I want to thank the Virgin Islanders who are living in the mainland because they, through their efforts, have bridged the gap. Our office gets calls continually from Virgin Islands associations in places like Houston, Atlanta, New York, Tampa, Orlando, Miami, good Virgin Islanders like Tim Duncan, who, through his own efforts, brought planeloads of support to the people of the Virgin Islands because we want to take care ourselves. We don't want to ask for your support. But it is your responsibility, Mr. Speaker, it is the responsibility of this Congress to ensure that that is done. I think back on, as a child, hearing stories about Casper Holstein. Many of you may not know the name, but many of you may know him from gangster movies, discussions about New York at the turn of the 20th century. He was a Virgin Islander who created something that everybody calls the numbers system in New York. After a hurricane and a tsunami in the Virgin Islands, he, of his own pocket, reached in, commissioned a ship, and sent that ship filled with goods for his fellow Virgin Islanders back home. That is what is happening now because we can't always count on the Federal Government to do what is right by us. We have to count on ourselves. But I am going to make sure, and I will fight continually with those colleagues on either side of the aisle, whomever is willing to, to support the people of the Virgin Islands, to ensure that their efforts are not in vain. Let me give you a statistic when I talk about veterans and us willing to fight. In the last five conflicts, Virgin Islanders have paid the ultimate price, have greater casualties, three times the national average per capita. We send our sons and daughters on the regular to fight our wars. That is not a duty that we shirk from. Are you shirking from your duty to us, of your responsibility to us? I understand, as I have said, FEMA is on the ground, but there are children who are not getting water. There are old people who are eating MREs that others have brought back to them. Is that what should be happening? Not everybody can get to a distribution center. Not everybody can carry packs of water on their shoulders, on their heads, on their back a mile, whatever it is, to get back to their home because, as crazy as it sounds in this day and age, not everybody owns a car, not everybody can do that. So this Congress has got to figure out a way. I know that Ranking Member Cummings and I issued a request on September 29 for my good friend--and he is my friend, Trey Gowdy, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee--to express our extremely grave concerns about the dire status of recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, requesting that the committee hold an emergency hearing this week with officials from the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, as well as from the White House. The committee this week, I know, has no hearings, no business meeting, no activity scheduled for the entire week, and this issue is in desperate need of rapid and robust oversight. Millions of American citizens residing in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are facing massive calamities, widespread disease and death, and we need to help them now. Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who commanded Joint Task Force Katrina, recently warned the administration's response to this humanitarian crisis is replaying a scene from Katrina. Admiral Paul Zukunft, the Coast Guard Commandant, warned this week that the victims feel betrayed, they feel isolated, and they are probably getting a sense of betrayal of ``where is the cavalry?'' Everybody else is seeing what other individuals in Puerto Rico have said and their concern for what is happening. Now, I want my colleagues to know, I am not necessarily saying that it is the Federal Government's fault. If it is the fault of local government, then shame on them and let's expose that for what it is, because all I am concerned about is the welfare of the people of the Virgin Islands, not protecting local government, not protecting bureaucracy, whether it be at the Federal level or at the local level. Let's have this hearing. Let's get that information out. The fact that there is no functioning hospital in the Virgin Islands should scare the heck out of us. I was in the hospital at Juan Luis on Wednesday and watched doctors and others creating lists of people, how to get them off the island, how to get our disproportionate amount of dialysis patients off the island, how they were going to deal with those who have shunts, heart disease patients in the coming weeks with one makeshift operating room that they were working out of. How were they going to do that? How were they going to operate out of a tent that the Army was setting up when we still have a month and a half of hurricane season in the Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean? We are not going to be able to continually ship people off the island, fix them up, triage them, and get them off. Our labor and delivery: What if there is a child with special needs when they are born? What about neonatal services, if that is needed, for a child that is born during this time? God help us. And if you don't act, God help you in this time of need of your fellow Americans. I want to thank those Members who have reached out to me and who have expressed their desire to support and help us. Thank you. I am calling on you now for that help to make sure that the people of the Virgin Islands do not continually feel forgotten. I want to thank House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who recently issued a statement calling for the swift and immediate financial commitment to help rebuild the Virgin Islands. I want to thank my Republican colleague, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon of Puerto Rico. She and I have been continually texting. I remember texting with her through Maria as she and her brother were holding the door of their home in Puerto Rico, trying to ensure that Maria did not get in that house. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your sisterhood as we both go through this, and how ever you need me, I am there for you. Republicans must join Democrats; Democrats must join Republicans in Congress to address the needs of the communities in crisis by swiftly passing a robust relief package that provides assistance not only today, but throughout the long road to recovery. This is our chance in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to show American might, to show American technology, to show American strength. President Trump, you have complained about the other islands not wanting to support us when we go to the United Nations or the Organization of American States against places like Venezuela or Cuba or China. Show that they can vote with us because Americans do what they are supposed to do for the islands that they have responsibility over. How are they going to trust us if we can't even take care of what belongs to us? Our fellow Americans in the Virgin Islands deserve to know that their government will be there for them without question or hesitation. I want to thank the country of Denmark, our previous owner. Many of you know that the Virgin Islands have had seven flags that have been flown over those islands. We are a very valuable place. We are geographically situated in the mouth of the Caribbean Basin to support the United States. That was why we were purchased in 1970. But we have maintained close ties with Denmark, and I want to thank the Ambassador and the Prime Minister, who reached out and said that they wanted to support the territory and submitted the request of the Danish Government to our own U.S. Government to bring their own additional emergency management agency to the Virgin Islands in support of ongoing efforts in areas such as healthcare, water purification systems, and experts, command control support, logistics for clearing, and security support. Thank you for your continued commitment to us. Let that not be the only commitment that we have. I know that the Federal Government, the executive branch, is doing its part. Let this Congress do its part. Let this Congress show, in this time of crisis, that it can rise above partisanship and support the islands of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Let those 3.6 million Americans living in those territories--more than many States in this country--know that they have the full support of this Congress, of the American people, that they are not just a sound bite, that they are not just a rum and Coke and a pina colada when you decide that you want to get away from where you live, that we mean more than that to you, that we are, indeed, full citizens in this American experience, in this democracy. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Chairman, I am asking that we include my provision for raising funds for the Department of the Interior's assistance to territories in this en bloc amendment. This is a very modest uptick of the $1 million in Federal support for the United States territories, namely the Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. It is crucial that the Federal Government keep its commitment to address the pressing needs of Americans living in these territories as we face grave natural disaster and security threats. Right now, thousands of people are feeling the effects of one of the most catastrophic hurricanes ever to strike the Caribbean region. Hurricane Irma has toppled buildings and leveled many homes. Making the Virgin Islands whole again will require massive and coordinated efforts spanning a long period of time. Much of the Federal Government's support for Americans in U.S. territories comes out of this territorial assistance account, with funding channeled toward necessary community facilities like schools, hospitals, and critical infrastructure systems. This support is imperative. After this hurricane, one of our hospitals is partially destroyed. The other faces egregious deferred maintenance issues due, in part, to an extremely high proportion of uncompensated care because the territories face inequitable treatment in Federal health programs like Medicaid and Medicare. Construction or repair to schools and hospitals account for much of the capital improvement project expenditures that come directly out of this assistance to the territories' account. We are asking that the territories receive the same funding that they have received previously, and please approve this amendment to reverse this cut as a simple matter of fairness to the territories.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for the time. Mr. Speaker, at the end of this summer the people in the Virgin Islands, in every place of worship, say the hurricane prayer at the end of their service. And part of that prayer says at the end: But, Lord, if a hurricane should come, and You loosen the gale and the winds open on us, Your will be done. Right now, the people of the Virgin Islands, and the people of Puerto Rico are fervently saying that prayer because God's will is being done on those islands as Hurricane Irma is impacting and crashing against the shores of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, and Water Island. This $7.8 billion in emergency supplemental funds is a crucial initial installment to address the effects of not only Hurricane Harvey, but the effect expected in my district of the Virgin Islands today as we stand in the potentially catastrophic path of Hurricane Irma, which is currently, at worst-case scenario, a Category 5 hurricane, the worst hurricane in the Atlantic's history. This will need assistance from FEMA to perform emergency protective measures, the removal of debris, activities performed by other Federal agencies as assigned by FEMA, and to aid small businesses and homeowners in rebuilding their lives. Right now, the people of the Virgin Islands are praying for the lives of themselves, their families, and especially for the roof over their head. This funding for initial response efforts is critical, and I thank my colleagues for the expeditious manner in which this legislation was brought to us for swift passage. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to approve this much-needed lifeline, and we are covetous for your prayers right now.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I speak on behalf of the centennial anniversary of the birth of the Honorable Melvin Herbert Evans. This celebration of Governor Evans' 100th birthday is both timely and symbolic. Evans was born in 1917, months after the transfer of the Virgin Islands from Denmark to the United States, when locals had no citizen rights and no mechanism for which they could have their own elected representation. A son of the soil, he was educated on St. Croix, valedictorian of his high school class on St. Thomas, and in 1944 earned his medical degree from Howard College of Medicine. He returned to St. Croix and was eventually Commissioner of Health of the Virgin Islands. In 1969, Evans was appointed Governor of the Virgin Islands by President Richard Nixon, earning him the distinction of being the territory's last appointed governor, but more importantly, the territory's first Black native governor. In 1971, he became the governor elected by the people of the Virgin Islands after a 1970 law which allowed residents to elect their governor. In 1978, he was elected to the House of Representatives in the 96th Congress. And after leaving Congress, he was an Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. Governor Evans personifies the evolution of the political maturity of the Virgin Islands. His life and legacy symbolized not only the extraordinary achievement of Virgin Islanders--given little but striving and attaining much under the American flag--but also the political growth and progress of our Islands from colonial rule to self-governance.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to anchor the CBC Special Order hour. For the next 60 minutes, we have a chance to speak directly to the American people on issues of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, the constituents we represent, and all Americans. Led by our chair, Cedric Richmond from Louisiana, it is our duty, we feel, as the conscience of the Congress, to speak to all people in this hour on the issues that we deem are important and that our constituents have told us are important. For this Special Order hour, we will spend this time to talk about Failure to Govern: The First 6 Months Under Republican Control. President Trump's first 6 months have been defined by his often angry and personal tweets, his efforts to denigrate and undercut the multiple investigations into Russian influence in the 2016 election, and most importantly, the stalemated legislative battle to repeal and replace ObamaCare. President Trump has signed dozens of executive actions and Presidential proclamations. Some have fared better than others. His travel ban plan, for instance, first caused chaos and was effectively shut down by a series of legal challenges. But the second effort, which also faced a flurry of lawsuits, was ultimately allowed to take effect on a limited basis by the Supreme Court. In all, our President has signed 42 bills into law. But when it comes to big ticket items, like infrastructure, tax reform, and a repeal and/ or replacement of ObamaCare, President Trump is sitting on zero. With healthcare seemingly on ice, tax reform is expected to be the big challenge next on our agenda. Budgets are about priorities, and this President's priorities are clear. His budget hollows out our economy, endangers working families all across this country, in my district of the Virgin Islands, and the other districts that we all represent. The $2.5 trillion in cuts to entitlement programs, which include $192 billion to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, and the $800 billion to Medicaid, will devastate localities like the Virgin Islands and elsewhere, where one in five children are covered under Medicaid and one-fifth of our population receives SNAP benefits. The President has a budget with massive cuts that would shred social safety nets and cripple longstanding governmental functions. This administration has created uncertainty in the Nation's healthcare system by sending inconsistent administrative signals and supporting legislation that could deprive millions of people of health insurance coverage, undermine Medicaid health support for low-income Americans, and give wealthy taxpayers a massive tax cut. He has mismanaged the Federal Government by failing to fill top spots. He has expanded the policy of deporting dangerous and illegal aliens by including many people with minimal records, stable jobs, and American families. Most recently, we saw this with the Secretary of Homeland Security ordering the 50,000-plus Haitians here under protective status, due to the devastating natural disasters in Haiti, to leave. These are decent, hardworking people who are sending money back home, supporting an economy which is faltering under collapse. We have seen a reversal of decades of bipartisan cooperation in extending environmental preservation of national landmarks. He has hired foxes to watch the chicken coops by filling his administration with arch-conservatives, many with records opposing the very agencies with which they work, and curbing civil rights and environmental enforcement. All of these things we have seen in these first 6 months, and we will hear more. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), to speak on behalf of what we have seen in these last 6 months.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, when the gentleman was talking about what has happened in these last 6 months, it reminded me of when the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Cedric Richmond, on March 22 went with the executive members to visit with the President to speak with him specifically about those things that African Americans and the people who we represent--the 17 million African Americans and the 20- plus million Americans that members of the Congressional Black Caucus represent--to outline for him in a very succinct and systematic manner those issues that are important to us. You mentioned criminal justice reform. You talked about expansion of voting rights, jobs creation, support to small businesses, infrastructure. These are the things that the President said he was interested in. These are the things that the Congressional Black Caucus said: We are willing to work with you. We have an agenda. We have specific language, specific legislation that we would like to have a discussion with you. And not a photo op, but really to sit down around a table and discuss actual legislation and how we can be supportive of an agenda that supports the people we represent. And what have we gotten out of that? Zero to date, 6 months in.

Ms. PLASKETT. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans), the freshman who is not a freshman, who represents Philadelphia, who has been a legislator for many years and comes here. He is so thoughtful. He is very quiet just like yourself, Mr. Payne, and he sits back and is really more observant but is ready to do the work. He is about policy, is discussing--on a regular basis I hear him talking about middle communities, middle America, those communities that are on the edge. There are places in Newark, New Jersey, and other places that you represent, in neighborhoods in my own district in the Virgin Islands where working class, hard working class people are there but they are on the edge of losing those homes, losing their health insurance, neighborhoods which they have worked so hard over 20, 30 years to create to be vibrant areas in this country that may be lost under this administration and the lack of action. So I yield to Congressman Evans this evening to discuss what he has seen happen in these last 6 months of this administration and how it speaks to those individuals that we represent.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Evans so much for talking about the optimism of the American people. There is a better deal that is out there, and there is a better way that we all, as Members of Congress, need to demonstrate. I was looking at a fact Street Sheet that was put together talking about the 200 days of the 115th Congress by the numbers. This is a Congress that is controlled by the Republicans in the House, the Republicans in the Senate, and the Republican administration. You would think that so much legislation could get done, and we are a stalled body at this time. That is not what the American people brought us to Washington to do. We all represent people who are looking for a better deal, looking for an expansion of the American Dream, a realization of the American Dream in their own lives, and having security for their own children and their grandchildren to be able to realize that dream. When I looked at these numbers, I was aghast at what has not been done in this Congress and flabbergasted at the things that have been done by this Congress. Zero number of bills to create jobs have been brought to the House floor by House Republican leadership. Zero number of bills that have been considered under an open rule so far this Congress. The same open rule that, Mr. Speaker, you said that you would exact when you were a young gun coming to Washington, you said that you would use the open rule, but we have not seen that done in this 115th Congress. Three times, House Republicans blocked a vote on H.R. 685, Bring Jobs Home Act, which ends tax breaks for corporations sending jobs overseas and creates new incentives to create good-paying jobs here in the United States. There have been zero times that Speaker Paul Ryan has spoken out in opposition to President Trump's dangerous and unconstitutional Muslim and refugee ban. Zero votes on the expansion and correction to the Voting Rights Act. 234 Republicans blocked a vote on H.R. 2933, a critical bill that promotes effective apprenticeships that gives students and workers the skills they need to find good-paying jobs. Twice, House Republicans voted against Made in America amendment requiring that specific infrastructure and construction projects use materials and equipment made in the USA. Mr. Speaker, 229 Republicans voted for a GOP antiworker, bait-and- switch bill that undermines the existing right to hard-earned overtime pay, giving employers the flexibility to substitute overtime pay with comp time while giving employees no guarantee that they can use their comp time when they need it. Mr. Speaker, 217 Republicans voted for the disastrous TrumpCare bill, which would result in 23 million Americans losing their health insurance coverage, raises out-of-pocket healthcare costs for millions of American families, imposes a crushing age tax on those 50 to 64, shortens the life of the Medicare trust fund, and guts the protections for people with preexisting conditions. Mr. Speaker, 233 Republicans voted to gut the Dodd-Frank Act, Wall Street reforms, rolling back key consumer protections, and take us back to pre-2008 era of unchecked risky financial market abuses that resulted in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. There have been zero amount of funding in President Trump's budget for Social Services Block Grants, which provide States with funding for services such as childcare and adult care programs. And there are 1.6 million school-age children that would lose afterschool and summer programs as a result of the President's budget. When we talk about the President's budget, we need to discuss exactly what those numbers mean and how it is going to affect the American people--people, Mr. Speaker, that we say we represent, but that we are not standing up for against this administration. The budget would cut SNAP funding by over 190 billion--with a ``B''-- over the next 10 years, jeopardizing benefits for an estimated 44 million Americans and reduce nutritional foods for women, infants, and children, the WIC program. The budget also includes SNAP policy changes that would charge food stores using USDA approval to accept food stamps, which could drive smaller food retailers out of the program. Why is this important? Because many people in urban areas that are using food stamps are doing so in virtual food deserts. They do not have transportation to go to the large suppliers, the large grocery stores. They go to these smaller grocery stores. They go to these small places to use the food stamps to be able to provide food for their families. These changes would cap benefits, require localities to pay 25 percent of benefits, and limit local waivers for Federal work requirements that many communities are not appropriate because there are no jobs, because we also are not supplying individuals with the job skills, the work skills to be able to find employment in some of these areas. The budget would reduce Education Department investments by $9 billion, including through the elimination of preschool and afterschool programs, literacy grants, and funding to improve teacher and principal quality. It also proposes cuts to higher education programs, including elimination of grants for lower income students, low-interest Perkins loans, and cutting by half a program that helps students work to pay off their loans. The budget also calls for the elimination of NASA Space Grant education programs that prepare students, such as in my district at the University of the Virgin Islands, for careers in science and technology industries. The budget would reduce USDA Rural Development funding by $9.2 million, approximately 30 percent. This is vital in areas like my district in the Virgin Islands with the elimination of rural business cooperative services and rural water and wastewater disposal programs. The budget would zero out important rural housing assistance, such as single-family housing direct loans; would slash funding for rural broadband, distance learning, telemedicine, and needed community facilities improvement. Mr. Speaker, these are in rural areas that President Trump won in the election. You would think that he would want to support these rural communities in areas of housing, the most American of American ideals, home ownership. In the Labor Department, the budget would reduce Labor Department investments by $2.4 billion, including large cuts to Job Corps. Job Corps, a place that would allow young people to have training for jobs, activities meant to prepare disadvantaged youth, the same youth that we say we are concerned about being on the streets in these urban areas that are so dangerous, those are the individuals going to Job Corps, looking to be prepared for the workplace, and we are going to reduce that by $2.4 billion? That doesn't make any sense. The budget request for the Department of Energy would slash research funding and move away from investments in renewables, including a 70 percent cut to the Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and zeroing out its weatherization assistance in State energy programs that aid low-income families with reducing energy costs. The Department's Office of Science would be cut by 17 percent. That budget slashing to NOAA coastal science programs includes eliminating NOAA's Sea Grants program, coastal research at our university, and the coastal zone management grants that aid with climate change mitigation--climate change mitigation--which is needed in areas that I live in, like the Virgin Islands, Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and in coastal areas that are seeing a tremendous loss of economy and loss of homes because our environment is, in fact, changing. The Environmental Protection Agency would be cut by approximately 30 percent, partly through elimination of all EPA climate change programs, lead control programs, the Energy Star program that encourages energy- efficient consumer products, and the environmental justice office that investigates the concentration of pollution in low-income communities. Now we want people to be in communities where pollution is greatest, those inner cities that our President has said he wants to fight so strongly for. We are going to keep them in polluted areas because we are cutting out EPA funding in some of those places. In transportation and housing, the budget would eliminate $500 million per year in TIGER grants, Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, which has been important to ports and transshipment projects around this country, in the Virgin Islands, and the Community Development Block Grant program that provides grant funding to localities for economic development activities. The Department of Housing would be cut nearly 20 percent, including elimination of several housing assistance grant programs and slashing its core rental housing program, Section 8 housing choice vouchers, which assists private rental housing, which is a win-win program. You allow individuals who have private homes, who are renting those out, to receive a voucher to support individuals who are looking to be placed in those homes. An estimated 250,000 housing vouchers would be taken away over the next fiscal year, vouchers which primarily benefit seniors and individuals with disabilities. Support for local public housing authorities would also see cuts. The budget would eliminate Commerce Department subdivisions that support businesses and entrepreneurship, such as the Economic Development Administration, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program, and the Minority Business Development Agency. Healthcare, of course we could go on for forever, but the budget calls for phasing out enhanced Federal matching funds for expanded Medicaid populations by 2020 for people living in territories and in other areas that are heavily relying on Medicaid. It would be far more expensive for those localities to cover individuals, and our hospitals would be faced with even more uncompensated care costs. The budget also proposes cuts of $1.3 billion from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, and more than $7 billion from the National Institutes of Health, NIH. In the alternative, stronger budgets for NIH and CDC would benefit in preparation for public health threats and pandemics. These are the things that we, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, are seeing that are happening in these first 6 months. We are concerned. We are not here just to bash the President. That is not the objective with bringing these issues out. The objective is to make the American people aware, to call on our colleagues here in this House, in the House next door to us in the Senate, to be better stewards of what the American people have given us: the ability, the right, the job of legislating, the job of being a check and balance to an administration which has been caught in a morass of ineffectiveness and inaction to support the American people of this great country. We are asking, Mr. Speaker, that we would wake up to what is happening, see with clear eyes, not with fake news, not with our own vision of what we would like things to be, but what things are and where this is taking us now, the people who are going to be left behind, that a better deal needs to be made for the American people who have sent us here to Washington to do what is right, to do what is good for them, to represent all the people, not the wealthy. Listen, I was raised in New York, and I don't have anything against New Yorkers, of course, but we can't just be looking out for those people who are living on the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side, in Tribeca and SoHo, the fat cats of Wall Street. We need to be for all Americans. I know that each one of us is here sent by the people who have sent us not just for ourselves and not just for our constituents, but for all Americans: those who can't vote, those who rely on us to be the stewards of this great legacy--the Constitution and all that America represents, the land of opportunity. People will be losing that opportunity based on what we have seen in these last 6 months. We, the Congressional Black Caucus, as the conscience of Congress, are relying and awakening the conscience of this Congress to wake up and see what is happening, to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, and to do the right thing, to make a better deal with the American people--not with Pennsylvania Avenue, not among ourselves, not in our private little meetings, not with what can be done for us and for our small group, but for all Americans, those Americans that are going to be left behind by those billions and trillions in tax cuts that are coming to the social safety net of this country. It cannot be relied on by many of the States. Many of the States do not have the wherewithal to pick up that slack. And there will be even greater--greater--demise to this country if we continue to allow it to work this way. We have got to take up the call of those people who cannot speak for themselves and do what is right and tell our President that these 6 months cannot continue for another 3 years. We cannot have it. We will not tolerate it. You must awaken to what is the best deal for all Americans, not just those within your inner circle.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, as Congress draws closer to the August recess, we are no closer to considering comprehensive legislation to shore up our nation's crumbling infrastructure remains than we were when Republicans took control of Congress. Republicans in Congress have had control over both chambers since January, yet the American people are still left waiting more for a plan to repair our roads and bridges, bolster funding for the Highway Trust Fund, and provide stable funding to local communities for transportation projects. The costs of Congress' inability to act are staggering. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) estimates that every American household will lose $3,400 each year between 2016 and 2025, due to infrastructure deficiencies. Our failure to act will cost the U.S. economy nearly $4 trillion in GDP by 2025 through diminished productivity, lost jobs, and the increased cost of goods. The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be to repair our roads, electricity grid, and water and wastewater infrastructure. The Republican House has been in session for 110 days. I am deeply disappointed that the Republican leadership has chosen to ignore important bills that I have supported, such as H.R. 1664--the Investing in America: A Penny for Progress Act. H.R. 1664 would shore up the Highway Trust Fund through new Invest in America bonds and a modest increase in the fuel excise tax. Another bill, H.R. 1265--the Rebuilding America's Airport Infrastructure Act, would eliminate the cap on passenger facility charges, allowing local airports the ability to raise additional funds in order to build up more airport infrastructure such as new terminals and runways. H.R. 2510--the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2017 would help bolster financing for new water and wastewater infrastructure projects all across the United States. These are real bills already introduced in Congress that we could consider today. Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to wait. There are a number of solutions already before us that this chamber could consider. It will take a display of political will by the Republican Party to consider these practical solutions to our nation's infrastructure woes. The American people are demanding that we act swiftly on these policies so that we can focus on what is most important--the efficient movement of the people, goods, and services which drive our economy forward. The time to act is now. I strongly urge my colleagues to support a comprehensive plan to shore up our nation's infrastructure.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to congratulate the Virgin Islands women's basketball team on winning the gold medal at the 2017 Centrobasket Championship and finishing the tournament with a 4-1 record. They beat out teams from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. I particularly want to congratulate Natalie Day, who was named MVP, with a tournament double-double average, 18.6 points and 11 rebounds per game. Good luck to the Virgin Islands women's team at the FIBA Women's AmeriCup 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We are rooting for you. I also want to congratulate another Virgin Islander, Rakeem Christmas, who, for the last 2 years, has played center for the NBA's Indiana Pacers. I want to thank Rakeem for returning home to St. Croix repeatedly and hosting a series of youth events, and for opening a basketball court funded by his foundation for the Frederiksted Boys and Girls Club. He and other athletes will coach basketball camps on St. Thomas and St. Croix this week, with the highlight of an all-star competition on St. Croix's Educational Complex. Finally, to the Hillsiders, who host their annual picnic this weekend, thank you so much for continuing the tradition of the Hillsiders of Christiansted. I will be there to celebrate with you as we remember culture and family, united in pride and hope.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, Federal funding for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program is set to expire September 30. This program in the Virgin Islands Department of Health gives at- risk pregnant women and families necessary information, resources, and skills to raise children who are physically, socially, and emotionally healthy and ready to learn. In June, Republicans in the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee introduced a bill reauthorizing this program. The legislation, which has yet to receive a hearing, included a 5-year reauthorization, but did not expand funding to meet the growing needs for services. It also included serious modifications to the way the program is run, which advocates fear could have harmful unintended consequences. Home visiting programs are a critical opportunity to reach at-risk pregnant women and new mothers. The first few years of life are the most rapid period of brain development, and home visiting programs provide support to vulnerable families in the earliest stages of their child's life. Home visiting programs establish a solid foundation by partnering with families to support maternal and newborn health and parent engagement. I would like to express my support for the reauthorization and expansion of this program, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Chair, I want to thank the chairman and ranking member for agreeing to include my amendment en bloc in the NDAA. The amendment that we have is a transitioning of the Virgin Islands Active Guard and Reserve from overseas housing allowance to basic allowance for housing. We know that, in 2013, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness reported that a change would be feasible and would not be difficult to allow Virgin Islands Active Guard and Reserve members to be part of the basic housing allowance. Congress didn't intend inequitable and unfair treatment to the Virgin Islands Active Guard and Reserve members, and this amendment provides an equitable solution to the disparate treatment of the housing allowance for Virgin Islands Active Guard and Reserve members. We are grateful for the support and are thankful that our servicemembers will now, in their housing, be treated the same as those in the 50 States and the District of Columbia.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I only have 5 minutes to do justice to a great people, and it is with great honor that I rise today to speak on issues impacting the Caribbean and the contributions of the people of Caribbean heritage to the American fabric. On June 6, 2006, President George Bush signed a proclamation that was ushered through this House by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, H. Con. Res. 71, naming June Caribbean American Heritage Month. June allows us to highlight the many contributions of Caribbean Americans to the United States. The campaign to designate June as National Caribbean American Heritage Month was spearheaded by Dr. Claire Nelson, founder and president of the Institute of Caribbean Studies. Through the commemoration of this month, we hope to ensure that America is reminded that its greatness lies in its diversity, with Caribbean immigrants from Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, sports icon Tim Duncan, and journalist Malcolm Gladwell, who have and continue to shape the American Dream. The Caribbean region was created through violence and trauma, from the exploration and annihilation by Columbus and his Spanish backers on the native people to the French, English, Dutch, Danish, and American use of African, Indian, and others to create income wealth in their nations. The sweat, labor, and king sugar of the Caribbean people have shaped this and other nations. Our rebellion, innovation, and ingenuity, as well as our independent intellectual intensity, have benefited this and other countries. As one of the pillars of American patriotism and democracy, Alexander Hamilton was born in Nevis, and raised and educated on the island of St. Croix, where he learned the theories and financial methods of the English, Danes, as well as the West African counting system that created not just the foundation of our financial system, but our Federalist ideas. During that same time, Caribbean financiers assisted the American Revolution and gave courage through the example of the tremendous victory of the Haitian people over the French, British, and Spanish armies. But the contributions of Caribbean Americans to the making of America didn't stop with those heroics. The massive migration of Caribbean people to the United States of America, during the early 20th century, gave us another opportunity to make our impact upon the liberation process that was taking place in this country through politics and the arts. Who doesn't know Hubert Harrison and Edward Wilmot Blyden, intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance? Marcus Garvey, Cicely Tyson, Malcolm X, and Harry Belafonte are all of Caribbean heritage and have personified the enormous dignity, revolutionary spirit, and unyielding intellectual gravitas and sense of self worth that hallmarks Caribbean people and has supported the African diaspora pride during times when those attributes would be desired to be denied by others in this country. We continue to contribute to this country in many ways. Secretary of State Colin Powell is of Jamaican heritage; Attorney General Eric Holder, Barbados; Senator Kamala Harris, Jamaica; and former Governor David Paterson's family is from Grenada. We see many of them in great places. As a result, we all have families and friends who have emigrated to the north and contribute to the social, political, educational, and economic prosperity of the United States. Who doesn't know Beyonce, who is of Bahamian background, who was named by Forbes as the most powerful celebrity? We have Gwen Ifill from Barbados; and Dr. Patricia Era Bath of Trinidad, who invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment. She is the first Black woman doctor to receive a medical patent. We have Romany Malco of Trinidad, an actor and comedian; Dr. Marcia Roye, who has done research in HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases; as well as Camille Wardrop Alleyne of Trinidad, who works for NASA and the Department of Defense working on low Earth orbit. This list does not scratch the surface of those making their mark in the United States. There are so many others that I cannot and do not have the time to highlight. During this month, we have tried to make others aware of the contributions that the Caribbean has. It is not just the contributions we have made, but the commitment that this country should have to its nearest neighbor, the Caribbean. The Caribbean and the United States have shared a long and prolific history together. The United States is the largest economic partner of the Caribbean; and the Caribbean, that small region, accounts for the third largest receiver of American goods. The United States needs to act as a buffer to the increased influence of China and Venezuela in the Caribbean through economic projects the U.S. can continue. As a Delegate representing the only district in the English-speaking Caribbean, I am committed to working with the Caribbean community. To those young Caribbean people, I see you. Be strong and of good courage. We are a small people, yet mighty in spirit.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have left.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.

Ms. PLASKETT. I thank the gentlewoman so much for that information, for much of the testimonies that you have given for the record. General Leave