Stacey Plaskett

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6304, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 501 North Main Street in Florence, Arizona, as the Adolfo ``Harpo'' Celaya Post Office. Born in 1927, Mr. Celaya overcame a childhood of poverty, neglect, and abuse. At age 17, he joined the Navy and was assigned to the USS Indianapolis during World War II. Harpo fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and was aboard the USS Indianapolis during its secret mission to deliver the ingredients of the atomic bomb Little Boy to the island of Tinian. As the ship was returning from this mission, it was hit with two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. Despite being badly burned, Harpo Celaya jumped from a sinking ship into the water, where he remained for 5 days until rescuers arrived. Of the 1,196 men aboard the ship that day, Harpo was one of only 317 survivors. He received the Purple Heart and returned to high school in his hometown of Florence, Arizona. There, he led the basketball team to the Arizona State Basketball Championship and was named captain of the all-state team in spite of his combat injuries. Harpo Celaya attended Palo Verde Community College and again led the basketball team to a championship. He was inducted into the Arizona Basketball Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Florence High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. Outside of basketball, Harpo led a successful career as a cowboy and then as a small-business owner, but always made time to mentor local youth by coaching or refereeing athletic sports. Mr. Speaker, we should pass this bill to honor Harpo Celaya for both his valiant military service and his ability to overcome hardship and having a lasting positive impact on his community. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call out the dysfunction of this Republican-led Congress. At every turn, this House has abandoned Americans who are counting on strong action from Congress to protect families. Whether it is Flint, gun violence prevention, or the Zika virus, this Congress has shown its unwillingness to tackle the real issues affecting the American people. Mr. Speaker, in the United States and its territories, there are now more than 23,000 confirmed cases of Zika. An emergency request for supplemental resources to fight Zika came to this House more than 6 months ago. Similarly, in the 3 months since House Democrats took to this floor to call for a vote on commonsense gun safety legislation, there has not been a single vote. Mr. Speaker, this Congress' inaction on these issues has dire consequences for many in communities across the country, including the more than 40 men and women who have lost their lives to gun violence in the Virgin Islands this year and the number of unarmed African Americans killed in police shootings. Are they not important? The water crisis in Flint is the very issue that this Congress should take up. Mr. Speaker, I call on this Congress to act now to fully fund the President's emergency request to fight Zika, to support the children and families in Flint, as well as bring a vote on legislation to keep our communities safe from gun violence and aggressive police practices.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague from Missouri. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 5226, the Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016, would, we believe, impose duplicative and unnecessary procedural requirements on agencies that would prevent them from efficiently performing their statutory responsibilities and could potentially lead to a less informed public due to the nature of the communication that is requested or not to be requested by this bill. Additionally, Mr. Chairman, these duplicative services will be costly to the American taxpayer. While we agree that some increased transparency should be considered, this bill actually grinds regulatory processes and has an onerous and chilling reporting requirement to it. The bill increases bureaucratic red tape my Republican colleagues purport to be the problem with government and creates additional oversight by the Federal Government on agencies. We do have the ability to keep agencies from what their rulemaking is through our own appropriation of those agencies and what they do. If that isn't reason enough not to support this legislation, its added costs to the American taxpayers should do the job. The separate tracking and reporting of agency communications as prescribed by the bill is unnecessary and extremely burdensome and provides little to no value while diverting agency resources from the important priorities and work that the agencies with limited resources as it is are supposed to carry out. This bill is designed for the majority to more easily combat agency actions that they disagree with. Mr. Chairman, there are more urgent matters that we need to be taking up at this time that need our immediate attention: the Zika virus, the Flint water crisis, gun violence, and the heroin and opiate crisis that are going on right now. This is really unnecessary time that this Congress should be taking, and we believe that this should be struck down by this Congress.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Chairman, I respectfully submit that this amendment is simple, but it is simply another excuse for Members on the other side to talk about emails. I believe that the issue that my colleague is attempting to address has already been addressed when, in 2014, President Obama signed into law the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments. That legislation was sponsored by the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Elijah Cummings, and it added into law, for the first time, a specific requirement for Federal employees who use personal email accounts. That law now requires Federal employees, if they create a Federal or Presidential record using a personal email account, to forward a copy of the email to their official account within 20 days of that email. This amendment would create a unique requirement for emails about rulemaking. I agree that employees should use their government email accounts whenever possible, but this bill is not the place to make new rules about Federal records. I--and I hope my colleagues--will oppose this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in, again, calling for this Congress to just simply call a vote on commonsense, lifesaving gun safety legislation. It has been almost 3 months since House Democrats have taken to the floor to call for a vote, and the statistics indicate that this Congress' inaction has been complicit in thousands of lost lives. Mr. Speaker, gun violence continues to claim the lives of too many young people in this country. Sadly, it appears that every time I take to this podium to speak out against this Congress' inaction, there is another life lost to gun violence in my home district. As a nonvoting Delegate of Congress, I may not have a vote on the floor, but I have a voice; and I want to use that voice in joining the American public and my constituents in the Virgin Islands in saying enough is enough. As the mother of four young Black men, I hold my breath every time my sons go out to go about constructive daily life. Statistically, my sons are in the sight of being the victims of gun violence. Twice last week, one of my sons was within blocks and minutes of others in my community being shot--people doing their job. While we were in recess, my own former scheduler lost her husband, a fireman on his job, to gun violence in our community. Dorene, the prayers of all of us are with you and your family. Every day this Congress fails to act, more American families mourn, more American lives are cut short, and more American cities continue to mount homicide and shooting statistics. We can ensure responsible gun ownership while closing loopholes that allow terrorists and criminals to get their hands on dangerous weapons. I am urging--urging--my colleagues across the aisle to bring commonsense gun safety legislation to a vote.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to echo the pleas of the American people, especially those in my own home district of the United States Virgin Islands, in calling for this Congress to pass a Zika funding bill and to pass commonsense gun safety legislation. It has been more than 6 months since the President submitted a plan to this Congress and almost 3 months since House Democrats took to the floor to call for a vote on commonsense gun safety legislation. Instead of passing these bills, Congress has decided to focus its attention on politically charged investigations into investigations. While this Congress was in its longest recess in 60 years, the number of overall confirmed Zika cases and the number of Americans killed and wounded by gun violence continued to grow. There have been 4,500 lives lost to gun violence in the time that we have been out in recess. This number, sadly, includes the lives of almost a dozen young men and women in the Virgin Islands, including the lives of two police officers and a firefighter. Additionally, there are now more than 11,000 confirmed cases of Zika in the United States, 243 of those confirmed cases being in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 14 of those are pregnant women. The lifetime cost of treating a child with microcephaly is estimated to be more than $10 million for that child--a cost that will only exacerbate the financial woes of this country's and the territories' public health apparatus. The lack of funding for these public health activities will put hundreds of thousands of pregnant women at risk. Mr. Speaker, I call on this Congress to act quickly and fully fund the President's emergency request to fight the Zika virus as well as to pass lifesaving, commonsense gun safety legislation.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight a matter of critical and immediate importance to our national security. As we combat the growing threat of terrorism both at home and abroad, it is absolutely critical that we elect a Commander in Chief who will be strong and smart when it comes to our national security, a Commander in Chief who will work with our allies, employ diplomacy across the globe, and be thoughtful when it comes to using military force to defend the United States. Time and again, the Republican nominee has shown that he completely lacks the temperament to lead America on the world stage. Our Commander in Chief must support our men and women in the military and our veterans. Instead, our servicemembers and veterans have weathered verbal attack after verbal attack since the Republican nominee began his campaign. Mr. Speaker, our men and women in uniform deserve better. Those of us who have children who can be called up deserve better. For those who put themselves in harm's way, they deserve better. For Americans who rely on the Commander in Chief to make reasoned, well thought-out, balanced decisions, they deserve better.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of so many young African American males who are fearful for their lives, who believe that America doesn't realize the exemplary lives that they each live. I also rise to give an example of one African American male who gives the Virgin Islands tremendous pride today. I am here to honor Virgin Islands native and the greatest power forward of all time, Timothy Theodore Duncan, on his retirement from the National Basketball Association. Throughout his storied 19-year career, Tim Duncan has won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, five NBA championship titles, three NBA Final MVP awards, two NBA Most Valuable Player awards, and has earned the distinction of all-time leading scorer for his San Antonio Spurs. The 15-time NBA All Star is an inspiration to many young Virgin Islanders and, indeed, Americans all over this country and is an integral figure in his own community for his efforts toward promoting interscholastic athletics and education. He is an exemplary gentleman, unselfish on and off the court. The Virgin Islands community thanks him for his 19-year career in the NBA. We want to show him as an example of what can happen if one individual like himself can be on a street safely here in the United States, the great things that they can do.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Cleone Creque. ``Cle,'' as many of us call her, was the first female in the Virgin Islands to be elected to territorywide office after she was elected Senator-at-Large in the Virgin Islands Legislature in 1976. This past weekend, the legislative annex conference room in St. John was named in her honor. During her legislative career, she held key leadership positions on important Committees on Welfare, Health, and Labor. Aside from her distinguished legacy as a political stalwart and advocate for less fortunate in her community, she is a nurse, a mother, and a businesswoman, and she speaks her mind. She is a positive and inspirational role model for Caribbean women, for all women, and she is my friend and my mentor. Happy Birthday to Gloria Joseph

Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Speaker, I would like to, at this time, extend happy birthday wishes to Gloria Joseph, a community organizer, public servant, matriarch, and Ph.D of haute cuisine. I wish her happy birthday. Both of these women are ultimate public servants, true Renaissance women, and true Virgin Islanders.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to H.R. 4361, which is yet another Republican attack on the Federal workforce and labor organizations. This bill is, essentially, an attempt to micromanage the government. The bill is a collection of measures that undermine due process protections, that prevent the Obama administration from finalizing rules during its last 2 months in office, and that override collective bargaining rights for Federal employees. The bill would bar most regulations from being finalized by, virtually, every Federal department or agency during the last 2 months of the Obama administration, regardless of when they were proposed or how long they have been in the rulemaking process. Additionally, H.R. 4361 exempts from civil service collective bargaining requirements any agency action limiting access to any Web site the agency determines presents a current or a possible future security weakness to its information systems. The bill's language is unnecessary because current law already authorizes Federal agencies to ``ensure that all personnel are held accountable for complying with the agency-wide information security program.'' In practice, this provision could allow agencies to cut off Federal employees' ability to communicate with childcare providers or to get information on a weather emergency in the event of their children's schools closing early, with there being no opportunity to negotiate alternative arrangements. The provision could also be selectively invoked to block access to the official Web sites of Federal unions. Under current law, there is no right to bargain over the substance of agency information systems decisions, only over appropriate arrangements in the event that those decisions create an adverse impact on employees. In addition, agencies can take any action without bargaining in advance if there is an emergency. Agencies currently have broad authority in this area, making any additional limitation on employees' ability to have a voice in their working environments unnecessary. Further burdening Federal workers, H.R. 4361 would extend the probationary period for newly hired General Schedule employees from 1 year to 2 years. For positions requiring formal training, the 2-year time period would only commence after the required formal training. This is unnecessary as the current 1-year probationary period allows sufficient time for agency management to assess and determine whether an employee is suitable for most positions and is capable of performing his duties. In the Statement of Administration Policy, the President's senior advisers stated that they would recommend he veto this bill. As I said before, this bill is, essentially, an attempt to micromanage the government, which is not this body's purpose, and we should get on with the business of what Congress is supposed to do.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning in solidarity with my colleagues about the mass shootings that are going on in our country. The Orlando mass shooting has been another demonstration for some Americans of an ongoing daily violence and daily nightmare: gun violence in our country. Now, we all know that there is a systemic problem for many in our communities of lack in opportunities: lack of education, adequate after-school and summer programs, job training, expansion of economic opportunities. But we know measures that will help to increase funding for these programs will never reach this floor. We know also that Republicans refuse to take up other measures as well. What they can address right now, right here, is expanded background checks, prevention of gun sales to those on a no-fly list, and a ban on assault weapons. Now, I grew up fishing and hunting with my dad. I passed that on to my children. So owning a gun is not something that I believe should not happen, but I know that it is not an absolute right. As the granddaughter of a police commissioner, the daughter of a New York City cop, a former Bronx prosecutor, and a Justice Department official, the war on crime, the war on these mass shootings and destruction would be well served by voting on expanded background checks, prevention of gun sales to those on the no-fly list, and a ban on assault weapons. On the small islands that I represent, the U.S. Virgin Islands, there have been over 300 gun-related deaths over the last 5 years. For a place with a population of 100,000, to have 300 gun-related deaths in 3 years accounts for a murder rate and a death per capita that is several times the national average. Now, much of this is through a lack of opportunity, but also--and absolutely--the influx of illegal assaults weapons, such as high- caliber weapons of mass murder, that come into the market. Those, coupled, in our instance, with the drug trade, have left our community in fear and mourning for our young. Last year alone, there were twice as many gun deaths per capita in the Virgin Islands than there were in most American cities that we could traditionally think of as having a high gun rate. Who are the victims of the destruction just this year in the Virgin Islands? I am going to name them because we never hear names like this. We have our moments of silence for the large groups, but these are the day-to-day individuals that died: January 9, two unnamed males; January 20, Stephen Coleman and Heidi Mills; January 21, Tishawn Samuel, 24; February 2, Juan Encarnacion, 30; March 5, Evan Ezekiel Joseph, 38; March 8, Conrad Phipps, 30; March 22, Kishawn Fleming, 23; March 27, Hans Oliver, 38; March 28, Kayan Payne and Kanta Payne, 33 and 29; April 19, Joseph duCreay, 19; April 28, Javan Benjamin, 22; May 1, Shedale Gabriel, 25; May 22, Vershawn Monsanto, 21; June 4, Shaki Alexander, 21, and Kerven Joseph 19; June 12, Ojahnia Adkins, 22, and Jahfari Samuel, 34; June 20, Devon Freeman, 42. The blood of these victims speak to me. I hope, Mr. Speaker, it speaks to you. Bring the bills to the floor. Vote it up or vote it down, but do your job.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia, and I thank all of the speakers here today for expressing their opinions. Today, I rise in support of retaining local budget autonomy for the District of Columbia and to express my strong opposition to H.R. 5233, Clarifying Congressional Intent in Providing for DC Home Rule Act of 2016. Now, this partisan bill would repeal a District of Columbia referendum that allowed the District to implement its own local budget without affirmative congressional approval. While this bill passed the Oversight and Government Reform Committee on a party-line vote of 22-14, I would remind this body that the committee's last four chairmen--including Republican Chairmen, Representatives Tom Davis and Darrell Issa, who have studied and had substantial oversight over the D.C. government--each worked to give the District of Columbia budget autonomy. Now, some of my colleagues here may argue that the District of Columbia will loose its financial discipline under budget autonomy; however, this could not be further from the truth. Budget autonomy actually improves the operations and finances for the District of Columbia government because the District would employ financial budget experts who are focused solely on the economic growth, fiscal soundness, and stability of the District, not Members of Congress intent on ideological posturing or voting on budgets of constituencies that are not their own, with Members of those districts or those jurisdictions prohibited from voting on those measures. Autonomy would, in fact, lower borrowing costs, allow more accurate revenue and expenditure forecasts, improve agency operations and the removal of the threat that the Federal Government shutdowns would also shut down the District of Columbia's government. Congress also loses no authority under budget autonomy because this body can use expedited procedures during the 30-day review period or other measures that are in there. The U.S. Constitution also provides for Congress to retain authority to legislate any D.C. matter, including its local budget, at any time.

Ms. PLASKETT. Now, I fear, when we leave the well-being of the District of Columbia to this body, this body seems to lack the will or fortitude to make equitable decisions for everyday people of this country or, more particularly, the historically disenfranchised people. This Congress seems intent on stripping away what little power those who don't have a vote on this floor have been able to wring from the hands of the majority. It is my belief that Congress should stop wasting its time debating legislation that continues to subjugate the District of Columbia to its authority and work on passing a Federal budget that would boost the economy of the entire American people.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, last night, this Congress passed a bill to allocate funding for resources to fight the spread of the Zika virus. This funding, however, is woefully insufficient. H.R. 5243 provides less than one-third of the White House request sent to Congress earlier this year. Additionally, this bill also completely neglects the immediate needs of the territories of Puerto Rico and my home district of the U.S. Virgin Islands, which are both on the front line of this public health crisis. Of the 1200 confirmed cases in the United States, more than half have been reported in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. While the Administration requested about $256 million in health care assistance to the territories, H.R. 5243 bill provides no targeted funding to the U.S. Territories. The House bill also cuts the request for research and development of vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics by $132 million or 28.4 percent. The lack of funding for these public health activities will put hundreds of thousands of pregnant women at risk. The lifetime cost of treating a child with microcephaly is estimated to be more than $10 million--a cost that will only exacerbate the financial woes of the territories' public health apparatus. Mr. Speaker, every day this Congress debates whether or not to protect women and unborn children from this virus, more cases are being reported and confirmed. Just last week, the first U.S. case of Zika-related microcephaly was identified in a pregnancy in Puerto Rico. Mr. Speaker, I call on my colleagues to continue toward funding the President's emergency request to fight the Zika virus. We need to eradicate this mosquito now. We cannot wait for June for more authorized funding.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I think we can all agree that agency overuse of administrative leave can be a problem and that we need to pursue ways that agencies can use administrative leave more efficiently, while preserving due process protections for Federal employees. I want to thank the chairman for working with the minority, and particularly with Representative Lynch, to address our concerns that the original bill could have encouraged agencies to suspend employees without pay and without due process. The bill, as reported, would preserve the ability of an agency to place employees on administrative leave in those exceptional circumstances when they may pose a threat to safety, agency mission, or government property. It would also allow the agency to consider the results of a thorough and complete investigation prior to taking disciplinary action. The bill, however, would not punish employees by stripping them of pay before allegations are properly adjudicated, preserving the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty. The bill before us strikes the appropriate balance, we believe, between the need for stricter oversight of agency use of administrative leave and the due process rights of Federal employees. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4359. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume and thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz) for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of H.R. 2615, the Virgin Islands of the United States Centennial Commission Act. H.R. 2615 will establish a short-term commission to research, plan, develop, and carry out activities related to the 100th anniversary of the Virgin Islands becoming part of the United States. The commission will revisit the history leading up to and directly following the transfer of the islands from Denmark to the United States. Its purpose will be to educate those unaware of that history on a national level of the importance of the territories to the geopolitical advancement of this great Nation. The history of the Virgin Islands and its people is profound, Mr. Speaker. It tells a story of a land so resource-rich and unique in its geography that it was occupied by seven different nations. It tells the story of a resilient people who insurrected slavery and colonial oppression to achieve self-governance. In 1493, when Christopher Columbus landed on the island of St. Croix, which was then called Aye Aye by its native inhabitants, it is the only place in what is now the United States in which Christopher Columbus landed, but it is also reported to be the first place that he met armed resistance. He renamed islands, part of a chain, the Virgin Islands. In 1733, on the island of St. John, the slaves rose up, taking control of the island for almost a year until European powers worked together and the Danish received the help of the French and Spanish Armada to help quell what would have been and was one of the first slave uprisings in the New World. In the mid-1700s, a young boy on the island of St. Croix by the name of Alexander Hamilton received the support of merchant patrons on the island who put together sufficient money to finance his travel and education to the Colonies. He brought to the Colonies his understanding of finance and a monetary system learned from apprenticeship from those merchants, as well as the unique accounting theories from the West African slaves of the island. Those economic gifts, along with his fighting spirit for revolution, liberty, and abolitionist fervor served him and this country well, as he would soon become the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and creator of our modern financial system. Virgin Islanders have played an integral role in the history of this Nation well before we were even part of this country. From its inception and beyond, activists and politicians, David Levy Yulee, the first Jewish United States Senator; Denmark Vesey, leader of the Charleston, South Carolina, slave revolt; Judah Benjamin, Secretary of Treasury of the Confederate Army, are all Virgin Islanders. William Leidesdorff, the founder of San Francisco, and Edward Wilmot Blyden, one of the founders of Liberia, are also from the Virgin Islands. After purchase by the United States in 1917, the contributions of Virgin Islanders have continued through individuals like David Hamilton Jackson, who was a staunch free press advocate and labor movement leader; Hubert Harrison, a key figure in the movement of the Harlem Renaissance; military veterans like Alton Adams, who was the first African American naval bandleader; and General Samuel Ebbesen. Ambassador Terence Todman and Congress of Racial Equality chief, Roy Innis, are Virgin Islanders. Actor Kelsey Grammer and future NBA Hall- of-Famer Timothy Duncan are all from the Virgin Islands. The first female physician of this body as a Member of Congress, my predecessor, Donna Christensen, is a Virgin Islander. During the time of exploration and slave trade, our geographic location made us a hub of Western Hemisphere commerce for several centuries and served a crucial role in naval military activity in the Caribbean Basin. So nearly a century ago, the United States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for its geographic importance. On March 31, 2017, the Virgin Islands of the United States will celebrate 100 years as a possession and part of the union of the United States. This bill, H.R. 2615, establishes the Virgin Islands of the United States Centennial Commission to research, plan, develop, and carry out activities the commission considers appropriate to commemorate--and I say commemorate, not celebrate--commemorate a more solemn and worthy endeavor, the 100th anniversary of the Virgin Islands of the United States becoming an unincorporated territory of the United States. Now, I have spent a lot of time talking about the Virgin Islands' history and people because at the time of its transfer nearly 100 years ago, little thought was given to the history, and even less to the people of the Virgin Islands. As the Islanders during that time, my ancestors, my grandparents, watched the Danish flag come down and the Stars and Stripes unfold and ripple over the Fort in Christiansted and over many places in the Virgin Islands, they thought out loud: We knew what we had, but we don't know what we are going to get. Our elders and leaders hoped and believed that the purchase by the United States would herald greater opportunities and profound modernization. Unfortunately, this has not happened. It took a decade of petitioning and lobbying to be given citizenship, and we asked for--we asked for it and petitioned again to be part of the draft. What people willingly offer their sons to fight and die, except those wholly willing to be part of the entire American experience? Even now we have greater casualties per capita than any other group in this Nation in a volunteer military and is an example in part of our valor and patriotism. Through passage of H.R. 2615, the commission will serve as a vehicle to begin the work to tell the story and serve to expose the aspirations and dreams of the American people who call the Virgin Islands home. The commission will begin a national conservation, a discussion to assist in commemorating the great relationship between the United States and its islands--its American islands. The commission will allow a platform for meaningful dialogue around the Virgin Islands' history with the United States, the genesis of the issues affecting the territory, as well as how we solve them. This is an opportunity to engage lawmakers and our Nation around the challenges and enormous opportunities present in the Virgin Islands-- opportunities like our ports and transshipment position, our broadband capacity, our intellectual and artistic pursuits, our university which serves as the only HBCU in the Caribbean, and, most important, our people. Yes, the people still waiting to be recognized and made whole in that transfer nearly a century ago. As the Virgin Islands enters this next century under United States jurisdiction, it will have continued relevance in the region as foreign investments, commerce, information technology, and maritime traffic grow in the Caribbean. It is my hope and it is my dream that its people will have greater relevance in this great Nation and that this commission will show all the importance of that. I would like to thank all of the members of the committee for supporting this bill, voting it unanimously out of committee, and thank Ranking Member Cummings and especially the chairman, Mr. Chaffetz, for working with my staff and me on this bill. This bipartisan commission, which will be comprised of House and Senate Members along with the administration and other officials, seems only fitting, as the 100th anniversary comes only once. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2615. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers at this time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 4360, the Official Personnel File Enhancement Act, addresses a legitimate concern of employees who resign their positions during pending investigations or adverse disciplinary actions and then reapply for employment elsewhere in the Federal Government. I think we can agree that measures need to be taken to prevent such incidents from happening in order to protect the integrity of the Federal workforce. I thank Chairman Chaffetz for working with the minority and, particularly, for working with Congressman Connolly from Virginia to address our concerns with the original bill. The introduced version of this legislation would have allowed an agency to put a permanent notation of an investigative finding in an employee's file without giving the employee an opportunity to respond. The bill, as reported, would preserve the principles of due process that help to protect our Federal employees from arbitrary acts and political influence. It would provide a former employee with notice and opportunity to respond to an adverse investigative finding before a notation is placed in the individual's personnel file. The legislation also gives the individual the right to appeal the agency's decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which we believe is the appropriate place for that. These due process protections are consistent with our Constitution and with the fundamental American principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty. I understand that some concerns have been raised regarding how the legislation would be implemented. We hope to address those concerns as the bill moves forward in the legislative process. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4360. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Jeffries and I thank the Congressional Black Caucus for giving us this opportunity to always be the conscience of this Congress. I want to thank the gentleman for his tireless efforts to raise awareness on not just the Committee on the Judiciary, but all of the work that he does. This group has come together this evening to talk about the fact that once again the Republicans have created a road to ruin in their budget failure. We talked about the fact that this Republican Congress has blown past the statutory deadline to enact a budget last week, reflecting, apparently, the belief of the leadership that their already severe budget proposal was not even radical enough to pass through this Republican majority. The gentleman talked about some of the draconian measures that were already in the budget that they had proposed, which seems to have not been sufficient enough for their caucus. At the direction of the House GOP leadership, the Budget Committee put forth one of the most devastating budgets in history and the majority rejected that plan as insufficient, which can only lead us to believe that it was not even severe enough for them. Some of the things that were in that budget were an end to a Medicare guarantee for seniors, makes $6.5 trillion in cuts--the sharpest cuts ever proposed by the House Budget Committee--devastates investments in good-paying jobs, education, and American infrastructure, repeals the Affordable Care Act and dismantling the affordable health care of 20 million Americans. Now, as expressed by the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), in February, the administration, our President, requested support for Americans through the budget that he submitted to this Congress, which provided support for education, job training support, bolstering our obligation to seniors, real tools for growth for the territories in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and others by inclusion in the Affordable Care Act and expansion of Medicare. But it seems that the Republicans have failed their promise to pass a budget, never mind even listen to or hear the head of OMB on that budget. Their goal is still clear, to take us back to radical, trickle-down agenda that shattered our economy in the past and hollowed out the wages of middle-class Americans. At that same time, House Republicans have done nothing to help the thousands of Americans struggling to protect their families from the three public health crises the chief spoke of: Zika, the opioid addict addictions, and the Flint water crisis. In Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Florida, and now even Texas, this is a real crisis concerns the Zika virus. Last week, Democrats on the Appropriations Committee wrote to Chairman Hal Rogers requesting an immediate hearing on the administration's 1.9 billion emergency supplemental request for Zika, pointing out that: ``The Zika virus is a true public health emergency that has the potential to affect millions of Americans this summer, including more than 2 million pregnant women.'' What did that committee do? Absolutely nothing. Not even the respect of a hearing. They have not responded to anything but just their inaction and indifference. Instead of taking action to pass a budget or address urgent public health crises, the House Republicans are now wasting a full week grandstanding on the IRS. That is just the kind of hollow, meaningless posturing the American people have come to expect from this Congress. Hardworking families deserve a Congress that invests in their future, protects their safety, creates a level playing field for them and their children to succeed. Democrats will continue to press for a budget that creates jobs, raises the paychecks, creates opportunities for American people while reducing the deficit in a balanced and responsible way. I look forward to hearing, with the rest of my colleagues, their thoughts on this budget process and even possibly solutions for us as American people to come away with a clear budget that creates growth and opportunities for Americans.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Thank you so much for putting this together for us to be able to speak to the American people and speak to this body about voting rights, its importance, and the difficulties, that many groups are feeling disenfranchised from the voting system. The Voting Rights Act is probably one of the most important pieces of legislation that this Congress has put forward. It was passed in 1965 to prohibit discrimination in voting. According to the Department of Justice, the Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation. That was back in 2009 when they said that. The Department of Justice has had a history of blocking racial gerrymandering, which was covered in section 4 of the act. In 2006, the Voting Rights Act was reaffirmed by an act of this Congress. The Senate voted for it 98-0, and the House voted 390-33 in favor of the Voting Rights Act, which lets us know that this is a fundamental right that most Americans believe. But there are still these barriers that many groups feel. I know, Congressman Swalwell, you have gone around the country. You have heard from young people, you have heard from poor people, you have heard from those who live in rural areas, the difficulty they have in exercising this fundamental right. In the Virgin Islands, we are facing an even greater constitutional issue that we are bringing court cases to the United States about. Many years ago, Congress decided that the right to vote was not a fundamental right for people that were living in the territories. Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act, if you live in the United States in any of the 50 States, if you decide to move to Paris, if you decide to move to Timbuktu, you can still vote. But if you decide that you are going to live in one of the United States territories, you have given up that right to vote for your President in your Federal election. In places like Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, we have the highest veteran rate per capita in the United States. In the Virgin Islands, we have the highest casualty rate per capita of people who have volunteered to serve this country, but cannot vote for their Commander in Chief. We are bringing case law--and I am part of an effort--to ensure that people who decide to live in the Virgin Islands, who are from the Virgin Islands, can retain that right to exercise their voice in our Federal elections and not something that we are fighting for right now. This goes along with many of the other what we believe to be historic discrimination that has gone on. There is an enormous amount of racial gerrymandering that is happening in this country. The great Mr. John Lewis, our colleague, has issued H.R. 12, I believe it is, which is a bill to expand voting rights and the ability for people to vote. I know that as you go around this country and you speak with people, Representative Swalwell, you will hear about the difficulties, particularly those people who are discriminated against in many ways, from their ability to vote. One of the things that I recall writing about when I was in law school was individuals who have been incarcerated and the ability that they no longer have to vote. We know that in the Black community there is a disproportionate amount of our young men and women who are incarcerated and then have lost their right to vote. The difficulties they have reinstating that right and that ability to vote absolutely excludes not only their dignity and their ability to voice their opinions, but they are feeling part of the American Dream, feeling included in this American mission. What message are we saying to them when they need to be reintegrated back into this country and to be productive citizens that they can work, we want them to work, we want them to do everything that they are supposed to do, but they cannot have that fundamental right to vote. These are the things that I am glad you are speaking about tonight and that you are making the American public available to. I don't know what the Twitter feed is working on right now, but I am hoping that people will tweet about this and will get this word out and will really create an echo chamber of young people, and even those who are not young, who are concerned about millennials and concerned about the next generation being able to be a part of the American process.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity to be here with my colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I am so humbled and honored to be with the gentlewoman from Ohio, Joyce Beatty, who is an example to us freshmen and who fights, along with the gentleman of New York, Hakeem Jeffries, not just for the people of their district and not just for African Americans, but for all Americans, because that is what we are all here in this Congress to do. By pointing out the inequalities, it is not to cast aspersions on all of America, but to make us to be better people than what we are today. When Dr. King so eloquently delivered his famous ``I Have a Dream'' speech 50 years ago, he did so with every hope and expectation that that Nation would rise up and live out the true meaning of that creed. He hoped that the tenet all men are created equal would, in fact, one day be a truth held self-evident. We cannot allow simply moving past the glaring bigotries of Jim Crow, however, to be a benchmark for success. Doing so would ignore the more subtle bigotries that continue today. These subtle bigotries are, in fact, as deeply rooted and extreme in their effect as those glaring bigotries Dr. King and so many others fought vigorously and valiantly to overcome. We are still achieving the dream. Today it is not just social injustice, but also extreme inequality that constrains economic mobility for the African American community and, therefore, for all of America. Whether it is State-sanctioned attempts to roll back voting rights in Alabama, the outright denial of equal voting rights to citizens living in the Virgin Islands and other territories, or the years of neglect that have led to the poisoning of residents in Flint, Michigan, the persistent wealth and opportunity divide in this country is rooted in the legacy of racial discrimination dating back to Reconstruction and to slavery, indeed. Although we have achieved much since the days of separate, but equal, there are still structural barriers to achieving the American Dream for too many minority families in this country. There is racial disparity in nearly every index of the American Dream, and those disparities place families of color further behind in their plight to achieving the dream. A recent study by the Corporation for Enterprise Development shows that families of color are two times more likely to live below the Federal poverty level, almost two times more likely to lack liquid savings, and are significantly more likely to have subprime credit scores. A lack of liquid savings among families of color often lends to further disparity and wealth loss, as evidenced by the proportion of student debt by race and ethnicity. African American college students rely more on student loans to pay for college than do other racial groups and are less likely to pay off the debt, according to a report by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab. While unemployment in this country has fallen to 5 percent, African American communities like my home district of the U.S. Virgin Islands continue to experience double-digit unemployment rates. Many of these communities of color have experienced decades of systematic divestment of funding and resources that can only serve to widen the wealth and opportunity gap. That is benign neglect, a benign neglect that has led to failing public and alternative education systems, crumbling infrastructure, and, in some cases, the slide to bankruptcy, bankruptcy not just due to mismanagement and corruption, which is the convenient answer, but a systematic lack of investment, support, and adequate funding, which causes places like Detroit, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands to mortgage their children's futures in bonds to make ends meet. African Americans make up 13 percent of the population, but have only 2.7 percent of total wealth. This Congress has within its power to reverse the years of benign neglect to these communities through supporting legislation to invest in infrastructure and education through fighting against voter suppression efforts and supporting student loans and other finance reforms. Closing the wealth and opportunity gap should not be a dream in post- racial America. It is the responsibility of this Congress to uphold the principles to which we were founded, to not only adhere to those powerful words that preamble our Constitution, but also to provide for the general welfare and ensure that justice, liberty, and prosperity are afforded to all and not just some.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of our President's actions toward making our communities safer by ensuring guns are less likely to end up in the hands of people that shouldn't have them. I want to thank my colleagues, Congressman Jeffries and Congresswoman Beatty, for bringing this hour here in Congress. I am thankful for the Congressional Black Caucus' Special Order hour for taking time to educate the American people of the importance of our President's action. While this Congress and, in particular, our Republican colleagues have hemmed and dithered and engaged in political inertia and, at the end, failed to act in this matter, suspected terrorists are free to legally purchase combat-style weapons. American cities and other areas of this country are besieged by gun crime and thousands of lives are cut short. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, guns cause twice as many deaths in young people as cancer, 5 times as many as heart disease, and 15 times as many as infections. Yet, we afford no funding for research and empirical data collection, while at the same time we spend hundreds of millions researching and mitigating the effects of those other maladies. Every day this Congress fails to act more American families mourn, more American lives are cut short, many in their prime, and more American cities continue to mount homicide and shooting statistics. Even in America's paradise, my home district of the United States Virgin Islands, this is so. In 2015, there were 40 homicides in the U.S. Virgin Islands. On a per capita basis, that homicide rate is more than double that of the city of Chicago. Gun violence in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and in other places, along with the United States Virgin Islands, sadly are a near daily occurrence. While we pause for moments of silence after mass shootings like the ones in Newtown or San Bernardino, the thousands of victims of mass shootings that play out daily in cities like New York City and the U.S. Virgin Islands go largely unnoticed and unrecognized. While the President's actions will undoubtedly save lives, we know that communities like our own and the many other minority communities across this country, there needs to be more comprehensive action to address the underlying issues that are at the root of gun violence. I want to ask that this Congress act on these things. This Congress has in its power the ability to save thousands of lives. Let us not allow the nearly daily occurrence of mass shootings to become the new norm. We must act to pass comprehensive gun legislation in this Congress this year. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the President's action toward making our communities safer by ensuring guns are less likely to end up in the hands of people who shouldn't have them. While this Congress fails to act on this matter, suspected terrorists are free to legally purchase combat-style weapons, American cities are besieged by gun crime and thousands of lives are cut short. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, guns cause twice as many deaths in young people as cancer, five times as many as heart disease and 15 times as many as infections. Yet we afford no funding for research and empirical data collection, while at the same time we spend hundreds-of-millions researching and mitigating the affects of those maladies. Every day this Congress fails to act, more American families mourn: more American lives are cut short--many in their prime--and more American cities continue to mount homicide and shooting statistics. Even in America's paradise: my home district of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2015, there were 40 homicides in the U.S. Virgin Islands. That's a per capita homicide rate more than double that of the city of Chicago. Gun violence in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and the U.S. Virgin Islands, sadly, are a near daily occurrence. And while we pause for moments of silence after mass shootings like the one in New Town or San Bernadino, the thousands of victims of mass shootings that play out daily in cities like New York City and the U.S. Virgin Islands go largely unnoticed and unrecognized. There were 353 mass shootings in this country in 2015--three of which occurred in my home district of the U.S. Virgin Islands. One occurred on a crowded boardwalk on a beautiful day in May. The second mass shooting took place in a housing community, where children played just after 5 p.m. one afternoon this past September. The third took place on a busy highway two days after Thanksgiving. A mass shooting occurs just about everyday in this country, yet there are no moments of silence or thoughts and prayers extended to many of the victims. While the President's actions will undoubtedly save lives, we know that in communities like the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the many other minority communities across this country, there needs to be more comprehensive action to address the underlying issues that are at the root of gun violence. The citizens living in these communities experience inexcusable levels of poverty. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, more than 30 percent of children are living below the poverty level and in Chicago, most of the South and West sides have 40 to 60 percent of residents living below the poverty level. If we are serious about making our communities safer and reducing gun crime, we must take comprehensive action to not only reduce the likelihood of mass shootings like San Bernadino or New Town, but also address the systemic divestment of resources, education, support in communities of color across this country that lead the scourge of gun violence that play out on our inner-city streets everyday. In addition to The President's action, this congress needs to make it a priority to make adequate investments in early childhood education and other programs aimed at lifting children out of poverty. Additionally, making meaningful reforms to our criminal justice system and increasing resources to reduce the flow of drugs and illegal guns through our ports will help fight back the firearm black market. This is not about the second amendment: an overwhelming number of Americans--most gun owners themselves--agree, that we must do something to stop guns from getting into the hands of people who shouldn't have them. This Congress has in its power, the ability to save thousands of lives. Let us not allow the near daily occurrence of mass shootings to become the new norm. We must act to pass comprehensive gun legislation.

Ms. PLASKETT

Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my disapproval to the Radewagen amendment to the surface transportation bill, which was ultimately defeated last night, 113-310. This amendment would have required the Secretary to change the allocation program funds made available to the territories. This amendment would have potentially harmed my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam, by possibly taking already minimal funds away from these two territories. The funding provided in the transportation bill is yet another example of this Congress' inability to address the real needs of the U.S. territories, whose economies have not recovered and require additional support. And, while I certainly recognize and empathize with the frustrations of some of my colleagues from the territories, it is the limited funding within this bill which has created an environment where we are literally fighting over scraps. The proposed funding in the bill barely provides any increase of the historically low allocation for the territorial highway program. I would like to thank both the chair and ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mr. Shuster and Mr. DeFazio, for not supporting the amendment and for recognizing that this is not an amendment that enjoyed the full support of all the four smaller territories. I would also like to thank the dean, Congresswoman Bordallo, of the territory of Guam, for her efforts and engagement on this very important issue. I look forward to working with Transportation and Infrastructure leadership and staff and my fellow Delegates from the insular areas and working together on resolving our problems.