David Reichert

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp), the chairman of the committee.

Mr. REICHERT. I am. I have no other speakers.

Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, just to be honest, I also might want to mention that Mr. Levin has voted five times to extend these policies, for a total of 12 years. Congress--Democrats and Republicans--have repeatedly reauthorized these tax policies without paying for them. Democrats have agreed with the policy of these bills before us today. Making them permanent gives businesses certainty that they will always be a part of the Tax Code, and it is a more honest way of budgeting. Increasing taxes to pay for these policies makes no sense. We all agree that small businesses impacted by my bill need more access to their capital, which my bill gives them. Making the policies in this bill permanent, while raising taxes in the area of the economy, defeats the purpose of freeing up capital in a way that encourages job creation and moves the economy ahead. Again, Mr. Speaker, this legislation will give businesses what they have been asking for since I came to Congress, and that is the certainty in the Tax Code, so that the Tax Code is working for them and they are not working for the Tax Code, so they can plan ahead, so they can grow their business, so they can hire more workers, and so that we can get this economy moving again and get people back to work. In order to do that, Mr. Speaker, they need the ability to access their capital, so they can invest, again, in their businesses; reenergize their businesses; buy new equipment; sell new equipment; create jobs; and, again, grow the economy. So I urge my colleagues to vote for the bill before us today, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the life of Command Sergeant Major Martin Barreras, who died on May 13, 2014 from wounds suffered while serving in Afghanistan. CSM Barreras was serving with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. CSM Barreras joined the Army in 1988 after serving five years in the Marine Corps and served 22 years in the 75th Ranger Regiment in both 1st and 2nd Battalions. During his time in the Ranger Regiment, he served in a large range of positions and completed multiple combat deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Operation Just Cause in Panama, Operation Restore/Uphold Democracy in Haiti, and other special operations missions. His awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with V device, Bronze Star with three oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart with one oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Iraqi Campaign Medal with three stars, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with four stars, Combat Infantryman Badge with one star, Expert Infantryman Badge, Ranger Tab, Master Parachutist Badge with bronze star, Military Freefall Badge and Pathfinder Badge. CSM Barreras was respected by both his community and colleagues, and deeply loved by his family and friends. He was 49 years old and left behind a wife, a young son and two daughters. This husband, father, and friend cannot be replaced, but his sacrifice will always be remembered and his legacy of compassion and service will live on after him. He is gone but not forgotten. Mr. Speaker, I salute Command Sergeant Major Barreras, and I thank him for all he gave back to the people of this great Nation.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Chair, I rise today to offer a critical amendment with Representatives Pascrell, King, Grimm, Welch, Johnson, Reed, Enyart, DeFazio, and others. This amendment funds the highly successful COPS hiring program at the fiscal year 2014 level. Ensuring the safety of our communities and neighborhoods should be one of our first priorities, and we cannot afford to do that without a sufficient number of capable police officers trained across our country. I became a law enforcement officer because I wanted to serve and help others. I brought that same desire to Congress. The COPS program helps others do the same. We cannot protect this Nation without adequate funding for law enforcement. Their service is our gain. Madam Chairman, this program is vital. I was in law enforcement for 33 years. I started out in a patrol car and was actually hired in 1972 under a Federal grant. After 30 some years or so, I became the sheriff of King County, and I was able to use those grants again to hire additional police officers in the sheriff's office, and those additional police officers are used to be a part of Federal teams, Federal law enforcement task force efforts, across this country. To mention a few, the cyber security task force we have in some of the major cities across this country is integral to protecting this Nation, not only our entire country, but our communities. You cannot do that with just Federal resources. We always talk about the Federal, State, and local partnerships as Federal representatives, and the FBI came to me when I was the sheriff and said that we want to work with you; provide a police officer to our joint terrorism task force, provide a police officer to our task force to fight gangs, and provide a police officer to be a part of our DEA effort to impact the use of drugs and reduce the use of drugs in our communities. Well, Madam Chairman, local police departments and sheriff's offices don't have the money to continue to supply police officers to these Federal efforts. But they know they are needed. I would like to join everyone in congratulating the chairman on his distinguished career and his efforts here today in support of protecting our country. Mr. Wolf has done an outstanding job over his years of service. From my perspective, though, we really need to strengthen this partnership, and the way that you do that is you allow these grants to be fully funded, you allow police chiefs and sheriffs across this country to hire additional police officers to be a part of a national effort to reduce human trafficking. And I know this is one of Mr. Wolf's passionate issues right now, as well as other Members of Congress. It has been highlighted, and we need to highlight it still. But the Federal Government cannot stop human trafficking alone. They need the help of those local police officers and detectives on the street. If we don't have the people, we won't be putting them on the street. If they are not on the street, if they are not working these cases, they will not solved, and if they are not solved, Madam Chair, our children will be at risk, so I stand today to offer this amendment because I know it is the right thing to do. I know it creates a partnership, a true partnership between the Federal, the State, and the local agencies. It is critical. It is vital to our local law enforcement communities to have access to these grants, to be a part of the national effort, and to fight not only local crime, but those crimes across State borders; and international crimes are something that we also get involved in. I thank you for the opportunity to speak, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Chelan County Sheriffs Deputies Adam Musgrove and Ryan Moody. Deputies Musgrove and Moody were awarded the highest law enforcement honor in Washington State, the Law Enforcement Medal of Honor for meritorious conduct. Like the other officers who received medals of honor that day, Deputies Musgrove and Moody are accustomed to running toward danger instead of away. In this instance, their heroic actions not only put themselves at risk but resulted in a saved life when they rescued a man from burning building in September 2013. I am honored to call them both my constituents and to serve on their behalf in Congress. The award was presented on Friday May 2, 2014 by Governor Jay Inslee and Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. They were two of only eleven to receive this prestigious honor. Mr. Speaker, I salute Chelan County Sheriffs Deputies Adam Musgrove and Ryan Moody, and I thank them for all they have given back to the people of Washington State. Thank you.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Sergeant Kyle White. Sgt. White was awarded the highest honor in the military, the Medal of Honor for meritorious conduct, by President Barack Obama on May 13, 2014. Like his fellow soldiers, he is accustomed to running toward danger instead of away, but Sgt. White's courage is above and beyond the ordinary. He repeatedly ran the gauntlet of enemy fire to get to wounded and fallen soldiers, regardless of his personal safety. In an ambush in November of 2007 Sgt. White, who was barely 20 years old, stayed with a wounded and fallen soldier for the duration, calling in reports and directing others so that the wounded and dead could be safety evacuated. It is my privilege and greatest honor to represent our Veterans in Congress and I applaud the decision to award him with this medal. It is well deserved. Mr. Speaker, I salute Sgt. Kyle White, and I thank him for the many sacrifices he has made in service to our nation.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4058) to prevent and address sex trafficking of youth in foster care, as amended.

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under consideration.

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to urge the support of H.R. 4058, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act. This is a bipartisan bill that I strongly believe will help end sex trafficking, especially of children in foster care. Madam Speaker, I don't know if you know or the other Members who may be listening today or anyone else who may be listening know that, if you are driving down the street and you see 10 young girls standing on the street corner, that six of those 10 young girls who are in human trafficking, six of those are in foster care--six out of 10--and those are young children that the State, that the taxpayers, that we as citizens of this community--of our communities--are responsible for, and they are on the street. I am pleased to have worked with my colleague and ranking member on the Human Resources Subcommittee, Mr. Doggett. There are many colleagues who have also supported this legislation. Today, I am here. This is the beginning of my 10th year in Congress. Prior to that, I was in law enforcement, for 33 years, in the King County Sheriff's Office in Seattle, Washington. For 19 of those years, there was a team created to go after the most notorious serial killer that this country has ever seen. His name was Ridgway. My quest in that case, to find Gary Ridgway, started in 1982. I was a 31-year-old detective. One body on August 12, two more bodies on August 15; I found a third body on that same day, going down to the riverbank to recover the other two bodies. These were 16-year-old girls. This is a topic that we should be talking about here in Congress. When I was 32 in 1982 and I started working on this case--and we finally arrested Ridgway in 2001, so 1982 until 2001--Ridgway said he killed 60 to 70 women. He pled guilty to 49. We closed 51 cases. I collected the bodies. I collected the bodies of 15 and 16-year-old girls. They were buried in shallow graves or thrown in a river to drift away. Madam Speaker, some of these victims were pregnant, thrown in a grave along with their unborn child, their life cut short and taken. In some weeks, we collected six bodies. Can you imagine the horror of the children when they were abducted and drawn into this killer's car or taken to his home? They knew they were being killed. They were strangled, and they fought for their lives. Can you imagine the horror of the parents, the grandparents, the aunts and uncles, the brothers and sisters, and the children lost forever, their life ripped away? That is why we are here today. That is why we are discussing these bills. This is about life; it is about death, and we can save lives. Some Members here have mentioned that we can save lives today. I hope the Senate has the courage to follow through on these bills. We are doing our work here in the House of Representatives. When I was on the banks of the Green River in 1982, I wondered who in the world is there who cares; and after 15 years of working the case, who cares, who cared about these young girls? I can tell you, after talking to a number of those young women on the street and girls and children, they were wondering, too: Does anybody care? Does anybody even know I exist? Does anybody even know I am here and what I am going through? I need love. I need help. One of those girls that I found in early 1982, that was found in 1982, was a young woman named Wendy Coffield. Wendy Coffield was a foster child. She had run away from home before; and this time, when she ran away from home, nobody was looking for her. No one cared. She disappeared, and no one cared, and then she was found, she was found dead. These are the kids we have to help. My bill focuses on foster kids. Six out of 10 involved in human trafficking today are foster kids. We had some hearings, of course, over the past few months, and there were some courageous young women who came forward to tell their stories in our subcommittee, and I want to mention their names because it took a lot of courage to come forward and tell their stories about their lives and what they went through and the feeling of nobody caring. Withelma ``T'' Ortiz Walker Pettigrew is a sex trafficking survivor who experienced 14 foster care placements and was exploited into the sex trafficking trade as a child. This year, though, she was recognized by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in 2014. Talk about turning around your life and having an impact and influence on other people. ``T'' Ortiz Pettigrew has done it. Noel Gomez, Seattle Organization for Prostitution Survivors, Gomez survived 15 years in the sex trafficking trade and is working to help kids stay out and to get out of the sex trafficking trade. Mandy Urwiler, she entered foster care at the age of 15 and had remained in care throughout her extended foster care program. She testified about her personal experience in foster care and her exposure to the sex trafficking world. Talitha James, a former foster youth from California, was able to leave the system at age 14 after her aunt gave her a stable home. After hearing from her and many other experts, Mr. Doggett and myself introduced bipartisan legislation to help every State better protect youth in foster care from sex trafficking. This bill requires States to identify victims and to provide them with the services they need to heal. It would also improve data on instances of child trafficking. On a preventative front, the bill makes sure that the youth can participate in age appropriate activities so they are less vulnerable to trafficking. It encourages States to move forward, moving children out of foster care and into permanent, loving homes. The approach we are taking is practical. It is bipartisan. It is based on the State's experience. This bill incorporates a wide range of ideas gleaned from bills introduced by members of the Ways and Means Committee like Mr. Paulsen, as well as ideas from over 150 pages of public comments that we received from our December discussion draft. I am confident that this legislation will ensure that all States take real steps to better understand the problem and keep kids safe while in foster care. I urge all Members to support this legislation. I want to thank Mr. Doggett, who joins me on the floor today. I want to thank Chairman Camp for his support, Ranking Member Levin for his support, and all those others who have signed on to the bill. We are here today, as I said, to protect vulnerable children in foster care and work to find them loving homes. That is why we are here. We are here to save lives. Both parties have worked together. We have received support for this bill from the American Bar Association, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the American Public Human Services Association, Children's Defense Fund, the Human Rights Project for Girls, National Children's Alliance, and eight others. They proudly indicated their support for this important legislation. I invite all Members to join us in supporting this important bipartisan legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Doggett for his support. Just as we were listening to each other and talking to each other regarding the issue that existed prior to bringing this bill to the floor, I am interested in continuing to work with Mr. Doggett on the other issues that he has mentioned in his opening statement. Now I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black).

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I should have also mentioned that Mrs. Black is a member of the Ways and Means Committee. Now I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam), also a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen), who has introduced his own bill connected to this issue, H.R. 3610, Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act. Mr. Paulsen is also a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler).

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

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga).

Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, in closing, I do believe that this bill can help end sex trafficking, especially when partnered with all of the other legislation that we have been talking about today. It is a holistic approach, and it touches on almost every one of the intricate issues surrounding protecting young children from being victims of human trafficking. After we are done today, there will still be another bill, presented by Mr. Smith, that will add to the power of the movement that we are making today and that will add to the voice that we are expressing today in support of young children, in support of families--in support of protecting lives. We are going to save lives. With these bills today, somebody does care. As I said in my opening statement, when I was 31 years old and was on the banks of the rivers, collecting the bodies of teenage girls, I wondered if anybody cared, and their families wondered. Today, that question has been answered. We care. All the way to the United States Capitol, we care. We can make a difference. Our daughters are not for sale, and the time is now. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I support charter schools--I want to be clear about that--and I support this bill. However, I also believe that families should be able to choose schools within the public system that best meet their needs. When it comes to students' education, we definitely know that one size does not fit all. The same is true for charter schools. Different systems work better for different communities. We agree that it is wrong when the administration forces its vision for education reform on the States through grant programs, like Race to the Top, but that means it is equally wrong when Congress uses grant programs to do exactly the same thing. This bill seeks to force States to remove existing caps on charter schools by giving priority to grant applications from States that do not have caps. By doing this, Congress is punishing 20 States and Washington, D.C., whose charter laws have caps, including my home State of Washington. There may be legitimate reasons these States have caps, but this bill doesn't recognize that. Charter schools for the sake of having charter schools definitely is not the answer. It won't help students. That is why I am extremely disappointed that my bipartisan amendment was not made in order. It would have simply removed the provision that punishes certain State-designed charter systems, allowing States to compete equally for grants. As the voice of the people, Congress should do better than the unelected bureaucrats down the street at the Education Department. Let's start saying ``no'' to top-down education reform and ``yes'' to states' rights.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the American Research and Competitiveness Act. This bill takes a couple of important steps in improving a tax credit that supports tens of thousands of jobs in my home State of Washington State. First of all, it makes the credit permanent. This credit has been extended 15 times since it was first enacted in 1981, making it impossible for businesses to plan their research and development activities in the future. When businesses have certainty, they can plan for the future, and when they can plan for the future, they have the confidence to hire workers and to create jobs. Second, Mr. Speaker, there was a time when it was understood that businesses would perform their research and development activities right here in the United States of America. Today, that is not the case. In my home State of Washington, we don't have to look too far to see exactly what other countries are doing to attract research and development. Let's just take Canada, for example, which is just right north of Washington State. In Canada, not only have they reduced their federal corporate tax rate to 15 percent, but they have made it permanent. On top of this, the various provinces and territories have added their own research tax incentives. For example, in British Columbia, there is an additional 10 percent research and development tax credit. We can't compete with that in the United States of America. We can't compete with that in Washington State. Mr. Brady's bill helps get us back in the game of competing for research and development dollars. It provides a permanent tax credit of 20 percent and allows expenditures on supplies and software to be a part of the credit's base. This bill represents a step in the right direction of fixing our Tax Code, making our economy competitive. Most importantly, Mr. Speaker, this bill is about creating jobs for Americans, so I urge my colleagues to support its passage.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Ramon Rivera from Malaga, Washington. Mr. Rivera is the founder of the Mariachi Huenachi program at Wenatchee High School and also the director of that remarkable music group. Recently, he was honored by the Seattle City Club with one of the 2014 Washington State Jefferson Awards. The Jefferson Award is an award for ``unsung heroes'' who have committed themselves to volunteer service and improving the lives of those around them, and, in doing so, improving the world. So far, over 300 students have participated in the mariachi program pioneered by Mr. Rivera, a program which has received national attention. Not only do his students learn about the rich cultural heritage of mariachi music but they are also expected to achieve academic excellence and are encouraged to pursue higher educations, something that many of Mr. Rivera's students would never have considered otherwise. I am honored to have met Mr. Rivera during the Spring Recess and am even more honored to represent him as my constituent. I congratulate him on the success of his endeavors and earning this prestigious recognition.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, there are a few things going on here. One, you have American families working hard every day to juggle their lives to provide for their children and their families. They are trying to make ends meet and put food on the table and clothes on their backs. What happens is this ObamaCare 30-hour rule could seriously jeopardize all of those efforts, 30 hours instead of 40 hours. Secondly, under ObamaCare, employers are already cutting workers' hours just to avoid the employer mandate, so there is another burden that is placed on our employees and our employers. Third, the law is changing the standard definition of a full-time employee to someone who works 30 or more hours rather than 40 or more hours. Workers are taking home less pay each month as a result of that. Instead of having 38 hours of pay, they might have only 15 or 28 hours of pay, or maybe they just lose their jobs, Mr. Speaker. Much of that impacted workforce would be restaurants, retailers, and hospitality businesses. Eighty-nine percent of those who would be impacted do not have college degrees. Talk about helping those that need help. ObamaCare's reduction from 40 hours to 30 hours doesn't help those people. People that don't have college degrees are going to be hurt the worst. Over 50 percent do not even have high school diplomas. If they lose their job, there may not be somewhere else for them to turn. The Save American Workers Act would prevent this from happening. It would save jobs, and it would provide relief for everyday Americans from the enormous tax burden of ObamaCare, repealing $63.4 billion of tax increases. I know this is right for my constituents in Washington State, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation today.

Mr. REICHERT

Mr. REICHERT. Thank you, Mr. Reed, for inviting me to speak this evening on this important topic. I don't come here tonight with statistics. I come here with 33 years of experience in law enforcement. I was a cop for a long time before I came to Congress. I have been to the homes. I have seen the faces of the mothers and the fathers. I have seen the faces of the victims of sexual assault. I have held them in my arms while they cried and fell to the floor in a puddle of tears. These are real people. These are our children. When I was on patrol back in the early seventies, I had a case where I was driving around all night. It was 2 in the morning. I found this young man wandering the streets. I pulled up and asked him what was wrong. He was sobbing and crying and asking for help. It took him at least an hour, Madam Speaker--an hour--before he could really finally tell me what happened to him. He had been abducted and taken to a remote home and raped and assaulted, humiliated and beaten for 2 days. Imagine being in that position. Imagine being a victim of such a horrendous crime. My own family has been touched by this, as I know some folks may be listening and some speaking tonight may have mentioned that. One of my own family members was raped. But I know this from a deeper experience. When I was a homicide detective for the King County Sheriff's Office in the early eighties, I was assigned a case called the Green River serial murder case, where 50-plus women were killed. Now, how did those young girls and women get on the streets? They were abused. They were sexually assaulted at home. They were physically assaulted. They were emotionally assaulted, and they left home. They were raped at home. They were raped by their neighbors. They were raped by their family members, and they ended up on the street. And whose arms did they fall into, Madam Speaker, but the arms of a pimp, again to be victimized and raped over and over and over, sometimes for money, sometimes not. Lives destroyed. Some survived physically but were mentally and emotionally drained. Their lives and spirit ripped from their hearts. This is a crime that until you see, until you look into the eyes of the person who has been victimized in such a horrendous way, you never really truly understand the pain and the suffering that they have been through. If they survive, they have a long, long road of recovery. And we call these people survivors. We call them survivors. If they don't, like in the Green River case, they die; their lives are taken. Madam Speaker, we cannot allow this to continue in this country. I know that every day, there is a cop on the street, there is a social worker out there that is dealing with this crime. We have got to stop this. We have got to save the lives of our children. Thank you, Mr. Reed for holding this hour tonight. Thank you for the opportunity to share some of my story.