Jamie Raskin

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H.R. 3728 to designate the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 25 Dorchester Avenue, Room 1, in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Caroline Chang Post Office. This legislation, introduced by my distinguished colleague, Representative Pressley, recognizes the contributions of Caroline Chang, who was born and raised in Boston's Chinatown. I didn't know her, but I have learned from my colleague that she was a trailblazer, a passionate advocate for her community, and a very devoted public servant. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley).

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close, as well. I encourage my colleagues to join me in honoring the life of Ms. Chang by naming the post office in Boston, Massachusetts after her, and we will all be proud to see it happen, pursuant to the remarks of Ms. Pressley. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 3947, a bill designating the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 859 North State Road 21 in Melrose, Florida, as the Pamela Jane Rock Post Office Building. After graduating from the University of Florida, Pam started a long career with the WIC program and dietary education. She worked with women and families from across the United States-- from Florida, Yellowstone, North Carolina, to Georgia--and even with the Peace Corps in Guatemala to advance critical nutritional goals for infants and children. Following her long-term service with the WIC program, she transitioned into a new role of public service with the U.S. Postal Service in January 2022 as a letter carrier. On August 22, 2022, she was unexpectedly and severely injured while delivering the mail and sadly passed away in Florida as a consequence of her injuries. I encourage my colleagues to join me in honoring the life and the hard work of Ms. Rock by naming a post office in Melrose after her. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. I would just say that Lance Corporal Espinoza, Lance Corporal Rodriguez, and Sergeant Arizola admirably served our country, and we thank them and their families for their extraordinary service. Madam Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 2754, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2754, introduced by my distinguished colleague from Texas, Representative Cuellar, which would designate the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 2395 East Del Mar Boulevard in Laredo, Texas, as the Lance Corporal David Lee Espinoza, Lance Corporal Juan Rodrigo Rodriguez & Sergeant Roberto Arizola Jr. Post Office Building. These three brave individuals made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives for our country. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar).

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, the gentleman's legislation, H.R. 5528, the Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act, would require the Director of OMB to review the procurement management practices of Federal agencies to determine whether the use of acquisition procedures focused exclusively on costs known as Lowest Price Technically Acceptable, or LPTA, poses any national security risks. Since our committee reported this bill last September, I appreciate that Mr. Donalds and the majority sought and incorporated feedback from the administration, and also earned bipartisan support with the cosponsorship of Mr. Connolly, a longtime expert in Federal operations. With these updates, I am happy to lend my full support to this legislation. When Federal agencies purchase goods or services, they strive to achieve the best value for the American people. In the words of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, best value means that the acquisition should provide ``the greatest overall benefit in response to the requirement.'' Under LPTA procedures, price is the controlling factor in awarding a contract with no consideration given to any other factors. This contrasts with the more frequently used tradeoff approach which looks at the bigger picture and considers additional factors beyond just cost, perhaps assessing elements like quality and performance, or a bidder's technical or managerial expertise. This bill, and the tradeoff approach to Federal contracting, take into consideration that focusing on contract price alone can actually increase the overall cost to the Federal Government and the people. For example, cutting costs in the short term can lead to expensive project delays, or might result in taxpayer dollars flowing to adversarial nations that threaten our national security. If no consideration is given to the strength and integrity of a bidder's supply chain, cutting costs in the short term could lead to inferior products or disastrous supply shortages at key moments. Madam Speaker, I am happy to give my support to this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise to support S. 3427, the Overtime Pay for Protective Services Act. The legislation would see to it that Secret Service agents who work overtime get paid for the time they have worked. The bill authorizes an extension of the Secret Service's current pay cap level of level II of the Executive Schedule through 2028 so that agents are permitted to receive compensation for the hours of overtime they work. Without this legislation, the pay of Secret Service agents would be capped at GS-15 level. The Presidential campaign years place great challenges and strain on Secret Service personnel. According to the most recent data available, in 2022, nearly 1,600 agents worked so many hours that they maxed out their annual overtime in salary. The amount of overtime worked resulted, on average, in more than $11,000 per agent. This bill also includes extensive reporting requirements, including both quarterly and annual reporting on the number of individuals receiving overtime and estimates for future years. This will help keep the agency focused on its personnel management problem, and keep Congress informed on the issue and funding needs of the agency. This elevated pay cap for Secret Service agents has been in place since 2016. While the agency has made some progress in recruiting, this is, in essence, a management problem. The Secret Service must be able to pay its people in order to attract and retain the best talent that is available. The Secret Service needs to hire more people to reduce its heavy overtime expenses. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, we are pretty good at attacking Federal workers around here, but we are not very good at praising them. So I rise today to offer my profound appreciation for the hardworking employees at the National Personnel Records Center, who last week completed a huge achievement: They eliminated a large pandemic-related backlog of veteran records requests. This is important to me, so I have been monitoring the situation closely. Veterans and their families rely on these records in order to access all the benefits that they have earned, as well as critical services, including housing and healthcare. Due to restrictions in place to protect worker health and safety during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Personnel Record Center amassed a gigantic backlog of tens of thousands of unfilled veteran record requests. Last Congress, as a consequence of bipartisan oversight and urging by leaders in the House, employees at the National Archives came to implement several critical new steps in order to address this backlog, including enhanced and reorganized staffing levels, technology updates, and digitizing millions of paper records. We owe great thanks to the employees of the National Personnel Record Center for a job well done and for their great commitment, their passionate hard work, and their unswerving devotion to eliminate this backlog for America's veterans. It was a true success story of Federal workers.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, in closing, I would encourage all of my colleagues to join us in honoring the life of Mr. Ho by naming a post office in Los Angeles after him. Madam Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 599, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H.R. 599 to designate the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 3500 West 6th Street, Suite 103 in Los Angeles, California, as the Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Post Office. This legislation introduced by my colleague, the distinguished Representative Jimmy Gomez of California, would designate a post office after the Korean-American leader, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho. A Korean independence activist who immigrated to the United States, he became an early leader in the Korean-American immigrant community. He opposed the Japanese occupation of Korea and later served as a founding member of the Korean Provisional Government. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez).

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 1060 to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1660 East Date Place in San Bernardino, California, as the Dr. Margaret B. Hill Post Office Building. The legislation introduced by my friend and colleague, Mr. Aguilar, would rename the Del Rosa Post Office to honor Dr. Hill, a beloved educator and longtime advocate for the people of San Bernardino. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar).

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, but I encourage all of my colleagues to join us in honoring the life of Dr. Hill by naming the post office in San Bernardino after her. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, are we prepared to become the national academic appeals panel for college presidents, coaches, and professors, or is that perhaps best left to the universities themselves? Maybe it is that we just don't have a positive legislative agenda of our own to lower drug prices in America, to get aid to our democratic allies in Ukraine against the fascist imperialist thug Vladimir Putin. Maybe we don't have anything real to do, so we decide instead to go around and start lecturing the college presidents and the college boards all over America. In the absence of a real program for America, the majority is filling our hours with censures, expulsions, motions to vacate the speakership, overthrow their own leaders, and, of course, impeachment of President Biden for what? For doing nothing wrong. That is all that they give us. This cannibalistic instinct they have unleashed now turns on private citizens, academic leaders who will wear the scarlet letter ``A'' so they can have some more press conferences. Vote ``no'' on this resolution.

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this resolution which, to my knowledge, would mark the first time in American history that the House of Representatives would vote to tell private college and university presidents to resign. I want all of my colleagues to think very seriously about what this means for us today and in the future. We are all profoundly disturbed by the resurgence of anti-Semitism and racism in campus towns, including death threats, serious death threats against Jewish students at Cornell, and actual shootings and attempted murder of three Palestinian-American students in Burlington, Vermont. We all want to express our outrage in House resolutions, which we have done more than 20 times as a House of Representatives, and numerous times even since October 7. For example, on November 2, we passed H. Res. 798, which condemned all forms of anti-Semitism on college campuses, denounced any support for terrorist groups on campus, reaffirmed the free speech rights of Jewish students and faculty, and urged enforcement of Federal civil rights laws to protect Jewish students against anti-Semitism. Why do we need this resolution? The only thing new about it is it would have the U.S. House of Representatives call specifically for the resignation of two college presidents, a call that has been slipped in at the bottom of page 2 of the resolution. This extraordinary passage comes close to being what the Constitution calls a bill of attainder, which is the unconstitutional imposition by Congress on a specific citizen or citizens of a criminal punishment or stigma by the Congress itself. Although this resolution is not a criminal punishment or stigma against specific citizens, it is undoubtedly a civil punishment and stigma against specific American citizens. How many of you would like the president of the college where you went or where your children go to be walking around with a congressional resolution telling them to resign? Everyone knows that this will be an academic scarlet letter and a professional death sentence for anyone carrying it around. Does anyone think that UPenn President Liz Magill, who has already resigned in the face of Ms. Stefanik's ceaseless campaign to force her out, will ever be able to find another college presidency? Give me a break. Now, I hold no brief for the college presidents' overly legalistic, ethically tone-deaf answers awkwardly advanced in response to Ms. Stefanik's rapid-fire, yes-no questions. It should not be difficult for anybody to say in an age of rampant gun violence and lax Republican gun laws, which have put tens of millions of AR-15s in circulation in our society, anyone calling for genocide of the Jews, or anyone else, should be sent immediately a campus security detail to see if they pose the risk of harm to other people or if they need an immediate mental health exam. If there is not an imminent threat, surely the call for genocide of the Jews by definition constitutes a hostile learning environment and should occasion aggressive disciplinary action. Where is the common sense on the part of the college presidents? Where is the common sense in the Congress of the United States of America? Calling for the resignation of private individuals at private universities would be a dramatic and unprecedented departure for the U.S. Congress, which has never before voted to tell a college president to resign. Before we affix this lifelong stigma, reproach, and dishonor on a private citizen, do you think perhaps we should offer them some kind of due process, the kind of due process that even George Santos got and that Donald Trump is getting all over America right now for his 91 Federal and State felony charges?

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, should Harvard President Claudine Gay, who is the first Haitian American ever to serve in that position, and Sally Kornbluth, who is Jewish, get the chance to explain what they are actually doing to combat racism and anti-Semitism at their schools and what they have done in their lives and in their careers to oppose anti- Semitism and racism, which are the gateways to destruction of liberal democracy? Do we care about that, or is this just a bunch of drive-by talking points? Is it relevant that the Harvard and MIT boards have made unanimous statements affirming the leadership of their two college presidents? Are we saying that their boards don't matter or they are indifferent to anti-Semitism and the leaders of the Freedom Caucus know better than the Jewish president of MIT what anti-Semitism is? Now, I know these two were the presidents testifying before Ms. Stefanik, but are we sure that these two are even the worst in the country when it comes to bias and discrimination? Is this a one-shot deal, or, as Ms. Stefanik promises, is this just the beginning? Are we going to go through all of the college and university presidents in America? What about the CEOs of the businesses? Maybe they are not performing to her satisfaction either. Indeed, maybe there are college presidents who have looked the other way in not hypothetical cases of anti-Semitism and racism but real cases of anti-Semitism and racism. What about them? Are we going to let them go, or are we going to go after them? Maybe we should determine who the worst are before we start using the resources of the House of Representatives to call for people to resign. Are there college presidents, by the way, who looked the other way when there was sexual abuse of college male wrestling team members, rape of students, or female gymnasts or female soccer players? Are we interested in that now that we are superintending higher education in America, now that we are the appellate review board for the colleges?

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, the reason mysteries are called whodunits is because they start with a crime, and then you have to try to figure out who did it. The Biden impeachment investigation isn't a whodunit, it is a what is it. It is like an Agatha Christie novel where the mystery is: What is the crime? That gets very tedious very fast. After 11 months of this, no one can tell us what President Biden's crime was, much less where it happened, when it happened, what the motive was, who the perpetrators were, or who the victims were. Maybe the funniest thing I have ever seen in Congress was yesterday in the Rules Committee when Congressman Neguse kept asking Congressman Reschenthaler what the crime was? Congressman Reschenthaler--who is not on the Oversight and Reform Committee and is apparently just waking up to the joke--kept saying that he didn't know what it was, but that is why we need an impeachment investigation, to find out. Congressman Neguse kept asking him: But what will the impeachment investigation be looking for? Finally, Congressman Reschenthaler said: A high crime or misdemeanor. And Congressman Neguse said: Yes, but which one? Now Congressman Neguse, of course, was involved in a real impeachment investigation of a real Presidential offense: the incitement of a violent political insurrection against this Congress, against the Vice President of the United States, against the Constitution, and against the election of 2020. We did not need Sherlock Holmes and a magnifying glass to find the Presidential crime with Donald Trump. It came right into this House and smashed us in the face. Now, it is true Chairman Comer has collected a mountain of evidence over the last 11 months: tens of thousands of pages of documents and dozens of hours of interviews with dozens of officials, but all of it clearly shows that Joe Biden committed no crime. Even their own witnesses, whom they called to the only public hearing they had, said that there is not remotely enough evidence to justify impeachment. Chairman Comer has bragged on FOX News about procuring 100 percent compliance with his subpoenas, so forget about obstruction, which I hear them muttering about today. Mr. Speaker, I played a game with the little kids at our family Thanksgiving. I asked them whether they had seen my henway. When they said, What's a henway? I said, about 4 or 5 pounds. It is a dad joke, and some of the bigger kids got it. Nevertheless, when I asked the little kids, like 3 or 4 years of age, if they had seen my henway, they said: What's a henway? I said 3 or 4 pounds. They started looking for it. When the other kids came along and asked what they were doing, they said: We are looking for Uncle Jamie's henway. Then for hours they were looking everywhere for my henway, under the sofa and under the chairs, and it could go on for days like that. Mr. Speaker, we are all looking for the Republican Party's henway. It just weighs 3 or 4 pounds, but it is costing us tens of millions of dollars. So please forgive me for spoiling the party here, but I want to say this to America: There is no henway. This stupid, blundering investigation is keeping us from getting any real work done for the people of America.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to honor my neighbor and my young friend, Noah MacMillan, who we lost last July when he died of complications from colon cancer at the age of 33 years old. What an honor it is to speak to America this morning about Noah MacMillan. Noah's brilliance, his gentle soul, and his boundless creativity live on in the hearts of everybody he touched, in the truly extraordinary and imperishable art that he left behind, and in the beautiful devotion of his remarkable parents, Jeff MacMillan and Lucinda Leach; and his brothers, Seth and Julian. Noah was an accomplished artist. He was a talented athlete and a soccer player. He was a gifted chef, and he was a generous teacher. His stunning and thought-provoking illustrations were accomplished in a variety of news outlets, including The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Bloomberg Business, Sports Illustrated, and Riverfront Times, to name just a few of the places that recognized his exceptional art. One of the crowning achievements of Noah's life and one of his final projects was an illustration that fused his passions for exuberant, colorful art and for the game of soccer. The vibrant stamp that you see next to me here bursting with energy and power honors the electrifying achievements of women's soccer in America. It was released by the United States Postal Service at the beginning of this year, 2023. Now, countless little replicas of Noah's art are flying all across the country on envelopes and packages, inspiring artists and athletes, especially young girl soccer players everywhere, all over America and all over the world. Noah first came to battle cancer at the age of 23. He had the same oncological surgeon that I had at Johns Hopkins; Dr. Efron. Noah's quiet courage and insistence on living joyfully carried him through treatment and through a lot of times of adversity over the next 10 years of his life. In that intervening decade before colon cancer stole this splendid young man from us, he lived with great purpose and great passion and an unwavering dedication to his art and to the people in his life who he loved and was devoted to. To honor Noah's generosity and his creativity, his loving family has launched a scholarship in his honor at his alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. This fund will make it possible for a high school student artist to attend the same summer program at Wash U. in St. Louis that gave Noah the confidence and the skills to pursue his dreams of becoming an artist and an illustrator, a dream that led just one of his pieces of art to become a stamp in our country. Noah was not only a remarkable artist, he was an astonishingly quick- witted and gentle and loving human being. He left an indelible mark on everyone who knew him, including his fantastic care team led by Dr. Jonathan Efron and nurse practitioner Tam Warczynski. Noah is survived by his fiancee, Hitomi Inoue; his devoted parents, Jeffrey and Lucinda; his two loving brothers, Julian and Seth; his extended family; countless friends and neighbors; grateful, loving students; and, of course, his timeless amazing art, which now the entire country will get to enjoy.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal).

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. Bush).

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Bowman).

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.