Jackie Speier

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize my friend and colleague Mayor Rick Bonilla as his service on the San Mateo City Council comes to a close. Rick's record of accomplishment is impressive. Rick and his wife Suzanne first moved to San Mateo in 1991. From 1998 to 2011, he was employed as a Field Representative by the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council. His time in public service began in 2001 when he was appointed to the Bay Meadows and Transportation Corridor Citizen's Advisory Committee. Bay Meadows was the largest redevelopment project in modern San Mateo history, and it was key to revitalizing the old site of Bay Meadows Racetrack. Rick offered his vision for land use and transportation, helping to shape the development into today's hub of high-tech industry, housing, local commerce, and recreation. In 2006, he was appointed to the San Mateo Public Works Commission where he served for six years. He was then appointed to the Planning Commission where he served until 2015 when he was appointed to the San Mateo City Council. He was elected to his full term in 2017. Rick Bonilla has embraced his public duties with vigor. For many years, he served as the council's representative on the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG, General Assembly). At ABAG, Rick sat on the all-important Regional Planning Committee. This committee established the methodology for determining each city's required housing allocation throughout the nine county San Francisco Bay Area. The numbers that arise from this methodology profoundly influence the cost of living for millions of Bay Area residents. Rick is a very strong advocate for housing, and also sits on the board of the Housing Endowment and Regional Trust (HEART). Peninsula Clean Energy is our local government agency responsible for buying electricity for nearly all businesses and residences in San Mateo County. Rick was instrumental in forming this agency and sits on its board. The agency is at the center of greening San Mateo County by offering rebates across many items that can be electrified, including vehicles and appliances, and by offering clean electricity at a price below that offered by our local public utility. Rick also represents the council on the San Mateo County Council of Cities, the San Mateo-Foster City Public Financing Agency, and is a board member and Vice Chair of the South Bayside Waste Management Authority. He sits on the Congestion Management and Environmental Quality subcommittee of the City/County Association of Governments, and on a subcommittee of the League of California Cities. He is also responsible for four internal council committee appointments and is the chief representative to my office from the San Mateo City Council. Now that I've listed Rick's committee assignments, let me take a few moments to speak about Rick Bonilla, the person. He is deeply dedicated to economic opportunity for all persons. Over the years, my staff and I have had countless conversations with Rick about opportunities for high school students to join the skilled trades, the need to build enough housing so that broad segments of the population could afford to live in San Mateo, racial justice, and the need to protect and promote democracy. Rick would regularly attend my town halls and illustrate for the public the connection between local decisions and national issues, providing insights that attendees would not otherwise receive. He also participated as a guest during one of my telephone town halls. Social justice is a particular passion for Rick. He is also dedicated to promoting public safety and ensuring that residents feel safe when interacting with the San Mateo Police Department. As he leaves the city council, Mayor Bonilla has a lot of accomplishments of which he may be proud. On all major issues impacting San Mateo for nearly two decades, he's played a role in creating the prosperous future that emerged from those choices. Whether it was Bay Meadows, bicycle paths, the minimum wage or investments in parks, police and the environment, Rick always asked whether the decision made that night would withstand the test of time. He is thus a remarkable leader, dedicated not only to those who currently live in San Mateo but to generations yet to come. I wish Rick Bonilla well in the years ahead. I know that his wife, retired special education teacher Suzanne Flecker, will want to get him out of their house because the man really has a lot of energy. I therefore look forward to seeing Rick around the Peninsula as he goes to public meetings, continues his volunteer work, and impacts San Mateo's civic life for years to come.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank my great caucus cochair and good friend, Congresswoman Lois Frankel, for this bill. I thank the chairman for bringing this bill to the floor. I also thank the Speaker for her extraordinary work in this area. I sit here and think to myself: Are we living on two different planets? Why would any of you on the other side of the aisle want to prevent a woman or a man from speaking up if they were raped by someone in the office? Why would we allow for these NDAs? Sexual harassment is an abuse of power made worse by the indignity of being silenced and gagged about your experience. We have heard this morning that a third of the American workforce is bound by NDAs. Now, they were used originally to protect trade secrets. We appreciate that. We get that. But they have now been extended to be a weapon of choice for abusers and those orchestrating coverups. Let's talk about the Washington Commanders' owner, Dan Snyder, at the NFL. Snyder assured his fans that he knew nothing about rampant and reprehensible harassment suffered by his employees, the women staffers forced to endure harassment and attempted assault. Some testified before the Committee on Oversight and Reform that they were told to avoid him at all costs and other predatory employees. Snyder even had cheerleaders videotaped without their consent, and some without their knowledge, for a calendar photo shoot. The women posed topless using only their hands and arms or body paint to cover their breasts. Snyder knew they would have to change outfits and be exposed at times, and he made sure that he got the video to watch and share with his cronies. Surprise: Snyder used predispute NDAs with many of those women staffers. Abusers like Snyder, Weinstein, Roger Ailes at FOX, and others should not be allowed to be the predators they are in the workforce. Women and men who become victims should be able to call them out. It is time to end this predatory practice of silencing survivors. It is time for workers to have the freedom to speak out. For those who say that this should be a States' rights issue, remind me: Isn't it your party who wants to ban abortions across the country and not leave it to the States?

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise along with my colleague Anna Eshoo to honor Richard (Dick) Dodge upon his retirement from the Board of Port Commissioners of the Port of Redwood City after 42 years of service to the public. Dick is deeply dedicated to commerce and to the efficient operation of the port, a jewel on San Francisco Bay. Redwood City's port was first established in 1851 by timber harvesters seeking an efficient route to move redwood from the hills of the San Francisco Peninsula to a new and thriving city, San Francisco. Today, over two million tons of cargo typically moves via the port, annually. Located only 18 nautical miles from San Francisco, and qualifying as a deep-water facility, both liquid and dry cargo transit the docks. These shipments often consist of imported construction materials and metal destined for overseas recycling. Redwood City plays an important role in the orderly operation of the Port of Oakland, allowing shippers to obtain timely service for cargoes not otherwise amenable to being shipped to Oakland via containers. Dick Dodge was first appointed Commissioner in 1980. At the time of his retirement in July 2022, he was one of the longest-serving port commissioners in the United States. He is also the port's institutional memory and helped shape its Vision 2020 planning document. Through Vision 2020, the port committed to maximizing its value to the public by enhancing public access, preserving the environment, and upgrading its commercial facilities. Dick Dodge has long advocated for ferry service to Redwood City, and the plan reflects his vision. Before the pandemic, Google briefly tested ferry service to the port, and service is identified by the Water Emergency Transportation Authority as a future expansion opportunity. Deepening the channel so that it may handle larger vessels was also a priority for Dick. The United States Army Corps of Engineers continues to work on a determination of the cost of this important improvement. Over his 42 years of public service, Dick Dodge was past president of the Association of Pacific Ports, and he made numerous presentations before the American Association of Port Authorities. In the community, he served on the Board of Directors of Chamber San Mateo County, the Sequoia YMCA, the Redwood City Rotary Club, a bank advisory board, and the Water Emergency Transportation Authority's Technical Advisory Committee. Serving as a port commissioner is a volunteer position. In his professional life, Dick Dodge has owned T.H.E. Office City since 1976. It is one of the largest independent office products dealers in northern California. Before founding his own business, he worked for Airborne Express for 12 years. He has a business degree from the University of Southern California. He and his wife, Ginny, have three adult daughters, Kristine, Suzanne, and Michelle, and seven grandchildren. Madam Speaker, it is rare for busy people to volunteer for serious work. A port commissioner's job is certainly serious. The operations of the port are essential to many businesses and fill an important role in our regional economy. Dick Dodge and his fellow commissioners make multi-decade decisions to maximize the impact on commute patterns, recreational opportunities, commerce, and the environment. The people of Redwood City and the Peninsula were fortunate to have Dick at the dais for over four decades. We wish him well in the years ahead and thank him for his years of public service that will benefit all of us for decades yet to come.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a 1960's Borscht Belt Baby who, of late, has been a distinguished individual serving turkey with all the trimmings in San Mateo County. Bart Charlow, the Chief Executive Officer of Samaritan House, is retiring after eight years on the front lines of human services. We will miss him enormously. Samaritan House annually serves clients 3,000,000 meals, provides 44,120 nights of safe shelter, and during the time of Bart's leadership increased donations by 100 percent. Samaritan House provides a place for people without fixed housing to recover from hospital care. He led the agency to create a food pantry, added mental health services to the existing medical clinics, doubled food services, quintupled case management and financial assistance, and managed temporary operations of four additional shelter programs--a tripling of shelter capacity during COVID. The stories told by Samaritan House clients are America's stories. For example, 72-year-old Edwina and Demitrio were living in their car, trying to live on their combined Social Security checks in one of the most costly housing markets in America. They discovered Samaritan House. Due to its free services, they were able to save some money. Then, they were selected for a unit in a new affordable housing complex, a hotel purchased through federal funding. To a large extent, this couple can credit Bart Charlow, and the outstanding staff and volunteers of Samaritan House, for being a rock they could cling to when the storm of pestilence swept them into an economic sea. During Thanksgiving, I've personally worked next to Bart as we and dozens of volunteers distributed thousands of pounds of holiday groceries to clients. At Christmas during the pandemic, hundreds of families drove through the county fairgrounds picking up free gifts and food. In pre-pandemic times, Bart and volunteers, including me, would wrap hundreds of Christmas presents for children anxious to take their bounty home to place under the tree. Samaritan House is an official portal for safety net services for San Mateo County because the county trusts this agency's management to handle millions of dollars in contracts for services. Its staff follows Bart's belief: Respect human dignity and lift people up. Bart's come a long way from watching his extended family serve tourists at Charlow's Irvington Hotel in South Fallsburg, New York. Bart is a painter, and images of the Catskills leap from his canvas. Borscht Belt Babies, a Facebook group, confirms that Bart's upbringing was one of family and a tight-knit community. I was struck by a 1963 photo taken at Charlow's Irvington Hotel. It showed three handsome young men in the shallow end of the swimming pool on what was likely a hot summer day. Two were white and one black. 1963 was the year of the March on Washington and the ``I Have A Dream'' speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was also the year that Jackson, Mississippi, drained four public swimming pools and sold another rather than integrate them. At Charlow's Irvington Hotel, all Americans were welcomed and equal. Of the kitchen, Bart remarked, ``I could spend hours watching the baker make batter and knead dough in the giant mixers . . . . he'd fill [baking trays] with hundreds of perfectly shaped little cookies or mounds of bread rolls in just minutes.'' I bet the borscht was also great. Bart joined Samaritan House in 2014. He was 65, a time when others hope to retire. However, Bart is deeply dedicated to philanthropy and brought with him 39 years of executive experience, largely in the non- profit sector. He was also a licensed marriage and family therapist for 42 years, certainly excellent preparation for leading a non-profit. He has a BA in Anthropology and Sociology from Wake Forest University and a Master's in Education and Counseling, also from Wake Forest. Please join me in wishing Bart Charlow the time of his life in retirement with his wife Nancy, their sons Alex and Michael and daughter Lisa. Gevald, di mantens! [Wow, the mountains!] is a Yiddish song celebrating the Catskills. One of the lines is that, in the mountains, ``Everybody rests their bones.'' Well, now it's Bart's turn. He may seek his retirement by resting his bones, but he will never truly rest until his fellow Americans are also safe, their health secure, and their weary bones afforded a cooling retreat in the shade created by human dignity.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Tony Giacomazzi, affectionately known as ``Tony G.'', for his commitment to the town of Hillsborough and in particular its children. Tony G. has positively impacted thousands of Hillsborough students as both a teacher and now recreation leader. For his outstanding contribution, he has been awarded the Community Care Award for 2022 by the Associated Parents' Group of Hillsborough. Tony came to Hillsborough as a teacher in 2003 and quickly gained the admiration of students and parents. Originally hired as a substitute, he soon joined the staff in a full-time position, teaching 3rd and 4th graders for eight years. As a remarkable leader at West School, he quickly gained more responsibility as he became president of the Hillsborough Teacher Association. Although he wanted to become a principal, and earned his master's degree in administration, he was drawn to sports and coaching. Ultimately, Tony couldn't stay away from the sports fields, and he transitioned to the Hillsborough Recreation Department, formed through a joint powers agreement between the town and school district. For the past 12 years, he has overseen preschool programming, elementary after school class offerings, sports programs at Crocker Middle School, and classes for the greater Hillsborough community. Tony has the remarkable ability to remember the names of every child in the school district along with the names of their siblings and parents. With that kind of memory, the man would obviously be competitive running against any member of Congress, including this one. He's an employee of the district but he is also a parent. He volunteers to coach soccer, baseball, and basketball, referees flag football, and does master scheduling. There's often grass beneath his feet, but it sure doesn't grow there because this is a guy who is always on the move. The pandemic played havoc with recreation as well as learning. Tony was instrumental in bringing students back to campus during the pandemic. He worked closely with the board of education, faculty and the superintendent to find ways to keep the kids active yet safe. Teachers had childcare support because Tony arranged for it. He oversaw COVID testing at preschools and ensured that providers felt safe returning to schools. Tony attended both Serra High School and Mills High School. It was at Mills that he met his wife, Jackie. They have two sons--Max (13) and Zach (10). Max and Zach, in Turn, have a dog named Haze that they graciously agree to share with their parents. When not planning the next recreation event or working with the students, Tony enjoys playing golf, basketball and cheering for his favorite teams. He selected three great champions--the Giants, the Warriors and the Niners. Regrettably, from my personal point of view, he also roots for the Chiefs. In the documents describing his nomination for this year's Community Care Award, Tony Giacomazzi was described as the perfect mix of teacher, coach, friend and mentor, and it was noted that he inspires the children to be their best selves both on and off the court. This is how American is built: one character at a time across generations. Congratulations to Tony Giacomazzi. His career will touch generations, and we are grateful that he is in public service in the wonderful community of Hillsborough, California.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Don Geddis upon the occasion of his being named Citizen of the Year for 2022 by the Associated Parents' Group of Hillsborough. His service to our community is so enormous that I think of Don as being one of the towering eucalyptus trees that populate the town . . . . . without, of course, all the shedding bark. When Don's children entered Hillsborough schools in 2006, he immediately took a leadership role by joining the School Site Council, placing him on the West Parent Group executive board. For many years he was a highly qualified judge of the West iLab Tech Challenge, bringing his PhD in artificial intelligence and computer science from Stanford to bear on the work product of student tinkerers. He also served for two years as the West Parent Group's trustee representative, giving him extensive exposure to the operations of the school board. Don took the plunge and ran for school board in 2013. He has served every year since, four times as board president. He combines this volunteer job with service on the recreation commission, a joint powers authority between the school district and the town of Hillsborough. He also serves as trustee liaison to the Associated Parents' Group. The pandemic hit every school district hard, and every district scrambled to create remote work. The biggest challenge, however, was the creation of a back-to-school safety plan. Don and the District Core Return to School team created testing and other protocols that permitted Hillsborough schools to be one of the first in the state to return to full-time, in-person instruction. As a major leader in the town, Don explained the plan to countless parents and advocated for it at the board. He located testing solutions and helped plan the district's testing policy. The students and parents of Hillsborough will be forever grateful to Don for his dedication to education and to public health. Measure H was a $140 million school facilities bond measure that recently passed due in no small part to Don's leadership. It paves the way for modern schools in Hillsborough for decades to come. As a school board member, he's also served on the board's negotiation team, mentored new trustees, and been active in the San Mateo County School Boards Association. Don is not all about work or even civic endeavors. If you visit his website, you'll immediately see a list of 18 major life accomplishments, starting with his bachelor's in computer science at Stanford and ending with his current status as a board member and recreation commissioner. However, arrayed below that list is another list of ``Completed Bets.'' For example, in 2015 he apparently bet on whether then-Judge Kavanaugh would be appointed to the Supreme Court. He lost a buck. In the 2017 match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor, he bet $10 and won. He's obviously a better boxing fan than reader of Senate tea leaves. Between 2002 and 2020 he bet 34 times on various events paying out donuts (2019) or that dollar, and winning lobster or truffles. Altogether, he's won 21 times, had one draw and there's one bet still outstanding (fusion power, 100MW+ in 20 years from 2018). His site also lists his four other current websites and five previous websites, including one that he says was a joke. As this list demonstrates, Don is a brainiac, but I can honestly state that he's one of the most personable, and earnest, people that I've ever met. In case you doubt his driven nature, he participates in both Aiki and Brazilian Jiujitsu and has third-degree black belts in both forms of martial arts. As the holder of a brown belt in judo, the conclusion that I draw from his website is that you probably come out better betting cash with Don, and losing, than fighting him and losing. Despite Don being something of a rocket scientist by nature, he is about as down to earth as they come. For this and many more reasons he will always be an honored resident of our community, and it is my honor to note his contributions to America in today's record of the proceedings of the House of Representatives. Congratulations to Don, his wife Laura and their family on his remarkable achievements. His neighbors and countless friends are betting he'll be a leader for many more years to come. We're not going to lose that bet.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the legendary journalist David Louie, who has over five decade some of the biggest stories in the Bay Area and the nation. A familiar and friendly face on San Francisco's ABC7/KGO TV for 50 years, Bay Area viewers will undoubtedly miss his excellent reporting. It has been my great pleasure to run into David at countless events and to be interviewed by him dozens of times during my time in Congress and the California Legislature. Journalism has been in David's blood since he was a child. He first appeared on camera at age five when one of his neighbors in Ohio who produced a weekly public affairs show invited him to the studio. He was also a newspaper delivery boy and wrote for his high school paper. In 1972, he became KGO's Asian American reporter. David has a remarkable ability to quickly break down and condense any story, no matter what topic you throw at him. He has covered the emergence of Silicon Valley as a technology and innovation hub. He was part of the first local TV crew to go to China covering the normalization of US-China relations. He went to the Philippines during the People Power Revolution in 1986 that sent Ferdinand Marcos into exile. He was the first reporter to interview U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta after 9/11. He covered the Patty Hearst kidnapping and the Loma Prieta earthquake. Among the recognitions and awards David has received for his outstanding work are four Emmy Awards and two lifetime achievement awards from the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and from the City and County of San Francisco. He was inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Gold Circle in 2019, and the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Fame in 1997. David served as the national president of AAJA, the national chairman of the NATAS, and on the board of the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTNDA). This year, he was awarded the Northwestern Alumni Medal. David earned his bachelor's in journalism from Northwestern University, where he began in the Medill Cherubs, a summer institute for high school students interested in journalism careers. David is also a foodie. Long before the food channels appeared on the air, David did a feature called, ``Friday Feast.'' When he is not out in the field reporting, he is often in his kitchen experimenting with new recipes. He encourages his social media followers to send him risky recipes to try. Madam Speaker, to say that David Louie is an institution in the Bay Area would not be an exaggeration. I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in celebrating a man in pursuit of the truth and facts for more than half a century. He is a role model for other journalists: thorough, ethical and always curious. I wish him the best in his well-deserved retirement.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material during this Special Order.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise this afternoon to hold this Special Order on a very important issue. It is an issue about abortion access in the military. I thank my colleagues for joining me and elevating their voices on the experience of our troops who are terrified that they will be stationed in a State where they cannot control their bodies. The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs overturned 50 years of precedent recognizing the constitutional right to abortion. The Court stated that their opinion merely returned the issue of abortion rights to the States, and that women can vote for whom they wish to represent their values. But servicemembers don't have that right. They don't get to choose where they live. This leaves 230,000 servicewomen who could be ordered to a State that forces them to stay pregnant, even under circumstances where they have been raped, because that is what some of the States in this grand Union have decided is the law of the land in their State. Let me tell you that this is going to have profound impacts on the issues that really are of great concern to us who oversee the military right now. Recruitment is down. Retention is a problem, and readiness is a problem. That is only going to be exacerbated by having a situation where these servicewomen who become pregnant are going to have to travel long distances to get an abortion. Access to abortion has long been a struggle for women in the military, especially those overseas and our junior enlisted with lower incomes. The Dobbs decision has just made matters worse. This map right here shows all the States in red that have basically prohibited abortions, for all intents and purposes. Now, one in four women will have an abortion some time during their reproductive years. We now look at the fact that women in the military have a 22 percent higher incidence of unintended pregnancies than women who are in the civilian world. So now let's look at this. There are actually 128 military installations in these red States. Of those 128 installations that will prohibit abortion, 80,000 servicewomen are on bases in those States. The vast majority of those women are of childbearing age. Now, the Rand study that was recently commissioned estimated that there are 4,000 servicewomen every year that are getting abortions. Now, of those 4,000 women who will get abortions, 40 percent of them are in States that have severely restricted or no access to abortion. Now, look at this. You have a situation, where you are in Louisiana or Mississippi, look how far you are going to have to travel, how many States you are going to have to travel through to get to a blue State where you could access an abortion. Privates in the military make about $2,000 a month. Most of the abortions will happen to young servicemembers. A typical cost, not including travel, to get the medication abortion is $568. To have a first-trimester, procedural abortion it is $625. And a second-trimester abortion is $775. For a servicemember who must travel for an abortion, for example, from the State of Texas to Kansas, let's say, with a two-night stay in a hotel, the expected cost is $1,100 or more. That is almost half of the monthly salary for a typical junior enlisted servicemember. In July, we had the very first hearing ever in the House Armed Services Committee on abortion access. Two courageous Active-Duty women who have served in the military, each for over 20 years. So, they have excelled, they are officers in the military, or noncommissioned officers in the military, and they have been so good that they have been retained in the military and promoted. Let me tell you their stories. Theresa spoke of how her abortion as a junior enlisted servicemember enabled her 20-year career in the Air Force. She used her entire paycheck to cover the cost of the abortion, and her next paycheck to reimburse her friend for the gas money for driving her to the facility. Another servicemember, whose name is Sharon, spoke of getting an abortion because she wasn't ready to have another child. Let's remember that 59 percent of the women who get abortions in this country are already mothers. I was one of them. She and her partner were going to drive to Georgia, but then they learned it had a mandatory waiting-period law. So then they ended up traveling all the way to New York City; and she credits that abortion for her 24 years of Active Duty in the military. Now, I have more to say, but I am going to yield now to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lois Frankel), my great colleague, who is one of the co-chairs of the Democratic Women's Caucus.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her powerful comments. On top of everything else, we passed one law which was the Hyde amendment, that said you can't use Federal funds for medical abortions, so Medicaid was not made available for that purpose. But many States have decided to cover it anyway. But that wasn't enough for the Congresses some years ago. They decided that we would ban any abortion at a military treatment facility except for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. So that means a servicemember can't go to the military treatment facility on their base, get the abortion, and pay for it themselves. We make them jump through hoop after hoop after hoop. And then, we ask ourselves, why do we have a recruitment problem? I think it is pretty obvious. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Houlahan), my colleague on the House Armed Services Committee, and on the Military Personnel Subcommittee, and a former servicemember, to comment on this issue as well.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her service then and for her service now. Her comments about young servicewomen just out of high school or college, who find themselves pregnant and seek an abortion, reminds me of a story that I heard at a base here in the United States of a young, single mother, servicewoman, who was struggling to take care of her young daughter in part because the childcare--she was lucky enough to have childcare at that particular base. Many of our bases are impacted with long waiting lists. But she actually had a slot. But the childcare center didn't open until 6 o'clock, and she had to be at physical training and exercises at 5:30, so she was always juggling that situation. Imagine if you are not even prepared to have a child and you are forced to give birth to that child and have to cope with all of those additional issues as well. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Jacobs), another colleague on the Subcommittee on Military Personnel, a fellow Californian, and a great member of our freshman class.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her outstanding comments and for her great leadership that she has already demonstrated. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moulton), a great American leader who has served his country a number of ways, in a number of situations, certainly in the military and now as a Member of Congress.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for those outstanding comments. He is another Member who has shown incredible leadership on the House Committee on Armed Services. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Crow), my good friend and colleague on the House Committee on Armed Services, who again has shown leadership in the military and service in Congress as well, and the author of the recently minted bill to provide greater protections for servicewomen.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for really powerful remarks. This issue doesn't have to be that hard, but because of legislation that has been passed previously, it has made it incredibly difficult. I am going to share with you now the stories of healthcare professionals who have provided care to these military servicewomen. You have heard from my colleagues about some of the servicemembers' stories. I am now going to tell you about two abortion providers, one who is Active Duty and the other one who is a civilian provider but who spends the majority of her career close to military installations and provides services to our servicewomen. The Active-Duty provider, Dr. Lamme, had to tell a young woman that her child would not live more than a few minutes following birth due to fetal abnormalities, yet there was nothing she could do but hope that the young woman could afford the care she wanted and deserved off base. She could not even provide her abortion counseling. She had to kind of hint about it. This particular patient had to hold a fundraiser. Now, think about this. This is a servicewoman who has sworn to put her life on the line for her country. She is in a foreign destination, and she is holding a fundraiser to raise the funds to fly back to the United States to get her abortion. Just imagine having to ask your friends and family for that money because the military you have dedicated your life to has failed you. She should have been able to get that abortion at a military treatment facility. Until we can lift the Hyde amendment--yes, make her pay for it, but don't make her have to develop a GoFundMe page to get the resources to fly to a destination that actually covers abortions. Another provider, the civilian provider, Dr. Moayedi, shared her experience of literally watching her patient count quarters--quarters-- to pay for her abortion. Her patient opted to go without sedation to terminate a pregnancy because she couldn't afford any more out-of- pocket costs. There is nothing humane, nothing respectful, about treating servicewomen like this. If it is the intention of the military to force women out of the military, to create an all-male force, then maybe this is the way to go. Maybe this is what they had in mind. But, we do know that we need women in the force. We know that there is a small percentage of men and women who are eligible to serve in the military because of their abilities or lack thereof. It is a small percentage to begin with, and a smaller percentage yet who choose to serve. Twenty percent of the military now is made up of female servicemembers. We only see that number growing in order to have a ready service to be able to go to war when necessary. But now we are doing things that are discouraging women to even contemplate becoming a member of the service. Under current law, the DOD is prohibited from providing or paying for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or a threat to the mother's life. These exceptions are so very narrow and interpreted so narrowly that the DOD has confirmed to me that the number of abortions that have been done at military treatment facilities in a year is between 11 and 21. Now, the RAND study purports that there are probably 4,000 women in service in this country in the various services that get an abortion every year. Only 11 to 21 of them are done at military treatment facilities. That means 3,980 women in the service have to pay for and also go elsewhere to seek that service. They have to pay out of pocket not only for the care they need but also for other expenses, including lodging, gas, airfare, and childcare. The Dobbs decision will no doubt exacerbate these challenges, forcing servicemembers to travel greater distances and shoulder greater financial burdens--that is, if they are granted leave in the first place. Imagine you are assaulted. You want to go get an abortion. You are in the State of Texas, and you have to go to your commander and seek leave. By the way, if you seek leave and you were raped and have, I guess, a police report, they might let you have that leave without having you being docked for it. But if you are not one of those women who has been raped or the victim of incest, but did, in fact, get pregnant and want to terminate, you have to go to your commander in Texas. Right now, you have to divulge the service you are asking for, and you are going to get docked in leave, as well. It is inhumane to force women to remain pregnant against their will. It is just fundamental to freedom to be able to have control over your own body. It is arrogant to think that we know better than a woman and her doctor about what is best for her body. It is wrong to create government-mandated pregnancies, and it is wrong for the military to require its servicewomen to jump through so many hoops and spend so much money out of pocket because we have some antiquated law on the books that says you can't get an abortion at an MTF, a military treatment facility. Access to abortion care is essential to women's health and central to their economic and social well-being. The ability to access abortion should not depend on how much money you have, where you live, or where you are stationed. That is why I, along with my colleagues, have introduced the MARCH for Servicemembers Act, to enable DOD to provide abortion care once and for all. At the very least, servicewomen should be able to access abortion care within MTFs and pay out of pocket just like they can for other procedures. The military does not cover IVF, but they will perform IVF at a military facility, and you will just pay for the residual cost. I am proud to co-lead the Access to Reproductive Care for Servicemembers Act that the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Crow), my good friend, just referenced. It would require DOD to pay any travel expenses associated with an abortion and ensure servicemembers are able to take leave for their care. There is a part of me that says we have 128 bases and installations in these red States, in these States that ban abortion. Maybe we should just move these bases. Now, that is highly unlikely because we have invested so much, but it just begs the question about what we are really all about if we are going to treat these servicewomen so poorly. My office has been inundated with outreach from former and current servicemembers who are anxious and despondent about being stationed in what they are referring to as ``forced pregnancy States.'' One Army psychiatrist said to me, ``Even I and some of my female physician peers in the military, with the relative privilege of being officers and physicians, fear someday receiving orders to a State which has banned abortion. Because of the increased maternal mortality in areas without safe and legal abortion, I would not feel safe attempting to become pregnant in such a State.'' Let me repeat that. This is a medical professional in the military who says: ``I would not feel safe attempting to become pregnant in such a State.'' Again, at a time when the military is struggling with recruitment and retention, these bans make things worse. We must act now to provide the right resources at the right time and the right place so that servicemembers and their families who have no choice about where they live continue to have access to the full reproductive care they need, want, and deserve. These men and women who serve are our greatest patriots. Are we really going to treat them as second-class citizens? These members of the military defend our freedoms, and we are going to defend them. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Pacifica Police Chief Daniel L. Steidle for his more than three decades of law enforcement service. Chief Steidle has made Pacifica a safer and more desirable place to live and visit. He never wavered in his commitment to foster relationships between community members and his department. Dan came to the beautiful coastal town of Pacifica in 1993 and climbed the ranks in the police department from officer to corporal to sergeant to captain. He was then appointed Interim Chief of Police for seven months and Chief of Police in October 2015. He has worked just about every assignment in the department. He has also secured $800,000 in grant funding for personnel and equipment costs. Before joining the Pacifica Police Department, Dan began his law enforcement career in 1989 as a Reserve Police Officer for the City of Pinole. In 1990, he became a Deputy Sheriff at the Contra Costa County Sheriffs Department where he served for three years. He is a proud graduate of the POST Command College and earned his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master's Degree in Strategic Leadership. During his time in Pacifica, Chief Steidle enjoyed being part of a smaller and tight knit community where he could get to know residents and build trusting relationships. It is very common to see him visit and laugh with people during festivals, parades, ribbon cuttings and city council meetings. He always goes the extra mile to help people. It has been my great honor to work with Chief Steidle during my tenure in Congress on issues such as human trafficking, gun violence prevention and community policing. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Chief Steidle for dedicating his career to public service and for protecting the residents of Pacifica. While I wish him the best for his next chapter in Texas, I have no doubt he will miss the small town feel of Pacifica, its people, and the Pacific Ocean. And in tum, we will miss him.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, it gets more painful every single day. When you think about it, you have an AG in Indiana who has smeared a healthcare professional in that State who did exactly what she was supposed to do in providing an abortion to a 10-year-old. But he was going to bring charges against her. We have a colleague on the other side of the aisle who is now putting down $20 bills as if we are going to race over there to get that $20 bill to answer his question. I mean, what are we doing here? Have we lost it? This bill simply codifies what is interpreted in the Constitution in the Fifth Amendment. Now, we have a Justice, Kavanaugh, who was asked the question: May a State bar a resident of the State from traveling to another State? The answer is no. But, interestingly enough, the right to travel, those words, are not in the Fifth Amendment. So, if we have an originalist Court, we do have to pass this bill, which has been introduced by Congresswomen Fletcher and Strickland and other Members, because women should be able to travel. Right now, we cannot even guarantee that to a woman who wants to get an abortion. I have had an abortion. I have had miscarriages. I have had to live with a dead fetus in my body. I know what that experience is like. Not everyone over there does. I would say most Members over there don't. But it is my personal right. It is every woman's personal right.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of amendment No. 49 on the International Military Education and Training Program. IMET is, as we all know, a prestigious and competitive program that trains the next generation of senior leadership in our allies' militaries around the globe and enables us to maximize the competitive advantage our alliances and partnerships provide. However, as of 2019, approximately only 8 percent of the IMET's participants were women. That percentage increase was only 2 points since 2015. We can and must do better to ensure that we continue to provide this world-class training to our female military leaders around the world. This amendment would simply require a gender analysis assessment of the program to better understand the impediments to increasing the number of female participants and address any specific needs the women in the program may have. By signaling the importance of including more gender diversity in the program, we are encouraging our partners and allied militaries to invest more heavily in the recruitment, training, and promotion of women within their security forces. We do know that this is not just important; it is smart. We know that our world is more peaceful and prosperous when women are involved in national security and defense decisionmaking processes. I also want to point out that this will continue the work that was begun under former President Trump when he signed the Women, Peace, and Security Act during his administration. It received bipartisan support then. It is also supported by President Biden. It will also improve military effectiveness of our security partners and, thereby, advance implementation of the National Defense Strategy. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, I, too, share a position of working well with my colleague as the ranking member of the Military Personnel Subcommittee. I just feel that he is not appreciating, with all due respect, what this amendment does. We already say that women, peace, and security should be part of it. That was something that was signed by President Trump, and it was bipartisan then. It is something that has also been embraced by President Biden. This is only looking at the fact that very few women in the military of our allies have been participating in this program. This program exists to provide military education and training to our allies, and we are talking about only 6 to 8 percent of them being women who are participating. This is an analysis. That is all this amendment does is analyze whether or not we have promoted this properly to encourage our allies to have servicewomen in their countries participate. We do know that when you have women in the military, it adds to our success. It does not degrade it. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I say to my colleagues, this is a really important amendment. This deals with suicide and securing guns. This program will be a pilot. It will be at five installations. It will be voluntary. It is bipartisan and bicameral. Senator Dan Sullivan is my co-lead on the Senate side. It is already in the Senate NDAA. The NRA is satisfied with this amendment. So what does it do? This year, my subcommittee has spent over 100 hours on the issue of suicide in the military. I have personally spoken to parents and spouses of servicemembers who have died by suicide. We have seen an extraordinary increase in suicide in our Active-Duty servicemembers, some 40 percent increase in the past 5 years, and we have hot spots in areas like Alaska and on the USS George Washington, where most recently seven sailors have died by suicide. In Alaska we have seen the suicide rate double in 2021. Since then, I have traveled to Alaska with Senator Sullivan to visit soldiers in Anchorage and Fairbanks. We have heard from junior enlisted soldiers who feel isolated, stressed out, and disconnected, who must wait 2 to 3 months to see a behavioral health provider. The providers are overwhelmed by demand from suicidal servicemembers. It is a challenging problem. Earlier in March, the subcommittee had a hearing, and one of the experts said that one of the best things we can do is deal with the issue that many persons who are contemplating suicide are making that decision impulsively. A few seconds makes a difference. The experts are saying to us, if we have a simple process by which, voluntarily, servicemembers can request a gun safe or a firearm lock and have it paid for, that will save lives because ideations can come and go so quickly. We must create a new norm, not through mandates, but by encouragement. This amendment would create a voluntary pilot program at five installations, as I already mentioned. Safe storage has bipartisan support from both Presidents Trump and Biden, and I would really request a resounding bipartisan vote for this amendment. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I have great admiration for the ranking member of the committee. A lot of things aren't DOD's responsibility, except for the fact that servicemembers are their responsibility, and we have an obligation to address this extraordinary rate of suicide in the military. This is one modest step, as a pilot program, to determine whether or not it is effective. We have experts telling us it is, and we have a crisis of servicemembers who are taking their lives. There does not appear to be rhyme or reason to it but for the fact that they have suicidal ideations or because they can't see behavioral health experts, which we are trying to address through other elements of the NDAA. I feel very strongly that this is really a key. Again, it is bipartisan, it is bicameral, and the NRA is fine with the amendment. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I think I have said enough, and I will close. I ask for a ``yes'' vote. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, it wasn't short nor sweet, but I am prepared to close and say this is pretty obvious. This does not take rocket science. All we are doing with this amendment, that is bipartisan and bicameral--maybe the gentleman should talk to Senator Grassley. We want to encourage States to do what we have done on the Federal level. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.