Jackie Speier

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor South San Francisco Police Chief Jeff Azzopardi on the occasion of his retirement. After almost 30 years of service with the department, Chief Azzopardi has decided that it is time for a new chapter in his life that will allow him to spend more time with his family. That desire particularly resonates with me this year because I announced my own retirement from a job I love to spend more time with my family. I had the great honor to work with Chief Azzopardi since he was appointed in 2014. One of the more memorable occasions was a press conference in 2017 in which we announced the first-ever conviction for human trafficking in San Mateo County. That success reflected the outstanding collaboration of law enforcement, elected officials, and nonprofit organizations on the local, state, and federal level. Chief Azzopardi played an essential role in that collaboration. Jeff Azzopardi was hired as a police recruit for the South San Francisco Police Department and sworn in as an officer in 1993. From there he rose through the ranks of K-9 officer, S.W.A.T. officer, school community liaison officer, police corporal, criminal investigations bureau officer, police sergeant, community relations sergeant, police lieutenant, criminal investigations bureau commander, and police captain. After the retirement of former Chief Mike Massoni in 2014, the department conducted a nationwide search and selected Jeff Azzopardi as its new chief in September of that year. No matter the role, Jeff is dedicated to the safety and well-being of our community. He leads by example and always strives for excellence. During his time with the department, he successfully completed the Inner Perspectives Leadership Program, LAPD Leadership Program, and POST Executive Development course. He holds a number of certifications from the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. He also is the former president of the San Mateo County Commanders Group, the president of the San Mateo County Police Chief's and Sheriffs Association, and the Chief of the North Central Regional S.W.A.T. Team and Commissioner for the South San Francisco Commission on Racial and Social Equity. Chief Azzopardi understands the importance of community relations and has been a leader on several community oriented policing projects. He tirelessly emphasized the importance of building bridges between his department and our community. His outstanding service did not go unnoticed. He received numerous awards and honors, including a certificate of commendation from the police department for his work as a sexual assault investigator, a certificate of commendation from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, a lifetime achievement award from the South San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Carl Valero Lifetime Achievement Award from Pacifica American Little League, and Police Officer of the Year from the San Mateo County Trial Lawyers Association. Born in San Francisco, Jeff attended Terra Nova High School in Pacifica and then received his Bachelor's Degree in Public Administration from Chico State University and his Master's Degree in Public Administration from Notre Dame de Namur University. As South San Francisco's Top Cop is leaving his post, he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife of 21 years, Nikole, and their sons Nat and Drew. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to rise with me to thank Chief Azzopardi for keeping South San Francisco one of the safest and most innovative cities in the Bay Area. His exemplary leadership has earned him the respect and adoration of his colleagues and South City residents. His contributions over the last three decades will outlast his service.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank our outstanding chairman. Madam Speaker, this helmet has been on my shelf in my office for 9 years. It has the signatures of 58 military servicemembers who have been sexually assaulted. It was a daily reminder to me that we had so much work to do. The clarion call of them, and so many others, hundreds of thousands of other servicemembers who have been sexually assaulted in the military has finally been heard. We cannot erase their anguish, their pain, their abuse, their scarring, but we can, through this NDAA, change it for future servicemembers. Make no mistake, Madam Speaker, this is a seismic reform of the military justice system as it relates to sexual assault, as it relates to murder, as it relates to kidnapping. It is, in fact, creating a separate, distinct office which will be populated by those who are professional lawyers skilled in sexual assault, and investigators who will do the investigations. They will make the decisions as to whether or not these cases move forward. Beyond that, we make a crime of sexual harassment. We don't go far enough because, unfortunately, it is still in the chain of command. Mind you, 100,000 servicemembers are sexually harassed every year. Sexual harassment begets sexual assault. We have more work to do there. Beyond that, in this particular measure we have a 2.7 percent increase for our servicemembers. We also provide up to 12 weeks of parental leave. Our version had a required opportunity for 12 weeks, but that was changed, and, hopefully, we will move on that in the future. We are improving childcare centers that are failing. We have required an independent review commission to look at suicides within the military.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, we have now required racial and gender data collection for NJP. We also are providing better access to mental health. In the end, when servicemembers serve so do their families. This bill delivers on our commitment to them and to the military families. It also honors the memory of Specialist Guillen and others like her who have been killed, as well as the tens of thousands of survivors living with the scars of sexual assault. Madam Speaker, I thank Josh Connolly, my chief of staff; Brian Collins; Chuck Jackson, my fellow. I also thank the committee staff, Ilka Regino, Hannah Kaufman, Dave Giachetti, Ranking Member Mike Gallagher, and a special thanks to Chairman Adam Smith, who has worked so closely with me in making sure we got to this point.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mark Laret, retiring President and Chief Executive Officer of the University of California San Francisco Health and a treasured friend. The San Francisco Giants recently announced that Buster Posey is retiring. For those who understand Mark Laret and his role at UCSF Health, the departure of Mark is equally earthshaking. Mark Laret is a 1980 Regents Scholar graduate of UCLA. He earned his Master's in Political Science from the University of Southern California. He joined UCLA Medical Center in 1980 and worked his way up the ranks, and then transferred to UC Irvine. After Irvine, he came to UCSF and never left. Mark arrived at UCSF Health after a disappointing attempt to merge with Stanford Health. At a time when the two organizations decided to end their merger, and many saw UCSF Health as the weaker partner, Mark took an $86 million deficit at the merged entity and produced a turnaround for UCSF Health. It wasn't easy, and he later remarked, ``I think when you are faced with a very difficult turnaround situation, the first thing you do is listen, and let people vent, hear them out-- hear their take on what went wrong, and what caused the issue . . . . [hear] what they're proud of about the place they work, what they think those strong core assets are. What do they want to see change, what's their hope for the future?'' What faculty and labor wanted was new management. A new executive team was recruited, and it operates under what Mark calls PRIDE (Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence). UCSF's commitment to quality patient care, operational efficiency, deep employee engagement, and health equity were formalized. Although it would take another 14 years, equity remained a core value and was made concrete when UCSF acquired Oakland Children's Hospital, now known as UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, Oakland. A new capital campaign to update that campus has begun. UCSF Health also focused on regional care and an expansion of research. To expand its research capacity, Mark and his board created an entirely new and state of the art campus at Mission Bay. From the remains of railroad tracks and industrial decay, UCSF Mission Bay rose to offer globally competitive research space and hospitals that serve the entire San Francisco Bay Area. $1.6 billion was needed by an institution that only a few years earlier was teetering on the edge of financial ruin. Mark is a visionary, and philanthropists from throughout the Bay Area supported that vision with $600 million in donations, matched by $700 million in borrowing and other funds. Today, the Mission Bay campus includes Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco, Bakar Cancer Hospital, Betty Irene Moore Women's Hospital, and the Ron Conway Family Gateway Medical Building. From birth to passing, relying heavily upon one of the globe's premier research and training programs, UCSF Health provides first rate health care for the people of our region. I have known Mark Laret for decades dating back to my years in the state legislature where we worked together after the unwinding of the Stanford merger. The first district that I represented in Congress had the UCSF Parnassus campus at its outer boundary. I was thrilled and spoke regularly to Mark and his leadership team about the vision for UCSF and its role in the Bay Area. He was an especially important advisor during our consideration of the Affordable Care Act. He was always laser focused on providing the best possible care for as many Americans as possible while maneuvering the complex financing of our health care system. UCSF is a health machine built to fight a global pandemic. From early research into the technology that led to the vaccines to testing capacity and early healthcare directives, having UCSF Health in San Francisco fighting SARS-CoV-2 and its deadly progeny, COVID-19, likely saved thousands of lives in our region. Mark Laret has been the voice of authority, compassion, and leadership during this crisis and in every discussion about quality health care reform. In the many years that he has advised me, he was always trustworthy, informative, and persuasive. I have the deepest respect and admiration for his intellect and integrity. From a small research and treatment campus on a hill and a few isolated campuses elsewhere, to a bustling regional powerhouse and global standard setter, UCSF Health prospered tremendously under the tenure of Mark Laret. After 21 years at the helm of this prestigious healthcare institution, it's now time to say goodbye to an historic leader. Let it be known that a humanitarian is retiring who can now spend more of his time with his beloved wife Jan Laret and their son Parker and daughter Casey. His duty having been accomplished with grace, his rest is justly earned.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I take no pleasure in introducing this resolution. No one asked me to introduce it, no one tapped me on the shoulder. I am a victim of violence. I know what it is like. I also was in the gallery clamoring for life when the shots rang out in the Speaker's lobby. We are here today because a sitting Member thought it was okay to post a deranged, animated video of himself killing a fellow Member of this House and also attacking the President of the United States. That video has been seen by three million people. It was up for over 2 days before it was taken down. Inciting violence begets violence. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has become the go-to subject of the radical right to stir up their base, as too often is the case for women of color. It is disgusting and profoundly unacceptable. Tragically, the minority leader has not condemned the video. For 8 days, he said nothing. Silence speaks volumes. Silence normalizes violence. Violence against women in politics is a global phenomenon. A 2016 survey by the Inter-Parliamentary Union found that 82 percent of women parliamentarians have experienced psychological violence, and 44 percent have received threats of death, rape, beatings, or abduction. The intent of these online threats against women is clear: Silence them, strip them of their power, and discourage them from running for office. The Congressman defends his post, published with House resources and posted on his official Twitter and Instagram accounts. It didn't stop there. He sent an email to supporters that weekend stating that the ``faux outrage'' was ``infantile''--this is not faux outrage. This is not infantile--and the accusations are ``shrill'' and ``hyperventilating.'' It doesn't take a rocket scientist to glean that this is gendered, coded language. The Congressman shows no remorse. In fact, yesterday the Congressman said, ``I did not apologize.'' Twenty-three Members of the House in the history of this country have been censured for actions including insulting the Speaker or using unparliamentary language. Certainly, conduct by a Member depicting murdering another Member of the House deserves censure. Let me be clear. If a Democrat did the same thing, I would introduce the same resolution.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pay tribute to a registered nurse and leader in health care for marginalized people, specifically people with AIDS and the impoverished. Anne Hughes, Ph.D., RN was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1953 and studied nursing there at Gwynedd Mercy College. She went on to Boston College to receive her Master's Degree and then to the University of Washington in Seattle. She received a Ph.D. in nursing from the University of California, San Francisco, in 2007. Dr. Hughes died earlier this year after more than 30 years of service to San Francisco's public health hospitals. She worked at San Francisco General Hospital as a clinical nurse specialist; hospice nurse and on the HIV/AIDS unit. From 1987 to 2000, at the height of the epidemic, she provided compassionate care when HIV/AIDS was highly stigmatized because it affected primarily gay men. She began in an era when few in the country knew much about this disease. Dr. Hughes was a soft-spoken leader known for her kindness to patients, and colleagues. She also served beyond San Francisco and helped found the American Association of Nurses in AIDS CARE, serving as President of the organization in its early years. Dr. Hughes used her clinical expertise and served as the first co-editor of the ``Core Curriculum for Nurses in HIV/AIDS Care,'' a major undertaking with over 102 contributors. In 2000, Dr. Hughes left San Francisco General to work at San Francisco's Laguna Honda Hospital, the largest skilled nursing facility in the country. Her doctoral study research focused on how poor and homeless people die in San Francisco. She brought her knowledge of the emerging field of palliative care and her hospice experience to Laguna Honda. She was the first nurse selected to be a department director. She served on San Francisco's End of Life Task Force, an interdisciplinary, inter-health system group that sought to improve care throughout San Francisco. Dr. Hughes wrote numerous chapters and articles on HIV/AIDS, hospice care and palliative care. She was elected to, and served on, the board of the national Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses Association. Her many accomplishments won her an invitation to be inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing. As I close these remarks, let me offer Speaker Pelosi's and my condolences to her wife, Marylin Dodd, Ph.D. RN, and to her extended family. The requirements of a public health professional likely cost Dr. Hughes many hours that might otherwise have been devoted to family and friends. In their grief they can take comfort from the reality that her hours were spent in heroic work, tending to the needs of those who, many times, had few others who would acknowledge their humanity. They can justifiably be proud of all that she achieved in her professional life. Dr. Hughes gave us a wonderful example of what public service can mean to this nation. Our nation now extends to her this acknowledgement, in its chronicle of the proceedings of Congress. We hope that other stories and facts related herein today will rise to the outstanding example of duty and honor demonstrated by the life of Dr. Hughes.

Ms. SPEIER

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania for her comments. I do believe that today a woman serving in the Air Force would have the benefits of 12 weeks of paid parental leave and, hopefully, in the very near future a childcare system that will not speak of some 9,000 who are waiting for childcare slots that don't exist in childcare centers in the military. It is shameful that we have to legislate that, but we are in the process of doing it. I now will join my colleagues in welcoming our colleague from the great State of Illinois, one of our new but very effective members, Congresswoman Marie Newman. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Newman).

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments and for her great leadership. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the great State of California (Ms. Barragan).

Ms. SPEIER. That is part of what we are trying to do with Build Back Better. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Houlahan), my colleague on the Armed Services Committee and the Military Personnel Subcommittee, and someone who has served our country in the military.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I am very impressed that my colleague took the red-eye because she was caring for her family and she is here tonight caring for her constituents. I hope the gentlewoman can go home and get some rest. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee). My colleague is a great advocate for all those in her State and throughout the country.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her comments, and I thank Madam Speaker for allowing us to have this Special Order hour to talk about families in America and what the Build Back Better plan will do to make sure that families have childcare, have pre-K, have the opportunity to go back to work. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I am astonished by the last hour. It is like they are living in a different universe. If you look at the economic growth in the United States under this administration, it is actually growing at such a rate that by the end of the year it will have reached 6 percent in growth. So all of that blather that went on on the other side of the aisle should be registered as what it is: False. But we are here to talk about something much more important than a bunch of lies. We are here to talk about what 90 Members of the Democratic Women's Caucus are concerned about, and that is the care economy. The question that we want to ask is: Why does America not value our families or our children? Why is it that France has provided 8 weeks of maternity leave to working women since 1913--yes, since 1913--yet we struggle to provide paid family leave? Why is it that Germany 30 years ago was able to decide children have the right to quality childcare, yet some of my colleagues call universal childcare and pre-K a handout? Surely if our European counterparts can understand that childcare and pre-K is not babysitting, it is education that fuels the brain and emotional development in the most formative years of a child's life so that children can grow and thrive, we certainly can grasp that. Surely my colleagues who stand here and preach about the sanctity of life can understand the hypocrisy of advocacy for birth but not advocacy for life. After they come out of the womb is when we should be investing in them. And surely, they can understand that the she-cession that happens to both Republican women and Democratic women is real in this country and has resulted from a pandemic that isn't just a burden on working women and families, it is a burden on all of us. It is an issue that touches every corner of our society and government from national security to economic growth, and most importantly, the health and well-being of our children and the progress of our country as we work to build back better. Now, I am just getting started here, but I have got many colleagues who are here and want to speak to this issue. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Ms. Sherrill).

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I would ask the Congresswoman, before she leaves, she has also served in the military, and as she called upon this being an economic issue, is it not also a national security issue?

Ms. SPEIER. I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for participating today. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lois Frankel), my friend and colleague, and co-chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus.

Ms. SPEIER. Well, that is why we have lost so many slots in childcare centers around the country. That is why 60 percent of our families live in childcare deserts now. Think about that. There is no childcare available, even if they have the resources to pay for it because the infrastructure doesn't exist anymore because we paid them so little. And the Build Back Better plan, as you know--and you can articulate--is going to change all of that.

Ms. SPEIER. It is about $11 an hour, isn't it?

Ms. SPEIER. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Ms. SPEIER. Isn't it stunning that we will pay those who watch our money six times as much money as we will pay those who take care of our children?

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, we all know that from 1 to 3 is when the brain is developing. That is when the resources need to be made available to these young infants and toddlers so that they will be prepared to then go into pre-K and then into school. If you don't have that experience, you are not going to have the children being able to do well in school and then to be able to be persons in our communities who are working very important jobs. So if it is truly about the children, let's make it about the children and build back better.

Ms. SPEIER. That is correct. In fact, as I pointed out earlier, France had it back in 1913. Think about that. We are a century later and we are still struggling with parental and medical leave. It is important to point out, the vast majority of this money, in terms of who takes advantage of parental and medical leave, it is for the individual. Fifty percent of the paid leave goes for an individual who is sick and who needs that particular benefit to be able to have the surgery or be provided the healthcare during a time of sickness. So when we say paid parental and medical leave, the big beneficiary of that benefit is probably an older American who is in the workforce who, without this, would have to use their sick leave up and then probably go on unpaid leave.

Ms. SPEIER. Ninety of us.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman and dear friend, Ms. Frankel. Madam Speaker, I would also point out that as we look at the infrastructure bill that everyone is supporting, that trillion-dollar package is going to create 2 million jobs over the next 10 years. That is great, but 90 percent of those jobs are going to men. Meanwhile, the pandemic has created an environment where 1.6 million women have left the workforce. That is the lowest participation of women in the workforce since 1988. We are going back. We are not going forward, unless we have the Build Back Better plan, which is going to provide the infrastructure for childcare and pre-K and the opportunity for women to get back to work. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), my dearest friend.

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her rousing speech and making the case, once again, that women are the backbone of this country. If we build back better in the Build Back Better plan, what we will have is a situation where 2 million more jobs will be created. There will be $24 billion more in take-home pay for women, which will then move through the economy and benefit all of us, as well. It is my great pleasure to introduce one of our newer Members, but one of our feisty new Members. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Wild).