Kim Schrier

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Chair, may I inquire how much time remains.

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Chair, I would like to clarify that we already have provisions in place to prevent wildfires, to remove underbrush, and to thin our forests and make they are more resilient. The thing is that the earlier we can detect wildfires with appropriate weather systems, the earlier our firefighters can jump on it and suppress those fires. You need both. You need the prevention, and you need the ability to respond quickly. So make no mistake. This is a critical amendment. I urge my colleagues to vote for the amendment and for the underlying bill. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Chair, I am thrilled to have worked with so many of my Republican colleagues on these bills to prevent wildfires. I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, Representative Manning, for introducing this very straightforward bill. This bill affirms current law to ensure that women can determine the course of their lives and decide if, when, and under what circumstances to have a child. This is a fundamental right. Despite broad public support for birth control, we have already seen States use the Dobbs decision as an opening to try to block or ban certain methods of contraception. These actions bring a new sense of urgency to make sure no one can take away this very important tool from women. As a pediatrician, I have had the privilege of helping young women decide which method of contraception would be best for them, and not one of them wanted to become pregnant any time soon. Everybody should be able to choose the contraceptive that meets their needs without interference from politicians. This is not a controversial bill. It affirms our right to use contraception and for doctors to prescribe contraception. Frankly, it should get unanimous support in the Chamber. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Chair, I am so glad that my amendment to fund the Research Facilities Act was included in this government spending package. We need to address our deferred research maintenance backlog and increase investments in next-generation agriculture research. This research is critical, as farmers in my district face daunting challenges. For example, the ability for researchers to conduct experiments on plants under various environmental stresses is critical for understanding how crops respond to new climate conditions. Modern facilities can also help researchers screen new crop varieties and understand the impacts of a changing climate on things like nutrient density and susceptibility to pestilence. Many farmers in Washington State rely on the tremendous research done at institutions like Washington State University. Ensuring that they have modern facilities, cutting-edge facilities, will make it easier for them to attract and keep world-class researchers. These investments will reposition the United States for leadership, long-term success, and competitiveness around the world, and make sure we are leading in agricultural research and food research.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Garcia).

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, this new post-Roe reality that we are living with is still sinking in for most of us, but if you are a woman who is pregnant now and needs to end that pregnancy, and you are in one of the States that has outlawed abortion, every day is filled with panic and horror, trying to figure out how to get the care you need. This is a crisis. Now, politicians in some of those States are threatening to criminalize travel to another State for abortion care and to criminalize doctors and anyone else who might help, for example, with transportation. This is outrageous. Such extreme laws are nothing less than an attack on women--on our autonomy, on our freedom, on our health, and on our privacy. These are backward positions. They are extreme and draconian. The decision to have an abortion is one for a woman to make in consultation with her doctor--no one else, definitely not politicians. As a doctor, I have been in the room with women making the extremely difficult and personal decision about whether to end a pregnancy. Politics has no place there. I have been in the room with a woman with an ectopic pregnancy for whom abortion is the standard of care. Let's be clear, State laws that criminalize abortion and also criminalize travel across State lines for abortion put doctors in an impossible situation and put women at risk. As a doctor, I took the Hippocratic Oath to ``first, do no harm,'' and I want you to think for a moment about the harm of a delayed or more complicated abortion, or that ectopic pregnancy, or the harm of having a rape victim carry a pregnancy to term, or the rates of maternal mortality in this country. Make no mistake. These bans are draconian. Banning travel is extreme, controlling, and dangerous. Women will die because a bunch of politicians decided that they should be in charge of women's bodies. This is reprehensible. I will keep doing everything I can to protect women's access to abortion no matter where they live, and I implore my House and Senate colleagues to pass these bills.

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Speier), a real champion for women, for health, and for families.

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), where this is top of mind.

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wilson).

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, once again, I speak as a woman, a mom, a doctor, and a pediatrician who has rescued many babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. I tell you that we have heard a lot of statistics on the other side of the aisle, but one statistic that has not been said is that 100 percent of women who choose abortion make that decision on their own and for themselves, and that is the way that it needs to stay. This is a healthcare decision that only a woman can make in consultation with her doctor. That is why we are here today, to protect women's autonomy over their own healthcare, over their own lives, over their own destinies, and that is a fundamental right. When we talk about freedom, we want to talk and we need to talk about the freedom of a woman to control her destiny, to make her own decisions; and that is why these bills are so important, to protect a woman's right to choose and to make sure that if her State does not allow it, she can choose, freely, to travel to another State and get the care she needs. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I will tell you, my constituents are up in arms. They are emailing me, and they are calling my office outraged that the freedoms that they have had for 50 years are being stripped away from women in one-half of the States in this country. They are furious when they hear about victims of rape not being able to end a pregnancy and when they see a 10-year-old girl who has to flee to a neighboring State so she won't be forced to carry a pregnancy to term-- a 10-year old. This is barbaric. My constituents are worried about what might come next in our home State of Washington. I am the only pro-choice woman doctor in all of Congress. In fact, I am a pediatrician. And I have been in the exam room with teens facing unplanned pregnancies and with mothers who find out that the pregnancy they are so excited about is not a viable one. These are deeply personal circumstances. Frankly, when, whether, and under what circumstances to become a mother is the single most important decision a woman will ever make, and that must be hers to make. The government has no place in the exam room. Today I am voting to make sure that every woman--no matter where she lives--can access abortion, to plan their pregnancies, protect their health, and chart the course of their lives. I want my constituents to know I will fight every day to protect their rights.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Pell Grant Program. In 1972, Congress amended the Higher Education Act by creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant. This legislation provides direct financial aid to low-income students so they can have the same access to higher education and opportunity for success as their higher income peers. This program was later named the Pell Grant for its original sponsor, Sen. Claiborne Pell, Democrat from Rhode Island. The original bill was signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon, and the program has maintained this original bipartisan support over the last 50 years. The federal investment in Pell Grants is targeted to students with demonstrated financial need, with most families at incomes of $40,000 or less, and can be used to fund career and technical education, community college education, university education, and post graduate education. The investment pays off by increasing college completion and boosting economic mobility. To date, more than 80 million students have received a Pell Grant to go to college since the program's creation. Currently, nearly 7 million students are going to college with Pell Grants, or about 40 percent of undergraduate students. In my congressional district, 6,796 students are receiving $28,721,279 in Federal Pell Grant funds to pursue their higher education goals at our local colleges. In my state of Washington, 87,342 students receive $357,725,397 in Federal Pell grant funds. I look forward to Congress continuing the bipartisan support for low- income student access to college through the Pell Grant for another 50 years.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I express my support for H.R. 7666, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022. In over 20 years as a pediatrician, I saw steadily escalating levels of mental illness in my patients. There was a big uptick after 2007 that many associate with ubiquitous social media use. Of course, the pandemic further accelerated rates of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and self-harm. We are seeing 9-year-olds with eating disorders and 10-year-olds with suicidal ideation. This is alarming. We all agree that our children need help, but resources are limited. There just aren't enough behavioral health specialists out there to meet the need, particularly in rural areas like some of those I represent. There are ways to extend the reach of people who have dedicated their lives to supporting our mental health, to leverage those resources so they stretch a little further. One example is the Partnership Access Line, or PAL, that I was able to access as a pediatrician. If I was seeing a patient with a more complicated behavioral health concern, something really beyond the scope of a general pediatrician, I could get a psychiatrist on the line and in-the-moment advice on how to treat that patient. Another example is integrative care, where a mental worker works alongside physicians and other healthcare providers, providing support as needed throughout the day for patients who are struggling with mental illness. These programs and more are supported in the package of bills we will be voting on this week, including mine, the Supporting Children's Mental Health Care Access Act. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this excellent bill.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for the opportunity to speak on this important bill, the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act. American families are struggling. They are continuing to see rising gas prices even as oil and gas companies are making record profits. Higher prices at the grocery store are making it harder to put food on the table, and a lot of this is because farmers are struggling with increasing fuel prices. Costs and availability of transportation to both domestic and export markets continue to be a challenge for the wheat, cherry, apple, and pear growers in my district. This is a global problem, but it is a problem that we can take steps to ease right here at home. This bill provides the resources to do just that. It addresses the cost of fuel by allowing year-round sales of higher ethanol blends, which are consistently less expensive than higher octane gas. It addresses high food prices by helping farmers and helping our supply chain. Fertilizer costs are at record highs since most of our fertilizer is typically sourced from Russia. This bill helps farmers spend less on inputs without lowering crop yields. We are paying skyrocketing prices for meat at the grocery store, but farmers and ranchers don't see any of that additional profit because four companies control 80 percent of U.S. meat processing. That is unfair. This bill expands the availability and capacity of meat processing and will create new jobs, provide more options for small- and medium- sized ranching operations, and help lower the cost of meat at the grocery store. Finally, addressing the cost of trucking and transportation will help farmers get their crops to market. The whole goal here is to make life a little easier for the people we represent, to help you fill up your tank and feed your family. As the only member on the House Agriculture Committee from the Northwest, I will continue to do all that I can to support farmers and lower costs for American families.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Newhouse, my friend, for gathering us together here to honor law enforcement and to mourn several recently fallen police officers. Whenever a police officers is killed in the line of duty it is a tragedy, for the officer, for the family, and for the entire community. Even one such death is too many. And in the last several weeks in Washington State, there have been several, and we have mourned together. As I speak, the funeral is underway for Officer Dan Rocha, killed in the line of duty in Everett on March 25. Just 2 weeks ago, I attended the funeral for Pierce County Sheriff's Deputy Dom Calata, who leaves behind his wife, Erin, his darling preschooler, Dylan, family, and friends. Dom's friend and partner in duty, Officer Rich Scaniffe, spoke at the funeral. And he was critically injured at the same time but, thankfully, survived and will make a full recovery. Back in 2019, when I was first sworn into office, Kittitas County Deputy Sheriff Ryan Thompson was also killed while serving his community. Every day, police officers put themselves in danger to keep our communities safe, and every day, they and their families face the risk that they might not make it home to their loved ones. This is why it has been such a priority of mine to meet with police officers and police chiefs to thank them for their work and to learn how I can help support them and keep them and their communities safe. I have heard from many of my constituents about rising crime rates in our district, including these hostilities toward police officers. Everyone, everyone deserves to feel safe in their communities. That is why I voted to increase funding for local law enforcement a few weeks ago, and why I will continue to push for funding to make sure law enforcement have the tools they need to protect themselves and our communities. I am deeply grateful to police officers for their service. I understand the worries that their families face daily, and mourn together with families and communities for those who have been killed in the line of duty. May their memories be a blessing.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I am delighted that today we will be voting to pass the Affordable Insulin Now Act. This is personal for me. I have type 1 diabetes and insulin keeps me alive. This tiny 2 teaspoon bottle that used to cost $40 now retails for over $300. Most of us need more than one bottle a month to survive. No one should have to ration their insulin--taking just enough to stay alive but not enough to stay healthy. That is a dangerous and sometimes deadly tightrope to walk, which is why this bill to cap insulin at $35 a month is so critical for my patients, as a pediatrician, and for people like me.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank Mr. LaMalfa for his kind words and for cosponsoring this bill with me. My bill, the National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act will help the Forest Service fund the cleanup of damaged public lands. This bipartisan legislation, which passed unanimously out of the Committee on Agriculture would allow the Forest Service to collect and keep interest earned on settlement funds, much like other Federal agencies do, in order to supplement their already strained restoration efforts. The Forest Service is responsible for overseeing the remediation and restoration of lands damaged by mining activities and human-caused wildfires. And when the negligent actions of companies or individuals result in damages to Forest Service property, officials enter a settlement agreement with the responsible parties to hold them accountable. The Forest Service then uses the settlement funds to restore the affected lands. At the moment, the Forest Service does not have the authority to retain interest on those settlement funds like other Federal agencies, like the Department of the Interior and the EPA do. The National Forest Restoration and Remediation Act would simply allow the Forest Service to retain interest on settlement funds and apply those additional resources to restoration work that is abundantly needed. Without this additional funding, the value of settlement funds diminishes over time, and the Forest Service can face long-term budget shortfalls for environmental cleanup. If this bill had been in effect between fiscal years 2015 and 2019, the Forest Service would have received more than $7.5 million to supplement their environmental restoration work. So as we confront another potentially devastating wildfire season, it is so important to ensure that the Forest Service can use accrued interest to protect and remediate our forests. The Forest Service provides many important environmental services in Washington State, including mitigating wildfires and improving forest health. This is especially critical in places like Chelan County in my district where 82 percent of the land is owned by the Forest Service. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were over 50,000 human-caused wildfires last year burning nearly six million acres nationwide. And over half of the wildfires on Forest Service lands are started by humans. My bill will ensure that when we hold bad actors accountable for negligent behavior, the Forest Service can fully use the fines and the interest to rehabilitate the land. I was so proud to introduce this bill with my colleagues Representatives LaMalfa, Rosendale, and Neguse. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill to protect our Federal public lands.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I am so proud to represent Washington's Eighth Congressional District, which stretches from the suburbs of Seattle in the west across the Cascade Mountains into the rich farmland of central Washington. It is home to some of the Nation's largest agricultural producers and exporters whose hay, apples, pears, and cherries are in high demand all around the world. For more than a year, these exporters have shared with me how pandemic conditions and the behavior of foreign-owned shipping carriers are hurting their industries, threatening export markets and relationships that they have developed over decades. They often don't know when a ship will be in port, making it difficult to get their products to the carrier in time. They are forced to pay additional fees when their products--often perishable ones--have to wait at the port to be loaded on to a ship. And shipping carriers are opting to return as many empty containers to China as possible for fast turnaround and their own bottom line, rather than accepting U.S. exports. It is better for them financially to return to China with empty containers to bring back TVs, iPads, and just about everything else we buy from Amazon versus bringing back Eighth District hay or agricultural goods. This rejection threatens to upend our Nation's agricultural industry and relationships built over decades for years to come. I was proud to cosponsor the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 together with Congressmen Garamendi and Johnson. I thank them for their support. This is a great bipartisan bill that will make a real difference for exporters in my district, and I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, Texas' law to pay vigilantes to sue anyone who enables an abortion after 6 weeks is just the latest gross overreach to make it virtually impossible for women to get abortion care. These laws take away a woman's right to determine if and when to have a child. And I can tell you as a doctor that these laws also undermine a doctor's oath to help her patients and the trust between doctor and patient, not to mention the women's own health. It is long past time to stop States from putting up absurd roadblocks with no medical justification, like hallway size, arbitrary waiting periods, unnecessary vaginal ultrasounds, government scripted propaganda, and hospital admitting privileges for procedures that don't require a hospital. This bill blocks States from putting up these barriers to care. As the only pro-choice woman doctor in Congress, I urge my colleagues to join me in protecting a woman's right to a legal, safe abortion no matter where she lives by supporting the Women's Health Protection Act.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, wildfires in Washington State have been increasing in intensity and scale every year for the past few years, and our State and local fire departments are being called to respond like never before. Last year, Kittitas County, a county in my district, worked together with a neighboring district, closely together, to put out the Evans Creek fire. And both counties joined forces, they prevented tremendous damage, stopped the fire. However, only one county received Federal reimbursement money to help them pay the expenses; the other one is now left almost destitute having blown out their budget. So the money followed the county lines, not the fire lines. So my amendment ensures that small municipalities can get Federal reimbursement funds after fighting wildfires, regardless of where those county lines are. It will direct the Wildland Fire Leadership Council to provide recommendations on addressing interjurisdictional fire reimbursement challenges like this one and provide some clarity. As we face increasingly catastrophic wildfire seasons each year, stepping up to help a neighboring county should be encouraged. And a fairer distribution of Federal reimbursement distribution dollars would do just that. This is a commonsense amendment, and I urge my colleagues to support its adoption. For months, exporters in my district have struggled to get their crops overseas because foreign-owned carriers are taking empty containers back to China rather than waiting for our growers to load their crops. This is threatening decades-long trade relationships across the Pacific. These large multination corporations control all overseas transportation, and exporters really have no power. My amendment directs the Federal Maritime Commission to enhance assistance to U.S. exporters and importers both informally and affordably and without the need to hire lawyers. Getting U.S. goods to market in a timely fashion can affect the success of an entire growing season for farmers and for producers. This issue affects not just Washington State, it affects farmers across the country and the lack of shipping container availability is an issue at all U.S. ports. It is time to give exporters more support to ensure their goods can get to market in time.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Lamb for yielding. I am incredibly excited to have three local projects included in the INVEST in America Act. I worked with mayors, county commissioners, and community members across my district to identify priorities and advocate for Federal investment. These projects will improve the safety and resiliency of infrastructure in our communities, create jobs, and boost local economies. Now, I would like to ask my colleagues to support my amendment to codify the Forest Service's Legacy Roads and Trails Program. This program leverages public and private funding to address our national backlog of deteriorating infrastructure, and does so while protecting American rivers and streams, endangered fish, and community water systems with targeted projects, like restoring fish passage and access to upstream habitat for salmon and steelhead, maintaining and storm- proofing forest roads, and improving trails so people can safely recreate in our public lands. Chronic underfunding has left a long backlog of projects, and I am proud to present this solution. As we face the increasing threat of climate change and the need to improve our Nation's crumbling infrastructure, we must ensure pragmatic programs like legacy roads are also protected. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Ms. SCHRIER

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk made in order by the rule.

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, my amendment to this bill is very simple. It would ensure that this important legislation does not place undue burden on small businesses. In so many areas throughout my district, our Main Street businesses are just now finally getting back on their feet. They have faced unprecedented challenges during this past pandemic year. In fact, one small business owner in Auburn almost didn't apply for any Federal financial assistance because she was so overwhelmed by the potential paperwork. Even before the pandemic, small businesses were bogged down with paperwork and administrative burdens, things that can be easily handled by a large corporation but that really are too much of a burden and can put a Main Street shop out of business. When we implement this legislation, we should also understand what effect it will have on small businesses and make it as easy as possible for them to disclose this important information. That is why my amendment requires the Sustainable Finance Advisory Commission to study issues small businesses may face when complying with requirements of this bill and order recommendations to ease regulatory burdens for these businesses. As we move forward in creating transparency for large corporations, it is important that we do so without creating burdens that could really hamper the recovery of small businesses. This is a commonsense amendment, and I urge my colleagues to support its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment that is a commonsense amendment to support our local small businesses. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.