Suhas Subramanyam

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, there is new reporting that the Social Security Administration has been told to cut its workforce in half. Unfortunately, I heard from a constituent who works there who was just put on a 30-day leave with no promise to keep their job. This agency helps keep 364,000 of Virginia's seniors out of poverty, supports over 181,000 disabled Virginians, and upholds the American promise that if you spend your life paying into a system, the next generation will have your back. This agency is already understaffed, only reaching 20 percent of their hiring goals. So why would DOGE do this? They want to gut Social Security. My constituents sent me here to protect their benefits. It is clear to me that my colleagues across the aisle and this DOGE program will never stand up against this administration. The Democrats will. As the President and DOGE delay payments, disrupt services, and deny these hard-earned benefits, I will push back and protect Social Security.

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise to share the story of a Federal worker, an FAA scientist, who DOGE and the administration fired. This person's job was to create and maintain flight maps that air traffic controllers and pilots could use to navigate airspace. Without these maps, ``pilots would quite literally be flying blind.'' Yet the Trump administration says they didn't fire anyone at FAA working in critical safety positions. However, it is pretty obvious that the scientists who make the maps pilots use to fly are critical to aviation safety. Moreover, aviation safety has become a big issue lately, with recent close calls and crashes, including one in my home State of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, how do we expect Americans to feel safe if we are firing the very scientists who keep us safe? These cuts aren't going to save much money. These dollars are a drop in the bucket, but they will cost lives.

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as we honor February as Black History Month. I think of the students at Waterford's Second Street School in my district, a one-room schoolhouse established 2 years after the end of the Civil War where kids studied under segregation. I think of Barbara Rose Johns, a civil rights icon from Virginia. Barbara's high school was dilapidated and overcrowded. At just 16, she led her classmates in a walkout, inspiring the Virginia NAACP to sue for integration. The walkout sparked one of five cases reviewed by the Supreme Court in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that Barbara Johns will soon have a statue just steps from this Chamber, alongside George Washington, representing the Commonwealth of Virginia. As a country, we have come a long way since Barbara Rose Johns' high school was integrated, but we can't let our country slide back. We will continue to fight and honor the work and legacies of Barbara Johns and all who fought for a more perfect Union.

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I am genuinely alarmed by the budget that we may be voting on this week. There is a lot not to like, but every American should be paying attention to the cuts being proposed to Medicaid and SNAP benefits. These cuts will hurt millions of Americans and create irreversible damage to our communities. Mr. Speaker, it will hurt my community, where tens of thousands of people benefit from these programs, but this is going to impact every community across every district and across Virginia and across the country. Is it because the richest country in the world can't feed hungry kids or can't get people the care they need? No. It is because this budget takes that money and it gives it to the very richest corporations at the expense of small businesses and working families. The unintended consequences of these cuts will hurt every American, even if they are not on Medicaid or SNAP, and force more middle-class families to live paycheck to paycheck while giving the ultrarich a tax break. Mr. Speaker, let's talk about a bipartisan budget that doesn't hurt Americans and is not a giveaway to companies who don't need it.

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise because many people want to paint Federal workers and contractors as unskilled bureaucrats who waste taxpayer dollars. However, the reality is the opposite. I know this because Virginia is home to hundreds of thousands of our country's Federal workers and contractors, and I have heard from many of them. These Federal workers actually save taxpayers money, and they keep all Americans safe and healthy, despite all the regulations imposed on them by Congress. That is the bureaucracy. In almost all cases, they bring critical skills or expertise that are hard to replace. One GSA employees says firings in her department, which is focused on threats to America's crops, could cost us hundreds of millions of dollars down the road. One contractor who supports anti-terrorism efforts overseas was fired despite his track record of success countering extremism. These firings even threaten border security. A contractor who vets refugees has to lay off 100 security experts because of the cuts. No one will want to serve our government if Federal workers and contractors are treated this way. The attacks on Federal civil servants will cost taxpayers money and make all Americans less safe and less healthy.

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, family separation is devastating and traumatic for any community, but that is especially true for the 70,000 Korean Americans in Virginia and the millions across the country. The Korean war led to the displacement and separation of countless families, and many remained separated for decades. These second- and third-generation Korean Americans were raised on the heartbreaking stories of family members cruelly divided. Now, in the twilight of their lives, they seek to reconnect. That is why I have introduced the bipartisan Korean American Divided Families National Registry Act with my colleague Congresswoman Young Kim. This bill creates a registry to help accelerate the progress for Korean Americans who wish to reunite with lost loved ones. Since 1985, there have been 21 family reunions for citizens of South and North Korea organized by their governments, bringing together 4,000 families. The Korean families here in the U.S. deserve to have that opportunity. Congress must work across the aisle to bring families together, not tear them apart. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Mr. Glenn R. Blanchette. Originally from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Mr. Blanchette joined the U.S. Army after graduating from the University of Rhode Island. After more than 20 years of honorable service, he retired as a Major in 2007 and began his next career with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As the Regional Administrator for the National Capital Region, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, he has been at the forefront of emergency responses for multiple category four and five hurricanes and catastrophic earthquakes, both in the United States and internationally, for almost two decades. Not only was Mr. Blanchett a leader during natural disasters, but he displayed untiring dedication to the U.S. Congress for five Presidential Inaugurations, fifteen Lying in State and Lying in Honor ceremonies, more than fifty Congressional Gold Medal ceremonies, eighteen State Of The Union Addresses, twenty-three Joint Meetings of Congress, concerts, protests, and countless impromptu requests directly supporting the Office of Attending Physician to the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. No matter whether it was early morning or late evening, a weekend or a holiday, rainy or bitterly cold, Mr. Blanchett orchestrated and supervised the delivery of tents, generators, equipment, and supplies for the treatment of heat injuries, traumatic injuries, Advance Cardiac Life Support responses, and patient evacuations, in direct support of the U.S. Congress. Regardless of world events, Mr. Blanchette's ``What do you need?'' and ``We are here for you'' attitude made the impossible, possible. He assembled teams of hundreds of elite medical professionals from all over the country to support tens of thousands of guests, dignitaries, security forces, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Associate Justices and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Vice President and President of the United States, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives during National Special Security Events in the U.S. Capitol. Today I would like to honor Mr. Blanchette and thank him for his decades of service to our country both in the U.S. Army and with the Department of Health and Human Services, and I wish him well in his retirement.

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM

Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise because we are at the crossroads of a constitutional crisis. While I represent and fight for tens of thousands of Federal workers and contractors in my district, this affects every single American. There is a Treasury takeover. Every man, woman, and child's most personal information is in the hands of people who have no real vetting or formal role in our government. They have control of the Federal Government's payment systems. They can now decide which programs, projects, and contractors get funded. That is unconstitutional. Federal agencies authorized by Congress are being cut without any input from Congress. That is unconstitutional. All Federal spending was frozen with little warning to Americans. That is unconstitutional. The Federal workforce is being intimidated and decimated before our eyes, which is illegal. We are damaging our country in a way that could take years, if not decades, to recover. Cutting USAID undermines our standing in the world and keeps us less safe. Cutting funding for agencies and nonprofits that feed kids or run essential services will make us less healthy and less secure. Firing Federal workers and contractors will lead to a brain drain in our government and hurt every single function of our government. This is not rightsizing or downsizing of government. This is dumb- sizing of government. How do I know this? I know these Federal workers and contractors personally. I see them at the grocery store, farmers market, and school drop-off. They take an oath to our country to keep our government running and, most importantly, keep us safe. They often take lower salaries out of a sense of duty to their Federal citizens. They don't care who is President. Why? Federal food safety should not stop because of who is President. Disaster relief should not stop because of who is President. Veterans' benefits should not stop because of who is President. Federal workers make America work. They make America great. At a townhall last night in my district, these Federal workers shared their stories. Their stories were frightening and should alarm all Americans. We had one constituent who is a nuclear scientist. We can't get rid of a nuclear scientist and expect to replace that expertise ever again. This is a constitutional crisis. What are we going to do about it? That is what the people want to know. There must be real oversight and accountability for this administration, especially when there are dangerous incursions into Congress' powers and independence as a legislative branch. We must introduce legislation, hold hearings, speak out, and do everything possible to make sure that this stops. I am introducing legislation to protect Federal workers, prevent unnecessary agency relocations, and stop unconstitutional actions that undermine our democracy and the separation of powers. If citizens are listening at home, they should know that their voice matters. When people spoke up about the Federal freeze, they backed down. Our constituents should speak out, use their voice, and push back because the time for action is now. Join me.