Lateefah Simon

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Gloria Steinem, who died yesterday at her home in New York City at the age of 92. Gloria devoted each breath of her life to securing a better future for women and girls in this country and beyond. In 1972, she helped to bring Ms. Magazine into the world and helped to build a movement. The Ms. Foundation for Women put resources directly into community organizations, led by and fighting for a more just future for women and girls. I know this because I came of age at that time. When I was 19 years old, working with young women surviving the underground street economy, Gloria directly supported that work and stood with us. She is one of the reasons that I am in this Chamber today. Her family asked that we light a candle. I will. We must continue to keep her fight and that light moving.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the distinguished career of Dr. Michael Stewart Witherell, the Director of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Dr. Witherell was born on September 22, 1949, in Toledo, Ohio. In 1968, Dr. Witherell received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan and went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1973. Dr. Witherell began his academic career as a faculty member at Princeton University. In 1981, he moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he would eventually become the UC Presidential Chair in Physics. As a working experimental particle physicist, Dr. Witherell pursued groundbreaking research focused on the fundamental building blocks of matter. This pioneering work earned Dr. Witherell the prestigious W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics in 1990. In his later career, Dr. Witherell researched dark matter, contributing to the design of the LUX-Zeplin (LZ) dark matter experiment. Dr. Witherell's research and experimental work is highly respected in his field and continues to be widely cited to this day. In 1999, Dr. Witherell accepted the role as Director of Fermilab, the country's leading laboratory for high-energy physics. During his tenure, from 1999 to 2005, Fermilab upgraded its Tevatron accelerator complex and completed a $150 million project to build a long-baseline neutrino facility capable of beaming neutrinos 450 miles underground from Illinois to a detector in Minnesota. Dr. Witherell's visionary leadership at Fermilab earned him the U.S. Secretary of Energy's Gold Award in 2004, the Department of Energy's highest honor. From 2005 to 2016, Dr. Witherell served as the Vice Chancellor of Research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In that role, Dr. Witherell helped increase extramural research expenditures from $165 million to $227 million. In March of 2016, Dr. Witherell was appointed Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, overseeing a workforce of 4,000 and five national user facilities serving over 17,000 researchers annually. Throughout his tenure, Dr. Witherell spearheaded a mass modernization of LBNL's facilities initiating the Advanced Light Source upgrade, completing the Perlmutter supercomputer for the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, commencing the Doudna supercomputer project, and completing the Energy Sciences Network upgrade ahead of schedule. Dr. Witherell also helped drive investment into LBNL, leading to the creation of the Integrative Genomics Building. Under Dr. Witherell's leadership, LBNL has received more Early Career Research awards than any other national laboratory. Since 2016, many of those awards were for early research in the fields of quantum information science and artificial intelligence, positioning LBNL to take a significant role in these national priority areas. Under his leadership, LBNL also became the first of 10 Department of Energy laboratories to earn grades of A- or above in all eight areas of its annual performance evaluations for four consecutive years, demonstrating Dr. Witherell's remarkable operational acumen. Throughout his storied career, Dr. Witherell has consistently demonstrated deep curiosity, managerial excellence, and a commitment to public service and the advancement of scientific knowledge. Our country has been lucky to have Dr. Witherell at the helm of some of our Nation's premier laboratories and research institutions. I wish Dr. Witherell a happy and healthy retirement, and I sincerely thank him for his contributions to the United States.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Daphne Muse, a daughter of Washington, D.C., who made Oakland, California, her home for more than 50 years. She recently transitioned at the age of 81. Daphne was a mother, a mentor, an intellectual, an avid disability rights advocate, a writer, and a keeper of Black letters. She helped run Drum & Spear Bookstore here in Washington, D.C., a legendary Black bookstore here in the Capital. For the crime of selling books to Black folks in the civil rights movement, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI placed her under surveillance. She answered with a life's work: collecting and gathering more than 22,000 letters and papers documenting Black life across the diaspora. At Mills College, she served as a leader, mentored countless young women, and gave her heart to the education of girls and women. I was one of the beneficiaries of her love and her brilliance. Oakland, California, raised a giant, Mr. Speaker. May her name be in remembrance always.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bipartisan legislation, the Small Business Cybersecurity Assistance Evaluation Act. Much has been said, but this bill would direct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the cybersecurity threats facing our small businesses. It would ensure that Congress has the best data available to protect our small businesses from cyberattacks. Now, we know that small businesses in this country drive innovation, create jobs, and support our communities in every single corner of all 50 States. In my district alone, there are 16,000 small businesses, and we know, as it was said earlier, that approximately 99 percent of small businesses use at least one technology platform. At the same time, cyber threats are becoming more and more sophisticated by the day. Many small business owners do not have dedicated cybersecurity staff or the resources to protect themselves. A single cybersecurity attack could mean the difference between survival and failure for our mom-and- pop businesses residing on our Main Streets. I am very grateful to Congressman Bresnahan for partnering with me to introduce this very important legislation. I thank Chairman Williams and Ranking Member Velazquez for their continued leadership on behalf of America's small businesses. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this very important legislation.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Republicans would rather separate these families. Instead of investing in and revitalizing communities, Republicans would rather invest in racist lawlessness.

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member McGovern and Ms. Scanlon for the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the rule and to the dangerous Republican reconciliation bill. One of my colleagues just talked about taking us back. One of the things that I think folks can agree with all over this country is that the Republican Party is, indeed, taking us back to a Jim Crow America and to a space where sworn officers are taking folks off the streets who are American citizens and detaining them without due process. The majority wants an egregious $40 billion more for the Trump immigration enforcement machine. Let's not forget how we got here. People have been murdered, and communities have been traumatized. The priorities are clear. Instead of demanding accountability for the murder of two American citizens in Minnesota, Republicans are rushing to hand these agencies a blank check. Instead of working across the aisle to govern responsibly, my colleagues are pushing through billions of dollars to unaccountable agencies while cutting access to your healthcare. Instead of addressing affordability and investing in the well-being of our families, our children--

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I arrived to the Floor late. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 208.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and remember the three victims of the shooting at the Islamic Center in San Diego, California. Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nadir Awad were ripped from their lives far too soon. I want to take a moment to remember these three men not as victims but as pillars of their community, of my community. Amin is remembered as a joyous man, someone who never stopped smiling and welcomed everyone with a warm peace and presence. This week, he ran into the fire, saving hundreds of children. Mansour is remembered as an elder. He was right there when the community center was first built. He was there this week when he died. He was someone you could always rely on. Nadir is remembered as a constant figure of devotion and community. He lived right across the street from the center, and his wife taught school in the building. I want to say that these men were taken away from the Earth far too soon. May God grant them forever lasting peace. Violence has no place in this country. Violence has no place in our places of worship. ``Amen''; ``Ameen.''

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about who we are in this moment when the world is watching us choose. The President's illegal war has already lasted 75 days and cost us over $29 billion. We are bombing schoolgirls in Iran, and we are standing by while civilians are being murdered by the thousands. We are shattering every global alliance that we have built. And we stand alone. History will require atonement, but we can choose differently. We have a choice right now. We are a nation of profound moral power. The power does not live in bullets, but it lives in our willingness to return to our deepest values, to choose diplomacy when a world expects war, to honor the lives of those we claim to protect while refusing to destroy them. This is a moment that can and will define us; not who we are, rather, who we are choosing to be. To achieve a free Iran, a free Cuba, a free Lebanon, a free Venezuela, a free Sudan, a free Gaza, diplomacy is our best tool. I will not support or give another dime to this war, and I call on Congress to remember who we are meant to be.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Dr. Clarence Jones, the speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King, told me a story that, during the civil rights protests in the mid-1960s, hundreds of Black, White, and Jewish young people sat at lunch counters throughout the South, understanding and knowing what they were up against, while the Klan burned cigarettes on their backs, spit in their faces, pushed them from behind, and knocked them down. They were led outside to hoses and dogs. Harry Belafonte and Dr. Clarence Jones, on a push from Dr. Martin Luther King, drove up to New York City and sat with donors and folks on the right side of justice to get bail to bail out those hundreds of children. Would we rather they sit in jails in the Deep South and be beaten and killed? Mr. Speaker, think about what we are asking today: for churches and charities to stop their mission to ensure that people in this country have the life, liberty, and due process that they so deserve.

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, the ranking member is right. This is a very strange bill. It is absolutely right that it is judges who make the determination whether bail should be recorded in the record. It is the judge. I want to make sure that we are really clear what is in the language of the bill. This bill directly targets faith institutions and nonprofit organizations that step in every single day to support families navigating a deeply unequal justice system across the country. A wide network of faith leaders every Sunday pass a hat to ensure that there is deep and formal due process for individuals facing prosecution. Under this legislation, those churches, those individuals, would be subject to enforcement. This bill changes how we think about the justice system in this country. It allows for people to return to their children, keep their jobs, and prepare for their next day in court. That is what the bail process should be about. While I don't have much time left, if you would allow me, my mentor, Dr. Clarence Jones, the speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King, told me--

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the retirement of a towering figure in the Bay Area, the Chief Executive Officer of La Clinica de La Raza, Inc., Ms. Jane Garcia. Ms. Garcia was born in El Paso, Texas in 1953. Like far too many Americans, Ms. Garcia grew up uninsured, only visiting doctors in times of great desperation and sickness. Ms. Garcia's challenging experience inspired her to pursue an education in public health. In 1975, Ms. Garcia moved to the East Bay. In 1977, she began her Master of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. During her studies, Ms. Garcia interned for a local healthcare clinic based in East Oakland. Called La Clinica de La Raza, the clinic offered comprehensive free medical services to a largely Latino population that was underserved by the healthcare system. In 1982, Ms. Garcia would rise to the role of CEO of La Clinica, which was then a small, community-based project with a $2 million budget. During her nearly 45-year tenure, La Clinica grew into an expansive community healthcare system with an annual budget exceeding $175 million, a designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center, and a staff of more than 1,200 committed caregivers. La Clinica expanded its care options to include a range of culturally appropriate and accessible primary and preventative care services. La Clinica now serves over 82,000 patients a year across 35 sites in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano Counties. More than 386,000 annual patient visits are made to La Clinica sites around the Bay Area. Ms. Garcia's leadership has ensured that care is not only accessible, but culturally relevant and meets patients where they are, with dignity and respect. In addition to her work with La Clinica, Ms. Garcia has been widely recognized as an authority on issues of health and health equity. Ms. Garcia's fierce advocacy was instrumental in ensuring continued state funding for prenatal care for immigrant women. Ms. Garcia is a founding member and served as Chair of the California Primary Care Association, representing community health centers across the state of California. She has also served as Chair of the California Endowment, Alameda Alliance for Health, Community Health Center Network, Community Clinic Consortium, and continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the California Primary Care Association and Aliados Health. Ms. Garcia has received an array of honors for her decades-long commitment to community health and service. She has been awarded the Common Cause Award for Public Service Achievement, the National Association of Community Health Centers' Betsey K. Cooke Advocacy MVP Award, induction into both the Alameda and Contra Costa County Women's Hall of Fame, recognition as a Most Admired CEO and one of the Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times, designation as UC Berkeley School of Public Health Alumna of the Year in 2019 and one of the school's 75 Most Influential Alumni, and received the 2025 Samuel Merritt University Health Impact Award. In 2025, Ms. Garcia was selected by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks as Woman of the Year for California Assembly District 15. In 2026, she was selected by Assemblymember Mia Bonta as Woman of the Year for California Assembly District 18. Throughout her many decades of work in the Bay Area, Ms. Garcia has proven time and time again to be a committed and indefatigable leader and advocate in the field of community healthcare. Her visionary leadership has resulted in transformational change for thousands of California's most vulnerable and underserved residents. I sincerely thank Ms. Garcia for her tireless work and wish her the very best in her retirement.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, this is Women's History Month, and I rise to introduce my constituent of the week. Her name is Alysa Liu. She is 20 years old, and she was raised in Oakland, educated in Oakland, and trained in Oakland. Two weeks ago in Milan, Alysa brought home two Olympic gold medals to the United States of America. She is the first American woman on the top of that podium in 24 years. She walked away from skating at 16 and came back on her own terms. Her father fled China after Tiananmen Square, arrived in Oakland with nothing, worked his way through law school, and has raised five children on his own. He brought her to the ice at just 5 years old, and she took it from there. Watch her skate, and you see something extremely rare, Mr. Speaker, not just excellence but joy and clarity. She is a young woman so completely herself. An Olympic arena becomes a place of joy and freedom. That is an American hero, not despite where she came from but because of it. Oakland is proud, and we honor Alysa Liu today.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Grand Lake Theater, a historic movie palace located in Oakland, California. The Grand Lake Theater opened its doors to patrons on March 6, 1926, boasting a Neoclassical facade designed by famed Bay Area architects the Reid Brothers and a striking, 52-foot-tall rooftop sign complete with 2,980 colored bulbs. At the time of its opening, the Grand Lake was the largest theater West of the Mississippi River. Its 2,200 seats and full theatrical stage hosted silent movies, and many stars of the vaudeville era, including the Jazz Age comedy duo Burns and Allen. With the increasing popularity of so-called ``talking pictures,'' the Grand Lake transitioned to exclusively screening movies in the late 1920s. Even during the 1940s, at a time when the city of Oakland played host to 49 different cinemas, the Grand Lake stood apart for its opulence and architectural flair. The Grand Lake was not immune from the difficulties brought on by the decline of theater attendance in the post-war era. In December of 1979, the theater's ground lease was purchased by Allen Michaan's Renaissance Rialto theater group. Mr. Michaan invested heavily in the historic theater's restoration, expanding the number of available movie screens by renovating the original retail wing of the building into two smaller movie palaces in the Egyptian and Moorish styles and restoring the enormous rooftop display, the largest surviving rotary contact incandescent sign in the world. In the early 1980s, a Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ was installed in the main auditorium, delighting movie-goers with vintage music on Friday and Saturday evenings. In 2021, Mr. Michaan purchased the actual property of the Grand Lake from the descendants of its original owners, ensuring its future preservation. The Grand Lake Theater is a beloved icon of Oakland and anchor of the vibrant Grand/Lakeshore neighborhood. In recent years, the Grand Lake has played host to a vast array of community events, charity fundraisers, and film premieres, most recently debuting the films ``Freaky Tales'' and ``Sinners,'' the Oscar-nominated movie by Oakland director Ryan Coogler. The historic theater has been the winner of the East Bay Express's ``Best Place to See a Movie'' readers' poll for over a decade and, in 2025, was named by Variety as one of ``The 21 Coolest Movie Theaters in the World.'' I congratulate the Grand Lake Theater on 100 years of entertaining and dazzling the people of Oakland and the East Bay, and here is to another century of fun, community, and entertainment.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a son of Oakland, California, my constituent, Ryan Coogler, whose film ``Sinners'' has earned 16 Academy Award nominations, the most of any film in Oscar history. Ryan Coogler was born in Oakland, California, raised in Richmond, and educated at Saint Mary's in Berkeley. He first came to national attention by putting a human face on the murder of Oscar Grant. He is the youngest director to helm a billion- dollar film. Now, with ``Sinners,'' he has given the world the work of prophetic cinema. ``Sinners'' deploys the imagery of Southern Gothic horror to excavate the truths this Republic has long preferred to bury. Vampirism became a metaphor in the film to uplift systems that fed on Black life, body, and spirit since the founding of this country. It is the full humanity that he lifts up in this movie, the humanity of Black folks building community and clamoring and claiming joy under apartheid conditions. Alongside Ryan Coogler, our district celebrates Oaklanders Delroy Lindo and Raphael Saadiq for their nominations. They are three Oakland artists, and one extraordinary film. Mr. Speaker, we are so very proud of Ryan Coogler.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, this bill doesn't secure elections. It shrinks the electorate. I find it so interesting that in real time we are having this conversation. When we talk about Black voters, we are going to talk about Black voters. This bill was written so poorly it doesn't even take into consideration women of all races who changed their names when they got married. It is ridiculous. It has been a Federal crime, we know, for noncitizens to vote since 1996. Georgia audited 8.2 million voter registrations and found 20 noncitizens, Mr. Speaker, 20. That is the emergency. That is the emergency that justifies blocking 21 million American citizens who don't have the papers to fill what this bill demands. We all know the history. Darnella Cavaness, my grandmother from Malvern, Arkansas, had to face the poll tax. After Reconstruction, nobody wrote the word ``race'' into a single suppression statute. They wrote poll taxes. They wrote literacy tests, good character clauses. It was all race neutral on paper but devastating in practice. The SAVE America Act sits in that tradition. I will say it again. The SAVE America Act sits in that tradition. I have a 14-year-old daughter. I won't stand here and make voting harder for her when she decides to register to vote. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't get to shrink the franchise. I urge a strong ``no'' from all of our colleagues who believe in a democracy that we were all promised.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Velazquez for her support, particularly for freshman members from the Democratic side on the Small Business Committee and to Representative Williams for his collaboration on this bill. Madam Speaker, I am extremely proud to lead the Main Street Parity Act with Chair Williams. As members of the Small Business Committee, one of the most bipartisan committees in the 119th Congress, we hear the same messages repeated every single day: Small businesses don't need special treatment. In fact, they are just asking for a fair shot in this economy. The SBA's 504 loan program is designed to provide that fair shot through basic good policy and affordable, long-term financing. The financing helps small businesses buy buildings, buy property, expand operations, and employ Main Street neighbors throughout our community. Under the current law, not all small businesses are treated the same. Owners of so-called small purpose properties are required to put up significantly more cash up front, often 5 to 10 percent more than standard property owners. These include places like bowling alleys, car washes, marinas, funeral homes, and recreation centers. These are the kinds of small businesses that serve local families, create jobs, and keep our communities vibrant. For many entrepreneurs, the higher equity requirement is the difference between jumping in headfirst and creating new economic opportunities for their communities and families or walking away entirely. This way of doing business just doesn't reflect our current economic or technological realities. This bill offers a new opportunity for Americans across the country to step forward. The Main Street Parity Act is common sense. It is a clear fix that brings these loans in line with the 504 standardization programs by setting an equity requirement at 10 percent. Madam Speaker, I encourage Members from both sides of the aisle to put small business owners and their employees first by supporting this bill.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, in 1968, 75 percent of Americans disapproved of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today is his birthday. The FBI called him the most dangerous Negro in America. They wiretapped his home and his office. They sent him a letter, suggesting that he should take his own life. King kept walking. One year before Memphis, at Riverside Church, he said what cost him resources and allies. He said: ``The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government.'' He said: ``A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.'' Then he built the Poor People's Campaign. Black, White, and Brown came together, demanding that Congress address poverty in the richest Nation on this Earth. This is the King that we must remember, not the safe icon but the dangerous peacemaker. He wrote: ``I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.'' As we honor his legacy, let us refuse what he refused. Let us walk where he walked: Toward justice, toward the oughtness that forever confronts us.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Hayes for bringing us here tonight. Mr. Speaker, America, this country, has long promised that every child has a right to learn. That promise exists because parents, not just this Chamber, parents, refused to give up on their children's future. Mr. Speaker, one of those parents was my mother, Vicki Simon. I was born with congenital blindness, and my mother in the early seventies was on the phone consistently, day after day to ensure that I entered a school that would be there for me, that would ensure that I had assistance and support, and that I would read large print with power. I am thankful for teachers and educators, like the gentlewoman, who brought children like me in front of the board. I was so happy to cosponsor the See the Board Act. It should be in this Chamber, and we should be voting to ensure that while the Republicans take away healthcare from families and disabled children, those deaf and those blind, that they get education and screening at their schools of choice. We are also here because advocates refused to be silent because Congress recognized that an equal education is the foundation of any democratic society. Before these protections, young people with disabilities around the country were not only silenced, they were institutionalized. Families were told to stay quiet while bright and brilliant minds were dismissed, and today that door is closing again, eerily quickly because of the Trump administration's reckless and cruel agenda. Mr. Speaker, if you would ask any parent of a disabled child in this country regardless how they vote, red or blue, if you ask them if they knew that the Department of Education--yes, we want to trim it down-- but the very department, the Office of Civil Rights, was all but being severed, and you let them know what the Office of Civil Rights did: The Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education ensures that every rape on a college campus in this country is investigated. If the city decides not to investigate, then the Office of Civil Rights comes in. The Office of Civil Rights investigates for the mother and the child who uses the wheelchair when the school says they don't need a ramp. The Office of Civil Rights literally provides constant oversight over every school district in this country so that a child in Alabama has the same rights to an education as their disabled peer in California. Let's make it clear: We are not talking about any progressive agenda here. We are talking about letting it be known in this country that the Trump administration is literally taking away investigators who will oversee the educational progress of disabled children. Tens of thousands of families are waiting for justice and their cases to be investigated. These are not statistics; these are real families that we serve. Did Congress ever intend this? Did the administration ever intend to block away rights and responsibilities of folks who are supposed to oversee the rightful education of disabled children? The American people will not accept this.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about betrayal. Nearly 14,000 veterans who served this Nation will sleep unsheltered tonight, not in beds. They will sleep on concrete, in cars, and under bridges. There are 37 million American children who depend on Medicaid for their healthcare, and this Congress just signed $1 trillion in cuts to that lifeline. Also, 12 million Americans will lose their health insurance, the largest rollback of healthcare in American history. Meanwhile, the Pentagon just failed its eighth consecutive audit. There are over $4 trillion in assets that they cannot account for. They are the only Federal agency who has failed to ever pass an audit, not once. We have got money for war, but we can't feed the poor. We refuse to fully fund cancer research. We refuse to house low-income elders in their final years, and we refuse to shelter the very soldiers we sent to die in wars that we keep funding. This is a confession of our values.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 359 and NAY on Roll Call No. 360.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind us what this Nation used to do to its children. Before 1975, this country locked up 200,000 disabled children in institutions. We shut the schoolhouse door on children who were deaf, blind, or different in any way that we deemed inconvenient. Then, parents, advocates, and attorneys fought, and they won. We passed laws on this floor that said every child in this Nation belongs, and we created the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education to enforce those promises in real time and to investigate complaints. Earlier this year, employees in this office were fired. They were dismissed. Now, over 25,000 families are waiting for justice on their complaints. The Trump administration just requested that some of these attorneys temporarily come back to work this week to clean up the mess that the administration caused, but students and their families have already paid the price. The dismantling of the Department of Education is not reform. This is the resurrection of abandonment. Children deserve protection, not pathology.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of a long-time leader of the Oakland faith community, Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr., who passed away on September 19, 2025, at the age of 94. Dr. Smith was born on May 19, 1931, in Kansas City, Missouri. He began preaching in 1948, his first year after graduating high school. Dr. Smith went on to receive a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Western Baptist College, a Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology in Church and Community from the Missouri School of Religion, a Master's in American Church History from the American Baptist Seminary of the West, and a Doctor of Ministry from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Smith became the senior pastor at Allen Temple Baptist Church in 1971. In that position, he expanded the church's membership from 500 to 4,500. He placed a particular emphasis on ministering to underserved communities, especially those in East Oakland. His ministry always had a firm foundation in advocacy and social justice. Dr. Smith used his voice and his pulpit to uplift the poor, the downtrodden, and the left behind, bringing the concerns of his congregation to the attention of local leaders and fighting for positive change. But Dr. Smith was not only a giant in the City of Oakland. His powerful oratory and spiritual leadership was recognized across the country and around the world. Dr. Smith was elected president of the Progressive Baptist State Convention of California in 1979, and in 1986 he became president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention. In 1989, he delivered powerful testimony before the United Nations, denouncing the evils of Apartheid South Africa. He was twice recognized by Ebony magazine as one of the ``Most Influential Black Americans'' and was named one of its ``15 Greatest Black Preachers.'' He lectured at Cambridge, Oxford, and Baylor University and was professor emeritus of preaching and church ministries at the Berkeley School of Theology. Throughout his distinguished career, he wrote 16 books. Dr. Smith was a friend and guide to all those he met, no matter their position. He took time to listen and speak to all those who sought his guidance, always abiding by one of his personal mottos: ``I wish I could make it plain.'' He made no efforts to attract renown and yet became one of the most influential and well-known Black pastors and activists of his generation. Dr. Smith is survived by his beloved wife, Reverend Bernestine Farley, his five children, Amy, James, Jr., Ronald Craig, Shri, and Anthony, as well as his fourteen grandchildren and sixteen great- grandchildren. Dr. Smith was a trail blazer and personal inspiration. I am deeply grateful for his decades of service to my community. His loss is felt profoundly by the many people whose lives he touched.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Coach John Beam and to give condolences to the Beam family. Beam left an imprint on Oakland, California, that will never fade. For more than 40 years he built champions at Frick, at Skyline, and at Laney College, where he led the Eagles to titles and became one of the most respected coaches in junior college football in this Nation. But the greatest victories were not measured on scoreboards. His victories were measured in the thousands and thousands of young people who walked into their futures because he insisted that they could. He took young men with dreams they barely knew to name and pushed them to become scholars, to become leaders, to become fathers, to become champions. Coach Beam never chased the spotlight. In fact, he chased the transformation of young people who needed one adult who would never walk away. His death is a deep wound, a profound wound for the city of Oakland, and we honor him by carrying forward his unwavering commitment to the futures that he spent decades building and molding with his own hands. Coach Beam, we love you. You were a giant in our city, and your name will move through generations and generations and generations. Two claps. Ready, ready.

Ms. SIMON

Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, during Roll Call Vote Number 220 on H.R. 747, I mistakenly recorded my vote as NAY when I should have voted YEA.