[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 175 (Tuesday, December 6, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H7258-H7261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CLOSING OUT THE 114TH CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Dold) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Florida for his service 
here in this body and wish him well as he opens the next chapter of his 
life, and I certainly hope that we will stay in touch.
  Mr. Speaker, today I come to the floor to really thank the people of 
the 10th District of Illinois for giving me an opportunity, a 
tremendous honor to become their voice here in Washington, D.C., to 
serve them here in the United States House of Representatives.
  When I first ran for Congress, it was because I, as a small-business 
owner, felt the government was making it harder and harder for me to 
put the key in the door of my small business, harder for me to hire an 
individual, and I think they should be making it easier for me to do 
those things, easier for me to put the key in the door, easier for me 
to hire that next individual.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, too many politicians and bureaucrats in 
Washington just don't understand what it takes to meet a budget and a 
payroll. We see a disconnect in so many people who are risking 
everything, who feel that the folks here in Washington, D.C., just 
don't understand. They feel that Washington has grown far too distant, 
become out of touch, and unresponsive to the real-world difficulties 
that families are facing each and every day. Too many people feel that 
government officials have forgotten who they actually work for, 
something that myself and my team never forgot.

                              {time}  1815

  Throughout my time in office, my team and I have gone to work each 
and every day to fix this disconnect. In just the past 2 years, we have 
held more than 1,000 events that we held back in the district with 
community leaders and constituents to listen, learn, act, and 
ultimately make sure that we were accessible so that those individuals 
felt that they had their voice in Washington, D.C.; that we did 
understand what they were encountering each and every day, whether it 
was up in Zion or north Chicago or down in Des Plaines or in Highland 
Park and Lake Forest.
  We responded to over 50,000 constituents' letters. We helped over 
1,250 families break through the red tape of government bureaucracy in 
order to help them with whatever it was that was plaguing them at the 
time. That really was because of the great constituent service that our 
team displayed day in and day out. We held five nonpartisan job fairs 
in order to connect 10th District jobseekers with good, high-paying 
careers that were right here in the district.
  Mr. Speaker, I represent the fourth largest manufacturing district in 
the country, and manufacturer after manufacturer would let me know: I 
have good, high-paying jobs available, I just can't find people 
qualified to take those jobs.
  Holding these job fairs was a critical thing in order to make sure 
people were able to make payments on their mortgage, to be able to make 
sure that there was food on the table. These actions made a real 
difference in people's lives for themselves and for their families.
  Mr. Speaker, I have always said that there is so much more that 
unites us than divides us. Yet, when we look at Washington, too many 
people are talking about the gridlock. That is the stuff that sells 
newspapers. That is the thing that is on the nightly news.
  Yet, people have to recognize here in this body, the people's House, 
and, frankly, across the Capitol in the Senate, that we are not 
Republicans or Democrats first, but we are Americans, first and 
foremost, and that we are all bound by the shared vision of wanting our 
communities and our Nation to succeed, to be safe, healthy, and strong.
  That is why I have always sought to work across the aisle to tackle 
the most challenging issues facing our country. The results have proved 
that, when we work together, we truly can make an enormous impact on 
the lives of the American people, we can make their lives just a little 
bit easier.
  When we think about what we have been able to do over the course of 
the last few years, I still remember time and again we would go to 
townhall meetings and we would go to events and talk to people, and 
they would ask: Is Washington working?
  The answer was unequivocally: No, it is not working.
  Yet, when we reminded them about some of the things that we were able 
to do over the course of the last 2 years when we worked together, most 
people were shocked.
  We passed historic, bipartisan reforms to ensure that seniors will 
continue to have access to their doctors through Medicare. This fix 
ends a nearly two-decade-long stretch of short-term patches year after 
year.
  Doctors would be concerned that, at the end of the year, they were 
going to get a 25 or 30 percent cut in their pay just for taking care 
of our seniors. Therefore, a lot of the doctors ended up saying: I am 
not going to take care of seniors.
  Well, we came together in a bipartisan way and actually fixed that 
problem. We passed the first long-term surface transportation bill and 
infrastructure funding bill in more than a decade. Our efforts brought 
money flowing into Illinois to fix our roads and rails, reduce 
congestion, and make the daily

[[Page H7259]]

commute safer not just for the 10th District, but for communities all 
across our country.
  We passed a historic education reform bill, which will improve the 
classroom experience for students in our community. The Every Student 
Succeeds Act reduced the Federal control and returned more power to 
parents so that they could actually make more decisions about their 
children's education, to the teachers, and to the local school 
districts, which is where the power should be.
  I have to say that I am particularly proud of our Educational 
Advisory Board, which was chaired by Laz Lopez and so many others that 
contributed to that that were really instrumental in helping provide 
and in shaping some policy with regard to education in our office.
  I am particularly proud of one of the provisions that actually made 
it into the reform bill, which I authored, which will bring literally 
millions of dollars into one of the neediest school districts in our 
country, the North Chicago Community Unit School District 187. Our 
effort actually put students ahead of the interests of others and we 
put partisan politics aside to make a real difference in their lives.
  As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, it was an honor to 
be part of an effort to develop and pass important legislation to 
reduce the tax burden on families across our country. Our work allows 
small businesses and families to have more certainty when it comes to 
planning, how they are able to expense equipment and do certain things 
that they want to be able to do when it comes time to planning, 
budgeting, and the like.
  We ensure that critical antipoverty programs continue to receive the 
resources that they need to be successful while also injecting a number 
of new and innovative ideas into the conversation that will better help 
people reach their fullest potential.
  I want to make special mention of the great work being done by 
YouthBuild, which is helping young men and women in Lake County. 
YouthBuild is a nationwide organization, but their Lake County chapter 
is one of the best. I recognize that I may be biased, but they are 
helping individuals that might have taken a wrong turn throughout an 
early part of their life, giving them real-world skills to be able to 
get on their feet and be able to move forward. I will forever be in 
their debt for doing really incredible work to provide hope for an 
enormous number of individuals.

  Over the last 2 years, we secured robust funding for programs like 
the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in order to protect what I 
believe is one of our greatest natural resources in the Great Lakes. 
Our bipartisan efforts bring us one step closer to ensuring that we 
keep this incredible asset, incredible resource clean for future 
generations.
  We worked across the aisle to pass bills to prevent sex trafficking 
as well as ensure survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence 
have the resources that they need.
  Most recently, we worked together to pass landmark legislation known 
as 21st Century Cures Act. In that bill was a bill that was certainly 
near and dear to many, and certainly to Dr. Tim Murphy, in the Helping 
Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.
  So many are being impacted around the country, and this is something 
that needs our attention. This soon-to-be law also increases funding 
for the National Institutes of Health, which will speed up our efforts 
to find cures to many of the world's deadliest diseases while also 
delivering long-overdue reforms to address the gaps in our Nation's 
mental health system.
  When we think about the National Institutes of Health, Mr. Speaker, 
we actually passed over the last 2 years the largest increase in 
funding for the National Institutes of Health.
  I do believe that, if we want to try to reduce the costs of health 
care, one of the things that we are going to have to do is come up with 
cures for things like Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease and 
diabetes. We spend $330 billion every year treating diabetes. If we 
came up with a cure, I am confident that we could put those resources 
to use in so many other areas.
  Mr. Speaker, these are just a few examples of what can be 
accomplished when we set aside our partisan differences and decide to 
work together for the people that we represent.
  Of course, another area we notably did on this is the issue of 
prescription drug and heroin abuse. There is one family in particular 
that inspired our team's efforts, which deserves, I believe, special 
mention.
  In the suburbs of Chicago, Mr. Speaker, someone dies from a heroin 
overdose every 3 days. In Cook County, it is every day. They leave 
behind a family in grief.
  I first met Chelsea Laliberte nearly 5 years ago. She grew up in 
Buffalo Grove, just outside of Chicago, with her brother Alex. Alex 
graduated from Stevenson High School. He played sports. He got good 
grades. He had a tremendous number of friends. Then, during his 
sophomore year in college, he started getting sick.
  When Alex got sick, he would go to the hospital and get better and 
get back on his feet, at least for a little while; but a few months 
later, this would repeat. He would get sick and be admitted once again. 
It was a vicious cycle.
  Honestly, his family didn't know what was going on. What we did 
finally find out is that Alex was addicted to prescription drugs and he 
was suffering from withdrawal, which brought him to the hospital. Then, 
in 2008, just a few days after final exams, Alex Laliberte overdosed 
and died. He was 20 years old.
  As a father, I can't imagine the pain of losing one of my children to 
a drug overdose. But sadly, too many families have experienced this 
loss. Heroin abuse and prescription drug abuse is an epidemic that is 
impacting our entire country.
  I worked with Chelsea and the Laliberte family to introduce a bill 
called Lali's Law, named in memory of Alex, that would increase access 
to an overdose antidote called naloxone.
  Naloxone has already saved more than 150 lives in Lake County, 
Illinois, alone in just the last 2 years. This was really done by the 
initiative of Mike Nerheim and the police and so many people coming 
together. The police actually asked if they could carry naloxone 
because they were tired of showing up on the scene and seeing someone 
right before them die from an overdose.
  When they agreed and gave first responders in squad cars the ability 
to administer naloxone, life after life was saved. So I do want to 
recognize Mike Nerheim and all those at the Lake County Opioid 
Initiative for the great work that they are doing, the lives that they 
are saving. This is something that, frankly, we are just starting to 
address and there is a lot more work, obviously, that needs to be done.
  The World Health Organization actually says that with increasing 
access to naloxone, we have an opportunity to save over 20,000 lives 
this year. Working together, we passed our bill through the House and 
with overwhelmingly bipartisan support secured its inclusion in the 
Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which the President signed 
into law in July.
  It is my sincere hope that, because of our efforts, Alex's lasting 
legacy will include saving countless lives, sparing families this 
unimaginable grief, and giving people all across our country a second 
chance at recovery.
  While I am tremendously proud of the achievements that we have 
accomplished together, there is still, of course, so much more that 
needs to be done. The costs of taking care of our families, educating 
our children, providing health care, and saving for retirement have all 
become more burdensome in the recent years.
  Misguided economic policies hold back our small businesses and 
entrepreneurs and too many families are being trapped in generational 
poverty without the opportunities for meaningful work or for a quality 
education.
  As a father of three young children and the son of a schoolteacher, 
one of the most important issues that I have tackled during my time in 
Congress has been ensuring that future generations are equipped with 
the skills that they need to succeed. A quality education is the 
building blocks for literally everything that we want to achieve, from 
curing cancer and Alzheimer's to helping hardworking individuals secure 
a good, high-paying job.

[[Page H7260]]

  Among the work that I am most proud of in this Congress are three 
important bills that we put forward.

  First, we wrote the HELP for Students and Parents Act to make college 
more affordable, more accessible for literally everyone. Today, across 
the United States, there are $1.3 trillion in student loan debt between 
40 million Americans. Sadly, there are students in our community as 
young as elementary school who now believe that, because their families 
don't have the means to pay, they are never going to be able to achieve 
the dream of going to college, regardless of how hard they work. That 
is simply unacceptable and must change.
  The HELP for Students and Parents Act is one measure that can improve 
by helping make employer contributions towards employee student loan 
repayment and the employer contributions towards 529 college savings 
accounts for a worker's child--the norm in American society.
  Building on these ideas that are commonplace today, such as tax 
benefits that encourage employer-sponsored retirement accounts and 
health care, this legislation would update the Tax Code to reflect the 
financial goals of students and parents seeking to help with student 
debt. With only 3 percent of employers currently offering student loan 
debt repayment, this is a meaningful way to ease the anxiety of student 
debt and make college education more attainable for people all across 
our country.
  Second, Mr. Speaker, we introduced the Stand Up for Students Act to 
level the playing field for low-income school districts that are being 
ravaged by fiscal mismanagement in my home State.

                              {time}  1830

  Sadly, for years, Springfield and the politicians there have taxed 
Federal money given to school districts serving low-income students in 
an effort to pay down debts created due to fiscal mismanagement. Under 
no circumstances should these politicians be allowed to use Federal 
money intended to help the most in-need schools to bail themselves out 
of a mess that they created through decades of irresponsible spending.
  The Stand Up for Students Act would hold Springfield accountable and 
would ensure that we are giving the most vulnerable children the best 
chance at success by stopping this immoral tax on students who need our 
help the most.
  And third, beyond education in the classroom, I want to underscore 
our efforts in advancing innovative antipoverty measures that will 
connect hardworking people with a job. I introduced the Accelerating 
Individuals into the Workforce Act to help reform the way our country 
thinks about poverty and getting people back to work. With nearly 50 
million Americans still living in poverty, we must demand a new and 
better approach.
  The Accelerating Individuals into the Workforce Act helps those on 
welfare land a job. It does this by providing funding that will reduce 
the cost to an employer for taking a chance and hiring an individual 
who may be on welfare. This boost can make all the difference in the 
world for that individual seeking a job, and I am pleased that this 
legislation passed the House earlier this year.
  Moving forward, I urge my colleagues in the next Congress to take up 
these three bills to help our students and young workers and 
individuals struggling to climb the economic ladder the educational 
opportunities that they deserve, and let's help people reach their full 
potential.
  I also urge my colleagues in this body to take up other pieces of 
legislation. I certainly am hopeful that we can tackle immigration 
reform. As a nation of immigrants, we know that this is a humanitarian 
issue. It is an economic issue, and a national security issue that, 
frankly, must be tackled.
  When we look at those, the DREAMers that are as American as many of 
us right here in this body, we want to make sure that they have an 
opportunity to stay here in our country, to be contributing members of 
our community, and to be able to continue to live their lives as they 
are doing right now. We want them to come out of the shadows and have 
an opportunity to succeed.
  I also think we have an opportunity and a need to move forward on 
commonsense gun legislation, on background checks, because, again, I 
think the thing that we have to come back to, Mr. Speaker, is the idea 
that we want to focus on what unites us. Coming from the Chicago area, 
I can tell you what we have to do and what unites us is the idea that 
we want to reduce gun violence.
  One of our colleagues here in the House, my friend, Danny Davis, just 
lost his grandson just a few short weeks ago, an altercation in this 
young man's home over a pair of tennis shoes.
  We have to step up and do something that, again, is not infringing on 
Second Amendment rights, but is talking about some commonsense 
legislation to make our community safer.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the difference that we 
have made on foreign affairs and national security, because one thing 
that I love about the 10th District is that there are so many great 
people who are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the strong 
alliances and the grave threats that we have overseas.
  Beginning with my first speech here in this Chamber nearly 6 years 
ago, I have worked to stand against the Iranian aggression and Iran's 
pursuit of a nuclear weapon. For years, I have been a strong and 
unapologetic advocate for ratcheting up the sanctions and pressure on 
Iran. I have pushed for promoting human rights and democracy inside of 
Iran and have devoted much time on this very floor to warn against 
agreeing to a fundamentally flawed nuclear pact with Iran.
  I continue to believe that the Iranian nuclear agreement is a 
historic mistake that has emboldened our enemies and will haunt us for 
a generation. It has endangered our friends and, frankly, is just 
misguided. The same fatal flaws with the agreement that existed a year 
ago still continue to this day.
  I am proud of our efforts to lead on this issue. I am heartened that 
our bipartisan majority in the Congress rejected this dangerous 
agreement, and I continue to call on Congress to lead the way in 
restoring a crippling sanctions architecture on Iran.
  Mr. Speaker, I am also incredibly proud of our efforts to strengthen 
the U.S.-Israel relationship these past few years:
  We have ensured robust foreign assistance so that Israel may protect 
its civilians from the many terror threats on its borders. We have 
fought to combat efforts in the international community, including in 
the United Nations, that seek to delegitimize Israel and wrongly 
pressure Israel to give up its defensible borders.
  We have unequivocally condemned instances of Palestinian incitement 
to violence against Israelis. We openly and proudly welcomed Prime 
Minister Netanyahu's speech before the Congress last February.
  And, of course, we authored legislation known as the Combating BDS 
Act of 2016, which has earned over 160 cosponsors in this body. This 
critical legislation, which I am hopeful will pass in the next 
Congress, provides a much-needed opportunity so that we may go on the 
offensive against the hateful Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions 
Movement against the State of Israel.
  While we do not know what the future will hold, or every upcoming 
challenge that we will face in the Middle East, I am confident that the 
United States will be best-served by continuing to strengthen our 
partnership with Israel, so that we can face these security challenges 
together, shoulder to shoulder.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, none of our work in this Congress would have been 
possible without the incredible team that was truly dedicated to 
improving the lives of the people of the 10th Congressional District.

  Now, that team starts with two great chiefs: James Slepian, who was 
the chief when we first came in this Congress, more of a quiet leader, 
very sharp, a quick wit, was incredibly instrumental in guiding us 
through some turbulent times; and David Stern, whom I consider to be a 
dear friend, and his advice and counsel is some that I cherish. He is a 
little bit misguided on his love for the White Sox, but we will forgive 
him on that. But the long and the short of it is a passionate advocate 
for the people of the 10th District and one who always has a smile on 
his face.

[[Page H7261]]

  They helped lead an incredible team, along with my deputy chief of 
staff, Kim Brisky, who always had an opportunity to make sure that we 
stayed on the straight and narrow, who always was there for us when we 
needed a pick-me-up. And so, Kim, who is, I am sure, going on to bigger 
and better things, she was absolutely fantastic.
  My deputy director, Philippe Melin, actually has been with me as long 
as anyone. And I will say that he may sometimes rub people the wrong 
way, but I have always appreciated his passion for the district, his 
ability to throw himself into any particular issue, to fight on behalf 
of children when it comes to education; whether it be building 
coalitions, Philippe has actually been super.
  My legislative director, Matt Diller, is that quiet individual that 
made sure the trains were running on time.
  Our communications director, Brad Stewart, probably held up a camera 
more times than I care to remember, and I apologize to him for messing 
up probably more times than I needed to. Ultimately, when it came to 
our social media and actually getting the word out, Brad was vitally 
important in making sure that our message was getting out to the people 
that it needed to.
  We had an outstanding staff in Washington that worked hard to amplify 
the voice of each and every constituent, and Jordan Heyman, who was 
really focused on a lot of healthcare work, came to us from the 
campaign, but really rolled up her sleeves and was fantastic.
  Noah Barger, Noah--or Jason, as he is sometimes referred to--always 
had a smile on his face, was probably one of the rocks in that office.
  Chelsea Caulfield, who is truly the spark plug of our team, and would 
come into the office to see a smile from Chelsea, who made sure that I 
was where I needed to be and when I needed to be there.
  Brittany Consolo, who came into our office. Time and again, people 
would always comment about how kind Brittany was, and so, for her, I 
say that we know that she has got a very bright future as well.
  And the hardest working district office in the country:
  Eric Miller, who really was what I consider one of the leaders of our 
casework, is one of the guys that put his head down day in and day out. 
We would not be or could not have gotten to the 1,250 cases were it not 
for Eric;
  Victoria Williams, who has a special talent when it comes to not only 
working with people and connecting, especially with those on domestic 
abuse and the like, which was an area that she threw herself into;
  Peter Collins, who had more spreadsheets available than I think 
anybody else, but Peter, again, one of my favorite Hellenic individuals 
in the office;
  Scott Lietzow was a passionate advocate and worked with our veterans 
day in and day out and helped put our Veterans Advisory Board together, 
and he worked with them day in and day out to make a difference in 
their lives;
  Allie Breschi, a proud Denison graduate, was helping Brad out in 
terms of our communications and did a super job;
  Andy Chiero also worked with our veterans;
  Alma Herrera, who, I think was really a dynamo, and we missed her as 
she went off to finish up some schooling;
  Natalie Szmyd came in and filled the role and helped out with our 
Polish community;
  Bobby Miller also was one of those individuals that exceeded 
expectations right from the beginning;
  Jordan Richter and Nikki West; Ginny Wood, who helped out with our 
seniors; Justo Arellano and Martin Lopez really were absolutely 
fantastic in rounding out our team.
  So again, I think you are only as good as the team that you have put 
together, and I am super proud of the team that I was able to put 
together, that really worked tirelessly on behalf of the constituents 
of the 10th District.
  One of the things I am proud of is that lifelong Democrats would come 
up to us and say, you know, thanks for helping us out on this, and I 
think that we have got to talk to you about, you know, when you do 
something good for us. But ultimately, our job was, regardless of whom 
you are elected by, I made sure that our team knew that we represented 
100 percent of the people.
  This team really cared so much about the work that we were doing and 
made a real difference in the lives of literally everyone that they had 
an opportunity to touch.
  But some people that I think are important to thank are my 
colleagues. This is a pretty remarkable place, with some really 
remarkable people, and I want to thank them for their friendship and 
the great work that we were able to accomplish together. I will miss 
them dearly, those on the other side of the aisle as well, because most 
of our legislation, almost every piece of legislation that we offered, 
was with bipartisan support. I kept telling my team, if we couldn't get 
those on the other side of the aisle to sign up, this bill wasn't going 
anywhere.
  I also want to thank the people who make this body work, the unsung 
heroes, the folks down in the wood shop, the folks behind the rostrum, 
the people that make Congress work. Really, these are the folks that 
respect the institution, and the institution will move on 10 years from 
now and, we hope, hundreds of years from now.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, the last group that I want to thank is my family. I 
have three beautiful children and a wife who is a saint to allow me to 
do this day in and day out. So, for Harper, Bobby, and Honor, thank you 
for giving up the time. I am sorry that I was not there, but we have a 
new chapter; and so we know, if this is the worst thing that happens in 
terms of our time away from the Congress, we have great new things 
ahead for us.
  And for my bride, Danielle, sweetheart, I want to thank you for 
giving me the opportunity to do this. I know that you oftentimes were 
the one making sure that the trains ran on time back at home, and for 
that I will forever be grateful.
  So from day one, this has been about working together to get the job 
done, making the Federal Government more efficient, effective, and 
accountable, and restoring strong American leadership on the global 
stage.
  When I was growing up, my parents gave me a plaque that said: ``Your 
integrity determines your identity.'' As a small-business owner, I 
learned that nothing gets done without teamwork.

                              {time}  1845

  If we want to achieve anything as a nation, we must commit to 
advancing commonsense, bipartisan solutions to break through this 
gridlock. That is why I am so proud to have consistently been ranked 
one of the most independent, bipartisan Members in the United States 
Congress. This commitment to genuine bipartisanship has been the key to 
some of our biggest successes that we have had over the last 2 years. 
It is also what has helped us to become effective on amplifying the 
independent voice for the 10th District of Illinois.
  I strongly believe that America's best days, Mr. Speaker, are ahead 
of us. Together, I am confident that we can ensure a more prosperous 
and free future for our children and for future generations.
  To the people of the 10th District, I offer my sincere thanks for the 
opportunity of a lifetime to be able to represent you in the United 
States Congress. It has truly been the greatest honor of my life.
  To my staff, again, I want to say ``thank you'' for all that you do. 
It has been an honor to be able to work with you.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________