[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 74 (Monday, May 1, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2995-H3001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY AND ITS IMPACT ON MINORITY
COMMUNITIES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today
to coanchor this CBC Special Order hour with my esteemed colleague from
Texas (Mr. Veasey). For the next 60 minutes, we have a chance to speak
directly to the American people on issues of great importance to the
Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, the constituents we represent,
and all Americans.
This evening, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, the
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Richmond), my friend and colleague, I
first thank him for his continued leadership of the caucus and on
issues impacting Black America and other minority communities across
this great Nation.
I would also like to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey), my
colleague, for joining me in chairing this evening's Special Order
hour, and my other CBC colleagues who are joining us to speak on
important issues.
Mr. Speaker, we are here tonight to address the first 100 days of the
Trump Presidency and its impact on minority communities like the
district I represent and those of my fellow CBC colleagues.
Specifically, we will highlight 100 actions taken by this
administration in the last 100 days with less than positive impact to
the communities we represent.
The President hails his first 100 days as the most successful in the
history of the United States. These actions, however, do not spell
success for low income and minority communities. Actions that, in turn,
roll back Department of Justice protections designed to ensure police
accountability; actions that threaten to further restrict voting rights
and undermine the public education system; actions that threaten
[[Page H2996]]
access to quality affordable health care for millions of Americans,
including children, seniors, and those with preexisting medical
conditions; actions that propose gutting programs, HUD, and others that
provide housing assistance for extremely low-income families and the
homeless; mean-spirited actions that break up families and make
immigrant communities less safe; and actions that roll back important
environmental protections which serve to, among other things, ensure
safe air and drinking waters in communities like Flint, Michigan, and
mitigating the effects of climate change in vulnerable coastal
communities like my home district of the United States Virgin Islands.
Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus has reached out to
President Trump and is willing to work with his administration to
continue to build upon the greatness of this country--and not just for
the privileged few but for all.
As representatives of a congressional district that is home to the
only HBCU outside the continental United States, I take exception to
the administration's Education Secretary viewing HBCUs as pioneers for
school choice, even though these institutions were founded because
White colleges and universities refused to admit Black students.
This statement illustrates a lack of understanding of the history of
the African Americans and the Black community. President Trump's
proposed budget for the Department of Education plans to eliminate
afterschool and teacher-support programs, as well as slashing funding
for Federal supplemental education opportunity grants, Pell grants, and
instead divert Federal funds to private school vouchers. This plan
would be devastating to communities like my home district where almost
one-third of the children live below the poverty line and where public
schools are already struggling to make the best with limited funds and
resources.
{time} 2015
President Trump's budget proposal would also cut the Department of
Health and Human Services' budget by $12.6 billion, a 16 percent cut.
In my home district of the United States Virgin Islands, HHS funds
critical early childhood education; and nutrition programs provide
assistance to seniors, low-income families, and funding for mental
health programs.
Mr. Speaker, these and other actions that my colleagues will speak
about are not to criticize the President, but more to highlight the
importance of funding of these programs and, more importantly,
highlighting how important these programs and government functions are
to American families and to the safety and progress of our communities.
America, stay woke. There are still more than 1,300 days to go.
I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey).
Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin
Islands for all of her hard work on this Special Order hour. I enjoy
coanchoring with the gentlewoman because of her commitment and wanting
to get out these important messages.
I think the message we want to talk about today is the first 100
days. I don't know about you all, but I am disappointed in these first
100 days.
There were a lot of things that we were told were going to happen,
and many of those things just hadn't happened. There has been a lot of
flip-flopping. I know that you have seen that. We saw it on Syria. We
saw it on NATO. We saw it on many other things that there was a whole
lot of talk that happened in 2016, but there ain't a whole lot of
walking that has happened in 2017 as far as follow-up is concerned.
That is the sort of thing that all Americans should be worried about in
these first 100 days that ended on Saturday.
Many of us hoped that the rhetoric, that the foolishness, the
tweeting, that those types of things would stop. That hasn't stopped.
A lot of us actually hoped that--hey, if you want to talk about
bringing some jobs back to somebody, I am for bringing jobs back. I am
more committed to jobs and having jobs here in this country, and he
hasn't done anything when it comes to jobs.
There has been absolutely no follow-up whatsoever when it comes to
helping the American man and woman reopen factories, when it comes to
helping the American man and woman help pay for their child care. When
it comes to things like Davis-Bacon and putting more money on the table
at the end of the night and in the bank accounts, absolutely nothing
has been done, and that is what we should be concerned about.
The President promised on the campaign trail that he was going to
help these hardworking Americans that I talked about earlier. One of
the things that he talked about was the Buy American, Hire American.
Ain't nothing happening on that. We know that not only did Trump fail
to deliver on these promises, but that he has actually worked against
the best interests of American workers.
He has also gone on to contradict himself on his commitment to job
training. Instead of investing in job training and these crucial
programs, the Trump administration has proposed $2.5 billion in cuts
for the Department of Labor. We have, by many estimates, about a half a
million or more jobs in this country that are high-skilled
manufacturing jobs that we can't fill. These are jobs that could fill
factories back up in the Rust Belt. These are jobs that could fill
factories back up in Texas. These are jobs that could be filled up in
other parts of the country.
You want to cut back on job training when we need to be training
people for these new jobs? These are new manufacturing jobs that deal
with robots, deal with programmers and different areas like that where
the young people don't necessarily have the skills that they need to be
competitive.
You hear about these companies that have come to America, they locate
here--foreign car manufacturers, for instance--and they have to work
with the local community colleges to get the kids on par to work these
new manufacturing jobs. Now is not the time to cut back on job
training. So that is what bothers me in these first 100 days.
The administration has rolled back worker protections that keep
Americans safe while on the job. Last month, President Trump changed
the law so that employers now only have 6 months to report workplace
injuries and illnesses instead of the previously required 5-year
reporting window. Scaling back the requirement does not allow the
Department of Labor to get a full picture of a given workplace. It
makes it more difficult to spot a trend of endangering employees.
Trump also gutted another worker protection that would have made it
harder for companies to secure Federal contracts if they have a history
of labor law violations. That protection is now gone. It is gone. It
has disappeared.
Above all else, President Trump has still not put forward a single,
concrete, job-creating bill like he pledged. He betrayed his promise to
make rebuilding America's infrastructure a top priority of this
administration. He has failed to mention a word about protecting the
Davis-Bacon Act which, as you know, would ensure that workers are paid
fairly should an infrastructure bill come together.
Again, when you are talking about money, I mean that is a very
serious topic. Money decides whether or not you can pay your bills,
whether or not you can put food on the table, whether or not you can
buy your kids clothes, whether or not you can make the car payment.
The Davis-Bacon Act is a basic fundamental. If you cannot protect
that, those prevailing wages that give people the opportunity to earn a
good income, again, then you are just talking and you ain't walking.
That is what I am worried about in these first 100 days.
You are going to hear a lot from the Congressional Black Caucus
tonight about how the President has failed to deliver on so many of his
campaign promises, how he is trying to take away health care from 24
million Americans. High-risk pools are absolutely terrible.
One of the things the Obama administration did was it gave people who
have preexisting conditions the chance to have affordable healthcare
insurance. Thinking about taking insurance away from 24 million people,
thinking about taking those protections from individual families that
have those preexisting conditions, I think, is absolutely terrible.
[[Page H2997]]
There are just so many policies that actually directly affect the
American family. Remember, the very first day--and there have been so
many bad things that have happened in these 100 days that we don't even
have enough time to cover all of them tonight, but you probably
remember the very first day, the first-time home-buyer program was
suspended.
There is nothing that exemplifies what it means to be American as it
means to own a home. That is the first day, the first action, the most
antiworker, most antifamily action that anyone could take--got rid of
the first-time home-buyer program. He got rid of the first-time home-
buyer program that helped individuals have a piece of the American
Dream: homeownership.
We have seen the statistics about what homeownership means to the
American family, what that means for the stability of American
families, kids being able to have that backyard to play in, being able
to go to that neighborhood school, to have that home to call your own
to raise your family. It is so much more than just a home. It is really
the foundation of who we are as Americans.
Getting rid of the first-time home-buyer program, that is not doing
anything to help American families. That is not doing anything to help
American workers.
I am glad that we have so many great voices here tonight within the
CBC that are going to talk about these first 100 days and about the
failings of these first 100 days and about how the people that were
there, the people that thought that there were going to be some real
changes, how they have been misled. They have been misled.
They have been taken down this road, and it is not a road of
prosperity. It is a road of less prosperity. It is a road of dismay,
despair, less money, more expensive insurance, no insurance, and it is
going to hurt the American worker and the American family.
So I just really appreciate everything that the gentlewoman from the
Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) is doing today and hope that we can
continue to get the media and the newspapers and the cable TV news
people out here to really focus in and hone in on some of these
problems that we are seeing coming out of the White House at 1600
Pennsylvania.
Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Veasey) is correct about staying focused and, in the lexicon of the
young people, to stay woke about what is happening.
The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey) gave some great examples about
some of the things that happened in this first 100 days that should
make us aware how this is, in some ways, an assault on distressed
communities, on minority communities. The gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Veasey) spoke to some of them.
One of the things I wanted to highlight is a booklet that the
Congressional Black Caucus has put out about 100 actions that have
taken place in these 100 days:
President Trump's proposed budget would eliminate the Economic
Development Administration at the Department of Commerce. In 2015, EDA
invested 38 percent of its funds in highly distressed areas, including
communities with high minority populations, such as the gentleman from
Texas' and mine.
President Trump's proposed budget would eliminate the Community
Development Financial Institutions Fund. People ask, What is that? This
is an organization which channels investments into communities in need
of capital for housing, small businesses, and community facilities.
That is its sole function.
President Trump said that the private sector already did a good job
making investments in these communities, which demonstrates how out of
touch and ill-informed he and his administration are. His
administration needs to tell him and give him the facts about what is
going on in minority and underdeveloped communities.
As we will hear from our colleagues, there are areas in which
environmental protection and climate change, social justice for
environmental justice needs to take place. President Trump's proposed
budget would cut environmental protection agencies, environmental
justice programs that work to ensure the fair treatment and meaningful
involvement of all people regardless of race, color, and national
origin or income with the respect to the development, implementation,
and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. It
would simply cut it out of place.
The proposed budget would cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's coastal programs, which would affect populations,
including minorities living along the Gulf Coast and other coastal
areas.
At this time, we have other members of the Congressional Black Caucus
that are here to talk about environmental justice.
This freshman Member has really stepped in and just taken a hold of
actions and demonstrating a love for his constituents in coming here
this evening and wanting to address environmental justice areas.
I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. McEachin).
Mr. McEACHIN. Mr. Speaker, every Monday, Representatives Plaskett and
Veasey lead our Caucus' discussion on issues of great importance to the
American people, and I am glad to be joining them this evening to
discuss a critical priority that is often overlooked: environmental
justice.
Our country is built upon ideals like liberty, justice, equal
protection for all Americans, yet we still fall short on those goals in
important ways. While I believe we are making progress, this is a
critical moment.
Over the last 100 days, we have seen how eager the new administration
is to undo our recent achievements, from selecting EPA Administrator
Scott Pruitt, a man who does not believe in climate change, to
overturning critical antipollution protections.
The Trump administration has shown a dangerous contempt for proven
science. The administration has even favorably discussed pulling the
United States from a global climate change prevention pact, a move that
could have disastrous, unknowable consequences for every generation to
come.
Mr. Speaker, the list goes on and on and on; but at this point, Mr.
Speaker, before I continue, I want to bring forward my good friend--he
has got a fabulous first name like I do--Congressman Donald Payne, Jr.
He is from the 10th Congressional District of New Jersey. He is a
fierce advocate for environmental justice in his hometown of Newark. I
thank the Congressman. His voice and advocacy will help us move toward
sounder policies and more just outcomes, and I look forward to working
with the gentleman.
Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey
(Mr. Payne).
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, let me first thank the gentleman from the
Commonwealth of Virginia (Mr. McEachin). It is the birthplace of my
mother: Dinwiddie County, Virginia. My grandfather was a small-time
tobacco farmer, and I learned to cut tobacco at 8 years old.
I am from Newark, New Jersey, the Garden State. We didn't raise much
tobacco there in the Garden State, but my friends used think I was
going on vacation when I would leave. I said I wasn't going on
vacation; I was going to work. That is what we did for the summer. It
was a great experience, and I always have great, great memories of the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
{time} 2030
Mr. Speaker, last month, as part of a partnership with the National
Newspaper Publishers Association, I wrote an op-ed on environmental
justice issues. I will repeat what I wrote then, which is that
environmental justice should be a national priority, not a problem
confined to minority communities.
African-American communities are disproportionately burdened with
pollutants. Across the Nation, communities of color suffer from higher
rates of exposure to air pollution, higher rates of lead poisoning, and
higher rates of water pollution.
Every single day, children in my home city of Newark, New Jersey, are
exposed to harmful levels of pollution from the port and other sources
that rob them of their health, just because of where they live.
One in four Newark children has asthma. The hospitalization rate for
Newark children is 30 times the rate of
[[Page H2998]]
the national average. Asthma is the leading cause of absenteeism in
school-age children in the city of Newark, New Jersey.
Yet, too often, environmental justice is an afterthought, or often it
is missing entirely in the discussion of the challenges facing African
Americans.
The Trump administration threatens to make the problem even worse.
President Trump has prioritized rolling back environmental regulations,
from emissions rules for power plants to the mandate that Federal
decisionmaking must be taken into consideration on climate change
impacts.
President Trump proposed slashing the EPA's budget by 31 percent,
cutting enforcement of the Agency's clean air laws by $129 million.
With threats of excessive cuts to the EPA, air quality across the
Nation may even be worse than expected. In the American Lung
Association's ``State of the Air'' report, my district and many other
metropolitan areas ranked as having the most polluted air in the
country. However, only one-third of counties have ozone or particulate
pollution air monitors. We must fight to ensure that funding for air
monitors are for all our communities.
So what can we do to protect our communities from environmental
degradation?
The Newark City Council has been a leader in that area and has passed
a first-in-the-nation ordinance requiring developers to request
environmental permits to inform the city of any environmental impacts.
As a result, decisionmakers and the public will be able to make
informed decisions about sustainable development. Other municipalities
would be smart to follow Newark's lead.
Last November, I joined Amy Goldsmith and Kim Gaddy of the Clean
Water Action and the Coalition for Healthy Ports for an environmental
justice tour of the Port of New York and New Jersey. We were also
joined by Congressman Frank Pallone from New Jersey. Organizations like
theirs are doing excellent work in the fight against health-threatening
pollution. Expanding partnerships on the environmental justice
initiatives must be a central part of our strategy to secure
environmental protections.
To those listening at home: I encourage you to make it clear to your
elected officials that you will hold them accountable for any efforts
to dismantle environmental protections and any failures to fight for
environmental justice.
And to my colleague from Virginia, it is really noteworthy that you
have taken the lead on this issue. As I stated in my presentation,
Newark, New Jersey, is 30 times greater propensity for asthma in
children than the national average. I mean, that is almost criminal.
And we as a home, myself, not just have heard about it, but have
lived it. My middle son--I am the father of triplets. My middle son has
grown up with asthma; the days we had to keep him inside. He has been
fortunate to have not--knock on wood--have many instances throughout
his childhood of asthma attacks, but the one that I did see really
brought me to tears.
To know that there are numbers of children throughout this country
who don't have the opportunity to go to the doctor, who rush to the
hospital with asthma attacks, and who, God forbid, sometimes don't make
it to the doctor is just--to think that that could be my boy brings
tears to my heart.
So I am willing to make this fight not for just my son, but for the
hundreds of thousands of children throughout this country who suffer
from this disease, and make sure that the EPA stays intact to fight
these dreaded diseases, especially in minority communities, in our
young people, and throughout the country.
I will close with the drinking water issue in Flint. The
Congressional Black Caucus went out to Flint when the issue first came
up. Ms. Pelosi was there as well, and we talked to the people of Flint
and heard firsthand their heartbreak and not being able to think they
could trust anyone. Their government had let them down, had lied to
them, had given them poison to drink and said it is okay. It looked
like rusty water, but they told them that it was fine to use it for
baths or whatever.
So I am sitting there on that stage listening to all this and I am
thinking in the back of my head: I am from Newark, New Jersey, the
third oldest city in this country's history. So Flint, Michigan, can't
be that old because Lewis and Clark went West.
So the third oldest city, what were my pipes like? What was the
condition of my water system?
And I went back and I saw several mayors from my district, and I
said: I suggest you start looking at your water systems.
And that was on a Friday. That Tuesday we got a report from the
Newark school system. They found lead in the drinking water in 44
schools in Newark that next--not even a week.
So we know how important these issues are, and we will continue to
fight for what is right in our communities. I appreciate the
opportunity and your leadership on this issue.
Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Evans), from the great city of Philadelphia.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my great colleague from the Virgin
Islands for the great introduction. I really appreciate her leadership,
and my colleague from Texas' leadership.
This discussion that we have been having is relating to the
President's 100 days. And I think it is 102 at this particular point.
The question that I and members of the Congressional Black Caucus
have constantly been raising is: What do we have to lose with President
Trump's cuts to the EPA?
As I always said: What don't we have to lose?
We have a lot to lose.
In the time that I met with the organization in my community--a
number of organizations--called Mothers for Clean Air, they were
extremely concerned about the cuts to the EPA. The President's budget
cuts $2.6 billion from the EPA budget. They were concerned about the
impact that that would have. As a matter of fact, I talked to a mother
who talked about her twins and what kind of effect that would have.
The President wants to cut programs like Pollution Prevention
Programs, Lead Risk Reduction Programs--which has been a problem in the
case of the city of Philadelphia, a problem that we thought we dealt
with, but with a cut on the lead reduction program, that would just
reinforce the program--the Water Quality Research Programs, and the
Environmental Education Programs.
Who do you want to help when you cut 31 percent of the EPA budget?
No one. The cuts would be horrendous and have a dangerous negative
impact on not only our communities of color, but everyone nationwide.
Two weeks ago I sent a letter to EPA Administrator Pruitt outlining
how the plan to cut fundamental EPA programs would have a negative
impact on our children and most vulnerable in Philadelphia, all across
the State and the Nation.
Last week marks 3 weeks--3 years, I should say, since the city of
Flint, Michigan, decided to switch their water supply from the Detroit
area water system to the Flint River water system, which resulted in
lead contamination within the city. It is 3 years later and, sadly, not
much has changed for the communities in Flint. Three days is too long
to go without clean drinking water. Three years is simply
heartbreaking.
Mr. President, we have seen how various communities across the U.S.
are at greater risk of health problems due to overexposure to unsafe
drinking water. Now is no time to cut funding for Americans in need.
As Questlove says: ``Without science, we are truly operating
blindly.''
The cuts to the EPA would have an increasingly harmful impact,
especially for communities of color and hardworking families who do not
have the means nor the resources to fight back against their local
governments about the safety of the water they drink or question old
paint in their house.
According to the State Department of Health, in 2014, more than 10
percent of the children from Philadelphia had elevated levels of lead
in their blood because they were exposed to lead-based paint. Exposure
to lead-based paint is a chronic problem that goes undiscussed too
often.
No level is safe for our children to be exposed to, just as no level
of lead is safe for our children to drink.
[[Page H2999]]
Yet, the President says rather boldly that things are moving in the
right direction. I would like to know what community he is talking
about. He clearly couldn't be talking about the community that I am
from.
Now, more than ever, we need to keep the resistance alive, speak up
and speak out for our communities at risk. I will not stand silent
while the vital EPA programs that protect and enhance the lives of all
Americans are at risk of being cut. Together, we are the voice of the
people, so there is no way we will be silent. We will continue this
message.
Ms. PLASKETT. I thank the gentleman, Congressman Evans, for keeping
us focused and giving us the information we need to understand what
real communities are going through and the environmental justice that
we need to be fighting for in this administration. I appreciate that so
much.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. McEachin),
who has been the person who was at the forefront of this evening,
bringing issues of environmental justice to our minds and exposing and
explaining to the American people the assault on environmental justice
that is taking place right now, and appealing to President Trump to be
mindful of those communities who are going to be affected by the cuts
and by other interest groups that are going after the basic needs that
Americans have to stay healthy and stay alive.
{time} 2045
Mr. McEACHIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman.
As has been demonstrated tonight, on nearly every facet of
environmental policy, we are in danger of backsliding irreparably. I
want to talk about an area where that danger is especially great and
where stakes are especially high. Today, and for much of our history,
certain communities have been the victims of profound environmental
injustice. Lower income, rural, tribal, and especially minority
communities are at an increased risk of exposure to the negative
impacts of pollution and climate change.
For far too long, communities of color have been on the front lines
of environmental and economic injustice, shouldering the health burdens
of living in areas with higher rates of dangerous fossil fuel pollution
and lower rates of income and employment.
Mr. Speaker, an African-American child born in the United States has
twice the chance of developing asthma than a White child and is four
times more likely to die from an asthma attack. This is not a
coincidental statistic ginned up for shock and awe but the day-to-day
reality that African-American families across the United States have
been dealing with for decades.
Rooted in America's legacy of segregation and redlining communities
of color while simultaneously restricting their government services,
employment opportunities, and environmental protections, African-
American families have historically borne the brunt of the worst health
impacts of polluting industries and have received dwindling economic
opportunities due to systemic racism. This is why we see coal plants,
oil refineries, and natural gas plants, which spew some of the most
toxic substances around into the air and contaminate water supplies,
are frequently located in communities of color--communities that have
little political or economic power to protect themselves.
These disparities, Mr. Speaker, are unacceptable, and they did not
arise in a vacuum. In many cases, they have been the avoidable results
of government action or inaction. For example, according to the FY 2015
Annual Environmental Justice Progress Report, ``Many low-income,
minority, and tribal communities are disproportionately impacted by air
pollution and are not able to participate in environmental decisions
due to barriers preventing them from meaningfully engaging in the
political process.''
These voices deserve to be heard. Their silence--particularly their
enforced silence--is unacceptable, and it is incompatible with our,
small D, democratic values. The practical consequences of that silence
are dire: poorer public health, diminished economic opportunity, and
decreased quality of life.
To address these grave human and civil rights issues, the
environmental justice movement was born--a movement grounded in the
belief that all citizens, regardless of race, ethnicity, or
socioeconomic class, should share fairly in the benefits of
environmental resources and the burdens of environmental hazards.
As policymakers, Mr. Speaker, we have a responsibility to embrace
that vision--to correct and prevent environmental injustice. We can and
we must do better. It is not enough to avoid repeating past mistakes.
True equity requires a recognition that some communities have been hurt
much more and, as a result, need more resources and targeted
assistance. If we succeed--if we achieve equitable policies that
promote environmental justice--our world will become a more fair, more
liveable, and more sustainable place. But if we fail, public health
will suffer. People will lead shorter and harder lives. None of us
should be willing to accept that outcome.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is worth noting that the environmental
justice movement began in 1982, when North Carolina established a toxic
waste landfill in Warren County--a poor, rural, majority African-
American locality--over the objections of the residents. In the more
than 20 years since, many environmental justice organizations have
formed. During the Clinton administration, the pursuit of environmental
justice became a Federal priority.
Sadly, though, these improvements have not been enough to fix
longstanding problems, and, again, the progress we have made is under
grave threat. Left unchecked, this administration would devastate
communities of color and many other vulnerable groups as well.
Today, the Trump administration is rolling back budgets, cutting
offices, obscuring scientific information, and attacking legislation
aimed at curbing environmental justice. That is why, on March 7, we
witnessed the resignation of Mr. Mustafa Ali from his post as leader of
the Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Justice Program.
For more than two decades, Mr. Ali helped lead our Nation's efforts to
secure justice and positive change for vulnerable communities that have
seen their public health threatened and the quality of their air,
water, and land degraded.
In his letter, Mr. Ali said: ``Communities of color, low-income
communities, and indigenous populations are still struggling to receive
equal protections before the law.
``These communities, both rural and urban, often live in areas with
toxic levels of air pollution, crumbling or nonexistent water and sewer
infrastructure, lead in the drinking water, brownfields from vacant
former industrial and commercial sites, Superfund and other hazardous
waste sites, as well as other sources of exposure to pollutants.
``Despite the many challenges we face regarding the impacts of
pollution and a changing climate, we have just as many effective tools
and programs with long track records of assisting vulnerable
communities in meeting their goals of improving public health and
enhancing the environmental quality of their local communities.''
Mr. Speaker, I know my Democratic colleagues are eager to use these
tools to secure just outcomes and better lives for the people we
represent. Mr. Speaker, I urge my friends in the majority to join with
us.
Mr. Speaker, in concluding, I would like to thank my colleagues for
joining me this evening to discuss environmental justice.
Together, we have amplified a simple truth: regardless of the color
of your skin, how much money you make, or where you live, every
American is entitled to clean air, clean water, and access to our
public lands. Again, when we fail to achieve those goals, public health
suffers, quality of life suffers, and people lead shorter and harder
lives.
We know that climate change is real. We know that it is being caused
by human activity. If we fail to act, we know that there are going to
be terrible consequences for the entire human community. We also know
that vulnerable populations and marginalized communities are poised to
suffer the most--just as they have in the past. That kind of
environmental
[[Page H3000]]
injustice has a long history, and it must stop.
That is why, this past week, I announced the creation of the United
for Climate and Environmental Justice Task Force alongside my
colleagues, Congresswoman Jayapal from Washington State and
Congresswoman Barragan from California. We are going to fight every day
to prevent climate change and to mitigate its worst effects. We are
going to advocate for policies that correct and prevent environmental
injustice. We are going to defend every American's right to clean air,
safe water, and healthy communities. I think I can speak for all three
of us when I say that we look forward to working with you all.
Millions of working families are counting on us, Mr. Speaker, as
their Representatives in the House and the Senate to serve them and to
make wise decisions to improve their lives. We must confront
environmental and economic injustices through fierce participation in
the planning processes in at-risk areas moving forward. That means
demanding more stringent environmental compliance and enforcement that
protect communities of color from fossil fuel pollution and demanding
greater investments in clean energy deployment in historically African-
American communities that will create union and family-wage jobs with
upward mobility.
I know my colleagues on this side of the aisle are committed to
making this change, and I challenge our friends in the majority to join
us. I urge them to support greater transparency, objectivity, and
outreach in environmental policymaking. I urge them to support
processes that improve two-way communication between decisionmakers and
the people their decisions affect. I urge them to help ensure that the
decisionmakers are confronting the full effects of their choices--
including how consequences are distributed and by whom they are borne.
Protecting the environment, Mr. Speaker--creation care--is my
passion. I commit to you that I will continue fighting each and every
day to address climate change and sea level rise, push for renewable
energy and green technologies, and do everything I can to leave this
planet a better place for future generations.
Mr. Speaker, I am an Eagle Scout, and I know that we are supposed to
leave the campground better than the way we found it. The time is now
to continue fighting for perhaps the most important issue of the 21st
century--the environment.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms.
Plaskett) for her indulgence.
Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. McEachin for his passion and
for his commitment to these issues of environmental justice.
Particularly in the Virgin Islands, we know that climate change is
real. We feel it, and we see it in how we operate and how our
environment is changing, whether it be mosquitoes and Zika, before that
chikungunya and dengue. We know that the effects of climate change are
impacting our health and impacting the livelihoods of our environment.
The Congressional Black Caucus supports policies that ensure that all
Americans also have access to a clean and healthy environment. Studies
have long shown an unsettling correlation between race and the location
of hazardous waste facilities. For example, a 1983 Government
Accountability Office study found that 75 percent of hazardous waste
landfills in eight southeastern States were located in predominantly
poor and minority communities.
The places where minorities live, work, and learn are significantly
compromised by air, water, land, soil, noise, and light pollutants.
Black Americans and other minorities are predisposed to health issues
directly linked to environmental and toxic waste. We cannot take away
funding to support the eradication of these health hazards. We must
continue to push for that.
We are not here as the Congressional Black Caucus simply to disparage
our President. We are not here to point out his fallacies. But we would
be doing a grave disservice to the people that we represent, not just
minorities but all Americans, if we do not stand up and discuss the
issues that are of grave concern to us, to ask for support and funding,
to ask that there not be a rollback on many of the gains that we have
had that have supported and helped our community.
At the beginning of the 115th Congress, the Congressional Black
Caucus launched: ``What Did Trump Do?'' It was a rapid-response
messaging document we used to inform our external stakeholders. This
``What Did Trump Do?'' is a special #staywoke edition. We are listing
100 actions President Trump and his administration have taken over the
last 100 days. It was developed by 78 million Americans that the CBC
collectively represent, including 17 million African Americans, as well
as millions of Americans we do not represent.
We want this information to be before the American people to show
that work must still be done. We talked about environmental areas. I am
going to list some of the things that have happened in the 100 days
that we need to be cognizant of, that we need to make sure that these
things do not take place, and that they not become embedded in this
great America in which we live.
On February 28, Attorney General Sessions said that the DOJ would
pull back from using its legal authority to monitor police departments
responsible for repeated instances of police misconduct and abuses by
backing away from legal commitment first enacted into law by
Representative John Conyers as part of the 1994 crime reform
legislation. Sessions sent a signal to the African-American community
that the police misconduct laws will not be equally and fully enforced.
On that same day, the President signed a bill that rolled back a
regulation restricting gun purchases by the mentally ill through a use
of background checks.
Attorney General Sessions rescinded the Obama-era order to reduce the
use of privately operated prisons. The use of privately operated
prisons creates a financial incentive to lock people up using African
Americans, Latinos, and poor people. In addition, in comparison to the
government-operated prisons, privately operated prisons are less safe
and secure for both staff and inmates, don't provide the same level of
rehabilitative services like educational programs and job trainings
which increase the likelihood that those who are released from prison
will return to a life of crime.
Finally, although privately operated prisons are said to be more cost
effective than government prisons, they are not because those that are
in those prisons will continue to, in many instances, come back causing
a burden not just on the American people and taxpayers but on the
families and the communities in which those individuals reside.
Other things that have happened in these first 100 days: President
Trump appointed Candace E. Jackson as Acting Assistant Secretary for
civil rights at the Department of Education. Ms. Jackson once said that
affirmative action promotes racial discrimination and claims she was
discriminated against for being White. Secretary DeVos hired Robert
Eitel, an official with deep ties to the for-profit college industry,
to be a Special Assistant to the Department of Education. This hire
presents a serious conflict of interest and raises questions about
whether Eitel can put students' needs above the interest of his former
colleagues.
President Trump's proposed budget for the Department of Education
hurts low-income students from pre-K through college by undermining
public education through the elimination of afterschool and teacher-
support programs and diverting Federal funds to private school
vouchers, eliminating support for college students, gutting Federal
workstudy, and slashing critical funding for Federal Supplemental
Educational Opportunity Grants and Pell grants.
All of these cuts would have severe consequences for our Nation's
students--not just African Americans but Latinos and students in large
urban areas. No afterschool programs, no support for teachers--what
will our children do?
{time} 2100
What will those families do that need those children and that
support?
[[Page H3001]]
On March 9, EPA Administrator Pruitt said that he did not think that
carbon dioxide was the primary driver of global warming even though
that is the public position of EPA, NOAA, and NASA.
We can go on and on. We have a document with over 100 actions that
have been taken in the last 100 days.
In housing and homeownership, President Trump's proposed budget would
cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development by $6 billion. HUD
is responsible for providing housing assistance to extremely low-income
families and the homeless and reinvesting in American cities and
counties.
Those same proposed budgets would end the Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program, which assists families with energy costs, including
home energy bills, energy crises, weatherization, and energy-related
home repair.
These are some of the many examples of what has happened. We give
these examples not merely to degrade what has happened with this
administration, but to show that work must still be done and that we,
as Americans, must stay woke to what is happening in this country. We
must keep our eyes vigilant and on the prize and ensure that Americans
will see what is really happening and not be moved by the media, by the
tweets, but see actual facts.
We are working in real facts here to let you know what needs to be
done and that we, the Congressional Black Caucus, as Members of
Congress, are asking our colleagues across the aisle and in the
Democratic Caucus to support us and to support the issues that are
relevant not just to African Americans, but to all Americans this day.
General Leave
Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Lewis of Minnesota). Is there objection
to the request of the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands?
There was no objection.
Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to expose the
cavalier disregard of environmental justice by our President during his
first 100 days in office. In a short period of time, President Donald
J. Trump made clear his agenda--anti-climate, anti-science, and anti-
fact. The current administration has already taken significant steps,
in lock-step with Congressional Republicans, to roll back and erase the
progress made by the Obama Administration to protect our health, our
public lands, and our precious environment.
Since taking office, President Trump has signed a number of executive
orders reversing many of President Obama's environmental protections--
promoting cleaner air, cleaner water, and more sustainable energy
production. The current White House is on a fast-track to derail
decades of progress and set our nation back in the effort to combat
climate change. The Clean Power Plan, which established comprehensive
carbon emission standards and put the United States at the forefront of
global environmental stewardship, was one of Trump's first targets.
Instead of investing in technological and scientific innovation to make
America a leader in greener, cleaner, sustainable energy production and
consumption, President Trump has used his office to support the
interests of corporations and interests in big oil and dirty coal on
the backs of hardworking Americans.
Furthermore, the current administration has promulgated efforts to
expand environmentally detrimental offshore drilling, allow the dumping
of mining waste, and potentially force an exit from the 2015 Paris
Agreement which brought the world's powers together in agreement to
curb our collective carbon emissions.
The proposed budget goes even further in rejecting evidenced-based
policy-making. From proposals to cripple the Environmental Protection
Agency and zero-out critical programs at the Department of Energy like
ARPA-E, this administration has abandoned our nation's effort to
protect our planet and be a global leader.
Our administration's blatant disregard toward the health, economic,
and national security risks associated with global climate change is
shortsighted and will only further endanger Americans' health,
security, and economic stability. While we will all suffer from the
consequences of short-sighted federal policy, the heaviest burden is
bound to fall on those already marginalized.
Minorities and working class families are already struggling to make
ends meet, but study after study shows that they are the most
vulnerable to environmental injustices. Subject to downwind and
downstream pollution, children and families who are economically
disadvantaged often lack the political voice to keep industries from
polluting their communities and frequently bear the brunt of
deregulatory regimes. Take Flint, Michigan for example, where young
children have been exposed to toxic levels of lead from their drinking
water. That is wrong and should be unheard of in the world's most
powerful nation.
I urge my colleagues to consider the kind of country we want our
children to live in. Where is the freedom in living in a community
where there is no access to clean drinking water, or a city where
children are forced to stay inside because the air is so polluted? We
can and must do better, Mr. Speaker. The actions the President has set
forth thus far do nothing to Make America Great Again; rather, his
first one hundred days has only made America more polluted, less safe,
and less secure.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle to stand firm in their resolve to hold this and future
administrations accountable to keeping our air clean, our water safe,
and our environment sustainable for future generations. We have far too
much to lose, Mr. Speaker, and future generations deserve our better
judgement.
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