[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 154 (Tuesday, September 26, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H7495-H7496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               DREAM ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about three issues that 
are very important to my district and the Nation.
  First, I want to talk about the immigration policy or the lack of an 
immigration policy that we have in this country; a, in essence, broken 
immigration system.
  For years I have been saying that we need to fix it, and we need to 
do that in a bipartisan way because it is the only way we are going to 
be successful. I supported bipartisan efforts in 2013, the legislation 
that came out of the Senate by a vote of 68-13. Prior to that, I 
supported President Bush's efforts and, more recently, President 
Obama's efforts; but, unfortunately, we have not been successful 
through these efforts.
  That is why today I think we need to be focusing on at least one 
segment that would have been addressed if, in fact, we fix this broken 
immigration system. And that is those DREAMers, those young people 
covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that 
was initiated by President Obama that is now going to expire.
  These people came here at the average age of 6 years. Most of them 
don't know the country they came from. Most of them consider 
themselves, in essence, Americans. They are going to school. They are 
in our military service. They are serving in many different ways. They 
have jobs. They are part of families in which some are here legally and 
some are not. You are talking about breaking up families.
  Yesterday I signed a discharge petition to bring to the House floor 
the bipartisan, bicameral Dream Act, which will permanently protect 
these DREAMers by offering them a path to earned citizenship, not 
amnesty.
  I will continue to do everything in my power to bring the Dream Act 
to the House floor for a vote and to work then, after that, for 
comprehensive immigration reform, which is what we really need to do so 
that we don't keep up ending back here like a continued broken record.
  I want our DREAMers to know that many of us in Washington and across 
the Nation stand with them. The overwhelming majority of Americans 
believe that we ought to fix this. And I hope, before the end of this 
year, in a bipartisan fashion, we will do just that.


       Congratulating Sloane Stephens Winning U.S. Open in Tennis

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, about a month ago, we had the United States 
tennis championship, and I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate 
Sloane Stephens on her winning the U.S. Open in tennis earlier.

                              {time}  1100

  Many of you may not realize, but she came from the San Joaquin 
Valley, from the area that I represent in California, and we are proud 
of her. She did, after all, start playing her tennis in Fresno, where 
she lived until she was 10 years old.
  But her win makes many of us in America proud, as she showed the 
world a level of hard work, determination, and grit rarely seen on the 
tennis court. Ms. Stephens had to fight her way back to the court after 
a stress fracture and surgery in January that took her out of training 
and completely off of her feet and off of the tennis court.
  And then she came back--and, wow, did she come back--to beat the 
world's best, including one of her heroines,

[[Page H7496]]

Venus Williams, to become the Women's Singles U.S. Open champion. We 
are so proud of you.
  I also want to thank Ms. Stephens for all that she has done in the 
valley because she has never forgotten where she came from, where her 
mother raised her, contributing to the tennis programs at Edison-
Bethune Charter Academy in Fresno, which introduces young children to 
the sport of tennis, and also to help expand tennis programs at other 
local elementary and middle schools throughout the Fresno County Office 
of Education. A real shout-out for Sloane Stephens and the incredible 
accomplishment at this year's United States tennis championship for the 
United States Open. Congratulations.


                 Celebrating California's Wine Industry

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, lastly, I would like to turn to something 
that has been important not only in California, but across the country 
and around the world, and it also puts smiles on people's faces.
  For over 250 years, California has been producing the best wine, I 
think, in the world. California is the fourth largest producer of wine. 
This is, in large part, due to a lot of hard work, innovation, and 
craftsmanship of the State's 4,700 vintners and almost 6,000 growers. 
They make a difference every day, and they do it not before its time.
  Roughly 24 million people visit California's wine regions each year, 
making our State the most visited State for food- and wine-related 
activities. We are, after all, the number one agricultural State in the 
Nation, not only in wine production, but half of the Nation's fruits 
and vegetables, number one in citrus production, number one in milk 
production, number one in almonds and pistachios, and the list goes on 
and on and on.
  So as we near the end of California Wine Month this year, I would 
like to take a moment to celebrate our vintners, growers, farm 
workers--without the farm workers, we couldn't make this wine 
possible--and all those who contribute to this industry that provides 
healthy food as a part of a healthy diet that we all deserve and enjoy.

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