[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H1021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING FALLEN SOLDIERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to honor and 
express my deepest sympathy, as a fellow Texan, to the family of 
Sergeant 1st Class Javier Gutierrez, who lost his life in battle in 
Afghanistan. I also want to acknowledge Sergeant 1st Class Antonio 
Rodriguez of New Mexico, as he lost his life in battle as well.
  It is a war that is endless. Nonetheless, the service of our giants, 
our young men and women in uniform, is to be constantly honored.
  Sergeant Gutierrez, a family man, a husband, a father, engaged in the 
service of his Nation, enthusiastically joining. He came from a long 
legacy of service to the Nation: his grandfather, another hero in our 
Nation, and his father, another hero in our Nation.
  I pray for this family, who has now given the ultimate sacrifice and 
never refused to put on the uniform to fight in battle for this 
Nation's freedom, its justice, and its equality.
  May God bless his family, and may he rest in peace.


                Defeat President Trump's Proposed Budget

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. As I move to another topic, I would like to say that 
this is a message to my constituents and the American people.
  As you have heard in the news, and were probably frightened by the 
excerpts, I hold in my hand a budget for America's future. This was 
offered by the President of the United States. It is frightening in its 
attack on the basic security, domestic security, of the American 
people.
  I would venture to say that even our young soldiers have found the 
need for their families to sometimes have assistance with the 
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, food stamps. Tragically, 
this budget digs deep to hatchet away the basic safety net that we have 
come to understand is not a handout for working families who may be 
impoverished but a hand-up.
  I am startled by the cuts, draconian cuts, in this document. I am 
startled by $1.6 trillion in cuts for Medicare and Medicaid.
  I am startled by, in the midst of the coronavirus, a more than $4 
billion cut in funding for the NIH and the Centers for Disease Control, 
the very entities that provide lifesaving research and possible cures 
for the American people and people around the world.

  The World Health Organization is begging to go into China at this 
time, and they are looking to have American researchers who are ready 
and able to go, to determine how to stop, how to determine the origins, 
and how to thwart what might be a horrific pandemic around the world. 
How can you cut $4 billion?
  Then, the precious children in my congressional district, I have the 
privilege of representing a number of school districts, not just one, 
but a good number of school districts. Every day, the administrators, 
teachers, and parents, dropping their beautiful children off, are 
looking for an opportunity so that they, too, might serve and 
contribute to this great Nation. Yet, a number that is so startling it 
takes your breath away: $6.2 billion in cuts for education.
  After Hurricane Harvey, with 51 trillion gallons of floodwater, 
people are still suffering from the losses of their homes, still trying 
to fix flooding areas and mitigate the damage through infrastructure 
work. Yet, $1.7 billion has been cut from those needs of people who 
have experienced heinous and horrific natural disasters and still need 
the repairs that are necessary.
  Of course, every child knows that climate change is real. So in this 
Nation--the innovative, important leader of the world--we are slashing 
the dollars for climate research.
  We are not aware as well, I guess, in this administration, that 
terrorism is on the rise, domestic terrorism in particular. But we must 
also be vigilant for the terrorism that brought down the Twin Towers on 
9/11. Yet, those dollars are being cut from FEMA, $746.9 million.
  Then, let me say, as I close, that we are also saying to those who 
are unhoused, the homeless, those who seek better housing, that they, 
too, can't get housing. Affordable housing for the homeless and others 
is now waning.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask to defeat this budget, as we will.

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