[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 196 (Thursday, November 20, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H4863-H4865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HIGHLIGHTING THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Kiley 
of California was recognized for 30 minutes.)
  Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, this last month, Nevada County, 
indeed the entire State of California, lost one of its finest, its 
truly great citizens.
  Eduardo Agullo Garcia was born in Barcelona, Spain, during the 
Spanish Civil War. He was the second child and only son of Jose and 
Esperanza. His favorite memory as a child was playing marbles in the 
streets, although he frequently returned home with an empty bag.
  His life was forever changed when he applied and was accepted into 
the American Field Service program and became an exchange student in 
1955. He sailed across the Atlantic with fellow students. They spent 
the time discussing American customs and culture.
  It was on this ship that he was advised to avoid asking out girls who 
wore a pin because the pin indicated that they had been pinned by a boy 
and were not available to date. He traveled across the United States on 
his way to Millbrae, California, where he was hosted for the school 
year by the mayor of Millbrae, Webb Witmer.
  When he arrived at the San Francisco airport, he was greeted by 
American AFS students including Nancy Campbell. While he was intrigued 
by Nancy,

[[Page H4864]]

he would not ask her out because he saw a pin. He didn't realize until 
the end of the school year at Capuchino High School in San Bruno that 
she wore a pin because she was a member of Job's Daughters, an 
international organization. It was not the type of pin that he thought.
  When he discovered that she was not actually seeing someone, he 
immediately asked her out. After Eddie graduated from Capuchino High 
School, he returned to Spain to complete his compulsory military 
service. After the military, he went to work for a chemical company in 
Spain. He and Nancy continued their relationship via letters and 
visits.
  As Nancy neared completion of her degree at University of California, 
Berkeley, he asked her to marry him. They were married in California in 
1961 and moved to Barcelona for several years. Their daughter was born 
in 1963, and 8 months later they moved back to northern California.
  Eddie was importing and selling sporting rifles and ammunition but 
turned to wholesale decorative accessories. He started his company, 
Garcia Imports, out of the garage of their house in Millbrae. It soon 
grew to a small warehouse in San Bruno and then a bigger warehouse in 
San Mateo and then in Redwood City and finally in Hayward.
  He traveled extensively for business, both overseas and the United 
States. He achieved one of his greatest goals by becoming a citizen of 
the United States in 1973.
  After over 40 years in the home furnishings industry, working side by 
side with both his wife, Nancy, and his daughter, Barbara, he and Nancy 
retired in 2008.

                              {time}  1950

  In 2009, they moved to Grass Valley. They were not entirely sure what 
they wanted to do in retirement, but they met some wonderful friends 
and soon became very involved with the Tea Party, the State of 
Jefferson, and the Nevada County Republican Party. It was a full-time 
passion for both Nancy and Eddie.
  Eddie joined the Nevada County Fairgrounds Foundation in 2011 as a 
director. In 2015, Eddie and Nancy, as well as their daughter, Barbara, 
and son-in-law, Larry McDonald, were named the Family of the Year by 
the Nevada County Fair's board of directors. The board chose the 
Garcia-McDonald family for their volunteer efforts, their vision for 
the foundation's station, and their ongoing support of the Nevada 
County Fairgrounds.
  After nearly 60 years of marriage, Nancy passed in 2020, which was, 
of course, such a great loss for Eddie. However, he stayed busy in the 
last several years supporting political campaigns, keeping an eye on 
local politics, and working to improve his adopted country.
  He was very passionate about the candidates he supported and has 
traveled with friends to support those candidates wherever he could. He 
continued to pursue his passions right up until he passed peacefully 
and quickly on October 9, 2025.
  Eddie, we miss you, my friend, but your legacy will be felt by our 
community forever.


                       End the Redistricting War

  Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to, again, call 
for an end to the terrible redistricting war that is cascading across 
the country with the domino effect going from one State to the next. 
States are throwing out their entire congressional map and upending 
representation in their State. It is something that is deeply unpopular 
with Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, and it is deeply 
unpopular with the American people.
  Gerrymandering is bad enough, but throwing out the maps specifically 
to gerrymander in the middle of the decade is even worse. At this point 
in time, we have seen Texas and California both adopt gerrymandered 
maps, although both States now find their new maps being challenged in 
Federal Court, which adds yet another element of uncertainty for 
Representatives and constituents alike.
  However, it has gone far beyond California and Texas. We are now 
seeing States either already or in the process of starting to adopt new 
maps in States like Missouri and potentially Indiana, Kansas, and 
Florida, perhaps, as well as Virginia, Illinois, or Maryland, and 
several others. It seems that hardly any State will be spared. Many 
have said they wanted to but simply don't have time this year, so they 
are waiting to do it until the next cycle.
  It has gotten completely out of hand. It has gotten to the point 
where we could get into this world of rolling redistricting where 
district lines are never settled for more than a couple of years and 
where the connection between voters and Representatives is continually 
being severed.
  I have called time and again for an end to this redistricting war or 
an armistice. The fact of the matter is that there is still an 
opportunity to do that, but it is a very narrow window of opportunity 
that exists.
  My bill, H.R. 4889, would bar mid-decade redistricting in every State 
in the country. This makes sense as an act of Congress under our 
Article I Elections Clause authority. But it makes sense, in 
particular, because redistricting itself is a creature, it is a 
creation of the Constitution, of the Federal Government, which says 
that it has to be done every 10 years. It is only a new phenomenon, a 
fairly recent phenomenon, where States are deciding to do it more 
frequently than that.
  So we can, as a House, pass this measure. I believe if it were 
brought to the floor it would pass overwhelmingly to stop this madness 
in every State in the country.
  The reason I say it is a narrow window is because the filing deadline 
in Texas is coming up on December 8, and, realistically, nothing that 
we do here would affect the map in that State after that point in time. 
So that is really, effectively, a deadline for a national solution to 
this problem. Even if, by the way, that deadline were to pass and Texas 
or California would not be affected, I still think we should move 
forward to spare these other States from having to deal with the 
adverse consequences.
  I begin today calling on the Speaker of the House to bring this bill 
to the floor for a vote so we could end this madness. We could stop 
mid-decade gerrymandering, we could go back to the way it is supposed 
to be where we redraw our district lines once every 10 years, and we 
could focus all of the time, energy, and resources being put into this 
fight--which, by the way, it seems is not going to help one party or 
the other to any significant degree, it is probably going to be more or 
less a wash, but we can get back to focusing on the issues that 
actually matter to the American people.


                   California's Culture of Corruption

  Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, last week, Governor Gavin 
Newsom's chief of staff was indicted for 23 felony counts in a Federal 
corruption investigation. This is his former chief of staff. She left 
the office at the end of last year.
  The charges include conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, bank 
fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct 
justice, subscribing to false tax returns, and making false statements 
to the FBI. The main conduct being alleged involves theft of campaign 
funds totaling $225,000, tax fraud, as well as fraud surrounding a PPE 
loan.
  The indictment lists a number of co-conspirators, including the 
former chief of staff for California's attorney general, including a 
high-powered lobbyist, including another well-known consultant, as well 
as a number of other un-named co-conspirators. In other words, these 
are the people running our State government in California. These are 
the people who control our politics in California.

  Now, I have spoken about a culture of corruption that exists in 
Sacramento, and this latest series of events has cast that culture of 
corruption in stark relief. Indeed, the former chief of staff or 
communications director for both Jerry Brown and, I think, Dianne 
Feinstein used those very words in the aftermath of this indictment to 
describe the area that he had worked for many, many years, a culture of 
corruption. He referred to Governor Newsom's chief of staff who has now 
been indicted as a ``Mafia boss.''
  So I think it is important for people to take note of what has 
transpired because it does cast a light on the corruption that is 
endemic to politics in Sacramento.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that this is really the core issue when you 
look at

[[Page H4865]]

why California has declined as a State, why our quality of life has 
declined as a State, why we pay the highest gas taxes yet drive over 
the deepest potholes, why we spend tens of billions of dollars on a 
high-speed train and yet absolutely nothing gets built, and why we 
spend more and more and more money on education every year yet we have 
the highest illiteracy rate in the State.
  The fundamental issue is not Democrat versus Republican even. It is 
the people of our State versus this entrenched and corrupt political 
class.
  So I do believe that in order to get our State back on track, we need 
to reform the way politics and government are done in California. I 
believe we are actually on our way to starting to do that, not only 
with examples of people being held accountable as of this indictment, 
but also with The Coalition for Common Sense that you see forming 
across California, Mr. Speaker. This is the same coalition, for 
example, that came together last year to defeat our political 
establishment and pass Proposition 36 to make crime illegal again in 
California by an overwhelming margin, 68 percent of the vote, in that 
election.
  So I do believe that there is a coalition of people who care about 
California, who want to reform our State, and who want to restore 
sanity and good government and common sense. Hopefully, this latest 
truly troubling and horrifying example will help to speed that process 
along in a very healthy way.

                              {time}  2000


                   Expanding Refineries in California

  Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, today, I voted for and the 
House passed the REFINER Act.
  This is an important piece of legislation that is designed to 
identify obstacles to expanding refining capacity in the United States, 
and it is designed to promote energy independence.
  Before we go through exactly what the bill does, I wanted to make 
clear why this is so important for those of us in California. 
California is seeing the closure of two of its refineries, Phillips 66 
and Valero, which represent a significant chunk of our State's overall 
refining capacity.
  Now, we already pay the highest gas prices of any State in the 
country. We also have electricity prices that have gone up by 34 
percent over the last several years, The New York Times just reported, 
far more than any other State. We pay the highest gas prices out of all 
50 States, substantially more than the national average, higher even 
than Hawaii, which is an island State.
  The causes of that are well understood, and it is those very causes 
that are now causing these refineries to close in a way that is going 
to make the problem even worse by further constraining supply.
  The reason, of course, the cause, is the taxes, the regulations, the 
particular fuel blend that is required, and the continually changing 
environmental mandates that cause the cost of doing business to 
continually grow and that require these refineries to continually 
update their equipment in a way that makes doing business just no 
longer viable.
  All of these things together led researchers at USC to determine 
that, by the end of next year, Californians could be paying an average 
of $8 a gallon for gasoline.
  The bill we passed today here in Congress, in the House of 
Representatives, will help with this because, in addition to the data 
collection that it requires and the aspects of it that seek to support 
an agenda designed to promote energy independence through getting rid 
of needless regulations, it also is looking at State actions that are 
contributing to our decline in refining capacity.
  California, I am sure, will be the State where the most such actions 
are identified. I am looking forward to the results of this and then 
being able to act to use whatever leverage we have here at the Federal 
level to try to spare Californians from the continually rising cost of 
gasoline and to restore a little dose of common sense to our State's 
energy policy.


                     State of California's Economy

  Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, California's 
nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office revealed that the State has an 
$18 billion deficit--an $18 billion deficit. The nonpartisan 
Legislative Analyst's Office noted that this is the fourth straight 
year that the State has had budget problems, even though revenue has 
been increasing.
  The LAO, the Legislative Analyst's Office, also noted in their report 
on the State budget that the State's economy is not in good shape. 
Indeed, job growth this year has amounted to zero, nothing. There has 
literally been no job growth in the State of California.
  In addition, consumers in California are increasingly pessimistic 
about our State's economy, so these problems have all been building and 
building and have, in particular, accelerated during the governorship 
of Gavin Newsom.
  In his first year as Governor, our State budget was $208 billion. 
Now, the budget is $322 billion. It has increased by more than 50 
percent. Can Californians say they are getting 50 percent more for 
their tax dollars? Of course not.
  The problems in our State have continued to grow. We continue to lead 
the Nation in homelessness, unemployment, taxes, regulations, and 
poverty.
  I would hope that this latest report from the Legislative Analyst's 
Office will be a wake-up call for the politicians in Sacramento that we 
need to start doing things differently. We need to have less of a tax 
and regulatory burden. We need to support small businesses and workers. 
We need to get the budget under control, so we don't continue to spend 
more and more as we get less and less.


                             Proposition 50

  Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, this is the first opportunity I 
have had to address the House since the passage of Prop 50 in 
California to re-gerrymander our State and to return us to the era of 
political gerrymandering.
  Of course, I was against the proposition because I am against 
gerrymandering everywhere. I am against it in California. I am against 
it in Texas. I am against it in every State, Republican or Democrat.
  My district, the currently drawn Third Congressional District, did 
indeed vote against Prop 50, and if it had its way, it would remain one 
contiguous district.
  Unfortunately, this was not decided on a district-by-district basis, 
so it must be acknowledged that the people of California have spoken. 
Even though there is an ongoing Federal challenge to the new map, I am 
proceeding under the assumption that the new map will govern the 
elections in 2026.
  I did want to point to one particular provision in Prop 50 that I 
actually support. Indeed, I think a good part of the reason why it 
passed is because they actually put this provision, this sentence, 
right there in the description that people saw on the ballot when they 
voted, which is the proposition that established a State policy of 
supporting independent redistricting nationwide. While it, on the one 
hand, brings back gerrymandering in California, on the other hand, it 
calls upon Congress to establish independent redistricting commissions 
in every State in the country.
  I am going to answer that call to action from the voters of our 
State. I am currently working on legislation to do precisely what the 
initiative calls for, to establish independent redistricting in every 
State in the country. It will be modeled on the independent 
redistricting commission that Prop 50 just pushed aside in California.

  If we can get this passed here in Congress and signed into law, then 
by the time of the next Census in 2030, when States are actually 
supposed to be redrawing district lines, the horrible scourge of 
gerrymandering, this scourge on our democracy, will finally be put to 
an end in the United States of America.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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