[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 210 (Friday, December 12, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H5833-H5836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CALIFORNIA IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF A MODEL OF EFFICIENCY
(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, I rise today to make a
statement
[[Page H5834]]
about efficiency in government because there was a statement from the
Governor of my State that many of us found quite surprising where he
recently said that long before there was DOGE, California was already
streamlining government to be more efficient, responsive, and
accountable. Apparently, California being a model of efficiency, in the
Governor's view.
This came as a surprise to many of us because, in the course of just
5 years during Governor Newsom's tenure, the State budget increased by
$124 billion. That is over a 50 percent increase in spending without
really any measurable improvement in government performance when you
look at California ranking first in the Nation in homelessness,
poverty, unemployment, having some of the worst roads, and some of the
worst achievement gaps in our schools.
I will highlight just a few examples that I think are particularly
revealing when it comes to the low quality of government service that
citizens of California are receiving and also, to some extent, the
lessons that we can draw from here at the Federal level where I think
continuing to improve the quality of government service, giving
taxpayers a higher return on their tax dollars remains a vital
imperative.
Remember, the Governor said that California is a model of efficiency.
His exact words: ``California is already streamlining government to be
more efficient, responsive, and accountable.''
Apparently, this includes a $128 billion bullet train that still
shows no signs of coming into existence. Now, that is the estimated
total cost. The amount that has already been spent is somewhere in the
neighborhood of $16 billion, $17 billion, but we are now 18 years into
this thing and not a single bit of track has been laid despite all of
this massive spending. The New York Times has estimated that the
project isn't even on track to be finished this century.
Another example is that the State auditor in California found that
the State spent $24 billion to combat homelessness and completely lost
track of the money. They couldn't say where it went. They couldn't say
what impact it had on outcomes. There were no metrics.
During the time that this spending occurred, homelessness in
California absolutely skyrocketed to the extent that the State has
about half of the total unsheltered homeless in the entire country.
The State also squandered $32 billion at a minimum on unemployment
fraud. What is going on in Minnesota is small potatoes compared to what
we witnessed in California during the COVID years where the State
failed to take basic fraud protection measures that other States had
taken, and as a result, fraudsters were easily able to purloin the
State Treasury and use those billions to fund further criminal
activities.
Now, I say that there are lessons for the Federal Government because
during the last administration, the labor secretary in California most
responsible for that entire fiasco was actually nominated to be the
Secretary of Labor here in Washington, D.C., although never confirmed
by the Senate, so to some extent the lesson was learned.
We have recent reports just in the last couple weeks that this $650
million 911 system that the State has been charging Californians on
their phone bill for, for several years now, is being scraped entirely
because the technology doesn't work. They spent $650 million building
this so-called next generation 911 system--and our system does very
much need to be updated--but because the State couldn't manage to get
the technology right, it is all going to waste. Those funds will never
be recovered and our 911 system remains antiquated as a result. Bear in
mind, Sacramento is a stone's throw from Silicon Valley where the
technology that is required here is fairly rudimentary in terms of what
is needed.
I would just mention one final example which is the California State
Capitol itself. Our Governor has had a lot to say about certain
renovations going on at the White House, yet the California State
legislature approved several years ago a $1.2 billion renovation of the
State capitol itself.
I voted against that measure, by the way, but now the cost of that
seems to have ballooned and we don't know even by how much because the
State is refusing to say. Despite the persistent efforts of local
journalists to get an answer and other legislators as to how much this
project is costing our taxpayers, they won't even say how much.
However, we have gotten some hints of some of the measures that the
project leaders have taken such as shipping stones to Italy in order to
be treated and refined. It does not seem that this particular project
is exactly a model of efficiency either.
Mr. Speaker, I bring these examples up to highlight the need for
reform in my home State, to reorient the way our government works
toward a paradigm of citizen service, because we see corruption and
incompetence and special interests and a whole host of other agendas
that stand in the way of the use of tax dollars to actually serve our
citizens. Indeed, California is the exact opposite of a model of
efficiency as we sacrifice the most and get the least in return.
I will continue to do everything I can to change that paradigm in
California as well as to find ways to learn from it and to reorient our
Federal Government toward a model of citizen service and efficiency, as
well.
{time} 1250
Legislation to Stop Insider Trading
Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, this week, I signed a discharge
petition to stop insider trading, to ban stock trading by Members of
Congress. I have been a cosponsor of this measure offered by my
colleague from Florida, Anna Paulina Luna. We have gotten a number of
bipartisan cosponsors for it, yet the bill has not moved. It has not
been brought to the floor by House leadership.
I have signed this discharge petition, which is a legislative
mechanism by which the Members of the House can bring a bill directly
to the floor without the blessing of leadership. I have not been
particularly inclined to sign these petitions in my first couple of
years here in the House, but I have come to the view that they have
become more necessary given the House's somewhat diminished role in
recent months in terms of actually driving policy forward.
I have also signed a couple of other petitions related to the
healthcare reforms that we are seeking to advance. I was particularly
concerned when I heard the Speaker himself suggest that he might try to
stop discharge petitions from happening altogether, which would be a
terrible idea. It would mean that the House is no longer truly a
majoritarian institution.
Affirming the value of discharge petitions and bringing to the floor
a bill to ban trading by Members of Congress are both important steps
toward restoring trust in this institution. Let's face it, Congress is
not held in particularly high esteem by the American public right now.
I have seen recent polls showing that Congress' approval rating is
around 15 percent. In many ways, that reputation is well deserved.
This is a simple measure that we can take that would at least restore
a little bit of trust and be a step in the direction of good
government. I am hoping that it will continue to get the requisite
signatures, short of leadership agreeing to bring it to the floor, and
then we can get it passed and signed into law.
Advocating to End Redistricting War
Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise again today to advocate
for an end to the redistricting war that has been cascading across the
country.
I have introduced legislation that would say we should not have mid-
decade redistricting. It should not be done in any State. I opposed
what happened in Texas to re-gerrymander that State in the middle of
the decade, and I opposed what happened in California. I opposed the
efforts that are afoot as well in other States, and I applaud the
decision by the Indiana State Senate to not move forward with a mid-
decade gerrymander in a fairly overwhelming vote yesterday.
The fact is that gerrymandering is an affront to representative
government and democracy. What we are seeing right now runs against the
desires of Members of this body on both sides of the aisle and
certainly runs contrary to what is in the interest of the country.
I have called upon the leadership in the House for months to bring
this bill
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to the floor or to otherwise reach an armistice in this redistricting
war. I believe it was a failure of leadership, frankly, on both sides,
to allow this to happen.
As I warned months ago, the whole thing is basically turning out to
be a wash. If you look at the various election forecasters, they say,
yes, you are probably not going to see either side really gain much.
All of this effort, all of this money, all of this political capital
spent redrawing maps, upending the districts of dozens of our Members
on both sides of the aisle, and to what end? Nothing good is coming
from it.
Maybe if the Speaker--and I cannot let the minority leader off the
hook either because he has been actively involved in these efforts--had
been more focused on, let's say, healthcare policy than trying to
redraw district maps, we wouldn't be in a position where we are now 3
weeks away from Americans seeing a massive increase in healthcare
costs.
I am again calling for my bill to ban mid-decade redistricting to be
brought to the floor for a vote. I am also working on legislation to
end gerrymandering in this country, once and for all, by ensuring each
State has an independent commission, much like the one that we had in
California until recently. I think if we can take that step to end
gerrymandering, to have fair maps across the country, then it will
restore power where it belongs, and that is to the voters themselves.
Need for Higher-Performing Schools
Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, as chair of the House
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education,
which covers K-12 education, I like to have the opportunity to go and
visit high-performing schools, to see the lessons that we could learn.
This morning, I had the chance to visit a KIPP school, the Knowledge
is Power Program here in Washington, D.C. There are 20 KIPP schools in
D.C. There are many, many more all across the country, including many
in California.
This is a truly high-performing charter school network that tends to
enroll students who are below the poverty level, that operates in
underserved communities, and that has outstanding results by any
measure--by student test scores, by graduation rates, by the number of
students who go to college.
They really have just been knocking it out of the park for years,
much like Success Academy, which operates in New York City. I had the
chance to visit one of their campuses a couple of months ago. If they
were considered their own school district, they would literally be the
highest performing district in the State of New York.
These examples of success are, unfortunately, not the norm when it
comes to public education in America today and, in particular, in my
State of California. The latest Nation's Report Card showed that
student achievement is at an all-time low in this country. We have not
bounced back to even where we were prior to the COVID years. We
continue to fall behind our peer nations in terms of the level of
achievement for our students.
In California, in particular, we have seen, over the course of the
last several years, almost $40 billion more that is now spent on an
annual basis on education. What do we have to show for it? UC San
Diego, which is a pretty high-ranking school, recently came out and
said that their incoming students are not prepared to do basic math,
even the most basic math. They have now had to put one out of every
eight students into remedial math courses. They have had to expand the
remedial courses they offer to make them even more remedial.
That is the result of a State like California that has done
everything possible to quash high-performing charter schools, like the
ones I just mentioned, Success Academy and KIPP, and instead support
and prop up a failing education model: the idea that you are assigned
to one school in your ZIP Code, whether it is good or bad, whether it
teaches students to read and do math or not.
In the subcommittee that I have the honor to chair, we have been
focusing on both the problems and potential solutions for public
education in America. I think there is a great deal to learn from
schools like KIPP and Success Academy, which set high expectations for
students, teach literacy and numeracy the way that it is supposed to be
taught, have high levels and expectations for their teachers and help
prepare them as they need to be prepared when it comes to professional
development, and focus like a laser on student achievement, engaging
parents, and everything that comes with giving students access to a
quality education.
Schools like these show that every child in this country can indeed
succeed, and we need to make it a matter of great urgency to make sure
that every child in America has that opportunity.
{time} 1300
Assuring Timely Representation in the House
Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I will be introducing in the
House the Right to Representation Act, a measure that has become
necessary in order to assure that districts in this country are not
denied representation here in the House.
We recently had a period of time in which a newly elected Member of
the House from Arizona was not seated as a Member for week after week
for what I believe was a record period of time. This was despite the
fact that she had won her election, the election had been certified,
and the district was going without representation until she was seated.
The House of Representatives was not here during that time, which was
itself a big problem. The House canceled its sessions for 6 weeks on
end while the government was shut down. Nevertheless, this Member, Mrs.
Grijalva from Arizona, could have been sworn in during what is called a
pro forma session.
I think that this is simply wrong. I think it is wrong she had to
wait over a month, I believe, after she should have been sworn in to
actually have the opportunity to begin representing her constituents.
I don't want to see anything like this happen again, regardless of
which party controls the House and regardless of which party the Member
who is waiting to be sworn in represents.
My bill is very simple. It would simply say that after an individual
has prevailed in a special election, then they have the right to be
sworn in on the next legislative day, whether that is a pro forma
session or a regular session.
I think this is a commonsense measure and will ensure that what we
just saw with the Representative from Arizona doesn't happen in this
Chamber again.
Congratulating Chief Brian Estes
Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate
Chief Brian Estes of the CAL FIRE Nevada Yuba Placer Unit and the
Placer County Fire Department. He is retiring at the end of this year
after an exceptional career of over 35 years in the fire service.
In 1991, Chief Estes graduated at the top of his class from the Butte
Fire Academy, launching him into a long and successful career. He began
working as a firefighter at a station in San Diego County.
Mr. Speaker, 4 years later, he joined the CAL FIRE helicopter crew in
Tuolumne County, where he stayed for another 4 years. During this
timeframe, he held various leadership positions, such as CWN manager
and military helicopter manager. He coordinated with the California
National Guard as a military liaison officer.
In 1988, Brian Estes was promoted to fire apparatus engineer and was
assigned to the Amador/El Dorado Unit. Brian climbed the ladder and was
promoted through the ranks, becoming captain in 2000 and being promoted
to battalion chief in 2005.
In the coming years, Chief Estes responded to some of California's
most challenging fires, joining deployments and leading 14 Type I
incidents across California as Type I incident commander.
Brian Estes continued to be promoted, and he served as assistant
chief of operations, deputy chief of operations, and then, finally, as
unit chief for the Nevada Yuba Placer Unit and fire chief of the Placer
County Fire Department.
He had the honor of leading over 450 personnel and overseeing a
budget of
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over $100 million across 1.7 million acres of State Responsibility
Area.
As Placer County Fire Chief, Chief Estes oversaw municipal services
across 1,000 square miles and served over 70,000 residents, protecting
$80 billion in assets.
In these capacities, he has been an outstanding force in protecting
the quality of life in our region by leading the front line of defense
against the all-too-common California wildfires.
Chief Estes is widely respected for his exceptional leadership skills
and unwavering commitment to collaboration. Under his guidance, his
units operate with greater strength, efficiency, and purpose,
reflecting his ability to maximize their potential and bring out the
best in those he leads.
A lifelong public servant, Chief Estes is truly a pillar of our
community. He is defined by his consistent and active engagement and
his deep dedication to those he serves, going above and beyond the
regular call of duty.
It has really been a privilege to work alongside Chief Estes
throughout my time in office. It is an honor to represent someone held
in such high esteem by his friends, family, colleagues, and community.
Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives
and California's Third Congressional District, I wish Chief Estes a
happy retirement and thank him for his many years of service.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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