[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 73 (Monday, April 27, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H3096]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                           FUND THESE GRANTS

  (Mr. Subramanyam of Virginia was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, places of worship and nonprofit centers 
have always been sanctuaries of hope, spirituality, and community in 
our country, but violence and hate continue to be on the rise. Places 
of worship are increasingly becoming targets.
  Between 2021 and 2023, attacks on churches, synagogues, temples, and 
mosques increased by nearly 100 percent. Overall, hate crimes in the 
U.S. are up more than 80 percent since 2015, and 2025 was ranked as the 
fifth highest year for hate crimes in the FBI's 34-year history of 
tracking this data.
  We need to do more, and that is why I am calling on my colleagues to 
continue to support nonprofit security grants and other hate prevention 
programs. We need to help nonprofit organizations, especially houses of 
worship and religious community centers, enhance physical security 
against terrorist attacks and threats to them.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to call out the rise we are seeing 
in hateful rhetoric. It has no place in our communities, and it 
certainly has no place in the Halls of Congress.
  Let's fund this effort. Let's continue to support and protect our 
places of worship.


                             Stop the Move

  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, we can all agree that the USDA's Food 
Safety and Inspection Service is critical to keeping our food safe and 
protecting us from foodborne illnesses. This administration is trying 
to undermine this office and our country's ability to prevent foodborne 
illness.
  Just last week, the USDA announced that it is moving its food safety 
headquarters from D.C. to another part of the country. Now, 200 food 
safety experts will have to choose between uprooting their lives or 
staying in their jobs.
  We have seen this before. The last time the administration moved a 
USDA office across the country, it was two research-focused offices, 
and moving them was a complete disaster for the work of those offices. 
They lost over a third of their full-time staff, particularly the most 
experienced people, and they saw steep declines in agency productivity. 
It completely disrupted the grants and research that they do.
  This administration claims that the food safety office continues 
operating without interruption during this move, but we know from 
experience that is just not true. In every other case, the people who 
resigned were the people who had the most experience, the people we 
needed the most.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people can't afford to have an 
inexperienced, understaffed, and unproductive food safety office, so 
the USDA needs to stop this move and stop jeopardizing our Nation's 
food safety.


                             TSA Agent Cuts

  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, we have been hearing for weeks now 
about how the DHS shutdown needs to end because TSA workers need to get 
paid, and I agree.
  TSA workers have now been working with sporadic pay for 10 weeks. 
They may even get furloughed again until we decide to end this shutdown 
by putting the Senate Bill on the floor.
  I want to draw your attention to the President's budget. While the 
President and his administration talk about the importance of TSA 
workers and keeping lines short at the airport, the President's own 
budget suggests cutting almost 10,000 TSA agents.
  This is all part of a larger plan to get rid of the TSA altogether. 
For those keeping score at home like me, this is chapter 5 of Project 
2025.
  Cutting these TSA jobs would mean a lot of things, like worse quality 
service, cuts to employee pay and benefits, customer dissatisfaction, 
and a higher risk of errors at places like our airports, where there is 
no room for error.
  Mr. Speaker, I could keep going. The next time the President or any 
administration official talks about how we need to end this shutdown to 
support TSA workers, just look at the President's budget.


                        Protecting Data Centers

  Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, data centers hold critical information 
we use every day and keep the internet running.
  Whether it is AI, blockchain, or any other innovations in technology, 
data centers are going to be a key part of this.
  Because data centers are so critical, they are becoming targets 
during wars. Look at the Russian-Ukrainian war. Russia is attacking 
Ukrainian data centers. Iran has struck commercial data centers in the 
UAE and has said that data centers are military targets now.
  My district is home to hundreds of data centers, and families, 
schools, parks, and places of worship are all close to data centers in 
my district. People living around these data centers shouldn't have to 
worry about being a target anymore.
  That is why I am introducing the Data Infrastructure Risk Reduction 
Act. This bill would direct the Department of Homeland Security to 
develop a strategy to protect data centers and the communities around 
them from being targeted during attacks.
  The government needs to do everything possible to protect these 
communities because Americans deserve to know that if a data center is 
going to be built next to them, we will protect that community, and 
they won't be a target at that point.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor and pass this bill.

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