[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6584]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 INVESTING IN AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, last night, America witnessed a tragic 
accident that occurred when the Amtrak train going from Washington, 
D.C., to New York derailed outside of Philadelphia. We mourn the loss 
of lives and those that were injured, and our thoughts and prayers go 
to the families who were involved in that tragic accident last night. 
And while we do not know the cause of that accident, we do know that 
America desperately needs to invest in its infrastructure.
  Yes, this week is National Infrastructure Week, and we have 6 
legislative days left to fund America's national transportation 
system--6 days. For 2 years, we have been kicking this can down the 
road, and I suspect we will find some temporary means of funding before 
the end of this month. However, America needs a long-term means of 
investing in its infrastructure, a long-term means that will allow for 
5 years of planning for investments in our roads, our bridges, in our 
transit systems, in our railway systems, and in our water 
infrastructure.
  We are experiencing a terrible drought out in California, and it is 
long overdue that we invest in California and in America's water 
systems.
  So as we acknowledge this week being National Infrastructure Week, it 
is important that we remember that it is long overdue that Congress 
come together in a bipartisan fashion to provide long-term funding that 
will allow long-term planning to provide the same kinds of investments 
that our parents and our grandparents made in this country years ago 
that we are living off of today.


              The Hmong Veterans' Service Recognition Act

  Mr. COSTA. In addition, Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the service of 
Hmong and Lao Americans who fought for the United States during the 
Vietnam war.
  The Central Intelligence Agency in the 1960s covertly trained Hmong 
men and women in Laos, and the Hmong special guerilla unit was formed, 
otherwise known as the SGU. They directed them in the compact to 
support U.S. forces.
  These indigenous forces conducted direct missions against communists, 
fighting side-by-side American soldiers and saving countless American 
lives. That is why President Ford, in 1975, signed an executive order 
granting these Hmong soldiers and their families the ability to gain 
access as permanent residents for their service to our country if they 
could make it to America, and many of them did.
  More than 100,000 Hmong soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice. Today, 
approximately 6,000 of those veterans are still with us.
  To honor and to recognize the service of these brave veterans, the 
gentleman from California, Congressman Paul Cook, and I will be 
reintroducing a bipartisan piece of legislation, the Hmong Veterans' 
Service Recognition Act. This legislation would allow the burial of 
these Hmong veterans who live here today and their families in national 
cemeteries, like the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Merced 
County.
  This recognition is long overdue. We granted it to Filipino soldiers 
who fought side-by-side with American soldiers in World War II.
  I hope my colleagues will support this legislation to ensure that 
those Hmong veterans and their families receive the proper recognition 
by providing them the burial rights that they have earned. Again, it is 
long overdue. There are less than 6,000 of them that are still alive 
today in America. I think it is appropriate that we finally honor them.

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