New Federal Airline Rules to Enhance Wheelchair Passenger Safety

Madam Speaker, I rise to support H.R.2096, the Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act. The men and women of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department serve the community every day to keep this District safe and secure. On January 4, 2023, the D.C. Council passed the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022. The act stripped D.C. police officers of certain employee protections, making the job more difficult despite rising crime in the District. When the D.C. Council passed this law, Congress acted swiftly in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion to overturn it. The House and Senate passed H.J.Res.42, which would have overturned the entire D.C. law, with 14 House Democrats and 6 Senate Democrats joining Republicans in support of the resolution. However, then-President Biden vetoed the bipartisan resolution of disapproval, allowing the harmful policies of the D.C. Council to remain in effect today. In another attempt to protect the D.C. police, Representative Garbarino introduced this bill to repeal certain provisions of D.C.‘s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act. That bill passed through the Oversight Committee last Congress in 2024 and was reintroduced this Congress, again, favorably reporting out of the Oversight Committee, but now with the full support of the White House. H.R.2096 restores D.C. police officers’ right to collectively bargain over disciplinary matters and reinstates clear timelines for disciplinary investigations. H.R.2096 also repeals the D.C. Council’s requirement that the time and place of some adverse action hearings be posted to a public website. This public posting requirement enables antipolice activists to harass officers attempting to pursue their due process in the workplace. In summary, this legislation is necessary to support the recruitment and retention of the Metropolitan Police Department. Washington, D.C., cannot afford to continue to lose police officers during the ongoing crime crisis in the Nation’s Capital city. My colleagues recognize the importance of supporting the law enforcement officers who risk their lives to protect our communities. By restoring employee protections, this legislation gives the Metropolitan Police Department officers the due process they need to confidently do their job.

Ms. HOYLE of OREGON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak about issues of great importance and concern to me and my constituents that are of utmost importance not just for national security but for the soul of our country. Anti-Semitism is taking an unpredictable variety of forms and has deepened anxieties among many American Jews, and it has contributed to a sense that simply existing in public as a Jewish person is increasingly dangerous. The number of anti-Semitic episodes in the United States in 2023, in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, was the highest ever recorded in a 1-year period, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Dangerous words turn into dangerous actions, and Jewish communities simply do not feel safe or supported. Two things can be true at the same time. The suffering in Gaza is absolutely horrific. The stories of the children in Gaza are the stories I grew up hearing because this is the history of my family, which is why I cannot be silent in the face of children and families being starved. My family fled to this country in what here is known as the Potato Famine, but in Ireland is known as “An Gorta Mor,” which is “The Great Hunger.” There was plenty of food. It was a policy choice to starve the Irish. This is what is happening in Gaza. Keeping food and medicine from women and children and elders is just wrong. Not for nothing, nobody starts a revolution on a full stomach. Tens of thousands of civilians, mothers, children, and grandparents, have been killed or displaced. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble. Hospitals, schools, and places of worship lie in ruin. The American people are watching in horror. Let me be absolutely clear. Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack was an atrocity. I condemn it fully and unequivocally. No cause justifies the murder of innocent people or the taking of hostages. Israel has the right to defend itself, but what we are seeing now is not defense. It is devastation. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are dead, the majority of which are women and children. This is not security. It is not peace. It is collective punishment, and it violates international law. At the same time, I will say just as clearly, there is no place for anti-Semitism anywhere, ever, not in our communities, not in our political discourse, not in our movement for peace. We can and must condemn the horrors of war without feeding hatred. We can mourn Palestinian lives without denying the trauma of the Jewish people. Holding the Jewish community responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is anti-Semitic. However, it is not anti-Semitic to speak out against what is happening in Gaza, and the U.S. is complicit in keeping food, water, and medicine from a starving and traumatized people. The United States has a moral obligation to stand up for human rights, for international law, and for peace. That means we must press for an immediate and lasting ceasefire. We must demand the release of all hostages. This isn’t about choosing sides. It is about choosing a future where Israelis and Palestinians can live in safety, dignity, and peace. I have heard from thousands of my constituents: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and secular, who are begging for us to lead with compassion and courage. This is a moral crossroads for our Nation, and history will remember whether we met the moment or shrank from it. Mr. Speaker, let’s work to end this war, bring the hostages home, end Hamas’ reign of terror, and build a future where no parent, Israeli or Palestinian, has to bury a child because we failed to act.