End the Regressive Average Daily Attendance Policy

Floor Speech

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, President Biden is waging a war on America's workforce. First, he made the anti-worker PRO Act a legislative priority.

Then his Department of Labor proposed a rule to extinguish opportunities for workers who want to be independent contractors.

Now his handpicked nominee, Julie Su, has barely made it through the Democrat-controlled Senate HELP Committee on a party-line vote, paving the way for her to head the agency overseeing our Nation's workforce.

As California's Secretary of Labor, Su was the architect and chief enforcer of AB 5, a bill that mirrors current Federal anti-worker proposals like the PRO Act and DOL's proposed rule.

Nearly 80 percent of independent contractors prefer their current status to traditional employment. AB 5 forced many independent contractors to be reclassified or lose work opportunities. Many Californians lost their livelihoods. Most rejected the bill through a Statewide referendum.

AB 5 sank in such spectacular fashion that over 100 industry exemptions were created; from recording artists and song writers to dog walkers and home cleaners.

This is the policy that Democrats tacitly endorsed by supporting Julie Su for Secretary of Labor. I have talked at length with independent contract workers whose livelihoods are put in peril by Julie Su.

Let me explain her nomination and confirmation from their perspective. In the eyes of truckers, Su places 350,000 owner-operator jobs at risk. Truckers worked tirelessly to keep our economy afloat during the pandemic. This is their repayment?

In the eyes of journalists, Julie Su's confirmation tells them the independence of freelancing is not valuable to their industry.

In the eyes of tutors, Su is a slap in the face for those who helped save students from falling through the cracks during the pandemic.

Many tutors are independent contractors, and two of every three are women. They wouldn't have a place in Su's workforce.

In the eyes of every worker who files a 1099 on tax day, Julie Su is an assault on their way of life.

Many Members have rightly criticized Julie Su for her long track record of incompetence, like how she lost $31 billion to unemployment fraud in California.

Biden has already proven he will staff his Cabinet with woefully unqualified and incompetent Secretaries. Look at Mayor Pete.

I am worried about Su being an activist for Biden's pro-union boss and anti-worker agenda. It is no wonder that industry groups lined up against her confirmation in a rare display of agreement in Washington.

Her destiny might be out of the House's hands, but I can end with a promise. As chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, I promise to conduct robust oversight of the Labor Department or the department of any radical who threatens our Nation's workforce.

We will deliver to independent workers, to truckers, journalists, tutors, and more, much deserved accountability from their Federal Government.

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Foxx for being outspoken on this issue. I come from California. I have seen the devastating effects it has had on independent contractors; a record number of Californians are leaving. No one associated with AB 5 should be allowed to be in charge of the Department of Labor. Raising Minimum Pay for the Military

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice support for my bill, the Raising Annual Income of Servicemembers by Enhancing Minimum Base Pay Act or the RAISE Act, which would provide our junior enlisted servicemembers a much-needed pay raise to a minimum of the equivalent of $15 an hour or roughly $31,200 per year.

As a former naval aviator and officer who represents a district that has an impact on many facets of our military and defense, I've seen firsthand just how much our Nation has neglected America's secret weapon, our heroic servicemembers. I stand here today to say that this ends.

Mr. Speaker, if you look at the chart next to me, this details the monthly pay that our junior enlisted servicemembers currently make.

Starting out as an E-1 with less than 2 years, you can see a monthly salary of just $1,695 or roughly $20,340 a year.

That is the equivalent of about $11 an hour when you normalize it for a 40-hour workweek. Let that sink in: $11 an hour for someone putting their life on the line.

It is not until they are in for a few years and have been promoted a couple times that they make the equivalent of $15 an hour or roughly $31,000 a year.

In other words, it takes serving your country for several years, signing away some of your basic rights and freedoms, shaving your head, leaving home for 6 to 12 months, putting your life on the line, and going through a multitude of sacrifices, for our servicemembers to make as much as what a McDonald's worker starts at.

This is embarrassing, and it is flat-out wrong. That is why we must pass the Raise Minimum Base Pay Act or work this initiative into this year's National Defense Authorization Act to get our servicemembers the pay raise that they so desperately need right now. About 30 percent of our enlisted troops actually qualify for food stamps.

I will not stand here at this podium and feign support for big bills that provide small support for our troops. I won't do it.

Our Nation faces recruitment and retention shortfalls that we have never seen before, the steepest in over 50 years.

This is a frightening concern for our Nation's security, especially as peer threats like the Chinese Communist Party continue to grow--not just in terms of head count and technologies--their military capabilities with their eyes fixated on a potential invasion of Taiwan and the elimination long term of the United States.

Yes, right now we must get our servicemembers a pay raise and continue to improve quality-of-life issues for them so that we can strengthen our military's positioning, strengthen its recruitment and retention, and get our servicemembers a much-needed pay raise.

Mr. Speaker, any NDAA this year that fails to adequately address this issue fails to take care of our most precious weapon system, our troops, is not a good NDAA.

It is way past due to do what is right for the warfighter. Mr. Speaker, I am committed to doing so this year. A Pinch of Salt

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage both parties in this Chamber to add a pinch of salt to our legislative diets for the sake of the middle-class taxpayers.

The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act or TCJA was the catalyst under the previous Trump administration that fueled the booming economy from 2018 through 2020 before COVID impacted us and before President Biden and Speaker Pelosi went on their out-of-control spending sprees.

These out-of-control spending sprees ultimately led to record-high debt and record-high inflation rates that we are very familiar with here today.

The TCJA or the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act actually lowered taxes for all tax brackets and doubled the standard deduction for single and married filers.

Mr. Speaker, the TCJA had a bit of a middle finger that was aimed at primarily blue states like mine, the great State of California.

It imposed a $10,000 State and local tax cap or SALT cap for both married and single tax filers. What this meant is that if you paid more than $10,000 in State and local income tax or property tax, you couldn't actually deduct more than $10,000 of those taxes within your Federal tax returns.

Despite overall lower tax rates and a doubling of the standard deduction, many middle-class Americans were actually hurt by this SALT cap and were net negative within the construct of the TCJA from 2017.

At the time in 2017, a $10,000 limit seemed like a lot, but in today's dollars, because of the record-high inflation I mentioned earlier we have seen over the last 30 months, $10,000 now behaves like the equivalent of $7,000 today in terms of the deduction.

At the time in 2017, only California, New York, and New Jersey were really affected by this cap. Since 2017, the median home value has nearly doubled in almost every State nationwide.

Now States that have any income tax or any property tax are hearing from voters and their constituents that this SALT cap at $10,000 is actually affecting them, as well.

At the time in 2017, this was seen as a white-collar, upper-class problem, but in California, New York, and New Jersey, we knew better.

We knew that if you owned a home and had a job, you were likely affected by this cap. This is very much a middle-class, blue-collar taxpayer problem in my State and especially in my district.

At the time in 2017, conservatives paid no attention to the fact that the cap was $10,000, whether or not you were married.

You could be single; $10,000 cap. Married; $10,000 cap. They failed to recognize that this was, in fact, a marriage penalty that they were imposing.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I rise to encourage us all to add a pinch of salt to our legislative agenda. Even doubling the deduction from $10,000 to $20,000 would still generate 75 percent of the estimated $800 billion of revenue created by this cap over a 10-year period.

We can still achieve most of the revenue from billionaires with a $20,000 cap, but we also with that $20,000 cap would allow middle-class Americans to keep more in their pocket.

To my colleagues on this side of the aisle who see this as a California problem and say, hey, screw California, I won't support subsidizing California's broken tax policies.

Well, I will remind you that if you ignore these challenges, you pretend like these problems don't affect you, you don't screw California because ultimately, California screws you.

Our problems become your problems, our State problems become Federal problems, and our tax policies influence Federal tax policies.

I also want to remind folks that California's GDP is roughly 750 percent larger than States like Tennessee and is actually 150 percent larger than the next biggest State's GDP.

In California, we don't talk about the burden of subsidizing the other States in terms of GDP and revenue, so we should not look at the SALT deduction cap as an issue of States subsidizing California on the tax side.

Make no mistake, Mr. Speaker. Californians pay way too much in taxes, and Sacramento is beyond dysfunctional.

It is actually offensive how much we pay in taxes, but we can rightsize the SALT deduction limit at the Federal level to account for today's realities, and this would help all Americans.

The TCJA turns into a pumpkin and expires in 2025, but our party and conservatives have an opportunity to address the discrepancies of the SALT cap within TCJA before then, and we have an opportunity to shape this policy while we have the majority.

Mr. Speaker, on our side of the aisle, we have a significant number of Members from California, New York, and New Jersey whose constituents will accept nothing less than a real legislative victory on the SALT cap.

Why should they accept anything less? Their daily reality is the madness of bad economic policies that come from Sacramento and Albany and are compounded by bad policies here in D.C. like the SALT cap.

I am telling you, Mr. Speaker, a pinch of salt in this session will ensure fiscal conservatives keep the reins for another Congress.

Ignoring the issue ensures that the far left will not only regain control of the spending side but also regain control of our tax codes that are going to be up for a vote in 2025.

Congratulating the Hart Girls' Soccer Team

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the Hart High girls' soccer team on their recent CIF championship.

These young women showed up and gave it their all every single game this last season. Now they are the southern California regional champions.

They are recognized as one of the best soccer teams in the State, and I would say probably one of the best soccer teams in the Nation.

I recently had the pleasure of welcoming the Hart High girls' soccer team to my Santa Clarita office earlier this week.

I saw young leaders, young women who work hard and are disciplined not only in soccer but also with their academics.

They have accomplished so much at such a young age and have displayed what young athletic talent and leadership comes out of our beautiful 27th Congressional District in California.

Congratulations to the Hart High girls' soccer team. They are a shining example of how great our communities are, and they make us all proud. School Safety

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, across our country, K-12 students are preparing to wrap up school as the summer nears. They have undoubtedly faced a tough academic year that, for some, has, unfortunately, been marked by the scourge of violence that continues to impact our Nation's schools.

This national problem extends from fights on campuses to local violent crime that breaks out near the campuses that induces lockdowns to evil, targeted shootings like we saw in Nashville just a couple of weeks ago.

As our Nation's children recess for the summer, it is on Congress to use this time to work toward meaningful solutions that protect our kids as much as they work to protect themselves.

Since the stewardship of President Reagan, our country has retained and demonstrated a time-tested doctrine of peace through strength to keep the homeland safe. President Reagan knew then, as we still see today, that anything less than the full projection of strength and willingness to protect our own invites attacks from evil actors.

This same principle, which has been employed by our Nation for the better part of 50 years, should also apply to our most precious asset, our children. As Americans, we need to be willing to plainly demonstrate to any person set on attacking our kids in school that any effort to do so will be met with swift and devastating force. That is why I introduced the Strengthening School Security for Students Act, which would require and fund at least two school resource officers for every 500 students in public schools in the United States using leftover unobligated COVID funds.

These school resource officers would be trained, they would be armed, and we would have two for every 500 students. That gives the school the opportunity to have multiple locations for these resource officers to put down any threats as quickly as possible.

Some of these SROs actually exist today, but recent data shows that only about 45 percent of the schools have a dedicated SRO on campus at least once a week. Mr. Speaker, that is not good enough. Our children deserve better.

We are surrounded by armed guards here in the Capitol on a daily basis. Every door we walk in, every building we go into, there are armed guards around us. Mr. Speaker, my life, your life are not more important than the lives of our children. They deserve to be protected as well.

A proportionate amount of SROs on campuses for students sends a clear, unwavering message that we will protect our students from any harm. It is critical that we take lessons learned from recent instances of violence and use them to address existing shortfalls and gaps in our schools, from hardening campuses to protect students to investing in the mental health facilities of staff as well as the students.

Mr. Speaker, another bill that I have brought forward to this body is the Safe Schools Act, which, again, uses existing unspent COVID funds that have already been obligated to schools and school districts to improve their own security and make proper investments in programs that prevent violence.

For example, under this bill, schools would be allowed to use funds that were previously earmarked specifically for COVID relief and train teachers and faculty on how to best assist children experiencing a mental health crisis and provide immediate support when issues arise. If you ask me, that sounds like a great use of our underrun on COVID funding.

Mr. Speaker, this fight is a personal one for me. Like too many other folks in this Chamber, my own community has been touched by school violence when just a few years ago at Saugus High School, my alma mater, two young lives were taken too soon because of an act of violence. We can take meaningful action without sacrificing our duty to protect the constitutional rights of every American. Honoring Sergeant Steve Owen

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage support for my bill, H.R. 1627, the Sergeant Steve Owen Defending Our Defenders Act. It is critical legislation that would make the murdering of a police officer a Federal felony punishable by only life in prison or the death penalty.

For those of you who do not know Sergeant Steve Owen, he was a Los Angeles County Sheriff in the Antelope Valley in my district, a hero in our community, a family man who was brutally murdered in broad daylight on the streets of Lancaster back in 2016 by a vicious criminal who was out on parole.

Sergeant Steve Owen's death is unfortunately becoming a common story in this day and age. In fact, in 2021, we saw a 60 percent increase in murder of law enforcement officers. This is due to the defund the police movement and soft-on-crime policies from elected officials from the far left, D.A.s who have been hired by Soros to be soft on violent criminals, and it has severely handicapped our police officers' ability to do their jobs and, in some cases, to go home safely at the end of their shift.

This bill, named in honor of Sergeant Steve Owen, is all too necessary right now as our police officers face increased rates of crime against them. It is critical that we pass this legislation to ensure that our law enforcement officers have the protection necessary to do their jobs effectively and go home to their families.

This should not be a tough bill to support for either Republicans or Democrats. The men and women who protect us every day deserve to know that we have their back. They give us a security blanket in our communities as elected officials, we should give them a meaningful deterrence to any criminal who is willing to do them harm. We must do more to take care of our heroic law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line on a daily basis to keep our communities safe.

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