John Sarbanes

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. That was a very powerful statement of why we need the legislation as part of the bills we are looking at today, and I yield back.

I certainly appreciate the work this committee has been doing to bring environmental justice to the forefront of the conversation. It is really, really critical.

In Maryland, since 2017 we have seen over 2,000 opioid-related deaths each year, and the numbers have gotten worse.

Well, like all the provisions in H.R.1 and now it’s S-1 on the Senate side as you know, these are measures that actually the American people came to us and said we want to see these kinds of reforms.

Because I think the Senate Republicans, unfortunately, the elected officials in their party have gotten captured or taken hostage, let’s say, by the big money crowd inside Washington, which we know every day blocks progress on things that…

There is this inequity in pay that cannot be justified by any particular lens you would put on it.

The CLEAN Future Act contains numerous provisions to make our power sector cleaner, more reliable, and more resilient.

This critical investment should help us avoid grid failures like we saw in Texas.

Texas grid operators should have seen this coming.

Reducing energy demand can lessen stress on the grid and improve overall grid reliability.

The CLEAN Future Act also incorporates the Energy Resilient Communities Act.

I am very pleased today to be reintroducing my legislation entitled Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions to ensure the consumer protections from the ACA cannot be undermined.

One of the things that the American Rescue Plan did was it built, as we know, on the Affordable Care Act in significant ways

The ARP was a meaningful response to that challenge.

I am thrilled that we have included in the LIFT America Act the 21st Century Power Grid Act.

All of that shows that we have got to adapt our grid to 21st century requirements.

We know there's challenges. There is growing demand. There is the need for reliability.

We know we have to lift up the water infrastructure across the country, the electric grid, et cetera.

I am a very proud sponsor of the LIFT America Act. This is a terrific bill, represents a lot of collaboration by many Members.

Eleanor Holmes Norton has put forward is that solution: statehood for the District of Columbia.

You're comfortable with the fact that 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia will continue to be disenfranchised.

What changed is the population of the District changed from White to Black.

I want to thank Congresswoman Holmes Norton for her amazing leadership over so many years.

The disenfranchisement of Washingtonians is one of the most glaring remaining civil rights issues of our time.

I think it is a terrific idea, this accelerator, and I would emphasize your phrasing here, that it can help stimulate innovation.