National Security, Health, and Safety

Floor Speech

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Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, the last few months have been a rather frustrating time for many of us in Congress as well as the American people.

We first broke for some 7 weeks--the longest break from Congress in the modern era. We left without doing anything on Zika, without addressing our opioid epidemic in this country, and without doing anything for the families of Flint who have been suffering with their water for many years now.

Probably one of the most striking moments I have had as a Member here for the last year and a half was when the families from Flint came in front of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee--the committee on which I serve--and talked about how they have been affected by this water crisis.

What response have they gotten so far from Congress, from the people's House?
Nothing. Zero. Instead, we went off for 7 weeks.

Now here we are about to break again without addressing Flint, without doing anything about the Zika crisis and the other challenges we are facing, not to mention our gun violence problem that many of us gathered right here on the House floor to address. It is time that we act now, and we should not break until we have addressed these problems.

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