Issues of the Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Texas for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Trinity Love Hoblit and the Hoblit family. I rise today to recognize and bring to the attention of our country a horrible condition.

Trinity Love Hoblit was born with a rare form of primordial dwarfism and at age 9 was diagnosed with multiple brain aneurysms. Despite undergoing numerous surgeries to treat and prevent future symptoms, Trinity suffered a fatal aneurysm on June 30, 2015, at only 14 years of age.

Throughout her young life, Trinity underwent a variety of medical treatments, leading to several hospital visits. Her mother remembers that during those long hospital stays, Trinity would always think of the other children first. It was her love for others and her desire to make a difference within her community that now lives on through the foundation in her name.

In 2016, Olivia and Phil Hoblit established the Trinity Love Hoblit Foundation, located in Amelia Island, Florida. It is for the purpose of raising awareness, support, and funding for neurological research, training, and treatment for those like Trinity who suffer from brain aneurysms and other cerebrovascular conditions.

Most recently, the foundation began research on determining if medical history and genetic markers increase a person's risk of developing these brain aneurysms.

Brain aneurysms affect an estimated 30,000 Americans each year and can occur at any age and without any preexisting conditions.

Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month, this month, is a time to raise awareness for the signs and symptoms that can help with early detection, like:

Severe headaches,

Pain above one or both eyes,

Blurred or double vision,

Difficulty speaking or swallowing,

A numbness or weakness on one side of the body, and

Painful seizures.

These are all signs that can be symptoms and help with early detection.

Thanks to higher levels of awareness and research developments, we are one step closer to finding a cure.

On behalf of Florida's Fourth Congressional District, I thank Olivia and Phil Hoblit and the Trinity Love Hoblit Foundation for their lifesaving work in northeast Florida and across the country. Making Homeownership More Accessible to Heroes

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Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, as inflation takes a toll on families throughout our Nation and housing costs soar, many of our first responders and educators struggle to find affordable homes in the communities that they serve.

For this reason, I introduced H.R. 3172, the HELPER Act, which would establish a new one-time-use home loan program for law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, and pre-K-12 teachers.

Modeled after the successful VA home loan program, the HELPER Act would make homeownership more accessible to our local heroes by removing the downpayment and mortgage insurance premium requirements that can put homeownership just out of reach.

The HELPER Act has strong bipartisan, bicameral support from over 90 Members in both Houses of Congress and more than 225 different organizations across the country, including 108 mayors from different cities around the country.

As we all know, everything is more expensive these days, and the HELPER Act would prevent our first responders and educators from being priced out of home buying in the very communities they are sworn to protect.

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