Providing for Consideration of H.R. Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Special Interest Alien Reporting Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Jeremy and Angel Seay and Sergeant Brandon Mendoza Protect Our Communities From Duis Act of and Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Condemning the Violent June 2025 Riots in Los Angeles, California

Floor Speech

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Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for yielding time.

As the Representative of California's 12th Congressional District, representing the East Bay, I rise today in opposition to H. Res. 516. This resolution is a partisan, disproportionate response to the ICE protest in Los Angeles. Republicans are intentionally misleading the public on the scale of the violence in an attempt to justify the blatant overreach of Federal power.

I want to be clear. There was no doubt there was violence. I am from California. I was present at some of the protests. The scale was unworthy of Federal condemnation and certainly the scale was unworthy of Presidential overreach.

It was the President who overstepped his authority and escalated and instigated chaos, sending the National Guard and our Marines against the will of my Governor, the mayor of Los Angeles, and the people of California.

The Trump administration has made it clear that they do not believe in the right of Los Angeles to exist, as it has done since its founding, as a multicultural, vibrant, and working-class city. The violence was in less than three to five blocks.

Mr. Speaker, I think the resolution is an attempt to rewrite history in real time and to prescribe extreme violence onto the people of Los Angeles, California, who were exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. This resolution is in no way sufficient. It is a way to roll back free speech.

Let's be clear. We do not have a democracy if we erode the right to free speech. We will not have a democracy if the President of the United States continues to abuse his power and push authoritarian measures.

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