Recognizing National Blood Donor Month

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize National Blood Donor Month, which takes place each January, and to thank our fellow Americans who voluntarily donate blood.

As a proud blood donor myself, I commend the New York Blood Center and all the community blood centers across the United States that provide a lifeline to people and patients in our hospitals.

This week the center declared a blood emergency.

A single blood donation can save up to three lives, making the work of our community blood centers and the generosity of the employees and the volunteer blood donors who contribute their work extremely important.

NYBC has been serving New Yorkers with lifesaving blood products since 1964. Today, as part of the New York Blood Center Enterprises, that mission extends far beyond New York. Together, they serve 75 million people and provide 1 million blood products annually to over 400 hospitals.

From newborns and their mothers to cancer patients and trauma victims, community blood centers provide patients with the blood that keeps them alive. This month and always, I thank them. Saluting the Work of Port Chester Historical Society

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Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to salute the work of those who are leaders and members of the Port Chester Historical Society. Their volunteer efforts have kept alive the memories and stories of the years past that represent the foundation of the village of Port Chester today.

Led by president Jordan Allen, the society has maintained the historic Bush-Lyon Homestead and has been able to follow through with a host of different items for this building that was built in 1760, involving the community and activities at that site: celebration of historic dates, fairs and festivals, and important seminars.

This month, in concert with the Village of Port Chester and Westchester's Revolution 250, the society cosponsors An Evening With Benjamin Franklin. The society cosponsors that evening, and he will visit us in the 21st century to tell us a little bit about the 18th century.

Also this month, the historical society holds a workshop on research and genealogy for interested adults who want to do their own family research. The energy and resources activated by those in the society, Kikki Short, Toni Sacco, Carolee Brakewood, Mike DeVittorio, Lou Russo, Joanne Bellantoni, and others, is one more example of everyday Americans doing their part to advance the story of America.

From the floor of the House of Representatives, I salute the Port Chester Historical Society. Protecting Drivers From Dangerous Electric Vehicle Battery Fires

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Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because this week I am proud to introduce new legislation to protect drivers from dangerous electric vehicle battery fires with my colleague Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.

This bill called the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Battery Safety Act of 2026, H.R. 6948, comes in response to several fatal EV accidents which occurred in my district. The accidents involved extremely hot and difficult-to-fight chemical battery blazes and have led to loss of multiple lives.

I became aware of the lack of standards governing EV battery design and heightened risks to passengers in EV accidents, including electrical door releases becoming disabled and lack of information on EV firefighting techniques and exposure to chemical toxins from those fires.

This bipartisan bill addresses all of those issues, requiring the U.S. Department of Transportation standards for battery safety, mandates for mechanical door releases, disseminating best practices for firefighters to tackle these runaway blazes, and requiring a study by HHS on the health risks to firefighters.

These new standards will help assure Americans that they are not taking unnecessary risks every time they get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle and ensure our firefighters have the most current knowledge and protection to handle the latest in automotive technology.

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