HONORING JANE CONOLEY

On 2025-04-07, Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA-42) delivered a floor speech titled "HONORING JANE CONOLEY" in the House.

HONORING JANE CONOLEY

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 62 (Monday, April 7, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 62 (Monday, April 7, 2025)] [House] [Pages H1424-H1425] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] {time} 1230 HONORING JANE CONOLEY (Mr. Garcia of California was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Mr. GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor President Jane Close Conoley, of Cal State, Long Beach, for her exceptional leadership, friendship, and passion for her community. After nearly 50 years in higher education, she will retire at the end of this academic year, leaving a lasting impact on the Long Beach community. As the first woman to serve as president, she led Cal State, Long Beach through a period of incredible growth, including growing enrollment and fundraising over half a billion dollars for scholarships, academic programs, and campus improvements. Now, under her leadership, Cal State, Long Beach earned recognition as a high-research institution and received the Seal of Excelencia for its work with Latino students. Now, Cal State, Long Beach also receives more applications than almost any public university in the Cal State system and public universities, period, in the State of California. This is all thanks to her incredible leadership. President Conoley prioritized building strong connections between the campus and community and addressing student needs, from housing to food insecurity. She has been a partner, a friend, a supporter, and someone who has built an incredible academic reputation and partnerships across the country. As an educator myself, I have seen firsthand her dedication to student success and her efforts to strengthen the university's ties to the community. As she prepares for retirement, I know I join the entire Long Beach community in thanking her for years of service to Cal State, Long Beach, its students, and the community. DISASTROUS MAGANOMICS Mr. GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call out Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their disastrous MAGAnomics. Last week, Donald Trump and his Cabinet of billionaires recklessly imposed the largest tariff tax hike in American history. Now, look at the markets just today. They are crashing. Costs will now increase on all kinds of goods for the American family and people across this country. Working families can't afford to pay more for basic needs, for necessities. No one voted to pay for more expensive groceries, homes, cars, and household goods. That is all Donald Trump has to offer. Supply chains and small businesses are also right now being thrown into chaos, and hardworking people are going to lose their jobs. Not only do we have this incredibly large tariff tax hike, but we also know that the stock market is in a free fall. Retirement accounts are being wiped out. We have lost trillions of dollars in the stock market in just a few weeks. MAGAnomics hurts working people and gives huge tax breaks and giveaways to billionaires, to Elon Musk and all of their billionaire friends. [[Page H1425]] MAGAnomics is about more than just causing a recession. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and House Republicans are trying to take away billions of dollars from Medicaid, which will threaten, as we know, care for millions of people. That means higher healthcare costs, with many losing coverage completely. MAGAnomics is slashing employees and programs from the Federal Government. It is about destroying the social safety net and the programs which we rely on, such as medical research, the Department of Education, air safety, and so much more. They are attacking the foundations of our economy and the foundations of our lives and our families. Republicans in Congress need to join us and say enough is enough. End the chaos. End the incompetence. Put American families first. Let's stop and reject Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and let's reject MAGAnomics right now. ____________________