Recognizing Sally Anderson

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, before I was first sworn in to the United States Congress, my predecessor gave me a great piece of advice. He told me that the most important thing to do as I was getting started was to build a great team.

I am glad I took his advice. The first person that I hired when I became a Member of Congress, to help build the team and to ultimately help lead it, was Sally Anderson.

I rise today 7\1/2\ years later to thank her for her selfless, tireless, and dedicated service--her service to the people of Colorado's Second District, her service to the people of Colorado, and her service to our country.

Sally first served as my district director and later became my Colorado chief of staff. Throughout her tenure, she worked incredibly hard each and every day to serve the citizens of our district. One can imagine the various challenges that our communities face from year to year. She faced each of those challenges with empathy, with compassion, and with unwavering determination. Historic wildfires, terrible flash floods, a devastating mass shooting, emergency after emergency, crisis after crisis, Sally was often the first call that I would make when grappling with how to solve a challenge, address an emergency in my district, and to do the work that we are solemnly charged with doing. She joined me at funerals, memorials, and remembrances. She played a pivotal role in the development of legislation here in Washington, D.C.

I could spend hours, Madam Speaker, regaling you with the stories of the constituents' lives that she shaped, the casework that she supervised, and the countless examples of her kindness, leaving an indelible impression in the hearts and minds of the people I represent from Boulder to Fort Collins, from Vail to Steamboat Springs, and every corner in between.

Sally was also a leader here in Washington. She was a mentor to district directors across the country as part of our district directors' service program. I have heard countless stories from my colleagues who have told me from their district directors of their experience, when they have relied on her counsel and advice when faced with a challenge or crisis.

Perhaps most importantly, above all else, her professionalism and the ways in which she approached her job--selfless, thankless, and always available to help a constituent in need--in my view, it helped restore some trust in our government, which is so desperately needed now more than ever.

Put simply, the Second District and our office will miss her. I wish her well and am so excited for her next chapter. On behalf of the people of the Second District, I thank Sally for her service. Nexstar Acquisition of Tegna

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Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, last night, in the dead of night, the FCC and the Department of Justice did something unprecedented. They approved a merger that would create the Nation's largest local television station operator.

Nexstar Media Group's $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna would make it the largest local television station owner in the United States: 265 stations across 44 States, reaching 80 percent of American households. Why did they approve it? Simple reason: Because Donald Trump wanted them to.

The deal is outrageous. It is devastating for local news, devastating for consumers, devastating for freedom of the press, but perhaps most problematic of all, Mr. Speaker, it is unlawful. The merger and the decision to approve it violates the law.

By the way, this isn't complicated. It is simple. In 2004, Congress created a very specific 39 percent national audience limitation. That is in the law. It is not ambiguous. It is not nebulous. It is clear- cut, and this merger violates it.

Let me read, Mr. Speaker, the dissent from one of the FCC commissioners. I hope every Member of this body reads it in full. ``The order is wrong on the law, wrong on the policy, and the process by which it was issued is indefensible.

``The Commission does not have the authority to raise or waive the 39 percent national audience reach limitation. Simply put: The national audience reach limitation is a statutory requirement, and only Congress has the authority to raise it.''

It is clear-cut, simple. We cannot allow this debasement of the FCC's processes to continue.

Mr. Speaker, I have a solution: Let's rein in this lawless agency through the appropriations process. That is exactly what I intend to propose. I hope my colleagues will join me.

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