Sam T. Liccardo
Representative for California · Democratic · United States
“I have undocumented neighbors in San Jose who have lived there for more than two decades. They have built lives there. They have built families there. Some coach for youth sports teams and others volunteer at their church. Several have built businesses, employing U.S. citizens. All have built our community.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Torres for her leadership. Mr. Speaker, a graveyard of living people, is how Lorenzo described Camp East Montana, the ICE detention facility where guards denied him sunlight and fresh air for a full month. Lorenzo persevered. Mr. Speaker, 52 others would never feel the sun upon their face again.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“His name is Norm Mineta, and he served in this Congress for two decades. The incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans left an indelible stain on our country. The last of those who endured it still walk among us, and the ghosts of those who did not endure it still haunt our national conscience.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“I am proud that in my own Bay Area region: San Mateo County, the city of San Jose, Santa Clara County, and Napa County have all taken steps to obstruct the construction of new detention centers in our communities.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“During World War II, Arthur served at Bletchley Park on Project ULTRA, helping decrypt enemy communications alongside Alan Turing and other legends of the era. Their work proved instrumental in securing the Allied victory in World War II.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“Larry served in elected office for 46 years, 30 as Santa Clara County's assessor. He made the most of his notorious role as tax leveler, humorously egging on everyone to boo him at every civic and political event.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
The complete record
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“I am proud that in my own Bay Area region: San Mateo County, the city of San Jose, Santa Clara County, and Napa County have all taken steps to obstruct the construction of new detention centers in our communities. We are helping them and others with a toolkit that includes a model ordinance, but local leaders should never have to fight this battle alone. Congress must act. We must defend human dignity. We must uphold our Constitution, and we must stop digging graveyards for the living. {time} 1930”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“His name is Norm Mineta, and he served in this Congress for two decades. The incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans left an indelible stain on our country. The last of those who endured it still walk among us, and the ghosts of those who did not endure it still haunt our national conscience. History will harshly judge us also for the abusive and inhuman treatment of our undocumented neighbors. Too many of us have declined to speak out, or perhaps only when ICE's chaotic cruelty takes the life of an American citizen as in Minneapolis. Yet the deaths in our DHS detention centers continue unabated, accompanied only by the incriminating silence of the quietly complicit.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“I have undocumented neighbors in San Jose who have lived there for more than two decades. They have built lives there. They have built families there. Some coach for youth sports teams and others volunteer at their church. Several have built businesses, employing U.S. citizens. All have built our community. This is not the first time our country has put the most ambitious of our Dreamers and doers behind bars. In 1942, my father came home telling my grandfather that his friend was missing from their weekly pick-up baseball game. It turned out his friend, Norm, had been taken with his family from their home on 5th Street in San Jose and incarcerated in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Norm was Japanese American. That young boy returned to San Jose and grew up. Decades later, I had the honor of working for him as his intern.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Torres for her leadership. Mr. Speaker, a graveyard of living people, is how Lorenzo described Camp East Montana, the ICE detention facility where guards denied him sunlight and fresh air for a full month. Lorenzo persevered. Mr. Speaker, 52 others would never feel the sun upon their face again. Fifty-two people have died in ICE custody since Donald Trump took office. They were mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, daughters and sons, every one someone's child. Every one a child of God. Someone loves us. Someone mourns us. When we die, grief takes part of them with us. My heart aches for the families who never got the chance to say good- bye, who never held their loved one's hand before they died alone behind barbed wire and concrete.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“During World War II, Arthur served at Bletchley Park on Project ULTRA, helping decrypt enemy communications alongside Alan Turing and other legends of the era. Their work proved instrumental in securing the Allied victory in World War II. Arthur later served as an electronic scientist with the Department of Defense and helped lay the foundation for the National Security Agency. His groundbreaking work in cryptography, secure communications, and technological innovation left an indelible mark on our national security institutions and made us all safer. Arthur's greatest legacy lives through his family and the community that he helped build, including Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills. His integrity, ingenuity, and patriotism will endure in the hearts of his children, grandchildren, and a grateful nation.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“His prescient political sense--gathering Silicon Valley support for everyone from his successor, Neysa Fligor, to a little known southerner by the name of Bill Clinton--made him a local kingmaker. In his retirement, Larry and his much-beloved wife, Carmen, will continue to generously support local nonprofits and the arts. Larry's example, however, continues to inspire the next generation of leaders. Madam Speaker, on behalf of many, I thank Larry for his leadership, his mentorship, and his friendship. {time} 1215 Honoring Arthur Herbert Hausman Mr. LICCARDO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Arthur Herbert Hausman, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 102. Our Nation owes Arthur a profound debt of gratitude for his lifetime of service.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“Larry served in elected office for 46 years, 30 as Santa Clara County's assessor. He made the most of his notorious role as tax leveler, humorously egging on everyone to boo him at every civic and political event. He even wore a Grinch costume for many years in our annual Santa Run, sitting in the pace car with thousands of runners dressed up as Santas with beards on chasing him through the streets of downtown San Jose. Larry's work was serious, however. He leaves behind an assessor's office that has become a national model for efficiency, responsiveness, and trustworthiness. Larry's signature forthrightness made him the first phone call for local reporters looking for someone quotable. His willingness to call out malfeasance by the powerful made him a reliable advocate for good government.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“Among them was Helen, my constituent, who watched as her aunt boarded a boat, and days later she would also follow the path of Vietnamese refugees on to San Jose in my district, which proudly boasts the largest population of ethnically Vietnamese people of any city in the world outside of Vietnam. Helen's journey was filled with horror and hardship, but rooted in hope, hope for a life with freedom and opportunity. We must honor her hope by living up to the promise of America, by fulfilling our democratic values, and by embracing those who come to America from around the world earnestly seeking freedom, as she did. ____________________”
House of Representatives30 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Black April. As Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of San Jose's favorite sons, Viet Nguyen, has written: ``All wars are fought twice; once on the battlefield and a second time in memory.'' On this day, 50 years ago, fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers looked out across a vast ocean as Saigon was falling behind them.”
House of Representatives30 April 2025Source ↗
“They are attacking California by putting on this political Kabuki show for political benefit. Let's talk about California. Despite our many faults, my State has used this waiver and these clean air standards to clear skies that were once filled with smog when I grew up there in the 1970s and in building the world's fourth largest economy. It is larger than Japan, India, the U.K., and, yes, even Texas. Madam Speaker, I am not entertained by this Kabuki, and the American people aren't either. Do you know what would entertain them? If we actually did something to lower their costs.”
House of Representatives30 April 2025Source ↗
“Instead, my Republican colleagues seek to undermine waivers from Federal regulations that California and 13 other States have relied upon for half a century to protect our clean air. This waiver has done much to clear the once smoggy air of the Golden State, and eliminating these standards will result in the release of 1.6 billion metric tons of pollutants into the air. That pollution will imperil our children, our seniors, and the tens of millions who suffer with respiratory illness like asthma and COPD. As if the harm to our health and environment isn't enough, the GOP proposals in each of these three measures will cost American citizens even more in their pocketbooks. Over the next 15 years, eliminating these fuel standards will increase Americans' spending at the gas pump by $89 billion.”
House of Representatives30 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.J. Res. 87, H.J. Res. 88, and H.J. Res. 89. Mr. Speaker, I wish I was here to speak about different policies, policies that the American people actually want to see to help them pay their bills and to lower the cost of living that is choking millions of American families. Instead, in this administration's first 100 days, I have seen this Republican majority capitulate to the largest sales tax in U.S. history in the form of Trump tariffs, costing the average American family perhaps $4,900 annually at the checkout counter. I have seen this Republican Congress authorize the imposition of even more excessive overdraft fees which will cost American consumers another $5 billion. Where is the action to help Americans pay their bills? Mr. Speaker, you won't find it in any of these three measures.”
House of Representatives30 April 2025Source ↗
“A typical overdraft fee of $35, which is what we had before the rule, amounts to an interest rate of more than 16,000 percent APR on the bank's loan of $26. Mr. Speaker, that is usurious. American families cannot afford any more liberation. It is not as though we have a history here in which banks have always complied with the notion that these overdraft fees are simply to offer a service. We know that it has been used to pump up profits, in fact, illegally on several occasions. Mr. Speaker, in 2017, TCF National Bank was cited by CFPB and ultimately settled. It paid $30 million for its abuse of overdraft fees. In 2020, TD Bank was sanctioned $123 million for, among other violations, deceptive practices related to debit card overdraft.”
House of Representatives9 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, I am here to commemorate liberation month. A week ago, Liberation Day brought us President Trump's tariffs which will liberate a typical American family from 3,800 of their hard-earned dollars each year, according to one study. The Trump slump, moreover, has liberated our retirement accounts from more than 6 trillion of those hard-earned dollars through market losses. In week 2 of liberation month, the Republican majority proposes S.J. Res. 18 which will increase the annual cost of bank overdraft fees on American families by an average of $225, collectively liberating all of us of 5 billion more of our dollars in a given year. Remember, the average debit card overdraft is less than $26. Mr. Speaker, it is repaid typically within 3 days on average.”
House of Representatives9 April 2025Source ↗
“Welcome to what experts refer to as a ``rug pull.'' When I was a criminal prosecutor, we had a different name for this. It was ``corruption.'' Foreign interests got the best Presidency money can buy. Donald Trump got richer, and Americans got screwed. Today, I introduced the MEME Act, which prohibits top Federal officials from issuing, sponsoring, or promoting financial assets, with criminal and civil penalties. Mr. Speaker, our public offices do not belong to us. They belong to the American people, and they are not for sale.”
House of Representatives27 February 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, let's make corruption criminal again. Three days before his inauguration, President-elect Trump launched the Trump meme coin. Trump's partners and some investors based in China pumped up the price, making hundreds of millions of dollars with early selling while the price was high. As they sold, though, the price plummeted. They duped more than 800,000 Americans, who collectively lost $2 billion.”
House of Representatives27 February 2025Source ↗