Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud African American. I rise today because we are into Black History Month, the second day, and I rise today because I am very much concerned about history in this country. For you see, Mr. Speaker,

there are efforts across the length and breadth of the country to distort history and, in many instances, not to allow it to be taught.

Can you imagine Black history not being taught in this country? That would make Black History Month more important, but my hope is that at some point we don't need Black History Month because history will be taught every day and there won't be a need to accentuate the things that have happened to African Americans in this country. But the notion that we can't teach the true history of what happened to us in the United States of America and what happened to the people in the United States of America is offensive.

And it is not just about African Americans, by the way. It is also about Jewish people, not being able to teach what happened to Jewish people. Can you imagine more than six million people murdered, and we can't teach this in our schools? The number is not known truly. Huge number. And what happened to them? How were they killed? They weren't just murdered in concentration camps. Many of them were murdered in their homes, in their yards, in the ghettos. And that can't be taught?

If we can't teach Black history, we probably won't be able to teach the Trail of Tears and what happened to the indigenous Americans, how they were harmed by virtue of the State itself intentionally causing them to receive certain diseases. We won't be able to teach what happened to the Asians who came to this country, internment camps.

Black History Month is very important to us. We have to have it, but more than have Black History Month, we have got to have the history of what has happened taught because those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the lessons of history.

And finally this: This House needs to go on record. We need to go on record. We need to take a stand. We need to let the world know that we will support the teaching of history in schools. To do anything less is to cause us to be placed in the position of having not lived up to the promises of this country. We should do it. I hope that this House will go on record appropriately doing so.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairwoman, Ms. Johnson, for the time.

Madam Speaker, Dr. King was eminently correct when he reminded us that life is an inescapable network of mutuality tied to a single garment of destiny. What impacts one directly impacts all indirectly.

This became perspicuously clear to us when we had a shortage of PPE in this country. We have a strategic petroleum stockpile, in the sense that we have oil, petroleum that is on reserve for emergencies. When we pass this bill, we will have a strategic medical supply stockpile, something that is desperately needed; something that this bill will provide; something that I will vote for, and I encourage my colleagues to do so as well.

Pass the bill.

Mr. Speaker, by way of further introduction, I am the same Al Green who lives across the street from the DeBakey VA hospital; the same Al Green who fought in this Congress to secure a Congressional Gold Medal for Dr. Michael E. DeBakey; the same Al Green who has 800 flags outside of his office presently to be distributed over at the DeBakey VA hospital; the same Al Green that goes there annually and speaks to veterans, who talks to them about their needs on an annual basis; the same Al Green who has had veterans who tell me the difficulties associated with enrollment; the same Al Green who has veterans who say they are so pleased that somebody would come by to be of service to them.

Mr. Speaker, this Al Green announces here and now that I will support the underlying bill. I support it because it is necessary. I support it because I believe the veterans that I have spoken to will support it. They need it, and they will enjoy knowing that we came to this floor to bring this to fruition.

Mr. Speaker, finally, if the VA hospital is not properly funded and this creates some funding issues, I am prepared to vote to fund the VA hospital sufficiently so that our veterans can be taken care of. Anyone who is willing to go to a distant place, who may not return the same way they left, who may have issues for the rest of their lives, and they do it because they want to protect this country, I am going to do all that I can to protect them. This is the least a grateful Nation can do.

Madam Speaker, and still I rise. Our country has a history of discriminating against people of color and women when it comes to the right to vote.

But that all changed in 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act because, you see, prior to his signing that act, in 1965, there were four Asian Members of Congress. In 2021, there were 21 Members.

There were four Latino Members of Congress. In 2021, 54.

There were six Black Members of Congress. In 2021, 60.

And there were 18 women in Congress in 1965, and in 2021, there were 147.

We must restore the Voting Rights Act and protect democracy.

Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. I rise today in support of this legislation because the Guard and Reserve deserve parity. They have been there for us, and we must be there for them.

When natural disasters beset the land and there are wildfires on the West Coast, they are there. When hurricanes ravage the Gulf Coast, they are there. When tornadic activities are within all the midsection of the country, they are there. They have been there for us, and we must be there for them.

They do leave their families, just as the Active-Duty servicepersons do. Yes, they leave their children. They leave their wives. They leave newborns. They come to severe and protect us, just as they did after the assault on the Capitol.

They were here to prevent democracy from being eroded. They were here to protect the President and the Vice President. They have been here for us, and we must be there for them.

They have been there when many of us had no other hope other than to have them show up to defend us.

I remember Katrina. I remember what was happening in New Orleans. I went down there. I saw the National Guard come in. I saw them protect and defend.

We have a duty and an obligation to them, and this is our opportunity to fulfill it.

Mr. Chairman, I thank you for what you are doing today for a multiplicity of reasons, one being that I don't want to see what happened to the Merchant Marine happen to the National Guard and the Reserve. It took them 44 years to get GI benefits. We cannot allow this to happen.

Mr. Speaker, I am there, I am here, and I will be there for them.

Mr. Speaker, and still I rise as a Christian to say as-salamu alaykum, which means peace be upon you.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5665 addresses the age-old question: Am I my brother's and, I might add, sister's keeper?

If the answer is yes, then what do we do about it when our brothers and our sisters are being victimized by Islamophobia--threatened, murdered, killed?

Mr. Speaker, you can't be your brothers' or sisters' keeper without keeping your brothers and your sisters.

H.R. 5665 addresses this by establishing an office to monitor and combat Islamophobia in the Department of State. H.R. 5665 does something such that we can be our brothers' and our sisters' keepers.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a cosponsor of it, and I close with Allah hafiz. May God protect you.

Madam Speaker, because I have a heart, I will vote for universal pre-K. I have been to the classrooms, and I have seen those babies' bright eyes, eager to learn. I have also understood while I was there that there were other children who wouldn't have that benefit. They were getting a late start while others were getting a head start. This universal pre-K will give the same start to all of these children.

I am voting for the future because I have a heart.

Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud, liberated Democrat.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address systemic racism in the judicial system. I believe one of the best ways to explain this and help persons understand with some degree of clarity is to use an example.

Let's use an example of a 25-year-old White man. Let us assume that he is jogging through a neighborhood near his home. Let's assume that he is accosted by three Black men in a truck with a liberation flag on it. And let us assume that when they accost him, one of them has a shotgun and there is an encounter with this person, who happens to be a Black man. The White man is jogging, the Black men are pursuing, and now there is an encounter.

Let's assume that this Black male shoots the White man, and in so doing, a case is brought to court by way of a video. Let's assume that in this case, the prosecutor is Black, that the judge is Black, and let's assume that the defense attorneys are able to select a jury that has 11 Black people, one White person.

Mr. Speaker, this happens quite often in our country. As a matter of fact, it can happen regularly in our country to Black people. Black people don't have the luxury of being tried by juries with 11 Black people on them. They are likely to be fewer than three. Black people don't have the luxury of being in a

courtroom where the judge is Black, the prosecutor is Black, the court reporter is Black, and the witnesses are Black. We have a moral imperative to address this level of systemic discrimination. We should do more than simply talk about it, however. Addressing it with words is important, but we have to do more than this. We must do more than desire to manage systemic racism. We want to end it. If we don't end systemic racism, too many persons of color will continue to suffer, as is the case in this country today.

We, in this Congress, can do something about this. We have a duty to do something about it, and that something has to entail dealing with what is called a peremptory challenge, which allows a lawyer to simply draw a line through the name of a person and have that person removed from the jury, assigning some specious reason for doing so, and end up with a Black person being tried by a jury that is almost White--11 Whites and one Black.

The peremptory challenge is not something that is embedded in the Constitution. It is not something that is required. Persons can be removed from a jury for cause, but this cause, this peremptory challenge, is the cause that we should take a look at because it is absolute and it allows systemic racism to rear its ugly head in our courtrooms.

I hope to present legislation addressing systemic racism by way of the peremptory challenge.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

And still I rise, Madam Speaker, as a proud ally of the transgender community. And I rise tonight with a special message. This message means a lot to me because I truly believe that the pledge is correct. We pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.

All cannot exclude the trans community. All has to include the trans babies and the children in Texas who are having to suffer through debates about what they can do athletically. All has to include people who lose their lives simply because they are being who they are.

I rise with a message of I am with you, I am your ally, and I live today to live to see the day that transwomen will not have to live in fear of dying because of who they are and trans children can grow up and simply be children in this country where we pledge liberty and justice for all.

Madam Speaker, and still I rise. And I rise on this occasion to bring to the attention of this House H. Res. 746, the Original National Domestic Violence Awareness Month Resolution of 2021.

H. Res. 746 expresses support for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and that Congress should continue to raise awareness of this issue.

This resolution has 160 original cosponsors including 18 Republicans. It is a bipartisan resolution. I am honored to say that the lead cosponsor from Louisiana, Mr. Garret Graves, is a person who has been very helpful in helping to get this resolution presented and get signatures of persons who would be supportive.

Domestic violence is a more prolific problem than many realize. Domestic violence is a problem that too often is concealed. Many people don't report the fact that they are being abused. People are locked in. They find themselves having to live with abuse because the abuse is being perpetrated by someone that they love and someone whom they care for but someone who does not care as much for them.

Nearly one in three college women say they have been in an abusive dating relationship. Ninety-two percent of homeless women experience severe physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lifetimes.

A 2020 survey by the National Network to End Domestic Violence reported that 76,525 violence victims were served by domestic violence shelters and programs around the Nation in a single day. Additionally, 11,047 requests for services went unmet--went unmet--because of a lack of resources. We have to do more to help the victims of domestic violence. Congress can do more to help the victims of domestic violence. Congress should do more to help the victims of domestic violence.

Domestic violence impacts individuals of any gender. One in four women and one in seven men ages 18 and older will experience domestic violence at some point in their lives. Women ages 18 to 34 experience the highest rates per capita of intimate partner violence.

Domestic violence impacts individuals of any race. African-American women experience intimate partner violence at a rate 35 percent higher than that of White women and about 2.5 times the rate of women of other races.

Twenty-one to 55 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander women report experiencing domestic violence; that is, physical assault, sexual assault, or both, during their lifetimes.

37.1 percent of Latinx females are victimized by intimate partner violence in a lifetime. One in three Native American women will be raped, and 6 in 10 will be physically assaulted in their lifetimes.

Domestic violence impacts individuals of any sexual orientation. Sixty-one percent of bisexual women, 43.8 percent of lesbian women, 37.3 of bisexual men, and 26 percent of homosexual men experience intimate partner violence during their lifetimes.

Too often, children are affected by domestic violence and sexual assault. One in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90 percent of these children are eyewitnesses to such violence.

Children exposed to domestic violence are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, and become victims of human trafficking. Our children are suffering. Those who witness these acts of domestic violence need help. We need to provide more counseling for children.

Even when this tragedy occurs, it is shameful for children to have to witness it. But more tragic than that, when children themselves are victimized, they have to carry that memory with them for a lifetime.

One in 10 District of Columbia high school students reported experiencing physical violence from a dating partner in the past year. Half of youth who have been victims of both dating violence and rape attempt suicide, compared to 12.5 percent of non-abused girls and 5.4 percent of non-abused boys.

One large study found that men exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse, and adult domestic violence as children were almost four times more likely than other men to have perpetrated domestic violence as adults.

The point to be made is, those who suffer from domestic violence and abuse are likely to perpetrate domestic violence and abuse; not all, but a good many.

There is a need for primary schools, secondary schools, and postsecondary schools to educate students about the issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. Education is the means by which many can avoid becoming victims. We must do more to educate our young.

The term domestic violence is often inadequate because it fails to capture the full extent of the impacts that the event can have on a victim's life. The average cost of intimate partner violence over a victim's lifetime for medical and mental healthcare services is about $103,000-plus--that is for women--and $23,000-plus for men.

The term domestic violence also fails to capture how, in some instances, domestic violence literally means domestic murder because, on average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or their boyfriends in the United States every day.

Most murdered transgender women are killed by intimate partners.

However, in spite of all of this, there is hope. Survivors of domestic violence are strong, courageous, and resilient, but they need help. Surviving the physical and mental abuse requires more than simply relocating. Many times, counseling is needed.

The strength that they have is something that we can admire, but that strength can be fortified if they can have proper counseling so that they can get the assistance that they need, not only to stabilize themselves mentally, but also to understand that they are not the reason for the violence being perpetrated upon them. Too often, the victims believe that they are responsible for the actions of the persons who are abusing them. They need help.

This is what we can do. We can help to make sure people understand that victims are not responsible for what perpetrators do.

A recently released multistate study shows that the Nation's domestic violence shelters are addressing victims urgent and long-term needs, and are helping victims protect themselves and their children. Domestic violence advocates provide lifesaving essential services. There is a need to increase, not reduce funding for programs aimed at intervening in and preventing domestic violence in the United States.

So therefore, I am so proud tonight to say that we should resolve that the goals and ideals of Domestic Violence Awareness Month are important; that these goals and ideals should be pursued; that this House of Representatives can do more to help the victims of domestic violence.

I would also add that this resolution expresses the sense that the House of Representatives--that Congress--should continue to raise awareness of domestic violence and its devastating effects on individuals, families, communities, and support programs designed to end domestic violence in the United States.

Madam Speaker, people ought not have to live in fear because they happen to be in an abusive relationship. Yes, people can take their issues to the police. Women can. But too often they have to debate within themselves the consequences of going to the police, the authorities, because they understand, many of them, that they have no other place to turn to.

But thank God this Congress has provided enough money for shelters so that many can leave the environment where the abuse is being perpetrated.

This is a serious issue that we should all be concerned with. If we allow the perpetration and perpetuation of domestic violence to continue, it does not bode well for the fiber and fabric of our country. This is a great country, and a great country can protect people who are being abused in their own homes.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, Isabella Rose Dorian was born in Houston, Texas, on October 8, 1941, to Mannis Dorian and Annie Cormier Dorian. Isabella's parents instilled in her a strong work ethic, leading her to become the first member of her family to pursue higher education. Isabella attended Texas Southern University before transferring to and graduating from the University of Texas--Medical Branch in Galveston (``UTMB'') with a Bachelor of Science in physical therapy.

With encouragement from her uncle and Godfather, Louis Dorian, Isabella began her career as a physical therapist by serving those in need in the Fifth Ward community. Isabella rejoiced in her work, taking pride in helping patients recover in ways they scarcely could have imagined when they received their initial prognosis. While working at the St. Elizabeth Hospital, Isabella reunited with a onetime college suitor, Eugene Edwards, who had become a pharmacist. The pair married in 1976 and would go on to raise two daughters, Valerie and Ananda. Isabella and Edward instilled their shared values of hard work and service to others in Valerie and Ananda. Isabella's daughters pursued careers in television and filmmaking, as well as law and public service, each making her immensely proud.

Isabella is survived by her daughters, Valerie and Ananda Edwards; her granddaughter, Dylan Rose Beavers; her niece, Shandra Mason; her great-niece; her great-nephew; her brother-in-law and a loving community. Isabella's passion for service and education were an inspiration to all who met her. She will be dearly missed.

Madam Speaker, I was meeting with victims of violence from Louisiana and Texas. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 362 and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 363.

Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress

Axne (Spanberger)

Babin (Nehls)

Bilirakis (Fleischmann)

Boebert (Van Drew)

Bowman (Tlaib)

Cardenas (Gomez)

Cawthorn (Nehls)

Doggett (Raskin)

Frankel, Lois (Clark (MA))

Gaetz (Greene (GA))

Gonzalez, Vicente (Gomez)

Gosar (Greene (GA))

Khanna (Auchincloss)

Kirkpatrick (Stanton)

Lawson (FL) (Evans)

Long (McHenry)

Meeks (Kelly (IL))

Meng (Jeffries)

Payne (Pallone)

Pingree (Kuster)

Rush (Underwood)

Sires (Pallone)

Steube (Franklin, C. Scott)

Strickland (Jeffries)

Swalwell (Gomez)

Waltz (Salazar)

Wilson (FL) (Hayes)

Madam Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 352.

And still I rise, Madam Speaker. And I thank the chairman, Chairman Scott, for the opportunity to be heard.

Madam Speaker, I support this legislation because, on any given night or day, in 2020, around 11,000 requests for domestic violence services went unmet, and this was due to a lack of resources. We have the resources; they are just not getting to the people.

This is what we can do to make a difference in the lives of 11,000 people. I will do what I can. I support the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, it is always a preeminent privilege to be in the company of Chairwoman Waters, especially when she has taken up a cause that is not only worthy but noble. I greatly appreciate what she is doing tonight.

I would say this, housing is infrastructure, and housing is infrastructure for a multiplicity of reasons.

I neglected to say ``and still I rise.''

And still I rise to talk about housing is infrastructure. Housing is infrastructure.

If we traverse the highways and byways across our country, in our urban areas, we will find persons who are sleeping under overpasses, sleeping under bridges, sleeping along the roads, the roadways.

Overpasses and bridges have become housing. The infrastructure itself now has become housing. It is my belief that if an overpass can become housing, which is infrastructure, then the housing itself can be infrastructure. It is time for us to fully fund these housing programs.

I would mention but one that I think is very important to us, and that is the housing choice voucher program. This is an important program, because I had my staff to compile some statistical information for me, and here is what they have called to my attention. We need to know who actually benefits. Over 40 percent of these voucher recipients are households with children, 29 percent are the elderly, and 36 percent are nonelderly people with disabilities.

This myth that people are, for some reason, deciding that they will just make their way through life on the backs of others, is something that I call inanity. It is close to insanity to say this when you examine the empirical evidence.

We also find that, yes, the wait time is long, averaging 2.5 years nationally. Many of the lines are closed, with the 50 largest housing authorities having wait times of a year or more and some up to 8 years.

Madam Speaker and Madam Chair, there is much more to be said, but the time is limited. I would simply say this, vouchers have shown to reduce homelessness, help people pay rent, reduce poverty, help children exit the welfare system, help persons find and keep employment, help children do better in school, help people with disabilities maintain their health, help people achieve greater economic mobility, help people build wealth, and help families enter the middle class. It is time to fully fund the voucher system.