Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise to offer our deepest and most sincere condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of our dear sister Cora Faith Walker, whose beautiful life was taken from our community far too soon.

As an exemplary public servant, Cora was a champion of transformational policies to lift up St. Louis, as evidenced by her work as a former Missouri State Representative and top policy official in St. Louis County. And in her work and beyond it, Cora was a wonderful light in this world. She was transformative--touching the souls of everyone who encountered her. She embodied a rare form of altruism that shaped her public service and made her an incredible community leader.

She never took the easy way out. Whether it be in her fierce work to deliver justice or her gravity defying ability to climb the long marble Missouri State Capitol steps in a pair of stilettos--even though there was a perfectly good elevator--she did everything with genuineness, style, and class.

Her accomplishments as a public servant are deserving of our highest recognition. She used her expertise as a clinical mental health professional to deliver groundbreaking legislative work, securing the passage of the legislation that created the TraumaInformed Care for Children and Families Board. She led the charge for Medicaid expansion, especially for services geared towards postpartum moms struggling with substance use disorder. And during my service in Congress, Cora has been a close partner in the work to deliver resources to our communities, especially to prevent violent evictions during this deadly pandemic.

Our community is devastated by Cora's passing, and we all will miss her dearly forevermore.

May she be given the flowers she is due, may her legacy of love and service live on, and may she rest in eternal peace and power.

Mr. Speaker, St. Louis and I rise today because the violence of white supremacy has once again threatened institutions of Black education across our country, our historically Black colleges and universities.

Nearly 30 bomb threats have been levied against HBCUs in recent months. My own alma mater, Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis, was subjected to this dangerous violence on the first day of Black History Month. As one of only two HBCUs in Missouri, Harris-Stowe should be a safe haven for Black students to learn, to grow, to fully realize their humanity. As proud Harris-Stowe Hornets, we know the antidote to white supremacy's violence and intimidation is Black education and our liberation.

I thank my HBCU sister in service, Congresswoman Adams, for championing this legislation and bringing the issue of white supremacist violence against HBCUs for consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives. I am proud to support this resolution and to join my colleagues in condemning the bomb threats against HBCUs.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Takano for his leadership on this historic legislation.

Mr. Speaker, St. Louis and I rise today in support of H.R. 3967, the Honoring our PACT Act, to expand healthcare, research, and resources for our veterans who are far too often exposed to toxic substances, both around the world and at home in St. Louis. This means so much to me as a nurse, I see it all the time.

I am proud to put forward four critical amendments to this legislation to help expand racial equity and study the military's environmental impact through rigorous Department of Veterans Affairs initiatives. My first two amendments ensure that VA research studies include a broader array of demographic information, including race, ethnicity, and disability status in gathering information on the impacts of toxic exposure.

Our third vital amendment ensures the VA will extend reviews of known cases of toxic exposure to military sites abroad. The Department of Defense needs to provide concrete data about the waste and pollution we are leaving in the nearly 750 military bases in over 80 countries around the world.

Finally, our last amendment adds a new study to this bill to measure the harmful health consequences of Manhattan Project waste on our veterans and their families in St. Louis.

If you are from North St. Louis there is a good chance that at some point in your life you have been exposed to toxic military waste like I have. From West Lake Landfill to Coldwater Creek, toxic military nuclear waste has been dumped in our communities, leading to rare cancers and birth defects.

Our veterans worked with this waste and are still living with it. The study is just one step we are taking to care for their health and safety. I look forward to voting in support of the Honoring our PACT Act and advancing these critical amendments that will help us to save lives.

Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise today because, if America's students are not taught the truth in school, we can at least make the floor of the House of Representatives their classroom.

My name is Cori Bush. But Bush was not the name that my paternal ancestors in Nigeria carried. Bush was the last name forced upon them by their slave masters right here in America. My maternal ancestors carried the last name Blakney, forced upon them by their slave masters in Pageland, South Carolina.

Our Black ancestors were kidnapped--stolen--from their homelands. They were the 12 million Africans who were shackled, branded, and packed into the bowels of slave ships during what is known as the Middle Passage where 2 million Africans died. Poor ventilation, burning heat, no room to stand or room to turn their bodies, forced to lay in their own feces and urine, they were starved, dehydrated, poisoned, and beaten.

Those who survived the Middle Passage survived only to be brought onto these shores, bought and sold at auctions like the goods their forced labor was producing.

These auctions launched a longstanding practice in America in which White folks--including White women--scrutinize and violate the bodies of Black people--especially Black women.

We are going to tell the truth today. Black adults and Black children were enslaved and forced to endure being tormented, being tortured, and being raped by White slave owners on slave ships and on the plantations.

Our ancestors tried to escape the bondage of slavery just to be hunted, captured, imprisoned, and executed via slave patrols and convict leasing--those institutions whose primary focus was to regulate, exploit, and control Black bodies.

More than 1,700 Congressmen once enslaved Black people. Those 1,700 people who routinely cast votes cultivating, conserving, and codifying White supremacy did not view Black people as human beings. Our own Presidents owned, sold, and enslaved Black people.

The image behind me is the truth of our country's history that our students are denied. This is what a lynching in America looked like.

What we must remember is that for every Black person they hung from a tree, dozens of White people came to celebrate.

When our students don't learn about these lynchings in school, it is not just to deny us our justice, it is because racist policymakers don't want White children to know that that may be great-grandpa smiling in the picture and pointing at our ancestors dangling like strange fruit.

This is the truth about our country that too many racist lawmakers want to prevent our students from learning.

So to young White people across our country: this is your history. The atrocities perpetuated against Black people for generations were committed by your ancestors--not all of you, but many of you.

So you have to know this is American history.

So what will you do to help repair the damage?

What will you do to help us achieve reparations for the harm done?

And if your history books do not teach this history, then question the book. Talk to your school district. Tell them that we don't want a whitewashed history. We want and deserve the truth.

Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise to offer our deepest condolences to the Polson family and friends on the loss of firefighter Benjamin James Polson, a dear member of our St. Louis community and Engine House 13.

Benjamin Polson was courageous. Every day he went to work with the goal of saving lives, and our St. Louis community is indebted to him for his commitment to that work. As Congresswoman for Missouri's First District, I am deeply honored to represent Engine House 13, and I, like so many of our neighbors, am forever grateful to Mr. Polson. Like his father, a retired fire captain, and his mother, an elementary school teacher, Mr. Polson lived a life dedicated to the care and service of his community, joining the St. Louis Fire Department in 2019. He will undoubtedly be missed by everyone who loved him, and his legacy will live on through his family, friends, and colleagues. St. Louis will never forget Mr. Polson's relentless dedication to our city as a first responder.

Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise to congratulate the city of Jennings on their 75th anniversary.

I am grateful to join in celebration of such a remarkable milestone. Like so many of my neighbors in Missouri's First District, the city of Jennings holds a deep and special place in my heart. In addition to its vibrant community and resilient spirit, Jennings is also home to some of my fondest memories and experiences.

Jennings is responsible for the production of so many St. Louis staples that we all know and love. I am deeply honored to represent a place with such a rich history and even more grateful for what this community has contributed to our greater St. Louis region. I know there is so much more to come, and I am eager to be in continued partnership with our Jennings community leaders as we do the most for everyone, starting with those who have the very least.

Congratulations again on 75 fruitful years. I have no doubt that the next 75 will be even greater.

Mr. Speaker, St. Louis and I rise, many of us being survivors of sexual harassment and violence, because we are tired of victim blaming. We are tired of being told that if we had just done this or done that it wouldn't have happened to us. We are tired of being told to feel guilty about what we wore or what we said. We are tired of our truth being dismissed.

Today, I rise to change the narrative and give some tips instead for how to prevent sexual violence. So let's talk about it.

If you are thinking about putting drugs in someone's drink, don't.

If you can't keep yourself from committing sexual assault, always have a trusted friend by your side to stop you from committing sexual assault.

If you encounter someone who is drunk, unconscious or asleep, do not commit sexual assault against that person.

If you see someone walking by themselves, just leave them alone.

If you are worried about committing sexual assault, make sure you wear something that will remind you not to, like a sign or a sticker.

If you think you might commit sexual assault, always carry a whistle. When you find yourself about to commit sexual assault, blow the whistle until someone else stops you.

To every survivor of sexual violence, know that no matter how hard the media or your peers or your family or others try to make you feel that what happened to you was your fault, it was not.

Hear me when I say this: It was not your fault.

Know that your congresswoman is working every day to build a world where sexual violence no longer exists, a world where survivors are protected, where we have access to the care that we need, which includes abortion care, a world where the instinct to blame the survivors is replaced with one to provide healing and care.

Know that in this moment that I love you and that there are others who love you and want to make sure you are healthy, and you are protected. We see you. We hear you. We love you.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the advocates for giving us all these great tips.

Madam Speaker, I offer the family, friends, constituents, and entire St. Louis community of Mayor Tiffany Graham, my deepest condolences as I share the pain of this untimely loss.

Mayor Graham was best known for her relentless commitment to her community and everyone around her. She personified the role of a public servant wonderfully and was dedicated to doing the best for her residents. She never hesitated to go above and beyond to make sure those she served got her very best every single day.

The impact of her work reverberates throughout the Greendale community and beyond. May we honor her life and legacy by living the way she lived hers, with an unyielding commitment to service.

Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise because in 2020, four Black women and girls were murdered per day in our country, and that kind of violence has continued in St. Louis with many Black women and girls being shot, some murdered over recent months.

This is personal. I have had bullets fly past my head. I have been left for dead by a partner. I worry about whether my own daughter will get home safely.

We rise united under our message: We will break the cycles of violence that are killing Black women and mothers, our sons and our daughters, our trans and nonbinary neighbors, and our sex workers.

We urgently need the $5 billion for community-based violence prevention services in the Build Back Better Act, and we won't stop until we have all that we need to keep each other safe.

Madam Speaker, the rich roots of advocacy, activism, and community organizing etched in the NAACP's history continue to reverberate through the countless lives you all have touched. I am deeply heartened at the opportunity to celebrate the Saint Louis County Chapter of NAACP on 84 years of service and leadership in our community. St. Louis has unquestionably been made better by the work that they all have committed themselves to, and I am honored to be their representative.

The fight for justice for Black people has been one fraught with pain and strife, but that very pain produces a strength and resilience in each of us that gives us the courage to fight onward amidst the adversity. That resilience is beautifully evidenced in this chapter's work throughout St. Louis. As our office continues to do the most for all people starting with those that have the least, I am grateful to be in this struggle alongside them. I thank the Saint Louis County Chapter of NAACP for their commitment and extend congratulations on 84 strong years.

Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise today in support of our amendments to H.R. 4502.

Our first amendment provides $5 million more to support healthcare services, COVID-19 testing and vaccines, behavioral health services, and preventative care for our unhoused communities. As a nurse and someone who has been unhoused, I have both lived and witnessed the traumatic realities of inaccessible healthcare. This funding will save lives.

My second amendment reduces funding for fossil energy and carbon management by $4 million and adds $3 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Environmental justice leaders are demanding that we stop subsidizing supposedly advanced technologies that keep fossil fuels burning in our communities, and build public renewable energy instead.

Our third amendment supports $100 million in a new pilot funding for mental health crisis response by directing the GAO to study health- based, nonpunative, and noncarceral approaches to public safety.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for this moment to be able to address about something that I still have trouble understanding the need to address when people fell, when people bled, when people died, and we are still here. And all of that happened, so much of it happened before I was even born, even thought of, and we are still here.

So, St. Louis and I, we rise today, because in Missouri our right to vote is being taken away. Taken away from many of us. And by us, let me be clear that I mean Black folks, I mean Brown folks, I mean Indigenous folks.

Despite the raising of our voices, despite the marching of our feet, and despite our turning out the vote to deliver the government to Democrats, the Senate has yet to do anything about it. H.R. 1 is gathering dust in the Senate, and the filibuster remains intact. With every passing day, the reality of the situation worsens.

Yet, rather than acting with urgency, some have even suggested instead we want to out-organize voter suppression.

After an election year when Black, Brown, and indigenous organizers gave their blood, their sweat, and their tears to deliver a Democratic House, Senate, and White House. A year when Black women turned the longtime red State of Georgia blue. When Black, Brown, and indigenous voters stood in disproportionately long lines to cast their ballots on an election day that is not a Federal holiday. A year when Black, Brown, and indigenous communities have been disproportionately harmed by this pandemic, yet turned out in the face of these suppression tactics to vote in record numbers.

We did this because we were promised justice. We were promised that our right to vote would be secure, and we were promised a sustainable future.

But rather than deliver on these promises, we were asked again to give our blood, our sweat, and our tears?

To those who say just out-organize rather than legislate, I say shame. Shame, Madam Speaker, that you take our labor for granted. Shame that you take our struggle for granted, and shame that your promises continue to go unfulfilled. Like my chairwoman said, we have people who are living, struggling, burdened, and oppressed in ways that others aren't, and are the ones who suffer the most.

Shame that rather than doing everything within your power, Madam Speaker, to deliver us the future, we are being asked to overcome voter suppression again.

To those who are telling us just to out-organize voter suppression, my message to you is this: We already did.

Mr. Speaker, St. Louis and I rise today with heavy hearts. Since the beginning of July, we have lost three civil rights giants in our community: Ms. Hazel Erby, Ms. Betty Thompson, and Dr. Henry Givens, Jr.

Mama Hazel and Mama Betty were trailblazers, breaking down barriers for Black women and all Black people to be leaders in St. Louis and beyond. I would not be Missouri's first Black Congresswoman without the doors that they opened up for me.

Dr. Henry Givens, Jr., led Harris-Stowe State University for 32 years. His leadership transformed Harris-Stowe, the university I attended, from a small college with just one building into the nationally acclaimed HBCU that it is today.

We will miss them all dearly, but together, we are St. Louis strong. We will carry their work forward to build a more just future for all of us.

Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise today because the Green New Deal cannot wait, and my brother, Representative Bowman, understands that. I thank him for pushing this, and I thank him for speaking up and speaking out. It is not an easy place to speak out from. Especially as Black Americans in this country, it is not usually one of the things that people think that the Black community will speak out about, but this is our work to speak out about it to make sure that our communities are made whole.

Yes, today is my 45th birthday. Birthdays are both a time of celebration and a time of reflection.

Today, there are 11 more 90-degree days per year in St. Louis than the year that I was born. I am thinking about that St. Louis heat, the heat under which Michael Brown Jr.'s body lay for more than 4\1/2\ hours on the hot asphalt in August of 2014.

I am wondering how many more 90-degree days we will have when I turn 50.

What about when I turn 55?

When I turn 60?

I am wondering how many more times Black bodies will lie dead in the summer heat on that asphalt from the environmental injustice of police murder. Yes, that is an environmental injustice.

I am thinking about how in the decade I was born the city of St. Louis pledged to prioritize elimination of lead pipes. But today Black children in the city of St. Louis are 2.4 times more likely than White children to test positive for lead in their blood. For my entire lifetime, we have been promised that this problem would be fixed. But today it still persists.

I am thinking about what the world will look like when my son and my daughter turn 45. I am thinking about the opportunity we have right now to deliver them a better world. I am thinking about how blessed I am to be in a position to do something about it.

Earlier this year, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and I introduced the Green New Deal for Cities Act to fund the environmental justice work of a Green New Deal in every community. Our bill would create good paying jobs in our communities to

solve the environmental racism that we face each and every day. It will clean up our polluted creeks and our vacant lots. Many don't know that when you drive in some communities, Madam Speaker, where it looks like the community doesn't care, sometimes it is not that the community doesn't care, sometimes it is because the ground is contaminated in our Black and in our Brown communities that those lots sit there vacant. Those lots sit there like they are unattended to, but there is more to the story, and financially that is the issue.

When we look at cleaning up our polluted creeks and our vacant lots-- every move further we have to make sure that we replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.

Why are we still having that conversation?

I don't want my 46th birthday to come next year and our communities are still waiting for the people with the power of the pen and the people with the power of the purse to deliver the lifesaving changes that the people deserve. We need a Green New Deal.

For my birthday, please join me in fighting for one everywhere.

Madam Speaker, Saint Louis and I rise to commemorate the life of Ms. Betty Thompson. Ms. Betty was a deeply beloved figure in St. Louis, not only for her groundbreaking political career and trailblazing civil rights work, but most notably for her warm and giving spirit. Her altruistic reach transcended the chaos of politics and gave space for the beauty in public service. She remained true to her values and led from a place of service and deep love of community. This approach to her work led her to opening so many doors in politics for our region as a barrier-breaking politician who was the first Black woman to serve on the University City City council. Not only did she open doors, but she extended her hand to bring the next generation of leaders along with her. Her passion and vigor was ever present, as she famously said, ``We want you to wake up! Get up! Sit up! Look up! Dress up! Eat up! Pray up! Pay up! And if you can't do that, then you should just stay home and shut up!''

She so beautifully took issues that most pained her, like her struggle with alopecia, and turned them into positive change in her legislative efforts. Ms. Thompson sponsored legislation that created a pathway for children with alopecia to receive hairpieces. This legislation was essential to Medicaid developing a policy that gave provision for expenses related to scalp prosthesis.

This, along with so many other efforts of Representative Thompson, are a wonderful depiction of the vigor and depth with which she loved her community. That love will unquestionably be widely missed--but it was a love so genuine it will most certainly leave rippling effects for years to come. So though we mourn her loss, we also celebrate her life. It was a life well lived indeed.