Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. I do have some prepared remarks here, but don't tell my staff that I'm not going to use them.

I want to speak just a little bit about what I just heard and what I think some of our challenges are in this great country of ours. And it is a great country. It does not need to be made great again. Our problem is making this greatness accessible and affordable for all of its citizens.

I think one of the ways that we do that is to recognize that we have a shared history in this country, but it is a history that is spotted with a lot of inequities, inequalities, and a lot of things that we ought to be about the business of working to try and level off the so- called playing field. One of those, I think, is really about the ability to communicate.

When we talk about Juneteenth, I often equate the history of Juneteenth with our country's inability to communicate, because the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, was to be effective January 1, 1863, freeing all the slaves in the Confederate States not under Union control.

Now, when that happened, there was a big meeting down on the banks of a river in Beaufort County, South Carolina, near Port Royal, and 4,000 slaves came to listen to General Saxton read the Emancipation Proclamation. On that day they were free.

However, it was June 19, 1865, 2\1/2\ years later before it was communicated to those who were enslaved in Texas. The failure to communicate kept them in slavery for another 2\1/2\ years.

The failure to communicate is what seemed to keep us from coming together as one people today.

If we learned the lessons of history, as George Santayana once said to us: When we learn the lessons of history, we are bound to repeat them if we don't.

So I would hope that as we turn this piece of legislation into law and create a national holiday for Juneteenth, I hope we will keep a couple things in mind. It is not lost on me that this building we all meet in was built by slaves.

And one of the little known facts was a man named Philip Reid, who was enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina, and who came, after being bought, to Washington, D.C., worked in the foundry. And when the foundry made the Statue of Freedom, they couldn't get it up on top of the building.

All of those learned people who had been free all of their lives could not figure out how to get that statue on top of this building.

Philip Reid, enslaved, figured it out, and he showed them how to get that statue on top of this building. He was able to communicate some lessons that he could teach, though he was unlearned. In fact, it was against the law to be able to teach him to read. His name was Reid, spelled a little differently.

Now, I would hope that we would pass this law. I suspect we won't do what the Senate did and do it unanimously, though I think it would be a tremendous demonstration of unity for every one of us who vote to pass this law recognizing June 19 as a national holiday.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge unanimous support for H. Res. 398, recognizing the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. As a former history teacher, I often quote George Santayana, who said, ``Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.''

The Tulsa Race Massacre is a prime example of inflaming issues and ignoring history. They both significantly lead to the inability and failure to learn the lessons that history can teach us.

It was the inflammatory reporting of the chance encounter of a young Black man, Dick Rowland, and a young White elevator operator, Sarah Page, that ignited one of the deadliest episodes of racial violence in our Nation's history.

On May 31, 1921, the Tulsa Tribune newspaper printed the headline, and I am quoting here, ``Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator,'' and the same edition included a report of a White mob's plan to lynch Rowland. The newspaper account was based on false claims that Mr. Rowland sexually assaulted the White woman, and is cited as the spark that incited a mob to burn and loot 35 blocks in the Black Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa and kill an estimated 300 people. Greenwood was known at the time as Black Wall Street due to its status as one of the most prosperous African-American communities in the country.

The devastation wrought by the mob, many of whom had been deputized and armed by local officials, took the lives and livelihoods of many in the Greenwood community. It caused irreparable damage to so many Black families who never received justice for their losses.

This horrific incident was erased from collective memory when the Tulsa Tribune destroyed all original copies of the May 31, 1921, edition of the newspaper and removed all copies from their archives. Scholars later discovered that police and State militia archives about the riot were missing as well.

We cannot overcome the issues of race that have troubled our Nation since its inception by ignoring the failings of our past. To repair our faults, our country must acknowledge past mistakes and work to ensure that we don't repeat them.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a dear friend and a dedicated public servant, Lynette Bryant Fryar. A victim's Advocate at the Colleton County Sheriff's Department and former Chair of the Colleton County Election Commission, Ms. Fryar passed away on April 16, 2021. Her passing has left a huge void in the community.

Ms. Fryar was born in 1949 to Leon Bryant, Sr., and Pattie Mae Gruber Bryant. She graduated as the valedictorian from Ruffin High School in Colleton County, and went on to earn a degree in Secretarial Science from Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College.

She spent 36 years working for Clemson University at the Cooperative Extension Service in Colleton County. There she worked with youth development and outreach, using her care and concern for her community to build educational opportunities. She was awarded Clemson University's Outstanding Service Award for her exemplary work.

Following her retirement from the university, she chose not to slow down, but ramp up her community engagement. She spent three years working for AmeriCorps before becoming a Victims' Advocate at the Colleton County Sheriff's Department. There she continued doing what she did best, serving as a source of strength for those in need.

Ms. Fryar was very active politically. She joined the Colleton County Elections and Voter Registration Board in 2005 and served as its Chair. She continued to serve on the elections board until her death to ensure that all residents of Colleton County had access to the ballot box.

Ms. Fryar had an incredible ability to connect with people and was my MVP (most valuable proponent) in Colleton county. She believed strongly, just as I do, that we must all find something to do for which we are not paid. Her volunteer efforts were extensive, and all were focused on serving her beloved Colleton County. Her commitment to the community includes serving as a member of the S.C. Department of Education Personal Pathways Committee, the Keep Colleton Beautiful Committee, the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Futures Task Force Committee, the Lowcountry Food Bank Board, and many other boards and commissions. She was the former Director for Youth Leadership Colleton and the former Coordinator for Backpack Buddies in Colleton County. She held leadership offices with the Colleton County Branch of the NAACP, Colleton County Improvement Collaborative, the HCA Hospital Board of Trustees, the Colleton County School Board of Trustees, the American Cancer Society (Colleton County), the American Cancer Society Rehabilitation Committee (Colleton County), and the South Carolina Association of Cooperative Extension Secretaries.

Ms. Fryar remained dedicated to her alma mater and served as the liaison for Ruffin High School and the Colleton County Vocational Center. She also served on the Colleton County Transition Committee for the merger of Ruffin High School and Walterboro High School. She was also devoted to her church and served as several capacities including as a minister to the congregation.

She was married to David L. Fryar, and they are the parents of three daughters, Katrina Fryar of Columbia, South Carolina, Ronda Cropp (Jeffrey) of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Muriel Fryar of Atlanta, Georgia. She also had two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Madam Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me in celebrating the life and legacy of Lynette Fryar. Her passion for Colleton County's people and places was unparalleled and her impact on her community will endure forever.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Madam Speaker, last March, as the tragic failure of the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic was becoming very apparent, the House Democratic Caucus held a conference call to discuss the crisis. Recalling the lessons of history, like the aftermath of World War I, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, and World War II, that it is usually the least of these among us that are the hardest hit during the crises and the last to recover after these crises are over, if they are able to recover at all; I expressed at that time to the Caucus that the legislation before us offered a tremendous opportunity to restructure things in our vision. I was referring then, as I often do, to the vision expressed in our Pledge of Allegiance to our Nation's flag of liberty and justice for all.

Shortly after the media reported these comments, Senator McConnell, the majority leader of the Senate, derided them on the Senate floor. Referring to me by position, he declared: ``This is not a political opportunity. It is a national emergency.''

I wholeheartedly agree with the now-minority leader of the Senate that the coronavirus pandemic was and remains a national emergency. But because the previous administration and Senate Republicans failed to address it with appropriate urgency and a vision of liberty and justice for all, the American people, through the political process last November, entrusted Democrats with an opportunity to build back with a better and more equitable vision for the future of our great country.

The American Rescue Plan has begun that process, and it is enjoying widespread, bipartisan support across the entire spectrum of the country. It did not get a single Republican vote in the House or the Senate. Because of the use of the budget process commonly called reconciliation, Republicans were not able to block by filibuster the American Rescue Plan, and that is proving to be a good thing.

But the Senate minority leader and several of his colleagues seem to be hellbent on using archaic Senate procedural rules to allow the minority in the Senate to block any legislation designed to protect the voting and civil rights of our country's minority citizens as we continue our pursuit toward the fulfillment of liberty and justice for all.

We have been here before. During the 1940s and 1950s, the Senate filibuster was used to kill civil rights legislation and protect Jim Crow laws. Today, Senate Republican leaders are employing the same tactics to obstruct voting rights and civil rights legislation. Their efforts are designed to gain power for their party by suppressing political participation by minorities.

The minority leader has threatened that if Senate Democrats modify the filibuster rules to do to him as he did to President Obama, he will resort to scorched-earth tactics. This threat of scorched-earth tactics by the Senate minority leader in defiance of American democracy is reminiscent of ``Mississippi Burning,'' which highlighted the lynching of three civil rights workers who were simply registering Black voters in Mississippi in June 1964. They were murdered by the KKK, with the cooperation of law enforcement officials, to keep them from assisting minority citizens who simply wanted to vote. It was 44 days before their bodies were located and four decades before anyone faced legal consequences for their deaths.

Today, Republicans are using the big lie about the 2020 elections as a pretext to advance a litany of minority voter suppression laws. They know that our vision of liberty and justice for all enjoys majority support among voters, so they seek to suppress enough votes so that their oppressive policies and bankrupt ideas can prevail. The minority leader wants to allow a minority of his minority to block measures that would prevent a return to bygone days.

To confront this threat, the Senate must eliminate the 60-vote threshold to end a filibuster on voting rights and civil rights legislation. Just as Mississippi Burning was met with the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, the threat of scorched earth must be met with the For the People Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act.

I didn't march in the streets and spend nights in jail as a young man to find myself fighting the same battles generations later, but it appears the minority leader and his Republican colleagues are preparing to retread old ground, and I am prepared to stand my ground.

To the minority leader and his colleagues, I say: This is not a political opportunity. This is a national emergency.

Since this country's inception, equal rights for people of color have been restricted by those in power who seek to hold on to power by using their power to deny the greatness of this country to those who do not look like them.

Extending debate on legislative issues is one thing, but when it comes to rights rooted in the Constitution, the filibuster has no place.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, the American Rescue Plan enjoys overwhelming public support because it addresses critical needs exasperated by COVID-19. It is supported by 75 percent of the American people, 71 percent of independents, and 60 percent of Republicans.

This legislation is transformative. It specifically provides $1.6 billion for HBCUs and additional funds through the United States Department of Agriculture, which is now authorized to increase its support of our 1890 land grant institutions.

The Washington Post reports: A little-known element of this ``package would pay billions of dollars to disadvantaged farmers, benefiting Black farmers in a way that some experts say no legislation has since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.''

The New York Times says: ``Researchers predict it could become one

of the most effective laws to fight poverty in a generation,'' and would ``cut the child poverty rate in half.''

The Associated Press declares: ``Several million people stand to save hundreds of dollars in health insurance costs'' in ``the biggest expansion of Federal help for health insurance'' since the Affordable Care Act.

I call upon my Republican colleagues to stop their March madness and show some compassion for their constituents who are less than wealthy.

Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague on the other side. I still think about the night of June 17, 2015, when at about 9:00 in the evening, I received a phone call informing me that something had happened at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, a church that I know very well and the members I know very well.

Much to my dismay, I learned later in the evening that a Bible study that was taking place at that church had welcomed in a stranger.

I grew up in a parsonage, and I grew up learning that which we find there in the book of Hebrew, the 11th chapter: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

These people were practicing their faith, a faith that taught them to welcome in a stranger. A stranger came to their door, and they welcomed him into their Bible study. They sat down, and he sat with them for an hour. In the further practice of their faith, as they concluded their Bible study, they rose to pray, and with bowed heads, only to open their eyes to the sound of gunfire. The stranger that they had welcomed in opened fire and killed nine of them, one of whom was the pastor, a former intern of mine.

Now, we later found out that the gentleman who perpetrated this crime was a white supremacist that studied the history of that church; and because it was the most historic African-American church in South Carolina, he targeted that church and its worshippers. However, he should not have had the gun.

The reason he had the gun is because when he went to purchase it, and the 3 days expired, as current law allows, they had not been able to verify the information he had given them and, therefore, could not complete the background check. But under the law, they had to sell him the gun after the 3 days, only to find out several days later that the wrong information had been put into the record.

I sincerely believe that this gentleman's sophistication, he knew he was not to have a gun. Now, I ask: Did he give the wrong information intentionally?

I think so. When they found the error, it was too late. Nine souls had perished.

Now, the gentleman said that he is lucky that the gun didn't go off, and these laws would not have prevented that. This law would have prevented that gentleman from getting a gun.

Now, I don't know why the other side continues to misrepresent what we are trying to do here. All we are saying is if at the end of the 3 days, it ought to move to 10 days. And if the 10 days expire, you can ask for expedited search. And if that expires, you still have 10 days. The maximum is 30 days. Nobody is keeping a gun away. Everybody should be able to wait 30 days.

I ask the other side: Is a wait of 30 days worth the death of nine unsuspecting souls?

That alone ought to instruct them on legislation like this.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an important anniversary that brings the actions of my youth full circle to my service in this esteemed body.

Sixty years ago, a student-led march took place in South Carolina's capital city protesting state laws designed to maintain de jure segregation of Blacks and whites in my home state. The arrests that day, March 2, 1961, resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark breach of the peace ruling. The case, Edwards v. South Carolina, is still taught in law schools today. I was among the student protestors arrested that day for seeking equal justice and civil rights, and I am proud of the role this event played in protecting the right to protest peacefully in this country.

On that momentous day, approximately 200 high school and college students from all over South Carolina gathered at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia and marched to the State House to protest racial discrimination. As a 20-year-old student protest leader at South Carolina State College (now University), I left Orangeburg with several of my classmates to join in the march. We divided into groups, and I agreed to lead a contingency of students from my high school Mather Academy toward the State House grounds. When we approached the State House, law enforcement officers ordered us to turn around. It had been my intention to do just that, but the students I was leading wanted to press on. We marched on singing hymns and patriotic songs. 191 protestors were arrested for breaching the peace and spent the next three days in jail before being released on bail.

There were four separate bench trials that March and 189 students were convicted in Magistrate's Court despite the exemplary representation of NAACP attorney Matthew J. Perry and his colleagues, Lincoln Jenkins II and Donald Sampson. All but two of the protestors appealed their convictions, which were upheld by the South Carolina Supreme Court.

On December 13, 1962, the Edwards v. South Carolina case, named for Benedict College protestor James Edwards, was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court by Matthew Perry. On February 25, 1963, the high court ruled eight to one in favor of the student defendants, reversing their convictions.

Justice Potter Stewart wrote in the majority opinion that a state cannot ``make criminal the peaceful expression of unpopular views.'' Since that ruling, Edwards v. South Carolina has been cited as the precedent in more than 70 breach of the peace cases.

Madam Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in recognizing the contributions of the student protestors in Edwards v. South Carolina as we remember their protest 60 years ago. As one of the young people involved in this historic event, I can attest that we were committed to the fight for civil rights, and had no idea that our actions would contribute to preserving the right to peacefully protest for future generations.

Today similar tactics are being employed in movements like Black Lives Matter. I applaud their efforts and thank the City of Columbia, Historic Columbia and the University of South Carolina for the monument they have erected to memorialize this momentous event.

Madam Speaker, tomorrow, at noon, the city of Columbia, South Carolina, Historic Columbia, and the University of South Carolina will unveil a monument that will mark the 60th anniversary of the landmark case Edwards v. South Carolina.

That case resulted from the protest march of almost 200 college and high school students from across South Carolina who came to Columbia to protest segregation, discrimination, and what amounted to apartheid.

Madam Speaker, 192 or 193 of us were arrested on that day, and 189 were convicted. Two years later, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned those convictions in this historic and landmark case against South Carolina, which rendered an end to any State passing laws to subject protest marchers to anything but what they were.

Madam Speaker, tomorrow, I will submit a full statement, thanking those for doing so.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 264, which will designate the post office located on Charlotte Street in Georgetown, South Carolina, as the Joseph Hayne Rainey Memorial Post Office Building.

I am proud to join with the bill's lead sponsor, Congressman Tom Rice, and the other members of the South Carolina congressional delegation in cosponsoring this important legislation.

This action builds on our efforts in the last Congress to honor the life and legacy of Joseph Rainey by naming H-150, the former House Committee on Indian Affairs room in the Capitol, in his honor.

These are just two of the long-overdue actions needed to amplify the historical significance of the first African American to serve in the United States House of Representatives.

Congressman Rainey was a trailblazer whose story and place in history have been overlooked. As a former history teacher who believes knowing our history is instructive so that we don't repeat the mistakes of our past, I would like to share with you my fellow South Carolinian's legacy.

Joseph Rainey, as you heard, was born enslaved in 1832 in Georgetown, South Carolina. His father was able to buy his family's freedom with earnings he made as a barber. As a freedman living in Charleston, Rainey was conscripted by the Confederacy in 1862. Rather than fighting to preserve slavery, he and his family fled to Bermuda, where he worked as a barber until the end of the war.

Rainey returned to South Carolina after the Civil War and served, as you heard, as a delegate to the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention. He was elected to the State senate in 1870. Later that year, he was elected to Congress in a special election and was sworn into Congress on December 12, 150 years ago, becoming the first Black to serve in the House of Representatives.

He was the first of several African-American Members of this body during Reconstruction, when the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were enforced, however imperfectly, by the power of the Federal Government.

But Reconstruction was short-lived. Jim Crow laws and white supremacists dismantled multiracial democracy with voter suppression, nullifications, and violent insurrection. Federal troops were withdrawn from the South following widespread white supremacist violence during the 1876 election and the subsequent election of Rutherford B. Hayes as President.

Joseph Rainey spoke out against the removal of Federal protection of voting rights, but in 1878, he lost reelection to former Confederate officer John Smythe Richardson in a district that was, like South Carolina, majority Black.

Severe gerrymandering reduced the number of Black South Carolinians in Congress to one in the 1890s. When George Washington Murray lost his bid for reelection in 1897, South Carolina's representation in Congress was again all White and remained all White for the next 95 years.

Segregation and Black disenfranchisement were the law of the land until the 1960s. But thanks to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its 1982 amendments, I was elected to this august body in 1992.

Today, Congress is still grappling with racial issues, voter suppression, and, as we witnessed last month, domestic terrorism.

It is fitting and proper that we are taking this step as we are celebrating Black History Month. I believe we would do well to learn some of the lessons of American history through Joseph Rainey's experiences, and I hope today's action will help illuminate his story and cause us all to reflect on his legacy. We must not allow the progress we have made toward racial equity since the 1960s to retrogress, as it did after the 1860s.

To truly honor the contributions of Joseph Rainey and all African Americans, we must build on this progress by working together to address our country's longstanding racial inequities and fulfill the promise of liberty and justice for all.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Article of Impeachment.

Last Wednesday, we gathered to follow the Constitution's simple instruction: To count the electoral votes that have been tallied by the States and submitted to us.

This President refused to accept those results. Instead, he sought to overturn them by inciting a violent insurrection. But we were not deterred from doing our constitutional duty. Today, we must do our constitutional duty once again.

While the President failed in his attempt to upend our democracy, last Wednesday's events declared that if we do not hold him accountable and remove him from power, a future attempt could very well be successful.

The survival of our democracy depends on defeated candidates accepting their defeats, as has been the case in every President's election since 1864.

Our January 6 joint session is a vital part of the transfer of power, not the contest for power. Vice President Gore understood this, accepting and certifying the 2000 election result in which he was defeated. Vice President Biden understood this, accepting and certifying this President's victory in the 2016 election.

This President's refusal to participate in the peaceful transfer of power and his role in the incitement of last week's violence posed an existential threat to our constitution of democracy.

This threat must be extinguished immediately. This President must be impeached and convicted, and he must be prevented from ever attempting to seize power again.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution. In recent days, it has become indisputable that this President is unable to uphold his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.

On the contrary, he seems only capable of attacking the Constitution. Never before has a President sought to overturn a fair and secure election, threatening State officials to manufacture fraudulent votes.

Never before has a President incited mob violence to block certification of his opponent's victory.

Never before has a President refused to condemn and demand the cessation of an attack on our country.

The devastating bruises on our Nation's soul can only begin to heal by removing the weapon used to bludgeon us.

The Vice President must invoke the 25th Amendment to immediately remove power from this dangerous President. And if he doesn't, we must vote to impeach.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a woman whose bravery and perseverance exemplify a significant American story. It is fitting that during this July 4th, as we celebrate our nation's birthday, citizens of South Carolina and the descendants of Molly Graham will be dedicating a bridge over the Combahee River in Colleton County, South Carolina in her honor. Although seven generations removed, Molly Graham's story is inspiring and instructive for all of us.

Molly Graham was enslaved on the Cypress Plantation in Green Pond, South Carolina during the Civil War. Her husband and brother were killed during the final months of the war when Confederate soldiers executed male slaves to prevent them from enlisting in the Union Army. Ms. Graham and her daughters escaped after Confederate troops raided their plantation and threatened to burn it to the ground.

She and her daughters traveled 16 miles on foot to the safety of a Union camp in Beaufort. Along the treacherous journey, they had to crawl across a plank over the Combahee River because the bridge had been destroyed by fire. They hid from Confederate troops during the day and traveled under the cover of darkness at night. Ms. Graham let faith, ``the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen,'' guide her.

After spending several months in the refuge of the Union camp, Ms. Graham and her daughters returned to Green Pond. The daughters eventually married, and they worked together, pooled their resources and bought several hundred acres of land. The family raised chickens, turkeys and vegetables on the farm and sold their goods at the Walterboro farmers market.

Ms. Graham also served as a naturopathic herb doctor who treated both former slaves and plantation owners without prejudice or malice. She added rooms to her home to treat patients overnight, that served as the only ``hospital'' to ever exist in Green Pond. Today, she and many of her progeny are buried at the historic Hickory Hill Cemetery close to the banks of the Combahee River.

Madam Speaker, I ask you to join me in celebrating the life of Molly Graham and the contributions of seven generations of her offspring in the Bryant, Pinckney and Singleton families. Theirs is a true story of resilience and triumph that exemplifies the diversity of the American experience. I applaud the descendants' efforts to dedicate the Molly Graham Memorial Bridge that crosses her beloved Combahee River and to continue her legacy of giving back to the community through their family's non-profit foundation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 1959 class of Burke High School of Charleston, South Carolina as they celebrate their 60th class reunion. On June 29th and 30th, classmates and friends will travel to ``the Holy City'' from all around the world to take part in this significant celebration.

Burke High School, located on the west side of the Charleston peninsula, was the city's oldest and largest public high school serving African American students prior to the desegregation of public schools in Charleston. Founded in 1894 as the Charleston Industrial Institute, the original name and history of the school reflect the racial divisions and popular perceptions both students and teachers had to overcome in pursuit of State supported public education.

I personally remember some of these struggles. My wife, Emily and I shared college experiences with many of them and were a part of the Charleston community during the 1960s and 1970s; she as a librarian at Simonton school and Burke and I as a social studies and history teacher at Simonton and Charles A. Brown High School on the east side of the Charleston peninsula.

During the Civil Rights activities of the 1960s, many students from Burke became local activists in pursuit of social justice in Charleston. The class of 1959, along with many of their schoolmates, took part in many local demonstrations and sit-ins. Many of them became active statewide as well.

The class of 1959 left a lasting impression and everlasting legacy on Burke High School students and citizens of the city of Charleston. They led by precept and example. They also gave back to the community by donating college scholarships to young graduates. Many of them are still actively providing leadership in communities throughout the country.

As they gather this year to celebrate their 60th reunion, I want to commend the class of 1959 for their continued dedication to their alma mater. The shared experiences amongst this class have served as an inspiration to residents of Charleston, their families, and the thousands of Burke students who have followed them. Having been a part of some of their activities, I know that all of their experiences have not been pleasant, but I think they would consider all of them to be blessings and they have been blessings to many.

Madam Speaker, it is my great honor to represent this fine institution and many of its graduates in this august body. I ask you and my colleagues to join me in congratulating the 1959 class of Burke High School on their 60th class reunion and wishing them continued good health and great prosperity in the days ahead.

Madam Chair, I rise as the designee of Chairwoman Lowey, and I move to strike the last word.

Madam Chair, I am a strong supporter of H.R. 3055, an appropriations package that makes essential investments in economic development, the rule of law, agriculture, our public lands, the environment, our military servicemembers, and our veterans.

I rise today to highlight one particular set of provisions in this appropriations package that are critical to

the communities that I represent, the 10-20-30 formula.

This formula requires that at least 10 percent of the funds in the designated accounts be spent in counties with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent for the past 30 years.

The Census Bureau has labeled nearly 500 counties as persistent poverty counties. They are both geographically and ethnically diverse: largely Black in the Deep South, White in Appalachia, Hispanic in the southwest, and Native Americans all across the West. They are politically diverse as well, with nearly three-fourths of them represented by Republicans, one-fourth by Democrats.

The appropriations bills reported by the Appropriations Committee apply the 10-20-30 formula or similar funding set-asides to 17 different accounts, three more than in fiscal year 2019. Sixteen of these accounts are in the package we are considering today, ensuring persistent poverty counties receive much-needed funds for rural development.

This 10-20-30 formula has worked well. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the first time it was enacted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, where it was applied to three accounts.

In the decade since, thanks in no small part to former Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers and former Speaker Ryan, 10-20-30 accounts have made thousands of investments in persistent poverty counties, totaling billions of dollars.

One of these investments was in brownfields cleanup at the Mack Theater in Irvine, Kentucky, which is in Estill County, Kentucky, in the Sixth Congressional District of Kentucky, represented by Mr. Barr.

Community groups have long sought to restore this theater, which closed in 1993, but previously were unable to address the contamination. Thanks to 10-20-30, the River City Players, a community theater group, is working to reopen the venue, which has the potential to contribute to the revitalization of the entire area.

In addition to the expansion of the 10-20-30 formula in the bill, I also appreciate the language in the committee reports, which expresses support for new targeted funding for high-poverty census tracts that may not be in persistent poverty counties but are often just as much in need.

I look forward to working with the Appropriations Committee to build upon this progress to include high-poverty census tracts in fiscal year 2021 and working with my friends Barbara Lee and Stacey Plaskett to ensure all of the necessary communities and territories are included.

Madam Chair, there are many reasons to support this appropriations package. I thank the committee for its longstanding collaboration on 10-20-30, and I am hopeful that Members on both sides of the aisle will support these targeted investments in persistent poverty communities by supporting this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a dedicated public servant and dear friend, Roger Cleckley. Roger is a man driven by faith, duty and honor. He has spent most of his career in public service and all of us are the beneficiaries of his tremendous commitment to building a better community, state and nation.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ``everybody can be great . . . because anybody can serve . . . you only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.'' By that definition, Roger Cleckley is among the greatest among us.

Roger is a native of the Cope-Cordova community of Orangeburg County, South Carolina. He was the third of four children born to Solomon and Celia Mae Cleckley. He attended G.W. Carver High School and Voorhees College both in Denmark, South Carolina. He has also earned a Certificate of Leadership Training from the University of South Carolina.

He began his commitment to service by joining the United States Army. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam as a combat infantryman. His distinguished service earned him numerous awards and medals. After two years on active duty, Roger received an honorable discharge with the rank of Sergeant (E-5).

A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, Roger never shies away from standing up for what he believes is right. After returning from Vietnam and a year in Washington, D.C., he took a job with Tepeck Industries in St. Matthews, South Carolina, and quickly discovered that racial injustice in his home state were still prevalent. He fought against these injustices in his workplace, which ultimately resulted in his dismissal from the company.

Undeterred, Roger found work selling insurance at the A.L. Williams Insurance Company and became active in the NAACP. In 1986, he felt the call to public service and ran for Orangeburg County Auditor. His hard- won victory made him the first African American elected to serve in this capacity in South Carolina since the post-Reconstruction era. When I offered for Congress in 1992, Roger and his wife hosted my maiden community event in their home and he became my Orangeburg County Chairman. When Roger retired he held the distinction as the longest serving local elected official in Orangeburg County.

Over the years, Roger has tirelessly worked for his church and community and has been a relentless voice for the voiceless. He is presently Chairman of the Forfeited Land Commission, Secretary of the Orangeburg County Fiscal Education Commission, and Chairperson of the County Democratic Party Nominations Committee.

Roger has held many positions in the African Methodist Episcopal Church from Sunday School, Steward Board, Class Leader, and the Lay Organization. He is currently the outgoing Seventh Episcopal District Lay Organization President, which comprises the entire state of South Carolina.

His wife, Bessie Idella Cleckley, has been his partner and soul mate for fifty years. She has always been a tremendous source of encouragement to him as he served the people of South Carolina. They are the parents of sons, Roger ``Al,'' Adrian, and Kendrick, and the grandparents of five.

Madam Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in offering congratulations and sincere gratitude to Mr. Roger Cleckley on the occasion of his retirement. His extraordinary work has had a profound impact on all who have been touched by his selfless service. I believe he exemplifies the sentiment found in Matthew 25:23, ``well done, my good and faithful servant,'' and I offer my best wishes as he embarks on this new phase of his life.