Joaquin Castro

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Latino Book Review's 10th Anniversary. For the last 10 years, Latino Book Review has worked diligently to make sure Latino voices have their rightful place among the Nation's great contributors to arts and literature across the United States.

Latino Book Review was founded in 2016 with the purpose of elevating the voices of our Nation's Latino communities. In offering a forum for book reviews, news and scholarly articles, podcasts, art and more, they provide audiences with a reverent celebration of Latino cultural heritage.

In their first decade, Latino Book Review has achieved remarkable accomplishments. They have included contributions from over 500 authors, provided students in higher education from across the country with the opportunity to publish their work, and gave the recipients of nationally acclaimed awards the chance to share their journey. In their first 10 years, across their platforms, they have promoted Latino contributions to our Nation's cultural landscape to over 100,000 individuals.

Not only does this anniversary mark the recognition of the growing legacy of the organization, but it also celebrates Latino Book Review's relocation to San Antonio, Texas. It is a tremendous honor to welcome the organization to a city whose identity is deeply rooted in an immense pride in its Latino culture.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in celebration of Latino Book Review's 10th Anniversary. May they continue to shed light upon the stories, voices, and images that define our Nation's Latino communities.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Ordination of Father Jimmy Drennan. A leader guided by grace, hope and compassion. Father Jimmy's commitment to service embodies an unyielding dedication to ensuring the spiritual growth of our San Antonio community.

Father Jimmy's life of service has taken many roles throughout his life. As a student at

Highlands High School in San Antonio, he served as the school's mascot for three years, encouraging joy and community among his peers. He also served in the Student Council and as Class Vice-President his senior year,

Outside of school, Father Jimmy developed a love for the Roman Catholic faith by the following the powerful examples of his mother, Anne Drennan, and his grandmother Cecil. At the age of 17, he made the Sacrament of Baptism at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, the same parish where he currently serves as Pastor.

As a young adult, Father Jimmy's commitment to service took the form of a police officer with the San Antonio Police Department from 1985 to 1991. After seven years as an officer, he felt his calling to the Priesthood and entered the Assumption Seminary. On May 10, 1996, Father Jimmy was ordained by the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Father Jimmy's time as a priest has seen him take multiple roles throughout the archdiocese. He has served as pastor of St. Paul Catholic Church, St, Joseph Catholic Church--Honey Creek, and St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. He has also held administrative roles across the archdiocese. He serves as the Spiritual Director for the First Responder focused Shields of Christ ACTS Teams and was the Chaplain to former San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.

Father Jimmy has also dedicated himself to serving the San Antonio community. He is a Board Member for Project Quest, a workforce development organization. For over thirty years, he has been a trusted leader with the COPS-Metro Alliance. He is also an outspoken advocate for the immigrant communities.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in celebration of a pastoral career dedicated to serving one's community. For over thirty years, Father Jimmy has been a source of hope and inspiration to many, and I am grateful for all he has done for our San Antonio community.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is a bad idea. It tramples on the rights of Americans in order to protect a foreign government from the consequences of its own actions.

Let me give you some context. The West Bank is currently experiencing the worst year of settler violence ever recorded. Israeli settlers have committed violence, terrorism, and many other things against Palestinians, with the goal of driving them out of the lands they have lived in for generations. It is an ethnic cleansing. They have assaulted and killed Palestinian Americans and laid siege to their homes.

The Israeli Government has turned a blind eye to this violence and, in many cases, has actively supported it, protecting the criminals and not the victims.

The same government has orchestrated a record expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, a violation of international law and a crime against the Palestinians who live there.

Americans see this. The world sees this. Yet, what is the priority of our House of Representatives right now? It is not to stop the violence, not to stop the displacement, and not to protect the children. The priority of this House today is a bill that threatens to take Federal student aid away from American citizens and to protect this activity in these settlements.

Don't let anyone convince you that this bill is about anti-Semitism or even just about Israel. The bill's language is written to include Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. It is in defense of an illegal act by a foreign government, and the victims will be American students.

If this House should be debating anything on this issue, it should be sanctions on these settlements and not a bill that protects them.

Let me lay out a scenario so that we understand exactly how this piece of legislation would work.

If a university in Texas decided tomorrow to stop doing business with a company in South Carolina, California, or Idaho, it would face no consequences under American law. Make the same decision about Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and this bill strips American students of their Pell grants and American veterans of their hard- earned benefits. This bill holds American students' education hostage to protect a foreign government.

We would be doing this in flagrant violation of the United States Constitution. In the landmark decision NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., the Supreme Court held that a politically motivated boycott is protected expression under the First Amendment. This isn't an obscure case. It is the reason the sponsors of the bill wrote the word ``nonexpressive'' into the text.

Yet, every example that the sponsors point to is plainly political. A boycott is a political act. It is protected under the First Amendment, and you don't have to even agree with the boycott to support an American's right to engage in it.

Every Member of this body raised their hand and swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and I urge every Member of this body today to take that oath seriously and vote against this bill.