Floor Statements

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I've listened to this debate over the last, actually, month since I'm a member of the committee of jurisdiction, and I have listened to my Christian friends, my religious friends, talk about their hearts.

I want every one of them who goes to the prayer meetings and to all of the things that they do here every week to go and see how many times ``poor'' is mentioned in the Bible and how many times ``hungry'' is mentioned in the Bible because, if we are to say today that feeding hungry children and seniors and veterans and the disabled is relegated to being extraneous, we are not who we say we are.

It is a sad day for America and this country when we want to separate farmers from food and the people they feed. We are going down a path of no return, and I urge all who believe they are Christians to vote ``no'' on this bill.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for leading this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour to honor a man that was a friend to so many of us, former Congressman William H. Gray, III.

On behalf of the CBC, I send condolences to the Gray family. As you celebrate Congressman and Reverend Gray's life, know that we, too, will miss a great man. We mourn the loss of Congressman Gray and celebrate the legislator, the advocate, and the statesman, a man whose accomplishments you will hear a great deal about this evening.

But if one word defined Bill Gray's life, it is ``service.'' He served God, his Philadelphia community, our Nation, and the world with dedicated hard work, strong leadership, and a commitment to equity and justice. He broke new ground as the first African American to chair the House Budget Committee and again as the first African American majority whip in the House of Representatives.

Although I did not have the personal privilege and pleasure to serve with him, our history supports the fact that he was a brilliant negotiator, bipartisan consensus builder, and courageous policymaker.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition.

I rise in opposition to the Schweikert amendment to strike the Healthy Food Financing Initiative.

Let me just say that not only is it well meaning, it works. And it's about time this Congress does something that is proven to work.

This amendment removes from the farm bill bipartisan language that I successfully championed during the House farm bill markup. The Healthy Food Financing Initiative outlines a comprehensive Federal response to addressing the limited and inequitable access to healthy foods in low- income communities in both rural and urban America.

It does this through the creation of a national fund manager housed within USDA that would improve access to healthy foods, create quality jobs, and revitalize low-income communities by providing loans and grants to eligible food retailers.

Nearly 30 million people live in low-income areas more than 1 mile from a supermarket, which means they lack adequate access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. It comes as no surprise that these same people are less likely to have a healthy diet than those with better access. Barriers to healthy food have worsened the growing epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related health problems in these communities.

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative would combat the lack of healthy food retail through a public-private initiative that would allow for the leveraging of millions of private capital at the national level--something that my colleagues talk about all of the time.

HFFI provides one-time loans and grant financing to attract grocery stores and other fresh fruit retail to renovate and expand existing stores so they can provide the healthy foods that communities want and need. This financing will help local businesses through loans and tailored financing packages that are not readily available.

Healthy food retail increases and stabilizes home values in nearby neighborhoods. It generates local tax revenues, provides workforce training and development, and promotes additional spending in the local economy generated by the store and the new jobs it creates. It actually has a multiplier effect.

To know that this works, we just need to look at Pennsylvania. A similar program that began there in 2004 resulted in 88 projects being built or renovated in underserved urban and rural communities across the State. Today, more than 5,000 jobs have been created--and I know we all want to create jobs--have been created or retained, and 400,000 people now have increased access to healthy food. Thirty million invested by the State has resulted in projects totalling more than $190 million.

The Pennsylvania program success rate has been better than the grocery industry overall. Federal, State, and many city governments are enacting legislation and policies to attract healthy food retail. There is tremendous momentum around the country right now to bring grocery stores to places that need them.

Also, a diverse group of nearly 100 stakeholders support this bill, including PolicyLink, The Reinvestment Fund, The Food Trust, and the National Grocers Association; and numerous agriculture, health, civil rights, and industry groups support this bill.

The Senate supports HFFI--not his bill. The Senate has recognized the case for HFFI and included this text in their bill.

Food access is a critical problem. The good news is that we know what to do and we can do it. I ask that you stand with me in defending this HFFI by opposing the Schweikert amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman.

First, let me just say that certainly we can agree to disagree. But let's be honest. We are not buying grocery stores. It is not accurate to say to the American people that is what we are doing, Mr. Chairman. So let me just make that clear.

Secondly, if we have something that works and we know that our people are in need, then I think that we should make it something that all of us can agree to do.

Now, every State is not in the same situation. Every State doesn't have the same kind of vision that maybe the State of Pennsylvania had, but there are a lot of things that the States can do that they don't do and that all States don't do. So we want to make sure that every American has the opportunity to have decent, healthy food.

So I think that this is, in fact, a good start. My bill was passed bipartisan. I think it's good. I think that for someone to just come up and take potshots at something that they don't even clearly understand is unfair to the American people, because if it was understood, they would know that we are not buying grocery stores.

I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the citizens of the Eleventh District of Ohio, I am pleased to recognize the opening of the Terrence M. Ryan Agricultural Center on June 14, 2013. Congratulations to all of the partners for their vision and determination in making this wonderful facility a reality.

As a strong supporter of Cleveland Crops and its initiative to build an agricultural center in Cleveland, Ohio, I am pleased by the overwhelming community support and the relationships and partnerships that grew out of this project. The opening of the Terrence M. Ryan Agricultural Center speaks to the importance of reforming our local food system, and I am pleased to be a part of these efforts.

I congratulate Cleveland Crops and the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities on the success of the opening of the Terrence M. Ryan Agricultural Center and the positive impact it will have on our community.

I am proud to support the constituents of the Eleventh District of Ohio and am a vigorous supporter of our thriving urban agricultural community.

Thank you so very, very much for yielding. And I, as always, want to thank Congressmen Horsford and Jeffries for leading the Congressional Black Caucus hour.

Today's topic is critically important. The rapid rise of poverty and, particularly, the rapid growth of poverty in minority communities, is troubling. The latest Census Bureau numbers report that 15 percent of Americans live in poverty.

The poverty rate among African Americans is nearly double the national rate, 27 percent. And almost 1 in 4 African American children lives in poverty. I'm not sure how many children you come in contact with each day, but this statistic means that every fourth African American child you see lives a life of struggle. Food is scarce in their home. Their neighborhoods are riddled with crime. There is no guarantee that the lights and heat will be on when they come home from school each day.

As our economy sputters and more Americans slip below the poverty line, Federal anti-poverty programs are essential. Yet, over the last year, conservatives on and off the Hill have begun to spin a story of how anti-poverty programs have done nothing but foster a culture of dependency.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have used this narrative over and over again, giving them license to place social safety net programs on the chopping block. While the Republican budget retains tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, it places Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block.

House leadership will send a farm bill to the floor that reduces total spending by almost $40 billion over 10 years. And what's most troubling, more than half of the cuts come from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, otherwise known as food stamps. This bill alone would cut off nearly 2 million people from SNAP.

Making matters worse, anti-poverty programs around the country are reducing services because of sequester. Our communities cannot continue to face cut after cut, while Washington does little to create economic opportunity.

This week we will consider the Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs appropriations bill. I want to make sure we bring attention to the vast poverty plaguing veterans. As our troops come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States must prepare for their return. Many of our vets will need help from local safety net programs; but due to budget cuts, help is not guaranteed. As the statistics show, homelessness will be the reality of thousands of returning veterans.

This Congress cannot continue to ignore poverty in our communities. This Congress cannot ignore the fact that nearly 1\1/2\ million veterans live in poverty. America cannot be complicit in allowing families, children, and our Nation's veterans to struggle without assistance, not now, not ever.

The CBC will continue to advocate for policies that eliminate persistent poverty. We will rightfully defend critically important antipoverty programs. Our goal is to create opportunities for all Americans--opportunities that help improve lives and move people closer to achieving their version of the American Dream.

Mr. Speaker, our economy is improving, the national debt is going down faster than expected, and yet sequestration is still in effect and causing real and long-reaching harm in our communities. Republicans appear prepared to sacrifice our country's economic growth, sacrifice job creation, in favor of sequester cuts.

What happened to the Members on the other side all the last term asking, ``Where are the jobs?'' Now I'm asking, Where are the jobs?

Mr. Speaker, the sequester is slashing jobs, cutting education, and starving research. All this happens while my counterparts feel comfortable to stand idly by instead of appointing conferees to work out the differences between the House and Senate budget proposals and coming up with a plan that grows the economy and responsibly reduces the deficit.

The American people need Congress to act in a big way, and we need to act now.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank my colleagues, Congressman Jeffries and Congressman Horsford, for once again leading the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order. I cannot think of a more timely topic for today's Special Order as once again our youth are facing a student loan crisis.

Mr. Speaker, George Washington Carver once said, ``Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.'' Nowhere is this truer in this country, where we know for a fact that access to a quality education is the ladder to a better and richer tomorrow. Providing access to education is in America's very DNA, and it goes back to when two of our Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, established State universities.

This tradition continued in 1862 when President Lincoln signed the Morrill Land-Grant Acts to create land-grant colleges, an effort to promote higher education for working class citizens. Nearly 100 years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965, and thus the Pell Grant was created.

Today, an affordable college education is more important than ever in this country's history. In the next decade, 63 percent of all jobs will require at least some post-secondary education. And in order to compete for jobs in the future, our children must be equipped and not saddled with debt. Congress has a duty to ensure that Federal education assistance is both affordable and accessible.

On July 1, if Congress does not act, rates for college students taking out subsidized Department of Education loans are scheduled to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, this week the House, the place affectionately referred to as the ``people's House''--believe it or not--will consider a bill that would do more harm than good.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle will bring the so-called

Smarter Solutions for Students Act to the House floor. This bill is not a smart solution. In fact, it is not a solution at all. It actually makes it more expensive for students and parents than if Congress did nothing and let the interest rates just double.

To be clear, I want to ensure Americans know exactly what Republicans are proposing. The Congressional Budget Office found that this bill will cost students and parents $3.7 billion in additional student loan interest, and those charges will be over a 10-year period. So why propose such a bill? Why would Members of Congress in the people's House claim this is a good bill? Believe it or not, this legislation is an attempt to move closer to a balanced budget on the backs of college students. The true purpose of this legislation is to squeeze out revenue to pay down the Federal debt.

Yes, we will vote on a bill this week that seeks to decrease the Federal deficit on the backs of a generation already being called ``generation jobless.'' Yet, still no jobs bill. This legislation totally ignores the fact that student loan delinquency and default rates are already exceedingly high. Due to the recession and unemployment, nearly 20 percent of student loan borrowers were 90 days or more behind in payments at the end of 2012. So why increase it more?

In addition to the student loan crisis, I have to mention the Department of Education PLUS loan crisis, another crisis that is breathing down the backs of college students. Over the last few years, thousands of students have been sent home from college because their PLUS loans were denied after the student year commenced. HBCUs have lost millions in revenue.

The CBC recently met with Secretary Duncan and requested that the Department reverse course to stop the bleeding. As a result, the Department is sending out notifications in an effort to get students back into school, and hearings will be held around the country this month and next month.

College presidents, students, and parents must speak up and demand a change. The CBC will continue to push back and speak out as the future of student loan programs are debated. We will not stand by and watch Congress or the Department of Education hurt our students' chances at a better tomorrow. Not on our watch.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank my colleagues, both Congressmen Horsford and Jeffries, again for leading the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour. This hour is to discuss health disparities. You both have done an incredible job carrying the message of the CBC on the House floor each week, and I thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the health disparities between African Americans and other racial and ethnic populations are striking. When compared with the country as a whole, African Americans are three times more likely to die from diabetes. We account for about 44 percent of all new HIV infections among adults and adolescents, despite representing only about 13 percent of the U.S. population. African-American men can expect to live approximately 6 years less than White men. African- American women are twice as likely to give birth to low-weight infants, and our children are almost five times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma.

Though health disparities manifest in life-threatening ways, such as lower life expectancy and higher disease rates, the root cause is poverty. Where you live and how you live have a direct effect on how long and how well you live. Until we address the persistent poverty that plagues our communities, the debilitating cost of health disparities will continue to rise.

According to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, health disparities collectively cost minorities more than $1.24 trillion from 2003 to 2006. We must create and maintain a path toward greater health equity in America. We can't afford the status quo.

Thankfully, a path to equity has begun to take shape, a path that reduces the rates of illness and premature death and increases access to quality health care. The solution was and is the Affordable Care Act--or, as it is known to many, ObamaCare. We are proud to call it ObamaCare because it proves that the President and many in this Congress really do care about the health of Americans.

ObamaCare has already begun to lower the cost of health care by providing financial relief for consumers, increasing insurance options, investing in preventative and primary care, and placing a focus on minority health. The ACA helps decrease health disparities by collecting data, strengthening cultural training, and increasing diversity in the health care field. These investments are critically important and will strengthen America's financial future.

Some on the other side of the aisle believe the status quo is sufficient, that health disparities are not real. Some don't believe that the impact of disparities on families is devastating. That's why a number of Republicans are again calling for the repeal of the ACA. How many times do we have to play this game?

The CBC will continue to stand up, speak out and defend the Affordable Care Act against all of those who oppose it for political or ideological reasons. Attaining health equity is to the benefit of all Americans, and is not only consistent with the American promise of opportunity, but it is critical to the future of Black America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1120. I was raised in a union family. Labor, in fact, is the backbone of the middle class of America. This legislation is just another example of the Republican's assault on workers' rights.

H.R. 1120 effectively shuts down the National Labor Relations Board, strips away its enforcement powers, and leaves workers without any recourse to address employee intimidation, inadequate safety standards, and other unfair practices.

Throughout its history, 20 members have been recess-appointed to the NLRB, including 12 Republicans. In fact, every President since Ronald Reagan has appointed a member to the board through a recess appointments clause. Why should President Obama be treated any differently?

The bill is neither fair, nor is it just. I urge my colleagues to oppose this measure.

Mr. Chair, every year since 1981, the Congressional Black Caucus has offered a fair and balanced alternative budget.

The CBC Alternative Budget for fiscal year 2014 is a ``Pro-Growth, Pro-People, Pro-America'' budget. It acknowledges that only by investing in people can you build a bridge to a better America.

America doesn't need an austerity budget. Americans need and deserve more.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the CBC ``Pro-Growth, Pro- People, Pro-America'' Budget Alternative.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I want to thank my colleagues, Congressmen Jeffries and Horsford, for again leading the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour on an issue of great importance--the Federal budget.

Mr. Speaker, every year since 1981, the Congressional Black Caucus has produced an alternative budget to both Republican and Democratic budgets. The CBC budget has consistently provided a fair and balanced approach to managing the Federal Government's finances. The CBC alternative budget for fiscal year 2014 is a pro-growth, pro-people, and pro-America budget. It acknowledges that only by investing in Americans, in the American people, can you build a bridge to a better America.

This message could not be more important as our Nation still struggles to recover from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Compounding this problem is growing income inequality. America needs congressional leadership to pull us out of our economic malaise, address our fiscal issues, and ensure that our recovery is felt in every community. Unfortunately, this is where the House Republican budget fails.

Chairman Ryan's budget attempts to lead America towards financial success by placing America's most vulnerable on the path to financial ruin. The Republican budget seeks to cut education funding, including money for Pell Grants. It slashes economic assistance to programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which could mean 8 to 9 million eligible households without benefits. It dismantles the Affordable Care Act. This means reducing access to affordable health care for the 27 million uninsured Americans who are projected to gain coverage under the law. This is neither the vision that the American people want, nor is it what the American people need.

Now, let's contrast the CBC budget and how it creates opportunity instead of snatching it away.

The CBC budget includes $230 billion in the maintenance and repair for public transit, highways, airports, ports, railroads, bridges, and other infrastructure investments; $13 billion for workforce developments programs, such as the Workforce Investment Act Adult Program, the Dislocated Worker Program, Job Corps and other employment and training services.

It includes $50 billion to provide relief to States to preserve teacher and first responder jobs, and $50 billion for neighborhood stabilization programs that provide affordable housing development, infrastructure improvements and other community development needs.

The CBC budget accomplishes all this while raising $1 trillion in new revenue to avoid sequestration. The economic recession has damaged our communities. Trillions of dollars in wealth were lost. Poverty rates for African Americans and Latinos soared to 26 and 23 percent, respectively. America doesn't need an austerity budget. It doesn't need a budget that looks at the struggling American people and says ``you're on your own.'' Americans need and deserve more.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the CBC fiscal year 2014 budget.

Yes.

Absolutely. I thank the gentlelady.

What we have done in this budget, not only did we put in $13 billion for workforce training, for Job Corps, for dislocated workers, retraining, segment training, but, in total, we have almost $500 billion worth of job creation built into our budget, more than any budget--more than any budget--whether it be the Democratic Caucus, the White House budget, or the Republican budget. We have doubled down on jobs in the CBC budget.

Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, March 3, 2013, the women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and other women's organizations led the reenactment of the historic Women's Suffrage march down Pennsylvania Avenue. In March 1913, Delta Sigma Theta's 22 founders engaged in their first public act by joining other women in a ``spirit of protest against the political organization of society from which women were excluded.''

While we have achieved a great deal in the last 100 years, it is quite evident that our journey is not complete. Women still deserve equal pay for equal work. Women deserve to control their own reproductive rights.

We still have to fight for the rights of all Americans to participate in the electoral process. The struggle continues.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. And I certainly do want to thank Congressman Jeffries for once again leading the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour on another timely and important topic: the impact of sequestration.

Mr. Speaker, here we are. It is March 4, and the Congress and the administration are still mired in political gridlock with no resolution on how to avoid the across-the-board cuts, destructive as they may be, and untargeted sequestration cuts. How irresponsible.

Many communities around the country are still reeling from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Let us not forget that the national black unemployment rate remains in double digits at 13.8 percent, far higher than the national rate. Now these communities can only watch as the sequester threatens to roll back the modest gains of the last few years.

The Office of Management and Budget estimates that title I education funds could be eliminated for more than 2,700 schools. This cut alone will have an impact on nearly 1.2 million disadvantaged students. In my home State of Ohio, the public schools are preparing for the loss of $25.1 million in funding for primary and secondary education. You tell me, Mr. Speaker, what have children done to deserve this impact of sequestration?

The sequester will impact every neighborhood and every household. No matter your race or your age, the sequester will have an impact on your life.

What does the sequester mean for our economy? What does it mean for our neighborhoods? What does it mean for your household? It means cuts to education. The jobs of 10,000 teachers are now at risk. It means cuts to small business. Small business loan guarantees will be reduced by up to $540 million. It means cuts to food safety. There will be roughly 2,100 fewer food inspectors. It means compromising workplace safety. Workers will be less safe due to about 1,200 less safety inspections. It means cuts to mental health funding. Up to 373,000 mentally ill adults and emotionally disturbed children will go untreated.

The American people expect and deserve more. While Congress debates the policies of deficit reduction, our struggling communities must cope with the consequences of our inaction. While politicians argue over tax cuts, our cities and towns--rural and urban--become less secure. Our children's futures become less secure. Our children are important.

We could talk all night about how and why we got here, but many of you at home, our constituents, only want to know how we're going to end the sequester, escape this fiscal limbo and set our Nation back on the right track.

The path to prosperity is built on compromise. As long as House Republicans insist on the Grover Norquist cut-only approach to budgetary health, Congress will not move forward. Simply put: A cut- only plan will not work. A true path forward will be a compromise built upon raising revenues and targeted cuts.

Just last week, this caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, delivered a plan to House leadership on how to responsibly replace the sequester. The CBC budget replaces the sequester with commonsense cuts and revenue options that don't make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Mr. Speaker, this constant cycle of fiscal calamities and cliffs is bad for the Nation. It's bad for our economy, and it is bad for our people. We were sent to Congress to move America forward. Time has run out for games. The

sequester is not a game. It means real cuts that will affect the lives of real people.

Again, I thank the gentleman.

Thank you so very much. And thank you, as well as Mr. Jeffries, for anchoring these CBC hours. It is wonderful to have new Members come to the House floor and do the work that we've been doing for so long. I am so proud of them and appreciative of the work they do, so thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to send a clear message to those who would seek to undermine our constitutional right to vote: You will not win. The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. This is not the first time section 5 of the Voting Rights Act has been challenged, and there is a very good chance that it will not be the last.

The Congressional Black Caucus and many others, even a number of Members from the other side of the aisle, have continually reauthorized and worked to protect section 5. In a matter of days, the Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of section 5. If the Supreme Court does not ultimately decide to protect the uninhibited right to vote for all voters, no matter their race, the Court will not and must not have the last word on this matter.

The 15th Amendment provides that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of race, color, or previous servitude. Despite the passage of the 15th Amendment and ratification by the States, Congress has been forced to act in order to protect African American voters from violence and intimidation.

Prior to the Voting Rights Act, the courts' attempts to protect voters proved inadequate. In 1965, at the height of the civil rights movement, when vicious dogs and poll taxes were used to block the ballot, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. This law was necessary then, and the last two Federal elections have shown, without a shadow of a doubt, that section 5 remains essential today.

The right to vote is among the most important rights we enjoy as Americans. Because of its importance, because of the power behind the vote, it is the one right most often compromised; and for the same reasons, it is a right that we must do everything in our power to protect.

Martin Luther King, Jr., once said:

So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the

right to vote, I do not possess myself.

As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, we must remember the words of Dr. King and the importance of section 5.

Since 1982, approximately 2,400 discriminatory voting changes have been successfully blocked by the section 5 preclearance process. After the 2010 midterm elections, 8 of 11 States that were a part of the former confederacy passed new voting restrictions. These laws require government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot, proof of citizenship to register to vote, many cut back on early voting, and several disenfranchise ex-offenders. These laws are specifically designed to make it more difficult for minorities and other traditionally marginalized eligible voters to participate in the political process.

The recent assault on voters was not restricted to the States with a history of voting discrimination. In my home State of Ohio, and in many other States and jurisdictions not covered by section 5, there were attempts to pass restrictive laws. Leading up to the 2012 election, 22 laws and 2 executive actions restricting voting rights were passed in 17 States, and 176 restrictive bills were filed in 41 States.

The Federal Government should be doubling down on the Voting Rights Act by expanding and strengthening Federal protections. The long lines in Florida and the voting scams in Arizona were no coincidence. Section 5 is as necessary today is it was on the date of its inception in 1965 and should include more States and jurisdictions.

I thank you so very much. It is indeed a pleasure for me to be with these young gentlemen here today. I want to thank the gentleman from New York, and I look forward to his leadership as he anchors this hour for the 113th Congress, and I'm certain that other members of his class will be joining him on a regular basis.

Mr. Speaker, with that I thank him again. This is a lot of work, which you know, to come down to this floor every week and talk about issues of importance to our Nation. So I thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to lend my voice to those of my colleagues on the importance of comprehensive immigration reform.

The United States is a Nation of immigrants. Most Americans trace their lineage beyond our borders. The promise of the American Dream is what brings people from all corners of the world to this Nation. This country was founded on the principle that here lies the land of opportunity, and that anyone can achieve success through hard work.

But for the millions of undocumented immigrants of Hispanic, Asian, and African descent living in America today, the American Dream is just a promise, a promise they hope their children may one day realize.

Many immigrants are confronted with the same harsh realities that plague communities of color every day, namely, racial profiling based on unreasonable suspicion, systematic criminalization in order to fill private prisons, economic injustice that holds many in the bondage of poverty--all examples of pitfalls that unfairly, yet intentionally, trap, uproot and destroy far too many individuals and families.

Children in immigrant families also continue to struggle. According to the Pew Research Center, there are an estimated 1 million unauthorized immigrants under the age of 18 in the United States, and as many as 4.5 million U.S.-born children whose parents are unauthorized. These children live in fear.

Every year, nearly 200,000 non-citizens, many with children who are U.S. citizens, are deported and torn away from their families.

As families are torn apart, children are forced to choose between separation from their parent or leaving the only place they've ever called home.

How does America end the culture of fear among immigrant communities and help preserve families? First, we must create a pathway to citizenship that encourages, not discourages, legalization. Second, we must address the issues of mass detention and unjust criminality of immigrant populations. Third, our laws and justice system must place a premium on keeping families together. By creating flexible and equitable immigration policies that prioritize the unification and stability of immigrant families, we strengthen the fabric that holds our communities together.

Lastly, as a former mayor, I would be remiss if I did not mention the important role our States and local governments will play in immigration reform. As undocumented immigrants come out of the shadows of society, our State and our local governments will need our support more than ever. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said:

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of

this period of social transition was not the strident clamor

of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good

people.

Today, we are in a period of social transition. As the ``conscience of the United States Congress,'' the CBC cannot and will not stand by in silence. When history is recounted, the record will reflect the stance that the CBC took in supporting comprehensive immigration reform--reform that not only includes individuals of Hispanic and Asian descent, but also thousands of immigrants from within the African diaspora, and reform that dignifies the struggles of the undocumented and reconnects broken family bonds.

I urge my colleagues to unite behind comprehensive immigration reform.