Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3005, which directs the Joint Committee on the Library to replace the bust of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol with a bust of civil rights legend and former Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall.

The legislation also directs the Joint Committee on the Library to remove statues of individuals who served voluntarily at any time as a member of the Armed Forces of the Confederate States of America or of the military of a State while the State was in open rebellion against the United States, and any individual who served as an official of the Government of the Confederate States of America or as an official of a State while the State was in open rebellion against the United States, is deserving of a place of honor in the Capitol of the United States.

Madam Speaker, it is long past time that Congress take this fitting and appropriate action.

Hallowed places in the Capitol should be reserved for persons recognized for their contributions to the defense, protection, and advancement of the American experiment in democracy--what President Lincoln called the `testing of the proposition' whether a nation conceived and dedicated to the principle of equality can long endure.

Simply put, Roger Brooke Taney does not meet this test; Thurgood Marshall easily exceeds it.

At a moment of crisis in challenge for our young nation, Chief Justice Roger Taney faced a critical decision and he chose poorly and to his everlasting shame.

The decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856), which he authored is perhaps the most offensive, pessimistic, and racist decision ever handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, far worse than the infamous decisions in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), and Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), and Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013).

Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri, who from 1833 to 1843, resided in Illinois (a free state) and in the Louisiana Territory, where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

After returning to Missouri, Dred Scott filed suit in Missouri court for his freedom, claiming that his residence in free territory made him a free man.

Dred Scott's master maintained that no ``negro'' or descendant of slaves could be a citizen in the sense of Article III of the Constitution.

In ruling for the slave master, Roger Taney wrote to his eternal shame: ``The [negroes] had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.''

According to Chief Justice Taney, black persons were not, and could not be made to be, citizens of the United States under the Constitution.

The decision in Dred Scott was a major factor leading to the Civil War because Chief Justice Taney's opinion also held, obiter dicta, that Congress lacked the power under the Constitution to prohibit slavery in territorial areas of the United States, which vitiated the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

Madam Speaker, to anyone who professes to doubt the existence of white supremacy or claims not to understand what it means, I would recommend they actually read Chief Justice Taney's opinion in Dred Scott; they will be disabused of any pretension that the danger of white supremacy is a figment of the imagination.

In contrast to Roger Taney, Thurgood Marshall represents everything that is good and decent and optimistic about our country.

Madam Speaker, in this nation's new birth of freedom that was prophesied by President Abraham Lincoln, Thurgood Marshall was perhaps the principal architect of equality, working through the judicial system to eradicate the legacy of slavery and destroy the segregation system of Jim Crow.

Before Thurgood Marshall ascended to the federal bench as a Circuit Judge in 1961 and later to the Supreme Court as the nation's first African American Associate Justice, he was Solicitor General of the United States and would argue 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 victories, more than any other individual in history.

For more than a half century, Thurgood Marshall championed the cause of justice and equality in America, fighting valiantly and tirelessly on behalf of African-Americans and others to secure their civil rights and liberties and the full measure of justice and equality for all.

At a time when African-Americans were treated as second-class citizens and the scourge of slavery was still rampant, Thurgood Marshall worked against overwhelming odds to ensure that the rights, interests and voices of African-Americans did not go unheard.

Thurgood Marshall is perhaps best known for the practice he pioneered with the legendary Charles Hamilton Houston of ``impact litigation,'' the strategy of bringing carefully selected cases to court to establish legal precedents of beneficially affecting thousands, and frequently millions, of persons beyond the immediate parties to the case.

Among the historic victories won by Thurgood Marshall and his lawyer colleagues at the NAACP were:

1. Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940), which established that confessions obtained as the result of police coercion are inadmissible at trial;

2. Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944), which outlawed the South's ``white primary'';

3. Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948), which ruled racially restrictive covenants and unconstitutional and legally enforceable;

4. Sweatt v. Painter 339 U.S. 629 (1950), and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 309 U.S. 637 (1950), which held that separate law and graduate schools are inherently unequal and thus constitutional;

5. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the landmark case overruling separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson; and

6. Browder v. Gayle, 352 U.S. 903 (1956), which outlawed the practice of racial segregation on buses and led to the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

As Chair for the Congressional Children's Caucus, I am especially concerned with fair access to quality education for today's youth and am personally grateful to Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP for its leadership in winning the greatest legal victory for civil rights in American history, the 1954 landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), in which the Supreme Court struck down de jure segregation in elementary schools.

NAACP General Counsel Thurgood Marshall, who would later become the first African American Solicitor General and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, forcefully argued and persuaded the Court to rule unanimously that in the field of public education, ``separate but equal'' was inherently unequal.

That decision gave hope to millions of Americans that their children might enjoy the full promise of America that had been denied their forebears for more than three centuries.

There is still a need for justice and equal treatment for African Americans and other vulnerable populations in our country, and thankfully, we still have leaders following in the footsteps of Thurgood Marshall as we make our way on the path to a more perfect union.

It is therefore fitting that the bust of the great Thurgood Marshall adorns the Old Supreme Court Chambers in the U.S. Capitol as a rebuke to Roger Taney and a symbol of the commitment of the Constitution and of American democracy that in this country all persons are equal before the law and entitled to equal justice.

Madam Speaker, Thurgood Marshall famously said: ``I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust . . . We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.''

The refusal to tolerate injustice is what led millions of persons of goodwill across the nation to take to the streets in peaceful protest to demand equal justice for all and an active, engaged commitment to making the promise of America real for all Americans.

Equality requires unity of purpose and unity requires reconciliation, which requires accountability which requires truth.

Thurgood Marshall recognized, as President Lincoln recognized, the truth is that slavery is America's Original Sin, a crime against nature and humanity so horrific and understood that the Almighty gave to both North and South this terrible war and may will it continue ``until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.''

And if that happened Lincoln told his countrymen that ``as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said `the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' ''

That debt remains to be paid, which is why African Americans have always peacefully petitioned the government for the redress of its grievances.

Madam Speaker, Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom while encouraging self-development and respect for all cultures.

But it must always remain a reminder to us all that liberty and freedom are precious birthrights of all Americans, which must be jealously guarded and preserved for future generations.

In 1852, Frederick Douglass famously asked: ``What to the slave is the 4th of July?''

In 2021, we can reply that it is the beginning of the American Promise that would be fulfilled and made real for all Americans, including the descendants of slaves, on June 19, 1865, `Juneteenth Day.'

The Bible teaches that ``To every thing there is a season,'' and to every generation there comes a day of reckoning for the original sin of American slavery.

That is why I have introduced H.R. 40, which establishes a national commission to examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.

Among other requirements, the commission shall identify (1) the role of federal and state governments in supporting the institution of slavery; (2) forms of discrimination in the public and private sectors against freed slaves and their descendants; and (3) lingering negative effects of slavery on living African-Americans and society.

``Official slavery ended with the Civil War and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. But unofficial slavery was continued with the new institution of share-crop farming, a criminal justice system that would press convicts into work once done by slaves, and labor policies that dictated income for work done based upon skin color.

And, of course, all of this was reinforced by the systematic disenfranchisement of black Americans, the ``discrete and insular minority'' excluded from ``those political processes ordinarily to be relied upon to protect'' them, to quote Chief Justice Hughes' famous Footnote 4 in United States v. Carolene Products, 304 U.S. 144 (1938).

The history of the United States is intertwined with the history of enslaved Africans in the Americas.

There is blood and there are tears, but there is also redemption and reconciliation.

But to get there, we must have the complete truth and lay our history bare.

It is the light that sheds the way to the more perfect union all Americans want.

Thurgood Marshall would want us to pass H.R. 40 and create the Commission it empowers as a necessary first step in that effort to get to truth and reconciliation about the `Original Sin of American Slavery' that is necessary to light the way to the beloved community we all seek.

Madam Speaker, I also support H.R. 3005 because it puts Congress squarely on record behind the principle that no individual who served voluntarily at any time as a member of the Armed Forces of the Confederate States of America or of the military of a State while the State was in open rebellion against the United States, and no individual who served as an official of the Government of the Confederate States of America or as an official of a State while the State was in open rebellion against the United States, is deserving of a place of honor in the Capitol of the United States.

I urge all Members to join me in voting for H.R. 3005, which replaces the bust of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, a symbol of the dark days of the nation's past, with a bust of Thurgood Marshall, the personification of our nation's belief in a bright and shining future.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank my friend who is managing on the other side.

Madam Speaker, I wanted to come just for a brief minute to clarify what I heard on this floor. There is not a self-serving mindset today. There is a serving of the American people, because the American people have cried out for the reasons why domestic terrorists attacked this place.

So I say that the Speaker worked bipartisan with Mr. Katko and Mr. Thompson and gave us an independent commission, but that was not accepted. So, today, we come because it is not our voices that are demanding it, it is the American people.

Madam Speaker, I just want to say that I was here for September 11, and it was the Democrats who had to push for the 9/11 Commission. But even on that day, there were no Republicans or Democrats. There were no Northerners or Southerners or West Coast or East Coast. We were not red State or blue State. We were all simply Americans. And that is where we find ourselves today.

Madam Speaker, I experienced at that time a gamut of emotions, as I did on January 6. Because of the Constitution, it is necessary that we move on this bill today.

Madam Speaker, as Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Homeland Security, and Terrorism, and a senior member of the Homeland Security, and Budget Committees, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 503, which establishes a Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the Capitol Complex Act and charged with investigating and reporting upon the facts and causes of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as well as the influencing factors that may have provoked the attack on our democracy.

Specifically, the Select Committee's mandate includes:

1. examining and evaluating evidence developed by relevant Federal, State, and local governments, in a manner that is respectful of ongoing investigations, regarding the facts and circumstances of the attack;

2. building upon other investigations regarding the attack and targeted violence and domestic terrorism related to such attack; and

3. reporting its findings, conclusions, and recommendations for corrective measures taken to prevent future acts of targeted violence and domestic terrorism and improves the security posture of the United States Capitol Complex in a manner that preserves the accessibility of the Capitol Complex for all Americans, and strengthen the security and resilience of nation and American democratic institutions against domestic terrorism.

H. Res. 503 establishes a 13-person committee appointed by the Speaker, with five members appointed after consultation with the House Republican Leader.

The Select Committee is authorized to issue subpoenas to secure information to carry out its investigation and is be required to issue a final report with findings regarding the facts and causes of the attack, along with recommendations to prevent future attacks on our democratic institutions .

Like September 11, 2001, we cannot and must not ever forget the existential threat faced by our democracy on January 6, 2021, when thousands of domestic terrorists inspired by the 45th President stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent, crazed, and desperate effort to disrupt the Joint Meeting of Congress prescribed by the Constitution to tally the votes of presidential electors and announce the results to the nation and the world.

Madam Speaker, the morning of September 11, 2001 is, and will always be, a day like no other.

It is a day all living Americans will remember because not since Pearl Harbor had there been such a dastardly and deadly attack on American soil.

My heart still grieves for those who perished on flights United Airlines 93, American Airlines 77, American Airlines 11, and United Airlines 175.

When the sun rose on the morning of September 11, none of us knew that it would end in an inferno in the magnificent World Trade Center Towers in New York City and the Pentagon and in the grassy fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Madam Speaker, as hard as it is to believe, out of a tragedy so overwhelming and horrific, something good and great emerged in the aftermath of September 11.

On that day there were no Republicans or Democrats; there were no Northerners or Southerners or West or East Coasters.

We were not Red State or Blue State; we were all simply Americans.

On that day, we were united in our shock and anger and sadness and in our resolve to defend our country and protect the freedoms that has made America the greatest country in the history of the world.

I experienced the same gamut of emotions on January 6: grief, hope, resolve, and fierce commitment to protect our country.

Madam Speaker, the assault on the U.S. Capitol by domestic terrorists and insurrectionists rightly takes its place as one of the darkest moments in our nation's history since the Civil War.

Madam Speaker, the January 6 insurrection caused tragic loss of life and many injuries, while leaving behind widespread physical damage to the Capitol Complex and emotional trauma for Members, Congressional employees, and the Capitol Police.

It bears repeating often that the Congress and the nation owe undying gratitude to the men and women who answered the call of constitutional duty and heroically won the day on that bloody and deadly afternoon.

That is why I introduced H. Res. 169, a resolution commending the officers of the United States Capitol Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC, and other law enforcement personnel for their selfless and heroic service in defense of American democracy in responding to the assault on the United States Capitol by domestic terrorists on January 6, 2021.

H. Res. 169 notes that the January 6, 2021 siege of the Capitol assault resulted in one of the worst days of injuries for law enforcement in the United States since the September 11,

2001, terrorist attacks but that the officers of the United States Capitol Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC, and other uniformed law enforcement officers stood their ground in defense of American democracy while being attacked metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants, and other weapons.

The resolution conveys the thanks and appreciation of a grateful nation to them for their selfless and heroic service, encourages all educational and media institutions throughout the United States to teach and celebrate the story of their heroism and patriotism; and calls upon all Americans to read, celebrate, and revere the Constitution of the United States, fidelity to which is the surest best means of forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessing of liberty to them and their posterity.

Madam Speaker, the domestic terrorists and seditionists who attacked the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 were not, as some of their ardent defenders and apologists across the aisle have stated falsely, on a ``normal tour visit''; nor was their effort to lay siege to the Capitol and disrupt the processes of government an act of persons who love their country.

And it is absurd to suggest that it was a celebration of the United States and what it stands for when the leading edge of terrorists desecrated the Capitol by offensively parading the treasonous Confederate flag through the building and when, because of their insurrection, several members of law enforcement made the supreme sacrifice and scores more were seriously injured.

Madam Speaker, I would like to take a few moments to explain why the intended purpose of the January 6 insurrection--to disrupt the Joint Meeting of Congress to tally the votes of presidential electors and announce the results to the nation and the world--was the greatest threat to the American Experiment since the Civil War when the proslavery forces would rather make war than let the nation survive and the pro-freedom forces would accept war rather than let the nation perish.

Madam Speaker, the Framers had first-hand experience with the types of abuses and usurpations committed by political leaders who ruled them but were not accountable to them and detailed many of those wrongs in the Declaration of Independence.

The Framers understood and declared to the world that democratic governors derived their powers from the knowing and voluntary consent of the governed as expressed in free, fair, and unfettered elections unmarred by the influence or sabotage of any foreign country or entity not a member of the political community.

The Framers understood that if elections are influenced by foreign actors or authoritarian forces within, then voters are reduced from the great role of citizens to mere subjects, and government for and by the people is a sham.

The most important feature of a democracy is that it is the voters who alone can confer the legitimate consent and authorization necessary to govern upon the governors who are then duty-bound to represent the voters' interests, and only their interests.

Madam Speaker, the fundamental democratic compact between the governed and the governors is that the latter's authority and continuance in office comes exclusively from the governed and allegiance is owed exclusively to the governed.

This agreement can only be reached through free and fair elections, a breach of which threatens the vitality and viability of the social contract upon which democratic self-rule of, by, and for the people depends.

Madam Speaker, President Lincoln called the United States the ``last best hope of man on earth'' and stated at Gettysburg the importance of finishing the work we are in to ensure that ``government of the people, for the people, by the people does not perish from the earth.''

By our actions in voting to establish and empower a Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the Capitol Complex, we are taking an indispensable step in ensuring the preservation of our democracy, which has been the envy of the world for than 240 years.

I urge all Members to join me in voting for H. Res. 503, establishing a Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the Capitol Complex Act.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is so important to the Nation and to Texas that I had to come and rename it: Repair, innovate, restore, inspire.

Thank you for the INVEST in America Act that looks at social equity, that realizes we cannot concrete our way to a better quality of life, that also invests in those issues of dams and bayous and roads and bridges, but at the same time recognizes the economic engine that climate change is, the economic engine that investment in workers is, and, as well, recognizes that we have a new day in America where transit is for everyone.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for giving us transit for America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Kansas for her leadership, and I want to take a moment to thank Mr. DeFazio for this transformative legislation that is really going to move America, not just in mobility, but in quality of life.

Mr. Speaker, I want to also take a moment to offer my sympathy to a family in my community, the Cummings family, whose mother was killed as she brought her son to the United States Naval Academy in the last 48 hours. I hope that we will pray for them at this time.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to take this moment to dedicate this amendment that Mr. Espaillat and myself introduced to bicyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and wheelchair users, and particularly to Jamail Harris, who was killed on a motorcycle in an intersection at Highway 288.

This amendment that I am offering in the name of others, such as Lesha White, Jesus Perez, David Leon Loya, is evidence of the dangers of mobility in the form of bikes and pedestrians in the city of Houston.

In the past 16 years, the Houston area has seen 2,000 deaths of bicyclists and pedestrians, an average of 100 a year, with the last 3 years seeing the rate increase to 150 a year, according to Federal statistics.

The amendment that I am offering is an amendment that deals specifically with the safety legislation that causes the Department of Transportation to work with local entities to decide where those dollars will go, where the crashes or the numbers of crashes or the incidences with pedestrians and bike riders and motorcycles are at their highest. Listen to the community.

This is in the name of those who have lost their lives, these families who have lost a life: one crashed in a school bus; one was a lady helping a wheelchair get across the street, and she stopped a car and a car ran into her and the wheelchair. I think it is extremely important in this particular amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to indicate that I thank Mr. DeFazio for the legislation that allows a new redoing of Scott Street in an earmark, a community assessment that we are able to utilize for Scott Street to make a difference in that area.

Mr. Speaker, I want to mention my next amendment that directs the EPA Administrator to establish and implement a program under which the Administrator may award grants to community water systems to carry out activities to educate and assist persons served by the community water system and adapting and responding to acts and natural hazards, including subzero temperatures.

Mr. Speaker, this has to do with the freeze that we had in Houston, and I am very grateful for this amendment because there were more than 100 people who died.

Mr. Speaker, my second amendment has to do with wastewater. A recent report suggested that wastewater resources in facilities in urban and rural areas were at their lowest. This forces a study to determine how to improve and to ensure that those kinds of resources for wastewater and sewage are equal in rural and urban areas as would be otherwise.

I am grateful for these amendments because they will change lives, and certainly, the bike amendment will allow us to be able to save lives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Invest in America Act (RCP 117-8 and RCP 117-9; H.R. 3684), and the Jackson Lee Amendments incorporated in the Chairman's En Bloc Amendment.

Let me thank Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member Graves of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for their hard work in crafting and shepherding the legislative package before us today.

I thank the staff of the Transportation Committee for working with me and my staff on the three Jackson Lee Amendments that are included in the En Bloc Amendment.

These amendments are intended to make a good bill better.

The first amendment I want to speak to you about is intended to make walking, biking, motorcycling, and other pedestrian travel safer by making changes to the new ``Safe Streets'' program already in the bill to allow local input in decisions by state Department of Transportation on projects intended to reduce fatalities of vulnerable road users.

This Jackson Lee-Espaillat Amendment gives local governments more control over where the funds for the new ``Safe Streets'' program are spent, by requiring state Departments of Transportation to consult with the local governments before carrying out these complete streets' projects.

The ``Safe Streets'' program sets aside safety funds to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on public roads, with a focus on vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, bicyclists, scooters users, and motorcyclist.

The amendment will support local governments by giving them a voice in the implementation of projects intended to address high crash areas where pedestrian fatalities occur.

The goal of this amendment is to make more efficient the learning curve of State Departments of Transportation on methods, strategies and policies that yield proven reductions in deaths.

We can and must do a better job of making the roads safer for everyone--including bike riders.

As the nation celebrates its first Juneteenth Independence Day, it was an added bonus for participants to take a bike ride from Galveston to Houston along routes once used by former slaves to travel from the island to their new lives in the city of Houston and beyond.

The 58-mile bike route is scenic and historic with lush green spaces, and eclectic neighborhoods--that are linked by trails, park land and roads.

This event is a welcomed recent addition to the 156-year history of Juneteenth celebrations in the Galveston Houston area, and this year's jubilation was more exuberant with the knowledge that the entire nation joined us in the festivities.

The bike ride is not a race, but a leisure activity that all members of the family can enjoy.

There are adequate rest breaks along the way to visit historic sites like a trailer exhibit of memorabilia about Marshall Walter ``Major'' Taylor who was born on November 26, 1878.

Taylor became a professional cyclist at 18 and won the sprint event at the 1899 world track championships at the age of 20 to become the first African American to achieve the level of cycling world champion.

Another rest stop is at the 1867 Settlement, which was the home of newly freed slaves who bought property to form a community that would later be well known for the cowboy skills of its residents.

A little-known fact is that some of the skills featured at Rodeos owe their invention or refinement to black cowboys--a term used to distinguish between whites and blacks.

Whites were called cow hands and blacks referred to as ``cow boys,'' which later became the term for everyone working with cattle regardless of race.

Some well-known rodeo contests skills owe a thanks to black cowboys like Bill Pickett (1870-1932), who invented the form of steer wrestling called ``bulldogging,'' and Jesse Stahl (c. 1879-1935), who was a bronco rider.

The pleasure of riding bikes has and continues to be an important source of recreation and exercise for millions of people who ride routinely or occasionally, which is evidenced by the growth in popularity of this biking event.

Unfortunately, biking is not always so carefree as this event held on Juneteenth weekend.

The reality for too many bicyclists is the dread and fear they sometimes experience while riding in residential, rural, or urban spaces.

In June 2019, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published its traffic fatality report which showed a one percent decrease in traffic fatalities and a four percent increase in pedestrian fatalities, but a whopping 10 percent increase in bicyclist fatalities.

On May 9, 2021, a hit-and-run driver who allegedly ran a red light slammed into a motorcycle, killing the rider.

Despite less traffic on the road in 2020 due to the pandemic and a 2 percent reduction in motorcycle crashes nationally, safety officials are alarmed by a 17 percent increase in Texas motorcycle fatalities in 2020 compared to 2019.

On average, a motorcyclist is killed in a crash on Texas roads every day.

Last year, 482 died, accounting for 12 percent of all traffic fatalities statewide.

In my city of Houston, just last month, a driver allegedly ran a red light and struck and killed a motorcyclist on Highway 288.

The incident happened along Holly Hall and Highway 288, the South Freeway.

Witnesses told police a pickup or SUV ran the light and struck a motorcyclist, who was heading westbound on Holly Hall.

The motorcyclist had a green light, police believe.

The suspect, who was believed to be in a white or light color vehicle, briefly stopped but then sped away.

The motorcyclist died at the scene.

On March 30, 2019, in the city of Houston, at the intersection of North Shepherd Drive and West 10th Street, located in the 18th Congressional District of Texas, Lesha White, 54, was driving with her daughters when she saw Jesus ``Jesse'' Perez struggling to cross the intersection in a wheelchair.

Ms. White pulled over and got out of her car to help Mr. Perez cross the street when another vehicle struck them, and they were both killed.

On March 7, 2019, 23-year-old David Leon Loya was killed in a collision with a school bus while riding his bicycle in The Heights area of Houston.

Police report that Mr. Loya was in the bike lane and tried to avoid the accident by sliding under the bus, but unfortunately, he was run over by the back axle.

This young man was greatly loved by his family and is missed by the people he helped through his volunteer work, and the bicyclist community.

I offer this amendment in remembrance of Lesha White, Jesus ``Jesse'' Perez, David Leon Loya, and all of the other pedestrians and bicyclists who have lost their lives in accidents with motor vehicles in urban areas.

In the past sixteen years, the Houston area has seen 2,000 deaths of bicyclists and pedestrians, at an average of 100 a year, with the last three years seeing the rate increase to 150 a year, according to federal statistics.

In 2017, the most recent year for which comprehensive statistics are available, according to the Texas Department of Transportation (``TDOT''), the numbers were no more encouraging.

According to TDOT, 1,409 Houston-area pedestrians were injured in roadways crashes:

1. 275 of them were injured seriously;

2. 146 pedestrians were killed in roadways crashes;

3. 639 bicyclists were injured in roadways crashes; and

4. 82 bicyclists were injured seriously.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has called the number of deaths a'' public health crisis.''

The problem is no more encouraging on the national level, as Texas ranks third nationwide in bicycle deaths, behind California and Florida.

Nationwide, the number of fatal bicyclist accidents is rising and are also amounting to a greater percentage of total traffic fatalities.

Cities are uniquely susceptible to this problem, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 70 percent of bicycle fatalities occur in cities.

The Jackson Lee Amendment amends Section 12020 of the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2021, which is Division H of Rules Committee Print 117-9, and requires the EPA Administrator to initiate a study on the distribution of wastewater infrastructure funds to rural communities, economically disadvantaged communities, and Tribal communities during the 20 fiscal years preceding the date of enactment of this Act.

Among other things, the legislation requires that in conducting this study, the EPA Administrator:

1. consult with other Federal agencies, State, local, and Tribal governments, owners and operators of publicly owned treatment works, and stakeholder organizations;

2. undertake at least one public meeting in a rural community, in an economically disadvantaged community, and in a Tribal community, to receive testimony from the public;

3. examine whether the distribution of wastewater infrastructure funds during the period covered by the study has been in accordance with any applicable executive order or policy regarding environmental justice; and

4. examine how wastewater infrastructure funds have been distributed with respect to the identified needs of rural communities, economically disadvantaged communities, and Tribal communities, and whether such funds have addressed the needs of such communities equitably.

These are all laudable requirements; the Jackson Lee Amendment goes a step further and adds a fifth requirement that the EPA Administrator endeavor to calculate, measure,

and ``document the harm and injury caused by any identified inequities in the distribution of wastewater infrastructure funds with respect to the identified needs of rural communities, economically disadvantaged communities, and Tribal communities.''

The events of the past year have laid bare for the nation and world the systemic inequalities that unfortunately still exist in too many sectors of American life, including the health care, education, and criminal justice systems, housing patterns, and environmental quality of life.

The path-breaking 2019 study and report, ``Flushed and Forgotten: Sanitation and Wastewater in the Rural United States,'' conducted by the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise (ACRE), the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University concluded:

Sanitation is essential to everyday functions such as urination and defecation. Without a system in place to dispose of wastewater, individuals experience environmental contamination and health risks. Common risks include infections such as hookworm and other tropical diseases that were thought to be eradicated in the United States. These can have serious impacts on health, including development, pregnancy, and reproductive capacity. The perpetual appearance of wastewater in and around homes that occur when systems are absent or failing, takes a significant toll on mental health and the ability of individuals to live with dignity.

These communities do not have the luxury to flush and forget as raw sewage backs up into their yards and homes.

A lack of adequate sanitation can also perpetuate cycles of poverty and marginalization through negative impacts on health, education, and employment.

The burden for improving sanitation systems currently rests primarily on homeowners, who receive little government support.

Securing sanitation can be costly, especially for individuals who lack access to central wastewater systems.

Further, in some jurisdictions, failure to comply with sanitation 1 regulations leads to fines and criminal records, in effect criminalizing poverty.

This criminalization compounds the challenges already faced by individuals living in poverty.

Jackson Lee Amendment No. 15 requires the EPA Administrator to document identified results from disparate treatment in the distribution of wastewater funding to rural areas and communities of color.

We cannot begin to pursue and implement effective measures to ameliorate the damage caused until we know the extent of the injury, which is the purpose of the Jackson Lee Amendment.

My next amendment to RCP 117-9 directs the EPA Administrator to establish and implement a program under which the Administrator may award grants to community water systems to carry out activities to educate and assist persons served by the community water system in adapting and responding to malevolent acts and natural hazards, including sub-zero temperatures, that disrupt the provision of safe drinking water or significantly affect the public health or the safety or supply of drinking water provided to communities and individuals.

This past February, a historic cold outbreak led in the coldest air in decades across the United States, reaching all the way to the Rio Grande and bringing record amounts of snow and ice to the Deep South.

Over 154 million people, or roughly half the population of the country, were in subfreezing temperatures.

1. Dallas dipped to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest temperature the city has seen since 1989.

2. Oklahoma City hit 6 degrees below zero, the city's coldest temperature since 1989, and the wind chill reached a record 29 degrees below zero.

3. Austin and San Antonio in Texas both had single-digit temperatures for the first time since 1989.

4. Corpus Christi, Texas, dipped down to 17 degrees, the coldest it's been there since 1989.

5. Rapid City, South Dakota has had five consecutive nights of 12 degrees below zero. The last time this happened was in 1943.

6. The wind chill dipped to 32 degrees below zero in Kansas City, Missouri, the lowest since 1989.

7. Monday's high of 3 degrees below zero and a low of 21 degrees below zero was the coldest day in Omaha, Nebraska, in 25 years.

Texas power providers, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and Entergy Corporation, did not provide the needed weatherization of power generating and delivery equipment after being warned in 2011 after a cold snap that the system would fail if these steps where not taken.

What made matters worse was the Texas electric grid was not connected to neighboring electric grids so that it could take power from other electricity generating sources onto the Texas grid to heat homes or businesses.

Today, too many families mourn the loss of a loved one, including the mother of 11-year-old Cristian Pineda, after he and his family were trapped in their mobile home for two days without electricity.

Nearly 8.8 million people--approximately a third of the state's total population--still experienced water disruptions on Sunday evening, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The disruptions impacted more than 1,200 public water systems in 199 counties in the state, and about 147 public water systems serving ``just under'' 120,000 people were nonoperational.

Active duty troops from Fort Hood, Texas, helped to provide clean water to local inmates at jails in several towns in Texas that were struggling to restore water supplies in the wake of the extremely cold weather, and the Texas Agriculture Commissioner announced that grocery stores were unable to get shipments of some products, and severe weather conditions had created a ``food supply chain problem like we've never seen before, even with Covid-19.''

No one was prepared for five days of subfreezing temperatures, ice and snow-covered roads, and a failed energy grid throughout the state of Texas.

That is why Jackson Lee Amendment No. 18 is necessary; to ensure that should we experience another once-in-a-century ice storm like we did earlier this year, that Americans will be prepared to ride it out without unnecessary loss of life and minimal economic and physical damage.

I thank the Rules Committee for making the Jackson Lee Amendments in order and Chairman DeFazio for including them in the Chair's En Bloc Amendment, and I urge all Members to vote for the Amendment and the underlying legislation, the Invest in America Act of 2021.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 391, the ``Global Health Security Act,'' important legislation that reaffirms and strengthens the United States' strategic approach to global health security.

This bill directs the President to create the Global Health Security Agenda Interagency Review Council to be overseen by the National Security Advisor, elevating United States' global health security to a national security interest.

It also establishes the permanent position of the United States Coordinator for Global Health Security who will be responsible for the interagency process for responding to global health security emergencies.

Additionally, H.R. 391 creates a multilateral Fund for Global Health Security and Pandemic Preparedness to support the Global Health Security Agenda and the 70 percent of the world's countries that are unprepared and unable to respond to dangerous public health threats.

Protecting our local and global community from global health threats is imperative as the United States has already exceeded 33 million cases of COVID-19 and over 600,000 deaths.

Almost 3 million of those cases were in Texas and Harris county has the largest number with around 403,000 cases to date.

My district in Houston has suffered the loss of almost 3,000 of its citizens to the pandemic of the over 6,500 fatalities in Harris county alone.

The United States plays a vital leadership role in the international health security domain and the COVID-19 pandemic epitomizes the urgency of global health security.

The Ebola and Zika epidemics in 2013 and 2015 respectively exposed vulnerabilities in the United States' global health strategy, highlighting the need for a designated official to coordinate interagency response to global health security emergencies.

Alongside almost 30 other nations, the United States started the Global Health Security Agenda to address significant global health emergencies and threats.

As such, it is incumbent upon Congress to codify the United States' commitment to addressing global infectious disease threats by requiring the development of a sustainable and comprehensive U.S. global health strategy strengthened by measurable goals and performance metrics.

I proudly support H.R. 391 and the advancement of global health security so we can protect our communities, including my constituents in Houston.

I thank my colleague, Congressman Connolly of Virginia, for championing this bill and persisting in his effort to strengthen the United States global health policy.

I urge all Members to join me in voting to pass H.R. 391, the Global Health Security Act of 2021.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to voice my support for H.R. 2471, the ``Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act,'' which modernizes the U.S. foreign assistance strategy to Haiti, and affirms our role as a champion of democracy and good neighbor in the Western Hemisphere.

This legislation, introduced by my colleague, the gentleman from New York, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, would promote transparency within Haitian humanitarian assistance programs, and place democratic values such as good governance, freedom of the press, and human rights at the forefront of our bilateral relationship with Haiti.

Since the catastrophic earthquake on January 12, 2010, which left 220,000 people dead, 300,000 injured, and 115,000 homes destroyed, the United States--in partnership with the international community--mounted an unprecedented humanitarian response.

The United States Government has disbursed more than $4,000,000,000 in recovery and development funding since the disaster struck in 2010.

In 2016, Hurricane Matthew caused widespread damage and flooding, leaving 1.4 million people in need of immediate assistance.

Prior to these catastrophes, Haiti registered among the lowest in socioeconomic indicators and had the second highest rate of income disparity in the world.

Concurrently, democratic backsliding in Haiti undercuts the shared commitment to democracy in our bilateral relationship and stymies our effort to ensure that humanitarian aid is reaching and improving the welfare of the Haitian people.

The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner and the Human Rights Service jointly found a 333 percent increase in human rights violations and abuses from July 2018 through December 2019.

On top of that, parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2019 never took place, and since January 2020, President Jovenel Moise has ruled by decree.

As an original co-sponsor of H.R. 3059, the ``Assessing Progress in Haiti, Act of 2013,'' I maintain an unshaking belief in the Haitian people's resilience, entrepreneurial spirit, and desire for a free and fair political system.

That is why I also staunchly opposed the former president's attempt to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians living in the United States.

In tandem with the U.S. Government, Haiti relies on remittances that its citizens receive from TPS beneficiaries in the United States.

The Haitian community in Texas exemplifies this reality.

As such, I am pleased that Secretary Mayorkas announced a new 18- month designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status.

Following Hurricane Matthew, I called upon Houstonians to do their part in alleviating the suffering of our neighbors in Haiti.

In partnership with local organizations, churches, and the diaspora community, we collected and donated clothing, pillows, nonperishable foods, and other items to help the Haitian people.

Now, I call upon this Congress to answer the call of help--to act in accordance with our long-standing record of supporting the Haitian people in recovering and building a future worthy of their aspirations.

The ``Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act'' is our response to this call for help.

H.R. 2471--a bicameral and bipartisan effort--urgently upgrades our U.S. foreign assistance strategy and strengthens human rights, promotes freedom of the press, and supports disaster resilience and reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

I commend my colleagues, particularly the gentleman from New York, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, for shining a light on this issue, and remaining firm in our commitment to the Haitian people.

Let us, with one voice, irrespective of party, come together and affirm our role as a bulwark of democracy in the world and good neighbor in the hemisphere.

I urge all Members to join me in voting for this long overdue but enormously beneficial legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 402, ``Urging the administration to facilitate assistance in response to the devastating impacts of COVID-19 in India,'' which advocates for direct aid to India as it continues to battle the devastating effects of COVID-19.

I thank my colleague, Congressman Sherman of California, for authoring this important legislation that will save the lives of many in India.

Testing results reveal that India is experiencing more than 340,000 new daily infections and more than 4,000 deaths a day, and many public health experts believe case rates are likely higher.

India has the biggest global vaccine manufacturing capacity and was a major exporter of the vaccine.

More than 70 low-income nations received vaccines made in India, with a total of more than 60 million doses leaving India.

Prior to its surge in COVID-19 cases, it exported tens of millions of doses before its own demand skyrocketed and led to a shortage in some states.

Given India's critical role in global vaccine supply chains, an increase in vaccine demand due to the surge of COVID-19 cases within India is of a global concern.

With more than 600 thousand deaths from COVID-19, we in the United States are no strangers to the devastating consequences of the pandemic.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Texas has seen a devastating 52,458 deaths due to COVID-19, 6,575 of those deaths occurred in Harris Country, portions of which are in my congressional district.

India responded to the spike in COVID-19 cases here in the United States by lifting its export ban on certain therapeutics.

With the help of widespread vaccination, the United States was then able to reduce the number of COVID-19 deaths to 4 percent of our peak today.

The Indian people, who have been instrumental in vaccine production worldwide, deserve the same relief.

In New Delhi alone, one individual dies of COVID-19 every 4 minutes.

Since COVID-19 vaccine distribution began in the United States on December 14, 2020, more than 323 million doses have been administered, fully vaccinating over 153 million people, that's 46.1 percent of the total U.S. population.

Now that the United States vaccine supply is secured, I encourage our government to show its support for India by passing this resolution.

This resolution calls on the Indian American community to continue their efforts to help quell the spread of the virus in India, they need the support of the United States government.

Texas is home to the second-largest Indian American community in the United States.

At least 82,575 of these individuals live in my district, located in the West of Houston.

Thus, it is in the interest of Harris County, of Texas, interest, and of the United States more broadly to aid India in stemming the spread of this virus.

I worked hard to halt the spread of COVID-19 in my own district, partnering with Houston hospitals, local public health agencies, local businesses, and international corporations to stop the spread of the virus in local communities.

But the pandemic will not end anywhere until it has ended everywhere, and as a global travel hub, the United States is particularly vulnerable to the continued spread.

As I work on legislation to aid and support communities in dire need across the globe, I support passage of this resolution today and ask that my colleagues do the same.

-Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in proud support of H.R. 2225, the ``National Science foundation for the Future Act,'' which authorizes appropriations for the National Science Foundation for the next five fiscal years.

As a former member of the House Science committee, I believe science and engineering academic research is an essential investment due to the ongoing cybersecurity, national security, and public wellbeing threats attacking the Nation.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports basic research that is a primary driver of the U.S. economy, enhances the nation's security, and advances knowledge to sustain global leadership.

Specifically, the NSF is the only federal agency whose mission includes support for fundamental science and engineering fields.

NSF funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering, providing grants and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, K-12 school

systems, businesses, informal science organizations, and other research organizations throughout the U.S.

Pursuant to the National Science Foundation for the Future Act, NSF will contract with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to assess the status and opportunities for Pre-K through 12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, including computer science, (STEM) education research.

The NSF contributions have specifically benefitted Texas institutions by previously investing $46,828,000 to STEM education and $356,731,000 in fundamental research.

The National Science Foundation for the Future Act will continue to impact Texas STEM education.

For example, money distributed through the National Science Foundation go to University of Houston STEM student researching at The University of Houston Division of Research Department.

In the past, the NSF funding helped researchers at Rice University develop a nanotechnology-based ``trap-and-zap'' approach to absorbing and deactivating antibiotic-resistant genes.

More importantly the money from the NSF is contributed to the Science and Technology Enhancement Program (STEP) at Texas Southern University to help increase the number of African-American and female graduates in all STEM fields.

H.R. 2225 carries out a national initiative to facilitate the development of networks and partnerships to broaden participation in STEM studies and careers of historically underrepresented groups like students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The funds allocated to STEM programs like Texas Southern University contribute to President Biden's plan to help build up and financially support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Research has found that HBCUs are vital to helping underrepresented students move to the top of the income ladder.

HBCUs are only three percent of four-year universities, and their graduates make up approximately 80 percent of Black judges, half of Black lawyers and doctors, and 25 percent of Black undergraduates earning STEM degrees.

President Biden wants us to invest in HBCU's by creating or expanding educational programs in high-demand fields (e.g., STEM, computer sciences, nursing, and allied health), with an additional $2 billion directed towards building a pipeline of skilled health care workers with graduate degrees.

Through the American Jobs Plan, President Biden wants to eliminate racial and gender inequities in research and development and science, technology, engineering, and math.

President Biden wants to invest $40 billion in upgrading research infrastructure in laboratories across the country, including brick-and- mortar facilities and computing capabilities and networks. These funds would be allocated across the federal R&D agencies, including at the Department of Energy.

Half of those funds will be reserved for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions, including the creation of a new national lab focused on climate that will be affiliated with an HBCU.

H.R. 2225 awards the NSF billions of dollars in the next five years to address significant societal challenges and sustain United States leadership in innovation by increasing investments in research, specifically for underrepresented populations, like HBCU students, in

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, I rise in strong support of S.J. Res. 13, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval to undo an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) final rule issued January 14, 2021 that threatens to harm working people seeking relief from discrimination and to impede the work of the EEOC.

The EEOC final rule made several changes to conciliation, the process by which the EEOC tries to settle a charge of workplace discrimination, all of which harm employees.

Instead of ensuring that discrimination charges are resolved fairly, the EEOC's final rule imposes several new obligations and disclosures that:

1. Significantly weight the conciliation process in favor of employers;

2. Delay justice and increase the likelihood of harm to working people;

3. Divert scarce EEOC staff time and resources away from investigating discrimination; and

4. Contravene controlling U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

The Senate passed S.J. Res. 13 on May 19, 2021, and by following suit, the House can ensure this harmful rule is rescinded and the status quo ante is restored with respect to the EEOC's procedures.

The EEOC must be able to conduct its work efficiently in order to be effective in its mission to prevent and remedy workplace discrimination.

This mission is even more critical in the middle of a global pandemic that continues to have severe economic repercussions for women, people of color, and other marginalized communities, including a heightened risk of job loss, health and safety hazards, and discrimination based on sex, race, age, and disability.

Madam Speaker, individuals who experience discrimination on the job already face significant hurdles to seeking redress, including retaliation, lack of information about their rights, and lack of access to legal assistance.

When an individual does file a charge of discrimination against their employer with the EEOC, the agency collects information and conducts an investigation.

If the EEOC finds ``reasonable cause'' to believe employment discrimination has occurred, the parties are invited to participate in the conciliation process, which seeks to settle or resolve the charges of discrimination informally and confidentially, in lieu of filing a lawsuit.

Title VII requires the EEOC to attempt resolution of charges informally before considering or proceeding with litigation, and the EEOC may only pursue litigation if conciliation has failed.

The final rule will only deepen the barriers working people face coming forward to report discrimination and obtain justice by requiring the EEOC to grant the employer access to details of the victim and witnesses' identity and allegations, escalating the risk of retaliation for workers.

Claims of retaliation made up more than half of all charges filed at the EEOC in FY 2020, and fear of retaliation prevents many victims of discrimination from coming forward and many witnesses from being forthright--something that may be especially true during an economic crisis.

The rule also requires the EEOC to disclose critical information concerning the EEOC's legal analysis of the case to employers, and employers only.

In other words, the EEOC would be required to automatically turn over its case files to employers whom the agency believes to have acted unlawfully, but not to the working people who are seeking a remedy for the discrimination they faced.

This practice would exacerbate resource and information inequities between the parties to the benefit of employers only.

The EEOC, whose mission is to prevent and remedy discrimination, should not, in its own procedural rules, disadvantage the very party seeking to remedy discrimination.

By imposing inflexible rules on the conciliation process, the EEOC final rule also flouts congressional intent and is inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent.

In its unanimous 2015 decision Mach Mining, LLC v. EEOC, 575 U.S.__, 135 S. Ct. 1645, No. 13-1019 (2015), the Supreme Court stated that ``every aspect of Title VII's conciliation provision smacks of flexibility,'' which allows the EEOC to tailor its approach to conciliation in the way most appropriate in each case.

Without flexibility, the EEOC will be forced to divert resources away from investigating and remedying workplace discrimination and put them toward satisfying the final rule's burdensome standards, resulting in increased delays at the expense of victims of discrimination.

By invoking the CRA and passing a resolution of disapproval, Congress could quickly restore the status quo with respect to the EEOC's conciliation procedures, minimizing the harm to workers and eliminating the need for the EEOC to expend its scarce resources either undertaking rulemaking processes to rescind the conciliation rule or implementing the onerous new procedures in the final rule, and defending the sufficiency of the new conciliation process in collateral litigation by employers.

In addition, application of the CRA to the final rule ensures that the EEOC would be prohibited from promulgating a ``substantially'' similar rule in the future that would hinder vigorous enforcement of federal workplace antidiscrimination laws.

For all of these reasons, I strongly support S.J. Res. 13, the CRA resolution of disapproval of the EEOC's final rule and urge all Members to join me in voting for its passage.

Mr. Speaker, the greatest wealth enhancer that I have seen in our immediate time in the United States Congress is the child tax credit, which should be made permanent. It will provide an opportunity for life and liberty and, yes, freedom for families in my community; hardworking mothers and fathers and children who look up into your eyes, some of them sometimes hungry.

It is important that this child tax credit be made permanent, and I stand here ready to move it as fast as possible. Thank you to our administration for what they are doing.

Now, I simply want to talk about justice in the courts, justice in a court system that sentences individuals, nonviolent individuals to years in prison to rot, even individuals who have done reimbursement or compensation for their offense. Courts have to be, yes, a coequal branch of government, but they have to have justice.

What about an individual that I have no stake in who happens to be an entertainer under a horrible guardianship, forced to take medications, forced not to have children?

I am on the Judiciary Committee and there is a lot to be done. Yes, it is a coequal branch of government, but there has to be real justice. When you go into a courthouse you deserve justice.

Mr. Speaker, and Chairman McGovern, I thank the Committee for today's markup of H.R. 1320/S. 475, Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, the companion to H.R. 1320, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which I introduced in the House and has over 166 members as sponsors.

Earlier this week the CBC; led by myself and Congressman Torres of New York, held a Special Order, on Juneteenth and so many of my CBC colleagues commemorated this historically significant day for all Americans, but especially African Americans.

Juneteenth is as significant to African Americans as July 4 is to all Americans because on that day, June 19, 155 years ago, General Gordon Granger, the Commanding Officer of the District of Texas, rode into Galveston, Texas and announced the freedom of the last American slaves; belatedly freeing 250,000 slaves in Texas nearly two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

When General Granger read these words of General Order No. 3 set off joyous celebrations of the freedmen and woman of Texas:

``The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with

a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all

slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights

and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and

the connection therefore existing between them becomes that

between employer and hired laborer.''

Juneteenth was first celebrated in the Texas state capital in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.

Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise, commemorating freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our great nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has become.

As the Nation prepares to celebrate July 4th, our national day of independence, it is a time to reflect on the accomplishments of our nation and its people.

I want to thank the Members of the House for their bipartisan support of this annual Juneteenth Resolution, which has 214 cosponsors, of which 202 are original sponsors.

General Granger's reading of General Order No. 3 ended chattel slavery, a form of perpetual servitude that held generations of Africans in bondage in the United States for two-hundred and forty- eight years and opened a new chapter in American history.

Recognizing the importance of this date, former slaves coined the word ``Juneteenth'' to mark the occasion with a celebrations the first of which occurred in the Texas state capital in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.

Juneteenth was and is a living symbol of freedom for people who did not have it.

Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise.

It commemorates freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our great Nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has become.

The celebration of Juneteenth followed the most devastating conflict in our country's history, in the aftermath of a civil war that pitted brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and threatened to tear the fabric of our union apart forever that America truly became the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ``Freedom is never free,'' and African American labor leader A. Phillip Randolph often said ``Freedom is never given. It is won.''

Truer words were never spoken.

We should all recognize the power and the ironic truth of those statements, and we

should pause to remember the enormous price paid by all Americans in our country's quest to realize its promise.

Juneteenth honors the end of the 400 years of suffering African Americans endured under slavery and celebrates the legacy of perseverance that has become the hallmark of the African American experience in the struggle for equality.

The poet Langston Hughes reminds us in his famous poem, ``Mother to Son,'' life in America for African Americans ``ain't been no crystal stair.''

The post-bellum period in America was marked by violence and terrorism against African Americans as they sought to make real the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Nowhere was the reign of terror to which they were subjected more horrific than the 1921 Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre, which occurred a century ago this past May 31 through June 1.

Tulsa's Greenwood District was known as ``Black Wall Street,'' and was the most prosperous African American community in the United States.

The Greenwood community with a population of over 10,000 Black people had stores that sold luxury items, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores, a hospital, a savings and loan bank, a post office, three hotels, jewelry and clothing stores, two movie theaters, a library, pool halls, a bus and cab service, a nationally recognized school system, six private airplanes, and two black newspapers.

But on May 31st of that year, the 35 city blocks of Greenwood went up in flames, at least 300 Black persons were murdered and more than 800 were injured; it is estimated that not less than 9,000 were left homeless and destitute.

The message of the Tulsa Race Massacre was clear to Black America: ``Stay in your place. Do not attempt to accumulate and bequeath wealth or own property. Remember your history in America is as chattel property.''

If they were still alive, the domestic terrorists of the mob in Greenwood would see their evil reenacted--and then followed by a similar attempt to cover it up and foster collective amnesia--a century later in the siege and desecration of the hallowed halls of the U.S. Capitol, the `Citadel of Democracy'.

It should not be overlooked that the source of the January 6 white mob's irrational anger, hatred, and violent reaction was that Black Americans voted in overwhelming numbers in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and other enclaves to oust the most pro-White supremacy President since the Civil War.

Some might ask ``Why dwell on the past? Let us forget unpleasant things and move on into the future.''

My answer is to quote the great southern writer William Faulkner: ``The past is never dead. It is not even the past.''

The hatreds, prejudices, resentments, and white supremacy that Black Americans witnessed and suffered in Greenwood a century ago are not dead; they are not even past.

So my message to the descendants of the survivors and victims of slavery, America's Original Sin, is to keep fighting for justice, to never be silent, to affirm the truth, and seek accountability.

In his famous Second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln spoke of the profound moral debt owed for ``all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil,'' and that the Civil War was the judgment of the Lord, which was ``true and righteous altogether.''

That debt remains to be paid, which is why African Americans have always peacefully petitioned the government for the redress of its grievances.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said at the 1963 March on Washington:

``In a sense, we have come to our Nation's capital to cash

a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the

magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of

Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which

every American was to fall heir.

``This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as

well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights

of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

``It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this

promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are

concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation,

America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which

has come back marked `insufficient funds.' But we refuse to

believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to

believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults

of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this

check--a check that will give us upon demand the riches of

freedom and the security of justice.''

In recent years, a number of National Juneteenth Organizations have arisen to take their place alongside older organizations--all with the mission to promote and cultivate knowledge and appreciation of African American history and culture.

Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom while encouraging self-development and respect for all cultures.

But it must always remain a reminder to us all that liberty and freedom are precious birthrights of all Americans, which must be jealously guarded and preserved for future generations.

I am pleased to see this important legislation before this Committee on the eve of it becoming law.

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, and the principal sponsor in the House of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, I rise in strong and enthusiastic support of S. 475, the Senate companion to the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act for my bill H.R. 1320 introduced on February 25, 2021, which establishes June 19 as a federal holiday.

Research by the Library of Congress looking back to the beginning of the Congress's existence as a legislative body could find no bill that sought to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, prior to the bill I introduced on June 18, 2020.

I have introduced the Juneteenth resolution annually since 2013.

In 2020, the resolution received 214 sponsors in the House of Representatives.

This surge in support let me know that the nation was ready for a new holiday and therefore I introduced H.R. 7232, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act which received 158 sponsors in the 116th Congress.

Senator Doug Jones and Senator Edward Markey contacted my office seeking to introduce a Senate companion.

Later Ed Markey's staff reached out to collaborate on a Senate version of my Juneteenth Holiday bill and ultimately introduced the Senate version of the bill, which followed the text of H.R. 1320.

I applaud the U.S. Senate for passing S. 475/1320, Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, companion legislation to H.R. 1320, which I introduced to make Juneteenth a federal holiday to commemorate the end of chattel slavery, America's Original Sin, and to celebrate the perseverance that has been the hallmark of the African American struggle for equality.

I thank Senator Markey of Massachusetts for contacting my office with his request to introduce the Senate companion to H.R. 1320 for this Congress, and to my senior senator, Senator John Cornyn of Texas for his steadfast support of the Juneteenth holiday over the years, and others who spearheaded this effort in the Senate, and Senate Majority Leader Schumer for his support and for using his legislative skills to ensure the bill was voted on and passed.

Madam Speaker, the process that has brought us to this day has been bipartisan, bicameral, cooperative, and constructive beginning with my collaboration in the 116th Congress with former Senator Doug Jones of Alabama and Senator Cornyn of Texas to coordinate the introduction and cultivate the necessary support for the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act.

That partnership has continued through the 117th Congress with the addition of Senator Markey of Massachusetts as the lead Democratic sponsor in the Senate.

The bipartisan H.R. 1320, the House version of S. 475/H.R. 1320, is sponsored by 166 Members from all regions of the country, including two of my Republican colleagues from Texas, Congressman Van Taylor and Congressman Randy Weber.

Madam Speaker, now it is time for the House of Representatives to act swiftly and bring to the floor, vote on, pass the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, and send it to the desk of President Biden for signature.

With the President's signature, the federal government will join 47 states in recognizing as a holiday Juneteenth, the day that has been celebrated by African Americans for 156 years and has been called rightly as `America's second Independence Day.'

Let me extend on behalf of all of us who have labored to pass this important legislation our deep appreciation to the House leadership, particularly Majority Leader Hoyer, for their support which paved the way for the House last year to pass by unanimous consent H. Res. 1001, the resolution I introduced recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day.

As I have said many times, Juneteenth is as significant to African Americans as July 4 is to all Americans because on that day, June 19, 155 years ago, General Gordon Granger, the Commanding Officer of the District of Texas, rode into Galveston, Texas and announced the freedom of the last American slaves; belatedly freeing 250,000 slaves in Texas nearly two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

When General Granger read these words of General Order No. 3 set off joyous celebrations of the freedmen and women of Texas:

``The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with

a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all

slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights

and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and

the connection therefore existing between them becomes that

between employer and hired laborer.''

Juneteenth thus made real to the last persons living under the system of chattel slavery, of human bondage, the prophetic words of President Abraham Lincoln delivered November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg `that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people,

by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.'

Juneteenth was first celebrated in the Texas state capital in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau and remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise, commemorating freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our great nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has become.

As the nation prepares to celebrate July 4th, our Nation's independence day, it is a time to reflect on the accomplishments of our nation and its people.

The celebration of Juneteenth followed the most devastating conflict in our country's history, in the aftermath of a civil war that pitted brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and threatened to tear the fabric of our union apart forever that America truly became the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Juneteenth honors the end of the 400 years of suffering African Americans endured under slavery and celebrates the perseverance that has been the hallmark of the African American experience in the struggle for equality.

But as the poet Langston Hughes reminds us in his famous poem, `Mother to Son,'' life in America for African Americans ``ain't been no crystal stair.'

The post-bellum period in America was marked by violence and terrorism against African Americans as they sought to make real the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

General Granger's reading of General Order No. 3 ended the remaining vestiges of the system of chattel slavery, a form of perpetual human bondage that held generations of Africans in captivity in the United States for two-hundred and forty-eight years and opened a new chapter in American history.

Recognizing the importance of this date, former slaves coined the word ``Juneteenth'' to celebrate the occasion, the first of which occurred in the Texas state capital in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.

Juneteenth was and is a living symbol of freedom for people who did not have it.

Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of America's freedom from slavery.

I commemorates freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and contributions made by courageous African Americans in the quest to make our more perfect.

The celebration of Juneteenth followed the most devastating conflict in our country's history, in the aftermath of a civil war that pitted brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and threatened to tear the fabric of our union apart forever that America truly became the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ``Freedom is never free,'' and African American labor leader A. Phillip Randolph often said ``Freedom is never given. It is won.''

Truer words were never spoken.

We should all recognize the power and the ironic truth of those statements, and we should pause to remember the enormous price paid by all Americans in our country's quest to realize its promise.

In recent years, a number of National Juneteenth Organizations have arisen to take their place alongside older organizations--all with the mission to promote and cultivate knowledge and appreciation of African American history and culture.

I am reminded that the first legislation introduced in Congress recognizing Juneteenth occurred a quarter century ago, in 1996, when H.J. Res. 195 was introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Rose Collins of Michigan and I have introduced similar legislation annually since the 109th Congress.

So it has been a long road we have travelled to get to this day, even longer that the 15-year journey taken to pass the bill making the Birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a national holiday.

Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom, and in so doing celebrates America's history and promise, while encouraging selfdevelopment and respect for all cultures.

But it must always remain a reminder to us all that liberty and freedom are precious birthrights of all Americans, which must be jealously guarded and preserved for future generations.

In conclusion, I wish to take a moment to salute two of the unsung heroes who helped bring us to this day: the late Texas State Representative Al Edwards and nonagenarian Opal Lee, known affectionately as the ``Grandmother of Juneteenth.''

In 1852, Frederick Douglass famously asked: ``What to the slave is the 4th of July?''

In 2021, we can reply that it is the beginning of the American Promise that would be fulfilled and made real for all Americans, including the descendants of slaves, on June 19, 1865, `Juneteenth Day.'

That is why we celebrate Juneteenth and that is why I urge all Members to join me in voting to pass H.R 1320/S. 475, the ``Juneteenth National Independence Day Act.''

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and the Democratic Task Force on Aging and Families, and as cosponsor, I rise in strong support of the bipartisan H.R. 2062, the ``Protecting Older Americans Against Discrimination Act of 2021,'' which restores the burden of proof standard for workers alleging age discrimination back to the pre-2009 standard--returning the burden back to the same standard used for alleged discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, and religion.

This important bill is supported by numerous key organizations, including AARP, Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, National Council on Aging, Justice in Aging, AAUW, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF), National Disability Institute, Easter Seals, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women's Law Center, National Education Association, AFSCME, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, and Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Mr. Speaker, prior to 2009, older workers alleging age discrimination in the workplace faced the same burden of proof as those who allege discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, or religion.

This burden of proof is called the ``mixed-motive'' standard, where the complaining party need only prove that age (or whatever type of discrimination is being alleged) was one of the motivating factors behind the employer's adverse action.

This situation changed dramatically in 2009, when in a 5-4 decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc., 557 U.S. 157 (2009), the Supreme Court erected a new and substantial legal barrier in the path of older workers--imposing a much higher burden of proof on workers alleging age discrimination.

This higher burden of proof requires the older worker alleging age discrimination to prove that age was the decisive and determinative cause for the employer's adverse action rather than just a motivating factor in the employer's action.

Mr. Speaker, this Supreme Court decision sent a terrible message to employers and the courts that some types of discrimination are not as wrong, or as unlawful, as other forms of discimination.

H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older Americans Against Discrimination Act of 2021, simply returns the burden of proof for workers alleging age discrimination back to where it was before the odious decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services.

In addition, since the Gross decision in 2009, some courts have extended the Gross's unreasonably difficult burden of proof to two other types of worker discrimination complaints: retaliation cases, in which an employer retaliates against a worker who challenges workplace discrimination; and disability discrimination cases.

As a result, in returning to the pre-Gross burden of proof standard, H.R. 2062 ensures that all victims of workplace discrimination face the same burden of proof--the ``mixed motive'' burden of proof that has historically

been used in worker discrimination cases--by amending not only the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), but also the anti- discrimination provision of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act.

Mr. Speaker, it should be noted that age discrimination continues to be a significant problem in the workplace.

Enforcement statistics from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) show complaints of age discrimination to be climbing.

In 2000, the EEOC received roughly 16,000 charges of age discrimination; in 2017, the EEOC received over 20,000 complaints-- accounting for 23 percent of all discrimination charges filed.

A 2013 AARP study found that more than 6 in 10 workers ages 45 to 74 said they have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace .

In this 2013 AARP study, nearly 20 percent of respondents said they were not hired for a job because of their age and nearly 10 percent said they were laid off or fired due to their age.

Age discrimination is a key reason it takes unemployed older workers nearly a full year, on average, to find another job.

And when they do land a new job, it is often for less money, which can have a crushing impact on older workers' long-term financial security and ability to live independently as they age.

Older workers are a valuable asset to their employers and the economy, yet more than half of older workers are forced out of a job before they intend to retire, and even if they find work again, 9 in 10 never match their prior earnings.

This is wrong; it is unfair and that is why I strongly support H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older Americans Against Discrimination Act of 2021, and urge all Members to join me in voting for its passage by a resounding and overwhelming margin.

Madam Speaker, as our country celebrates Pride Month this June, I rise as a Senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee to affirm a basic truth: that we are all equal.

Mr. Speaker, let me rise with a great deal of concern and, as well, righteousness and enthusiasm to support the Safe Sleep for Babies Act of 2021.

Our children are our most precious resource, and no one knows how to address parents who have had a child lose their life because of devices that were sold to them to comfort their babies. The Safe Sleep for Babies Act of 2021, in particular, is going to help to take those products off that heretofore have gone without discovery, without assessment, and without penalty. They are devices that are in cribs and bassinets that have not been assessed to cause death.

Babies have been losing their lives to frightened parents, shocked parents, caretakers, and grandparents. What a tragedy to lose that infant in the early part of their life through no fault of the caretaker, the parent, and, certainly, that baby.

This legislation, I hope, will find its way quickly through the United States Senate and as well find its way quickly to the President's desk.

As a member of the Judiciary Committee, we have, frighteningly, seen over the past weeks and months the loss of life of children through gun violence. We have a responsibility from the very birth of a child, from its time to come to be with its loving family, to find a way to protect and preserve its life. Babies, again, are enormously precious.

I think this legislation is long overdue. I ask my colleagues to support the Safe Sleep for Babies Act of 2021. I am glad to join the Energy and Commerce Committee and its original sponsor, Mr. Cardenas, to be able to, hopefully, move this bill as quickly as possible.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and the founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1314, the ``Stop Tip-Overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Children Act,'' or ``STURDY Act,'' which directs the Consumer Product Safety Commission to adopt a stronger, mandatory stability standard for clothing storage units within one year of enactment, following the streamlined rulemaking process that it has used for numerous children's products.

A tip-over can involve a piece of furniture, often a dresser or other type of clothing storage unit, falling onto a small child.

These dangerous episodes can lead to a trip to the emergency room, or even death.

A child is sent to the emergency room because of a tip-over incident every 60 minutes, and on average, 1 to 2 children die every month.

Children age 2 to 5 are at the highest risk--their motor abilities allow them to navigate the home by themselves and their intellectual development makes them curious about objects that might be out of reach.

In June 2016, IKEA recalled 29 million dressers and chests due to a tipover hazard;

at least 8 children died in tragic tip-over accidents and hundreds of children have been injured by IKEA furniture.

Mr. Speaker, relying upon a voluntary standard for dressers is not enough to protect our children from tip-overs.

The voluntary standard only tests whether a dresser or drawer will tip with 50 lbs. hanging from an open drawer.

This standard has not proven stringent enough to reduce tip-overs, and it also only applies to dressers over 27 inches.

Even as weak as it is, dressers do not have to meet this voluntary standard.

That is why the STURDY Act is needed; it will help prevent the deaths of children from tip-overs.

Specifically, the STURDY Act:

1. Mandates testing on all clothing units;

2. Requires testing to simulate the weights of children up to 72 months old;

3. Requires testing measures to account for scenarios involving carpeting, loaded drawers, and the dynamic force of a climbing child;

4. Mandates strong warning requirements; and

5. Requires the CPSC to issue the mandatory standard within 1 year of the STURDY Act's enactment.

I strongly support H.R. 1314, the Stop Tip-Overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth Act, and urge all Members to join me in voting for its passage.