Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the bipartisan Congressional International Religious Freedom Caucus, and the Helsinki Commission, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 183, a resolution that puts the House on record in its condemnation of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry as hateful expressions of intolerance that are inimical to the values and aspirations that define the people of the United States.

I support the resolution also because it also forcefully expresses the condemnation by this House of anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against racial, ethnic, religious, and other marginalized communities.

Mr. Speaker, nearly thirty years ago, as a young mother, I first visited Israel and the Holy Land, and I have returned many times since then to the region that gave birth to three of the world's great religions, civilizations, and cultures.

I have been a passionate supporter of the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Internship program, which for nearly thirty years has enabled inner- city high school students who live or study in the 18th Congressional District the opportunity to spend a summer in Israel.

As a member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, I have traveled abroad on numerous occasions to participate in parliamentary diplomacy in support of OSCE and other European efforts to combat anti-Semitism, including legislation calling for increased security for the Jewish community, funds for civil society coalitions to combat hate, and a U.S.-EU Joint Action Plan to combat prejudice and discrimination that would include a specific focus on anti-Semitism.

As a member of the Commission I supported the successful effort to include anti-Semitic incidents in the annual State Department International Religious Freedom Reports and Country Reports on Human Rights, and to create the position of the U.S. Special Envoy on Anti- Semitism within the State Department.

Mr. Speaker, nearly 74 years have passed since the end of World War II but for those who survived, and the descendants and relatives of those who perished, the Holocaust is not ancient history but a reminder of the evil that can be unleashed when humans give into their worst instincts and appetites.

The Holocaust is the worst example of man's inhumanity to man in human history and the magnitude of its destruction numbered more than 12 million deaths, including 6 million Jews and 1.5 million children.

A haunting quote in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum refers to the story of Cain and Abel: ``The Lord said, `What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground' '' (Genesis 4:11).

The Holocaust is a testament to the fragility of democracy and it forces us to confront uncomfortable questions such as the responsibilities of citizenship and the consequences of indifference and inaction, and the importance of education and awareness.

That is why we, all of us, must reject and resist prejudice and intolerance in any form.

Mr. Speaker, anti-Semitism is the name for the bigotry and form of racism endured for centuries by Jewish people for no other reason that simply because they are Jews.

In 2017 the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 37 percent increase in hate crimes against Jews or Jewish institutions and found that attacks against Jews or Jewish institutions made up 58.1 percent of all religious-based hate crimes.

And it was just last year, on October 27, 2018, the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on Jewish people in the history of the United States killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue building in Pittsburgh and reportedly stated that he ``wanted all Jews to die.''

There is an urgent need to ensure the safety and security of Jewish communities, including synagogues, schools, cemeteries, and other institutions.

Outside of the United States, Jews are the targets of anti-Semitic violence at even higher rates in many other countries.

Anti-Semitism includes scapegoating or blaming Jews as Jews when things go wrong; calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or extremist view of religion; or making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotyped allegations about Jews.

Another way that anti-Semitism manifests itself is when Jewish people are subject in the media and political campaigns to numerous other dangerous myths, including the canard that Jews control the United States Government or seek global, political, and financial domination, or that Jews are obsessed with money.

Mr. Speaker, we need to denounce and reject forcefully and continuously the scapegoating and targeting of Jews in the United States that has persisted for many years, including by the Ku Klux Klan, the America First Committee, and by modern neo-Nazis, whose membership decidedly is not comprised of ``very fine people.''

We also must have zero-tolerance for any suggestion or accusation that Jews are more loyal to Israel or to the Jewish community than to the United States.

Such accusations of dual allegiance constitutes anti-Semitism because they suggest that Jewish citizens cannot be patriotic Americans and trusted neighbors, when Jews have loyally served our Nation every day since its founding, whether in public or community life or military service.

Accusations of dual loyalty have an insidious and pernicious history and led, inter alia, to the discriminatory incarceration of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II on their basis of race and alleged dual loyalty; the Dreyfus affair, when Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French artillery captain, was falsely convicted of passing secrets to Germany based on his Jewish background; and the questioning of John F. Kennedy's fitness to serve as President of the United States because of his Catholic faith.

Following the terrorist attack of September 11, we saw a noticeable increase in suspicion of, and hostility to, Muslim-Americans in the United States, including Islamophobia, based on false accusations that they were supportive of, or associated with, terrorism.

Mr. Speaker, in 2017, mosques were bombed in Bloomington, Minnesota, and burned in Austin, Texas, Victoria, Texas, Bellevue, Washington, and Thonotosassa, Florida, and mass attacks on Muslim communities were planned against communities in Islamberg, New York, in 2019, Jacksonville, Florida, in 2017, and Garden City, Kansas, in 2016.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported that hate crimes against Muslims or Muslim institutions in the United States increased by over 99 percent between 2014 and 2016.

That is why I am so pleased that the resolution before us also strongly denounces anti-Muslim bigotry, which entails prejudicial attitudes towards Muslims and people who are perceived to be Muslim, including the irrational belief that Muslims are inherently violent, disloyal, and foreign; or sympathize with individuals who engage in violence or terror or support the oppression of women, Jews, and other vulnerable communities.

It is very important and significant that the resolution before us also condemns White supremacists in the United States who have and continue to exploit bigotry and weaponize hate for political gain, targeting traditionally persecuted peoples, including African Americans, Native Americans, and other people of color, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, immigrants, and others with verbal attacks, incitement, and violence.

Let us be very clear: these purveyors of hate will not win because as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., taught, persecution of any American is an assault on the rights and freedoms of all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, anti-Semitism is wrong and based on a lie--as are racism, Islamophobia, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia--but remember the words of William Cullen Bryant, who said:

Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;

The eternal years of God are hers;

But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,

And dies among his worshippers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H. Res. 183 and I encourage every person in the United States to confront and reject anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry and do all they can to ensure that the United States lives up to the transcendent principles of tolerance, religious freedom, and equal protection as embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the first and 14th amendments to the Constitution that have made it the envy and the hope of the world.

Mr. Speaker, every year, the vision of this Nation is crafted in the budget that is offered either by the President or the United States Congress.

As a member of the Budget Committee, I am delighted that our theme will be ``For the People.'' But today, sadly, I think it is important to note that the President offered a budget that disregarded the American people: $2.7 trillion in spending cuts coming from the very bases that make America the greatest country in the world; 12 percent cutting in education, your children's education; 12 percent cutting healthcare from the Department of Health and Human Services; 11 percent cutting from Interior, your parks and museums and monuments; 23 percent cutting from diplomacy, from the State Department and international health; 32 percent from the Environmental Protection Agency, the quality of water and air; and 22 percent to decrease mobility in this Nation, all these dollars coming from what we call domestic spending, with increased spending in other areas where individuals are not protected.

We will protect the people. The For the People budget will be designed by Democrats.

Madam Speaker, fifty-four years ago, in Selma, Alabama, hundreds of heroic souls risked their lives for freedom and to secure the right to vote for all Americans by their participation in marches for voting rights on ``Bloody Sunday,'' ``Turnaround Tuesday,'' or the final, completed march--from Selma to Montgomery.

Those ``foot soldiers'' of Selma, brave and determined men and women, boys and girls, persons of all races and creeds, loved their country so much that they were willing to risk their lives to make it better, to bring it even closer to its founding ideals.

The foot soldiers marched because they believed that all persons have dignity and the right to equal treatment under the law, and in the making of the laws, which is the fundamental essence of the right to vote.

On March 15, 1965, before a joint session of the Congress and the eyes of the nation, President Lyndon Johnson explained to the nation the significance of ``Bloody Sunday'':

I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of

democracy. . . .

At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single

place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for

freedom.

So it was at Lexington and Concord.

So it was a century ago at Appomattox.

So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.

The previous Sunday, March 7, 1965, more than 600 civil rights demonstrators, including our beloved colleague, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, were brutally attacked by state and local police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they marched from Selma to Montgomery in support of the right to vote.

``Bloody Sunday'' was a defining moment in American history because it crystallized for the nation the necessity of enacting a strong and effective federal law to protect the right to vote of every American.

No one who witnessed the violence and brutally suffered by the foot soldiers for justice who gathered at the Edmund Pettus Bridge will ever forget it; the images are deeply seared in the American memory and experience.

Madam Speaker, what is so moving, heroic, and awe-inspiring is that the foot soldiers of Selma faced their heavily armed adversaries fortified only by their love for their country and for each other and their audacious faith in a righteous cause.

The example set by the foot soldiers of Selma showed everyone, here in America and around the world, that there is no force on earth as powerful as an idea whose time has come.

These great but nameless persons won the Battle of Selma and helped redeem the greatest nation on earth.

But we should not forget that the victory came at great cost and that many good and dear persons lost their lives to win for others the right to vote.

Men like Jimmy Lee Jackson, who was shot by a Alabama state trooper as he tried to protect his mother and grandmother from being beaten for participating in a peaceful voting rights march in Marion, Alabama.

Women like Viola Liuzzo, a housewife and mother of five, who had journeyed to Selma from Detroit to join the protests after witnessing on television the events at Edmund Pettus Bridge on ``Bloody Sunday'' and who was shot and killed by Klansmen while driving back from a trip shuttling fellow voting rights marchers to the Montgomery airport.

Persons of faith, goodwill, and non-violence like the Reverend James Reeb of Boston, a minister from Boston who heeded the call of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to come to Selma and who succumbed to the head injuries he suffered at the hands of his white supremacists attackers on March 9, two days after ``Bloody Sunday.''

Madam Speaker, in the face of unspeakable hostility, violence, brutality, and hatred, the foot soldiers of Selma would not be deterred--would not be moved--would not be turned around.

They kept their eyes on the prize and held on.

And help came the very next week when President Johnson announced to the nation that he would send to Congress for immediate action a law designed to eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote by striking down ``restrictions to voting in all elections--Federal, State, and local--which have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote.''

On Adjust 6, 1965, that legislation--the Voting Rights Act of 1965-- was signed into law by President Johnson and for the next 48 years did more to expand our democracy and empower racial and language minorities than any act of government since the Emancipation Proclamation and adoption of the Civil War Amendments.

But our work is not done; the dreams of Dr. King and of all those who gave their lives in the struggle for justice are not behind us but still before us.

Madam Speaker, in the wake of the Supreme Court's 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which severely crippled the Voting Rights Act, we have seen many states across our nation move to enact legislation designed to limit the ability of women, the elderly, and racial and language minorities to exercise their right to vote.

To honor the memory of the foot soldiers of Selma, we must rededicate ourselves to a great task remaining before us--to repair the damage done to the Voting Rights Act by working to pass H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019, which I am proud to be one of the original co-sponsors.

As I have stated many times, the 1965 Voting Rights Act is no ordinary piece of legislation.

For millions of Americans, and for many in Congress, it is a sacred treasure, earned by the sweat and toil and tears and blood of ordinary Americans who showed the world it was possible to accomplish extraordinary things.

As we remember and honor the foot soldiers of Selma, let us resolve also to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965, so that it remains a lasting monument to their heroism and devotion to the country they loved.

Madam Speaker, this weekend I will have the pleasure and honor of paying tribute to Pastor Michael Pender on the 25th anniversary of his having assumed the pastorship of Fallbrook Church in Houston, Texas.

I include in the Record my remarks prepared for delivery at the Pastoral Appreciation Weekend event that will be held at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center.

I am Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, representing the

18th district of Texas.

It is a pleasure to speak to you all for the Fallbrook

Church 25th Pastoral Appreciation Weekend and to honor Pastor

Michael Pender for his commitment to not only this community

but this congregation.

In 1994, Pastor Michael was just beginning to form what is

now Fallbrook Church.

Pastor Michael's leadership and obedience to God has

created a church that began with just four families and is

now serving thousands of members every Sunday.

Fallbrook Church is committed to reaching the community and

has formed partnerships with multiple organizations in order

to continue to spread positive service and influence to the

community.

Spring, Aldine and Klein school districts, the national

Prison Fellowship, Compassion International Ministry, and

most recently, Lone Star College are just a few examples of

how influential Fallbrook and Pastor Michael have been to

this community.

It warms my heart to see such a servant of God that leads

with such obedience, focus, and dedication to this ministry.

I would also like to take this time to recognize Michael's

beautiful wife of almost 32 years, Janice and their four

lovely children Bailee, Michael Jr., Arnelle, and Colin.

I applaud everything that this ministry is doing, and I

congratulate Pastor Michael Pender on his 25 years of service

and leadership.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak

before you today.

Mr. Speaker, I first want to acknowledge the passing of a dear friend, Congressman Ralph Hall, who was a great leader and a great Texan.

But I also rise today, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that the American people know what we did this week; and that is condemning anti-Semitism as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values and aspirations that define the United States of America. This is the strongest, most definitive denouncing of anti-Semitism that the United States Congress has ever voted on--407 votes.

This summer I will be in my almost 30th year of sending young people to Israel in a kibbutz program named after former Congressman Mickey Leland.

We understand the value of applauding all people, and, yes, we don't want Americans who happen to be Muslims to be discriminated against or associated with the burning towers, Muslims who have served in the United States military or white nationalists who will be willing to talk about the hatefulness against African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders.

Mr. Speaker, this is an important statement, and I am glad to have been associated with it. We should applaud all those who voted for it.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership and Mr. Sarbanes for his leadership and for allowing us to tell our stories. Let me tell you the story of Texas.

In 2017, right before a bond election in my district and surrounding areas, 4,000 people were taken off the voting rolls. In 2018, the Secretary of State's Office purged people off the voting rolls with absolutely no understanding and no notice.

H.R. 1 expands the access to the ballot box by creating voluntary automatic voter registration access across the country, ensuring that the rights of individuals who have completed felony sentences--family members, your neighbors who have done their time--have the ability to register as well, and expanding early voting. Be reminded of the 2000 election when those who had done their time, were citizens, went to the voting poll, and they were told: Oh, you cannot vote.

It ends partisan gerrymandering, but in particular, it focuses on opportunities for voting. So I am here to say those provisions are crucial to providing the American public its constitutional right to vote, and we should support that right.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1, The ``For the People Act of 2019,'' which expands access to the ballot box, reduces the influence of big money in politics, and strengthens ethics rules for public servants.

I am proud to be one of 226, co-sponsors, and one of the original cosponsors, of H.R. 1, which will increase public confidence in our democracy by reducing the role of money in politics, restoring ethical standards and integrity to government, and strengthening laws to protect voting.

Specifically, the For the People Act will:

1. Make it easier, not harder, to vote by implementing automatic voter registration, requiring early voting and vote by mail, committing Congress to reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act and ensuring the integrity of our elections by modernizing and strengthening our voting systems and ending partisan redistricting.

2. Reform the campaign finance system by requiring all political organizations to disclose large donors, updating political advertisement laws for the digital age, establishing a public matching system for citizen-owned elections, and revamping the Federal Election Commission to ensure there's a cop on the campaign finance beat; and

3. Strengthen ethics laws to ensure that public officials work in the public interest by extending conflict of interest laws to the President and Vice President; requiring the release of their tax returns; closing loopholes that allow former members of Congress to avoid cooling-off periods for lobbying; closing the revolving door between industry and the federal government; and establishing a code of conduct for the Supreme Court.

H.R. 1 expands access to the ballot box by taking aim at institutional barriers to voting.

This bill ensures that individuals who have completed felony sentences have their full

rights restored and expands early voting and simplify absentee voting; and modernize the U.S. voting system.

Mr. Chair, this legislation and this hearing is particularly timely because more than half a century after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we are still discussing voter suppression--something which should be a bygone relic of the past, but yet continues to disenfranchise racial minorities, immigrants, women, and young people.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a watershed moment for the Civil Rights Movement--it liberated communities of color from legal restrictions barring them from exercising the fundamental right to civic engagement and political representation.

But uncaged by Supreme Court's infamous 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), which neutered the preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act, 14 states, including my state of Texas, took extreme measures to enforce new voting restrictions before the 2016 presidential election.

It is not a coincidence that many of these same states have experienced increasing numbers of black and Hispanic voters in recent elections.

If not for invidious, state-sponsored voter suppression policies like discriminatory voter ID laws, reduced early voting periods, and voter intimidation tactics that directly or indirectly target racial minorities, the 2016 presidential election might have had a drastically different outcome.

Mr. Chair, H.R. 1 must be passed because many of the civil rights that I fought for as a student and young lawyer have been undermined or been rolled back by reactionary forces in recent years.

To add insult to injury, the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order establishing a so-called ``Election Integrity'' Commission to investigate not voter suppression, but so-called ``voter fraud'' in the 2016 election.

Trump and his followers have been unceasing in their efforts to perpetuate the myth of voter fraud, but it remains just that: a myth.

Between 2000 and 2014, there were 35 credible allegations of voter fraud out of more than 834 million ballots cast--that is less than 1 in 28 million votes!

An extensive study by social scientists at Dartmouth College uncovered no evidence to support Trump's hysterical and outrageous allegations of widespread voter fraud ``rigging'' the 2016 election.

Just for the record, Mr. Chair, the popular vote of the 2016 presidential election was:

Hillary Clinton, 65,853,516

Donald Trump, 62,884,824

Trump's deficit of 2.9 million was the largest of any Electoral College winner in history by a massive margin, and despite the allegations of the current Administration, there have been only 4 documented cases of voter fraud in the 2016 election.

The Voter Fraud Commission, like many of Trump's business schemes, was a massive scam built on countless lies that do not hold up to any level of scrutiny.

As Members of Congress, we should be devoting our time, energy, and resources addressing Russian infiltration of our election infrastructure and campaigns, along with other pressing issues.

Instead of enjoying and strengthening the protections guaranteed in the Voting Rights Act--people of color, women, LGBTQ individuals, and immigrants--have been given the joyless, exhausting task of fending off the constant barrage of attacks levelled at our communities by Trump and other conspiracy theorists.

Not only are we tasked with reversing the current dismal state of voter suppression against minorities; we are forced to refute the blatant, propagandist lie of voter fraud.

To this end, I have been persistent in my efforts to protect the rights of disenfranchised communities in my district of inner-city Houston and across the nation.

Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have cosponsored dozens of bills, amendments, and resolutions seeking to improve voters' rights at all stages and levels of the election process.

This includes legislation aimed at:

1. Increasing voter outreach and turnout;

2. Ensuring both early and same-day registration;

3. Standardizing physical and language accessibility at polling places;

4. Expanding early voting periods;

5. Decreasing voter wait times;

6. Guaranteeing absentee ballots, especially for displaced citizens;

7. Modernizing voting technologies and strengthening our voter record systems;

8. Establishing the federal Election Day as a national holiday; and

9. Condemning and criminalizing deceptive practices, voter intimidation, and other suppression tactics;

Along with many of my CBC colleagues, I was an original cosponsor of H.R. 9, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act, which became public law on July 27, 2006.

I also authored H.R. 745 in the 110th Congress, which added the legendary Barbara Jordan to the list of civil rights trailblazers whose memories are honored in the naming the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act.

This bill strengthened the original Voting Rights Act by replacing federal voting examiners with federal voting observers--a significant enhancement that made it easier to safeguard against racially biased voter suppression tactics.

In the 114th Congress, I introduced H.R. 75, the Coretta Scott King Mid-Decade Redistricting Prohibition Act of 2015, which prohibits states whose congressional districts have been redistricted after a decennial census from redrawing their district lines until the next census.

Prejudiced redistricting, or gerrymandering as it is more commonly known, has been used for decades to weaken the voting power of African Americans, Latino Americans, and other minorities since the Civil Rights Era.

Immediately after the Shelby County ruling, which lifted preclearance requirements for states with histories of discrimination seeking to change their voting laws or practices, redistricting became a favorite tool for Republicans who connived to unfairly gain 3 congressional seats in Texas.

In the 110th Congress, I was the original sponsor of H.R. 6778, the Ex-Offenders Voting Rights Act of 2008, which prohibited denial of the right to vote in a federal election on the bases of an individual's status as a formerly incarcerated person.

The Ex-Offenders Voting Rights Act sought to reverse discriminatory voter restrictions that disproportionately affect the African American voting population, which continues to be targeted by mass incarceration, police profiling, and a biased criminal justice system.

Those of us who cherish the right to vote justifiably are skeptical of Voter ID laws because we understand how these laws, like poll taxes and literacy tests, can be used to impede or negate the ability of seniors, racial and language minorities, and young people to cast their votes.

Voter ID laws are just one of the means that can be used to abridge or suppress the right to vote but there are others, including:

1. Curtailing or Eliminating Early Voting;

2. Ending Same-Day Registration;

3. Not counting provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct on Election Day will not count;

4. Eliminating Teenage Pre-Registration;

5. Shortened Poll Hours;

6. Lessening the standards governing voter challenges used by vigilantes, like the King Street Patriots in my city of Houston, to cause trouble at the polls;

7. ``Voter Caging,'' to suppress the turnout of minority voters by sending non-forwardable mail to targeted populations and, once the mail is returned, using the returned mail to compile lists of voters whose eligibility is then challenged on the basis of residence under state law; and

8. Employing targeted redistricting techniques to dilute minority voting strength, notably ``Cracking'' (i.e., fragmenting and dispersing concentrations of minority populations); ``Stacking'' (combining concentrations of minority voters with greater concentrations of white populations); and ``Packing'' (i.e., over-concentrating minority voters in as few districts as possible).

Mr. Chair, we must not allow our democracy to slide back into the worst elements of this country's past, to stand idly by as our treasured values of democracy, progress, and equality are poisoned and dismantled.

I urge all members to join me in voting to pass H.R. 1, the ``For The People Act of 2019.''

Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1, The ``For the People Act of 2019,'' which expands access to the ballot box, reduces the influence of big money in politics, and strengthens ethics rules for public servants.

I am proud to be one of 226, co-sponsors, and one of the original cosponsors, of H.R. 1, which will increase public confidence in our democracy by reducing the role of money in politics, restoring ethical standards and integrity to government, and strengthening laws to protect voting.

Specifically, the For the People Act will:

1. Make it easier, not harder, to vote by implementing automatic voter registration, requiring early voting and vote by mail, committing Congress to reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act and ensuring the integrity of our elections by modernizing and strengthening our voting systems and ending partisan redistricting.

2. Reform the campaign finance system by requiring all political organizations to disclose large donors, updating political advertisement laws for the digital age, establishing a public matching system for citizen-owned elections, and revamping the Federal Election Commission to ensure there's a cop on the campaign finance beat; and

3. Strengthen ethics laws to ensure that public officials work in the public interest by extending conflict of interest laws to the President and Vice President; requiring the release of their tax returns; closing loopholes that allow former members of Congress to avoid cooling-off periods for lobbying; closing the revolving door between industry and the federal government; and establishing a code of conduct for the Supreme Court.

H.R. 1 expands access to the ballot box by taking aim at institutional barriers to voting.

This bill ensures that individuals who have completed felony sentences have their full rights restored and expands early voting and simplify absentee voting; and modernize the U.S. voting system.

Mr. Chair, this legislation and this hearing is particularly timely because more than half a century after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we are still discussing voter suppression--something which should be a bygone relic of the past, but yet continues to disenfranchise racial minorities, immigrants, women, and young people.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a watershed moment for the Civil Rights Movement--it liberated communities of color from legal restrictions barring them from exercising the fundamental right to civic engagement and political representation.

But uncaged by Supreme Court's infamous 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), which neutered the preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act, 14 states, including my state of Texas, took extreme measures to enforce new voting

restrictions before the 2016 presidential election.

It is not a coincidence that many of these same states have experienced increasing numbers of black and Hispanic voters in recent elections.

If not for invidious, state-sponsored voter suppression policies like discriminatory voter ID laws, reduced early voting periods, and voter intimidation tactics that directly or indirectly target racial minorities, the 2016 presidential election might have had a drastically different outcome.

Mr. Chair, H.R. 1 must be passed because many of the civil rights that I fought for as a student and young lawyer have been undermined or been rolled back by reactionary forces in recent years.

To add insult to injury, the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order establishing a so-called ``Election Integrity'' Commission to investigate not voter suppression, but so-called ``voter fraud'' in the 2016 election.

Trump and his followers have been unceasing in their efforts to perpetuate the myth of voter fraud, but it remains just that: a myth.

Between 2000 and 2014, there were 35 credible allegations of voter fraud out of more than 834 million ballots cast--that is less than 1 in 28 million votes.

An extensive study by social scientists at Dartmouth College uncovered no evidence to support Trump's hysterical and outrageous allegations of widespread voter fraud ``rigging'' the 2016 election.

Just for the record, Mr. Chair, the popular vote of the 2016 presidential election was:

Hillary Clinton, 65,853,516.

Donald Trump, 62,884,824.

Trump's deficit of 2.9 million was the largest of any Electoral College winner in history by a massive margin, and despite the allegations of the current Administration, there have been only 4 documented cases of voter fraud in the 2016 election.

The Voter Fraud Commission, like many of Trump's business schemes, was a massive scam built on countless lies that do not hold up to any level of scrutiny.

As Members of Congress, we should be devoting our time, energy, and resources addressing Russian infiltration of our election infrastructure and campaigns, along with other pressing issues.

Instead of enjoying and strengthening the protections guaranteed in the Voting Rights Act--people of color, women, LGBTQ individuals, and immigrants--have been given the joyless, exhausting task of fending off the constant barrage of attacks levelled at our communities by Trump and other conspiracy theorists.

Not only are we tasked with reversing the current dismal state of voter suppression against minorities; we are forced to refute the blatant, propagandist lie of voter fraud.

To this end, I have been persistent in my efforts to protect the rights of disenfranchised communities in my district of inner-city Houston and across the nation.

Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have cosponsored dozens of bills, amendments, and resolutions seeking to improve voters' rights at all stages and levels of the election process.

This includes legislation aimed at:

1. Increasing voter outreach and turnout;

2. Ensuring both early and same-day registration;

3. Standardizing physical and language accessibility at polling places;

4. Expanding early voting periods;

5. Decreasing voter wait times;

6. Guaranteeing absentee ballots, especially for displaced citizens;

7. Modernizing voting technologies and strengthening our voter record systems;

8. Establishing the federal Election Day as a national holiday; and

9. Condemning and criminalizing deceptive practices, voter intimidation, and other suppression tactics;

Along with many of my CBC colleagues, I was an original cosponsor of H.R. 9, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act, which became public law on July 27, 2006.

I also authored H.R. 745 in the 110th Congress, which added the legendary Barbara Jordan to the list of civil rights trailblazers whose memories are honored in the naming the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act.

This bill strengthened the original Voting Rights Act by replacing federal voting examiners with federal voting observers a significant enhancement that made it easier to safeguard against racially biased voter suppression tactics.

In the 114th Congress, I introduced H.R. 75, the Coretta Scott King Mid-Decade Redistricting Prohibition Act of 2015, which prohibits states whose congressional districts have been redistricted after a decennial census from redrawing their district lines until the next census.

Prejudiced redistricting, or gerrymandering as it is more commonly known, has been used for decades to weaken the voting power of African Americans, Latino Americans, and other minorities since the Civil Rights Era.

Immediately after the Shelby County ruling, which lifted preclearance requirements for states with histories of discrimination seeking to change their voting laws or practices, redistricting became a favorite tool for Republicans who connived to unfairly gain 3 congressional seats in Texas.

In the 110th Congress, I was the original sponsor of H.R. 6778, the Ex-Offenders Voting Rights Act of 2008, which prohibited denial of the right to vote in a federal election on the basis of an individual's status as a formerly incarcerated person.

The Ex-Offenders Voting Rights Act sought to reverse discriminatory voter restrictions that disproportionately affect the African American voting population, which continues to be targeted by mass incarceration, police profiling, and a biased criminal justice system.

Those of us who cherish the right to vote justifiably are skeptical of Voter ID laws because we understand how these laws, like poll taxes and literacy tests, can be used to impede or negate the ability of seniors, racial and language minorities, and young people to cast their votes.

Voter ID laws are just one of the means that can be used to abridge or suppress the right to vote but there are others, including:

1. Curtailing or Eliminating Early Voting;

2. Ending Same-Day Registration;

3. Not counting provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct on Election Day will not count;

4. Eliminating Teenage Pre-Registration;

5. Shortened Poll Hours;

6. Lessening the standards governing voter challenges used by vigilantes, like the King Street Patriots in my city of Houston, to cause trouble at the polls;

7. ``Voter Caging,'' to suppress the turnout of minority voters by sending non-forwardable mail to targeted populations and, once the mail is returned, using the returned mail to compile lists of voters whose eligibility is then challenged on the basis of residence under state law; and

8. Employing targeted redistricting techniques to dilute minority voting strength, notably ``Cracking'' (i.e., fragmenting and dispersing concentrations of minority populations); ``Stacking'' (combining concentrations of minority voters with greater concentrations of white populations); and ``Packing'' (i.e., over-concentrating minority voters in as few districts as possible).

Mr. Chair, we must not allow our democracy to slide back into the worst elements of this country's past, to stand idly by as our treasured values of democracy, progress, and equality are poisoned and dismantled.

I urge all members to join me in voting to pass H.R. 1, the ``For The People Act of 2019.''

Madam Chair, I thank the chairman and Mr. Clyburn, who, for years, has been working on this issue.

Madam Chair, H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, is long in coming. It responds to many people, but it responds to Dylann Roof.

In 2015, he went to a gun store to get a gun. He was not the normal purchaser, and it did not approve in 90 seconds, as most of them do. But in a day or two, when it had not yet been approved, Dylann Roof was able to get a gun. And Dylann Roof's whole message was: I am going to start a race war by going into an unlocked church on a prayer night and kill nine worshippers praying to their God and their pastor--whose wife was here today.

The question has to be: When are we going to stop the senseless killings and the eons and eons of mass shootings?

My good friend from Georgia (Mr. Collins) is a man of faith. I was in the committee room as a senior member on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations as we were trying to deliberate his concern, a very vital concern, one that I have, to love people with disabilities, to love them and treat them with dignity.

The language in this legislation does that as best we could at the time, because it puts the language adjudicated, determined by some objective body, that you have a health problem that deals with a mental concern.

The question has to be, if it is not workable, you pass the bill. All of us have made a commitment to work through this process and to give dignity to every person, including veterans.

But at the same time, would you want to have a situation that happened with Dylann Roof, a convicted felon who grabbed a gun in 2 days and killed nine innocent people, or killed people in various other places, from Columbine, to Aurora, to Virginia Tech?

Look at the stories of mass shootings, or look at the violence in cities where people are getting guns.

Madam Chair, I would make the argument that, today, we must pass H.R. 1112. The mercy of all of us dealing with issues to give dignity to those who suffer from illnesses that embrace mental illness concerns, it was because Mr. Collins, a man of faith, offered that suggestion. Therefore, we are going to move forward with the commitment to work it through and provide the dignity necessary, but to save the lives and to give tribute in death to those who lost their lives at the hands of Dylann Roof. Vote for H.R. 1112.

Madam Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 1112, the ``Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019,'' legislation that would strengthen the background check system that is already in place to purchase a firearm.

I thank the Majority Whip, Congressman Clyburn, for introducing H.R. 1112 in response to the atrocity perpetrated at Mother Emmanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston,

South Carolina, which killed nine members of one of the most historically significant churches in African American history.

One June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof was responsible for the mass shooting that took the lives of nine individuals at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The victims were later referred to as ``The Charleston Nine'' and ``The Emanuel Nine''.

Under current law, after a prospective buyer completes the appropriate form, the holder of a Federal Firearms License initiates the background check by phone or computer.

If a determination is not obtained within three business days then the transfer may legally be completed by default proceeding and that is how Dylan Roof obtain the handgun he used to commit the killings, which he purchased from a retail store in West Columbia, SC.

H.R 1112, the ``Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019,'' would strengthen the background check procedures that firearms licensees or dealers follow before selling or transferring a firearm.

As under current law, firearms dealers would be required to run a background check on prospective buyers using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (``NICS'').

Over 90% of NICS checks are completed within 90 seconds.

Under H.R. 1112, if the NICS system has not returned an answer to the licensed firearms dealer within ten days, the prospective firearms purchaser may file a petition with the Attorney General for review.

Then, after another ten-day period has expired, the licensed firearms dealer may sell or transfer the firearm to the prospective purchaser if it has not received a response through the NICS system and the dealer has no reason to believe that the purchaser is prohibited from obtaining a firearm under federal, state, or local law.

Under this measure, licensed firearms dealers could not sell or transfer under the ``default proceed'' provision until at least 20 days have passed since the initial background check, thus closing the so- called ``Charleston loophole.''

An internal assessment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) demonstrated that the National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (``NICS'') yields results that are approximately 99.3 percent to 99.8 percent accurate, and in 90 percent of cases, are processed within 90 seconds.

We must be constructive and proactive in our response to the countless mass shootings and gun violence in our country that continue to claim so many innocent lives.

Newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (``CDC'') found firearm-related deaths rose for the second- straight year in 2016, largely due to spikes in gun violence.

In 2016, the new CDC report on preliminary mortality data shows that there were more than 38,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S.--4,000 more than 2015.

An Associated Press analysis of FBI data shows there were about 11,000 gun-related homicides in 2016, up from 9,600 in 2015.

Congress must act to keep our country safe through gun safety and violence deterrence.

There is nearly one mass shooting per day in the United State--355 mass shootings in 2015.

In December 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children, 6 adults, and himself.

Since December 2012, there have been at least 1,518 mass shootings, with at least 1,715 people killed and 6,089 wounded.

On the night of October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a large crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip, leaving 58 people dead and 527 injured.

On November 5, 2017, a mass shooting occurred at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, where the gunman, 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, killed 26 and injured 20 others.

Every day, on average, 92 Americans are victims of gun violence, resulting in more than 33,000 deaths annually.

States with higher gun ownership rates have higher gun murder rates-- as much as 114 percent higher than other states.

A recent study by the CDC looking at 30 years of homicide data found that for every 1 percent increase in a state's gun ownership rate, there is a nearly 1 percent increase in its firearm homicide rate.

Gun death rates are generally lower in states with restrictions such as safe storage requirements or assault weapons bans.

Mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 33 years: 0.

This is why legislation put forward to arm teachers is not the solution.

Stronger legislation is needed to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands because unfortunately, more than 75 percent of the weapons used in mass shootings between 1982 and 2012 were obtained legally.

We must look at gun violence in its totality to determine what are the root causes of these alarming rates of lives cut short.

We are elected by our constituents to lead in resolving the issues that plague our country, and the issue of gun violence is a definite plague across the nation.

My good friend, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, gave a statement after four of his officers were shot while on duty.

He rightfully admonished us elected officials who, so far, have accomplished absolutely nothing about the public-health epidemic of gun violence.

Thanks to the new Democratic majority in Congress, we had a long overdue Gun Safety Hearing in the Judiciary Committee.

That hearing is the first step in the legislative process of addressing the epidemic.

Chief Acevedo was a witness at that hearing, testifying that if the proposed legislation on background checks is enacted and saves at least one life, then it is worth it.

Back in my state, despite incident after incident of rampant gun violence, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, both prominent Republican opponents of gun control, issued the usual statements offering the usual thoughts and prayers.

Chief Acevedo said, ``I appreciate your prayers . . . but the question is, what are policymakers willing to do, besides prayers, to address a public-health epidemic?''

I want to answer his question--``what ARE we going to do?''

We are going to overcome the fierce opposition from House minority members.

We are going to overcome a recalcitrant and reluctant Senate.

And finally, we are going to overcome the opposition of the President and the gun lobby.

I am a defender and supporter of the constitution.

I appreciate the Second Amendment and the right that it provides our citizens.

However, I am also a defender of the right to live, the greatest divine right of all.

I want all Americans to enjoy their Second Amendment right, but not at the expense of the lives of our children, students, communities, and law enforcement officials.

Imagine going to grade school in this day and age and having to undergo ``active shooter'' drills.

Imagine having children in grade school today.

Imagine the anxiety parents feel knowing that any day the precious lives of their children may be interrupted by someone with an AK-47 or

Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman very much, and I thank him for his leadership on a very

important enhancement to the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, which requires the FBI to report on the number of petitions it was not able to make a determination on within the 10-day period.

I think Mr. Schneider knows that why we are here on the floor is to save lives, to be able to protect innocent people from being subjected to what the Emanuel Nine were: worshippers in a church with their pastor, praying, as this country allows one to do.

It is my belief that the Schneider-Jackson Lee amendment should be passed, because with this critical data and compliance reporting we can learn more about legislative injustices like the one that enabled Dylann Roof to process a handgun used to murder the nine innocent persons at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and to remind everybody he had not been approved by the NICS reporting system, and he was able to come back. This system allows us to know how many have not been approved, to be able to address the question, to have better policies dealing with protecting gun violence.

It is my privilege to join my colleague in supporting the Schneider- Jackson Lee amendment.

Madam Chair, I close by saying that this tracks the Accidental Firearms Transfer Reporting Act that I introduced in previous Congresses in H.R. 3125 and H.R. 57.

I look forward to working with my colleague as we expand reasonable gun safety legislation to protect our children, our families, and Americans.

Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of this amendment which I am proud to cosponsor with the gentleman from Illinois, Congressman Brad Schneider.

I thank the Rules Committee for making the Schneider/Jackson Lee Amendment in order and thank the Majority Whip for introducing the underlying legislation, H.R. 1112, the ``Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019.''

H.R. 1112, the ``Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019,'' would strengthen the background check procedures that firearms licensees or dealers follow before selling or transferring a firearm.

As under current law, firearms dealers would be required to run a background check on prospective buyers using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (``NICS'').

Over 90% of NICS checks are completed within 90 seconds.

If the NICS system has not returned an answer to the licensed firearms dealer within ten days, the prospective firearms purchaser may file a petition with the Attorney General for review.

Then, after another ten-day period has expired, the licensed firearms dealer may sell or transfer the firearm to the prospective purchaser if it has not received a response through the NICS system and the dealer has no reason to believe that the purchaser is prohibited from obtaining a firearm under federal, state, or local law.

Under this measure, licensed firearms dealers could not sell or transfer under the ``default proceed'' provision until at least 20 days have passed since the initial background check.

The Schneider/Jackson Lee Amendment strengthens the bill by requiring the FBI to report on the number of petitions on which it was not able to make a determination regarding the eligibility of the transferee to possess a firearm within the 10-day period allotted by H.R. 1112.

I urge my colleagues to support the Schneider/Jackson Lee Amendment because, with this critical data and compliance reporting, we can learn more about legislative interstices like the one that enabled Dylan Roof to possess the handgun used to murder 9 innocent persons at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, as well as the numerous other cases where a firearm was handed over to an unintended and potentially dangerous recipient.

Making sure that policy makers have the most accurate, reliable, and current data regarding background checks is one of the main reasons I introduced the Accidental Firearms Transfers Reporting Act in the 114th and 115th Congress (H.R. 3125 and H.R. 57 respectively).

Madam Chair, if anything, it is gun violence that is a national emergency, and reducing gun violence should be one of Congress's highest priorities.

The Schneider/Jackson Lee Amendment will help to do that.

I ask my colleagues to support the Schneider/Jackson Lee Amendment in order.

Again, I thank Majority Whip Clyburn for introducing the underlying legislation and Congressman Schneider for his work on this salutary amendment.

I urge all Members to support the Schneider/Jackson Lee Amendment.

[Feb. 20, 2018]

List of Mass Shootings Since Columbine Massacre

(By Zayed Abdalla)

Below is a list of all mass shootings in the United States

which occurred after the Columbine High School Massacre.

Dates and death tolls (excluding the shooter) are included.

Although many other mass shootings have occurred, for the

sake of time and physical space, only shootings involving the

death of five or more people have been included in this

article.

1. Columbine High School Shooting, Littleton, Colorado--

April 1999: 13 Dead

2. Atlanta Shootings, Atlanta, Georgia--July 1999: 12 Dead

3. Wedgwood Baptist Church shooting, Fort Worth, Texas--

September 1999: 7 Dead

4. Xerox Killings, Honolulu, Hawaii--November 1999: 7 Dead

5. Tampa Hotel Shootings, Tampa, Florida--December 1999: 5

Dead

6. Wakefield Massacre, Wakefield, Massachusetts--December

2000: 7 Dead

7. Lockheed Martin Shooting, Median, Mississippi--July

2003: 6 Dead

8. Living Church of God Shooting, Brookfield, Wisconsin--

March 2005: 7 Dead

9. Red Lake High School, Red Lake Indian Reservation,

Minnesota--March 2005: 9 Dead

10. Goleta Postal Shootings, Goleta, California--January

2006: 7 Dead

11. Capitol Hill Massacre, Seattle Washington--March 2006:

6 Dead

12. West Nickel Mines Amish School, Nickel Mines,

Pennsylvania--October 2006: 5 Dead

13. Tolley Square Shooting, Salt Lake City, Utah--February

2007: 5 Dead

14. Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia--April

2007: 32 Dead

15. Crandon Shooting, Crandon Wisconsin--October 2007: 6

Dead

16. Westroads Mall Shooting, Omaha Nebraska--December 2007:

8 Dead

17. Kirkwood City Council Shooting, Kirkwood, Missouri--

February 2008: 6 Dead

18. Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois--

February 2008: 5 Dead

19. Atlantis Plastics Shooting, Henderson Kentucky--June

2008: 5 Dead

20. Carthage Nursing Home Shooting--Carthage, North

Carolina--March 2009: 8 Dead

21. Geneva County Massacre, Geneva and Samson, Alabama--

March 2009: 10 Dead

22. Binghampton Shootings, Binghampton--April 2009: 13 Dead

23. Fort Hood Shooting, Fort Hood, Texas--November 2009: 13

Dead

24. Hartford Beer Distributor Shooting, Manchester,

Connecticut--August 2010: 8 Dead

25. Tucson Shooting, Tucson, Arizona--January 2011: 6 Dead

26. Seal Beach Shooting, Seal Beach, California--October

2011: 8 Dead

27. Oikos University, Oakland, California--April 2012: 7

Dead

28. Seattle Cafe Shooting, Seattle, Washington--May 2012: 5

Dead

29. Aurora Shooting, Aurora, Colorado--July 2012: 12 Dead

30. Sikh Temple Shooting, Oak Creek, Wisconsin--August

2012: 6 Dead

31. Accent Signage Systems Shooting, Minneapolis,

Minnesota--September 2012: 6 Dead

32. Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut--

December 2012: 27 Dead

33. Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California--June

2013: 5 Dead

34. Hialeah Shooting, Hialeah, Florida--July 2013: 6 Dead

35. Washington Navy Yard Shooting, Washington D.C.--

September 2013: 12 Dead

36. University of California Santa Barbara, Isla Vista,

California--May 2014: 6

Dead

37. Marysville Pilchuck High School, Marysville,

Washington--October 2014: 4 Dead

38. Charleston Church Shooting, Charleston, South

Carolina--June 2015: 9 Dead

39. Chattanooga Military Recruitment Center, Chattanooga

Tennessee--July 2015: 5 Dead

40. Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon--October

2015: 9 Dead

41. San Bernardino Attack, San Bernardino, California--

December 2015: 14 Dead

42. Kalamazoo Shooting Spree, Kalamazoo County, Michigan--

February 2016: 6 Dead

43. Orlando Night-club Shooting, Orlando, Florida--June

2016: 49 Dead

44. Dallas Police Shooting, Dallas Texas--July 2016: 5 Dead

45. Cascade Mall Shooting, Burlington, Washington--

September 2016: 5 Dead

46. Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting, Fort Lauderdale,

Florida--January 2017: 5 Dead

47. Las Vegas Shooting, Las Vegas, Nevada--October 2017: 58

Dead

48. Sutherland Springs Church, Sutherland Springs, Texas--

November 2017: 26 Dead

49. Rancho Tehama Shooting, Rancho Tehama, California--

November 2017: 5 Dead

50. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland,

Florida--February 2018: 17 Dead

Mr. Chair, I thank the chairman, and I certainly thank the ranking member for being present here today. I hold up in my hand pages and pages of mass shootings, which I will include in the Record.

List of Mass Shootings Since Columbine Massacre

(By Zayed Abdalla, Feb 20, 2018)

Below is a list of all mass shootings in the United States

which occurred after the Columbine High School Massacre.

Dates and death tolls (excluding the shooter) are included.

Although many other mass shootings have occurred, for the

sake of time and physical space, only shootings involving the

death of five or more people have been included in this

article.

1. Columbine High School Shooting, Littleton, Colorado--

April 1999: 13 Dead

2. Atlanta Shootings, Atlanta, Georgia--July 1999: 12 Dead

3. Wedgwood Baptist Church shooting, Fort Worth, Texas--

September 1999: 7 Dead

4. Xerox Killings, Honolulu, Hawaii--November 1999: 7 Dead

5. Tampa Hotel Shootings, Tampa, Florida--December 1999: 5

Dead

6. Wakefield Massacre, Wakefield, Massachusetts--December

2000: 7 Dead

7. Lockheed Martin Shooting, Median, Mississippi--July

2003: 6 Dead

8. Living Church of God Shooting, Brookfield, Wisconsin--

March 2005: 7 Dead

9. Red Lake High School, Red Lake Indian Reservation,

Minnesota--March 2005: 9 Dead

10. Goleta Postal Shootings, Goleta, California--January

2006: 7 Dead

11. Capitol Hill Massacre, Seattle Washington--March 2006:

6 Dead

12. West Nickel Mines Amish School, Nickel Mines,

Pennsylvania--October 2006: 5 Dead

13. Tolley Square Shooting, Salt Lake City, Utah--February

2007: 5 Dead

14. Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia--April

2007: 32 Dead

15. Crandon Shooting, Crandon Wisconsin--October 2007: 6

Dead

16. Westroads Mall Shooting, Omaha Nebraska--December 2007:

8 Dead

17. Kirkwood City Council Shooting, Kirkwood, Missouri--

February 2008: 6 Dead

18. Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois--

February 2008: 5 Dead

19. Atlantis Plastics Shooting, Henderson Kentucky--June

2008: 5 Dead

20. Carthage Nursing Home Shooting--Carthage, North

Carolina--March 2009: 8 Dead

21. Geneva County Massacre, Geneva and Samson, Alabama--

March 2009: 10 Dead

22. Binghampton Shootings, Binghampton--April 2009: 13 Dead

23. Fort Hood Shooting, Fort Hood, Texas--November 2009: 13

Dead

24. Hartford Beer Distributor Shooting, Manchester,

Connecticut--August 2010: 8 Dead

25. Tucson Shooting, Tucson, Arizona--January 2011: 6 Dead

26. Seal Beach Shooting, Seal Beach, California--October

2011: 8 Dead

27. Oikos University, Oakland, California--April 2012: 7

Dead

28. Seattle Cafe Shooting, Seattle, Washington--May 2012: 5

Dead

29. Aurora Shooting, Aurora, Colorado--July 2012: 12 Dead

30. Sikh Temple Shooting, Oak Creek, Wisconsin--August

2012: 6 Dead

31. Accent Signage Systems Shooting, Minneapolis,

Minnesota--September 2012: 6 Dead

32. Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut--

December 2012: 27 Dead

33. Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California--June

2013: 5 Dead

34. Hialeah Shooting, Hialeah, Florida--July 2013: 6 Dead

35. Washington Navy Yard Shooting, Washington D.C.--

September 2013: 12 Dead

36. University of California Santa Barbara, Isla Vista,

California--May 2014: 6 Dead

37. Marysville Pilchuck High School, Marysville,

Washington--October 2014: 4 Dead

38. Charleston Church Shooting, Charleston, South

Carolina--June 2015: 9 Dead

39. Chattanooga Military Recruitment Center, Chattanooga

Tennessee--July 2015: 5 Dead

40. Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon--October

2015: 9 Dead

41. San Bernardino Attack, San Bernardino, California--

December 2015: 14 Dead

42. Kalamazoo Shooting Spree, Kalamazoo County, Michigan--

February 2016: 6 Dead

43. Orlando Night-club Shooting, Orlando, Florida--June

2016: 49 Dead

44. Dallas Police Shooting, Dallas Texas--July 2016: 5 Dead

45. Cascade Mall Shooting, Burlington, Washington--

September 2016: 5 Dead

46. Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting, Fort Lauderdale,

Florida- January 2017: 5 Dead

47. Las Vegas Shooting, Las Vegas, Nevada--October 2017: 58

Dead

48. Sutherland Springs Church, Sutherland Springs, Texas--

November 2017: 26 Dead

49. Rancho Tehama Shooting, Rancho Tehama, California--

November 2017: 5 Dead

50. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland,

Florida--February 2018: 17 Dead

According to The Washington Post, since 1966, 1077

individuals have been fatally shot and wounded as a result of

mass shootings in which more than four people perished;

Children and teenagers compose about a tenth of these

fatalities. Almost 300 guns have been obtained by authorities

in these shootings, and over half of them were obtained

legally. The AR-15 rifle has been increasingly used in such

shootings, with the latest being in this month's most recent

high school shooting in Florida. It is estimated that more

than 8 million of these weapons are owned in American

households. The trend in mass shootings has been rising

notably since 2006-07.

Mr. Chair, I thank Moms Demand Action, and I thank all those who have offered themselves in this fight. I thank our chair, Mr. Thompson, for his constant and persistent work.

Through my tenure as ranking member of the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee, and now third in seniority on the Judiciary Committee, it has given me a picture that many have not seen, and that is that we have been fighting for gun safety legislation for almost three decades.

It seems that even though Mr. Cohen is in a hearing right now where facts are being disputed, there are no facts to dispute the fact that people die from guns. And those who get guns are never regulated.

By no means do I want you not to have a handgun to protect yourself, or to enforce gun trafficking laws, or to make sure that prosecutors prosecute those for gun possession, but it begs the question. What is the question? The interpretation of the Second Amendment is no one should prohibit the right to bear arms. As I stand here today, there is nothing in the underlying bill that is prohibiting that.

It is simply common sense and giving dignity to those who died at the Columbine High School shooting, the Atlanta shooting, the Wedgwood Baptist Church shooting, the Lockheed Martin shooting, the Living Church of God shooting, the Red Lake High School shooting, the Northern Illinois University shooting, the Santa Fe shooting in Texas, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, and the Sutherland Springs church shooting in Texas.

It says that you have to have a check, a background check. It closes the gun show loophole. It gives exemptions for the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. It allows families to transfer, and ranchers, farmers, and fishers to transfer.

My God, what more do we want? People have died. Are we not going to show that we are committed to saving lives, not to abuse the Second Amendment, to misuse it? We can bear arms. But the question is whether or not we will recognize that there are 350-plus million Americans, and there are more guns in this country than there are citizens.

I beg of my colleagues: Stop the violence. Vote for this bill.

Mr. Chair, as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and an original co-sponsor, I rise in strong of H.R. 8, the ``Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019,'' legislation that strengthens the background check system that is already in place to purchase a firearm.

A 2013 study found that approximately 80 percent of all firearms acquired for criminal purposes were obtained from sources who were not required to run a background check and that 96 percent of inmates who were not prohibited from possessing a firearm at the time they committed their crime obtained their gun this way.

This loophole exists largely because unlicensed sellers need not conduct any background check under current law, even if the sellers sell a large number of guns.

H.R. 8, the ``Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019,'' would make it illegal for any person who is not a licensed firearm importer, manufacturer, or dealer to transfer a firearm to any other person who is not so licensed without a background check.

Individuals seeking to transfer a firearm under this measure would be required to visit a licensed firearms dealer to run the necessary background check before the transfer could be finalized.

H.R. 8 is intended to provide an accurate and speedy means of ensuring firearms do not end up in the wrong hands.

An internal assessment by the Federal Bureau of investigation (FBI) demonstrated that the National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (``NICS'') yields results that are approximately 99.3 percent to 99.8 percent accurate, and in 90 percent of cases, are processed within 90 seconds.

We must be constructive and proactive in our response to the countless mass shootings and gun violence in our country that continue to claim so many innocent lives.

Newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (``CDC'') found firearm-related deaths rose for the second- straight year in 2016, largely due to spikes in gun violence.

In 2016, the new CDC report on preliminary mortality data shows that there were more than 38,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S.--4,000 more than 2015.

An Associated Press analysis of FBI data shows there were about 11,000 gun-related homicides in 2016, up from 9,600 in 2015.

Congress must act to keep our country safe through gun safety and violence deterrence.

There is nearly one mass shooting per day in the United States--355 mass shootings in 2015.

In December 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children, 6 adults, and himself.

Since December 2012, there have been at least 1,518 mass shootings, with at least 1,715 people killed and 6,089 wounded.

On the night of October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a large crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip, leaving 58 people dead and 527 injured.

On November 5, 2017, a mass shooting occurred at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, where the gunman, 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, killed 26 and injured 20 others.

Every day, on average, 92 Americans are victims of gun violence, resulting in more than 33,000 deaths annually.

States with higher gun ownership rates have higher gun murder rates-- as much as 114 percent higher than other states.

A recent study by the CDC looking at 30 years of homicide data found that for every 1 percent increase in a state's gun ownership rate, there is a nearly 1 percent increase in its firearm homicide rate.

Gun death rates are generally lower in states with restrictions such as safe storage requirements or assault weapons bans.

Mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 33 years: 0.

This is why legislation put forward to arm teachers is not the solution.

Stronger legislation is needed to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands because unfortunately, more than 75 percent of the weapons used in mass shootings between 1982 and 2012 were obtained legally.

We must look at gun violence in its totality to determine what are the root causes of these alarming rates of lives cut short.

We are elected by our constituents to lead in resolving the issues that plague our country, and the issue of gun violence is a definite plague across the nation.

My good friend, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, gave a statement after four of his officers were shot while on duty.

He rightfully admonished us elected officials who, so far, have accomplished absolutely nothing about the public-health epidemic of gun violence.

Thanks to the new Democratic majority in Congress, we had a long overdue Gun Safety Hearing in the Judiciary Committee.

That hearing is the first step in the legislative process of addressing the epidemic.

Chief Acevedo was a witness at that hearing, testifying that if the proposed legislation on background checks is enacted and saves at least one life, then it is worth it.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleague, Congressman Mike Thompson, for his leadership of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and for introducing this timely and important legislation.

Congressman Thompson sat in the audience during the entirety of the Gun Safety Hearing on February 13, 2019, demonstrating his longstanding commitment to the issue.

Also helping to bring us to this point today is Congresswoman Robin Kelly of Illinois, who represents one of the most affected districts when it comes to gun violence.

She is a valiant leader who will not rest until the Congress finds solutions for communities like hers and others all over this country.

I want to thank Aalayah Eastmond, a survivor from the Parkland School Shooting, for testifying as a witness at the House Judiciary Gun Safety Hearing.

Her heartfelt and vivid testimony was met with a standing ovation by the crowded audience in the hearing.

Back in my state, despite incident after incident of rampant gun violence, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, both prominent Republican opponents of gun control, issued the usual statements offering the usual thoughts and prayers.

Chief Acevedo said, ``I appreciate your prayers . . . but the question is, what are policymakers willing to do, besides prayers, to address a public-health epidemic?''

I want to answer his question--``what ARE we going to do?''

We are going to overcome the fierce opposition from House minority members.

We are going to overcome a recalcitrant and reluctant Senate.

And finally, we are going to overcome the opposition of the President and the gun lobby.

I am a defender and supporter of the Constitution.

I appreciate the Second Amendment and the right that it provides our citizens.

However, I am also a defender of the right to live, the greatest divine right of all.

I want all Americans to enjoy their Second Amendment right, but not at the expense of the lives of our children, students, communities, and law enforcement officials.

Imagine going to grade school in this day and age and having to undergo ``active shooter'' drills.

Imagine having children in grade school today.

Imagine the anxiety parents feel knowing that any day the precious lives of their children may be interrupted by someone with an AK-47 or

Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to an angel, Juan Carlos Salgado, a Houston resident and Good Samaritan who passed away on January 13, 2019, in Houston, Texas at the age of 41.

On the evening of January 13, 2019, Juan Salgado was walking to a local market to pick up dinner, but he never made it because while crossing Telephone Road near Red Robin Lane, Juan Salgado was struck by two cars and died at the scene.

Madam Speaker, Juan Salgado was not one to draw attention; rather he kept to himself and worked hard as a landscaper, and sent his extra earnings to his mother in Guerrero, Mexico.

But there is more to the story of this wonderful man.

Three weeks before his death, on December 24, 2018, in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve, a drunk driver collided with a Houston Police Department cruiser that was en route to assist a fellow officer.

Juan Salgado heard the crash from his apartment and ran toward the police vehicle, now in flames.

Juan Salgado fought to free the two officers, John Daily and Alonzo Reid, who were trapped inside, and breaks his right hand when he punched through a window to free Officer Reid.

After freeing both officers and pulling them to safety, Juan Salgado left the scene and returned to his familiar and comfortable state of obscurity.

The day after saving Officers Daily and Reid, Juan Salgado was back at work as a landscaper.

This documented hero was an undocumented immigrant.

But it was not his immigration status that Juan Salgado thought about on that fateful Christmas Eve.

Instead, he saw two human beings who needed assistance and he did not hesitate to offer it knowing the danger it posed to him and his resident status in the United States.

Madam Speaker, Juan Salgado put his community above himself and because of his selflessness Officers Daily and Reid are alive today.

I offer my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Juan Salgado as they mourn the loss of this unsung hero.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentlewoman from California for her astuteness, and, certainly, the manager of this legislation, and our friends on the other side of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to try to craft the importance of H.J. Res. 46 that we will ultimately be debating today. As an original cosponsor, I was quick to try to bring order and to recognize the importance of the Constitution.

Clearly, the statute might be interpreted to be used in a reckless manner. But it is precise in that it deals with the necessity of building military construction and other matters in the course of war that are an emergency.

It might even cover rising gun violence, the fact that we have more guns in the United States than we have citizens.

It might be that if there was a pending war on the southern border, one might determine that that is the case.

It might be that, in 2001, the first sense of terrorism came when an individual crossed the northern border to attack the United States. If that had continued with throngs of terrorists coming across the northern border, the President then might have declared a national emergency.

But we do not have that, Mr. Speaker. What we have is a person's desire.

We understand that the apprehensions at the southern border have actually gone down. The combined 521,000 apprehensions for border and Customs agents for fiscal year 2018 was 32,288 apprehensions fewer.

Those who are coming across the border in the last 6 to 8 months are coming across as mothers and children fleeing the catastrophe of bloodshed in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. These are people desperate for help. They are coming through legal ports of entry.

How do I know that? I have stood and watched them come. I have spoken to a mother whose baby was 45 days old. She had birthed on her road here, not because she just wanted a vacation, but because they had committed to decapitating her if she did not leave town immediately, meaning leave one of the countries. It was my plea that got her to be able to go to a hospital. I held little Roger in my hands, who is 9 months old. He had been separated at the border from his family.

These are the issues that are being addressed at the border. There is no catastrophe.

Let me be very clear, as my friends always cite illegal immigration, I want to make sure that any criminal, no matter who they are, who does any injury to anyone in the United States, count me as standing on the side of bringing that person to justice. But that is not what is happening at the border.

Therefore, I would ask the administration to attend themselves to the Constitution, to recognize the difficulty or the wrongness of distorting the purposes of the United States Congress, the House, that has the purse strings by calling it a national emergency. My God, if we were to have one, would this Nation even understand how to implement it because they are hearing it being declared in a very foolish way?

I conclude by simply saying that 58 people in national security, Mr. Speaker--58 of them--have indicated this is wrongheaded and jeopardizes our national security.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote for the resolution that I have cosponsored, H.J. Res. 46.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member on the Judiciary Committee and senior member on the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee, I, too, am glad of the underlying discussion regarding the protecting of women.

I rise today to support H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, to close the gun show loophole, supported by 80 percent of the American people, so unlicensed dealers cannot, undercover, out of the back of their trunk, sell to people who would create and perpetrate either mass murders or individual abuse and gun violence.

I also support H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, that would, in fact, have stopped the deaths at the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where worshippers were shot down, nine of them.

To listen to the debate in the Judiciary Committee, 10 hours of rebuffing these simple legislative initiatives, I beg of my colleagues to stand with us. It is clear that we have an amendment, Horn and Murphy, that clarifies great bodily harm, includes domestic violence, dating partner violence, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic abuse. We want women to be protected and others involved in domestic abuse circumstances.

My amendment that will be brought up as well will provide the information as to how many times the FBI has had to deal with petitions that have been denied.

Let us not have another 20 years before we have bills that deal with gun safety legislation. Let's do it now.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the rule governing debate on H.R. 8, the ``Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019'' and H.R. 1112, the ``Enhanced Background Check Act of 2019,'' as well as the underlying legislation.

These legislative proposals address and strengthen the background check system that is already in place to purchase a firearm.

A 2013 study found that approximately 80 percent of all firearms acquired for criminal purposes were obtained from sources who were not required to run a background check, and that 96 percent of inmates who were not prohibited from possessing a firearm at the time they committed their crime obtained their gun this way.

This loophole exists largely because unlicensed sellers need not conduct any background check under current law, even if the sellers sell a large number of guns.

H.R. 8, the ``Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019,'' would make it illegal for any person who is not a licensed firearm importer, manufacturer, or dealer to transfer a firearm to any other person who is not so licensed without a background check.

Individuals seeking to transfer a firearm under this measure would be required to visit a licensed firearms dealer to run the necessary background check before the transfer could be finalized.

H.R. 8 is intended to provide an accurate and speedy manner to ensure firearms do not end up in the wrong hands.

An internal assessment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) demonstrated that NICS background checks are approximately 99.3 percent to 99.8 percent accurate, and in 90 percent of cases, are processed within 90 seconds.

H.R. 1112, the ``Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019,'' would strengthen the background check procedures federal firearms licensees or dealers follow before selling or transferring a firearm.

As under current law, firearms dealers would be required to run a background check on prospective buyers using the NICS.

Over 90% of checks are completed within 90 seconds so if the NICS system has not returned an answer to the licensed firearms dealer within ten days, the prospective firearms purchaser may file a petition with the Attorney General for review.

After another ten-day period has expired, the licensed firearms dealer may sell or transfer the firearm to the prospective purchaser if it has not received a response through the NICS system and the dealer has no reason to believe that the purchaser is prohibited from obtaining a firearm under federal, state, or local law.

Thus, under this measure, licensed firearms dealers could not sell or transfer under the ``default proceed'' provision until at least 20 days have passed, since the initial background check.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are demanding effective action to reduce, if not prevent altogether, the countless mass shootings and gun violence in our country that continue to claim so many innocent lives.

Newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention found firearm-related deaths rose for the second-straight year in 2016, largely due to spikes in gun violence.

In 2016, the new CDC report on preliminary mortality data shows that there were more than 38,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S.--4,000 more than 2015.

An Associated Press analysis of FBI data shows there were about 11,000 gun-related homicides in 2016, up from 9,600 in 2015.

Congress must act to keep our country safe through gun safety and violence deterrence.

There is nearly one mass shooting per day in the United States--355 mass shootings in 2018.

In December 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,

Connecticut, and killed 20 children, 6 adults, and himself.

Since December 2012, there have been at least 1,518 mass shootings, with at least 1,715 people killed and 6,089 wounded.

On the night of October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a large crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, leaving 58 people dead and 527 injured.

And on November 5, 2017, a mass shooting occurred at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, where the gunman, 26-year- old Devin Patrick Kelley killed 26 and injured 20 others.

Every day, on average, 92 Americans are victims of gun violence, resulting in more than 33,000 deaths annually.

States with higher gun ownership rates have higher gun murder rates-- as much as 114 percent higher than other States.

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looking at 30 years of homicide data found that for every 1 percent increase in a State's gun ownership rate, there is a nearly 1 percent increase in its firearm homicide rate.

Gun death rates are generally lower in States with restrictions such as safe storage requirements or assault weapons bans.

Mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 33 years: 0.

Because more than 75 percent of the weapons used in mass shootings between 1982 and 2012 were obtained legally, stronger legislation is needed to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands.

And that begins with passing H.R. 8, the ``Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019,'' and H.R. 1112, the ``Enhanced Background Check Act of 2019.''

I urge all Members to support the rule and the underlying legislation when it comes to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

The only crisis is the constitutional crisis that has been created by the President of the United States by his direct and ill-conceived abuse of power which is noted in the Constitution as a violation of the Constitution.

It is sad that the President has declared a national emergency for the purpose of misappropriating funds from previously designated and important uses to build a wall, uses that would be dealt with in a national emergency in case of war that would then call for the building of direct materials and buildings necessary for troops engaging in war.

The only response to my good friend who has come back from the border and saw people going over the border is to engage more Border Patrol agents and train them to do the job that they are designated to do. We, as Democrats, support that.

Illegal border crossings are at a near 40-year low. Sixty national security personnel, ambassadors, CIA, DNI, and others have indicated that this is wrongheaded. It is wrong.

The President's declaration clearly violates Congress' exclusive power of the purse, and if unchecked, would fundamentally alter the balance of powers, violating our Founder's vision for America. That is unconstitutional.

To quote Thomas Paine in ``Common Sense,'' it says, `` . . . in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king.'' This is the abuse, the declaration, and we should vote for the underlying resolution to restore constitutional order.

Let me also indicate that as a member of the Homeland Security Committee, the numbers of Mexicans from Mexico has decreased.

The numbers coming now are what we call OTMs, other than Mexican. They are coming and fleeing bloodshed in countries where they are being threatened with a decapitation of their head.

Mothers are being told that if you stay, we know you are pregnant, you can have the baby, and we will kill you after the birth. These are the stories that those of us who visited the border are hearing over and over again.

If there is a crisis, it is a humanitarian crisis. We, as Democrats, have no problem with funding the resources necessary for the border, including, as indicated, the increase in personnel, technology, and transportation equipment.

I have been to the border when the need for night goggles and other types of equipment were rendered important. Let us do the right thing. Vote on this resolution, and do the constitutional point of restoring order to this government.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of our Constitution and in defense of our republic and urge all members to join me in voting for H.J. Res. 46, which terminates the phony declaration of emergency issued by the President on February 15, 2019.

The reason this resolution is before us today is because of the petulant intransigence of a single person, the current President of the United States.

As a senior member of the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Homeland Security, I have visited the southern border on numerous occasions in recent weeks and months and can state confidently that there is no national emergency or national security crisis that justifies the President's reckless and unconstitutional decision or compels the Congress to abdicate its responsibilities under Article I to check and balance the Executive Branch.

The President is only pursuing this tactic of declaring a national emergency after realizing that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was absolutely correct when she informed him that he did not have the support in Congress to require the taxpayers to pay for his broken promise that ``Mexico would pay for the wall, 100 percent!''

In fact, according to the latest Marist Poll, the most recent polling data available, Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the President's national emergency declaration by a 61 percent-36 percent margin.

The President's decision is opposed by both men and women in every region of the country, by every income group and education category.

National security experts across the political spectrum are unanimous in their assessment that the situation on the southern border does not constitute a national emergency, an assessment echoed by leading former Republican senators and Members of Congress.

They understand that after failing to convince the American people or Congress to pay

for his ineffective, wasteful, and immoral multibillion dollar concrete wall, the President has now embarked on a course of conduct that is deeply corrosive of the constitutional system of checks and balances wisely established by the Framers and which has served this nation and the world so well for nearly 250 years.

Having failed miserably to achieve his objective in the constitutional legislative process, the President is trying a desperate 11th hour end-run around Congress with an unlawful emergency declaration that contravenes the will of the American people and negates the awesome power of the purse vested exclusively in the Congress of the United States.

The Congress will not tolerate this.

Despite being repeatedly admonished and in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the President continues to propagate false information regarding the state of our southern border.

Mr. Speaker, these are the facts.

Net migration from Mexico is now zero or slightly below (more people leaving than coming) because of a growing Mexican economy, an aging population and dropping fertility rates that have led to a dramatic decrease in unauthorized migration from Mexico.

Migrant apprehensions continue to be near an all-time low with only a slight increase from 2017.

The combined 521,090 apprehensions for Border Patrol and Customs agents in fiscal year 2018 were 32,288 apprehensions fewer than the 553,378 apprehensions in 2016.

To put this in perspective, on average, each of the 19,437 Border Patrol agents nationwide apprehended a total of only 19 migrants in 2018, which amounts to fewer than 2 apprehensions per month.

In the last few years, an increased proportion of apprehensions are parents seeking to protect their children from the violence and extreme poverty in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

But even with more Central Americans arriving to our southern border seeking protection, total apprehension rates are still at their lowest since the 1970s.

The absence of a massive wall on the southern border will not solve the drug smuggling problem because, as all law enforcement experts agree, the major source of drugs coming into the United States are smuggled through legal ports of entry.

The southern border region is home to about 15 million people living in border counties in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

These communities, which include cities such as San Diego, Douglas, Las Cruces, and El Paso, are among the safest in the country.

Congress has devoted more U.S. taxpayer dollars to immigration enforcement agencies (more than $21 billion now) than all other enforcement agencies combined, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Secret Service.

The bulk of this money goes to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), with a budget of $14.4 billion in fiscal year 2018 and more than 59,000 personnel.

CBP is the largest law enforcement agency in the country, and more than 85 percent of the agency's Border Patrol agents (i.e., 16,605 of 19,437) are concentrated on the southern border.

Expanded deployment of the military to the border to include active- duty troops could cost between $200 and $300 million in addition to the estimated $182 million for the earlier deployment by the President of National Guard to the border.

Mr. Speaker, having been soundly defeated legislatively by Congress, a co-equal branch of government, the President wants to finance border wall vanity project by diverting funds that the Congress has appropriated for disaster recovery and military construction.

The funds the President wants to steal were appropriated by Congress to help Americans devastated by natural disasters, like Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, or for other purposes like military construction.

Congress did not, has not, and will not, approve of any diversion of these funds to construct a border wall that the President repeatedly and derisively boasted that Mexico would pay for.

In fact, the President has admitted he ``didn't have to do this,'' but has opted to do so because ``I want to see it built faster.''

Mr. Speaker, just yesterday a bipartisan group of nearly 60 national security officials including former secretaries of state, defense secretaries, CIA directors, and ambassadors to the UN issued a statement declaring that ``there is no factual basis'' justifying the President's emergency declaration.

Instead of protecting our national security, the President's declaration makes America less safe.

The President is stealing billions from high-priority military construction projects that ensure our troops have the essential training, readiness and quality of life necessary to keep the American people safe, directly undermining America's national security.

The President's declaration clearly violates the Congress's exclusive power of the purse, and, if unchecked, would fundamentally alter the balance of powers, violating our Founders' vision for America.

Opposing the President's reckless and anti-American decision transcends partisan politics and partisanship; it is about patriotism, constitutional fidelity, and putting country first.

That is why nearly two dozen distinguished former Republican Members of Congress are urging Republicans in Congress to vote for H.J.R. 46 and uphold ``the authority of the first branch of government to resist efforts to surrender'' our constitutional powers to an overreaching president.

To quote Thomas Paine's Common Sense: ``In absolute governments, the King is law; so in free countries, the law ought to be King.''

Mr. Speaker, I urge all members to uphold the rule of law and the Constitution, and reject the President's power grab; I urge a resounding Yes vote on H.J. Res. 46.

Mr. Speaker, just recently, I was very proud and pleased that this body passed my legislation, the Juvenile Block Grant Anti-Bullying and Intervention Act, dealing with the prevention of bullying but, more importantly, dealing with the opportunities for communities across America to begin to think more creatively about how you deal with juvenile justice, how you deal with young people of juvenile age who have gone awry of school laws, regular actions of criminal activities. How do you deal with these young people?

It is clear that the juvenile justice system needs to be reformed. As a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, it is my commitment to listen to people from across the Nation.

Many people don't realize that once you are committed to a juvenile detention center or facility or jail, under juvenile laws in most States, and many of them receiving Federal dollars, you will find that there is no definitive sentence. They are sentenced and could be there from age 14 to 21.

It may be that their parents do not have resources to get them out; it may be that they do not have an alternative place to go; and it may be that they have no representation. That is not the way to treat young people.

So we will be looking for legislation to incentivize our States to change the juvenile justice and the criminal justice system, and we look forward to working with all of our colleagues.

Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Roy Douglas and Shirley Ann Malonson, two great Americans in the City of Houston and Harris County, Texas, whose entrepreneurial talents and zeal over the past three decades has raised the consciousness of Houston's African American community to the life-changing potential of the free enterprise system and created thousands of jobs in the Acres Home Community located in my congressional district and Houston Metroplex.

Acres Homes, once considered the South's largest unincorporated black community, is south of Aldine and ten miles northwest of downtown Houston in Harris County. It developed around the time of World War I, when landholders began selling off home sites in plots big enough to allow small gardens and maintain chickens or farm animals. The town derived its name from the fact that land was sold by the acre and not by the lot. The first settlers came from rural areas, attracted by the community's inexpensive land, low taxes, and the absence of city building standards. Residents dug wells and built sanitary facilities, but conditions in the settlement subsequently declined. When the city of Houston approved a plan to annex the area and install water and sewer lines, Acres Homes was a 12\1/2\-square-mile, heavily wooded, and dispersed slum settlement lacking transportation and educational facilities. Although 90 percent of the residents were homeowners, the majority of the housing stock was substandard.

In 1950, Roy Malonson was afflicted with polio that left him with physical limitations, but it had no effect on his vision and drive. His late father, John Curley Malonson, Sr., challenged him by saying, ``something is wrong with your leg, but there is nothing wrong with your mind, so work with what you have.'' At age 7, Roy Malonson was shining shoes in his father's barber shop and by age 13 had opened a woodworking shop. The woodworking company grew to become Roy's Custom Cabinets which later became the Malonson Construction Company which became Malonson Custom Homes and is now the Malonson Company, Inc., one of the largest and best African American custom homebuilders in Houston.

In the early 1990s, Roy Malonson developed new health problems, struck by what has come to be called the ``Post-Polio Syndrome.'' Once again using mind over physical limitation, Roy Malonson overcame and adapted. He retired from his 27-year old building business, reduced his workday, and devoted more time to community service and businesses he could manage. This enabled him to devote and donate more time and financial support to the many educational and community organizations he helped establish, including the Acres Home War on Drugs, the first community war on drugs in the nation.

Roy and Shirley Malonson also founded the Acres Home Citizen Chamber of Commerce, focusing on business, community, and education; the Acres Home Community Development Corp, focusing on housing; the Acres Home Coalition Administrative School, the first charter school in Texas; and in 1994 the Acres Home Center for Business & Economic Development, a non-profit 501(c)(3) which has become recognized as a cornerstone providing leadership, as well as personal and professional development opportunities to small businesses and entrepreneurs in the community.

The Malonsons were the driving force behind Aldine Independent School District Montessori-Magnet Programs, the Lone Star Community College System Victory Center, the Acres Home Multiservice Center, and the Acres Home Police Station.

Roy and Shirley Malonson invested in and uplifted the Acres Home Community by establishing in 1992 Shirley Ann's Black Art & Kollectibles Showroom, the largest Black Art & Kollectibles Showroom in Texas and one of the largest in the nation. In 1996 they established African American News & Issues, the largest African American newspaper in Texas and one of the largest in the nation. And in 1998, with one mission in mind, to offer and deliver pizza in the African American community, they purchased two Domino's Pizza stores, the South Victory and Ella locations, and had controlling interest in a total of ten locations throughout Houston.

Roy and Shirley Ann Malonson continued their entrepreneurial zeal and commitment to the Acres Home community by establishing in

1998 the Malonson RS Ranch in Harris County; the RS Deer Ranch in Waller County in 2004, one of two African American Whitetail Deer Breeders in the nation; Shirley Ann's Flower Shop in 2013; the RS Deer & Cattle Ranch in Waller County; and Shirley Ann's Black Kollectibles & Flowers in 2014. Shirley Ann Malonson is now President and CEO of the Malonson Company.

Roy Douglas Malonson and Shirley Ann Malonson are the proud parents of a daughter, Melanie Nicole Malonson, and the grandparents of Tayler and Caleb.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to honor two legendary Texas heroes, my constituents, Roy Douglas and Shirley Ann Malonson, who have devoted their lifetimes to creating economic opportunity and development for their beloved Acres Homes community. These two great American trailblazers have made a difference in the lives of thousands of men, women, children and businesses. Their work has brought our nation closer to fulfilling its founding ideals. And it is that work that truly makes America great.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to join my colleagues in discussing the disparaging effects of homelessness and housing insecurity in our communities.

In 2018, communities across the country faced a continuing housing affordability crisis that left thousands of Americans homeless and without any stable place to live.

For the second year in a row, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States increased.

In 2018, 552,830 people lived in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or were not sheltered at all.

This is nearly 2,000 more people than in 2017.

This is an ongoing problem that demands our immediate attention.

The state of Texas claims just under 9 percent of the population of the United States.

Sadly, 23,548 people are homeless in Texas.

This is 4 percent of the country's entire homeless population.

More than 10,000 men and women can be found on the streets of Houston, homeless, on any given night.

Of these, 3,000 are considered chronically homeless.

Those who are categorized as chronically homeless are people who have been continuously homeless for a year or more or those who have been homeless four or more times in the past three years.

Many of the chronically homeless suffer from a mental illness and/or a substance abuse problem.

Percy Lyons is one of these people whose home does not come with an address.

Mr. Lyons has made his home under a bridge.

He has all the comforts of home: a military cot, tucked behind a cement barrier, for a bed; a propane stove, hidden in a drainpipe, for cooking and heat; and hollow cement blocks function as shelves to hold his few articles of clothing and an extra pair of shoes.

Mr. Lyons is just one of those 3,000 people who are surviving on the streets of Houston.

Thankfully, Houston Police Department (HPD) is trying to help meet the needs of the city's homeless population.

HPD has created the Homeless Outreach Team.

This team is staffed with four officers, who instead of responding to complaints or ordinance violations, work on building relationships with those who live on the streets.

These heroes work with Houston's homeless residents to navigate the social services available and have helped hundreds of people move off the streets and into permanent housing.

These officers can discuss success stories, like that of Randall.

Randall spent over 30 years living on the streets.

The Homeless Outreach Team was able to help Randall get into a treatment program.

Unfortunately, there are not more stories like Randall.

Instead, the majority of those who are chronically homeless slip through the cracks, unable to find their way through the complex system of social services.

Each night in the United States of America an estimated 553,000 men, women, and children spend the night on the streets.

This is a national emergency.