Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his time, and I want to thank Mrs. Maloney and Ms. Speier for their long work on this, and the many women before them who have worked hard on this effort.

Congress created the limitation on years on the passage of the ERA, and Congress can change it, and Congress should change it.

I am the product of the work of a woman, my mother, and her mother produced her. We should not forget women and their commitment and invaluable contributions at our birth.

Every woman should have the same rights as a man. They don't get paid the same, they are discriminated in the workplace, they are harassed, they are abused. They should have equal rights. That has not occurred in America, and it won't happen until we pass this bill.

I favor the passage and I appreciate the spirit in which it is offered.

Unlike Alexander Haig, I am only here temporarily.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), who is from the East Side and who, as chairperson, brought us the great hearing last year on the ERA.

Madam Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler), who is the chairman of the committee, that he may control that time.

Madam Speaker, this past week marks the 29th anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of people in the town of Khojaly, Azerbaijan. This was the largest killing of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians during the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Khojaly, which is in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, was once home to 7,000 people. On February 26, 1992, Armenian armed forces massacred over 600 unarmed people--including 106 women and 83 children--and left less than 2,000 survivors. Hundreds more became disabled due to their injuries. More than 100 children lost a parent and 25 children lost both parents. At least 8 families were all killed. This is a devastating tragedy.

A cease-fire was negotiated in 1994, but the conflict remains unresolved. In the wake of the 2020 fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh, it is my hope that Armenia and Azerbaijan can finally come to the table and find peace. Long-term peace, security, and regional cooperation are in the best interests of the entire region of the South Caucasus and the world.

Azerbaijan has been a strong partner of the United States and its allies. This cooperation has included: playing a leadership role in nonproliferation issues; providing troops to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. forces in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan; allowing transit of non-lethal equipment used by coalition forces through Azerbaijan to Afghanistan; construction of the Southern Gas Corridor from the Caspian Sea to Italy, thereby providing Europe with an alternative to Russian energy sources; and supplying 40 percent of Israel's oil. Azerbaijan also has a thriving Jewish community and has outstanding relations with Israel. As Azerbaijanis throughout the world commemorate the massacre and continue to grieve the loss of loved ones, I hope they can find peace amidst this tragedy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

I started my career as the legal adviser to the Memphis Police Department. There were many fine policemen, and most of them never used a choke hold, never used their gun, and operated admirably. Some did not.

The disproportionate share that African Americans have suffered from killings by police shows we need to act. You can't think about George Floyd being choked with a knee and killed for 8 minutes. You can't think of Eric Garner being wrestled down like a prize trophy animal and killed in Staten Island, or young Tamir Rice, shot without an officer taking a second to think about it.

Mr. Speaker, these deaths require us to act. This is not defund the police. This is reform the police and save human lives. We need to pass this bill today. We should have passed it 40 years ago when I was a police attorney. Pass it now.

Madam Speaker, this is an important and good bill. It is a comprehensive bill that takes in a lot of issues that are important to giving people the opportunity to vote and the opportunity to elect their leaders in fair manners. The most important, I think, as Leader Hoyer addressed all the points, is redistricting, to have nonpartisan redistricting commissions decide how the State legislatures and the congressional seats will be designed so that they are geographic, understandable, and done without the intent of electing a particular party to that position.

Madam Speaker, right now, most of the districts are determined in the primary; that is why we don't have competitive districts and people coming closer to the center to try to work together.

This bill also has the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act. John Lewis was the conscience of the Congress. He almost gave his life in Selma, Alabama, to try to get the right to vote for people. Nobody should have to do that.

Madam Speaker, yesterday, we had a Judiciary Committee meeting on the rise of white nationalism and the concerns it should pose to our country.

It was a pertinent meeting, and I was shocked to hear some of the remarks of my colleagues on the Republican side who still have not accepted the fact that what happened on January 6 was an attack on our Constitution that they take an oath to and an attack on our country. They seem to think it was just a demonstration, a small, polite demonstration of 200 people; that it was, some said, people other than Trump people posing as Trump people.

Those were Trump people. They wore Trump hats. They had Trump flags. They hollered ``Trump.'' They were there to stop the steal for Trump.

America faced a great traumatic experience, as I did being in this Chamber on January 6, and I ask my Republican colleagues to accept it, accept the fact that it was a big lie, and Joe Biden is the properly, lawfully elected President of the United States.

Madam Speaker, I stand in support of this legislation. I have stood in support of this right for over 25 years.

When I was a Tennessee State Senator, I was the only member of the State Senate to vote against a constitutional ban on gay marriage. It was a legal pejorative; all people should have a civil right to be treated equally and to be given due process of the law. And they should have that today, and that is what this bill stands for.

This is a continuing battle that my friend, Julian Bond said was a fight for fairness, justice, and equality against injustice and bigotry.

We need to pass this bill and continue our move to a more perfect union.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Herman and Bobbie Goldberger on their retirement. Their family-owned labor of love, The Hebrew Watchman, has been a cornerstone of the Jewish community in Memphis for 95 years. Founded in 1925 as The Memphis Watchman by Leo I. Goldberger, Herman's father, it has chronicled Memphis Jewish life with grace and devotion for generations. I am very pleased to see that Jewish Living of the South Inc., and Jewish Scene Magazine editor and publisher Susan C. Nieman, have acquired this important and beloved cultural institution and have pledged to keep it going for another 95 years. I want to thank Herman and Bobbie Goldberger for their stewardship of The Hebrew Watchman and wish them well in retirement.

Madam Speaker, I rise to remember Martha Hays Cooper, known as ``Ookie,'' a remarkable woman and friend and the wife of our colleague Jim Cooper, who passed away last Thursday in Nashville. I include in the Record for history her husband's words in tribute:

Martha Hays Cooper died peacefully at home in Nashville on

Thursday, February 4, after years of struggling with

Alzheimer's. ``Ookie'' was married to Representative Jim

Cooper for almost 36 years, mother of their three amazing

children, Mary (Scott Gallisdorfer), Jamie, and Hayes, and

grandmother of the incomparable Jay.

Martha was born on September 13, 1954, the second child of

the late Dr. A.V. Hays and Dr. Martha Hays Taylor of

Gulfport, Mississippi. Her siblings, Art Hays (Debbie) of

Gaithersburg, MD, and Mary Hays Peller (Steve) of New

Orleans, survive her. Martha graduated from Sweet Briar

College in 1976 and from Mississippi State in 1980 with an

M.S. in ornithology. Her first job was in a cubbyhole in the

attic of the Natural History Museum, the Bird Division of the

Smithsonian, staffing the first two editions of the million-

selling National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North

America. An adventuresome soul, Martha smoked cigars in

swamps to repel mosquitoes, made lifelong friends in Buenos

Aires, taught children and studied Puffins for the Quebec-

Labrador Foundation, protected Least Terns on Gulf of Mexico

beaches, camped in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and

worked the Galapagos Islands for World Wildlife Fund, all

while keeping an African-Grey parrot named Baroot in her

kitchen.

Martha lived in Georgetown and drove a 1971 Robin's-egg-

blue Volvo P1800E when she met Jim, the youngest congressman

in the U.S., who proposed at a White House Christmas party.

Part Audrey Hepburn, Ali MacGraw, and Penelope Cruz, Martha

was wary of politics until she lived in Shelbyville with

Jim's mother for a few months in 1984 to manage Jim's first

re-election campaign. The experiment worked. They married on

April 6, 1985, followed by the birth of Mary Argentine in

1990, John James Audubon in 1991, and Hayes Hightower in

1995. Martha loved Mardi Gras, Galatoires (``the big G''),

hurricanes and snow, peonies, Little Cayman Island, Ernie

Banks, homemade popovers, Radnor Lake, friends in the Query

and Centennial Clubs, Aretha Franklin and Paul McCartney,

Standard Poodles (Ruby, Sirius Black, and Romeo), Cicadas,

golf, City House's belly-ham pizza, families of Crows, Prince

Charles, her Cardinal-red 2003 Mini-Cooper, and the

Hermitage, serving as Regent of the Ladies' Hermitage

Association. Her favorite president was Barack Obama;

favorite bird: Upupa Epops.

Martha's charm and optimism were heroic, eclipsing her

illness. She ALWAYS smiled and said thank you. She loved car

travel; on bumpy roads she'd say ``this makes me wiggle.'' In

recent years, she drew wobbly hearts on everything . . . with

a Sharpie when she could find one.

The family is grateful to Martha's main caregiver, Sandy

Mathers, her friend of 25 years, as well as newer friends,

Heather Tavasti and Alyssa Action. The team at Alive Hospice

was godsent.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Coach Jerry C. Johnson, the basketball coach and athletic director at the historically Black Lemoyne-Owen College, who coached the Magicians to Memphis' only NCAA Championship title in 1975 and died Sunday at the age of 102. Coach Johnson won 821 games over 46 seasons at LeMoyne- Owen, where he also coached swimming and track and field, and taught health and physical education courses. Many of the students he coached and mentored went on to illustrious national recognition, including eight who became NBA players. Coach Johnson, who came to the college in 1958, was the first Black basketball coach to win a Division III national title and LeMoyne-Owen was the first Historically Black College and University to win that recognition. The LeMoyne-Owen Magicians remain the only men's college basketball program in Tennessee, and the only sports program in the city of Memphis, to win an NCAA championship. In my own interactions with Coach Johnson, I was always impressed with his quiet demeanor and self-effacing attitude, even though he was as much a star in the Memphis basketball world as anyone. Off the court, he was just a good man, caring about people in a quiet and compassionate manner, reaching out to help players, former players, and students without regard to their athletic ability or gender. He offered a helping hand and his heart reached so many. Known as strict but fair, Coach Johnson, an Oklahoma native, had an unusual connection to the game of basketball: he learned it from Hall of Famer John McClendon, the former Cleveland State coach who served as the first Black coach of a professional sports team, and McClendon learned the game from James Naismith, the inventor of the modem game of basketball. Coach Johnson was the focus of a

newly released independent documentary, ``1st Forgotten Champions,'' which was directed by Memphian Morreco Coleman and covered the 1975 Division III NCAA championship. The documentary recently premiered in California, Nashville and Memphis. Johnson was a member of the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, the Fayetteville State University Athletics Hall of Fame and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. I extend my profound condolences to his son, Jerry Jr.; his daughter, Wandra Haywood and her husband, Samuel, of Gainesville, Florida; his six grandchildren; and his seven great-grandchildren. Coach Johnson will be remembered as a gentle giant and a gentleman. He led an exemplary life.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to bid a reluctant farewell to Terri Lee Freeman, who for the past six years has served as President of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. Ms. Freeman has done an exceptional job leading the nation's premiere Civil Rights museum, located in the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. During her tenure, Ms. Freeman organized the 50th anniversary of that seminal event in American history--``MLK50--Where Do We Go From Here?''--featuring such national figures as our late Congressional colleague, John Lewis; the Reverend Jesse Jackson, former Polish President and 1983 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa; the Reverend William Barber of the Poor People's Campaign, and many others who traveled from around the world to spend time in our showcase institution. In her six years, she saw the museum's budget double to $9.7 million while overseeing a staff of 50 and an increased physical footprint. She also helped affiliate the museum with the Smithsonian Institution and its traveling exhibits. Also while at the museum, she began ``Unpacking Racism in Action,'' a series of community dialogues aimed at confronting implicit and structural bias. Last year, she was named ``Memphian of the Year'' by Memphis Magazine. Before moving to Memphis, she was president of what is now the Greater Washington Community Foundation. In her 18 years with that organization, she increased the organization's assets from $52 million in 1996 to more than $350 million in 2014. A proven leader, Ms. Freeman was a 2016 graduate of Leadership Memphis and served on the boards of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, the New Memphis Institute and the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as being a member of the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition Steering Committee. Born in Chicago, Ms. Freeman is a graduate of Hamtramck High School (1977) and the University of Dayton (1981 through 1983) and received a Master's degree in organizational communications from Howard University. Ms. Freeman is married to Dr. Bowyer G. Freeman, senior pastor of the New Saint Mark Baptist Church in Baltimore, and the mother of three grown daughters. I wish Ms. Freeman every success in her new post as executive director of the Reginald Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore. I'm pleased to read that Ms. Freeman will always consider herself an ``adopted child'' of our city where her work and dedication will remain her lasting legacy.

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

After President Trump was not impeached, Susan Collins said he has learned a pretty big lesson; he was impeached.

Then he brought his ``It will be wild,'' riotous television show that he produced for one person, individual one.

Intelligence reports indicate that the people he said he loves and are special are going to attack this city and attack this Capitol next week. He has not asked them not to do it. He has not told them to stand down. I most fear January 20 because I think he will try to go out with a bang.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Last Wednesday, I came to these hallowed Halls where I serve to watch the electoral college ratify and certify the election of Joe Biden in what was a fair, transparent election, which 61 courts had looked into, and all said it was fine. I was sitting right up there in the gallery when a Capitol Policeman came in and said: We are locking the doors. We are locking the doors.

And within only minutes of that, I heard the rabble knocking on the door, trying to knock it down. We were then told to put on our gas masks and to evacuate, and we all did it.

This was an assault on the Constitution, an assault on Congress. It was a felonious assault. It was an attempt to murder the Congress and our processes to elect our President of the United States. It is the political equivalent of shooting somebody on Fifth Avenue and getting away with it.

Somebody needs to stand up to that, and the 25th Amendment is one way to do it, whether Republicans can purge themselves of their own creation who has damaged this country.

I ask us to pass this resolution, bring this country together, and get rid of this cancer.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of Representative Lieu's Inspector General Protection Act.

The inspector general system has been invaluable in rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in our Federal programs, and sometimes even criminal activity. It has also instilled confidence in Federal agencies by ensuring accountability. That, however, doesn't mean the system is perfect.

Since the initial passage of the Inspector General Act of 1978, we have seen what works and what doesn't. We have added inspectors general and refined their processes.

On January 20, a new President will be sworn into office and a new administration will lead our Federal agencies. Before they begin, now is a good time to update some of our inspector general requirements.

This bill makes important improvements by requiring disclosure to Congress when an IG is put on nonduty status and why a President has not nominated a permanent IG for a vacant position. These updates are necessary, and we must also do more.

Last Congress, I introduced the Appointments Clause Enforcement Act. That bill included several important changes to the IG system that would help make inspectors general more independent and instill confidence in them.

For example, rather than the President appointing an acting IG when a position is vacant, my bill would have the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency develop a list of qualified candidates and share those with the chief judge of the district court in the District of Columbia, who would make the appointment. That way, a President could not install political allies as acting inspectors general, even ones who didn't receive the advice and consent of the Senate, as a way to reduce oversight.

We should also clarify provisions to make sure that IGs forward legitimate whistleblower complaints to Congress without political interference and that those whistleblowers are protected from political retribution.

I thank Representative Lieu for sponsoring the Inspector General Protection Act and Speaker Pelosi for bringing it to the floor as one of our first bills.

I hope that this is the beginning of the 117th Congress' efforts to improve the inspector general system that works to improve our Federal Government's systems of administration and protects policies that are important for transparency and integrity of government.

Mr. Speaker, I join in supporting this resolution. I felt that we should have had a stronger resolution that censured the President, H. Res. 490, because the conduct that has been charged is beneath the Office of the President. He should not disparage people and suggest they go back to where they were born.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx, and her parents were born in Puerto Rico. Mr. Trump should know that Puerto Rico is the United States of America.

From references to Haiti and African countries as ``-hole'' countries to the ``fine people on both sides'' in Charlottesville with neo-Nazis and Klansmen there, he has gone out of his way to find opportunities to besmirch Hispanic Americans, people of Mexican descent, African Americans, and African countries. This is wrong and beneath the Office of the President.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Robert J. Gilliland, the first man to fly the world's fastest supersonic manned aircraft--the SR-71 Blackbird--who died on Independence Day last week at the age of 93. Mr. Gilliland, a native of Memphis, attended what is now the Campus School at the University of Memphis and the Webb School at Bell Buckle, Tennessee. He was a 1949 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he took his commission in the newly created U.S. Air Force. After patrolling the skies over post-war Germany, he won his air wing's ``top gun'' competition. In the Korean War, he flew F-84s from the Taegu Air Base with the call sign ``Dutch 51.'' Returning to the United States, Mr. Gilliland got a plum assignment to the Air Force's research and development group at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, but soon left that post to help his father run the family's Memphis commercial real estate business. After his father died, Mr. Gilliland joined Lockheed as a test pilot for the F-104 Starfighter in California, then as chief pilot for the European production of the F- 104 at Turin, Italy. In 1962, he got a call from Clarence L. ``Kelly'' Johnson, the chief of Lockheed's advanced research and development team at what is called the Skunk Works outside Burbank, California. There, he worked on the secretive SR-71 Blackbird, the first manned stealth aircraft and the fastest of its day, sometimes at the super-secret Area 51 in the Nevada desert. On December 22, 1964, he piloted the hypersonic SR-71 for the first time and continued testing an aircraft that could attain speeds in excess of Mach 3.2 and climb to the edge of outer space at 85,000 feet. Mr. Gilliland logged more test flight hours at or above Mach 3 than any other pilot. His life is the subject of a book due for release next year with a forward by Captain Chesley ``Sully'' Sullenberger, who landed a U.S. Airways flight on the Hudson River in 2009. I want to extend my condolences to Mr. Gilliland's daughter Anne Gilliland Hayes and her husband Richard; to his son Robert J. Gilliland Jr. and his wife Kim; to his grandchildren Laura, Nathaniel, Stuart, Scott and Heather; and to his brother, my friend James S. Gilliland and his wife Lucia. Service was a family quality that was instilled in Mr. Gilliland and he was a true hero whose bravery was repeatedly demonstrated in the harshest possible circumstances. He was the embodiment of the Air Force motto, ``Aim High, Fly-Fight-Win.'' The nation owes him a debt of gratitude for an American life well lived.