Dwight Evans

Mr. EVANS

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, coming behind the gentleman from Mississippi, we have someone who knows a little bit about weaponry. She herself has a background. She was the police chief in Orlando. And since she and I are in the same class, I have learned a lot from her. And coming behind the gentleman from Mississippi, who laid some things out here, is someone who has run a police department, and she couldn't be a better person for us to have come. I yield to the gentlewoman from the State of Florida (Mrs. Demings), from the 10th District.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague from Florida a question, since she talked about her law enforcement background. And she is correct, Congress is to make laws. This Presidential administration talks about being law and order. Is he really law and order and on the side of the police if this is happening and running amok? I mean, if you were police chief and you had that responsibility of protecting people--and we in Congress, as was stated by the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, the moments of silence. If you were on the front line again, you were out there, and you still know a lot of the people who are part of the police departments, how do you think the police departments feel when they are outgunned and the challenges that they have? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have someone who, when I came here, I said I have to meet her. She is a very dynamic person. She is the Honorable Barbara Lee from the 13th Congressional District of California, and I yield to the gentlewoman.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I think showing those pictures, if anything, should get our point across. I hope that those pictures will send a message to all of us. Closing out tonight--and I think all our colleagues really just summed up this gun violence issue--is someone who, again, I have known well and admired, the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee from the 18th District of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. EVANS

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I stand here representing the Congressional Black Caucus and our chairman, Cedric Richmond, who has initiated this particular Special Order for the Congressional Black Caucus to have this opportunity to speak to the issues specifically connected to the African-American community. As a result of the chairman's leadership, we have laid out an agenda that we think is very appropriate to lay out. We think it is important that all of our constituents, particularly all Americans, recognize that the Congressional Black Caucus has solutions. There is a document here that was put together under the leadership of Chairman Richmond. When the President stated sometime in August of 2016: ``What do you have to lose?'' the chairman came up with the idea of a document that we would lay out, ``We Have a Lot to Lose: Solutions to Advance Black Families in the 21st Century.'' Over this next year or so, we will be talking about solutions relating to African-American communities. We think that African- American communities, like all Americans, should recognize that there are solutions to some of these challenges. With the President giving his speech last week on the state of the Union, the topic that we will talk about today is economic justice in the Black community. The topic, again, is economic justice in the Black community. First, I thank my wonderful colleagues for joining me here today to speak about economic justice in the Black community, an important topic to us all. The Black community has a lot to lose under the current administration. The racial wealth gap is widening. The GOP tax cut bill will not help, especially when the Speaker of the House tweets about a $1.50 increase and actually believes that this is a fair solution to our Nation's problems. Costco membership for the middle class and others in need, new yachts and Gulfstreams for millionaires and billionaires--that is just not right. We are in the business of doing no harm. To add to this, the President stands up and brags that the unemployment rate for Blacks is at the lowest, even while the unemployment rate for Black Americans actually went up a whole percent last month according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We did not hear from the President on that. You can't take credit for the good, but not accept the bad. It is all about accountability and credibility, Mr. Speaker. There is nothing to brag about. To gain wealth comparison to White high school dropouts, Black people have to complete high school and some college, which is a very sad fact. This means that Black Americans need to invest more resources and time to achieve the same resources as White citizens, to make the same level of investments. Generally, the typical Black American has little room for error. The demands placed on Black families to generate income while navigating the problems that always arise are numbing. Black Americans have levels of net worth that are one-tenth the net worth of White Americans. Black Americans have only 8 percent of their wealth in businesses. Research shows that Black entrepreneurs have higher wealth levels and higher levels of wealth mobility than the Black nonentrepreneur. The lack of wealth makes it harder to start and maintain a business. According to data from various reports, including the Census Bureau, the Federal Reserve's survey of small businesses, and the Kauffman Foundation, Black-owned businesses are more reliant on their own investment in their businesses because access to capital from external sources is too difficult to obtain. To give you some context of what is at stake in our neighborhoods nationwide, I represent a district with a poverty rate of 26 percent. That means 196,000 people in my district are at the poverty level. We know that one of the best solutions to addressing poverty is quality of jobs. Let me repeat that, Mr. Speaker. We know that one of the best solutions to addressing poverty is the quality of jobs. The President and his administration talk a big game about creating jobs and lowering unemployment, but we all know too well that this is not the reality in our neighborhoods nationwide. A 2015 CFPB report found that 15 percent of Black Americans are credit invisible, meaning that they have no or limited credit. Black Americans have higher levels of student debt, on average. Forty percent of Black Americans between 25 and 55 hold student loan debt. Black Americans have higher levels of those debt loads, holding an average of $43,725. Let me repeat that. They have an average of $43,725 in student debt, compared to an average of $31,367 for Whites. Our Historically Black Colleges and Universities must be capable of delivering a world-class education and continuing to attract top-notch students. Let's talk about the solutions to economic injustice. Let's talk about the solutions. In this document, we talk about the solutions. For example, don't cut taxes for the superrich while others are struggling to make ends meet. Adopt a fair Tax Code that doesn't pick winners or losers. Work to implement the Congressional Black Caucus 10-20-30 formula all across all agencies. This bold and innovative idea would require Federal agencies to commit 10 percent of their budget to the 485 counties where 20 percent or more of the population have been living below poverty lines for 30 years. We should also address food insecurity by providing access to healthy, affordable food. Mr. Speaker, more than 30 million Americans live more than a mile from the nearest grocery store. Let's be clear: our food policy is our foreign policy. Our food policy is our foreign policy. When America helps with food and development aid around the world, it sends a signal that we are leaders in the global campaign to help end hunger. In addition, as a member of the Small Business Committee and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access, it is critical that we support and expand small business and entrepreneurship opportunities. One of the things the President can do is increase the budget of the Minority Business Development Agency instead of slashing its budget, as it did last year. That is one of the solutions that we have in this document. We can also increase the Small Business Administration's budget, while ensuring the Small Business Development Centers are capable of providing assistance expanding the SBA 7(a) Microloan program, which would give small businesses $50,000 to start or grow their firms, a capital fusion that can help individuals who have ideas and a dream but no cash. Mr. Speaker, every day, graduates of our fine universities in Pennsylvania go to work but still find themselves behind or just keeping up with their student loans. This is an opportunity to show support for entrepreneurs by forgiving part of the student loan debt in terms of entrepreneurs. The President should also make new markets tax credits permanent. He should also condition the fintech charters of compliance with truth in lending and equal credit access, using a template similar to that in the Community Reinvestment Act. He should set up the 21st Century Technology Fund and reauthorize the improvement of the Community Development Block Grant program. Mr. Speaker, the chairman, whom I will later introduce, presented this document to the President, along with the executive branch. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), someone whom I have known for an awful long time. He knows a lot about economic development. I know that he has led the effort on business development.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would continue to yield to the gentleman for an answer to a question. I am going to--since he is from the great State of New Jersey--say that I heard the President in his State of the Union address last week. And this topic is about economic justice in the Black community, and I think Mr. Payne did an excellent job in laying out very specifically on the issue about the need for increase of the minimum wage. I yield to Mr. Payne so he can speak to that a little bit and talk about how he thinks that would provide economic justice, particularly in the Black community. I was, as a matter of fact, sitting right next to Mr. Payne. I don't think I heard the President speak anything about the minimum wage. Did I miss something? I just want to know if I missed something that he was speaking on.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate Mr. Payne's comments because what I am hearing Mr. Payne say is we should give people a raise. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Mr. Payne for any additional comments he would like to make.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Payne very much for his comments. Someone who is from a great State that has done--was a mayor in a State that manufactured and did a huge opportunity in creating wealth, I couldn't think of a better person to speak about this subject: economic justice in the Black community. She knows a lot about this issue. She has been hands-on about it. She has been in the forefront. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the congresswoman from Michigan (Mrs. Lawrence), a great colleague from the 14th Congressional District.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to do a colloquy with my colleague on something that really got my attention; what she said about that chain. I would like her to talk about that chain, what that means in real life and what it means when it is not functioning. What happens when that chain is not strong?

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. I greatly appreciate it. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Richmond), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who is really not a stranger to this topic of economic justice in the Black community. He has been leading this caucus for the last year and he has been very consistent about the need to address economic justice. He understands, from his perspective, from the caucus perspective, the importance that the best poverty buster is economic justice.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentlewoman may have heard our colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) talk a little bit about the minimum wage and raising the minimum wage. How would she see that aspect of raising the minimum wage being a part of strengthening that chain?

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on something that the gentleman said that sort of registers. He says this April it will be 50 years since Dr. King's assassination. I am interested in the gentleman's perspective as he looks at that 50 years. And the gentleman and I both have this honor of sitting in this great House and what it means. But that economic justice aspect, as the gentleman looks back and thinks about--and I am glad he brought up the issue about fighting for the sanitation workers and what Dr. King was doing. So if the gentleman is looking back and looking where we are today, speak to a little bit of where he thinks we are, because just last Tuesday we sat in this House and we heard the President give the State of the Union. The gentleman heard what the President said in his State of the Union, and we know about Dr. King, that issue about economic justice in the Black community. If the gentleman had to measure it, where are we? I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, if I could ask the gentleman another question, because this issue of economic justice in the Black community is what I view as probably the issue, because we heard our colleagues from Michigan and New Jersey talk about that gap that exists. There is somebody out there listening to you or listening to us tonight, and if you turn around and you are speaking to them, what sense of hope can you give to them that you see some way of addressing this economic justice? Is there something specifically that you can say to them that gives a little sense of optimism about that growing gap? I mean, I ride in cabs and all, and they wonder if there is a fundamental difference. So I ask the gentleman, as the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, all 48, 49 of us, as you think about it and you have been here, what can you say to them about this economic justice issue that we have today? I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I say to the gentleman that I really have enjoyed this topic. I guess it is a topic that, like in his district and my district, it always comes down to about the Benjamins and always comes down to what exactly--I liked his analysis about the rules, that he started out relating to football games or whatever sport it is, there are some rules. I do think some people really wonder, from an economic justice standpoint, how they fit into this particular situation. I guess the point is does the gentleman have any sense that you think--and you visit with the President--to your knowledge, that: ``You have got a fine document; I strongly support it, the solutions that are addressed.'' Does the gentleman sense from either him or his administration that they are going to take up anything that you see there in terms of discussion? I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his knowledge and his information, and I hope that it has been very helpful on this subject of economic justice in the Black community. Mr. Speaker, in terms of the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order, I want to yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EVANS

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the great State of Georgia for introducing me and for this opportunity to talk about an important Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, and the importance of our unions. Our unions give us much to celebrate in our neighborhoods nationwide. As we know all too well, this case stands to destabilize collective bargaining rights within the public sector. This is clearly an attack on freedom and liberties of hardworking Americans. We are in the business of doing no harm. That is what we should be. All that this case aims to do is take away the rights of the ability of hardworking Americans to have a strong voice in their workplace. That is just not right. Next month, the Supreme Court will hear the oral arguments in this case to determine whether fair share fees violate the First Amendment rights of workers. When it comes to this case, a negative decision for our unions nationwide would take us in the wrong direction. Across the country, more than half of African-American workers and nearly 60 percent of Latino workers are paid less than $15 per hour. Union jobs have historically been, and continue to be, a path to the middle class for people of color, who often face low-wage jobs. African-American union members today earn 14.7 percent more and Latino workers earn 21.8 percent more than their nonunion counterparts. In some sections, the difference is even greater. African-American women in unions earn an average of $21.90 an hour, while nonunion workers earn $17.04. In addition, there are more than 72 percent of women in unions who have health insurance, while less than 50 percent of nonunion African- American women do not. Our unions are a key road to our growing middle class, especially for women and communities of color. Nationwide, our unions continue to be on the frontline of fighting for higher pay, fair wages, safer working conditions, and better hours to provide for themselves and their families. I will continue to stand on the frontline of protecting rights for all hardworking Americans. It is up to us to lift up unions in all of our communities. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for leading this caucus in this need.

Mr. EVANS

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an inspirational and dedicated woman from Northwest Philadelphia, Mary Yergan Hughes, a children's librarian and volunteer. Mrs. Hughes was born in Alice, South Africa to missionary parents. Her father was an advocate for black civil rights in Africa. She later moved to Massachusetts and enrolled in Northfield Mount Hermon, a preparatory school, in which she served as the president of the student council and was one of a few African American students in her school. For college, she was part of the first group of African American women to attend Wellesley College. After her junior year, she contracted tuberculosis and had to leave school in order to recover. After three years of recovery, she finished her undergraduate degree at Columbia University. She married Dr. Hughes and had two daughters. Mrs. Hughes went back to school and received her master's degree in library science from Drexel University which led her to become a children's librarian in Philadelphia's Northwest Regional Library. She loved reading to the neighborhood children during after-school story hours and inspired so many children to have a love for learning and reading. Ever since Mrs. Hughes became an adult, she would volunteer. She was a Platinum Alumna member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Links, Inc., a service organization of distinguished women whose goal is to enrich and sustain the culture of African Americans and others of African ancestry. She was also a president during one of its National Assemblies. Some other organizations she was president of include: the Philadelphia chapter of the Circle-Lets, Inc., a social organization for black women, and Boule wives, the women's arm of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. Mrs. Hughes was part of our Philadelphia community in many ways. She was a member of the Germantown Cricket Club where she loved to participate in tournaments. She loved to play tennis. She was also a half-century member and elder at Summit Presbyterian Church in Mount Airy. Mrs. Hughes devoted her life to engaging and helping her community. The 2nd Congressional District of Pennsylvania extends gratitude to Mrs. Hughes for all that she has done for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Mr. EVANS

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. EVANS

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne). Congressman Donald Payne is a neighbor across the Walt Whitman Bridge or the Ben Franklin Bridge. I have known him and his father, and he has done a great job in the Garden State.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say to the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, I appreciate this honor and this opportunity, as well as all the other Members, for giving me this opportunity to kick off the second session of the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hours. General Leave

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks, including any extraneous material, on the subject of this order.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues, as I said earlier, for this opportunity. This is truly an opportunity for a young man who comes from the city of Philadelphia, who grew up in the streets of Philadelphia, and who had the opportunity to be a product of the public school system, a product of community college and La Salle University, standing here today in the seat with many of my predecessors, five African Americans from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, starting off with Robert N.C. Nix. Our theme tonight is the history of the CBC and the legacy of Martin Luther King. Next week we begin the celebration of the birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. King was not only a great man but a great patriot, who loved America and the ideas of the underpinning of our democracy. To kick off our discussion, I want to open up with two Dr. King comments that really capture our current political climate and what is at stake. The first quote is: ``We may have come over here on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now.'' Dr. King. The second quote is: ``Of all forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.'' Dr. Martin Luther King. When we think about this great Nation and our leaders before us like Dr. King, who came together to lay a framework for equal pay, fair wages, healthcare, equality in housing, so much more we are reminded of what is at stake and how much we have to lose in this current political climate. We have a lot to lose under the current administration's destructive policies. Dr. King would be greatly disappointed at many things going on in this country right now that affects all of our communities. We are in the business of doing no harm, but we must continue to fight to show results and solutions to help move our neighborhoods forward. Dr. King fought to move our neighborhoods forward when the odds were stacked against him. There are many examples of his life, legacy, and lasting impact in the city of Philadelphia, which is in the Second Congressional District. Take, for example, the Dr. King memorial and mural at 40th and Lancaster Avenue--he had a rally of 10,000 people when Dr. King was there--and the yearly luncheon that the late C. Delores Tucker sponsored in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. It is important to recognize his connection to Pennsylvania and the divinity school in Chester in Delaware County. Dr. King came many times to the city of Philadelphia and to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He had a huge influence on a lot of us. On this April 4, 50 years later, when I was in junior high school, entering high school in 1968, he had a huge affect on me. He was someone who walked with kings and queens. He demonstrated to all of us with that message of peace. He was relentless in terms of standing up for freedom and justice. He showed all of us what it is to be a leader. You will hear, over the next 60 minutes, a number of my colleagues who have all either directly or indirectly been connected with Dr. Martin Luther King and what he has meant. We need to conduct this as a large teach-in. That is what this should be. This should be a teach-in so we can share with everybody in this country what Dr. King was about and the importance. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Richmond), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.