Al Green

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 107.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. I rise with a message related to the month. This is, indeed, Black History Month. But I rise with a message that goes far beyond this month, a message that carries with it a moral imperative to do certain things that are on the conscience agenda. Today, I will first thank the leadership for allowing me to have this time, this privilege to come to the floor and speak on these issues. I am grateful to the leadership on both sides of the aisle. I am grateful because it is a rare privilege that one is accorded when one can stand in the well of the Congress and literally speak to the world. Each time I do it, Mr. Speaker, I ask myself, could you have ever imagined this happening to you? And the answer is always the same. Never. So I don't take for granted this privilege that I have, and I am honored to stand here and represent the 9th Congressional District of Texas, but as a United States Congressman, I do represent everyone in the country because my votes impact the entirety of the Nation. Today, Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk about several issues that are our moral imperative. These issues will include, first, August 20 as an annual day wherein we will recognize slavery remembrance. We want to inculcate this into the fiber and fabric of our country. Slavery Remembrance Day is important because it is unlike any other day. There are many holidays in this country, and I recognize them, I have no quarrel with them, but in this country we have certain days that are set aside for us to remember certain events, certain events that have been similar moments in time: 9/11, a similar moment in time, a day to be remembered; Pearl Harbor, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, a similar moment in time, a day to be remembered; The Holocaust, a similar moment in time that has impacted the rest of time, should be remembered. All of these are remembrance days, days that we have set aside in this country to remember. Well, August 20, 1619, the White Lion landed--docked, if you will--at Point Comfort, and the White Lion had on it 20 persons of African ancestry, 20 people who were traded. They traded cargo. They had other things that were desired by the colonists, and they traded, they exchanged these things, but they also had 20 people that were exchanged for goods that they desired. These 20 people became the persons that we know as slaves, slaves who were among the first, if not the first, in this country. There may be some debate about some other circumstance, but generally speaking, August 20, 1619, is acknowledged as the date that slavery had its ugly face shown in our country. August 20, 1619, 20 people, human beings treated like cattle called chattels. Treated like cattle called chattels, chattel slavery. We want to commemorate their lives and all of the millions of lives that followed, commemorate their lives, and commemorate their contributions to the success of this country. America is a great country, but it is great because of these humble hands. There were others who contributed to the greatness, and they have been acknowledged, and many are going to be acknowledged, but the humble hands of slaves have not been properly acknowledged for what they have done to make America the great nation that it is. These humble hands helped to construct this Capitol. They helped to raise the Statue of Freedom that is on top of the Capitol. These humble hands helped to build roads and bridges. They planted the crops. They harvested. They literally were the means by which the Nation was fed. These persons were worked, some of them, for their entire lives without remuneration, without compensation. They were kept alive. They were given clothing; they were given food; they were given the necessities of life only such that many of them could continue to slave their lives away. We don't recognize them for what they have done for this country. The truth is, we revile them. We revile the slaves, those who were enslaved to be more appropriate. We revile them and we revere the enslavers. Confederate soldiers have been revered across the length and breadth of this country. Confederate soldiers who fought to maintain slavery have been honored and celebrated and appreciated. Confederate soldiers who took the lives of many people, many of whom were not slaves, in the Civil War. Confederate soldiers have been honored, celebrated, and appreciated, but not so with the enslaved persons who are the foundational mothers and fathers and children of this country. They haven't been properly recognized. I mentioned that the Confederate soldiers have been lionized by having their names placed on schools and statues around the country. There is no statue honoring Nat Turner, no statue that I know of; there may be one or two someplace that is unknown to me. Those who fought to liberate the slaves have been demonized. I remember well what I was taught when I was in grade school, how Nat Turner was a bad man. Nat Turner was a liberator. How John Brown was crazy; he was a White man who was a liberator. We have been taught to demonize the liberators, lionize those who would maintain slavery, and literally overlook, marginalize--literally try as best as we can to reshape history as it relates to those who were enslaved. Here is how far we have gone with this. In 1956, this Congress, the Congress of the United States of America accorded a Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers. The Congress of the United States of America honored Confederate soldiers. Never has this Congress bestowed any honor on the enslaved. It is almost impossible for people of good will to comprehend that such a thing occurred and is still occurring because we still have places around the country where Confederate soldiers are being lionized, but the slaves have not been recognized. No recognition, appreciable recognition for the slaves, the people who helped build the country, foundational mothers and fathers of the country, born into slavery. Babies were slaves, for edification purposes. Babies. Babies were slaves. If you were born the child of a slave, you were a slave at birth. You lived your entire life as a slave. You died as a slave. At some point this wrong has to be addressed. I believe that it should be addressed by according the slaves, the persons who were enslaved--they didn't place themselves in this condition--I believe that it should be addressed by according them a Congressional Gold Medal just as we accorded the Confederate soldiers who sought to maintain slavery a Congressional Gold Medal. That is not asking too much of the country. In this Congress, we are going to give Congressional Gold Medals to people. Yes, last Congress we did. Why can't we give a Congressional Gold Medal to those who were enslaved? Oh, because that happened centuries ago. Because they are no longer with us. Well, we have accorded Congressional Gold Medals posthumously. This would not be the first time. We have done it for the code talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen, the soldiers who died in Afghanistan. We have done it. The question is, do we have the decency to do for the people who helped build this country what we have done for so many others? Do we have the decency? I believe that we can and we should do this. It would be historic but it would be meaningful to a good many people. It would say that we respect those people. We regret what happened to them but we respect them and we respect them enough to recognize their lives, not just the work, not the building of the country, but their lives that were sacrificed. I believe it can be done. I believe it should be done. And I'm not alone in my belief. We opened the letter up and started circulating it today. I will read the names of the persons who have similar beliefs. These are persons who are already on as original cosponsors and we will close the opportunity at the end of Black History Month. It is open now to everyone this Black History Month. This is a piece of Black history, a seminal piece of Black history. I will tell you who agrees that a Congressional Gold Medal ought to be accorded to persons whose lives were sacrificed to make America the great country it is. First on the list is the Honorable Maxine Waters; the Honorable Bennie Thompson, the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, the Honorable Danny Davis, the Honorable Jim McGovern. For fear that someone may just be tuning in or starting to follow what we are doing, I am announcing the names of persons who have allowed their names to be associated with the Congressional Gold Medal legislation that we will be filing at the end of this Black History Month. I will continue with the names: The Honorable Brad Sherman, the Honorable Barbara Lee, the Honorable Emanuel Cleaver, the Honorable Yvette Clarke, the Honorable Hank Johnson, the Honorable Gerry Connolly, the Honorable Kweisi Mfume, the Honorable David Cicilline, the Honorable Joaquin Castro, the Honorable Mark Veasey, the Honorable Pete Aguilar, the Honorable Ted Lieu, the Honorable Adriano Espaillat, the Honorable Colin Allred, the Honorable Lizzie Fletcher, the Honorable Sylvia Garcia, the Honorable Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Honorable Ilhan Omar, the Honorable Ayanna Pressley, the Honorable Troy Carter, the Honorable Greg Casar, the Honorable Jasmine Crockett, the Honorable Bonnie Watson Coleman. I trust that there would be more names that I would be permitted to announce at a future point in time. Remember, historic legislation, original cosponsorship closes at the end of Black History Month, the last day. It will close at the end of this month. This legislation is designed to be brought to the attention of the House this month. So we will close it and we will file it on the last day of this month. I believe that should we do this, and we should, if we do this, I believe that it will make a difference in the lives of all people in this country, because I think that in large part, the reason we had a person of African ancestry assaulted by other persons of African ancestry who are a part of the constabulary, police officers, is because there is little respect for Black lives. Not as much respect for Black lives. We say all lives matter. If we say that, then we have to say Black lives matter. You can't say all lives matter and not say Black lives matter. They do. I do not believe that if that young man had been of European ancestry, what we would call an Anglo or White, whichever you prefer-- I, quite frankly, don't like saying White--but if he had been an Anglo, a person of European ancestry, those officers wouldn't have behaved that way. They would not have disrespected his life to the extent that they disrespected that young man of African ancestry's life. We have got to respect Black lives. If you say they matter, then you respect them. And for further edification purposes, this is not the first time. If anybody thinks this is the last, you are mistaken. I want it to be the last. I don't want it to ever occur again, but it can and likely will because we don't respect Black lives to the same extent as many others, and we should. This will go a long way toward our saying to the world: Black lives ought to be respected. I believe that Black lives when properly respected will not be abused as was the case with that young man. What they did to him is unthinkable. I would say unforgivable but my religious teachings don't allow me to say that. I would say it but we forgive according to my religiosity. We forgive. But I assure you, it is the kind of thing you never forget. I have memory for a reason, to remember so that I can shape the future. Black lives do matter, and I would like to think that we can pass this first thing on our list on this conscience agenda, the inculcating of August 20 annually as Slavery Remembrance Day. I will move on to the next item on the list. All of these items are important. Some would say that some items are more important than the others but they are all important. By the way, there are many more things that will be added to this list. This is not exhaustive of the things that are a moral imperative for this conscience agenda. I have talked about the August 20 as Slavery Remembrance Day and I talked about awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved. The third item that I have listed is removing the name of Richard Russell from the Russell Senate Office Building. Richard Russell was a self-proclaimed white supremacist. I don't go in the Russell Senate Office Building. I think I respect myself enough not to go in the Russell Senate Office Building. Others do what they may. And I assure you, if that office building had on it a name associated with the Third Reich, lots of other people wouldn't go in too. We would take that name off of that building. What Richard Russell did to people of color is not only sinful, it is so shameful as to not reward him with placing his name on a building paid for with tax dollars, maintained with tax dollars, knowing that people of color of necessity have to go in and out of the building. Do you have no respect for us? Do you not care how we feel about things? Is it just another thing that we will get around to when we feel like it? When things are harmful to us, our psyche, our well-being, can we not say when they should cease to exist? Do you have to always set the timetable for the people who suffer? What is wrong with the Senate? The United States Senate can change this. Take his name off. Richard Russell fought antilynching legislation. Richard Russell was the father of the Southern Manifesto. The man called himself a white supremacist. What is wrong with us? Why do we disrespect Black people to this extent? The Senate ought to immediately take it up, but it won't. This is Black History Month. It would be a great time to do it, but it won't. There are people hiding behind, ``Well, who do we name it after? Who do we honor? What name do you put on it?'' I am not asking you to put Nat Turner's name on it. I am not asking you to put John Brown's name on it. I am not asking you to put Dr. King's name on it, Rosa Parks' name on it, Harriet Tubman's. I am not asking you to put any name on it other than the name it had before it became the Russell Senate Office Building. That name was the Old Senate Office Building. Revert to the name it had, and then take all the time you desire, my dear brothers and sisters. Take as much time as God allows, ad infinitum. Go beyond the end of time if you so desire. Richard Russell's name won't be there ad infinitum. It won't be there beyond the end of time. We will have done more than the right thing. You can do the right thing. That would be a part of it, but we will do more than the right thing if we take his name off. We will have done the righteous thing, the righteous thing. His name ought not be there. Richard Russell, notorious bigot, notorious white supremacist, his name ought not be on that building. At some point in time, at some point along this infinite continuum that we call time, we all are going to have to account for our time. Those of you who had it within your power to change these things, you are going to have to account for your time. At some point on the infinite continuum, you will account for it. You will account for holding in your hands the ability to make righteous change and deciding that you will do it when you get good and ready and when it benefits you. You ought to be concerned about the people adversely impacted and how it would benefit them as opposed to how it would benefit you. The minister talked about the Good Samaritan today. The Good Samaritan didn't ask the question, ``What will happen to me if I cross over and help this person who has been beset upon by thieves?'' That wasn't the question. The Good Samaritan wanted to know, ``What will happen to him if I don't do it?'' Senate of the United States of America, ask what will happen to the many people who have to suffer knowing that there is a racist name on a Senate office building that is paid for with their tax dollars. If the tables were turned, and he insulted European Anglos to the same extent that he has insulted Black people, his name wouldn't be there. They would have removed it long ago. It is time for the name to come off the building. Let it revert to the Old Senate Office Building. The fourth thing on the agenda: Enacting the Securities and Exchange Atonement Act. Friends, our research has shown that financial institutions engaged in the slave trade--banks. Many of the big banks now had predecessor institutions, banks that literally, actually, made loans to people and allowed those loans to be secured with enslaved people, enslaved people treated like cattle, called chattels, like a piece of property, like you secure a loan now with a piece of property. They secured the loans with enslaved people and made money doing it. Insurance companies' predecessor institutions literally insured enslaved people just as you would insure cattle, a horse, a cow. They insured them and made money. They need to atone. They need to atone. Atonement has not been defined in the sense of ``do a specific thing.'' One institution has made an effort, but there has to be atonement. There has to be some sort of atonement for that. I assure you, if the tables were turned, if Anglos had been treated in the numbers and the same way, in a similar fashion to the way people of color were treated, Anglos would be demanding atonement. I assure you. It is not even debatable. You would. You would. By the way, I would be there with you. I would stand with you because it would be the righteous thing to do. I would stand with you if the tables were turned on any of these issues because it would be the righteous thing to do. I plan to proceed with this legislation. We will be filing it in this Congress. Finally: Establishing the department of reconciliation. We have not reconciled in this country. By the way, I am of the opinion that there are many people who just don't care. They don't care. But there are many others who do, who do. Those who care, people of good will, they know that we need to do more to reconcile. We need to cover this moral imperative. We have a Department of Education with Under Secretaries of Education; a Department of Labor, Under Secretaries of Labor; a Department of Commerce. Why, then, can we not have a department, a department of reconciliation; a department of reconciliation with a secretary of reconciliation and under secretaries, structured such that it will deal with the moral imperatives; a department of reconciliation such that at the end of the day, when one President leaves office and another comes in, the work of the department continues, just as the Department of Labor continues, the Department of Commerce continues? One President coming and leaving does not change the work of any of these departments. It is not going to be easy to complete the moral imperative, the conscience agenda. It is not going to be easy, but it is something that we must do. We are not going to change history. Those who desire to no longer teach what actually happened to people in this country--there are people in Texas now who would have slavery become ``involuntary relocation.'' That is true, ``involuntary relocation.'' Kidnapping? Involuntary relocation. Murder, rape? Involuntary relocation. Separating families at the auction block? Involuntary relocation. No, you are not going to change history. You are not. There are people who want to, under some specious theory that the people who want to teach history are somehow wanting to harm the country by telling the truth. Now, we are a country that believes in truth. We preach truth in this country. Somewhere it is written, ``You shall know truth, and the truth will set you free.'' There is a certain amount of freedom associated with actualizing, realizing, the truth. We have to know the truth. You are not going to be able to hide it. But there are people who would say that by teaching truth, we are going to harm the country. What about the people who suffered and still suffer as a result of the truth not being told? People have to know what happened. Black History Month is not nearly enough time to explain what happened. We pick out certain things that happened, certain meaningful moments in time, but that is not Black history. Black history is more than the civil rights movement. It really is. It is more than the history of Africans in the Americas. Yes, Black history is American history, but it is also world history. It is world history. Just as the history of others who are global, they have a global history, too. I remember, in my history book, there was an indication that the reason the nations or countries in Africa were not mentioned in world history was because they made little contribution to history. I had to grow up with that--little contribution to history. Friends--I say ``friends,'' and I am very sincere when I say it. I consider people friends who may not consider me a friend. Friends, or as Dr. King might say it, brothers and sisters, we must reconcile. We will not reconcile without some structured department, something that has no end in sight. The end would be when reconciliation is ultimately achieved. We need this department of reconciliation. The country needs it. It will benefit us all. It will make the country a better place. Not everybody wants it. Not everybody wants to see the change in the status quo. I know this is a very difficult thing for many people to embrace, and I am very much aware of what Voltaire called to our attention, and it impacts many people. He reminded us that it is dangerous to be right in affairs where established men are wrong. It is dangerous to be right. Many people, they understand that, and because they understand that, they avoid this. This is a righteous agenda. There is nothing on here that cannot be done and should not be done. Everything on here is a part of the righteous agenda. Nothing wrong with inculcating August 20 as Slavery Remembrance Day because of what happened to the slaves, just as we have a 9/11 remembrance, just as we have a Pearl Harbor remembrance, a Holocaust remembrance--by the way, all recognized by the Congress. That would be the House and Senate, Congress as the House and Senate, not just the House, all recognized. I do confess this, and I should have mentioned it earlier, but it is never too late to speak truth. The President of the United States has acknowledged August 20, has acknowledged Slavery Remembrance Day, the Honorable Joe Biden. The House passed this resolution, by the way. Many Members are not aware of it. We did pass a resolution honoring August 20. I don't know what the Senate will do, but I am at a point where I just believe we need to go on and commemorate the day. Just commemorate the day. Nobody gets paid. I am not asking does anybody get paid. Nobody should be paid. This is a day of commemoration, not celebration. No celebrations. I don't want the stores to give discounts, Slavery Remembrance Day discounts. That is not what this is about. This is sacred. This is not secular. This, August 20, nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with it. The President has acknowledged it. If I just may say so, the President, in his efforts to acknowledge that Black lives matter, and do so in a very positive way, the President appointed an African-American female to the Supreme Court of the United States of America, something that could have been done by many others but never achieved. He did it. Now, if anybody thinks I am going to forget that the President did something as significant as that--see, it may not be important to other people, but to me it is probably one of the most important things that he has done. I will be eternally grateful, and there are a lot of other people who will be equally as grateful. So, there is nothing wrong with this August 20 as Slavery Remembrance Day. Nothing wrong with according, giving, a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved people who built the country, laid the foundation for the economic success of the country. Nothing wrong with that. If we can do it for the Confederate soldiers, surely we can do it for the enslaved people born into slavery, lived as slaves, many of them, and died as slaves. Nothing wrong with removing the name of a self-proclaimed white supremacist from a building paid for with tax dollars. Nothing wrong with saying that these companies, mega companies, nothing wrong with saying that these mega companies which profited enormously from the slave trade--nothing wrong with saying they should atone. Good Christians understand atonement. People of good will understand atonement. All religions address atonement in some way. Nothing wrong with atonement. Wanting to reconcile? Having a department of reconciliation, how does that hurt a country wherein we see circumstances necessitating reconciliation, our moral imperative? Mr. Speaker, it is always an honor, it is a privilege, to have this freedom of speech. Freedom of speech may be the hallmark of our democracy. We don't have to agree. That is what freedom of speech is all about, freedom to say and not be persecuted for having said. I am grateful to have this opportunity to speak without fear of persecution. I could be wrong, but I am not afraid. I am not afraid, and I am grateful. I love my country. I try to conclude by saying this. I love my country. I salute the flag. Yes, I say the Pledge of Allegiance. I sing the national anthem. I stand when I sing it. I place my hand on my heart when I sing it. I place my hand on my heart when I say the Pledge of Allegiance. But I also defend those who choose not to. That is the greatness of America. The greatness of America is not in my standing and saluting and singing. The greatness is in allowing those who choose not to. That is the greatness of the country, that we can accept those who would not do what others do, those who would say, ``Look, I am not an automaton. I am not going to march in lockstep. I choose to take a different path.'' I defend their right to do so. I do so because I love my country. God bless you, Mr. Speaker. God bless the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. Today, I would like to thank the Speaker of the House, Speaker McCarthy, and the leadership on the Republican side as well as Minority Leader Jeffries and the leadership on the Democratic side for affording me this opportunity to be heard. And still I rise, Mr. Speaker, and I rise today because there are moments in time that impact the rest of time. January 27 of 1945 was such a time. January 27, 1945: It is said there are days that will live in infamy. This has to be at the top of the list of such days because today we will commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day because of an event that took place on January 27, 1945. Please allow me to share with you, Mr. Speaker, some information that I have from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. On January 27, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners who were mostly ill and dying. It is estimated, Mr. Speaker, that at minimum, 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945. Of these, at least 1.1 million people were murdered. One person who survived--whose name I shall not reveal but is available to me for those who might want to make a further inquiry-- indicated: ``So I was hiding out in the heap of dead bodies because in the last week when the crematoria didn't function at all, the bodies were just building up higher and higher.'' Another person indicated: ``And they said, `From now on you do not answer by your name. Your name is your number.' And the delusion, the disappointment, the discouragement that I felt, I felt like I was not a human person anymore.'' This is what happened to people at Auschwitz--human beings being reduced to numbers and sentenced to death, innocent people. Another article from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust in the U.K. indicates: 27 January 1945, liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. On 27 January 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated Auschwitz- Birkenau the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp. Mr. Speaker, many people focus on the concentration aspect of what happened there, and we should. But the horrific occurrence included extermination. This means in everyday language the murder of innocent people. This article goes on to indicate: ``When Soviet soldiers arrived, they found several thousand emaciated survivors and the smoldering remains of gas chambers and crematoria after the Nazis had attempted to destroy evidence of their crimes.'' An article from ``This Day in History'' on history.com indicates, on January 27, 1945, Auschwitz is liberated. ``On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland, freeing the survivors of the network of concentration camps--and finally revealing to the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there. ``Auschwitz was really a group of camps, designated I, II, and III. There were also 40 smaller `satellite' camps.'' This was a commercial operation, as it were, wherein there was a systemic means by which persons were being put to death. These are my words. Continuing with the words from the article: ``It was at Auschwitz II, at Birkenau, established in October 1941, that the SS created a complex, monstrously orchestrated killing ground: 300 prison barracks; 4 `bathhouses' in which prisoners were gassed; corpse cellars; and cremating ovens.'' Stepping aside for a moment, it seems that it is difficult for some people to believe what actually occurred. It is so horrific that some human minds refuse to accept what occurred. Now, there may be others who for reasons associated with malice aforethought have just decided they won't agree. But there are many people who just cannot, with their human mind, conceive of such a thing happening. I want to comment on something that I saw this morning on television and compliment Joe of ``Morning Joe.'' He went to Auschwitz, and he was reporting from Auschwitz. I compliment him because, too often, we don't allow the actual place where these things occurred, the venue, to be properly exposed to the public. I thank him for going there because he has inspired me to believe that this is a place that I have to add to my bucket list. I want to go and see for myself the facility that facilitated, with the hands of evil persons, the murder of millions of people. I want to see what actually happened in those facilities, actually see the facilities where these horrors occurred: 300 prison barracks, 4 bathhouses in which prisoners were gassed. ``Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical experiments.'' I have been to Yad Vashem in Israel. It breaks your heart. For many people, it is impossible to go there and not have tears well in your eyes. It is impossible to see the depictions of persons who were used as human guinea pigs, experimented on. It is impossible to see the horrors depicted and not leave feeling the sorrow and the hurt and the pain associated with knowing that human beings were tortured and experimented upon. Continuing on: ``Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical experiments overseen and performed by the camp doctor, Josef Mengele, the `angel of death.' . . . In anticipation of the Soviet arrival, SS officers began a murder spree in the camps, shooting sick prisoners'' in their efforts to destroy the evidence. No more ovens. If they couldn't get to them, just take your weapon and kill, kill sick people. Just kill to destroy the living evidence of the horrors and evils that were being perpetrated. `` . . . shooting sick prisoners and blowing up crematoria in a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence of their crimes. When the Red Army finally broke through, Soviet soldiers encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors. There were also six storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of women's dresses, men's suits, and shoes that Germans did not have time to burn.'' They valued the clothing. They valued the paraphernalia more than they valued the lives of the people. They saved the material things and destroyed the human beings. What kind of people were they? Evil is not a sufficient label for persons who would do such dastardly things. Mr. Speaker, in the United States, Days of Remembrance for Victims of the Holocaust were formalized when President Carter signed the establishing resolution. The Days of Remembrance will occur in April. President Carter signed the resolution. The resolution was signed for April 28 and April 29. It passed the House on April 17, 1978. It passed the Senate on April 25, 1978, and President Carter signed the resolution on September 18, 1978, the Holocaust Remembrance Day Resolution designating April 28 and 29, 1979, as days of remembrance of victims of the Holocaust. Here are words from the resolution: ``Whereas, 6 million Jews and millions of other people were murdered in concentration camps as part of a program of extermination carried out by the Nazi Party during World War II; ``Whereas, the people of the United States should recognize''--this is what the resolution said; I would add ``people of the world should recognize''--``that all acts of bigotry are rooted in the cruelty of spirit and the callousness that led the Nazis to commit atrocities against millions of people, and should dedicate themselves to the principle of human equality.'' Speaking aside for a moment, the world should recognize, not just the United States but the world, that those who tolerate bigotry perpetuate bigotry. The acceptance of bigotry, the toleration of bigotry, is the perpetuation of bigotry, and we should all devote ourselves to the principle of human equality. This is from our resolution, the dedication and devotion of ourselves to human equality. I am proud of the House of Representatives for passing this resolution. It continues: ``Whereas the people of the United States should recognize that tyranny creates the political atmosphere in which bigotry flourishes, and should be vigilant to detect, and ready to resist, the tyrannical exercise of power.'' Let me step aside for a moment and remind us that not only should we resist the tyrannical exercise of power; we should also resist the voices that verbalize power. We should resist those who would march through the streets of an American city carrying torches, shouting, ``Jews will not replace us.'' Our failure to resist and to announce, to state without question, without hesitation, or reservation, that such persons are persons who are perpetuating bigotry and hatred, the kind of bigotry and hatred that can lead to the death of people, our failure to do so is a means by which our inaction causes the perpetuation of bigotry and violence. Inaction is unacceptable. Every person has a duty, a responsibility, and an obligation to speak up and speak out against such demonstrations by people in this country. The unfortunate circumstance is that, in this country, there is at least one person who would proclaim that among those who were screaming, ``Jews will not replace us,'' there is at least one person who found some ``nice people'' to be among the ranks of those who would say such a thing. ``Whereas, on April 29 of 1945 the Armed Forces of the United States liberated the surviving victims of Nazi internment in the concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, and revealed to the world evidence of a tragic human Holocaust that must never be forgotten. . . .'' To never forget is to do more than to recite what happened. To never forget requires that we also denounce those who would do dastardly deeds today. It is good for us to say that those who perpetrated deeds in the past should not be forgotten, but we must also denounce those who would perpetrate such dastardly deeds today. These deeds include statements that some people see as harmless, what they see as just name-calling. When you call a person who happens to be of a certain ancestry the name ``Coco Chow,'' that is just name-calling to some people. When it comes from a person who has held the highest office in the land, it is more than name-calling. It gives some people a belief that people of a certain ethnicity, of a certain ancestry, are not as worthy of human life as others. We have a responsibility to call out these things. We cannot allow this kind of name-calling, which can eventually conclude in the loss of life, to go unchecked. We have to check it. I am here today to check it. Ours is a great country. I love my country. I salute the flag. I say the Pledge of Allegiance. I sing the national anthem. I stand. I place my hand over my heart. I love my country. But that doesn't mean that I won't criticize those who would do things that would cause harm to others within the country. It also doesn't mean that I won't defend those who choose not to salute the flag, who choose not to say the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem. That is a right that they have in this country. We also have to recognize that all of us, we have to denounce people who say things, who use words that according to Emily Dickinson when she indicated to us: ``A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.'' Those who give life to these words can cause some people to harm other people. Whereas the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, is not only a shocking symbol of Nazi brutality and destruction, but also a symbol of the danger inherent in tyranny, the pernicious quality of bigotry, and the human capacity to be cruel: Therefore, now, be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that April 28 and 29 of 1979 are designated as ``Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust,'' and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such days with appropriate ceremonies and activities. Approved September 18, 1978. Today, we commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz. Later on, we will commemorate these days of remembrance. I have lived long enough now to know that if we fail to remember the Holocaust, a great human tragedy, a crime against humanity unlike any other, there is no other crime against humanity that can be compared to the Holocaust, just as there is no other crime against humanity that can be compared to slavery. If we fail to remember the crimes against humanity committed in Auschwitz, I believe, unfortunately, that humankind is capable of repeating the horrors of the Holocaust. It is our eternal vigilance that will prevent this from ever occurring again. Our failure to be vigilant will create days that the human mind cannot conceive of occurring again. I am here today as a Member of Congress to make sure that my record reflects that I will not forget, that I will stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters against all who would claim that the Holocaust never occurred, against all who were to proclaim that Jewish people have done things that would merit this kind of horrific behavior. I stand with them. They are my brothers and sisters. Their lives are important to me, and the lives that were lost are important to me. I want my record to reflect that when I had the opportunity as a Member of Congress to stand before the world and take a stand, Mr. Speaker, I want my record to reflect that I took a stand against the evils that took place at Auschwitz and the evils of the Holocaust. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, and still I rise, to quote Maya Angelou, ``Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.'' I rise today as a proud descendent of enslaved people, a proud descendent of the foundational mothers and fathers of this country. They are foundational because they helped to build the infrastructure that allowed this great country to become the great Nation that it is. There were many others who contributed to this country, but they by the millions contributed, and their lives were sacrificed such that we might have the great Nation that we have today. I rise today to talk specifically about a conscience agenda. A conscience agenda is one that I believe can be embraced by all people of good will. A conscience agenda. I have before you and me some of what would be included in a conscience agenda, and I will give a brief explanation about each. I will set the stage by explaining some of what Dr. King called to our attention with reference to this question of the conscience. In speaking to a group of clergy and laypeople concerned about the Vietnam war on February 6, 1968, in Washington, D.C., Dr. King concluded his speech with some very powerful language that addresses the role that conscience plays in doing some things and taking certain positions. Dr. King's final words were: ``On some positions cowardice asks the question, is it safe?'' I will add parenthetically here, is it okay for me to do this or will I be harmed in some way physically? Cowardice will ask you, is it safe to do this? He goes on to say: ``Expediency asks the question, is it politic?'' Does it make good political sense to do what I am about to do? He further indicates: ``Vanity asks the question, is it popular?'' If I do this will I have a parade in my honor? Will there be people who will celebrate what I am about to do or what I am doing? Dr. King concludes with this: ``But conscience asks the question, is it right?'' He goes on to say: ``And there comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.'' I am not sure that it is safe, politic, or popular to take a position on all of these issues, and I am not sure that it is not safe, nor politic, nor popular, but I do say this: Conscience tells me that I should do this. There is a moral imperative to bring these issues before the Congress of the United States of America, and I do so because conscience tells me it is the right thing to do. I believe that as a matter of conscience we should have a Slavery Remembrance Day. I understand that this day is one that ought to be commemorated. Unlike many other days that we celebrate, we must commemorate this day. There can be some celebration of the lives of those who were lost to slavery, but this is a day for commemoration principally. As a day of commemoration, I believe that we ought to let the world know how much we appreciate those millions of people who were enslaved, many of whom were born into slavery, lived as slaves, and died as slaves. It is time for this country to show some appreciation for them. For too long we have revered the enslavers and reviled the enslaved. This conscience agenda would have us recognize Slavery Remembrance Day, and August 20 of 1619 is the date that the first enslaved people were brought to this country. It was on that day in Point Comfort that a slave ship, the White Lion, landed. It brought with it some 20-odd, as it is said, enslaved persons. They were introduced to the English- speaking colonies in this country. Twenty human beings were stolen, kidnapped, and brought to our country. They were brought to our country and traded just as you would trade a horse, or you would trade some piece of machinery. They were traded--human beings on August 20, 1619-- traded into slavery into this country. This is the day that we have set aside to recognize as Slavery Remembrance Day because that day set into motion events that haunt us to this day. We ought not forget that date, August 20, 1619. I am so proud to tell you that this House has already passed a resolution honoring the persons who were enslaved. This House passed a resolution. Some 218 Members of this House voted in support of Slavery Remembrance Day. This was already a part of the annals and the history of the House. It is, therefore, those who look through the vista of time at this time to understand what happened. I can't explain it all today because I have much to say, but I will tell you that I am proud to tell you, in fact, that the President of the United States of America, the Honorable Joe Biden--a man that I have great respect for; I support him; I have supported him; I support him today; I will support him tomorrow because of what he has done--this President recognized Slavery Remembrance Day with a statement that he issued on August 20 of 2022. In the many things that he has indicated in this statement I will just focus on a very few words, some seven words that are contained within this statement. He indicated: ``Great nations don't hide from their history.'' He said much more, but it is important for us to accentuate this statement: ``Great nations don't hide from their history.'' There are too many people in this country to this day who would have us hide from our history, have our history be proclaimed involuntary relocation. That is what is happening in the State of Texas currently, we have a group of folks who want to proclaim slavery, the enslavement of human beings, as involuntary relocation. We cannot hide from our history. There are people who don't want it taught in schools. They want us to somehow give a rendition of history that reveres those who were the enslavers and revile those who were the enslaved. For too long this has been the case in this country. It is my desire and my belief that people of conscience that the conscience dictates that there is a moral imperative for us to change this misunderstanding of history. To do this, we obviously need a Slavery Remembrance Day. In Houston, Texas, on August 20, 2022, we had an event, a Slavery Remembrance Day event. A thousand people showed up for Slavery Remembrance Day, including our mayor Sylvester Turner. Many notable members of the clergy were in attendance. Our city council people were in attendance. State representative Ron Reynolds was there. We had commissioner Rodney Ellis in attendance. Many people of note were there, but there were also people who were not among the elected officials, people who simply wanted to let the world know that they understand the necessity to commemorate Slavery Remembrance Day. By the way, it is not unusual for us to have these remembrance days. We have a day to remember the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. That is a day we set aside annually, December 7. We have a day to remember the day that the Twin Towers in New York were attacked, when our Nation was attacked and the Twin Towers came tumbling down. We have a day set aside to remember the Holocaust, the horrors of the Holocaust, so that we will never allow it to be repeated any place on the planet Earth. There is no event comparable to the Holocaust just as there is no event comparable to slavery, the enslavement of people that took place in this country. What we want to do now is expand Slavery Remembrance Day. We want to make sure that in every church, in every house of worship there is an opportunity on August 20 of this year to have a Slavery Remembrance Day ceremony wherein we will explain what happened and proclaim that we must always remember these events that took place. Slavery Remembrance Day is important, and conscience dictates that we would do such a thing as commemorate the lives that were lost to slavery. I will say more about those lives as I move forward with our next Conscience Agenda item, which is awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved, a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved. I am now using what is called a mnemonic device. It is said that if you repeat things multiple times, people are more likely to remember than not. So, in the utilization of this mnemonic device, I repeat: We want to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the American enslaved. There are many people who don't understand, and because they don't understand, their visceral reaction is: Why would you award a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved? Well, I have a ``Dear Colleague'' that my dear colleagues will be receiving. I am going to read it, perhaps not in its entirety, but I will cover some of the important excerpts. This ``Dear Colleague'' reads--and this is a part of the style of it, the Congressional Gold Medal, obviously, and it reads: Confederate soldiers--silence is a way of accentuating--Confederate soldiers. Confederate soldiers were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1956. The Congress of the United States of America awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers in 1956. I figure it can be fairly said that Confederate soldiers were persons who fought on the side of many who were fighting to maintain the institution of slavery. We have revered the Confederate soldiers. We have reviled those who were enslaved. Silence accentuates. I go on to indicate--I used the personal pronoun ``I'' because this is my work, but I really am a ``we'' person. I prefer saying ``we'' because nothing is done alone. It goes on to read: What Congress did for Confederate soldiers, it, as a matter of conscience, should do for the enslaved. What we did for Confederate soldiers as a matter of conscience there is a moral imperative to do for the enslaved. I am asking Members to support the historic Congressional Gold Medal for America's economic foundational fathers, mothers, and children, the enslaved. Note that I said ``children.'' I am not proud that this happened. I love my country, but I speak truth to power, truth about power. I am a liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed, unafraid, and willing to stand here and say: I love my country, salute the flag, say the Pledge of Allegiance, sing the national anthem, but I am going to tell the truth about our history. I want history to also reflect properly that we honored the persons who helped build this country, that we would not honor those who sought to enslave them and dishonored those who were enslaved. I am asking my colleagues to support the historic Congressional Gold Medal for America's economic foundational fathers, mothers, and children, the enslaved. There are already persons who have acknowledged that they will be original cosponsors. I call them persons of conscience, persons of goodwill, persons who understand the zeitgeist of the time. I am going to call their names. There are 19 such persons. By the way, if a name is not called, it doesn't mean that the name won't be an original cosponsor. It just means that these are persons that I have talked to in passing, and they have said they would like to be original cosponsors. Again, I consider them the persons of conscience who have decided to sponsor as original cosponsors this Congressional Gold Medal to the American enslaved. Their names are the Honorable Maxine Waters, the Honorable Bennie Thompson, the Honorable Danny K. Davis, the Honorable Jim McGovern, the Honorable Brad Sherman, the Honorable Barbara Lee, the Honorable Yvette Clarke, the Honorable Hank Johnson, the Honorable Gerry Connolly, the Honorable Kweisi Mfume, the Honorable David Cicilline, the Honorable Pete Aguilar, the Honorable Ted Lieu, the Honorable Adriano Espaillat, the Honorable Sylvia Garcia, the Honorable Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Honorable Ilhan Omar, the Honorable Ayanna Pressley, and the Honorable Troy Carter. Only the persons that I have talked to and, I might add, I have not talked to a single person who has said: ``No, we should not honor the enslaved. No, it is okay to honor the Confederate soldiers but not the enslaved.'' I have not talked to a single person with that mindset. Every person, without question, reservation, hesitation, or equivocation, immediately said: ``Yes. Yes, sign me up.'' The deadline for original cosponsors for this historic legislation will be February 28, 2023. This is the last day of Black History Month. Now, a little bit more about why this is so important. On July 18, 1956, the Congress, that would be the House and the Senate, awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers. However, to this day, Congress has never awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to the over 10 million enslaved men, women, and children who toiled for over 240 years--silence accentuates--toiled for over 240 years to build the economic and infrastructural foundation of the wealthiest nation to ever exist on the planet Earth. These foundational mothers and fathers of our country labored arduously, constructing our cities, roads, bridges, and wells. They laboriously planted, as well as harvested, the food that fed our Nation. They were the de facto producers of the cash crops that fueled our Nation's foundational wealth. These enslaved human beings of African ancestors, of African ancestry, toiled as slaves without remuneration or recompense. Their humble hands were relied upon for the construction of some of our Nation's most renowned edifices and monuments, including the White House, the Capitol Building, and the Washington Monument. In truth, their sacrificed lives provided the genesis for our Nation's economic preeminence. These sacrificed human beings, men, women, and children, were the greatest contributors to the American foundational economy. Yet, their contributions are almost universally forgotten, underrecognized, ignored, overlooked, and/or undervalued. For these and countless other justifications, I am beseeching Congress as a matter of conscience--silence accentuates--I am beseeching Congress as a matter of conscience to award a Congressional Gold Medal collectively to the human beings who are the foundational fathers, mothers, and children that toiled as slaves without recompense or recognition for their unparalleled contributions to the infrastructural and economic development of the Nation that we enjoy today. We are all the beneficiaries of their sacrifice. Awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to groups of individuals, for those who may not know, is not unprecedented as the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the Confederate soldiers that I mentioned earlier, but also to the Tuskegee Airmen, both antemortem and postmortem, I might add, to the Navajo Code Talkers, and postmortem to the servicemembers who perished in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021. It is my belief that the men, women, and children who suffered a great crime against humanity--silence accentuates--who suffered a great crime against humanity, toiling unremunerated as slaves, many for their entire work lives, are deserving of a Congressional Gold Medal. They are deserving to the same extent as those who soldiered to preserve slavery. The zeitgeist of our time impels the introduction of this historic legislation, and I want Members to know that if they wish to be recognized as a courageous person of conscience who is an original cosponsor, that they would please contact my office. In the words of Maya Angelou, ``Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.'' I would hope that others will join me in bringing forth this historic legislation. Now, dear friends, I call to your attention another piece of legislation. It is a resolution that would remove the name of Richard Russell from the Russell Senate Office Building. Richard Russell was a self-proclaimed white supremacist, a self- proclaimed white supremacist. He helped to author the Southern Manifesto. He fought against legislation that would accord punishment for those who were lynched. He was a self-proclaimed white supremacist. His name ought not be on a building that is paid for with tax dollars. I am as adamant about this as I would be about a building having the name of someone associated with the Third Reich. I would never tolerate that. I would take the stand I am taking here and now to get that person's name off of that building. No person associated with the Third Reich should have his or her name on a building paid for with taxpayer dollars in a country that professes liberty and justice for all. Richard Russell's name needs to be removed, and his statue, which happens to be in a rotunda devoted to him, his statue has to be removed from the building. His name off the building, his statue removed from the building--he is a self-proclaimed white supremacist. I understand that this is more than some people can handle. I understand. As a matter of fact, it hurts me to even say it. If I could live my life and do otherwise, I would, but my conscience won't allow me to do it. My conscience dictates that I must do this. This is a part of the conscience agenda. His name should be removed. Now, there are those who would say, whose name do you want? That is a fair question; here is a fair response: The fair response is, remove his name, let it revert to the name that it had prior to his name being placed on the building, then select the name of your choice. We can remove his name. We can separate the removal of his name from the renaming of the building. The name that was on the building before it became the Richard Russell Office Building was the Old Senate Office Building. Let it revert back to the Old Senate Office Building, then select a name. I have not pronounced at any point in time that I have a name. I have no name to offer. I offer justice to people who find that this name is offensive, and it is offensive. I don't go into the Russell Office Building. That is my means of protesting, what I see as something that is insulting. My guess is that it is insulting to a good many other people. A good many don't know the history that I know. Perhaps that is the reason they don't take the positions that I take. I take this position as a matter of conscience. Richard Russell's name should be removed from the Senate office building paid for and maintained with tax dollars. The next item on the conscience agenda is the enactment of legislation that we will be filing, styled with some variation possibly, the Securities and Exchange Atonement Act. As the chair of the Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations of the Financial Services full committee, we held hearings. We had the largest banks come in and we posed a question: Do you think that your institution has done enough to atone for its predecessor institutions or institution having been involved with slavery? Let me explain. Many of our very large banks--I won't go into the names today. I am prepared to, but I won't--many of our largest banking institutions had predecessor institutions, meaning banks that at some point they are acquired, that literally engaged in the slave trade. One bank--more than one, actually. One just came to mind--actually took slaves as collateral just as you would take a car, a piece of furniture. Human beings, collateral. Then when the person that placed them in the contract as collateral defaulted, then they were possessed. Just as you would go out and claim a horse that was collateral, they took possession of the slaves. They made money by trading in slavery and in slaves in this fashion. They need to atone. There were insurance companies that insured slaves just as you would insure a horse or cattle, insured human beings for the benefit of the masters. So that if something happened to the human beings, the master would be compensated. Conscience dictates that there be atonement for this. The world has been set in motion such that you cannot create such egregious offenses and just walk away, then later say, well, I had nothing to do with that, why should I have to be a part of the atonement process? Because we are the beneficiaries of slavery. We are. The President, whom I happen to agree with, indicated that great nations don't hide from their history; but I would also add, great nations do the responsible thing as it relates to their history, which is to acknowledge it and then atone for transgressions. That is what great nations do. This is a great Nation. There should be some atonement. So we will have this introduced, this legislation, and colleagues will be given the opportunity to be original cosponsors, as well as cosponsors. It is not asking too much for us to investigate and find out which of these mega-institutions engaged in the utilization of human beings as collateral and insured them as they would cattle. We should investigate, and they should atone. Because of all of these things making it perspicuously clear that we need some sort of reconciliation, we will be introducing a resolution, legislation in the form of a resolution for a department of reconciliation. We have a Department of Labor to deal with labor issues, a Department of Commerce to deal with issues associated with commerce and business. We have a Department of Defense to deal with issues related to war and peace. We ought to have, as a matter of conscience, a department of reconciliation with a secretary of reconciliation just as we have a Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Defense, with a budget just as we have a budget for the Secretary of Labor to further the aims of the Department, there ought to be a budget for the secretary of reconciliation to further the aims of the department of reconciliation. It is time for us to take a systematic approach to dealing with the question of reconciliation in this country. A department of reconciliation would have undersecretaries of reconciliation, just as we have undersecretaries of commerce and undersecretaries of labor. It ought to have a budget that is comparable to its mission. I have not set the budget, but I do believe that if we index it to the Department of Defense and make it some percentage of that budget, we are likely to have it funded on an annual basis. So I am of the opinion that we should index it, tie it to the budget for the Department of Defense so that we will always have the money necessary. These things, I would hope, would happen in the 118th Congress. I don't know that they will, to be very candid. But I do know this: My record will show that as a person of conscience, I brought them to the attention of Congress and that Congress had every opportunity to embrace what I believe to be questions of conscience that have to be dealt with at some point. This is a methodology, a means, if you will, by which we can address some of the egregious circumstances emanating from the arrival of some 20-odd persons of African ancestry in the English-speaking colonies on August 20, 1619. That has to be addressed. We still have issues that can be logically traced back to the arrival of some 20-odd persons, who were of African ancestry, on August 20, 1619. Let me walk you through a bit of history. Yes, we ended a war that was a part of bringing slavery to an end, and we passed the 13th Amendment. The war and the 13th Amendment brought slavery to an end, except then there was something called the Black codes. These codes allowed persons to be arrested for not having a job. If you had been a slave and you are now free, they didn't have the kind of systems that we have in place now for persons who are unemployed. You would be picked up and arrested. Then you could be placed into what is known now, and then, as a convict leasing program, which was simply another way of saying slavery. People were placed into this convict leasing program, and many of them never left. They were placed into this program for petty offenses. In Houston, just outside of Houston, we have a common grave with 95 bodies, 95 skeletons, the evidence of 95 people, who were in a convict leasing program all buried in a common grave. So sad. It hurts the heart. I understand why people don't want to hear it, because I don't want to say it. Convict leasing is slavery by another name. Moving forward in history, we then had lawful segregation. I lived through lawful segregation. I know what it is like to drink colored water. I know what it is like to go through a door that had ``coloreds'' on it, go through the back door to get my food. I just celebrated recently, last several months, on September 1, my 25th birthday for the third time. I lived through segregation. I know the horrors of it. I know what it is like to be separated from others. I know what it is like to sit at the back of the bus. I know what it is like to understand that you have a separate line when you go into the food store, a line for whites and a line for coloreds. I know what it is like to be next in line and have every person who happened to be of Anglo ancestry to come ahead of you until every person is served and then you take your opportunity to be served. You were last in line simply by being in line. It didn't matter whether you got there first. I know what it is like. I know what it is like to go to schools with hand-me-down books, pages torn out. I know what it is like to be bused to schools some 20 miles to another school such that you would not be allowed into the same classroom with children who were of a different hue. I know what it is like. I suffered it. But I am also very proud that we are beyond that. I am walking you through this history because there is a point to be made. The Civil War, ending of segregation, ending of convict leasing, the one thing that they didn't end was white supremacy. The Civil War and the 13th Amendment did not end white supremacy, and that is what we have been fighting. By the way, not all persons who are what we call White, who are Anglos, are participating intentionally in something that we would call white supremacy. That is not the case. It is not. There is empirical evidence to support the notion that if you are a person of color and have superior credit and seek a loan, you are likely to get less money and a higher interest rate than a person who is not of color who doesn't have superior credit. The empirical evidence is there. Testing has been done. By the way, there are many people who fight allowing us to do this testing. There are people who don't want the empirical evidence to surface. They give all kinds of reasons for why we ought not do that. We ought to do that because that is a means by which we can ascertain how far we have truly come and understand that sometimes it is the color of skin, not the character within, that determines the worth of women and men. The color of skin still does. Try getting a loan as a person of color. Personal experience: Finished law school, and four of us applied for a loan. The loan officer cooperated with us. We cooperated with him. We received a loan to open a business, paid every payment on time, and paid the loan off early. We went back to get another loan. A different loan officer declined to let us have a second loan. When we judiciously explained we received the first loan; we are asking for less money; we paid the first loan off; we paid it off early; and we were never late with a payment, his response to us: You shouldn't have gotten the first loan. I have lived it. I don't have to talk about what others have said, what they have told me. This was a loan officer telling four lawyers who repaid a loan, paid on time, and repaid the loan early, that they shouldn't have gotten that loan. One can but only imagine, if you are not me, what that was like as a lawyer to be told that you didn't qualify for what you qualified for and you repaid. The point is this, dear brothers and sisters--whether you like it or not, I consider you my brothers and sisters. I do. I do because Dr. King was right. There really is but one race, and that is the human race. I concur with him when he said that all persons are created equal, from a bass black to a treble white. I believe he was right when he said that: Fleecy locks and black complexion Cannot forfeit nature's claim Skin may differ, but affection Dwells in Black and White the same. Were I so tall as to reach the pole Or to grasp the ocean at a span, I must be measured by my soul The mind is the standard of the man. And woman, I might add. I believe in my country. I have faith in the words in the Declaration of Independence: persons created equal, endowed by the creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I have faith. I have faith in the Pledge of Allegiance, liberty and justice for all. Don't class me with those people who hate the country. I am not a country hater. I am a country lover, just as I love members of my family that I have to tell the truth about and let them know when they have made mistakes, just as you have done similar things with people you love. You can love a country and still want to make sure that it lives up to its promise. This is about living up to the promise, the Conscience Agenda. Remember now, those who do this, I know that some, to quote Dr. King, will ask and respond to cowardice which asks the question: Is it safe? Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? I believe this is not only the right thing to do but the Conscience Agenda is the righteous thing to do. Because I believe it, I shall pursue it. I believe that there are persons in this Congress who will join us in the Conscience Agenda, who will understand that there may be times when you have to do that which is neither safe nor politic nor popular. To quote Dr. King, you do it because conscience says it is right. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 21 and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 22.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. And still I rise, Mr. Speaker. And I rise saddened because I find myself on a mission of mercy. I rise to explain the circumstance that causes one Mr. Jaime Avalos to find himself separated from his wife and his baby in another country. Mr. Avalos came to this country some 27 years ago, and he was brought here by his mother. His mother was here to seek a better life for herself and her young baby. He came to this country as a child, and for 7 years he was only in this country. He was being educated in this country. This was, in fact, the only home that he knew. His mother decided that she would marry a man whom she met, and this man loved Mr. Avalos as a baby to the extent that he wanted to adopt him. The mother took Mr. Avalos--Jaime is his first name--she took Jaime back to Mexico. She took him to Mexico for the purpose of registering his adoption. They were there for a brief period of time, and then they returned to the United States where he for some 20 years educated himself here. He went to a school in Houston, Texas. He worked, and he stayed within the law. For all moral purposes, he is a citizen of this country. But lawfully, of course, he is not. Jaime met a woman, a beautiful lady, Yarianna. He and Yarianna are married. They now have a child, Noah. Noah celebrated his first birthday just recently. Yarianna, wanting her husband to become a citizen, and Jaime wanting to become a citizen because he has a child who is an American-born child and, as a result, a citizen, his wife is a citizen, he wanted to do that which would put him in good standing in this country, to come out of the shadows. He is a DACA recipient, so he had the privilege of staying, but he did not have a pathway to citizenship. He came at the age of 1 and left at the age of 7 because his mother took him to Mexico to register his having been adopted, brought him back to this country, he meets Yarianna, they are married, and they now have a 1-year-old child. They lawfully petitioned the consulate in Juarez, Mexico, for the opportunity to come in for the interview that allows a person with the standing of Jaime Avalos to ask for a visa lawfully. He is living here as a DACA recipient, and he only leaves because this is a part of the process of acquiring the visa. He goes to Juarez, Mexico, and at the consulate, they process him. In the course of processing him, they discovered that he did come to Mexico at the age of 7 with his mom. He has little to no recollection of this, but they discover it. When they discover that he came to Mexico, left America with his mom, they then point out to him that there is a law that will not allow him to return to his 1-year-old son, Noah, and to his wife. He is now banned from the United States of America for 10 years. Some things bear repeating. His wife is here. He is banned from the country for 10 years. He is banned from his home, and he cannot return to his work. He is literally living in a country that he knows very little about. When he leaves the place in which he is residing, he is always in the company of someone who can assist him. Understanding his circumstance, I decided to travel to Juarez, Mexico, to visit him. I did. I was there, I met with him, and I had an opportunity to have his wife and his child with us. I saw him interact with his young son. It really does cause tears to well in one's eyes to see a baby grasping for his father, hugging his father, holding on to his father, and loving his father and the father reciprocating. It was a wonderful thing to see, but I was saddened upon looking at it because I knew that at some point we would leave--the wife would leave, the baby would leave, and I would leave--and Mr. Avalos would be left in Mexico. The experience has caused me to conclude that I must do anything and everything that I can to unite this family--reunite this family. This is unbelievable that we have a law that will not allow him to come back into the country merely because his mother took him out of this country as a DACA recipient--he is a DACA recipient now. She took him out of the country in order to register him as having been adopted. A man loves him. He adopts him as a 7-year-old child, and this law will not allow him back into the country. There is something wrong when we have laws that will ban husbands from their wives and from their babies because they left the country, came back, and have always been law-abiding. There is something wrong. When we talk about comprehensive immigration reform, we don't talk about the Jaimes of the world, people who are entrapped in these arcane laws, these laws that only make sense to those who somehow conclude that if we could find any way to bar a person or ban a person from coming into the country that is a great thing to do. I am not one of those people. I don't want to see this happen to this man, this baby, and this woman. We have a necessity to engage in comprehensive immigration reform and to engage in immigration reform that goes beyond the walls at the border. I am amenable to discussing walls at the border, but we have to go beyond walls. There are those who want to do more at the border. I understand. I am amenable to having that conversation. We also have to talk about the other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform that will include Jaime Avalos and the many others who find themselves in similar circumstances. It is a very painful thing to know that we have within our power to bring Jaime home or to allow him to come home, yet we have not done it. You see, there is another aspect of this law that allows a person who has the circumstance that Jaime Avalos has to negotiate to be returned home on what is called humanitarian parole. This is where you make your appeal. You make your appeal to our country. You make your appeal, and you explain that this is going to create a hardship. Our law allows for this appeal to be granted--it is discretionary--if we conclude that there would be a hardship by virtue of a person such as Mr. Avalos being separated from his wife and baby. Well, it is intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer that there will be a hardship when a husband is separated from a wife and child, when they have a mortgage, and when he is the breadwinner for the family. Yes, there is a hardship. We have made our appeal. I am making the appeal tonight because I want the world to know, and I want my record to show, that I left no stone unturned when it comes to trying to get this family reunited. I am making the appeal tonight, and I will be sending a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security asking for the Secretary, by and through his good offices, to use his awesome power that has within it the discretion to grant Mr. Avalos, to grant Jaime, the opportunity to return home to his wife and baby. It is within the Secretary's discretion. Now, the Secretary doesn't handle all of these cases himself. There are people in the office who acquire the materials, review the cases. I am asking for the people who understand this and who know that this is not a case where a foreign power has one of our own and is refusing to release one of our own. This is not the case. He is not being held by a foreign power. This is not the case. If he is granted the right to return, he won't need transportation. He can get here. We are not looking at having to get him through harm's way with some form of transportation that would necessitate the Federal Government having to make an expenditure. This is not the case where if he comes to this country, returns home, where he will need assistance. He won't need food from the government. He won't need the shelter of the government. He won't need to be clothed by the government. He can provide his own food, clothing, and shelter, as well as his transportation. He only has to be given a document that says he can return to the country that he has lived in for more than a quarter of a century, the country that he knows as home, where his wife resides, where his child lives, where he was living. He only needs a document that is within our discretion--``our,'' meaning our country--to allow him to return to the life that he has known in this country for more than a quarter of a century. I believe that we can all, at some point, put ourselves in the shoes of another person. I believe that if we say to ourselves: What would we want if this were your son or your daughter? There are times when we ought to examine circumstances from a personal perspective. This is not a criminal. This is a law-abiding person who has a baby and wife in this country. What would you want? What would you want for your son were the circumstances similar? There will be those who say, well, he came to this country illegally. Well, let's examine this. Did he really come, or was he brought to the country? He was approximately 1 year old. As a 1-year-old child, he had little to say--and I think most persons would agree--about where his parents would take him. He wasn't brought here by some third party, some person who was paid to bring him in. His mother brought him to this country. There are those who would say, well, his mother was not right for bringing him. She broke the law. I thank God that I have not always been as blessed as I am today because it inculcated in me a sense of caring, a belief and an understanding that I haven't always had what I have now and that, but for the grace of God, but for the grace of God, I wouldn't have what I have now. I am not who I am because I am so smart. Most of the people here are not here because they are so smart. Most of the people are here because somewhere along life's way, they were afforded what we would call a break. It happens. But for the grace of God, I am not sure I would be here, but I thank God I was born in this country. I love this country. I am not a guy who puts the country down, doesn't salute the flag, won't sing the national anthem, and doesn't say the Pledge of Allegiance. That is not me, but I do defend those who choose not to pledge allegiance, who choose not to sing the national anthem. I think that is what makes this country great. Every person has the right. Every person has the right to choose. I choose to do these things. I also understand that I am fortunate. I didn't control where I was born. I understand that if my mother had been born on the other side of this southern border, I believe that my mother would do everything that she could to get to this country so that her young child could have opportunities and not be in fear of harm from various and sundry circumstances that are occurring across the border, on the other side. But for the grace of God, it could be me or you or any of us, and I am thankful that I have been granted this sense of understanding the plight of others. I am not a guy who says that we ought to open the borders and bring everybody that wants to come into the country into the country. That is not me. I think that we ought to have comprehensive immigration reform so that we can make decisions about immigrants and migrants, people who simply want to come to work and people who want to come to make a life here. We ought to do this. This is what comprehensive immigration reform should be all about. Yes, we ought to talk about what is happening at the border. I am not shying away from that. But I do believe that we ought to talk about some other things that are exceedingly important. I want to talk about what we are going to do with the Jaimes of the world. I think that we have to have comprehensive immigration reform because we need to know who is going in and out of the country. We ought to know who is coming into and going out of our country. I am not one of the persons who believes that we just ought to have an open border, to come and go as you please. That is just not me, but, look, I respect the opinions of those who do believe it. I think that we ought to have comprehensive immigration reform so that we can establish standards, policies, procedures, methodologies, so that we can have all the things that would make it acceptable for those who qualify to come. Those who do not? Well, they can't make it this time if they don't. So, I am not an open borders guy, but I am a person who has great sympathy and empathy for people who are not as fortunate as I happen to be. As a result, I am making this appeal for Mr. Avalos, Jaime Avalos. I think that we don't have to wait until we get comprehensive immigration reform to allow him to return to his wife and baby. I don't think we have to wait. I believe we can do this under the discretion that is accorded the Secretary under the law. I believe that comprehensive immigration reform is something that we ought to work on immediately, if not sooner. I think that we can see a need, but there are other needs that we don't see. They are not as visible. Mr. Avalos happens to be one of the persons who is in that invisible zone and won't be seen, won't be heard of, just suffer. We in this country think that families ought to stay together. We encourage families to stay together. Yet, we find ourselves now with a baby being separated from his father while we have the authority to change it, knowing that he is not in the hands of a hostile power. He is in the hands of people in this country who, with the stroke of a pen, can make a difference in the life of a law-abiding person who stayed in this country for more than two decades, more than a quarter of a century, and left lawfully but cannot lawfully return. He left lawfully because he went to the consulate that I visited, by the way, in Juarez, Mexico. People at the consulate are not proud of the decision that they had to make to tell him that he can't return to his baby, his child. They are not proud. They genuinely believe that this is something that is going to be reviewed, hopefully, and that maybe we will get a different circumstance. I believe we can get a different circumstance. I just hope that it won't take us until we finally pass comprehensive immigration reform to have it occur. I am honored to speak on behalf of Mr. Avalos, and I pray that we can get a Christmas miracle that he can come home for Christmas to his family. I am begging. I am pleading with the Department of Homeland Security and the Secretary to please let him come home to his family. Let him come home and spend this special time of the year with his baby and his wife. Please, let him come home. Mr. Speaker, I have introduced legislation that can help those who find themselves similarly situated in the future, but that is not going to help him. The chances of our passing legislation between now and the end of the year are not good at all--not good. This has nothing to do with the mindset of a given person or personalities or the political philosophy of any given party. It has nothing to do with that. It is just at this point in time very few things are going to pass this House. This is not casting any aspersions or any sort of negativity toward any other persons. It is just the facts. But I do believe that this discretionary act can make a difference. I will talk to Mr. Avalos, I will talk to his wife, and I will talk to them within the next day or so. It is my hope to those who may be listening and can speak to the Secretary--it is my hope that the Secretary and those who are listening, that we can have this Christmas miracle, and that I can give them some good news. I can say to them, He will be home for Christmas. Christmas is a holiday that he respects, that he celebrates. This is a family that celebrates Christmas. I want to give them some good news. Mr. Speaker, I want to mention one additional thing before I leave this Chamber. It will probably be my last time to speak this year. I will mention a piece of legislation that I will be introducing next year, this too is very near and dear to my heart. I don't expect everybody to understand this piece of legislation, but it is pretty important to me and pretty important to a lot of other people. And for many people who are not aware of the circumstance, it is pretty important to them, too. In my research, we discovered that this House of Representatives on July 18, 1956, accorded Congressional Gold Medals to Confederate soldiers. We live in a country where we revile the slaves, those who were enslaved, my ancestors. We reviled my ancestors who were enslaved, and we revere, by virtue of our actions--that is some proof of it, there is much more--but we revere those who were the enslavers. Revile the enslaved and revere the enslaver. I refuse to accept it. There is something in the way I have been wired that just won't allow me to accept certain things. This is a wrong that has to be corrected. When I say, ``revile the enslaved,'' let's examine that statement, the statement of reviling the enslaved. What does it mean to be enslaved? What did it mean to be enslaved in this country? It is almost a word for polite society to say enslaved because the truth of the matter is for this to occur someone was kidnapped, stolen--stolen from their homeland. By the way, a good many of them were sold into slavery by people from their own land--a good many. We cannot cheat history; we can't overlook certain facts because they are uncomfortable. I don't feel good knowing that people of African origin sold other people of African origin into slavery, but it is the truth--the undeniable truth. I have to accept the truth. I just pray that others will accept the fact that there were many that were kidnapped, put on a ship, and then brought across the vast ocean. But it wasn't just that simple. It is easy to say those words, but those words, when properly amended, would include those who didn't make it across the ocean, those who were thrown over to the shark- infested waters. Sharks would follow ships waiting for bodies to be thrown over to feast upon. Just to say that they traversed the ocean doesn't include how they were shackled and chained, treated like lumber, treated like just another piece of property to be brought from point A to point B. Just to say they were brought to this country does not acknowledge that along the way women were raped, along the way they were dropped off at various ports, and that at some point they were sold, families were separated. To just say they were brought here or kidnapped doesn't speak to how many were brutalized. Yet, they were brought here, forced into labor, and they served this country for centuries. Here is a fact that ought to cause somebody to pause. We enslaved babies in this country. We enslaved babies. If you were born of parents that were slaves, then you were a slave at birth. Many were born, lived, and died, human beings, as slaves. It is just not enough to say they were slaves without explaining their circumstance--forced into labor, forced to do unthinkable things. It was their humble hands that helped to facilitate the construction of the Capitol, the White House, roads and bridges, planted the seeds, perfected the harvest. Literally, in some cases, fed the masters. Yet, they are reviled, and the Confederate soldiers are revered. Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask this House to correct the injustice to the extent that the injustice can be corrected. If we accord Congressional Gold Medals to the Confederate soldiers, then we can accord Congressional Gold Medals to those who were enslaved. I believe that there is a certain amount of righteousness in this House. I have been told that it will never happen, but I believe there is a certain amount of righteous in this House for people to see the injustice in this. I just believe that there are people who will take a stand with me. I don't know how many, but I hope that we will have 290 because that is what it will take to pass this type of resolution. I hope that the Senate will take it up. I hope that the Senate will pass the resolution as well. I would like to see a President of the United States place these Congressional Gold Medals in appropriate venues. We have granted Congressional Gold Medals posthumously--yes, we have. There is nothing but the will that is missing. The way is clearly there. It is just a question of will. The question of: Will we revere the slave to the extent that we revere the enslavers? I believe there is a certain amount of righteousness that will allow this to happen. I don't believe that everybody that we assume will vote or not participate in a positive way in this type of debate--I don't believe that we should assume that everybody that we already assume will do this. I just think that there are some people, they have principle within that we have not necessarily seen, and that they will stand forward and that they will challenge those who would see things differently and conclude, no, we can't do this. Why? We can. So I just believe that there are people of good will who will take a stand for the righteousness associated with giving those who worked, lived, and died as slaves, giving them a Congressional Gold Medal just as we gave the persons who sought to keep them in bondage Congressional Gold Medals. Mr. Speaker, I will be asking for this next year. I have already prepared the ``Dear Colleague.'' I have within my hands the ``Dear Colleague'' that we will be circulating. There will be some people who will be offended because I have said that the Confederate soldiers were enslavers. Well, they fought to maintain slavery. Now, I know there are many who are going to say they were fighting for economic reasons. Well, that economic reason had to do with slavery. But whatever you choose to think, put that aside, if you would, and just look at what happened to the people. Let's try to correct this injustice. I will be circulating the ``Dear Colleague,'' and I will let the world know the progress that we are making. This is the kind of thing that you don't simply put in motion and then see if it will make its way to the finish line. I am not wired that way to just watch and see what happens. I plan to announce the names of those who have signed on. Those who sign on, I plan to announce their name and I plan to thank them for signing on, thank them for doing a righteous thing hundreds of years after the event that occurred. I will keep a log, and I will let the world know who is signing on to the legislation. I just believe that we need this kind of transparency. By the way, it won't surprise me to know that there will be people who won't sign on, but I just believe that there are enough who will such that this can move. My hope is that those who will have an antithetical view as it relates to this, who may be of the same hue as I--yes, there are some people who look like me who will have an antithetical point of view because there are some who are going to say, keep the medal, give us the gold. They will make this an issue associated with reparations and they will say, let's go for the reparations. I am going for dignity. I want respect. Gold can't buy it. I am not opposed to those efforts, but I would hope that they wouldn't be opposed to these efforts. But I am addressing it now because I want people to understand that that will not deter me. I believe that we have a duty to the people that helped this country become the great country it is. I call them the foundational mothers and fathers of the country; those who were enslaved, the economic foundational mothers and fathers because they helped to build the economy. They gave us the start that we benefit from to this day. So to those who would say let's just go for the gold, you do what you choose. I am not getting in your way. But this is about dignity, and this is about Maya Angelou's commentary that some of us, she said, we are the hope and dream of the slave. They never had what I have; but I have what I have because they survived and suffered such that my parents and my grandparents and those that I associate with my lineage, produced me. Mr. Speaker, as I close tonight, perhaps for the last time this year, as a Special Order, I want to express my gratitude, not only to those in this House who have shown me kindness and have been of great benefit, but I want to express my gratitude beyond the walls of the Capitol buildings. I want to express my gratitude to a country that has noble ideals, noble ideals. I am grateful to live in this country. I am proud to wear this necktie. I love this country. I love it because I believe that we can make real these noble ideals of liberty and justice for all; that we have, as Lincoln put it, government of the people, by the people, for the people. But we have to protect it. I believe that all persons are truly created equal, and endowed by the Creator with these inalienable rights, among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I love my country, I just want to make my country--help my country live up to these great ideals and, among them, as I thank the country itself and the people within it, among these great things that we can do would include honoring those persons who were brought here in chains, the foundational mothers and fathers, economic foundational, foundational economic mothers and fathers of this country, and babies, I might add as well. This is my last opportunity to speak this year, but I will be back, if it is God's will. When I come back, I am humble, but I am not the person who is going to be so humble as to walk away from my duty. That is not me. I am not wired that way. I will be back, and I will have these two--no, I am praying that Mr. Avalos will be home with his family and I will be presenting this piece of legislation for us to correct a centuries-old injustice. Thank you, Madam Speaker Pelosi, for all you have done. Thank you, Mr. Hoyer. You have been a great help. Thank you, Mr. Clyburn, for the sage advice you have accorded. All of the persons in leadership I thank. The newly formed leadership that is coming in, I appreciate and will celebrate and work with you. But I also plan to appreciate and celebrate and work with persons across the aisle. I believe in compromise. I abhor capitulation. I don't want persons to capitulate as it relates to me and what I present; and I trust that they don't want me to capitulate as it relates to them and what they present. I think cooperation and a certain degree of negotiation will allows us to get some great things done. So I look forward to working with all. I am grateful. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, and still I rise. I rise today because I believe we have a duty, a responsibility, and an obligation to protect the great and noble American ideals that are the foundation of this country. We have a duty to protect what John Adams, the second President, brought to our attention, that we are a country of laws, not men, and what Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th President, brought to our attention, that no one is above the law. The President has awesome authority. The IRS is under the auspices of the executive branch. We must put in place laws to assure us that there are no conflicts of interest being perpetrated by a President who has control of the agency that is supposed to audit his taxes. We have a duty, a responsibility, and an obligation. I thank Mr. Neal for living up to the duty, the responsibility, and the obligation. I respect my friend on the other side from Texas. We disagree. I wish him the best. But we have to go on, and the country needs this legislation. I encourage my colleagues to support it.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I greatly appreciate the gentleman according me the time. I thank the ranking member for being here, a dear friend, as well. Madam Speaker, and still I rise. I rise today as the Representative of those persons who work in the VA hospital in Houston, Texas, known as the Michael E. DeBakey hospital, one of the finest, in my opinion, because it is in my Congressional district, the finest VA hospital in the world. I go there quite regularly. In fact, annually, we go into that hospital and we deliver flags to every veteran that is in the hospital. We will order a thousand flags this year to deliver to the hospital. We give them a copy of the Constitution. We work with not only the administration but also the nurses and the doctors at the hospital. We are there for celebrations. We are actively involved with the VA. This is one of the reasons why I believe I have some insight as to H.R. 1948. I support it fully, and I do so because it is the thing that every employee here has in our offices. I shouldn't say every. If you are in management, I think you may be excluded. But I voted for that to give them the right to organize, and I am talking about here in Congress. I also am a member of a labor union, Local 1550. I am a dues checkoff member. So it would be completely anathema to my philosophy for me to conclude that these nurses and these physicians should be denied rights that I have, when I'm a part of a labor union, or others do--and right here in Congress we have people with these rights--it would just be out of character for me. That is just not all of it. I understand the importance and the value of the right to organize and to bring to the attention of people who can make a difference some of the issues that are impacting patients that the administration won't be aware of. And there are many people who won't want to speak up simply because they fear retribution. The right to organize is the right to speak up and understand that you can do so without retribution. I would also add that this right to organize does not accord the workers the right to strike. They are not going to go on strike. They are not going to shut down a VA hospital. They are not going to have the ability to cause the management to have to take some extreme measures. This is just to give people the opportunity to talk about the things that are important to the patients. We are really doing something for the patients today. We are giving them more power by allowing the workers to organize. Madam Speaker, I stand by what I have said, and I support H.R. 1948.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding the time. And still I rise today, a proud graduate of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, a son of the segregated South, and a person who believes that this is a great day in the history of this country. To have this legislation pass means a lot to my generation. To those of us who had to sit in the back of the bus, the balcony of the movie, and go to the back doors of restaurants, it means a lot. It means a lot for me to simply say this: I associate myself completely, totally, and absolutely with the words of the Honorable Steny Hoyer. I heard his speech. I was moved by what he said, and I came to the floor to let the world know that we have made a large, gigantic, huge step in terms of bending the arc of the moral universe toward liberty and justice for all. I am grateful, and I thank the gentlewoman again for yielding time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. At this time, prior to going into my message, I yield such time as he may consume to the Honorable Mark Takano, the pride of California's 41st District and the chair of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Thanking Toria Sullivan

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud, liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed, and unafraid to speak truth to power as well as truth about power concerning the topic of slavery and the need for atonement. Let's start with slavery and identify it for what it was. A proper identification of slavery would cause one to conclude that it was truly one of the greatest crimes ever committed against humanity. Slavery was kidnapping. People were stolen from their homes. They were traversed across the oceans. Slavery was murder because in the process of transferring persons, if they became unruly, unmanageable, they could simply be thrown overboard into the shark-infested waters. In fact, it is said that sharks would follow the ships knowing that, at some point, a body might be thrown over that they could feed upon. Slavery was robbery. People had their identities stolen from them. People were put in a position such that they could not know who they were in terms of their connection to the past, and they could not get an education about what the world was all about. Slavery was rape. It was not unusual for the masters to rape the women. It was not unusual for them to father the children, and then for those children to become slaves. Slavery was about the enslavement of babies. What kind of people would do such a dastardly thing as to enslave babies? The people who would do this were the people who didn't see the human beings, the human qualities associated with slavery. They just saw them as chattel, something to be traded, something to be used, and something to be discarded. Slavery was also about forced labor. I would like to say more about this topic of forced labor and slavery because I happen to have the good fortune to be the chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Financial Services Committee. I serve under the leadership of the Honorable Maxine Waters, who is one of the most courageous Members of Congress. Under her leadership, we have had hearings on this question of slavery and how this slavery, this evil, has impacted not only the people of that time when they were enslaved but also the people of this time. Mr. Speaker, it is a very sensitive topic, and it deserves our attention. For those who desire not to give it attention, there are places for them to have their conversations off the floor. I beg that they would do so. It is a very sensitive topic. We have held hearings on this topic, and at these hearings we have discovered that there are institutions that have a historical connection to slavery. These institutions include our mega banks. I will call them ``big banks.'' They include mega insurance companies. I will call them ``big insurance companies.'' These mega banks, these big banks, these big insurance companies have predecessor institutions, predecessor banks and insurance companies, that actually engaged in the slave trade by way of with banks insuring slaves as chattel, and the insurance companies would insure them, and the banks would make loans against slaves as chattel. Let me give some examples. One big bank had a predecessor bank that was found to have had a connection to chattel slavery by accepting 8,149 enslaved people as collateral for loans and coming into possession of 437 enslaved people. Another predecessor bank accepted approximately 13,000 enslaved people as collateral for loans as well as took possession of approximately 1,250 enslaved people upon default. Mr. Speaker, it might be worthy of noting that these predecessor banks were located in our State. I was born in Louisiana. You represent a great Congressional District in Louisiana. Predecessor banks that took possession of approximately 1,250 enslaved people upon default on loans. Another predecessor bank made a loan of $135,000 to a railroad company to use slave labor. Adjusted for inflation, $135,000 is worth approximately $4,776,840 in 2022. Another predecessor bank accepted enslaved people as collateral in at least 24 transactions, took possession of enslaved people upon default on loans, and engaged in business and investments with the Confederacy that by 1862 exceeded $1.5 million. That amount is worth $44,000,230 in 2022. Mr. Speaker, as a proud descendent of enslaved people, I cannot in good conscience allow these transgressions to go unchallenged, to allow them to continue without atonement. There are some things that we ought not allow to remain a part of our history without proper redress. The enslavement of people and the profits that were made off of these people as slaves is something that must be redressed. These big banks and these big insurance companies have a duty, responsibility, and an obligation to atone for their connectivity to slavery. As a result, Mr. Speaker, I plan to file a big banks' and big insurance companies' atonement legislation, a piece of legislation that will address the injustices that were perpetrated upon human beings, the greatest crime against humanity, that we call slavery. This piece of legislation will require these big banks to assess whether their institutions, their predecessor institutions had direct or indirect ties to or profited from the institution of slavery. We already know that some did. They will have to issue a report containing all findings and determinations made in carrying out the assessments required, and to the extent the institutions, these big banks and these big insurance companies, identify ties to or profits from the institution of slavery a disclosure of the steps these institutions have taken to reconcile such profits and ties shall be reported. This report will be made available to the public, including on a website of each of the institutions making the reports. Further, this legislation will require a fine to be imposed on any institution that fails to issue a report as required or that reports false, misleading, or inaccurate information on such a report. They shall be fined $20,000 per day until the report is issued properly or until the report is corrected to not be false, misleading, or inaccurate. Mr. Speaker, this is a part of the process necessary for great a nation--and ours is a great nation--to be an even greater nation after it has properly reconciled for its greatest sin, its seminal sin of slavery; as I have indicated one of the greatest crimes ever committed against humanity, a crime that has implications on this very day and will have implications on tomorrow in a very negative way. We still have people who are suffering from these crimes that were committed centuries ago. Slavery didn't end all of the suffering. After slavery we had Black codes, which allowed Black people to be arrested and then forced to work as persons who were leased. It was called ``convict leasing.'' You could be arrested for something as simple as not having a job and then forced to work. Many people worked until they died; literally, they would work them to death. In Texas we have discovered a grave of 95 such people known as the Sugar Land 95, a common grave with persons who were slave laborers. It didn't end there. It went on to have persons who were discriminated against lawfully in this country because we had segregation. Segregation was another means of maintaining people of African ancestry as second-class citizens, people who were not entitled to the same privileges and opportunities as others. But it didn't end there. We then suffered from--and still to this day--suffered from invidious discrimination. Yes, there are some people who say that it doesn't exist, but it does. There is invidious discrimination in the House of Representatives. Invidious discrimination, discrimination that keeps people from reaching their potential because of who they happen to be. In fact, our failure to recognize marriage as we have voted to do so today was a form of invidious discrimination. So it doesn't just consume people of African ancestry. I am making that the topic today. On some future occasion I will be talking about the invidious discrimination perpetrated against others, but today as it relates to African Americans there is still invidious discrimination in our country. African Americans were not given the same opportunities to acquire wealth. Over the centuries, we have had circumstances where in this country you could acquire wealth by simply going out in the West and fencing in as much property as you could, buy a Winchester rifle, defend it, and it was yours. You could simply squat and acquire land. People of African ancestry were not given the opportunity to acquire land in this fashion. When the GI Bill was passed, many people benefited from it. Very few of them were of African ancestry. People who fought, many of them died, but people who fought and survived and came back could not get the same loans, the same grants, the same opportunities as others. So the opportunity to build wealth has been denied, and that opportunity denied has manifested in a wealth gap that is unimaginable with Black people having pennies on the dollar for the many dollars that White people have in terms of wealth. This wealth gap is something that cannot be ignored, and atonement has to be a methodology by which we achieve a bringing together, a closing of the wealth gap, if you will. And until we close the wealth gap we have to continue to require atonement. Now, there are many people who conclude that atonement and just talking about slavery is something that ought to be against the law. In the State of Texas they have in our legislature imposed a law that as many read it would not allow teaching the truth about slavery in schools. There are people who don't want their children to be harmed by hearing about the suffering that people in this country had perpetuated upon them for centuries. They don't want their children to know. They want their children to believe that liberty and justice for all has always applied to all of the people in the country, and it hasn't. They want their children to believe that there has always been equal access to opportunity in this country, which is not true. They don't want their children taught the truth, but the truth is going to be told and taught. The truth will be known. Carlyle was right: ``No lie can live forever.'' William Cullen Bryant was right: ``Truth, crushed to Earth, shall rise again.'' Dr. King was right: ``The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.'' The truth will be told. You can't hide it from your children. They need to know the truth. It is only after the truth is known that we can then reconcile and have an even greater country than we have today. The process of reconciliation requires atonement, and for this process of reconciliation I have legislation pending to have a department of reconciliation, a department with a secretary of reconciliation with undersecretaries of reconciliation who will have the responsibility to wake up each and every day and deal with the racial wealth gap, deal with the invidious discrimination that took place against persons who came here and built the railroads, persons of Asian ancestry, the invidious discrimination that took place with the Trail of Tears when people were forced to leave their homes, move across the country, and dwell in a foreign place as it related to them, and the invidious discrimination to deal with the Latino population that many years ago had land taken from them. Yes, we need a department of reconciliation. I have the legislation for such a department. But notwithstanding that, we still need this legislation to deal with the atonement of these big financial institutions that have profited from the labor of human beings who were treated as chattel. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I say every word that I have said today because I am the proud descendent of these humble hands that helped build this Capitol, the proud descendent of these humble hands that helped build the roads and bridges, laid the foundation for this country. They were the foundational mothers and fathers of this country. I am proud to be a descendent of the enslaved people who helped make America great. I am proud to say that I think these enslaved people who helped make America great deserve more than being reviled while the people who tried to maintain slavery are revered--the Confederacy--revered by this House of Representatives. Slavery reviled. The slaves reviled. Why do I say that the Confederacy was revered or is revered or has been revered by this House? Because this House of Representatives granted a Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers. Some things bear repeating. The House of Representatives in this Chamber passed legislation to accord a Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers. We revere the enslavers and revile the enslaved. That hasn't changed. This Congress or the next should accord a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved people who built this country. If we could do it for the enslavers, then we can do it for the enslaved. I will have legislation before this House to allow each and every person to go on Record as to whether you have the courage and the intestinal fortitude necessary to set the record straight, to do the right thing--no, more importantly--to do the righteous thing: give the people who built this country the same recognition that you gave to the people who would keep them in chains. My dear brothers and sisters will have an opportunity. We will find out whether you put principle above politics or whether you are going to put the Confederacy above the enslaved. We will find out. I assure you; the Record will be made known. We will know who voted for and who voted against. Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, we will file this legislation. We will give Members an opportunity to demonstrate where they stand. Dr. King was right: The truest measure of the person is not where you stand in times of comfort and convenience when all is well in your world. The truest measure of the person is where do you stand in times of great challenge and controversy? I plan to bring the time of challenge to the floor of the House. The question is: Where will the Members of this great House stand? Will Members have the courage to accord a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved persons? Will Members have the courage to pass a resolution asking for a department of reconciliation? Will Members have the courage to vote for legislation to require these megabanks and mega-insurance companies to atone for their connectivity to the greatest crime committed against humanity? We will find out because the legislation will be presented. Mr. Speaker, let me close with this: Notwithstanding all that I have said, I still love my country. I still pledge allegiance to the flag, and I still sing the national anthem. I still support those who choose not to say the pledge of allegiance and refuse to sing the national anthem. But I do it because I believe in the Constitution. I believe in the words liberty and justice for all as extolled in the pledge of allegiance. I believe that we can be a country of the people, by the people, and for all of the people. I believe these things in spite of the fact that my country hasn't always loved me as much as I love it. I just celebrated my 25th birthday for the third time, and my country hasn't always loved me as much as I love my country. My country required me to drink from colored water fountains, Mr. Speaker. My country required me to sit in the back of the bus and to sit in the balcony of movies. My country required me to go to back doors and get my food. My country required me to step off the sidewalk when other persons of a different hue passed. I still love my country. I am standing here today because I love my country, and I want my country to live up to the promise made in the Declaration of Independence and the promise made in the Constitution. I want America to be America for all Americans, and until that day, I will still love my country, but I will remain a liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed, and unafraid to speak truth to power and truth about power. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise a very proud, liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed, and unafraid. I am proud to say that, today, I will address the question of comprehensive immigration reform. But before moving into this question of comprehensive immigration reform, I thank those who make it possible for me to have these opportunities to speak. I thank the Speaker of the House. I thank all the persons who are in leadership. I am grateful for the opportunity because this is a means by which messages can be made known to the masses. Many of the masses would not receive these messages but for what they hear from the floor of the House of Representatives. I am honored to represent the Ninth Congressional District in Texas, and I am honored to thank those who allowed me to serve previously and who are allowing me to serve for an additional 2 years in the Congress of the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, immigration reform is exceedingly important for many reasons. I will speak to one reason that is exceedingly important today, but I in no way want people to conclude that I am not concerned about what is happening at the border, that I am not concerned about ingress and egress into the country. I wouldn't want people to think that I don't believe we need to know who is coming into the country, who is leaving the country. All of these things are important. I am concerned about them. But I am also concerned about them in a comprehensive way. I don't believe that we should try to do a patchwork fix of what is happening with immigration. I think that we look at it from a holistic approach, and if we do, we will have an immigration bill that we can be proud of, that can deal with many of the nuances that are not brought to the attention of the public with any degree of regularity. We tend to focus more on the border than on other aspects of immigration reform. Today, I will focus on an aspect of it that is somewhat different from the border itself and people who find themselves crossing the border for many reasons--many with good reasons, I might add. Today, I would like to talk about Mr. Jaime Avalos Rosales. Mr. Jaime Avalos Rosales was born on November 25, 1994, some 28 years ago, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Mr. Avalos was brought to this country as a baby. He was about 1 year of age at the time that he was brought into the country. He has lived in this country for more than a quarter of a century. He is a graduate of a high school in this country, in Houston, Texas, Bellaire High School. He worked in Houston, Texas. Mr. Avalos married an American-born woman and has a son. His wife, Yariana Martinez, and he have a young son, Noah Blake Avalos. This beautiful young baby is currently with his mother in Houston, Texas. Mr. Avalos has been banned from the country and is in Juarez, Mexico, banned from the country for a period of 10 years. This is why I rise today to give some intelligence on what has happened to cause Mr. Avalos to find himself in this predicament of being banned from the country for a period of 10 years. Mr. Avalos, living in this country as a DACA recipient, working, not having committed a crime, decided that it would be appropriate to become a lawful citizen in the country. He was here undocumented. He wanted to do what was right for himself, but, more importantly, for his baby, Noah, and his wife. He and his wife conferred, and they concluded, after having conferred with persons who were supposed to know, that he should return to Mexico, to Juarez, to the consulate there, and that he would apply for his visa to return to this country. Go to Mexico, Juarez, and apply for a visa to return to this country lawfully. By the way, he made an appointment to go to Juarez, Mexico. He made an appointment to go there to the consulate. This is the way it is done. You make an appointment; you go there; you make your application to return lawfully into the country as a person with a visa. He did this. He had no reason to leave the country other than to do this. He loves this country. He has been a hardworking person. Moralistically speaking, he is an American, but he does not have the documentation that would make him an American in the eyes of the laws of this country. So, he leaves this country, leaves his wife, leaves his baby, goes to Juarez, and makes application. Upon making application, it is discovered that Mr. Avalos was brought to Mexico at the age of 7 from the United States to Mexico for a purpose of having his birth properly registered in Mexico. So, he leaves the United States, not of his own volition, but in the arms of his mother who takes him to Mexico to register his birth. Upon registering his birth, he comes back to this country. He has been in this country for decades, more than a quarter of a century. Upon going to Juarez to register, they discover that he was brought to Mexico for this purpose, one time, leaving the country, going to Mexico to have his birth registered. There is a law on our books indicating that if you are in this country for more than 365 days, and if you leave after more than 365 days, you cannot return for a period of 10 years. That is the ban that Mr. Avalos finds himself having to suffer from. He left, but he left in the arms of his mother. He left as a 7-year- old child. In fact, he was taken out of the country. This was not something that he did of his own volition. He has no recollection of having done it. Having no recollection of it, he didn't call it to anyone's attention because he, quite frankly, didn't recall the circumstance having occurred. But having done this, the consulate and the officials there, whom I visited with, concluded that he was subject to this 10-year ban because he came back at the age of 7 to have his birth registered. This, literally, is why he is banned from the country. I, along with staff members, his wife, and his lawyer, Attorney Salem, we went to Mexico to visit Mr. Avalos. He is my constituent. I do this. He is not the first constituent that I have had to go to Mexico to visit. We had a Mr. Escobar who was in El Salvador. I went there. I saw him. We eventually brought him home. My intentionality is to bring Mr. Avalos home. It may not happen as soon as I would like, but we will bring Mr. Avalos home. This is an injustice. I took staff, his wife, baby Noah, and his lawyer to Mexico. We went there to Juarez, and we met with him extensively. I had an opportunity to see him interact with baby Noah. I saw tears well in his eyes as he talked about how much he loved his son, how he misses his son, and how he doesn't want his son to grow up without his father being in his life. It was a very touching and moving moment to see this occur. This man who loves his child. The child's mother was there with us at the time. Attorney Salem was there. We had a reporter there as well. This is a very heart-wrenching circumstance to have to negotiate. He wants to return home. He is living there. Fortunately, he has a relative, and he is living there with a relative. He does not venture far from the place where he is staying. In Mexico, Mr. Avalos is a stranger. In Mexico, Mr. Avalos is viewed as an outsider, especially if it is known that he is barred from coming back to this country. Mr. Avalos is concerned about his safety, as am I, as is the case with his wife. We are all concerned about his safety. He is very careful not to go very far away from where he lives, and when he does, he is usually accompanied by some other person who is familiar with the environment, who can help him to be assured that he will return home safely. Concern for his safety is something that I would call to everyone's attention, and I think this in and of itself is reason for us to want to make sure that we bring him home. But aside from this, Mr. Avalos has a home in Houston, a home that he is purchasing. As I have indicated, he is hardworking; productive; buying a home; has an American-born wife; an American-born child. So he wants to return to his home and his child. He wants to give that child the opportunity to have the presence of a father in his life, throughout his childhood and into his adulthood. He would like to be there when his child takes his first step. The child is just learning to speak and learning to say ``daddy.'' I was there when the child was reaching for his father and trying his best to utter the words ``daddy.'' He wants to enjoy the things that a father can enjoy with a son: To be there on the first day of school; to participate in activities with his son. He is a good and decent person who has done nothing wrong other than what we perceive to be wrong, and that is having been taken out of the country at the age of 7 by his mother to register his birth. It is my belief that the law ought to have some consideration for persons who are taken out of the country, as opposed to persons who leave the country. Many persons will leave the country. They are persons who have the intentionality of leaving, and the law should apply to them. But a child at the age of 7, who has no recollection of it, who was taken out of the country, in my opinion, there ought to be some exception for this person: Mr. Avalos. I believe we should try our best to get him returned to this country, so there are several things that we are doing. We have two pieces of legislation that we have filed. One piece of legislation would deal with Mr. Avalos and his circumstance. We believe that his is a special circumstance, and the law provides for this type of legislation. Another piece would deal with persons who are similarly situated. We believe that if there are such persons--and there are, I am told by others who should know--we want to make sure we cover them as well: Young people, babies, children who are removed from the country by parents who don't leave of their own volition. We want to make sure that we capture them in the law because this type of injustice should not go unnoticed and should be corrected. We also believe that Mr. Avalos is a candidate for what we call humanitarian parole. I believe firmly that if he is granted humanitarian parole, he will return to our country, be a law-abiding person and who will be a credit to our society; will make America a better place by being here; who will be a great father to his son Noah, and will be a good husband to his wife, Yariana. This can be accomplished, and we are making every effort to do so, through the good offices of Secretary Mayorkas, the good offices of Homeland Security. We believe that this can be accomplished through USCIS and he will have the opportunity to return home. All of these things are going to take time. I am a patient person, but I believe that the longer he is away from his son, the longer this becomes an injustice and the longer this becomes a circumstance where justice is being denied. So we are going to push for all of these things to try to bring Mr. Avalos back to this country, and we would like to do it as timely as we possibly can because one can see that his son misses him. If you are in the company of Mr. Avalos, he and his son, then you would see immediately that there is a bond between them. I mention this case because this is the type of case--and there are many others--but this is the type of case that hardly makes the news. It is not a part of what we talk about when we talk about immigration and the need to have immigration reform, but this is why immigration reform has to be comprehensive because there are nuances in the law that have to be addressed that are not making the news on some sort of daily basis or with any degree of regularity. I believe that we have to take a holistic approach to immigration reform; that it has to be comprehensive. I don't think that we can just conclude that by dealing with the border alone. And there are many ways to deal with the border, but I will use an example that is cited quite regularly, and that is, deal with the border and construct the wall. A wall high enough to keep people from going over it, a wall deep enough to keep people from tunneling under it. If such a thing can be done, this is what I believe many people would propose, but I do know that there are circumstances where people find a way over high walls and tunnel under low walls. But let's assume this can be accomplished in a positive way. There are still circumstances, however, where the gunrunners will still get their guns over the walls. They are using drones now to get guns over walls, and those guns are the ones that are being used to terrorize people, causing many people to want to come to this country. Assume that we can prevent the guns from coming over the wall, people from going over the wall and under the wall, I don't think that resolves the question of immigration reform. That is an aspect of immigration reform; that is not total immigration reform. We have people who are living in this country who are doing us no harm, who came here with the best of intentions. They have to be addressed. There must be a remedy for all of this before we can take up some aspect of this. Here is what I believe would happen if we only addressed the wall. If we only addressed the wall, I believe that the opportunity to deal with those who are living in the shadows, those who live in fear of being stopped when they are out and being taken away from families that they have in this country, are those who are in the circumstance of Mr. Avalos, they would not have their petitions, their proper redress accorded them. I believe that we have to have a holistic approach. Let's let those who want to address the wall, let's do this: Let's let them address the wall. And let those of us who would like to have other things a part of comprehensive immigration reform, let's add these things. Let's have one bill that includes the things that all people believe to be necessary to have a border that they believe to be secure, and people addressed in this country that will understand that they no longer have to live on the run or in the shadows, as we say, or live in fear of being deported and taken away from their families. I think this holistic approach can be accomplished. I am available to talk to anybody who wants to talk about it. I am not in any way fearful of talking to you about the wall that you would like to build. I will talk to you about it, but let's talk about all aspects of immigration reform when we do this. I am a person who has been to the border on many occasions. I have seen what is happening at the border. But I didn't leave the border thinking that I was an expert simply because I saw people entering the country in ways that are unfavorable in the eyes of many. I didn't leave assuming I was an expert. As a matter of fact, just recently, over the Thanksgiving holidays, I went on the other side of the border, to the consulate in Juarez and I talked to the members of that consulate. It is amazing what one can learn by simply going to the other side of the border and talking to the people who also have a hand in helping us to secure the border. They are with the State Department. They deal with things in a diplomatic way, but they, too, have a hand in this. And one would be wise to take some opportunity to go there and talk to them. The Consul General in Juarez, Mexico, is very receptive. He listens and he gives you thoughtful information, in my opinion. I think it would benefit persons who go to the border to simply just go over to the other side. And I am not saying that there are not others who haven't done it, but a good many haven't. But just go over to the other side to the consulate and talk to the people who see these problems and have some thoughts as to some of the remedies that might be beneficial to us. I have done this. So I have seen the border from both sides. I have seen the border from the perch of one who is making a concerted, conscientious effort to help people who are trapped on the other side of the border. I have actually been there to visit with them. I have been to El Salvador to visit with the constituent, brought that constituent home--didn't come home as soon as I wanted, but we did get it done. We will bring Mr. Avalos home as well, just as we brought Mr. Escobar home. But this is an important circumstance that highlights the need for comprehensive immigration reform. I assure you that this is the methodology by which this can be resolved for both sides of the aisle, all parties concerned. I'm not sure anybody is going to get everything they want. I probably would not, using such a process, but we will do what the American people would have us do, and that is, negotiate, develop legislation. Let the legislation matriculate, take votes, come to a conclusion. That is the way the House should function as well as the Senate, I might add. I would have us do this, but we can't do it if the only solution proposed is a wall, or if the only solution proposed is to have something done about the persons who are here living in the shadows. Either of those without the other would not be the comprehensive immigration reform that we need. This is what I support. I believe that if we negotiate as opposed to require what I would call capitulation as opposed to negotiation. Negotiation involves give- and-take. Capitulation involves one way or no way at all. That way is an unacceptable way of doing business. Everybody is going to have to give something. Hopefully, everybody will get something. I don't believe that we should allow the perfect when it comes to this. Someone who believes that, Hey, I have the perfect solution and it is either this or nothing. I don't believe we should allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. But I do believe that we should allow right to be the enemy of wrong. It is just wrong for us to have someone in the circumstance that Mr. Avalos finds himself in. It is wrong to allow this to exist. And I believe that I have a right to do the righteous thing, and that is to try my best to extricate him from this most enigmatic circumstance. I plan to do all that I can in the future. I plan to go back if I need to--and I believe that I will--to see Mr. Avalos again. I will do all that I can to help his family get back to see the father of baby Noah and the husband of Yariana. I plan to do this. I think that I am not a live-and-let-live guy, meaning you do what you can to make your way through the world, and I will stay out of your way. Let me do what I can to make my way through the world, and you stay out of my way. That is not my philosophy. My philosophy is one of live and help live. Live and help live. If I had the resources and the means of helping some person who is in harm's way, I believe that I ought to do that. I ought to help that person who is in harm's way. There are many people in this country who left places south of the border because they were in harm's way only to come here and have to live in the shadows. I want to get them out of the shadows. Mr. Avalos wanted to extricate himself from the shadows, which is why he left. To recap quickly: He was in this country and was brought here by his mother at the age of 1 year. His mother decided at the age of 7 that she was taking him back to register his birth; and she did so. He then continued to live here abiding the law. He married an American woman, has an American child, graduated from high school in this country, and purchased a home. Moralistically he is an American. He and his wife jointly decide to go back to Mexico as the law allows, go back to Mexico, and make an appointment. He didn't go under the cover of darkness. This was not something done in a stealthy fashion. He went back to Mexico to legitimize himself in the eyes of our laws. He had no other reason to leave. He was a DACA recipient. He could easily have stayed here for many, many, many more years as a DACA recipient and been a good father and husband. But he wanted to do the right thing. In his effort to do the right thing, he finds himself now entrapped. He finds himself now in Mexico banned for 10 years because of the law. I will cite the law for those who may want to have the benefit of knowing what law it is that I speak of. The law is Immigration and Nationality Act, and it is 212(a)(9)(C)(i). This piece of law, this legislation, indicates that if you have been in this country for more than 365 days and if you leave, if you have been here more than 365 days, then you are undocumented. You leave, you are banned for 10 years. He didn't leave. He was taken out of the country, and but for that circumstance, he would still be here; and, in my opinion, he would have received his visa from the consulate in Mexico and he would return to the country. Now, if I have got colleagues who have differences of opinion with me, I am available to discuss those differences with colleagues. I am, as I have indicated, a liberated Democrat. I have many friends who are very conservative, persons who are probably what many people would assume that I don't associate with, but I do. I am not a guy who disassociates because a person happens to have a label that is different from mine. If I did this, then I would have very few friends probably. So I have friends who are very conservative. I invite my very conservative friends who would like to have this discussion with me. I am available. I answer my phone. Please give me a call. Come by my office. I will come by your office. But these issues have to be addressed. I am all for addressing them in a comprehensive fashion such that we take care of the persons who are caught up in the nuances of the law such as is the case with Mr. Jaime Avalos. Mr. Speaker, this is a great country. I love my country. I wear a necktie that should give some indication that it means something to me to be an American. It means something to me. I say the Pledge of Allegiance, I salute the flag, and I sing the National Anthem. But I also believe that I ought to defend those who do not salute the flag and who do not sing the National Anthem. I believe that that is what makes America great; the right to say that I disagree, the right to protest, and a Constitution that makes it lawful for us to have disagreements. I believe in this Constitution. I believe that we can get things done if we would but only exercise our right to talk to each other. Let's talk. Let's try as best as we can to make this country the country that all of us would like to see it be through our various different eyes, through the different perches that we all have. We all have different ideas as to what the ideal circumstance is. I think that we can do this by simply deciding to talk to each other about these issues. So let it be known far and wide that I stand ready to talk with anybody who is ready to have that conversation with me. I thank you Madam Speaker Pelosi for your many years of service as the Speaker of the House. You have been the person who taught me to say Madam Speaker, as well as many others, I might add, because before you there was not a Madam Speaker. I appreciate the service that you have rendered. I thank you for the many opportunities that I have had to speak on the floor. To Mr. Hoyer, the majority leader currently: I greatly appreciate the many things you have done, Mr. Hoyer, to help me with legislation. You have been a real friend to me. I won't forget many of the things that you have done to help my constituents and this country legislatively speaking. You have taken some tough positions, Mr. Hoyer, but history is going to reward you for those tough positions. Mr. Clyburn, I admire you and thank you for staying on. Your wisdom is needed. You have seen things because you have lived longer. I haven't lived as long. I respect the wisdom that you accord me. I recently celebrated my 25th birthday for the third time. I respect you, Mr. Clyburn, and I appreciate the fact that you are staying on in a leadership position. To those who have just acquired these new positions, I am going to do everything that I can to make your administration a success. I stand ready to work closely with you, as closely as you would have me work with you. I stand ready to do the things that can help you to achieve your goals. I do believe that we have selected capable, competent, and qualified people who are ready to assume leadership in the next Congress--we are in the 117th now--in the 118th Congress, I believe they are ready. I believe Mr. Jeffries is ready. I believe that he has been seasoned properly and that he is ready to grow into this position. So, dear brother--if I may be so bold as to say dear brother as opposed to Mr. Minority-Leader-to-be--dear brother, I want to see you do well as is the case with the rest of your leadership team. I look forward to serving you as we serve the people of the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, as my friends are assisting me, I shall start by thanking the leadership for the opportunity to give this message today. I believe this is a message that is long overdue. In fact, it is hundreds of years overdue. I thank the persons who are assisting me. They have done an outstanding job. I thank all of the persons associated with this body for making it possible for me to have this opportunity to speak today on a matter of vital importance, an issue that is hundreds of years overdue, an issue that can make a difference in the life of our country. I am Al Green, Member of Congress from Texas, and still I rise, Madam Speaker, and still I rise today to call to the attention of the Congress that I will be asking for a Congressional Gold Medal for the many persons who toiled and slaved in this country such that our country is the economic and, quite frankly, the world powerhouse that it is when it comes to all of the things that can make a country great as it relates to its economic standing. This is the message that I would have my colleagues take note of, the message that I hope they will give consideration to. The message: Confederate soldiers were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1956. When some people hear this, they have what we call a double take, because it is difficult for them to believe that Confederate soldiers were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. Some things bear repeating. A Confederate soldier, more than one, were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1956. What Congress did for the soldier enslavers it should do for the enslaved. I am asking my colleagues to support the historic Congressional Gold Medal for America's economic foundational mothers, fathers, and children. I say children because in this country, persons of African ancestry early on were born into slavery, lived in slavery, and died in slavery. This was the status of things in the United States of America at one point and when the country was known as the colonies at another point. The enslaved people made a difference in the lives of those who were living here as persons other than slaves. The deadline for this document, this monumental piece of legislation, this bill requesting a Congressional Gold Medal, will be February 1, 2023. This will be the first day of Black History Month. Black History Month has been chosen, Madam Speaker, because the history of Africans in America has not been told. There are many aspects of it that have been deleted from history. I believe that it is time for us to clear the record. The deadline will be February 1, 2023, the first day of Black History Month. This date was chosen because Black history has not been told. It is one of the greatest stories never told, and we are still trying to complete it. This will be a part of that process, to let people know more about what the enslaved people in this country contributed to the country. Some people would say to me, and I have had at least one person to say: Do you really believe that Congress will accord a Congressional Gold Medal to the slaves? And my answer is: Yes, I believe Congress will do it. I believe Congress will do it because I remember what the father of Juneteenth suffered in his effort to get Juneteenth as a holiday in Texas. I remember how he was called names and castigated. I remember how there were people who felt that Juneteenth was a country holiday, they felt that it was too bucolic, too rustic, for intellectual society to embrace. But he fought and he won. The Honorable Al Edwards is now the father of Juneteenth. At the time he introduced it, he was thought of as a person who would never succeed in the Texas House of Representatives, but he served well and he showed and demonstrated to us that persistence can make a difference. So we plan to be persistent with this legislation, and we plan to make sure that we continue until we get the legislation passed. The letter that I will send to my colleagues reads--continuing to read it--on July 18, 1956, Congress--this would be the House and the Senate--awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldier enslavers. However, to this day, Congress has never awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to the over 10 million enslaved men, women, and children. I have to pause. Ten million men, women, and children. Who can imagine that a country would have a process by which a person is born into slavery, lives his or her entire life in slavery, and dies in slavery. This was the status of things in this country at one time. The country has never awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to the over 10 million enslaved men, women, and children who toiled for over 240 years to build the economy and the infrastructure, the foundation, if you will, of the wealthiest nation to ever exist on the planet Earth. These foundational mothers and fathers of our country labored arduously, constructing our roads, bridges, wells, and cities. They laboriously planted as well as harvested the food that fed our Nation. How ungrateful can we be to people who made such a sacrifice for this country, to still to this day see them as less-thans, to this day not accord them some degree of honor and dignity for the suffering that they endured for some 200-plus years. They were the de facto producers of the cash crops that fueled our Nation's foundational wealth. America is the wealthy powerhouse that it is today because of Black people, people from Africa, who were enslaved, brought to this country, and made to work their entire lives, many of them, so that America could be the economic powerhouse that it was then and has continued to be until this day. These enslaved human beings of African ancestry toiled as slaves without remuneration or recompense. They have not been given any emolument, and to add insult to this injury, they have not been given any degree of respect for what they did to make this country great. Their humble hands were relied on for the erection of some of our Nation's most renowned edifices and monuments, including the White House, the Capitol Building--this is the Capitol Building, for those who may be unaware--and the Washington Monument. Humble hands, forced to do the bidding of those who lived lives of luxury, many of them, made America great, built the Capitol, humble hands, the Washington Monument. In truth, their sacrificed lives provided the genesis of our Nation's economic preeminence. These sacrificed human beings--men, women, and children--were the greatest contributors to the foundational economy whose contributions are almost universally forgotten, underrecognized, ignored, overlooked, and/or undervalued. Many of the things that I read to you today I will repeat. They have not been said before. They should be heard multiple times, and some things just bear repeating. So let me repeat. These sacrificed human beings--men, women, and children, with the emphasis on children--were the greatest contributors to the American foundational economy whose contributions are almost universally forgotten, underrecognized, ignored, overlooked, and undervalued. For these and countless other justifications, I am beseeching the Congress to award the Congressional Gold Medal collectively to the human beings who are the foundational fathers, mothers, and children who toiled as slaves without recompense or recognition for their unparalleled contributions to the infrastructural and economic development of the Nation that we enjoy today. Awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to groups of individuals is not unprecedented, as a Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to Confederate enslavers. I think this bears some sidebar commentary. Confederate enslavers. The people who fought to maintain slavery have been awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. The people who sought to maintain the institution that prevented people from having the freedom that they had have received a Congressional Gold Medal. What is wrong with us? What mindset could we have had in 1956 when this House decided that it would accord Congressional Gold Medals to Confederate soldiers? I cannot understand how we would ever do this. But then to add additional insult to injury, to never consider the people who helped build the country, the people who made it the economic powerhouse that it was then and is now. What is wrong with us? Is racism such a disease that it infects our minds to the extent that we cannot see and concentrate with the degree of clarity necessary to make righteous decisions? This was one of the saddest days in this Congress when it voted to give a Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers. But there is a way for Congress to redeem itself. Redemption is at hand. And here is the means by which you can redeem yourself, Members: Give these persons who toiled and slaved, born into slavery, lived and died in slavery, give them the same level of respect that you gave the people who sought to enslave them, that fought to enslave them. Some of them died in their effort to keep them in chains, in bondage, subject to the whims of their masters, and their whims were many times things that are unacceptable in decent societies. Awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to groups of individuals is not unprecedented, as a Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to Confederate soldier enslavers, also to the Tuskegee Airmen--some of them received their Congressional Gold Medals antemortem, and some others postmortem--to the Navajo Code Talkers, and posthumously to the servicemembers who perished in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021. So, friends, the point to be made here is, you can't make the argument that we can't do it because it is a group of people. We have done it for other groups. You can't make the argument that we can't do it because none of them are alive. We have done it posthumously for others. There is really no argument to make except you don't believe that persons who toiled all of their lives--many of them lived, died, born into it--that they deserve respect and recognition. That is what this is about, respect and recognition. I am bringing this to your attention so that you can give consideration to it. We won't ask for signatures until the next Congress because to ask for them in this Congress with the short period of time left would be futile, and I believe that we should wait, and we will wait until February 1 of next year to do it during Black History Month. It is my belief that men, women, and children who suffered a great crime against humanity--and this was a crime against humanity; slavery was a crime against humanity, one of the greatest crimes ever perpetrated on humanity--it is my belief that men, women, and children who suffered a great crime against humanity, toiling unremunerated as slaves, many for their entire work lives, are more deserving of a Congressional Gold Medal than those who soldiered to preserve slavery. To be as clear as I can be, perspicuously so, it is my belief that those who were enslaved have a greater entitlement to a Congressional Gold Medal than the soldiers who fought to maintain slavery. The zeitgeist of our time, the mood, the spirit, the zeitgeist of our time impels the introduction of this historic legislation. I am going to ask if Members wish to be recognized as a courageous historic original cosponsor, they should contact my office. We will more than honor requests that are made early, but officially we will start in the next Congress. We will have this historic legislation made available on our website. In my office, you might contact Aaron, and his email address is readily available for those who would like to contact him, or you can simply call our office, and we will be more than pleased to speak to you. I will close by talking about a couple of pictures that I have here. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. This is a depiction of the arrival of these first 20 or so persons in this what is now the United States of America. It wasn't then, 1619. If you can see this, you can see a representation of persons who are standing around. This is purported to be the White Lion, the ship that brought them here, and these persons standing around, you can see that they have on clothing that would protect them from the weather. It appears to be a day wherein the weather is not kind, inclement weather. But if you look at the persons who are enslaved, shackled, to say that they are scantily clad is a gross understatement. It would be an insulting euphemism. This picture speaks volumes about what slavery was all about. It was about people who were thought of as less than human. Didn't have to treat them fairly. Didn't have to keep them warm if you chose not to. Didn't have to keep them alive. One insult could cost a person his or her life. The picture is worth a thousand words. These people, well- clothed, looking on, some of them possibly contemplating what they would do with these human beings. I plan to go to Norfolk, Virginia, Old Point Comfort, if you will. I want to see this place. It is identifiable. I want to see it. I want to say I was there. I want to say I stood on the soil where human beings were first introduced, by many accounts. There may be some discrepancy, but my most accounts, this is where it happened. I am going to go. Here is another rendition. This one shows a baby. Looks like the baby is with a female, possibly the mother, dressed in clothing that I would consider more acceptable for the weather than in the other. There are many renditions, but we still have the White Lion, and we still have persons standing around talking about these human beings, contemplating their fate is my speculation. What kind of person enslaves a baby? What kind of person enslaves a baby? What kind of person would see a child and see labor that can be the benefit of having this human being survive and have this child grow up and deny the child an opportunity to get an education? What kind of person denies a baby the opportunity to grow up and just understand the world by virtue of being able to read? There are still places on the planet where young girls are not allowed to get the same level of schooling and education as young men. I am opposed to that. I am opposed to the people who do that. I have good reason to be opposed. Here is one. I understand what has happened. What kind of person keeps people in ignorance intentionally? The kind of person who would want to make sure that this person never has a life, but only an existence. They didn't have a life. They just existed to serve their masters. Anybody who believes that this piece of legislation is inappropriate is a person that doesn't understand this, and I am being kind by saying what I just said. There are many other ways; there are many adjectives. When I first examined these photos, I had tears well up in my eyes because I realized who they were. Not only were they human beings, these were my relatives. These are the people on whose shoulders I stand. More than 240 years they suffered. These are the people that this country ought to honor and appreciate, and these are the people that deserve what we have given to the enslavers. I won't give up, friends. I will not. These are my people. I am not ashamed to say that I am a proud descendant of the enslaved people who made America great. I am not ashamed of it. My dear brothers and sisters, my dear friends, I beg that you give consideration to the legislation. Those who want to have further query can call me, talk to me. I will be on the floor. It would be no surprise, when I initially thought about introducing the legislation, my thought was, well, we will just wait and introduce it and start asking for signatures. But, no, I want to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to read it, peruse it, dissect it, scrutinize it, and do all the things you need to do to make a decision. Then, once we file it, I am going to come back to this floor, and I am going to announce and thank the persons who have signed on to the legislation. Anybody who signs on to this legislation deserves a word of gratitude, and I will be one of the many who will, hopefully, give these expressions of gratitude. I plan to come back to the floor and say to the public at large: We thank you for supporting this legislation. My hope is that we will get the signatures necessary for the benefit of the public at large. You cannot get this legislation passed in the House with a majority of votes. It will take 290 votes or more. I see the Parliamentarian looking in my direction. If I am incorrect, Madam Parliamentarian, will you give me some nod as to being correct or incorrect? She indicates that I am correct. So, now you have heard it from me and you have heard it echoed from the Parliamentarian: 290 votes we will need, not 289, 290 people of goodwill who have the courage to recognize the people who made America great. Others have done things to make America great. I don't mean to minimize the efforts of any others. I just mean to maximize the efforts that have been ignored, that have been, quite frankly, with intentionality pushed aside. They are people who are ashamed to acknowledge that they are the proud descendants of the enslaved people who built this country. I am not one of them, of course. But there are still people who are. They are ashamed. We have to change that. I want to do everything I can to bring about that change. I will return to Al Edwards, the father of Juneteenth. I remember what he went through. He was my friend. I saw him suffer. I know about his fight to rid South Africa of Apartheid, how he went to jail in that struggle. I am prepared to do whatever it takes, however long it takes, as long as I am in Congress. Madam Speaker of the House of Representatives, I thank you for this time, and I will be asking for additional time to have additional commentary about this subject. I assure you that those who take this seriously will be doing the righteous thing, not just the right thing, but the righteous thing. Again, I will close with Maya Angelou's very powerful words. She reminded us that we--persons of my ilk, if you will--were: Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I plan to fulfill their dreams. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a proud descendant of the enslaved people who made cotton king and America great; the enslaved people who had a hand in the construction of this Capitol, who had a hand in the construction of the White House; the enslaved people who constructed roads and bridges across the length and breadth of this country, who worked for more than 200 years without a payday. They made the difference for what we call the United States of America on the global scene at the time. I am honored to be a descendant, and I am honored to say also that this House, on July 27, took the historic step of according them Slavery Remembrance Day, a day to remember their lives and commemorate their accomplishments. It is important that we do this because, for too long, we have reviled the slaves and revered the enslavers. For too long, we have placed them in such a position as to cause the people who are the very descendants to be ashamed of who they were associated with, with reference to their heritage. I am proud that this House has taken this important historic step with Slavery Remembrance Day, but I am also proud to say that at 2 o'clock tomorrow in Room 145A at the Washington Convention Center, we will continue to talk about this piece of legislation that we passed, H. Res. 517, the Original Slavery Remembrance Day Resolution. We will talk about this. We will give a legislative update. The Reverend Al Sharpton will be there, and he will give insightful information on this very topic. I am just proud that we no longer fear having those persons who made this country great recognized by this Congress, and that had been the case in the past. I thank all the Members of the Congress, 218 of whom who voted for this legislation. I thank the President, who recognized Slavery Remembrance Day. I thank all of the leadership for allowing this resolution to come to the floor. I thank Ms. Elizabeth Warren, the Senator who supported it, and I thank Mr. Hoyer. Mr. Hoyer was a man of his word, a person of his word. He said this resolution would come to the floor for a vote. He supported it, and it came to the floor for a vote. I thank you for the courage that you showed, Mr. Hoyer, and the judicious insight that you utilized to make sure that we had this opportunity. Tomorrow, we continue what I cannot finish today at the convention center, 2 o'clock, Room 145A.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, the great Maya Angelou summarized the very essence of my being when she proclaimed `` . . . the gifts my ancestors gave, I am the dream and hope of the slave.'' I am proud to say tonight that I am a descendent of enslaved people. I also want to acknowledge tonight a couple of righteous allies of enslaved people. Mr. Steny Hoyer, the majority leader of the House. Mr. Hoyer and I worked closely to bring the Slavery Remembrance Day resolution to the floor. I am very proud of what he has done to help us. I consider him a righteous ally of enslaved people. President Joe Biden: President Biden issued a press statement that I will be eternally grateful for as it relates to enslaved people. In fact, I would like to read from the statement that the President actually issued. Of course, it is the President's statement, Joe Biden, marking Slavery Remembrance Day. He issued this on August 20, 2022. It reads: More than 400 years ago, 20 enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to the shores of what would become the United States. Millions more were stolen and sold in the centuries that followed, part of a system of slavery that is America's original sin. Great Nation's don't hide from their history. They acknowledge their past, both the triumphs and the tragedies. Today is a day-- He is talking about August 20. Today is a day to reflect on the terrible toll of slavery, and our Nation's profound ability to heal and emerge stronger. He goes on to say: Despite the horrors they faced, these men and women and their descendants have made countless contributions to the building of this Nation and the continuous effort to realize the American ideal. I was honored last year to declare Juneteenth a national holiday, another moment to reflect and rededicate ourselves to becoming a more perfect union. And it is why my administration will continue the hard, ongoing work to bring true equity and racial justice to our country. I am grateful for the efforts of Congress--in particular, Representative Al Green and Senator Elizabeth Warren--to recognize the significance of this day. Madam Speaker, I mention the President because this day was many years in the making, many years. In fact, it was on August 20 of 1619 that the White Lion, a slave ship, a ship with enslaved human beings on it, docked at Point Comfort, near what we now call Norfolk, Virginia, and it had these 20 human beings on it from Africa. They were traded for materials and goods and left there. This was a seminal moment in our history, August 20, 1619, some 246 years, 108 days ago. From August 20, 1619, to January 31, 1865, when the 13th Amendment was ratified, we considered these the years and days that this country had lawful slavery. It is interesting to note that over this entire period of time, there were persons who were very helpful to those who were enslaved. I shall talk about them later on in this half hour. The value of that 246 years of labor, unpaid labor, unpaid slave labor, has been estimated to be such as $14.2 trillion. That is in 2009 dollars. So it is important for us to realize that these persons who were enslaved over these 246 years, 108 days, these persons gave America a foundation, an economic foundation that has persisted to this day--246 years, 108 days of free labor, some $14.2 trillion. In fact, these persons are the greatest contributors to the American economy, the greatest contributors ever to the American economy, because of 246 years, 108 days of free labor. Here are some of the well-known landmarks and buildings built by enslaved human beings. I will talk about them. This is according to an article styled ``15 American landmarks that were built by slaves,'' published in the publication known as the Business Insider and by James Pasley. Let me now start. The first is the White House. According to the White House Historical Association, enslaved human beings were likely involved in all aspects of the construction, including the carpentry, masonry, cording, rafting, plastering, glazing, and painting. The task force reported this. Slaves appeared to have shouldered alone all the grueling work of sawing logs and stones. The White House: Constructed by slaves. The U.S. Capitol Building: Enslaved human beings quarried the stone used for the floors, walls, and columns of the Capitol. They shaped that stone. They laid the brick foundations of the buildings. Enslaved human beings, in large part, also completed the carpentry as they framed the roof and installed its shingles and its coverings. Enslaved human beings were responsible for more skilled labor like plastering and painting. The White House and the Capitol. The Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol: If you have been to Washington, D.C., you have seen the Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol. An enslaved human being created the Statue of Freedom. This is remarkable and almost painful to say, knowing that a person who was enslaved created the Statue of Freedom that is atop the Capitol. It was done so because Philip Reid was the only person available with the skill to make a bronze statue out of the plaster cast. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.: Although enslaved individuals did not work on the actual building, they were the ones who quarried the iconic red sandstone that still adorns the building to this day. Wall Street in New York: Enslaved human beings built the titular wall for which the street is named. In addition, Wall Street was the location of one of the largest slave markets in the country in the 1700s. Trinity Church in New York: Enslaved human beings helped to build the original Trinity Church on Wall Street, which stood from 1698 until 1776. Fraunces Tavern in New York: Although few specific details still exist on the process, enslaved human beings built one of the oldest buildings in Manhattan. Faneuil Hall in Boston: Enslaved human beings helped build the cradle of liberty indirectly by working for Peter Faneuil, who helped fund the building with funds made from slavery. Fort Sumter in South Carolina: Enslaved human beings helped build the fort where the Civil War began. They were forced to help create the bricks that made up the structure, as well as forced to repair the fort while it was under attack. As many as 20 slaves died during the attack on the fort. Harvard Law School in Massachusetts: Enslaved human beings helped build the Harvard Law School through the wealth of the slave owner Isaac Royall, Jr., whose wealth came from his sugar plantations and farms. Castillo de San Marcos fort in Florida: The oldest missionary fort in the United States was built by enslaved human beings who toiled for around 25 years under the Spanish to build the fort. Georgetown University: Enslaved human beings were sold in order to raise $3.3 million in funds, in today's money, to finance the construction of the Georgetown campus. The University of North Carolina: Enslaved human beings helped build the oldest public university in the country. Many of the University of North Carolina structures were built and maintained by slaves. Monticello in Virginia: Thomas Jefferson's home had its bricks and limestone quarried, built, and placed by enslaved human beings. Montpelier in Virginia: President James Madison's family had their homes cleared, created, and constructed by enslaved human beings. Mount Vernon in Virginia: President George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, was built by enslaved human beings who were forced to quarry the materials, as well as build and maintain the home. In summary, enslaved human beings built some of the most well-known structures in our country. To recap, they built the White House in Washington, D.C., or helped to--there were others involved--the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., the Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., Wall Street in New York, Trinity Church in New York, Fraunces Tavern in New York, Faneuil Hall in Boston, Fort Sumter in South Carolina, Harvard Law School in Massachusetts, Castillo de San Marcos fort in Florida, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the University of North Carolina, Monticello in Virginia, and Montpelier in Virginia. It should be noted also that these structures are among those that are known to us. The list does not include the untold number of roads, bridges, and water wells, as well as houses and more, that were constructed by enslaved human beings. It also does not include the many crops planted and harvested in the agrarian economy built on the backs of enslaved human beings. All told, the total value of labor of every hour toiled under the whip of slavers in this country has been estimated to be between $5.9 and $14.2 trillion, 2009 dollars. This is why I say that the enslaved human beings are the greatest contributors to the American economy. As a group, as a lot, as a people, the enslaved human beings contributed upward of around $14.2 trillion of free labor to this country. They were the foundational mothers and fathers of this country. This is a widely cited number, and it was calculated by the University of Connecticut researcher Thomas Craemer using the number of unremunerated work hours multiplied with historical free market labor wages. This is wealth that was stolen from human beings who have seen little to none of it repaid. The American economy had hundreds of years of free labor that gave it a start, that allowed it to compete and, in a sense, to have a competitive edge that many other countries did not have simply because of enslaved human beings. I am honored to say that I am proud to be a descendant of enslaved human beings, the persons who built this country, the foundation of it, who gave it its start, its place in the economic order as a world power--enslaved human beings. So, now, let's look at some of the people who were the enslavers. John L. Manning owned at least two plantations holding 670 human beings against their will, one in South Carolina and another in Louisiana--a slave owner. Meredith Calhoun held more than 700 enslaved people and produced cotton, more cotton than any other property in Louisiana. William Aiken was one of the State's wealthiest citizens, the owner of the largest rice plantation in the State, with over 700 enslaved on 1,500 acres under cultivation, almost twice the acreage of the next largest plantation. This is, for many of the persons who have inherited wealth, how that wealth was initially brought into being. Enslaved human beings gave them their start with free labor--John Manning, Meredith Calhoun, William Aiken. Another, John Burnside, was the largest sugar producer in the country during his time. Before he died, he owned 10 different plantations and enslaved 753 people at his peak. Joshua Ward, also known as the king of the rice planters, had 1,130 enslaved people. Stephen Duncan was a businessman who collectively enslaved more than 2,000 human beings. He was one of the largest cotton producers, not in this country but in the world. The most that he enslaved that one time was 858. These were the people who had the opportunity to acquire great wealth at the expense of the lives of other people, many of whom lived their entire lives in bondage and died as enslaved human beings. And what is unfortunate about all of this is we in this country have come to glorify those who were the enslavers. We glorify the Confederate military. We glorify, and to a certain extent, we deify many of the Confederate generals. These were the people that were fighting to maintain slavery. They get all of the honors, until as of late when we started to change that. But they have been given the honors. The persons who were the liberators were demeaned and portrayed as insane, portrayed as murderers. But these were the people who were the liberators. We have vilified the liberators and have glorified the enslavers. It is with great difficulty that we try to change this, but the difficulty is such that people don't really want to hear about the slaves. They have been so indoctrinated with the glory of the enslavers that they can't accept--many people--the fact that the slaves are the persons who were the foundational mothers and fathers of this country. The slaves should be honored and they should be memorialized. They should be placed in the same position, not for having done the same thing that persons have done on Memorial Day, those that we memorialize in the wars, but they should be given the same dignity and respect because they died for this country. They died in bondage for this country. They were born into slavery. They lived as slaves, and they died as slaves. They ought to be honored and memorialized to the same extent as we honor and memorialize those who died in the wars. That is hard for some people to accept. Many don't want to hear that said. But they should be given the honor that they deserve for living and dying for this country, because they did. But not only did they live and die for this country, their children lived and died for this country. Their children were taken away from them, sold at the auction block. Their children and grandchildren lived and died as well. Why wouldn't we honor the people who lived and died in bondage and gave this country its economic foundation to the same extent that we honor the people who died in the wars? We should. They made America great. They deserve the honor and dignity, the same honor and dignity that those who died in wars have been given. So let's talk for a minute about the liberators. John Brown. I remember when I was in high school--or I don't know if it was high school, maybe it was junior high. We studied our history. And I remember the indication to us was that John Brown was a crazy man, just out to murder people senselessly. John Brown was a liberator. He was fighting to liberate the people who were enslaved. He has never been given the honor that he deserves. John Brown ought to be honored to the same extent that we honor other persons who were liberators in wars. He was a liberator in this country. The difficulty associated with honoring John Brown is this: When we honor others who liberated people from injustice, we are looking through a window into the world of other people. But if we honor John Brown, we have to look into the mirror and we see ourselves and our transgressions. We have a lot that we have to do to atone for slavery: for taking people, selling their children, raping their women. We have a lot to atone for. And it is difficult for us to accept the fact that atonement is still something that we have not achieved. Madam Speaker, I appreciate this President because he has acknowledged our history. This President, in my opinion, will be among the pantheon of the greatest Presidents this country has had because he has fought injustice that others wouldn't speak of. He put a Black woman on the Supreme Court. Others could have done it; they didn't. President Biden did it. He acknowledged Slavery Remembrance Day. Others could have; they didn't. President Biden did. He will be seen by those in the distant future as one of the greatest Presidents this country has had, especially as it relates to addressing injustices. Sojourner Truth, abolitionist. She became the first Black woman to win a case against a White man in this country. It is amazing how people like Sojourner Truth are now starting to be recognized, but for years, have been denied their rightful place in history as persons who fought for the liberation of Black people. Nat Turner, a preacher. A preacher who rebelled. He led a 4-day rebellion of enslaved people to free Black people. This was in 1841. When I studied this in high school or junior high--I am not sure which--Nat Turner was portrayed as a traitor, as someone who attacked this country. Nat Turner was a liberator. Nat Turner was trying to free people who were in bondage. Robert E. Lee, on the other hand, was trying to maintain slavery. Yet, we have had Lee high schools across this country. I know of no Nat Turner high school in this country. There may be one, but I know of no Nat Turner high school. There ought to be Nat Turner high schools across the country to the same extent that we have had Lee high schools because Nat Turner was the liberator. Lee was the enslaver. He was the person who would maintain slavery. Why would we honor Lee to the exclusion of Nat Turner, who was a liberator? I know this is difficult for some people to manage because we have always been told that the liberators were people who were working against our country. They were working to free people. The Confederate soldiers were working and killing to maintain people in bondage. Madam Speaker, I speak the truth. No one can deny the truth of what I say. You can deny wanting to see and hear that truth, but it is the truth. Harriet Tubman, abolitionist, who sought to free slaves as well. She made 13 missions and rescued some 70 enslaved people. Madam Speaker, there are many more. I know that my time is nearing its end, but there are many more. Madam Speaker, I will just say this about Harriet Tubman. It has been said that she said she could have freed many more ``if they had known they were slaves.'' William Still, Elijah Anderson, Frederick Douglass, and, of course, the great Abraham Lincoln: All persons who worked as liberators. I will be saying more about this. If you missed out on some portion of it tonight, I will present it in a similar fashion at a later time. Madam Speaker, I thank the majority leader, Mr. Hoyer, for being a righteous ally of enslaved people. I will be eternally grateful to the President for being a righteous ally and a person who issued the statement recognizing Slavery Remembrance Day on August 23 of each year. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. And still I rise, Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. Mr. Speaker, a monumental motif of American jurisprudence is the basic premise that no one is above the law. It doesn't matter your station in life, it doesn't matter whether you are the President of the United States, and it doesn't matter how much money you have. No one is above the law. I would also remind us, Mr. Speaker, that there is a compelling corollary to this premise, and it is that no one is beneath the law. No one is above the law, yes, but no one is beneath the law. It doesn't matter how poor you are. It doesn't matter what kind of job you have. It doesn't matter whether you are a janitor or you are a sanitation worker. It doesn't matter. You are not beneath the law in this country. Even if you are an asylee coming here from another country, you are not beneath the law. I'm so proud, Mr. Speaker, to announce to my colleagues that the D.C. Council will vote on a migrant bill today. It seems that on Tuesday there will be an emergency bill to establish an Office of Migrant Services for the thousands who are being brought here by Governors of Texas and Florida. These persons in Washington, D.C., they are doing the righteous thing. They are trying to help lawful asylees as they traverse to their destiny. The Governors of Florida and Texas, they would have derailed the Underground Railroad. They would have been the persons who were out looking for those who were seeking freedom. I am proud of the Mayor of Washington, D.C. I don't know how efficacious the program will be, but I do know that they are making an effort. For this effort, I not only commend them, I will do whatever I can to help them. It is time for us to realize that no one is beneath the law. Asylees are not beneath the law. They are law-abiding persons. The mere fact that they have submitted themselves and seek to have this opportunity to live in this country means that they have broken no law. I have a question for the Governors of Texas and Florida. Here is my question: You are spending millions to bring people out of their way and to some extent put them in harm's way. I have a question for you: How much will you spend to help them get to their hearings? How much will you spend to help them continue their journey? Yours is not a righteous cause. Yours is a cause to do what you can to prevent lawful, law-abiding asylees from having their day in court. History will not be kind to you. You ought to be ashamed of what you do.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Scott, as well, for the outstanding job that he has done. Mr. Price, I don't know what more you can do. I really don't. This bill is bipartisan; it is bicameral; and, by God, we ought to pass it.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. I rise today to defend a woman's right to choose. I rise to say that I am totally, completely, and absolutely opposed to Senator Graham's bill. I rise to say that Senator Graham's bill would deny a woman the right to choose, that it is a bill that is antithetical to the best interests of women. I stand with the women. I support their right to choose. A woman ought to have the opportunity to consult with those who are closest to her, including her physician, to make this medical decision. Senator Graham would deny this. I stand with the women, and I stand for a woman's right to choose.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time, and I say to the gentlewoman that it has been a preeminent privilege to serve with her for lo these many years; indeed, superlative pleasure. I miss you already. Thank you for what you are doing. I am grateful to my colleague, Chairman Connolly. I see this as another example of his legislative brilliance: to make a decision that will allow people to succeed on their merits or fail on their demerits, to take the political patronage out of the civil service system. The civil service system functions efficaciously across the length and breadth of this country. Police departments and fire departments across the country that have civil servants provide the institutional knowledge. They have the expertise. Mr. Speaker, you don't want to just throw out all the best of the best that have been working there and understand what the system is all about. Every new person who comes in would like to bring in people to support his or her political philosophy. I support your having people to work with you, but I don't support destroying a system that allows us to have the institutional knowledge to keep the government functioning efficaciously. This patronage system that has developed under F has been a failure, and it is little more than fatuous folly that will prove to be harmful to this country. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 302, and I beg that my colleagues would do so, as well.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, to my friends across the aisle: Where were you when your twice impeached President was putting billions of dollars in the pockets of the wealthy? You complain about drug prices being reduced for seniors, complain about them having out-of-pocket costs capped at $2,000? I refuse to allow a bill that is good to be defeated by a perfect bill that we won't get. I will support this bill, and I ask my colleagues to do so as well. It is time to take care of our seniors.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. And still I rise, Mr. Speaker. I rise to announce that I will vote for this legislation, and I will do so because I know that there are 19 babies who were murdered at Robb Elementary School in Texas who will never have the right to vote. I rise to vote for it because there are two teachers who were murdered who will never have the opportunity to seek the future that was theirs. I rise because we have a Governor in the State of Texas who could have saved all of those lives if he had but only, after the shooting at Walmart that took 23 lives, passed legislation such as what we are passing today. I rise because I don't want the blood of the next person murdered with an AR-15-type weapon on my hands.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, we mourn the loss of a pillar in the Houston community: Reverend Ronald K. Mouton, Sr., Pastor of the East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, who was tragically murdered on Friday, June 24, 2022. Pastor Ronald K. Mouton, Sr., was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on August 2, 1963, to Pastor Roland E. Mouton, Sr., and Mary Mouton. Pastor Mouton's parents impressed upon their son the values of service and devotion, setting him on the path that would ultimately lead him to East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Pastor Ronald Mouton was a proud alumnus of the Houston public school system, graduating with honors from the Ross Shaw Sterling High School in 1981. Pastor Mouton went on to study at Baylor University before transferring to Stephen F. Austin State University, where he studied Criminal Justice and Business Law. In 1983, Ronald K. Mouton, Sr. married Ms. Suzanne Poullard, his high school sweetheart with whom he attended his Senior Prom. His career in the ministry began at the urging of his father, who encouraged him to preach to those incarcerated at Houston's Prison Farm on Sundays. He did so for more than two years. In so doing he developed his ministry at the Prison Farm. In August 1991, Reverend Mouton, Sr. accepted the call to Pastor East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. In the subsequent years, Pastor Mouton's sermons and preaching style became well known, and he established himself as one of Houston's most renowned pastors. As his prominence grew, Pastor Mouton became an area coordinator for the WHW Expository Preaching Conference, and he also received an honorary Doctorate Degree from Elbon Solutions of Studies in Apple Valley California. Pastor Mouton's explosive sermons continuously stressed the importance of fostering community with love for each other. The East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church declared the month of August as PASTOR MOUTON month as an expression of appreciation for his stellar service to the community. Pastor Mouton's tragic passing is an immense loss, as we will never again experience his inspiring oratory. He faithfully served East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church for almost 32 years, the longest tenure of any Pastor in the Church's history. Pastor Mouton, Sr. is survived by his wife of 38 years Suzanne Poullard Mouton; his brothers, Pastor Roland Mouton Jr., John Edward Mouton, and Wilton Enard; his sister Jacqueline Mouton Factor; four children, Ronald Keith Mouton Jr., Ryan Keith Mouton, Glenn Edward Poullard, and Tamika Shante Johnson; ten grandchildren; and a loving and heartbroken community. He will be dearly missed.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, and still I rise. I rise today some 400 years after slavery was introduced to the United States in 1619. I rise today proud of this House of Representatives because on yesterday, the House approved a historic Slavery Remembrance Day resolution. Madam Speaker, in the out years, this resolution is going to prove to be very beneficial to our country. You will find slavery remembrance commemorations going on across the length and breadth of the country. This is because we never want to repeat the horrors of slavery. So, I thank every Member of this House who voted for this resolution. Each of you will receive from me a personal thank you as well as a commemorative booklet so that you can place this prominently some place in your home or your office because it was a historic occasion, and it will make a difference in the lives of people across the length and breadth of this country. I am so proud of you, and I thank you. God bless you.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I also thank Mrs. Torres for being very generous with the time of the Rules Committee. I support all aspects of what I consider to be historic legislation. I would like to also thank Mr. Hoyer who has worked tirelessly to help us to bring this legislation to the floor. It will mean a lot to many people. It will mean an awful lot to me. I appreciate anyone who is going to vote for it, and I encourage everyone to vote for it. Today is a unique day in history, and I trust that this bipartisan legislation will prove such to be the case. I am not going to prolong my time. I just want to be grateful to all Members of the House, including the Speaker, the whip, the caucus chair, persons on both sides, and the minority leader--everyone. I am grateful. I trust that we will vote to pass the legislation.

Mr. GREEN of Texas

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, still I rise. And I rise today to address the unfortunate circumstances that took the lives of 19 children and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Texas, at Robb Elementary School. I rise to address this because the families are still suffering. Children did not return home from school. This should never happen in our country. I will never forget the baby, the child who indicated that she took the blood from a friend who was lying on the floor, and she took that blood, and she put it on her body and on her face so that the gunman wouldn't shoot her. She will have to live with this for the rest of her life. I rise because there have been many conflicting stories about what happened. Almost daily there was a different story, a different narrative. And at some point, the families deserve the truth about what happened in Uvalde, what happened at Robb Elementary School. They deserve the truth. And they deserve the truth because the pain and suffering may not immediately leave them, but it will give them some hope that one day they will be able to wake up one morning and be relieved of some of the pain and suffering that they are enduring currently. And to get to this truth, which some persons have tried to crush to earth, of course, we know that William Cullen Bryant is right: ``Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again.'' They tried to crush the truth to earth, and they used--someone did-- the Governor of the State of Texas because, wittingly or unwittingly, the Governor of the State of Texas laid a foundation for a coverup. Some things bear repeating. Wittingly or unwittingly, the Governor of the State of Texas laid the foundation for a coverup. For, you see, the Governor took to the stage shortly after the shooting, perhaps a day later, he took to the stage, and he had with him persons with great credibility. He had with him the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Texas, two U.S. Senators from the State of Texas; he had with him a State Representative and a State senator; with them, the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, all on the stage with the Governor. With them, the Chief Patrol Agent for the Del Rio sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. He had with him the Uvalde mayor, the Uvalde County Judge, the chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, the Superintendent for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, and the Commissioner for the Texas Education Agency, all on the stage with the Governor. While on the stage with the Governor, and in their presence, the Governor made the following statement--I had my staff give me the statement. I want to read the statement that the Governor made because the Governor, whether wittingly or unwittingly, laid the foundation for a coverup. Here is what the Governor said: ``The reality is, as horrible as what happened, it could have been worse. ``The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do.'' They did what they do. This is the Governor speaking. And he goes on to say: ``They showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives.'' And these are the Governor's words. ``And it is a fact that because of their quick response, getting on the scene of being able to respond to the gunman, and eliminating the gunman, they were able to save lives.'' Well, Governor, you and I know that it is not a fact that this occurred, as you articulated. And we know, not because some righteous person came forward to share the truth; not because there was an investigation and as a result of the investigation truths crushed to earth are now alive again. No, it is because a news source released a video. It was a George Floyd moment. But for the video, there probably would not have been a successful prosecution in the George Floyd case. It was an Edmund Pettus Bridge moment. But for--at that time, the tape, I suppose--the actual showing of what happened at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, on Bloody Sunday, I wouldn't be in Congress. The video spoke truth to power. When power was attempting to cover up the truth, the video spoke truth. The video is available for the world to see. And upon seeing this video, the Governor indicated that he was misled, deceived, if you will. That is what the Governor says. Well, before we go on, I think it is important for us to expose the definition of coverup, because there are many persons who have their own definition. But I like the one that Oxford gives. This is the Oxford definition. The Oxford definition of coverup. Coverup per Oxford: An attempt to prevent people's discovering the truth about a serious mistake, a serious mistake, or a crime. You can have a coverup and not have a crime. You can have a coverup, and there is only an attempt, an attempt to prevent the discovery. So our discovering by way of the video does not eviscerate the fact that a coverup was taking place. They were trying to hide the truth. They were engaging in insidious prevarication. `` . . . because Carlyle is right, `No lie can live forever.' '' ``Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again,'' William Cullen Bryant. The video is the truth. And now, Governor, you have a duty, responsibility, and an obligation to the people of the State of Texas and to those babies who lost their lives, you have got a responsibility to come forward and tell us who told you that all of these heroic actions took place. The people need to know, but those parents need to know because of their suffering. Who was it that was trying to cover up the truth? You know who the person is, Governor. You have the responsibility to bring it to the attention of the public. And if that person received that intelligence, or lack of intelligence, flawed information, fallacious commentary, if that person received it from another person, then we need to know who that person is. And we need to know until we get to the person who initiated this fabrication, this prevarication. We need to know who initiated it. Who was the genesis of the coverup? That is the Governor's responsibility. You need to do this, Governor, and you need to do it immediately, if not sooner. You need to do it because you are the Chief Executive Officer of the State of Texas. You are the person who can assemble all of these high-profile persons. You are the person who gave credibility to the insidious prevarication. You are the person, Governor. All of these high-profile people were there because you were there. That was your call. All of your credibility is on the line now. You need to expose the person who brought this fabrication to you such that you would then present it to the world. And I say to the public at large, and anybody who is listening, my dear friends and colleagues, I say to you, it has to be somebody the Governor trusts. It has to be somebody that he believes in. It has to be somebody that he was willing to accept that person's word and go on national TV and repeat, echo, what that person told him. Governor, you have got to do it. You have got to expose the person who brought this to you, and it has to be, in my opinion, somebody that you trust. Somebody that you believe would vet the information before sharing it with you. Somebody that has been with you. Somebody that you have confidence in. It is not somebody that just walked off the street. It is not somebody that you just happened to meet as you were coming to the press conference. No, Governor. It is somebody that you know and trust, and you've got to expose that person. That person doesn't deserve to be secreted. That is not something that we would accord a person who would present such a prevarication. You have got to reveal the name of that person. If there is a person that told this person that you are secreting so far or you are not telling us about, then we need to know who that was. We have got to get back to the source, the genesis, of this misinformation that you claim you received. Governor, I will give you this admonition. If you do not go back to the genesis, at some point, Governor, the eye of suspicion will be on you. At some point, Governor, this will no longer be a question of who told you. At some point, this will become a question of why did you do this? Why did you do this to these families? Why would you further a prevarication that would cause them to embrace the people who behaved in a pusillanimous fashion; timid, cowardly. Why would you want them to embrace them as heroes? I support law enforcement. My uncle was a deputy sheriff. I am in Congress because of my uncle. One day he told me I was going to be a lawyer, and I believed him. I went on the rest of my life trying to become a lawyer because my uncle said it was such that I would do. Well, I support law enforcement, but I don't support what happened that I saw on that video. You can be opposed and antithetical to what happened on the video and not be antithetical to law enforcement. That is just a fact. You don't have to be antithetical to every law enforcement officer because you see something that you find distasteful on the video, that is disdainful. No. I support law enforcement, but I will never support what I saw on that video, and those babies deserve justice, Governor. So it is up to you, Governor. It is up to you now to do that which righteousness requires. Righteousness. I am also saddened because the officers who appeared, they were in body armor. Some of them; not all, but some of them. They had shields; not all, but some of them. They had long guns; not all, but some of them. It has been reported that more than 300 officers appeared--300. Long guns, short guns, body armor, shields, helmets. In Texas, there are those who want a teacher with a pistol to do what more than 300 persons armed with long guns, protected by body armor, some with shields, what they could not do or did not do within an hour. More than 70 minutes lapsed before the gunman was taken out, but we expect a teacher in the State of Texas to be prepared to take out a gunman with an AR-15-type weapon. This is a level of inanity that borders on insanity, something that is totally unacceptable among people of good will. Teachers ought to be allowed to teach. Let teachers teach. We train the constabulary to deal with these kinds of issues, the police, the Department of Public Safety officers, the Texas Rangers. They get paid to deal with these issues. Let teachers teach. Let's secure schools. Let's make sure every school has locks that lock--locks that lock--doors that shut, and that there is a culture in the school that prohibits the use of emergency exits for routine visits to your automobile or some other place outside of the school. That would be important for the protection of life. But there is something else that could have been done, because, Governor, those babies shouldn't have lost their lives. There is something that you and I and other persons who hold public trust, who can pass laws, could have done to save the lives of those babies. Governor, 18-year-olds should not be able to purchase weapons of war. Weapons of war belong in Ukraine, not Uvalde. Babies shouldn't die in school because someone has a weapon of war. He should not have been able to purchase that long gun, that weapon of war. If he had not been able to purchase it, they wouldn't have died at the hands of a person with a weapon of war. So I say to you: They shouldn't have died as a result of that long gun, that weapon of war. But there is a way for you to vindicate yourself. Here is how you can vindicate yourself, Governor. You have the authority, the awesome power. By virtue of the office you hold, you have the power to call a special session of the State legislature in the State of Texas. When you call that special session, Governor, you have the power, the awesome power, to have on the agenda legislation that will prohibit the sale of an AR-15-style weapon, a long gun, to an 18-year-old in the State of Texas. It shouldn't happen. It shouldn't have happened. We can prevent it from happening again, but it takes will more than way. The way is there. We have the power. Do we have the will is the question. I haven't seen the will. There ought to be the will because we have seen this circumstance before. This is not the first time. We have seen it in the Tops grocery store; 10 people murdered. Walmart store, people murdered. We have the power. At some point, the American public, which believes that there should not be long guns of this type in the hands of persons who are under 21, at some point, the American public is going to turn on somebody, and I don't mean in a violent way--I mean at the polls on election day. The American public is going to announce its position at some point. At some point, some persons are going to find themselves making an early exit, if you will. So I am going to ask that we cease and desist with this fabrication or belief that there is nothing we can do, that the Constitution doesn't allow it. Yes, it does. The Constitution doesn't say you can't have some regulations. The Constitution doesn't say you can have a bazooka. You can't have a switchblade drone; you can't have a predator. And if you are under 21, you ought not be able to have a weapon of war. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to close with this commentary. It is not enough for things to be right. They must also look right. While it may be right for the Governor to have had a press conference with all of these outstanding personalities with great credibility, it may have been right. It may have been right for the Governor to receive what he perceives at the time to be credible information and find out later that it is not credible and to just ignore this. I don't say that it is, but maybe it is right. But it is not enough for things to be right, they must also look right; and it doesn't look right for the Governor to know who gave him this insidious prevarication and to secret the name of the person. It is not enough for things to be right, they must also look right; this does not look right. Because I believe it isn't right, I am calling on the Governor to act expeditiously, reveal the name of the person, and to do so with the understanding that if this person is under your command, under your office, then there has to be some sanctions imposed. Mr. Speaker, the babies and the people of the State of Texas deserve no less. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.