Joseph Kennedy

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to say good-bye to this body as my time serving the Fourth Congressional District of Massachusetts comes to a close. This job has been an honor. We have come quite a long way since my first days in the Capitol when I had an AP reporter following me around for the day, and I got so lost trying to find the House floor that I ended up in the Longworth parking garage. Luckily, things have mostly improved from there: Seeing my name on that office door for the first time; Keeping company with giants that I grew up idolizing, like John Lewis, Eliseo Medina, and Dolores Huerta; Having the honor of responding to Donald Trump's first State of the Union from Diman Regional Voc-Tech in mighty Fall River, Massachusetts. There are a few people who I would not be here without. To my wife, Lauren: Thank you for serving alongside me, for the sacrifices that you made and the heart that you gave to this job, too. Tell Ellie and James that dad has breakfast, bath, and school drop-off duty for the next 15 years or so. To the Massachusetts delegation: I loved serving with you. I loved learning from you. There is no team I would rather have been in the trenches with every day. To my constituents back home: I am so grateful for the trust that you put in me. My proudest moments were when you allowed me to bring your voice to this Chamber, when I could carry what you felt in Taunton or Attleboro or Fall River or Milford to this floor. Thank you for the privilege that you afforded me. I will see you back home soon. Finally, to the staff members who worked and thought and fought and talked and wrote and served alongside me over the course of the last 8 years; you all are the heroes behind my story. There will never be words for my gratitude for everything that you took on every single day--and so many nights--to ensure that we did this job right. I will miss not seeing all of your faces quite so often. Mr. Speaker, I leave this body proud and hopeful because here is what I know: that we are a complicated and messy country, that we violated our founding promises before the ink was dry. We boldly declared, ``We the people,'' and promptly defined ``we'' as rich, White, Protestant men. We staked out moral high ground of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and paid for it with human bondage, abuse, and suffering that we carry to this day. But embedded in that history is a slow and stubborn story that every generation shares, a journey to heal those wounds, an understanding fought and bled for over time that we are in this mess together whether we like it or not. Our arc isn't clean, but it is clear that each generation expands that definition of ``we.'' We suffer setbacks. We get pushed off track and sometimes can't feel that progress. We fight amongst ourselves. But still, generation after generation, we expand. And that is the counterweight to the great lie of these times, that the American pie is finite; that for my family to survive, yours must suffer; that the richest Nation on Earth is somehow plagued by scarcity rather than greed. Loosening that lie's grip on our country is the work of our generation--for people who feel unseen, unheard, and unrepresented; for the most in need of assistance and protection, justice and opportunity, who have been told by their government that there is no room or money or time or will. And that injustice is a reality etched in stone rather than a deliberate choice by those in power about who is worthy and who is not. I hope that in the months and years ahead, this body can help change that, that we will err on the side of expansion, of inclusion, acceptance, equity, and grace, because history makes clear that the only true error is when we do the absolute opposite. Our future is big and bright, but it will take everything and everyone to reach it. I hope that a new generation of Americans will rise knowing that the people's House stands tall for them. Mr. Speaker, it has been an honor. God bless and Godspeed.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, just this year alone, 37 beautiful transgender or gender nonconforming people in this country have been murdered. This abhorrent, unacceptable violence must end. On this International Transgender Day of Remembrance I would like to take this moment to read the names and to honor their memories: Dustin Parker, Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, Yampi Mendez Arocho, Scottlyn DeVore, Monika Diamond, Lexi, Johanna Metzger, Serena Angelique Velazquez Ramos, Layla Pelaez Sanchez, Penelope Diaz Ramirez, Nina Pop, Helle Jae O'Regan, Tony McDade, Dominique ``Rem'mie'' Fells, Riah Milton, Jayne Thompson, Selena Reyes-Hernandez, Brian ``Egypt'' Powers, Brayla Stone, Merci Mack, Shaki Peters, Bree Black, Summer Taylor, Marilyn Cazares, Dior H Ova, Queasha Hardy, Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears, Lea Rayshon Daye, Kee Sam, Aerrion Burnett, Mia Green, Michelle Michellyn Ramos Vargas, Felycya Harris, Brooklyn Deshuna, Sara Blackwood, Angel Unique, Yuni Carey.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, l rise today to recognize Rabbi Emily Gopen Lipof on her 80th birthday. An extraordinary woman who has raised a loving, still growing family, Rabbi Lipof has dedicated her life to strengthening her community and the world around her. As she gathers virtually with friends and family to celebrate her 80th birthday, it is my honor to play a small role in recognizing her. At five years old, when most of us struggle to choose a favorite toy, Emily had already decided that she would be a Rabbi when she grew up. Not deterred by the lack of female Rabbis to look up to, she knew her calling and always strove towards that ultimate goal. Even as her path diverged throughout her early years as she built a family and a career in politics, she used her powerful voice and infectious personality to become a leader in her community. After earning a bachelor's degree with four toddlers, Emily used the power of politics to shape her hometown of Newton, her Commonwealth of Massachusetts and her country. She served as campaign manager for her husband Michael's campaign for Alderman, Senator Edward Brooke, and Newton's longest serving Mayor, Theodore Mann. But still, she remained committed to her calling as a Rabbi. In 1980, Emily organized a communal wedding for 60 Jewish couples from the former Soviet Union who had been denied a Jewish wedding in their youths. That powerful experience inspired her to reunite with her path towards becoming a Rabbi. So committed to her calling, Emily began commuting to and from The Academy for Jewish Religion in New York for one long day of classes. Despite the demanding, grueling schedule, she was ordained just five years later. Just days after receiving semichah, she was offered a position as interim Rabbi at Ohabei Shalom in Brokline, becoming the first woman in the United States to be named senior Rabbi of a major congregation. For decades, she has continued to be a fearless, compassionate leader in her community. She founded the Temple Shalom Nursery School to help nurture young children and support their families. She married a gay couple on the very first day marriage equality became the law of our Commonwealth in 2008. And quietly, she has offered counsel and guidance to countless neighbors in need of support. Happy 80th birthday to Rabbi Lipof. And on behalf of a grateful Commonwealth and country, I thank her for demanding better of, and for, us all. Enjoy the day.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairwoman Lowey for her leadership on this important piece of legislation. Madam Speaker, already in this country, the skyrocketing cost of childcare was solidifying deep economic and racial inequities that have plagued us for decades. Already, many childcare workers were living in poverty because astronomical tuition rates are not enough to pay teachers the salary that they deserve. Already, working moms and dads pause promising careers because their wages didn't match the cost of childcare. Already, inability to find childcare locked many parents out of the workforce altogether. And already, children were denied access to high-quality early learning programs because of a broken childcare system. Then COVID-19 completely obliterated a faulty system for parents, for childcare providers, for educators, and for children. Providers are going out of business completely, which will make it even harder for parents to find the childcare that they need. Costs will skyrocket as class sizes shrink. State budgets that are already stretched thin will undoubtedly decide childcare is dispensable, despite big talk about how essential it is to our economic recovery. Madam Speaker, we will look back at this moment and regret that we are not doing more because, ultimately, this decision will leave families with young children behind. This is a decision to hollow out an entire generation of parents' employment stability and economic opportunity. We have a decision as to whether to widen the achievement gap, because our children will not be going to preschool programs that set them up to thrive over the long term. It is a decision to perpetuate systemic racism, because it is Black and Latinx women who are suffering the most from our failure to act decisively. Madam Speaker, we need to pass this bill, and then we need universal childcare. I want to thank the chair for her leadership.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I stand today with my colleagues from Massachusetts in support of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and in support of Tribal sovereignty, and I ask my colleagues to pass this amendment. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Keating).

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his leadership on this bill and for the support of this amendment. Madam Speaker, in 1620, 400 years ago, the Pilgrims settled on Wampanoag land in Plymouth, Massachusetts. For literally four centuries, the Mashpee Wampanoag people have been fighting for their sovereignty, for their land, and for their survival. And for generations, they have been met with resistance from a government that should be protecting and empowering them. In the last few months, Madam Speaker, their fight has arrived at a crossroads created by a Trump administration that has treated Tribes with nothing but contempt since the day of his inauguration. Because of decisions made by this administration, the Mashpee Wampanoag's land may be stolen from them again in the coming weeks. We have a responsibility to do what is right, to learn from the mistakes of generations before us, to recognize that this land wasn't land to be discovered or to be taken. It belonged to Tribes like the Mashpee long before the Pilgrims arrived. Madam Speaker, we need to pass this amendment to right the wrongs of the past, to prevent them from becoming the wrongs of the present. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise with a heavy heart this morning to remember our colleague, John Lewis. He was a hero to me. He was my friend. I am going to miss his smile, his soft voice that could quickly become a bellow. I will miss his hugs, his eternal optimism, and his hope that we would heed his advice and ``keep the faith.'' John had a long and special relationship with my family, with my grandmother in particular. They went through a lot together. They survived a lot. They witnessed a lot. She asked me to read a letter here today in his memory. She writes: Dear friends, Our hearts are heavy, but also grateful for the gift of John Lewis, a man who devoted his life to making gentle the life of this world. John's loving demeanor enveloped a mighty determination and passion for justice, equality, and the realization of his dream for the ``Beloved Community.'' A young man full of fire and ideals, qualities that he never lost, he was a trusted voice to my husband, Robert Kennedy, relied upon, first, as a student demonstrator and, later, as a campaign aide. Activist, lawmaker, champion, he was also a teacher and a cherished friend. He and Bobby learned from one another. They listened, they understood, they acted. As a Freedom Rider, John was badly beaten at a bus stop in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1961. From the basement of the First Baptist Church where John, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph Abernathy sought refuge, they called Bobby asking for protection from a crowd of armed White supremacists surrounding the church. President Kennedy sent in the National Guard. In Indianapolis, the night we lost Dr. King, John influenced Bobby's decision to ignore Mayor Lugar's plea to cancel a rally, instead seeking to comfort and seeking comfort from a devastated crowd of Black supporters. As the youngest speaker at the March on Washington, his was a clarion call to end racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. Over half a century later, as unrest over systemic violence against Black Americans gripped our Nation in recent weeks, John reinforced what he knew was true: ``You cannot stop the call of history,'' the Congressman said. ``You may use troopers. You may use fire hoses and water, but it cannot be stopped. There cannot be any turning back. We have come too far. We have made too much progress to stop now and go back.'' John was witness to our Nation's history; he shaped it and his legacy will forever be part of that history. When I think of John and Bobby, I am reminded of Stephen Spender's poem, ``The Truly Great.'' . . . those who in their lives fought for life, Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre. Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun, And left the vivid air signed with their honour. Sincerely, Ethel Kennedy.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman. Mr. Speaker, 155 years ago, Senators from my home State of Massachusetts, Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson, knew that a bust of Roger Taney deserved no home in our government's highest institutions. Yet here we are, in 2020, and the bust of a man who tried to codify and protect our original sin remains only a few hundred feet away. Statues honoring traitors willing to destroy our Nation so that they could own Black men, women, and children litter our Capitol, and somehow we still need to have this debate. Let me be clear: Dismantling the symbols that glorify White supremacy is a bare minimum, but dismantling those symbols is no substitute for dismantling the system that those men created. This cannot be the end or the best of what we can offer the millions who took to our streets demanding justice. This cannot be the end of our work. This shouldn't even be considered the beginning of that work. It should have been done 150 years ago. Mr. Speaker, the Senate needs to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. We need to dismantle and destroy White supremacy that exists everywhere, from our education system to our healthcare system, to our incarceration and juvenile justice systems and our financial institutions and our economy. That is where we need to be working, and that is what begins.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for moving this legislation forward and to our colleague, Ms. Jayapal, for extraordinary work on this legislation. Madam Speaker, you can learn an awful lot about a country by its approach to justice. You learn about its values, about the people it protects first, about the arc of its history, about the injustice it tolerates and the inequities it reinforces. When you aim that spotlight on our Nation, what it reveals is not pretty. It is not something to be proud of. Because for millions of people who call this Nation home, justice is not a guarantee. It is something withheld. It is something far too many will never experience. Very few battle that injustice more frequently than immigrants who arrive on our shores and at our border because they believe in the promise of our Nation. If we believe in that same promise as fiercely as they do, we shouldn't be scared to provide them with justice, with, at the very least, access to legal counsel. Madam Speaker, we need to pass this bill to, at the very least, take a small step forward in living up to those ideals, and we need to do it today.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize Congressman Panetta and Congressman Hastings for their leadership and their work on this issue in bringing this amendment to the floor. When President Trump came into office, Mr. Speaker, he turned allies into adversaries and autocrats into accomplices. He saw friendship and loyalty as weakness and saw dictators as his new best friend. That has led to American foreign policy that is now in shambles. It has rendered American leadership meaningless in parts of the world and has left a vacuum that continues to be exploited by nations like Russia and China. It has torn treaties that reinforced global peace to shreds. One of those, the Open Skies Treaty, has ingrained transparency and accountability around the world. For nearly two decades, it has strengthened peace across the United States, Europe, and Russia. Now our President has tried to reduce the hard work of fostering that peace to shambles. Even as he follows those dictators into unrest and potential violence, we will not follow, and certainly no Americans yearning for peace. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to protect peace and to vote for this amendment.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and celebrate the career and accomplishments of a leader in the New England media industry, Bill Fine. For half a century, Bill lived and breathed broadcast journalism. A graduate of Boston University's College of Communication, he began his career as a sports anchor in the 1970s. Over the ensuing years, he worked his way up the ranks of WCVB until earning a promotion to the helm of the station in 2005. As president and general manager of WCVB, he steered the broadcaster towards a number of awards, including six Gabriel Awards as the ``Nation's Best Television Station'' and the prestigious Service to America Award in 2014 for its contributions to the Greater Boston community following the Boston Marathon bombings. But more than just a leader in business, Bill was a leader in his community. Not satisfied with simply informing the public through WCVB's programming, he spent long hours advocating for the causes he held dear and supporting organizations that strengthened neighborhoods across our Commonwealth. In the years that I've gotten to know Bill, he's been a constant presence in the Boston community, willing to lend a hand whenever needed and often before being asked. While I am certainly excited for him and his next chapter, he will be missed by all of those who have worked with him through the years. To Bill and his wife, Gail, enjoy retirement.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, a week ago, this body acted to bring justice to our communities to begin the uncomfortable, urgent work of dismantling white supremacy wherever it finds shelter. But our work is far from finished. In the days since we passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a young biracial woman named Althea Bernstein was set on fire by four White men as she sat in her car. Three police officers from North Carolina were fired after they laughed about slaughtering Black people. The President of the United States proudly promoted a video of one of his supporters shouting ``white power'' at protesters. Mr. Speaker, if we fail to meet this moment to enact the change demanded by millions of Americans of all colors, all creeds, all beliefs, the damage to this institution and to our Nation will be immense. This body was built to be a reflection of the people whom we represent. They have the courage to create that change. So should we.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, yesterday afternoon I spent a few moments on the porch of a woman named Therese in Lowell, Massachusetts. Through an oxygen tube and a mask, and surrounded by four generations of her family, she told me the challenges of living with COPD, even though she never smoked a cigarette. Her mother and her brother both passed away in that home. She was adamant that she would, too. She was hoping to make it for just a few more months, but that survival, Madam Speaker, was contingent on having access to healthcare. Access that our President, in court just this last week, was still trying to take away. Madam Speaker, how is our country made stronger by taking away Therese's healthcare? What kind of person, let alone administration, looks to the wreckage of nearly over 120,000 lives lost, 2\1/2\ million infected by a pandemic, and decides that the best response is to take away healthcare from millions more? What is great about an administration that idly watches 40 million Americans lose their jobs, and then tries to take away their healthcare, too? How morally bankrupt that we can lavish praise on essential workers, and then thank them by trying to strip away their access to medicine? All so that the rich can become richer, the powerful more powerful, backed up by a massive tax cut and aggregation of corporate power. Madam Speaker, this moment has proved, like many other moments of truth in our Nation, that our fates are linked. That our future is shared and uncertain. We have a choice to advance together or to scramble for our own. Four generations of Therese's family know the answer. We know that answer. Today is our chance to prove it.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record a statement on behalf of my predecessor, Congressman Barney Frank. One of the great bargains the American people get is the hard work done by the unselfish men and women who work for members of Congress. No one I have been lucky enough to work with exemplifies that better than Dottie Reichard, who died last week after a great public career. Sometimes the smartest things you do take the least effort. I inherited Dottie in 1980 in my first run for the House from my predecessor, Fr. Robert Drinan. No decision I made in fifty years in government did as much good, not just for me, but for the people and values I tried to serve. She was an exemplary combination of all the virtues required to make government work the way it is supposed to. A first rate intelligence, unshakeable integrity, and unstinting compassion rarely coexist in equal force in one person with perfect political instincts, great organizational ability, and niceness. They did in Dottie. The skill, generosity and absolute efficiency with which she coped with two unconventional and sometimes challenging personalities--Fr. Drinan and me--were all the more remarkable for how easy she made it look. But she didn't fool everybody. When I had the sad responsibility to share the news of her death with the people she had worked with, the genuine sadness was universal that we lost someone special. No politician ever had a better supporter, teacher, friend, counselor, or--most of all-colleague--than I had in Dottie Reichard.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Bass for her extraordinary work and leadership on this bill. When history is written, it will ask: Why our Nation had to watch George Floyd have the life drained from his body by the knee of a White police officer to know that our system was broken? Why our country had to learn Breonna Taylor's name to know that no-knock warrants get Black people murdered in their rooms? Why our country had to see Ahmaud Arbery hunted and lynched to know that there is an unshakeable target on Black men in this country? For too long, we let ignorance coddle white supremacists, we let idleness shelter oppression and hate. But we can move from ignorance and idleness to action. We can use the power of this body and this Chamber to do more than acknowledge the movement. We can join it. We can pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act today. Because justice is a nation that didn't have to learn George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery's names. That is justice.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'' Tell me, where was the right to life for Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her own bed by police and her boyfriend arrested for trying to protect her? Where is the liberty for Ahmaud Arbery, killed for going for a jog, or Eric Garner, killed while begging for his breath, or George Floyd, killed while under the knee of an officer uttering those same words, ``I can't breathe''? Where is the pursuit of happiness for Christian Cooper, who couldn't go bird watching without having the cops called on him? Where is the equality in a nation where we proclaim that Black lives matter, yet we see our own neighbors' humanity stolen and still fail to provide justice? 250 years after our Nation wrote those words, those rights are not unalienable. If you are Black in America today, they do not exist. All of us, any of us--with power and privilege--are accountable. We owe them better.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the life and legacy of Earl G. Graves, Sr., a business icon, civil rights legend, and close friend to my grandfather. Born in Brooklyn in 1935, Mr. Graves was the child of hardworking immigrants from Barbados and Trinidad. After graduating with a business degree from Morgan State University and spending time in the United States Army, he moved back home to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and immediately began serving his community. As part of his organizing work, Mr. Graves helped organize a rally for my grandfather, Robert F. Kennedy in the mid-1960s. My grandfather was so impressed that he offered Mr. Graves a job almost immediately as an administrative assistant in his Senate office. From there, he used his business acumen to launch a newsletter to support the Black business community, which eventually evolved into Black Enterprise. More than just a conventional publication, Black Enterprise lifted up the successes of Black businessmen and women. Within its pages, Mr. Graves empowered his community and gave voice to minority-owned businesses across the country. He led by example, and our nation is better for the course he set. Beyond his professional career, Earl was a devoted husband to Barbara Kydd and a loving, proud father of three sons, Earl Jr., John, and Michael. As they mourn his loss and as this Nation that he helped build celebrates his memory, our hearts are with every single person whose life he touched.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the career of one of my longtime constituents from Millis, Massachusetts, John F. (Jack) Barry, and to congratulate him on his retirement this coming April after 40 years of service with the American Hospital Association. Jack has held several leadership positions at the AHA since 1980, including a temporary assignment from 1993 to 1995 in Washington, where he directed the association's regional operations during the Congressional deliberations over national health reform legislation. Since 1996, Jack has served as the AHA's regional executive in New England. He has worked with the region's six state hospital associations and hundreds of member hospitals to direct grassroots advocacy on issues of importance to hospitals. Jack has long had ties to both Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. Born in Newton, he earned a B.A. in journalism from George Washington University in 1976 and an M.B.A. with a concentration in health care management from Boston University in 1991. Jack looks forward to enjoying his retirement with his best friend and spouse of 38 years, Ellen Kelly, a retired nurse; his daughter Elizabeth; his son Patrick; and the host of friends and colleagues he has amassed over the years. I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Jack Barry and wishing him and his family much happiness as he begins the next chapter of his life.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, a year ago, this House passed the bipartisan H.R. 8 to establish universal background checks to protect our communities from terrifying, paralyzing gun violence. In the 365 days since, Mitch McConnell has done exactly what the gun industry has asked him to do: nothing. Meanwhile, a gunman killed five people yesterday in Milwaukee, and two teenagers were killed 5 miles from where we stand over the weekend. Meanwhile, millions live with the physical and emotional scars caused by guns. Meanwhile, the gun industry is wrapped with immunity that shields their profits and puts more guns on our streets. Madam Speaker, there is a secret that President Trump and Mr. McConnell are hiding--you are subsidizing this industry: Billions in medical costs, covered by your tax dollars; Billions in lost wages, covered by your tax dollars; Eighty-seven percent of the costs incurred after a bullet pierces a person's skin, covered by you. We are propping up an industry that profits off of our pain. Enough.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, Medicaid saves lives. It helps save patients from poverty and provides families with access to critical care. It is the largest payer of mental healthcare in the country and the longest payer of long-term care in the country. It covers half of all births and strengthens special education opportunities in our schools. It covers working families. It covers babies. It covers the elderly, the sick, the addicted, and those in need. In short, it covers those that this administration has relentlessly targeted from its very first day, from a healthcare repeal effort that would have denied care to millions of Americans; to a lawsuit that could still steal healthcare from millions more; then a relentless effort to impose onerous bureaucratic red tape known as work requirements on people struggling to make ends meet; and now this, an illegal and immoral block grant that will end in countless lives lost to preventable deaths. We can afford trillions of dollars in tax cuts to make the rich richer. We can afford $60 billion for a wall that falls in the wind and fails in the rain. But taking care of our neighbors, that is a cost we can't bear, a challenge too great for this country to shoulder. For an administration that seeks to make America great, our President far too frequently doubts the capabilities and grit of our fellow neighbors. But as this administration stands proudly behind this illegal policy, I have no doubt that it will be rejected by this Chamber, in our courts, and by the American people yet again.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, ``Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine.'' Yesterday, Senator Mitt Romney outlined what so many of us know to be the truth; that the evidence of this President's guilt is beyond any doubt; that despite silencing witnesses and shielding even more evidence, that this President abused his office to retain his slipping grasp on power. Yet Senators voted to acquit, nonetheless. This will be a stain on the Senate and on Congress for all history. But lost beneath the headlines and the attempts to justify the unjustifiable lies, the true motivation that guided almost every single Republican Senator and every last Republican Member of this House-- fear, not just of losing a seat but of losing power; fear of what might happen if we allow this representative democracy to truly represent the interests and desires and agenda of all its people; fear of a country: Where we actually address climate change because it is devastating our planet and threatening our lives; Where women could have an unalterable right to bodily autonomy; Where everyone would get the healthcare they need when they need it; Where guns wouldn't shatter our schools and our churches and theaters and every place in between; Where working families wouldn't go to bed fearful of what tomorrow may bring; Where babies won't be ripped from their parents' arms and kids trapped in cages; Where freedom means the freedom to be you, whoever you may be; Where you count, no matter the God of your prayers, the color of your skin, the hand that you hold, the language that you speak. The good news is, however, that their power, our power, as elected officials is temporary. The people's power is not. It is our people who have always forced our Nation forward on civil rights, on healthcare, on justice, on war and peace, on liberty, on freedom. And it is our people who will hold every single person in Washington accountable for their actions yesterday, and that gives me faith. It gives me hope. It makes me sure that the best days of our democracy are still to come.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, young men and women enlisting in our military for the first time will enter recruitment offices across our country this year. On their IDs will be birth dates that reflect the fact that they are signing up to fight in wars that started before they were born. Nineteen years. That is how long we have been in Afghanistan. Seventeen years. That is how long we have been in Iraq. Not to mention the American weapons, the American dollars, the American boots, the American lives that have been sent to Yemen, Syria, Somalia, and many, many other corners of our globe. We are a generation that has spent the better part of its life at war in a country in the Middle East, perpetual wars fought under the cover of two permission slips that this body gave the executive branch nearly 20 years ago. In 2001, Congress authorized our offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban in the wake of 9/11 in what became the largest armed conflict in American history. In 2002, Congress authorized the invasion of Iraq, and it became the greatest foreign policy mistake of a generation. And our response has been silence, silence from this collective body; silence as we have sent hundreds of thousands of American men and women to Afghanistan and tens of thousands more to Iraq; silence as three administrations, Democratic and Republican, have used these two authorizations to expand, to evolve, to justify, and to prolong our presence in a volatile and violent region; and silence as our role has become less clear and our mission less certain. What we have lost in this silence is hard to quantify--the lives that could have been spared, the families we could have protected, the money we could have used to do good, and the credibility we could have saved if we had summoned the collective courage to tear up those permission slips. The vote today on the War Powers Resolution to restrict the current administration's actions against Iran is an important one. It is a necessary response to a reckless President without a plan. But it is not enough because, yesterday, this administration told us that the legal authority to launch a strike targeting Iran 6 days ago was granted based on the authority that this body allowed to invade Iraq 18 years ago, using a deceased dictator to justify a potential war against an entirely different adversary, making a mockery of matters of war and peace. So now, facing the threat of war with a different yet brutal regime, this body must finally act to cut off any avenue that this President or any other President has to enter our people into a war that we do not want because this isn't just about the actions of a current administration. It is about the precedent that we set from this day forward. We must pass a War Powers Resolution today. We must repeal the 2001 and 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force. We must compel the executive branch to come to Congress and make the case that any military action that is required to protect American lives is in our best interests and justified. And we in Congress must be prepared to take some tough votes because that is our job. It is the very least that we owe our men and women in uniform putting their lives on the line so the rest of us might sleep safe and free.