Summer Lee

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize the Democratic staff who were the driving force behind this bill: Kristi Parrott, Noah Hunt, and Dahlia Sokolov. I thank them for their work on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 6093, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chair, I stand today in vehement opposition to H.R. 7023, the Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act. It is amusing that we are having an energy week conducted by a majority that uses all of its energy to fight against the interests and well-being of the American people. This bill is emblematic of the Republican Party that shamelessly prioritizes the investments of their billionaire donors over the health of our children, our communities, and our environment, not to mention our economy. Every Member of this body likes to claim to be here to advance the needs of our constituents, but it seems like every day the Republican Party tries to tear down the very laws that aim to protect their own constituents, as well as mine, from corporate polluters pumping toxins into our air and drinking water. It seems like every day they fight to repeal the investments that are creating thousands of good-paying union jobs in districts like mine, lowering our energy bills, and creating a healthy, livable future for our kids. Pittsburgh is the 22nd most polluted city in the Nation, and this year was the first year that we didn't get a failing grade from the American Lung Association. I know far too well what happens when corporate polluters are absolved of responsibility and accountability for their actions, which several portions of this bill seek to enable. I am proud to fight against those who seek to endanger our communities, endanger our children, through polluted air and tainted water, just so they can give another handout to the billionaires and Big Oil CEOs who bankroll their campaigns. I am proud to represent western Pennsylvania and the city of Pittsburgh where we have worked hard to remove and replace over 10,000 lead service lines, largely thanks to Federal protections and investments these Republicans are trying to repeal. The only confidence this bill gives me is that Republicans will take any opportunity to eliminate oversight and safeguards for our environment and to silence the voices of those in communities who are tired of unbreathable air and toxic water. Mr. Chair, I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose the passage of this legislation.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today, on the last day of Black History Month, in recognition of the Freedom House Ambulance Service, a group of Black men and women from Pittsburgh who, over 50 years ago, revolutionized emergency medical services. They were the first to perform tourniquets for uncontrolled bleeding, resuscitation techniques for heart attacks, and to treat breathing problems all en route. These folks were not doctors or nurses. They were from the poorest, Blackest areas of Pittsburgh. They were overlooked in society still trying, and mostly failing, to deliver on the promise of the Civil Rights Act, yet they set the standard for how medical professionals handle emergency care today while filling the voids of institutions that were failing us. For the first time, Black folks in Pittsburgh got the medical care we needed, until they were absorbed by the city government when Black neighborhoods started getting better treatment than their rich, White counterparts who refused their services. Freedom House Ambulance Service saved countless lives in Pittsburgh's most underserved neighborhoods and their legacy has saved countless lives across the country. Today, I am proud to introduce a resolution honoring them. As we close out Black History Month, let us not forget the Black historymakers who, despite barriers, made this country a better place.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I stand here today because we are just 1 month from another government shutdown, and Congressional Republicans have demonstrated once again that they are more concerned about satisfying their culture warrior base than actually addressing any of the problems their constituents face. Madam Speaker, that hasn't stopped us from delivering for our districts. I am here because the everyday working-class people of Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties came together to say, everybody should have a livable wage, clean air and water, affordable housing, decent transportation, and healthcare. The people I represent resoundingly rejected the status quo and decades of corporations leaving us behind and polluting our communities without accountability. They demanded political representation that will actually try to solve the problems they face and not play political games with their lives. Our movement's detractors, including those in Congress, many of them, will try to make you believe that people from working-class backgrounds representing working-class districts are too consumed by fighting national political battles and don't do enough to deliver for our districts. Let me be clear. Key priorities of the Biden administration, like the Inflation Reduction Act, would not have happened without progressives here fighting tooth and nail to ensure that our communities had what they needed to thrive. Despite Republicans' dysfunction, we haven't stopped fighting even for one second. We are proud to have delivered in my district nearly $1 billion in Federal investments for infrastructure, affordable housing, STEM innovation, clean air, and good-paying jobs because the people of Western Pennsylvania and across the country deserve leaders in Congress who have lived their struggles and work as hard as they do. Whether it was delivering $400 million from the Department of Energy's clean financing program to fund EOS, a battery storage manufacturer that will employ thousands of workers in PA-12's Mon Valley, in particular, or the over $150 million to improve transit in Pittsburgh, or helping to deliver $50 million for affordable housing in the historically divested Hill District of Pittsburgh. Our movement in Pennsylvania is delivering on priorities that won't just improve our communities but the lives of people across the country. We are demonstrating the power we can recognize when communities that have been left behind elect leaders that have actually gone through what they have. Throughout history, and particularly over the past four decades, working-class people, disproportionately Black and Brown, have been told our priorities are too radical, our needs are too unrealistic, and that our lives are expendable. Our movement stands in direct contrast to that, standing up to monied interests and fighting for our communities to be healthier, stronger, and more resilient. The wins we have secured that I have talked about today represent just a small part of what our movement has done while in elected office, and you can be sure we are not done yet. On the other side, Republicans are demonstrating that they are fundamentally unserious when it comes to addressing the problems that their constituents face, and all of our constituents. Now Republicans are fighting battles so they can reconcile their internal struggle between satisfying their rightwing cable-news culture warriors and their ultra-wealthy corporate donors. They are an embarrassment, and their constituents and our country will remember.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the grandmas and grandpas and moms and dads and neighbors and beloved community members who spent their entire lives paying into Medicare out of their own paychecks on the sacred promise that they could retire with health and dignity only to have that promise betrayed by today's Republican Party. I stand here on behalf of our aging parents and sons and daughters fighting mental illness, loved ones who are cancer patients and stroke survivors, workers injured on the job, orphaned children, and siblings with disabilities, whose access to food, shelter, medicine, and dignified retirement depends on Social Security that Republicans are hellbent on tearing away. In Pennsylvania alone, 2.8 million folks depend on Medicare--227,727 in Allegheny County--and 2.9 million depend on Social Security--nearly 150,000 in my district alone. Every one of them deserves to retire in dignity with access to healthcare. Every one of them deserves a Congress where every Member has the decency to honor that sacred promise not to leave our families behind at the hardest moments of their lives. The reality is that just about every American agrees, no matter where we come from, how we vote, or what our skin color is--we all deserve those things. The Republican Party, bought out by greedy CEOs, billionaires, and lobbyists, have always been terrified of that reality. They are so terrified that instead of facing it they have chosen to lie, scapegoat, and defraud even the folks who elected them, assuming we are too foolish to see what is going on. Let me break it down. First, Republicans passed tax handouts for their filthy rich donors promising a trickle-down miracle that never has and will never happen from Reaganomics to the Trump tax scam. When their tax scam causes the economy to slow and deficits to grow, they refuse to correct their mistake. Instead, they blame immigrants, poor folks, Black folks, and Brown folks. Next, Republicans pretend to panic and call for devastating cuts to Social Security and Medicare that would force Americans to work longer for less and tear away their hard-earned retirement and end Medicare as we know it--reducing spending. They call for more handouts for their billionaire donors and corporate polluters. They hope that you will settle for tearing away your neighbors' lifelines to protect your own right to retire in dignity, forcing us to the brink of catastrophic shutdown or debt ceiling crisis until we clean up their mess. They repeat the cycle hoping enough of us will forgive and forget their scheme to tear away Medicare and Social Security and believe their lie that they were only after food assistance, healthcare, or housing for poor folks--not your earned benefits. The truth is that they always were and always will be after it all.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, as I speak, Republicans on the Budget Committee are holding a hearing to establish a death panel commission to gut earned benefits where their chairman called his party's fight to tear Social Security our generation's world war. At a time when the majority of Pennsylvanians say they struggle to afford healthcare and half are delaying getting the medical care they need because they can't afford it, we as Democrats have an obligation to fight to not only protect Social Security and Medicare but expand them. If we preserve the retirement age, increase benefits to keep up with inflation, expand Medicare to include vision, dental, and hearing, and hold Big Pharma price gougers accountable and pass Medicare for All, that is how we fulfill our sacred promise and move our country and our economy forward. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can bring up legislation that reaffirms the House of Representatives' commitment to protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the United Auto Workers powering the Big Three and all workers on the front lines in the fight for a future with fair pay, dignity, and the right to benefit from the profits of their hard work currently being hoarded by corporate CEOs. In 2022, Ford's CEO raked in $21 million, Chrysler's made $24 million, and GM's made $29 million. Right now, the maximum pay for Big Three UAW workers is $66,000. You can't even see the line because that is how little they are paid in comparison to their corporate bosses. It would take a UAW employee making the maximum salary almost 440 years to make what the CEO of General Motors makes in 1 year. Yet, these CEOs lie that their workers threaten our economy. Let me be clear: Any company that can afford 40 percent raises for CEOs already raking in millions can afford 40 percent raises for their workers, who our clean energy economy depends on. These workers don't threaten our economy, but CEOs do. To the Big Three, pay those workers what you owe them. Don't act like you forgot. Solidarity forever.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Patrick Gallagher of Pittsburgh, PA. After nearly a decade serving as Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, a tenure that included tremendous gains in Pitt's academic profile and demand, solidified the University's role as a community partner and anchor, and elevated Pitt's research stature, impact, and activity to near-peerless echelons of excellence, Mr. Gallagher will step down on July 15, 2023. Over the course of Mr. Gallagher's Chancellorship, he enhanced the University of Pittsburgh's reputation as an economic engine for Pennsylvania. One out of every 32 Pennsylvania workers earns their degree from Pitt, resulting in $5.2 billion in economic impact during his time. He has also positioned Pitt to continue this record, shaping the University's future through facilities like The Assembly, Pitt BioForge, and Victory Heights. These future projects are part and parcel of Mr. Gallagher's commitment to the University's student body. Pitt student-athletes flourished under Patrick Gallagher's watch, earning 4 ACC championships in volleyball, 2 College Cup appearances for men's soccer, 1 conference championship in football, and 1 national wrestling championship. And while the University's applications for admission rose to record highs under his tenure, he ensured that tuition rates would remain affordable for Pennsylvanians through Pitt's strong relationship with the Commonwealth. Under Mr. Gallagher's leadership, the University provided unprecedented support to its world-class researchers and its surrounding community. Today, the University ranks third in the country in terms of funding from the National Institutes of Health and secured its status and is one of just 24 universities nationwide to reach and exceed $1 billion in sponsored research expenditures. With these numerous accomplishments, Mr. Gallagher departs with the sincere appreciation and respect of the Board of Trustees as well as the admiration of Pitt's administration, faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Now, therefore, let it be proclaimed that the retirement of Chancellor Patrick D. Gallagher by celebrated and commended by all for exemplary leadership and remarkable contributions to higher education in Pennsylvania.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, with a heavy heart, to honor the memories of the 11 victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, an attack on three Jewish congregations during Shabbat service on the morning of October 27, 2018. Back in Pittsburgh, the trial for the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in our Nation's history is proceeding. The jury convicted the gunman on all 63 counts. Though this is a step toward justice, this trial reopened unimaginably painful wounds that have barely begun to heal. Congregation Dor Hadash, New Light Congregation, and the Tree of Life Congregation all had members taken from them. Their names were: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger. They were fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, and colleagues. They were members of a vibrant community who sought solace, peace, and unity within the walls of their synagogue. May their memories be forever a blessing. And may the strength and resilience shown by the survivors, the victims' family members, and the entire Jewish community throughout this heartbreaking trial forever be an inspiration to us all. They inspire me to work even harder to confront the root causes of hatred, racism, and bigotry so that no community has to live in fear of such senseless gun violence ever again. They were murdered by a white supremacist gunman who targeted them because of their faith and because their faith called them to welcome immigrants and refugees. The shooter was motivated by the ``great replacement theory.'' This was the same white supremacist theory that motivated the shooter in Buffalo to take the lives of 10 community members; the shooter in El Paso to take the lives of 23 Hispanic community members; and the shooter in Christchurch to take the lives of 51 Muslim worshippers. The best prediction of violence against our communities is violent language. That holds in each of the four mass shooting examples I just mentioned. We must uphold the right of free speech while also working to stem the proliferation of violent rhetoric. When I visited the synagogue this past February, I met with the Tree of Life congregation leadership and several family members of those murdered. I was profoundly moved, both by the unimaginable pain of what I saw, but also the beautiful conversations we had. Together, we discussed what can be done to help the community heal from the trauma, and we discussed their vision for transforming the site into a center to educate against anti-Semitism and hate, a vision I support. The attack on the three Pittsburgh Jewish congregations is part of a larger pattern of hate-fueled violence that plagues our Nation. The Black community is all too familiar with the rising tide of white supremacy in our country. The Federal Government has the responsibility to act. We all have the responsibility to use our platforms and condemn the rhetoric and dismantle the systems of white supremacy that enable this and other kinds of violence against our communities. We must strengthen our gun laws to make sure weapons of war never enter the hands of someone capable of such violence. We must invest in resources to identify and dismantle extremist networks. We must work hand in hand with communities, engaging in dialogue and support, to address the root causes of hatred and prevent future acts of violence. If we don't, these things will only get worse. It is for this reason that I make a commitment--a commitment made by Reverend Eric Manning, senior pastor of Mother Emanuel Church AME, when he visited Pittsburgh. Mother Emanuel was the site of a 2015 shooting, where a self-avowed white supremacist entered the Charleston, South Carolina, church during a Bible study and killed nine Black congregants. When Reverend Manning spoke at the funeral of Rose Mallinger, the last of the 11 victims to be laid to rest, he said: ``You are not alone. We mourn with you. We are here for you and that will never change.'' I commit myself to building bridges between marginalized communities and fighting back. I want our Jewish siblings to know that we are in this fight together every day for as long as it takes. I end with an excerpt from the Jewish prayer for peace that Rose Mallinger led every Saturday service: May it be Your will . . . that You erase war and bloodshed from the world and in its place draw down a great and glorious peace so that nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. . . . Let justice come in waves like water and righteousness flow like river, for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Holy One as the waters covered the sea. So may it be. And we say: Amen.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the millions of victims of gun violence whose voices have been silenced. We need to acknowledge what it means to be an American today. It means checking where the exits are in a grocery store or being afraid to drop your child off at an elementary school or always wondering when and where the next shooting will happen. What are we doing? This bill is a slap in the face to the victims of mass shootings. It ignores the realities of gun violence in our country, and it demonstrates how Republicans choose the gun lobby over children and families over and over again. In fact, they planned to mark up this bill on March 28. They postponed it after a shooter used a stabilizing brace to murder six people at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. Instead, they choose the seventh anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting. All the while, in my district, the Tree of Life families are in court fighting for justice, facing the gunman who killed their loved ones. Mass shootings have become so commonplace that it would be hard to schedule this on a day that is not a terrible anniversary. This bill today is shameful. To my Republican colleagues, if you are not with us, at least get out of the way. You owe it to the American people.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Chair, I stand today in solidarity with the millions of Black and Brown folks who have been locked up over the failed war on drugs. I stand before you today some 50 years from the war on drugs and 39 years after President Reagan signed the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, which expanded penalties on weed possession, established mandatory minimums, and created civil asset forfeiture--50 years since establishing drug policies that systematically led to the mass incarceration of generations of Black men. But somehow, this war on drugs will be different. We don't always know the consequences of a bill like this, but with the HALT Fentanyl Act, we all know. We have to listen to our experts: our public health, criminal justice, and civil rights organizations. They are on the ground doing the work in our communities, and 158 of them just told us that, no, the HALT Fentanyl Act will not help the American people, as this bill claims it would. It will only cause harm, especially to Black, Brown, and low-income Americans. We really didn't need the experts on this one. We have had decades to observe the effects of policies just like this. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. The HALT Fentanyl Act will do exactly what it was designed to do if we allow it to pass. We have seen 50 years of a terrifying merry-go-round: the economy struggles, housing becomes less stable, and a tough-on-crime approach is promoted as the solution. Lock up those most impacted, our siblings and neighbors struggling with addiction. Lock them up. Who is winning? Not the 350,000 folks currently serving time for drug offenses, not the families that have been torn apart by mass incarceration. Imagine the loss of generational wealth. Communities have been left without parents, grandparents, neighbors, leaders, and friends. Families are mourning tens of thousands that have died every year from drug overdoses. Policies like this one do not lead to healing. They do not lead to safety. They do not lead to justice, and we do deserve justice. We know there is a correlation between poverty and crime, not race and crime. We do not need tough-on-crime policies. We need to be tough on inequality, but for true, systemic change, we have to be willing to consider different roads. We have to be willing to consider community- based, trauma-informed, and harm-reducing policies. We must resist the urge to hearken back to tough-on-crime rhetoric. Tough on crime is merely tough on community. We can do better, and we must do better than the HALT Fentanyl Act.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia).

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the almost 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia that this Congress seeks to disenfranchise once again. D.C. voters and councilmembers saw the problem of police perpetuating different forms of violence plaguing not only their city, but the entire country, and they chose to act. They saw the reports of fired officers being rehired, cases dropped for faulty evidence and excessive use of force. They saw that marginalized folks were bearing the brunt of the violence and were being disproportionately prosecuted. What are we doing here today? Debating a resolution that seeks to circumvent the will of those D.C. voters. Congress does not have the authority to pass a disapproval resolution such as this for any other State or municipality. The principle of no taxation without representation helped launch the American Revolution and is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. D.C. residents drive around with that on their license plates. Yet, this joint resolution is telling all 670,000 taxpaying residents that their voices don't matter. I am sure it is no coincidence that those residents are over 45 percent Black. We must affirm their right to self-determination. D.C. residents have been petitioning for voting representation in Congress for over 200 years. In 2016, they approved a referendum for statehood by 85 percent. Instead of acting on that, this Republican-led Congress has taken every chance to strike down the will of the people. You cannot support self-rule for jurisdictions as long as they don't make choices you oppose. The bill this resolution seeks to strike down mirrors the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that this Congress passed last year. Among other things, it prohibits choke holds, removes military-grade weapons from officers, bans the hiring of officers with prior misconduct, and requires officers to inform people of their rights. Frankly, the bill doesn't go far enough, leaving out crucial reforms such as ending qualified immunity. None of these reforms are radical anti-police measures. None of them are particularly transformative. They are the first, small steps toward justice. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this joint resolution and allow the will of the D.C. people to stand.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the students, teachers, parents, and loved ones across western Pennsylvania who are still reeling from what we all thought was our worst fear come to life today. Just days after families in Nashville went through an unimaginable hell of losing their 9-year-old children because they had the audacity to attend a school in America, we received word about an active shooter situation back home in Pittsburgh, first at Central Catholic High School, then Oakland Catholic, and eventually a dozen of our schools across Pennsylvania. Imagine that you are a kid in Central Catholic. You have gone through the active shooter drills, and you saw the news Monday and heard about every school shooting prior. Today, you get a text that a gunman has entered your school. You are wondering if you will be shot. Will it be your friends who are shot, your classmate, your teammate, your teacher? Can you protect them, or should you run? Do you have time to text your parents one last time? Imagine that you are a teacher hysterically crying to the dispatcher a minute after you heard the news. You realize the lock on your door is broken, so you start building barricades with desks and chairs. You ask your students to protect themselves by whatever means possible, from the metal rod in the closet to the acid chemicals in the physics lab. Imagine that you are a parent and receive that phone call or text. Your heart stops. Your world freezes, and your mind starts to race. Can you get to the school on time? Will you ever hug your baby again? Will they meet you at the reunification spot? Active shooters, hoaxes, evacuations, active shooter drills--this is no way for our kids to live. This is disgraceful, and no, to my colleagues across the aisle, this is not normal. Active shooters aren't normal. Shooting hoaxes aren't normal. The evacuations and the active shooting drills aren't normal. There is nothing about this that is normal. Guns are the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and 18--not car crashes, not illnesses or accidents. It is guns. Tomorrow, we will send our students back to those buildings where they experienced that immense trauma and fear. We will expect them to pretend it is a normal day. We will expect them to continue to learn, perform, and be attentive in the same classrooms that they were just barricaded in. Thankfully, unlike the students, teachers, and families in Nashville, Michigan, Uvalde, Parkland, Sandy Hook, or too many others who were gunned down to count, they won't have to cry over their classmates' bodies or see their empty chairs when they return to school because this time, it was just a hoax--not a hoax. It was a swatting of children in schools in this era of heightened fear and vigilance around an epidemic of school and other mass shootings. Thankfully, today, it wasn't dead children back home in Pittsburgh. It was ``just'' traumatized children. It doesn't have to be this way, and it wouldn't be this way, but it is this way because Republicans care more about guns than our kids, worshippers in a church or synagogue, or shoppers in a Walmart. Republicans want to control what books you read. They want to control what history you learn. They want to control how you identify, who you can love. They want to control our bodies. They want to control everything except that which could prevent preventable mass deaths of children and students and worshippers and shoppers. In the only country on Earth where this is a problem, they will not control the proliferation of guns in this country. For those of you who say it is too political to ask that we put an end to bullet-ridden babies in body bags and traumatized kids doing active shooter drills in their elementary schools, I ask you to stop putting your politics over our children's lives.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I first acknowledge and thank our convener, the gentleman from Illinois. I thank the bold and brave women, our colleagues Cori Bush and Ayanna Pressley who have put together this convening as well. And I also thank all the women on whose shoulders we stand, particularly those who brought an intersectional perspective and urgency to the fight for all women throughout this country, but also adding on to that urgency, a reminder that it is Women's History Month in the year 2023, and yet we pretend to be surprised that a document written by rich, land-owning White men in the 18th century does not protect my rights. We pretend to be surprised that a document that saw my Black ancestors as property until the 19th century legally does not yet empower people who look like me. We are oh so surprised that a document that did not allow women the right to participate in our democracy through voting, let alone the right to have land or a bank account until the 20th century is in need of an update. Well, I am not surprised. Actually, I am pissed. I stand today as one of the vice chairs, the new vice chairs of the ERA Caucus to demand the obvious need for a constitutional amendment so that our future daughters and granddaughters, mine and yours, are not discussing what we failed to do in the 21st century. Yes, I stand today frustrated that it is not obvious to all elected Members of Congress that the rights of all women, and specifically Black women, need to be protected. As we are wrapping Women's History Month, I remain steadfast in making sure that our daughters and granddaughters of the future do not have to continue to discuss this. Constitutional equality is powerful. Women and the States have done their part to ratify the ERA, as we have heard, including our new colleague, who is joining us in the 118th, but now Congress must swiftly follow suit. We must take this action to move one step closer to enshrining the dignity, humanity, and equality of all people into the highest law of the land.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to convene this Special Order hour today to discuss the growing threats and harms that we have seen from our rightwing judiciary. From student loan debt to reproductive justice and rights, millions of Americans have found their rights stripped or their prosperity or their interests impeded. Indeed, I stand here today on behalf of the more than 40 million working- and middle-class Americans eligible for relief under President Biden's student debt cancellation plan, who might never see that relief because a Republican-appointed Supreme Court majority chose to take up a politically motivated lawsuit brought by a network of rightwing billionaires. To the 1.7 million Pennsylvanians afraid that SCOTUS could rip up your debt relief, I feel your pain. As a Black woman and a first-generation college student, and a Pell grant recipient that is still in a mountain of student debt myself, I am right there with you--angry and exhausted by a system that is failing us miserably. Like you, every single decision I make is shaped by the obscene amount of student debt I carry because I had the audacity to pursue a higher education--as the daughter of a working-class single mom from the Mon Valley, indeed. Millions of folks can't start their lives because of the suffocating burden of their student loan debt; and yet in 2023, only 44 out of the 435 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives carry any student loan debt. While I hope there are more of us with that lived expertise, I want the rest of my colleagues to hear about the people closest to the pain, like my sister Representative Ayanna Pressley would say. For poor and working-class folks, crushing student debt is preventing us from buying homes, for saving for retirement, starting businesses, starting families, and building generational wealth. For all Black college graduates who owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt, and for all Black women who carry the highest student debt burdens, it is an even greater barrier. It is an economic crisis for all poor and working-class folks, and Black and Brown folks are getting hit the hardest. In western Pennsylvania, the student debt crisis is a regional crisis holding our future hostage by preventing students and workers from accessing the training they need for our region to become the innovation hub and leader in STEM that hundreds of thousands of good- paying jobs depend on right now. Under President Biden's plan, one in four Black borrowers will see their debt fully eliminated, and nearly half of all Latino borrowers will be entirely debt free. This is our best shot at addressing the systemic inequities that have forced communities of color to take on higher debt for the chance at a college degree. On the day the Supreme Court began hearing the case that could rip away relief from this crisis, I met with a group of student organizers from western Pennsylvania on the frontlines of this fight. Those students who camped out overnight in front of the Supreme Court in the rain to have their voices heard told me what student debt relief would mean to them. They asked me what insight I had in my first 2 months in Congress. I told them these problems are systemic, systemic both in who is behind these attacks and who they hurt the most. My community will be punished for getting an education for the same reason half of this country doesn't have the freedom to control our bodies and our futures, and the same reason a Federal judge in Texas is expected to outlaw abortion pills. It is the same reason that corporations are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections and the same reason corporate PACs are able to come in and blow Black women out of the water when we run for office. It is because an unelected rightwing Republican-appointed judiciary is waging a full-on assault on our freedoms. Those folks whose forebearers were enslaved are the folks who today are shackled by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. It is those who are denied access to adequate maternal healthcare by the wealthiest country on Earth that are subjected to forced birth. It is those whose loved ones fled violence for a better life but are separated from their children and locked up at the border. The most marginalized folks bear the brunt of the reactionary rightwing judiciary's attacks--Black folks, Brown folks, trans folks, poor folks, and otherwise marginalized folks. Our communities deserve leaders who will fight back as hard as the organizers back home fight every single day; leaders who carry student debt, who have depended on food stamps, leaders who lack access to reproductive healthcare on Medicaid, who went to public schools that were divested, who lived with poor air quality because of unregulated industry. We deserve those sorts of leaders in office to tackle these issues. That is why I was sent to Congress. Now I will yield to my colleagues with the lived expertise to fight for you. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley.)

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick).

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues with the Congressional Progressive Caucus for raising up the danger of the far- right court. I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey), my colleague.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman McGarvey, particularly for lifting up and saying the name of Breonna Taylor here in this space and recognizing the continued struggle for accountability for the thousands, now, way too many, victims of police violence whose names we could not say in this short hour that we have here today. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to submit extraneous material into the Record.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman. I thank, once again, my colleagues at the Congressional Progressive Caucus for raising the dangers of this far-right court but also for their leadership, their commitment to fighting back, to finding solutions and finding pathways to restore and protect the freedoms of millions of Americans and to create ethical pathways to opportunity. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank our convenors for the opportunity today to talk about this important issue of protecting our voting rights. I am one of the new wave of younger Black legislators who never had the opportunity to meet or serve with Representative John Lewis but who are now tasked with finishing what he started. It is disappointing that we still have a need to explain the urgency of voting rights. But during a time when Black history is under attack, I will still give a brief course, as some of my colleagues here have done. Today, on March 7, but in 1965, 58 years ago and over two decades before I was born, John Lewis and his comrades risked their lives to demand more of our democracy on what is now known as Bloody Sunday. You see, months before Bloody Sunday, civil rights organizers celebrated the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, but they demanded more: the right to vote. So 58 years ago, John Lewis joined over 600 others, marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where they were brutalized by police simply for demanding access to the right to vote, the right to be a full citizen in our democracy just like everyone else, a right that is under attack once again today. Just saying the right to vote is incomplete. There are still multiple impediments today toward what is really at risk: access to our democracy. We must fight to modernize voting; we must fight against unduly burdensome voter ID laws; we must fight against gerrymandering; and we must fight to get money out of politics, which locks us out of our fully representative democracy. Voting rights is a question of economic justice, of racial justice, of LGBTQ rights and women's rights. All our rights are at stake when we vote and, indeed, when we are denied the right to vote. It is often said that my ancestors died for the right to vote, but I believe that that doesn't paint the entire picture. They died for our right to participate fully in American society and citizenship, to not only vote but to self-determine, to run, to serve, to lead. I regret that I was never able to call Representative John Lewis a colleague, but I feel a sense of urgency to finish what he started. I strongly urge my colleagues across the aisle to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and I similarly urge them to wake up or move out of the way.