Gregory Meeks

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 134) condemning the military coup that took place on February 1, 2021, in Burma and the Burmese military detention of civilian leaders, calling for the release of all those detained and for those elected to serve in Parliament to resume their duties, and for other purposes.

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 134.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS. I continue to reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Representative Levin for sponsoring this resolution, which condemns the military coup that occurred in Burma on February 1, 2021. It has been more than 45 days since the Burmese military, also known as the Tatmadaw, arrested several democratically-elected members of government, including the President Win Myint, and the State Counselor, Aung San Suu Kyi, and declared a year-long state of emergency, and nullified the results of Burma's November 8, 2020, elections. Despite Tatmadaw claims of election fraud, several independent election monitoring organizations found that the electoral process and outcome were credible, even despite minor irregularities. Since the coup took place, we have seen thousands of protesters take to the streets to make sure that their voices were heard; voices in opposition to the coup and in support of democracy. And as those protests continued, we have seen security forces increasingly use violence in an attempt to quell the demonstrations. The U.N. estimates that 149 people have been killed since the coup occurred on February 1. Fifty-seven people were killed this past weekend alone. It is imperative that democracies around the world speak out in condemnation of this coup and the arrest of democratically-elected government officials. It is vital that we speak in support of democracy, of all of those members of civil society who have been arrested, and those in Burma who are protesting for the restoration of democracy. And it is important that we make it clear to the Tatmadaw, including through additional targeted sanctions that leverage sources of income for the military, that these actions are absolutely unacceptable. We are sadly, in this body, all too familiar with the rippling effects of attempts to undo democratic elections. We have an obligation to speak up and speak out wherever democracy is threatened. Madam Speaker, this is a very important resolution. I support it and urge my colleagues to do the same, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), a valued member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and author of this important resolution.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that the Burmese military respect the will of the Burmese people and, one, return power to those democratically elected; and, two, release civilian leaders taken into custody. Daily protests against the military coup continue to occur in towns and cities throughout Burma, and the security forces are using increasing brutality to crack down against those demonstrating. We must make it clear that the United States is watching and that we support the restoration of democracy. Again, I want to thank Mr. Levin, the ranking member, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for coming together so that the Burmese people know that the Congress of the United States of America stands together in their fight for democracy. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1112) to require a report on the military coup in Burma, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the esteemed gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I want to start by thanking Mr. Connolly for this important bill before us today. The Protect Democracy in Burma Act of 2021 is a timely measure that ensures the United States is not silent when a military coup supplants democracy. It also directs strong U.S. engagement with our partners at the U.N. and ASEAN because we are always stronger when we are united. In 2015, decades of brutal military rule gave way to what many hoped would be a new era of reform and democratization in Burma. That hope was short-lived, and the Tatmadaw began to show its true colors as it engaged in a genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority. Now, a little more than 5 years after the democratic opening that it helped usher in, the military has halted Burma's democratic experiment. By all accounts, Burma's November 2020 parliamentary elections were credible, and claims of widespread fraud have been debunked by election-monitoring authorities. The United States condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the actions of the Burmese military and its violent crackdown and killing of protesters. But we cannot stand alone. To be most effective, the United States must work with our partners in the region in condemning the Tatmadaw's brutal actions in supporting democracy and respect for the election outcome. Madam Speaker, that is exactly what this bill sets out to do. It makes clear where the U.S. stands. It promotes multilateral cooperation as we work to hold the Burmese military accountable and call for a return to Burma's democratic transition. It also ensures reporting to Congress so that we can properly review U.S. policy. Madam Speaker, this is a very important bill that sends a message to the people of Burma and to the entire world, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly), an esteemed member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and author of this important bill.

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), the distinguished chairman of the House Democracy Partnership.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I speak in support of the international provisions of the American Rescue Plan. Pandemics do not respect international borders. COVID-19 won't end in America until it is brought under control around the world. The $10 billion included in this package for international support are a small, yet critical, investment in fighting COVID and its effects around the world. This portion of the bill prioritizes global health, providing more that $4.6 billion to relieve overburdened healthcare systems and medical workers, and helping governments and multilateral partners develop and distribute vaccines. To address the humanitarian crises exacerbated by this pandemic, the American Rescue Plan provides funding for lifesaving assistance, including shelter, food, clean water, and basic medical care. It also provides COVID-related relief to refugees, who are already among the most vulnerable; and to our multilateral partners, such as the World Food Program and UNICEF, who can leverage their other partners and their global reach to maximize these dollars. These provisions would also provide nearly $1 billion in flexible funding for economic support to help ensure that even more need isn't created as a result of the economic impacts of COVID, which are already severe. It will support our diplomats and development professionals, enabling them to scale up and adapt to the pandemic, and continue to serve Americans and our country's interests around the world. The Foreign Affairs provisions represent approximately \1/2\ of 1 percent of the overall package. These funds support America's foreign commitments to the poorest nations least able to tackle the pandemic.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, as chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, I speak in strong support of the international provisions of the American Rescue package. With a total of $10 billion, this is a relatively small yet critical investment in fighting COVID and its effects around the world. Pandemics do not respect international borders. To control this pandemic, we need to mitigate its global spread. This provision puts global health front and center, supporting efforts to relieve overburdened health systems and medical workers and help governments develop and distribute vaccines. To address the humanitarian crises that have been exacerbated by this pandemic, this provision will provide funding for the most immediate lifesaving assistance, including shelter, food, clean water, basic medical care. Additionally, it provides COVID-related relief for vulnerable refugees who are already vulnerable. Madam Speaker, this provision would also provide flexible funding for economic support to help ensure that even more need isn't created as a result of the economic impacts of COVID, which are already severe.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this COVID supplemental package. This has been a dark and difficult past year for our world. More than 2 million people have died around the world, including more than 400,000 in our great country. Economies are in crisis around the globe, and over a billion children are out of the classroom. Our country's health and economic challenges require a bold response in scale, and more delay is not an option. We must work to beat back this virus, shore up our economy, and ensure the most vulnerable are prioritized and protected. But we cannot solve this problem without addressing the outside world also. Pandemics do not respect borders, and they don't care about nationalities. As chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I firmly believe that the health and economic wreckage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will only end once it ends everywhere. We are currently addressing the monumental task of vaccinating our country, but afterwards we must turn our attention to the remainder of the world. Only then can we fully put this worldwide pandemic behind us and put ourselves back on the path to economic prosperity. Crucially, this package includes support for global health efforts as well as lifesaving humanitarian assistance. This means support for vaccine procurement, vaccine delivery, and sustained engagement to build the capacity of health systems throughout multilateral engagement. It means supporting organizations like the World Food Program, UNICEF, and the WHO, that the United States must partner with in order to succeed. COVID-19 did not begin on our shores, but American innovation and global health leadership can end it. The cameras of history are rolling. The time to act is now. We must join with what Chairman Yarmuth is doing and make sure that we help those who have suffered as a result of this pandemic. Extending unemployment insurance, helping those who can't pay for their rent or mortgage, putting our children back into schools, helping our small businesses; this is what this bill does. This is why we have to do it, and we have to do it now because this is the emergency of our time and it takes bold moves.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, the armed insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol did not emerge out of a vacuum. They were lied to by Republican Senators and Republican Congressmen and -women. But they were incited to violence by one man above all else: Donald J. Trump, who tried to be the ultimate ruler of our democracy. The world is watching. Our allies are watching, and our adversaries are watching. We must show them that no one will rule this country and be above the law. The cameras of history are rolling. We must act. We must impeach Donald J. Trump and show the world what we stand for.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Espaillat, and I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith). I also thank Representative Kinzinger for his support and his collaboration in working collectively to bring this bill to the floor for a vote. The reason for this bill is actually very simple. Congress must be clear that Russia cannot be part of the G7 while it does all it can to undermine democracies, including our own. What they are doing is inflaming some of the biggest challenges that face the global community today. Congress has an oversight responsibility here, and this bill simply makes that clear. Through its actions, today's Russia continues to prove that it does not intend to be a part of the global solution. Moscow interferes in democratic processes across the globe, suppresses and poisons opposition, and wreaks havoc in emerging nations in Europe--Ukraine and Georgia being the most recent targets where they still remain, holding sovereign land. The list is long. Yet, I am concerned that the President of the United States has repeatedly expressed his inclination to bring Russia back to the G7. He has called it commonsense to include Russia. It is not as long as they continue to behave the way they are. It is crucial that the American taxpayer should not pay for this bizarre and harmful courtship of Putin's Russia, the same Russia that puts bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan. Of course, we should have lines of strategic communications open with Moscow. I am one also open for dialogue. But with Russia's malfeasance, we cannot welcome them to the table as our partners and allies at a time when they do not share our democratic values or interests. There is nothing short of the strength of America's stance as a global leader at stake. We have to be leaders in bringing folks together and standing for democracy and for what is good for democracy. That is who we are as Americans. That is what this United States Congress stands for. We must do our oversight in this regard. We must give a message to Russia that should it want to enter into the G7, it has to play by the rules and not do undemocratic things or threaten democracy, whether it is in the United States or any of our European allies. Mr. Speaker, I, again, thank my colleagues for joining this bill in a bipartisan effort, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Let me just say how proud I am that the House is taking up my bill today, the Ensuring Diversity in Community Banking Act. I am especially grateful for the support from Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters and for her guidance and for working with me to make sure that we progress and move this bill. I am likewise eternally grateful to Ranking Member McHenry, who worked with us very closely to make sure that this bill had true, strong bipartisan support. As a result, it passed the House Financial Services Committee unanimously. Without that partnership, this would not have happened. So, I thank both the chair and the ranking member, and all the members of this committee, for doing this. This bill passed in committee unanimously and has gained the support of consumer advocacy groups, civil rights organizations, and the financial services industry. We tried to bring everybody together on this, and we did come up with a consensus bill. Communities of color have borne a disproportionate burden of the COVID pandemic, as measured by the infection and mortality rates, as well as jobs lost and wealth destroyed. This pandemic and the economic crisis it triggered devastated communities that had yet to fully recover from the financial crisis of 2008. Minority banks, credit unions, and community development financial institutions have remained the bright spot during this pandemic, given their focus of providing financial services to communities of color and low- and moderate-income communities. However, despite their success serving these communities, minority depository institutions have been disappearing at an alarming rate, leading to expanding banking deserts and a growing share of the population vulnerable to payday lenders and other predatory financial institutions. To address this, this bill does the following: Number one, minority depository institutions are smaller than their peers, pose no credible systemic risk, and focus overwhelmingly on underbanked communities of color, investing in homeownership and small business lending, helping to close the wealth gap. My bill makes it easier for MDIs that are also community development organizations to raise capital from private investors and directs the Federal Government to deposit funds that are fully insured with these institutions which can on-lend the money in communities that need it. Number two, the bill calls on regulators to take greater ownership of their own failings in the area of diversity by auditing the diversity of the bank examiner corps, publishing the data, and considering how their own lack of diversity and lack of special training harms their effectiveness. Number three, the bill establishes a new impact bank designation for those institutions that lend primarily to low-income communities and provides these banks access to the deposits programs established by this bill. Number four, the bill also calls on the Congress to continue supporting the CDFI Fund of the Treasury Department.

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, the CDFI Fund leverages limited government funding to crowd-in significant private sector capital and foster innovation, investments, and market-oriented solutions to tackle some of our Nation's most persistent challenges in poverty alleviation. This program has earned strong bipartisan support historically and proven itself immensely valuable during this pandemic. Let me also say that what this does is it also helps our small businesses in the communities and helps create wealth in communities where it is not. With the homeownership aspect, it encourages individuals to buy, to own the home and to rent the car because the home becomes an appreciating asset and the car the depreciating asset. It brings us all together so we can enjoy what has become the American Dream. Let me close by once again thanking my colleagues for their bipartisan support for this important legislation. I thank all of my colleagues for working together to make this a better place, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote in support of this bill.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I first thank Congresswoman Wilson, and, of course, Congresswoman McBath. Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to speak on the creation of a Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys at the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. Racial inequality in this country remains stark and stubborn. Black men are 40 percent more likely to be unemployed today than White men; twice as likely not to own the home they live in; 2\1/ 2\ times as likely to be killed by police officers; and 5 times as likely to be locked behind bars. Mr. Speaker, we cannot ignore these problems. We can't waive away what is right before our eyes. Racial inequality in this country must be confronted. The time has come to address this most painful of issues. Indeed, the time has long past, but justice delayed is better than no justice at all. ``To those who have said, `Be patient and wait,' we have long said that we cannot be patient. We do not want our freedom gradually; but we want to be free now. We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again. And then you holler, `Be patient.' How long can we be patient? We want our freedom, and we want it now.'' These are the words of John Robert Lewis at the March on Washington in 1963, and we need to heed them today.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, John Robert Lewis was short in height, yet he was a giant. John Robert Lewis was a humble man but fierce for justice. John Robert Lewis talked softly, but roared like a lion when it was time to fight for freedom, justice, and equality for all humankind. He said there was one race--the human race. He is an individual that compelled a Nation to change, to make it better. His voice will echo in this Chamber forever. It was my honor and pleasure for 22 years to serve with the Honorable John Robert Lewis. May he rest in peace and rise in power.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, the fact is, there is room to modernize CRA and to update it to the realities of modern-day banking. The Fed and community advocacy groups have put forward some thoughtful ideas on just how to do that. Let us pass this bill, let us stop this ill-fated rule that the OCC put out, and let us do some real CRA to help people in these communities who have been deprived for far too long.

Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.J. Res. 90, and I am proud to have joined Chairwoman Waters in introducing it. This resolution provides for congressional disapproval of the rule submitted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency relating to the Community Reinvestment Act. The Community Reinvestment Act was enacted into law, as indicated, in 1977 as a direct response to the long, painful legacy of structural discrimination, financial exclusion, redlining, and economic suppression of racial minorities in America, a legacy of prejudice and economic exclusion that we are seeing all-too-clearly still echoes to this day, which is why many of the individuals you see in the streets today want to correct this structural problem that we have in our Nation. At its core, the Community Reinvestment Act is a civil rights bill. It was the fourth in a series of banking bills passed to address systemic discrimination in banking, including the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975. These bills built on the findings of the 1961 report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and community-led civil action in Chicago to hold banks accountable for rampant discrimination in lending in Black and Hispanic communities. Any efforts at reforms and modernization must remain true to this legacy, particularly given the overwhelming evidence of continued discrimination in banking and access to finance. We must make sure that when we look at the CRA, the CRA is creating an opportunity for minority businesses to thrive and strive and investing further in its communities; that affordable housing is something that is there, not something where we are investing and driving people out so they can't have the benefits in the community. It must be relevant to the community and keeping the people in the community so that they can see a better life. Under Comptroller Otting's leadership, the OCC's work on CRA modernization has systematically failed to remain true to the law's civil rights roots. In fact, the very way in which the rule was finalized and published by the OCC was symptomatic of the agency's failed approach from the start. It was rushed, unfinished, unsupported by data, and not done in coordination with the other prudential regulators. And to cap it all off, Comptroller Otting abandoned his post within the very same week of publishing this rule, in the middle of a pandemic, economic crisis, and a looming banking crisis, leaving everyone else to hold the bag.

Mr. MEEKS

Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I was born in 1953. Brown v. Board of Education had not been decided. The Civil Rights Act was not yet law, and the Voting Rights Act was more than a decade away. African Americans could be denied sitting on a bus, a room at a hotel, entry into a school, solely because of the color of their skin. For my three daughters, such a time is still somewhat unimaginable to them. They cannot fathom being refused entry into a restaurant or being legally barred from living in a neighborhood, because the laws on the books said it was the right thing to do. These are the realities of my generation, for I recall getting off a train and seeing ``colored'' and ``white.'' But it is not the realities for my daughters. But they do know about a world where Black men and women can be stopped by a police officer on the flimsiest of pretexts, and they understand the pain of seeing unarmed Black men and women shot, choked, and kneeled upon until they take their last breath. I now also have a one-year-old granddaughter. She does not know about mass incarceration. She has not seen videos of Black men being murdered by those that are supposed to protect the law. I do hope she learns about these incidents, like the murder of George Floyd or Eric Garner or Sean Bell, but in the same way my daughter has learned about segregation: Through books and movies and history and classes. I hope she views our current failings as unimaginable problems from an era far passed. And this Congress can make a difference. Let's not wait now. The camera of history is rolling, and it rolled bad on those in 1953. Let it not roll bad on us today. Mr. Speaker, let us pass this act. This bill will not take us all the way to that destination, but it is a real step towards a just world. Let's pass this bill.