Jamie Raskin

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, is there a high school or a workplace in America that would do nothing if a student or a worker posted violently threatening material against a fellow student or a colleague? Please show it to me, if so. Last month, a high school student in Michigan made threatening statements about a specific classmate. He was arrested. In Boulder, Colorado, several high school students were expelled for posting violently threatening material online. Last month, in Chicago, a firefighter was fired for his threatening social media posts, including a cartoon of someone running someone else over in a car. A woman in Pennsylvania who made violent threats against a colleague on Facebook was fired, and the State court found she was ineligible for unemployment compensation because her violently threatening speech online constituted willful misconduct. It is remarkable to me, Madam Speaker, that we have colleagues who think we should do nothing in the face of a Member of the United States House of Representatives who posts an animated cartoon video of him killing a colleague. Congressman Gosar is 62. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is 32.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, today, Donald Trump said the insurrection took place on November 3. No, Mr. Trump. I am sorry. That is what we call an election in America; an election that was validated by more than 60 Federal or State courts, including before eight judges nominated to the bench by President Trump himself, and all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, all of them rejecting every claim of electoral fraud and corruption that was advanced. We know an insurrection when we see one in this body, because we lived through one. Under the banner of this continuing and deranged big lie, the Stop the Steal movement brought down a violent insurrection against this Congress in an attempted coup against Vice President Mike Pence. They interrupted the counting of electoral college votes for the first time in American history. They caused the worst attack on Congress since the War of 1812; and they injured and wounded more than 140 police officers, Capitol Police officers, Metropolitan Police Department officers, and others, breaking their noses, breaking their necks, breaking their vertebrae, breaking their arms, breaking their legs, breaking their hearts and their spirits. We are investigating the attack on American democracy because we are Americans. We are investigating the attack on Congress by domestic enemies of our Constitution because we are sworn to do so by our oaths of office. But now, the big lie has become a big coverup. After being impeached twice by the House, after losing in 61 different courts, after seeing a 57-43 vote against him in the U.S. Senate, in the most sweeping bipartisan Senate Presidential conviction vote in American history, Trump now tries to get his followers, like Steve Bannon, not to testify here and not to turn over evidence that they have about this vicious assault on American democracy. In America, when you are subpoenaed to testify in court or in Congress, you show up, period. You can invoke your Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to specific questions if you think you committed a crime. You can claim executive privilege to specific questions if you think you are President of the United States. But you cannot blow off a subpoena in America. You cannot sit on your couch and defy the people's representatives in Congress. So we must enforce the rule of law here, my colleagues. We must do it. If you act deliberately, with sneering, cavalier contempt for the American people and their representatives, we will hold you in contempt. We will get to the truth of the violent assault on America.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, the women of Texas are citizens of the United States, but they are being treated like outlaws by their own legislature. Under the Texas law, any person, including murderers, serial rapists, sexual harassers, January 6 insurrectionists, or Texas State legislators themselves, can sue doctors, nurses, mothers, fathers, medical personnel, simply for helping a woman in Texas exercise her constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey for $10,000. You want to give $10,000 to a total stranger for helping your daughter through a personal crisis caused by a rape? Move to Texas. You want to join the GOP in turning America into a nation of theocratic busybodies and vigilante bounty hunters policing other people's families? Go right ahead. But for me, I am standing with the Constitution of the United States. I am voting for the Women's Health Protection Act, and I am proud that we are passing it today.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I rise in very strong support of the Women's Health Protection Act. Today in Texas a law has been put into place that transforms essentially everyone in the country into potential bounty hunters who can go and collect $10,000 by reporting on doctors, nurses, or family members who helped a woman exercise her constitutional right to seek an abortion in consultation with her physician. There is not even an exception for rape and incest under the draconian Texas anti-abortion law. A 15-year-old girl could be raped by her farther or her uncle and then have her mother go and take her to get an abortion, and the rapist--her father or uncle--could sue them for $10,000. Or anybody could sue them for $10,000. We need to codify Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey to guarantee the constitutional rights of women against the new onslaught against reproductive freedom and women's healthcare in the United States.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the American Kidney Fund (AKF) for its outstanding leadership in the fight against kidney disease. AKF is located in Rockville, in Maryland's 8th District, and I am proud to be AKF's Representative in Congress. This year marks the organization's 50th anniversary and I invite my colleagues to join me in recognizing AKF's five decades of work. AKF was founded in 1971 by a group of people who came together to help pay for a neighbor's lifesaving dialysis treatment, and in the 50 years since, AKF has become a well-known and widely-respected charitable organization that is dedicated to meeting the needs of people affected by kidney disease. AKF is the nation's leading independent nonprofit advocating on behalf of the 37 million Americans with kidney disease. AKF's vision is a world without kidney disease-- but until then, AKF will do everything in its power to ensure that every kidney patient has access to health care, and that every person at risk for kidney disease has the knowledge and resources to help prevent it. AKF notes that it touches more lives than any other kidney organization, with programs of prevention, early detection, and direct financial assistance that enable the nation's low-income dialysis and transplant patients to access lifesaving medical care, disease management support, clinical research, innovation and advocacy resources. The American Kidney Fund plays a leading role in educating and informing the American people about kidney disease, raising public awareness about the fact that many cases of kidney disease are preventable, and spreading the message that when it is detected early, kidney disease can often be managed and its progression slowed. Recognizing that advanced kidney disease disproportionately affects minority populations, AKF and its 16,000 Ambassadors have been longtime advocates for these patients and their communities. One area of focus for the organization has been to educate the public about the importance of increasing the participation of minority populations in clinical trials, which are critical to developing better treatments for conditions like kidney disease. Minority populations have historically been underrepresented in these trials, and AKF is dedicated to changing that. AKF also assists low-income dialysis patients and people who have recently received a kidney transplant, providing financial assistance through Safety Net Grants, Disaster Relief Grants, Health Insurance Premium Program Grants and Coronavirus Emergency Grants. AKF has worked to address longstanding health disparities in the United States and advance health equity so that all of us are as healthy as possible. Madam Speaker, on the occasion of AKF's 50th anniversary, I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing the American Kidney Fund's unsurpassed leadership in the fight to end kidney disease.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Robert ``Renny'' Cushing, who has led a remarkable life dedicated to social activism and public service. His selfless determination to secure equitable social change for the communities he has served is a true testament to our country's civic spirit. His journey began at the young age of 15 while advocating alongside civil rights activist Allard Lowenstein to end the Vietnam War and to lower the voting age nationwide. A year later, he left Hampton, New Hampshire with only $40 in his pocket and an itch to see the world. Renny soon traveled thousands of miles and worked numerous blue-collar jobs. He picked oranges in Florida, plucked grapes in the San Joaquin Valley of California, collected waste in Atlanta and harvested tobacco in Mexico. After a few years of travelling, he decided to bring all the knowledge he acquired about people and life back home. When he returned to Hampton, Renny co-founded the Clamshell Alliance, a group that would protest the construction of a nuclear station that individuals and families throughout his community voted against. He also later co-founded the Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, an international non-government organization of family members of murder victims fearlessly dedicated to opposing the death penalty. Renny, whose father was tragically murdered, spent decades advocating for the abolishment of New Hampshire's death penalty law, which the state did repeal in 2019. He officially began his career as a legislator in 1986, after winning his first election as a Representative of the New Hampshire State House. Following multiple non-consecutive terms, Renny was nominated as the Democratic Leader of the New Hampshire State House of Representatives in 2020. While serving as the Democratic Leader, Renny received a heartbreaking stage four prostate cancer diagnosis after he was hospitalized with acute kidney failure. Renny did not allow this devastating news to deter his commitment to serving others. Now the Democratic Minority Leader, Renny continues to serve in the New Hampshire State House where he has fought to ensure remote access to House hearings for disabled legislators, expand availability of medical marijuana for cancer patients and ensure the removal of harmful PFAS chemicals in nearby wells. Renny has devoted his life to the betterment of our nation and our communities and the uplifting of all our people. His unwavering commitment and tenacious attitude even in the toughest of times exemplify what it means to be a patriotic American. Madam Speaker, I am honored to recognize the important accomplishments of Robert ``Renny'' Cushing, and I hope this Chamber will join me in celebrating his remarkable life and career.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I thank Chair Maloney for her wonderful leadership of the Oversight Committee. I rise in support of H.R. 2662, the Inspector General Independence and Empowerment Act. The inspectors general are a remarkable innovation in American Government that have saved us untold billions of dollars and checked the corrupt abuse of power by people controlling Federal departments. They are essential to our ability to legislate as the Article I branch and to do meaningful oversight over the executive branch of government. That is true in general, but it is especially true when we have a President like Donald Trump who categorically refused to recognize congressional subpoenas, blocked members of his administration from coming to testify before Congress in an unprecedented way, and generally refused to cooperate with congressional factfinding at all. When a President refuses to cooperate with the legislative branch, when he obstructs Congress at every turn, the IGs are our only source of information. It is imperative that we protect our inspectors general's independence and their impartiality so they will not be reduced to the level of being Presidential sycophants who are party loyalists. The Supreme Court has recognized the importance of IG independence, noting that it is ``vital to effectuating Congress' intent and maintaining an opportunity for objective inquiries into bureaucratic waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.'' This bill will ensure that the IGs have the tools that they need to conduct thorough investigations on behalf of the American people, and it will protect them from unjust political retaliation.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, Justice Marshall argued the White primary line of cases: Smith v. Allwright and Terry v. Adams. He argued Brown v. Board of Education. He became the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. As for all the other Federal officeholders who took an oath to support our Constitution but then defected to the Confederacy and waged insurrection and rebellion against the United States, they were banned by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment from ever serving in public office again, at the Federal level, at the State level, or at the local level. Why should they occupy a position of honor and reverence in this building?

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for her great leadership on this. Madam Speaker, it is one thing to remember the Nation's Confederate traitors. It is another thing to glorify them. It is time to stop glorifying white supremacy in black robes and Confederate traitors who defected from the Union and took up arms against the United States. Now, I represent Frederick County, Maryland, where Justice Taney lived. The city of Frederick, 5 years ago, took down their statue of the man who wrote the Dred Scott opinion, which found that an African American could never be a citizen within the meaning of Article III of the Constitution, and in which he wrote: ``Blacks have no rights which the White man is bound to respect.'' In the name of original intent, Justice Taney transformed our Constitution into a White man's compact. He disgraced the Supreme Court. It would take the Civil War, the Reconstruction amendments, and the civil rights movement to dismantle the white supremacist constitution. Now we are going to replace him with a great Marylander, who has stood the test of time, Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was one of the architects of the legal strategy to dismantle Jim Crow and to replace Plessy v. Ferguson.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her leadership. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to serve as the lead Democratic cosponsor of the bill introduced by my friend from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association Charter Amendments Act of 2021. The Federal Bar Association is the primary voluntary bar association for attorneys, both in the private and public sectors, who practice in the Federal courts. The bill will permit the foundation to better fulfill its role as the only institution chartered in America by Congress to promote the Federal administration of justice, the advancement of Federal jurisprudence, and the practice of law in the Federal courts by providing it with the organizational flexibility that it needs to grow and to adapt to its contemporary mission. The original charter created a framework that has served FBA well for the last six decades. During these years, the foundation has, indeed, strengthened Federal jurisprudence and promoted legal education and understanding at the Federal level, and it has improved the lives of a lot of people. One community outreach program I know about through a number of my constituents is the Wills for Veterans initiative, which is a pro bono project where the FBA chapters provide the drafting of wills and signing services for veterans in our communities. Another initiative set up the Dr. J. Clay Smith Jr. Diversity in the Legal Profession Scholarship program, which aims to promote diversity in the profession and to promote the inclusion of racially and ethnically diverse students in law schools and in the work of the Federal Bar Association. All of these programs and initiatives broaden and strengthen the legal community and need to be bolstered in the years ahead. To allow the FBA greater flexibility to operate and grow as the legal community changes, the current charter must be amended. In its current iteration, the existing charter codifies strict membership and governance requirements that constrain member development and nimble governance of the organization. This rigidity presents serious challenges as the organization seeks to expand its critical educational and charitable work. H.R. 2679 makes technical fixes to the charter that will give the FBA the needed flexibility to advance its mission in the 21st century. In the place of legislatively fixed membership criteria, it permits FBA to establish and update membership criteria through the bylaws process itself. Similar provisions authorize enhanced flexibility in the composition and duties of the members of its board. In general, the measure would enable the FBA to swiftly meet the needs and the priorities of the organization and improve the administration of Federal justice. I urge all colleagues to support the legislation.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. This is from Baha, a Palestinian from the West Bank: My name is Baja Ebdeir, and I am from the occupied village of Beit Nattiff. Now I live in Beit Jala. This past Ramadan, Israel refused to issue permits for Palestinians to observe prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque. However, my father was one of the few luckiest to be issued a permit for a medical appointment he had at the hospital in East Jerusalem. It was not the medical appointment itself that got my father all excited and happy, but the fact that he could use it to observe the holiest night of Ramadan, Laylit Al-Qadr, the night of decree, at Al-Aqsa Mosque, where our destiny is determined by God for the whole year. Before he left, my father told us, ``After all, I have a permit, what could happen?'' Actually, a lot happened in the two days my father spent at Al-Aqsa. As the evening went by, an army of Israeli soldiers began to increase in number. As soon as the Imam uttered ``Allah Akbar,'' God is the greatest, to start off the holiest night prayer, Israeli soldiers threw gas canisters at worshipers. As a result of the excessive amount of gas my father inhaled, his severe coughing continues until today and his eyes are as red as blood. Usually my father never shares his fears with me, but this time he opened up and I listened with awe. With every cough, my father vividly remembers Al-Aqsa Mosque as a war zone where Israeli soldiers shot rubber bullets and threw gas canisters at Palestinians. Hundreds were injured and many of the elderly lost their lives on the holiest night. Here is one from Doron, a Jewish Israeli citizen: My name is Doron, and I am an Israeli who has lived in Jerusalem for the last decade. Since 2009, I have participated in peaceful protests in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah every week. I was touched to see how during the recent few months, these protests have gained support and momentum in Israel, Palestine, and internationally. Suddenly, activists in the region and around the world demanded justice for the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, who have been evicted from their homes. Unfortunately, everything was disrupted by the recent escalation, which was orchestrated to undermine the local movement in Jerusalem before it was able to achieve any gains. Jerusalem is the home of Israelis and Palestinians, and it should be equal, free, and safe for all its inhabitants. Residents of Sheikh Jarrah should not be afraid to be evicted from their homes at any moment. Here is one from Diala, a Palestinian citizen of Israel: My name is Diala, and I am a Palestinian citizen of Israel from Nazareth. During the past few weeks, I have protested alongside many Palestinian women against evictions in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem. I am a feminist and I strongly believe that the struggle for gender equality is deeply connected to this struggle. As the police cracked down on us, a group of peaceful protestors consisting primarily of women, an Israeli police officer kicked me and pushed me to the ground. As I lay on the ground, he continued to kick me, aiming at my legs and ribs. Throughout my life, I have been told repeatedly that I have full and equal rights as a citizen of Israel. However, this week, I have witnessed the oppressive brutality at play against me and my people. Mr. Speaker, we owe these young people a different future. In Israel and in the West Bank and in Gaza, we owe them a future of peace and justice and prosperity, where rockets are not raining down on the people of Israel or the people in the West Bank or the people in Gaza. We owe them a future where every young person can cultivate his or her own creative talents and dreams for the future. We owe them a future of mutual security for all sides and human rights for all people. Everyone knows that the first casualty of war is the truth. We want to make sure that the stories that people are living on the ground are not consumed in any kind of party propaganda. I urge my colleagues to listen to the voices of young Israelis and young Palestinians suffering through this brutal cycle of violence and ethnic conflict and systemic injustice. We owe it to them to call openly and loudly on Prime Minister Netanyahu and on Hamas to accept an immediate cease-fire and an end to all violence against civilians. This is the precondition for moving forward to real peace and respect for the human rights of all. I applaud President Biden and his administration's commitment to ending this violence. I hope that America will, again, with the new administration, be able to resume a forward-looking and constructive role in addressing all of the problems that beset the people in Israel and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Texas for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this week I met on Zoom with young Israelis and Palestinians who are part of New Story Leadership, a peacebuilding group that, since 2009, has brought dozens of Palestinian and Israeli youth to work as summer interns on Capitol Hill and to share their stories with Members of Congress. Here are a few of the stories my former interns and other participants sent me about the horrific events of the last few weeks: Meshi--Jewish Israeli My name is Meshi, I'm an Israeli American, currently living in Tel- Aviv. I was born and raised in northern Israel where my early childhood was spent under rocket fire from Hezbollah, and today, in my late twenties, I'm under rocket fire from Hamas. In the last week or so I've taken shelter in my building's old stairway, run for cover in the street, saw the lynching of an Arab citizen by a Jewish mob on live TV, and worried for my brother-in-law that had to leave my sister and their newborn son at home after he was called into reserve duty. Eran--Jewish Israeli My name is Eran Nissan. I was an intern in Congressman Jamie Raskin's office in 2019. I became a peace activist because of my military service, where I served as a combat soldier in the Israeli special forces. For four years I was sent to countless missions to all of Israel's borders--Lebanon, Syria, but mainly the West Bank and the Gaza strip. I experienced combat, I lost friends and classmates. These past two weeks have been the scariest and most depressing time of my life. I spent the last week monitoring Right Wing groups on social media, where Jewish terrorist organizations planned and organized lynching and riots throughout Israel. I did this as part of my digital activism, working with ex-intelligence officers turned progressive political activists. My neighborhood in Jaffa used to be a beacon of coexistence and cooperation between Jews and Arabs. Now it is a war zone. The sounds of exploding stun grenades from the nearby riots are only disturbed by the sirens, sending everyone to the shelters and stairways. Marwa--West Bank Palestinian My name is Marwa Odeh, I am a Palestinian American from Hewara in Area C of the West Bank. I was an intern in Congressman Jamie Raskin's office in 2018. This year, a Muslim high holy day became a day of chaos and despair for my family. On the day of Eid, May 13th, my cousin, Yehya, who I used to play soccer with in my grandparents' backyard, was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier. The rubber bullet tore open his left eyeball, leaving Yehya blind in one eye. After that military action, my mother and my baby sister, Jena, traveled to the hospital and were caught in a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets. Jena, who is just 5 years old, explained to me the horror and fear she went through. ``I was choking and my eyes were burning. We were just going to see Yehya, we did nothing,'' she told me in a FaceTime call that night. Lujayn--Palestinian East-Jerusalemite My name is Lujayn and I am a Palestinian living in East Jerusalem in a small village called Beit Hanina, which is surrounded by settlements. One of the most basic human rights is to feel safe and secure, but my family and I cannot feel safe in East Jerusalem. We can't feel safe because settlers under the protection of Israeli soldiers are chanting ``Death to Arabs'' and attacking Palestinians in my neighborhood. I can't feel safe because an Israeli soldier threw a stun grenade at my father as we walked out of AI-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan. I can't feel safe walking to the market, and even sitting in my own house. During the past few days, I have been telling my sisters and parents to turn off the lights at home so that no on will think we are there. When I traveled to my university a few days ago to get my diploma, I felt like a walking target because I was constantly afraid that I would be attacked, just because I am a Palestinian. Danni--Jewish Israeli My name is Danni, and I am a Jewish Israeli. I am engaged to an Israeli combat soldier, and we live in Haifa, which is known as the city of coexistence. In Haifa, I study and work with Arabs and Jews alike. Last week our city was hit by a wave of violence by citizens against citizens. Violent extremists have roamed the streets terrorizing people and vandalizing property. Dear American people, I know that you understand how dangerous it is to stay silent when you see discrimination, oppression, and violence. It is simply unsustainable. We need to move past the status quo, so that I can marry my fiance instead of him going to war, only to return to a broken city. Tasnim--Gazan My name is Tasnim, and I am a Palestinian from Gaza. My family and I left Gaza during the 2008 war. Unfortunately, when we moved, my sister was separated from her children, and they stayed in Gaza. Today, my two nieces, lama and Heba, who are young and dream of traveling the world, still live in Gaza. Since the air strikes have started, we have been calling them every single day to check if they are still alive. We hear of constant attacks where kids are being buried under the rubble of their own houses along with their dreams. We are constantly afraid that the next time we call them, we will not be able to reach them. The fear and stress that come with trying to connect with my family in Gaza is unimaginable. Baha--Palestinian from the West Bank My name is Baha Ebdeir and I am from the occupied village of Beit Nattiff, but now I live now in Beit Jala. This past Ramadan, Israel refused to issue permits for Palestinians to observe prayers at AI-Aqsa mosque. However, my father was one of the few luckiest to be issued a permit for a medical appointment he had at the Hospital in East Jerusalem. It was not the medical appointment itself that got my father all excited and happy, but the fact that he could use it to observe the holiest night of Ramadan, Laylit AI-Qadr (The Night of Decree), at AI-Aqsa mosque, where our destiny is determined by God for the whole year. Before he left, my father told us: ``After all, I have a permit, what could happen?'' Actually, a lot happened in the two days my father spent at AI-Aqsa. As the evening went by, an army of Israeli soldiers began to increase in number. As soon as the Imam uttered Allah Akbar (God is the Greatest) to start off the holiest night prayer, Israeli soldiers started throwing gas canisters at worshipers. As a result of the excessive amount of gas my father inhaled, his severe coughing continues until today and his eyes are as red as blood. Usually, my father never shares his fears with me, but this time he opened up and I listened with awe. With every cough, my father vividly remembers AI-Aqsa mosque as a war zone where Israeli soldiers unapologetically shot rubber bullets and threw gas canisters at Palestinians for merely being Palestinians. Hundreds were injured and many of the elderly lost their lives on the holiest night. Doron--Jewish Israeli My name is Doron and I am an Israeli, who has lived in Jerusalem for the last decade. Since 2009, I have participated in peaceful protests in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah every week. I was touched to see how during the recent few months, these protests have gained support and momentum in Israel, Palestine and internationally. Suddenly, activists in the region and around the world demanded justice for the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah, who have been evicted from their homes by Jewish Settlers. Unfortunately, everything was disrupted by the recent escalation, which was orchestrated to undermine the local movement in Jerusalem, before it was able to achieve any gains. Jerusalem is the home of Israelis and Palestinians and it should be equal, free and safe for all its inhabitants. Residents of Sheikh Jarrah should not be afraid to be evicted of their homes at any moment. Moe--Palestinian from the West Bank My name is Moe and I am a Palestinian from the West Bank, I interned with Congressman Jamie Raskin in 2019. Seven months ago I got married. This year, my wife and I celebrated our first Ramadan together. We were so excited to celebrate it together with both our families, but her family was unable to travel to see us, because all the roads had been closed and settlers have been patrolling the streets between the cities ready to attack Palestinian travelers. We can't see our family and we can't travel anywhere. I have heard about the danger that awaits us if we travel outside of our village and I am terrified. I am worried for the safety of my three brothers and father, who have jobs that require them to travel to Israel. Now, they are stuck at home, unable to travel because they have been warned that if they try to cross the border between the West Bank and Israel, their lives would be in danger.

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Green is not just a passionate representative of the people of the Ninth District of Texas, he speaks for millions and millions of people across the country. It has been very moving to hear him talk about the problem of police brutality and violence, which threatens our social contract. The whole purpose of the social contract is that we will be safer inside of it than we will be outside of it. And, yet, the social contract is not working for a lot of people in a lot of different parts of the country. So I thank him for his passionate leadership on behalf of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and for having us address this central problem. I appreciate your yielding to me. I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about what is going on in the Middle East. It has been a brutal week for Israeli and Palestinian civilians, as hundreds have been killed in the savage violence that is engulfing the Middle East now. This week I had the opportunity to meet on Zoom with young Palestinians and Israelis who are part of a group called New Story Leadership, which is a peace-building group that, since 2009, has brought Israeli and Palestinian interns to come work on Capitol Hill. I have had these interns work for me for, I think, 5 or 6 years, really ever since I arrived in the House of Representatives. They come to work, and they come to interact with each other. They come to learn about democracy and human rights from America, a country that was conceived with the dream of human rights and equality for everybody. Although that was not remotely the reality for a lot of people, but it has been the struggle for human rights and for equality that has defined the American ethos and the American spirit. So I asked these young Israeli and Palestinian former interns for me and for other Members of Congress, as part of the New Story Leadership program, to write to me about what is going on in their lives. Because too often, of course, our sense of what is happening in a foreign land is filtered through media, and it is filtered through different kinds of party propaganda. I wanted to hear directly from them. I thought I would share with you some of the responses I got. I want to enter them into the Congressional Record. Here is one from a Jewish Israeli citizen named Meshi: My name is Meshi. I am an Israeli American, currently living in Tel Aviv. I was born and raised in northern Israel, where my early childhood was spent under rocket fire from Hezbollah. Today, in my late 20s, I am under rocket fire from Hamas. In the last week or so, I have taken shelter in my building's old stairway. I have run for cover in the street. I saw the lynching of an Arab citizen by a Jewish mob on live TV. And I worried for my brother-in-law, who had to leave my sister and their newborn son at home after he was called into reserve duty. Here's one from a Jewish Israeli citizen named Eran: My name is Eran Nissan. I was an intern in Congressman Raskin's office in 2019. I became a peace activist because of my military service, where I served as a combat soldier in the Israeli Special Forces. For 4 years, I was sent to countless missions to all of Israel's borders: Lebanon, Syria, but mainly the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I experienced combat. I lost friends and I lost classmates. These past 2 weeks have been the scariest and most depressing time of my entire life. I spent the last week monitoring rightwing groups on social media, where terrorist organizations planned and organized lynchings and riots throughout Israel. I did this as part of my digital activism, working with former intelligence officers turned progressive political activists. My neighborhood in Jaffa used to be a beacon of coexistence and cooperation between Jews and Arabs. Now it is a war zone. The sounds of exploding stun grenades from the nearby riots are only disturbed by the sirens sending everyone into the shelters and stairways. This is from Marwa, who is a Palestinian on the West Bank: My name is Marwa Odeh. I am a Palestinian American from Hewara in Area C of the West Bank. I was an intern in Congressman Raskin's office in 2018. This year, a Muslim high holy day became a day of chaos and despair for my family. On the day of Eid, May 13, my cousin Yehya, who I used to play soccer with in my grandparents' backyard, was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier. The rubber bullet tore open his left eyeball, leaving Yehya blind in one eye. After that military action, my mother and my baby sister Jena traveled to the hospital and were caught in a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets. Jena, who is just 5 years old, explained to me the horror and fear that she went through: ``I was choking and my eyes were burning. We were just going to see Yehya. We did nothing,'' she told me in a FaceTime call that night. Here's one from Lujayn, a Palestinian who lives in East Jerusalem: My name is Lujayn. I am a Palestinian living in East Jerusalem, in a small village called Beit Hanina, which is surrounded by settlements. One of the most basic human rights is to feel safe and secure, but my family and I cannot feel safe in East Jerusalem. We can't feel safe because settlers under the protection of Israeli soldiers are chanting ``Death to Arabs'' and attacking Palestinians in my neighborhood. I can't feel safe because an Israeli soldier threw a stun grenade at my father as we walked out of Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan. I can't feel safe walking to the market and even sitting in my own house. During the past few days, I have been telling my sisters and parents to turn off the lights at home so that no one will think we are there. When I traveled to my university a few days ago to get my diploma, I felt like a walking target because I was constantly afraid I would be attacked just because I am a Palestinian. Here's one from Danni, a Jewish Israeli: My name is Danni, and I am a Jewish Israeli. I am engaged to an Israeli combat soldier, and we live in Haifa, which is known as the city of coexistence. In Haifa, I study and work with Arabs and Jews alike. Last week, our city was hit by a wave of violence by citizens against citizens. Violent extremists have roamed the streets, terrorizing people and vandalizing people. Dear American people, I know that you understand how dangerous it is to stay silent when you see discrimination, oppression, and violence. It is simply unsustainable. We need to move past the status quo so that I can marry my fiance instead of him going to war, only to return to a broken city. Here's one from Tasnim, who lives in the Gaza: My name is Tasnim, and I am a Palestinian from Gaza. My family and I left Gaza during the 2008 war. Unfortunately, when we moved, my sister was separated from her children and they stayed in Gaza. Today, my two nieces, Iama and Heba, who are young and dream of traveling the world, still live there in Gaza. Since the airstrikes have started, we have been calling them every single day to check to see if they are still alive. We hear of constant attacks where kids are being buried under the rubble of their own houses, along with their dreams. We are constantly afraid that the next time we call them, we will not be able to reach them. The fear and stress that come with trying to connect with my family in Gaza is unimaginable. Mr. Speaker, forgive me, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, the January 6 insurrection against our Congress, our Constitution, and our election was one of the worst political crimes in American history. It interrupted the peaceful transfer of power. It injured, wounded, hospitalized more than 140 law enforcement officials who were punched, kicked, maced, spat upon, and speared by Confederate battle flags, Donald Trump flags, American flags. They had eyes gouged. One lost several fingers. They turned the Capitol of the United States and this Chamber into a crime scene. The independent January 6 commission legislation brought forth by Chairman Thompson, a Democrat, and Congressman Katko, a Republican, is bipartisan in composition: five Republicans and five Democrats, equal subpoena power. It is nonpartisan in design and in function. Its whole purpose is to determine the events and the causes of those events on January 6 so we can prepare effectively to stop it from ever happening again to the people of America. The key precedent was the 9/11 Commission, which was critical for mobilizing public attention to the dangers of al-Qaida and other foreign terror networks and helping us to rectify inadequacies in our security infrastructure and to prepare to defend our democracy. Today, the number one security threat facing the American people is domestic violent extremism, and we saw what domestic violent extremism can do when it broke into our House on January 6. According to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas: ``Domestic violent extremism poses the most lethal and persistent terrorism-related threat to our country today.'' Abraham Lincoln made a beautiful speech that I recommend to all of my colleagues before they vote on this legislation today, the Lyceum Address, where he said all the armies of Europe, all the armies of Africa and Asia, could never conquer American democracy. But if there is a mortal threat to us, it will come from within, from dissension within, and threats to the constitutional order from within. We must pay attention to what happened on January 6, and we must honor those brave men and women who fought for hours against medieval- style waves of violence raining down upon them on that day. And we must do honor to future generations of Americans to find out exactly what happened and why, and how to stop it in the future. Let's pass this legislation today.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I hope that our distinguished colleagues don't flatter themselves to think that they are the first Members of Congress who oppose other Americans' democratic rights to wrap their arguments in constitutional clothing, because this has actually been the standard in American history. With Texas, it was said that Texas could not be admitted because it would be unconstitutional and because it was its own country, and the Constitution nowhere gives Congress the power to admit a foreign republic as a State. It was said Hawaii and Alaska could not be admitted because they weren't contiguous. West Virginia, everyone knew, couldn't be admitted because it used to be part of Virginia, just like Kentucky was part of Virginia. Oklahoma, it was said, was too poor and, therefore, did not meet constitutional requisites. Utah was too Mormon. New Mexico was too Catholic. And on and on and on. So this is very much in the mainstream of partisan political opposition to vindicating the rights of American citizens. My colleague from Virginia invites us to say, well, just give Washington, D.C., back to Maryland, thereby conceding, of course, that Congress has the power to modify the boundaries of the District of Columbia, as was established in 1847, with the retrocession of Virginia. There is one problem with this argument, the people of Washington, D.C., haven't asked to go back to Maryland, and Maryland has not requested that the land be given back to Maryland. Instead, what we have is American citizens exercising their rights under the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution, organizing a new State and petitioning for admission to the Union. That is how America has grown. They have demonstrated their commitment to our democracy by defending us against violent insurrectionists on January 6. Let's show our commitment to their democratic rights.

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, the people of Washington came to our aid on January 6. When we were being attacked by violent Fascist insurrectionists in this body, in this Chamber, in this Congress, they came to our aid. They sent hundreds of Capitol Police officers and National Guardsmen to defend us. The people of Washington defend our democratic rights. Will we defend theirs? That is the question of H.R. 51. Let's pass statehood for the people of Washington.

Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, the consent of the governed; no taxation without representation; no conscription without representation; a republican form of government for American citizens. All of our most essential democratic principles underwrite the trajectory of American political development, which has been the admission of 37 new States since the original 13 launched the Union. All of these States were admitted by one mechanism, and one mechanism only, an act of Congress exercising congressional power under Article IV, Section 3 to admit new States. There has never been a new State admitted by constitutional amendment. There has never been a State admission struck down by the United States Supreme Court, because the admission of new States is a political question in the juridical sense, which means it is vested exclusively in Congress to decide whether or not to admit new States. It is an exercise of the plenary power and judgment of the Congress, the people's branch. It is up to Congress to act. The opponents of democracy for 712,000 tax-paying, draftable American citizens right here in Washington, D.C., have now focused on the 23rd Amendment as the basis of their opposition. But the 23rd Amendment is no obstacle in any way. The purpose of the 23rd Amendment was to make sure that the local population got to participate in Presidential elections. The admission of the new State vindicates that constitutional purpose. H.R. 51 itself would immediately repeal the Federal statute that organizes the electoral college for the District of Columbia, taking care of the problem that our friends are concerned about. So why don't they support H.R. 51? Well, the floor leader gave the game away when he said, for him, this is all about two new progressive, liberal Democrat Senators. It is all about two new liberal Democrat Senators. They don't see taxation without representation. They don't see military service without representation, when tens of thousands of people from the Nation's Capital have served America in every war that we have ever had, going back to the Revolutionary War. They don't see governance without representation, without the consent of the governed. All that they see is two new liberal Democrat Senators. But that cuts against everything that we believe in about American democracy. We do not deny people the right to vote based on our expectation of how they will vote. We don't disenfranchise people because we disagree with who they might elect. I would defend with my life the right of the people of Kentucky and Arizona to send my friends here to represent them, even though I disagree with most of what they stand for, including their rejection of the rights of people from Washington, D.C. I would never disenfranchise just because of that.

Mr. RASKIN

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, today the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 330, providing for three measures. First, the rule provides for consideration of H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, under a closed rule. It provides 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Oversight and Reform and provides for one motion to recommit. The rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 1333, the NO BAN Act, and H.R. 1573, the Access to Counsel Act of 2021, both under closed rules. The rule provides an hour of debate on each bill equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary and provides one motion to recommit on each bill. The rule deems as passed H.R. 316, providing for the expenses of certain committees, and H. Con. Res. 30, providing for a joint session of Congress to receive a message from the President of the United States. The rule also restricts former Members' access to the House floor during the joint session. Additionally, the rule provides authority through April 22 for the majority leader or his designee to move to en bloc postponed votes on any suspension bill considered on April 19 or 20 on which the yeas and nays were ordered. Finally, the rule provides for recess instructions, same day, and suspension authority through May 20. Madam Speaker, Tocqueville wrote in ``Democracy in America'' that in our country voting rights and democracy are always either contracting and retreating and shriveling away or voting rights and democracy are growing and expanding. What a proud day for the United States Congress when we get to keep the trajectory of American democracy moving forward by voting to admit a new State to our beloved Union. America began with 13 original States, and we in Congress have exercised our powers under Article IV, Section 3 37 different times to admit 37 new States to the Union, which means that nearly 75 percent of the States in America today were admitted after the original 13. Today, we can keep the dynamics of democratic political growth and inclusion going in America by beginning the process of admitting Washington, Douglass Commonwealth to the Union by passing H.R. 51. We have the opportunity to do something that hasn't happened here since 1959, when Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the Union in January and in August of that year. We can vote to admit a new State to the Union, and what a State it will be: A community of 712,000 taxable, draftable, law-abiding American citizens who actually pay more Federal taxes per capita now than do the people of any State, more in hard dollars than the people of 22 States combined. It is a community of people who have fought in every war that the Union has ever fought, going all the way back to the American Revolution. And it was a community, significantly, that came to the aid of democracy, that came to the aid of the Union, that came to the aid of this Congress when we called on January 6, 2021. More than 850 officers in the Metropolitan Police Department came and fought shoulder to shoulder with our Capitol officers in what has been described as waves of medieval violence by insurrectionists and Fascists attacking them with bats and sticks and American flagpoles and Confederate flagpoles and Trump flagpoles. They sent more than 150 National Guardsmen from Washington, D.C., 154 D.C. National Guard, 850 Metropolitan Police Department to come and defend a democracy that they are not yet a part of. Now think about that. We had people who came and stormed the Capitol, laid siege to the Congress of the United States with fictionalized claims about a denial of their right to vote, and right in this city there are 712,000 American citizens who we know have their voting rights denied every single day, their rights to representation denied every single day, and they came to defend us against those who would have torn down the very citadel of democracy. Think about that when we are deciding how to vote on H.R. 51. The current status of the people in Washington, D.C., subjects them to two different forms of political domination and exclusion. On the one hand, all of their locally adopted laws ultimately can be overturned by a Congress which they are excluded from, and it has happened many times throughout the history of the District of Columbia, as Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the nonvoting Delegate, will tell you. Congress has tampered with the laws of adoption, laws of marriage, criminal justice laws, and voting laws in the District of Columbia. But it is not just that. It is not just that the rights of democratic self-government are subject to the will of other people. It is also that this community of taxpaying, draftable American citizens is excluded from participating in Federal legislation because they don't have voting representatives in the House and in the Senate. That means on matters relating to war and peace, the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justices and other Federal judges, the development of Federal budgets, the regulation of commerce domestically and internationally, Federal criminal law, and Federal civil law, the people of Washington, D.C., are dealt out. They are excluded. And they want in. They want to enter the Union. Most of us in Congress represent communities that were not part of the original 13 but then came in later. Now, I come from Maryland, which was one of the original 13, but most of the people in Congress represent States that came in later. So, this is an act of fundamental democratic and civic self-respect on their part to be asking for equality and inclusion, and it is a matter of basic constitutional patriotism and democratic respect that we vote to admit them today. I am very happy that we are kicking this process off by bringing this rule to the floor. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me address a couple of the specious constitutional objections that have been raised by our colleagues on the other side. To begin with, it would be unconstitutional to turn the District of Columbia into a State. It would almost certainly be that, but that is not what the proposal is. The proposal is to redraw the boundaries of the District of Columbia to cede the residential lands to the new State to admit it. For that, there is both sound constitutional and historical precedent. For one thing, Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 says that Congress shall ``exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever'' over the district that is to become the seat of government, meaning that Congress has the authority to modify the boundaries of the District of Columbia, which it has done. It did that, actually, in 1791. Not long after the original boundaries were set, James Madison and 13 other Founders themselves voted to alter the boundaries. But our colleagues seem to believe that the boundaries of the District can't be altered by Congress. In 1846, most significantly, Congress gave one-third of the District of Columbia to the Commonwealth of Virginia at the behest of slave masters, who correctly anticipated that the slave traffic would be abolished within the District of Columbia. It was given back, demonstrating that the authority of Congress to change the boundaries of the District exists. If Congress can alter the boundaries of the District of Columbia in 1846 in order to serve the slave masters and to protect their institution, surely the Congress in 2021 can modify the boundaries of the District of Columbia in order to admit a new State and empower hundreds of thousands of people to live in political equality in the country. My distinguished colleague from Pennsylvania invites us to believe that the 23rd Amendment is a constitutional impediment to adopting statehood for Washington, D.C. He doesn't explain why it is unconstitutional. He just asserts it would be unconstitutional. The 23rd Amendment was adopted in order to give people living within the seat of government the possibility of voting for President and to have electoral college votes in a manner decided by Congress and then, in Section 2, requiring Congress to act in order to organize the electoral college in the manner of a State legislature organizing the electoral college for the State. As I understand H.R. 51, introduced by Congresswoman Norton, this problem is taken care of at the moment of statehood admission because it repeals the statute which organizes the electoral college for the District of Columbia. In other words, the moment the new State comes into being, the current statute that organizes the Presidential electors is repealed, so there is nothing to worry about. I agree that there is a certain kind of messiness in still having the 23rd Amendment on the books, but Congresswoman Norton has said she will be the first to introduce a formal constitutional amendment to repeal the 23rd, and who would oppose it? Our colleagues have not been able to find a single person who would oppose it. Everybody would agree it would be simply nonsensical to keep it within the Constitution once the 712,000 people have negotiated an exodus from the Federal seat of government in order to become their own State. So, I think that that is a red herring. It is an irrelevant distraction to this journey toward statehood and political equality that we are on. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, the gentlewoman invites us to return the District of Columbia to Maryland, which, of course, debunks the argument that Congress cannot modify the boundaries of the District of Columbia. But, in any event, that is not what the people of Washington, D.C. have asked for. They have used their rights as American citizens under the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution to organize a new State and to petition Congress for admission to the Union. Neither has the Maryland General Assembly asked for a return of the land to Maryland. So that certainly answers a set of political conditions that don't exist in the real world. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Reschenthaler), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 330 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia an additional 1 minute.

Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentlewoman very much for her comments, and I want to reemphasize the point that she made at the end, which is that Congress has the exclusive authority to admit new States. Congress has admitted 37 new States. None of them have ever been struck down by a court, despite serious constitutional objections being raised against almost every State. Everyone knew that Hawaii and Alaska could not be admitted because they were not contiguous. Everyone knew that Texas couldn't be admitted because it was a separate republic, and there was no authority to admit a republic to the Union. It was said Utah couldn't be admitted because they were practicing polygamy there. And so on. There have always been constitutional objections made, but the courts have always deemed this to be a political question, which means that, in the juridical context, it is up to Congress to decide. And Congress has always been guided, in the final analysis, by the overriding dynamic of American political history, which is democracy has to govern for people who live here. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.