[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 83 (Tuesday, June 23, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H4969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SUPPORT THE BRADY BILL, ORGANIZED LABOR AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of issues 
that I would like to discuss this morning, and I hope sometimes that we 
can read the writing on the wall. It should not be a surprise to 
America that the Brady bill lives and works.
  In a report by the Department of Justice, we have determined that the 
Brady bill, the 7-day waiting period that caused such consternation and 
controversy, has prevented some 70,000 persons from illegally obtaining 
guns in America.
  When every day 14 children are killed by guns in homicide cases 
totaling 5,110 per year, it seems that the least this Congress could do 
is listen to common sense and support the continuity, the renewal of 
the Brady bill.
  Yet, now we are facing its extinguishing with something on the order 
of an instant check. Oh, an instant check with computers may be viable, 
except some might say the year 2000 provides a strange possibility. But 
I believe the Brady bill, with the 7-day cooling off period, is 
something that America needs.
  More importantly, I believe that America needs less guns and not more 
guns. The old story of ``guns do not kill, people do'' is really 
getting too old. People and guns do kill. Over the last couple of 
months, we have seen what youth and guns can do.
  The Brady bill is an important legislative initiative that should be 
continued. Mr. Speaker, I hope that we have enough common sense to 
continue the Brady bill and give it extra life to protect the lives of 
our children and our families in America.
  Why not? Why would the National Rifle Association want us to 
extinguish the Brady bill so that we can continue to extinguish more 
available lives in America? Wake up, America. Call in and support the 
continuity and the continuation of the Brady bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to speak this morning to those hardworking 
men and women who work with organized labor. For some reason, we have 
discounted the historic place in history that they have gained. We have 
discounted all of the work that they have done to create better working 
conditions, safer conditions, and better working hours.
  We have discounted the kind of benefits that they have gotten for 
working men and women, things like good wages and child care. And the 
tragedy of Proposition 226, when the right side of California, meaning 
the right perspective, the wrong perspective was trying to extinguish 
the union's right to organize.
  In my State of Texas, in the Houston area, I pay tribute to those 
workers who have been locked out of Crown Petroleum for over 2 years. 
All they want is a good place to work and fair working conditions.
  What do you think would happen to those families if they did not have 
organized labor to prop them up to provide them with some minimal 
income while they are fighting with those who do not believe in justice 
in the workplace? I support organized labor and its effort to create 
better working conditions for all of America.
  We asked the question what would we be like if we had those kinds of 
hours, bad working conditions, and poor wages. I think if America 
thinks for a moment, they would applaud organized labor, and thank them 
for the hard work they have done, and talk to those who put them in a 
negative light. Let us support them tomorrow as they move forward on a 
day of commemoration and appreciation.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, let me cite a story that was in the Wall Street 
Journal, a Pulitzer Prize winning article that talked about a senior 
who had made great strides in overcoming his neighborhood that was drug 
addicted.
  An African American youth who was described as living in a country 
within a country, places where many of us did not experience in growing 
up, stepping over drug dealers and drug deals as he forced his way to 
school, being teased because he got good grades.
  He is now an emerging senior at Brown University, but he had a 960 
SAT. For those who know those scores, you realize that those are not 
the scores that would be attractive for a place like Brown University.
  But do you know what? He was also a recipient of the policy of 
affirmative action. So you see, it does not really matter whether or 
not we have made the great strides. Affirmative action is still needed 
in this Nation.
  As an African American, I am a product of affirmative action, but I 
did not graduate on affirmative action. I am sick and tired of hearing 
the attack against lacking the need for affirmative action, 
California's Proposition 209. We defeated Proposition A in Houston 
Texas; the initiative in the State of Washington.
  Why does America not wake up? We do better if we work together and 
not work against each other. Yes, there are still populations in this 
country that need affirmative action. Do they graduate on it? Do they 
continue living on it? No, they do not. It is just an opportunity. Let 
us support affirmative action and opportunity.




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