Congressional Record, Volume 159 Issue 169 (Monday, December 2, 2013)

[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 169 (Monday, December 2, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H7383-H7390]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS' HOUR OF POWER

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Weber of Texas). Under the Speaker's

[[Page H7384]]

announced policy of January 3, 2013, the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Jeffries) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority
leader.

General Leave

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
be given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today, along with the
distinguished gentleman from the Silver State, my good friend,
Representative Horsford, proudly coanchoring the CBC Special Order,
what we have termed throughout the year as our ``hour of power.'' With
these 60 minutes, we have an opportunity to speak directly to the
American people about issues of great significance that affect the
folks back home in our congressional districts and that, in many
instances, impact the entire Nation.
Today, we have gathered here to look back at the issues that members
of the CBC have tackled individually and collectively throughout the
year on behalf of the American people, but we look back in order to
look forward as we anticipate the challenges that we confront in the
next year on a whole variety of issues. Throughout the year, we have
come to the floor every Monday that we have been in session in order to
address a great many issues of significance to the American people.
We came to the floor in early February to deal with comprehensive
immigration reform. Then we addressed the need to preserve section 5 of
the Voting Rights Act during the week in which the Supreme Court was
holding oral argument. We confronted the challenges in and around
sequestration. We presented the CBC's people's budget, which sets forth
a more progressive way forward in order to deal with the economic
challenges that we confront in this country. We addressed health care
disparities, the student loan crisis, poverty and income inequality in
America, entrepreneurship. We had the opportunity to reflect and to
celebrate the life and the legacy of a former distinguished Member of
this august body, Representative Bill Gray, from the great State of
Pennsylvania. We reviewed economic security through the labor movement.
We stood up, of course, for the Affordable Care Act. We addressed the
debt ceiling and the need not to hold the American economy hostage. We
confronted hunger in America and the absolute moral imperative to stop
the more than $39 billion in cuts that our friends on the other side of
the aisle would like to make to the SNAP program.

These are the issues that, throughout this year, we have taken to the
floor of the House of Representatives to talk directly to the American
people about the issues that we are working on on their behalf.
Today, I am pleased that so many distinguished members of the CBC
have come to join us, including the distinguished chairperson, who has
led us admirably and with great courage and intelligence and clarity
throughout the entire year. I am now pleased to be able to yield to the
distinguished gentlelady from Ohio, the chairperson of the
Congressional Black Caucus, Representative Marcia Fudge.
Ms. FUDGE. Thank you, Congressman Jeffries, for yielding.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues,
Congressmen Jeffries and Horsford, for leading this CBC Special Order
hour and for leading 16 CBC Special Order hours this year. It has been
a pleasure to listen to you both. The information that you have shared
with the American public is to be commended, and I thank you both
because, week after week, you have led the CBC in discussions that
promote increased opportunity, justice, and a better America for all
Americans.
I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting you both for bringing our
message to the American people.
Mr. Speaker, 2013 has been a challenging year. Partisan gridlock has
made this year one of the least productive in the history of the U.S.
Congress. To date, Congress has passed only 52 bills into law, and if
you remove the ceremonial legislation, that number shrinks to 42,
almost matching the 41 laws passed in 2011, which was, to date, the
least productive year in the history of the Congress.
It is far too easy to simply point fingers, but this much is clear:
Congress is failing the American people.
Partisan grandstanding has paralyzed our legislative branch, leaving
our country unable to move forward to prepare for a rapidly changing
and uncertain world. Facing widespread economic and political
instability, America looks to Congress for leadership. The CBC has
risen to this challenge, working with both sides of the aisle and both
Chambers of Congress.
This year, the CBC addressed the government shutdown, our Federal
budget process, gun violence, voting rights, justice reform, education
reform, and so much more. The members of the CBC also led efforts to
directly engage underserved communities on the benefits of the
Affordable Care Act; to improve the judicial nomination and
confirmation process; in discussing the pressing issues related to
immigration reform, especially for those of the African diaspora; and
we convened a summit on the culture of violence in our communities.
I am proud of the CBC for our bipartisan solution-oriented approach
to the most pressing issues facing our country, and despite the tough
legislative environment, the CBC consistently looks to build coalitions
and to enact solutions that will benefit all Americans. Unfortunately,
a deeply divided Congress has prevented America from reaping the
benefits of our efforts.
As we move into next year, Congress must end our crisis-oriented
budget cycle. Our inability to end the sequester, to move past the
failed policy of austerity and to generate new sources of revenue will
slow economic growth and leave all but the very wealthy behind. We are
a great Nation, but we cannot sustain our standing unless we end the
partisan political gamesmanship and live up to the promise of America.
Working together, we can create a more prosperous America in which the
only ceilings to our potential are the limits of our own imaginations.
Mr. Speaker, in 2 weeks, the first session of the 113th Congress will
come to a close. It will be the end of a Congress marked with missed
opportunities and hyperpartisan games. The Congressional Black Caucus
is prepared to make 2014 the year Congress moves beyond the partisan
politics of years past, ends our legislative paralysis, restores faith
in our government, and brings prosperity back to the American people.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished chairperson of the CBC for
her thoughtful and eloquent remarks and, certainly, for making the
point that we as members of the CBC have come to Washington to try and
make a difference on behalf of the people whom we represent back home
and throughout the entire Nation. We have come to work together to try
and find common ground, to promote solutions for the American people in
the face of the difficult challenges that we have confronted. We didn't
come to deal with a government shutdown that cost $24 billion in lost
economic productivity or to deal with this constant obsession with the
Affordable Care Act and the consistent effort to delay, defund, or
destroy the opportunity to give tens of millions of otherwise uninsured
Americans access to health care.
Hopefully, as the first session of the 113th Congress winds to a
close and as we move toward the opportunity to get some things done
next year, we can find our way toward a more productive second half of
the 113th Congress.
I am pleased that we have been joined by the distinguished architect
of the Congressional Black Caucus' budget as well as by a member of the
Judiciary Committee, who has worked hard on issues of social and
economic justice. He is here today to share with the American people
the work that the CBC has done in putting forth a more progressive,
inclusionary budget that works for working families, middle class
Americans, and seniors.
I yield now to Representative Bobby Scott from Virginia.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman
from New York and the gentleman from Nevada and the chair from Ohio for
their strong work and, particularly, for talking about some of the
things that the Congressional Black Caucus has accomplished over the
last year.

[[Page H7385]]

I want to take an opportunity to highlight the CBC's work on
advocating for a responsible budget, on offering responsible solutions
to address the budget deficit, to cancel the sequester, and to grow the
economy.
Last March, we offered our budget for fiscal year 2014 as an
alternative to the budget that was adopted by the House. The CBC budget
makes tough choices but not at the expense of our most vulnerable
communities. The CBC budget offers a concrete plan that both cancels
the economically disastrous sequester and then pays for that
cancelation. Our budget is able to do so while also protecting Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP nutrition benefits, and other vital
safety net programs that protect millions of Americans from poverty.

{time} 2045

The CBC budget also reduces the Nation's budget deficit by
approximately $2.8 trillion over the next decade compared to the
February baseline calculated by the Congressional Budget Office.
Other ideas have been presented in the past to either cancel the
sequester or reduce the deficit, but they almost always include
significant cuts to Social Security and Medicare. These ideas have
included changing the way the Social Security benefits are calculated--
the so-called chained CPI, which reduces the cost of living benefits--
or raising the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 67.
The CBC budget is able to pay for the cancelation of the sequester
and reduce the budget deficit without these harmful cuts to Social
Security and Medicare.
Our budget is in stark contrast to the Republican budget that passed
the House earlier this year. That budget claimed--claimed--to reduce
the budget deficit by $4.6 trillion over the next decade by making
draconian spending cuts in non-defense discretionary spending and
unspecified savings in mandatory spending. That is the category that is
mostly comprised of Social Security and Medicare. They are going to get
savings, better known as ``cuts.''
That budget also included a $5.7 trillion tax cut that was paid for
with an asterisk--meaning that the Ways and Means Committee and the
Appropriations Committee would have to figure out how to fill the $5.7
trillion hole. Now, arithmetic requires you to recognize that you can
only fill that hole by either raising taxes or in additional cuts. We
know that the Republicans are opposed to tax increases, and the only
real big ticket item left that can come anywhere close to filling that
hole would be Social Security and Medicare--the only thing left on the
table to pay for that.
The CBC budget does not include an asterisk or other types of budget
gimmicks. Our budget outlines a concrete plan that makes tough choices
and presents credible options that can be used to achieve our budget
reduction targets.
The CBC budget calls for revenue enhancements totaling $2.7 trillion
over the next decade. Our budget outlines how the House Ways and Means
Committee and the Senate Finance Committee can reach this number by
highlighting several revenue options totaling $4.2 trillion that could
be used to reach the $2.7 trillion revenue target.
These revenue options include: $1.1 trillion that can be obtained by
limiting deductibility of corporate interest payments; $1 trillion by
closing special tax breaks and corporate loopholes; over $800 billion
by taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income; almost half a
trillion dollars by having a 5.4 percent surcharge on that portion of
your income over $1 million; over $300 billion by enacting a Wall
Street Trading and Speculators tax of 0.25 percent; $200 billion by
ending the Bush-era tax cuts or that portion of your income over
$250,000; over $100 billion by returning to the estate tax exemption
that was in existence in 2009; and over $100 billion by reducing the
tax gap through better enforcement of the IRS Tax Code.
Those are specifics. They may be unpopular, but at least they are
specific, in stark contrast to go find $5.7 trillion unspecified that
the Republican budget included.
The revenue enhancements provided in the CBC budget would allow
Congress to totally cancel the sequester and then pass a jobs package
of at least $500 billion. At $50,000 each, that is over 10 million jobs
that could be created in 1 year with a jobs bill of that magnitude--
almost enough to hire everybody drawing unemployment today and to
provide an additional $300 billion in long-term investments in our
economy through education, job training, health care, and advanced
science and research.
As I said earlier, the reforms contained in the CBC budget would
reduce the deficit $2.8 trillion over the next decade compared to CBO's
baseline. That would put our Nation on a strong sustainable path, all
without jeopardizing programs that support our seniors and programs
that educate the next generation of leaders and business, science, and
technology.
As we move forward to 2014 and the next budget deadline, the
Congressional Black Caucus will continue to advocate these priorities
contained in our budget.
It is imperative that Congress pass a budget that expands economic
opportunity, invests in the American people, and reduces our deficit.
The CBC budget presents a concrete plan--backed by actual numbers, not
by asterisks--that shows how we can reduce our deficit while not being
required to make further cuts in vital programs that support our
Nation's safety net, especially Social Security and Medicare.
Most importantly, the CBC budget presents a clear path towards both
economic prosperity and fiscal responsibility for our Nation.
I want to thank the CBC budget for the opportunity to work on this
budget because it is a responsible budget, does the right thing, and it
has specifics that you can actually look at, in stark contrast to the
asterisk gimmicks and other assumptions that cannot be fulfilled
without going into Social Security and Medicare that the Republican
budget has.
I yield back to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I want to thank the distinguished gentleman from
Virginia for his very thoughtful exposition and explanation about the
CBC budget and the fact that there really are two different visions
that have been set forth when comparing the CBC budget and the
Republican budget.
The CBC budget, of course, is designed to promote progress for the
many. The budget presented by the House majority is designed to
promote, in our view, prosperity for the few. The CBC budget creates a
balanced approach to deficit reduction that invests in the economy,
protects important social safety net programs like Social Security and
Medicare. The House GOP budget balances itself on the backs of working
families, the poor, the most vulnerable Americans in our society. That,
I believe, is the wrong approach to take as it relates to the well-
being of the American people.

I thank the distinguished gentleman for his thoughts and his work on
that progressive document that the CBC has put forth.
It is now my honor to yield to our distinguished co-anchor for the
CBC Special Order, who has been with us throughout the year anchoring,
articulating, putting forth the CBC vision on a vast array of issues
important to our districts and to the American people.
Today, I believe he is going to speak to us about the work that he
has led in partnership with other members of the CBC and folks on our
side of the aisle for fair, racially inclusive, and equitable America.
Let me yield to my good friend, Representative Steven Horsford.
Mr. HORSFORD. Thank you. I would like to thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
my good friend from the State of New York. One of the great pleasures
of being a Member of this body is getting to know colleagues from
across the State. We have a dynamic freshman class--five Members who
are freshmen in the Congressional Black Caucus. It has been my honor to
co-anchor this hour of the Special Order for the Congressional Black
Caucus with my esteemed colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Jeffries).
I would like to commend him for his tremendous leadership on a
breadth of issues that have come before this Congress. Even recently in
his role as a member of the Judiciary Committee, some legislation that
we will be considering just this week is going to happen

[[Page H7386]]

because this Member has worked across the aisle to bring people
together to try to seek common ground. It is what we need more of, Mr.
Speaker. One of the things that we are doing here tonight is reflecting
after a year in this 113th Congress.
I am a new Member. I have been here now, like I said, for just over a
year after being elected. My constituents back home in Nevada ask me
often, so what is it like to be a Member of Congress? You know, do you
feel good about what it is you are able to accomplish? It is an honor,
it is a great honor, to serve the people of Nevada's Fourth
Congressional District here in the people's House, the House of
Representatives. It is a great honor, and I am proud to be a member of
the Congressional Black Caucus, which has colleagues who are some of
the most committed proponents of progressive social and progressive
economic justice legislation that comes before this Congress.
As honorable as this position is, as proud of a moment that it is for
me personally, when I hear the statistics that were read by our
chairwoman, Chair Fudge, that less than 50 bills that have been passed
by Congress have become law, that is rather frustrating, and it is
frustrating to the American people.
Prior to coming to Congress I served in the State legislature in
Nevada. We only meet every other year for 4 months. Do you know, Mr.
Speaker, in 4 months--in 120 days--we considered and passed
approximately 1,000 bills. Think about that. One State can consider and
approve approximately 1,000 bills in 120 days every other year, but 435
Members in the House of Representatives in more than a year have been
able to accomplish less than 50 bills becoming law.
That is why the American public is so frustrated. So while I reflect
on this year, there are areas that I am proud of in accomplishments
that we have made. Unfortunately, there are bills that have been
proposed that have not moved and legislation that is still pending in
this body.
My hope is that, as we reflect on this first year in the 113th
Congress, that it will challenge us as Members to come prepared in 2014
to get the people's job done. There are a number of key bills that we
need to focus on. As my colleague has talked about, we have fought to
ensure our justice system is more fair and protects all citizens
equally under the law. We have fought to increase access to affordable
health care, something that is desperately needed for millions upon
millions of Americans. Our leaders have worked to fight to preserve and
to protect important social safety nets like SNAP benefits and Medicare
and Medicaid because we have made it our mission to protect America's
most vulnerable citizens.
We have time and time again called for the sequester to be ended. I
just met with constituents in my district in Nevada who said, please
don't allow a government shutdown to happen again in January, don't
allow these cuts under the sequester; the second round of cuts would be
even more harmful, let alone the first round to take hold.
Despite these areas, there is work to be done. One of the issues that
I have been particularly involved with, as a member of this
Congressional Black Caucus, has been immigration reform, the need for
comprehensive immigration reform.
I am proud to have served as one of the cochairs, along with my
colleague, Mr. Jeffries, and Representative Clarke, also from New York,
as cochairs of the Congressional Black Caucus' Immigration Reform Task
Force. We have worked tirelessly with other House Democrats to craft a
bipartisan commonsense bill, H.R. 15, which aims to begin fixing our
broken immigration system.
It would grow our economy, we know, by 5 percent in just two decades,
reduce our deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars, create thousands
of jobs, and, most importantly, Mr. Speaker, it would bring millions of
people out of the shadows and into society, including thousands of
DREAMers, by creating a pathway to citizenship, all while shoring up
our border security.
As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, I know my colleague,
Mr. Jeffries, on the Judiciary Committee, we have worked time and time
again on legislation to bring forward proposals on comprehensive
immigration reform. We are asking our colleagues on the other side to
join with us to make these things possible, to not just talk about it,
to not be proud or pleased with just 50 bills being passed by one of
the least productive Congresses in the history, but to actually
accomplish things that the American public expects us to accomplish.
Another top priority that I would like to talk about this evening,
Mr. Speaker, that we have been working on with my colleagues in the
Congressional Black Caucus is preventing racial profiling practices in
our law enforcement that have been hurting individuals across the
country.
Our citizens deserve to live free from fear, especially among those
whose jobs are to serve and to protect. That is why I introduced the
Universal RESPECT Act, a bill that would help prevent racial profiling
practices from occurring.
The Universal RESPECT Act will establish an interagency review of
Federal efforts to eliminate racial profiling in the United States by
amending the Homeland Security Act to require that recipients of
Federal law enforcement grants and training facilities do not engage in
racial profiling.

{time} 2100

Simply put, Mr. Speaker, the Universal RESPECT Act will end the
practice of rewarding law enforcement programs that do not respect
basic civil rights and civil liberties. We need to make sure we stay
vigilant in our fight for justice in this country, and that has been a
constant theme in the Congressional Black Caucus's legislative agenda,
whether it is on the budget, as our colleague, Mr. Scott just talked
about, or a plethora of bills that have been brought forward by
individual members, and is central to the FY14 budget that has been
worked on by the Congressional Black Caucus which reduces the budget
and creates millions of jobs in a fair and balanced way.
Let me just close by talking about one final area, Mr. Speaker, that
we as Members of this body need to stay focused on, and that is jobs
and growing the economy. In my home State of Nevada, we still have a
stubbornly high unemployment rate above the national average. Despite
improvements in certain sectors, there are far too many Nevadans who
are still looking for work, many who have been out of work a year, year
and a half, going on 2 years. And I know as part of the budget debate
that will occur between now and January 15 will be a discussion about
extending unemployment benefits, which is incredibly important to
American families who have been struggling during this sustained
recession.
So I would challenge my colleagues on the other side, allow us to
bring forward the number of jobs legislation and bills that would help
build our infrastructure back up in this country. Allow us to bring
these bills to a vote in this Chamber so that we can get our country
moving again, we can get the middle class economy moving, we can help
middle class families who are trying to provide for themselves and
their families with good, sustainable, family-sustainable jobs, not
low-wage jobs that put people in the same position to depend on
assistance programs by the Federal Government. That is not what the
American public wants. They want a family-sustaining job that allows
them to provide for themselves and their family. That is what we are
arguing for. It is what the Congressional Black Caucus represents each
and every week when we come to this Special Order hour and why these
issues are incredibly important.
So as we reflect back on this year, this year of missed
opportunities, as my colleague from New York just said, it is in fact
missed opportunities because we could have done so much more in this
body. There are 435 Members, dedicated staff, people who love our
country and want to see it progress, but it is time for us to put the
partisanship, the ideological views aside and to allow us to put our
country first. That is what I am here for, Mr. Speaker. I know it is
what my colleagues are here for, and I look forward to working with
anyone from either side of the aisle from either Chamber who wants to
work with the President to move our country forward, and I appreciate
this Special Order time.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from the Silver

[[Page H7387]]

State for his observations and for his look forward as it relates to
the issues that we all hope this Congress will decide to tackle as we
close out the first half of the 113th Congress and move toward calendar
year 2014.
This has been a year of lost opportunities, of obstruction, of delay,
of distraction, and a failure to meaningfully address the issues of
importance to the American people. This has been a very schizophrenic
economic recovery. We have come a long way since the collapse of the
economy in 2008, but we still have a long way to go.
As members of the CBC have consistently pointed out from the floor of
the House of Representatives, there are people who have been left
behind, and the American people deserve this Congress putting aside
issues of partisan bickering and to attempt to find common ground to
solve their problems.
The stock market is way up. Corporate profits are way up.
Productivity of the American people, way up. CEO compensation is way
up, yet unemployment still remains stubbornly high. There are Americans
who have been left behind, and we have failed to take up a jobs bill
from the floor of the House of Representatives at any point this year.
As my colleague from Nevada also pointed out, we have a very broken
immigration system. There is almost uniform agreement across the aisle
about that fact. Yet there has been a failure to bring a meaningful
piece of immigration reform legislation to the floor of the House of
Representatives, despite the overwhelming demand for action by the
American people.
Now, we all agree, as the CBC indicated earlier this year in February
when we took to the floor to talk about the need to address the issue
of the broken immigration system, that something needs to be done. And
there really only are three possible options:
One, we have mass deportation of the 11 million undocumented
individuals who are in this country. That is option number one;
Option number two is the status quo; just leave the broken
immigration system in place;
Option number three is meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform
with a tough but fair pathway towards citizenship.
Mass deportation is impractical; the status quo, unacceptable.
Comprehensive immigration reform is the right thing to do for this
country, for the economy, and for the American people.
I am hopeful, as my colleague from Nevada indicated, that that is the
direction that we will go in as we speed to a close this year and
attempt to restart the Congress after the end of the first half of this
session.
I am pleased that we have been joined by the distinguished gentlelady
from Texas who is a member of both the House Judiciary Committee and
the Homeland Security Committee. She has worked on many issues. She is
a leader within the Congressional Black Caucus and is a leader within
the Congress on the issues of social and economic justice. It is now my
honor and privilege to yield to her, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. I thank the gentleman from New York. It was thought
provoking to hear the gentleman from Nevada offer his thoughts of
bipartisanship and to listen to the astute gentleman from Virginia on
the many issues that have been left along the highway of despair, and
also to be joined by Congresswoman Clarke from New York, whom we will
hear from shortly.
Let me thank you for the leadership you have given to this special
time, and let me try to work to be succinct on the issues that have
been left along the highway of despair.
You started out with immigration reform, and you were kind enough to
note that I have served on the Judiciary Committee for a number of
years, formerly the ranking member on the Immigration Subcommittee, and
now the ranking member on the Border Security and Maritime
Subcommittee.
I will tell you that there are many times when we could have come
together and passed comprehensive immigration reform, but I am going to
tout as a bipartisan legitimate expression of border security, to share
with my colleagues H.R. 1417, which many know was passed out of the
Homeland Security House committee through the efforts of Republicans
joined by Democrats, and the legislation passed with no weaknesses, no
loopholes, no disrespect for the importance of the security of the
northern and southern border. There were very strong responses as it
relates to operational control, as it relates to the amount of control
that we would have at the border, but matching it with the recognition
that there must be an infrastructure of immigration reform. But let me
throw all those words away and say there must be humanity. There must
be concern for human beings, for families torn apart, for DREAM
children destined to be valedictorians or salutatorians or to be
generals in the United States military. We are losing the talent of
those who have trained here with knowledge about the next level of
technology because of the no H-1B because we do not have a
comprehensive approach. Those folks are leaving, and, therefore, we are
losing the geniuses that we trained to be able to help us.
So I want to join the gentleman and say to him that, if there is any
cause on which we can come together, it would be comprehensive
immigration reform. Might I just take note of my button that honors the
Fast for Families, those that have been fasting for almost 20 days,
almost a month, because they are trying to pull at the heartstrings of
America and the heartstrings of this Congress to recognize that they
are Americans, too. They are just a few blocks down the street. A few
blocks down the street, families, children are fasting, asking, Is
there someone who can hear our plea?
So I thank the gentleman for bringing it up, and I just want to make
some other points that we have been lingering on and have not followed
through on.
I introduced H.R. 2585, which is an antibullying bill, Prevention of
Bullying and Intervention, and reflects where America is when you can
find most every child that is interviewed has indicated that they have
been bullied; or something happens to a child in high school, and they
will talk about having been bullied some years back; or a child will be
shot or violence will occur, and they will talk about bullying, even to
the extent it is raised up in the NFL. And I want to pay tribute to a
young man at the Baltimore Ravens, Mr. Rice, who has taken this cause
up from the NFL.
H.R. 2585 would reauthorize the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant,
and it would provide sort of a sentence road map that allows
organizations that would be funded under the block grant to be able to
focus on bullying prevention and intervention. How simple a legislative
initiative is that? And I would offer to say that I heard from
leadership on both sides of the aisle. So why not pass something as
simple as that even before Christmas to be able to move forward on
something that would not, in fact, be a negative?
I just quickly want to indicate that we have young people exposed to
violence in ways that we have not known. Thirty percent of U.S.
students in grades 6 through 10 are involved in moderate or frequent
bullying. There are cases in Florida where young people have been
arrested because, tragically, someone committed suicide, or the hearing
I held in Houston where parents upon parents and students came in to
testify how they had been bullied. One out of four kids is bullied.
Some would say they are calling everything bullying. Well, I believe
if we do the outreach, we can find a way to develop an infrastructure
so that there will be people who find the comfort of knowing someone
cares, a system that intervenes when someone feels something is
untoward, and to break the shackles of bullying by getting rid of the
atmosphere that is tolerated because it is done in silence and fear.
I also introduced gun safety legislation, and I would hope that some
day we could have universal background checks. As I was driving to the
airport, I read an ad in the Houston Chronicle that had gun safes on
sale. I said that guy, I want to give him an award, because my simple
legislation requires individuals to store their guns. They can have all
the guns they want, but have them stored and safe, particularly if you
have a large number of them, to be able to secure and protect children
and those who want to do us harm.
One of the things that the CBC worked on, and I am proud that we

[[Page H7388]]

worked on it, but I will say that it brings me sadness, we are at a
point where we have cut $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition
program. I went to my food bank and had them explain what a devastating
impact that $40 billion, $4 billion a year, will have on the people who
are in need in Houston in particular.

{time} 2115

In my city of Houston, the census report said over the last 12
months, 442,881 incomes were below the poverty level, and 18 percent of
households in the State of Texas in 2009 through 2011 ranked second in
the highest rate of food security. So why can we not have an ag bill
that would restore the $40 billion? Why are we suggesting that those
individuals are deadbeats when one-half of the persons on food stamps
or SNAP are, in fact, children? That is something, Mr. Jeffries, that
we could come together on and redo or the conference could redo. We
could look to ensure a place of laws but a place of humanity.
In conclusion, allow me to throw in two disparate points, but I
consider them justice issues. First, that is the Affordable Care Act,
which is a justice initiative. It is to say that we all have access to
good health care. That is not a carte blanche for good health because
we must all change our attitudes and do a lot of things to make us
healthy, but it certainly is an intervener that allows to us have
preventive care; it allows women to not be characterized as a
preexisting disease because they are pregnant; it allows children born
with preexisting diseases not to be eliminated from the insurance
rolls; and it allowed 13 million Americans to receive $1.1 billion in
rebates from their health insurance last year when the Affordable Care
Act was in place. Now 105 million Americans have free preventive
services.
So all of the talk of the technology takes away from the core value
that Americans should have access to health care, and today I am glad
to hear that we are making strides in a technological system that is
not always perfect. Let us not undermine this bill. I am very glad that
the Congressional Black Caucus, under the leadership of our chairwoman,
has been strong in educating our constituents about the Affordable Care
Act.
In conclusion, a remaining challenge that we have: the Voting Rights
Act must be reauthorized to the extent of a provision that was
eliminated by the Supreme Court decision wrongly, Shelby County v.
Holder, that took away the provisions of preclearance which, in fact,
provided justice and the right to vote for all Americans. We are
gathered, hopefully, in a bipartisan manner with the leadership of Mr.
Sensenbrenner and others who are on various committees in the
Congressional Black Caucus and the leadership of our Democratic Caucus
and the Republican conference to come together in a bipartisan manner
to be able to accept the constitutional premise best said by the
Declaration of Independence: that we all are created equally with
certain inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
We have coddled the right to vote. We have welcomed the right to
vote. I am reading a story about our Puerto Rican citizens who don't
have the right to vote and how they felt like second-class citizens.
There are those of us on the mainland that have had roadblocks thrown
across the pathway that needed to be protected not only by the Bill of
Rights but by the Voting Rights Act that has withstood the test of
time, that has been reviewed. So it is important that we get a
construct that all of us can support so that if there is a voter ID
law, it does not block people from voting, it does not keep one
particular group from getting a voter ID law because they do not have
access, like in Texas with the Department of Public Safety. In essence,
the Voting Rights Act is one that reaffirms America's commitment that
every person has a right to vote--one person, one vote.
I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus for being a leader on
so many issues, from preventing gun violence to the issue of dealing
with our children and anti-bullying and intervention, to the idea of
the Affordable Care Act, to restoring SNAP funding, to the Voting
Rights Act and, yes, to a comprehensive approach to immigration reform,
particularly the idea that we worked on so extensively, and that is
diversity visas.
When I go home and speak to people from all walks of life,
particularly the African community, they understand the work the
Congressional Black Caucus has done--the Haitians, those from the
Caribbean, those from South Asia--in reuniting families. They
understand that we have been a leader on the broad landscape of
comprehensive immigration reform.
For that reason, I am hoping that we will not end this session by
looking sadly back on what we have not done, but that we will roll up
our sleeves. I also hope that before we leave here before the end of
this particular first session of the 113th Congress, we will have the
opportunity to see an ag bill that will restore a portion of the SNAP
dollars, helping those who cannot help themselves; that we will
actually have passed anti-bullying legislation that should draw
Republicans and Democrats together; that we will have confronted the
issue of comprehensive immigration reform, listened to the voices of
reason, and passed legislation in regular order and then, as well, that
we in conclusion find it within ourselves to eliminate the sequester in
a way that provides funding back to the basic responsibilities of this
government in rebuilding infrastructure, creating jobs, stopping the
bleeding of losing jobs because we have kept the sequester long
overdue; funding our defense; providing for education and the safety
and security of our seniors and our veterans. Let's get to work.
I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries) for reminding us
that we came here to roll up our sleeves and to work for the American
people.
I introduced the above legislation H.R. 2585 to save our children's
lives.

summary of bill

H.R. 2585 will help to stem this epidemic by reauthorizing for 5
years Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program (JABG) and providing
funding to state and local governments for the creation of bullying and
gang prevention programs.
Legislation authorizes such appropriations as may be necessary, which
is anticipated to be at least $40 million per year ($200 million total)
for the 5 year reauthorization period.
In addition to reauthorizing juvenile justice programs, legislation
clarifies how to address the occurrences of bullying through
developmentally appropriate intervention and prevention techniques,
which center on evidence-based models and best practices that rely on
schools and communities rather than involvement from law enforcement
and the justice system.
Legislation designed to help both the victims and perpetrators of
bullying. Research studies have shown that approximately 25 percent of
school bullies will be convicted of a criminal offense in their adult
years.
H.R. 2585 also includes provisions for gang prevention programs,
which will help guide our children towards socially beneficial paths.
If we want our children to learn, we must be able to maintain a safe
and healthy school environment.

WHY H.R. 2585 IS NECESSARY

Although some people may dismiss bullying as a normal part of growing
up, bullying can be detrimental to a child's education and development.
Each day an estimated 160,000 students in this country refuse to go
to school because they fear being bullied by their peers, and many more
attend school in a chronic state of anxiety and depression.
In addition, six out of ten American youth witness bullying at least
once a day, and nearly 30 percent--or 5.7 million children--are
involved in bullying as victims, perpetrators, or both.
1 in 7 Students in Grades K-12 is either a bully or a victim of
bullying.
90% of 4th to 8th Grade Students report being victims of bullying of
some type.
56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at
school.
71% of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their
school.
87% of youth said shootings are motivated by a desire to ``get back
at those who have hurt them, and 86% said, ``other kids picking on
them, making fun of them or bullying them'' causes teenagers to turn to
lethal violence in the schools.
Consequences of bullying:
15% of all school absenteeism is directly related to fears of being
bullied.
1 out of every 10 students who drops out of school does so because
of repeated bullying.
Suicides linked to bullying are the saddest statistic.
Behind these statistics are real children and young people who
suffer and hurt too often in

[[Page H7389]]

silence. Let me tell you the heart breaking story of David Ray
Ritcheson.
David Ray Ritcheson was a victim of adolescent bullying. He was 16
years of age--when he was bullied, beaten and tortured nearly to death.
David was assaulted while attending a party in Spring, Texas. He
spent 3 months in a hospital as a result of his injuries and underwent
more than 30 surgeries to repair his battered body.
His courage in the face of such violence was reflected in his
willingness to come before Congress to tell his story.
My reaction to his courage and later death by suicide was to sponsor
House Resolution to honor the life and sacrifice of David Ray
Ritcheson. The Resolution told his story and expressed the importance
of passing hate crime legislation; and his story also showed the
violence of bullying.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas for
her leadership on a wide variety of issues important to the social and
economic justice landscape, and, of course, for laying out a very
significant roadmap, a blueprint for the future in terms of what this
Congress should confront as we close out this first session of the
113th Congress and move toward the second session.
We are pleased that we have also been joined by my neighbor back home
in Brooklyn, the distinguished gentlewoman from the Ninth Congressional
District, a woman who is one of the CBC cochairs on the task force
related to comprehensive immigration reform. She has been a leader on
that issue, as she has on many others. She is a member of the Small
Business Committee, as well as the Homeland Security Committee. She
represents one of the most diverse districts anywhere in this Nation
and has made us all proud to call her a colleague. I yield now to
Congresswoman Yvette Clarke.
Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Jeffries) and the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford) for
their leadership in anchoring this year's CBC Special Order hour and
thank them in particular for this evening here in review.
Mr. Speaker, it has been a long road. From fighting to keep SNAP
funding to rehashing the Affordable Care Act to advocating for
immigration reform that is truly diverse and comprehensive, the CBC has
come a long way.
As one of the cochairs of the CBC immigration task force, I am proud
of the work we have done to ensure that everyone, including immigrants
of the African diaspora and African Americans, were adequately included
and represented in this conversation.
It feels like it was just yesterday when we stood here in February
introducing the CBC's perspective on the urgent need for comprehensive
immigration reform. That night, we laid the foundation of what was to
be an uphill battle between politics, policy, and procedure. The CBC,
along with our Tri-Caucus colleagues, argued that the burden of the
broken immigration system does not encumber one group of immigrants
alone. For example, there are approximately 3 million immigrants from
the African diaspora in the United States, the vast majority of whom
entered the country with legal documentation, but there are millions
more from all over the world, including eastern Europe and South Asia.
As the conversation increased, the CBC immigration task force tried
to highlight the impact of immigrants of the African diaspora from the
continent of Africa, the Caribbean region, and South and Central
America, which has been large in scale. Their contribution has not been
mentioned in the Main Street stories representing reform. Many did not
recognize nor understand that the road for many immigrants of the
diaspora was significantly different than the proverbial stories in the
media.
Many entered our Nation with legal student visas, like my own parents
did, to pursue careers in medicine, science, education, and other
professions. Many are proud business owners of law firms, restaurants,
grocery stores, shipping companies, and hair-braiding venues. There are
those who have come as asylum seekers fleeing the tumult of war,
famine, and genocide. Like any other immigrant group, they come to the
United States to be productive, tax-paying members of our civil
society, to attain the American Dream.
Like the other immigrant groups, immigrants of the African diaspora
are dealing with backlogged immigration processing, families being
ripped apart, falling out of status because they have aged out of the
legal immigration process; racial and status discrimination; unfair
criminal aggravated felony laws that prohibit judicial review;
deportation processes that violate civil and human rights; an insecure,
prohibitive student visa program; and limited access to work permits
and much more.
Mr. Speaker, it is imperative for us to acknowledge the fact that
many immigrants arrive on our shores during a time of their lives when
they are in the most productive years of their lives. Any delay in
processing these individuals, bringing them to the fore, would deny us
as a Nation the opportunity to access their talent, their skill, and
abilities in the prime of their lives.
Additionally, it was important for us to note that African Americans,
those descendents of the transatlantic slave trade, whom I fondly call
``longtime stakeholders'' of this Nation, have been affected by our
broken immigration system as well.
Mr. JEFFRIES. One of the things that the CBC has attempted to work
on, as my distinguished colleague from New York has indicated, is to
deal with comprehensive immigration reform in a manner that fixes a
broken system for all involved, and we certainly are thankful for the
distinguished gentlewoman's work as a member and leader of the CBC task
force on immigration reform.
We both proudly represent districts that are incredibly diverse. Back
at home in the Eighth Congressional District in Brooklyn and parts of
Queens, I represent African Americans, Caribbean Americans, South
Asians, Russian-speaking Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Latinos,
Chinese Americans, the gorgeous mosaic of the American people. What I
found--and this has been the history and the experience, in fact, in
New York City--is that immigrants are hardworking, entrepreneurial,
spiritual, family-oriented, community-centered individuals. America
would be strengthened, of course, by fixing our broken immigration
system.
Let me now yield back to my distinguished colleague from New York.
Ms. CLARKE. Let me thank the gentleman from New York for saving me. I
have recovered now and would just like to bring forth a few more
points.
Working class Americans of all backgrounds, races, and ethnicities
are adversely affected with a broken immigration system. As we stated,
they are dealing with depressed wages because of unscrupulous and
illegal corporate hiring practices. Urban communities aren't even being
adequately counted via the census and other surveys, resulting in the
reduction of adequate government services and Federal resources to meet
the needs of actual populations in our communities, increasing the
strain on current public services.
Urban communities are exposed to more crime as the undocumented are
more reluctant to report crimes, and African Americans are dealing with
increased racial and status discrimination as many are subjected to
interrogation based on citizenship.

{time} 2130

Imagine our delight, Mr. Speaker, when the immigration reform debate
gained some traction this year with the actions taking place in the
Senate. There were tangible legislative fixes in the works.
The CBC quickly expressed our concerns to both the House and the
Senate leadership over the elimination of the Diversity Visas, used
largely by African and Eastern European immigrants.
We voiced our concern over the ability of American children,
particularly those from underrepresented and underserved areas to be
successful in STEM fields without the proper education, especially
since much of the emphasis in the debate relied on increasing
incentives of migrants in those fields.
We also expressed the need to address our immigration judicial
system. The current state is not aligned with our criminal justice
system, leaving many immigrants forced to experience double jeopardy
for nonviolent crimes.
We stood up against racial profiling language that does not include
religion or national origin and expressed concerns over the switch from
family-

[[Page H7390]]

based immigration to an economic-based system.
Now, as the House looks to different vehicles to consider
comprehensive immigration reform, I implore the House leadership to
understand the importance of diversity; that is, racial, ethnic,
religious, national, and especially economic diversity, the visa equity
that must be afforded immigrants from around the globe.
If we eliminate country caps without including other avenues for
smaller countries, we are jeopardizing the beautiful mosaic that makes
this country unique and great.
We must evaluate consideration of the SAFE Act, which is a bad idea
and a slap in the face to our immigrant history.
Additionally, we have to have an honest conversation about the
relationship between legalization and border security. Allowing those
who are here a pathway to citizenship but creating an obstacle course
based in fear to obtain the citizenship is not the way to go.
We will never realize the true potential of this country if anyone in
our society is held back from realizing their individual dreams. And
relying heavily on an economic-based immigration system will exclude
many immigrants, creating yet another stratified immigration system,
forcing people back into the shadows.
That is why, as we look at the next session of the 113th Congress, I
ask my colleagues to take the opportunity to revisit these proposals,
sans political pressure, sans the haste to get it done, and take a real
look at how we can improve the lives of all Americans and all those who
strive with the hope to be an American.
Mr. Speaker, we must get this right. Our national security is at
stake. Our moral standing in the world depends upon it. The American
people, many of whom are first- and second-generation immigrants, have
demanded it.
If we turn our backs on those law-abiding contributors to our civil
society that come to our shores only to embrace the American Dream, to
labor in the rebuilding of our great Nation, strengthen our economy,
and to serve honorably in our military, we turn our back on ourselves
and our future.
I can definitely say that the CBC Immigration Taskforce looks forward
to continuing this conversation into the new year, ensuring that any
comprehensive immigration reform measures mirror the diversity of this
Nation.
So I want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from New York, whose
district is right next to mine in Brooklyn, for yielding time to me
today.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlelady from New York for
her leadership on this issue, for the progress that has already been
made, and her continued commitment.
The CBC, as I close, Mr. Speaker, will continue to take its role
seriously as the conscience of the Congress, a voice for the voiceless,
and the guardian of the integrity of the democratic process.
And I am just hopeful, as we move forward, that our friends on the
other side of the aisle will end the obfuscation, end the obstruction,
end the obsession with the Affordable Care Act, and we can find common
ground to advance an agenda for the benefit of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

____________________