[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 140 (Monday, November 17, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H8020-H8027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MARCH TOWARD A MORE PERFECT UNION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's 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 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, it is an honor and a privilege to once 
again have this opportunity to stand on the House floor and to anchor 
the Congressional Black Caucus' Special Order hour, where today we want 
to discuss some of the issues and challenges confronting this country 
that we hope this newly constituted Congress will be prepared to take 
up.
  As we move into the 114th Congress, there is still a lot of business 
that is undone over the remaining few weeks that we have left during 
this session, but a whole lot of challenges that we have got to 
confront as we move forward.

                              {time}  1930

  One hundred fifty years ago or so, President Abraham Lincoln publicly 
pondered the question: How do we create a more perfect Union?
  President Lincoln asked that question at a time when the country was 
tearing itself apart in the context of the Civil War. Since the 
conclusion of that war--since President Lincoln publicly pondered that 
question--year after year, month after month, century after century, we 
certainly have made some progress, significant progress, here in 
America, but we still have a long way to go, and it is still relevant 
for us to ask the question: How do we create a more perfect Union?
  Where do we go from here?
  So I am pleased that so many of my distinguished colleagues from the 
Congressional Black Caucus have come to the floor today to share their 
thoughts and their insights and their policy prescriptions in our 
continuing march toward a more perfect Union.
  Let me first just yield to the dynamic chairperson of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, who has provided such great leadership to 
this caucus, to this Congress, and to this country during her career, 
the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio, Chairwoman Marcia Fudge.
  Ms. FUDGE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I want to thank my colleagues Jeffries and Horsford for leading the 
Congressional Black Caucus Hour. It is an issue that, I think, is 
important to this entire country, and it should be a priority for all 
Members, not just members of the Congressional Black Caucus--a 
discussion on where Congress goes from here in pursuit of a more 
perfect Union.
  Mr. Speaker, even before the final ballots were counted from the 
midterm elections, conservatives began sharing their priorities for the 
upcoming Congress.
  Instead of promising to improve our health care system, my colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle began promising to renew their campaign 
to repeal the Affordable Care Act--a campaign that has wasted millions 
in taxpayer dollars, with 53 unsuccessful votes.
  Instead of searching for common ground, they are still committed to 
finding a way to impeach President Barack Obama.
  Instead of using the next Congress to create more opportunities for 
the American people, the decision has already been made to continue 
efforts to obstruct and undermine the President.
  None of these actions will move our Nation forward or do what is best 
for the country. We must do something more than advance a partisan, 
political agenda. It is irresponsible, Mr. Speaker, and is an insult to 
the very public that gave us this awesome responsibility in the first 
place. We were elected to represent the American people--all of the 
American people. Let's write and pass legislation that will make their 
lives easier and their futures more promising. It is time for this 
Congress to unite and move forward together. This is not the time for 
doubling down on the tactics of distraction, obstruction, and 
confusion.
  We have the opportunity now to lay a foundation for the 114th 
Congress that is built upon bipartisan cooperation and a shared 
commitment to doing what is best for all of our citizens. I urge my 
colleagues to join the CBC in doing the people's work.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished chair for her observations 
and, certainly, for pointing out that, while we should be coming 
together to march toward perfecting our Union, there are some, 
inexplicably, who want to march toward impeachment before even seeing 
Presidential action, the same type of folks who, from the moment that 
Barack Obama was sworn in as President, believe he exceeded his 
authority just by raising his right hand and taking the oath of office. 
So let's just hope that we can hit the refresh button on the 
partisanship, on the obstruction, on the obfuscation and can come 
together to do the business of the American people.
  Certainly, the gentleman who I would yield to next has been a great 
patriot. He has helped to bring our Constitution to life. For tens of 
millions of Americans, he is one of this country's greatest freedom 
fighters, a civil rights icon, and a distinguished Member of Congress. 
It is my honor and my privilege to now yield to the distinguished 
gentleman from Georgia, Congressman John Lewis.
  Mr. LEWIS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and my colleague, 
Congressman Jeffries, for organizing this Special Order.
  Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for speaking up and speaking 
out. Thank you for finding a way to get in the way.
  Mr. Speaker, our march toward a more perfect Union has been long, 
hard, and tedious, but we must continue to move forward. I know there 
are forces that want to stop us, slow us down, and take us back, but as 
a Nation and as a people, we have made too much progress to turn back 
now. Through hard work, discipline, and with the blessing of the 
Almighty, we can--and we will--move to redeem the soul of America and 
create a more perfect Union.
  The American people are ready.
  They have grown by leaps and bounds to build bridges of understanding 
between diverse communities. As their Representatives, will we follow 
their lead? Can we work together in this body as one people, one 
family, who live in the same house, one house--the American house? We 
don't have to be mean to each other. We don't have to put each other 
down.
  My work in the movement taught me--my faith has taught me and many 
others--to respect the dignity and the worth of every human being. 
There is some good in the worst of us because everything that is was 
made by our Creator. That is why we must respect the worth and dignity 
and that spark of the divine in each one of us.
  As A. Philip Randolph--a dean of Black leadership, the visionary who 
planned the historic March on Washington in 1963 and the founder of the 
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters--once said: ``We may have all come 
here on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now.''
  My colleagues, my brothers and sisters, we must keep the faith. We 
must press toward the mark of the public good and put our personal 
ambitions aside.
  As Mr. Jeffries did a few moments ago, let me paraphrase the words of 
a great Republican President who lived

[[Page H8021]]

in a more divisive time even than in our own.
  He said:

       Brave men, both living and dead, have consecrated the 
     American soil with their tears, their sweat, and their blood. 
     The world will little note nor long remember what we said 
     here, but it will never forget what we did here. We must be 
     dedicated . . . to the great tasks remaining before us . . . 
     and make sure they did not sacrifice in vain, that this 
     Nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that 
     the government of the people, by the people, and for the 
     people shall not perish from the Earth.

  Thank you, Mr. Jeffries.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Thank you, Congressman Lewis, for those very eloquent 
thoughts and for continuing to really function as the conscience of the 
CBC as our caucus functions as the conscience of the Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, it is now my distinct honor and privilege to yield to 
someone who I served with on the Budget Committee. She is a 
distinguished Member of the House of Representatives. She is a fighter 
for the people, for the disenfranchised, and is a voice for the 
voiceless. It is my honor to yield to the very distinguished 
gentlewoman from California, Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
  Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much.
  First, let me thank the gentleman from New York, Congressman 
Jeffries, for this very important moment and theme tonight of ``Where 
do we go from here?'' But also for your leadership in conducting these 
Special Orders to make sure that the American people really know the 
truth about what is taking place here in Washington, D.C., and also to 
hear the voice of conscience from the Congressional Black Caucus, such 
as we just heard from our great warrior, Congressman John Lewis.
  Also, I want to thank Congressman Horsford for being part of this for 
the last couple of years in terms of his tremendous leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, the other night, I had an event with young people in my 
district. It is a lecture series that is sponsored by the Martin Luther 
King Freedom Center. Congressman Lewis knows these young people. They 
travel with me every year to Selma-Montgomery-Birmingham. We started 
the center in the nineties, and these young people's mission in life is 
to make sure that the new generation of leaders understands, one, that 
violence is not an option and, secondly, that we all are in this 
together and that we should be united as a country and fight for the 
American Dream for all.
  The topic of the lecture series of two nights ago was ``Where do we 
go from here?'' We had White students in the audience. We had African 
American, Latino, and Asian Pacific American young people, middle-aged 
people, and old people. It was held at my alma mater, at Mills College. 
It was really amazing. We had the cofounder of the United Farm Workers, 
Dolores Huerta, and former State Senator Art Torres. We talked about 
``where do we go from here?'' as a community in Oakland and also 
throughout the country. What we need to do here is, really, to get back 
to work for the American people, and that is what we heard over and 
over and over at our lecture series.
  Unfortunately, ever since the Republicans took control of the House 
of Representatives, we see governing through extortion and 
brinksmanship, including a government shutdown that cost the taxpayers 
$24 billion. I hope that is not where we go from here. Now we are 
looking at--or at least some are saying that they are eyeing--another 
shutdown and are refusing to act on immigration while planning another 
series of votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They have even gone 
so far as to threaten impeachment because our President has continued 
to lead where they have failed.
  Where do we go from here, Congressman Jeffries? Let's hope not there. 
I hope we go where the young people in my community talked about the 
other night.
  The threats about a government shutdown over immigration reform are 
outrageous. My district is a very diverse and dynamic district. That is 
what makes it, really, a great place for my constituents to live, work, 
do business, and raise a family. Yet we have many, many pockets of 
poverty. It is home to a vibrant immigrant community. Families from all 
over the world, many of them--and they told me again the other night--
are feeling the pain each and every day of our broken immigration 
system. It has been more than 500 days since the Senate passed 
bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform.
  We need to have an up or down vote. Families deserve that. Time is 
really running out. We have 3 weeks of session left, so we need to get 
something done. That is where we need to go from here. If Congress 
fails to act on immigration reform, our President can--and he should--
take action to keep families from being torn apart. Just like every 
President since Dwight D. Eisenhower, our President should act, but as 
the President has said, immigration reform should come from Congress. 
It should come from us. That is what my community said in terms of 
moving forward. Let's get it done in the next couple of weeks. We have 
a bipartisan bill. Let's come together and have a vote. Our colleagues 
across the aisle need to put our economy ahead of partisanship. That 
means stopping their repeated attempts at eliminating access to 
affordable, quality health care for millions of Americans.

                              {time}  1945

  This past weekend marked the beginning of the second year of open 
enrollment under the Affordable Care Act. Repealing the Affordable Care 
Act and its protections for families would hurt all of our 
constituents. It would make health care less affordable and less 
accessible; yet every time Republicans vote to dismantle the Affordable 
Care Act, they make it perfectly clear that they believe charging women 
more for being a woman is okay, denying victims of domestic violence 
coverage is okay, and allowing insurance companies to increase premiums 
to increase profits is also okay. That is not what the American people 
need.
  Where do we go from here? Let's not go there. Millions have been 
covered, and let's move forward to make sure our country has universal 
accessible affordable health care for all. It is a basic human right, 
so we need to get back to doing the work of the American people, the 
work of forming a more perfect Union.
  Finally, I just want to point out an article. There was a recent 
editorial in The New York Times from Nicholas Kristof in which he 
discusses the historical and structural issues that continue to 
perpetuate racial disparities between Blacks and Whites today, and I 
would like to submit that article for the Record, Mr. Speaker.

                 [From Op-Ed Columnist, Nov. 15, 2014]

                 When Whites Just Don't Get It, Part 4

                         (By Nicholas Kristof)

       When I write about racial inequality in America, one common 
     response from whites is eye-rolling and an emphatic: It's 
     time to move on.
       ``As whites, are we doomed to an eternity of apology?'' 
     Neil tweeted at me. ``When does individual responsibility 
     kick in?''
       Terry asked on my Facebook page: ``Why are we still being 
     held to actions that took place long ago?''
       ``How long am I supposed to feel guilty about being white? 
     I bust my hump at work and refrain from living a thug life,'' 
     Bradley chimed in. ``America is about personal 
     responsibility. . . . And really, get past the slavery 
     issue.''
       This is the fourth installment in a series of columns I've 
     written this year, ``When Whites Just Don't Get It,'' and 
     plenty of white readers have responded with anger and 
     frustration at what they see as the ``blame game'' on race. 
     They acknowledge a horrific history of racial discrimination 
     but also say that we should look forward, not backward. The 
     Supreme Court seems to share this view as it dismantles 
     civil-rights-era rulings on voting rights.
       As Dina puts it: ``I am tired of the race conversation. It 
     has exasperated me. Just stop. In so many industries, the 
     racial ceiling has been shattered. Our president is black. 
     From that moment on, there were no more excuses.''
       If only it were so simple!
       Of course, personal responsibility is an issue. Orlando 
     Patterson, the eminent black sociologist, notes in a 
     forthcoming book that 92 percent of black youths agree that 
     it is a ``big problem'' that black males are ``not taking 
     education seriously enough.'' And 88 percent agree that it's 
     a big problem that they are ``not being responsible 
     fathers.'' That's why President Obama started ``My Brother's 
     Keeper,'' to cultivate more prudent behavior among men and 
     boys of color.
       But we in white society should be equally ready to shoulder 
     responsibility. In past articles in this series, I've looked 
     at black/white economic inequality that is greater in America 
     today than it was in apartheid South Africa, at ongoing 
     discrimination against African-Americans in the labor market 
     and at

[[Page H8022]]

     systematic bias in law enforcement. But these conversations 
     run into a wall: the presumption on the part of so many well-
     meaning white Americans that racism is a historical artifact. 
     They don't appreciate the overwhelming evidence that 
     centuries of racial subjugation still shape inequity in the 
     21st century.
       Indeed, a wave of research over the last 20 years has 
     documented the lingering effects of slavery in the United 
     States and South America alike. For example, counties in 
     America that had a higher proportion of slaves in 1860 are 
     still more unequal today, according to a scholarly paper 
     published in 2010. The authors called this a ``persistent 
     effect of slavery.''
       One reason seems to be that areas with slave labor were 
     ruled for the benefit of elite plantation owners. Public 
     schools, libraries and legal institutions lagged, holding 
     back working-class whites as well as blacks.
       Whites often don't realize that slavery didn't truly end 
     until long after the Civil War. Douglas Blackmon won a 
     Pulitzer Prize for his devastating history, ``Slavery by 
     Another Name,'' that recounted how U.S. Steel and other 
     American corporations used black slave labor well into the 
     20th century, through ``convict leasing.'' Blacks would be 
     arrested for made-up offenses such as ``vagrancy'' and then 
     would be leased to companies as slave laborers.
       Job and housing discrimination also systematically 
     prevented blacks from accumulating wealth. The Federal 
     Housing Administration and other initiatives greatly expanded 
     home ownership and the middle class but deliberately excluded 
     blacks.
       That's one reason why black families have, on average, only 
     about 6 percent as much wealth as white households, why only 
     44 percent of black families own a home compared with 73 
     percent for white households.
       The inequality continues, particularly in education. De 
     jure segregated schools have been replaced in some areas by 
     de facto segregation.
       Those of us who are white have a remarkable capacity for 
     delusions. A majority of whites have said in opinion polls 
     that blacks earn as much as whites and are as healthy as 
     whites. In fact, black median household income is $34,598, 
     compared with $58,270 for non-Hispanic whites, according to 
     census data. Black life expectancy is four years shorter than 
     that of whites.
       Granted, race is just one thread in a tapestry. The 
     daughters of President and Michelle Obama shouldn't enjoy 
     affirmative action preference (as their dad has 
     acknowledged), while disadvantaged white kids should.
       Yet one element of white privilege today is obliviousness 
     to privilege, including a blithe disregard of the way past 
     subjugation shapes present disadvantage.
       I've been on a book tour lately. By coincidence, so has one 
     of my Times Op-Ed columnist colleagues, Charles Blow, who is 
     African-American and the author of a powerful memoir, ``Fire 
     Shut Up in My Bones.'' I grew up in a solid middle-class 
     household; Charles was primarily raised by a single mom who 
     initially worked plucking poultry in a factory, and also, for 
     a while, by a grandma in a house with no plumbing.
       That Charles has become a New York Times columnist does not 
     mean that blacks and whites today have equal access to 
     opportunity, just that some talented and driven blacks manage 
     to overcome the long odds against them. Make no mistake: 
     Charles had to climb a higher mountain than I did.
       We all stand on the shoulders of our ancestors. We're in a 
     relay race, relying on the financial and human capital of our 
     parents and grandparents. Blacks were shackled for the early 
     part of that relay race, and although many of the fetters 
     have come off, whites have developed a huge lead. Do we 
     ignore this long head start--a facet of white privilege--and 
     pretend that the competition is now fair?
       Of course not. If we whites are ahead in the relay race of 
     life, shouldn't we acknowledge that we got this lead in part 
     by generations of oppression? Aren't we big enough to make 
     amends by trying to spread opportunity, by providing 
     disadvantaged black kids an education as good as the one 
     afforded privileged white kids?
       Can't we at least acknowledge that in the case of race, 
     William Faulkner was right: ``The past is never dead. It's 
     not even past.''

  Ms. LEE of California. Kristof states that he has ``looked at Black-
White economic inequality that is greater in America today than it was 
in apartheid South Africa, at ongoing discrimination against African 
Americans in the labor market, and at systematic bias in law 
enforcement.''
  So young people of color, especially young men, have been left behind 
in the economic recovery. It is leaving them behind, and far too often, 
they are marginalized and forgotten. The poverty rate for African 
Americans is 27.2 percent, more than two-and-a-half times the rate of 
poverty of White Americans. Nobody in our country should have to live 
below the poverty line. We are the wealthiest and most powerful country 
in the world.
  The African American unemployment rate is 10.9 percent, nearly twice 
the national average. Young men of color are stopped and frisked at 
will. They are more incarcerated than any other group. The jobs that 
are available don't pay enough to get by while our safety net and 
nutrition programs continue to be hacked and slashed by House 
Republicans.
  Beyond the lack of opportunity, police misconduct and the criminal 
justice system are constant reminders of the tragic inequality which is 
still persistent in the daily life of Black America.
  Where do we go from here? Let's move forward, but we have got to 
remember that the deaths of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and Eric 
Garner and Oscar Grant--one of my constituents--their deaths are tragic 
examples of the senseless murder of young Black men.
  As the mother of two Black men and two Black grandsons, I have to 
have many uncomfortable conversations with them, how to walk, how to 
talk, how to interact with the police.
  This is not just my reality, but the reality of millions of other 
Black mothers and grandmothers and fathers and grandfathers. This is 
something no parent should have to do. No one should be afraid of the 
police who are sworn to protect and serve them. These are issues that 
Members of Congress must take leadership in addressing. This is where 
we must go from here.
  Finally, let me just say the work of building a more perfect Union is 
not just rhetorical. As Members of Congress, we really do have a unique 
opportunity to do just that.
  To quote our drum major for justice--who Congressman Lewis had the 
privilege and honor to work with--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he said, 
``A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of 
consensus.'' We have the privilege tonight to remind this body that we 
are the molder of consensus.
  Thank you again, Congressman Jeffries, for the opportunity to speak 
with you this evening.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Thank you, Congresswoman Lee, for your very eloquent 
observations and for laying out a clear pathway as it relates to many 
of the challenges that we have got to confront here in America and 
certainly amongst those challenges that you spoke to, the notion that 
we have got a broken criminal justice system that in far too many 
communities has placed a target on the back of young African American 
and Latino men in a way inconsistent with the democratic values of this 
country and the notion that we were all created equally, and so I look 
forward to partnering with you on many of these issues, as we all 
collectively move forward in this wonderful body.
  We have also been joined here today by another civil rights champion, 
someone who has fought for the disenfranchised and to make sure that 
everyone has equal opportunity under the law, the distinguished 
gentleman from the Lone Star State of Texas, and I am pleased now to 
yield to Congressman Al Green.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Thank you very much, Congressman Jeffries. I 
also thank in his absence the gentleman from Nevada, Congressman 
Horsford. The two of you have been almost inseparable when it comes to 
these Special Order hours. I want to compliment you on the outstanding 
job that you have done.
  I would also like to compliment Congressman Horsford for the 
outstanding job that he has done on the Financial Services Committee. 
He brought his talents. He brought his brilliance, and he has 
represented his constituents exceedingly well, and I know that in the 
annals of history, when they look back through the vista of time, it 
will be said that he served us well in the Congress of the United 
States of America.
  With reference to the relevant question of the hour, as it relates to 
a more perfect Union, as we ponder and query where we go from here, it 
was appropriate, I think, that you introduced this topic by referencing 
President Lincoln.
  It was appropriate because you are eminently correct. It was a time 
of great turmoil when he announced that he would issue the Emancipation 
Proclamation, and in January of 1863, when he issued the Emancipation 
Proclamation, the country was in the midst of a Civil War, being torn 
apart.
  There was much to be said about his announcement that he would issue 
the

[[Page H8023]]

Emancipation Proclamation. There was great debate, and there were many 
people who said that it should not be done, that it was not worth the 
paper it would be written on, to be quite candid with you, it was said, 
because it would only free the slaves in the States that had left the 
Union, States that, quite candidly, at the time, he had no control 
over.
  But he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and I thank God that he 
did, because by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, he laid the 
foundation for the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States of America that was in fact executed in December 1865.
  But for the Emancipation Proclamation, I don't know that I would be 
standing here in the Congress of the United States of America tonight. 
By issuing that Emancipation Proclamation, he changed the course of 
history.
  Dr. King was right, ``The arc of the moral universe is long, but it 
bends towards justice.'' However, it doesn't do it on its own accord. 
It takes the hand of man and women to bend it, so I am pleased that he 
did so.
  I am also pleased that there was another opportunity for a President 
to forge a more perfect Union. President Harry Truman had the 
opportunity in 1948 to issue an executive order, as was the case with 
Lincoln and the executive order for the Emancipation Proclamation. He 
issued an executive order to desegregate the military.

  There was much to be said about it. In fact, that executive order led 
to the birth of the Dixiecrats. There was a split in the Democratic 
Party because the Honorable Harry Truman decided that he would issue 
Executive Order 9981, to desegregate the military.
  He issued it, the military was desegregated, and I contend that this 
was also one of the many reasons why the country itself moved along to 
desegregation and integration.
  These were two outstanding and well-noted executive orders issued by 
Presidents of the United States. If President Lincoln could issue an 
executive order--an Emancipation Proclamation--if Harry Truman could 
issue an executive order--to desegregate the military--surely, 
President Barack Obama can issue an executive order to liberate many 
people who are living in the shadows of life, an immigration 
declaration, if you will. I believe the President should issue this 
order, notwithstanding all that is being said.
  There was much being said and much being done when Lincoln issued his 
executive order, much said and much being done when Truman issued his, 
much said and much being done now, but I think the President should do 
this, and I think he should be bold when he does it because he will be 
lifting people out of the shadows of life.
  I am confident that while many will be angry with him, God will not. 
I think God will smile on the President for issuing this executive 
order.
  More than 15,000 executive orders have been issued. Not one President 
has ever been impeached for issuing an executive order, not one. There 
is talk of impeaching President Obama.
  If we didn't impeach Lincoln and we didn't impeach Truman and we 
didn't impeach Reagan and we didn't impeach many of the other 
Presidents who have signed the more than 15,000 executive orders, I 
don't think that we ought to impeach President Obama.
  Finally this, as an aside: there is much talk about the President's 
legacy and what he has done to form a more perfect Union while being 
President, if you will, but all of this talk about his legacy misses 
the mark, in my opinion, because there are many who think that the 
Affordable Care Act will be the centerpiece of his legacy.
  I think it is a great piece of legislation. I supported it. I still 
support it. There are many who think that saving the auto industry 
would be his legacy. I think this is significant, exceedingly so. I 
supported what he did.
  There are others who believe that his work in human rights and human 
dignity, especially as it relates for equal pay for equal work for 
women, will be his legacy. I think it is a great piece of work, and I 
commend him for what he has done.
  But the President's legacy in the eons to come will be that he became 
President of the United States of America. The mere fact that the 
Honorable Barack Obama was elected not once, but twice, speaks to our 
efforts to form a more perfect Union.
  I think that his greatest legacy will be his having served as 
President of the United States of America. That fact alone will be 
something that we will never, ever erase from history.
  I thank you for the opportunity to visit with you, and I pray that 
the President will be bold and sign the executive order, will lead with 
the executive order that may lead to comprehensive immigration reform 
and a pathway to citizenship for those who are living in the shadows of 
life. God bless you.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Texas for his 
very thoughtful and eloquent observations.
  I think it is so important that you pointed out the President's place 
in the context of his legacy relating to his election because I believe 
that also ties into his legitimacy in moving forward with executive 
action on immigration.
  This is the first Democratic President since FDR to be elected to 
consecutive terms having secured a majority of the vote from the 
American people, and so he has all of the legitimacy, all of the 
electoral mandate to act in a bold fashion.
  We know that President George W. Bush came into the Presidency under 
questionable circumstances. He didn't receive a majority of the vote of 
the American people, and I am not sure what took place down in Florida, 
but certainly, there were significant questions as to the authenticity 
of the final result.
  He came into office under questionable circumstances; yet there was 
no talk of impeachment, even as he proceeded to get us into not one but 
two wars and jam a reckless tax cut to benefit the wealthy and the 
well-off down the throats of the American people.
  If you just take Iraq, for example, his administration lied their way 
into a conflict that has cost the American people thousands of lives, 
billions of dollars; international legitimacy has been jeopardized. No 
one from this side of the aisle talked about bringing forth Articles of 
Impeachment in any meaningful way against George W. Bush.

                              {time}  2000

  You have a democratically elected President, Barack Obama, 
overwhelming electoral college landslide. He has got a mandate to act, 
and there are some Members on the other side of the aisle who just 
can't help themselves, who are itching to try and delegitimize this 
President. Shame on you. Let's just hope that we can move forward in a 
more productive fashion as it relates to how we interact with the 
executive branch. The whole world is watching, and they expect us to 
behave responsibly as we move forward.
  Now, in terms of how do we move forward, how do we create a more 
perfect Union, and how do we act potentially in a bipartisan fashion, I 
think there are at least four areas where there should be opportunity 
to find common ground. I think we should be able to find common ground 
as it relates to immigration reform and dealing with our broken 
immigration system. We should be able to find common ground as it 
relates to giving America a raise. We should be able to find common 
ground as it relates to criminal justice reform.
  I have been encouraged as a member of the House Judiciary Committee 
bipartisan task force on over-criminalization by the willingness of 
Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and progressives, to try to 
work together to solve this issue of a broken criminal justice system 
that we have got in America.
  There are areas where we should be able to find some common ground. 
Let me start by dealing with this question of the executive order on 
immigration, because there is a lot of hysteria in this town now about 
how some people in the Congress are going to react to the President if 
he decides to issue some form of executive order on immigration, as if 
this President would be doing something extraordinary.
  The history, in fact, tells us that since President Eisenhower, every 
single occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has issued executive orders 
related to immigration. In fact, there have been 39 such orders from 
Eisenhower all the way through to President George W. Bush related to 
the topic

[[Page H8024]]

and subject matter of immigration. In fact, if you look at some of the 
executive orders that were issued by President Ronald Reagan and 
President George H.W. Bush related to undocumented immigrants from 
Central America and the need in their view to try to keep families 
together, they were some of the broadest executive orders issued by any 
President in the area of immigration.
  Where was the impeachment talk back then? Why are we subjecting this 
President to such reckless conversations? I thought that we were trying 
to come together in the aftermath of these elections to see if we can 
have a productive 114th Congress, because certainly we know that the 
113th Congress was or is on track, I should say, to go down as the 
least productive Congress in the history of the Republic. That is quite 
a designation. I mean, the least productive Congress?
  If we go down memory lane and think about some of the highlights, 
this is a Congress that brought us a reckless, irresponsible government 
shutdown that cost the economy $24 billion in lost economic 
productivity all because of this clinical obsession with the Affordable 
Care Act. We flirted with a default on our debt for the first time in 
our Nation's history, threatening the full faith and credit of the 
United States of America. It is a Congress that brought us 
sequestration, $85 billion in randomly spread out cuts across the 
government in a way that put hundreds of thousands of jobs in jeopardy. 
We failed to renew unemployment insurance, leaving millions of 
Americans on the battlefield of the Great Recession. These are the 
highlights of the 113th Congress. I don't think that is a record to be 
proud of as we move forward.
  So I think we could all benefit from a reduction in the rhetoric in 
an effort to try and find common ground. If you don't like what the 
President may do on the issue of immigration, you are going to control 
the House of Representatives and you are going to control the Senate. 
Just act. Do something. Stop talking. Fix our broken immigration 
system. You have the power to do so.
  The Senate acted in a bipartisan fashion last year passing a 
comprehensive immigration reform bill that was not perfect but 
certainly was a good faith attempt to try and address the problem. 
There were 52 Democrats, 2 Independents, and 14 Republicans, if my 
recollection serves me correctly. They partnered together to pass a 
bipartisan piece of legislation.
  So I am just hopeful that the House will come together and 
legitimately try to tackle an issue and just stop throwing out the word 
``amnesty'' to apply to everything that you don't like. I mean, in this 
country's greatest tradition, we have never had dual citizenship, and 
we shouldn't have dual citizenship moving forward. We should just try 
to find a way to bring these 11 million undocumented people out of the 
shadows in a fashion that independent economists have said will be 
beneficial to the American taxpayer and result in dramatic reductions 
in our Nation's deficit. That is immigration reform. I am hopeful we 
can find some common ground in that area.
  The second area where I think we should come together in our march 
toward a more perfect Union has to do with giving America a raise. 
Right now, the Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. In other words, 
in the wealthiest country in the world, in our great Republic, under 
that Federal minimum wage, you can have somebody who works full-time, 
40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, and at the end of the day, with a 
family of three, find themselves below the Federal poverty line. That 
is the classic definition of ``working poor.'' Why would we cement that 
into law?
  So I think that the responsible thing to do is for us to try to 
figure out how we can come together and raise the minimum wage. We 
couldn't get a vote in the House of Representatives on H.R. 1010--this 
Congress--that would have raised the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour 
over the next year or so. Let's hit the refresh button and try to get 
something done next Congress. And this is not just something that 
Democrats embrace. This is not simply something that blue States 
embrace. This is not something that progressives simply embrace. If we 
are going to take a message from the outcome of the election earlier in 
November, we can't pick and choose what message we want to take.

  How about we draw some lessons from the fact that the voters of 
Alaska came to the polls and overwhelmingly supported an increase in 
the minimum wage in that State; the voters in Arkansas came to the 
polls and overwhelmingly supported an increase in the minimum wage in 
that State; the voters of Nebraska came to the polls and overwhelmingly 
supported an increase in the minimum wage in that State; and the voters 
of South Dakota came to the polls and overwhelmingly supported an 
increase in the minimum wage in that State. Those are four deeply 
conservative, deeply red States.
  America wants a raise. If we are looking for issues where we can find 
common ground beyond immigration reform, perhaps we can start there. 
One of the reasons why I think we should start there is because, if you 
look at what the minimum wage really means in real terms right now, we 
are falling behind in terms of where we once were and also in terms of 
making sure that we are giving the people who are working for the 
minimum wage a fair shot to pursue the American Dream.
  If you were to look at this chart that is before us, you will see 
that in 1968 only 17 percent of the people who fall or fell into the 
category of a low-wage worker had some college experience, but in 2012 
that number has shot way up: 46 percent of the people falling into the 
category of a low-wage worker with some college experience. No wonder 
there is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty about the future of America 
amongst the people we represent all across the country when you have 
got folks with some college experience falling into the category of a 
low-wage worker.
  In 1968, about 48 percent of the people, low-wage workers, had a high 
school diploma or GED. That number has shot up. In 2012, 79 percent of 
low-wage workers had completed high school or obtained their GED. 
Americans are more educated now than we were 45 or so plus years ago in 
terms of the workforce but earning less. That is a fundamental problem 
that we have got to confront in this country, and raising the minimum 
wage is one way in which to do it.
  The other thing that we should take a look at related to the minimum 
wage is the fact that the people who are on it in large measure are 
actually trying to support themselves on a full-time basis or support 
their families. One of the most popular myths put forward by those who 
are determined to do everything possible to stop America from getting a 
raise like to say, well, people who work for the minimum wage are 
teenagers, or they work part-time after school and live with their 
parents. All they are really doing is trying to earn some extra 
spending money. It is a cute argument, but when you actually evaluate 
it using some objective factual analysis, you see that these are simply 
myths designed to undermine the effort to raise the minimum wage for 
people who are actually struggling to support their families.

                              {time}  2015

  Unlike the popular mythology that is put forward that these are 
teenagers or afterschool workers or people who are trying to get some 
spending change to go to the movies, the reality is the average age of 
people who are working for minimum wage numbers in America is 35 years 
old. Eighty-eight percent of the people working for minimum wage right 
now are not teenagers, they are 20 years or older. More than a quarter 
actually have children, and 55 percent of these individuals, as this 
chart illustrates, work full time. So let's have an evidence-based 
discussion about the need to increase the minimum wage that is rooted 
in objective, factual analysis and not hysteria or mythology designed 
simply to evade the discussion.
  And the fact that the minimum wage increase has been embraced by 
deeply conservative voters in Arkansas and Alaska and Nebraska and 
South Dakota I think provides us with a starting point to move forward 
and attempt to find common ground in doing something that makes sense 
simply for America.
  So I have mentioned immigration reform as a possible avenue of trying 
to identify common ground. I have mentioned the minimum wage. I think 
we

[[Page H8025]]

also have to try to deal with the issue of our broken criminal justice 
system. If you think about the fact that in America there are more than 
2 million people incarcerated in our country, that is a tremendous 
waste of human capital. It is a tremendous waste of our economic 
resources and results in a dramatic loss of human productivity.
  So I have actually been pleased over the last several years that 
people on the left and on the right, progressives and conservatives, 
are finding their way toward common ground to deal with a criminal 
justice system that clearly is broken, and starting perhaps with the 
notion that we have had a failed war on drugs that has resulted in 
putting people behind bars far too often, and disproportionately 
African Americans and Latino men, but putting nonviolent drug abusers 
behind bars--a dramatic waste of taxpayer dollars in a manner that has 
proven to be ineffective from a criminal justice standpoint.
  As a member of the bipartisanship task force on overcriminalization 
chaired by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner)--the 
Democratic leader of the effort was the distinguished gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Scott), one of the things that was striking as we moved 
forward with our exploration was the fact that in the Federal system 
more than 50 percent of the people who are currently incarcerated--more 
than 50 percent--are there for drug or substance abuse crimes. Only 
about 8 percent of the current occupants of Federal prisons across 
America were convicted of violent crimes. Something is wrong with that 
picture.
  I am thankful, actually, that States, particularly in the deep South, 
conservative States with Republican Governors and Republican-held State 
legislative bodies, have recognized the failure of the excessive law 
and order policies brought to us in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, 
the fact that it was costing their taxpayers dollars, wasting 
resources, and they have come together to reform the criminal justice 
system. It has happened in Texas. It has happened in South Carolina. It 
has happened in Alabama. It has happened in Kentucky. It has happened 
in Louisiana. It has happened in Georgia. Again, these aren't blue 
States. These are not traditionally Democratic States, these are 
traditionally conservative States recognizing the need for criminal 
justice reform.
  So I am hopeful that as we move into the 114th Congress, we can find 
our way toward dealing with this issue. We have got Senators from the 
other side of the aisle who have expressed an interest in tackling this 
issue. And we have Democratic and Republican members of the House 
Judiciary Committee and beyond who have indicated a willingness to try 
to fix our broken criminal justice system: to eradicate mandatory 
minimums; to restore discretion to judges; to focus less on punishment 
as it relates to nonviolent drug abusers; and to provide treatment and 
rehabilitation so we can help people successfully reenter our society.
  We have to finish the job as it relates to the disparity between 
crack and cocaine. It was 100 to 1. This Congress acted; it is now 18 
to 1, but there is still no pharmaceutical reason for there to be any 
disparity between crack and cocaine. And we should make our reforms 
retroactive so we can free thousands of people unnecessarily behind 
bars right now for a law that this Congress has deemed to be unjust. So 
criminal justice reform, a third area where perhaps we can work 
together.
  And lastly, as we prepare to wind down this Congressional Black 
Caucus Special Order, I also want to express my thanks to my good 
friend and colleague, the distinguished gentleman from Nevada (Mr. 
Horsford) who throughout the last 2 years courageously stood on the 
floor of the House of Representatives coanchoring the CBC Special 
Order, and we know that the best is yet to come for Congressman 
Horsford, but the last issue that we have to perhaps tackle in a 
bipartisan fashion is fixing the damage that was done to the Voting 
Rights Act by the Supreme Court.
  We all should want to encourage Americans to vote and participate in 
our great democracy. It is that participation that preserves the 
integrity of the democratic Republic that has been created in this 
great country. Why anyone would want to suppress the vote is beyond me, 
with the exception of noting that some view it as a partisan means of 
maintaining power, a Pyrrhic victory perhaps, because at the end of the 
day, these efforts to disenfranchise people are bad for America.
  This is a chart that illustrates the fact that in the aftermath of 
the 2010 election, some people interpreted that midterm election as a 
mandate to suppress the vote. And so in 41 States, 180 voter 
suppression-type bills were introduced all across America. In every 
State that is represented with a red color, laws were introduced to 
suppress the vote. That is how the 2010 elections seem to have been 
interpreted by some.
  I am hopeful that coming out of the 2014 midterm elections that we 
will actually come together. There is a bill in the House of 
Representatives--it has Republican support and it has Democratic 
support--to help Americans who want to vote vote and undo the damage 
that was done to the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court.
  Now, the Voting Rights Act has a great bipartisan history. It was 
enacted into law in 1965. We are going to celebrate its 50th 
anniversary next year. It was signed and championed by Lyndon Baines 
Johnson, with the support of civil rights leaders, Dr. King, and of 
course our own Congressman John Lewis. But every time the Voting Rights 
Act was reauthorized, it was reauthorized by a Republican President. It 
was reauthorized in 1970, signed into law by President Richard Nixon. 
And then it was reauthorized again in 1975, signed into law by 
President Gerald Ford. And then the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized 
again in 1982, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. And then it 
was reauthorized again in 2006 and signed into law by President George 
W. Bush. It has a great bipartisan history.
  If we are looking for areas where we can find common ground, where 
there is an opportunity for Democrats and Republicans, for 
conservatives and progressives to work together, we have got a lot of 
options. We can fix our broken immigration system. We can deal with 
criminal justice reform. We can give America a raise, and we can fix 
the Voting Rights Act on the occasion of our celebrating the 50th 
anniversary of its passage.
  And so I am hopeful that we can put the dysfunction and the 
obfuscation and the government shutdown and the impeachment talk and 
the sequestration and the serial flirtation with the debt ceiling and 
defaulting behind us and come together, find common ground, and march 
toward a more perfect union in the 114th Congress.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
highlight our Nation's struggle to achieve a more perfect Union. As we 
look upon the political landscape this fall, it is impossible to ignore 
the backward steps we have taken.
  In years past, elections signaled a time of hope and renewal: Hope 
that partisan politics would be put aside and renewal of our working 
relationships across the aisle and across the Capitol.
  However, even as election results were being tallied earlier this 
month the new Republican majority was already highlighting the divisive 
actions they planned to undertake in the next Congress. Among these 
plans are efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act, and to shutdown 
the federal government or impeach President Obama over his immigration 
reforms.
  Mr. Speaker, I see nothing but divisiveness and partisanship in these 
plans. In fact, investigations into the creation of the Affordable Care 
Act or the President's immigration policy do nothing to advance the 
needs of everyday Americans who continue to struggle making ends meet.
  I urge my Republican Colleagues to abandon these frivolous efforts 
and instead focus on expanding opportunities for every American and 
creating a more perfect Union.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues of 
the Congressional Black Caucus to speak to the issues that members of 
the 113th Congress must address.
  I thank my colleagues Representatives Steven Horsford and Hakeem 
Jeffries for leading this evening's Congressional Black Caucus Special 
Order on ``The March toward a More Perfect Union: Where Do We Go from 
Here?''
  We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect 
Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the 
common defense, promote the general

[[Page H8026]]

Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our a 
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
States of America.
  These words are powerful and unforgettable--they are the preamble of 
the Constitution of the United States of America.
  What is most striking about these words are the first 3, ``We the 
People.'' They remind us that we are here in the ``People's House'' to 
do the people's business.
  The Supreme Courts over the centuries looked to these words for 
guidance or evidence of what the founding fathers intended for the 
Constitution's meaning and its ultimate purpose.
  This places the preamble in a unique role as time has separated us 
from the words and thoughts of those who drafted the document, which 
governs our form of government today.
  The Supreme Court, in its decision in Ellis v. City of Grand Rapids, 
looked to the preamble in reaching its decision in this eminent domain 
case. The Court decided that the use of land to provide additional land 
for the expansion of a hospital would be in the interest of the people 
and should be allowed under the constitution.
  We the People, two years ago re-elected President Obama to the 
Presidency of the United States with 57.5 of all eligible voters voting 
for him to serve a second term in 2012.
  He ran on the issues of retaining the Affordable Health Care Act, 
infrastructure investments, and rebuilding the middle class.
  His re-election was no fluke; it was an affirmation by the people of 
the United States of a decision they made nearly 4 years earlier when 
he defeated his Republican opponent and become President.
  In 2008, President Obama won 53% of the votes in the election that 
saw voter turnout at 62.3 percent of eligible citizens voting.
  During the hard fought campaign then Democratic Presidential 
Candidate Obama said that he would focus on health care reform, 
repairing the economy, which was in shambles, and ending the wars in 
Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops home.
  Once President Obama entered office in January 2009, he was given the 
full picture of how bad the economy really was and how much work would 
be needed to repair the damage and restore economic vitality.
  Since 2008, the economy has made tremendous progress, but more work 
needs to be done and I invite my colleague to commit in earnest to 
doing the work held to help the people of this nation.
  On March 23, 2010, with the stroke of President Obama's pen, the 
American people received this part of the ``Fair Deal.'' This bill did 
not become law in the dead of night, but in the full process this body 
affords serious consideration of legislation. There were committee 
hearings, staff and member meetings, amendments and a final vote in 
both the House and the Senate before it was sent to the President's 
desk.
  The Affordable Care Act has been affirmed to be law by every means 
provided by our nation's constitution:
  On June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court upheld the ACA, 
affirming the constitutionality of the law--leaving intact the majority 
of the incentives to expand healthcare coverage to millions of 
Americans.
  The Affordable Care Act was a central issue in the Presidential 
election of 2012. President Obama who signed the Affordable Care Act 
into law won the election by 51.1 percent of the popular vote and 62 
percent of the electoral vote.


         Republican Victory on November 4, 2014 was no mandate

  The voter turnout on November 4 was lowest voter turnout in 72 years 
according to the New York Times. National voter participation was 33.9% 
for the 2014 mid-term elections.
  Although some are trying to call the election a mandate, that 
argument cannot be made if these same people refused to treat as a 
mandate the victories of Present Obama in two elections with a vote 
well over 50% and voter participation of 60% or more.
  The Affordable Health Care Act is the law of the land; we have 10 
million people with health care, who otherwise would not have the 
financial security that brings to them and their families.
  November 15, 2014-December 15, 2014 is open season for the Affordable 
Care Act, which allows those without health insurance the opportunity 
to purchase insurance for themselves and their children.
  The Affordable Care Act is not going anywhere and if the Republicans 
want to use taxpayers dollars on continuing to argue over it that is a 
waste of precious legislative days that the people of this nation 
cannot afford.


         Republican threats of shutdown over Immigration Reform

  The Republicans shut down the government a year ago in October and 
the consequences were devastating to the American workers and seriously 
damaged the financial recovery the nation was experiencing.
  The Shutdown of 2011 cost the nation $24 billion.
  A CNN poll found that 69 percent of Americans--including 52 percent 
of Tea Party supporters--thought the Congressional Republicans were 
``acting like spoiled children,'' and 46 percent said they would blame 
Congressional Republicans for a shutdown.
  Sixty-eight percent of the American public said the shutdown of a few 
days would be a bad thing for the country; that number rose to nearly 
80 percent for a shutdown lasting a few weeks.
  Sixty percent say it is more important for Congress to avoid a 
shutdown than to make major changes to the new health care law. [9/30]
  According to the Office of Management and Budget, the last Republican 
Government Shutdown hurt the American people.
  Hundreds of thousands of federal employees immediately and 
indefinitely furloughed, and many Federal employees and contractors 
that continued to work were not paid during the shutdown.
  Housing loans to low and middle income families in rural communities 
were put on hold, as would start-up business loans for farmers and 
ranchers.
  SBA stopped approving applications for small businesses to obtain 
loans and loan guarantees. In a typical month, SBA approves over $1 
billion in loan assistance to small businesses.
  All facilities and services in our national parks were closed, along 
with the Smithsonian, impacting the hundreds of thousands of people 
that were on or heading to vacations. This had a severe negative impact 
on the surrounding local communities that rely on the revenue generated 
by travel and tourism to these destinations.
  Important government research into life-threatening diseases, 
environmental protection, and other areas were halted.
  The government stopped issuing permits to conduct drilling operations 
on Federal lands, and would stop or delay environmental reviews of 
planned transportation and energy-related projects, keeping companies 
from working on these projects.
  Hundreds of thousands of federal employees suddenly did not have a 
pay-check coming and had no idea when the shutdown would end.
  Veterans were left without access to vital services.
  It was irresponsible then and it would be far worse knowing what the 
reality was then for this Congress to do this to the American people 
again in less than 2 years.


                    Immigration Reform Long Overdue

  The immigration reform bill that came out of the Senate does much to 
improve family immigration, but I am concerned that the bill contains 
some fundamental changes to our immigration system that move us away 
from the principle of family reunification.
  In my role as a Senior Member of both the House Judiciary Immigration 
Subcommittee and Homeland Security Committee, I will continue working 
to strengthen the provisions in the bill that impact families and work 
to restore other important provisions which help families, particularly 
those immigrants of limited means--every immigrant cannot be a 
millionaire tech entrepreneur or bear the lineage of some landed 
gentry--America is the ultimate egalitarian society where opportunity 
waits for those rich and poor who seek it.
  Nearly everyone agrees that our immigration system is badly broken 
and in dire need of fixing, and the bill that came out of the Senate is 
a step in the right direction.
  What we need is immigration legislation that establishes a path to 
citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. 
We must address the lengthy backlogs in our current immigration 
system--backlogs that have kept families apart sometimes for decades.
  We must grant a faster track to the `Dreamers' brought to this 
country as children through no fault of their own, and to agricultural 
workers who are an essential part of our communities and work so hard 
to provide our nation's food supply.
  We need immigration legislation that will make important changes to 
the visas used by dairy farmers and the tourism industry and by 
immigrant investors who are making investments in our communities.
  Dreamers grew up in the United States, but were brought here 
illegally through no fault of their own. Nearly 300,000 Dreamers have 
been granted legal status in the past year, giving them the ability to 
live their lives in our communities by working and going to college 
without fear of deportation.
  Most Americans agree that we need a comprehensive immigration reform 
plan that includes a pathway to citizenship. Nearly 9 out of 10 
Americans (87%) believe that it would be better to offer undocumented 
workers an opportunity to earn citizenship after they have met the 
necessary requirements than to deport them.
  If the House had seriously considered comprehensive immigration 
reform it would not be

[[Page H8027]]

necessary for the President to use his legitimate and lawful Executive 
authority by the end of this year to minimize the damage caused by 
Congress' failure to act.
  Providing legal status to the undocumented immigrants currently in 
our country would grow our GDP by a cumulative increase of $832 billion 
over 10 years. According to the Center for American Progress, 
immigration reform would create 121,000 new jobs each year in the next 
decade. Legalization would increase immigrants' income, an additional 
boost to our economy.
  We must also do something to protect our borders. I am an original 
cosponsor of H.R. 1417--the Border Security Results Act of 2013. This 
bill has received accolades from the Wall Street Journal and The Los 
Angeles Times as a commonsense approach to protect our borders.
  I believe the border security legislation that we put forward can be 
the solution that allows real immigration reform to move forward 
because it will provide the security at the border that the American 
people are demanding and deserve.
  The Border Security Results Act would require a comprehensive 
outcome-based strategy that includes deployment of more surveillance 
technology for gaining full situational awareness of the border, use of 
that data to allocate manpower and other resources along the border and 
the creation of metrics to set progress in achieving border security. 
Those metrics may be based on the number of apprehensions of illegal 
aliens relative to the number of illegal crossings.
  Over the years I have introduced the Save America Comprehensive 
Immigration Act and much of the Senate passed bill was included in my 
immigration bill; the Senate bill would address some of the toughest 
issues on immigration reform and would offer many innovative and 
considerate solutions that will help to repair some of the most broken 
parts of our immigration system.
  So the passage of the Senate bill is a major leap forward in human 
rights in America. Now is the time for the House of Representatives to 
continue this crucial fight for immigration reform and a secure 
America.
  If we let the immigration reform debate focus primarily on minute 
elements we lose sight of the broader picture--many other important 
things we need to do to fix our broken immigration system. It has been 
estimated that approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants live in 
the United States.
  The vast majority of them are hard-working and law-abiding persons 
who have become productive members of our society. It serves no purpose 
to keep them in the shadows of our society praying for lawful status. 
It is not good for them, and is not in the best interests of the United 
States. Comprehensive immigration reform will require leadership from 
the Administration, the Senate, both parties in Congress with a 
willingness on everyone's part to work together.
  The American people will hold accountable those that stand in the way 
of making comprehensive immigration reform.
  When the House and the Senate passes comprehensive immigration reform 
the President will sign it into law. This is something that would be 
permanent and provide the stability America needs as we move toward a 
more prosperous future.
  This special order is an opportunity to make the case for continuing 
on the course set by the Obama Administration and the need to not take 
the recent election as a mandate for major changes.

                          ____________________