[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 193 (Tuesday, November 28, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H9448-H9449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        21ST CENTURY RESPECT ACT

  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 995) to direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
Secretary of the Interior to amend regulations for racial 
appropriateness, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 H.R. 995

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``21st Century Respect Act''.

     SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO REGULATIONS REQUIRED.

       (a) Secretary of Agriculture.--The Secretary of Agriculture 
     shall amend section 1901.202 of title 7, Code of Federal 
     Regulations, for purposes of--
       (1) replacing the reference to the term ``Negro or Black'' 
     with ``Black or African American'';
       (2) replacing the reference to the term ``Spanish Surname'' 
     with ``Hispanic''; and
       (3) replacing the reference to the term ``Oriental'' with 
     ``Asian American or Pacific Islander''.
       (b) Secretary of the Interior.--The Secretary of the 
     Interior shall amend section 906.2 of title 36, Code of 
     Federal Regulations, for purposes of--
       (1) replacing the references to the term ``Negro'' with 
     ``Black or African American'';
       (2) replacing the definition of ``Negro'' with the 
     definition of ``Black or African American'' as ``a person 
     having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa'';
       (3) replacing the references to the term ``Oriental'' with 
     ``Asian American or Pacific Islander''; and
       (4) replacing the references to the terms ``Eskimo'' and 
     ``Aleut'' with ``Alaska Native''.

     SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

       Nothing in this Act, or the amendments required by this 
     Act, shall be construed to affect Federal law, except with 
     respect to the use of terms by the Secretary of Agriculture 
     and the Secretary of the Interior, respectively, to the 
     regulations affected by this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Tipton) and the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Torres) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado.


                             General Leave

  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Colorado?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States is 241 years old. In that time, the 
country has seen an immense amount of change and growth. Over the 
course of history, laws and policies have been updated to be able to 
reflect this growth. However, some decades-old statutes and regulations 
still contain antiquated terms.
  Enacted in 2016, Public Law 114-157 modernized antiquated ethnic 
terms related to minorities found in the Office of Minority Economic 
Impact of the Department of Energy and section 106 of the Local Public 
Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 for racial 
appropriateness.
  H.R. 995 would make similar changes to terms found in certain 
regulations of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the 
Interior.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the sponsor of this bill, Mr. Jeffries, and I 
urge adoption of the measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

                                         House of Representatives,


                               Committee on Natural Resources,

                                Washington, DC, November 20, 2017.
     Hon. K. Michael Conaway,
     Chairman, Committee on Agriculture,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: We thank you for agreeing to discharge 
     the Committee on Agriculture from further consideration of 
     H.R. 995, the 21st Century Respect Act, that the Committee on 
     Natural Resources ordered favorably reported, as amended, on 
     November 8, 2017.
       This concession in no way affects your jurisdiction over 
     the subject matter of the bill, and it will not serve as 
     precedent for future referrals. In addition, should a 
     conference on the bill be necessary, I would support your 
     request to have the Committee on Agriculture represented on 
     the conference committee. Finally, I would be pleased to 
     include this letter and your response in the bill report and 
     in the Congressional Record.
       Thank you for your consideration of my request and for the 
     extraordinary cooperation shown by you and your staff over 
     matters of shared jurisdiction. I look forward to further 
     opportunities to work with you this Congress.
           Sincerely,

                                                   Rob Bishop,

                                                         Chairman,
     Committee on Natural Resources.
                                  ____

                                         House of Representatives,


                                     Committee on Agriculture,

                                Washington, DC, November 20, 2017.
     Hon. Rob Bishop,
     Chariman, Committee on Natural Resources, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for the opportunity to review 
     H.R. 995, 21st Century Respect Act. As you are aware, the 
     bill was primarily referred to the Committee on Natural 
     Resources, while the Agriculture Committee received an 
     additional referral.
       I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this 
     legislation before the House in an expeditious manner and, 
     accordingly, I agree to discharge H.R. 995 from further 
     consideration by the Committee on Agriculture. I do so with 
     the understanding that by discharging the bill, the Committee 
     on Agriculture does not waive any future jurisdictional claim 
     on this or similar matters. Further, the Committee on 
     Agriculture reserves the right to seek the appointment of 
     conferees, if it should become necessary.
       I ask that you insert a copy of our exchange of letters 
     into the Congressional Record during consideration of this 
     measure on the House floor.
       Thank you for your courtesy in this matter and I look 
     forward to continued cooperation between our respective 
     committees.
           Sincerely,
                                               K. Michael Conaway,
                                                         Chairman.

  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill could not be more straightforward. H.R. 995 
would require the USDA and the Department of the Interior to change the 
terminology used to describe the racial background or place of origin 
of people.
  These very outdated and offensive racial terms have no place in our 
Federal regulations. Modernizing these terms should be a continuous 
effort across all agencies. I want to thank the gentleman from New York 
(Mr. Jeffries) for his leadership on this issue by pushing this 
legislation forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to include in the Record the phrases that this 
bill would change: replacing the references to the term ``Negro'' with 
``Black or African American;'' replacing the definition of ``Negro'' 
with the definition of ``African American'' as ``a person having 
origins;'' replacing the references of the term ``Oriental'' with 
``Asian American;'' and replacing the references to the terms 
``Eskimo'' and ``Aleut'' with ``Alaska Native.''
  I think it is only fair that we move to pass this bill and finally 
address people as we should. I also want to bring attention to the 
title of the bill, which is the 21st Century Respect Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to add that the bill was reported out of 
committee by unanimous vote.
  I want to read into the Record Representative Jeffries' remarks on 
H.R. 995, the 21st Century Respect Act, a bipartisan bill that will 
remove outdated and offensive racial labels from the Code of Federal 
Regulations:

       I thank Ranking Member Grijalva and Mrs. Torres and 
     Chairman Bishop and Mr. LaMalfa for working with me to move 
     this important bill expeditiously through committee. I also 
     want to thank Congressman Chabot for his support and 
     partnership.
       Words matter. They can cause great harm by making people 
     feel lesser or other, and when words are rooted in bigotry in 
     our Nation's laws, it signals that we, as a country, are 
     legitimizing and normalizing bigotry.
       Unfortunately, there are still laws on the books that use 
     old offensive racial terms to refer to our fellow Americans. 
     These terms come from areas where intolerance was acceptable, 
     and they have no place in modern society.
       For example, title 36 of this CFR still uses the term 
     ``Eskimo'' to refer to certain indigenous Americans from 
     Alaska. People in many parts of the arctic consider 
     ``Eskimo'' a derogatory term because it was widely used to 
     connote barbarism and violence. The 21st Century Respect Act 
     replaces ``Eskimo'' with ``Alaska Native,'' a modern term 
     embraced by the people that it describes.
       Title 7 also includes the terms ``Oriental'' and ``Negro,'' 
     which are terms that are disparaging today. H.R. 995 replaces 
     those old labels with ``Asian American'' or ``Pacific 
     Islander'' and ``Black'' or ``African American,'' 
     respectively. These new terms reflect America's growth and 
     progress.
       Now, more than ever, we need to be conscious of the signals 
     and messages that our

[[Page H9449]]

     words and actions are sending to our fellow citizens. As 
     elected officials, it is our responsibility to lead by 
     example and make sure that our laws and institutions reflect 
     our best aspirations of unity and respect for Americans of 
     all backgrounds.
       Passing the 21st Century Respect Act is a demonstration of 
     our commitment to ensuring that every person who pledges 
     allegiance to our flag feels valued and included by the 
     Nation it represents. I encourage all of my colleagues to 
     support H.R. 995.

  Mr. Speaker, these are words from Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who is 
on his way.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I think the legislation that we are seeing 
on this floor today demonstrates addressing a variety of issues, be it 
on our public lands, needing that to be able to be updated, private 
property rights to be able to update it, but probably nothing is more 
personal than the legislation that we are addressing at this particular 
moment, to be able to be respectful of individuals and have that there 
to actually be able to be addressed.

                              {time}  1715

  This legislation is a long time coming--much like Mr. Jeffries, 
coming to the floor--to be able to address this important piece of 
legislation, for the House to be able to consider, as we move forward 
with our business.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Mrs. Demings).
  Mrs. DEMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 995, the 21st 
Century Respect Act, which we all know is a bipartisan bill that will 
remove outdated and offensive racial labels from the Code of Federal 
Regulations.
  Mr. Speaker, we all know that words matter. They matter. We all stand 
and recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day. Every day I take those 
words very, very seriously. Words do matter.
  It is time that we remove outdated and offensive language from any 
code, policy, law, regulation: words like Eskimo, words like Oriental--
my God--words like Negro. They matter. As elected officials, we have a 
responsibility.
  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, can you tell me how much time I have 
remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from California has 11 
minutes remaining.
  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Jeffries).
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from 
California for yielding and for her leadership as well as her support, 
in addition to Ranking Member Grijalva, Chairman Bishop, Chairman 
LaMalfa, and the entire committee for moving this bill expeditiously to 
the House floor and for their leadership and partnership in this 
regard. I also want to thank my good friend and fellow Judiciary 
Committee member, Congressman Chabot, for his support, leadership, and 
cosponsorship of this legislation.
  Words definitely matter. They can cause great harm and division, 
particularly when they are embedded in Federal statute.
  So this step that we are taking today, as it relates to the 21st 
Century Respect Act, is important, as a symbol from this Congress, the 
people's House, to the Nation that we can come together, that we are 
all fellow Americans, and that outdated, antiquated, and racially 
stereotypical terms like Negro and Eskimo and Oriental are not 
appropriate at this time in America. They reflect a more divisive 
bygone era.
  Mr. Speaker, I am thankful to all of my colleagues for coming 
together in this regard, a small but meaningful step in an era 
otherwise characterized by great division, and perhaps an indication 
that we can come together as Democrats, as Republicans, and as people 
of diverse racial backgrounds to heal whatever divisions may remain in 
our society.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues for their leadership and 
support.
  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 995, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to direct 
the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to 
modernize terms in certain regulations.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________