[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 106 (Monday, June 25, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5635-H5642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WHAT HAPPENED TO FAMILY VALUES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans) is
recognized for half of the remaining time until 10 p.m. as the designee
of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for allowing me to lead
this critical Special Order to speak about the lack of family values
demonstrated by the Trump administration and the GOP, their choice to
mismanage, and to offer a counternarrative to the wayward path they are
leading us down.
Black people have no permanent friends or permanent enemies or
permanent interests, as so eloquently stated by former Congressman
William Lacy Clay, Sr.
Mr. Speaker, the President asked Black Americans: What do you have to
lose?
The Congressional Black Caucus responded with a document that was
hand-delivered to him that is titled, ``We Have a Lot to Lose.''
Over the course of the 2016 Presidential election, time and time
again, then-candidate Donald Trump asked the Black community a larger
question: ``What do you have to lose?''
The inquiry presupposes that the experience of all African Americans
is destitute and that we live in fear. In fact, President Trump
declared some African Americans' communities are
[[Page H5636]]
worse than war zones, demonstrating a lack of understanding of both
constituencies.
The election has come and gone, and the time for the campaign calls
is over. Now President Trump represents all Americans and must govern
this Nation for the good of all Americans, whether they are Black or
White, rich or poor, conservative or liberal.
So as the conscience of the Congress, the voice of the 78 million
Americans and 17 million African Americans, the Congressional Black
Caucus is obligated to answer President Trump's questions.
The answer: The African Americans have a great deal to lose under the
Trump administration, and we have already lost a lot.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our chairman, Chairman Richmond, for
allowing me this opportunity to conduct this Special Order.
Over the next hour, we will speak about some of the issues that have
faced the Congressional Black Caucus and Black people in this Nation. I
say that to you because of this document I have in my hand, ``We Have a
Lot to Lose.'' In this document that was presented to the President of
the United States, it outlines those various issues.
What are we losing?
Based on last week's passage of the farm bill here in the House, we
have lost benefits under the SNAP program. Thank God for the Senate,
Mr. Speaker, because the Senate has passed a different version. I hope,
Mr. Speaker, that that version will be the version that becomes the law
of this land.
The Senate passed a version 20-1 out of committee, and they will
bring that up for a vote because, Mr. Speaker, I believe that
represents better the views and values of Members of this body. I do
not believe the version that we passed in the farm bill represents this
body.
I am disappointed that the GOP leadership had the unmitigated gall to
bring this highly partisan and warped bill to the House floor for a
second vote, posing as a farm bill. Nothing changed in the bill since
the last time it came to the floor, so you have to wonder what was
offered or said to those Members who voted ``no'' just a month ago to
change their votes.
The partisan approach of the majority has produced a bill that will
hurt thousands of people in the city of Philadelphia and the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Agriculture Committee, I submitted
letters from the mayor of the city of Philadelphia. In that letter, the
mayor of the city of Philadelphia laid out specifically the impact that
that particular bill that came out of the House Agriculture Committee
would have on the people of the city of Philadelphia. You are talking
about affecting over 200,000 to 300,000 people in the city of
Philadelphia.
In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1.8 million people can be
affected. In Montgomery County, in the county I represent, 50,000
people are affected.
So, Mr. Speaker, it is clear that that bill that passed this House by
only two votes was misguided and was heading in the wrong direction.
It is also clear, Mr. Speaker, that people who are on SNAP do not
fight to be on SNAP. They understand clearly about the challenges that
they face.
Forty-two million Americans are on SNAP. No, Mr. Speaker, those
people are not fearful of work. They understand if there is a great
opportunity available for them, they would take advantage of the
opportunity.
I think it is clear to me, Mr. Speaker, that, again, this
administration and the GOP were lacking some sense of connection to
what people's values are. As a result, you saw that vote that took
place last week. It again sends us in the wrong direction. It raises
serious questions about the lack of family values from a party that is
always talking about family values; but now, all of a sudden, Mr.
Speaker, it seems like family values have gone out the window. Under
this version of the farm bill, people will go hungry in my city and
around the Nation.
As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes, the House bill
breaks with the long history of bipartisan efforts to improve and
reform SNAP. It is clear, Mr. Speaker, there were 23 hearings on the
issue of SNAP, and not one single time in the 23 hearings did they
suggest that there should be a different direction in terms of SNAP.
Mr. Speaker, Democrats are for work. We are very clear. Members of
the Congressional Black Caucus understand the importance of work. We
know what it means to work. But to me, Mr. Speaker, that was a
wrongheaded policy in terms of the farm bill. It did not justify that
action, and it should not have even gone anywhere.
But as usual, Mr. Speaker, some people don't realize the election is
over. We need to work together--Democrat, Republican, conservative,
liberal, whoever it may be--because hunger is a problem, Mr. Speaker.
It is not a problem just in certain communities; it is a problem across
this Nation.
In spite of the employment numbers and in spite of what is told to us
about the economy, there are a lot of people who are hungry. There are
a lot of people who are left out of the process. This is not something
that we should take lightly.
{time} 2030
This is something that we would recognize and something we should
work together on.
So, Mr. Speaker, I say to you today that it is clear to me that the
Republicans and the Trump administration have gone in the wrong
direction. When you talk about the issue of families and what needs to
take place, this is not about family values.
I stress to you, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, millions of
Americans who receive SNAP are consumers and are important parts of the
economy who our farmers and ranchers depend on as a part of our farm
and food economy.
Mr. Speaker, I have consistently said that food is medicine. Food is
medicine and food policy is foreign policy. It is not something we
should take lightly.
So today, the Congressional Black Caucus is going to talk about the
importance of values, and particularly family values, and how all of a
sudden there is amnesia when it comes down to the question of values.
We are saying to you today, Mr. Speaker, we want to make sure that
people understand that the 42 million people who are on SNAP across
this Nation are of all colors, of all races. It can happen to any of
us. It is not something that we should sit back and all of a sudden
think that this couldn't happen to anyone. This could happen to our
brothers and our sisters. And we are our brother's and sister's keeper.
It is not something that we should just willy-nilly suddenly say to
ourselves that we shouldn't worry about. Yet, the GOP not only failed
them, they failed America last week.
In addition, healthcare is one of the most important issues for our
country, as seen by the mass rejection of the efforts by the GOP to
repeal the Affordable Care Act last year.
Think about this, Mr. Speaker. Healthcare. Everybody has the right to
a healthy life, regardless of age, race, gender, or preexisting
condition. Medical issues are personal matters. Whether it affects
physical or mental health, it should not result in financial ruin. We
all should know and recognize that it is clear that any of us can have
a health episode. No one is above it. It is something that we should
not take lightly.
Mr. Speaker, we as the Congressional Black Caucus know and
understand. And that is why we have fought so hard for healthcare. We
have stressed over and over again that this, too, can happen to you.
We understand that, with preexisting conditions and the challenges
that we have in our community of high blood pressure, diabetes, and
other types of diseases, this is something we should address. We should
make sure that people know and can take advantage of a healthcare
system that is open and available. We should not be bankrupting people,
Mr. Speaker, on the issue of healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, when the President and the GOP talk about family values,
they seem to forget that when it comes down to the question of
healthcare, that is something that we all should be ensuring everybody
has. That is not a Democrat or Republican issue. That is an American
issue. That is something right up there that we all should recognize
that healthcare should be available to everyone. When we look at it and
think about it, this is something we have to work for.
[[Page H5637]]
There is no simple answer to dealing with the question of healthcare,
but we do believe the Affordable Care Act is a great foundation. We
believe that the Affordable Care Act basically laid a tone and a
foundation for this entire country.
As we all know, we have healthcare here in this House, in the United
States Senate, and the President of the United States has healthcare.
And that is provided for by the taxpayers of this country.
So it is not something we should take lightly. It is something that
we should all understand that health issues can affect us all. When you
really think about it, in terms of getting a job, how can you do that
if you are not healthy? How can you take care of your family if you are
not healthy? How can you do anything if you are not healthy?
This is something we believe is a family value and this is something
that we all have said over and again. I believe healthcare is a
fundamental right and not a privilege. No one should ever be afraid
that taking care of their physical or mental health will cause
financial hardship or be inaccessible to them for any reason.
I want to repeat that again, Mr. Speaker. I believe that healthcare
is a fundamental right and not a privilege. No one should ever be
afraid that taking care of their physical or mental health will cause
financial hardship or be inaccessible to them for any reason at all. We
need to think about that. We need to carefully think about exactly what
that means.
When we talk about it in this day and age of family values, what is
more important to a family than the health of the breadwinner, male or
female? What is important to someone who is looking for an opportunity
and they are prepared to go on that job?
It is very important, Mr. Speaker, that under the Affordable Care Act
it allowed people to stay on their parent's healthcare until age 26.
Also, the part about preexisting conditions. Don't take that lightly,
Mr. Speaker. That is something that we all could be affected by.
It seems to me that over and over again in this House we seem to
neglect to think about the conditions that we all face. Mr. Speaker, in
healthcare, we have those moments where it can be with anyone and any
condition they could be under. It is something that we should really
understand and recognize. It is something that we shouldn't take
lightly.
Healthcare is, to me, the most essential issue we face today. It is
something that we all should be fighting for, no matter what party we
come from, no matter what part of the country we come from. We should
all understand what it means.
I will continue to be a voice for the voiceless to ensure adequate
healthcare for all. That is something I believe is extremely essential,
Mr. Speaker.
When I thought about giving these words, I basicall said, again, we
are going to speak about the lack of family values demonstrated by the
Trump administration. The Trump administration and the GOP talk about
family values a lot. How can you talk about family values when you want
to eliminate the SNAP program? How can you talk about family values
when you want to reduce people's healthcare?
You can't talk about family values when, in the very same breath, you
are talking about destroying people's healthcare and access to food.
There is something fundamentally wrong with that.
So, Mr. Speaker, I stress to you today that this is not a partisan
issue. Feeding people and healthcare is not Democrat or Republican. It
is not conservative or liberal. It is something that we all need to be
concerned with. If we are talking about moving America forward, then we
will move it forward when we bring others along. I stress this is
something that we all should be concerned with.
Turning to more hypocrisy from the party of family values, the Trump
administration's unilateral decision to separate migrant children from
their parents at the Southern border is just the latest example of the
majority party refusing to practice what it preaches.
Just think abut it. Migrant children. Migrant children. Migrant
children. Migrant children. I said that four times. I said that four
times because I think it hasn't gotten through.
When you talk about separating children from their families, there is
something wrong with that, Mr. Speaker. When you talk about using that
for a political purpose and you talk about using them as an example of
children and families, there is something wrong with that, Mr. Speaker.
That is not the kind of America we want. We do not want an America
where we are going to separate children and families. Children and
families should be united. We should bring them together.
Mr. Speaker, when we hear the statement that Democrats want to
basically just let anybody in the country, we know that is just for
political rhetoric. Remember, I said earlier, going back to when we
passed this book out that says we have a lot to lose, we said, Mr.
Speaker, in the very beginning of this book, that the election is over.
I understand in 132 days there will be an election. Well, let the
election speak for itself, Mr. Speaker. Let the results speak for
themselves.
But there is no way you can talk about separating families. There is
no way you can talk about separating children. There is no way that
2,300 to 2,500 children who are spread wherever they maybe, that is not
the kind of America we want. That is not family values.
So if you talk about reducing SNAP and you talk about reducing
healthcare and you talk about separating families, there is something
wrong with that, Mr. Speaker. There is something wrong when we are now
at a point where we are separating families.
Mr. Speaker, there have been a number of Members who have gone to the
various borders and seen for themselves firsthand what is taking place.
This is not the kind of America we want.
For a party that professes to understand the importance of advancing
policies that promote family values, we now have a preponderance of
evidence to the contrary.
I just ticked them off: SNAP, healthcare, and now separating
families. If you take those three areas, there is something wrong with
the context of talking about family values.
It is clearly that whether it is an excessive punitive immigration
policy, changes to the free lunch program eligibility, proposals to cut
Supplemental Security Income, or the refusal to adopt comprehensive
criminal justice reform, the Republican policy agenda deliberately
targets families, especially those in underserved communities of color.
Mr. Speaker, we are, in my view, in a very challenging time. We are
probably, in my lifetime, in the most challenging time I have ever
seen. This requires a different kind of leadership. It requires a
leadership that puts America first. And in order to put America first,
that means we must work together. We must work together on a farm bill
that is bipartisan and that doesn't reduce SNAP. We must work to ensure
healthcare is available. And we must be clear, Mr. Speaker, that we
have an opportunity to make these things happen.
So I stress to you with the things that I have just stressed, that
clearly we have got a chance to do something about these things. These
problems persist even in the wake of the administration's immigration
policy reversal and the so-called executive order.
Several members of the CBC have expressed concerns about the
Republicans' inability to devise a coherent reunification plan for the
children and parents separated by the President's misguided policy.
An American crisis is happening right now in front of us. Children,
from the toddlers at the border to Dreamers losing DACA to American-
born children of immigrant parents, have become the victims of Trump's
America.
Let me repeat that. An American crisis is happening right now in
front of us. Children, from the toddlers at the border to Dreamers
losing DACA to American-born children of immigrant parents, children
have become victims in Trump's America. This is not what should be
happening in America.
Mr. Speaker, yes, we have our challenges, but the fact of the matter
is that we need to work together. So as a member of the Congressional
Black Caucus, I stand here, Mr. Speaker, saying to you that the
Congressional
[[Page H5638]]
Black Caucus is ready to work together to make a difference.
The practice of punishing parents who are trying to save their
children's lives and punishing children for being brought to safety by
their parents by separating them is fundamentally cruel and un-America.
That should not be accepted, Mr. Speaker.
For this next hour, we, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus,
are standing up to shine light on this situation.
We are determined to make sure, Mr. Speaker, that people understand
that this should no longer be acceptable; we should not continue to pit
this section against that section; and that we all understand, when it
is all said and done, that we are in this together. Although, as Dr.
King said, we may have come over on different boats, we are in the same
boat now. That is called America--an America that is inclusive.
The Department of Homeland Security denied that they were breaking
the sacred bond between parents and children until The New York Times
reported that more than 700 children have been separated from their
moms and their dads since October.
Family unity is recognized as a fundamental human right enshrined in
international law. The Trump administration's proposed action to
separate immigrant families flies in the face of this law. It must
stop. It must stop, Mr. Speaker. The practice of separating children
from parents as a deterrent to seeking asylum is inhumane and cruel.
Seeking asylum is not illegal. In fact, it is written into U.S.
immigration law to ensure that those with a credible fear of
persecution that they can present their case.
{time} 2045
The American Academy of Pediatrics opposed DHS's proposal that would
separate mothers from their children arriving at the border, saying
that, in a time of anxiety and stress, children need to be with their
parents, family members, and caregivers.
I stand here tonight, on the 6-month anniversary of the tax bill. But
before I speak on that, I have a colleague of mine from the great State
of Texas. She has been in the forefront. I have watched her in the
short period of time I have been here. When she speaks, there are many
who listen to her.
She is relentless. I have watched her be relentless, driven,
purposeful, and focused. She is the great lady from the State of Texas.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas, Congresswoman
Sheila Jackson Lee.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman
from Pennsylvania. There is no one to whom he can take a back seat in
terms of his freshman term for his engagement and involvement. He has
made the most eloquent statements on the floor, which show his
commitment to the people of this Nation and the people of his district.
Tonight is certainly an example of that, as we have come to the floor
to, really, speak about children. I hope that my friends and my
colleagues will fully appreciate the fact that, as we speak about
children, we are speaking about everyone's children.
We are speaking about a young boy who was killed running away from
law enforcement--not running toward, not creating a threat.
We are thinking about children who need a better education or
children who need to have a supplemental nutrition program or children
who need to be safe from human trafficking. We are talking about
children.
Mr. Speaker, a week ago Monday and Sunday, I was in McAllen and
Brownsville. I was in the detention centers with the tinsel, silver-
like blankets. I was in the cage-like atmosphere where human beings
were kept, human beings, of course, who had fled their country and had
come across the border.
Some might make the point that they came across illegally, but they
came across and presented themselves to officials. Heretofore, that
action was not a criminal action.
I saw those individuals. I saw the most potent memory of what is
wrong about what we are doing: mothers who were crying their hearts out
for having not been able to see their children, with stories that would
break your heart, stories where you were told to go into court, your
children could not go with you, and you came back and your children
were gone.
What father, what mother could even live with themselves, knowing
their child had been snatched with no information and in a--how should
I say it?--deceiving manner, not a manner where you could sit and
explain to Jose or Maria or little Roger, whom I held in my hands, 9
months old, fleeing with his sister because his mother is deceased.
What do you think that sister feels? Her mother is deceased, and the
9-month-old that she was bringing, her mother's baby, is taken away
from her. And Roger cannot speak. One-year-old Leah cannot speak. None
of them can speak, and they have been taken away.
How dastardly, how insensitive our government appears to be. A Nation
founded upon the values of humanity, freedom of religion and speech and
due process. We all know the law provides anyone within our boundaries
the right to due process.
But, no. We are, in fact, doing what Bishop Daniel E. Flores of the
diocese of Brownsville said: We are acting, by separating immigrant
parents and children as a deterrent, on a cruel and reprehensible
policy.
Reverend Bishop Michael Curry said: For Christians, Jesus of Nazareth
is a standard of conduct for your life. He tells us to love God and to
love thy neighbor.
I would say almost every religion speaks about love, speaks about
family--not in the way that the United States Attorney General used and
abused the New Testament, by citing Roman 13, to submit to rulers, to
justify the child separation policy, before he was completely
undermined and embarrassed by a fake executive order that was signed by
the President of the United States.
I say that because that term has become part of our language. I have
never used it before, but it was an appropriate description of an
executive order that will last for only 20 days and will not have any
answer for us going forward.
We don't have any legislation. Our legislation to solve this problem
introduced by Mr. Nadler and the Judiciary Committee Democrats and all
of us, welcoming anyone else who would like to sign, would get to the
immediate concern of not having a separation of these children and,
also, ending the zero-tolerance program, which has created this unjust
situation.
Let me indicate to you that all of the medical professionals,
including Alicia Lieberman with the Early Trauma Treatment Network at
the University of California said: Decades of studies show early
separations can cause permanent emotional damage. ``Children are
biologically programmed to grow best in the care of a parent figure.''
Members who have visited have said they walked into rooms with 300
children, and they were absolutely silent. They were frightened.
Toddlers.
Who among us who have had toddlers in their home, from our own
children to those of us fortunate enough to have grandbabies, like
mine--like Roy III and Ellison--have ever seem them sit still?
These children were in total fear and apprehension. This is what we
are creating. This is not the America we love.
It is noted that the activity in the children's brains was much lower
than expected. If you think of a brain as a light bulb, it is as though
there was a dimmer that has reduced them from a 100-watt bulb to a 30-
watt bulb.
This is what happens. Children who have been separated from their
parents, in their first 2 years like little Roger, who is 9 months old,
their IQ may go down.
So we are on the floor today, and I am glad to be with Chairman
Richmond of the Congressional Black Caucus. We believe in speaking out
on the issues that impact all of humanity. And this is the sin that we
are in the midst of.
Do you realize that the only numbers that these children and parents
are getting are the aid numbers? Someone says there is a number at
Health and Human Services. None of us have seen it.
I am demanding a full inventory of every single child that we allege
that we have who was separated and snatched from their family members,
who are in foster care or some detention center, as well as the 10,000
unaccompanied children.
[[Page H5639]]
Mr. Speaker, do you realize that I have been here long enough that I
was down on the border 4 years ago when the massive numbers of
unaccompanied children came to the United States? Then, we put these
boys and girls, as unaccompanied children, in this vast industry of
foster care and centers. They are still there.
Can anyone who believes in a higher power want to accept that? Even
as clean as these places may be, Mr. Speaker, do you know that these
caretakers working in these nonprofits, that they cannot touch the
children? They cannot hold the children. They cannot comfort a crying
toddler. They are told not to touch these children.
Do you realize that we are in one of the worst, or largest, refugee
crises in the world. That is why we are receiving these people. It is
going up 67 percent all over the world because people are fleeing
devastation and crises in their countries. That is what is happening in
Honduras, with the largest number of murders in the world. El Salvador.
Guatemala has a million people displaced.
Yet, our government would suggest that they cannot seek asylum for
domestic violence or gangs or fleeing a place that has volcano ash that
has displaced a million people in a small country? Where is our mercy?
That is why we are on the floor today. We are on the floor today
because of, as I indicated, the horrible, horrific impact on children.
``Reuniting and Detaining Migrant Families Pose New Mental Health
Risks,'' says The New York Times.
I want to just add these points to your discussion that we have
faced.
Some of these children, Mr. Speaker, are in foster care. We know that
there are American children in foster care. We know that there are
families who are trying to get back on their feet. They want their
children. There is a love for those children. But they have had to be
moved out.
The worst thing--I have had these calls to my office--is a mother's
parental rights to be extinguished unfairly when she was trying to get
herself together, maybe economically, maybe trying to get off drugs. We
feel the pain of that mother, that American mother.
How would you like to be a Guatemalan mother--this happened in 2012--
who was arrested on immigration charges and lost custody of her son,
who was then adopted by a Missouri couple over her objection. The judge
who initially terminated the mother's parental rights found that,
should she be deported, the chance that she might try to return to get
her child would render her an unfit parent.
I feel like I am in a nightmare. Your child is snatched away from you
at the border. They go into foster care. Some good-intending people--I
don't want to condemn the adoptive parents, good-intending people.
I don't know who gave them the authority that this was an available
child. These children are in foster care around the Nation. They are
everywhere. We don't know which way they are, to be honest with you.
They get in foster care and some--maybe I'll say--well-intentioned
foster care notifies someone and said: ``We have a child for you to
adopt.'' And your rights are quashed.
I am feeling pain right now. I can't even imagine it: I have fallen
upon hard times. My State children's protective services takes my
child. I make a commitment to get my life back together, and my child
is lost to me forever.
This is an amazing scenario that we are in. I want to read this last
thing and then speak very quickly about our family values.
This is from an immigrant mother: My child was snatched from me and
separated from me one day after I was arrested.
Again, I want to end the arrests, the zero tolerance. They are
presenting themselves for asylum. They should have the right to go
through the legal process. Then they should have the right to counsel,
due process. And they should have the right to be able to be released.
Now, there will be a great deal of ire and humor for some on this
point. That is because they don't understand. We had a case management
program that was 90-plus percent positive on the return of those
individuals, those families, for their court date. This administration
defunded it.
It was a case management program. They followed those families, put
them on the electronic bracelet, and they returned. They did not
escape. They did not remain in the United States without coming to
court and getting a determination.
So this mother was separated. This is a court case, thank goodness,
that was filed on June 22: ``I have been able to speak to my child only
three times and only for approximately 5 minutes each time since we
were separated. My son isn't able to give me much information about his
circumstances because he is too young and too upset to understand what
is happening.''
She doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know where she is.
``Every time we talk, he only wants to know when he will see me
again, so it is hard for him to focus on anything else.''
Just like I said, we are diminishing his capacity. We are creating a
situation of undermining his intellectual growth, his psychological
growth, all of this.
``There have been a few times he said that he had a nosebleed. I told
him to tell someone if he is feeling sick, but he is too scared to tell
anyone.''
That is why you went into a room of toddlers and nobody was moving.
Nobody was moving. No toddler was even moving.
``He says that he is scared to report any type of mistreatment or
health issue because the other children have told him that children who
report things get sent to another place.''
I have legislation that I am introducing, and I hope my colleagues,
Republicans and Democrats, will extend the temporary protected status
for Salvadorans, Hondurans, and, as well, Guatemalans. We want to give
them TPS on the basis of the volcano.
{time} 2100
Why? Because this administration has ended it. It will end in 2019.
These people are fleeing violence, and you will be sending those here
who are working, contributing, and paying taxes--before we can try to
regularize or find a way for them to access status--you will be sending
them back to murderous countries in the largest crisis of refugee
movement in the history of our time. You will be sending them back.
Where is our mercy?
Then you want to add to that the fact that we have an administration
and a Congress that is making changes to school free lunches. These are
for our children already here.
Making eligibility proposed cuts to Supplemental Security Income,
SSI, many children, that is their lifeline. If something happens to
their parent, they have SSI.
The refusal to adopt comprehensive criminal justice reform, I am a
steadfast supporter of good law enforcement. They are part of the legal
and law and order structure, but they are also part of the human rights
and civil rights structure of this Nation. It is important that we have
the collegiality, the comity, the communications, and the friendship,
actually, between police and community.
It is difficult when there are mothers who are African Americans who
believe that their Black boys are more apt to be shot by law
enforcement, as a young man was just shot a few days ago in
Pennsylvania. This is not a condemnation of law enforcement. It is to
work to make the system better and to save lives.
So we are interested in criminal justice reform. But, of course, that
is not moving in the direction we would like. I would like it to be
moving in a nonpartisan manner to save lives.
The GOP chose to cut $150 billion over a decade from various safety
net programs: Medicare; cash assistance programs, like Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families; again, as I said, SSI; and healthcare.
Republicans are suing the government to eliminate the preexisting
condition requirement for insurance carriers. I am almost speechless. I
cannot believe that. I was here for the Affordable Care Act. We laid
ourselves on the line to fight for all of those who came to us in
hearings, pleading: I have asthma. I have acne. I am pregnant. I have
diabetes. I have sickle cell. And I have not been able to get
insurance.
Here we are taking away that lifeline that was a valuable asset to
the healthcare of the American people.
[[Page H5640]]
The farm bill, cutting $23 billion that resulted in 400,000
households losing SNAP--our children, here in the United States--the
supplemental nutrition program, thousands of children losing reduced
meals.
Do you know, right now, Mr. Speaker, out of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, my Houston parks department is serving three meals a day
to children who would not eat but for this program of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture--three meals a day to hungry children. There
is hunger in America, but we are making it worse.
What about the $1.9 trillion tax cut? Do you realize that I go around
in my community and beyond and people ask me: ``What happened with the
tax cut?'' They don't have any impact from the tax cut. There is no
increase in wages. Bonuses are not anything that anybody remembers
because only a few people got them. This is the pay-more-for-less tax
cut, massive tax cuts and a lot of money going to individuals who
already have money. This is Robin Hood in reverse.
This bill is unprecedented and breathtaking in its audacity. It is
making rich people richer. It is a scheme. And by taking insurance away
from 24 million people, raising costs for the poor and middle class,
these are questions of whether family values exist in this Nation.
As Judge Learned Hand observed: ``If we are to keep our democracy,
there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.''
So I would ask that my colleagues join me, as I asked in the Women's
Caucus hearing just a few minutes ago, that we secure a count of every
single child held in captivity. That means an immigrant child who was
snatched away from their family or an unaccompanied child. There are
thousands. Where are they?
I would also ask that Members be aware that these facilities are
being brought into our districts with no notice to us as Members of
Congress. These facilities are being paid for by Federal tax dollars,
and the tax dollars of my constituents, in particular, in Houston,
Texas. They have given no notice to local officials. We were not even
aware that they were coming.
The site that is about to be seeking to be opened is in a concrete
area. It is very difficult for any of us to see where these children
would play and recreate. So we wonder: How we are going to treat
children who are going to be thrown into these facilities with no
access to what children need?
Then this ending of the temporary protected status, I ask my
colleagues to join me on the legislation that I will be introducing for
a 2-year extension, so that these individuals are not thrown into the
devastation that will make them refugees, because they will be coming
back, and they are now contributing citizens.
What do you do with a country that has a million people displaced,
like in Guatemala? What do you do when we say that we are supposed to
have values, and not only are we treating parents who are deeply
pained--poorly, reprehensibly, and inhumane--by snatching their
children, or not seeking to reunite those children who came
unaccompanied? When I say that, obviously, not reunite them into a bad
situation, but document--they are just being held in these
institutions, 10,000 of them. They are just being held.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for being particularly gracious
and yielding.
I want to have paid tribute in my words to little Roger in
Brownsville, Texas, and little Leah in Brownsville, Texas, a 9-month-
old and a 1-year-old. Even if they go to foster care, that is not their
relative or their parent. Which of their parents will have
their parental rights extinguished against their will and,
unfortunately, have one of our courts say it is a right decision? Which
of these people will be denied due process, because we have words from
this administration that say: I want no lawyers or courts. I want
Border Patrol and ICE?
Those are not judges and juries. That is not a component of due
process. Law enforcement has its role, and then the judiciary has its
role, and the rights of these individuals warrant that.
Mr. Speaker, I close with Ephesians 4:30-32: ``Be kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ
also has forgiven you.''
And Galatians 5:22-23: ``But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-
control; against such things there is no law.''
There could be no law against being humane to these children.
I am grateful to the Congressman for his leadership in the
Congressional Black Caucus. We are not only talking about domestic
issues here in the United States, but we have extended ourselves to
talk about the pain that is transpiring in these mothers and fathers
right now, at 9:10 p.m. eastern time, in these detention centers,
without their children.
Mr. Speaker, over the last many weeks, the country has been horrified
by the sights and sounds of children being separated from their
parents, and Americans aghast at the realization that families are
being torn apart in their name.
When I visited the border and the federal detention facilities that
housed parents and children quarantined from one another, what I
witnessed was horrific and was echoed in heartbreaking audio recordings
released by the press revealing children crying, aching for their
parents, as all face a fate uncertain, and one inconsistent with the
American ideal.
I will never forget the little children I met during my visit to the
border.
One baby, 9-month-old Roger, had been taken from his 19-year-old
sister after she was prosecuted for crossing the border illegally.
Their mother is dead, now their family is gone.
This crisis is not just an immigration matter, nor is it just a
foreign policy matter. It is a humanitarian crisis, executed by an
administration that purports to be the champion of ``family values''
but whose actions do not actually value families.
But the President's attempt at attacking children and their
caretakers is not one that only pertains to asylum seekers at the
borders.
For the entirety of his term, the President and his administration
have relentlessly targeted communities of color and the programs they
have previously benefitted from.
This includes changes to school free lunch program eligibility,
proposed cuts to Supplemental Security Income, the refusal to adopt
comprehensive criminal justice reforms, one thing after another.
Just last week, the GOP chose to cut $150 billion over a decade from
various safety net programs which include Medicare and cash assistance
programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental
Security Income.
And the House farm bill that Republicans passed, and which Democrats
were unanimously in opposition to, will result in some 400,000
households losing SNAP benefits.
As well, thousands of children would also risk losing their
enrollment in free and reduced-price school meal programs because of
this.
The President and GOP have promised for years now to create a plan to
improve health insurance for everybody.
But that promise has not been kept.
By passing a nearly $1.9 trillion tax law and repealing the
Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, Republicans will increase
health care premiums on children and families.
According to the CBO, 4 million more people will be without health
insurance by 2019. By 2027, 13 million more people will be uninsured.
Families' premiums will also increase by nearly 10 percent on average
per year over the next decade.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has significantly improved the
availability, affordability, and quality of health care for tens of
millions of Americans, including millions who previously had no health
insurance at all.
Americans are rightly frightened by Republican attempts to repeal the
ACA without having in place a superior new plan that maintains
comparable coverages and comparable consumer choices and protections.
It is beyond dispute that the ``Pay More For Less'' plan proposed by
House Republicans a few months ago fails this test miserably.
The Republican ``Pay More For Less Act'' is a massive tax cut for the
wealthy, paid for on the backs of America's most vulnerable, the poor
and working class households.
This ``Robin Hood in reverse'' bill is unprecedented and breathtaking
in its audacity--no bill has ever tried to give so much to the rich
while taking so much from the poor and working class.
This Republican scheme gives gigantic tax cuts to the rich, and pays
for it by taking insurance away from 24 million people and raising
costs for the poor and middle class.
It is despicable and shameful that those elected to serve their
people would rather see their pockets full than their constituents
healthy and well.
An Administration that cared about ``family values'' would not be
working so hard to repeal a healthcare program that has insured
[[Page H5641]]
nine out of ten Americans and saved families with genetic diseases and
pre-existing conditions thousands of dollars in debt.
In 1968, African Americans were about 5.4 times as likely as whites
to be in prison or jail; compared to today, African Americans are 6.4
times as likely as whites to be incarcerated, which is especially
troubling given that whites are also much more likely to be
incarcerated now than they were in 1968.
It is clear the inequalities and disparities that ignited hundreds of
American cities in the 1960s still exist and have not been eliminated
over the last half-century.
As Judge Learned Hand observed, ``If we are to keep our democracy,
there must be one commandment: thou shalt not ration justice.''
Reforming the criminal justice system so that it is fairer and
delivers equal justice to all persons is one of the great moral
imperatives of our time.
For reform to be truly meaningful, we must look at every stage at
which our citizens interact with the system--from policing in our
communities and the first encounter with law enforcement, to the
charging and manner of attaining a conviction, from the sentence
imposed to reentry and collateral consequences.
The need for meaningful prison and sentencing reform cannot be
overstated because being the world's leader in incarceration is neither
morally nor fiscally sustainable for the United States, or the federal
government, the nation's largest jailer.
For individuals who have paid their debt, the reentry process is
paved with tremendous, and often insurmountable, obstacles resulting in
recidivism rates as high as 75 percent in some areas.
More must be done to ensure that the emphasis on incarceration is
matched with an equal emphasis on successful reentry so that the
approximately 630,000 individuals who reenter society each year are
prepared to be successful in civilian life.
This is why I have also strongly supported and cosponsored
legislation that will allow those with a criminal conviction to have a
fair chance to compete for jobs with federal agencies and contractors.
I have also been working for many years to stop the over-
criminalization of our young people.
Today, more and more young children are being arrested, incarcerated,
and detained in lengthy out-of-home placements.
Harsh and lengthy penalties handed down to young offenders increase
their risk of becoming physically abused, emotionally traumatized, and
reduce their chance of being successfully reintegrated back into their
communities.
I have introduced and supported legislation to help reform how youth
and juveniles are treated to reduce contact and recidivism within the
juvenile and criminal justice system; to help protect them from a
system that turns them into lifelong offenders.
Just as we need to minimize the conviction of innocent people, we
must address the unnecessary loss of life that can result from police
and civilian interactions.
Effective law enforcement requires the confidence of the community
that the law will be enforced impartially and equally.
That confidence has been eroded substantially in recent years by
numerous instances of excessive use of lethal force.
There is no higher priority than improving the peacefulness of these
interactions and rebuilding the trust between law enforcement and the
communities they serve and protect.
At what point will Republicans step away from the tyrant of their
party and make changes that will actually benefit the communities they
represent, to stop fighting the disenfranchised and instead fight FOR
the disenfranchised?
Now more than ever, the Trump Administration and the GOP have shown
how inhumane they are when it comes to dealing with marginalized
individuals.
This has become crystal clear in the span of two weeks when the
public was finally made aware of the policies in place at our Southern
borders.
While the President purported to end the practice of separating
families with his Executive Order signed on Wednesday, thousands of
children have been torn apart from their families and sent to various
pockets of the country, often under cover of night, without any
indication to their parents as to their whereabouts, or a plan to
reunite them.
In my home state of Texas, a migrant who was separated from his
family committed suicide while in federal detention.
A mother who, while breastfeeding her young child when both were in
federal detention, had her child ripped away from her arms.
This cannot be how we make America great again; this is how we make
America hateful again.
The Trump Administration is utterly failing in its basic duty to
treat all persons with dignity and compassion, and is making a mockery
of our national values and reputation as a champion of human rights.
We are a great country with a long and noble tradition of providing
sanctuary to the persecuted and oppressed.
We are also a nation of families, from all shapes and sizes.
From the 16-year-old girl and her single mom who desperately depend
on the benefits SNAP provides.
To the 19-year-old girl who must now become the sole guardian for her
baby brother, in a country she prays will offer her peace and refuge
(and return her brother to her).
It is in that spirit that we should act.
It is for them that we must all stand together in the face of
injustice.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a copy of an Op-Ed entitled ``We
Must Cease the Inhumane Practice of Separating Families Apprehended on
the Border'' in The Hill newspaper.
We must cease the inhumane practice of separating families apprehended
on the border
[From The Hill, June 12, 2018]
(BY REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TEXAS), OPINION CONTRIBUTOR)
Every day hundreds of persons, ranging from infants and
toddlers to adolescents and adults, flee violence,
oppression, and economic desperation from Guatemala, Honduras
and El Salvador, seeking safe harbor in the United States.
They are not criminals or terrorists; they are refugees
seeking asylum. While they hope to receive asylum, none of us
expected that they would be treated as criminals or that
their children would be forcibly separated from them. I
cannot think of a situation more devastating than having the
government forcibly separate a parent from their child to a
place unknown, for a fate uncertain, absent any form of
communication. But shamefully that is exactly what is
happening under this administration.
Reports indicate that as many as 700 children have been
taken from adults claiming to be their parents since October
2017, including more than 100 children under the age of 4.
This startling fact comes after Acting Assistant Secretary
Steven Wagner of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) testified before the Senate in April 2018 that
during a review of more than 7,600 unaccompanied immigrant
children who had recently arrived and been placed with a
sponsor, officials at the agency were unable to determine the
precise whereabouts of 1,475 children.
This is unconscionable and unacceptable.
This administration's practice of separating children from
their parents inexplicably turns accompanied children into
unaccompanied children, with all of the attendant risks and
dangers, including human trafficking. In 2014, the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations reported that ``over a period
of 4 months, HHS allegedly placed a number of UACs in the
hands of a ring of human traffickers who forced them to work
on egg farms in and around Marion, Ohio. The minor victims
were forced to work six or seven days a week, twelve hours
per day. The traffickers repeatedly threatened the victims
and their families with physical harm, and even death, if
they did not work or surrender their entire paychecks.''
What is even more reprehensible is to this day, the Trump
administration maintains that the Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR) is not legally responsible for children
after they are released from ORR care. This line of thinking
allows such gross negligence to take place in the first
place. As the Founder and Chair of the Congressional
Children's Caucus and as a parent and grandparent, this is
unacceptable.
Studies have documented that when young children are
traumatically removed from their parents, their physical and
mental health and well-being suffers. The effects of these
traumatic experiences--especially in children who have
already faced serious adversity are unlikely to be short-
lived, and can likely last a lifetime. This is exacerbated
when the child in custody speaks a language that is not
English or Spanish. Although the government has a legal
obligation to provide reasonable language services to
unaccompanied minors, many children arriving to the U.S.
speak indigenous languages and have little or no translation
assistance provided by the U.S. government.
The Trump administration's ``zero-tolerance'' policy does
not make our nation safer or more secure, nor is it a
solution to the problem of illegal immigration and refugees
seeking asylum. It is, however, monstrously cruel, inhumane,
and shameful and makes a mockery of America's reputation as
the most welcoming and generous nation on earth.
United Nations Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani
recently condemned the Trump administration's treatment of
unaccompanied minors coming to the United States saying that
``the use of immigration detention and family separation as a
deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and
principles''.
The last time this nation had policies that promoted the
forcible separation of children from newly arrived persons
was slavery: a dark chapter in this nation's history that we
should not revisit. Today, the parents of these thousands of
children will not be deterred from finding ways to reunite
with their children, even reentering the United States under
the threat of imprisonment. It
[[Page H5642]]
would be unconscionable to prosecute parents under these
circumstances. There must be strong and aggressive
congressional oversight of this administration's immigration
enforcement.
The Trump administration's policy should cease and desist
immediately. National Policy regarding immigration
legislation should not create greater fear for families
already traumatized by intolerable conditions in their home
countries. U.S. immigration policy should not deter refugees
from seeking asylum within our borders. We should welcome
mothers carrying their babies to a safe haven and assure the
safety of their children.
I will soon be introducing legislation prohibiting the
separation of children from their families absent a health or
safety risk. The legislation will also provide that these
children the right to be represented by counsel and that
translation services be available at all legal proceedings at
all stages.
As we have seen with the recent volcanic activity and
earthquakes in Guatemala, the United States should be seeking
ways to help its neighbors in the Southern Hemisphere. The
Trump administration is utterly failing in its basic duty to
treat all persons with dignity and compassion. Rather, it is
making a mockery of our national values and reputation as a
champion of human rights.
This crisis is not just an immigration matter, nor is it
just a foreign policy matter. It is a humanitarian crisis,
executed by an administration that purports to be the
champion of `family values' but whose actions do not actually
value families.
We are a great country with a long and noble tradition of
providing sanctuary to the persecuted and oppressed. And it
is in that spirit that we should act. We can do it; after
all, we are Americans.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, can you tell me how much time I have
remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fitzpatrick). The gentleman from
Pennsylvania has 1\3/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask one quick question then.
Ms. Jackson Lee has visited some of these locations. Can she
describe--because I haven't been there, or maybe for people who
haven't--exactly what is going on in those centers.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, it is a painful experience, as I
indicated. Toddlers don't speak. They are standing still, as has been
evidenced by Members who have gone. I saw two little babies. Leah, a
little older, fussy, playing on the floor, didn't want anyone to touch
her. And Roger wanted someone to touch him. Mothers in cages, other
mothers in a detention center in Los Fresno, nine of them from
Honduras, each and every one had a child taken, and they were crying.
But the crux of this is that they don't know where the child is, and
the child does not know where they are. These centers are being put up.
One that already exists in my community has been charged with abusing
children: throwing them down on the floor and giving them medication
that they do not want; in essence, giving them medication to keep them
quiet.
I know there are good people--everyone wants to talk about good
people in their own State--but these are inhumane conditions. The
greatest pain that I can say that you would see is men and women who
are on the verge of deportation, they don't know what is happening, but
they don't have their children. They are going back without their
children.
Then you also see these large warehouses with thousands of little
kids from 10 to 17, but they have been there for a while. They are
unaccompanied children, and we have no accounting of these children.
That is what we are seeing. That is, I think, a shame on this
government, and we can do better. We have been a refuge for refugees.
There is a way to orderly do this.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I want to end with that comment by the great
gentlewoman from the State of Texas on Chairman Richmond's leadership
of the Congressional Black Caucus. There is no better way to end than
that comment.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, House Republicans
continue to profess that ``family values'' form the bedrock of their
decision making. Yet, time and time again there is action being taken
to the contrary. We have seen that the same ``family values'' that
Republicans claim to have are not evident in the debates here on the
floor, the legislation brought forth, and ultimately what is voted on
in Congress.
Whether the topic is food nutrition for our children, Supplemental
Security Income benefits for older Americans, or immigration policies,
the average American family does not stand to benefit from many of the
proposals considered by my Republican colleagues. Even when it comes
down to the physical well-being of our citizens, Republicans have shown
through their actions that they value profits more than lowering the
cost of health care for millions of Americans. In fact, the recent
corporate tax bill passed by the Republican party is have directly
associated with a 15% spike in premiums at the expense of middle- and
working-class Americans. The nonpartisan CBO also reported that another
3 million will be pushed off their coverage altogether.
I have even greater concerns as to how House Republicans are
strengthening families while the GOP Farm Bill that passed last week
will kick at least 2 million people off food stamps, and cut total food
stamp benefits by more than $23 billion. Meanwhile, Republicans refused
to include limits on subsidies provided for crop insurance--one of the
few federal programs without eligibility caps or payment limits.
Moreover, Supplemental Security Income is truly a provider of last
resort and is vital for those who depend on it, yet my colleagues
continue to impose devastating cuts to a program that benefits our most
vulnerable. On the immigration front, Republicans are unwilling to
allow migrant families to remain together and are instead separating
them at our southern border.
Mr. Speaker, these are just a few examples of how what we do here
impacts millions of families all across the country. I believe many of
my colleagues will agree with me that strong families form the
foundation of a strong nation. Any decision on policy, whether economic
or social, should be made to the overall benefit of the everyday
American family. However, we must be extremely careful not to do so at
the expense of millions of middle and lower class Americans who are
already struggling to get by.
____________________