[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 188 (Thursday, November 29, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H9696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                       HUMANITARIAN MORAL COMPASS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, the uniqueness of this Nation is the 
idea that we have coddled democracy, freedom, and justice. We have 
maintained a constitutional government and have been respected 
worldwide. This has been through wars, times of peace, times of 
depression, and times of devastation in our own Nation. Yet, we remain 
a Nation that has a moral guidepost.
  I rise today to announce to this House that America can do two things 
at once. It can condemn the terroristic, violent act of killing a Saudi 
reporter who worked at the Washington Post, and, at the same time, 
maintain its status and prominence to engage in the affairs of the 
Middle East, as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage the legislation that is now 
moving through procedurally in the United States Senate to remove our 
support for the Yemen war that the Saudis have enacted upon against the 
people of Yemen and stand against the violent acts against children--
the killing of children on school buses, which has happened over and 
over again--and the bloodshed and starvation that is going on in Yemen 
with our affirmation.
  It is time now to end that bloody war with our handprints on it. I 
hope the other body will engage in debate and be fully informed by this 
thoughtful, bipartisan legislation. I believe that it should come to 
the House and that we should act on it with all expeditiousness.
  Now just imagine that a tape exists, which I believe Members of 
Congress should have the right to listen to, but I understand we are 
brilliant people and our imaginations are vivid. Imagine that you went 
into a consular's office with the hopes and dreams of a new marriage. 
You are following the codes and laws of your native land to get 
permission to marry again, to have joy again, to be able to be with 
someone you love.
  Rather than having the process on paper, your blood was splattered on 
the floor. You are greeted with a brutal force that demanded whatever--
loyalty to the crown prince--and you were bludgeoned and killed by 
allegedly the biggest untruth: it was an accident. Then, tragically, to 
your family comes the evidence or the word that you were mutilated or 
dismembered.
  Our imagination, tragically, can allow us to see that picture, 
ordered by the crown prince. We must cease and desist any relationship 
in this war and, at the same time, maintain diplomacy.
  Mr. Speaker, we also need to be more merciful to those who are at the 
border. As a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee, we have 
created this crisis here in the government, the White House, and the 
administration. We must be humanitarians. Tear gas can be used to 
protect our men and women at the border, but it must be used sparingly 
and not against mothers and children.
  I hope to be able to discuss this issue. I hope to be down at the 
border to see this disgraceful behavior. We can do better in feeding 
them and providing cover as they are processed. Our law has not 
changed. You can seek a legal asylum request to enter the legal ports 
of entry--even those who are not. The White House knows that. Let us 
not be known for the brutality against women and children as we have 
been known to separate women and children.
  Finally, again, as a member of the Homeland Security Committee, we 
need to rush disaster housing assistance to California. None of us have 
seen the magnitude of the Camp fire fires. FEMA has not provided 
disaster housing assistance. The President must issue that order. We 
must rush to provide for those people who are homeless. We know that it 
is more efficient to provide funding for housing as opposed to hotels. 
They are begging for it. I believe that we should convene a Homeland 
Security hearing to be able to assist these individuals as quickly as 
possible.
  Where is the humanitarian moral compass of this Nation to stop 
killing children in Yemen; to understand that we must help those 
suffering refugees at the border; and finally, Mr. Speaker, to help our 
neighbors in California get housing after everything is gone?

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