[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 27, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PROMISE OF AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Washington (Mrs. Rodgers) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I rise today to reflect on 
the promise of America.
  What is the promise of America? What has it meant for us? And what 
does it mean for us today?
  America has been around for a few hundred years. That is really not 
that long. In that short time, our dreams have informed the 
imaginations of people around the globe.
  It all started when our Founding Fathers drafted and signed the 
Declaration of Independence. It set us on a path for our Nation to be 
the greatest experiment in self-governance that the world has ever 
known. Our Founders were our first innovators who risked it all for 
America to be free.
  I am sure there are times when we have fallen short, but our 
experiment has been overwhelmingly for the good. It is here in America 
that we have led and cultivated history's greatest breakthroughs. We 
fought a war to end slavery. We liberated Europe from the Nazis. We 
invented flight; put men on the Moon; split the atom; and invented the 
microchip, the internet, and more.
  At great expense, all this was accomplished by maintaining fleets and 
armies for America to be a beacon of hope for freedom-loving people 
around the world. We have done more to lift people out of poverty and 
raise the standard of living than any nation in the history of the 
world.
  Madam Speaker, I am sure our Founders never dreamed that any of this 
would be possible, but it was because they made their vision for 
America a reality rooted in the promise that our rights are self-
evident, sacred, and undeniable.
  America was born with purpose. It says it right here in the 
Declaration of Independence. We all know the words, or at least we 
should know the words: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the 
pursuit of Happiness.''
  These are more than just words. It is a faith statement, a 
distinctive national credo. The moment we fail to believe it, the 
experiment is over and this Nation will fade away like all nation-
states that have lost belief in themselves and forgotten their 
identity.
  If we forget our purpose and let the promise of America be broken, 
then we are lost. The future is lost.
  It is our job and our highest responsibility to transmit the promise 
of America to our children and to all who are a part of this great 
experiment. It is not enough that we merely assert these as ideas. We 
must live them as truths and show the world that they work.
  America is where freedom has made its greatest mark. It is where 
creativity is unmatched by any time in history. It is where justice 
flowers more generously than anyplace on Earth.
  The torch must be passed to the next generation. That is what 
President John F. Kennedy said, and, Madam Speaker, we must do just 
that.
  I will keep coming back to this floor, to the people's House, to make 
this case that the promise of America is for every person in our 
country.
  There is a battle going on right now for the heart and soul of 
America, so it is worth repeating that we must never forget our 
purpose. That is what unites us as Americans, and it is where I find 
hope that we can come together around shared values that built our 
great Nation.
  I am committed more than ever to restore trust and confidence in the 
promise of America. It is a promise that will keep us free, empower our 
children in the next generation to shine, and strengthen the moral 
fabric where our identity rests.

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