[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 112 (Monday, June 28, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H3160-H3161]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONGRESS MUST WORK TOGETHER FOR PROGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Schneider) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHNEIDER. Madam Speaker, as we reach the middle of 2021, this 
House has made incredible progress, including fighting the global 
pandemic by passing the American Rescue Plan.
  Already, more than 300 million vaccine shots have been administered. 
Communities are opening up, and business is picking up, creating jobs 
and opportunity.
  Next month, parents will begin receiving their monthly child tax 
credit, legislation that will cut the Nation's child poverty rate in 
half.
  We have a pathway to recovery and transformation that offers real 
promise to every American. But underneath all of this, our country 
faces a deep divide that threatens to undo the foundations upon which 
our country rests.
  These divisions reached an apex on January 6, when our Capitol came 
under attack and five people died.

                              {time}  1215

  The immediate threat to the Capitol may have receded, but the threat 
across the country still simmers.
  It is therefore imperative that we fully understand the events 
leading up to and including the siege on the Capitol on January 6.
  As someone who was here in the gallery during the attack, someone who 
watched in horror as they rushed the Speaker off the floor, who took 
cover as the Capitol Police barricaded the door against the mob, who 
fully understands the cost to our Nation and the implications of simply 
moving on, I am personally, deeply invested in preventing such an 
attack on our Capitol from ever happening again.
  The divide in our Nation threatens the prospects of our recovery and 
the potential for America to lead on the global stage.
  Congress must now work in unison, Democrats and Republicans, to 
institute the policies we need to prevent future acts of domestic 
extremism. For years, I have worked to pass legislation like the 
Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act that would invest in the types of 
programs built to spot and intervene in this type of extremism.
  When my friend Republican Congressman   John Katko negotiated a 
bipartisan committee to investigate January 6, he did it because he 
knew the stakes we faced as a Nation.
  The work of the Select Committee will be essential to history's 
understanding of what took place on January 6 and protecting the future 
of our Republic.
  My hope is that the members of this committee will be committed to 
the

[[Page H3161]]

sober and relentless pursuit of the truth so that such a crisis never 
happens again.

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