[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 39 (Thursday, March 3, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H1296-H1300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ISSUES OF THE DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, certainly this is a moment in history 
for many, many ways. I have heard of the--really the constant--how do 
we say in the country--ranging and tanging, the constant refrain of our 
friends on the other side of the aisle, and I am going to take somewhat 
of the approach of the President of the United States who gave really 
one of the most historic, dynamic, and pointed speeches to the American 
people that I have ever heard.
  Mr. Speaker, let me thank President Biden on the floor of the House 
for speaking straight to the American public. All those who were 
willing to hear their President who recognized that we are a nation of 
the United States of America, that we are truly, truly a nation that 
rises to the occasion of defending democracy together as the United 
States of America.
  That speech covered the pain and the joy that we face today. And I 
want to start with his concluding remarks, and I can almost hear his 
resonating voice, his passion, and his true reach to the American 
people. This was the State of the Union, the first, and so when the 
question was asked, President Biden said my report is this: ``The state 
of the Union is strong because you, the American people, are strong.''

  Who could not fall under the strength of that statement?
  The mothers of soldiers who are in faraway places; fathers who go out 
and work every day who look to hope from their country to make sure 
they can provide for their family; the senior citizens; the students 
who fight against tuition increases; and the vulnerable people seeking 
homes and houses; they heard him.
  ``We are stronger today than we were a year ago, and we will be 
stronger a year from now than we are today. Now is our moment to meet 
and overcome the challenges of our time, and we will as one people, one 
America--the United States of America. May God bless you all. May God 
protect our troops.''
  From the beginning he spoke to the American people without 
divisiveness and certainly with an understanding that we have gone 
through as a people a most historic and devastating moment in our 
lives. I know that because more than once I have visited the area on 
the Mall that showed the little white flags. If you have visited 
Arlington National Cemetery, then you know the sacrifice of our 
soldiers, you know the rows and rows and rows and rows and rows of 
tombstones from wars beyond our historical time.
  But when you went to that exhibit, if it was that commemoration, that 
tribute, that acknowledgment, that place of mourning to know of the 
hundreds of thousands of Americans who died because of COVID 19, and 
some dying in the early stages, some families having six, seven, and 
nine people their family. So you know this was an enormous time.
  Let me thank the Congressional Progressive Caucus who just yesterday 
Congresswoman Leger Fernandez spoke of our next steps in the work 
ahead.
  I didn't want this time to end without responding to day after day 
refrain from our Republican friends with no plans, no solutions, no 
next steps, just criticism over and over again just so their voices 
could be heard.
  There is no doubt of the magnificence of the work that has been done 
by the President of the United States. Let me read, if I might, again, 
into the Record from the Wall Street Journal. And let me acknowledge 
that in my district where there are persistent or even permanent 
economic problems such as long-term unemployment, weak labor markets, 
inexperienced workers, evictions and foreclosures, these are what come 
about through a catastrophe like the pandemic. And, also, as the Wall 
Street Journal referred to: ``The painful truth about economic 
recoveries is not that everyone bounces back financially after a 
downturn.''
  There are always going to be Americans, as I said, in long-term 
unemployment, weak labor markets, inexperienced workers, evictions and 
foreclosures, and people trapped in difficult economic conditions 
because there needs to be a reimagining of their job.

[[Page H1297]]

There are always going to be those people. But there are policies that 
can limit this scarring, as economists sometimes refer to it.
  Our President Biden, the President of the United States, his American 
Rescue Plan has led to less of it than any recovery in the last 50 
years. If there were good-thinking people on this floor, they would 
rise to a standing ovation as we did on Tuesday night.
  Long-term unemployment, While most jobs will return after an economic 
downturn, the number of people struggling with long-term unemployment--
without work for at least 6 months--often remains relatively high for 
months after general unemployment peaks.
  While the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 helped avert 
an economic depression, the persistence of high long-term unemployment 
2 years later led President Obama to press a Republican House for a 
second stimulus.
  But in this instance, we can assure that the American Rescue Plan of 
President Biden--and, by the way, through no fault of President Obama 
who did not have a cooperative Republican Congress--this has been the 
least impact and the greater recovery in at least 50 years.
  Mr. Speaker, don't you think that is worthy of celebration?
  But no. There is a whining and whining and whining as if the 
President does not recognize the importance of pressing forward on 
behalf of the American people.
  So let me, first of all, indicate that in a few days we will be 
honoring and recognizing those foot soldiers who marched across the 
Edmund Pettus Bridge, not once but twice, led by John Robert Lewis, our 
late colleague, and Martin Luther King, Jr., because the ultimate gift 
of democracy comes out of the voices of the people who vote.
  Isn't it a shame that 100 years post the Emancipation Proclamation 
for the second time in 1865 after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 
that 1965 had to be the year that President Lyndon Baines Johnson that 
again we reinforced the 15th Amendment of the right to vote.
  And here we are today in a primary that was held in Texas, the first 
primary in the Nation, and it was a disaster because of SB 1 led by 
Republicans to take the vote right out of the mouths of seniors, 
African Americans, Hispanics, veterans, soldiers, and students, 
gleefully so that they would have an upper hand rejecting 30 to 40 
percent mailed blots.
  This is a picture of John Lewis on that bridge. We will commemorate 
that march this weekend because we believe in democracy. We believe in 
the forthrightness of the democratic Republic being held up, being held 
up by the shoulders and the strength of those foot soldiers of 1965, 
un-named, as there were those who fought for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 
held up the very Constitution and the very Nation that we have because 
of the vote. And we will march to commemorate.
  But, sadly, as we march, the destruction of democracy in this country 
is, I believe, the ultimate results of these radical right bills that 
are trying to destroy the right to vote after the false statement of 
the big lie and 2020 when the most amount of Americans voted for the 
Presidential candidate and our President, the President of the United 
States of all the people was elected, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris as 
Vice President.
  Can we not just accept that and be happy about that?
  And can we not join in the words of John Lewis of the beloved 
community?
  That is why I stand here today and salute him and acknowledge the 
beloved community.

                              {time}  1315

  Then I want to proceed, as a member of the beloved community, to 
thank our soldiers, some of whom I saw, if you will, when I was in the 
Ukraine area, meaning, I was in the area of Lithuania, Belarus, on the 
border.
  Now, acknowledging the strength of the President to have upwards of 
100,000 troops around in the NATO ally countries, making sure that 
those countries that are NATO allies are well-protected while 
providing, as the President has indicated, substantial support, if you 
will, to our friends, the Ukrainians, to give them strength even in the 
face of brutality and terrorism by Vladimir Putin, whose war this is--
no vote has been taken in Russia. This is his attack.
  Even though, as I was in the region, we continue to work with the 
OSCE to push for diplomacy and peace, asking Putin to come to the peace 
table and to not destroy the Ukrainian people and the democratic 
republic that it is, or nation, and to sit with President Zelensky, as 
he reminded us this week that light will win over darkness.
  Putin would not have it. Even though his soldiers have surrendered, 
and they are without food, they are still a major threat. They are 
without knowledge, as one dead Russian soldier had texted he did not 
know why he was there.
  Isn't that a shame to take young kids and destroy their lives because 
of your own power hungriness and the lack of understanding of what the 
world order is and to kill recklessly human beings?
  But the President of the United States held together this wonderful 
alliance of NATO countries around peace.
  I want to be very clear: I want peace. I am not an offender; I am a 
defender. I want us to use diplomacy. I want us to embrace the migrants 
or the immigrants, African immigrants and others that are coming out of 
Ukraine, treating everyone to the opportunity of being able to escape 
as a refugee, if you will, from the violence, now a million displaced 
persons. But I want diplomacy and peace.
  Yet, as the President spent months building a coalition of freedom-
loving nations from Europe, the Americas, to Asia and Africa, to 
confront Putin, he wanted peace. He spent countless hours dealing with 
the allies.
  His backdrop was another world war, and World War III, for this is 
the greatest threat to Europe since World War II. The geography lends 
itself to Putin's violence. He remembered those who fell in Normandy 
and elsewhere so that Europe might be free, and the Marshall Plan, and 
a strong Europe today, our allies, correcting the mishap of the past 4 
years when Europe was put to the side and the President that had this 
job gave accolades and flowers to Vladimir Putin and, even today, has 
called our President dumb and Putin smart. How shameful.
  But I am glad I am being led in this country by President Biden 
because he knows how we fought for freedom, expanded liberty, defeated 
totalitarianism and terror, and built a strong and the freest and most 
prosperous nation.
  I just repeat these words because I think it is important to realize 
how we have helped and how he has worked to ensure that help is coming 
through our ability. Though our forces are not going to Europe, he made 
it crystal clear that we will stand with our NATO countries and that we 
remain strong for Ukraine as they fight back.
  As has been said, light comes after darkness. As we provide them with 
the resources that are to be heard around the world, and that we, as 
well, forge with Ukrainian Americans and work to be able to help their 
relatives through the State Department.
  Even as Putin circles Kyiv with tanks, he will never gain, as the 
President said, the hearts of the Ukrainian people.
  We want to make sure that it is known that we are providing the 
necessary support with weapons that are able to be sent with intensity 
to Ukraine.
  But the human cost is evident, and I will just take you down memory 
lane, that you have seen. This is the violence of Putin, the violence 
of Russia. America has been a defender in all the crises that we have 
faced, the violence. This is the Putin who said this is an operation 
but is not attempting to hurt the Ukrainian people.
  Look at this person who is harmed. Look at them praying, their hands 
up. The despair of destruction, but that destruction is not going to 
weaken the Ukrainian people--the despair, but not defeat; the violence, 
but not defeat.
  In the course of the work that we have been doing, I recommended last 
week that America's efforts to stop Russia should be in the financial 
pockets. The ruble is down. It is in the midst of rubble, by the way, 
but the ruble is down.
  People are suffering. It is shameful because the American people care 
about people, and it is shameful that the currency is impacting 
Russians who have not voted for this war.

[[Page H1298]]

  But it is important, as well, that, as I called for in my district, 
the need for Putin to be charged as a war criminal. That is an 
imperative, and now an investigation has been opened.
  This is not a family that has--this is an example of mothers with 
newborn babies fleeing. Just think of you holding a newborn baby safely 
in the United States. But mothers are fleeing with 1-week-old babies. 
It is a tragedy.
  A surrogate had twins, and that family in the United States is 
struggling to get those newborn twins to safety.
  This is what Vladimir Putin has rendered. I would say to you, we are 
not going to let him win, and the Ukrainians will not let him win. The 
United States will not let him win.
  Thank you, President Biden, for bringing our allies together as we 
continue to try and stand strong.
  But we are not unmindful of what has to be done for the American 
people. We are not unmindful for inflation. And so I hope that his 
announcement of Make It In America, of the 65,000 highways and 
infrastructure that is going to be fixed because of the enormity and 
the importance of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, along with the 
final passage of the COMPETES Act, that we will see Americans getting 
back to work and that we will work extensively to bring down the cost 
of living.

  And I, frankly, believe that that can be brought down with the 
passage of Build Back Better, where we will guarantee that you spend no 
more than 7 percent for childcare. That is why women are not in the 
workforce during this pandemic--which is still existing; we are at the 
end of it, we hope and pray--because they could not pay for, with not 
having a job, childcare.
  Why can't we move on childcare? We will. That is the work ahead. That 
is what I know the Congressional Progressive Caucus wants to see. That 
will help bring down costs, along with the continuation of the child 
tax credit.
  The work to be done is to respond to your needs, dealing with 
inflation, which includes the 11,000 jobs that will come about through 
implementing--as the President said, we have announced and now are 
going to work on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
  You will see no more collapsed bridges in America's cities. It is the 
first and most historic infrastructure bill, I think, in the last 50 
years or more.
  We must make that child tax credit permanent because that is going to 
help our families.
  We must recognize the importance of the COMPETES Act because, in 
fact, we must overcome that import of the semiconductor industry and 
the tools needed. We cannot rely on China. We must bring it home. The 
COMPETES Act will help us bring it home.
  We must recognize that social justice is imperative, as well. We just 
finished Black History Month to reemphasize the importance of the 
history of African Americans in this country who first came in the 
bottomless belly of a slave boat.
  It is important that we acknowledge with dignity. Race is not toxic 
and so toxic that we cannot discuss it with benevolence and through the 
beloved community.
  How dare someone get on the floor: Oh, he didn't talk about that 
racism thing.
  You walk a mile in our shoes. Walk a mile in our shoes. We don't 
carry racism as an anger tool. We don't walk around and dislike people. 
We embrace our brothers and sisters.
  I am on the floor with colleagues from many different places. I 
relish the interaction. I know they are with me, as I am with them.
  But when someone comes and continues, as Republicans have done, to 
take this, as led by their leader, their guide, their god, which is 
what President Trump has become, and he has decided that the critical 
race theory is a fake argument--it has a basis in analyzing law, as it 
has impacted groups like African Americans and promoted racism.
  It should not be where we are raising our children on it. I agree. It 
is not a lesson for pre-K, elementary school, maybe even middle school. 
But understanding that there have been differences and that we seek to 
heal them is crucial.
  I take great umbrage to the demeaning of Black Lives Matter, which 
fatefully brought to our attention the heinous killing of Trayvon 
Martin and have stood alongside families time after time after time 
because no one, including America's best law enforcement agencies 
across America, wants to have the treatment of their neighbors 
unfairly.
  Those who have done so, they stand with us for accountability. They 
see the value in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. They see the 
value in the original George Floyd bill that I introduced that was 
about police training and investing in the 18,000 police departments.
  We have an array of positions, but the President indicated that he 
was looking to work with communities to bring down crime--good for 
him--even to the extent of being a champion for provisions that came 
from the Judiciary Committee, along with other committees, about 
bringing down community violence.
  We are not afraid of going right after it because we know our 
families are suffering.

                              {time}  1330

  Is there any attention to gun violence? The rampant, unbelievable, 
reckless laws of Republican Governors, like permitless carry in the 
State of Texas, that have simply brought us down to our knees because 
guns are everywhere, stolen out of cars, people buying guns like they 
don't have any conscience, buying them off of streets.
  Where do they get them? They can originally start in a legal system, 
but then you add, really, salt to the wound and talk about the 
poisonous and really difficult manner of trying to ensure that there is 
no restraint on guns.
  I introduced the Kimberly Vaughan storage bill that I hope to see 
pass and to work with other Members who, likewise, are working hard to 
get Americans to understand the necessity of storing their guns.
  I continue to work on the healing legislation that deals with H.R. 
40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals, supported 
by the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Action Network, 
and the Congressional Black Caucus, not out of anger but out of a sense 
of understanding and restoration and repair, humbly saying: Let's take 
a look. Let's make sure that we have a pathway to do better, as we have 
a pathway for economic development, as we have a pathway for childcare, 
as we have a pathway for creating the care economy that was proposed by 
the President and in Build Back Better, as we have a pathway for 
getting our voting rights, as we have a pathway for helping with 
police-community relationships, as we have a pathway for bringing down 
crime and helping our families and protecting victims, as the almost $1 
million that I was able to get for the Houston Police Department to 
restore their crime victims' office. What a celebration we had. We are 
waiting for those resources so they can get to work and make sure 
victims are not left alone, as we know that they are.
  I simply want to conclude my remarks by saying we are strong and also 
to indicate we have solutions like in the Build Back Better, not one of 
you will be left out of having healthcare. Work needs to be done. For 
the 12 States, we have expanded Medicaid to a Federal program, and that 
must be where we ensure and assure that we can make it work. Wouldn't 
that be a relief for young families, single Americans, students, to be 
able to access a Federal Medicaid program, health for everyone.
  Let me remind my hometown: We are in the Gulf region and, yes, we 
flood. We are still fighting from Hurricane Harvey, the looks of this, 
and the kind of loss of homes, the largest catastrophic loss of homes 
in the history of the State of Texas, from flooding, from the 
hurricane. Our citizens, this is what they face.
  But guess what? Between the Army Corps of Engineers, Harris County 
Flood District, 18th Congressional District, the infrastructure bill, 
and the funding that we hope will come from the omnibus that has been 
so carefully negotiated, we will be confronting these as the President 
signs the omnibus, but more importantly, as the infrastructure bill is 
implemented.
  We are going to address the crises of disasters in America all over, 
the fires to the hurricanes because the President is leading, and the 
Congress, under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi

[[Page H1299]]

and Chuck Schumer, is answering the call of the American people.
  Remember what I said. The President has announced that the State of 
the Union is strong, that America is strong, that we are united, and 
that we will not fail. He will lead by example.
  Social justice is not off the table. And the respect for people's 
advocacy, as young people, like Black Lives Matter, NAACP, Urban 
League, National Action Network, Congressional Black Caucus, American 
Civil Liberties Union, League of Women Voters, LULAC, and an array of 
others, Asian-Pacific friends, and everyone around, southeast Asians, I 
have named them all, and, of course, our Native American friends. And 
all those whose names may not be called, we are united with all of 
America. And if you came over or Pilgrim's Pride and were part of the 
founding 13 Colonies, you are part with all of us as the beloved 
community. Strong we are and strong we will be.
  I am delighted to say the work ahead is in good hands. Together, with 
this Congress and the President, America is in good hands.
  God bless you and this Congress, God bless the United States of 
America, and God bless our troops.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in the Congressional 
Progressive Caucus to participate in tonight's special order on ``The 
Work Ahead'' following President Biden's powerful State of the Union 
address from last night.
  I thank Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez for anchoring tonight's 
Congressional Progressive Caucus special order.
  Last night's State of the Union Address by President Biden provided 
an encouraging account of what all this Administration and Congress 
have achieved for the American people.
  Democrats have many legislative achievements to be proud of, 
beginning with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
  Since the dawn of his campaign, improving American infrastructure has 
been at the center of the President's agenda.
  As the President recalled, before this act became law our 
infrastructure was ranked 13th in the world.
  Worn down infrastructure also greatly impacts the lives of working-
class Americans trying to complete simple tasks; like going to and from 
work, picking up their kids from school, or going across town to care 
for an elderly family member.
  Not committing to infrastructure significantly decreases our ability 
to fight climate change; without friendly EV infrastructure or access 
to mass public transit, our emissions will only increase, failing to 
meet our goal of helping decrease global temperatures by 1.5 degrees 
Celsius.
  During my tenure in Congress, I have watched many infrastructure 
weeks pass by without results despite what I believed was an ardent 
commitment, but this administration has finally broken the trend.
  As the President said, because we have passed this legislation into 
law, we're done talking about infrastructure weeks.
  We're going to have an infrastructure decade.
  Because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we will build a 
national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, begin 
to replace poisonous lead pipes so every child and every American has 
clean / water to drink at home and at school, and provide affordable 
high-speed internet for every American in urban, suburban, rural, and 
tribal communities.
  4,000 projects have already been announced.
  We will also begin to improve over 65,000 miles of highway and 1,500 
bridges in disrepair.
  The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a once-in-a-generation 
investment in our Nation's infrastructure and competitiveness, and when 
its full scope is realized and implemented, all Americans will benefit 
regardless of socioeconomic status.
  Another landmark piece of legislation from this administration is the 
American Rescue Plan.
  COVID-19 brought about sweeping change at an unprecedented rate, much 
of this change had drastic impacts for Americans.
  People were laid off from their jobs, evicted from their homes, and 
in the worst cases passed on despite the heroic efforts of our medical 
professionals.
  But the American Rescue Plan provided a plan our country so 
desperately needed.
  It fueled our efforts to vaccinate the Nation and combat COVID-19.
  It delivered immediate economic relief for tens of millions of 
Americans.
  It helped put food on their table, keep a roof over their heads, and 
cut the cost of health insurance.
  And unlike the $2 Trillion tax cut passed in the previous 
administration that benefitted the top 1 percent of Americans, the 
American Rescue Plan helped working people--and left no one behind.
  Our economy created over 6.5 million new jobs just last year, more 
jobs created in one year than ever before in the history of America.
  Our economy grew at a rate of 5.7% last year, the strongest growth in 
nearly 40 years, the first step in bringing fundamental change to an 
economy that hasn't worked for the working people of this Nation for 
too long.
  American children also greatly benefitted from the American Rescue 
Plan, considering the great impacts of the newly revamped Child Tax 
Credit.
  The American Rescue Plan increased the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 
per child to $3,000 per child for children over the age of 6 and from 
$2,000 to $3,600 for children under the age of 6, and raised the age 
limit from 16 to 17.
  It is the largest Child Tax Credit in the history of our Nation, 
pulling an estimated 3 million children out of poverty.
  Despite the momentous impact the Child Tax Credit has, it will expire 
in the next fiscal year.
  It is therefore of the utmost importance to make these changes to the 
Child Tax Credit permanent.
  The CPC is determined to make this happen in this legislative 
session.
  We cannot delay this critical action by being privy to political dog 
whistles blown by Republican members of Congress, claiming this policy 
is socialist, communist, or whatever the outlandish claim of the day 
is.
  We must make the Child Tax Credit permanent to ensure the prosperity 
of America and its children.
  What should also pique the interests and spark the hopes of Americans 
is the House's recent passage of the COMPETES Act.
  This remarkable piece of legislation will take on inflation and 
rebuild U.S. supply chains that have been eroded by monopolies that 
stopped investing in America, bringing down costs for working people.
  Because of this bill, the American semiconductor industry will take 
our reliance off the likes of China and allow us to chart a new course 
forward with economic self-sufficiency being the centerpiece.
  The America COMPETES Act will spur greater American production of 
chips, strengthen U.S. supply chains and strengthen American 
manufacturing, and advance U.S. scientific excellence and research.
  Thanks to CPC members' amendments, the bill will also include 
policies to track carbon emissions and increase green climate funding, 
ensure women and workers of color are not left out of job creation in 
manufacturing, prevent U.S. funding to countries with histories of 
human rights abuses, and insert guardrails against corporate self-
enrichment.
  Through the amendment process, the Caucus also secured the first vote 
in Congress on U.S. sanctions policy in Afghanistan and its 
humanitarian effects on civilian mortality and refugee outflows.
  The House has also in the past week overwhelmingly passed the Emmitt 
Till Anti-Lynching Act.
  Though long overdue, the Act is sweeping in the respect that it makes 
lynching a hate crime, subjecting violators to criminal penalties like 
a prison term, a fine, or both.
  This legislation is critical in realizing a criminal justice system 
that prioritizes racial justice so no American so unjustly sees their 
end like Emmitt Till.
  Although it just concluded, Black History Month was established to 
teach the history that too often has not been taught: the history of 
Black excellence and leadership in America and also the history of 
resistance and resilience in America.
  And let me be clear: Black history is American history. It is living, 
breathing history--history we create every day, across this Nation and 
on this Floor.
  And today, of course, our Nation faces many great challenges.
  Among the greatest is the assault on the freedom to vote--the freedom 
from which all others flow.
  It will take an all-hands-on-deck approach to safeguard and 
strengthen the freedom to vote.
  A hero in strengthening this right was my dear friend and colleague 
John Lewis.
  His passion was unending, symbolized by his leading of that Bloody 
Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to Selma in March of 1965.
  Despite knowing he and others would be beaten, bloodied, bruised, and 
even arrested, he nonetheless marched onward.
  To highlight that pivotal moment history and pay homage to John 
Lewis, I and other members of Congress will be making that same march 
later this week.
  Again, furthering his honor, the House passed the John Lewis Voting 
Rights Advancement Act.

[[Page H1300]]

  This act would bolster voting rights by enlarging the government's 
capability to respond to voting discrimination.
  This piece of legislation is absolutely necessary to ensure the right 
to vote is had by all Americans, a right our Founding Fathers 
envisioned from the inception of this great Nation.
  The legacy of Congressman Lewis, a dear friend and colleague, and 
with us in spirit, must be dutifully honored.
  The Senate must immediately take up this legislation and pass it to 
truly fulfill Congress' mandate of serving the people of this Nation.
  Despite the immense progress made so far in this administration, 
there is still work yet to be done.
  As the President emphasized last night, we must pass legislation to 
lower the costs of Pre-K, health care, home-based care, and housing, 
and to ensure that childcare doesn't cost families more than 7 percent 
of their income--all by finally making the wealthy and corporations pay 
their fair share.
  He underscored the need to take meaningful action to address the 
climate crisis and deliver a roadmap to citizenship for immigrant 
communities.
  And as he said, ``capitalism without competition is exploitation''--
and the Progressive Caucus is similarly committed to taking on 
corporate profiteering and monopolistic abuse.
  President Biden has significant power to effect immediate, meaningful 
change for people across America, and we urge him to use it 
aggressively.
  The President can use his executive authority to bring down the costs 
of prescription drugs and stop Big Pharma's price gouging; decrease 
carbon emissions to fight the climate crisis; cancel student debt and 
bolster our economy; protect workers' rights and raise their wages; and 
provide immigration relief and rebuild our refugee system.
  In the coming weeks, the Progressive Caucus will release our 
executive action agenda for the President that details these steps, and 
more.
  ``Democrats in the White House and Congress have shown how much we 
can accomplish in a year.
  If we remain steadfast to our commitment to providing relief our 
communities need, lowering costs, and making life easier for working 
people, we can deliver.''
  One step that must be taken to again seek racial justice is the 
passage of H.R. 40.
  H.R. 40 was initially introduced by the late Michigan Representative 
John Conyers, and I have introduced it in this Congress.
  This bill establishes the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation 
Proposals for African Americans.
  The commission shall examine slavery and discrimination in the 
colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend 
appropriate remedies.
  The commission shall identify the role of the federal and state 
governments in supporting the institution of slavery, forms of 
discrimination in the public and private sectors against freed slaves 
and their descendants, and lingering negative effects of slavery on 
living African Americans and society.
  This bill is the first step in righting the historical wrong that was 
slavery.
  The United States have given reparations to Japanese Americans who 
were wrongfully interned, The Ottawas of Michigan, the Chippewas of 
Wisconsin, the Seminoles of Florida, the Sioux of South Dakota, the 
Klamaths of Oregon, and the Alaska Natives all received some form of 
reparations from America because of the genocide they underwent.
  It is therefore only right that Black people receive reparations 
because of the history and oppression we have weathered and continue 
to.
  Who are also not strangers to oppression are the Ukrainian people at 
the bloodied hands of the autocrat Vladimir Putin.
  Black Americans underwent violence in the name of fully realizing 
their democracy, and now Ukrainians are doing the same.
  We fought in our own way, and though regrettable, now Ukrainians must 
as well.
  They will persevere, and President Putin will learn that democracy 
will never faulter in the face of cowardice and senseless aggression.
  In summation, while much has been done by this Congress, the CPC, and 
the administration, we must continue to fight and secure a just, 
equitable, and prosperous future for the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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