[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 85 (Thursday, May 16, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H3281-H3282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           COMMUNITY PROJECTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Tlaib) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, my office is bringing home over $17.1 
million in Federal funding for 15 community projects throughout the 
12th Congressional District this year.
  I am so proud to have partnered up with civic and community leaders 
throughout the district to prioritize the needs of our residents with 
transformative projects, Madam Speaker, from home repairs to affordable 
housing, to removing lead out of our water, to helping our seniors with 
flood recovery resources, to workforce development, to neighborhood 
revitalization, and also to help decrease pollution in our 
neighborhoods because our residents deserve to breathe clean air.
  We got $4 million for Wayne County, our largest county in the 
district, and $3 million to the city of Detroit to facilitate lead 
service line replacement. We all know that our children cannot learn if 
they are being poisoned with lead-contaminated water.
  We received over $1.9 million for our Lathrup Village and the village 
of Beverly Hills for water main replacement and reliability, which is 
so critically important for their water infrastructure.
  We also got $1 million for our incredible, beautiful neighborhood in 
Cody Rouge, as well as Detroit's Aviation Sub and Far West 
neighborhoods. The Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance is prepared to 
help hundreds of seniors and those in need of home repairs.
  We also helped secure $1.1 million, Madam Speaker, to Alternatives 
For Girls to construct the Dr. Maya Angelou Village to create 45 
housing units that are affordable and permanent support housing for at-
risk families, mothers with children.
  We also were able to secure $1 million for After the Storm for the 
Metro Detroit Flood Recovery Project, again, helping many of our 
residents struggling with flooding.
  We also were able to obtain $1.5 million for the city of Inkster and 
the city of Dearborn Heights for their fire station, as well as 
firefighting resources.
  We were able to secure half a million dollars for the city of 
Dearborn for their Dearborn Industrial Green Beltway to fight 
pollution. Again, this is one of our neighborhoods that is facing some 
of the worst air pollution throughout the district.
  We secured over $1.2 million for the city of Livonia for their new 
Livonia Civic Park Senior Center. Again, that is an incredibly 
important project.

  The $17.1 million builds on the tireless work we all have done in 
each of these previous two budget cycles to invest in our communities 
with the hard work and the incredible partnership and dedication of my 
team, but especially our 12th Congressional District chief of staff 
because she is not just my chief of staff, she is my district's chief 
of staff. Larissa Richardson helped over the last 3 years in 
partnership with me to get $52.1 million for community projects 
throughout our district.
  We are just getting started, Madam Speaker.
  To our families and our communities throughout the 12th Congressional 
District, you deserve your fair share of resources. You deserve not 
just to be able to survive but also thrive.


            Redford Township Wellness Center Groundbreaking

  Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I am thrilled to announce that Redford 
Township is getting a new recreation and wellness center. I would like 
to congratulate our incredible Mayor McRae and the township's 
administration and trustees on the groundbreaking ceremony for this new 
community space in our district. Our team was able to provide $2 
million in Federal funding for the community project there.
  The event marks a significant milestone for our community, as it will 
be the first new building focused on recreation and wellness in the 
township in over 50 years.
  The center provides space for residents to engage in health and 
wellness activities, strengthening our community bonds, promoting 
healthy lifestyles, and many, many more different programs, again, to 
create a space for our families and our community.
  I congratulate Redford Township. They deserve this space, and I am so 
excited to have been a part of this positive impact and again look 
forward to seeing the completion.

[[Page H3282]]

  



                                 Nakba

  Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, as the only Palestinian American serving in 
Congress, I am a reminder to many of my colleagues in this Chamber that 
Palestinians do indeed exist, we are human beings, that we deserve to 
live, that we have dreams of freedom and human dignity.
  I read this quote: ``When you tell a people to forget its past, you 
are not proposing peace, you are proposing extinction.'' This is from 
Peter Beinart.
  As we mark 76 years of the Nakba, we honor the thousands of 
Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed in 1948 and nearly 800,000 
Palestinians who were violently and forcibly displaced, many, Madam 
Speaker, still carrying their keys in hopes of one day returning to 
their homes, to their villages.
  We honor their trauma and the painful loss of their connections to 
their families, land, olive groves, and villages they grew up in.
  We honor all those around the world who have suffered from the 
impacts of settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. Madam 
Speaker, the Nakba did not end in 1948.

                          ____________________