[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 185 (Thursday, December 12, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H7130-H7135]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FAREWELL TO CONGRESS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 9, 2023, the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. Bush) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Ms. BUSH. Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to deliver my
farewell address, but first, I would like to give some time to my
colleagues to deliver some remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Bowman).
Mr. BOWMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my sister Cori Bush for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I want to start by sending peace and love to this
Chamber, peace and love to the American people, and, most importantly,
peace and love to my family and to the incredible people of New York-
16.
I have to send a special shout-out to my lovely wife, Melissa
Oppenheimer Bowman. Thank you for supporting me, loving me, and putting
up with me over the last 4 years. Thank you for taking care of our
beautiful children back home, Jelani, Marcel, and Maya.
It is hard for someone to be working class in this Chamber, and I
know every time I came to Washington, you became a single mom, getting
up very early in the morning, getting our kids ready for school,
dropping them off at the bus stop, and then going to serve the people
of the Bronx as a third grade teacher.
You would teach all day, get off of work, pick our kids up from
school, bring them home, start cooking dinner, help them with their
homework, plan your lessons for the next day for your kids, and then
put our kids to bed.
Then, when I was here trying to do the job of the district and when I
didn't go straight home after work, you made sure I heard about it.
When I didn't call you when I got back home, you made sure I heard
about that, too.
I love you. Thank you, Melissa, for all you have done.
I also thank my constituents, each of them, for trusting me to be
their voice and allowing me to fight for them every single day in
Congress.
Though I will be leaving Congress formally, I plan to continue to
fight for the people in New York-16, particularly in the areas of Port
Chester, Greenburgh, Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and, of
course, the Bronx.
If it weren't for the people in these particular communities,
especially the Bronx, where I served as an educator for 17 of the 20
years of my career, I would not have been prepared to come to Congress
and serve the people.
Of course, I need to thank my team, both in New York and here in
D.C., who worked every single day to do everything in their power to
meet the needs of the people of New York-16.
Our case closure was exemplary. We brought tens of millions of
dollars back to the district, and we did everything in our power to
deal with the issues of affordability, gun violence, education, and so
many other issues. I thank my staff and my team so much, and I thank
them for their service.
In 2020, I became the first African American elected in the 16th
District of New York in U.S. history. When I was running, I didn't even
know that stat, which is pretty interesting.
As such, I stand on the shoulders of the giants who have come before
me. My ancestors fought and died for me to have the opportunity to be
here, and I am humbled by the immense honor and responsibility.
My ancestors built this place and built the strongest economy in the
world as enslaved Africans in this country, and though we didn't pass
any legislation related to reparations, we will continue to fight for
reparations for Black people in this country.
I cannot go further without giving honor to my late mother, Ms.
Pauline Bowman. My mother raised me and my three sisters alone. She was
a civil servant in the post office for 33 years. She worked 6 days,
sometimes 7 days a week and all the overtime she could muster to make
sure that I was the first person in our family to go to college.
When I was very young, she told me--and I remember this story very
clearly. We were coloring in a coloring book at the dining room table,
and I could not color in between the lines. She could, and I thought it
was like magic that she could.
I started crying. I was pretty upset. My mother looked me in the eye
and told me I can be whatever I wanted to be.
It was that love and that confidence that she instilled in me that
guided me and propelled me to win a historic election. She got to see
me run. She got to see me win. She got to see me on her favorite news
programs, CNN and MSNBC.
I would like to think that I made her proud before my sisters and I
lost her to COVID on Valentine's Day in 2021.
Mom, Pauline Bowman, I love you. I thank you, and please continue to
guide and watch over me.
It is a challenging world we live in, and I want to be the best
example for my children and the people who I will continue to serve
outside of this Chamber.
Mom, I love you. I always will love you. This place is better because
of you and because of what you raised me to be.
Prior to being elected to Congress, I worked in education for 20
years as a
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teacher, counselor, and middle school principal. My mission was to do
everything in my power to unlock the unlimited potential of our kids.
My mission in Congress was to unlock the unlimited potential of a
district that had been left behind for so long. I am proud of the
transformational legislation we introduced and fought for that would
uplift hardworking families across the country, particularly the most
marginalized. From lowering costs to revolutionizing public education
as we know it, the bills we introduced will be life-changing, and I am
going to name a few.
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My Green New Deal for public schools would heal and strengthen our
schools and address the holistic needs of students to support healthy,
safe, and high-quality learning opportunities. It is well past time
that we put young people and public education at the center of our
national response to the climate crisis, systemic racism, and economic
inequality by passing this bill.
My Care for All Agenda would urge Federal investments to strengthen
and expand the care economy, anchoring a transformation toward an
economic system grounded in care for ourselves, our communities, and
our planet instead of one grounded in money and power.
My Ending Corporate Greed Act would institute a windfall tax profits
tax on corporations to penalize companies that use inflation as an
excuse to raise prices and profit off the backs of hardworking
Americans.
If we want to talk about truly transformational legislation that
provides economic relief to the American people, puts money back in
people's pockets, and charts a visionary path toward combating the
challenges of the 21st century, then these bills are the place to
start.
I hope that in the next Congress, my colleagues will have the courage
to fight for these transformational pieces of legislation.
Otherwise, we have to ask ourselves, why are we here? What are we
here for?
I will take a moment to talk about wealth inequality. The staggering
wealth inequality we face today is not just a statistic; it is a
reflection of decades of policy decisions and systemic failures that
have left millions struggling while a few prosper.
Today, the two wealthiest individuals own more wealth than the bottom
half of the country combined. This isn't because they worked harder
than everyone else; it is the result of a system that prioritizes
corporate profits over fair wages, tax cuts for the rich over
investments in public goods, and financial markets over working
families.
Wages for the average worker have barely risen in 40 years, while the
cost of healthcare, housing, and education has skyrocketed. Meanwhile,
those with generational wealth have used their influence to shape
policies that protect their fortunes, while communities across America
are left behind. This is not inevitable. It is a choice.
I will talk briefly about military spending for a moment. Tupac
Shakur's words ring true today: ``They got money for wars but can't
feed the poor.''
The U.S. spends over $886 billion annually on defense, more than the
next 10 countries combined. Yet, millions of Americans struggle with
poverty, housing insecurity, and access to childcare and education.
Billions of dollars are wasted on over-budget weapons programs, failed
projects, and unnecessary overseas military bases. We can and must
reinvest our money in the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I will close with this: Never in my life did I think I
would be elected to any office, let alone the United States House of
Representatives. It was not on my to-do list or on my bucket list. I
don't even know how I got here, quite frankly. I will say it was my
work in education and my work with children and families over 20 years
that helped me understand, on a visceral level, the deep, historic,
systemic inequalities we have in our country that are policy decisions
rooted in systemic discrimination.
To quote my sister, the great Ayanna Pressley: This body has
committed policy violence toward communities of color and working-class
people in our country. So my crazy butt decided I am going to run for
office in 2019.
The reason why I got the confidence to do so is because I saw 4
incredible women run and win in 2018: Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ayanna Pressley. Four young women of
color, a couple of them dark skinned, a couple of them Muslim, one
wearing a hijab, transformed America in 2018 and they will continue to
transform America for generations to come.
It is this body's responsibility to listen to them, learn from them,
and follow their leadership because this country will never reach its
full potential unless it follows the examples of these four women I
just mentioned.
Mr. Speaker, I thank them so much for giving me a space and a
platform and a footprint to be myself as I ran for office and won that
historic election.
Then 2 years later, I was able to win and my sister, Cori Bush, was
able to join me here in this incredible place. Then 2 years later, we
got Delia Ramirez, Summer Lee, Greg Casar, and many others.
I am going to quote Ayanna Pressley again: Our squad is big, y'all,
and our squad includes the entire country.
I will do everything in my power to continue to be an example for
young people, working-class people, and people of color. I will do
everything in my power to continue to be an example for young men,
especially young Black men. We don't have to be rappers. We don't have
to be athletes. We definitely don't have to be womanizers. Don't let
the stereotypes drive you in that direction because we are fathers. We
are husbands. We are sons. We are great people.
We will continue together to organize, mobilize, and build the
movement rooted in love and humanity for ourselves, for our community,
for this country, and for the world.
Mr. Speaker, I thank so much my sister, Cori, from St. Louis for
allowing me a few words. I am excited for the work ahead of us. There
is much more to come. Free Palestine, free the Bronx, and free all
marginalized people, especially those locked up on trumped up marijuana
charges. Let's also vacate the death row sentences of the 39 people on
death row.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will remind all persons in the
gallery that they are here as guests of the House and that any
manifestation of approval or disapproval of proceedings is in violation
of the rules of the House.
Ms. BUSH. Mr. Speaker, I say to Congressman Bowman that I do believe
his mother is very, very proud looking down on him today right here.
She is very, very proud of him. We hope he takes that as he walks out
of this Chamber and starts on his new journey. If my child was a
Congressman and accomplished the things that he has accomplished, oh,
how proud I would be.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez).
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, today, I address the people's House to
honor the legacy of my friends, of my colleagues, and partners in the
fight for justice and global peace, Congresswoman Cori Bush and
Congressman Jamaal Bowman. Bush and Bowman are the embodiment of
courageous leadership.
Representative Bush is a fighter for peoples' right to a dignified
life. In the middle of the pandemic, when people were trying to figure
out how to stay alive and how to continue to have a roof over their
head, this courageous leader, as the eviction moratorium was about to
expire said: I can't go home if others will not have a home tomorrow.
She stood on these Capitol steps courageously taking a stand for
hundreds of thousands of families across this country.
What she didn't know was that a little State representative from
Chicago, Illinois, was watching what she and others were doing, as I
was trying to concurrently negotiate legislation in the State of
Illinois to help people stay housed.
Mr. Speaker, Cori Bush will never know the number of people and
families and children that she has saved because of her courageous
leadership. She has enshrined the rights of women. She has promoted
safety, well-being, and prosperity in our communities.
Representative Jamaal Bowman, a lifelong educator and an advocate of
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opportunity, accountability, and racial justice, has fought day and
night and continues to fight day and night for accessible, culturally
competent education for every single student in this country.
Mr. Speaker, while dark money in politics may have stripped this
Chamber of two of its most authentic champions of working people, let
me be very clear: They will not be silenced. I know them too well.
Bowman and Bush, in or out of the Halls of Congress, will continue
fighting like heaven and hell for our shared humanity because our work,
it is not finished.
This ``Congresswoman,'' ``Congresista'' from Chicago, who has watched
all of them with pride and honor, will continue in this Chamber and
will continue working with them also outside of this Chamber and is
ready to fight with them for humanity, not just in the United States,
but globally.
Mr. Speaker, I end by saying, it has been the greatest honor of my
life the last 2 years to serve with them. May their courage and their
love for people be felt in every seat of this Chamber.
Every single moment we enter it, we are asking ourselves--perhaps
physically they are not sitting in the second back row here--but what
would Cori and Jamaal do in this moment?
And what Cori and Jamaal would do in every single moment is to stand
for the people that others have forgotten about. I thank them, and I
look forward to the many things we will do together.
Ms. BUSH. Mr. Speaker, Congresswoman Ramirez came into Congress like
a whirlwind. She has brought something that I feel so many of us needed
and were missing. We appreciate her, and I thank her for coming in and
being who she is and bringing Chicago into this space in a different
way.
Mr. Speaker, I will offer my farewell address before the House.
Mr. Speaker, St. Louis and I rise just as we have risen so many times
before over these last 4 historic years.
Together, we came into this work with a simple mission: to transform
Missouri's First District by taking care of the people.
On day one, we vowed to do the most for St. Louis, starting with
those who had the greatest need. We were clear-eyed of what was in
front of us, ahead of us, and behind us. We stayed focus. We stayed
committed.
St. Louis and I came to Congress after unseating a 52-year political
family dynasty. I ran for this seat twice to win it.
Today, I stand before you as the first Black woman and first nurse to
represent Missouri in Congress, the first woman to represent Missouri's
First Congressional District, and the first activist from the movement
to save Black lives to serve in Congress.
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From the day that I was sworn in, I have brought you, my community,
and my own lived experiences with me into every vote, every committee
hearing, and every floor speech. St. Louis and I. I am proud to be the
people I represent.
I am the young girl who grew up in a working-class household, where
my father was a union meatcutter and my mother was a computer analyst.
I am the teenager who had my first abortion at the age of 18 after
being sexually assaulted at the age of 17. I am the young woman in her
early 20s who endured an abusive relationship that nearly ended my
life. I am the mother who endured pregnancy and childbirth
complications, who encountered biased medical care that was dismissive
of my pain. I am the formerly single mother to two beautiful children,
Zion and Angel, who will always be my greatest accomplishment. I am the
nurse and pastor who cared for others throughout our community. I am
the asthmatic adult who understands the challenges of being uninsured.
I am the activist from the front lines of Ferguson, the Ferguson
uprising movement, who in 2014 was out on the streets for over 400 days
protesting police violence after the killing of Michael Brown.
My life experiences are different from many of my colleagues here on
Capitol Hill, but outside these walls, my experiences are all too
familiar.
In Missouri and across the country, people are living multifaceted
lives, and they endure the decisions we do and don't make in this
Chamber each and every day. Like me, one in four people of reproductive
age have had an abortion before the age of 45 in the United States.
Like I was, over 580,000 people in the U.S. experience homelessness on
any given night, and in Missouri nearly 6,000 people are living without
stable homes, almost a quarter of them unsheltered. Like I have been,
nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the U.S. have been raped at some
point in their lives, and in Missouri 1 in 3 women and 1 in 7 men have
experienced sexual violence. Just like I have endured, approximately 41
percent of women and 26 percent of men across our country have reported
that they have experienced a form of domestic violence by an intimate
partner during their lifetime. In Missouri, our State has the third
highest rate of domestic violence in the U.S.
St. Louis sent me to Congress because I reflect the struggles so many
people in our community endure. Throughout my tenure in the people's
House, I have turned my pain into purpose. I have testified before the
House Oversight Committee, sharing my abortion story for the first
time. I know that there are others out there, like me, who never shared
or may never share their truth with their family members or their
friends, but are living through this reality, horrified.
It has led me to fight and put my body on the line to protect
medication abortion, to protect sexual and reproductive health, to stop
the Comstock Act, to secure abortion justice, to finally finalize the
equal rights amendment, which we are pushing President Biden to do in
the next 39 days. On this point, I am so proud to be one of two Black
women to ever sponsor legislation to ratify the ERA in its 101 years'
long history, to have cofounded and co-chaired the first-ever
Congressional Caucus for the equal rights amendment. Black women have
always been integral to the fight for equal rights and so often
relegated to its footnotes. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and I have
forever changed that.
My life experiences have shaped and informed this work. I have been
violated. I have been shot at, raped, and assaulted by people I have
known and people I have loved. I deeply understand the statistic that a
woman is five times more likely to be murdered when her abuser has
access to a gun because I am one of those women who have come close to
joining that statistic. It is why I pushed so hard for the inclusion of
ending the dating partner loophole in the Bipartisan Safer Communities
Act because I know safer communities doesn't just mean safer streets.
It means safer relationships, too.
I have been beaten, brutalized, and assaulted as a Ferguson front
lines activist. I have grieved with my community for Mike Brown,
Kajieme Powell, VonDerrit Myers, Anthony Lamar Smith, and so many
others; so, so many others. I know that police brutality is a
preventable crisis and that it is affecting Black and Brown communities
disproportionately. It is what our movement to save Black lives is born
out of. It is why I partnered with that same movement to author the
People's Response Act, to end police brutality, to end all police
violence, to transform community safety, to treat public safety as the
public health issue that it is.
I am one of just over 180 Black Representatives to ever serve in this
institution, where over 1,700 Members of Congress who enslaved Black
people have held office, and as the Congresswoman representing the very
district where Dred Scott was denied citizenship because he was Black.
I have seen how the legacy of enslavement, persists in the policies
that govern our lives today, from housing and healthcare to education
and economic inequality, to mass incarceration and police brutality. It
is why I introduced the Reparations Now Resolution, laying out a
historic framework for how our government can begin its moral and legal
obligation to provide reparations to the descendants of chattel slavery
in America because it isn't enough just to acknowledge the past. We
must work to reckon with its consequences and act to repair its harms.
I ran for this seat to deliver for St. Louis, for the people. Over
the past 4 years, we have delivered over $2 billion
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in Federal investments for our communities, resources that will empower
our district and create lasting change for generations. This includes
over $41 million which has gone toward community projects geared toward
homelessness prevention, public health, youth engagement, environmental
justice, and economic revitalization projects across St. Louis. We have
helped to guide thousands of our constituents through Federal case
work, and we established community programs such as Congress in Your
Neighborhood and Congress in Your Classroom.
I have refused to settle for crumbs handed to our communities. I have
sat and listened to SEIU caregivers and so many other union workers and
leaders. I have been in community with environmental organizers pushing
for climate action. I have mourned with grieving families demanding an
end to gun violence. I have been with the mom who couldn't afford
childcare or who struggled to feed her family.
When the President asked us to fight for his economic agenda, his
full economic agenda, I fought, we fought, those sitting behind me, we
fought for his full economic agenda. If not for a few corporate
Democrats, the Build Back Better Act would be the law of the land now.
We would have stopped talking about rising inflation and instead
delivered on universal pre-K and affordable childcare, a permanent
monthly tax credit, paid leave, free school meals, investments in our
caregivers, historic funding to build new affordable housing and
rehabilitate crumbling housing stock, expanded Medicare benefits, taxes
on billionaire corporations and ultra wealthy so they can finally pay
their fair share and, lastly, removing every lead pipe poisoning our
communities.
We may have lost that fight, but there must be a reckoning. The
November election has shown that we were right to fight. We were right
to fight as hard as we fought, to put everything we had for Build Back
Better. This party must do better.
I have been unhoused. I know the trauma of that policy violence, of
being forced out on the street, of not knowing if my two babies would
survive the night in our car because of freezing temperatures. I know
that. It is why I introduced the first of its kind legislation called
the Unhoused Bill of Rights, which makes clear the basic human rights
and dignity of our unhoused neighbors. It provides the roadmap for
ending homelessness by 2027. Congress can do that. We can guarantee
safe, affordable, and stable housing for all people, and we must.
I still remember also, which is what we just heard from Congresswoman
Ramirez, the day in August 2021 when we were on the brink of the
expiration of the Federal eviction moratorium; and with a bill waiting
to be passed on the House floor, Congress actually gaveled out to head
to the comforts of their own homes for the next 6 weeks. Knowing the
indignity of being evicted myself, I could not leave, and I did not
leave, and I have friends who stayed or who showed up and came back.
The squad showed up.
For months prior, we had pushed the Biden administration and CDC to
prevent a lapse in the pandemic-era Federal ban on evictions. I knew
that so many lives in St. Louis and nationwide were at risk, so I did
what I do. I led from my life experience and stayed put, right on the
Capitol steps. For four nights and five days, through cold rain and
summer heat, we pushed for our government to act. My team and I
negotiated with the House and Senate leadership, with the White House,
Biden administration officials, including HHS and Treasury, and worked
in tandem with the Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus to
keep people housed. The White House heeded our call, reinstating the
eviction moratorium and keeping 11 million people housed. However, it
shouldn't take such drastic action from lawmakers to act. The risk of
harming a single person, when you have the power not to, should be
enough. Again, as my time here comes to a close, I ask my colleagues
here to do better.
The decisions we make here within these Halls do not exist in a
vacuum. They ripple outward, touching the lives of millions. They
impact the unhoused veteran searching for safety, the survivor waiting
to be heard and believed, the child admitted to the emergency room
because they are asthmatic and can't breathe. We must honor the
humanity and circumstance of those we serve because being in Congress
is a privilege.
Don't waste it and don't settle. Don't say: Well, we tried. Don't
abuse the power we have been afforded to make a difference in people's
lives. The people are depending on you to show up for them and their
need. You have the power to change the world, so don't sit on that
power. Use it to do good deeds and to save and transform lives. We are
the United States of America. We are the wealthiest and most powerful
country in the world, so we can't act like the court jester. Do better.
If you are not willing to do the hard work to shirk the corporate
donors in service of everyday people, then how can you call yourself a
Representative?
I understand this, and it is why I was one of the first Members of
Congress, along with those sitting here with me today, to call for a
cease-fire, and why I am the lead sponsor of the historic cease-fire
now resolution. It is why I kept calling for a cease-fire even after
the White House called us repugnant and disgraceful only to turn around
and later adopt the same policy without an apology, without even so
much as a phone call. It is why I will keep standing up for Palestinian
liberation and against genocide, infanticide, femicide, and androcide.
It is why I will fight for peace and against endless war, for our
collective humanity and against our collective demise, even when my
persistence bought--and, yes, I said bought--my successor the seat with
a whole lot of Republican money.
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For me, when I came into office, I vowed to be the same person I was
then as I am today, to lead with a heart that knows no borders. My love
and my fight have always been for all the people.
When I was first elected, I toured John Lewis' office. I stood in the
space where courage once sat, and I vowed to honor his legacy. I know
many of us in this body have done the same.
Let's be honest, too many of us recite his words without following
his example. Too many of us who should be allies remain silent in the
face of injustice.
Many of us, especially my Democratic colleagues, tout that we are the
party for human rights, the party for justice, that we fight loud and
proud for all people no matter their race, background, sexual
orientation, faith, or ethnicity.
Yet, when it comes to Palestinian liberation, so many have chosen
silence--silence in the face of bombed hospitals and schools, displaced
families, starvation and illness, entire bloodlines wiped out, and the
cries of mothers and children; silence in the face of apartheid;
silence in the face of ethnic cleansing; silence in the face of
oppression and racial subjugation that mirrors the systems of Jim Crow,
systemic racism, and inequality that we fight against here in America.
Silence.
Maybe for some it is because it is easy or because the politics are--
what do we hear? Too complicated. Those are excuses. Those are copouts
to doing the right thing, and as Members of Congress, they are
hindrances to doing our job.
In the words of Dr. King: ``The time is always right to do right,''
so I will keep leading with consistent love and consistent respect for
all people, no matter their background, the color of their skin, or
where they were born.
I will fight for every person's right to live, to love, and to
thrive. I will keep standing up for a free Palestine, for a free Haiti,
for a free Congo, for a free Sudan, for a free St. Louis, for a free
America, for a free democracy.
I will always fight for the people in our country and world who have
the greatest need; for those who are incarcerated, unhoused,
unemployed, uninsured, food insecure, struggling to make ends meet; for
our children and for our elders; for victims and survivors of violence;
for those persecuted and villainized; for every person who has been
historically excluded, marginalized, silenced, or cast aside by
entrenched systems of violent oppression, repression, white supremacy,
and systemic injustice.
If you think it is this consistency or this radical love that is a
weakness, a mistake, or the reason why I won't be
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here next year, think again. My radical and unconditional love for
humanity is not a weakness; it is my superpower. The only reason why I
will not be here next year is because I didn't bend my morals to
special interests.
They tried to silence me, but it didn't work. They thought I would
crack under the pressure, but they underestimated me. They tried to buy
me, but you can't buy someone who refuses to be bought. No one can buy
my silence. No one can pay me to be silent so their people can then go
drop bombs on other people. I made a decision to be change, not
chained.
I am reminded of a Scripture in Mark 8:36: For what shall it profit a
man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
My colleagues, I share the words of Dr. King, who said: ``In the end,
we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our
friends.''
Colleagues, special interests would have you believe that fighting
for those who others deem unworthy--you know, justice--comes at a cost
that you can't afford, that it isn't worth putting your reputation and
livelihood on the line, that sometimes backing down or staying quiet is
smart politics, that keeping the status quo is better than challenging
it.
Well, my Christian colleagues should be familiar with this verse:
``You are the salt of the Earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how
shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing.''
If we are not bringing something to the situation to transform it for
the better, if we are not being about the change, if we are not the
reason why people are helped, if we can't season the problem and make
it flavorful, if we can't bring that flavor to making that change that
the people need where we leave a positive mark, then we have no purpose
here in this work.
My words are not for condemnation but reconciliation--let me be
clear--a reminder to love thy neighbor as myself. If you would not bomb
yourself, we should not be bombing our neighbors. Let that word
``love'' be about your action. Reflect on your own actions or your
inaction. Reckon with your own self, and then walk anew in this moment.
There are people in this country and around the world who need your
voice, who need you to stand up and speak out, who need you to be who
you say you are, but for all people, not just some of the people. Don't
let them down. Never before have we seen such vital collective action
on Palestine, or support for the cause of an arms embargo on Israel,
and never before have we seen such brazen efforts by AIPAC and its
affiliates to try to shut out our voices.
They wouldn't be coming for us if we weren't powerful. We won't back
down. We won't go backward. We will keep fighting for equal rights,
dignity, security, justice, and self-determination for all people. We
understand what the word ``all'' means.
We will keep fighting to end the disastrous Citizens United to get
dark money out of politics and for the representation that everyday
people need, not billionaires and billionaire corporations.
Now, every elected official knows that the work we do, we don't do it
alone. There are so many people who uplift us, support us, sustain us,
who prop us up, and hold us down in this work. I will take the time to
thank some of them now.
I thank my chairmen and their staff, Ranking Members Raskin and
Nadler and former Chairwoman Maloney. I thank them for believing in me
and welcoming my perspective. Carolyn's mentorship on the ERA has
helped me arrive at the point where I am today. Jamie's work has
inspired me, and his mentorship has meant the world to me.
I thank Democratic House leadership and their staff. I thank them for
their support.
I thank every person who calls the Capitol their workplace, every
single person who works in this place to keep it going.
I thank our OG Congresswoman Barbara Lee for being a quintessential
auntie, mentor, leader, and friend, for always having my back and
showing that even if you have to stand alone, never compromise your
values.
I thank CPC and CBC Chairs Pramila Jayapal, Joyce Beatty, and
Steven Horsford for leading our caucuses with foresight and openness,
and to their staff, including but not limited to Vincent Evans and
Michael Darner.
I thank the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for her friendship,
mentorship, and commitment to securing justice for Black communities,
particularly in the form of reparations. I will forever honor her
memory.
I thank Senator Bernie Sanders for his leadership and unwavering
consistency. If we can say anything, we can say consistency. I thank
him for being a movement builder and an inspiration.
I thank Senator Elizabeth Warren for being a model for delivering for
communities, for stepping out and embracing issues that help everyday
people, and for embracing me during our action on the eviction
moratorium.
I thank Senator Markey for being a steadfast partner in the work for
environmental justice and protecting frontline communities. I am deeply
appreciative that our first bicameral bill together made it into law to
help prioritize resources to communities like St. Louis.
I am so grateful and so honored to have the greatest group of friends
within these walls who are anything but silent: Rashida, Ayanna, Delia,
Ilhan, Jamaal, Summer, Alex, and so many others. Our squad was never
small and never silent.
We have changed the course of history. Each of you have made history
and made a difference in your own right, and you have made a difference
in my life. I am going to speak for Brother Jamaal: He has made a
difference in here.
I thank them for their friendship. I thank them for their
partnership, their solidarity. I thank them for how they lead and how
they taught me. I thank them for bringing all of themselves to
Congress. I thank them for how they helped communities from Detroit to
Minneapolis to Pittsburgh to Boston to the Bronx to Chicago to Puerto
Rico to Central America to Somalia to Haiti to Palestine, and
everywhere in between. I ask that they hold up our sister Rashida over
these next 2 years in our absence.
To my brother Jamaal, we came into Congress together in 2020. I am so
proud to have served with him, served in such a time as this one. He is
authentically him. He represented his district and his country with
heart and with courage, and we are family. If nothing else, we will
always be connected for our time right here in Congress together, our
impact on our world, and for the experiences that we have endured
together this cycle and the last. I thank him for not ever backing down
in our work in protecting humanity, no matter the stakes.
I thank my remarkable staff: Amelia Letson, Caleb Ammon-Hahn,
Christopher Key, Claire Shackleford, Isabella Siegel, Jessica
Grandberry, Jacqueline Greco, Joi Benton, Karla Santillan, Kate
Salamido, Kimberly Bryant, Marina Chafa, Rachell Nord Roseau, and
Lynese Wallace, and all of our interns and all of our fellows, to Abbas
Alawieh, Danielle Spradley, Stephanie Herndon, Kate Kelly, and all
those past and present who are forever part of Team Rep. Cori.
I thank them. They all have never forgotten the mission to do the
most for every single person in St. Louis, starting with those who have
the greatest need, from responding to the toughest of days--two
historic flooding events, a devastating school shooting, displaced
housing incidents, verbal attacks, and death threats--to the best of
days--securing the eviction moratorium, transforming people's
engagement with government, delivering for our community.
For our collective liberation and building movement-based coalitions,
Team Rep. Cori has delivered for St. Louis, and I am deeply
appreciative of every single one of them for their love and dedication
to the people, all the people, all of humanity, and for the betterment
of our world.
I thank the Ferguson front line, the families, the whole of our
movement to save lives. I thank them for entrusting me and my team and
our work. Our work is unfinished. We will never tire. We will never
back down until justice is won.
I thank my family, who have always been there with me. I thank my
dad, Earl, superdad. I wish my mom a happy birthday today. Go 70. I
thank my sister, Kelli, my brother, Perry, my aunts, uncles, cousins,
nieces, and
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nephews. I thank my incredible husband, our four kids, and our
grandchild, and our in-love family.
They have endured missed holidays, the weight of public scrutiny, and
the challenges that come with my calling. Without your unwavering
encouragement, without your boundless grace and steadfast support, I
would not be able to dedicate myself so fully to serving St. Louis and
to this work. Their love has always been my foundation. Their love has
always been my strength.
I say to my beloved St. Louis: This work was never about one single
seat. It was always about the change that we need to feel, the dreams
we dare to dream for ourselves and for our children, for our legacy,
the hopes and the aspirations we have to move beyond struggle and
hardship toward opportunity and prosperity for all of us.
We are the change that we seek. What we have accomplished together
over the last 4 years is nothing short of extraordinary. We have
witnessed history, and we have made history. We have laughed, and we
have cried. We have stood in solidarity, and we stood our doggone
ground.
We have turned our pain into power and our obstacles into
opportunities. We have faced challenges head-on, and we have emerged
stronger than ever. We are St. Louis, though we know that there is yet
still much more work left to do. Together, we have shown that it is
possible to lead with purpose and moral clarity and to fight with honor
and love for all people.
While my time in Congress may be coming to an end for now, know this:
I came into Congress with my voice. Congress didn't give that to me, so
Congress can't take that away when I leave, let's be clear.
It has been the honor of my life to be your Congresswoman for
Missouri's First District.
To my mom and dad, I know they are proud. From St. Louis to Gaza and
everywhere beyond and in between, I love and will always have their
back, even if it means I lose something.
Until we rise again, I love St. Louis.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________