[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 258]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        FREEDOM IS A GIFT OF GOD

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday was a magnificent day: the 
coming together for the second inauguration of Barack Obama and the 
honoring of Dr. Martin Luther King. In his speech, President Obama said 
something potent and powerful, and that is that freedom is a gift from 
God, but it is one that is not self-executing. A gentleman that I know 
very well, Dr. Reverend Samuel Smith of the Mount Horeb Baptist Church, 
knows about fighting for freedom.
  Today, I rise to again affirm Roe v. Wade, which speaks about 
individual freedom, and to indicate that even as we discuss budget 
talks and the debt ceiling, we must recognize the freedom of the 
vulnerable to be safe and secure and to have the support to be able to 
have food and clothing and a home. That is freedom as well, my friends.
  And so as we debate the questions of the debt ceiling and whether we 
have a budget, let us be reminded that freedom is a gift of God and 
that it should not be denied to those who are most vulnerable, those 
who are the weak, those who cannot stand for themselves. And the 
President made it very clear that freedom is not to the powerful. It is 
for all of us. We all are created equal, with certain unalienable 
rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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