[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 145-146]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                      SERVING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania). The Chair 
recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, as we come to begin this new 
opportunity of service to the American people, clearly we want to 
emphasize to them that we take this responsibility seriously and, as 
well, that we know that we represent our constituents. These are 
districts that are between thousands of people that are in our 
congressional districts, but we realize that the broader sense of what 
we do is to represent our Nation and the values and needs of the 
American people.
  Over the last 2 days, as we begin this legislative process, I have 
been concerned about two issues in particular that I believe do not, if 
you will, provide for the overall sensitivity to the American people. 
We were discussing a major financial services bill that will be coming 
up. Many elements are in this bill, but I want our constituents and, 
more importantly, our colleagues to realize that you have a bill that 
will diminish what we call the Volcker rule.
  What that is is a protection to make sure if banks want to dibble and 
dabble in risky ventures or risky investments, that they do so with the 
money that is private and separate from money that is protected by the 
FDIC. That is your savings accounts. That is the money you socked away. 
In the instance of this legislation, they want to take that protection 
away so that banks can dibble and dabble in accounts that are protected 
by the FDIC, meaning that you pay for mistakes; you pay for collapse; 
you pay for the wrong decisions that are made; and you lose. I don't 
want the American people to lose.
  It is something that has touched my heart because I represent a vast 
amount of constituents: those who are quite well-endowed, if you will, 
quite wealthy, such as major corporations and neighbors and others who 
are doing quite well; and then, of course, I represent children and 
widows who are dependent on something called SSI, or those who are 
disabled who are dependent on SSI. And I cannot, for the life of me, 
understand why we would pass legislation that would, in essence, 
indicate that we are not going to continue supporting SSI, in fact, 
that we may call for either the elimination or the decreasing of 
benefits under SSI.
  Do we realize, does this Republican leadership realize, that those 
who receive SSI are the most vulnerable, the poorest, the children who 
are in great need, the sick who are in great need, people who have 
worked and who have fallen upon times in which they need that kind of 
support? Why would we, in the thinking of representing the core of 
American values, lifting all people, believing in the equality of all, 
why would we do this? And so my voice is going to be heard loudly and 
clearly. I call upon, as my Democratic colleagues have so aptly noted, 
that we raise our voices and that we get in the way and that we stop 
this kind of intrusion on

[[Page 146]]

those who cannot, in some instances, speak for themselves.
  I want to rise today as well to acknowledge my deepest sympathy to 
the people of France for the heinous and tragic incident which has just 
occurred. When I left, there were 12 dead, including two police 
officers in the line of duty. We pray for their families, and we stand 
up against this vile act of franchise terrorism.
  As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, I am grateful to 
serve on that committee with the ranking member, Mr. Thompson, and 
Chairman McCaul. I hope that we can work in a bipartisan manner to 
confront this kind of dangerous terrorism, recognizing that we do not 
label people by their faith, but we label them by their actions.
  Might I also say that I express, again, on the floor, a sympathy for 
the tragic execution of the NYPD law enforcement officers. We do not 
stand for that. That individual has been determined to be disturbed, 
crazed, and does not represent any value of America. We offer our 
deepest sympathy to those shot recently in the line of duty. Hopefully 
we will continue working in the Judicial Committee to look at the 
criminal justice system that really involves a whole number of 
elements, such as the grand jury system, the special prosecutor system, 
the constant traffic stops in many instances that are done on a 
racially profiled scenario, and the uplifting of training and 
community-oriented policing.
  Mr. Speaker, we can do all of these things if we work together, but I 
did not come to this Congress to undermine the criminal justice system 
or to undermine people who are in need.

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