Unfinished Business: CBC To Republican Leadership--Do Your Job

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I stand in solidarity with my colleagues to demand that the Republican Leadership do its job and prioritize the needs of the American people.The criminal justice system is desperately in need of reform, gun violence has become an epidemic problem in America, the FY2017 Omnibus is inexcusably incomplete and the American vote is still not protected.

I have only begun to name the extensive amount of work that has been left undone by the Republican Leadership and the American people are suffering because of it. The people of this country who rely on this Congress to fight for them will continue to suffer because of the inaction, indifference and insolence of the Republican Party. Congress has repeatedly failed to pass legislation to help make the citizens of this country feel safe from violence and secure in their rights and liberties. We need greater investment in higher education and our HBCUs. We need more anti-poverty programs and we need to address the problems of the rise of drug costs and access to healthcare facilities. There is simply too much incomplete work that cannot be ignored.
There has been too much suffering, sadness, blood and tears--and we need action now.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, ``The time is always right to do what is right.'' Now is the time to take action to unite as one great nation and work together to secure liberty and justice for all Americans. Unfinished business cannot become ``business as usual.''

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