Poor People's Campaign
Floor Speech
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Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman Raskin for his leadership, consistent leadership, on these issues. And certainly, I think, the recognition of the fact that the poor of this Nation, both in the biblical sense of our faith or the document of your faith, the poor have always been acknowledged, and, in a certain sense, in the Christian Bible honored.
And it is a sad state of affairs for us to come to this point in the Nation to realize that our poor are suffering at large numbers and that there is no relief.
I know that Dr. King, some 50 years ago, as he was planning the Poor People's march--and many of us realized that he was not able to fulfill it for he was shot by an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968. But the valiant people went forward with his dream of eliminating poverty. And I am reminded of his words: Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.
And so I speak today of the sprinkling, the harsh sprinkling of poverty and injustices in this Nation today, and I make it a very special message to the leader of the free world, who has every power to collaborate with this important body, to make commitments to end the very conditions that Dr. King, some 50 years ago, sought to come to Washington that was ultimately proceeded with by leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and poor people from around the Nation.
They might not have succeeded specifically, but they did bring to the Nation's eyes and hearts the violence of poverty among Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans, poor, and Caucasians in places beyond the South. And, interestingly enough, that poverty continues.
I speak, in particular, of certain elements that show our lack of concern and where we must get steady and back on track. First, what all of us have been speaking about over the last couple of days and weeks is the untoward and the impossible thought of taking children away from parents who are fleeing poverty, violence, and desperation to come.
We know that, in my home State of Texas, a migrant was separated from his family and committed suicide while in Federal detention. Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. And a mother, while breastfeeding her young child, while both were in Federal detention, had her child ripped away from her arms. That must stop. That is a poverty of mind, a poverty of heart and spirit.
I want to thank Reverend Barber, who will be headed to Washington on June 23 with the massive, largest expression of those who still, unfortunately, live in the shadows, not of their own making. When I say that, they are not in the shadows, they are there, but seeming there in the shadows with respect to the policies of this administration, the terrible Robin Hood tax bill that has created nothing but a balloon of wealth to the top 1 percent, so much so that the wages of Americans have not gone up. When you travel throughout the country and in my district, most people don't know, working Americans have no idea that any tax bill was passed that was supposed to impact them because it has not impacted them, and the only thing that is happening is a flush of corporate profits.
Now, it would seem that one is criticizing that success. We are criticizing the unequalness of what happens to working families who work every day and have not had a wage increase.
Then out of that comes the implosion of the Affordable Care Act, brick by brick being taken away. I know of people who have told me that their loved one was put in a wheelchair and pointed toward the door: Get out. And the Affordable Care Act provided that there were no caps on one's insurance until you got better in the hospital. But because of the atmosphere, and the climate, and the constant attack on the Affordable Care Act, hospitals are feeling the burden and are sending people out the door who are not well.
Even more frightening for people are those who have preexisting conditions, one of the glaring parts of the Affordable Care Act, one where people were waving the flag. They were excited, if they had a preexisting condition, which, before the Affordable Care Act, it could have been acne or it could have been pregnancy. But now, that coverage and protection for our loved ones who may have preexisting conditions, loved ones who could function with healthcare and not be relegated to be homebound because they were so sick they could not work.
This is a terrible approach to how you run a country.
In these last two points, I want to make it clear how important it is to recognize that poverty still is. And not only Dr. King, but we recognize that Robert Francis Kennedy, also struck down by an assassin's bullet, worked in his campaign for President in 1968 to bring to the attention of Americans the fact that it is so important to realize poverty exists in the worst way in the mountains and valleys, and urban centers, and that Americans should stand up against poverty.
Poverty impacts the criminal justice system. In 1968, African Americans were about five to four times as likely as Whites to be imprisoned, or jailed. Compared to today, they are six to four times as likely as Whites to be incarcerated, which is troubling, given the population difference.
As Judge Learned Hand observed, ``If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.''
It is important that, as we match meaningful prison reform, we must match it with meaningful sentencing reduction. We must stop the tide of poverty by ending mass incarceration. And we must, in fact, recognize that we must fight against recidivism, open the doors of opportunity for ex-felons as they come out, and make sure that we are reducing those mandatory minimums that have kept people in jail 15, 20, 25, or 30 years away from their family so that their children grow up without them.
We must recognize that poverty attacks at a very young age. It moves people toward the juvenile justice system, and it only causes them to believe this is the only thing that they can engage in. I have introduced legislation to give hope to the juvenile justice system: no more solitary confinement; alternative placement; and if they are able, as they rehabilitate, we ban the box on saying that they have been in the juvenile system.
I want to stop homelessness. That is what Dr. King knew had to end to end that aspect of poverty, and to, of course, end it among our veterans.
I want to end the idea of $23 billion out of SNAP's program.
And, of course, I want to recognize that when we have these devastating storms, the amount of homelessness goes up. It is so very important to recognize the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, that there are those who are still unhoused, and to make a commitment after every disaster that we make those communities whole: volcanos, tornadoes, fires, and floods.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for allowing us to be here tonight. And I want to conclude by showing this Robin Hood tax bill, stealing from the poor. This year, the administration, President Trump, proposed to slash housing benefits by $11 billion because we had to pay for the tax cut. Weeks after that tax cut was passed, President Trump proposed to pay for the bill by slashing housing benefits and other supports for low-income people who struggle to make ends meet. And here we stand with the $1.5 trillion deficit.
So, what is our message? That we must never give up in this fight. We must stand in the tradition of Dr. King. We must be reminded of those who are coming to Washington in the coming days. We must say to have mercy on them. And, of course, as Reverend Barber would always seek, that they be blessed, blessed with mercy and success, as they stand against poverty and stand for the ending and elimination of poverty
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congressional Progressive Caucus for anchoring this important Special Order.
In the spirit of the 50th Anniversary of the Poor People's Campaign, we are here today to bring the nation's attention to the issues that affect them: immigration, health care, paid sick leave, criminal justice, homelessness, and environmental justice.
We must act without delay regarding the ``zero-tolerance'' policy that separates families apprehended on the southern border by U.S. Border Patrol.
As the member of the House Committees on Homeland Security and former Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Maritime and Border Security, I cannot think of a situation more devastating than having the government forcibly separate a parent from her child to a place unknown, for a fate uncertain, absent any form of communication.
Every day, hundreds of persons, ranging from infants and toddlers to adolescents and adults, flee violence, oppression, and economic desperation from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, seeking safe harbor in the United States.
They are not criminals or terrorists, they are refugees seeking asylum.
The level of callousness displayed by this administration towards those seeking refuge within our borders is shocking.
Every day that passes seemingly reveals another horrific tale of a migrant interacting with Trump's border patrol forces and then being worse for the wear because of it.
We know of the immigrant who was deported to Mexico, a country he left when he was three years old, only to be murdered by gang violence just three weeks after his forced return.
We know of the young mother, separated from her children at the border, left to wonder about their fate, safety, future, and whether she would ever see them again.
In my home state of Texas, a migrant who was separated from his family, committed suicide while in federal detention.
A mother who, while breastfeeding her young child when both were in federal detention, had her child ripped away from her arms.
This cannot be how we make America great again, this is how we make America hateful again.
This week brought news that the Trump administration is seeking to build a tent city at Fort Bliss for the purpose of housing children separated from their parents.
This is unconscionable, outrageous and it must stop.
I have written to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security calling for an immediate end to this policy.
America is the envy of the world, in large part because of our welcoming and generous nature.
For over 100 years, those seeking a better life have been drawn to this land by the words on the Statue of Liberty: ``Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.''
The current president fails this obligation, but he is who he is.
We must be who we are: a loving, embracing people, eager to share the bounty of this country to all who seek it.
The President and GOP have promised for years now to create a plan to improve health insurance for everybody.
But that promise has not been kept.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has significantly improved the availability, affordability, and quality of health care for tens of millions of Americans, including millions who previously had no health insurance at all.
Americans are rightly frightened by Republican attempts to repeal the ACA without having in place a superior new plan that maintains comparable coverages and comparable consumer choices and protections.
It is beyond dispute that the ``Pay More For Less'' plan proposed by House Republicans a few months ago fails this test miserably.
The Republican ``Pay More For Less Act'' is a massive tax cut for the wealthy, paid for on the backs of America's most vulnerable, the poor and working class households.
This ``Robin Hood in reverse'' bill is unprecedented and breathtaking in its audacity--no bill has ever tried to give so much to the rich while taking so much from the poor and working class.
This Republican scheme gives gigantic tax cuts to the rich, and pays for it by taking insurance away from 24 million people and raising costs for the poor and middle class.
It is despicable and shameful that those elected to serve their people would rather see their pockets full than their constituents healthy and well.
Fifty years or so ago the American Labor Movement was little more than a group of dreamers, and look at it now.
From coast to coast, in factories, stores, warehouse and business establishments of all kinds, industrial democracy is at work.
From ending sweatshop conditions, unlivable wages, and 70-hour workweeks, we have come a long way from our practices over 100 years ago.
However, we still have work to be done.
Currently in America, there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave.
For companies subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Act does require unpaid sick leave and are only eligible to take FMLA after they have worked for their employer for at least 12 months, worked for at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, state and local government workers were more likely than workers in private industry to have access to paid sick leave but less likely to have access to paid vacations and holidays.
As with workers in private industry, state and local government workers in the lower wage categories were less likely to have access to paid sick leave than workers in higher wage categories.
Workers in lower wage categories were less likely to have access to paid sick leave than more highly paid workers.
For private-industry workers with an average wage in the lowest 10 percent, 27 percent had access to paid sick leave; among workers with an average wage in the highest 10 percent, 87 percent had access to paid sick leave.
This is an atrocity.
We must allow for all of our constituents to be able to work within a healthy environment.
In 1968, African Americans were about 5.4 times as likely as whites to be in prison or jail; compared to today, African Americans are 6.4 times as likely as whites to be incarcerated, which is especially troubling given that whites are also much more likely to be incarcerated now than they were in 1968.
It is clear the inequalities and disparities that ignited hundreds of American cities in the 1960s still exist and have not been eliminated over the last half-century.
As Judge Learned Hand observed, ``If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: thou shalt not ration justice.''
Reforming the criminal justice system so that it is fairer and delivers equal justice to all persons is one of the great moral imperatives of our time.
For reform to be truly meaningful, we must look at every stage at which our citizens interact with the system--from policing in our communities and the first encounter with law enforcement, to the charging and manner of attaining a conviction, from the sentence imposed to reentry and collateral consequences.
The need for meaningful prison reform cannot be overstated because being the world's leader in incarceration is neither morally nor fiscally sustainable for the United States, or the federal government, the nation's largest jailer.
For individuals who have paid their debt, the reentry process is paved with tremendous, and often insurmountable, obstacles resulting in recidivism rates as high as 75 percent in some areas.
More must be done to ensure that the emphasis on incarceration is matched with an equal emphasis on successful reentry so that the approximately 630,000 individuals who reenter society each year are prepared to be successful in civilian life.
This is why I have also strongly supported and cosponsored legislation that will allow those with a criminal conviction to have a fair chance to compete for jobs with federal agencies and contractors.
I have also been working for many years to stop the over- criminalization of our young people.
Today, more and more young children are being arrested, incarcerated, and detained in lengthy out-of-home placements.
Harsh and lengthy penalties handed down to young offenders increase their risk of becoming physically abused, emotionally traumatized, and reduce their chance of being successfully reintegrated back into their communities.
I have introduced and supported legislation to help reform how youth and juveniles are treated to reduce contact and recidivism within the juvenile and criminal justice system; to help protect them from a system that turns them into life-long offenders.
Just as we need to minimize the conviction of innocent people, we must address the unnecessary loss of life that can result from police and civilian interactions.
Effective law enforcement requires the confidence of the community that the law will be enforced impartially and equally.
That confidence has been eroded substantially in recent years by numerous instances of excessive use of lethal forces.
There is no higher priority than improving the peacefulness of these interactions and rebuilding the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve and protect.
Currently, over half a million people in the United States on any given night are experiencing homelessness.
Now that Congress has lifted the low spending caps required by law for defense and domestic programs, lawmakers should ensure the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing.
When U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s resources are cut, families may lose access to stable housing, putting them at increased risk of homelessness.
This year, President Trump proposed to slash housing benefits by $11 billion compared to current levels.
Weeks after passing a massive tax bill that grows our deficit by $1.5 trillion, the President proposed to pay for the tax bill by slashing support for low income people who struggle to make ends meet.
HUD and The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) affordable housing programs have lifted millions of families out of poverty.
Without this investment, many of these families would be homeless, living in substandard or overcrowded conditions, or struggling to meet other basic needs.
As well, homelessness among the American veteran population is on the rise in the United States and we must be proactive in giving back to those who have given so much to us.
Today, in our country, there are approximately 107,000 veterans (male and female) who are homeless on any given night.
And perhaps twice as many (200,000) experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year.
We have an obligation to provide our veterans the assistance needed to avoid homelessness, which includes adequately funding for programs such as Veterans Administration Supportive Housing (VASH) that provide case-management services, adequate housing facilities, mental health support, and address other areas that contribute to veteran homelessness.
We must commit ourselves to the hard but necessary work of ending veteran homelessness in America because providing a home for veterans to come home to every night is the very least we can do.
As one of the original members of the House Committee on Homeland Security, I am well aware of the range of threats that our nation has faced.
However, I believe that the threats posed by climate change have been ignored to our nation's detriment.
Climate change is the challenge of our lifetime and for far too many years we have heard the warnings from prominent scientists regarding the danger to people if nothing is done to reverse the amounts of Green House gases released into the atmosphere.
All of you will recall the devastation that Hurricane Harvey wreaked on the Houston community last fall.
Neither Houston nor any other city in the nation had ever experienced flooding of the magnitude caused by Harvey.
In addition to the immense costs of recovery and reconstruction, the cost of human lives is always immeasurable.
If we do not collectively and concretely address the looming threat of climate change, we must prepare for many more devastating natural disasters that destroy lives and livelihoods.
In 2015, the Pentagon published a report that found climate change to be a security risk, because it degrades living conditions, human security and the ability of governments to meet the basic needs of their populations.
Communities within the United States and countries around the world that already are fragile and have limited resources are significantly more vulnerable to disruption and far less likely to respond effectively and be resilient to new challenges caused by climate change.
The poor and marginalized who live in areas that already prone to the consequences of severe weather because the land was cheaper or unwanted by developers will suffer the early consequence of climate change, but the damage will not stop there it will be felt by all.
As many of you well know, Greenhouse Gases such as carbon dioxide (CO
Increases in these concentrations of these gases in Earth's atmosphere are causing our planet to warm by trapping more of this heat.
Warmer temperatures have caused the Arctic Ice sheets to melt at an unprecedented rate.
This winter we have seen extreme temperature swings in some parts of the country, while in others they have seen no winter at all.
We are at a point where we can no longer wait for action only from Washington D.C., we must begin to take action in our own cities, counties and states to prepare for the challenges we will face if the rise in temperatures is not abated.
It will continue my efforts in Washington to make sure that we have flood study of the greater Houston area to determine the implications of flooding and development in our area.
I urge my colleagues in Congress, and all Americans, to look at what unites us rather than what divides us.
We are linked by our compassion, and bound by the fundamental edict of the American Dream that says we will strive to provide our children with a better life than we had.
We can, and we must, find the common ground necessary to make this dream a reality for Americans of every race and creed, nationality and religion, gender and sexual orientation; indeed for every American wherever he or she may live in this great land regardless of what he or she looks like or who they may love.
We can do it; after all, we are Americans.
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