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

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus is often called the conscience of the Congress--the conscience of the Congress.

They don't say we are just the conscience of Black people. They don't say we are just the conscience of some people. We say that we are the conscience of the entire Congress because we want to work to help all of Americans, particularly the least of these. Many of us run around and we talk about our various religious beliefs. And no matter what your religious belief is, it teaches us that we need to take care of those who do not have.

So we are here in what we call the people's House, and one of the things that we should make sure that happens with the people's House taking the lead is that we end poverty. Poverty does not discriminate.
Poverty does not look at which section of the country you are in or what religion you have. You can find poverty in rural America and urban America. We should be here to do our jobs to help all Americans.

When, in fact, you have individuals who are still drinking bottled water, we need to pass a water resources bill, not only for a small section of individuals but for everyone. Because when we look at what is taking place now, we see and we are finding--we even found it right here in the United States Capital--a problem with water. Water equals life, and everybody's life is important. Why we have got to pass this budget is so that we can make sure that everybody has certainty that they receive the items that they need.

What are the most basic needs of any human being? You cannot live without health care. So we have got to continue to make sure that we are providing for health care. I know some were talking about eliminating ObamaCare, but 20 million Americans who did not have any health care at all now for the first time in their lives have the same or have access to health care. We cannot end that.

Education. We know today that education is more important than ever before. We must pass this budget that has education at its core to make sure that every American has a chance to live up to her or his dreams.
Criminal justice reform. We have got to make sure that it is fair and equitable for everyone.

When you think about this budget, stability is important. The government relies on stability. We must fund the government so that we don't have short-term uncertainty. We have got to take care of our military. We have got to take care of emergencies like storms that hit my district. We are still recovering from Sandy. There must be stability in the budget and not these short-term things that we continue to do so our country can move and prosper.

So let's stay and do the job that the American people have elected us to do. Let us understand, even though this election, that there has to be, as Chairman Butterfield said, compromise because the majority of the American people voted one way, the electoral college had another decision, which means that we have got to all work together to move this country forward. We can do that, and we will be stronger doing that together.
So I want to thank Congresswoman Beatty for engineering this evening because we must meet with our voices louder. We know the members of the Congressional Black Caucus will talk loudly and clearly to make sure that we represent the people that vote for us every 2 years, but we know that we are the conscience of the Congress and that we have a responsibility to the American people.

And I say to my Republican friends, you too have a responsibility, and that responsibility is to come and let's pass this budget so that we can keep this government moving and keep it stable moving forward. We can do that because this Congress is stronger if we work together.

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