The Nation Continues to Face An Increasingly Deadly Pandemic

Floor Speech

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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, as we move into the last weeks of 2020, as we move into a dark and uncertain winter, our Nation continues to face an increasingly deadly pandemic. Grief, economic hardship, and anxiety can be felt in every corner of our country.

Despite the challenges that face our Nation, the past few weeks have seen millions of Americans stand up and make their voices heard.

And millions of Americans have chosen unity over division, stability over chaos, and looked forward to a future filled with faith and hope for a brighter world.

That world requires something from each and every one of us--we all must do our part. We all have a role to play in transforming our aspirations into real, effective progress.

Over the last 2 years, I have heard from thousands of families who have called on my office in a moment of need; a grandparent whose Social Security checks just simply stopped coming; a veteran who desperately needed an appointment at the VA hospital; a small business that required assistance to keep their employees paid during this pandemic.

For many of these people, their call to my office may have been the first time that they have ever interacted with a government official. It may be the first time that they have ever asked their government for help.

Each and every day, we are called upon to serve our communities in Congress. They are trusting us to do everything that we can to advocate on their behalf.

We must never lose sight of that faith and that trust that they placed in us.

Hardworking families across Georgia, and from around the Nation, understand that the days and the months ahead may be the most important of our lifetime.

And Americans have been very clear. They have asked their leaders to put aside their partisan bickering and focus on American fellowship.

And the mandate that they have given us is one of compassion and cooperation.

It is a mandate to heal fractures and mend their wounds.

It is a mandate to solve problems and protect them.

And it is a mandate to compromise with common sense.

It is a mandate to enact policies that provide every person in this Nation an opportunity to fight for their very own American Dream.

For many years, before I had the honor of serving my community in Congress, I worked as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines, and I shared journeys with people from every corner of our globe and of every color and every creed and of every race and every religion.

Yes, we all come from different backgrounds, and we share different beliefs, and we all belong to different political parties. But what we must understand is that we share a common purpose that transcends partisanship.

We are all uniquely American. We are all far more alike than we are different. We all need to spend time with those that we love, to share our stories with those who make us smile, make us laugh. We all want what is best for our families.

On these journeys across America, I watched first-generation Americans chart a course toward a lifetime of new and exciting experiences.

And I watched men and women in uniform fly home to surprise their young children, their mothers who have been worried sick, their brothers who haven't seen their best friend in years.

I have watched parents beam with pride as they reunited with their new college graduate. After decades of hard work, they knew, with faith and with certainty, that the days of their children would be better than their own.

This is the America that our constituents sent us here to fight for and sent us here to lead; to preserve the ideas that this Nation was founded upon; to protect the values that must endure long after every single one of us in this Chamber is gone.

Our strength as a Nation has always been on our ability to come together to address America's greatest challenges, which we are in right now. And that is the opportunity that we have in this very moment.

And when we look back at this time in years to come, I pray that we can all take pride in our response; that we fought against all those who seek to sow the seeds of hatred and division--and for all those rooted in peace and prosperity; that we fought to strengthen our fellow Americans with love and with unity; that we fought for progress alongside our brothers and sisters of this great Nation with unshakeable resolve; that we fought for a future that we can all believe in.

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