Insurrection in the Capitol

Floor Speech

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Madam Speaker, 29 days ago, on January 6, 2021, insurrectionists attacked our Capitol seeking to overturn the results of our Nation's election.

Twenty-nine days ago, the glass in and around this very Chamber was shattered by gunshots, clubs, and by individuals seeking to restrain and murder Members of Congress duly elected to carry out the duties of their office.

Twenty-nine days ago, Officer Sicknick, who just laid in honor yesterday in our Nation's Capitol, was murdered on the steps just outside this hallowed floor. Two Capitol Police officers have lost their lives since, in addition to the four other people who died during the events of January 6.

Twenty-nine days ago, food service workers, staffers, and children ran or hid for their lives from violence deliberately incited by the former President of the United States.

Sadly, less than 29 days later, with little to no accountability for the bloodshed and trauma of the 6th, some are already demanding that we move on, or, worse, are attempting to minimize, discredit or belittle the accounts of survivors. In doing so, they not only further harm those who were there that day and provide cover for those responsible, but they also send a tremendously damaging message to survivors of trauma all across this country that the way to deal with trauma, violence, and targeting is to paper it over, minimize it, and move on.

Sadly, this is all too often what we hear from survivors of trauma as the reason why they don't get care; that what they experienced wasn't bad enough or too bad to talk about; or that they are afraid of being invalidated, accused of exaggeration or making a mountain out of a mole hill. As a result, thousands, if not millions, deny themselves the care that they need and deserve to live better lives.

Twenty-nine days ago, our Nation's Capitol was attacked. That is the big story, and in that big story resides thousands of individual accounts just as valid and important as the other.

Tonight, for this Special Order, we will begin to hear and commit to the Congressional Record just some of those many stories. I thank my colleagues who have bravely come forward today to share their accounts.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch).

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Madam Speaker, I think that what Representative Tlaib speaks to is so powerful and so important because when we attack not just Members of Congress and focus on them because of their gender, their faith, their race, their creed, we make everyone on this complex feel unsafe and feel less than safe. Our seats do not belong to us. They belong to the people of the United States. We, as Members who come in and leave this Chamber, are not permanent fixtures. There are so many others in this country who see themselves in the 435 Members of this body. And to see individual Members targeted, demeaned, singled out by virtue of how they were born is to single out and demean so many people in this country who see themselves on this floor.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. Bush), a powerful woman and leader that so many in our country see themselves in.

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Madam Speaker, lastly, I would like to close, speaking to some of the individuals who have already been mentioned, and some of the folks who have already been mentioned in prior remarks: our staff, our Capitol Police, our House clerks, we thank you.

We know how many of you were put in the line of danger because of the job that you have. We know and felt how many staffers were willing to put themselves on the line in order to protect the Members that they serve alongside, and that is a weight that no one should have to carry.

And so we say thank you to our House clerks. We say thank you to every single staff member of the United States Congress. We say thank you to our food service workers. We say thank you to our custodial workers, sweeping up the glass on the floor shattered by white supremacists, cleaning up after their mess.

There are not enough ways to say thank you. We say thank you to our Capitol Police who were willing to defend us. And, again, to our staffers we say thank you.

I would be remiss if I did not specifically thank my staffer right here to my left, Gerardo Bonilla Chavez, who was with me on the day of the attack, and who did everything he could to protect me.

I want his community to know that he is a hero. I want his parents and his family to know that he is a hero. Our staff already know that he is a hero, and I believe he is a hero, too.

And I know it is not just him. He will be the first one to say that. But to every one of our House clerks, we say thank you; to our Capitol Police we say thank you; to our food service workers, our custodial workers, every person here that was standing to fight for our democracy, we thank you.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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