Congressional Black Caucus

Floor Speech

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Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her stellar leadership, for coanchoring tonight, and for all the support that she has continued to give, and the leadership of the CBC.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to speak about the importance of passing the Build Back Better Act, legislation nothing short of transformational for Black America.

It extends the child care tax credit for a year, cutting child poverty in half. In North Carolina, that is a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of children who go to bed hungry every night.

It puts $150 billion toward affordable housing, which has been described as the single largest and most comprehensive investment in affordable housing in history. In Charlotte and so many other communities across the country, that is real progress on our affordable housing crisis and real relief for over half a million Americans who don't have a roof over their heads.

As the chair of the CBC HBCU Caucus and cofounder of the Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus, I am proud to say that this package provides approximately $10 billion specifically for historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions, including $3 billion for research and development grants at these institutions and $6 billion for increased Pell grants and institutional support to lower the cost of college.

Universal childcare and pre-K will prepare children to receive the education that they need to succeed in school and be admitted to college.

As the cofounder and co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus with Representative Underwood, I am also proud to say that the Build Back Better Act includes all eligible provisions of our Momnibus legislation and permanently expands yearlong postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage in every State.

The maternal health and morbidity crisis in this country is unacceptable, but the Build Back Better Act gets us closer to the day when every parent who enters the maternity ward and every child born in America makes it home safe.

Finally, I would like to take a point of personal privilege to recognize the hard work of our Congressional Black Caucus chair, Joyce Beatty, and all the members and committee chairs on this legislation.

I believe that promises made must be promised kept, and this package keeps our promise to all Americans. I implore my colleagues to pass the Build Back Better Act and the bipartisan infrastructure framework together. This is Our Power, Our Message.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for her words. Again, I emphasize her commitment, dedication, and work on historically Black colleges, and she is absolutely right: $10 billion. But more importantly, that is layered upon the dollars out of the American Rescue Act, out of the CARES Act, and the debt under President Joe Biden that has been effectively worked on in this congressional session. We know that we are doing better by our students because we have done better by them as it relates to education.

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for spearheading this Special Order hour and for giving me an opportunity to share a few of my remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today optimistic, optimistic that our country is on the verge of taking a historic step forward for all of our communities. The Build Back Better Act is a once-in-a-generation investment in our country as a whole and in Black Americans, specifically. For too long, our country's institutions have been apathetic and even adversarial toward Black people. Four hundred years of slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, and other forms of systemic violence have trapped Black Americans in a vicious cycle from which it can be nearly impossible to break.

The Build Back Better Act will not instantly remedy four centuries of that pain and hardship, but it is a crucial starting point. Through revitalizing infrastructure and funding essential social services, the President's agenda will set the next generation of Black Americans up for success.

Building back better means directly confronting the Black mental health crisis. This bill would fund universal childcare and pre-K, allowing Black mothers to return to the workforce while giving Black children the early childhood care that they need.

Building back better means giving those same Black children safe places to grow up, to learn, and to thrive. We will do that by making the single-largest housing investment in our Nation's history.

Building back better means ensuring those very same children have long, successful lives. That is why the bill invests billions of dollars into historically Black colleges and universities. This is new money on top of our annual funding of HBCUs.

Many of us in this Chamber today, myself included, wanted more out of the Build Back Better Act. No, this bill is not perfect, and much more work will remain to be done after its passage. This does not change the fact, however, that the Build Back Better Act represents monumental progress for our country; progress for everyday Americans; progress for elder Americans; progress for children in America; progress for working Americans; and, yes, progress for African Americans and other minorities.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my wonderful colleagues to support the Build Back Better Act.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much for recognizing that this will be transformative, but as well, that it will do and improve in areas that we have not done in the history of the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, I am now delighted to yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans), from Philadelphia, who has been instrumental in dealing with issues of taxation and the empowerment of small businesses.

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