Congressional Leadership Matters
Floor Speech
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give special recognition to the members of the Democratic Caucus who have been able to accomplish many things in spite of the sound and fury of the dysfunctional politics in a small and vocal part of the House Republican Conference. As I stand here in the people's House I am struck by how much congressional leadership matters and how divided the 118th Congress has been.
We have been here, without question, living in perilous times. In times like these what we do in this Chamber matters in the lives of American people.
The people of our district did not send us here to perform theatrical acts. They did not send us here to posture for the cameras. None of us were elected here so that we could increase the status and the stature of our personal media profiles. Yet that seems to be the total measure of what this Congress has amounted to.
The 118th Congress and the year of 2023 have been unprecedented. Earlier this year, leader Hakeem Jeffries made history as the first man of African descent to be elected the leader of a major political party.
Nevertheless, almost immediately chaos erupted. The Speaker's vote was a mess. Speaker Emeritus McCarthy was elected after 15 rounds of votes, 15 rounds. It was the first time in a century that election of a House Speaker took multiple ballots to complete, and it was the longest vote in the United States' history since 1855 lasting 133 rounds just over 2 months.
I will say, though, that our honorable leader, Hakeem Jeffries, did receive 3,179 votes for Speaker across 15 rounds.
The hits just kept coming as we rolled into the spring. At the end of March, we reached a new milestone, the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump marked the first time--after four indictments against President Trump--that we have ever seen in our country's history a former President indicted on criminal charges.
As the weather got warmer, temperatures flared. Some wanted to take our national debt hostage. To be clear, this is money the Congress had already appropriated, and with a bipartisan coalition we managed to avert an economic calamity and an economic shutdown.
Fast-forward to the fall, and many of the same issues arose again. Then Speaker McCarthy was confronted with an unruly small group who were willing to shut down the government after the debt ceiling debate. For keeping the government open, Speaker McCarthy became the first Speaker in the House to ever be removed. The chaos that ensued was brutal. The House went without a Speaker for 23 days, the longest since 1961.
A marathon 10-week session that tested everyone's patience produced only frustration and anger. There is a reason we have had a record number of retirements from the Members of Congress at every level that we have not seen in a decade. Thirteen Senators and Representatives have already announced they are not seeking reelection in just the month of November. This is the highest number of retirements we have seen in this body in more than a decade.
This should not surprise us because dysfunction is a bitter pill to swallow, and I say that broadly because that dysfunction is not limited to this Chamber or to the House of Representatives.
Over in the Senate, Senator Tuberville stood in the way of over 400 senior military officers that deserved promotion and the dignity of all of their ranks and their compensation. He held up 400 officers, putting our Nation's security at risk. One United States Senator thought his understanding of what was right should supersede the will of 99 other United States Senators.
More than that, this one Senator spent most of the year subjecting the United States military and members of the armed services to the detrimental effects of his personal whims and wishes. He had no regard for the families he put in jeopardy who risk their lives every day for our citizenry. He showed no concern for the hard work and dedication of these military officers who have focused their careers on protecting and serving our Nation.
Perhaps most of all, this United States Senator tried to impose his morality on 1.4 million active military personnel in the armed services without their consent and without the advice of their commanding officers.
Senator Tuberville's story is instructive of what happens when we come together and do the right thing. Just last week, he folded. As a man of faith, I pray that the second part of the 118th Congress is more productive than the first. With only 21 bills that have been passed into law at the halfway point of this Congress, it is on pace to be the most sluggish Congress since our predecessors met in 1931 and 1932, but let's stay positive and hopeful.
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, as I stand on this floor tonight, I do so as someone painfully aware of the serious times we are living in. Let the word go forth in this time and place that this Nation and, indeed, this entire world stands on the precipice of unregulated conflict.
From Civil War in the Congo, to the war in Ukraine, to Israel's war with Hamas in the Middle East, the Earth is saturated with violence and recrimination and as in the case of all wars, people are dying.
Tens of thousands of innocent people have lost their lives. People who have nothing to do with governmental policies that send men and women into battle are no less the victims of those momentous decisions. Israeli babies, Palestinian babies, Congolese babies, and Ukrainian children all deserve to live in a world where they are, not judged by the details of their religion or the color of their skin. Yet, this is not the world that they were born into.
I stand here tonight concerned about the state of our civilization. I stand here tonight concerned about the role this country plays in being promoters of peace. I come here to this well bothered by the rise and the almost unfettered proliferation of anti-Semitism.
It should never be the case that a Jewish person in this country feels like their lives are under threat because they are Jewish.
We cannot allow the children of Einstein, Oppenheimer, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to feel as if they have no place in this country. There can be no moral equivocation when it comes to anti- Semitism in the way that this could be a moral equivocation when it comes to racism. Racism and anti-Semitism travel together because they are two sides of the same coin.
History is repeat with the evidence to prove that societies that begin with one will evidently end up with the other. Where there is anti-Semitism, racism is sure to follow. Where there is racism, there will ultimately be anti-Semitism as well.
We know this is the case because hatred knows no bounds, bigotry respects no limits, and ironically prejudice does not discriminate.
The moment you release one into the universe of our consciousness, the other will invariably come knocking at the door. That is why those of us who are leaders in this country must be clear about where we stand with respect to anti-Semitism. Whatever challenges people may have with policies conducted by the government of Israel, those concerns must not be used to avoid the absolute rejection of anti- Semitism as a plausible, cultural, or political solution.
I say this as a Black man living in America who has had a multiplicity of concerns about the policies of my own government. Black people in America have had 400 years of learning how to separate policies from people. While it is intelligent to question all governments, it is not, however, acceptable to allow corrosive influences to convince us that anti-Semitism is a liberating political project because it is not, nor has it ever been, and neither will it ever be.
I don't care what anyone says: Black lives matter, Jewish lives are sacred, and Palestinian lives are important because all life comes from God.
Anti-Semitism is a vile and repulsive preoccupation with hatred that has more than once manifested itself with horrific consequences. I stand here today doubly concerned because influences and, in some cases, influencers have provided the permission and the structure for people who are themselves the object of hate to participate in the hatred of our Jewish brothers and sisters.
We simply cannot allow this to happen. We must declare in no uncertain terms that right is right and wrong is wrong, and that it is wrong to hate people. It is wrong to treat people like they are beneath you. It is wrong to act like people are outside of the human family because they pray differently. We here tonight must be highly resolved that this country is to be the oasis of tolerance amid a vast desert of discrimination.
We say no to anti-Semitism, we say no to anti-Black racism, and we say no to anything that would subject any human being to dehumanizing language in treatment.
I encourage the people of this country to hold fast to the principles of this Christmas season in which we find ourselves. Whether you are Christian or not, the principles of this season are enduring and a great degree universal.
The idea that peace should be the function of our politics is something all of us should embrace. The notion that the birth of love is the only thing that can save us is something that no one should be willing to reject. In the words of Reverend Martin Luther King, he called us a ``beloved community,'' I submit to you tonight that it is this very thing that compels me to be a Member of this body.
I still believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men and women who are other-centered can build up again. I still believe that truth crush down to Earth can still rise again, and I still believe that if we stand up for one another, that is the only way we can have our salvation. None of us would be brutalized when we learn to love.
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Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I give a very special thank you to the Honorable Congressman Steven Horsford, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. I thank him for his leadership and his outstanding voice.
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