Congressional Progressive Caucus: Delivering in the Face of Republican Chaos

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I stand here today because we are just 1 month from another government shutdown, and Congressional Republicans have demonstrated once again that they are more concerned about satisfying their culture warrior base than actually addressing any of the problems their constituents face.

Madam Speaker, that hasn't stopped us from delivering for our districts. I am here because the everyday working-class people of Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties came together to say, everybody should have a livable wage, clean air and water, affordable housing, decent transportation, and healthcare.

The people I represent resoundingly rejected the status quo and decades of corporations leaving us behind and polluting our communities without accountability. They demanded political representation that will actually try to solve the problems they face and not play political games with their lives.

Our movement's detractors, including those in Congress, many of them, will try to make you believe that people from working-class backgrounds representing working-class districts are too consumed by fighting national political battles and don't do enough to deliver for our districts.

Let me be clear. Key priorities of the Biden administration, like the Inflation Reduction Act, would not have happened without progressives here fighting tooth and nail to ensure that our communities had what they needed to thrive. Despite Republicans' dysfunction, we haven't stopped fighting even for one second.

We are proud to have delivered in my district nearly $1 billion in Federal investments for infrastructure, affordable housing, STEM innovation, clean air, and good-paying jobs because the people of Western Pennsylvania and across the country deserve leaders in Congress who have lived their struggles and work as hard as they do.

Whether it was delivering $400 million from the Department of Energy's clean financing program to fund EOS, a battery storage manufacturer that will employ thousands of workers in PA-12's Mon Valley, in particular, or the over $150 million to improve transit in Pittsburgh, or helping to deliver $50 million for affordable housing in the historically divested Hill District of Pittsburgh.

Our movement in Pennsylvania is delivering on priorities that won't just improve our communities but the lives of people across the country. We are demonstrating the power we can recognize when communities that have been left behind elect leaders that have actually gone through what they have.

Throughout history, and particularly over the past four decades, working-class people, disproportionately Black and Brown, have been told our priorities are too radical, our needs are too unrealistic, and that our lives are expendable. Our movement stands in direct contrast to that, standing up to monied interests and fighting for our communities to be healthier, stronger, and more resilient.

The wins we have secured that I have talked about today represent just a small part of what our movement has done while in elected office, and you can be sure we are not done yet.

On the other side, Republicans are demonstrating that they are fundamentally unserious when it comes to addressing the problems that their constituents face, and all of our constituents.

Now Republicans are fighting battles so they can reconcile their internal struggle between satisfying their rightwing cable-news culture warriors and their ultra-wealthy corporate donors.

They are an embarrassment, and their constituents and our country will remember.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source