Hearing of the House Financial Services Committee - Negative Implications of the President's Signing Statement on the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act
Interview
Hearing of the House Financial Services Committee - Negative Implications of the President's Signing Statement on the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act
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REP. CLEAVER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I -- I rarely ever miss our Committee hearing, and I don't like to be late when I -- when I -- when I'm here. I changed my flight schedule today because I -- I needed for my own psychological well being to -- to -- to at least come to express my concern. In my real life, as the Chairman mentioned, I'm a United Methodist pastor, and five years ago we adopted 20 young men referred to by the media as the Lost Boys.
These are young men who were able to get out of the Sudan. They left during their early teen years, and we provided housing for them. And now most of them are at -- in the University of Missouri. They have no connection with their families at all. They don't know where their mothers, their fathers, their sisters, their brothers and thus, the name the Lost Boys. And the immigrated here in this country. And I wish the people of the Congress and the State Department and the White House could spend one hour listening to these young men tell of what they saw.
It is a tragedy that a 12 year old can -- could stand behind a tree and watch people he has known all of his life machete-ed to death. I tremble -- I tremble at the thought that our country could act and fails to do so. My hope is that some kind of transformation will occur, whether it's in the State Department or in the White House that would allow this country to do what it ought to do in the face of almost unparalleled agonies experienced by people.
It seems to me that the signing statement that trumps all signing statements is the United States Constitution. It has already been signed. And that cancels out anybody signing anything that cancels it out. And I am concerned that, when we have these signing statements, it undermines the moral integrity of our nation, and it tarnishes our image as we stand on the world stage. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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