[Pages H3235-H3240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING JOHN LEWIS

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. 
McClellan of Virginia was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of 
the minority leader.)
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in to revise and extend their remarks and 
include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to anchor this 
Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour marking the fifth 
anniversary this Thursday of when we lost a civil rights giant, 
Congressman John Lewis.
  Congressman Lewis' parting words to us were published in The New York 
Times in an op-ed entitled, ``Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our 
Nation.''
  It was a message of hope as he passed the baton as a drum major for 
justice to the next generation of Americans. His words are more 
necessary today than ever and need to be repeated.
  For the next hour, my colleagues will hear members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus and other members who served with 
Congressman Lewis or were inspired by him, using his own words to talk 
about his legacy.
  I would like to start with the beginning of his op-ed, which is 
poignantly relevant today.
  ``While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that 
in the last days and hours of my life, you inspired me. You filled me 
with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you 
used your power to make a difference in our society.
  Millions of people, motivated simply by human compassion, laid down 
the burdens of division. Around the country and around the world, you 
set aside race, class, age, language, and nationality to demand respect 
for human dignity.''
  Mr. Speaker, we need that call, that clarion call, that demand for 
respect for human dignity today more than ever before. We need the hope 
and inspiration that this drum major for justice saw in the next 
generation that would succeed him in the battle for the soul of our 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke) 
and the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

                              {time}  1935

  Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from 
Virginia for yielding.
  ``Our society is not unlike the children in that house, rocked again 
and again by the winds of one storm or another. . . . The people of 
conscience never left the house.''
  In his memoir in 1998, ``Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the 
Movement,'' the great Congressman John Lewis recounted a childhood 
memory of being caught in a terrifying storm with a group of children 
in his Aunt Seneva's small house in Pike County, Alabama, near the town 
of Troy.
  As the storm tried to lift the house, John and the children held 
hands and worked together, using their unity as their strength to 
stabilize the home. This was, among many things, a metaphor for how 
society, especially in moments of discord, upheaval, and conflict, 
requires people to come together, hold on, and stand firm against 
forces trying to tear it apart.
  As it happens, Congressman Lewis' timeless words speak directly to 
the unique moment we find ourselves in today. With the unprecedented 
assaults on our voting rights and the slow erosion of our 
constitutional and democratic norms, the house most certainly is in 
danger.
  Voting rights are, and have always been, the CBC's North Star, and 
right now, the franchise, this tool, the foundation of our democracy, 
is under threat. At a time when our democracy is under constant siege 
by the Trump administration, we must do all we can to protect it.
  As we speak, extremist Republicans at the local, State, and national 
levels are running the table with every tactic in their arsenal to 
disenfranchise Black and minority communities. To date, hundreds of 
bills to restrict voting access have been introduced in States around 
the country, with the aim of closing polling locations, curbing early 
voting and vote by mail, and imposing stricter voting ID requirements.
  These efforts are coordinated, well funded, and targeting our 
communities with laser-like precision.
  The question now is: What are we going to do to stop it?
  For generations, we have marched, fought, and even died for the right 
to vote. Congressman Lewis certainly knew this.
  It is a shame that partisan politics have brought us to the point 
that we cannot agree that access to the ballot box should be a right 
afforded to every American.
  Congressman John Lewis devoted every day of his life to fighting to 
make our country live up to its highest ideals and to the promise that 
all men, and may I add women, are created equal.
  From the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the Halls of Congress, the boy from 
Troy never stopped making good trouble. It is in that spirit that the 
CBC and House Democrats will always fight back against the voter 
suppression that plagues our country and impedes access to the ballot 
box, particularly in Black communities.
  It is in that spirit that we will not stop until we pass the John R. 
Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore and modernize the 
protections of the Voting Rights Act to prevent States from erecting 
new barriers to the ballot box.
  As our beloved John said: The people of conscience never left the 
house.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. 
Horsford), who is our immediate past chair of the Congressional Black 
Caucus.
  Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the 
Commonwealth of Virginia for yielding.
  ``What is right? . . . If we act on the answer with courage and 
commitment, we will overcome all that stands between us and the glory 
of a truly beloved community.''
  Those are the words of our dear friend and colleague, Representative 
John Lewis. He didn't just preach these words. He lived them.
  Progress only lasts when protected by vigilance. Today, our democracy 
faces threats so similar to what Representative John Lewis endured--
voter suppression, book bans, and economic injustice. The solution 
isn't to step back. It is to lean in.
  That is why I am proud to cosponsor the John R. Lewis Voting Rights 
Advancement Act and reintroduce the Break the Cycle of Violence Act to 
carry his work and legacy forward.
  Let's do more to remember this giant among men. Let's legislate. 
Let's lead. Above all, let's get in what he called ``good trouble, 
necessary trouble.''
  I commend our chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, all of 
our members, and the Members of this House to carry on the legacy of 
Representative John Lewis.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio 
(Mrs. Beatty), who is the former chair of the Congressional Black 
Caucus.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan 
for yielding and to our chairwoman, Congresswoman Clarke, for her 
leadership.
  In the words of John Lewis: ``Democracy is not a state. It is an act, 
and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the 
beloved community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.''
  Mr. Speaker, on this fifth anniversary of the passing of Congressman

[[Page H3236]]

John Lewis, I rise to sound the alarm: Our democracy demands action 
now. The democracy that John Lewis fought for and bled for still 
remains under attack.
  After the Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder decision, nearly 
100 new laws surfaced, closing polling places, cutting early voting, 
banning drop boxes, and changing ID rules.
  Who is paying the price? It is our democracy.
  That is not policy, Mr. Speaker. That is persecution. These 
restrictions aren't about protecting democracy. It is simply a modern 
poll tax in disguise, aimed to confuse and designed to suppress and 
discourage voters.
  When we vote, when we fight, we win at the ballot box. I know this 
firsthand, and I know the importance of acting for our democracy. You 
see, Mr. Speaker, I marched with Congressman John Lewis in Washington, 
in Selma, and in my hometown of Dayton, Ohio, to the board of elections 
to stand up and to stand against voter suppression with a new 
generation of warriors in that fight.

  That is why we must pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement 
Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to end discriminatory practices and 
make it easier, Mr. Speaker, for everyone to vote. That is because our 
democracy is not a state. It is an act.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi), who is the Speaker emerita and who worked with 
Congressman Lewis very closely for many years.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia for 
calling us together on this anniversary week of losing John Lewis. Many 
of us served with him in this body. I served with him for 30 years, my 
brother. He challenged us each day to do our very best for the American 
people by his words and by his example.
  As the distinguished former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
we marched with him in Atlanta. We marched with him in Selma again and 
again. We marched in Washington. We followed his lead wherever he took 
us to make this statement.
  As a distinguished chair of the Caucus, Congresswoman Clarke of New 
York mentioned earlier voter suppression and how John was here to fight 
it. I will go into that in a moment. First, I want to quote John Lewis: 
``In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate the way of peace, the 
way of love and nonviolence, is the more excellent way.''
  ``Now it is your turn,'' he said, ``to let freedom ring.''
  Mr. Speaker, John Lewis' lasting legacy represents both the progress 
of our Nation and the promise of what our Nation can become. He 
believed in a better tomorrow and a more perfect Union, one country and 
one destiny. He believed in all of us. He had a deep faith in the 
goodness of people, and he believed that everyone was worthy of 
respect.
  Again, I was honored to serve with him for more than 30 years, and I 
learned from him all that time. I saw in this Congress how he taught us 
through words and actions what true moral leadership looks like.
  From time to time, when he rose to speak, he reminded us of our duty 
to the American people, to lift up our voices and to guide them to a 
future where freedom and justice are not just ideals but guarantees.
  As the distinguished chair of the Caucus and the former chair, Mr.   
Steven Horsford, as well as Congresswoman Beatty, mentioned, he was 
there. He said that the right to vote was so central to our freedom. He 
wrote the first 300 pages of the For the People Act, which was to end 
voter suppression.
  We all know of his leadership, as we see in the title of the John R. 
Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which is still not there.
  Today, as we witness attacks on civil rights, democracy, diversity, 
and even people's basic necessities, many Americans are looking for 
hope.
  In these moments, let us be reminded of John's spirit and honor him 
not just with words but with deeds. It is on us to rise to the moment 
and to get in good trouble for the children. Let freedom ring.

                              {time}  1950

  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia 
(Mr. Johnson), one of John Lewis' delegation mates.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for 
yielding time, and I thank the Congressional Black Caucus and the 
leadership of Yvette Clarke for hosting this Special Order hour to 
honor John Lewis, who was a one-of-a-kind public servant. He served 
humanity as a youth and as an adult, and he served we, the people, 
before and during his many years in elected office on the local and 
Federal levels of government.
  I had the honor and pleasure of serving closely with John Lewis 
during 14 of my 19 years here in Congress. During those years, I 
learned so much from John Lewis. We all did. I continue to learn from 
the writings he left for posterity.
  The lessons Congressman Lewis imparts in his book, ``Walking with the 
Wind: A Memoir of the Movement'' today inspires us and provides us with 
direction on the way forward during these unprecedented and deeply 
disturbing times in which we are living.
  John tells the story about 15 children outside playing in his Aunt 
Seneva's dirt yard. The sky began clouding over, the wind started 
picking up, lightning flashed, and suddenly the 15 children felt 
terrorized.
  John's Aunt Seneva was the only adult around. As the sky blackened 
and the wind grew stronger, she herded those 15 children inside her 
small, clapboard house. With 16 people squeezed into that house, it was 
surprisingly quiet as the wind howled, and the house built on cinder 
blocks began to shake. They were scared. Even Aunt Seneva was scared. 
Then it got worse.
  Now the house was beginning to sway. The wood plank flooring beneath 
them began to bend. Then a corner of the room started lifting up. He 
couldn't believe what he was seeing. None of them could. This storm was 
actually pulling the house toward the sky with them inside. That was 
when Aunt Seneva told them to clasp hands, line up and hold hands, she 
said, and they did as they were told.
  Then she had them walk as a group toward the corner of the room that 
was rising. From the kitchen to the front of the house they walked, the 
wind screaming inside, sheets of rain beating on the tin roof. Then 
they walked back in the other direction as another end of the house 
began to lift. So it went, back and forth, 15 children walking with the 
wind, holding that trembling house down with the weight of their small 
bodies.
  The 15 children, Mr. Speaker, in that small house, with a fierce 
storm upon it, is the America that we see today. Those 15 children 
represent Black, White, Latino, and Asian people. Among them are our 
LGBTQ brothers and sisters. They are Democrats, Republicans, and 
Independents. We are diverse. We are all equal, and we find ourselves 
included in the same house, America. That house, or our country, is 
under assault.
  More than half a century has passed since that day that John just 
spoke about. It has struck me, he said, more than once over those many 
years, that our society is not unlike the children in that house rocked 
again and again by winds of one storm or another, the walls around us 
seeming at times as if they might fly apart.
  But, Mr. Speaker, a storm always passes, and the Sun always comes 
out. As Aunt Seneva said, clasp hands, walk to the corner of the house 
that is moving, and then move to the next corner, and the next, and 
don't stop until the storm blows over.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Alabama 
(Ms. Sewell), who has made sure that Members of Congress follow the 
footsteps that John Lewis took, where he bled for our right not only to 
vote but to be here in this Chamber.
  Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, never give up. Never give in. Keep the faith 
and keep your eyes on the prize.
  Those were the words of John Lewis as he crossed the Edmund Pettus 
Bridge for the last time before his passing in 2020. If I close my 
eyes, I can hear him say it: Never give up. Never give in. And keep the 
faith.
  His body was frail and stricken with cancer, but his mind was sharp. 
His charge to us was clear. No matter what challenges we face, we can 
never give up.

[[Page H3237]]

  In these troubling times, I think of those words often. John would 
have a lot to say about what is going on these days: the attacks on our 
democracy, the erasing of our history, the efforts to make it harder 
for people to vote.
  Old battles have indeed become new again. But if there is one thing 
that John has taught us, it is that we must press on.
  Just imagine where we would be if John Lewis and those foot soldiers 
had given up on Bloody Sunday. They were beaten and bruised. They were 
gassed and whipped. They had every reason to throw up their hands and 
surrender, but they didn't. They got back up, they tried again, and 
they marched on until victory was won.
  So as we navigate this dark chapter of our history, let us be guided 
by their persistence and inspired by their determination. Let us pledge 
that we will introduce in Congress after Congress after Congress the 
John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act until victory is won.
  We can be tired. We can be frustrated. We can be downright mad. But 
we can never give up.
  From the boy from Troy to the girl from Selma, in remembrance of John 
Lewis, let's keep the faith and let's keep our eyes on the prize.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North 
Carolina (Ms. Adams).
  Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia for 
yielding.
  When you see something that is not right, not fair, or not just, you 
have a moral obligation to say something, to do something. Those were 
John Lewis' words.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today on the fifth anniversary of the late, great 
John Lewis' passing, a firebrand, a trailblazer, a mentor, and a leader 
whose outsized presence can still be felt throughout the Halls of 
Congress.
  Congressman Lewis taught us that we have a moral obligation to root 
out injustice wherever we find it proudly, boldly, and 
unapologetically.

  He believed that the soul of our Nation hinged on everyday people 
dedicating themselves to the pursuit of justice. To honor his life and 
legacy, we must speak out about the injustices we face today.
  The one big, ugly bill that my Republican colleagues applauded and 
cheered in this very Chamber earlier this month stands opposed to 
everything Congressman Lewis spent his life fighting for. It strips 
care away from the sick, threatening Medicaid for more than a half 
million North Carolinians. It takes food off the plates of the hungry, 
with 1.4 million North Carolinians, including 600,000 children, now at 
risk of losing their food assistance. It denies our children the right 
to a quality education, targeting our public schools and making it even 
harder for average Americans to afford higher education.
  Make no mistake. This bill places the American Dream further out of 
reach for nearly everyone who calls our country home and breaks the 
American promise. The one big, ugly bill is a betrayal of our country. 
It is up to every single person in the United States, the ordinary 
people with extraordinary vision, to join us in standing against it.
  We must fight back the way John Lewis did, using our voice, our 
actions, and our communities to right wrongs and to protect those who 
are suffering from the injustices they face. This is the moral 
obligation that Congressman Lewis talked to us about. Now is the time 
to speak up, to act up, and yes, cut up, if we have to, but let's go 
make some good trouble.

                              {time}  2000

  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield to the 
gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman).
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding me time.
  Wherever community is interrupted by evil or hatred, by greed, or by 
the lust for power, it is the moral responsibility of people of good 
will to respond.
  John Lewis wrote those words over 27 years ago. He was echoing calls 
for resistance to oppression passed down from our Founding Fathers, but 
it could very well have been said about today.
  John was calling on all of us to fight for our communities. It was a 
call for solidarity. It was a call to reject the corporate influence 
that permeates our politics and puts profits over people.
  Today, we are seeing the GOP pass bills that cut nutrition assistance 
to pay for corporate tax cuts, bills that cut funding to nursing homes 
to pay for billionaire vacation homes, and Republican Senators with Ivy 
League degrees working to eliminate college loans for poor students who 
are trying to work their way into the middle class. It will take all of 
us to change this culture of greed and put people over politics.
  John Lewis was a hero of mine not just because he raised up working-
class Americans with his soaring rhetoric but because he walked the 
walk. He put his body on the line because he knew that the power of the 
people is greater than the people in power.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey 
for her words.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to Representative Lucy McBath, one of 
Congressman Lewis' delegation mates from Georgia.
  Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Representative 
McClellan from Virginia, for leading this time here on the House floor.
  Mr. Speaker, it is pretty difficult to believe that it has actually 
been 5 years that have passed since the loss of our dear friend and our 
colleague, Congressman John Lewis.
  At this delicate moment in our Nation's history, we draw upon the 
wisdom of his words and look to his legacy for strength and guidance as 
we carry the torch that he lit for civil rights.
  In his last words to the American people, John wrote: ``Ordinary 
people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by 
getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and 
participating in the democratic process are key.''
  Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of a 
nation. Where else but America could one develop that sense of 
conviction?
  John Lewis knew it was true because he lived it every single day of 
his life. The son of sharecroppers who preached to chickens as a young 
boy when nobody else would listen would go on to become known as the 
conscience of Congress, this body. It is a legislative body which once 
denied him his right to participate in American democracy.
  When John marched, Americans were moved to act with him. When he 
spoke, people listened. When he participated in sit-ins, including one 
in this very Chamber, to confront the issue of gun violence in America, 
he challenged each of us to join him in getting in that good and 
necessary trouble to raise the consciousness of the American public and 
lay down the heavy burdens of hate.
  Ordinary people with extraordinary vision, that is who John Lewis 
was, and it is who he calls on each of us to be, especially in this day 
and in this hour.
  We must continue to honor his legacy with unshakeable determination 
to fight for what is right and for what is just because I promise you 
that this is exactly what the American people deserve.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield to 
Congressman Lewis' successor, Representative Nikema Williams of 
Georgia's Fifth.
  Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding.
  ``Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic.''
  ``Ours is not the struggle of 1 day, 1 week, or 1 year . . . ours is 
the struggle of a lifetime. . . . `'
  When Congressman John Lewis spoke these words, he was reminding us 
that justice work is much longer than a moment. It is a commitment, a 
calling, and a lifelong fight.
  Mr. Speaker, 60 years after he put his body on the line for our 
freedom, our struggle continues. We are marching in our communities and 
fighting back in committee rooms.
  We do this to push back against cuts to Medicaid that will leave NICU 
babies without care, cuts to SNAP that will take food out of the mouths 
of children and seniors, and cuts to education that will tell our 
students to dream smaller.
  We bring our full selves to the struggle in many ways: through early 
mornings in community centers and late nights on the House floor; by 
standing up at the mike and showing up in the

[[Page H3238]]

margins; through townhalls and negotiating in the Halls of Congress; 
and through sitting in, standing firm, and speaking out.
  Getting into good trouble was never a one-size-fits-all call to 
action, and we honor the legacy of Congressman Lewis when we all find 
always to get in the way.
  Mr. Speaker, this moment is not the last struggle that we will face, 
but we fight anyway with hope, with intention, and with determination 
to achieve the beloved community. This is the struggle of a lifetime, 
the struggle of our lifetime. With urgency, clarity, and intention, we 
march on.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Carter).
  Mr. CARTER of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from 
Virginia for yielding.
  `` . . . the path to which I've been committed . . . extends beyond 
the issue of race alone, and beyond class as well. And gender. And age. 
And every other distinction that tends to separate us. . . .''

  These words are from Congressman John Lewis. These words from the 
late, great Congressman John Lewis remind us that the struggle for 
justice isn't confined to just one issue, one identity, or one 
community. It is a path that winds through race, class, gender, age, 
ability, sexual orientation, and faith because injustice does not 
discriminate, and neither should our fight to end it.
  Intersectionality teaches us that we must see the whole person, not 
just a voter, a worker, or a statistic but a human carrying layered 
experiences that public policy must protect. Civil rights cannot be 
carved up. They must be defended broadly, boldly, and universally.
  As a son of the South and as a Congressman from Louisiana, I know the 
dual truths of this region, the undeniable progress that we have made, 
and the painful inequities that still persist. In the very soil where 
freedom once faltered, we have seen hope rise, but let's not mistake 
signs of change for signs of completion. Our work is far from done.
  From voting rights to reproductive justice, from health equity to 
environmental justice, from economic fairness to criminal justice 
reform, the fight continues, and it must be rooted in policies that 
recognize the full complexity of who people are.
  This isn't about left or right. It is about right and wrong. It is 
about ensuring that, whether you are Black, White, rich, poor, young, 
old, gay, straight, rural, or urban, your dignity is protected, your 
rights are upheld, and your government sees you.
  Let's walk the path that John Lewis laid for us with moral clarity, 
radical inclusion, and relentless love not just for some but for all.
  That is how we protect democracy. That is how we make good trouble. 
That is how we build a more perfect union.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Ivey).
  Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding and for 
organizing this Special Order hour honoring the life of the late 
colleague of ours, Congressman John Lewis.
  Congressman Lewis once said: ``Ordinary people with extraordinary 
vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good 
trouble, necessary trouble.''
  We need to get into good trouble now more than ever.

                              {time}  2010

  It certainly feels like today we are in the struggle for the soul of 
America, a soul that desperately needs healing.
  In the fight to heal the soul of America in 1965, Congressman Lewis 
got into good trouble. The good trouble he found himself in in Selma 
nearly cost him his life, but from that good trouble came great 
progress: the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Medicaid, 
Medicare, and the Fair Housing Act. These were monumental achievements 
made possible through many years of nonviolent struggle by ordinary 
people with an extraordinary vision.
  Sadly, 60 years later, it feels like we are going backward. Last time 
we were on this floor, House Republicans passed a bill to rip away 
healthcare from millions of Americans and to take food assistance away 
from families in need.
  For House Republicans and President Trump, making it harder for kids 
to eat so that some billionaires can pay less in taxes, may count as 
progress, but America is better than that.
  To move in the right direction again, we must fight back for what we 
believe in: to protect the vulnerable, to assist those in need, and to 
fight against discrimination.
  John Lewis serves as an inspiration for all of us during these 
unprecedented and difficult times for so many of our constituents. We 
must stay engaged, stay focused, and stay committed to the American 
ideals we cherish, the ideals Congressman John Lewis fought for both in 
this House and in Selma.
  To heal the soul of America, again, we need to remain inspired by 
John Lewis and to get into good trouble again.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
California, Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove.
  Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia 
for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus is often referred to as 
the ``conscience of the Congress,'' and Congressman John Lewis was our 
North Star.
  I never had the privilege of serving alongside Congressman Lewis, who 
is also my fraternity brother, but 5 years after his passing, his 
faith, his words, his story, and his work inform my work.
  I often recall his words: ``It is not about who wins. It is not even 
about who is right. It is about what is right. That never changes.''
  Regardless of if our districts are cobalt blue or ruby red, every 
single Member of Congress took an oath to do right by our constituents 
and to fight for policies that not only help them get by but help them 
get ahead. However, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues have just 
enacted the largest transfer of wealth from the working class to the 
top 1 percent in our Nation's history, cutting essential programs and 
leaving many Americans poorer, sicker, and hungrier.
  Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, they continue to turn a blind eye to our 
neighbors, friends, and family members who are being torn from our 
communities by this administration's militarized ICE. No matter who is 
in power, we should all agree that it is unacceptable for infants to go 
without formula, for toddlers to attend school on empty bellies, and 
for children to be handcuffed and separated from their parents.
  It is wrong for children battling cancer to lose access to healthcare 
or to be deported to countries they have never known.
  Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle cannot 
put politics aside to advocate for children, then who are they truly 
standing up for? I will let you all figure that one out.
  America is at a crossroads. Where we go from here as a nation depends 
on those courageous enough to stand for the most vulnerable among us 
rather than selling us out to the highest bidder.
  Mr. Speaker, as congressional Republicans stare down both paths, I 
urge them to remember the words of John Lewis, one of the greatest to 
have ever served: ``It is not about who wins. It is not even about who 
is right. It is about what is right. That never changes.''
  May they find even a fraction of the courage that Congressman Lewis 
had and do right by their constituents.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Rhode 
Island, Gabe Amo.
  Mr. AMO. Mr. Speaker, as Congressman John Lewis said: ``We live 
together in the same house. If one section of our house begins to rot, 
the entire structure is in danger of collapsing.''
  This week marks 5 years since his passing, but his words are more 
important than ever.
  Congressman Lewis understood that the fate of all Americans was 
intertwined, and that laws that hurt one, hurt us all.
  Take the tragic action on Medicaid, for example. Just 2 weeks ago, 
Republicans in this very Chamber passed Donald Trump's big, ugly bill 
which included the largest cuts to Medicaid in the program's history.
  Republicans slashed nearly $1 trillion from the program, leaving 
roughly 17 million Medicaid and Affordable Care Act recipients without 
health insurance.

[[Page H3239]]

  Every American, no matter where they get their health coverage, will 
be hurt by this law.
  Just like a leak in the roof of a house can cause rot that could 
collapse the entire structure, these cuts could bring down the entirety 
of our healthcare system.
  Republican cuts to Medicaid erode vital funding for hospitals in low-
income and rural communities, will shutter one in four nursing homes, 
and cripple Americans' access to behavioral healthcare. It will make 
emergency room wait times longer. It will close local doctor's offices. 
It will mean the Black students, some of the least resourced, won't be 
able to get government-backed student loans to fund their full medical 
education.
  If Congressman Lewis were here with us in this Chamber, he would be 
at the vanguard, decrying this immoral, sinful, cruel bill. He was a 
key player in moving our Nation closer to securing the right 
of healthcare for all, eliminating disparities in health equity, and 
improving access to care in his role to draft the Affordable Care Act.

  We must stand up as our colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
strip away Americans' Medicaid and hurt that legacy of the Affordable 
Care Act. We must, as Congressman Lewis would remind us, do the right 
thing, cause good trouble, and ensure that no one, no one destroys the 
progress that we have made.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia 
(Mr. Bishop), one of Congressman Lewis' delegation mates.
  Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to speak today in tribute to the life and 
legacy of an iconic American patriot John Robert Lewis, our friend and 
colleague who transitioned from labor to reward 5 years ago this week.
  John was and still is the conscience of this Congress. In his 
posthumously published op-ed, ``Together, you can redeem the soul of 
our Nation,'' John Lewis wrote: ``I just had to see and feel it for 
myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still 
marching on.''
  Those words speak to us today as truth is no longer valued in our 
public dialogue. Lies are rampant from our public spaces in support of 
denying basic rights of voting, health, nutrition, opportunity, and 
humanity.
  In official attempts to rewrite and whitewash our history, lies to 
deny diversity, equity, and inclusion, lies to remove African American 
and other culture and racial groups from public spaces in our history 
books and museums, John told us we must study and learn the lessons of 
history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, 
existential struggle for a very long time.

                              {time}  2020

  John wrote: ``The truth does not change, and that is why the answers 
worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of 
our time.''
  ``Truth does not change,'' he said. We must continue to use the truth 
of history to move us forward. Yes, the truth is still marching on.
  Lowell said: ``Truth forever on the scaffold. Wrong forever on the 
throne. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown 
standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.''
  John gave his life for the truth that all men and women are entitled 
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is our duty to keep 
up his fight, to get into good trouble, to make that happen.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New 
Jersey (Mrs. McIver).
  Mrs. McIVER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise as a new voice, as a new face, as a new 
generation, but still living by the words: ``When you see something 
that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. 
Democracy is not a state. It is an act.''
  Those words, the words of the late John Lewis, are as relevant now as 
they have ever been. They ring true in a time when our democracy is 
threatened, in a time when politicians attempt to choose their voters 
instead of letting their voters choose them in an effort to suppress 
the voices of the American people, and when the powerful reject 
accountability and oversight and come after those who stand up against 
cruelty.
  Representative John Lewis believed that our democracy is precious and 
sacred. He believed that showing up and taking action had the power to 
create a more perfect Union. He was right. His passion for peace, 
justice, and a true belief in America inspired generations.
  Today, we stand on his shoulders as we continue to fight to protect 
our democracy on so many fronts, and as we defend that sacred right at 
the heart of it: Our voice, our vote.
  I am proud to stand beside my colleagues in this work and the battle 
for the soul of our democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, I will continue to allow the spirit of John Lewis to 
encourage me to act and to get into some good trouble and necessary 
trouble to redeem the soul of America.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama 
(Mr. Figures).
  Mr. FIGURES. Mr. Speaker, in his final op-ed, Congressman Lewis said: 
``You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity 
has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a 
very long time.''
  Some may take those as just wise words from a civil rights icon, but 
for me, I take that statement as a personal charge because I now have 
the privilege, the blessing, of representing not only the birthplace of 
the civil rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama, but also the 
birthplace of John Lewis, the man who often referred to himself as the 
boy from Troy, which is a small town in Pike County, Alabama, which is 
now in District Two, a district, I might add, that exists in its 
current format today because of the Voting Rights Act, the very same 
Voting Rights Act that John Lewis risked his life to see enacted.
  Those words in that final op-ed, to me, are a charge to not forget 
where we have come from or what we have been through as a nation, but 
also a charge to be vigilant and to commit to ensuring that we never go 
back to certain days in this country's past.
  That charge is becoming increasingly more important by the day. It 
seems that every day there is another effort to set us back to times we 
thought we were beyond as a nation: from watching the current 
administration walk back school desegregation consent decrees to the 
closing of civil rights offices across the Federal Government, to 
straight-on attacks to efforts to ensure that the playing field is 
balanced for everybody, regardless of what you look like.
  It seems to me that we are forgetting where we came from as a nation, 
forgetting the times when people who look like me did not have the 
opportunity or the privilege to live in the same America as people who 
don't look like me.
  These are not just efforts by this current administration to overtly 
roll back equal protections and access, but even in this very body, 
where just recently we passed legislation that imposes student loan 
borrowing caps on Americans who want to be doctors or lawyers, and 
those caps are less than the average cost of those degrees.
  To some people, they may say that is just race-neutral. Those lessons 
of history that John Lewis was speaking of teach us a different lesson. 
They teach us, in practice, that means fewer Black people will be able 
to become lawyers, and fewer Black people will be able to become 
doctors.
  That means fewer opportunities. That means fewer Black parents can 
tell their kids that they can literally be anything they want to be 
when they grow up. They must now caveat that by saying: If we can 
afford it, you can be a doctor. If our credit is good enough, you may 
be able to be a lawyer.
  That same history that clarifies what those recent actions mean tells 
us that, no matter how dark the days may be now, no matter how dark the 
motives or the efforts are, no matter how dark the outcomes may be, 
those spaces can never be as dark as they once were because the light 
of progress made hangs forever in those spaces. The light of John Lewis 
hangs forever in those spaces.

[[Page H3240]]

  This is not a moment of complacency. We cannot afford to be 
complacent in this moment. We must aggressively continue the fight, as 
my colleagues have so eloquently laid out here tonight. We must 
continue the fight for justice, learning from our past and building 
upon the legacy of John Lewis and others, which demands that, in 
moments like this, we stand firm, keep the faith, and continue the 
struggle.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Simon).
  Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the late Congressman 
John Robert Lewis on the fifth anniversary of his passing.
  Congressman Lewis said, in a beautiful quote: ``Children holding 
hands, walking with the wind. That is America to me . . . the endless 
struggle to respond with decency, dignity, and a sense of 
brotherhood.''
  We are so thankful for the long-living, forever legacy of Congressman 
Lewis. Before he took the oath here in this room, many of us studied 
his legacy as a young activist and organizer. It shows depth with peace 
and clarity.
  He held hands with others and walked across the bridge in Selma to 
meet what we know then was a violent mob, who they themselves swore to 
decency. They beat those young people that day, young people who rose 
up and decided that they, too, belonged to a democracy that they were 
born into but never saw. Their mothers never saw it. Their fathers 
never saw it.
  These young people took the mantle of peace and shone a mirror, a 
mirror of hatred, of segregation, of degradation, and they walked away 
harmed but with more clarity. Mr. Lewis was one of the leaders that 
day.
  Those who studied the theology of freedom that is so deeply embedded 
in all of our faith traditions know that the actions of Mr. Lewis on 
that bridge, on the streets, and on this floor will forever live.
  Before I end, I want to go back to that quote: ``Children holding 
hands, walking with the wind.'' Those children, America's children, 
need us now more than ever.
  Children will go back to school in 6 weeks, and because of what has 
been done on this Hill recently, they will not have school lunches. We 
will diminish the Department of Education. The Office of Civil Rights 
within the Department of Education, which is responsible for making 
sure that those children, disabled children, children who had been 
pushed to the side, had national standards so that they, too, could be 
centered in the classroom with dignity and support.
  We are tearing those winds apart. As children go hungry, as they are 
pushed to the side in their classrooms, as we continue to pay teachers 
less than what they are worth, I ask folks to do what we have learned 
from our dear mentor, John Lewis: Shine the light with peace and 
dignity upon those who put forth evil, who strike down the widow, who 
take food from the poor, who take the word of our God out of context, 
and who feed the wealthy while starving the homeless.
  We will forever walk in Mr. Lewis' path for justice, for liberty, and 
for the sake of our children who need and deserve the winds at their 
back.

                              {time}  2030

  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Onder). The gentlewoman from Virginia 
has 3\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, one of my biggest regrets is that I did 
not get to serve with Congressman Lewis, but I did get to meet him. He 
came to Richmond about a year, year and a half before he passed, for 
the renaming of Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
  I had the opportunity to sit with him at lunch and ride with him to 
an exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in a former Confederate 
chapel, on land that was once a Confederate veteran's home.
  Walking into that chapel, knowing the history that occurred there and 
watching John Lewis sit and listen for the first time to the speech he 
gave during the Clinton impeachment, and he had tears streaming down 
his eyes. The quote that sticks with me is when he asked in his booming 
voice: ``Is this good for America? If it's good for the American 
people, it's good for the institution.'' That, Mr. Speaker, is the 
question I ask myself every day in this office.
  John Lewis understood, just as Dr. King did, he wasn't going to reach 
the promised land of that more perfect Union, but he fought for it.
  In his final words to us, he said: ``Though I may not be here with 
you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand 
up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all that I can to 
demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is 
the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.
  ``When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st 
century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the 
heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over 
violence, aggression, and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, 
brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of 
everlasting love be your guide.''
  John Lewis handed us the baton. Are we going to pick it up?
  Are we going to carry on his work?
  The Congressional Black Caucus will make sure we do.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time.

                          ____________________