May 5, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 84 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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WELCOMING THE HONORABLE KWEISI MFUME TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 84
(House of Representatives - May 05, 2020)
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[Page H1976] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] WELCOMING THE HONORABLE KWEISI MFUME TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The SPEAKER. Without objection, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 1 minute. There was no objection. Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, all of us, of course, were deeply saddened by the passing of our friend, Elijah Cummings, last year. He was a giant of moral strength and unquestioned integrity. In his 24 years in office, Elijah built a reputation for legislative skill, excellence in constituent service, an unyielding energy for rooting out corruption in government, and fighting tirelessly for justice, equality, and opportunity. He served his constituents in Maryland's Seventh Congressional District well. And today, Madam Speaker, they are sending someone to take his place whom I believe is an excellent choice. As the dean of the Maryland Congressional delegation, it is my honor today to welcome the House's newest Member, Representative Kweisi Mfume. However, he is not new to the House. He is a veteran of this body, a skilled and experienced legislator, who represented Maryland's Seventh District from 1987 to 1996. When he left to become the national president of the NAACP, Elijah Cummings was chosen to succeed him. Now, as we continue to mourn Elijah's passing, we welcome Representative Mfume back to his old seat to carry on the work that he and Elijah have both been engaged in for many, many years. The voters of the Seventh District, to their credit, replaced great intellect with great intellect, a passion for justice, equality, and opportunity, with a successor who mirrors and shares that passion and history of commitment. Their shared work has been to ensure that the promise of America is kept for all Americans equally, regardless of race or faith or gender or sexual orientation or national origin; to break down disparities in justice and access to opportunity; to address the tragic and unacceptable disparities in access to quality, affordable healthcare, which the COVID-19 tragedy has made so starkly evident; to make certain that every child in this country can go to a good, safe public school and receive a quality education that leads to a rewarding career. That is what Representative Mfume fought for as a member of the Baltimore City Council and as a Member of this House. It is what he worked hard to achieve as a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and as the NAACP national president. I speak on behalf of our delegation, but all who served with him here in the Congress of the United States, we are pleased that he is back with us. And I know that those who were not Members when he last served will find him to be a wonderful colleague, a man of wisdom, thoughtfulness, depth, and whose experience can help guide this House and our majority as we navigate challenges both longstanding and new. I hope that all of my colleagues will join me in congratulating Representative Mfume on his election to represent Maryland's Seventh Congressional District once more and in welcoming him back to the House. I am now honored, Madam Speaker, to yield to my friend of longstanding, my colleague, and my fellow Marylander, Kweisi Mfume. Mr. MFUME. Madam Speaker, I thank the majority leader for his kind and overly gracious remarks. Madam Speaker, I rise to offer my heartfelt thanks and my deepest appreciation to the people of Maryland's Seventh Congressional District for the high honor and the distinct privilege of again representing them here in the Congress of the United States. I am happy to have been joined by members of our distinguished delegation from the State of Maryland, and I appreciate their presence here among us. I thank Almighty God for the victory and for my wonderful family and friends. I am joined here in the gallery by my wife, Dr. Tiffany Beth Mfume, and a longtime family friend, attorney Eric Bryant, and others. I am honored by those supporters who are Black and White, Latino and Asian, who could not be here at this time but who have worked so very hard to make sure that this moment would be possible. And I believe, as they do and as we continue to do, that racism, sexism, and anti- Semitism are wrong, that Black bigotry can be just as cruel and evil as White bigotry, that gay bashing, immigrant bashing, and union bashing ultimately deplete us as a Nation and rob us of our ability to make true and lasting change. Today marks my return to this body after 24 years and following the death of the Honorable Elijah Cummings, my friend of 42 years. I do so against the backdrop of COVID-19 and in the midst of our Nation's greatest health crisis of the 21st century. Simultaneously, we are also locked in the Nation's greatest economic collapse, where there are now families and individuals who haven't had a paycheck in weeks as they struggle to buy food and to pay bills. Madam Speaker, our challenges as a Nation at this hour, as you and others know better than I, are economic, educational, social, and systemic, and they require both the courage of conviction and the unwavering resolve that the American spirit has always exhibited in order to solve them. Thus, in yielding back my time, I call forth the words of Dr. James Cheek, when he so eloquently exclaimed: ``I have not given up on the American idea or on the American possibility, and I ask my colleagues in this body not to give up also. ``I am convinced that our Nation still stands before the world as perhaps the last expression of a possibility of mankind devising a social order where justice is the supreme ruler, and law is but its instrument; where freedom is the dominant creed, and order . . . but its principle; where equity is the common practice, and fraternity the true human condition.'' It is against that backdrop that I welcome and embrace both this challenge and opportunity before me. Madam Speaker, I thank you and I thank the distinguished majority leader for his words of introduction. ____________________
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